Police!England x Thief!Shapeshifter!Reader (2/?)

Police!England x Thief!Shapeshifter!Reader (2/?) -
To Catch a Vanishing Thief

---------------------------------------------------------------
Note:  Here's the next chapter!  I hope everyone likes it
---------------------------------------------------------------

You slowly began to awake to the sound of birds chirping.  You slid your eyes open, but quickly shut them again due to the rising sun shining in your face.  After a few blinks your vision cleared and you took in your surroundings.  You were laying on the back of the couch, but you took notice you had gone back to your human form.  This has happened a few times, but you were more worried about it now.  How did you even sleep in this position?

Before you could give an answer to your thoughts, you began to hear footsteps coming down the stairs.  You panicked, mentally smacking yourself for forgetting you weren't in the warehouse anymore.  Thankfully, you were able to switch back to a cat before he came around the corner.  You quickly assumed a normal, calm posture as he walked into the room, but your eyes lit up with worry at what you saw.

Arthur seemed like he hadn't slept in days even though he went to bed early enough last night.  He began to walk, well more like stagger, his way over to the kitchen.  Being curious, you jumped off the couch and followed him, but made sure to keep behind the corner.  Taking a peek inside you saw Arthur take out a pot and pour water into it.  You guessed he was gonna make tea, but something else caught your eyes.  A little green bunny with little wings on its back had flown up to Arthur and was trying to get his attention.

“Good morning, Arthur!” It said happily.

“Huh?  Oh, good morning Flighting Mint Bunny how have *yawn* you been?”

“I’ve been great!  But you don’t look too good.  Did you stay up again?”

‘Again?  What does it mean?’ you thought.

“Yes I did, but I thought for sure I could find something on her.  Once again I’m back to the beginning, and I even tried to use my magic.  All it showed me was my house, but I know for sure she’s not here,” he groaned in annoyance while sipping his tea.

“Are you sure?  Did you check everywhere?”

“Yes.”

“I can help!  I’ll look in every place I can think of, and I can ask some of the fairies from the garden to help out too.”

“Thank you FMB, that means a lot,” he said, giving FMB a pat on the head.

“By the way, when did you get a cat?”  FMB asked, looking at you.

“I don’t own a ca – oh.  That’s a stray Alfred found last night after we lost (Name),” he said nonchalantly, not even looking to you.

“I think it’s watching me,” FMB whispered to him, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

You puffed up a little at being ignored like that.  Why didn’t he just let you out the door if he didn’t want you so bad?  It wasn’t raining anymore, and the sun was shining on the horizon.  You stalked over to Arthur, half walking, half crouching.  FMB watched you with curious eyes, wondering what you were up to.  When you got up close enough you crouched down, but a second later you pounced onto his head.  

“GAHH!  Bloody hell!  Get off me you little - ,” he didn’t have a chance to finish the sentence as you had already dissappered.

Arhur looked around everywhere, side to side, up and down, but didn’t see where you went.  He shook his head in disbelief.  FMB was still laughing to hard to even notice you had vanished.

“It dissappeared just like (Name) does, but that’s not possible.  I must be going bonkers,” he whispered, scratching his head.

The second you had landed on his head you had jumped off and onto his fridge.  You stayed in the shadowed corner, making sure he wouldn’t be able to see you.  As he looked everywhere, you inwardly chuckled, but as soon as he had whispered that last part you froze.  You were getting to close to him, more than physically.  You needed to get out of the house and soon, but with FMB, fairies, and who knows what else in Arthur’s house looking for you it was almost impossible.  

Well, nothing could go wrong now right?

-----------time skip (about 3 days)-----------

Everything went wrong.  

Ever since Arthur left on his daily patrol, the house has been filled with spying eyes of fairies and FMB.  They watched the windows, doors, and even the vents.  It was like the whole house was on lockdown.  You had resorted to hide in Arthur’s room partially under his comforter.  This was the third day this happened.  Some fairies came by now and then, but you had about 2 stay with you.  One was snoozing on your right side, leaning against your side.  The other was playing with your ears from your back.  

‘I need to get out of here, but these fairies, no, everything isn’t helping me,’ you mentally smacked yourself.

Suddenly, the door opened up from downstairs, causing the fairies to jump and quickly fly away.  You sighed in relief, but since you were always curious you followed them.  You trotted down the hall and down the stairs to find Arthur in a grumpy state.  He wore a frown and his eyes burned with annoyance and anger.  He stomped past you to his work desk and slammed his work papers on it before sitting in the chair.  Soon enough FMB came flying into the room cheerfully, seeming unaware of Arthur’s mood.

“Hiya Arthur, how did your day go?”

“Bloody brilliant,” he said sarcasticly, “No leads, no clues, no nothing.  How is it that we can’t even locate one girl, yet we can find the most wanted criminals?  It just doesn’t make any bloody sense.  And the fact she hasn’t been seen or made a move in 3 days doesn’t add up either.”

He then put his elbows on the desk and buried his face in his hands.  A part of you hated seeing him like this while the other was a bit proud that you could evade them this much.  Your mind battled inside your head, trying to decide to comfort him or leave him alone.  Before your mind could decide though, your stomach began to growl; not loud, but enough to cause a slight pain in your stomach.  You hadn’t been fed since the previous night.  Arthur seemed more focused on finding you, the human you, than feeding you.

Bang, Bang, Bang

You jumped at least 3 feet into the air when someone began banging on the door.  Your fur was standing on end and your back arched.  You then raced behind the couch, hiding from whoever the noisy person was.

“Bloody hell, I told that idiot not to come by,” Arthur cursed before getting up and heading for the door.

Once he opened the door, Alfred almost fell forward since he was just about to knock again, but quickly caught himself.  

“Hey, Iggy!”

“Don’t call me that!  Now what do you want?”

“I just came by to check on the lost cat we found a few nights back.”

Arthur’s face nearly went pale and he partially face-palmed.  Now he remembered you.  He then made his way to the kitchen with Alfred following behind with a confused expression.  Arthur the began to take out some food and almost started to cook until Alfred grabbed his hands.

“No way, dude.  Last time you cooked you sent Francis to the hospital remember?  I don’t want you sending the poor cat to the emergency clinic.”

“My cooking is perfecting fine!  That bloody frog just cant stomach it.”

Alfred merely rolled his eyes and pushed Arthur away from the kitchen, but the Brit held onto the kitchen entry door.

“Stop pushing me, and you don’t even know how to cook you idiot!”

“Yeah I do.  What do you think I eat when I’m not eating McDonalds?” raising an eyebrow while still holding a smirk.

“…”

“There.  Now I’ll fix this up, and you can keep the kitty busy.”

Arthur sighed in defeat and walked over to the couch where you were now perched.  You watched his movements like a hawk, but when he went to pet you, you swatted at his hand.  He hissed slightly as one of your claws nicked the top of his hand, leaving behind a light scratch that now was bleeding slightly.  He then glared up at you and you sent him a glare in return.  You both glared at each other until Alfred came in with food for him and Arthur and a small plate for you.

Your ears perked up and you bolted from your perch, claws digging into Arthur’s lap.

“OWW!  Bloody cat.  Alfred, we are getting rid of this cat, and I don’t care what you say.”

Alfred was barely paying attention to him though, as he was petting you as you rubbed against his leg.  Arthur saw this and glared at you again, but you sent him a witty smirk that left him shocked.  

“Aww come one dude, this dudette loves me.  I just don’t think she likes you so much.  Maybe it’s the eyebrows.”

“I highly doubt that,” Arthur said, shaking his head.

“Says the man who was the most feared pirate out there, and you cant even beat this cat or (Name), haha.”

You began to eat the food Alfred gave you and the two men conversed about work, and video games.  You soon began to bore of their antics and laid down on the carpet, curling up and beginning to doze off.  Unknown to you, Arthur was watching you with curious eyes.  He always thought you were strange since the moment they found you, but he had some gut feeling that you were somehow connected to the human you.

“Dude, you ok?”

“Huh?  O-Oh yes, I’m quite alright.  I was just thinking.”

“Are you thinking about (Name) again?  Dude, you need to relax, we’ll find her.  She can’t hide away forever you know.”

“Well apparently she can you git, or else we would have found her by now.  She’s only one girl, not some mastermind criminal.”

“Whatever, dude.  I’m gonna head back to my place and play that new game I got.  It’s seriously addicting and for some reason I can’t stop playing it.”

With that they both got up and headed for the door, leaving you to get up and perch yourself on the couch once more.  Truthfully you were getting tired of this form, and you wanted so desperately to get out of the house.  Sure you could have just bolted out the door the second they opened it, but you thought it would be suspicious.  You could already tell Arthur knew there was something strange about you, but you just hoped that he didn’t know about shapeshifters.

Footsteps began making their way back towards the room you were in, so you looked up to the source.  Arthur was standing in the doorway to the room, looking at you with what seemed like a half glare, half questioning look.  You tilted your head to the side before yawning, letting out a small ‘meow’ at the end.  Arthur just shook his head and headed to his room, hopefully to get some much needed sleep.  As you watched him walk away, your heart began to hurt slightly.  

In the few days of staying here, you had grown close to those two; far too close.  You made up your mind right then and there to escape tonight.  Even if those fairies were on patrol you had to get out.  You then curled up and watched outside, waiting till the sun set over the horizon.  This was going be a crazy night.

-----------Mini time skip to middle of the night----------

Everything was quiet.  Very quite except for the soft snores coming from Arthur’s room.  The fairies had all fallen asleep for the night as well as FMB.  It was the perfect opportunity to slip away.  It was almost pitch black outside and within the house with barely a sliver of the moon to keep it lit.  You could faintly hear the crickets chirping outside the door.  

Ever so slowly, you prowled to the back door, looking and listening for anything that would give you away.  Taking one more thorough look around you shifted into your human form and reached for the latch.  

FLASH

A bright light shone on you from behind.  You turned swiftly around and saw Arthur standing down the long hallway, still in his uniform, holding a flashlight and pointing it straight at you.  You were speechless, but his look of pure shock and confusion quickly turned into one of triumph.

‘How the heck did I not hear him?!  He was just sleeping mere moments ago!’ you screamed in your head.

You slowly backed into the door with your hands behind your back.  You fought the desire to just panic and focused your head.  You were literally on your toes, ready for anything that would happen.

“I knew something was wrong when I cast that finding spell.  You were hiding under my nose all along, but how you did it I don’t know.”

‘Wait, so he didn’t see me transform?  That’s good to hear,’ you inwardly sighed in relief.

“Why are you so determined to catch me anyway?  All I have ever stolen is food,” you asked hesitantly.

“Even if it’s just food, you’re stealing.  You’re a wanted criminal and it’s my job to bring criminals to justice.”

“Even if they have no choice but to do what they need to to survive?”  You asked softly, but loud enough so he could hear.

“What do you mean?” He asked curiously, but didn’t let his guard down.

“Why should I even tell you?  You’d still bring me in and I would still be sent to jail, even if I was just trying to keep myself alive.”

He began to take slow steps towards you, leaving you nowhere to escape.  You now had tears in your eyes as memories began to resurface.  You forced them back and locked your gaze with his in a defiant glare.

‘Damn it, what do I do?  The only way out is behind me, but it’s still locked.’

“Come quietly, and I wont have to hurt you.  Then you can tell me your side of the story.”

You resisted rolling your eyes.  As softly and soundlessly as you could you undid the latch and gripped the handle of the door.  Sweat beaded your brow with every step he took towards you.  You also took quick notice that he didn’t have his gun with him, but you hoped he didn’t have a tazer.  As soon as he came halfway down the hall, you turned around and opened the door as quick as you could.  However, the second you had turned around Arthur broke out into a sprint, and gave chase.

You sprinted as fast as you could out the door and into the field that was behind his home.  You could fearfully hear his footsteps right behind you, and it sounded like he was gaining on you.  Now you were beginning to panic.

‘I can’t transform in front of him, but if I don’t he’ll catch me.  What do I do??’

You quickly spared a glance behind you and saw he was still a good 5 yards away from you.  You then looked back ahead and saw the forest border come into view.  An idea popped into your head and you made a mad dash for the trees.  Arthur seemed to have sensed your plan as he began to sprint faster as well.

“You’re not getting away from me again!”  He yelled from behind you.

“Then try to catch what you call a vanishing thief,” you yelled back as you came upon a tree.

You ran up to it and used your momentum to launch you right up into the branches.  You grabbed a branch with your right hand and began to pull yourself further up the tree.  Arthur seemed to be trying the same thing, but on the second branch it snapped in half and he fell back to earth with a loud thud.

“Oww…bloody hell, that was a nasty fall.  Wait, where’s my flashlight?” he muttered, but kept his eyes focused on you.

You had now made it more than half way up the tree and you saw a thick branch of another one to your left.  Taking advantage of Arthur’s fumble, you pushed off the branch and onto the new one.  You continued doing this as Arthur tried to keep his eye on you, but with the barely moonless night and no lighting to help him see he couldn’t keep track of you.

After a few more jumps, you stopped behind a thick trunk and hid, praying he didn’t see you.  You watched as he ran aimlessly in the direction you had gone, but you could tell he lost you by the way he was frantically looking around.  You could hear him cursing under his breath as he came closer to your tree.  You stayed perfectly still and didn’t dare breathe.  After a few moments he finally gave up, clenching his fists so tight you could have sworn you saw his knuckles go pure white.  He then punched the tree with his right hand so hard you could feel the vibration through the trunk.

“Damn it all!!  She was right in front of me, yet I let her slip away again.  Why does this keep happening?”  He yelled through clenched teeth, punching the tree once more.

Pain spiked through your chest at his pained voice.  You honestly cared for him, but the only thing you were doing was hurting him.  The only thing that would put his mind and being at ease was to turn yourself in, but you weren’t; not for something that you couldn’t avoid.

You transformed into a hawk again and took off into the night, but not before circling around above Arthur.  He saw you, but once again just thought nothing of it and began to walk back towards his home.  

‘I’m sorry, Arthur,’ you thought sorrowfully.

To put your mind at ease, you watched him until he got home, making sure he didn’t lose his way.  Once he was inside, you perched yourself on the windowsill of his room and transformed into a small mouse.  He then burst into the room and threw his uniform coat forcefully onto the bed before sitting down on it.  He put his face in his hands and dug his fingers into his hair.

You saw his mouth moving, but could not hear what he said through the window as he then got changed and went to bed.

‘Good night, Arthur.  Maybe when we meet next I’ll explain a bit more, but until then sleep.’

You then resumed your hawk form and flew off towards the warehouse.  You didn’t look back this time, and only hoped that the coming days would be a bit more quiet.  Maybe then would you be able to somehow speak with him without him trying to put you in handcuffs.




To be continued~