Endless. They were endless. Not just these tunnels. Lies, false friends, a false code, a failing 'family'...
Green fire lit her eyes. "My own brothers left me!" she growled. "They are all traitors! Traitors! I shall kill them all! They all deserve to die! I am one of the three! I can kill them all!" She rambled on. And on, and on. Only she could still deny that she was mad.
There was no light. All the tunnels were dark, hopeless. But her mind never registered that. She only wanted to walk on, find a way out, and kill them all. All kinds of rocks scraped against her sides and pads. Blood dripped out of a tear of her hind foot, but she didn't feel it. She only felt revenge.
Hours slipped away, but she never stopped. She never got hungry or thirsty. The hard floor of the cave meant nothing. The stifling, moist air did nothing. The hopless darkness was a refuge. She never saw light... until then.
A spectral figure padded his way to the madcat. It was barely visible, since it was so small and black. Only one white paw let her spot it.
"Hollyleaf, one of the great three," it purred. She immediately unsheathed her claws, or at least tried to. She found them already unsheathed. It seemed as if they had been for a long time. She didn't bother to think about it. She only leaped at it, trying to tear out it's throat. Despite realizing it had a collar of teeth on, she ignored it completely.
The ghost sidestepped it and jumped onto her back mid-leap, pinning her to the ground. Despite being a good deal smaller than the warrior, it kept her down perfectly. Every struggle, it managed to find some secret pressure point to stop it. "You have the spirit and rage to become a great warrior. But not yet. You are blind, and have let the betrayal of your terrible family smother you. Do you know who I am?" Hollyleaf only growled under the smaller cat's body.
"I am Scourge, the one who defeated Firestar."
Now, Hollyleaf spoke. Words seemed hard to form. "No. I heard Firestar killed you."
Scourge chuckled evilly. "Not so. I took one of his nine lives before he took my one. If it had been a fair fight, I would of won. In fact, I took all the nine lives of Tigerstar in one bite." Despite the haze of insanity through her eyes, Hollyleaf could be seen considering him.
"And I'll tell you something no one knows..." he meowed in a taunting voice. "Firestar is my brother. We share a mother, but not a father. In a way, you and I are kin. But I will never betray you like your false mothers, fathers, and brothers did. I can teach you how to channel your anger. I can unlock your potential as one of the three, and I can teach you all the secrets that the Clans thought to dishonorable." He spat out the last word like poison.
"...Show me proof." Scourge walked off her and down a tunnel she hadn't noticed. In only a minute's walk, she saw sunlight again. But she recoiled at it. Looking around, she was in WindClan territory. She longed for solitude among the trees, and a dark pit away from the light. She even considered going back into the cave.
"We shall wait a quarter-moon," Scourge commanded. "By then, they shall of lessened their guard. Then, we shall murder then all, one by one. And I will forge you into the greatest assassin the lake has ever seen."
Hollyleaf turned to her great-half-uncle, who she now held above any other relative. "Of course, master..." Soon, her revenge would be endless. The cats she could kill, the blood in her mouth, and the land that would be hers. Endless madness...
