What do you mean I've been gone for over a year. I don't understand what you're talking about. That's a stupid and ridiculously false thing to say. PSSSSH
Disclaimer: I own nothing? Like, if I did, there'd be a lot more, like, gay?
Summary: A kittypet comes to live in ThunderClan to try and become a warrior. Why does Tigerclaw have a feeling he knows this kitty pet from somewhere? With Redtail's death and a rising evil, what can a warrior do?
Pairing: Tigerstar/Firestar Slash.
Chapter One: The First Meeting
A tiny orange cat stumbled around a lush green yard, staring in wonder at the new world around him. His vibrant green eyes stared in wonder at the softly swaying grass, his nose twitching as the new smells assaulted him. His tiny ears twitched and swiveled as the sounds of outside filled him for the first time.
"He's becoming quite adventurous."
A brown-and-white tabby she-cat tilted her head as she stared down at the wondering kit. The black-and-white tom next to her was a pudgy thing, lazily flicking his tail as he watches both her and the small kit.
"That's what I'm worried about," she replied, worry filling her eyes as the kit stumbles, but quickly picks himself up. "He's too much like his father, Smudge."
"Jake had an attitude all his own, Nutmeg. Just because he was crazy enough to go after forest cats doesn't mean that Rusty is," Smudge said, trying to meet Mutmeg's eyes. "Not every cat you love is going to leave you."
Nutmeg's eyes dimmed at Jake's name, her paws twitching and curling in on themselves. "He promised me forever, you know."
Smudge says nothing, instead turning his head back to the orange kit. "Rusty will have you and Princess. Jake had no one."
"Jake had me!" Nutmeg hissed. "Then he met Quince and-" Nutmeg stopped, her breathing a harsh, wet sound.
Smudge refrained from replying again, feeling a small pang in his chest for his abandoned friend. Nutmeg had been mourning her abandonment for several moons now, her anger slowly turning into a desperate grief that always seemed to be clawing at her.
They both watched Rusty as he stumbled over to a fluffy light-brown tabby she-cat, clumsily climbing onto her small back and playfully swatting at her nose.
"It would be different if he didn't..."
"Didn't look so much like his father?" Smudge finished her sentence, his tail swaying to lay across Nutmeg's.
Nutmeg smiled a soft, sad smile, her tail curling around Smudge's for a moment before she stood, dropping his tail. "We better get inside. Our housefolk will be calling us in soon enough anyway."
Smudge returned her smile with one of his own, a small understanding smile, before he nods, standing and stretching leisurely.
"Rusty, Princess, it's time to go in," Nutmeg called out, her eyes quickly finding her daughter.
Princess tripped over herself as she stumbled over to her mother, her small tail wagging as she trots closer.
"Hello, dear," Nutmeg says as she gives Princess an affectionate lick on the head.
"Hello, mother," Princess mews, returning an affectionate lick across her mother's muzzle.
"Rusty," Nutmeg calls again, glancing around the yard. When no orange meets her gaze, Nutmeg's heart starts to quicken in pace. "Princess, where's your brother?"
"He found a hole in the fence," Princess replies. "I told him not to go through it, but he wanted to explore."
Nutmeg froze, her fur quickly standing on edge. Smudge gaped, his eyes widening as he looked down at Princess.
"Smudge, take Princess inside," Nutmeg said urgently, sprinting toward the tall wooden fence that enclosed the backyard.
"Nutmeg!" Smudge shouted after her, uncertainty clouding him as he glanced down at the oblivious Princess.
"Keep her away," Nutmeg shouted as she crouched and pounced, her jump sending her souring onto the top of the fence. She eyes the area around her frantically, her glowing green eyes searching for any hint of orange.
Her eyes finally landed on a small figure just a bit away, a distant jingle as the dark orange figure moved along. She sprang down from the fence, rushing to collect her kit. That's when she felt the tremble. The small vibrations felt like someone splashed her with heart stopping-cold water. A housefolk machine came barreling down the path, swerving slightly as it made its way toward her kit. Nutmeg froze for only a moment before sprinting toward Rusty, desperation filling her as she realized she wouldn't reach her oblivious kit in time.
"Rusty!" she shouted, tears already starting to form in her panic-stricken eyes.
Just as the housefolk machine was about to strike him, a dark brown blob streaked in front of the machine, taking Rusty with it. The machine passed without incident, not even noticing the tragedy it would've caused. Nutmeg hissed as it rumbled passed her, it's shiny exterior reflecting the fading sun into her eyes. She glared at it for a moment longer, making sure it wasn't coming back for her kit, before she turned around and bolted toward the spot where the brown blob was holding her kit off the ground.
She slowed as she approached, uncertainty and caution filling her senses as she took several deep sniffs. The blob was definitely a cat, though its back is to her, that smelled deeply of the forest on the other side of the path, its scent mixing with the distinct smell of other cats.
"Rusty?" Nutmeg asked worriedly, taking a couple more steps forward, only to pause as the cat turned toward her.
The cat was a broad dark tabby tom, his eyes a sharp and fiery color, like amber during a sunset. He held a blinking Rusty in his mouth, though the sight was slightly odd seeing that the tom was smaller than her, his head held high being the only thing keeping Rusty from touching the ground.
The tom stared at her for a moment, watching her, his gaze calculating and cold, before he slowly puts Rusty down, the kit meowing and turning to study the mysterious tom.
"Is this kit yours, kittypet?" he asked in a slightly gravelly voice.
Nutmeg nodded slowly and replied, "Yes, Rusty is mine. I'm Nutmeg."
The tom sneered slightly, but replied with a clipped, "I'm Tigerpaw."
"Tigger?" Rusty asks, shuffling from his sitting position as he moves to inspect the new tom.
"Tigerpaw," the tom stresses with a frown, glancing down at the kit as it sniffs as it much larger paws.
"Tigger!" Rusty says enthusiastically, jumping up Tigerpaw's leg slightly, his tail wagging in kit like excitement.
Tigerpaw's frown deepens into a scowl, his tail twitching irritably, but he let's Rusty climb all over him, something Nutmeg is thankful for.
"Thank you," Nutmeg croaks out, clearing her throat. "For saving him, that is."
Tigerpaw nods, his tail lashing around as Rusty tries to hit it, his small paw batting at the moving appendage.
Nutmeg watches Rusty for a few more moments, letting her kit investigate the tom, before she finally closes the distance between them, coming to stand beside Rusty. "Would you like to come back to my home? The sun is about to set and this path becomes especially dangerous during the dark."
Tigerpaw looked offended at her offer, his scowl now a slow snarl, as he scoffs at her. "N-"
"Tigger comes with us?" Rusty asks, his excitement making his fur fluff up. "Tigger come back home?"
Tigerpaw's expression changes, the hatred in his eyes turning into a cautious curiosity. There is silence between them, the sound of birds and the rustling of wind the only noise until a soft purr starts to come from Rusty. Nutmeg looks down, breaking eye contact with the older tom, to find her kit staring happily up at Tigerpaw, his purr vibrating through the air.
"Alright," Tigerpaw cuts in suddenly. "I'll come with you, but only for the night. I leave as soon as I wake up in the morning."
Nutmeg gives him a warm smile, hoping that she can change his cold demeanor by the next morning. They pad back to the hole in the fence at a leisurely pace, Rusty happily walking beside Tigerpaw, babbling on about nothing.
Nutmeg crawls underneath the fence first, turning to help Rusty get through. Tigerpaw is as sleek as ever as he pushes through, his fur not once getting ruffled by the rough edges of the hole. She says nothing as she guides Tigerpaw to a larger patch of grass, the tom curling up into the center stiffly.
"Thank you," he says after a moment, not meeting her eyes.
"No problem," she says queitly, ushering Rusty into the house as the small kit yawns. "Good night, Tigerpaw."
"Good night," Tigerpaw answer back hesitantly, his voice a faint whisper in the dark, moonless night.
There's nothingness around her. A black abyss surrounds her, suffocated her, as she stares at nothing. She clenches and unclenches her paws, feeling the cold grass against her pads, and she vaguely wonders if she has somehow lost her sight. She gets her answer as a small flame comes to life in the distance, glowing brighter as it illuminates the area surrounding her.
Everything is lit in a soft orange glow as the trees, grass, and dark sky are revealed to her sight. The orange flame is standing upon a large rock, its height astonishing even to her. The flame flickers as it lashes out with bright, flashy sparks. Suddenly, a pair of fluorescent green eyes appear within its depths, its pupil-less gaze searching for something in the darkness.
She considers getting closer to the flame, curiosity filling her, when a pair of luminescent amber eyes appear only a few tail-lengths away from her. The eyes a rimmed with a bloody red, something that sets her on edge, but the eyes pay her no mind, instead they a seemingly drawn to the flame, just like her own gaze. A volatile black seeps out from the eyes, darker than the nothingness that surrounds them. It flickers around the eyes, her visions becoming glazed as she watches the dark entity grown closer to the flame.
She watches in amazement as the two colors, the bright orange and the nothing black, twist together, the eyes of both entities staring at each other, a feeling of longing filling the air. She is about to speak, ask the two why they seem so intertwined, yet so far apart, when she is shaken awake.
"Mother?" Princess asks, nudging Nutmeg on the chest. "Rusty went outside."
Nutmeg blinked the sleep out of her eyes, yawning as she stretches. The window beside their bed shows a moonless night, the stars above them brighter than she's seen in a long time. She steps out of the bed, careful of Princess, and trots toward the door, slipping out of the flap her housefolk had made for easy access to the yard.
Her ears twitched as the sound of soft breaths reached her. She padded lightly over to the long grass in the corner of the yard, her gaze softening as she took in the sight before her. Tigerpaw laid curled up, his body keeping Rusty securely to his stomach, the kit snuggled deeply into the tom's chest fur.
A flash of her dream, the bright fire and the red rimmed eyes filling her mind as she stared down at the two cuddling toms. She watches them for a moment longer, her gaze now curious, a distant feeling of uncertainty filling her as the night goes on around her.
Nutmeg stares up at the sky as the crickets chirp around her, the symphony of their song filling the air as the stars sparkled above her head.
"I hope you know what you're doing," she whispers, her question meeting silence. She leaves Rusty with Tigerpaw, not even considering that waking Rusty up would be a good idea.
A pair of amber eyes slither open as they take in the swaying cat flap. The turn to the orange bundle that is Rusty, softening with inevitable affection. Tigerpaw yawns, his teeth glinting from the light of the stars up above. He curls even closer to the kit, letting his body grow warm from the heat Rusty puts out. Tigerpaw falls into a dreamless sleep.
Nutmeg awakes the next morning to Rusty whining about something to Smudge.
"He didn't say goodbye!" Rusty cried, sprawled across the floor in from of their cat bed.
"This mysterious cat?" Smudge asked in amusement, glancing at Nutmeg with confused curiosity.
"Tigger," Rusty whimpers, laying his paws over his eyes.
"Tigger?" Smudge asks.
"I'll explain later," Nutmeg assures him, pulling her son into her, letting him curl up next to her.
Nutmeg looked out the window, soft morning sunlight shining through. She smiled to herself, listening to a whining Rusty and a sleepy Princess. She doesn't tell him, doesn't feel like it's the right time, that she knows, just knows, that Tigerpaw will be in his life again. She doesn't know how, or when, but the lingering feeling of longing from her dream overflows her senses.
It's her son's destiny to be with Tigerpaw. Who is Nutmeg to keep them apart?