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Intro:
Hi there! I'm Rai! This is my second warriors fanfiction, the first is still unfinished and will be continually updated as well as TDOF. First off I'd like to thank you for choosing to read this fanfic. I hope you enjoy it. This is taking place right after the battle in the six book of the first set in the warriors series.
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Summary:
The BloodClan was left leaderless when Scourge was slaughtered by Firestar. But now a new leader has risen from the darkness and she will drink the blood of nine lives. Rated 'T' for gore/blood/violence...
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Chapter One:
A pair of small, wide, frightened blue eyes peered through the dark, blood-soaked forest. The clearing's ground would've been dusty if it hadn't pools of the red liquid swimming around cold lifeless bodies of many cats. Most of them were not from the forest; all in fact were the dead left behind by the cats of her clan. Any living cats that had stayed behind were relatives or mates to the freshly dead.
The small blue-eyed black kitten slinked forward through the carnage, trying to keep her paw out of the crimson liquid. One of the living cats still present saw her, giving a glare that pierced the darkness. It uttered a low his at her.
The kitten's hackles rose anxiously and she hurried past. There was one cat she had to fins, but dreaded to, if he was among the cats that would never see the new dawn. Fur tufts were littering the moonlit ground; there were a few teeth too, reminding the kitten of the trophies often taken by the cats of her clan.
She trotted on, blue eyes growing desperate to find the cat she was searching for among the living. Ice filled her stomach and a knot formed in her throat; in front of her, about ten feet away was a familiar pelt, but not the one of the cat she was looking for.
"Bone!" She squeaked, dashing toward the unmoving black-and-white tom-cat. She pushed her nose into his fur, feeling the icy chill of death. The clan tom-cat was gone. At times, the kitten knew, Bone could be vicious, rude and harsh, but he had always been gentle and nice to her, like a second father. After a moment of mourning the dead tom she turned away to continue her search.
More living clan cats were coming and gathering closer to the kitten, but still keeping their distance. The kitten gave them a glance with her inherited blue eye. She tried to ignore the murmuring among them, scanning her surroundings, then her eyes met an awful sight. Near a large rock, lying on a bed of flattened red-splashed ferns was the cat she's been searching for. Immediately she froze horrified.
"Daddy...?" her mew was barely above a rough whisper. With timid steps she moved toward the cat's lifeless body. A couple of paw steps away she stopped, gazing at the black tom. "Daddy, wake up!" She mewed pitifully. "You can't be dead! Wake up, please!" she begged, desperation creeping into her voice. She rubbed her cheek against the black tom's fur. "I need you! Wake up!"
"He's never going to wake up you little rat!" A voice snarled from behind. The kitten whirled around. A huge gray furred- amber eyed she-cat towered above her, fixing the kitten with a malicious glare. "He's dead! They're all dead because of him!" her voice was laced with venom.
"No..." the kitten murmured, "It wasn't his fault!" she shouted.
"My mate is dead because of him!" the she-cat growled, causing the other live cats present to hiss in agreement, calling out their own relations who had died.
"He should pay, as well- like us, even in death with the life of his kin!" one cat yowled.
All the other cats screeched in agreement, grinding the forest floor with claws that were reinforced with fangs. "Kill her!", "Rip that rat to shreds!", and "We'll tear you guts out and feed them to the crows!" were only a few of the angry yowls from the cats, but none moved forward, except one. The rest still feared what would happen to them if they hurt her, even though her father was dead.
The one that stepped forward was a huge, muscular white tom-cat with many scars threading his long-furred pelt. The kitten immediately recognized the tom as Cloud, a cat her father thoroughly hated and distrusted, but let live only because he was valuably strong.
His yellow eyes fixed the black kitten, freezing her in fear. "Don't worry, I'll make this quickâbut just as painful, rat!" Cloud raised her reinforced claws to lacerate the kitten. His paw was swinging down when time seemed to slow impossibly down to the kitten. She took a perplexed breath, when a dark translucent form appeared beside her. Her father.
"Kill him," her father's voice was cool and blunt as he gave the slow motion white tom a disdainful glance.
"What?" she mewed, confused, having thought he was here to take her from the world of the living to the depths for the dead.
"Cloud is a nuisance. You must get rid of him. Demand respect from the living." He purred encouragingly. "If they won't give it to you willingly, take it by force. Destroy Cloud!" his last words seemed like a cold shriek in the kitten's ears and then time resumed its normal speed.
With unearthly agility the kitten dodged under Cloud's fanged strike, swiping with her out fangless claws. It was to her surprise at the sudden cold power and icy fury she felt coursing through her muscles like a virus; she felt her claws tear through Cloud's flesh with hot blood flooding out in a stream through the air behind her claws, completely shredding Cloud's nose and front of his muscle. He yowled in raging agony trying to crush the kitten with his heavy paw as he fell. But she skipped on weightless paws out of Cloud's way. "You little rat!" he shrieked, launching himself at her.
The kitten scrambled backwards out of reach, allowing the rage-blinded tom to crash into a fallen tree limb. She dashed to the opposite side of her father's dead body, grabbing a tooth that had come out of his collar in her teeth. Cloud was about to pounce again, but this time the kitten was ready, and she leaped forward to meet him.
Cloud had not been expecting the kitten to try and attack him back and he hit the ground hard as she pounced on top of him. It was even more of a shock when nerve-racking pain blossomed across his forehead like a fiery flower. Hot, sticky liquid poured down his white fur, staining it the color of a dying sun. Blackness filled his eyes until all that was left were to two ice blue eyes of the kitten he'd just tried to kill. Then he was gone.
The rest of the cats, who'd been cheering Cloud on, had fallen into a dead silence in utter astonishment and fear. The kitten stood in front of the motionless white cat, blue eyes blazing with power and alarm as she stared at her work, unable to believe the murder she had just committed. The fang that she'd grabbed from her father's collar had been her tool in the butchery, and now, it lay lodged deeply in the very center of Cloud's split forehead with fragmented skull pieced jabbing out and blood webbing out through his fur, vibrant even in the pale moonlight.
A frightened gasp of mews traveled around the cats like a wave. The kitten could hardly tear her uneasy gaze from the white tom's dead body, but she did, fixing the rest of the cats with a frozen glare. They all dropped their wide-eyed stares as they bowed their heads, terrified.
"You are the leader of the clan, now," a tortoiseshell she-cat whispered, but loud enough for all to hear.
"Yes... Leader," many others murmured.
How can this be? She thought; only moments ago she'd been a frightened, gentle kitten and now she was a cold-hearted murderous lead of an entire clan. The silence in the air was nearly as seeing the fang driven into Cloud's head, so an old, frail tom called out softly.
"What would you have us do now, Leader?"
They are no longer calling me 'rat', she realized in shock. Her father had never given the kitten a name because he wanted her to choose her own name like he had when the right time came. Now it had come. Her mind, in the spur of the moment, had immediately gone blank, and she swiftly glanced around, trying to spark her mind for a name. Then it came to her. Slowly, but surely, the kitten raised her head high and proud. Her voice was strong, shaking only once as she spoke.
"I am Skull, daughter of Scourge and leader of BloodClan!"