These are a couple of one-shot's for DarkClan.
A kit treated badly grows up evil, but a kit treated well turns out good.
"Has Palekit opened her eyes yet? If she has, can we go play outside?" my brother, Sunkit, asked. Even without my eyes open, I could tell from his voice that he is both impatient and kind. My brother had taken after my father, Leafclaw. Leafclaw was a senior warrior who was respected by all, and if the deputy died (he was very sick), he would've been next in line. I hoped that before I became an apprentice, I would be the daughter of Leafstar, leader of ThunderClan. Not that I wanted Stonestar to die.
Heatherstrike, my mother, told Sunkit with a hiss of annoyance, "No, she hasn't, Sunkit. Now why don't you leave her alone or go play with the apprentices or something. We want some peace and quiet around here." Heatherstrike was normally really nice, friendly, and peppy, but ever since Sunkit opened his eyes, Heatherstrike has treated him horribly.
I tried to open my eyes. I was just so sick of everyone talking and having fun around me, and Heatherstrike and Leafclaw wouldn't let me outside until my eyes were open. My eyelids seemed like they were stuck to my face with cobwebs. Soon, I told myself. Soon.
One day, I woke up early, and it was the warmest day. I couldn't smell Sunkit. He must've been outside. Even inside the nursery, I could feel the sun's rays shining on me, and I lay on my back and soaked up the warmth. I heard an apprentice, from all the times he has gotten in trouble I assumed that it was Ashpaw. "It's so nice out, you guys!" He called out to his friends. "Come out and enjoy the sun! We should go hunting!"
That was the last straw. I fought the imaginary cobwebs that concealed my eyes, and suddenly an orange ray blasted into my face. I looked around. A russet-colored she-cat smelled exactly like Heatherstrike, so I unsheathed a single claw and prodded her in the side. "Mama, look! I opened my eyes!"
My mother yawned, turned to look at me, and blinked sleep out of her eyes. When she saw my eyes open, she gasped. "Your eyes! They're a beautiful blue, like your father's! They match wonderfully with your creamy-colored pelt! I'm glad you didn't turn out like... Sunkit." She added the last word with a snarl, turning her head to glare out of the nursery.
"What's wrong with Sunkit?" I asked. Heatherstrike glanced at me again, coldness lighting her beautiful green eyes.
"Your brother," she snarled, "is a demon. Right as he was born, the medicine cat fell into a daze. She said that StarClan had sent a prophecy about Sunkit. The prophecy was weird, it went like this:
"A kit treated badly grows up evil, but a kit treated well turns out good. I don't really know what it means, but it must have something to do with Sunkit. With those evil eyes of his–– one's green and one's orange–– who knows what kind of evil he has planned for the downfall of our Clan."
Suddenly Sunkit burst into the den, his eyes shining happily, and his golden fur fluffed. "Palekit! You should open your eyes now, it's great outside––" But Heatherstrike cut him off.
"Your sister already has her eyes open. You should be faster next time. If you aren't fast enough, you'll just weigh the Clan down." She snorted, and added in a louder voice, so it was echoing across the walls of the nursery, "As if you aren't weighing the Clan down enough already."
Sunkit glanced at the ground, his face a clear expression of hurt. "Well, if you want to, Palekit, we could go outside. It's really pretty..." his voice trailed off, but he looked at me hopefully.
"Of course we can play," I mewed happily, while Heatherstrike let out a grunt of annoyance. I sent a glare at her, and she stared innocently at me. "Why don't we go outside right now? You can introduce me to everyone, like our father, and Stonestar, or the elders..."
Sunkit looked astonished. "Uh... of course we can go and meet everyone. I'm sure they'd love to meet you..." He added in a barely audible whisper, "Because they seemed to hate me..." Poor Sunkit! He must have been through a lot.
We went outside together, and every head was turned toward us. The heads that were turned toward me had friendly gazes, though the heads turned toward Sunkit had their jaws open in a fierce snarl. Almost immediately, a beautiful silver she-cat came up to me and dipped her head towards me. I looked carefully to my left, and saw Sunkit's eyes gleaming with love. Sunkit had a crush on this cat!
"Hi, Palekit! I've heard so much about you. I'm Lakepaw." She took a quick and careful glance toward Sunkit. Lakepaw looked back at me, and meowed again, "I could show you around the camp. Just me and you!" And she whispered in my ear, "Why don't we get away from your freakish brother."
"Don't call my brother a freak," I meowed quietly, but in a louder voice, "Yes, I'll go with you. I'll eat some fresh kill with you, Sunkit?"
"Of... of course!" Sunkit stammered, still staring at Lakepaw, "I'll see you there! I don't mind, really. I spend most of my days alone, anyway." I immediately felt guilty, but Lakepaw put her tail on my shoulder and forcefully steered me around the camp, showing me every crook and nanny of it. And when a warrior saw us, they congratulated me on opening my eyes. Even Stonestar put his tail around my shoulder.
Soon, it was time for fresh kill. I chose a vole from the pile and walked over to Sunkit, who was sitting at the very edge of camp.
"Hey Sunkit!" I meowed happily. "How was your day? Mine was awesome. Do you want to share this vole? Great, I bet you've had it before. I hope it's delicious!"
Sunkit delicately took one bite of vole, then another. Pretty soon, he was wolfing down the entire piece of prey, but I didn't mind. I still had Heatherstrike's milk. But suddenly I heard Heatherstrike's yowl from across the clearing, and I could see dark green eyes glaring at Sunkit.
"Sunkit!" Heatherstrike yowled, "Shame on you! Eating all of poor Palekit's prey! That's it! Only two bites of prey a day until you die! I hope your death comes soon, because we all hate you!" Loud murmurs of agreement broke out among the rest of the cats. I stayed as silent as possible.
My brother only flattened his ears and glared at the ground, his mismatched eyes gleaming with hatred. "You should go," he muttered to me quietly. "They won't want you to stay around a demon-kit, like me." I opened my mouth, as if to object, but Sunkit brushed his fluffy golden tail across my mouth, making me be silent. "Just go, okay?" I rubbed my muzzle against Sunkit's fur, but I left all the same, towards our family.
...
Soon enough, it was time for our apprentice ceremony. Heatherstrike groomed me furiously, making sure that no tuft of fur was out of place. Sunkit looked way different. My creamy pelt was slick and clean, while Sunkit's pelt was covered in dirt, and bedraggled. Every time I made a struggle to clean his pelt, Heatherstrike zoomed in and told me that Sunkit should clean his own pelt. And I couldn't? I glared at her, but it made no difference.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here under the Highledge for a Clan Meeting." Stonestar's call sounded all through the camp, and I scrambled to my paws, walking out of the nursery with my head held high proudly. I could worry about Sunkit later. Right now, I had to worry about who my mentor was going to be, what we did first, meeting my denmates, the list was endless!
I took my place under the Highledge, and Sunkit nervously sat next to me, eyes narrowed and his ears flattened to his head. He kept on shifting his paws, looking up at Stonestar fearfully. Sunkit kept on whispering, "I don't want to do this! I don't want to be an apprentice!" But why? Every kit wanted to be an apprentice, from the start when they found out what an apprentice was!
"From this day forward," Stonestar started, staring at me, "This apprentice will be called Palepaw. I will be her mentor, and I hope I can pass down everything I learned down to her." He leaped off of the Highledge and touched noses with me. I was bubbling with excitement. Sure, Leafclaw wasn't leader yet, but I had the leader as my mentor! Then I wondered who Sunkit's mentor was going to be.
"From this day forward," Stonestar meowed again, "This apprentice will be called Sunpaw. Heatherstrike!" He called out, and immediately felt bad for Sunpaw. He had the cat that hated him the most for his mentor! How was Heatherstrike going to act towards him now?
Heatherstrike padded forward, eyes burning with hatred directed at Sunpaw, and looked up at Stonestar for him to continue. "Heatherstrike, you gained bravery and loyalty from your mentor, and I expect you to pass down all you know to Sunpaw." Sunpaw hesitantly stretched his neck to touch noses with Heatherstrike, but Heatherstrike jabbed her claws in his side.
Stonestar led the chant. "Palepaw! Palepaw! Palepaw!" Why was it that they were only cheering for me? That was horrible! I started to try yowling over the screeching so I could cheer for Sunpaw, but I couldn't hear my own voice. I looked over at Sunpaw, and mouthed, I'm sorry, to him. He just dipped his head towards me respectfully.
The ThunderClan leader came over to us and Heatherstrike. "Alright, should we get started then? What do you think we should do––" Heatherstrike cut him off disrespectfully.
"Battle training," she snapped. "Come on, you lazy lump," she added, whipping her tail across Sunpaw's muzzle. "Let's go."
We swiveled across the forest to where we train. There was sand on the forest floor, perfect for battle training today. Heatherstrike led Sunpaw, and Stonestar led me to the middle of the sandy floor. Stonestar and Heatherstrike meowed in unison, "Alright, let's see what you can do."
I nervously circled Sunpaw, waiting for him to make the first move. Though he wasn't allowed to eat as much as me, he was still a tiny bit bulky, so it made sense for him to strike first, giving me time to analyze him, and to figure out what I had to do to stop him.
Sunpaw suddenly leaped at me. I snake slithered under him, and when he landed, I pounced onto his back and brought him to the ground. But Sunpaw wouldn't give up like that. He slithered under my weak grip, and tried to hit my tendons with his paws, so I would be brought to the ground.
Luckily, I had already stabilized myself for that attack, and just stood there strongly, before racing around Sunpaw, making his head follow me, until he got dizzy and fell over. I stood on top of him triumphantly, glad that it was such a quick and short battle.
When I let Sunpaw back up, Heatherstrike was waiting for him. She howled, "That was horrible, Sunpaw! From the very start, you were a failure! You will never be as good as anyone. I was right! You'll just drag down the entire Clan with your worthlessness!"
...
Faster than any cat would've thought possible, it was time for our warrior ceremony. Stonestar again called us under the Highledge, had us say our vows to the Clan, and began with my new name.
"Palepaw, from this moment on, you shall be known as Paledawn. StarClan admires your spirit and your loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." He rest his muzzle onto my head, and I licked his shoulder respectfully and stepped back, eagerly awaiting Sunpaw's name.
"Sunpaw, from this moment on, you shall be known as Sun-eye. StarClan admires... uh, I don't know what StarClan admires about you, Sun-eye!" Heatherstrike purred in cruel and cold amusement, but I silenced her with a glare, letting Stonestar continue. "Anyway, we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Murmurs of disagreement broke out, but Stonestar silenced them.
"Paledawn, you will protect the Clan tonight. Meeting dismissed."
I went to share fresh-kill with Sun-eye in the corner of the camp, like always, and he actually beckoned me closer with his tail. He whispered in my ear, "I've had it. Tonight, I'm going to kill Stonestar. I know that he's on his last life. Then, I'm going to kill all of those who were unkind and cruel to me."
"Sun-eye!" I gasped, "But... the first cat that they're going to suspect is you!"
"That's true," said Sun-eye, "But they love teasing me so much that they can't exile me. I'll probably exile myself when I'm done."
...
I was guarding the camp, when I heard an awful screech. I peeked out of my hiding spot to see what was going on, to see that Stonestar's body was being dragged into the center of the camp. Oh, Sun-eye, I thought sadly. Just what do you think you're about to get yourself into?
Stonestar's mate, Smallsong, looked up at Sun-eye first. "You!" she snarled. "I know that you're the one who killed him!" Sun-eye returned the glare with a steady stare. Heatherstrike went and murmured something in Smallsong's ear, and eventually Smallsong calmed down.
"All–– alright," she meowed. "I hope that this doesn't happen again." But only I knew what more Sun-eye had planned.
Everyday, a cat died, until only Sun-eye and I were left. Sun-eye approached me in the middle of the night, with a bloodlust in his eyes. I knew that this would happen. Sun-eye would be so used to killing that he would start to love it. At least, I knew, that I would be the last one to go.
"I'm sorry, dear sister, that it has to turn out this way," meowed Sun-eye calmly. "But, I'm afraid, that you must go to StarClan! Unlike the others. I made sure that they got into the Dark Forest." What? What does he mean?
"Goodbye, Paledawn," murmured Sun-eye even half-sadly. "Wasn't very nice knowing you. Any of the old ThunderClan cats."
And with that, he tore a gash in my neck, and I saw darkness.