For the LawlClan Secret Santa Event. Merry Christmas Soulful Ginger! Hope you like the story.
The trees' lifeless branches drooped, their color obscured by the shadows. Rotten leaves littered the ground. There was a light breeze rustling through the bushes, breaking the deafening silence. A lone cat padded through an overgrown path, his tail trailing behind him. Silver scars criss-crossed across his back, glistening under his dark, ungroomed fur.
He had forgotten when he had started this journey, the days and night blurring into one, but he would not rest until he had completed it. It was the only purpose left in his life.
The moon rose overhead, basking the cat in its white glow. He blinked, making sure it wasn't an apparition, but it was still there when he opened his eyes. He had forgotten what the moon had looked like, like so many other things. It had been strangely absent from the hellish forest he had lived in. Now it was back again, in all of its glory.
It must be a sign, he thought to himself, and, almost as if he was in a trance, started walking towards it. Its white rays beckoned him forwards, ensnaring him within their blinding light.
He thought he could hear a low humming sound, but it was so faint he wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not. But it was unmistakably getting louder. He could make out whispers, voices that stirred something deep inside of him.
They were the key to his past.
He ran towards the bleached moon, energy surging through his broken body. Energy that he had never felt before in the shadowy place. His muscles felt strong and powerful.
For the first time since stepping paw in the dead woods, he felt alive.
He felt something wet under his paws. Looking down, he could see a shining pool lying in front of him. Ripples of water spread outwards from his submerged paws, their crests shimmering as they glided across the crystalline surface of the pool. A leaf drifted across, carried by the ripples.
The smooth waters distorted, the ripples twisting into bizarre shapes, warping his reflection into a hideous, grotesque monster. He recoiled from the shock.
"Look at me."
He looked around, swiveling his ears around, trying to pinpoint where the mysterious voice had come from. The dying trees revealed no living soul, save for his own.
"Come closer."
The voice was definitely behind him. He whipped around, facing the pool. The faint outline of a she-cat, adorned with small, faint stars, greeted him.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She looked at him, her face expressionless, like a mask. But there was something familiar about her angular face, the elegant posture of which she held herself in, the emotionless yet gorgeous blue eyes.
Two cats, one as white as snow and dappled with light-gray specks, the other a bright ginger, ran across the forest floor. Leaves and dirt were clawed up and thrown into the air. Prey looked up from their half-eaten berries and fled. But they didn't care. To them, they were the only ones in the world.
"D-do you want to see what you did to me?" she asked, looking at her paws.
Purring, the ginger tom rubbed against the she-cat's cheek. She looked at him, her eyes glittering.
"I-I love you."
The scene had felt so real to him, stirring something deep inside of him. The she-cat looked at him, accidentally catching his gaze, and looked down at her paws.
Her plumy tail waved gracefully behind her as she crawled into the bracken tunnel. He followed her, not letting his gaze leave the beautiful she-cat.
She emerged into a bright field, bare of any undergrowth to hide under. He held back at the mouth of the tunnel, watching the pure white she-cat. She strode towards a ginger tom, her delicate paws making barely any sound any the light, springy grass. The tom looked at her with bright green eyes, and calmly started to walk towards her.
They whispered softly to each other, purring.
He looked up at the she-cat, but she was purposefully avoiding his eyes. Her fluffy tail was swishing back and forth, attracting his gaze and he felt as if though he could stand forever in front of it, fascinated with it. She was resting atop the pool, her paws barely touching the clear water.
He felt her rough, warm tongue rub against his pelt. He purred, closing his sleepy eyes as her feathery tail curled around his body.
"I have something to ask you." He gazed into her deep blue eyes, glittering with curiosity. She perked her ears.
"Will you be my mate?"
She looked at him, her gorgeous blue eyes wide with shock, during the dead silence that followed. Finally, she opened her mouth to speak.
"I'm sorry, b-but I can't…" she said, her voice trailing off. "And I… I already have a mate."
Rage. He could feel it boiling up inside of him, consuming him. It felt like a fire, a raging inferno, a fire that threatened to burn him alive.
Claws extended, he crept towards the ginger cat. The tom's chest rose in calm, even movements and his eyes were sealed shut. He seemingly glowed with energy, most likely from the joy of being a father. He was blind to the fate that awaited him.
He looked around, checking if anyone was around to watch him. No one. He stifled a chuckle and raised his paw above the ginger tom's throat.
How he would enjoy this moment.
"One final memory," the she-cat said, her eyes filled with sorrow.
He wanted to run, run away from his past, but his legs were frozen. He closed his eyes, but the vision came anyways.
The storm raged overhead, far above the many cats. Lightning flashed, striking a far-off place, followed by a distant thunder.
The she-cat curled up protectively around her three kits, their flame-red pelts so reminiscent of their father. The grief and pain was fresh in her mind. But she would have to stay strong for her kits and her Clan.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a blinding flash and an intense explosion of heat.
The gray tom jumped back from the burst of light, a deafening roar following it. He could see nothing except for whiteness, and the ringing in his ears blocked any noise. An acrid, burnt stench filled the air, coming from all around him. He felt like he was melting. Never again would he take the chill of leaf-bare for granted.
The white slowly faded away, and he could see the cause of the heat. A wall of fire was advancing onto the camp, almost as tall as the tallest sycamores.
He blindly ran away from the inferno. His mind was a sea of confusion and fear, no rational thought surfacing above. None except for one. Run…
He could see the she-cat, her white fur stained with smoke as she struggled to carry her kits. He ran towards her, thinking of all the things she had done to him, all the pain she had caused. If anyone deserved to die in the flames, it was her. Her and her kits.
He bowled into her, knocking her to the ground. Her kit tumbled out of her mouth, mewling and squealing as it weakly batted at his tail as its two littermates joined it. He shook them off, and pinned the she-cat to the ground. Her blue eyes were wide with shock and he gently put his jaws around her throat.
"Be quiet, and don't move, and maybe those scraps of fur you call your kits will live."
She mewed, and closed her eyes. "Wh-what do you want from me? I-I'll do anything…"
He snickered. "The damage has been done, the price has been paid. You hurt me. And I'm not going to let you go without suffering the pain I felt, the pain of losing the one you love."
He looked around for an escape route, but there was none. The flames surrounded them from all sides, its wild tongues reaching the sky. Smoke poured out from the inferno. He wondered if it was the right thing to do. It was too late to turn back now.
The she-cat curled around her kits, glaring at the tom. Her eyes weren't full of pure anger, no; there was something else there too. Regret. Sadness. Curiosity.
"Why?" she whispered.
"Because," he said. "I love you."
The flames advanced towards them, and it licked at his pelt while the smoke poured into his lungs. Blackness overtook him, and he could feel no more.
"D-do you regret it now?" she asked. "I showed you my memories, my world. Your memories and your world. Our world. And how you ruined it." She paused for breath.
"Did you really love me?"
Her starry, translucent form disappeared. He wanted to call after her, to beg for forgiveness. But she was gone. He buried his face into his paws. How could he have done this?
He couldn't have. He would never do that to another cat. But the memories had felt so real, the emotions so painful.
He had been running. Running from his past, from all the memories, from all the pain. He had begged for the answers, and now he had found them even if they were like nothing he had expected. His life was complete, and his destiny was fulfilled.
He could feel himself getting lighter. Soon he would fade away and become nothing, ending all his pain.
He leapt onto a nearby tree and climbed onto a large branch. Gripping the bark with his claws, he steadied himself and crawled towards the end. The moon rose above him, dimmer than the last time he had looked at it. He sat down and stared at it.
Fallen. Heartless.
He knew he would have never done such a thing now. But it was too late to repent, as his fate had already been decided for him and by him.
Corrupted. Dying.
His undying love for the mysterious yet beautiful she-cat had been his undoing.
Shadow. A shadow of himself…
Now he would simply fade away. It would all be so much simpler.
The world around him blurred and darkened, but his mind felt clearer than it had ever been in this forest. For a brief second, he wondered what would happen to him once he faded.
Then his world went black.