Just a Game

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(MuffinClan Challenge — Just a Game)

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The sky was dark and gloomy. Ominous clouds hid the sun and blue heavens, promising a coming storm. The quickly-approaching leaf-bare was just around the corner now, and leaf-fall was getting colder and duller, as blazing, colorful leaves all fell and died, and refreshing breeze shifted into chilly winds and harsh storms.

A kit was born in this difficult time.

A snowstorm was nearing that day. The dark grey clouds hung low, almost seeming to touch the bare treetops and swirl over the rattling branches, which were bare as bone. The clan had gotten the news. Good news it was that new lives could be brought into the clan and flourish, but also bad. Who knew if the kit or kits would make it? Who knew if the queen herself would make it?

The day when the kit came, the whole camp had already been buried in more than half a tail-length of snow. The warriors trudged through, the ones with dark pelts already speckled, some covered, with snow, not able to tell them apart from the white-coated cats.

Leaves had fallen and the camp seemed more bare and vulnerable than ever. They continued to hunt, fight, and defend. Now, harder than ever. The warriors and apprentices struggled to defend their land and provide food for the weaker ones. But they were all frail by then.

However, the silver-furred queen continued to hold hope. She stayed in the nursery as instructed by the clan medicine cat, her belly getting more and more swollen by each passing day. She could feel the small, tiny new life stirring inside of her. She knew the kit would make it. She was certain of that. The clan had often hesitated and even the medicine cat told her to not get her hopes up, but she only held her bright amber eyes at their level confidently, declaring that the kit will.

What she didn't know was that she wouldn't make it.

The snowstorm had crashed down from the darkening heavens like a lightning bolt. The snowflakes were big and flew in a fast flurry to the already snow-coated ground, lifted and blown by the cold, crisp, howling wind. She struggled to overcome the illness that had spread like a forest fire across the clans, but she didn't make it.

The kit had taken its first breath the moment his mother died. Blind and helpless, shivering against the storm, he could only be watched by the eyes of the other cats as he huddled up against his mother's pelt. He pressed against her fur. Her once warm fur and the steady rhythm of her heart that would comfort him so much…

Her heartbeat… that had faded at last.

The bright sun cast shadows across the land. Tall shadows, cast by the trees. Faint shadows, cast by the high-flying birds in the air. Moving shadows, cast by the cats that bounded through the forest, and also the ones that moved through the lights.

But it wasn't just birdsong and sunshine for him.

Newleaf brought changes. For the better, for the worse. Stormkit had lost his mother just seconds after he was born into this world, but the other queens took him in and treated him like their own son, caring for him. However, he never took interest in playing with the other, older kits in the nursery. The queens often questioned his behavior, seeing him sit alone in a corner, gazing wistfully at the outside with tired eyes, not talking to the others, but they never confronted him about it. He wouldn't talk to them, anyway. They were never a part of his life.

But he was still bullied. Bullied, picked on, teased consistently by the stronger, bigger kittens because he was the runt. The youngest, the smallest, and the weakest… As if it was his choice to be born the way he was.

They often insulted him with offensive words, but he struggled to ignore the harsh comments thrown at him, even though, day by day, it got worse. He blocked his ears from their sneers, snickers and howls of laughter directed at him. They were looking for fun, for entertainment, for amusement. They didn't know that they were hurting him more every time, even though it was only kit's play in their eyes.

Stormkit remembered their faces all too clearly, even though he had never taken more than ten glances at their sneering expressions in all the time he knew them. There was Blackkit, the leader of their jokes. Smokekit, the grey tabby tom often seen beside his older brother. Icekit, the rude, sarcastic she-kit with those fierce orange eyes that showed no warmth at all. And Flamekit, the unsympathetic jokester who only laughed when Blackkit did. But there was one other kit. One that Stormkit remembered too well.

He remembered her face and expression. The look in her leafy green eyes. She never helped the other kits tease him. Stormkit often saw her tortoiseshell pelt in the shadows, standing behind the other four. She never intervened. Never bullied him. Her eyes were always filled with… pity?

And she never said anything.

Stormkit remembered the hint of sadness in her green orbs. Maybe it was true sadness, maybe it was just pity. Stormkit had scowled and moved away.

Her name was Snowkit.

The nursery was abuzz with loud, cheerful voices. The kits' apprentice ceremonies were only one sunrise away, and the older ones waited eagerly, impatiently, anxiously, to have their apprentice ceremonies.

Stormkit never joined them. He knew his was going to be delayed.

The oldest kits were playing around just outside the nursing den, just a tail-length beyond the den entrance. Stormkit was sitting in the shadows on the outside of the den, leaves shadowing his grey pelt. He cast narrowed amber eyes at the older kits chatting excitedly. His ears twitched at a distant bird's call, but they pricked up immediately when he heard it.

"Stormkit won't."

What?

"Of course he won't! He's so small and weak, his will be delayed for at least a few moons!" Snorts and snickers ensued.

No, don't involve yourself. They're just fox-hearts. They've done this plenty times before.

"Heck, he'll be all lonely in the nursery. Everyone else will already be made apprentices."

Stormkit's amber eyes slitted and he flattened his ears. He flexed his paws and hid into the shadows, emitting a hiss, shutting his eyes. "I don't care what you say, I don't care what you say, I don't care what you say…"

But a filthy scent close to his made him almost jump.

"So, you're hiding here, are you?" Blackkit's slithering voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I'm not hiding," Stormkit fluffed up his dark fur, trying to act more threatening, growling. But that only made the four laugh more.

"You know," Smokekit circled around Stormkit as Stormkit's eyes narrowed more, but his thin shape was shivering under his thick coat, "our apprentice ceremonies are tomorrow. You'll be all alone. You'll have to wait many more moons."

"I'd love to be alone," Stormkit hissed. "Just move to the apprentice's den and leave me by myself."

"Oh, really?" Flamekit growled. "You won't even be allowed out of the nursery like a little kitten while we're doing important duties to help the clan."

"Face it, runt," Icekit sneered, her white pelt contrasting with her blazing eyes. "You're useless."

A chilling chuckle rumbled from deep within Blackkit's throat. "Nothing but useless. Your mother gave birth to a mistake."

Stormkit's flattened ears perked up and his pupils were just inky slits.

Mother…

"Don't you bring her into this conversation," Stormkit spat and walked away, but the four followed. The youngest grey kit saw a ginger, black and white pelt standing a few tail-lengths away, her soft leaf-green eyes staring directly at him. Stormkit just looked down and shook his head, as if saying, "It's fine."

She knew he wasn't. But then again, what could she do?

"You are nothing but a mistake who doesn't deserve to be here," a chilly voice came from behind Stormkit.

Stormkit's small claws unsheathed and without thinking, he launched himself at the speaker. Blackkit tumbled to the ground, the other kits all watching with wide eyes.

"Mind your own business!" Stormkit hissed, holding his claws at the bigger kit's throat. But he was no match for the bigger tom, though he still wouldn't give up. "You're just a coward with no life, aren't you?"

Blackkit's glowing blue eyes flamed. They tumbled down the steep slope edging the clan camp, the low branches of trees and twigs of bushes ripping their pelts as they did. Flamekit, Icekit and Smokekit ran down quickly, their eyes wide, while Snowkit also bolted to stand beside them, staring at Stormkit with worry in her eyes. However, she stepped back when Blackkit fired a slitted glance at her.

Blackkit flipped Stormkit down under him, slamming his body against a large boulder. The grey kit held back a pained yowl as he swear he heard bones crack. The black tom towered over him, icy eyes staring into his.

"Don't ever call me a coward," he seethed. Stormkit panted under his sharper claws and forced out a pained, bitter laugh.

"Coward would seem like a compliment compared to the things you guys have called me."

Smokekit growled but didn't move. Icekit only slitted her eyes. Flamekit just hung his head.

"What did you say?" Stormkit could feel Blackkit's filthy breath.

"You heard me," Stormkit repeated firmly, but he could feel his body getting weaker and weaker as he was pressed further into the ground. "You're a coward with no life. You only get fun in torturing others. Others who are weaker than you." He turned his gaze on the others and hissed. "All of you."

Blackkit's sharp claws unsheathed and swiped across Stormkit's face, leaving a long scar. The impact made Stormkit tumble further down the slope until he reached a ledge with a drop of at least a few fox-lengths, hard ground and jagged rocks jutting out below.

The grey tom unsheathed his dull claws and desperately gripped the ledge, trying to stand back up. He felt a sharp pain bolt through his body, coming from everywhere.

"Dare to call me that again?" a large black tom pushed Stormkit further until he slipped and his small, frail, lower body was already dangling off the ledge.

The other kit's eyes widened. Flamekit took a step forward, his eyes wide and focused on Blackkit and the much smaller Stormkit.

"Blackkit," he began, not daring to defy the large black tomkit, as he knew the older tom was much stronger than him. "M-maybe you shouldn't… I mean, it's dangerous."

Blackkit cast his narrowed eyes on the dark ginger tom.

"I'm not actually going to push him off!" he hissed in a whisper to his friend. "I know better than that. We could be banned from the clan if that happens. I just want to scare him a little!"

"Haven't you done enough?" Stormkit's weak voice drifted into the air but was ignored. He was straining to climb up, but with every grip, he just slid down further. Only his paws were still grasping the ledge.

Snowkit stepped toward, but hesitantly, stepped back again. Her eyes widened until the white rim was visible, her breathing jagged.

No, Blackkit. You wouldn't, right?

At that heartbeat, she saw Stormkit's amber eyes staring at hers. She almost stepped back. She expected pleading eyes, pleading for her to say something, to do something, to stop what was happening. But no, that was not it at all. And she was more surprised when she saw nothing but determination in his eyes. Blazing eyes that held no regret, no fear, but pure anger and determination.

And that's when she realized, that emotion was not aimed at her. Nothing was… except for the anger.

A world of thoughts crashed down on her like a hurricane that seemed to split her body. All those times she passed by, not saying anything, acting like a shadow and blending in with the others, it hurt him like none other.

Precisely because she didn't do anything.

But when she gathered the courage to run forward, she realized it was too late. The last energy Stormkit had vanished into the air and his grip weakened, slipping down as he fell, dropping down and hitting the jagged stones below.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Flamekit stopped where he was. Icekit's and Smokekit's eyes widened until the rim was visible. Blackkit suddenly felt a mix of anger, regret, worry all meld together and engulf him like a flame.

"No… No, that wasn't supposed to happen!" he yowled, his blood-curdling cry splitting the air as he desperately gripping the ledge, as if that would help heal time and return things to a few moments ago.

And as Snowkit heard the last ear-piercing shriek fade away and echo through the land below the ledge from someone she knew before, she knew she wouldn't make it. She knew all she was pawing was empty space. Her anger boiled up all together and exploded like an array of crimson flames.

"You say it wasn't supposed to happen?" she cried at the others, flaming eyes slitted at Blackkit, tears stinging at her eyes. "Well, it did! It did because of your little game! Do you understand now that playing with someone's life isn't a game? What else did you expect? Did you expect him to forget about everything, to forgive you?"

The cracking, purely horrified and seething tone in the usual silent Snowkit's voice made Blackkit step back a pace, his own blue eyes filled with guilt now. But what was the point of it all?

"It happened because you pushed it too far! It happened because… because…" Snowkit felt the hot tears roll down her cheeks and she didn't do anything to try and hold it back. She knew why.

Because I didn't do anything…

Her lip quivered as she shot one last glance at them and fled, her paw steps seeming so heavy now, dragging her to the ground as she exhaustedly panted, feeling her heart drum against her chest. All she could hear now was the echoing scream of Stormkit. All she could see in front of her, blocking her path, were two burning amber eyes, burning with everything that she regretted.

Why didn't I do anything?

And in time, she slowed down and stopped, not trying to run away anymore. Not trying to run away from those eyes… Those eyes that reflected herself.

It was just a game…

This was a challenge for MuffinClan! Hope I pass! And sorry if I write sadder fics, they're just more of my style. XD I honestly can't write too happy.