When all is lost there's a place to be found. It's inside your heart, where you retreat. Remember, you can hide in darkness or the light.
Darksoul was transported back. Back to where everything happened. Where cats lived. Where she lived. Breathed, moved, ran. Earth. As Soulshredder uttered that one word, everything came back to her, flashed before her eyes.
"What's wrong with her?" In this world of scent and sound, became added with it was sight. The young black kit opened her eyes for the first time, blinking and taking in all of the world. She saw her family, her mother and father and brother and sister, which she had only known before that by scent. "H-her eyes!" it was her father's voice, coming from that huge cat standing before her. She was in the nursery, but she never could have imagined it was this big, nor her mother and father.
"Fetch the medicine cat!" her mother gasped. "There's something not right here!" her father got to his paws and sprinted off, his tabby pelt rippling. The kit inspected her own pelt. It was black, black like her mother's. Her brother's pelt was bright ginger, and her sister's dark gray. Content to sit and look at the world for a while, she stared at everything she could, fastinated by the way everything moved.
Suddenly her father was back, followed by a ginger tabby she-cat not unlike himself. "Her eyes," he panted. "They're red! And they should have been opened long ago! The others have been seeing for nearly half a moon!"
The she-cat leaned forward. "She certainly can see just fine. And they're not bloodshot. They're red, just like yours and mine are blue. It's queer, but there's nothing wrong here." The kit purred and batted at the medicine cat.
"Still," sniffed her father. "She's very strange. Very strange indeed."
--
The small black she-cat was crouched between the medicine cat's paws next to her brother, Lightningkit. The leader of ShadowClan, Icestar, stood before them, his white head bowed. "Are they the last ones, Sunsetfur?" his voice was low, and his face was shadowed with grief. The black kit stared at him with wide, red eyes.
"Yes." Sunsetfur too, seemed wracked with sadness. "Everyone else-that lived of course- is free of this terrible sickness. But now these two kits are without parents." Her tail wrapped tighter around them, and she looked up at the older cat, her blue eyes searching his face. The little she-cat let out a whimper. The last days had passed in a haze of sickness, but she had finally recovered, if not a little bit weak yet. "And this one," she swept her tail to the she-cat. "Is without a name."
Icestar glanced down at the young she-cat, his eyes burning. "I will name her Dark-kit, for the dark time that StarClan has forced upon us. For the darkness this Clan lives in." he swept away, leaving the medicine staring after him.
--
"Ha-ha, Dark-kit, I'm an apprentice and your just a puny little kit!" Swiftpaw stuck his tongue out at Dark-kit, watching him with her bright red eyed. "I'm so much better than you!" His amber eyes gleamed teasingly at her. Dark-kit took a swipe, but missed as Swfitpaw kicked her backward, rolling on the ground.
She let out a squeak, looking up at the huge tom. Her foster mother, Leopardfang, let out a hiss. "Get up off the ground, Dark-kit. Stop being a wimp!"
Dark-kit backed away to where Leopardfang sat with Lightningkit and her own kits, her gaze never straying from Swiftpaw and his bright yellow, glaring eyes. She didn't know why he didn't like her, but she vowed that she would always hate him.
--
"Darkpaw, what in StarClan's name are you doing?" Grasspelt snarled at his apprentice. Darkpaw leaped out from the dust, her ear bleeding. "You let Swiftpaw throw you off balance. You should be more careful, like Lightningpaw." Darkpaw glanced at her brother, who rolled away from the ginger apprentice's claws, landing neatly on his paws.
Darkpaw ducked her head. "I-I'm really sorry." she muttered. Her ear stung, and her tail was bleeding like crazy, but no one seemed to have any sympathy for the stupid little black cat with red eyes.
With a roar, she leaped at Swiftpaw, catching him off guard. He rolled, then leaped up and slashed at Darkpaw with unsheathed claws. Darkpaw let out a cry of pain as she was sent down on a patch of thorns. They tangled in her usually sleek fur and cut her up.
Her nose was bleeding now too, from Swiftpaw's claws. Lightningpaw looked at her with sympathy, but Darkpaw turned away bitterly.
--
"Mouseheart, Lashface, and...Yarrowtail. You go on the border patrol." ShadowClan deputy Gravelpelt growled. The warriors nodded and headed for the entrance. "Swiftwind, you can go hunting with... Darkpaw, since Grasspelt is in the nursery with Fleetfur. Her kits are coming." He was sitting by the fresh-kill pile barking orders.
Swiftwind heaved himself to his paws. As the newest warrior, he had an air of pride about him that Darkpaw couldn't stand. He was so annoying. "Let's go, Darkpaw." Unwillingly, she followed him down the tunnel and through their territory. He spotted a toad and began to stalk it.
Just as he was about to pouce, it hopped away, disappearing behind a rock. Swiftwind let out a roar of fury. "Darkpaw, this is your fault!" She shrank away from his anger, but he raised a paw and slashed across her face. He picked her up by the scruff and flung her into a rock. "You idiot!"
Darkpaw began crying. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! Swiftwind!" she shook with pain, her blood pooling up around her as Swiftwind clawed her belly and bit down on her paw. "I'm sorry!" she screeched.
"You will tell no cat of this. You were attacked by a badger." He rubbed her in badger scent marks before stalking off, leaving the poor black she-cat to ly in her own blood.
--
"Darkpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lfe?" Icestar asked the young cat. Darkpaw raised her eyes to her leader, the cat who had named her.
"I do."
"Than by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Darkpaw, from this moment on, you will be known as Darksoul. The Clan honors you for your courage and your thoughtfulness, and we welcome you as a new warrior of ShadowClan."
Darksoul raised her head as the Clan called her brother's name as well as hers; "Darksoul! Lightningflash! Darksoul! Lightningflash!" Her eyes darkened as she saw Swiftwind curl his lip and pad away.
--
"Darksoul... ah?" Flashclaw muttered. Darksoul let out a faint hiss. Flashclaw was a hopeless deputy. She didn't know why Gravelstar had picked him. Icestar had died recently in a battle with WindClan, and now ShadowClan seemed to have no decent leadership."You can hunt with Swiftwind and Lightningflash."
"Lightningflash is on border patrol." Darksoul growled. "Who else should go with us?" I'm not getting stuck with him alone again, she thought.
"Just go with him then." Flashclaw growled. Darksoul grunted and followed Swiftwind. A foreboding spread throughout her. He didn't say anything, and soon they both caught a decent amount of prey.
"You didn't catch enough, Dark-kit!" Swiftwind curled his lip at her. "You had better watch it." he aimed a swipe at her, but she caught it between her front paws.
Darksoul's red eyes burned like fire. "You had watch it. Now it's your turn to be attacked by the badger. You will tell no cat of it!" she leaped, biting his throat out in one quick motion. He fell at her paws, his blood soaking the ground. "Good. Don't tell anyone." she rolled his pelt in badger markings and padded off, not looking back.
--
"Fire! Fire in the camp!" Gravelstar was yowling. He stood, his fur bristling, watching his Clan hurry for the camp entrance. Darksoul looked around for Lightningflash, and saw he was helping his mate run for the entrance, carrying his daughter. The cats streamed past. Darksoul hurried with them, glancing back at Gravelstar, who was urging his clanmates on. The smoke was filling the camp, and they ran dangerously close to the flames as it began to consume the camp, starting with the dens.
Gravelstar came out last, panting. Suddenly a screech sounded. "Where's my other kit?!" It was Thornheart. She looked around, but her other kit was nowhere to be seen.
"It must be in the camp. Darksoul, will you fetch it?" Gravelstar asked, turning to the nearest cat. Darksoul dipped her head.
"Wait! I'm coming too!" Lightningflash pushed through the cats to stand beside his sister. Gravelstar nodded, so the two headed back into the burning camp. Darksoul weaved around the burning branches with Lightningflash just behind her. She spotted the gray kit and lunged for it, then handed it to Lightningflash. He nodded and pelted back around the side of the camp, trying to reach the entrance before the flames closed around it.
Suddenly she felt something push her shoulder, and she staggered dangerously close to the fire. A familiar scent his her nose: Swiftwind. "DIE!" he roared. His spirit slammed into her, and she rolled into the fire. Pain seared her pelt, pain and heat everywhere. The last thing she saw was a brilliant flash of light.
Darksoul saw it all, and everything was returned to her. And her heart was dark once again.