Evidence of Things Unseen
When Nightpaw, Spiderpaw, and Crowpaw were born, ThunderClan was in awe of how similar they all were. Three identical black kits with bright golden eyes –and when Crowpaw uses the word identical, he means it. They were constantly playing games on their Clanmates, pretending to be one another, and then getting angry if someone mixed up a name. The three littermates had the exact same shade of golden irises. There wasn't anything that could tell them apart.
Since then, Nightpaw had to stop playing their games because she was always ruining it for her brothers – she was a she-cat and her Clanmates had no problem in telling her from her brothers. She always complained how it wasn't fair that she was the one to be different, and that she would give anything to be able to play games with her Crowpaw and Spiderpaw again.
But that was something Crowpaw never understood; while Nightpaw would give up her life to be identical, Crowpaw would give up his life to be different.
Yes, the games and the trickery were fun at first, and it made the three sibling extremely close, but one day, all of that fell away. They were still kits at the time, and back when most cats didn't know whether the female was named Nightkit, Crowkit, or Spiderkit.
The three were up to no good, as usual, and decided to play a trick on two senior warriors, Spade and Leafclaw. It was the same trick they pulled a million times; they would each pretend to be each other and annoy the warriors until they started yelling.
Looking back on it, Crowpaw thought the whole thing was stupid and immature, but that was their game. They would break into fits of laughter whenever someone called them by the wrong name, and at the end, they would reveal who they really were and run away.
So basically, all of ThunderClan hated the three black kits. Even their own mother, Cherryheart, looked annoyed from the moment she woke up, to the moment she fell asleep. Crowpaw didn't blame her – they were awful kits.
Anyway, Crowkit, Spiderkit, and Nightkit padded up to Leafclaw and Spade, who were bathing in the sun. Another thing about the kits was that they were as stealthy as a ShadowClan cat, and blended in with the dark just as much. The kits snuck up, not making a sound as they grew closer and closer to their 'prey.'
All of the sudden, the three leapt at the warriors, claws unsheathed and teeth bared. Both of the older toms jumped in surprise as the kits clawed and bit them, not registering the pain yet. After a few heartbeats, Spade grabbed Nightkit by the scruff and flung her down. She hit the ground hard, letting out a pained yelp but not showing her agony more than that. She didn't want to look weak.
Leafclaw shook violently, forcing Spiderkit to fall off next, landing more gently than his sister. Together, the two kits cheered for Crowkit, who had managed to hold on the longest by digging his claws in Leafclaw's back.
"Get off me, kit," he snarled. Spade reached forward and roughly wacked Crowpaw off Leafclaw's back and onto the ground. He hit the ground hard, but like his sister, he didn't show his pain. Spiderkit was the only one of them who genuinely wasn't injured. "What is wrong with you three?"
The three kits giggled, which only angered the temperamental tom even more. Spade rolled his eyes, looking annoyed, but not nearly as much as Leafclaw. But then again, they had specifically picked out Leafclaw because of his fiery temper.
"Kits, why can't you ever behave?" Spade sighed, shaking his head. He was much more laid back out of the two of them. "We're going to have to tell your mother about this."
They didn't care. Honestly, the three kits – and even now as apprentices – could care less about what Cherryheart thought of them.
"Are you going to tell her about how you hurt Spiderkit? She looks really hurt," the real Spiderkit asked, sniggering. Spade shared a look with his friend and rolled his eyes.
"We're not thick, we know that's Nightkit," Spade mewed. "She's the only she-cat, it's not hard to mistake her for one of you two toms."
Nightkit's ears fell as she cocked her head, the words sinking in. She was different than her brothers? She didn't want to be. She wanted to be a tom, just like them!
"Well do you know our names?" Crowkit taunted, a cruel smirk on his face as he gestured between him and Spiderkit. He had overheard the apprentices gossiping about him once; they described him as the 'mean brother' while Spiderkit was just the 'annoying one.'
Spade opened his mouth to answer but Leafclaw beat him to it. "Does it matter? The only difference between you two is your names."
Spiderkit beamed, taking the words as a compliment, Nightkit shrunk back like she had been clawed – they basically just told her she didn't belong in the same litter as her brothers. And Crowkit had a completely different reaction and probably the most powerful of them all.
He tensed up, his eyes filling with an indescribable amount of pain as he took a few steps back. His eyes fell, realizing the words Leafclaw had just said. Crowkit was nothing more than a copy of his brother, a waste of space, ordinary. And no kit wanted to hear that they were ordinary and wouldn't amount to anything.
Even if it hadn't been what Leafclaw meant, it was how Crowkit took it.
Spade was the only one to notice Crowkit's devastating expression, first looking confused and then realizing how the kit had felt about Leafclaw's words. "Spiderkit, he didn't mean it like that."
The real Spiderkit exploded in giggles while Crowkit flinched back. Leafclaw had been the one to make the wound and Spade had ripped it open. "I'm Crowkit," he snarled. "But then again, why should you know that? I'm nothing more than a clone, right?"
Crowkit whirled around sprinting away and leaving Spiderkit and Nightkit staring after him in shock. Leafclaw whacked Spade upside the head. "Now look what you've gone and done, mousebrain. You upset the kit."
Spade shot his friend a glare, muttering, "Imbecile" under his breath as he padded after Crowkit.
Crowpaw didn't remember much of the comforting words Spade said, and he probably should have listened better or he might not be feeling the pain he was in that very moment. Because now, Crowpaw could only think about how he was never going to be nothing more than Spiderpaw.
"Spiderpaw?" The tom glanced up to see Tanglepelt looking down at him. Crowpaw shook his head. "Ah, Crowpaw. Sorry, you three just look so much alike."
"I know, I've gotten that a lot," the apprentice mewed with a sigh. No one in the Clan, save for maybe Spade, knew how much Crowpaw hated the fact that he was identical to his siblings. Not even Nightpaw and Spiderpaw, who thought he still loved the fact.
"Once you two become warriors and have a few battle scars on you, then you'll never have that problem again," Tanglepelt replied easily. "Just look at Ripplefang from RiverClan; everybody knows who he is."
That was true; Crowpaw knew of Ripplefang's ugly scars before he even went to his first gathering, and could easily pick him out of the crowd. The tom truly was littered with scars and only RiverClan knew what they were from. Everyone else was too terrified to ask.
Ripplefang had honestly grown to be an idol to Crowpaw, ever since that first gathering when Ripplefang commanded attention with his long teeth, startling scars, and confident walk. Even without the scars, he held an air of respect that rivaled a leaders. And most of all, he was like nobody.
But what Tanglepelt said really hit Crowpaw hard. Once he got battle scars, he would be special. Maybe he would be like Ripplefang – no, he would be better than Ripplefang. Because Crowpaw was no one's copy.
And he just had to prove that.
"Thanks Tanglepelt," Crowpaw mewed earnestly, smiling up at the elder for the first time in moons.
"No problem, Crowpaw." The apprentice stood to leave but the elder held his paw up to stop him. "Where are you off to in such a rush? We just started talking a moment ago."
"I'll talk to you later," Crowpaw replied. "I need to go do something really quick."
Tanglepelt looked uneasy but nodded anyway. The black tom turned and bolted, heading straight to the forest with one goal in mind. Watching him leave, the elder felt a knot grow in his stomach – he didn't know why but he suddenly had a bad feeling about the entire conversation.
Out in the forest, Crowpaw ran until he was at the edge of the territory, near a small pond that few cats knew about. The pond was murky and it was impossible to tell how deep it was, but it was clear enough that Crowpaw could see his reflection in it.
Looking in, Crowpaw did not see him. Sure, he saw glossy black fur, golden irises, and a black nose, but he didn't see the cat he felt like he was. Crowpaw felt like a strong, broad shouldered warrior, covered in battle scars, and the ability to quiet crowds just by walking past. He was a cat that no other compared to and that no one would mistake him for someone else.
The only problem; Crowpaw didn't physically look like that.
Only training would make him strong, and there wasn't much he could do about his slender build, but the scars was something he could work with. Why should he wait for a battle to create scars when he had decent sized claws already?
Plus, that would take care of the 'quieting crowds' bit. Ripplefang silenced crowds and he had scars… so wouldn't it words for Crowpaw?
Closing his eyes, the apprentice quickly scratched himself across the nose, yelping as he did. When he opened his eyes, he could see three pink scratches in his reflection. But that wasn't enough; he needed more. He needed to be special.
Crowpaw leaned onto his back paws, placing the top of his unsheathed claws at the top of his head and digging in as deep as he could manage. And then slowly, he became to drag down, ripping him flesh open as he screamed.
Oh StarClan did it hurt. But he didn't stop, He didn't stop until his claws had reached his chin and blood was rapidly dripping onto the ground and into his eyes. Just before the blood completely blurred his vision, Crowpaw saw his reflection.
His face was sticky with blood and the deep claw marks on his face were enough to make his stomach flip. Crowpaw had dug too deep, and the marks looked almost like a lion tore into his face. The crimson seemed to make his golden eyes gleam even brighter and his teeth shine whiter.
His reflection was truly horrifying and enough to make a kit cry when seeing him, but that was okay. It was okay because he was finally special. No one would ever mistake him for Spiderpaw again.
Crowpaw stumbled back from the pond, the blood completely blinding his vision as he walked in the direction of camp. He tried blinking the blood out of his eyes but it was flowing too heavily to do any good and only made his eyes sting even more.
He tumbled into multiple trees, falling constantly, and after only a few minutes of walking, was already covered in thorns from walking into a bush.
"Crowpaw!" someone screamed and rushed towards him. He didn't recognize them until they were by his side and he could scent them himself.
"Nightpaw, is that you?" he asked, trying to clear his vision by blinking. "I can't see anything."
"Great StarClan, what happened?" Nightpaw cried. "Who did this to you?"
"Leafclaw, run back and alert Frosttail. Cloudfern, he needs cobwebs to soak up the blood. I saw some on a tree not too far back." Crowpaw barely recognized the voice as Gingertail, one of the senior warriors. Gingertail came to his side to help lead him to camp. "Crowpaw, who did this to you? Was it ShadowClan?"
"ShadowClan," Crowpaw laughed mockingly. "Of course not, I did this to myself."
There was an eerie silence as Nightpaw and Gingertail let the news sink in. Crowpaw didn't understand what the big deal was, but it was enough to make Nightpaw collapse. She pulled herself off the ground, shaking badly. "You… you did this to yourself?"
"Yes," Crowpaw answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Who else would?"
"Why?" Gingertail whispered, staring in horror at the apprentice. 'Who could purposely rip their face apart?'
"Tanglepelt told me that once I had a few battle scars, cats would stop mistaking me for my brother. I wanted to be special," he explained. Nobody understood though. They were still too horrified.
"I have the cobwebs." Crowpaw recognized Cloudfern's voice as she spoke with a twig clamped tight between her teeth. Cobwebs were wrapped around it, which Gingertail used to try and soak up the unhealthy amount of blood, pouring from Crowpaw's face.
They reached camp and gasps erupted when Crowpaw stepped into the clearing. Cats rushed around him, all asking him what happened and who hurt him. None of them noticed them bright smile plastered to the apprentice's face.
"Make room!" Frosttail yelled as she pushed through the crowd. "Give him some space!"
As Gingertail and Frosttail led Crowpaw to the medicine cat den, one, specific elder was trembling in horror and guilt. As the three cats passed him, Tanglepelt couldn't help but whisper, "Great StarClan, you didn't?"
Crowpaw's grin only widened when he recognized Tanglepelt's scent and voice. "You were right Tanglepelt. Scars do make me special."
Those were the last words Crowpaw said before he passed out from the blood loss.
A/N: Not exactly a Christmas-y one-shot but I figured I'd try my hand at original characters for a change Tell me what you think! This was written for Poke for BlueClan's gift exchange. I hope you like it!
