Incubus - Chapter 2

*evil smirk*

I don't own Warriors.

Chapter Two

They were happier days, or so everyone thought.

Sunlight filtered through the canopy, speckling the forest floor. She lay in one of these larger pools, her golden pelt glimmering in the rays. The she-cat felt warm all over, and she couldn't help but purr in delight. She could not imagine her life being better; at that moment, all she seemed to need was the light and warmth of the sun on her fur.

"What are you doing, big sister?" a voice called from somewhere nearby.

The golden cat raised her elegant head at the sound. Her emerald eyes scanned the forest around her, until they landed on a familiar face. "Hazelpaw," she greeted warmly. Her lips pulled back as she let out a yawn of contentment.

A small, but muscular brown tabby she-cat trotted toward the golden cat. Hazelpaw shook out her short, brown tabby pelt and blinked her icy blue eyes. "What are you doing out here, big sister? Whitestar is looking for you."

"I'm sure he is," the golden cat replied, now stretching her long, graceful limbs. "He can wait."

Hazelpaw's eyes tightened with apprehension. "Cloverpaw, I don't think that's a good idea," she mewed softly. "Whitestar is already mad at you… making him wait like this is only making it worse."

Cloverpaw let out an exasperated huff before rising to her paws. She faced her little sister calmly, examining her with her eyes. Hazelpaw had always been the smaller of the two, but she was stout, muscular, and a brilliant fighter. Cloverpaw was more graceful with a small body, long and lanky limbs, a long tail, and a beautiful face and pelt. The only real physical similarities they had were their faces; it was their faces that separated them from other cats. Most cats in the Clans had soft curves along their cheeks, noses, ears, and foreheads, but the twos sisters did not. Their faces were sharp, angular, and distinct, and their eyes also had a sharpness in them. Hazelpaw's were and icy blue that put fear into any enemy that even so much as glanced at her in the wrong way, and Cloverpaw's were the deepest emerald-green any cat had ever seen.

They were beautiful.

They were exotic.

They were young.

And they were loved.

HollowClan loved the sisters fiercely; every cat—warrior, apprentice, kit, elder, even the leader, deputy and medicine cat—was fond of them. There was just something about them that made them special. It was something unspoken; something that was never even formally acknowledged, but always existed. Perhaps it was their looks, or maybe it was their intelligence, or maybe their battle skills. Whatever it was, it made them valuable; indispensable.

Hazelpaw appreciated it.

Cloverpaw took advantage of it.

"Of course he can," Cloverpaw stated matter-of-factly. "He's my mentor; he knows that I'm always late. It's not like he'll claw my ears off."

Her sister still looked unconvinced. "You do know that mentors actually do that, right? I've been to training sessions where it's happened! Just the other day, I was battle training with Tansypaw and Quailfeather—"

"Wait. You were battle training with Tansypaw?" Cloverpaw interrupted in disbelief. "Why in StarClan's name were you doing that? You know Whitestar wants us trained separately from the other apprentices. He knows that we're better, faster, stronger, and smarter than every single apprentice in this miserable Clan combined! That's why he does it!"

Hazelpaw gave her a disgruntled look before continuing on with her story. "But Tansypaw kept making this one mistake over and over again—"

"Of course she did, because she's a mouse-brained fool."

"And Quailfeather got frustrated and told her to go hunting instead, and Tansypaw said no."

"Why on earth would she do that?"

"She said that she wanted to get better at her fighting, and wanted to keep trying until she got it right."

"Ha. Mouse-brain," Cloverpaw chuckled. She glanced at her paws only to see a beetle crawling across the ground. Disinterested in her sister's story, she trapped the beetle beneath her paws.

"Would you stop?"

Hazelpaw's sudden sharp tone made Cloverpaw look up. "Stop what?"

"Interrupting and calling Tansypaw stupid," her sister said coldly. "It's not fair."

Cloverpaw laughed. "Why not? It should be! If you aren't smart enough to realize that you aren't good enough to be a warrior, then you deserve to be called stupid!"

Hazelpaw's eyes widened. "Sister, how could you say that?! Tansypaw is a member of HollowClan, and she trains every day to be a warrior! She hunts for the Clan and brings home prey and is a valuable member of our—"

"Oh please! Don't bother me with Stormsky's mouse-dung," Cloverpaw muttered, returning her attention to the beetle. She released it for a few moments, allowing it to crawl a few paces, before squashing it beneath her paw. Hazelpaw winced, making Cloverpaw chuckle. "I killed a bug, so what?"

Hazelpaw looked at her sister with sad eyes.

"What? Gonna cry, little sister?" the golden cat sneered, baring her teeth slightly.

Hazelpaw shook her head despondently. "What's happened to you?"

Cloverpaw rolled her eyes. "I've grown up, sister. You need to realize that things aren't as wonderful as mother told us they were!"

"I know that!" the younger cat said. "That doesn't mean you can go around being a… a…"

"A what?" Cloverpaw prompted, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

"A bully!" Hazelpaw finally declared, flattening her ears against her head.

"I'm not being a bully, I'm being realistic!" the golden she-cat defended. "Mother told us that all cats were the same, that we were all 'created equal' or some mouse-dung like that, but it's not true. Some cats are better than others—we are better than others!"

Hazelpaw stared at her sister, her mouth agape. "You've changed, big sister…"

"I'm stronger! Just wait, Hazelpaw! One day, I'll be Clan leader, and you'll be my deputy! We'll rule HollowClan together!"

"We aren't supposed to rule, Cloverpaw! We're supposed to lead! There's a difference."

Cloverpaw laughed. "Only mouse-brains like Tansypaw, Stormsky, and mother believe that! You aren't a mouse-brain, are you?"

Hazelpaw faltered for a moment before shaking her head.

"Prove it! Don't listen to a word they say! I don't want to hear anything about them ever again! Those cats are nowhere near as intelligent as we are! They don't deserve to—" Cloverpaw stopped herself before she finished the sentence. She knew that if she said her next words, Hazelpaw would back out of their plan.

"What? What don't they deserve?" Hazelpaw inquired, her voice betraying her trepidation.

Cloverpaw gazed at her sister for a few moments, studying her pretty face. Did Hazelpaw already know what she was going to say? Was she feigning ignorance to hear it from Cloverpaw's mouth?

Hazelpaw did know.

She knew, but didn't want to believe it.

They don't deserve to live.

A/N: Review?