Hey everyone, I-really-hope-not here with another chapter! According to the reviews, I should work on this more, so I am! Now for individual replies:
Ivyclaw of PineClan: Thanks for your input! I'm glad you're having a good night, and wait, there will be more Deathkit.
Etherose: Okay, thanks! It is fun, I'm having a ball letting my ridiculous side out.
Iron: Thanks! I strive to keep the submitted OC's as close as the original submission as possible!
Redwut: Okay! And the radio might, just wait!
Cheers to Leviosa, who's my awesome grammar, spelling, and typo correcter!
I stay in the medicine den for another moon. I am now four moons and I have been plain for two. During that time, I've made an uneasy peace with Celestialkit, and become friends with Sunsetkit and Sparklekit, who I still dislike a little bit. Deathkit and Fossilkit though, they are different story. Deathkit would do anything to impress his father, even things that hurt him and others. Fossilkit just wants friends, and Deathkit is a good one, 'cause his name is Death. I don't get it, but I'm content to let them be off on their own, practicing hunting crouches that they master perfectly, taking swipes at the sky that leave my heart aching for skills that I will never get back. Right now, I am alone. This is happening more and more as the others drift away, forming their own, stronger friendships. A leaf skitters by, surprisingly green for leaf-bare. I slam my paw down, and the leaf stops under the brutal force. I carefully lift my paw up, the leaf impaled by my claws. Delicately ripping it into pieces I watch as the fragments spiral off in a gust of wind that tugs on my fur, the pieces separating and meeting over and over before separating forever.
"Galaxykit!" Andromedasparkle calls me over. "It's not good to be out in this weather!"
I trudge back over to my mother, watching sadly as the other kits laugh and play around a grinning Celestialkit, her pelt glowing with a light that they use to make shadows and tell stories.
"Why can't I play with them?" I ask, searching my mother's face for an answer that was not forthcoming.
"Well," The purple queen wraps her tail over her paws thoughtfully. "They are stronger than you, more Mary-Sue."
"But Fossilkit is like me right?" I blink innocently, trying to hide the pain inside.
"No Galaxykit, she's edgy. There's a difference." Gorgeousbreeze padded out of the nursery, an over hanging rock with curtains of morning glory that the apprentices cared for enclosing it.
"How so?" I can't keep the anger out of my voice.
"See her bones?" Gorgeousbreeze pointed with her tail. "And she doesn't have any eyes."
I squint as Reapershadow's angry voice echoes through the main clearing.
"No, not like that you pathetic creature!" Blood-red eyes are narrowed at Deathkit, who's cowering on the ground. "Waving your tail like that is going to alert the prey to your presence! Again!"
~oOo~ Deathkit ~oOo~
I crouch back down to the ground, my weight perfectly balanced when something lands on my tail. I cry out, and I see Gorgeousbreeze stalking towards us.
"Watch your tail!" Reapershadow grinds my tail into the ground with his paw and swings to face Gorgeousbreeze.
"Reapershadow!" I have never seen her this angry, her green eyes practically flaming with anger. "How dare you treat our son like that!"
"I'll stop when he fixes his mistakes!" Reapershadow hisses back, black fur bristling with anger that matches my mothers.
"He's only four moons!"
"I could do it at three!"
Gorgeousbreeze raises a paw and Reapershadow sneers.
"What, you're going to hit me?" He mocks.
"Don't forget why you fell in love with me." Gorgeousbreeze snarls, and her paw connects soundly with Reapershadow's face, claws leaving ugly tears across his muzzle.
"You dare!" He flails, eyes closed tightly against the streaming blood. "I am the deputy!"
"And I'm the mother of your kits!" The silver she-cat spits, fur bristling. "I am fully within my rights!"
"Enough!" Perfecttail leaps down from her den in the intertwined branches of the Meeting Tree. "Reapershadow, you forget yourself!"
"I forget!" He raises a paw, and I flinch. I know what that paw can do.
"Yes." Her orange eyes bore into him, and he slowly realizes who he is talking to. "Warrior Code, rule number 14; a queen is fully correct in any matters dealing with kits, unless the majority of the Clan disapproves."
"Yes Perfecttail." Reapershadow mumbles, blood dripping off his chin.
"Now go see Sweetmist." The fluffy she-cat leaps back up to her den, and I watch her, staring enviously at the den formed by the fused branches of two willow trees, twisting around each other to form a platform and roof for the den. She addresses us from a lower branch, the Clan gathered inside the shelter of the willows.
I suddenly notice Galaxykit watching me and I hiss, my tail smarting and my pride shattered. I turn and race into the shaded alcove that is formally known as a secondary den, but it's never in use, and it's more of a tunnel leading down into the ground. For once, I hurl myself down the tunnel, my emotions a rising tide inside. I slow down, unsure where to go when I see a light, and exiting the tunnel, for once I am outside Camp, outside responsibility, outside perfection.
~oOo~ Sparklekit ~oOo~
I hate how Reapershadow treats Deathkit, pushing him to the limit, molding him into himself, trampling over the kinder, softer cat that I know that my brother is. Sunsetkit sees it too, how he struggles to control all the emotions that are building up inside of himself. I can feel it; the anger, the frustration, the helplessness, the hopelessness, the shame and disappointment that he carries without a word, with only a look in his eyes that he gets sometimes when ever he sees Reapershadow. I'm glad that he leaves me alone, then I hate that I let Deathkit suffer though everything.
"Move." I turn and see Amberpelt standing behind me. Her yellow eyes are narrowed and I creep aside for the prickly warrior.
"Don't mind her." I recognize that accented voice! I turn and smile at Comettail. He and Cosmicpelt are my favorite warriors ever!
"Hello Sparklekit." Cosmicpelt is awesome, she always plays with us!
Sunsetkit and Celestialkit soon join us, tossing the mossball back and forth, laughing and slowly, I forget my worries over Deathkit.
~oOo~ Deathkit ~oOo~
I stare at the ring of trees, none of them are the same kind; willow, larch, fir, cedar, pine, and pear. There's something about this clearing, a feeling of life and balance. Then I blink, and everything is gone. It's just a clearing of twisted maples that loom menacingly over me. I turn to go back into the tunnel when I come face-to-chest with a star-struck silver pelt, flanked by black, red, and blue.
"Get off our territory!" I hiss.
All four cats smile at me and the silver cat speaks.
"I am Doveflame."
"Nightbreeze." The one with the odd moon-shaped patch speaks.
"Planetsphere." The red tom.
"Universeheart." The final, blue tom.
"When the six wings opposite take flight," They chant. "The dark angel falls to the falling sun, and the burning mountain calls him."
"What does that even mean?" I shout at the whirl of starlight they vanish into. "I'm literally four moons! I have no idea what to do!"
"You will know." Universeheart appears and disappears for a moment to deliver that wonderful piece of information.
"Well excuse me." I draw a claw across the ground and for a moment, the fir tree blazes back into existence behind me.
I trot back into the tunnel , and emerge into camp. I feel the solid weight of expectations, responsibility and disappointment settle upon me like a lead jacket, and my pawsteps become measured, every word calculated, every move planned as the eyes of history settle on me, scorching my pelt.
End of chapter three! I did not mean for Reapershadow's treatment of Deathkit to be anything more than that one parent who wants the best for their child, but has a bad way of showing it. I apologize before hand if appears to be something more like child abuse, and am requesting that you leave a review explaining how I can do better or PM me about it. But now, it is time for Question Of The Day!
QOTD1: Okay, so what do you think of Deathkit now?
QOTD2: What do you think the prophecy means? I'm not going to spoil anything though!
QOTD3: Are you having a good day? If not, I hope that big thing that you were dreading turns out to not be so bad, and you get to relax!
