A/N: Any and all opinions expressed by any and all characters in any and all of my stories are theirs alone and may or may not be my actual opinion on anything.
Oh, and this is one of the chapters that's the reason why this story is rated T. Beware if you easily get nightmares!
And Flamebeast, sorry that your references weren't quite as subtle as Mothstar's; she has more content for me to work with. But I did my best. Oh, and this chapter is three pages long! A NEW RECORD! *squees*
Also, nice cliffie, if I do say so myself *polishes nails on shirt*.
I wake up, stretching. Glancing over, I see Silver is still asleep. I feel a lot better today. I'm full from that magpie, I got a decent night's sleep for once…I think I'm going to see just how bad my hunting skills have gotten, I think, purring to myself.
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A/N: This is my new line break indicator. It's a KITTY! See it? xD
Once out in the early morning air, I feel…freer. I've been going crazy cooped up in that cave. My nose twitches, detecting the scent of rabbit. Licking my lips, I slowly begin stalking it. Barely a tail-length away, it detects me. Mouse dung! I run after it. Although my legs are weak after a half moon of little exercise, I'm almost as fast as ever. The rabbit didn't have much of a head start and I catch it quickly.
Purring, I think, Sprinting worked, although jumping in circles like Pinkie Pie probably wouldn't. Wait. Why would I know about Pinkie Pie? That's a character on a little kid's show! Huh. Must be from Flamebeast's profile. Alarmed, I stop dead in my tracks. Pinkie Pie? Kid? Flamebeast? I don't know what any of these are! I must have exercised too much. I am such a mousebrain! I should have waited for Silver to wake up and then asked if I could go hunting.
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Carrying the rabbit, I walk wearily back home. I wasn't too tired, though, to see the red eyes glinting from behind bushes, in old badger sets…watching me. Shivering, I continue walking back home. Should I tell Silver? I shake my head. Nah. She'd get all worried, and she's stressed already.
I pad in with my catch clamped firmly in my jaws. "Mist!" Silver exclaims. "I was so worried! I was about to go looking for you! What were you thinking, going hunting so soon?! I told you when I started taking care of you that you needed to stay in the den for a moon. It's barely been half of one! Really, what were you thinking?" Mist cries, pacing back and forth.
"It's just…you seemed so stressed, from taking care of me. I thought I might as well help out a little," I murmur, scuffling my paw in the dirt floor of the den. The shallow line I create is perfectly parallel to another, larger one from Silver pacing back and forth. Silver is looking a bit more relaxed, now she knows I'm safe…
"I can tell how worried you were! You literally paced a ditch in the floor!" I mew, purring.
"Hey!" Silver cries in mock anger. "Why, I oughta…" Suddenly she gets a steely glint in her eyes.
I gulp and crouch before her. Who knows what chores she would have me doing now? "Mist, as punishment for this terrible transgression, you will be the one filling in this 'ditch in the floor'," says Silver somberly.
"Yes ma'am!" I mew, standing up and hiding my amused purr. "Right away, ma'am!" I know Silver didn't really mean it, and sure enough, soon she is helping me fill it in.
"It was rather birdbrained of me to be pacing right where we sleep, wasn't it?" Silver remarks, seeing if the area was level enough yet.
"It takes one to know one!" I reply cheerily. "I certainly wouldn't know. Why don't you talk to my friend?" I add, pushing a mouse towards her.
"Are you calling me a mousebrain?" Silver asks in mock offence. "I think you should talk with my friend!" I look down to see the same mouse at my paws.
"OK, OK, we should stop. If that mouse gets pushed around any more, it won't be fit to eat!" Both of us purring happily, we continue with our work.
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Four seasons later
"Mouse!" I hiss, looking at Silver.
"Which direction?" she whispers back, adding, "I smell rabbit that way!" as she points toward the stream.
"Towards that huge rock," I murmur back. "Let's split up, they're in opposite directions." Silver barely nods, careful not to brush against any bracken.
I stalk the mouse carefully, and kill it quickly. Almost immediately, I smell magpie. I begin following the scent trail. Soon, the magpie is nearly within my reach. But I get the feeling I'm being watched…. I look around. Those glowing red eyes I've seen before surround me. But now, they have an intensity that's very, very, new.
These eyes are ready to kill.
I run. I run faster than I ever have before. But I wasn't running for my life then.
Those eyes are still following me, but the animals that own them remain in the shadows, bodiless. I find myself at the edge of an enormous canyon. A stream below is barely a rabbitlength wide, although I know it's really a huge river a foxlength across. This is not a good place to fight. I burst into a clearing, and those red eyes now have bodies…
Wolves. Huge, black wolves. Wolves with enormous fangs. Fangs that drip with blood…. They're the creatures from my nightmares.
I run faster, faster, ever faster. They follow, not even panting, although I am panting hard. I try to drink dew from passing leaves, but one always snaps at me, never enough to part the skin, but easily enough to keep me from drinking. Those teeth are so sharp they clip my fur easily.
I continue to run, into the forest now. The wolves don't disappear into the undergrowth like they have before. They have spotted their prey, and they are here for the kill. I can't run much longer. I stumble, and almost fall into the pack…but they part to let me through. They are not done chasing me yet. I continue to run, but I stumble again and again. That's when I see her. From fur silver as the moon, her fur is now as black as the wolves. She's joined them to kill me.
Silver.