Requested by XxIronmaniacxX! Here is Jumppaw's thoughts, remember, you can request a chapter!
My father is the leader of my Clan. My mother is the hated pariah of it. I am a semi-respected member of a Clan that I hate. Who am I? My name is Jumppaw, and I was named after a psychopath and serial killer. No, my father, Elmstar the Mad probably wouldn't have named me that if he knew. Although it's possible he would have anyway. He is mad. But I'm not here to talk about my father, I'm here to talk about a cat made of shadows and heart break with eyes the color of poison. Jumpstorm.
I first met her on accident, her eyes full of wonder and sorrow. She moved over the ground like she was gliding, paws silent and tail waving languidly without the rustle of a blade of grass. There was a faint scent of Twolegplace and blood in the air.
"Excuse me." I mewed politely, knowing that it was my duty as a ThunderClan cat to remind them that this was our territory. Besides, she was standing in a patch of mint. I needed that mint. Her movement was harsh, a quick spin and her green eyes were trained on me.
"Elmfoot?" Her voice was cautious.
"That's my father." I corrected her, and rambled on about how I was named, trying to forget how much her eyes looked like Greenlight's.
Bowling me over in a swift leap I didn't see coming, I came face-to-face with an angry she-cat with eyes that were bottomless.
"Don't tell anyone you saw me and I'll spare your life." her breath smelled like blood. Not prey-blood, but cat-blood. "Go back to camp, ask Elmfoot about that story. Then come back here. I'll find you."
"But how will I find you?" I saw an unreadable emotion flicker across her face, and my whole body tensed. What if she killed me? I don't want to die!
"I'll find you." Her voice was ice. The let me go and melted into the shadows, pelt blurring and fading into them until nothing. Naturally, I turned and went back to camp.
"Where's the mint?" Was Cedardusk's first question, not even looking up from sorting herbs.
"Oh...I forgot..." My reply caused the she-cat to look up. With a shriek, I leaped back. My mentor's eyes were green, poison green!
"What?" She tilted her head and her golden eyes were back.
"I thought I saw..." My voice trailed as she snorted.
"Help me sort these herbs, and then if you can name all of them and their uses, you can go free for the rest of the day."
Waterberry, mint, sorrel, poppy seeds, daisy leaves for Sunfeather, burnet and tansy, also for Sunfeather. The golden tom had fallen the other day, claiming he had seen a dead cat walking. Mouse-brain, that's what he gets for walking on the edge of the slopes with the sun in his eyes. The herbs had taken the most part of the afternoon, especially after I confused funnel's two uses with that of horsetail's. I tried to avoid the rosemary, watermint and pine sap. I don't want to bury another cat. My heart aches for Greenlight.
"Good." Cedardusk's voice was approving, and I slipped out of the den into the fading twilight. For a moment, the shadows by the apprentices den seemed to shift, and green eyes gleamed at me. Then Darkpaw slid out of the den, green eyes lighting up.
"Hey Jumppaw!" The older apprentice greeted me. "How's Sunfeather? I swear that tom is like a kit."
Purring with amusement, I let the young she-cat escort me to the fresh-kill pile, her black-and-silver pelt rippling.
"He's fine," I told her. "Your mentor will be back on his paws in time for you to get your warrior assessment done with Dawnpaw and Yarrowpaw."
"Good." she said, sighing with relief. "I'm kinda worried about where Rippletail is going every night though..."
Content to discuss the handsome silver tom with her, I completely forgot about Jumpstorm. That is, until I saw her again. Her fur was stained with blood, and her white fangs were bared in a fighting snarl. Gleaming claws snagged on Mapleshadow's fur as the dark queen came down to mourn her lost daughter. Lizardtail stood by too, his green eyes the same as the cat lying in the middle of our den. I thought I was free from her, fur blurring and fading and green eyes flashing. From slender claws and bloody fangs. That night was the last peaceful one I had.
"Who's there" My voice echoed into the rotting trees. "Who are you?"
I could feel eyes on my pelt, and I spun. There she stood, pelt free from blood and eyes full of clarity.
"Thank you." Her voice wasn't scratchy anymore, but smooth and rich like Twoleg cream. Not like I've ever tried it, not ever. Nope, not me. Nope nope nope.
"For what?" My voice wavered.
"Giving me another chance." she vaguely waved her tail at the trees. "I never got to live when I was alive. Meeting you changed that. I realized where I truly belonged was-"
A fetid wind picked up. My nose twitched. The smell of smoke and burning meat drifted across the air and Jumpstorm shifted her paws and her eyes darted nervously about.
"She's here." Green eyes bored into mine. "Leave."
"Who's here?" I screamed at the faded tortoiseshell, but the dark forest was gone, and I was standing in glowing meadow, a brown cat beside me.
"It's best if you didn't see that kitten." She murmured, amber eyes filled with grief.
"Who are you?" I asked, she looked so familiar!
"My name is Meadowpath." For a moment her brown eyes flickered to green. "And it's time for you to wake."
"Wait-"
And I am sitting upright in my nest, Cedardusk snoring softly in the corner and moonbeams bathing me in their chilly light. As my racing heart slowed, I cautiously shuffled out of my nest, moss clinging to my pelt.
"Where were you supposed to be?" I murmured to the air, a single shaft of moonlight flooding the clearing. The shaft of light only flickered and vanished from the clearing in response as a cloud drifted over the moon.
A slight wind picked up, and I could faintly hear the sounds of a cat laughing, and the scent of burning meat briefly touched me then was gone. For a moment, the two bdding morning glories that hung across the nursery looked like eyes, then all was still.
The Dark Forest. The voice was smooth, but there was the cough of fluid-filled lungs too. Greenlight says hello, Jumppaw.