Chapter 7

Misery

"WHY DID YOU WATCH ME AND SABER GET CAPTURED AND DO NOTHING ABOUT IT?!" I screamed. The white lynx point tabby, let's just say his name, Choco, just let out a long sigh.

"How long are you going to talk to yourself like that?" he mumbled, shuffling leaves and scaring off prey while walking deeper into the undergrowth.

"I'M NOT TALKING TO MYSELF! I'M TALKING TO MY USELESS, MOUSE BRAINED, SHITTY CRYSTAL!" I yelled and practically bumped into a thorny bush. Choco sighed again.

Technically, you're talking to yourself because we share a life and we share a mind so technically…

"Technically, YOU'RE LIVING IN MY FUKIN' MIND WITHOUT PAYING RENT!"

But see how you don't need to pay taxes for rent now?

"...Fak you Zircon." I sighed. Choco and Misty, the grey tortie she-cat, exchanged concerned glances and shrugged.

"I think our prisoner has some mental issues," Misty meowed, "I must not be infected." she blurred and turned into a hawk.

"I will watch her from up there." Misty the hawk screeched and flew up into the sky.

"So much for friends!" Choco yelled. Misty the hawk didn't flinch and kept on going. We were almost at the edge of the forest now, the roar of a thunderpath seem to deafen my ears. When we arrived at the side, monsters sped by from both ways, my ear fur ruffled from the wind that they caused.

"Can I trust you to not run away while I watch for monsters?" Choco meowed, still grabbing my scruff. I just simply nod my head and looked at him innocently. Of course, you can't, you mouse-brained idiot.

"But I don't trust you," Choco said, "and therefore we are going to do this together. When I say go, you run across the thunderpath like a pack of wolves are after you." I stared wide-eyed at him. Wolves?! That not a very good motivation for me. BUT WHY ARE WE GOING TOGETHER?!

"What?!"

"NOW!" Choco sprinted across the thunderpath, ears slid back and claws unsheathed. I hurried after him, paws scrambling on the hard, black ground. Choco stopped at the other end, looking at me anxiously.

"Go go go! Faster!" he yelled. Wait, why am I going this way? I was supposed to run away. But too late. Choco seemed to have read my mind and grabbed me by my scruff and dragged me to the other side.

"Thought so." he simply meowed with my scruff still in his mouth.

We travelled a little further into the red oak woods and stopped in front of a giant red oak with numerous brambles and thicket walls behind it. This must be the Shifter's camp, but where's the entrance? I surveyed the area carefully, confused.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to run away when I let you go after we crossed the thunderpath." Choco meowed with amusement. I replied with a twitch of my ear. Of course, I changed my mind. This is a fantastic chance to spy on Shifters! The white lynx point tabby brushed his front paw somewhere along the red oak and pushed something I couldn't see. Suddenly the red oak split into half with a silent screech, and inside it was a whole new world. I felt my chin hit the ground in awe, and Choco just snorted with laughter.

"Welcome, to the Shifter's camp," meowed Choco.

***BTL***

I felt a building pressure in my skull as Blaze sniffed me, then grinned.

"So, Brother, how does it feel to be worthless?" he said mockingly. I stared blankly at him, my mind in denial but my instincts told me otherwise.

"Fuck you, imposter." I snarled half-heartedly, ignoring my instincts in favour of cursing. I could feel the bone mask making its way across my forehead and jaw as I spoke.

"Oh, that's quite unexpected from you." He put a paw on my head, right on top of the bone plate that he didn't seem to notice. Anger surged through me as I let the mask form, ripping through the snakeskin.

"You sick bastard," I growled, my voice strained with rage, "Recreating my brother, then pitting him against me." I felt ice form around the skull, my fur and plates of crystals covered my ears. Blaze didn't even flinch as I limped toward him, his face blank and calculating. Aspen was long gone.

"I really wanted to see him again, but this moment has ruined my image of him." I dug my newly made ice claws into the ground right in front of this clone, steam flowing off my armour and cascading onto Blaze, burning his nose and singing his fur.

"Congrats, Odin." I breathed directly on Blaze's head and barely holding back my fury, "You're little plan is shit."

I swiftly decapitated the clone, his head falling to the ground without a fight, eyes like blue glass marbles. His body never spat out blood, just dried bits of flesh covered the exposed area. I smirked. He had been dead all along. I could see the frost that coated his insides, from drowning in that lake all those moons ago.

'Thank you,' I swore I heard him say, 'Thank you, brother.' his voice just a whisper above the wind.

***BTL***

When we walked into the well-hidden Shifter camp, all the cats turned to look at me. Aspen and Scar appeared behind me while hissing loudly in my face, making sure that every cat notices my existence as a prisoner.

It looks just like a regular camp; A black she-cat and a pale ginger tabby tom sat by an oak tree on the side of the camp sharing tongues, two elderly cats lying lazily on a patch of grass in the sun, three kits chased after each other while screaming in joy. All is sweet and fine except that all the cats looked like they're about to kill somebody, especially me when I walked in. The tan tabby dark striped queen let out a huge gasp and wrapped her tail around her kits protectively, a few warriors stood up in shock while the others turned their glare on me.

A young silver spotted tabby padded towards me, paused a few seconds in hesitation, and turned to Choco.

"Who is she?" he growled, getting in my face while doing so. The kind of expression a new warrior would often wear to show that they are strong and tough twinkled in his green eyes. Choco pushed him back gently with his tail.

"A perfectly harmless and friendly prisoner, Tin." he answered rather coldly while Scar hurdled me into my jail, a hollow made of thorny brambles with the ceiling covered with leaves and sticks.

"You'll stay here quietly, won't you? Or else I'll shred you!" Scar warned, and stalked away. Choco volunteered to watch over me as he went, and the large dark grey tom agreed with a snort.

You're lucky they didn't push you into a badger's den. Zircon noted.

Indeed.

I looked around. Dawn light seeped in from small gaps between the leaf ceiling, creating a pattern on the sandy ground. Vines poured down from the top of the hollow and covered most of the entrance. Two freshly made moss dens rested at the end of the hollow; soft and comfy, ready for some lucky cats to sleep in. The hollow was a few fox-lengths deep and a few tail-lengths high, big enough for two big muscular Maine coons to go about comfortably.

"I'm guessing this den wasn't supposed to be prepared for me, huh?" I meowed rather to myself.

"No, it was not. It was for the sick and injured cats. There were no more spaces in the healer's den." A mellow and friendly voice explained. I looked up and saw a petite chocolate tortoiseshell and white young she-cat sitting at the entrance of my 'prison', looking at me with haloed green-blue eyes twinkling with curiosity. I shrunk away from her, observing her every move.

"Who are you?" I questioned, trying to sound tougher than I am.

"My name is Sweetie. Nice to meet you! What's your name?" she chirped while sticking her sheathed paw in the hollow. Weird name. But cute.

"Twilight." I felt a bit more comfortable with her so I stick my paw out to touch paws with her. Sweetie gripped my paw gently and shook it. Her pads were a mild shade of pink, and the snowy white fur around them are really soft.

Weird manners. I noted. Choco's pale lynx point tabby fur appeared behind Sweetie, his icy blue gaze landed on her beautiful chocolate tortoiseshell and white pelt, then on me. I seem to recognize something between them.

"What are you guys talking about, Sweetie?" Choco mumbled, with a sparrow in his mouth, rather too much friendliness. Sweetie nudged his chin with her forehead in response. Are they mates?

"Just greetings, Choc." She purred. Choc? Are they that close already? A sour feeling threatened to clutch my throat, but I swallowed harder and the feeling was gone. At the far end of the clearing, Tin narrowed his gaze on these two, and let out a frustrated moan. Sweetie seemed to froze when she heard it, and Choco dropped the swallow in front of my paws and licked his chest fur, embarrassment shone in his icy blue eyes.

Embarrassment? What's wrong with cuddling with your mate? Tin dropped his fresh kill back into the fresh-kill pile and stalked towards Choco, anger burned in his green gaze. Sweetie's tail drooped and she curled beside my hollow entrance, her beautiful green-blue eyes clouded like her heart was being torn apart.

Or maybe it was.

***BTL***

Blaze's body was buried right under the spot were I 'killed' him. Before that, Aspen came to check up on her Chieftain. It ended with me headbutting her unconscious.

I let the ice-armour melt, the skull to fall off and dragged Aspen's body to the light that started a few minutes ago.

"Hey!" a muscular ginger Maine coon tom with amber eyes shifts from a wolf into cat form, "Aren't you our prisoner?" he looks at Aspen then snarled at me.

"She's alive." I said coldly, dropping her scruff. Someone shouted at the large shifter, revealing his name as Tiger.

"Shut up, twerp!" Tiger yelled at the voice, "Where's Chieftain Blaze?"

"Buried a tail length in the dirt." I said, glaring at him. He grits his teeth, his mouth slowly morphing into a grin.

"Then there's no one stopping me from ripping that heart of yours from your chest, Crystallic? Eh?" I didn't flinch at his words.

"Yes," I said simply, he grinned wider, his claws unsheathing and sheathing anxiously. Some more shouts came from the fire beyond the bushes. Tiger ignores them completely.

"I've been itching for a Crystallic to kill ever since the Chief let me execute the last prisoner." He licked his nose, almost savouring a scent from a long time ago, "She was a feisty one."

Before I could retaliate, three Shifters jumped out from the bushes glaring at Tiger. One of them, a dark grey tabby tom with green eyes and white tail tip, looked at him then at me.

"I didn't know you were about to dissect a Crystallic." he sneered. The second one, a chocolate and cream cinnamon striped she-cat with green-blue eyes, shot a look of annoyance at the first before the expression melted to nothing.

"I highly doubt Chief Blaze would let you kill him." she said calmly, taking a step toward the first.

"Well, who said I was the one who would kill the damn Crystallic, Swirl?" Swirl stared at the first shifter, unflinching.

"Rocky." the last cat, a blue tabby tom with a white muzzle/tail tip and blue eyes, said, "We should go back to training."

Rocky rolled his eyes.

"Fine, party pooper! You better show the little Crystallic who's boss." and he dove back into the bushes with his apprentice. Tiger looked back to me, claws completely unsheathed.

"I'm going to deal with you now." and he leaped, teeth bared and eyes full of fire.

"Killing me won't be easy." I said, taking a step back to dodge. Tiger clawed at me immediately after landing, scraping against my neck, drawing blood.

"Ha!" He jumped over me, then kicked me in the stomach, "I doubt it!"

I got back up, shooting Tiger a death stare.

"This is getting boring." I taunted, crouching down for a leap. Tiger sneered,

"Sure, kit. Come at me!" he bared his teeth as I charged, "LET ME FINISH YOU OFF!" I shifted, much to his horror, his face twisting from glee to pure terror as I morphed into a dragon, though somewhat smaller than that time with Twilight. I closed my jaws around Tiger's neck, blood cascading into my mouth as I ripped his head off.

"NO!" Aspen had gotten up. I dropped Tiger's head, his blood covering my face like rain.

"That's for kidnapping me and Twilight," I strode towards Aspen, her body seemingly paralyzed, and tore her left ear off. She screamed, falling to the ground writhing in pain and terror as I dropped it.

"That's a reminder," I raised the wings on my back, "that I am now leader of the StarClan forsaken Camp."

Aspen shivered in response.

***BTL***

I blinked my sleepiness away as morning sunlight seeps in from the gaps in the carefully made ceiling. I stood up from my den and stretched a long, nice stretch. Through the seams of the wall of the hollow, I can see a pale ginger tabby tom standing guard beside the hollow entrance. I yawned as I touch his pelt carefully with my muzzle. I had to force a purr of amusement back when he nearly jumped in surprise.

"Morning, Shifter." I greeted him with a cheerful mew. The pale ginger tabby turned and stared at me.

"Oh, uh, morning. And, um, my name's Clover, not Shifter." he mumbled.

"Am I allowed outside? My limbs are stiff. And my stomach is growling. A walk to the fresh-kill pile won't hurt, right?" I asked in a perfectly innocent voice, staring at him with big pleading eyes. Clover's ears twitched, his bright blue eyes seemed to be considering my question.

"I'll have to ask Aspen." He meowed in a firm voice and padded away. Just then the giant red oak, as the camp entrance, opened and two cats walked in.

It was Aspen and Saberpaw.

My eyes widened at the sight of these two flanking each other peacefully and exchanging meows quietly. All the cats in the camp stared at them. A dark mackerel tabby she-kit even fell down from the nursery entrance. Her mother picked her up in a hurry and shoved her kits back into the nursery with her dark striped tail. The Shifters' vice waited for Saberpaw to leaped up the leader's boulder first and then settled on her vice seat, which is a flattened rock right next to the leader's boulder. Saberpaw cleared his throat.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the boulder for a meeting." He meowed loud enough for all cats in the camp to hear and sat down on the leader's boulder, wrapping his tail neatly around his white toes.

"Saberpaw! What are you doing?!" I questioned. The brown tabby just gave me a look that says 'no, bad child' and turned away, waiting for the patrols to come back. I unsheathe my claws and dug them deep into the soil after sitting down beside Clover at the hollow entrance. Most cats swarmed around the leader's boulder naturally, but some looked hesitant while the rest just look angry and confused.

"What are YOU doing up there?!" Zig growled. This made all of the cats started questioning him.

"Aspen?! Why are you letting him take over us?!" A chocolate and cream cinnamon striped she-cat meowed sharply, her green-blue eyes stared at her vice with disbelief and betrayal.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" A grey tom with white underbelly screamed.

"Just SHUT THE HELL UP, Smokey!" A white dappled with different shades of brown patches tom screamed over his brother. The cats calmed, and the shouting and screaming eased. Saberpaw glanced at the silent crowd and nodded to Aspen. The white tabby she-cat cleared her throat and started.

"I am here to bring a bad news for you, Shifters. Chieftain Blaze had recently passed away." she meowed in a low voice. Now the Shifters were even quieter, every one of them stared at their vice with shocked eyes. Aspen paused for a little bit longer and continued.

"Chieftain Saber is here to take Chieftain Blaze's place. He will make everything normal again. Please welcome our new chieftain! " She concluded. Nobody said anything. Silence crept into every one of the Shifter's terrified minds, every one of them stared at their new chieftain with horrified expressions because they know when a Chieftain dies and the vice doesn't take their place, somebody had killed the original Chieftain. Aspen nodded to Saberpaw, uh, Chieftain Saber. The brown tabby's tail twitched in both interest and impatience for his new clanmates.

"Let me clarify something before I start with the changes," He announced, "The one you called 'Chieftain Blaze' had been dead for ages, frozen solid in a lake at Leaf-bare." The Shifters stared harder.

"First change, you challenge me, I will provide you with an agonizing death." He continued, "not like you didn't know already." Some Shifters let out a horrified wail, but the other shifters immediately stuffed their tail over their mouths.

"Second change, Crystallics are off the menu. Period." Saber stamped his paw for added effect. The Shifters bristled and unsheathed their claws, but none dared to argue.

"Third change, a small one really," he glanced over at me, smiling faintly, "the current prisoner goes free." With those last words, Saber hopped off the rock and out of sight, leaving Aspen behind to the horrified crowd. I stared at the brown tabby who disappeared behind a curtain of morning glories into his new leader den.

Well, there goes your happy-ever-after plan. Boom. Zircon said matter-of-factly.

"Shut up for once, will you?!" I felt like crying. I felt like screaming. I felt like I was going to burst with frustration and… sadness. Just when I was about to do all those things, a muzzle touched my ear.

"Hey, Crystallic," It was Choco. The lynx point white tabby's eyes glittered under the sinking sun with icy blue warmth.

"Twilight," I meowed quietly.

"Twilight," he repeated my name like it was a magic spell with a satisfied expression on his face. I sighed and turned away.

"Well, let me show you around!" Choco meowed with excitement.

"Me too! I'll show you around!" an apprentice looking dark ginger tabby she-cat joined in, friendliness in her yellow eyes, "I'm Ginger. And that that sulking mouse brain there is my denmate, Plum!" she added with her tail pointing to a blue tabby tom talking intensely with a warrior-like dark grey tabby tom. Plum just gave me a concerned glare and continued his conversation.

"Come on, Crystallic, let's get you to know this place before sundown." Ginger meowed and pushed me forwards with Choco following just behind. When we walked past a group of Shifters in deep conversation, I heard fragments like: 'three sunrises later','Chieftain Saber', 'drive...out', ' kill', and 'vengeance'. My heartbeat seemed to stop as I connected the sentences together into a horrifying plan.

'Drive out Chieftain Saber and kill him for vengeance.'

Ignoring Choco and Ginger's surprised meows, I leaped up the boulder and rushed into Chieftain Saber's den.

***BTL***

I dug out some dirt stuck in the cracks of Blaze's old den, a filthy place full of rotting moss, rocks and gravel. It also smelled of dead cats. A great smell really.

"This (censor) of (censor) (censor)."

In the end, I ended up dragging everything outside and burning it. How? Levin. He's a great exterminator unless there are bugs involved, then he screams like a little kit and disappears.

You know a bunch of shifters are planing bloody murder. Levin told me.

"Yeah," I grumbled, digging out a missed clump of moss, "As if I cared."

Ok then, suit yourself! ChieftainSaber. Levin bit down hard on the word 'chieftain' mockingly. I groaned, burning the moss where it was stuck in the ground.

"Saber!" I looked up from my work and found myself staring into two familiar haloed blue eyes.

"Chieftain Saber. I'm Chieftain Saber. By the way, my new subject, you should have waited for my allowance to let you in." I meowed half-jokingly, but instead found my voice surprisingly low and serious. Twilightpaw looked staggered, then managed to calm down again and dipped her head respectfully. Of course, my attempt trying to be humorous and intimating failed miserably. Again.

"Yes, sorry, Chieftain." she whimpered. I sighed,

"What is it?" I breathed. Twilight lifted her head, her eyes distant somehow.

"Some, er, of your subjects are planning to kill you," she said.

"F-For Blaze." she added hastily.

'Shifters are really idiots,' I thought bitterly, lifting my head to face Twilight.

"I already told them what would happen if they challenged me." I said plainly, "They would be foolish to do so." I noticed Twilight shifted uneasily in the entrance as if there were more to say.

"You look like there is more to say," I cocked an eye dot, "care to tell?" She stiffened.

"W-why did you become Chief?" she stuttered. A shiver ran down my spine, warning me of a future outcome if I screwed this up.

"It was kill or be killed," I said truthfully, "I had to do something, about Odin's influence, about…" I paused, feeling Twilight's stare. Suddenly, the room felt dark and small, trying to crush answer out of me.

"About my brother." I finally said, feeling the room grow colder with Twilight's distaste.

'I screwed it up, didn't I?'

"Maybe you and your plans are better off without me. I'll leave now." and she left, true to her word. I was left alone in the den, the shadows ever closer, their words invading my mind.

'Unworthy of a friend so great.' they once whispered, small and insignificant while Twilight was by my side. Now they scream with renewed effort, deafening the world around me.

'One true friend, yet you drive them away.' the shadow's eyes glisten crimson, their shapes twisting from cats into otherworldly abominations.

'She has found someone better than you.' one large shadow comes and bathes me in black.

'How sad,' it hummed, 'A kit that has never seen the stars in their magnificent glory.'

***BTL***

Tears busted out my eyes as soon as I stepped out of the leader's den.

Stay strong, Twilight, stay strong. I told myself. Feeling the cold, fresh night breeze brush against my pelt, whispering words of empathy, I calmed down a little.

Sometimes, things are not what you think it is. Zircon sighed. I couldn't answer him. Or else I'd cry harder. Choco and Ginger were long gone.

'Nobody will ever wait for someone like you anyways. You have no friends.' A voice mocked. I looked up at the full moon through blurry eyes. My paws ached to go home, but my heart hurts when I thought of ever going home without Saber. Tears raced across my cheeks as I squeezed out the red oak entrance, and bolted to the nearest cliff. I need to see Starclan's presence, that way I'll feel safer.

'Really? You're not even a clan cat, what made you think that they, anyone, would have cared about you?' the voice continued. Rain came pouring down when I finally reached the top of the cliff, stars hid behind looming dark clouds, refusing to even see my antipathetic face.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" I screamed, tears mixing with rain.

'Nobody likes you, not even the wolves.' a voice chuckled.

'Everyone hates you!' a deeper voice screeched. I tried to defend myself, but nothing in my mind right now are against these truthful comments.

'You're so self centred. You only think about yourself.' commented another. I stared at the grey void, defenceless.

'What made you think you'll ever be a warrior, a true clan cat?' one mocked. An idea came to me. I stood up, rain streamed down from my soaked pelt. I came to the edge of the great cliff.

'That's why you'll be alone. Forever…' I jumped out as high as I can with my eyes open, wishing to see this world for one last time. But the world didn't want to grant my last wish. Rain and hail turned the mountains and forests into a misty, grey hell.

I closed my eyes.

My last will of living died off, and I started falling. I thought I heard someone call my name.

Forget it, Twilight. No one ever cares about you, and no one will.