Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.
Hollykit looked around for her friend, and suddenly spotted his sooty tail disappearing into the nursery. She ran swiftly him, ignoring all awe-filled comments from her clanmates eventually catching up with him as he prepared to settle into his nest.
"Hi…" he sighed mournfully, his usually cheerful voice laced with sadness.
"What's wrong?" asked hollykit, laying her plumy tail across his back sympathetically.
"It- it's nothing." He stammered, turning away, evidently trying to hide the rush of emotions that obviously plagued his mind.
"You can tell me," Reassured hollykit, settling down beside deepkit
"I won't tell a single cat, I promise." Deepkit sighed and turned towards her, his eyes glazed like they were looking at something hollykit couldn't see.
"Fine... It's a long story, though," Warned the grey kit, as if he was trying to put off telling the story as long as possible.
"I'm fine with that." Affirmed hollykit, who then proceeded to shift in the nest to get in a comfortable position to listen to what deepkit had to tell her. The grey kit took a long, reluctant breath, and began his story.
"About four moons ago, before you joined the clans, I was sick with an infection in a cut on my leg I got when I was playing moss ball. I didn't know what exactly was going on, but I did know something wasn't right, as my leg hurt really badly, and I kept falling asleep when I wasn't tired. One night, when I felt really ill, a cat with stars in her fur came to me, and I wondered if she was there to take me to starclan. I asked her, but she said 'no. I am here to heal you.' She put her nose on my forehead and I was cured. Just like that. I asked if she was going to go, and she said yes, but that she would visit me again.
Jayfeather didn't believe me when I told him what had happened, but I knew what I had seen. The starry cat came back the next night in my dreams. She said her name was duskdapple, and that she was here to teach me to be a medicine cat. She came in my dreams each night, and told me all about the herbs, and how to use them to treat illness. She was so kind, and if I made a mistake, she never scolded me or got angry, just smiled asked me to try again." Deepkit looked wistful; as if he was delving through the nights he had spent with his starclan mentor.
"But-but then, it all went wrong. On n-night, duskdapple didn't come. I thought she might have just been busy with starclan stuff, so I didn't think much of it, but that night, I was woken up by a white cat, which I didn't recognise. He asked where duskdapple was, and I was about to tell him, but he scared me, so I thought better of it. I refused, expecting him to go away, but he wouldn't leave. He asked me again, but this time his voice was patronising but cold, like icy honey. I still refused, but then he got angry, and leaped at me. His claws were digging in my throat a-and I-I thought he was going to k-kill m-me." Deepkit was finding it hard to continue, his eyes were darting around the den in a terrified manner, and he was shaking in panic. Hollykit pressed closer to him in an attempt to comfort him.
"What happened next?" she prompted gently, laying her tail soothingly over her friends back.
"T-then duskdapple appeared in the den. She hissed at the white cat and clawed at him. She managed to get him off me and was winning, but the white cat managed to flip her over and he bit her neck, and she just f-faded a-away." Deepkit was breathing heavily, his eyes locked shut as he trembled at the horrific memories of his short past.
"T-then the white cat began to laugh, not a nice laugh, but such an evil laugh that it shook my soul… the cat snarled at me 'lucky your little friend appeared when she did, but don't worry… I'll be back for you later…' and then he disappeared. Just like that. Now you know why I don't like fighting. I never want to see anyone hurt or killed again…"
"Oh deepkit… I'm so sorry!" meowed hollykit, pressing her nose against deepkits ear in an attempt to comfort her best friend. Suddenly, a niggling thought flashed against the back of her mind.
"Deepkit?" she asked hesitantly.
"Was there anything else umm, 'unusual' about the white cat?" deepkit looked down, clearly lost in thought. Suddenly, he shuddered violently, as if some horrid thought had entered his mind.
"h-he had t-this h-horrible scar… it stretched from his ear, right down his face and ended at his belly." Deepkit seemed to tremble at the memory. Hollykit felt anger race through her body, and she dug her claws furiously into the ground
Oh snowtuft. And I thought you couldn't get any worse…
Poor deepkit! I'm sorry if this chapter is rubbish. I kind of rushed it a bit because I wanted to get the conversation over quickly, so I didn't bore everyone who reads it to death! Also, I have set myself a challenge so that at least once a month, I write a one-shot about a warrior cats thoughts about their life. My first one is called 'why me?' and is about crookedstar. If you have a request, feel free to PM me and I will try to include it!