Mad Hat Dragon: Thank you for reading both my stories!
Q.O.T.D.: What do you think of Rose?
Disclaimer: Warriors belongs to Erin Hunter. The original plot isn't mine, it comes from an unfinished fanfiction called "Redemption" by Moonbirds.
Frostfang padded through the serene forest. The only sounds being the crickets and hoots of owls. She had a sinister smile on her face as she tracked Icepaw's scent to the twolegplace border. Frostfang didn't hesitate as she took the first step past the border into twolegplace. She knew that she could never go back to Forestclan now, but there wasn't much she was leaving behind. Her "friends" were very annoying and hardly useful. The bitter sting of her clanmate's betrayal still lingered in her heart. The only ones she would truly miss were Finchstar and Rosethorn. But even they weren't enough for Frostfang to quench her thirst for revenge. The sole purpose in her second life was to get revenge and she wasn't going to stop until she got it. The forest ended and rows of twoleg nests sprawled in front of her. Many unfamiliar scents hit her nose and her fur bristled. If she was going to survive here she needed to know everything. She masked her scent and cautiously started to explore. The Thunderpaths were acrid and a lot harder than the soft forest floor.
She jumped over a row of weird, leafless, wooden trees and landed in a small patch of were a few flowers in the soil and it ended at a twoleg nest. Frostfang heard a flapping sound and whirled around, her claws unsheathed. A small, orange kittypet that looked no more than two moons old, stepped out from a flap in the twoleg nest. It stared at her, then smiled.
"Hi! You're really pretty. What are you doing? What's your name?" the kitten squeaked. Frostfang relaxed as she realized that the kit wasn't a threat.
"My name is Frostfang," she meowed. 'This kittypet could help me,' she thought, then smiled sweetly. "What's your name?"
"My name is Cassie!" she said and puffed out her chest. 'Kittypets have even weirder names than rogues!' Frostfang purred and settled down on the grass.
"Well Cassie, I'm new around here. Would you mind telling me what everything is?" The kit nodded her head, eager to please the nice stranger. "So what are we in now?"
"This is my housefolk's garden," Cassie said. 'Housefolk must mean twolegs.' "The thing you had to jump over is called a fence and the thing behind me is a house!" Frostfang listened, soaking up all the information.
"Are there any dangerous cats around here?" she asked innocently Cassie's fur bristled and she looked around before answering.
"There are two really dangerous groups of cats who are always fighting. One is led by this big, black tom named Scar. His group is called the Claws. The other is led by a vicious and fierce young tom named Dragon. His group is called the Yew," she whispered as if she was telling a secret.
"Is there a cat named Milky in either of these groups?" Cassie nodded her head.
"Yes, Milky sends messages from Dragon to other members of the Yew group," she explains.
"You seem to know quite a bit about this for a kittypet," Frostfang comments.
"W-well… I… um… just f-find it interesting i-is all," Cassie fumbles with her words as if she were embarrassed. Frostfang smirks, this young kit is so easy to read.
"You want to fight, don't you," she says. Cassie yelps and sheepishly nods.
"I've always wanted to belong to a group and fight for them," she says wistfully. Frostfang licks the top of her head
"How about you come with me," she offers. Cassie perks up, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"Really?"
"Yes! I can show you how to hunt and fight and we can create our own group," Frostfang says. Cassie's fur fluffed up in excitement and her paws started to quiver.
"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Oh thank you Frostfang!" she squeals. Frostfang chuckles at the kit's enthusiasm and picks her up by her scruff. With a mighty leap, the pair sailed over the fence and onto ground on the other side.
"Well, I'm afraid I'll have to change your name," Frostfang says. She refuses to say such a weird name everytime she wants to call out to her. Cassie just nods eagerly. "How about Rose?"
"Yeah! I love that name!" she says cheerfully. Frostfang started walking again with the newly named Rose trotting after her.
"What are the groups fighting about?" she inquires.
"Everything! Territory, prey, she-cats, they just look for anything they can fight over," Rose said in slight exasperation. Soon, the pair reached an abandoned twoleg nest. Frostfang decided that it was a good place to rest and settled down with her little friend. Rose curls up next to Frostfang and soon falls fast asleep. 'She must be really stupid to go off with a cat she just met. That or she was really desperate to get away from her life.'
Frostfang and Rose were walking through what Rose called "an alleyway". She was surprised at how little it took to impress her, such as when she caught a mouse. Everything seemed like a new and fun experience for her.
Frostfang could hear the tom before he was within five fox lengths. His heavy, lumbering pawsteps and panting breath were pretty hard to miss.
"What's a pretty little she-cat like you doing out here?" Frostfang ignored the question and kept walking. She pushed Rose along with her tail to keep her from looking back. The tom obviously was irritated at being ignored and ran ahead of the pair, blocking their way. Rose squeaked in fear and crouched beside Frostfang, who looked as passive and bored as ever. The tom had matted, grey, tabby fur with dark yellow eyes. His teeth were crooked and he reeked of moon old crowfood. "Hey now, I don't like being ignored. I was going to be nice, after all I wouldn't want to traumatize your little kitten there," he approached the she-cats with a hungry look in his eyes.
"I have no interest in a tom like you, now let us through," Frostfang meowed. The tom chuckled and flicked his tail under her chin.
"Why would I let such a beautiful she-cat go? Your little one looks like she'll grow up to be quite a looker too," he purred. Frostfang pushed Rose behind her with her tail and unsheathed her claws.
The tom didn't stand a chance.
Frostfang calmly cleaned the blood off her paws. In front of her lay a heap of flesh and bone, it's fur scattered in clumps on either side of the body. Once she was done, she turned around to see Rose staring at the corpse in shock.
"This is what life is like outside of your cosy little twoleg nest. You have to be merciless to survive out here. It's not all fun and games. Do you still want to live out here?" Frostfang asked her. She couldn't have a weak cat follow her around, they would just hold her back. She needed strong and ruthless followers who weren't afraid of death. Rose slowly lifted her head up to meet her gaze. A look of cold determination shone in her eyes. Slowly a smile spread across her face and Frostfang nearly purred.
"I do."