'It was awful…' A small gray apprentice with sapphire eyes padded through the dense, dark woods, thinking of the events that had just occurred. Needless to say, he was scared, it was the worst thing he had ever seen in his short life span. 'He...died...nine times…' The greatest tyrant the forest had ever seen, Tigerstar was stripped of his nine lives in a horrid, bloody fashion by a small, apprentice sized, cold-blooded outsider by the name of Scourge. Ashpaw shuddered "Three days...Should I fight…? Or run…?" the apprentice thought to himself silently. Ashpaw wandered further into the woods; towards the Tallpines. Firestar had warned every cat not to go out alone, he regrettably did not listen. Ashpaw remembered talking to his friend, "The clan needs prey...I'll go get some." he promised. The small gray apprentice was beginning to disagree with himself, realizing this was a very very bad idea.
As he neared the twolegplace, the sweet scent of mouse blood filled his senses. "Ah! Finally!" he mewed to himself as he instinctively dropped into the hunter's crouch. He had walked all the way from the ThunderClan camp and couldn't scent a thing until now. As the apprentice got closer to the scent, he had realized he was downwind. However, surprisingly, the mouse was still there, it had not yet scented him. Ashpaw didn't complain, an easy kill. The gray tom soon found himself on one side of a big bush, he could not see the other side, however, he assumed that's where the prey was. "It's on the other side…" he thought to himself. "I'm just gonna jump through the bush and ambush it...it'll never see ME coming…" he growled softly with a smile. He quickly pounced through the bush to meet his prey head on.
However, there was no prey, there was a half eaten mouse with a small black tom mauling over it. The new scent had a single white paw and a purple kittypet collar, littered with teeth. Almost instantly, Ashpaw felt his heart stop in fear, once he realized it was the Killer of Tyrants himself, Scourge. He couldn't help but exclaim his surprise as he crashed right into the murderer. The two cats rolled around in the dirt before landing on their sides, the young apprentice had taken him by surprise. Ashpaw quickly rose and had his ears flat, tail in between his legs as he backed away slowly from the lying tom. The black tom rose slowly and growled, anger in his icy stare, "What's a pathetic little forest kit like you, doing out in the big bad woods alone? Don't you know that it's dangerous to go out alone..." The black leader slowly took steps towards Ashpaw with a wide grin
Ashpaw hit his back against a tree, frozen in fear. A realization came to him within a few moments, if he was to die, he'd die a warrior. He felt he had nothing to lose, he rose softly and retorted, "I'm not pathetic! And I'm not a kit!" he mewed, "I'm Ashpaw! An apprentice from ThunderClan!" he continued . The one white paw of the leader was now unsheathed and Scourge's unnaturally long claws were scratching the forest floor. The tyrant let out a mrow of sadistic laughter, "You're soon going to be running off with your tail in between your legs." he growled softly, getting even closer
The gray tom flinched and moved to the side, to where he could run, "Y-Your point?" he turned around and started running as fast as a WindClan warrior. He was panting heavily as he sprinted through the woods. Ashpaw, feeling cocky, exclaimed, "Maybe I'll tell FIrestar where you are! Won't be so big and bad versus the entire clan will you!?" he laughed a bit as he ran into a tree face first, stopping him entirely. The world seemed to be spinning as Ashpaw stood back up, dizzy and dazed. "O-Ow…" he groaned a bit, looking over his shoulder to see Scourge there, and he did not look amused.
"Can't have that...can we? A little kit running off to tell my location...I'd be at a disadvantage." he smirked, "And that wouldn't be fair, would it?" he said with a smirk. "Now do me a favor and follow me." he said, it wasn't a sweet request, it was an order. "W-What if I don't…" Ashpaw stuttered softly. Scourge let out a loud, hearty laugh, "If you don't...I'll kill you where you stand and add your teeth to my collection." he threatened with a hiss and a growl. Ashpaw took a gulp and nodded, "O-Okay…" he said, getting intimidated by the black tom. Scourge had a smile, "That's a good kitty, now follow me." he said, leading the way off towards twolegplace.
"Erm...Where are we going…-"
"The name is Scourge. You will be respectful when around my warriors, and you will live, disrespect anyone, and they will skin you...Understood?"
Ashpaw nodded softly, "Y-Yes Scourge."
"Oh...and one more thing, try to escape, or do anything to insult me, and I will personally...make you wish you were dead. Understand me?" In that last sentence he seemed to growl intimidatingly. The gray tom nodded with a worried look to his gaze. Scourge rolled his eyes, "Now from your first question, BloodClan has a mini-camp in this place." he explained, once they started walking deeper into twolegplace. "You will stay in my den with me, you are to leave only if you are escorted by me, and you eat with me, understood?" he asked, coming to a stop once they reached the entrance to an ally. Ashpaw seemed a bit confused to the methods behind the madness, but he assumed it was best to keep his mouth shut. "Don't talk to anyone." he growled.
Scourge led Ashpaw through a crowd of BloodClan cats, all wearing collars that were decorated with teeth, mainly cat teeth. There were several comments from the crowd, "Fresh Kill?" "Clan Trash!" and the like. Ashpaw flattened his ears against his head. They had reached a fence that split the alley in two. There was a small hole under the fence. Scourge hopped onto a metal trash can and yowled, "Silence!" In two seconds flat, the alley was dead silent. The leader nodded, "No one is to lay a claw on this clan cat, am I understood, the punishment for disobeying this new law, will answer to my claws." he ordered. The cats whispered a bit before all nodding their heads in agreement. Scourge smirked and hopped down, "Go." he ordered Ashpaw, pushing him towards the small hole. Ashpaw nodded and crawled through, he fit through it rather easily.
On the other side was a brown box on it's side against a brick wall, on the inside of the box was moss, feathers, and what looked like the comfiest nest Ashpaw had ever seen. His eyes went wide, "I-It looks comfortable." he said softly. Scourge nodded, "This is where you and I will rest. Bone will be guarding us at night, and if you try anything...funny, he has permission to kill you and send your mangled corpse back to your pathetic clan." he said very seriously. The gray tom nodded in fear, not that he could do anything anyway, after all, Scourge was stronger than Tigerstar, and Ashpaw was just an apprentice. Him escaping wasn't even a tangible thought anymore.
Scourge nodded and yowled, "Bone! To my side at once!" it didn't take long before the huge white cat was at the nest, "Yes leader?" The black tom flicked his head at the nest, "Clan cat, join me, I'm headed to bed." he said with a yawn. "Bone, you know the drill, if he tries something funny, kill him without hesitation." Ashpaw flattened his ears as he walked past bone, sinking lower in fear as he stepped into the box. "Dear StarClan...This nest is so warm and comfy…" Ashpaw thought happily, curling inside the nest. For a moment he forgot it was shared as Ashfur lied next to him, their fur brushing.
"This is going to be the worst…" Ashpaw thought, knowing he would most likely be tortured for information and killed in the morning. "I have to get out of here…but how…?" The gray tom thought and looked around. Bone was already asleep on the job and so was Scourge. He looked down the alley, "Alright...I can't go through the fence or other BloodClan cats will kill me...I got it!" Ashpaw quietly stood, not awakening Scourge and he smiled as he did it successfully. He could see the morning sun begin to rise, it wouldn't take long for the two BloodClan leaders to awaken, so he darted off. As he exit the alley way, he turned the opposite way from home. He turned left and began running down the sidewalk as fast his young legs could run after him. He was a few alleys away when he heard a yowl.
"FIND HIM!" The voice echoed loudly, followed by a horrible screeching noise. Ashpaw began to run further and did not stop running until the sun was high in the sky. He had ran in one direction and was more lost than ever in twolegplace. "I-I'm never going to get out of here…" he panted, collapsing behind a nearby trash can. He panted heavily as his stomach growled loudly. "I'm gonna starve…" he growled to himself as he tried to scent the air. There was a semi-appetizing scent from the large trash can. Ashpaw growled at himself, "This is a new low for you Ashpaw…" he said to himself as he hopped up and pulled a half eaten piece of chicken out of the trash. He groaned a bit as he began to eat it. It didn't take long before he had eaten the rest of it, leaving just the bones, it was very filling.
He had slept there until dusk, now his belly was filled and he was full of energy again. He got up and stretched before he left. That was, until he had heard a threatening voice from behind, "Oh look what we've got here...A lost little kitten…" Ashpaw quickly turned around and he was ambushed by two 'warrior-sized' cats. They were not wearing collars, not a part of BloodClan, just rouges. "Well Stone, what do we do with him?" the large ginger one asked. The gray one named Stone answered, "Let's teach this kit a lesson Frisk…" he growled. Frisk attacked Ashpaw with unsheathed claws and tackled him, clawing at his shoulders before pinning him down with ease. The small apprentice was now bleeding quite a bit, and Frisk had his claws right below Ashpaw's paws. He dug his claws in, causing extreme pain and bleeding.
Stone smirked, "You can just finish him off, we'll throw him into the sewers." the gray rouge growled a bit as he began to laugh. Frisk went in for the kill until Stone's laugh was cut into eerie silence. "Stone?" The ginger tom asked, pushing Ashpaw onto the brick wall, causing even more pain. As Frisk turned around, he saw Stone's neck bit neatly, he had been swiftly killed. "Stone!" The ginger tom ran to his best friend's side and growled deeply, "I'll slaughter who ever did this to you-"
"No you won't." A cool voice spoke from the shadows. A white paw emerged, followed by a sleek, black cat with a purple, teeth stuttered collar and piercing blue eyes. Ashpaw's consciousness was fading, "S-Scourge…?" he asked before losing it and blacking out. His mind was racing, "This is it, either that rogue will kill me...or Scourge will...I'm not waking up am I…?" he thought to himself.
"Wake up." he heard Scourge's voice, followed by a gentle jab to his side. Ashpaw groaned a bit as he slowly opened his eyes to see the small BloodClan leader caring to him inside the box nest. "I've ordered Bone to leave us be for tonight, after all, you've lost too much blood in your front paws, you won't be walking until tomorrow." he explained. Ashpaw groaned a bit more, "Who died and made you medicine cat?" he asked, half forgetting who he was back-talking to. Scourge shrugged it off, "Well, I learned so that I could take care of myself, I don't need anyone else." he said simply.
"How come?" Ashpaw asked
"I've been alone since I was a kit. I had to learn pretty quick, it's kill or be killed out here." Scourge said calmly, lying down and pressing his fur against Ashpaw's. He didn't know why, but Ashpaw's fur burned hot with embarrassment and he blushed softly at the closeness. Ashpaw's wrists began to bleed slightly. Scourge noticed, "What monsters. Who could hurt such a defenseless kit-...a defenseless...Clan cat." he corrected himself softly and grabbed his paw and slowly licked the blood off, cleaning Ashpaw's wrist clean. The gray apprentice whimpered in pain, it stung, however, he was blushing bright red and his pelt was burning brighter than a thousand suns. Once the bleeding stopped, Scourge yawned, "Get some rest…" he said, turning and lying down