V I S I O N A R Y
seasons crying no despair
alligator lizards in the air, in the air…
Russetstripe—handsome, mysterious, and ultimately perfect. Unfortunately, he's also long-dead, and helpless to interfere in the affairs of the living as an unimportant entity of StarClan. But when danger and treachery threatens not only the current WindClan leader but Russetstripe's surviving offspring as well, will he be able to find an answer through the events of his own past?
I update in bursts, see.
I'm special like that, see.
Instead of writing regular updates say, once a week
I give you long stretches where you starve, and then I whip out a pile of them to stuff down your throat.
I'm great like that, see.
Please read--- and review, lol!
Thanks to those of you who've been sticking with me since the first chapter of Visionary, heh—I really appreciate it, lol! My short story with short chapters, awhh.
I heart youus.
Thieves of all characters will get beaten with a rake.
And then I will proceed to throw you in a puddle.
So THERE!
Russetstripe, Demon, and Assassin (the characters in this chapter) ALL belong to ME. I will gnaw off your fingers if you take them. Seriously.
Tallstar and Warriors are NOT mine. Take them if you wish!
Just write a long unnecessary disclaimer like I do and you'll be fine. 8D
c h a p t e r e i g h t - the birth.
He was born from a root of grief, of bitterness; born into a world where he would be used and broken, torn apart and made to feel so much pain he would block away his very soul. When the small black kitten made his entrance into the world which would show him such cruelty he had no idea of the darkness to come, nor the haunted path his small, dark paws would take. He knew nothing of his father—yet. He knew nothing but the warm, round belly of his mother—not even a sibling to share his newfound world with.
Demon felt nothing for her son—Tallstar knew it immediately, from the moment those harsh, icy green orbs locked place with the tiny, wet body of her single child. He was all she had left of Russetstripe—the StarClan leader didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad one. It was a difficult thing to know, to see inside the inky rogue's thoughts when her face was so cruelly impassive—but it was easy enough to see she harbored no love for the child her lover had left behind.
She'd given it all to him—all for Russetstripe. She'd fallen for him as so many others had, lost her sense and taken a chance. There was nothing left over—nothing but bitterness. Nothing but grief. It might as well have been hatred—because Demon was far too proud to admit that it had been her own mistake, to love, to fall, and not that of the dark ginger warrior to leave her. Too proud to think of anything but her smoldering need, burning desire, to hurt him as he'd hurt her. He'd stolen away the life she'd dreamed about when those snowy paws had padded back across the moor—and now, she would steal his.
Yet she could not.
In her cruel, twisted way, she still loved Russetstripe. Her only wish was for his death, for his pain—yet she could not bear the thought of doing it herself. Perhaps it was truly that she did not want to—perhaps it was the fear that she would not be able to carry it through, faced with his magnetizing hazel-flecked gaze. No—she cared nothing for the son that the tomcat had given her—all she cared about was what he could—and would—do.
So was spawned the silent tomcat; bastard son of a WindClan warrior—kitten soul already imprinted with the ghostly pawprints of those who would one day fear his name. Evil was not born, no—evil had to be created. The instant her starless muzzle shaped her child's name his destiny was shaped, formed, and created. Assassin, he was named—and Assassin he would become.
Tallstar watched in horror as it all began to unfold—it was clear Demon had no intention of letting the insult Russetstripe had dealt her fade away. No, from the beginning, she had a plan—as always. And her plan was to train her son—their son—to kill. And the blood to coat those sleek black talons would not be any cat's, no… it was the life of Russetstripe that Assassin would take, yes, for her. Born with a destiny—and the first part of Assassin's life would carry nothing but that training she would give him. As Russetstripe had ruefully learned in the moons he stayed with her—Demon was ruthless, temperamental, and utterly commanding.
Assassin soon learned that too.
* * *
The soft, ink-shaded fur coated the young tomcat from head to toe—not a single white fur broke the stretch of night-stained pelt. Infinitely dark, a creature of the shadows—born to step in silence, to carry death in his deadly claws, to fix his prey with haunting orange eyes before their whisper of fear could so much as escape from behind their muzzle.
At the moment, however, he just looked like a gangly kitten, awkward and lanky, of rather small size. His spidery limbs and wide, innocent gaze made Tallstar's heart warm—this was the cat Demon expected to kill Russetstripe?
"Hey, Mom!" the little rogue mewed, skittering sideways and snapping at a leaf which floated lazily down from one of the trees above. "Watch what I can do!" The larger frame of Demon turned, and her harsh, piercing emerald gaze seemed to have no effect on her cheerful son, who leapt up into the air and pinned down the tattered leaf, fluffing out his short pelt in pride.
"I've told you before," his mother growled, lashing her tail, "To call me Demon. And your skills are pitiful—you'll need more, much more, to act out your future." She looked like she was about to go off into a lecture and turned her fierce eyes back towards her son as she opened her maw to go on.
He was chasing his tail, chirping slightly as he nipped at the long, skinny black cord.
"ASSASSIN!" Demon yowled, sending him flying with a blow of a paw. "We've been training since you opened your stupid little eyes, and you can't even catch your own ratty tail!" Tallstar flinched—that was harsh, and he could see the hurt behind little Assassin's tangerine gaze. He was around the age of a new apprentice—surely Demon wasn't expecting him to be perfect?
"All right then," Assassin mewed, "What do you want me to do?"
"Come here," Demon snapped. Bewildered, her son padded towards her and she hit him again, throwing him again to land painfully on the ground until he scrambled back up, orange eyes watering. "NO!" she snarled, lashing her tail. "SILENTLY!"
"But I'm not stalking," Assassin protested before flinching back, biting his lip, while his mother advanced on him.
"It doesn't MATTER whether you're STALKING or WALKING— you will make NO NOISE! From now on, if I can hear you, I'm going to hit you."
"But…"
"That includes with your mouth!"
Assassin clamped his jaw shut and nodded.
"Now—let's try again. Come here."
The shadowy rogue dropped into a crouch and crept towards her.
"WALKING. Go back and do it again."
Tallstar watched as Assassin tiptoed back and tried it again. And again. And again. Until Demon made him lead the way across acres of territory in the forest littered with twigs back to the barn, bruised and battered the tomcat as he made the voyage without sound until he collapsed in the corner where Russetstripe had once slept, his mother laughing cruelly in the background as she left to hunt for herself.
It was then the spidery tomcat began to cry, cry to himself curled up in the damp straw—to weep for his bruises and his feelings until finally he looked back up, chin firming, an expression of forlorn hope and determination entering his flamelike eyes as he resolved to go on.
He's brave, Tallstar thought admiringly, though his stomach felt tight and sick with the knowledge of how Russetstripe's former mate was abusing him. But how long can he take this?
How long until his mother decided he was ready, and the dark ginger warrior who'd fathered him entered the ranks of StarClan himself?
It's a little short, lol. Poor Asseh.
-sighs- I heart him.
He's always very quiet now…
Anyway lol. Please R-R
Arrrrgh I'm a pirate lol.
xD enjoy. I want to huggle young Asseh…
Seriously lol. Now I feel like drawing a picture.