Long time since I had last updated... lol. :D
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It was midnight. The sky was a dark color, a unique ombre of dark blue to purple to black. The moon hung in the sky- alone. A shadow covered over it, the clouds a stormy gray-color. There were no stars tonight. No celestial sheen. There was going to be a storm coming.
A pale silver she-cat contemplated whether or not to go or not, sitting just outside the dirt-place tunnel. Finally deciding her sister would hate her even more if she didn't, she pulled herself to her paws. Flattening her ears against her head, she padded forward quietly.
The forest was silent- without the chirp of happy birds and crickets or the croaking of toads of any sort. There was the rustling noise of an icy wind and it buffeted against her fur, making her shiver.
She kept going, planting one paw firmly before the other. Knowing it was going to rain soon, maybe even storm hard, she began to run. Her pace increased and she dashed forward, swerving to avoid trees- the forest a green, brown, and dark blur before her eyes.
Finally, she burst into the mossy clearing, her heart pounding against her chest.
It was empty.
"Silverpaw?" She called, anyway. Her sister always had a dramatic flair, and most likely would enter in some unique, dramatic way. The small golden-eyed she-cat padded warily into the clearing, tail low against the ground. "Silverpaw?"
There she was.
Under the moonlight, she looked stunning. Her beautiful silver fur was neat, and sleek as it glowed softly. Her dark stripes stood out, rippling every time she took a step forward. The unique, trademark smoky stripe running along her spine twisted as well. Her pale golden eyes were bright and round.
There was no emotion in her face- no emotion in her once loving eyes. She looked cold and distant, as if she was thinking of something else- but they needed to have this trade. Goldenpaw felt fear stir in her belly as she looked at the blank, far-away eyes of her sister.
"Silverpaw?" She meowed warily.
Her sister's identical golden eyes flashed as she stared at her sister. "What?" She snapped, sounding irritable. Clearly- she looked as if she was wishing to be somewhere else throughout the night. Goldenpaw didn't know where.
"How are we going to do the trade?" Goldenpaw inquired. "I'm just going to start spending time with Dawnflight, and you with Lionclaw?" Tilting her head to her side, her golden eyes blinked curiously at her sister.
The silver she-cat laughed, touching her nose to her sister's cheek. She didn't say anything. Her laugh was brittle and cold, as were her beautiful golden gaze.
Affection for her sister rose in Goldenpaw's chest, but she pushed it away. Her sister despised her. Why couldn't Goldenpaw hate Silverpaw back?
"We can switch around anytime, you know." Silverpaw purred, tail flicking. "This could be fun."
"Fun…?" Goldenpaw meowed, feeling slightly dizzy. Her sister hadn't talked about much 'fun' since they were young kits- before that night. She had the dreadful feeling her sister was going to manipulate her, but Goldenpaw couldn't resist the tiny, tiny possibility that Silverpaw was doing this because she wanted to befriend her sister again. "Switch around… when?"
The silver she-cat shrugged. "I like battle practice. Dawnflight has taught me how to hunt, already, and it's fine." Silverpaw explained, tail twitching from side to side. "If Dawnflight takes you out for battle practice, we can switch. Or if Lionclaw takes me out hunting, and Dawnflight takes you out on a patrol, we can switch. Or if your doing nothing, and I'm going to do a patrol, we can switch." She smiled, teeth gleaming.
Goldenpaw admitted that she did prefer hunting to fighting. But it felt wrong. "I… I don't know, Silverpaw." She meowed quietly, pinning her ears against her head. "This feels wrong. We would be tricking the whole clan."
Her sister's golden eyes glowed with anger. "Don't be such a coward!" She spat at her sister. "It's not like it's breaking the warrior code or anything! Let's just do it!" Her sister's voice had relaxed, and Silverpaw had calmed down slightly. "It'll be fun. Come on. Just like old times?"
Silverpaw sat down close to Goldenpaw.
Goldenpaw felt as if she couldn't breathe, her chest hurting. She loved how close she was sitting with her sister- a wave of memories washing over her. But it didn't feel right. She felt so… used.
She was the only one who could see through Silverpaw's manipulative ways. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it was a bad thing. She couldn't tell anymore.
Then her sister touched her tail to Goldenpaw's tail tip. A strangled noise arose in Goldenpaw's throat, and everything just didn't feel right. Tearing away from her sister's side, she shook her head.
"No. I don't want to trick the clan." Goldenpaw meowed, as confidently as she could. She was relieved when her tail didn't tremble.
Silverpaw's eyes glowed angrily, and she lunged at her sister. Being more trained, muscular, and skillful than her sister, who was confined in camp, she swiftly pinned Goldenpaw down. Her claws were unsheathed, digging into Goldenpaw's throat.
The silver she-cat's eyes were wide as she choked beneath her sister. "Do it." She whispered to her sister. "I dare you." A glint came into Goldenpaw's eyes. She knew her sister well. Her sister would never be the one to murder her.
Silverpaw spat at her sister before releasing her from her grip, pulling away and sheathing her claws.
"I may not be able to kill you- but I have a new friend who could." Silverpaw hissed, eyes narrowed with hatred. "I know all your secrets, Goldenpaw. The secrets you can't even bear to think about. I know everything we did. If you don't do this- I'll ruin your reputation."
"If you ruin mine, you'll ruin yours as well." Goldenpaw replied, raising her head to lock gazes with her sister.
The silver she-cat laughed, staring at Goldenpaw as if she were pathetic.
"I think it's cute you think that." She purred silkily as she brushed past her sister, and headed towards the ShadowClan border.
Feeling out of sorts, Goldenpaw padded back to camp, feeling miserable. Her sister had won once more. Now she was forced to do her sister's bidding- forced to lie to her clan. She forgot how cold she was, how icy the breeze was. Nothing compared to the coldness in her sister's voice. In her eyes. Her once warm golden orbs had frozen over.
Goldenpaw felt as if she should hate her sister, but she couldn't.
She just couldn't.
…
"Wake up!"
Somebody shoved Goldenpaw awake. The she-cat muttered something under her breath, and flicked the tuft of her fur up behind her right ear. She blinked open her golden orbs, still feeling exhausted.
"What is it, Thistlepaw?" She groaned, unwilling to get up.
"Dawnflight's taking you out hunting today, with me and Jayheart." He meowed, grinning. "I'll show you how to do some moves, if you'd like." He offered to the pretty young apprentice.
Goldenpaw was too tired to sound enthusiastic. Instead, she offered the older apprentice a half-smile and padded out into the clearing. Silverpaw was already there- and to Goldenpaw's relief the tuft behind her ear was smoothed down.
As they bounded out of the den, Dawnflight narrowed her eyes at her apprentice. "For StarClan's sake, Goldenpaw. I thought you'd look a bit more enthusiastic, since I'd decided to cancel your punishment. Turns out that actually was a ThunderClan frog."
That made Goldenpaw blink in surprise. She almost said 'what punishment', but held her tongue. Obviously her sister had done something stupid and of course, Goldenpaw had gotten placed with the blame. Again.
Silverpaw was sharing prey with Amberpaw and Ripplepaw, shooting her sister a narrowed gaze as she saw Goldenpaw and Thistlepaw standing close together. The pale apprentice obviously wanted all of the clan's toms to herself. However, Goldenpaw was different- she didn't care about the toms. She just wanted to be the best apprentice, and the best warrior she could be, and become friends with her sister again.
"Lets go." Jayheart announced, tail flicking from side to side.
The patrol padded out of the camp's clearing, and Goldenpaw tried to talk to Thistlepaw in the same way her sister would.
As they passed a puddle, she paused to check her reflection. She smiled impishly, and she widened her eyes a little. She fluttered her eyelids, batting her eyelashes.
She looked exactly like her sister.
Maybe Goldenpaw wouldn't lose everything, after all. All she had to do was perfect what her sister was like.
"Hey, Goldenpaw, yesterday I heard you snuck into ShadowClan territory." Thistlepaw whispered in a low voice, amber eyes round. "Is that true?"
"Nope." Goldenpaw meowed airily, easily dismissing the idea. "I just stopped to talk to some ShadowClan tom. He thought I was pretty and refused to leave me alone." She tried to sound as stuck-up as possible. She knew she couldn't talk as well as her sister, but she hoped this was good enough.
Thistlepaw looked concerned. "Did he, in the end?" He meowed worriedly.
The pretty she-cat laughed lightly. "Of course, silly!" She teased, gently flicking his ear with her tail.
"Thats a relief." Thistlepaw smiled at her, brushing up against her.
Goldenpaw's eyes glinted as an idea came to her head. She would be her sister- but better. The whole clan's toms would come running to her, and after that happened… her sister would be left with nobody.
Nobody, except Goldenpaw.
Then her sister would come running back, and they would become close again.
...
This chapter actually shows how kinda crazy both she-cats are. Silverpaw is blackmailing her own kin- and Goldenpaw is obsessed with her sister. :D