Takes place in the Old Forest Territories.
She never had a voice, nor did she have a person to share it with. In which she cries and for the first time, he's there to wipe them away. Echokit had struggled through her kithood, and barely survives to breathe another breath after her apprenticeship. "She's weak, useless, disappointment. I should had killed her when I had the chance, then perhaps, my own kits would be alive." Amberfoot hissed, and lunged toward the kit before she could twitch a whisker.
...
Farce
...
"Are you sure this is safe?" She whimpered, staring off into the unfamiliar territory of Riverclan. Their grounds looked softer, and had small clean pebbles instead of the large, dull rocks thriving in Thunderclan. From her view, Echokit saw only trees and reeds surrounded their borders and deeper in were wood-less, open plains.
"Of course. What could those fish-brains do to us?" Vinekit snarled, his dark red tortoiseshell pelt blocking her view as he leaped in front of her. He yawned lazily and turned tail, kicking a fallen twig forward as they continue to walk.
Echokit's nerves faded away as a familiar, lopsided grinning furball pressed his pelt onto her brown-and-white shades. Spottedkit's eyes twinkled as she leaned into his touch and they continue walking side-by-side, though her being only tall enough to place her head onto his shoulder.
"It's fine. We have been on this trail for a moon, and no one had gotten hurt before." He muttered and licked her cheek.
"Really? Why are you inviting me this time, then?" She asked, blushing at the gentle contact.
Her littermates, Petalkit and Vinekit exchanged looks.
"No particular reason, we just want to spend time with our little sister." Petalkit mewed, Echokit too dazed to notice the sickly sweet innocent in the young tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat.
"Oh," Echokit purred. They want to play with me!
"Be quiet, won't you? You'll get us killed." Hollowkit growled, and took the lead of the group as they crossed from Thunderclan to Riverclan territory.
"I thought you said this path was safe!" She hissed, blue-eyes burning a light ember shade. Echokit had always had an unnerving tug when the dark tri-colored tom was around. He was nothing like his brother, Spottedkit.
The two brothers had the same black, ginger, and white calico pelt colors, beside the fact that Spottedkit's black was more gray than midnight dark as Hollowkit's, and bright, round eyes. But that was were the similarities stopped. Their personalities were split, complete opposites.
Echokit had had her fair share of Hollowkit's taunting and insults since she opened her eyes.
"Will you both shut-up?" Vinekit glared, swatting both bickering kits on their ears. Though, Echokit almost fell over without the support of Spottedkit while Hollowkit was hardly effected.
Echokit's ears flatten as they moved deeper into the wet, marshlands of Riverclan. Fallen leaves were gathered in small piles from the season's leaf-fall and the dew were still visible on them.
Petalkit giggled, and leaped onto a leaf-pile. Echokit's eyes widen as her sister disappeared into the pile, the leaves consuming her entirely.
"Petalkit!" She shrieked, rushing to dig her up. Hollowkit rolled his eyes, and nudged her side.
"It's a hideout, mouse-brain." He hissed, before jumping into the hidden tunnel, too. Echokit gaped, and watch as he drowned into the leafs with ease. Then her brother, Vinekit, afterwards.
"Trust me," Spottedkit whispered. She hesitantly nodded before letting him push her into the tunnel, before vanishing into the leaves, following her.
She landed on a dry mud pile with a soft thump, almost crashing into her brother's behinds. Echokit gasped as she looking around the tunnel. It was filling with nests made with moss and some dead voles, still fresh, laying on a flat stone.
The area was large, but cramped and tight with the five kits.
"You like it?" Spottedkit mewed. Echokit nodded, and sat next to her littermates
"Hollowkit and I found it a moon ago, and we decorated it. When Petalkit and Vinekit were born, we took them out here when you haven't open your eyes yet." He informed, and licked his paws.
Echokit sighed, and wonder what else she had missed the first five sunrises of her life. She was sick before she opened her eyes and was kept in the nursery, while Petalkit and Vinekit had explored the world only hours after they were born.
The price of being a runt. She thought bitterly as Spottedkit nudged a half-eaten vole at her paws. Echokit's stomach grumbled and she quickly bit into the prey.
"We're going to Riverclan's garden."
"Garden?"
"They only made a garden recently, mostly catmint and bindweed." Petalkit said in a matter-of-fact tone. Echokit smiled, and wonder if her sister ever thought of being a medicine cat when they grow older.
Though, she doubt it since Petalkit and her weren't on very sisterly terms. Which is the main reason she was surprise she and Vinekit had invited her to play with them. Echokit ignored the suspicious behavior as she was overjoy to have playmates for a sunrise.
"How do we get to the garden?" She asked.
Hollowkit shrugged. "Tunnels, obviously. Apparently this tunnel-system connects throughout the entire forest. We haven't explore all of them, though we have only went into Riverclan territory so far."
"Oh," Echokit responded simply.
"Let's get going, I bet our parents already sent out searching patrols." Spottedkit snorted.
Vinekit nodded, and crawled into another tunnel-opening. Then Petalkit, Hollowkit. Like last time, Spottedkit went after Echokit.
She whimper as she feels trapped again, the tunnel was slightly narrower than the one she went into last time.
Till what seem like moons, Hollowkit popped out of an opening and Echokit crawled upward. She could hardly jump out into the surface without the helpful push from Spottedkit.
She leaped onto a plump, rich green grass patch. Echokit spun around to help Spottedkit, when she realize he had gotten out by himself.
"See? It wasn't so bad, was it?" He teased, and pressed his nose to her.
Echokit's pelt burned when she noticed that Spottedkit was speaking to her. She nodded quickly and paddled to met up with the others. She obviously realized that she was too small, weak, and short for a kit almost one moon old and couldn't jump out onto the surface without the helpful push of Spottedkit behind her.
"There's a stream a few pawsteps away, but we're stopping here for some herbs." Petalkit said, plucking greens from the ground.
"Are you stealing a clan's herbs?" Echokit accused, looking as her sister continue to pick a variety of useless, and probably important, medicine from their rival's garden.
"No, just the catmint. Not all of it, though." She said, dividing the catmint to Hollowkit, Vinekit, Spottedkit, Echokit, and herself.
Echokit recognized some of the other growing herbs from the garden. Catmint, from her days of observing the medicine cat and apprentice, was rare and hardly grew in the wild. They were most likely most in Twoleg areas. She also saw dandelions, dock, bindweed, fennel, and feverfews.
Her thoughts were shattered as her sister spoke. "Catmint has a cooling, breathy affect. It not only cures deadly greencough, but cleans bad breath, too." Petalkit's eyes fell down on Vinekit.
He hissed, "Be quiet."
Echokit giggled softly, earning a scowl from Vinekit and a small mouth corner twitch from Petalkit.
"Try some," Spottedkit said, swallowing his own catmint. She looked hesitantly at the herb.
This isn't right, cats could be dying if I eat this.
She sighed, and laid next to him.
Echokit watched as the others chewed on their catmint, looking carefree and joyful. She bit down on her good nature voice and inhaled her own share of catmint. She had never tried any greens before beside yarrow when she was 8 sunrises old and the medicine cat had found deathberries in her vole.
Instantly, she was taken back by the cooling sensation. Echokit gasped as she let out a minty aroma, and saw that the others had done the same. She purred, enjoying the feeling of the after-effects.
Unaware, Hollowkit smirked as the pretty she-cat chewed on her catmint. Her expression was the same as just first time trying the tasty leaf.
He turned his head away as Echokit caught him staring, she blinked and went back to eating her catmint and talking with Spottedkit.
"Let's get moving, campers!" Vinekit exclaimed, whiskers twitching in amusement with a mischievous smirk.
Echokit didn't seem to notice as she ate the rest of her catmint, and even tried some dock―which was not as tasty as the mint, of course, and she suggest it is only used for medical purposes. She stood up, and walked side-by-side with Spottedkit again. He smiled, and nudged her tail with his.
Petalkit and Hollowkit stared attentively, and automatically hissed under their breath at the two love birds.
"Echokit's nothing but dirt," The red tortoiseshell she-cat muttered as they continue walking.
Her brother, Vinekit, frowned. He was the only cat, and only living organism, that she had told about her 'secret' crush on Spottedkit, the oblivious gray calico tom. Though, Petalkit had told many dead prey she had caught and sleeping elders before she had confessed to her brother.
Vinekit didn't understand what Spottedkit sees in his weaker, smaller, fragile-looking sister. Well, he did understand but it didn't mean he'll admit it. Echokit was beautiful for her age and size, most of her traits inherited from their proud, handsome father, Fallensky.
While him and Petalkit had taken their looks and, some say, their personalities from their own tortoiseshell mother. Though, still Echokit had been born to look like a lost, injured mouse.
"We're here." Hollowkit purred, pouncing forward. Vinekit's eyes and thoughts snapped to the rough-waved stream. It was higher up to the shore than normally, probably from last night's rain down.
Echokit gasped, and her eyes widen at the sight of the beautiful, transparent creek. For a moment, a slim, narrow moment, she felt blessed. All her kithood, her first moon of life, she had felt nothing but loneliness, sorrow, and unmindful like―what her littermates call her―a lost mouse looking for food in the middle of Leaf-bare.
In the water's drift she saw small, multicolored fishes―minnows―crested with fallen flowers and leaves from the season's leaf-fall. Echokit didn't realize she was staring off too deeply until a playful nudge on her shoulder from Spottedkit.
She raised an eyewhisker, and nudged him back. He purred, and pounced on top of her. Echokit was unaware of his intentions and fell on her back gently, him on pinning her down.
Spottedkit opened his mouth to speak as he leaned down, but his head snapped back up and switched from left to right. He sniffed the air and his eyes widen, leaping off of Echokit.
She got up onto her paws. Did I do something wrong―
She was interrupted when Spottedkit shoved her into a patch of tall-growing reeds. On her right, her littermates mouthed the word, "Quiet."
Echokit's eyes widen in fear, and she fought the urge to tremble. She followed their gazes and met with four to five cat-shaped figures. Oh no, Riverclan patrols!
Their were two apprentices and three warriors, all twice or even four times her size. The largest one―massive ginger-pelted tom-cat with shady green eyes―opened his mouth and inhaled the air. Echokit held her breath, and wonder if he could smell them hiding in the reeds.
He did.
Before she could process the facts, she was being pulled by Spottedkit and the Riverclan patrol were chasing wildly after them. Vinekit and Hollowkit were the first to jump from their shock and run back toward Thunderclan territory.
Supposedly, Echokit thought it would've been safer to go back into the small, narrow, tunnel but she realize the Riverclan apprentices could easily slip in after them. She ran, behind Spottedkit and in front of Petalkit.
"Hey!" The Riverclan tom called, spotting the five kits. He growled, and lung toward them.
The rest of his patrols did the same, splitting into groups. Echokit glanced behind, over her shoulder, and saw that one party consisted of the two large warriors chasing them on their right while a warrior and two apprentices attempt to catch them on their left.
She shrieked as she saw the taunting claws of the said Riverclan patrol, swatting the air as they ran toward her. Her heart was beating nonstop, and her lungs wanted to burst open. She had never used the amount of energy she was using now as she leaped over fallen logs, and avoid slipping into deep puddles.
"C'mon," Vinekit hissed as he crossed Riverclan territory to their own safe zone. Soon enough, the calico twins were reaching the point of Thunderclan territory as Echokit and Petalkit lagged behind.
Echokit felt her paws arching and her mind spinning as she speeded up. Though, she was slow and her sister hissed at her.
"Move out of my way, Echokit!" Petalkit hissed, shoving her roughly aside. Unfortunately, the two were running across a hard, gray flat rock as she pushed Echokit over the edge. Petalkit didn't glance back as Echokit fell over the rock, tumbling through a bramble bush and into the nearby stream.
"Echokit!" Spottedkit yowled, rushing forward. He was held back by his brother, and Echokit's littermate.
"We gotta go Spottedkit, no time to save your precious little mate!" Vinekit growled, pulling tightly on his neck.
She saw her 'so-call friends' disappear into Thunderclan territory. She felt abandon, and frighten at the same time as she spiraled through a prickly bush.
Echokit fell into the freezing cold lake, gasping upward for air or nearby land to grasp onto. She couldn't find one as the strong currents whisked her in circles, back and forth. She sensed a throbbing pain on her left paw, the arm she fell onto when Petalkit pushed her off the rock, and possibly bleeding by the bramble bushes' sharp thorns.
This is it. She breathed one last breath before going limp and plunging deep into the once gentle river creek, closing her eyes.
Author's Note: I edited and re-wrote this chapter from the helpful [might I add inspiring] advice/review from snidely.
This chapter was originally only 1,366 words and is now 2,400+ words after editing and adding more scenes in. It took quiet a bit of time, and I am kind of truly proud of it.
Hope you like the chapter, and story. I would be graceful if you send in a review, comment, or even advice to improve the story.
Ahh, thank you so much! R&R, and have a nice day.
Paper'Scars. x