Chapter 5, Bittersweet destiny
Icekit bounced around, whispering under her breath, "I'm gonna be and apprentice, I'm gonna be an apprentice." Snowkit was more dignified, grooming herself near a small stump. The foliage around her whispered in the light breeze. Snowkit fluffed her fur up against it. Snowkit's fur was long and fluffy, while Icekit's was shorter, although she could fluff it up when she wanted to. Forestkit was also becoming an apprentice. He was usually gentle, but the thought of Snowkit going into battle made the tortoiseshell fur on his back bristle. She looked so nice when her fur was freshly groomed. Forestkit was wondering if he should go and talk to her when Icekit bounced up right in front of him. "Forestkit!" she said all in a rush. "Have you seen Shadefrost anywhere?"
Forestkit shook his head. Icekit was so weird. She acted all kit like in front of warriors but when she talked to other kits - or at least to Snowkit, she was snippy, sometimes even mean. Was it all an act or what?
Icekit meowed in frustration. Forestkit looked back in Snowkit's direction. When Icekit's voice came again, she sounded scornful. "In love already, are you?"
Forestkit whipped around back towards her. Fury blazed in his amber eyes. Icekit shrank back in surprise. What on earth was wrong with him? She hurriedly looked down at her white paws, for the first time feeling the pricks of the green grass in them. "I... just..." she tried to apologize, then stopped. She didn't owe him any apology! She looked up, her blue eyes betraying no emotion. "I don't have to say sorry to you," she told him matter of factly.
"Say sorry!" he ordered her. She fought the urge not to turn tail and run back to Nightrose. She made a show of sitting down on the grass and starting to groom herself as if nothing was wrong. But her legs were like jelly. She had never seen this side of Forestkit before. She had never known he could be so angry. Forestkit gritted his teeth. "Say sorry!"
She looked up mutinously. "Say 'I love you' to her already! And then you can have kits and have a happy ever after ending! Unlike some people!"
Foreskit cocked his head. "What do you mean?" the blaze had gone out of his amber eyes, and his fur had began to lay flat again.
"N-nothing," Icekit hurriedly covered up. Then she regained her normal disposition. "Come on, why don't you say it?"
"Stop it!" he protested, tail swishing over the grass.
Icekit rolled her eyes up to the pinkish sky. It was just after dawn. "Are you afraid she'll reject you? After all, I did hear her say that a ShadowClan apprentice was really impressive, and she never even saw him! I wonder, is her heart already stolen?"
Nightrose immediately rose to her feet from near the fresh kill pile. She was about to say something when she thought better of it. After all, it would run in the family then, wouldn't it? But she wasn't prepared for what came next.
Forestkit launched himself at Icekit, claws unsheathed. Icekit squealed at him to stop, but when blood came pouring down from her shoulder she sprang away. Forestkit was already mortified when she turned back. He expected to see her looking hurt and mad at him, but he flinched back at what he saw. Icekit's eyes flashed with more anger than he had ever seen before. She slowly advanced towards him, one paw in front of the other. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Icekit had jumped on top of him in a flurry of claws. He was pinned down to the ground and her teeth were near his neck before she stopped. "I think you should say sorry," she hissed in his ear before letting go. Forestkit scrabbled to his paws. He would have said sorry, but he had seen the mad rage in Icekit's eyes. She had been going to kill him. He was sure of it. She was insane. Crazy. She was a killer.
Icekit saw his terror in his eyes. Was he right? Was she a murderer? She had only just stopped herself - and worse, she had started it. Snowkit had padded over, looking over both of them in blind shock. Icekit was ashamed. Terribly ashamed. Nightrose hurried in and picked Icekit up, took her to the nursery and started grooming the blood out of her fur. Icekit was finally lulled enough to forget about it - almost. But as she stared up at the bracken and moss roof of the nursery, the back of her mind was echoing with the fight. Images flashed past her eyes, and she didn't see what was in front of her. She saw Snowkit, grooming herself in front of the aged stump. She saw Snowkit, climbing on top of the stump while looking at Forestkit. Icekit tried desperately to look away from the look of love in Snowkit's eyes to the pile of rocks to the left of the stump, but she couldn't. She saw Forestkit's amber eyes finding Snowkit once she had looked away. She saw Forestkit, his eyes blazing with anger - and what she hadn't seen before - fear and hurt. She saw blood from her own shoulder trickling down. Then she saw what she would have done if the thought of Snowkit hadn't stopped her. Snowkit loved him, but she couldn't stop the image of what she knew would have happened if she hadn't thought of Snowkit from coming to her mind. She saw Forestkit's dead body, crumpled to the floor with blood at the neck. She saw Snowkit wailing over him. Finally, she saw her own eyes glittering with triumph over her enemy. Suddenly, she had gone beyond what she knew into pure imagination - or what she thought was pure imagination.
She couldn't stop the images from coming. Forestkit was dead on the floor. Snowkit hurried over to her sister and cursed her while tears ran down her face, mingling with the dew and blood on the grass. Snowkit's deep blue eyes flashed at her with rage. "Murderer!" she screamed. The accusation rang in Icekit's ears. "Murderer!" Nightrose accused. "Murderer..." Shadefrost murmured. "You are a murderer!" Lavenderstar decreed from the High Rock - where she should have been given her apprentice name. Rocks showered down on her from the High Rock, striking all around her. "StarClan's will is clear!" she decreed with her eyes to the sky. The sky had suddenly become cloudy, and the clouds were almost black with rain. As Icekit continued to look up, the sky darkened and darkened until it was almost impossible for her to tell if it was night or day. There was no moon or stars. "Since these rocks have fallen around you, so to will our warriors. Our warriors will avoid you like the rocks until dawn tomorrow. Then the rocks will shower down upon you and crush you. You are exiled!"
Icekit found strange words coming out of her own mouth. "You will pay for this, cats of ThunderClan. And you," here she gestured to Nightrose and Shadefrost. "You deserve to die for what you have done! This is you! Don't you realize? You did this to me!"
Icekit ran into the forest, tears streaming down her white fur. Thorns tugged at her fur. She didn't care. From being the righteous promising cat in the clearing, she had gone to being a disheveled cat with nothing left to live for. Finally, she collapsed to the floor. Holly leaves pricked into her sides. Her mouth formed the words, "StarClan help me." Weeping racked her body. Her mind fought desperately for control against the sobs.
A dark gray cat stepped out from the shadows. Deep blue eyes stared at Icekit. Icekit felt herself being inexorably drawn to the blue eyes until she could see nothing but the blue of one of the eyes. She found herself being sucked still deeper. Finally all she could see was the black of the iris. From the strange cats mouth, words boomed. She felt herself being dragged back from the comforting presence in the blue eyes, to see the cat's whole face again.
"Shadow on ice is doubly wrong, for ice is cold-hearted and shadow casts all the others into shadow. The wrong cannot be righted. The wrongs of the past and present cannot be righted, because of the daughter of Thunder.
The forest will tremble, for the coming of the shadow on ice. Lies will be spread, and it will be thought that the wrong was righted.
The wrong cannot be righted." Before Icekit could ask what she meant, she was sucked back into the dry nursery.
Nightrose's worried eyes stared back at her. "Are you alright, Icekit?" Icekit struggled to her feet, trying to clear her head of the disturbing images that still clogged her thoughts. "I'm fine," she mewed weakly.
Nightrose nodded. "Are you ready to become an apprentice? No training today, though. What... what happened? Did you say something to make Forestkit angry?" The last words were an accusation. Icekit could make people angry at her very easily.
Icekit swallowed. "I'm sorry," was all she could say. Snowkit meant everything to Icekit. She'd never betray her secret.
Nightrose nodded. It was good enough for the moment.
Icekit scampered up to the high rock. Snowkit pressed against her, offering silent comfort without accusation. Icekit and Snowkit subconsciously crossed their paws, so Icekit's right paw was like Snowkit's left. Snowkit did the same in reverse. It was something they always did when they were about to do something important together, or when offering comfort. It was a symbol of how close they were. Forestkit watched from Snowkit's other side with silent envy. He scuffed his paws in the dirt. Was Icekit right?
Lavenderstar began. "Although two of these apprentices have recently come to blows, they will be given apprentices names. Hopefully they have learned from this."
Icekit thought, I've learned more than I wanted to in my entire life.
"From this day forward," Lavenderstar looked at Snowkit, "until she receives her warrior name, she shall be known as Snowpaw. Lightflash, you are ready for an apprentice. You shall mentor Snowpaw. You are an excellent warrior, and I expect you to pass on your compassion and skills to her.
"Until Forestkit receives his warrior name, he shall be known as Forestpaw. Shadefrost, you are ready for an apprentice. You shall mentor Forestpaw. You are a strong warrior, and I expect you to pass on your cunning and skills to him.
"Until Icekit receives her warrior name, she shall be known as Icepaw. Wolfsong, you are ready for your first apprentice. You shall mentor Icepaw. You are a noble warrior, and I expect you to pass on your perserverance and loyalty to Icepaw."
Icepaw lifted her head. She had become an apprentice.
She had also almost murdered someone. What was becoming of her?
Ok! Do you think that chapter was too weird? I kinda got lost... Anyway, in response to reviews:
SnowstarX: You're right, that does seem to help! Unfortunately I can't always find the time to look back over my work... Thank you! It always makes me happy when some one reviews and helps.
Hawkpath of RiverClan: Well here it is! About your story, Path of a Hawk - I think if you delete it, it's gone, but if I see anything I'll let you know. I'll PM you with the things I remember. Sorry...
Mintfrost29: Yes... I do... pretty damn guilty, I'd think.
Eevee2leafon: here the update is...
KK, I'm done!