Snowkit's eyes grew wide at the sound of the tom's deep, velvet voice.
"The quiet," Snowkit murmured, and was surprised to hear his voice for the first time, looking up into the tom's wise amber eyes searching for an answer . The tom nodded, and smiled kindly at the small kit.
"You Snowkit, are special. You were born with strength in your paws, the last kit of Speckletail, and yet you were also born imperfect, in a world of silence. You could've grown into fine young warrior, but probably would never have been treated the same as your fellow Clanmates." The tom paused and looked around at the other star-cats who stood silently watching the tom and Snowkit talk.
He continued, "We are cats who walk the skies and watch over you and your clanmates, Snowkit. We, including you, are currently in Starclan," he paused as he saw Snowkit's eyes grow wide and look around his pelt to see if he had stars in his too, and he chuckled at this as he replied, "No, you do not have stars that shine in your pelt young one. That is because you have not passed on to join us, we are those who have died serving our clan, whether from sickness, age, or battle, those who believe in us and follow the righteous path by following the warrior code join us after death to take their place among the stars." The tom looked at Snowkit, and smiled.
"My name is Thunderstar, but if you wish I believe Thunder will simply do."
Snowkit nodded, and as he spoke he was once again surprised at the sound of his voice.
"If I am not dead, then why am I here? And how am I able to hear now Thunder?" Snowkit inquired to the large ginger tom, who smiled thoughtfully at the question.
"Snowkit, you have survived through a great loss in your Clan, but since you have survived, we wish to make sure you can live and fulfill your goals. We did not choose to make you imperfect with your hearing, but now through this life-threatening ordeal, you have the opportunity to live. We may not be able to help you as you learn and work, you'll probably stumble and make mistakes. But we want you to have the best chance of becoming who you want and need to be, and your hearing is something that could have made it too difficult for you, a kit."
Snowkit stared up at the tom, and he felt admiration and debt to the star-furred Thunderstar. Yet, slowly they seemed to fade away and Snowkit screeched "Don't leave me Thunderstar!"
He barely heard the mighty tom's voice as he called back
"Starclan will always be here Snowkit, don't lose your faith and don't lose hope, you have a hard time awaiting you in the future, but Starclan will be watching over you, young kit."
Snowkit gasped as he opened his bright blue eyes to sunshine and the chirping of birds. "I can hear," Snowkit murmured to himself, enjoying the noises of the world, including his own voice, for the first time. "I can hear!" He shouted louder to the world, and then running and romping around the forest laughing, wanting to hear his own laugh and all of the noises he could muster with his seemingly endless energy.
"Thank you, Thunder, and thank you Starclan," he cheered as he fell down onto the ground, panting from using up his energy.
Snowkit calmed down when he heard his stomach growl, and he looked around the clearing he had ran around and about. He perked his ears up at the sounds of small things crawling around the undergrowth.
"If only mother was here," Snowkit muttered as he sat up and looked towards all the
places he heard movement. He couldn't help but feel the saliva in his mouth gather as he thought of how his mom was always able to bring food for him and her to share.
He tried to crouch down like he had seen some of the slightly older cats do in the
center of their camp, but he felt unbalanced as he did so, and as he took his first step he heard the crunch under his paw when he stepped on a dead leaf. He hissed as he did so.
Feeling defeated and hungry he walked back over to the base of a tree, and looked over the scratches he had earned from the hawk and tree again.
Finally, he settled down and covered his nose with his tail as he drifted off into sleep.
The darkness was comforting, but he could see Thunder up ahead. "Thunder!" Snowkit felt his vocal cords make the sounds and he moved his mouth, but he did not hear one noise. Snowkit slowly panicked and tried to call out to the large tom, but as he looked up he saw Thunder running away from him. Try as he might Snowkit could not hear anything, and he looked around desperately as he repeatedly felt himself calling Thunder's name.
"Thunder!" This time Snowkit heard himself shout out loud as he opened his eyes once again to sunlight. He was shocked, and could feel himself breathing heavily. "Just a dream," he reassured himself, "nothing more than just a simple bad dream."
He took another deep breath to reassure himself, and got up and continued walking through the forest.
The day seemed to drag by, and Snowkit got hungrier by the second as he walked in one direction, trying to not make any turns or explore. He did make sure to keep his ears up and alert in case he could be able to snag some easy prey.
But by the time the day started to come to an end Snowkit one again was having to sleep on an empty stomach.
"This isn't good, it's not fair for a kit to have to fend for himself," Snowkit muttered.
At least you aren't deaf and having to fend for yourself
Snowkit paused as he thought about his own thought. But as he did so, he was suddenly shoved into from the side, and rolled continuously until his back met with the base of a tree, and he got the wind knocked out of him.
He laid on his side gasping for air as a paw pushed down on his throat.
"Don't move." The owner of the paw snarled at Snowkit, who was now trembling under the strong paw.
Little did Snowkit know that his journey had yet to truly begin, but the start was now drawing nearer by the fox-length.
Tada! First chapter all ready to go and ending with a cliffhanger, which I know you guys must love :) Anyways, I'll probably write the second chapter after this is posted and call it quits for today, I know I said that I don't want to procrastinate, but lets not go overkill shall we? Reviews are appreciated and I accept all types of criticism and suggestions for the story! -UV