Into the Darkness





 Into The Darkness

 By Gigglesplash

My paws scraped the ground,but I didn't stop.I walked till my pads were sore and bleeding,and still I had to keep going.

Turning back would mean walking into my own destruction,waiting for everything to crash down.I was doomed to failure anyway.I may as well keep going.Looking into the faces of my clanmates while they learned the truth?Too much to bear.

I am no perfect.What cat is?But I messed up.And there is no fixing what I did.Never.

I had just been apprenticed....

“From this day forward,until you recieve your warrior name,you shall be called Acornpaw."Cricketstar lifted his head high.“Volefoot!You shall mentor Acornpaw.I hope that you will pass on what you know to this apprentice."

The old,grey tom stepped forward.As I touched noses with my new mentor,the crowd was beginning to cheer.

“Rosepaw!Acornpaw!Leafpaw!"

My brother's tail quivered in excitement.His leaf green eyes glowed.Rosepaw's ears pricked nervously.

I looked over the camp.Rosepaw and Leafpaw sat beside me on the warm,greenleaf night.It was moonhigh when I heard the voice.

“Acornpaw,"It whispered,“Leafpaw,come with us."

Leafpaw stood in the snow.Rosepaw glanced around to see where the sound was coming from.

Again it called,“Come with us,please."

Leaves rustled in the undergrowth.I unsheathed my claws as I went to stand beside my littermates.“Who goes there!?"I shouted.

A cat rubbed in mud and decaying leaves wove in and out of the undergrowth.I tasted the air and realized I couldn't smell him.Smart.He disguised his scent.

“Who are you?"Rosepaw hissed.Her small ears pricked forward,her amber eyes blazing in amber,so deep they were almost the color of a red rose.

The cat came into a patch of moonlight.Through the stench of the leaves,I caught a whiff of ThunderClan scent,and saw tabby fur just like mine,and green eyes like I've only seen once before.

“My name is Foxtail,"He spoke.His voice was soft but strong.“Who are you?"

His tone made me think he knew who we were,so I said nothing.Rosepaw stepped closer to me while Leafpaw crouched,ready to spring.

“Are you Snakestep's kits?"

We gave a hesitant nod before Foxtail's face lit with a smile.“Has your mother never told you little kits about me?"

“We aren't kits,"I huffed in indignation.“We are apprentices."

“Leafpaw,Acornpaw,follow me."He turned to go,motioning with his tail.

Leafpaw didn't take his eyes off the mud-streaked tabby.His green eyes glowed wtth rage.“What about Rosepaw?"

“First rule of guarding camp,"Foxtail said without looking back at us,“Always leave someone to fight the enemies."

As he disapeared,Leafpaw,Rosepaw,and I looked at each other.“Should we follow him?"Leafpaw asked.

“That doesn't seem like a good idea.Maybe we should get Cricketstar."Rosepaw glanced at the den where the leader slept,the curtain of lichen blowing in the breeze.

I stared into the undergrowth where the tom had disappeared.I walked toward it.As I turned for a last goance at my littermates,I said simply,“I am going to see what he wants.It seems important."

Leafpaw nodded.He looked at Rosepaw.He dipped his head to her,and we left her to sit in the snow alone.

Foxtail took us through the territory,to Snakerocks and beyond,to a small valley with six large stones all in a circle.“Wait here."

As his tabby pelt disappeared over a hillrise,panic flooded through me.“Why did he bring us here?"

Leafpaw shrugged.

We waited in the valley for several moments before we heard pawsteps coming towards us.Five tall cats followed Foxtail.A ginger she-cat was in lead.

“Why did you bring them here,Foxtail?"She hissed.“And I thought you said there were three."

Foxtail shook slightly as he faced her.“There are!But the third is too weak for this life.They....they are the strongest.And her,"-he motioned to me with his tail-“That one will be a fighter."

I glared at him but said nothing.

The she-cat looked us over and went to sit at the foot of one of the rocks.

One of the other cats,a speckled tom,grabbed a piece of prey.Expertly he skinned it,pulling the pelt off of the rabbit.He repeated this with another rabbit.

“It is time to welcome these cats into this group."He looked at the ginger she-cat.

She stood,swishing her tail.All signs of sterness faded from her expression,replaced wtth delight.“I,Grasseyes,bestow these cats with names to be called by."

The tom draped the skin of one rabbit over my back,and the other over Leafpaw.

“Acornpaw,till the day you die,despite all names the Clans give you,you are Fightingspirit."She spoke the name as if she were a leader holding a warrior ceremony.This wasn't so bad.Fightingspirit...what a name!

“Leafpaw,"She continued,“till the day you die,despite all names the Clans give you,you are Firedawn."

Grasseyes dipped her head and stepped back into the crowd,joining them as they cheered our names.“FIGHTINGSPIRIT!"They yelled,“FIREDAWN!"

Suddenly,as if on cue,the sun broke the horizon in a fiery moment of glory.The whole valley was washed in light of all colors.Our fur was dappled in shades of pink and gold and red.

Foxtail's eyes widened.“You must head back to your Clan."

Gently he lifted the rabit skins off of our back and laid them atop a flat stone in the center of the valley.

“Come here tonight,both of you.After the Clan is asleep.And do not be caught."We nodded in understanding.“And do not tell anyone about what happened here."

“Not even Rosepaw?"Firedawn asked.At least,I always called him Firedawn after that,but that wasn't his name,and I knew it.He would always be Leafpaw.

Foxtail lashed his tail.“Especially not Rosepaw.Now go - you will have training today."Just as we turned to go,he stopped us.“And Fightingspirit,try to live up to your name."

I dipped my head.“Of course,Foxtail."

“Firedawn,step forward."Grasseyes lifted a pointed stick.As I watched my brother walk forward,I noticed for the first time that every single cat in the clearing had a scar just under each ear,and a missing patch of fur on the right shoulder.

Firedawn closed his eyes as Grasseyes lifted the stick.Then,with no mercy,jammed it just below my brother's ear.Blood began to drip down his face.She did not pause,nor hesitate.She took the stick to the other side of Firedawn's face.

Droplets of blood,crimson,stained his light grey pelt as it dripped down his face.Dropped the pointed stick now,Grasseyes unsheathed her claws.“Do you promise to live for the good of the group,for the good of no other,to protect with your life the cats you see before you and none else?"

“I do."

Grasseyes lowered her claws over Firedawn's forepaw,and clawed it so hard that blood covered his now furless flesh.No fur would ever grow there again.

The ginger cat dipped her head to Firedawn.“Welcome.These cats are your brothers,your sisters.You have no littermates but the cats you see here.You fight to protect them,they fight to protect you.Even if it means leaving your Clan."

Foxtail,a black she-cat called Meekfighter,and the speckled tom whose name was Cloudcatcher all shifted uneasily at her words.

“Fightingspirit,step forward."

The she-cat lifted the stick once more and ceremoniously pushed the point deep into the skin below my ear.I closed my eyes as pain filled me.I could feel the blood sticking in my fur,could taste the metalic scent in the air.I didn't even feel Grasseyes pull the stick away,but I felt its sharp point dig into the other side of my head.

She repeated the lengthy speech she had said to Firedawn.I took a deep breath.“I do."

Hiddensteps began to lick the blood off of our paws,and then on our faces.He told us never to put herbs on it,or wrap it in cobwebs.Treating the Mark is a huge disrespect to the group.

Then we began the slow trek back to ThunderClan.

“Fightingspirit?"Firedawn asked.

“What?"

“What do you think they want from us?"

“I dont know....but they don't seem bad."I gave a shrug.“I'm sure it isn't important."

We walked in silence the rest of the way.

Tbc