ωαяяισя ¢αтѕ // Mintpool's Promise

Chapter 28

Mintpaw turned around, her gaze meeting a pair of familiar eyes. Cobrastrike blinked back at her. Excitement blurred through the gray tabby. She'd found him! He was alright! "Cobrastrike!" She threw herself at the tom, purring. "You're okay!"

Cobrastrike blinked, shuffling his paws, waving his tail as a sign, telling her to soften her voice. After all, the rogues were nearby. "Of course. But what are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you! Tigerstar announced the news at the Gathering tonight," Mintpaw mewed, quieter this time. 

"Oh." Cobrastrike glanced up at the sky. "I didn't realize that the Gathering was tonight. I guess I lost track of time."

Mintpaw blinked. "How long have you been exiled?" She'd assumed that it had been close to the time of the Gathering, but now that she thought about it, he could've been out by himself for the whole moon before Tigerstar had announced it.

"Around half a moon," Cobrastrike replied, pushing himself onto his paws. "That's when Viperfang died."

Mintpaw froze, her pelt twitching with sympathy. "I'm sorry about your mother." She brushed her pelt against his, watching as his gaze flashed with grief.

"Do you want to know how she died?" Cobrastrike's voice was cracked. Mintpaw had never seen him like this before. Normally he was strong, and never let anything get to him. But, he had just lost his mother. The gray tabby couldn't even begin to imagine what her life would be like without Snowfrost.

"Tigerstar said that a dog killed her?" Mintpaw didn't want to make him talk about it if he was upset.

"That's not false," Cobrastrike mewed, "but not true, either. What else did he tell you? Why was I exiled?"

"Because you killed a cat?" Mintpaw twitched her tail-tip as Cobrastrike sat down again. 

"Again, not false but it's not the full story." The tom nodded at a mound of dirt besides a tree. "Do you see that?"

"Yeah?"

"That's where they buried Viperfang." Cobrastrike's pelt bristled. "They didn't even bury her body inside the territory. That's why I didn't want to stray too far." The grief in his voice turned to anger. "Here's how she actually died, Mintpaw. Yes, it was from a dog, but you know what else? The cat that I killed? He was there, watching as the dogs attacked Viperfang, not doing anything. He told Tigerstar that he'd witnessed the entire thing from the top of a tree, safe. He could've helped save Viperfang, but he was a fox-hearted cat. Now, Viperfang's dead."

"Oh..." Mintpaw felt anger and grief stirring in her belly. What Clanmate would sit by and watch their Clanmate get attacked by a dog? And even more, who would come back and proudly report that they'd done nothing? "That's horrible."

Cobrastrike nodded. "And Tigerstar decided it was okay because they were outside of the territory. He said that it was Viperfang's fault, because if she stayed in the safe-guarded territory, she wouldn't have gotten hurt. But the only reason Viperfang was outside the territory was to find prey, since the rogues stole most of it."

Mintpaw's mind flashed back to how unfed all the FireClan cats had looked at the Gathering. Fury fueled her stomach. Viperfang had tried helping her Clan! "That's so unfair."

Cobrastrike bowed his head. "And they didn't even bother burying her inside the territory." He pushed himself to his paws. "If that cat had helped Viperfang, she might still be alive."

The gray tabby scrambled up as well. Cobrastrike's attack hadn't solely been based off of grief, but anger and revenge, too. And she agreed with him. If some cat had stepped by and watched while Snowfrost was being attacked, she'd gladly give that cat the same treatment. 

The words fell into silence. Neither cat spoke for a while as the dark night loomed over them. Mintpaw glanced up at the sky. The moon was high already. She should be getting back to camp.

"Well, thanks for visiting me," Cobrastrike meowed, breaking the silence. "I made a den around here, so if you ever want to come visit again, you know where to find me."

Mintpaw scrambled up. She couldn't let him stay out here alone! What if he gets hurt from the rogues? "Wait, Cobrastrike, maybe if you explain to Tigerstar, then you can rejoin FireClan! Or, you could join AirClan. I'm sure Spottedstar will be able to-"

"No, Mintpaw." Cobrastrike rose up as well. He'd grown. A lot. He completely loomed over her now, his tail-tip twitching, his gaze almost threatening. If any other cat saw him, they might be terrified, but the gray tabby knew him well enough. He would never hurt her, she knew that. "Don't you see why Viperfang was treated so unfairly? It's because she's Fireclaw's descendant. There's no way that Tigerstar or Spottedstar would let me join their Clan. I'm Fireclaw's descendant too. Tigerstar would never treat any of his other cats in this way."

Mintpaw gulped, thinking of how Tigerstar had celebrated that Fireclaw's descendants were gone. In a way, he was celebrating the exile and death of two cats. 

"Tigerstar and FireClan were terrified that me and Viperfang would continue Fireclaw's horrors," Cobrastrike meowed darkly. "Fireclaw treated his cats unfairly based on something they couldn't control. Now, FireClan's acting that way to me." The tom snorted. "They were so afraid that they became the thing they feared the most. How pathetic."

Mintpaw stared at him, no words forming. Cobrastrike had changed. The grief and anger from Viperfang's death had changed him greatly. Now, she could see a want of revenge sparkling in his eyes. Part of her was nervous, but the other part agreed with him. 

Perhaps the nervous part was showing through, because Cobrastrike took a step back, his gaze gentle and apologetic. "Sorry about that." Okay, so maybe he hadn't changed that much. 

Mintpaw shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'm just surprised." She nodded towards FireClan's border. "I need to get going now. Echoleaf will be looking for me."

Cobrastrike looked as though he wanted to say something, then nodded. "Okay."

"I'll visit you again soon." The gray tabby touched her nose swiftly with her friend's, before turning around, bounding towards the Clan territory. She was careful to keep her paw steps light, not wanting to alert the rogues. Moonlight beamed on her path as she bounded along, her tail streaming out behind her. Cobrastrike had changed. For the better or the worse, she didn't know. 

Her mind flashed to moons and moons ago, when she'd first caught sight of Cobrastrike. That night, she'd made a promise to herself. A promise that she'd help Leafwhisker. A promise that she'd protect him from Cobrastrike. All this had been based on her dream, one of Cobrastrike striking down Leafwhisker. Now, as she reflected against that, the future was even more complicated than she could've dreamed of. She couldn't even begin to imagine why Cobrastrike would want to hurt Leafwhisker. And, if she had to, could she even fight against her friends?

A sigh exited her as she continued to run. Her shadow flickered through the woods as she weaved between trees, reaching AirClan's territory. So much of her life had changed already. She couldn't imagine what else the future had planned.

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Word Count // 1213

Not Edited

Hi! Here's another chapter. Not many important things happened in this one. Anyway, what do you think? How do you think the dreams will be combined? Any guesses? Okay, that's all. Bye!