Beast of the Sea - WARRIOR CATS

Chapter 17

Littlepaw glanced up at Ripplepaw sheepishly. "Since when did you get so wise?" She asked. It was almost playful, but I could see how wide Littlepaw's eyes were.

"Since I met you," Ripplepaw meowed firmly. "And started to realise that I didn't have to hide who I was."

"But now..." I meowed uneasily. "Now I don't know how to get us out of this situation."

"It's not all on you, Ferretpaw," Littlepaw eyed me warmly, though her eyes glittered with sadness. "You have friends. You have us." She stared right at me, and I shivered as I felt the intensity of her gaze. "You were never alone."

Suddenly, I felt a pelt brushing my own, wrapping their paws around my neck, a head burrowing into my fur. I let out a gasp as Littlepaw pressed against me. Ripplepaw leaned in on the other side, until I felt completely warm. It wasn't the false warm that Dewocean's pelt had given me, but rather a deeper warm that came from inside me.

I whimpered. This feeling felt so strange, so powerful, yet so right. I buried my head into Littlepaw's own, finally appreciating what it meant to have a true friend. A cat that would support you through thick and thin, in spite of mistakes, failures and shortcomings.

I wanted to be that cat for her. I wanted to be a cat like that for my littermate too.

In that moment, I realised something that struck just as profoundly deep as the warmth of my two closest friends' pelts did. All this time, I had thought that to be important and to find happiness, you had to be successful, a leader, you had to know what you were doing.

I had made so many mistakes to end up here...Yet, in that moment, because of my friends, I felt happier than I ever had before. Because I knew that I wasn't alone. I had friends, and I was going to do everything I could to make sure they were safe, and happy.

"I love you guys," I whispered, rubbing against Littlepaw, and running my tail over Ripplepaw's spine.

"You too," Littlepaw murmured happily, while Ripplepaw managed a soft purr.

I wasn't sure how long we lay there; it could have been moons or a single heartbeat for all I knew. Eventually, though, the three of us managed to settle down. Tears were running down all our faces, even mine, to my great surprise. But I realised that I didn't mind. I had friends.

"There's one more thing," I began after we had all gotten control of our emotions.

All three of us were still huddled together, almost as close as Puddle and Bubble were. Our fur was brushing, and I could clearly make out the emotionally exhausted expressions on my two friends.

"You can tell us," Ripplepaw meowed, clearly picking up my agitation. She gazed at me affectionately. "Surely you know almost all my secrets from my love life to..." she paused, glancing hurriedly at Littlepaw, "to...my ambitions to be a legendary singing sensation."

For a moment I stared at Ripplepaw, dumbfounded. Then memories of the time before my mother passed came to me. Of my littermate yowling profusely in the nursery, vehemently proclaiming that her name would be Legendsongstar, and that she would grace all cats with her legendarily amazing voice.

"I forgot about that," I said affectionately. "StarClan, even when mom put her big paws over my ears, I couldn't keep out your racket."

Ripplepaw gazed at me with mock indignation, while Littlepaw grinned.

"Alright, I get the point," I meowed, trying to surpress my smile. "But, look...it's something Dewocean said, and, I'll be honest here, it really scared me."

"What?" Littlepaw asked gently.

I paused. "She said that we were kin." As I saw Ripplepaw's mollified expression, I continued briskly. "So you know the legend about the Shimmernight, right?" As both cats nodded, I went on. "So Night was evil or something and founded the dark forest. He must have had kits, because they gained their powers not through their Shimmer rock but through the one he had made."

"Okayyy," Littlepaw echoed, the former rogue clearly trying to piece together what

I was saying.

"Dewocean has shadowy powers, right? They're pretty cursed and all. So, do you know anyone else who has cursed powers?"

Ripplepaw looked bewildered. "Frogstream?" She echoed. "She really struggled after Aquastar died and she lost the water force shield, but Dewocean got it back..."

"No, not exactly," I admitted. "I dunno why she got such rubbish powers, but I mean powers that really do a disservice to the cat and those around them. Powers like..."

"Yours."

Ripplepaw gazed at my unblinkingly. The white she-cat, whose once shining pelt was no quite dusty and dull, stared straight at me calmly. I nodded reluctantly.

"So did Mom," Ripplepaw went on slowly, as though she was trying to piece everything together. "I didn't get them, probably just out of luck, or maybe our rogue dad had some ShoreClan in him after all. That was why she always favoured you..." Ripplepaw winced. "Sorry, that uh, that came out super wrong."

I stared at my sister as she awkwardly fiddled with a stray bit of long fur.

"I get it," I said at last.

I nuzzled Ripplepaw's side when she didn't look up. The gesture felt strange and clunky, but Ripplepaw's smile made it worth the initial bit of awkwardness.

"Any cat who can nudge the shoulder of a cat like me isn't evil," Ripplepaw murmered. "It doesn't matter that Dewocean's our kin, if what she says is true. At the end of the day, it's love that ties cats together far more than anything else."

I nodded numbly, feeling thoroughly exhausted. I realised that I trusted what Ripplepaw said.

Littlepaw glanced between the two of us. "Guys?" She began hesitantly. "Can we do something fun?"

"Huh?" I echoed. "A game?"

Littlepaw nudged me teasingly. "Oh come on, you mousebrain," she purred affectionately. "Maybe we don't have that much space or anything to play with, but we have each other." She paused, and a mischievous grin spread throughout her face.

"Shark attack!" Littlepaw squealed and bundled into Ripplepaw and me..

"Oh, you're on," Ripplepaw's eyes narrowed excitedly. "I'm a dolphin!" She glanced over at me. "Ferretpaw, you be the whale! Let's take down this shark!"

Then, my littermate kicked up at Littlepaw, who had forced her onto her belly. Littlepaw jumped back, preparing for another blow. Before she had the chance to retaliate, I lunged for her left leg. I feinted before she could figure out where I was, and jumped on top of her.

"Oof!" Littlpaw grunted as she fell to the warm sand floor.

"Oh! Er, are you..." I began awkwardly as Littlepaw didn't move.

Suddenly, I was flung up into the air. Littlepaw had pretended to be down, then used all her energy to throw me off. I landed on all my paws, right at the edge of the den, and with a grin, through myself back into the fray.

"Never underestimate Littleshark!" Littlepaw yowled excitedly as she tried (and failed) to pin Ripplepaw.

My white littermate was breathing heavily as I scampered up to her. She turned to me, winked, and then bunched her muscles.

As one, the two of us sprinted towards 'Littleshark,' paws unsheathed. The three of us collided, and tussled in the earth in a fray of flailing paws and fur. I was dimly aware of Puddle and Bubble gazing at us drowsily, while a hollow eyed Shadefang watched from a separate cage, but I couldn't bring myself to worry.

I had friends, and together, we had to be able to get through this.