Blood and Snow

Snap

Snowpaw saw Flampounce looking somewhat sorry for her. Rookkit and Fernkit looked beyond furious and upset. Snowpaw could not even see Thrushblaze's mate or Smokekit. Snowpaw looked back up at her leader. She knew there was nothing she could do.

Pikestar growled. "Snowpaw, I hereby exile you from RiverClan. Leave our territory and never return. If you cross our borders, we will attack." Snowpaw stood up, her legs felt like water beneath her, but she walked out of the camp, her home. Murmurs from her former Clanmates filled the dark sky as Snowpaw was swallowed by darkness.

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Snowpaw had come to the border, her senses numb. She stared at where the invisible marking lay. She had never stepped foot outside of RiverClan territory before. Cold clung to her pelt as she looked beyond. She had come to the place Pikestar had called the Green-leaf twoleg place when showing her around RiverClan territory. Grief overwhelmed Snowpaw. She hoped she would wake up for all this to be a dream any second now, but as each second passed realization crept into Snowpaw's mind.

RiverClan may have been mean to me, but it still was home. Snowpaw then stepped over the border and took a deep sigh. She was a loner now. Loner... I'm a rogue. Snowpaw was not sure where to go, but she just followed the path that the twolegs had made to the Green-leaf twoleg place.

As she walked alongside the trail, Snowpaw looked up at Silverpelt. The stars twinkled happily in the sky. "Is this what you wanted!?" she yelled to her ancestors. "Why did you let this happen? Why did you take control of me to kill Thrushblaze? Did you know I was a danger?" Snowpaw had lowered her voice and began to whimper. She did not care about being tough. Today was the worst day of her life. To act tough would be like acting like nothing ever happened.

She still could not explain where all the power had come from when the amber-eyed cat had taken control of her. Snowpaw knew if she herself attacked Thrushblaze, she would have been defeated easily. The moves her body had done were unfamiliar and the fierceness of the attacks was beyond powerful.

What had happened to her was unexplainable, and she did not even really care. Snowpaw was still focused on why her ancestors had let her down. Out of everyone in all of the Clans, she heavily relied on StarClan, where her parents were, to make her happy again. Maybe my parents hated me, too. They must. I am cursed after all... Snowpaw stopped walking. Her legs suddenly gave out. Snowpaw's feelings had overrun her.

"I can't go on," she whispered to herself. She closed her eyes and felt a solitary tear seep into her white fur. Tears fell down her cheeks and onto the Earth below her. The almost-full moon shone down on her and made her tears shine. Everything around her, from the scent of her former Clan wafting around her as the wind blew. To the smell of Thrushblaze's blood, still coated on her fur. Snowpaw realized that she was unscathed and that the amber-eyed cat had been so fast that Thrushblaze had not had time to land a blow.

Snowpaw rested her head on her blood-soaked paws. She knew she would not sleep. The tang of blood was too powerful anyways, and Snowpaw did not have it in her to wash. Life seemed pointless now. maybe she could go to the ThunderClan camp and jump off the gorge. Or maybe drown herself in the river and a few fox lengths away?

"Everything is pointless." she sang in a sing-song voice. "I will be eaten by the buzzards in the morninnnnggggg. Eaten by the buzzards in the morninnnngggg." she sang. Snowpaw curled herself up even tighter and then stood up. Something in her felt different. Snowpaw looked to her side and saw a small ladybug on the ground. The lady big kept tumbling down as it tried to climb over a pebble. Each time it fell it got back up and tried again until it finally made it over. Then she realized what it was trying to tell her, to keep trying.

"Maybe everything really isn't gone," Snowpaw whispered. She looked up at the trail. The moon was about to set and the sun's light would pierce the night sky. The sun is hope. It returns every day after hours in the dark.

A smile spread across her face, and warmth traveled through her body like wildfire. From now on, we forget about the past... somewhat. Okay, Snowpaw we will never forget about the past, but we need hope. An entire life is ahead of us! It may only last a few more seconds or many seasons to come! Grief and guilt will always hang with us, but we must carry on. The sign from StarClan told me so. And it was what my parents would want.

Snowpaw looked to the horizon and smiled. She padded on. Snowpaw planned that once she got to a water source she would catch some fish and clean the blood off of her pelt. A pang of sadness went through her as she thought about the blood, but she shook it off. Snowpaw knew she could not let feelings stop her.

Suddenly, the bracken to her right shook. Snowpaw jumped back, fur spiked. "Fox!" She screeched. Then a tiny figure stepped out. And then she realized it was Smokekit.