Thanks to @LeafpoolM for making me the cover for this oneshot. It's exactly what I wanted! Remember guys, I'm willing to work on request fics for you guys (I'm not posting it as a fic in fear of being swamped with requests). For those who are wondering, I AM working on Wrath of the Storm but I'm also doing a few contestfics and as such I'm all over the place working on everything at once. Feel free to comment on anything!
The forest was silent at first, everything quiet and steady, nothing moving as the pure white tom stalked through the undergrowth, tracking his prey. As he stilled, tasting the air, his eyes caught sight of little movements in the forest. He observed the rustling of leaves, the wind flitting through the trees, soft chattering of squirrels high up in branches, and his target, the plump mouse scavenging on the forest floor underneath a tree root in search of seeds.
He let out a little pant, taking in shallow breaths and creeping forward, not taking his eyes off of his oblivious prey. The white tom froze suddenly as the mouse looked up from its seed, ears twitching and tail flicking as it listened for what had disturbed it.
Cloudpaw jerked up from his bent position, startling as a loud crow of laughter came from beyond the trees where he was hunting. He cursed as the mouse, having heard the cry as well, scurried back into its den, a wasted piece of perfectly good prey. Now annoyed, the strong but temperamental apprentice padded over to where the disturbance had risen, ready to yell at the other cats that had disturbed his assessment. When he walked into the clearing, however, his eyes narrowed for a different reason.
Two large warriors of his Clan, a brown female named Hazelleaf and a dark brown tom Volepelt, stood over his newest denmate, Pricklepaw. Pricklepaw was caught in a thick thatch of bramble and thorns, head stuck in a loop of Twoleg fencing. He was struggling futilely to wriggle his way out of the painful trap. The warriors were laughing at his plight, even, Cloudpaw noticed, going as far as to push him deeper into the thorns.
"Excuse me, what are you doing?" Cloudpaw asked sweetly. These two warriors were obviously the bullies of the Clan, and he had seen countless times as apprentices and warriors were forced into submission. Other cats either didn't notice, ignored it, or were too scared and weak to fight back.
Cloudpaw had never been affected, as they often just left him alone for a reason he could not figure out. But Cloudpaw could see the stress in each cat in his Clan, and he was fed up. He was not going to take it anymore.
The white tom squared his shoulders and faced them head on when they turned, eyes glinting with something Cloudpaw couldn't recognize. He was surprised however, when their faces turned cheery and they approached him with their tails happily waving.
"Hey Cloudpaw, just the cat we were hoping to see! How's your assessment going?" Cloudpaw fumed as he suddenly realized that his useless mentor probably wasn't watching, or was too scared or curious to interfere with Volepelt and Hazelleaf. The ignorant tom could have stopped this torture ages ago!
"Well seeing as you just interrupted it; it's not going very well." Cloudpaw tried to keep the iciness in his voice very low. Volepelt didn't seem to notice.
"Hey, sorry about that, Cloudpaw. But hey, they'd be crazy not to make you a warrior! After all, you're huge, a great fighter and hunter, and you're smart. Speaking of, we wanted to ask you a question." Cloudpaw forced himself to stay still as they both stepped closer to him. His nose wrinkled minutely as he could smell Volepelt's fishy breath. Evidently the tom had been breaking the rules again, and was hunting in the river.
"We wanted to ask if you would like to join us. Be our friend, you know? Go on patrols with us, catch the best food together, that sort of thing." Hazelleaf's slippery tones slithered through the air, making him take a step back. Was that why they never bothered him? Because they thought that he would be a good, willing teammate to them? He had assumed it was because he was almost as big as them even though he was younger.
"No." The words slipped out of his mouth unbidden, but even as their eyes narrowed he stuck with his choice. "I don't associate with bullies. On the topic, I'm afraid I have to ask you to let him go." Cloudpaw squared his shoulders, spreading his feet apart and crouching into a slightly more defensive position.
He was not going to be the plaything of anyone. And he was definitely not going to be the plaything of two bullies.
Volepelt and Hazelleaf exchanged glances. When they turned back to him, it was with evil smirks and lashing tails.
"Very polite, aren't you? Good manners, I must say. Though how you expect to stop us, I don't know." Hazelleaf gestured with her tail in a broad swoop. "Do you not see what you are giving up? The whole Clan fears us! Other Clans avoid us on patrols. Not even our leader takes notice. It is our Clan! Yet you don't want to join us."
Hazelleaf casually padded forward, using a paw to lift Cloudpaw's chin. "What do you think makes you so special?" Then, in a move too fast for his eyes to follow, she knocked his feet out from under him. His head slammed painfully onto the ground as his world turned dizzy.
"You should be honored, really. You of all cats know just how powerful fear can be." Hazelleaf placed a paw on his chest, pinning his body down. "Your loss, I suppose." She whispered in his ear, breath rustling his fur. Cloudpaw hissed when her claws extended, slashing painfully down his belly.
"Volepelt, help me fix Cloudpaw up just like Pricklepaw. Two mousebrained apprentices, trapped side by side in Twoleg waste. It's fitting, don't you think?" Volepelt let out a harsh chuckle and latched onto Cloudpaw's scruff. He began dragging him towards the brambles. Through the cloud in his thoughts Cloudpaw could distantly feel his paws scrambling at the ground, trying futilely to fight back.
"Maybe if we leave them to starve for a while they will become subservient. I do like my cats bowing on the ground." They were in a part of the territory that most never frequented. The Clan avoided the area and its large, red, abandoned rat-infested Twoleg dens. If they were truly left there, it could be a long time before they were found. "Maybe Cloudpaw could learn a lesson."
Cloudpaw could feel a foreign emotion fill his body. His mind cleared for a brief moment before his vision filled with a red haze. With a loud yowl he lurched, flinging his body side by side and knocking Volepelt off of his feet. Cloudpaw flipped around, getting quickly to his paws and poising against the two warriors. Hazelleaf rolled her eyes obnoxiously.
"Never let your lackeys do the work. They always mess up." Volepelt shot her an angry look. Cloudpaw took the distraction.
With a foreign strength, he dashed forward and plowed straight into Volepelt's legs, knocking him into the ground. With unsheathed claws, he scoured his paw into the brown tom's head, drawing blood as he forced the head down. It made a loud slapping noise as it hit the ground, a sound that filled Cloudpaw with a sick glee.
Leaving the tom to struggle, he turned to the mastermind. Or tried to. She was gone. He couldn't see her anywhere...
He heard it before he saw it, a rustling sound and sudden shadow overhead that betrayed her presence. Hissing, he flipped onto his back and caught her mid-fall. He pushed up powerfully with his hind legs, slamming her back into the tree in front of him.
Cloudpaw stood in front of the two temporarily dazed warriors. Oh how the tables had turned. The white tom knew that he could leave them; help Pricklepaw up, and hope that he had taught them a lesson that would stop their irrational tyranny.
Yet something kept him from leaving, a darker force within him that urged him to attack, to teach them a permanent lesson that they would never forget.
Cloudpaw felt a foreign entity move his limbs forward. He lifted the she cat by her scruff, dragging her cruelly through brambles as he led her around the fence and to the Twoleg den. Both warriors were still knocked out, and it was easy for him to leave Hazelleaf momentarily to drag Volepelt over the same way.
Cloudpaw looked up at the setting sun and bared his teeth in a distorted smile. He lifted Volepelt's body and pulled him into the gap between the large wooden doors. As he picked up Hazelleaf, he felt her stir beneath him. Her eyes dilated in fear when she saw where she was.
"I'm sorry!" Her paws scrambled weakly on the floor. I promise we will stop hurting other cats in the Clan! I'm sorry; please don't put me in there!" Cloudpaw tisked.
"I, Hazelleaf? What about Volepelt, your sidekick? No, no, it's much too late for mercy. You two have gone on for long enough. I can't trust either of you to keep a promise." Cloudpaw ignored her pleas and threw her in after Volepelt. Already in the coming darkness he could see millions of red eyes gazing hungrily at their offering.
"We're sorry! Please! PLEASE!" Hazelleaf's cries cut through Cloudpaw's mind momentarily before the dark force shut it out. He pushed a large rock into the doors until they swung shut, and calmly walked back to Pricklepaw.
"Don't worry, I dealt with them. They won't be bothering you again." Pricklepaw, who had been unable to see anything that was happening, nodded. Cloudpaw helped him out of the fence, picking thorns from his pelt.
"You should go see Deernose. She should have herbs to help you get the thorns out and dull the pain."
"Are you going to bring them back soon?" Pricklepaw asked. Cloudpaw nodded.
"Yeah, don't worry. We'll be right out. Hey, if you run into my mentor, tell her I'll be getting my prey and bringing it back." Pricklepaw nodded happily and darted towards the tree. Before he left, he turned, hesitated, and then darted back and licked Cloudpaw on the nose.
"Thank you for helping me. I appreciate it." Cloudpaw watched in happy bemusement as Pricklepaw left. Cloudpaw had noticed the affection the young tom seemed to hold for him, and it seemed his act of heroism strengthened that admiration.
As the sound of his footsteps faded, Cloudpaw's expression changed. He padded back to the den. The closer he got to the den, the louder the squeals became, and the distant sounds of screeching cats echoed throughout the area and got louder second by second.
Cloudpaw felt an urge to stay and listen, to make sure that they didn't escape from his punishment.
They deserved this. They deserved this pain for attacking and abusing his Clanmates. In life, Clan was most important for everything, and they abused that. They deserved to suffer. They deserved to die.
As he settled in front of the doors, he noticed scuttling sounds all around him. He winced as he felt a bite on his leg. He wondered again why he felt so detached from the situation. It was as if he was spectating, not even caring that one bite turned to two as many rats came pouring out of the holes in the den.
"MOVE!" A voice came from nowhere, stimulating his body to expertly spin, shaking off corpses of rats. He looked around as he killed, but saw no one.
"Go back to camp. Tell them that you were ambushed. If anyone wants the bodies, they can come back themselves." Cloudpaw followed the familiar voice without hesitation, fighting his way around the fence, and running the second he could.
When he finally slipped through the camp boundary, it was to gasps of alarm and dismay.
"Cloudpaw, what happened? Are those rat bites? Where are Volepelt and Hazelleaf?" It was Pricklepaw, sitting outside of the apprentices den, licking his wounds. Cloudpaw hung his head limply, no emotion showing on his face even as the bites began to sting and throb.
Cloudpaw dutifully sat through Deernose's inspection, and appreciated the burdock root poultice that was applied on his wounds. Still in a daze, he stumbled through explanations and showed sorrow as the warrior's siblings tearfully asked him how they died. All he could feel was nothing.
"He's in shock, leave him alone."
"Poor tom, what he must have gone through."
"How is he even still coping, after all of that?"
"Come on now, leave him alone! Cloudpaw, take these poppy seeds and go sleep." Cloudpaw ignored the whispers and stumbled to his nest, licking up the seeds and falling asleep. He hoped rest would stop the buzzing in his head.
When he next opened his eyes, it was to a familiar scene of unsettling darkness and dank forest.
"I killed them. I got them killed." Cloudpaw bit out as his mentor slunk through the trees to him. "Why would I..." Cloudpaw felt his mentor drape a tail across his shoulders.
"It was not your fault. You were provoked, and you did what was best for your Clan. StarClan will not fault you for that." Cloudpaw was so engrossed with staring at his paws, that he didn't see the brief smirk and red flash of the warrior's eyes.
"Cedarheart, did I do the right thing?" Cloudpaw's voice stuttered in the darkness.
"You did what you needed to do." The dark brown tom weaved around his apprentice, taking in his injuries and bites. "You fought well, against the traitors and the rats alike. I am proud." Cloudpaw shrugged, but couldn't hide the pleased smile from the praise.
"That battle was much too easy. They are warriors of RussetClan, and I am just an apprentice, yet I beat them. They are older, and have more experience, but I could bring them to their knees with a swipe of my tail." Cloudpaw shook his head.
"It is the same for many warriors of my Clan." He let out a little snort. I am glad that you took me in to teach me. Perhaps you should give everyone in RussetClan nightly lessons. There are some serious problems if the warriors can be beat by the apprentices." As he spoke, he felt a pressure on his mind that caused him to bow his head and close his eyes with weariness.
"Perhaps we will." Cedarheart ran a tail over Cloudpaws head as it bent with weariness.
"In any case, you are tired. Go to sleep, get some real rest. Tomorrow we will continue with training. I wish to see how you might improve." The trusting apprentice nodded his head, grateful for the night off from strenuous training. He respectfully bowed his head then waved his tail in farewell, taking full advantage of the break. He just wanted good dreams for once.
Cedarheart kept his calm facade up until Cloudpaw disappeared from view. The second the apprentice was out of sight his face dropped into a snarl.
"He is so hard to keep in control! Gah! He has a strong mind, and his values are deeply ingrained. It took too much effort to influence him. He shrugs off the littlest of suggestions. Why did you have me approach him? Would it not have been easier to approach those foolish warriors?" A deep voice chuckled in reply.
"They used fear to instill their power in the Clans. You know just as well as I that fear is not as powerful as respect, as trust. Deception is our key to taking the Clans." Cedarheart nodded in acquiescence.
"Just keep your hold on him strong." The voice continued. "Make him and the others trust you. Build our army. We need cats to follow us.
They were a distraction. We killed two birds with one stone here. You know very well that Cloudpaw is well liked by RussetClan, and with this tragedy he will be even more popular. By ridding his Clan of their threat and us of a nuisance, he solidified his influence in the Clan. It is cats like him who we must target most. Impressionable cats are useless. We need ones with influence, and though he is young, he fits that perfectly.
Just continue with the plan, and nothing should go wrong.
And remember.
The Dark Forest's influence is something not easily shaken."
In his nest, Cloudpaw tossed and turned, brows furrowed and body awkwardly curled into a bundle. His dreams were tormented with red eyes, maniacal laughter, and blood spilling from masses of corpses.
Even as he ran from invisible, guilt-made enemies, he could still feel the pressing haze on his head and feel the squelch of his claws in skin.
Unbidden, they unsheathed and tightened, a smile crossing his face from glee. His paws sank into his nest, easily slicing and ripping the pieces to shreds. In his dreams, the ground littered with blood and he stood above it all, laughing and smiling at the chaos and death.