~Warnings: Depression, Death/murder, fear, blood, a touch of anxiety~ Snowpelt walked the path of the patrol in silence, watching the ground rather than Skylight’s gray pelt in front of her. She hadn't been paying attention to where they were going, or who else was on the patrol. It didn’t matter. Once this was over, she could go hunting, and then she could sleep again. At least they were headed back to camp now. Snowpelt almost didn't notice when Skylight fell back to walk next to her, saying “Hey.” Snowpelt gave her a quick glance and flicked her tail to show she heard her. Skylight sighed and said “Snowpelt. You can't do this forever.” ‘She needs to stop involving herself. She doesn't understand.’ Shadow whispered. Snowpelt sighed and muttered “I don't want to talk.” Skylight replied “Its been four moons.” “Don't remind me.” Snowpelt responded quietly. Four moons since her mate and kits had died, since her family had been ripped away from her. Her kits would be apprentices now. She and Stormcloud would be patrolling and hunting together. Her kits would have had their first gathering in a few days. Would they have made friends there? Now Snowpelt would never know. They were gone. It was Whitestar’s fault. All. Her. Fault. Snowpelt flinched as Skylight's tail touched her back. Skylight sighed, then said “You can't wallow in your grief forever.” ‘She can't tell you what to do.’ “Stop trying to tell me what to do.” Snowpelt snapped at her. Skylight gave her a look, then sighed and said “Alright. Fine.” And started walking ahead again. Snowpelt sighed, her gaze falling back to the ground. Guilt flickered, but was pushed away as Shadow said ‘She deserves to be snapped at. How can she expect you to be ok? You lost everything. She would never understand.’ But- ‘But what? She can’t help you. She can’t fix this. She’d only try to stop you. You need your revenge.’ Snowpelt let out a sigh. Shadow was right. Shadow was always right. Snowpelt let her mind fall back into silence again. As the patrol came into sight of the camp entrance, Snowpelt saw a flash of white and she looked up, seeing Whitestar leaving camp. ‘This is our chance. We can bring back our old friends for this piece of revenge.’ Snowpelt looked up and watched Whitestar slip out of sight, into the woods. Snowpelt muttered “I’m going hunting.” And split away from the group, not caring if anyone heard her. As soon as she was out of sight, Snowpelt took a breath, found Whitestar’s scent, and began following. Shadow spoke ‘When we see her, but before she sees us, go into the trees. Just like last time.’ Oh. Oh. Their ‘old friends’. The foxes. Were they even still around? No one had spotted or scented them. ‘They left for a time, but they’ve wandered their way back to the territories.’ Snowpelt nodded, that made sense. She followed Whitestar’s scent trail until she came to the edge of a clearing Whitestar laid down in, her eyes slamming shut, her paws covering her ears. She looked… stressed? Overwhelmed? Snowpelt hovered at the edge of the clearing, out of sight, watching as Whitestar laid in the clearing. Maybe she should- ‘This is your chance.’ Shadow snapped ‘Get in the trees. Call the foxes. Don’t hesitate.’ Snowpelt jumped slightly at Shadow’s tone, then nodded, letting her anger come back. Whitestar killed her mate, killed her kits. This was all her fault. She deserved to die for what she did. Snowpelt turned and climbed into a tree, carefully moving among the leaves of mid new-leaf until she had a good view. Shadow whispered ‘Now.’ Snowpelt took a deep breath, then let out a high whistle. Snowpelt froze as she waited. Where were they? What if Shadow was wrong? ‘Just wait.’ Shadow reassured. Whitestar let out a breath, then started to get up, only to freeze when the sound of loud, heavy, racing paws came through the clearing. Snowpelt let out a breath. There they were. The first fox entered the clearing, its gaping maw already open and growling as its companions entered as well. Whitestar let out a shriek and tried to run, only for one of the foxes to dart out and grab her, its teeth sinking into her fur. Snowpelt started to relax, it was working. Then a flash of grey erupted from the trees and rammed into the fox with Whitestar in its jaws, causing it to drop her in surprise. The gray cat landed on her paws and Snowpelt froze as she realized who it was.
Skylight. Whitestar began to try and get away, blood staining her white pelt, as the foxes attention turned to Skylight, who stared back at them, primed to fight. No. No. No! She didn't want to hurt Skylight! ‘She got herself involved, let-’ No! Snowpelt pushed Shadow's voice away, panic flooding from her ears all the way to her paws, and let out a low whistle. The foxes' ears pricked, but they didn't run. Rather, one of them turned and went for Whitestar again. Whitestar let out a shriek. But two of the foxes still encroached on Skylight. Snowpelt whistled again. Please, please don't hurt her. This time, Skylight's ears pricked, but halfway through the whistle, Whitestar let out a pained noise that was cut short by the fox's teeth sinking into her throat. Fine! She was dead! She lost a life! Now go! Snowpelt whistled again, triggering for the fox holding Whitestar to drop her, and the other two around Skylight to pause. Snowpelt whistled again, but cut herself short when the foxes turned and fled into the woods, and Snowpelt found blue eyes meeting her own. Skylight stared up at her. Shock turned to realization within moments as they stared at each other. Skylight's eyes narrowed, and Snowpelt shrunk back into the shadows of a tree, but Skylight watched. Skylight gave her a sharp, ice cold look, then turned to Whitestar, who began shuddering and coughing. Snowpelt knew what that look meant. She and Skylight would be talking later, whether she wanted to or not. As Skylight ran over to Whitestar and helped her up, saying “We need to get you to Flowersong. Now.” Snowpelt shrunk into the shadows, Shadow's voice slipping into her mind once again ‘Look. Now she knows. She's going to hate you. You'll see. You should have listened to me.’ Shadow’s tone was harsher than normal. Snowpelt could barely listen, shaking. Was everything about to fall apart? No, no, it couldn't. She still needed her revenge. But what if Skylight told someone? Shadow sighed and said ‘Calm down. You have yet to see what she'll do. It looks like she wants to talk to you, so talk.’ Snowpelt forced herself to take a breath and slowly climbed down the tree. She, she just needed to get back to camp. Snowpelt walked slowly as Shadow said ‘When you get back, if any cat asks why you don't have prey, say you caught the scent of foxes and decided to make your way back. Let her make the first move. If she calls you out in camp, it will seem ridiculous, and you need to act like it is. Understood?’ Snowpelt nodded, finding solace in her words. It would be fine. Except Skylight might hate her. ‘It doesn't matter now,’ Shadow said, her tone firm, ‘We need to focus on other things.’ Snowpelt took a breath and nodded. Shadow was right, Shadow was always right. She needed to keep her head. Snowpelt walked towards the camp entrance and slipped inside. Cats were sparsely gathered though camp, looking nervous. Brightspot flitted around, giving soft assurances to cats. Then, Skylight slipped out of the medicine den and cats looked at her. Skylight walked over to Brightspot and spoke loudly enough for cats to hear “Whitestar will be alright, her wounds looked worse than they are. Flowersong is having her sleep in the medicine den. The foxes fled, for some reason,” Skylight's eyes flicked over to Snowpelt, “But I think it would be a smart idea to send out a few cats, possibly in pairs, to see if they've left the territory, and if they haven't, to locate where they are so that we can then take a larger group to chase them out.” Brightspot nodded and said “I like that plan.” Skylight fully looked at Snowpelt and said “How about Snowpelt and I be one of those pairs. If she's feeling up to it.” Her voice was cold, calm. Snowpelt slowly nodded and turned, saying in a similar tone “I thought I scented foxes while hunting. Let's go.” Brightspot nodded and Skylight padded over, the two of them leaving camp in silence. They walked in silence for a while, until they came to a clearing full of yellow flowers and Snowpelt froze. The dandelion field. Skylight saw Snowpelt stop, turned towards her and said in a cold voice “I believe you have some things to explain, Snowpelt.” ~First~ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1066586971/ ~Previous~ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1219492208/ ~Next~ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1235995843/