READ THE FIRST TWO PARTS FIRST!! To say that Anaconda was shocked would be a cruel understatement, for she was more than merely shocked, more like her whole world had been turned upside down. It had worked, that was to say for certain, all of her prayers to the stars and sands had worked and her only kit had come out so, so special, and so, so unique. She decided to name her kit Chameleon. Pit Viper, who had been away when she was born, had no objection to this name, and Anaconda thought that he had barely processed that she’d named the kit in the first place. He stared at the kit in awe as she sat, curled at Anaconda’s belly, flashing colors and shapes and swirling, twisting patterns. One moment she was green, the next blue, one moment striped and the next, spotted. The couple both agreed that this was something that had never been seen before, and they were both unsure of the limits of said power, but Anaconda did realize one thing… and that was that Pit Viper seemed to be scheming something. The way that he looked at Chameleon, his daughter, it was in more of a way that one would look lovingly at a valuable tool or possession than it was in a way that a father would look at a child. The way that a father /should/ look at a child, anyways. There was no way of telling, really, for the moment. Well, there was no way of telling Pit Viper’s plans until Chameleon reached one moon of age, and started to hone in more on her power, and began to control it. The kit’s favorite colors, and the ones she used most often, were a bright mix of pink and blue, despite Anaconda encouraging the kit to maintain a duller, browner color to stay safe. No, her kit would ignore these warnings, and choose her own path, and her own colors. This was something that Anaconda did love about Chameleon, but… This kit could become invisible. Anaconda and Pit Viper had discovered this one day when they had left her alone for /one second/ and then they had come back to find her… well, they didn’t find her. She was missing. The couple panicked, until something knocked into them, and a pair of bright green eyes -- /Chameleon’s/ bright green eyes -- flew open. Pit Viper had blinked, and then had picked up his daughter, ever weirder by the day, and held her up, leaning back on his haunches to toss her in the air. To Anaconda, this was strange… he had become quite distant from the two of them, but there was love in his eyes. Love that shielded a dark malice. Pit Viper started to make it known to Chameleon on that very day, whenever Anaconda wasn’t watching, that she was an asset. She was a weapon. She was /deadly/. He told her that all she had to do was learn how to navigate the world without sight, while invisible, and he told her that if she could hone in on this power as she had her scales, she would be practically invincible, and she would be a killing machine. She could take over the clans. He was determined that, some day, she /would/ take over the clans. Pit Viper would murmur this to her softly every day, and train her on fighting whenever Anaconda was away, not wanting her to know of his great plan to rule over the clans. Despite her young age of just one moon, he trained her for battle, and taught her how to use her assets for stealth and strength, and how to be lethal. His words would start as a quiet, sweet reassurance of her talents, but would later transform into something more along the lines of telling her about the beautiful, terrifying monster that she could be, and that she /would/ be. This got to the young kit, and made her terrified of herself, and of what she could do. Chameleon was terrified of herself, and of what Pit Viper would do if she disappointed him. This went on for a couple moons, maybe, until Chameleon was about two and a half moons old. Anaconda came home early one day, hoping to give her mate and daughter a nice surprise, yet she had come home to Pit Viper having pinned Chameleon to the ground, growling something malicious in her face. Anaconda watched wordlessly as her daughter shrunk back, terrified. Pit Viper turned around, and noticed Anaconda watching, and he, too, was wordless for a moment, in shock. But he knew what he had to do. Anaconda couldn’t know. She’d go blabbing her mouth, as much as he loved her, he knew that much. The tom darted forward and sunk his fangs into her neck. Anaconda went still with a cough, eyes wide, and fell to the ground. Chameleon watched in a shocked silence, too, as her father killed her mother. Pit Viper stepped towards her, Anaconda’s body limp behind him, and muttered a quick apology, but Chameleon would not accept. She was young but she could not accept. He had killed her mother. So, with all the training she had, with all the /rage/ she had in her tiny body, she lunged forward, just as Pit Viper had, and she bit her father in the leg, tiny fangs sunk into scales.
READ THE TOP FIRST!! Chameleon was even more shocked. No, no, no, she wasn’t supposed to do that-- what was she gonna do now? She couldn’t-- there wasn’t-- no, no, no-- her father fell over her mother’s body, breathing shallow, and he was alive but there wasn’t anything that Chameleon could do about it-- oh, no, no, no-- She bolted, and ran away as fast as she could without even one look back. Pit Viper wheezed behind her, calling out a weakened cry for help, but she didn’t turn, and she kept running. Chameleon ran until she couldn’t run any longer. She ran until she was far, far away from the den and from her parents’ bodies and from everything she had ever known. And she was stranded in the middle of nowhere. As if the whole desert wasn’t the middle of nowhere. But this, far from her home, truly was. Until someone showed up, at least. That someone was a ragged, scarred, blind caverncat named Sunhighskitter, who was a wandering trader, offering goods in exchange for food, water, shelter… everything that was of use in this desolate place. Sunhighskitter had left CavernClan after accidentally hurting someone with her stonecutters, involuntarily starting a fight, and she reminded Chameleon of herself. Two cats on the run from the past, from their past actions. Chameleon began to forget as she grew up, and Sunhighskitter became her new mother. They wore matching bell ribbons on their ears, taken from Sunhighskitter’s stash of treasures, and they were happy together, wandering through the desert. Chameleon was forever in Sunhighskitter’s debt for taking her in, though her new mother always told her that she really didn’t owe her anything. Chameleon was not afraid anymore. She wasn’t afraid of anything until the two, passing by the borders of the Vanishing Peaks, were attacked by a wolf, and Sunhighskitter was killed in the struggle, protecting Chameleon. Once more, she ran, and then forgot about that, too. Chameleon forgot all about Sunhighskitter, and moved on again, through the desert, without another thought about her adoptive mother, and the fact that she had left her dead body behind near FalconClan. It wasn’t a thought in her mind again after it happened. And then she was rescued by Jackrabbit, and then the Dustrunners was all she had known. Even still, occasionally, she would look at her bell ribbons and she would wonder where they came from, and why she had them. But she could never quite remember why, until she stood at the mouth of her old den that day. And then it all came back to her, and denial was no more.
