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Post by echosong on Jun 28, 2011 9:50:33 GMT -5
Echosong padded silently from camp. It wasn't proper fr her to be out. She knew this. But she didn't care. She'd had a dream. A dream of her mother.... Shivering, she raced through the forest to the Moon Flower's Cave. She looked arounnd briefly before slipping down the tunnel. As she came upon the flower, it opened slightly and glowed brighter. Echosong had to shield her eyes. When she looked back, a big black tom was standing to one side of the cave, a smaller figure behind him. The smaller she-cat glowed faintly, her ice blue eyes making her dark blue pelt glow.
"Echosong. My daughter."
"B-Bluelight?" She looked at the tom. "Nighthawk?"
He nodded. "Your mother and I had to speak with you. There are things you must know-"
"No need to rush, dear." her mother purred. She stepped closer to her daughter. "Echosong. Listen to me. You don't need a tom to make your life mean something. You're a beautiful she-cat, you're well able to do anything you could ever have the desire to, and you have an apprentice to watch after."
She ducked her head and whispered, "But.... the...."
"The scars will fade." Her father mewed deeply.
'He never WAS one for sypathetic remarks.....' she thought.
"Now listen dear. We don't have much time." her mother mewed. She had already begun to fade. "I know you've asked about your siblings before. And we.... We lied to you. You have a sister, my dear. And you need to find her. She lives many sunrises from here. She goes by the name we gave her." Her mother's voice had started to fade. "Her name is Blue. She needs you!" Her mother faded. Her father nodded solemnly before fading out behind her.
"I have a sister..." she whispered to herself as her overloaded brain prossesed this and she stumbled back to camp.
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Post by malice on Jun 28, 2011 11:44:27 GMT -5
Maliceheart couldn't sleep. He was having nightmares again, nightmares of running through a dark forest that never ended, searching for the stars, searching for his mother, Silversnow, but his search failed. Where are you, StarClan?! he yowled in the dream, Please help me! I'm sorry!
He opened his amber eyes, scanning the warrior's den. One of them was... missing...? He stood up carefully, being sure not to wake his fellow warriors, and padded outside, taking a deep breath of the night air. He caught a glimpse of a figure leaving the camp in the direction of the Moon Flower Cave. He hadn't been there since Silversnow died, but when he was an apprentice, even from when he was a kit, she would bring him there and tell him wonderful stories about StarClan... but those days were over.
Making sure to be unseen, he stalked not too far behind her. He was an expert at stalking, so he didn't expect to be seen every easily. She entered the cave, and the black tom lost sight of her, deciding to dart up a tree and wait on one of the limbs. By this time, he recognized her as Echosong, one of his fellow warriors. She had been hurt in battle, he had heard the stories. He wanted to wait until she left the cave, patience was a virtue of which he possessed, but when he heard voices, he jumped down from his perch and crept inside. She was alone, nodding to herself, standing by the flower.
"Echosong..." he hissed, not trying to surprise her or sound mean, but simply trying to keep his voice down. He always sounded and seemed more threatening then he meant to, ".... hey, what are you doing here all alone?"
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 8:10:30 GMT -5
Even though she could tell he didn't mean to scare her, Echosong jumped at the sound of Maliceheart's voice. She wasn't aware she'd been folllowed. She glanced sadly back at the spot where her parents had stood.
"You know what happened to me, right? How I got my...." she suddered. "My scars?" She looked at the tom, tears brimming in her green eyes. She whispered, "I saw them, Maliceheart. I saw my parents." She blinked and the tears spilled over. "Bluelight and Nighthawk. They looked so real. StarClan has been good to them. They don't look like they were attacked at all. They told me.... I have a sister.... and..." She looked at the Moon Flower and whispered, "And she needs me."
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Post by malice on Jun 29, 2011 12:50:15 GMT -5
Maliceheart felt his heart drop when he saw Echosong look back at him sadly. That look... it was the same look Silversnow, his adoptive mother, had when she was dying. He looked down quickly, trying to get the expression out of his head. When she spoke of her scars, he looked up again, regretting it when he was met with another look of sorrow,
"No... I only knew that you had them... not how you got them..." the black tom meowed in reply. She spoke about her parents, and he blinked a few times, surprised. So, that's why she went there...
"StarClan are good to all their followers," he added, thinking about how Silversnow merely looked sleeping after she died, her eyes closed dreamily and her paws over her nose like a sleeping position, "You have a sister...?"
This was odd. He, personally, knew he had siblings outside the Clan, he just never bothered to mention them. His sister, Tarissa, was a kind she-cat who lived as a kittypet and helped any loners or lost warriors who came across the house. His brother, Iriayu, was a cruel and ruthless cat like their biological mother, and he lived his life as a loner, leaching food off of kittypets and Clans. He almost never mentioned his brother for those reasons.
"If your sister needs you, you should try to find her," he replied with, walking over to the she-cat. He looked over her with amber eyes, as he did with every new cat he met. Echosong was pretty, she really was, it was a shame she looked so sad, "Ill... help you find her... if it helps..."
Why did I just offer to do that? I never help anyone! he thought, but continued to wait for an answer, watching her expression carefully.
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 13:20:16 GMT -5
Echosong's ears lifted slightly as Maliceheart offered his help.
Maybe he's not so bad. Once you get to know him. She rubbed her cheek gently and appreciatively on his.
"You really have no idea how much this means to me. But, you know, if you really don't want to, I'm not going to hold you to it. I'll give you time to think about it if you want." She swallowed. "Would.... you like to know the.... the story?" She flicked her right ear, the shredded and ripped skin making a soft fluttering sound. She gulped. She'd never told anyone the story before. Horsestar watched it happen. He told the clan. She'd thought everyone knew.
I hope I don't cry......
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Post by malice on Jun 29, 2011 15:46:05 GMT -5
Maliceheart felt Echosong rub her cheek against his. It was strange, no one but his mother had ever showed him any type of affection like this. He felt like she.... was different from all the others.... she wasn't like those who would turn their heads away when he walked by or move to another spot when he sat down. He was like the shadow no one ever payed much mind to... And yet she actually showed affection toward him.
"I want to go with you..." he meowed in reply, bowing his head, "You cannot do this alone, it would be too dangerous! I... don't need to think about it... I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't willing to go..."
When she offered to tell him the story about her scars, his curiosity peeked. He was wondering how she got them. Still, he didn't want to be a nuisance, and if telling the story brought up painful memories, it was the last thing he wanted to make her do. He wasn't sure why he cared, but he did.
"If you feel up to saying it, I'll listen," he answered, "I am kind of curios, but I don't want to make you feel like you have to tell it if you don't want to."
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 20:01:57 GMT -5
Echosong lifted her ears. She scratched her good ear with her hindpaw. "Well, it was the morning I'd become a warrior. My parents, Nighthawk and Bluelight, wanted to tell me something, they'd said. They never got the chance. We rounded the corner of a huge Oak tree and there were three huge dogs standing there. One caught sight of us and ran. The other two were on us in an instant. The huge black one..... Attacked my father. I heard.... I heard his leg snap. And the brown one.... It attacked my mother, diving straight for her throat. She was weaker. I had to help her. That's how I got my ear ripped off. The brown dog grabbed my ear and threw me against a tree. I looked up as he was...." She shuddered. "Swallowing it. My father fought valiantly, but the black dog snapped his neck.... As if he was a bird's wing. I dived to help him, but the dog attacked my head and I lost conciousness. I woke up to Horsestar standing above me, lying in between my parents' bodies. He helped me to cope with their loss." She frowned. "I miss them....."
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Post by malice on Jun 29, 2011 21:12:10 GMT -5
Maliceheart listened to the story. He felt bad for her, and he felt even worse for making her retell the story. It was such a shame... that her parents were both killed in the same fight. The black tom had never really met a dog before, he had been chased by one on the farm, but it was a medium one and was a little far behind him. He couldn't imagine watching his sister or father being devoured by horrible hounds like that,
"I can't imagine what it was like," he meowed, touching his nose to her shoulder in an attempt to show her that he was still there, that he would be there, "I lost my adoptive mother to greencough. She looked like she was... sleeping... when she died. I miss her, and it was my fault she died. I had turned my back on StarClan, and they punished me by taking her away from my. They let her die, when she had so much faith in them."
He felt like Echosong was someone he could trust with his past, with his secretes, with his life. He had always distrusted almost everyone, but she was different. She was gentle, and sad, and kind, unlike anyone else he was familiar with.
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 21:17:49 GMT -5
Echosong watched Maliceheart carefully. "I've heard stories of her. She was so nice and gentle with everyone. I'm so sorry you lost her." She laid her tail on his shoulders. "Have you refound StarClan, Maliceheart?" She didn't mean to pry, she just worried for the tom. All she wanted was a tom to love her and care about her and the kits they could have together. And she hoped she'd found it in Maliceheart, the tom no one understood and most everyone avoided.
He's so sweet underneath.... she thought.
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Post by malice on Jun 29, 2011 21:44:02 GMT -5
Maliceheart felt himself smile a little when Echosong said such nice things about his mother. He had always admired her, and to hear that someone else had remembered her, had knew her, was touching. When she asked him about StarClan, he felt his stomach drop,
"No, not yet..." he answered, "I've been looking, but no luck... I keep wondering if they've forgiven me yet..."
Echosong was so caring, she was one of the first cats who replied with something other than a sarcastic joke when he spoke, she was so nice to him. He wanted to protect her on her journey, he didn't want to say goodbye and risk never seeing her again. She had gotten so close to him, no other cat except Silversnow had ever gotten that close, in fact, he would refuse to talk about his adoptive mother around any other cat than Echosong.
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 21:53:43 GMT -5
Echosong's good ear drooped. "I'm sure they'll forgive you. StarClan is merciful. Just look what they did for me. They let me see my parents again." Her ear pricked and she leaned against the tom gently, lending him emotional support. She tentatively stretched out her neck and licked Maliceheart on the cheek before ducking her gaze away swiftly, wondering how he'd react.
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Post by malice on Jun 29, 2011 22:09:21 GMT -5
Maliceheart felt reassured when he heard Echosong say how forgiving StarCan was, but he would never fully believe it. Silversnow was the last person he believed deserved to die, and they took her life. He only hoped that he wouldn't loose Echosong. When he felt her lick his cheek after leaning on him, he blushed under his dark fur, his amber eyes widening as his muscles stiffened. It was like he was frozen.
"Er..." was all that came out of his mouth. He shook his head quickly, staring at Echosong with wide eyes. He closed his eyes and licked her cheek back, turning away quickly. He felt like he... actually... loved someone... someone other than a relative...
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 22:13:27 GMT -5
Echosong smiled and, purring, nuzzled her face gently in Maliceheart's shoulder fur. She stood and her fur fluffed out until she was nearly twice her size. She began to shiver without meaning to"It's kinda.... c-cold out tonight, isn't it?"
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Post by malice on Jun 29, 2011 22:25:55 GMT -5
Maliceheart blushed the whole time Echosong was nuzzling him. He had no idea how to react to any of this, since he had never loved anyone like he loved Echosong. Silversnow's death had left a hole in his heart, which would never be filled, but Echosong's place in his heart could maybe keep him from thinking about it.
The black tom looked concerned when he saw Echosong shiver. She made the comment about being cold, and he immediately walked over beside her.
"Do you want to get back to camp?" he asked in a concerned voice, wondering what she wanted to do, "Or do you want to stay here? I'll go or stay, whichever you want to do."
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Post by echosong on Jun 29, 2011 22:31:27 GMT -5
Echosong smiled when she realized what he was saying. He does care. Just like I'd hoped. Her teeth had begun to chatter and she shook as another wave of cold air passed over her. She was good in the water because her fur was so thin. but because it was thin, she got cold easily. Stupid, stupid she-cat!
"I think we s-should stay h-here. It's too c-cold to move around enough to get back to c-camp, unless we r-run. Plus, I w-want more time with you b-before we tell the c-clan." Echosong bit her lip, hoping she wasn't crossing any lines. Her fear of losing Maliceheart because of something she'd said or done made her completely forget about being cold.
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