Fear and Future

A pair of silvery gray cats trekked through the forest, their dark fur dark fur made nearly black in the moonless night. The smaller one had begun talking behind, her tall dressing the ground in exhaustion. Both were much too thin, something that even their long coats couldn't hide. "Come on, Fern," the larger male encouraged, stopping to give her a comforting lick. "I'm tired and hungry and my paws have never ached so bad. Aspen, can't we stop soon?" she whimpered back. Aspen only shook his head then though. Stopping meant giving their pursuer a chance to catch up and he wasn't keen on allowing that, but Fern was clearly nearing her limit. "We'll rest under that tree, but in the morning, we should get going again," he said as he led her toward the small hollow beneath the tree's giant roots. Fern followed and crawled underneath, squeezing in beside her brother. She closed her eyes, but didn't dare fall asleep, afraid that her nightmares would return to haunt her.

Having been on guard that night in case any rogues tried anything, Lightningstar circled the area around ThunderClan's camp. The rogues had been getting much too comfortable as of late and if they tried anything, he'd be the first to deal with those mongrels. The moon sat high up in the sky, casting faint rays of light onto the forest bellow. So far, everything was as normal as he's hoped, that is, until a strange scent reached his nose.

Ears perked and claws extended, the abnormally large leader stalked around the area, following the scent, until he stopped dead in his tracks. In front of him, not more than two foxlengths away, laid not one but two rogues nestled bellow a hollowed tree. Rogues... daring to take refuge in his territory after all the trouble they'd caused? They sure wanted to mock him and his clan, that was for sure.

Marching forward, Lightningstar leaned down and without a second thought, grabbed hold of one of the cats' tails between his jaws. Yanking back, he dragged the cat out from where they laid, letting go once they were in the clearing. "You dare sleep in ThunderClan's territory, rogue?" Lightningstar spat, his voice powerful as he towered over the cat.

Aspen helped as a set of teeth sank into the end of his tail and dragged him from beneath the tree, as his sister screamed in fear. He let out a furious hiss and his claws instinctively stopped at the assailant, barely missing the other cat's fur.


"We're not rogues, we're house cats!" Aspen hissed back as he moved to stand protectively over his sister. Fern was staring at the stranger wide, terrified eyes, visibly trembling. Aspen gazed at the tom, suddenly realizing how much bigger, and well fed, he was. He'd never seen a cat so big, and with hardly an ounce of fat on him. The tom was all muscle and power. "Please, we meant no harm. We just want to find a safe place to stay. We'll only be here a couple days while we rest and then we'll leave," Aspen pleaded.


Fern shook uncontrollably beneath her brother. At first, she thought it was their pursuer before realizing this was a different cat. Still, he didn't seem at all friendly and her mint green eyes were wide and focused as her brother spoke. It took every ounce of Fern's strength not to flee as fast as she could, leaning her cheek against her brother's leg for support.

Eyes locked onto the scrawny tom and the she-cat, Lightningstar listened as the outsider pleaded for a place to stay. These cats... the more he looked at them, the more he became convinced that they weren't in fact rogues, but telling the truth about being housecats. Rogues, although mousebrains... would never be dumb enough to simply take shelter in the clan's territory, even if they were trying to take over the forest or whatever.

"You won't find shelter here," Lightningstar replied bluntly. "You must go, now," the large leader growled, taking a step forward, his long claws extended and digging into the ground bellow. Right now, no cat could be trusted, even if they just wanted to supposedly rest for the night. Of course, it wasn't as if he would ever let Kittypets stay in his territory to begin with...