Smoked in Darkness (Closed)

Smoke was just walking around when he noticed he was in lilypaw’s territory. He got a little hopeful of seeing her again so when he caught the scent of cats with lilypaw being one of them, he was ecstatic. He waited until she was alone before padding up to her.

Lilypaw smiled, seeing Smoke again. ”Hi Smoke!” she grinned, padding to where the tom stood.

He nodded in greeting and looked around to make sure there were no other cats. He nodded to himself when he realized they were then smiled at lilypaw.

Lilypaw grinned, seeing her friend again. ”Lucky that I was on a patrol when you came here.” she said laughing a bit.

“Patrol? he asked with a hint of confusion. He just thought she was hanging out with those other cats. He never heard of a patrol and was curious.

Lilypaw nodded. ”In clans you have to hunt for the other cats. You usually go out with others. I have to go with a warrior since I am just an apprentice. Kits, queens, and elders eat first, then the warriors and apprentices. We all provide for each other.” she explained.

“Why? Why can’t you just keep the food for yourself?” he asked while sitting down on the grass.

As Smoke asked a question, Lilypaw stopped for a moment. Finding the answer, she sat down beside him. ”Well, first of all, it’s against the warrior code, but also we all are together. Everything is connected. If the queens and kits don’t get enough food then the kits might die or grow up really weak, and then we won’t have strong warriors to defend each other. As for the elders, it’s a way of thanking them for serving our clan for so long. It all comes together, like a circle.” She started to groomed her fluffy pelt slowly.

He though about it and nodded. He knew he wouldn’t be able to love that life but lilypaw looked at home talking about well, her home. He smiled at her and motioned that he wanted to learn more.

Lilypaw started to talk about the different ranks. ”Well, when you are born, you are a kit for six moons until you become an apprentice. As a kit, the end of your name is “kit”. So I used to be Lilykit. You have a ceremony by the deputy. As an apprentice your name ends in “paw”. Like me, right now. I’m Lilypaw. Then you are assigned a mentor and you train to hunt and battle and stuff. Unless you become a medicine cat apprentice. They train in healing, but their name still ends in paw. After you have trained for a while, you have an assessment and get to go to Moonstone to talk to StarClan, our ancestors. Then you become a warrior, or a medicine cat. When you are a warrior or a medicine cat you get a special ending to your name that is different from everyone else’s. The warriors train apprentices, hunt, and defend your clan. The medicine cats heal ads and help queens give birth. Special warriors get chosen as a deputy, which are like the leader’s assistant. They organize patrols and hold apprentice ceremonies. The leaders run the clan and hold all other ceremonies. They have 9 lives from Starclan. When they lose their lives, the deputy becomes the leader. The leader’s name ends in “Star”. The queens just stay in the nursery and nurse their kits.”

Smoke looked at her with a shocked expression. How can she talk so much and also know that much about her clan. He just started gaping at her.

Lilypaw laughed. It was a lot. She looked at him. ”You would probably be an apprentice too. Your name could be Smokepaw.” She nodded her head. It sounded pretty good.

He shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint but even if your clans would except a murder I would feel at home with all those cats.” he said but then looked at lilypaw with wide eyes. He didn’t mean for that to come out.

Lilypaw tensed. ”What? A murderer?” her experension was less fear and more confusion. How was one of her best friends a murderer? Who had he killed at such a young age?

“Pretend I didn’t say that!” he said scared she would abandon him like everyone else.

Lilypaw looked at him, and shrugged. She was curious, but she didn’t want to hurt she friend. ”Ok...”

He sighed and let out air he didn’t know he was holding. “Let’s change subject, so how have you been?” He asked.

Lilypaw shrugged. ”Fine, how about you?” she asked

“I have been good, I’m keeping away from others so that’s good.” he mewed.

Lilypaw was once again confused by his statement. ”Why is keeping away good?”

“Because I would kil- Um hurt them if the got too close” He said looking anywhere but at lilypaw

Lilypaw was confused. First Smoke was a “murderer?” And now he would kill cats? ”What do you mean?”

“You will leave me if I told you.” he mewed looking down at his paws.

Lilypaw shook her head. ”No I wouldn’t!” she rested her tail on his paws, looking into his eyes.

He didn’t look at her while he spoke. “You clan cats would call me bloodthirsty or something along those lines. I can’t help it but whenever someone looks at me wrong or gets too close I kinda... kill them. I lied to you, my parents are actually dead, I killed them when I was 4 moons old because they yelled at me. That’s why I had to leave my home.” He mewed not even looking up at her to see her expression too scared.