The Secret Salt [closed]

Mudfoot sat by the freshkill pile enjoying the warm Leaffall sun that shown down through the trees and onto his pelt. The tom thought it'd be a good chance to get some hunting done and waited in silence for any cat who wanted to join him. He hadn't really been out on a patrol without a large group of apprentice to occupy him so the tom hoped that this patrol would be smaller than usual. Looking up to the sky, the warrior closed his eyes, content with the silence that hung in the camp air.

Owlstrike walked towards his father. He was really bored and he needed to go out anyways to check a couple things and take advantage of the fresh-kill pile being low…but why the only cat that would go on a patrol that day had to be Mudfoot? Well, it was either this or not going out, and given how reluctant most cats still were about going out with him thanks to his past he didn’t have any other choice…

Cursing his luck under his breath, he looked at his father to the eyes for the first time since he had left the camp to join the StarClan exiles so many moons ago “Patrol?” His question was somewhat rude, something he wouldn’t allow with the StarClan loyalist mask he was using to try to fool the rest of the clan, but being so close to his father…it just rubbed him off, and a lot, making keeping said mask on almost impossible. This was going to be a long patrol, and taking Mudfoot to the place that he needed to go and check out without him asking questions could be somewhat hard, he would need to be smarter than his father.

Hearing a familiar voice, Mudfoot looked down from the sky only to see his son, Owlstrike. For some reason the two of them hadn't been as close as he had hoped and sometimes he wondered if something was wrong. Maybe he'd figure have a chat with the younger tom today. "Yes, I was just about to head out," the warrior meowed with a smile and stood up giving his hind leg a stretch and making his way towards the camp entrance. "Let's get going before all prey gets scared away by the apprentices," he chuckled, flicking his tail towards the camp entrance and made his way into the dense wooded forest.

Owlstrike just nodded, following Mudfoot out of camp. He felt his blood boiling and the temptation to just ditch the older warrior was really strong, but he was having a lot of trouble to keep Thrushstar’s and Leopardfang’s eyes off him when going with other cats already, going alone would be more than enough for them to start suspecting or even worse…to spy on him. He simply couldn’t allow that to happen “We should go to toe Carrionplace, mentors rarely take their apprentices there and we should be able to find something good there…after that we can go to the Deep Marshes and see if they left anything behind after leaving” Owlstrike suggested almost in whispers to not let his father notice the bad moon in his voice, staring at the ground while thinking on the best route they could take for him to check some key spots of the territory in their way without raising suspicion and find out if everything was ready to go according to his next plans.

He then raised his head to look at Mudfoot, waiting to see if the older warrior agreed with his suggestion or if he had something else in mind…which he sincerely hoped wasn’t the case.

Personally glad to be with Owlstrike, Mudfoot nodded in agreement and the two of them made there way to the Carrionplace. Owlstrike seemed to be acting a bit off but Mudfoot just couldn't put a paw on it. Was he mad at him? Questions ran through his head as they padded towards their destination and after a few moments of thinking about what to stay, he knew it was time to speak his mind.

Looking to Owlstrike with sadness in his eyes, Mudfoot swallowed his fear. "I just want you to know that I feel horrible for leaving you when the DarkForest came," he meowed, scared of what was to come. What he said might have seemed a little out of the blue but he'd been wanting to say it for a while and hoped there were no hard feelings between him and his son.

Owlstrike’s frown became more evident on his face as soon as Mudfoot started speaking. However, he was expecting something between the lines of his last sentences, not to actually start talking about their past. The chocolate tabby couldn’t help but feel like if suddenly liquid fire started to run through his veins instead of blood, and if he didn’t stopped walking, inspecting the territory, was because he needed to and didn’t know if he would get another chance after this one to do so “You still preferred exile over your own son, didn’t you?” He spat at him, claws unsheathing half way as memories of his past flooded his mind.

Memories of how he sat at the entrance of the camp, waiting for him completely alone every day after he left him behind, of the days of training he was forced to do completely on his own, the long nights as he cried himself to sleep, asking himself ‘Why?’...Until he ultimately gave up. He felt so abandoned, unwanted, unloved. He saw his dreams dying right in front of him day after day, and he could absolutely do nothing. For quite some time, he became nothing but a shadow of his former self, a shadow that slowly vanished alongside his hopes of ever achieving his dreams or seeing his father ever again. He was drowning on the dark waters of despair, the only thing that ever kept him from reaching the bottom being his determination to stay alive, determination that grew weaker and weaker after each day that passed…until Amberclaw saved him from such cruel destiny. The Dark Forest loyalist dragged him out of those cruel waters and was always being there for him as he recovered and became stronger. On the resentful warrior’s eyes, Amberclaw was more of a father than Mudfoot could ever be.

Growling and muttering under his breath, Owlstrike started to walk faster, the fur on his tail and back standing on end as he tried to control his rage. He simply couldn’t forgive Mudfoot for what he had done. It was too late to apologize, many, many moons too late.

Well, apparently he'd been wrong in thinking that everything was good between him and Owlstrike. Stopping in his tracks at his son's angered words, Mudfoot couldn't believe it. Owlstrike blamed him for abandoning him when the DarkForest attacked? Thinking back to those horrible days, he couldn't understand why Owlstrike was so furious with him. Yeah, he'd left him back at camp, but he had no choice! Even if he wanted to go back to camp for him, he could've been killed in the act! And if his son was so distraught about him not being there, why didn't he come looking for them?

Watching at Owlstrike walked away from him, anger bubbled through his veins, which felt weird sense he hadn't ever felt this angry before. Running up to the tom, Mudfoot skidded to a halt and stood in front of his son, fur standing on end and fire in his eyes. "How dare you accuse me of that!" he yowled. The warrior had never felt this outraged in his life and as if the world came crashing down on him, all of his thoughts and emotions just kind of... exploded, per say.

"I had no choice but to leave you, or both of us could've been killed! I never meant to exile you, are you a mousebrain? You're my son!" Mudfoot meowed, huffing from the adrenaline and anger. "And don't you dare put this all on me. You have no idea how hard it is to raise a family on your own when someone you love just disappears!" he ended up yelling, not letting his gaze leave Owlstrikes.

"All my life I've tried to be the best father I can, and I admit, maybe I've failed. Having a son this naive and foxhearted was never my goal, and I wish I could've helped you with more, but if really you cared so much about me being there for you, then why haven't you ever talked to me about this?" the warrior added, calming down a bit, the pain of sadness and sorrow filled his eyes instead of anger. What would it take for Owlstrike to understand that he'd always been there for him?

Looking at his son, all grown up and strong, the tom realized that there was no hope in gaining what they once had back. "In all honesty, I don't really care what your feelings are anymore. If you want to hate me, then hate me. But just know that I'm your father and I'll always be here for you, even if you don't like it," he finished softly, hurt that there was tension between him.

Owlstrike was somewhat surprised when his father blocked his way like that, looking at the older tom to the eyes as he came to an abrupt stop. His expression, however, barely changed as he kept glaring at him. However, the sudden anger directed at him and aggressive way of talking of Mudfoot triggered that violent nature that his training as a Dark Forest loyalist added to his personality and now was deeply rooted within him, the already cracked mask he had been wearing until then shattering into a million pieces.

With a death glare, the tom tried to push the older cat away from him, claws unsheathed and digging into the mud that covered most of the territory “No choice but to leave me?! Then I must’ve been seeing things when all those obviously StarClan loyal cats came back after the gathering, willing to endure the Dark Forest’s reign because they loved their families and wouldn’t leave them behind, and as far as I know they are still alive and well!” Owlstrike wasn’t the calm and collected tom that he was trying to make the rest of the clan believe he was, now he was aggressive, resentful and more willing to shred those opposing him to shreds than to try to speak with them. He supported the Dark Forest, and would keep doing it even if he wouldn’t let it show to avoid his plans being spoiled, and consequently hated to think about those StarClan loyal cats between his clanmates back then, and hated to say that they had to ‘endure’ the Dark Forest when they were just as great if not more that StarClan would ever be, but he had to make things clear for Mudfoot.

“And no, I don’t know how to raise a family, but I do know how does it feels to lose someone you love! And don’t even try to suggest the idea of me leaving! I was only six moons old and never had gone out of camp before, I didn’t even knew how to hunt on my own, I would’ve starved to death, if I wasn’t killed by another cat, a badger, a fox or whatever other things I could’ve find out there first! And on top of that, I didn’t even know where you all went, there was more chances of me getting lost than ever finding you!” Owlstrike’s ears were flat against his head as he hissed, fur standing on end. He almost looked like if he was possessed at the time “Ooooh, but that didn’t matter, right? StarClan would’ve shown me the way to you…” The sarcasm was clear as crystal in his voice, as he acted in a way too exaggerated dramatic way “But guess what, they wouldn’t have! Why, you ask? Because they weren’t even there to begin with!”.

Owlstrike started to pace a bit in an attempt to ignore the temptation of just try to claw Mudfoot’s tongue off. He knew this patrol was going to be awful just by knowing that they would be together in it, but if he had known that it was going to be this bad he would’ve left on his own even if it risked him to get caught “Did you really expect me to keep trusting you at all after you abandoned me? Of course I wasn’t going to talk with you of all cats!”.

With his father’s last words, Owlstrike snorted, his killer glare still there “Well, if you’re going to be always there like you had been until now, I don’t think we’ll be seeing each other much” Wanting to just carry on with the patrol, he walked around Mudfoot before keep walking towards the Carrionplace. They were in a hunting patrol and he would need to bring some prey back to camp to avoid having a suspicious Thrushstar or Leopardfang following him around all the time.

Watching his son walk away from him, Mudfoot's heart sank. There was definitely no hope in getting to the warrior's senses and although he wasn't going to give up quite yet, the tom felt as if one of his kits had died, and in a way, Owlstrike did. Padding after the warrior, Mudfoot stayed quiet, still reeling from their little fight, still unable to believe that the tom hated him with such a passion.

After a few moments of silence, the patrol reached the Carrion Place and staying quiet, Mudfoot looked around. Why did Owlstrike seem so intent on coming to this place? Was he that worried that other clans were stealing crowfood?

Owlstrike looked at the Carrionplace and started to look around for prey…or…well, partially at least. This was one of the few places he hadn’t checked yet, and he was hoping to find something that would help him later one, maybe a nest of rats and make Thrushstar and Leopardfang get killed…or Mudfoot right then and there? A trap led behind by the twolegs?

He was thinking on this when he spotted a rat eating from a pile of waste, immediately going into stalking position and getting closer to it. He never was the most skilled cat at hunting, but he was good enough after all the extensive training sessions he had with Amberclaw during his days as an apprentice. Plus, he wanted to kill something to get rid of the storm of negative feelings he was feeling just by having his father around.

He pounced on the rat, pinning it down. However, in his rush to catch something thanks to his current mood, he didn’t noticed the slippery yet sticky liquid under the rat when doing so, causing him to lose his balance and fall. He looked at the rat with a low growl, the fall making his grip loosen and allowing the injured rat to get free from his grasp and run away. He looked at the blood left on his paws by the rat he almost managed to kill, sighing he got up and got ready to lick the blood off his claws to clean them, but as soon as he smelled he realized something.

The rat had stopped running not far away and was instead hiding behind a pile of rubbish. Curious, he padded towards it, easily catching it this time. It was then when he noticed thanks to the behavior of the rat…it was ill! An idea made its way to his mind as he pushed the rat away, glad that the pile of rubbish hid him from his father’s range of view. Wait…his father…

He had to lead him away from there before he could find out as well.

Turning around and padding towards him, easily recovering his grumpy expression and acting like any frustrated warrior after they lose a catch he made a motion with his tail “Let’s check somewhere else, that rat apparently warned the rest of the prey of the area already” He said almost in a hiss, not waiting for Mudfoot’s response before turning around and quickly padding towards another area of the Carrionplace "The faster we finish with this patrol the better".

Reaching the carrion place, Mudfoot stood at the fence and looked around. The stench of rotting twoleg items and disease filled the air and the tom scrunched his nose. Who in StarClan's name would want to steal prey from this place? Walking to a nearby tree, he marked the border although it probably wasn't needed and looked to Owlstrike who was looking around and could care less about him. How did things end up this bad?

Sighing, the warrior padded back to the hole in the fence where he met Owlstrike. Opening his jaw to say something, he was quickly cut off and his son started padding away before he could say a word. Letting his tail drag on the ground, he trotted after the younger warrior, ready to go back to camp.