The Only Light in a Dark World [Reaper King]

Hissing and spitting echoed in the run-down shack as Dawnhawk and a particular large lone cat had a bit of a disagreement over a rat. The lone cat had to be almost as big as Bloodstrike but a lot fluffier. He was a dark brown tabby Maine Coon, maybe with some other mixes of cat in him as well. Dawnhawk stayed crouched in a fighting stance as they circled each other, the rat in between the two of them. "I've lived here longer than you. This rat is mine." The giant tom growled. Dawnhawk didn't respond. The rat was already dead when they both ran into it at the same time. As far as he was concerned, that made it fair game. He kicked off of the ground, landed his paws onto the nearest wall of the wooden shack and kicked off of that as well. He threw his weight and strength into the larger tom, which forced the wind out of his lungs... but Dawnhawk also found himself bouncing off of such a larger creature. He rolled to his feet barely fast enough to avoid massive claws whooshing over his head.

The wind from it blew a foul, bitter stench toward Dawnhawk's nose. Something about it made his stomach churn. He looked down at the rat for just a moment and noticed that it had green foam in it's mouth. What..? Another round of powerful claws came and struck Dawnhawk in the side. He actually was lifted off of his feet and thrown hard against the side of the shack. Dust and dirt coated him from the ceiling as the wall rattled. The clawmarks were surprisingly light, barely staining his white fur pink. The brown Maine Coon saw this as an opportunity to grab the rat and run out of a hole in the side. Dawnhawk didn't folow, the foul stench still clung to his nose. He rolled back onto his feet, wincing at the new ache he had on his ribcage.

He bent his head down to carefully sniff where the rat had been... and confirmed that the rancid odor had come from it. That rat had been poisoned... He stepped swiftly out of the shack for fresher air and even rubbed his nose with his paws in an attempt to clear it faster. I could have died... He thought when he glanced back to where the lone cat had run off with the rat. Well... one less problem for me I suppose. Though that didn't solve his hunger problem. He didn't know what the rat had eaten that killed it, but he learned from his time with the Asylum that sometimes humans used poisons to get rid of pests, and if he were to eat the poisoned rat he would have died as well.

He leaped up onto a crumbling rock wall and watched for other signs of prey... or cats. He made a habit of monitoring which cats were around and for how long. Not any of the loners had any honor, nor did he to be fair, and they were likely watching him as well.

Ever since she heard he was alive, she planned. She planned on finding a way out of camp without being notice and planned on tracking down her father. She wanted to at least see him one last time. So the second she saw her chance to get out of the camp without eyes on her, she took it. She squeezed out of a little hole in the back of the camp. Once out, azure eyes looked around, checking to make sure it was clear before darting off towards the two leg place. She didn't now much about it but she knew enough from her patrols with Copperfox to know what direction to head.

As she progressed on her way to the Twoleg place she kept herself hidden for the most part. She didn't want to bring any attention to herself. She was on her own, she didn't need any rogues or predators getting a smart idea to pick off an apprentice while they had the chance. Though she couldn't help herself to hunting a bird along the way when she spotted easy prey. Hopefully Dawnhawk would appreciate her gift. With the prey tucked safetly in her maw, she continued on, staying to the shadows. Eyes taking in everything around her, ears on a constant swivel, since her nose was blocked because of the bird.

Her excitement grew when she caught sight of the odd buildings that she hadn't really seen too closely before. She was slow close to seeing him, though she was going to be out in the open more. Tornpaw double checked her surroundings before pushing forward out into the open, walking along the walls. As soon as she spotted her dad's golden pelt up on the rock wall, her pace picked up.

A muffled call of "Dad!" left her mouth through the bird. Excitement and happiness thrumming through her body.

A flash of gold and white caught Dawnhawk's attention nearly right away. It was for this reason he'd always hunted from up high with the sun at his back, since white didn't exactly blend in with anything. He blinked once before his breath caught in his throat. It was Tornpaw! His eyes darted all around the forest and Twoleg place, suspiciously scanning it for other Skyclan cats. He surveyed the area again, this time looking for rouges or predators... but they seemed to be alone for the time being. Dawnhawk dropped from the rock wall and galloped at full speed towards Tornpaw.

He slid to a stop in front of her and immediately pulled her in close with his chin and a foreleg. He buried his chin into the fur on her back and even wrapped his long, feather-like tail around her like a shield.

"It's dangerous out here!" He scolded her, though his tone sounded anything but angry. Feeling her warmth and drinking in her scent again, he couldn't stop the flow of emotion from his eyes. He pulled her in tighter and closer in an attempt to buy him time to cover it up. "I've missed you so much! Are you okay? Why are you out here?" His voice had broke a few times, but he pushed through it and tried to cover up the thick emotion choking out his voice. A purr that could rival the volume of a lawn mower rumbled deep within his chest, a sound Dawnhawk rarely produced.

All of his stress, his worry and his anger was gone in this moment; Lost to the light that Tornpaw brought him.

The young she-cat didn't mind her father's scolding or his angry words at the start. She was just so happy to be wrapped up in his fur once again, to be able to take in his scent. Relief and happiness was all she could feel despite the potential danger she was in. She did her best to spit out the bird so she could answer Dawnhawk despite being wrapped up in him. "I know it was dangerous.. but I stayed hidden the whole way here, until now." SHe informed him, a slight spark of pride in her chest for having made it all the way here.

"I came here to see you after I heard from Copperfox you were alive. I just had to see you. After.. After Ashstorm told me you were dead.. Everything was dark for a while and when I heard you were alive.. Oh stars and thorns.. I was relieved." She spoke, happiness breaking her voice a bit at the sounds of his purr.

"I also brought you a bird! But.. I think its a little squished now.. kinda like what you did to Birdpaw. She is alright but please don't do it again." She wasn't going to say more on the matter. This wasn't about Skyclan. She didn't want it to be about them. Hopefully he wouldn't ask her about her place in the clan and how it was going for her. She wasn't going to lie to him, but she just didn't want to talk about it. It was already hard enough as it was.

Dawnhawk couldn't help but stiffen a bit when Tornpaw mentioned Copperfox. He relaxed a little when it seemed like she didn't care, or was at least just happy to be with him. Stars curse this temper of mine! Thanks dad! He thought to himself, mentally scolding himself for his carelessness. He looked down at the squished bird and felt a surge of pride. Tornpaw had caught a bird!

"I didn't want to hurt Birdpaw. I know she's your friend. I just knew that she had information that she could give me and I needed to know how you were doing. I did squish her, but I promise I wasn't going to really hurt her." A smile twitched at the corners of her lips. "I will say she makes a funny noise when she squeaks." He chuckled, then thought better of it. Maybe... maybe that was too dark? His teeth shot for the bird and he began eating the breast meat. "Thank you for the bird!" He desperately needed the distraction. "Great job too! You're turning into a great Skyclan cat!"

A small frown made it's way onto Tornpaw's face. She didn't know how to feel about that. If she should find it funny or not. "She does make some interesting noises sometimes.." The younger mused, more lost in thought about her friend more than anything, before returning to the topic at hand and moving on from Birdpaw entirely.

"Oh! I thought you would like the bird, I'm glad you do. I'm sure you missed some of the prey around the territory." She was really happy he liked the bird but she wasn't sure she appreciated the idea of becoming a full Skyclan cat. "About that.. I don't know if I want to be Skyclan.. Most of them stare at me like I'm some kind of monster.. Except for a few like Beechface, Copperfox, and Birdpaw..: She didn't really know about many of the others like Wolfstar, and Bloodstrike.. She didn't interact with either of them enough.. but the look that Smokefeather gave her sometimes.. She couldn't ever get it out of her head.

Yep received poorly whoops. He'd say no more on Birdpaw. Maybe squishing cats but not actually hurting them wasn't funny to everyone. Dawnhawk personally still thought it was at least mildly hilarious. Still, he wouldn't do it again, now that Tornpaw had asked him not to. When she mentioned that she was stared at like some kind of monster in the clan, he frowned and thumped his tail against the ground once.

"I'm sorry they're like that." Though he was genuinely surprised Beechface wasn't doing the same thing. Though he would probably never get a chance to tell her now, he did at least appreciate that the medicine cat that made most of his kithood akin to The Dark Forest wasn't going to do the same to Tornpaw. Copperfox was no surprise. That kid loved everyone... somehow.

"They looked at me like that for my whole life Tornpaw. You have more allies than I did at least. I had Bloodstrike, but he wasn't around much. Blossomstep is nice too, just busy." He sighed and rested his chin between her ears as he thought about what to tell her. "I'd offer for you to come with me but loner life is hard. I have days where scraping by even for myself is a challenge. I wouldn't want something to happen to you." He removed his chin from her head and looked her in the eyes, a reflection of his own.

"If you don't want to stay in Skyclan, I understand and I don't blame you at all, but until I have something else figured out that isn't..." He gestured with his tail to the broken twoleg nests and crowfood filled world around him. "...this I think I would feel much better about you being in a clan, at least for now. Thunderclan has Shrikesong in it, and I know they're not overly fond of me. So maybe not them. Shadowclan is a possibility. Riverclan too. Or maybe Windclan..." He curled his lip a bit. He knew Skyclan had a dislike of Windclan and it had been that way for so long that he himself picked up the mentality. Anytime a Skyclan cat mentioned Windclan, it was never with any favor or kind words.

"Whatever one you choose I will support you. I won't be around when you make your decision probably and... for obvious reasons I can't be seen hanging around Skyclan territory..." He thumped his tail on the ground a few times while he thought about a solution to this. It didn't take him long to come up with one.

"By the river on the edge of Skyclan territory, there is a small cluster of boulders together. You can see it from the treeline easy. They have a small space between them that will probably protect things like rats or mice from the wind. I'll check that as often as I can, so if you leave something there... like a bird leg, a squirrel tail, you know something that the clan won't care if it's missing, I will wait in the area for you to come back. Do that if you want to talk to me. If you are in trouble and need me immediately, leave three sticks on top of eachother in it instead. I will storm Skyclan territory to come and get you, so only do that if it's an emergency. I'll go to that spot every three days or so and check it. Deal?"

Tornpaw nodded. That was one good thing that she did have more allies than he did but it still didn't help when only three cats out of the whole clan didn't treat you like a monster. It still wore on the apprentice. Though she couldn't help the disappointment she felt when he said that he didn't want her to come with him. She just wanted to be by his side again, but she could understand that clan life was better than being a rogue.

"I can do that for you, though I don't know about the other clans.. They will probably look at me the same.. Except more as an outsider than a monster." She didn't know what the best choice was. There was so many things running through her head all at once. She shook her head chasing away the thoughts of the other clans for now. "I can leave some prey there for you every once in a while if you want me too. So you don't have to scrap by." She offered. She didn't want him to suffer because of the clan's stupid actions.

Dawnhawk didn't like the obvious hurt in her eyes. He'd wanted her to be with him more than she knew, but not while he had nothing good to offer her. Her offering of prey brought a smile to his face. "I'll be alright. Some days are rougher than others but nothing I can't handle." It was fairly true. Dawnhawk had been trained in Skyclan as well as the Asylum. He had the best balance of both the toughness of a clan cat and the superior intellect of any Asylum cat. He managed to avoid serious injury and true starvation so far.

"Keep yourself safe, train hard and we can be together again at some point soon. Okay?" He couldn't help but pull her in close to him again and rest his chin on her shoulder blades. "I love you, Tornpaw. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise."