The Dark, Scorched Path

A shaggy, smokey tom padded out of the barn with two measly mice in his jaws. His thin fur clung to his thin body. It took everything in him to not gobble up his meal, but he had to feed the elders and kits of his forgotten clan. How could they do this to us? We don't even have a permanent resting place! He scolded his grumbling with a flick of his ears. It was greenleaf, so they could manage for a few moons. By then, they'd have their territory back. 

He wondered about his dream. Maybe it was true. He didn't have much belief in the whole story of big, magical beings in the sky. He still believed that his encounter in the Dark Forest was simply a cult of some sort that had brought him to a lake and played mind games on him. He believed in the cause and the cats he had seen, but there was no way he was in some sort of dream-fantasy-fairy-tale-land. But those cats, the ones he was related to... They were, in fact, real cats. Thinstripe confirmed their names and their origins. He must've seen them before, a mere coincidence...

He sighed and licked his wayward fur. "I'll see them soon, no doubt. I'll make sure of it." And like that, a RiverClan scent hit his nose. "Who's there? What, not satisfied with simply driving us out? Have you come for a fight for the only scraps of food we have left? Go ahead, take it!"

Darkpaw had been sent to the Abandoned Barn by his mentor to go and fetch some herbs. He had finished training for the day, and didn't want to be wasteful of time, so Darkpaw had asked what he could do to help the clan....and it lead him to this old barn past Windclan's territory. He was supposed to be looking for a plant called Tormentil; it was thin with yellow flowers and it had many uses, such as curing coughs, wounds, and poisons. It also prevented sore throats and prevented greencough. Apparently, the Abandoned Barn was safer than getting Tormentil from Twoleg gardens, so that was why he had been shewed off to there instead. Just as the Riverclan apprentice was approaching the old, worn-down building, a figure emerged out of it's opening. The stench of Thunderclan hit him, and a feeling of recognition lit up Darkpaw's brain. Something was very familiar about this stranger. "I'm not here for your measly mice. Leave me alone and go back to scraping along the bottom of the food chain with the rest of Thunderclan." He scoffed at the starved-looking apprentice, then brushed past him toward the barn.

As Darkpaw did so, the feeling of familiarity gnawed at his thoughts. Where had he seen the other tom's face before? Why was he so familiar?

Ooc: mobile

Scorchpaw hissed. "Now, you wait just one minute, mister arrogant! ThunderClan didn't do anything... to.... you?" His voice trailed off. He sped up and cut him off, staring at the tom. His eyes, the eyes... he knew who this cat was. His face lit up. "Darkpaw, is that you? It's me! ... From... from the dream!" He purred and nuzzled the cheek of the other cat. "I knew I recognized you!"

"Hey! Get off of me, you creep!" Darkpaw stumbled backwards as the Thunderclan cat started to nuzzle him. "I prefer to be mates with Riverclan she-cats, not Thunderclan toms," the apprentice hissed in a smart-alec sort of way. Suddenly, a realization hit him. "Hey, how'd you know my name? What are you talking about? Did you eat some poisonous crowfood or something? I think you should see a Medicine Cat!" Darkpaw already knew what dream Scorchpaw was talking about, despite not admitting to it. The nightmare was a bit faint in his mind, for Darkpaw forgot dreams easily. Maybe that was where he knew this cat from; the dream with Honeykit and the apprentices and that odd cat named Shatteredfur....or was it Shatteredheart. Maybe it was Brokenpelt? Darkpaw couldn't remember.

Scorchpaw shuddered. Some way to treat your brother! He stepped backward, blocking the entrance to the barn. "You're not an idiot, Darkpaw. I know you aren't. I also know that you're not really RiverClan. A rogue left you in their territory. If you're interested, I could tell you who your real mother is. It would be a shame to go you entire life without knowing her, no?" He said this with a sly, knowing grin. His evil stare reflected his father's as he stared into the other tom's mismatched eyes. He was trying to toy with the cat's emotions, knowing that the mystery of a bloodline would entice the most stubborn cat's imagination. After all, it sparked his own curiosity. "All I say is true, Darkpaw. 'This is no nightmare,' brother," he half-hissed, quoting himself from their first meeting in the Place of No Stars. He sat still and watched carefully for the white-and black tom's reaction.

"Bloodline means nothing to me. Clan before Kin. Loyalty is what I have devoted my life to, and my loyalty lies with Riverclan, thank you very much. My only sibling is a Riverclan kit, and rouge or not, Riverclan has accepted us as their own and I am proving to them that I am one of them now. I don't care who my parents are; they obviously wanted nothing to do with me, so they abandoned me. That's all there is to know and all I want to know." He recognized the quote from the dream and narrowed his eyes before spotting a patch of the herb he had come for near-by. The tom turned and padded over to the flowers, then started to pick them, ignoring his "brother"

Scorchpaw huffed in annoyance. "You can't ignore me forever! One day, I'll be there for you. Maybe then you'll change your backwards viewpoint. That Clan took you in, but who stopped you from being shunned for the rest of your life? If it weren't for your kin, you'd be either dead or on the lowest link of the RiverClan food chain. Why do you think I joined the Dark Forest? It was the least I could do for my family!" He snarled and strolled closer. "Don't you get it? StarClan isn't even here to save you. Without StarClan, will the Clans operate? Without your heavenly warriors, nobody will know what to do. It's only a matter of time before the pillars that hold up the Clans disintegrate. And it started when the fiends you're loyal to decide to drive us out of our home!" he spat. "When you did that, you made the first step towards compete anarchy. Clans are no good anymore. This is why we have to stick together as a family!" His gaze softened. "If we stay together, us brothers and sisters, united together under no such 'StarClan,' there's nothing we can't accomplish." He placed his paw on his brother's comfortingly. "Just trust in me!"

"Never," Darkpaw hissed as he whipped around to face Scorchpaw. He was only a few inches from the tom's face and he stared deep into his eyes with a flame of burning hatred blazing in his own. "I am not your brother, and I never will be. Stop talking nonsense before you get yourself killed, and go find yourself a life! Riverclan was in the right to chase you pests away! Look at all the deaths you caused us, look at all the torment and burden your clan has laid upon us. This is a taste of your own medicine! Don't you get it by now? I am loyal to my clan and Starclan, and them only. Say what you want about me or my clan or Starclan...I couldn't give a mouse-dung about you! Keep that scrawny butt of yours in your own business, okay flea-bag?" And with that, Darkpaw snatched up a pile of Tormentil and started back towards camp, hoping that this crazy cat would leave him alone. I should've gone to Twolegplace instead, he thought bitterly.

"You really think that's my fault? Or our mother's?" he questioned, his heart breaking with every word. His eyes glazed over with hatred. He didn't even realize what he was saying until it was already out. "If I were you, I'd keep an eye on Honeykit. There are some... evil cats out here," he hissed, a devilish and smug grin plastered on his face. "You wouldn't want her to get hurt. You know how pesky those ThunderClan cats are," he announced sarcastically. So what if he couldn't get his brother on board? He would always love the blood-traitor, but that didn't mean he didn't deserve a well-placed threat. He started in the other direction. "But I assume she's a better sister, anyway, and she'll join me and Cinnamonpaw!" He didn't mean a word of this, and in the deepest part of his shadowed heart, he dreaded the thought of losing the bonds siblings ought to share. Of course he wouldn't kill Honeykit... But now Darkpaw has a reason to stay out of his way. He prayed his empty threat would hit home with his traitor of a brother.

Darkpaw didn't let the fear show in his eyes or any action of his, even though it crept through every part of his body and flooded through his veins. "If you touch her or any other Riverclan cat, I'll kill you," he hissed over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. "And if you ever try to speak to me again, I won't leave you without a scar scraped across your ugly face." A sinking feeling weighed down his heart as he pictured Honeykit with her throat ripped out, dead because of Scorchpaw. Swiftly, Darkpaw bounded away toward Riverclan as he clenched his teeth to keep himself from turning around and murdering the dumb Thunderclan cat. The warrior code says that I can't kill anyone unless if they are outside of the warrior code themselves, he reminded himself to keep from tearing out Scorchpaw's heart....if he even had one.