The Truth. [Closed]

The prey-pile.. err.. fresh-kill pile was growing rather low. Boarpaw gave it a worried look. He looked around to see if any patrols were heading out, still a bit reluctant to try doing anything without seeing others do it first.

Dawnpetal spotted the nervous-looking apprentice staring at the fresh-kill pile, and she smiled. She needed to hunt for the Clan before she could eat anyway, so she'd might as well invite him along. She padded up to Boarpaw with a friendly meow. "Hello, Boarpaw. My name is Dawnpetal. Would you like to go hunting with me? You're sure to be an excellent hunter."

The tom had to remind himself to react to being called Boarpaw. It was better than Ratpaw or Mangepaw, two names he was sure he would have gotten. But, Boarpaw had something to it he liked. Dipping his head, he smiled appreciatively. "Dawnpetal is a nice name, it's nice to meet you. I have some practice with hunting but, the twolegplace is very bare in prey." He meowed. "Could you show me some of the good spots to hunt?"

"Sure, follow me!" Dawnpetal slipped through the gorse tunnel and up the ravine out of camp and into ThunderClan territory. She looked down at Boarpaw, deciding to strike up a conversation as they headed towards the Great Sycamore. "You're from Twolegplace, you said? How interesting! I myself was born a rogue, but... after my mother killed my father and littermates, I fled and ended up finding ThunderClan. I hope nothing like that happened to you to have made you decide to join ThunderClan."

Boarpaw was surprised by her story. "No, not exactly. Though, I've lost all my family as well. In the middle of the heavy snows of Leafbare, she forced me out our twoleg den and garden.
She wouldn't let me back in. I didn't make many friends after that because of the way I look and I changed my name to fit what the other cats called me when they saw me. Mange... I leaving that name behind for good, it stands for all the parts of me I hate. A she-cat named Buttercup took me in for a while and even joined DawnClan with me! She wanted me to call her my mother but I didn't give an answer fast enough. She left me soon after that. DawnClan felt less like a home. Our leader used my looks to scare kittypets out of food and I felt more like a monster because of it. But,
Sharptooth spoke about this place and how it was a home full of cats who cared about you. I didn't know what that felt like and knew such a thing needed to be protected." He frowned, had he said too much? It only seemed fair, she'd told very personal things about herself. "There was something Buttercup had told me and it keeps bothering me... I don't clearly remember it, I was a young kit when I met her. She said something about ThunderClan cats taking her kit away. She lost the others. Is that really something that ThunderClan cats would do?"

Wow, they are really similar... They even both changed their names to reflect who they are!]

Dawnpetal halted at the mention of her late abusive mother, her fur spiking in horror along her spine. Buttercup had tried to take in Boarpaw long ago? Probably to try and use him to get to her. She struggled to force her fur flat. "I-I see... I'm very sorry to hear that, Boarpaw." She couldn't seem to keep the tremor out of her voice.

(OOC: I can definitely see the two of them becoming very close friends. :3)

Boarpaw stopped a few paces ahead of her. "Uh... Dawnpetal? What's wrong? She wasn't telling the truth was she?" He padded back over to her. The tom didn't want to believe ThunderClan would steal from an already mourning mother. Not after he'd already thought of it as a new hope. His... his only hope...

Dawnpetal's ears fell, and she sighed. She was trying to hold back her expressions of surprise, but now it seemed there was no going back. Boarpaw deserved to know what had become of the she-cat who had tried to raise him. She sat down and wrapped her tail comfortably around her paws, hesitating before beginning. "...Buttercup did have a kit who moved to ThunderClan. I would know, because... I'm her kit. My name used to be Heatherpetal, and as a rogue Heather. But... ThunderClan didn't take me away from her. I fled from her to ThunderClan.

"Buttercup... wasn't a nice cat," she continued. "She had fallen in love with a kittypet a long time ago, and she knew that her current family was keeping her from committing to her new relationship, so she... she k-killed my father and littermates. I managed to escape, and in Buttercup's rage in trying to get to me she killed her new love. From then on, she swore to have her revenge on me, to kill me for taking away everything she loved from her, when in reality she was the one who caused her own heartache. She was using her hatred against ThunderClan as an excuse to try to gather help and get to me."

The tom's eyes widened and there was a deep empty feeling in his chest. He felt like he was floating now, no longer in his body. Shutting his eyes, he sat down. "O-oh." The tom swallowed, his tightening throat made it hard to speak at all. "So she was using me this whole time..." It wouldn't be the first time. He was so eager for company and any form of care he'd forced himself to remain naive to it all. So desperate to replace the empty place of a mother in his life. "You.. you wouldn't happen to know where she is now, would you?"

"I'm so sorry, Boarpaw, I truly am," Dawnpetal mewed softly, giving his head a brief lick. At his other question, she stiffened. "She... She's... d-dead. I... It was a complete accident! But... I was the one who killed her... Buttercup had found me and was trying to take me back so she could kill me in secret, but Birchheart, Specklefang, Birdflight, and I battled her before she could. I tried landing a bite to her muzzle, but she tilted her head up at the last second and exposed her throat, and... w-well... you can probably guess the rest." She absolutely hated talking about the crime she had committed against her mother -- against the warrior code. Filled with sadness and shame, she turned her head away, ears drawn back.

The tom only seemed to get more sullen. "I-i see... " It was a pain he'd never felt before, at least not without fear to overpower it. Grief wasn't something him wanted to ever feel. This couldn't be the way things were supposed to be. Without a family, cursed to always see them fade away or push you out or... use you and die. Buttercup couldn't really have been his family, not for the sole fact of loving him. When Dawnpetal moved away, he looked up at her, nudging her shoulder with his nose. "You don't have to apologize to me, Dawnpetal. I'd rather know this than live on thinking she's out there missing me. She wouldn't have missed me anyways if what you said is true. I.. I guess it's partly my fault for trusting her. I-i-it's just so scary out in the twolegplace by yourself! I nearly froze to death thanks to this cursed pelt I have and nearly starved because no cats dared go near me, fearing I had some disease. I'm too ugly to be a kittypet as well. I should have been... more careful with who I trusted no matter what else was happening to me." He pressed his paws into the ground to limit his shaking, trying to clear his head of the terrifying memories of his youth. The stings on his pelt from prey battles and the insults he got.

Dawnpetal looked back over at Boarpaw and frowned sadly. The two of them really were one in the same. She scooted closer to him and wrapped her tail around his back. "I suppose we've both been through really hard times, and we both have been hurt by Buttercup. But at the same time, we both were also found by and accepted into ThunderClan. This Clan saved the both of us from horrible fates out in the unknown, and now we're here helping to support the other with what we've lost. It it'll make you feel any better, I would be honored to call you my friend. And for the record, you don't look ugly to me in the slightest. If anything, you look rather cute." She purred softly and nuzzled him gently.

Boarpaw leaned against her when she wrapped her tail around him. It felt nice having someone to relate to. This was especially true when he was in a new place. When she described the pair that way, it didn't seem as bad. His eyes brightened up when she said she wanted to be his friend. He'd always have to try and get someone to be his friend, he was never told someone already wanted to be his friend before! Smiling, he straightened, no longer slouching his back. When she claimed he looked cute he was in pure disbelief. Pressing his ears to his head bashfully, he shook it. "I'd love to be your friend but, I'm really concerned.... You're eyesight has to be messed up if you think I'm cute. Sharptooth thought I was some unnatural beast when she saw me the first time."

"I've seen plenty of cats during my time in ThunderClan. Blind, tail-less, heavily scarred... But I've come to learn that it's not their appearances that define who they are, but who they are on the inside. The same goes for you. I can already tell how sweet and kind you are, and that in turn helps your appearance look more natural." She left out how practically any cat looked normal compared to how she saw her mother as a kit, completely drenched in her family's blood with a crazed look in her eyes.

Boarpaw smiled and looked at his paws. "Thanks, Dawnpetal... That means a lot to me." He'd always been worried about his appearance. A quick glance at him was enough to ward off any help in the twolegplace where cats couldn't risk any sickness at all. But he was now starting to figure out that the way they reacted from his appearance didn't reflect his personality. "Do you still want to hunt?"

short, srry!]