Beauty and the Beast [CLOSED]

It was early morning. The clearing was quiet as scraggly strays slept on ruined concrete and metal pipes. Old decrepit buildings lined the area; the only entrances and exits were the narrow alleyways. Near the edge of the abandoned courtyard, a large feline sat on a dumpster. An was a sight to behold if it weren't for her condition. A beautifully mottled black-and-ginger coat, now tangled and matted from her poor treatment. Ribs bulged out of a starved body, and her dazzling emerald eyes were drooping and hollow. Her long mosaic-like tail swished absentmindedly behind her, catching on tiny pebbles and the marks on the green metal surface.

Yin. Where was he? For moons, An had waited for her mate to come back. He had left her right at her most dire moment, when she was being kidnapped by this crazed group of strays, and had simply ran into the forest and didn't look back. What was he thinking? She was now a prisoner, mistreated and starved and wounded. Everything she had to be happy about was ripped away.

An didn't like thinking about such depressing things, however, as present they might be, so the tortoiseshell turned her attention to other things. She managed to find some food today, that was good, so at least she wasn't as hungry as usual. Loaf didn't really seem to be "leader" much anymore, as Shade had obviously taken the more dominant rank. Shade. An didn't know what to think of the newcomer. He was secretive, and vicious, and... strangely special. The prisoner didn't know why, but whenever she thought of the de-facto leader her heart started beating faster. Was she finally going insane? How could she find herself attracted to a self-proclaimed cannibal?

As she was pondering over that question, she heard pawsteps coming over from behind her. She turned her slim head and looked out over the darkness. In the dim dawn light she could make out another cat over in the shadow of the nearby building, but couldn't make out any details. "Hello?" she whispered, turning so she faced the stranger in full view.

Shade stalked up to the dumpster and leaped up onto it with ease, nearly colliding right into the she-cat that rested on top. He dropped what he carried in his mouth, a pair of mice, the two pieces of fresh-kill hitting the dark lid with hollow thunks. He then looked An in the eye, his luminescent amber eyes showing no expression, practically glowing in the darkness. "You'll need all the strength you can get if you're going to work hard during training tomorrow. I'm going to need every single cat here battle-ready as soon as possible."

An's heart seemed to skip a beat as Shade himself walked up to her and dropped down some fresh-kill. "T-thank you," she managed to say, looking him right in those luminescent amber eyes. "Can I ask you a question real quick?" without waiting for much of a reply, she hurried on. "How... how bad were those Clan cats? B-because, you know, you seem like a p-pretty nice cat, a-and they must have been pretty evil to do such terrors to you and o-others, you know." Great Emperor, that was the worst sentence she had ever uttered in her life! She only had to hope Shade didn't think she was wrong in the head.

This question really caught Shade off guard. He flinched, almost as if someone had just slashed at his battle-scarred muzzle. He couldn't seem to make himself look An in the eye anymore, turning his head away. "...I guess I could spare you my sad story. But... well... let's just say that these cats keep a lot of secrets to themselves. Secrets that should be shared with others. Secrets that need to be shared. They break rules so often that they might as well shouldn't even be there anymore. And they hurt so many of their loved ones because they're just so selfish, so keen on making sure that they remain safe from the consequences. They always think that they're above consequences! And whenever one cat tries to do something right... like get rid of the liars and the dirty cheats and rule-breakers so they won't hurt anyone else... they get punished. The way of the Clans is corrupt. They speak of loyalty and justice and the warrior code, but they don't even know the meaning of such words anymore. Those who do... turn out to be just like me..."