A grave reminder (Open)

"I'm going outside Mom, see ya later!"

Small clumps of fresh snow were shaken to the ground as Eaglekit bolted out of the nursery entrance into the chilly leaf-bare day, the little tom's golden eyes gleaming with excitement.  Skidding to a halt after only running a few tail-lengths he took a moment to gaze upward rather than just beyond, and purred at the sight.  It was a beautiful day, the sun shining in gaps between huge fluffy clouds, and though the breeze was cold it whipped through his short fur in a way that made him feel like running alongside it.  An idea dawning in his mind, Eaglekit grinned; flicking his long brown tabby tail, he took a good look around the camp; after only a quarter moon of being allowed outside he pretty much knew it front to back.  Though some snow had fallen the previous night the sun had mostly melted it already, leaving the ravine damp but still clear.  Not many older cats were out and about, since it was near sun-high most of them were probably out on patrols and the ones that remained were either sheltering or guarding.  Perfect, no one to yell at us for getting in their way!

Running back over to the nursery, the brown and white kit meowed loudly into the entrance, probably a bit louder than he should've in the case anyone had been sleeping.  "Hey, who's up for a race?  C'mon, there's no one in camp right now, it's all clear!"  Being the eldest kit in a litter of nine meant, to Eaglekit, two main things; one, he could boss them around all he liked, and two, there would always be somebody willing to play.  Ears pricked for a response, while he waited it seemed a good time to get stretched out; bowing down as he extended his spine, his five front toes reached out and kneaded the ground before gripping it so that he could stretch each hind leg in turn.  Leaping back to all fours, he was ready, the kit's fiery eyes reflecting a daring challenge for anyone about to test themselves against his resolve.

Emberkit was curled up in the middle of his other siblings as he tried to get some sleep. Being in a huge litter meant noise constantly and he couldn't get any sleep. Just as he was finally about to drift off, his older brother decided to yell, waking the whole nursery. Emberkit got to his paws with a tired yawn and mad frown. He wasn't going to get any sleep now so even though he didn't want to race, he would love to watch.

"No need to yell, brother." He mewed with another yawn, padding up to eaglekit. "Im too tired to race, but I will watch." he said, shaking his fiery pelt as he felt the cold air of the entrance. Emberkit didn't really spend time with his siblings as he could never understand them. Like take eaglekit, what was so fun about running around? They could do that anyday, why today, when he is trying to sleep?

The soft rustlings of someone getting up from a nest excited Eaglekit for a moment, tail swishing back-and-forth as he bent down into his play crouch; however, once he saw that it was Emberkit who emerged that tail stood still.  Mouse-dung, he never wants to play!  Indeed, Eaglekit's challenging grin quickly faded to an annoyed frown as his brother told him off, and the tom rolled his golden eyes.  "Come on dude, how can you be so sleepy in the middle of the day?  It's not snowing anymore, we can finally go outside, and you want to stay in?"  Not waiting for an answer to his questions, the lithe bicolor kit bumped shoulders with his brother and purred, that daring smile returning in full force.  "C'mon, just race me from here to the camp entrance and I'll let you go sleep, promise!"  The nursery stood at the very back of the camp, and the entrance at the very front; it was a straight shot other than having to avoid the fresh-kill pile and the longest possible distance a kit could run without going outside.  Plus, no warriors bustling around; the last time he had tried to run this path he had crashed straight into Batbite, which resulted in quite the long lecture from his mother.  Even though he would've much preferred Wrenkit or one of his more competitive siblings to take up this challenge, the prospect of racing Emberkit was more like uncovering a mystery, and Eaglekit's ears pricked as he realized this.  His brother was an unknown and untested force, and that only made him more eager to get his way.  "Just once, I wanna see if you're as slow as you act!"

Emberkit looked at his brother with a sigh. "Fine, I will race you but you better keep your word." He mewed and stood at the entrance of the nursery. Emberkit didn't really have physical power but he made that up with brain power. The young tom knew he would lose but the quicker he got it over with the quicker he got to sleep. His family never understood why Emberkit was tired during the day and that was because they never knew about his nightly adventures.

Every night emberkit would stare up at the stars and think. He would think about the tiniest things to the biggest. Like for example, last night he thought about how everything in life was connected, down to the smallest sliver of grass. He knew his siblings wouldnt understand his intrests so he never brought them up with anyone besides slatekit and gingerkit. Emberkit got ready to run, looking at eaglekit with a bored expression.

Gingerkit who was curled up next to Emberkit stirred when he moved and left the den. She lifted her head and stood and climbed out of the nest before stretching. She yawned and padded out of the den. “Whats going on with you two?” She meowed softly nuzzling Emberkit with a purr. “Eagle kit are you badgering Emberkit again.” She meowed playfully flicking her other brother with her fluffy tail, being the third oldest and the middle child she wanted to look out for her younger siblings, even if they were younger by a few minutes.

Dappleleaf was woken from her sun-high nap by the yells of kits. The nursery had been packed to the brim lately, with Robinloft and Beecloud recently having a litter of ten. She didn't know how the poor queen could cope with so many little ones, but at least they seemed to occupy themselves some of the time.

After being confined to camp pretty much the whole time, the elder felt as if the invasion had aged her. She was definitely slowing down, but there was nothing she could do to stop that. Now she truly felt old. Before the rouges took over, she usually only left camp alone. But to avoid them as much as possible, she had barely left camp in the past few days. She was well aware that she only had so much time left in Thunderclan, and now she was wasting it doing nothing. Her previous goal of fixing everything with Fernskip and Breezeheart was now done, Doepaw was an apprentice. All would be fine if it weren't for Asylum.

The kits were preparing for a race, since the unusually small number of cats in the clearing left a wide open space. If she had been in better shape, she would have joined in a heartbeat, but a combination of her stiff joints and her limp, it probably wouldn't be any fun for the young kits to race her. Instead, she approached them outside the nursery. "You better get that race done quickly, or the camp won't be that empty any more!" She said with a wink. It was undoubtable that Robinloft would appreciate a short break from her lively kin, and the young ones needed some sort of supervision, in case they tried o break any rules, Asylum or clan. If their shouts had woken her, they would probably wake others. And patrol would return soon, filling up the camp yet again to breaking point.

"I wanna race! Bet I'm faster than you!"

Songkit, ever the odd one, charged from the nursery full speed, her mismatched feet kicked up sand unevenly. She grinned wide, fangs showing. "Papa showed me how to use my extra toes to my advantage, so you'd better watch out!"

(occ: let Peridot post with Akhlut first before posting again please <3)

Eaglekit couldn't help the proud grin that crossed his face as Emberkit finally agreed to his terms; the young tom seemed to have a gift for persuasion, even with his most stubborn siblings.  "Have I ever lied to you Emberkit?  Don't worry, I'll chase you back to Mom's belly soon enough!"  Though his purr ended in a taunt, his first several words had been sincere; never once had Eaglekit lied to his family, even in the tensest disagreements.  He stood by his word no matter what, and he hoped they all recognized that.  Crouching down next to his brother and extending his claws to get a better grip on the soil, Eaglekit was about to start counting down for the race when a different voice piped up, this one much softer than his brother's.  Looking away from the path of the race, Eaglekit smiled at his calico sister Gingerkit and stood back up again, batting her flicking tail away with a faux-annoyed hiss.  "Badgering, me?! Never!  I was just convincing him to show me his racing skills, that's all.  Wanna join us?"

Before his sister answered however Eaglekit noticed slow movements out of the corner of his eye and whipped around to face Dappleleaf, the crippled elder.  For a moment his golden eyes reflected defiance, prepared for her to shut down the race and send them all back to the nursery, however, her affectionate smile quickly relieved his fears and the bicolor tom winked back to her and meowed; "That's what I'm trying to do, you all heard Dappleleaf!  Let's do this already!"  The lithe tom-kit crouched down, about to start the countdown again when one last interruption greeted them; his sister Songkit.  He was fine with this though, since she actually seemed excited to race him, unlike his other siblings.  Purring, Eaglekit lifted his chin high at her claims, and said proudly; "You're not the only one with extra toes ya know, Dad showed me too!  Now it's time to see who learned it better, get ready Songkit!"  Once all of his siblings who were racing fell into their places, Eaglekit locked his eyes onto their target; the camp entrance.  The gateway to the outside, a beautiful place full of prey and trees and an endless open sky.  He wanted to see it, the world beyond the ravine's walls...for now though, they would just have to settle for the diameter of camp.  Eyes narrowing to focused slits, Eaglekit yowled; "Three...two...one...GO!"

With that, the brown tabby and white tom took off, paws pounding against the soil and kicking some up in his wake.  The chill breeze whipped against his face, pressing his kitten-fluff cheeks and pricked ears back against his head.  Grin as big and bright as the sun, the little polydactyl kitten spread out his toes as he ran, giving him more support and force to push forward.  He didn't look back to the sides to see where his siblings were, it would distract him and all he was focused on was the goal and the great sense of freedom he felt.  He swerved past the fresh-kill pile, a usually busy place now deserted, and kept going as fast as he could.  He wasn't even tired yet!  If I was outside, could I just keep running forward?  Going straight out through the territory, even beyond?  How far could I run before I just fell off the world, is that even possible?  I kinda wanna find out...  The goal was in sight, the spiky edges of the gorse tunnel becoming clearer and clearer.  He was going so fast the edges of his vision were blurred, all he knew was his impending victory.  However, a sudden thought occurred to him...

Should I stop...or could I just keep going?

He knew it was against the rules, his mother and father would be super mad, he might even get sent to Nettlestar...but maybe just a couple steps inside the tunnel would be okay?  He was so close, and his siblings were most likely slowing down right now, but he sped forward, right towards the tunnel, so close...

Until he felt himself crash into something furry...yet sharp.

"Ahhh!"  Getting clotheslined by a large cat's paw, Eaglekit was thrown backward onto the ground, his tail crushed under his body and paws tangled.  Eyes clenched shut, he tried to ignore the stinging sensation that riddled a few spots on his neck and chest, and as they faded he managed to gather his courage.  From his spot laying on his side in the dirt, Eaglekit propped himself up on his forelegs and looked at this cat, golden eyes suddenly dark with anger.  "Hey, what gives?!  At least sheathe your claws before you...you..."  Oh no...  Eaglekit's expression quickly turned from one of annoyance to one of fear, and he instinctively shuffled back away from the intruder. He didn't recognize the she-cat standing over him, but he knew what she was.  His Dad talked about them all the time with uncharacteristic fury in his usually soft eyes...that stinky animal pelt...

An Asylum cat!

As the days had passed in the so-called "ThunderClan" camp, Akhlut had spent her time lurking in the shadows, the dark pelt on her back and dog pelt she wore over her shoulders allowing her to melt into the darkness with ease as she slunk around, shadowing the "ThunderClanners" in their own home. Her favorite spot was to lurk in the gorse tunnel, out of sight, to catch any cats that thought they were being slick, trying to sneak out without supervision. It was now that she saw another attempt, and though she had been keeping an eye on the kits since they'd left the nursery that morning, she hadn't expected her next catch to be one of those kits.

As Eaglekit and his siblings barreled across the clearing, the dark she-cat narrowed her eyes as the tom with the extra toes showed no signs of stopping as he neared the camp's entrance. With a growl that rumbled low in her throat, deeper and more guttural than a normal cat's due to the scars she wore proudly across her neck, she waited until the kit had nearly passed her spot, then flashed her paw out, claws unsheathed, catching the kit in his tracks and stopping him instantly. She stepped out as the kit began reprimanding her for getting in his way- until he looked up at her stone-cold countenance, the only sign of the irritation on her face being the slight flattening of her ears.

Eaglekit's anger quickly turning to fear sparked a small chuckle in the imposing she-cat, and Akhlut spoke, her voice deep and gravelly, more akin to a growl.
"Asylum rules state that no Clan cat is to leave camp without an escort." The large she-cat narrowed her eyes at the kit, before slowly retracting her claws. "You're lucky that I'm in a good mood, and that you'll get to leave with a warning and the fur on your tail. Now get going, pipsqueak. I'm not someone you want to mess with."

Emberkit hated all the interuptions to the race so when it finally started he was relieved. Emberkit lined up with his other siblings and when it was time, he took off. As his siblings passed him, Emberkit slowed down to a trout as he saw his brother wasn't stopping. Emberkit was about to call out before an asylum cat came out of the tunnel and stopped eaglekit herself.

Emberkit padded up to the two catching the last of her words. "I guess that means you win." He mewed to eaglekit and with a glare he whispered, "what were you thinking! You could have been killed!" he hissed quietly at his older brother, as his other siblings came towards them.

As soon as Eaglekit said 'go', Songkit was gone. Sprinting over the sandy floor, the fluffy kit hardly managed to swerve around the fresh-kill pile. Eaglekit was right in front of her. So close, she almost had him... "Ahoof!"

Stumbling over her brother, Songkit went rolling head over paws straight into the stranger. "Owie... That hurt!* The molly whined, sending a glare to her brother for making her fall. That was until the cat spoke. Recoiling in fear, Songkit backed away nervously, shooting an angry, if slightly afraid, glare to the mean cat. "Hey! Don't be so mean! Eaglekit didn't mean to, it was an accident!"

Gingerkit chuckled and lined up next to Emberkit and before she knew it Eaglekit has said go and they were off. Sprinting after her siblings she passed Emberkit and was right behind Songkit. When Eaglekit and Songkit didn’t slow down she started slowing down and trotted next to Emberkit.  She watched in horror as Eaglekit was tossed back out of the gorse entrance to camp by an Astlum cat and Songkit barreled over their older brother and into the she cat who’s ears were flattened. Hearing the last of the she cats words and hearing Emberkit’s hiss her ears flattened in fear and she pressed against Emberkit and Eaglekit and Songkit seeking the comfort of her siblings. “He didn’t mean it. He just wanted to win the race.” She meowed softly with fear evident in her words.

Even though Dappleleaf had spotted the Asylum cat earlier, she hadn't taken any notice. This one in particular was always hiding in the shadows, with a dog pelt draped across her shoulders. Every time she spotted the beast's face, it sent a shiver down her spine and reminded her of her accident.

"Come kits, maybe play over here..." She said cautiously, eyeing the rouge's sharp claws. It would be no use to argue, even if she was her elder. Asylum had too much power, and with one signal, they could slaughter everyone in camp.

Small, cold droplets of scarlet blood seeped from the little puncture marks on Eaglekit's chest, marking snowy-white kit fluff with tiny points of injury.  They had stopped hurting moments after impact, but the young cat gazed down at them in his awestruck state, the emotion in his darkening eyes hard to read.  So this is blood...I don't think I've ever seen it before.  As his siblings stopped the race and approached him and the stranger he heard their whispers and defenses, Dappleleaf's gentle persuasion, but in the moment his mind didn't seem to understand.  Once things fell silent, clearly waiting on his apology, Eaglekit let the moment stew.  Though there was tension thick in the air he didn't mind it, since it didn't seem to affect him.  Slowly, his eyes traced a path between his brothers and sisters, up to the dog-pelted tyrant standing over him, and finally landed back at his chest.

Carefully, he lifted a thumbed forepaw and placed it on one of the bloodspots.  Lifting it a moment later, he saw that his pad now had a small dot of red-stained onto it.  It matched the barely-noticeable stains on the Asylum cat's claws.

They're all saying sorry for me...maybe it was my fault for testing my luck. Then why have I never bled before now?  I've talked back to Mom plenty of times, I've bothered warriors by accident, I've bothered my siblings on purpose, but they've never hurt me.  Not once.  Then why...?

"Why should I apologize when she is the one who made me bleed?"  Looking up from his paw to meet Akhlut's threatening gaze, Eaglekit's wide golden eyes had become dark, their reflection of anger and determination threatening in its own way.  Letting his harsh words sit stagnant in the air, he didn't once break his gaze from the pelted she-cat until he wanted to, getting to his paws and turning to make sure Songkit was okay from her fall.  However, he returned to glare at the vicious invader, young voice transforming from scathing curiosity to a serious rasping hiss.  "I'm not sorry, and don't you dare apologize for me.  It's not our fault that they're dirty stinking fox-hearts."

With that, Eaglekit turned and walked away, flicking his long tail high in the air with all the confidence of a veteran warrior.  However, deep inside he felt as if some sort of new instinct had been awoken.  He suddenly felt trapped, too closed-in and confined to breathe, yearning for open air.  The brilliant blue sky he had gazed up at earlier had lost its luster; after all, he had seen that same patch of sky every day since he'd opened his eyes.  It was always the same, rain snow or shine, every day.  The cliff walls of the ravine were the barriers, but today he had learned first-paw that they were simply physical.  The warriors and apprentices scaled them every day to go out into the world beyond.  No, the biggest wall he now faced was these enforcers, the cats who made kits bleed for being too curious.  Before now they had just been like a weird different species, something his father and mother talked about in hushed voices.  Like mice trapped in their hole by the claws of a warrior.

I'll never be their prey, even if I have to bleed again.

Why did we even let them trap us in the first place?