My Leader, My Enemy (Closed for Maple)

With the new information brought to Shira's attention, she could only think of one thing to do: kill the cat who had taken her away from her rightful home... wherever her rightful home was.  She had left the other cats she had grown up with to do whatever they wanted, it was not her choice to make for them.  If they wanted to stand around claiming that those horrible but real facts were not true, that was fine with her.  She waited patiently for a few days, so that no one would suspect that she would follow through with what she said the day she and the other cats figured out the truth.  After, she walked back to the Asylum camp to go talk to the cat who stole her.

As she walked a horrible thing occurred to her, something that Spark had brought up when she first threatened to kill the evil monster who had stole her, she was pregnant.  She had kits to worry about.  If she got killed not only would she die, but so would her kits.  But I'm not going to die, she thought.  I'm going to kill that horrible cat and get revenge for all of the "missing kits".  I'm doing this for my sisters and for Spark and I'm going to kill her before she even has the chance to hurt me... right?  Unlike normal, Shira began to doubt what she could do.

Different from much of what Shira had done before, she had come up with a plan.  Keeping Eris in the Asylum camp would make it difficult for Shira to lay a claw on her without many Asylum cats coming to attack her right away.  Not that Asylum cats would not be watching outside of the camp, but maybe she could lead Eris somewhere where there were not as many.

Shira walked up to Eris, her demeanor a lot calmer than she felt.  "Eris," she spoke calmly, not getting to close to the other cat so that she could not cause suspicion.  "May I talk to you alone for a second?" She walked slightly closer just so she could whisper to her former leader.  "I heard some clan cats talking about something that could be nothing, I just want to make sure that it is nothing before telling anyone else."  She waited for Eris to respond.  Hopefully, she could keep up this calm exterior long enough to find the right time to claw her former leaders throat out.

Eris had been making small talk with a second rank Scout, talking about how the warmer months were approaching and how the Clans would take such a transition. It was pleasant to be in the moment during times like that; when she didn't have to worry as much about the Clans and could at least imagine she was a simple Scout again, or even just a Captain. It was something she didn't experience often these days, with something almost always snatching her attention away before she could even sit down. She was thankful for the few moments she did get to just breathe and relax with her family.

Having her attention snatched by someone who was fully embracing Asylum was much more preferable over a Clan cat, in Eris' mind, so she didn't really mind when Shira spoke up from behind her. She murmured a quick goodbye to the Scout she'd been speaking to, gave them a polite nod, and padded to Shira's side. "Yes, Shira?" Eris leaned in to hear what the young Scout had to say, crinkling her brow a bit at what the she-cat said. "I suppose." She mewed quietly, adjusting her lynx pelt slightly before padding a few foxlengths away, just outside the entrance to Asylum camp. Shira had followed suit, so Eris sat down and curled her tail over her paws. "Alright, what's this about?"

Shira was happy to see that they could not be seen to well because of the trees around them.  Most Asylum cats were busy in the clans they were stationed in, not having too much time to go to the camp and not many were right outside the camp either.  This was the perfect place.  She could have just tried to kill her right there right then...

But Shira needed answers.

She waited for Eris to sit down and ask her before she started speaking, out of respect that she no longer had for the Asylum leader, but she tried her best to pretend she still did.  "I overheard some clan cats talking about something they called the "missing kits," basically it is exactly what it sounds like, kits went missing." Maybe she could get Eris to tell her the truth or even tell her something that could help her piece together where exactly she really came from, but even if she did not and just lied again, Shira thought it could be fun to see the look on her face as she tried to lie to an actual missing kit.

"I was just thinking that maybe, if this is real, me and Spark and some other Scouts could go and try to find them, considering that they are or were, depending on when they were taken, just helpless kits who did not have a say.  Do you know anything about this?  Or, is that clan cat rumor even real?"  She talked in her regular pace, although kept very little pauses in between her sentences trying to not allow Eris to interrupt her.

"Mmm, missing kits, you say?" Her icy blue eyes narrowed a bit as she spoke, her lynx pelt hiding her face just enough so that Shira wouldn't see. "It's the middle of the coldest season we've experienced yet, Shira. Predators are hungry, and kits are easy prey. One or two kits disappearing is nothing out of the ordinary. Are you sure this is as big of a deal as you're making it out to be?" She mewed, lifting her paw to examine her razor-sharp claws, unsheathing each one slowly. It wasn't a purposeful move, but with the size of her paws and extra claws on each one, it was likely intimidating, even if she didn't intend it to be.

"But if you're truly concerned about this, you may put together a group to look for these 'missing kits.' However, I don't expect you'll find anything- if they were out there, the Clans would've found them by now, don't you think?" She meowed, putting her paw back down on the snowy ground. Tips of grass peeked out from beneath the thin blanket of snow, signaling that the spring months were finally near. "If that's all, then?" Eris stood up to full height, placing Shira in her large shadow as she glared at her, waiting for her to respond.

"Yes, except more went missing then just a couple," Shira responded to the other she-cat's first statement.  "They were saying that many kits from many different clans were going missing at around the same time, which leads me to believe that this was not just some hungry predators."  She was able to hide most of the anger that Eris response gave her.  She had hoped that just maybe her former leader could be honest to her for once, but of course she now knew that she was just hoping for the best.

Shira felt slight fear when Eris unsheathed her claws.  Maybe Spark was right, she thought.  Maybe this will just end with me and my kits just dying.  Eris gave her the opportunity to go investigate where the kits were, which of course neither of the cats in this conversation actually needed to know where they are.  It was too late for Shira to back down now.  Not that she wanted to though.  She needed answers and unfortunately the only cat that could give them to her was the one standing right in front of her.

Shira took a step back when Eris stood to her full height, but did nothing else.  For a moment she thought about answering "yes" to the question and just leaving, but she needed to do this.  "Your probably right," she blurted, not even caring at responding to the question at this point.  "If you don't know anything about this it's probably not true, considering how big the Asylum is and how everyone in it always trusts each other enough to tell each other everything they know about important cases like this."  Although she was saying the opposite of what she knew to be true, she could have said enough that Eris knew.  I really messed this up, didn't I? She thought.  She hoped Eris did not figure it out yet.  Her plan had been to have Eris tell Shira herself (and then kill her), but she was the one that said it and she would have to deal with the consequences... If Eris knew what she was really saying that is.

Eris raised a brow at Shira's mention of multiple kits across the five Clans going missing. "Is that so, hmm? What do you propose happened then, Shira?" She mewed, a gruff tone taking form in her voice. Her chest began to vibrate slightly, not quite yet a growl, but building up to one. As Shira took a step back, Eris took one forward, adjusting her pelt as needed.

"Is there something you'd like to tell me, little one?" The large she-cat mewed, referring back to her status as a youngling to Asylum. "You know what you need to. Nothing more, nothing less." She hissed under her breath, crouching slightly as her claws unsheathed. The hostility in Shira's voice was clear, and the anger brewing just beneath the surface. Eris wouldn't dare provoke a fight, but if it was a fight Shira wanted, it was a fight she'd get. And Eris would fight until Shira could no longer stand.

"Well, I feel like the most likely explanation it that the kits were stolen," Shira responded to the other she-cats first question.  Her stance was calm, with a slight readiest to attack when she was ready.  Her voice went back to a slightly more regular state, despite the fury that was raging through her veins.

She made a small hissing sound at being called "little one" that she doubted Eris could hear.  Shira took a step forward to show she would not back down.  "I have come to realize that I probably should be told more here," She said, slight anger could be heard in her voice and at this point she could not control it.  "And, yes, I have been told less than I should."  It was now or never since clearly Eris would not tell her anything on her own.  "So, here's what I want to know Eris.  Why would you, the great and powerful leader of the Asylum, feel it necessary to steal a bunch of kits from the clans, then raise them, with all of there kithood being filled with lies and deceit?  I feel like I'm owed at least one good answer."  Her stare was as cold as ice as she waited for the "glorious leader of the Asylum" to answer.

"How foolish." Eris hissed, ears beginning to fold backward.

"You know nothing less than you ought to. I haven't grown to be so successful by being an idiot." Her lynx pelt sat squarely on her shoulders, hood flipped over her head so that only a sliver of her eyes peeked out from underneath. The thorns that aided in keeping it in place were wrapped tightly around each leg, almost as if Eris had been expecting a fight. Truthfully, she'd been expecting a fight from Clan cats- that was why she had dressed in such a fashion in the first place.

Wasn't it ironic then, that she found herself fighting a she-cat of Clan blood now?

With no more than a low, throaty grunt, Eris launched herself forward, sending both Shira and herself tumbling in a ball. With skill built over time and with much experience, she was able to balance out her weight and come to a stop, with Shira pinned beneath her. "I never lied to you. I gave you a better kit-hood than you would've gotten in any of the Clans. Half of you would've died from starvation or froze to death had I not saved you from such a fate." She spat, long teeth poking out of her jaw, as always. Her many claws dug into the flesh on Shira's shoulder as she held her down, but her eyes were, oddly enough, filled with sympathy. "I told you exactly what you needed to know- that you were born in a group outside of Asylum, but that you'd be raised to be a strong soldier with a good head on her shoulders. That here, you'd have a family. You'd have everything you could possibly need." Eris' claws sunk in deeper. "Why does it truly matter that you were Clan-born? They're to become a part of Asylum anyway. This changes nothing."

A deep growl brewed in Eris' throat as she stared the she-cat down, the look in her eyes resembling something akin to... pain. Not the physical kind, no- this was an emotional pain. "I raised you better than I had my own kit. Does that mean nothing to you now?" Eris shoved herself off of the she-cat, yowling for her Asylum guards stationed outside the camp to come forward. "Take her away. She cannot be trusted. See to it that she's fed well. She's got kits of her own on the way, after all." Eris' had noticed while tumbling around with the she-cat that her belly, despite the pelt she wore, was slightly swollen. Hardly enough fr any cat to notice, but Eris was no stranger to such subjects. She knew what it meant for the she-cat.

Shira knew that she had been looking for a fight, she just did not think Eris would be the one to start it. She was pushed down by the leader's impressive strength.  Claws dug into her shoulder, slowly tearing more and more through her flesh.  Blood surrounded the claws of the other cat as it surfaced over Shira's skin.  She bit down hard, determined not to yell because of the pain Eris inflicted on her.  She tried to get up, but anywhere she moved just made the other cat's claws scrape her more.  Whatever Eris' backstory was with her kit, or the pain it seemed to cause the leader, did not matter to her.  The other she-cat got off of her and Shira quickly went to get up, although the injury on her shoulders left her walking unstable.  Even a small push was enough to knock her back down to the ground, but she tried to keep her stance.  She took a step forward, about to put her claw to Eris' throat, but got pulled back quickly by a few Asylum cats.

She tried to push her way forward again but with her injury and the three cats pulling her back forced her to go with the other cats.  "If the clan cats are part of the Asylum now, why did not you just tell us the truth when the clans first became part of the Asylum?"  She questioned.  Would you ever have told us our past?"  She paused.  She had been pondering Eris' question, although it was an answer that she knew, but it was hard for her to say out loud.  "Do you want to know why it matters to me, huh? I want to know my parents and I want my kits to know their grandparents!  It means something to me and I know it will probably mean something to them to.  I want them to have the great kithood that I never did!"  She put her head down, a tear in her eye.  To be honest, she had many fond memories of the Asylum, but knowing that a lot of her life was spent believing in a lie ruined most of those memories for her.

Her head was towards the ground.  She attempted to fight back, but was only able to get a few scratches on the cats before giving up.  Her shoulders stung and each new step with those paws made her feel like she was going to fall to the ground.  She took one look back at Eris before continuing on.  Someday, Eris, she thought angrily.  Someday you will get what you deserve.  Whether it's death, or feeling the pain you put on others... Someday.