The Sins of Those Before Us [c]

Having been staying at the former Asylum camp with Otrera was nice enough, but it didn't feel like home. She didn't want to join any more Clans, no, she learned her lesson on that one, but maybe Raisha could get in touch with some cats from her old group. She knew Shira and Spark lived in ShadowClan, as well as their kits, so that would be the first place she went. And she would simply continue on from there. She didn't exactly know how she would get to the others, she certainly wasn't welcome in WindClan or RiverClan, and SkyClan did not seem a friendly place either. Couldn't get to ThunderClan without going through the other territories. So for now, ShadowClan is was.

Staying low in the undergrowth, her pelt draped along her back, Raisha waited for a sign of a cat. With luck it would be one of the ones she was looking for. Her tail lashing with anticipation, and her impatience growing, she could not resist the mouse that had crossed her path. She was hungry, anyway. Surely ShadowClan wouldn't miss one tiny rodent while she waited, right?

Darkness covered the landscape around her as she slipped away from the nursery. The kits were asleep, having nearly been completely weaned off of milk. Moonshine needed some air, just a little time to herself. Her paws proved to be swift and her senses sharp in the darkness of night, just as if she had never skipped a day of patrolling and hunting. It pleased her.

She ended up following the scent of a rodent to the thunderpath. She hesitated. It was a dangerous place to go... but she couldn't hear any monsters coming. Just a quick look. If it has crossed, I will leave it be. It was enough to move her paws forward. The rodent's trail lead her...

...to the scent of another cat.

"Hello?" Moonshine asked, just an instant before spotting the lone she-cat in the blackness. She wasn't technically on Shadowclan territory, but she was awfully close. It was at that moment that Moonshine realized the rodent she had been trailing was already dead at the rogue's paws. Rogue... because she carried no scent of another clan on her pelt.

"Oh nice... I was hoping I'd find that rat..." Moonshine's tone suggested she wasn't exactly thrilled, but what could she do? The rodent had wandered just off of Shadowclan territory, and by that technicality, the rogue had broken no rules and warranted no attack. "You're awfully close to the Shadowclan border, miss. I'd like to know what your intentions are. Are you moving on, or do you have business with us?" Moonshine sounded more hostile than she meant... but maybe it had a lot to do with the fact that she had kits to protect now. She no longer welcomed any strange cats near her home.

Looking up, Raisha saw a figure across the thunderpath. At first she had thought it was Dawnhawk, that maybe he had gone to hide in ShadowClan, but the voice that had come from the silhouette was undeniably female. "Wow, now I find that to be quite rude. So hostile, and I am simply minding my own business! I just wanted to say hi to a few friends, and I might have gotten a little hungry. Say, speaking of friends, you look a lot like a cat I once knew. You don't happen to know the name Dawnhawk, do you? Is he hiding with that Clan of yours, hmm? Left my Clan and went on to another? Honestly, quite cowardly for the image he once tried to hold."

With a sneer upon her maw, she lifted the mouse by the tail in her claws. So, the she-cat had wanted this, huh? Well then Raisha was going to be sure to flaunt it. Just to mess with this cat a little more. It was honestly rather funny to see just how angry she could get this cat, since from her perspective, she seemed to have quite the temper, already being aggressive when Raisha had not even done anything.

Moonshine eyed the stranger, immediately not liking the way that she spoke or reacted. "Dawnhawk is my dad..." Her eyes slid over to the mark on the tri-colored cat's shoulder and gave her a half smirk. "He was our Captain." Her scar was hard to see under her medium length fur, the same as Dawnhawk's. "I see you couldn't have been more than a grunt, same as me. I have no love for my father at all, but don't try to stick your head up higher than it belongs." Moonshine's hormones had made her testy, and even slightly worse after her kits had been born. Perhaps this was a permanent change, though she hoped not.

"Which friends are you referring to? I may go find them for you if you wait here."

Narrowing her eyes, Raisha turned her shoulder away, watching this she-cat carefully. "My captain was Iniko, not Dawnhawk. The latter was nothing more than a pathetic tom looking for attention. I'd ask what stupid she-cat would mate with him, but apparently, there are quite a few. So which one do you call mommy?" Since this cat seemed to love having an attitude, Raisha made the decision to mock the stranger, even raising her head as high as possible in response to her comment.

"Aww, you don't need to leave, I am enjoying talking to you! My fellow Asylum cat! Am I not good company that you wish to leave so soon? That hurts my feelings!"

Moonshine didn't bother stopping herself from rolling her eyes. Iniko had died and Dawnhawk replaced him, appointed to the position by Eris. She had been there, but she wasn't interested in arguing provable facts with an ignorant, emotionally charged idiot. Maybe that was something she and Dawnhawk had in common, though she had no interest in saying it out loud.

"Yeah he certainly seems to get around... though he only cares about his Skyclan daughter anyway so it doesn't matter." The venom, the jealousy and the resentment was thick in her tone. Her fur even bristled a little. "My mom was Eosphorous. Just one more pawn in my dad's bigger game I guess." She really ought to stop calling him dad. He may have been her father but a dad? Dawnhawk had been anything but.

"Eos! Well, what a coincidence! I happen to know her! In fact, we know each other very well!"

Something in Raisha had changed now. There was an odd look in her eyes as she now gazed at the she-cat in front of her. Her tail began to lash, and before she knew it, it was as though she had lost full control of her body. All she saw now was red. Perhaps now was a good time to walk away, but when did Raisha ever do that?

Without warning, Raisha darted over to where Moonshine stood, knocking the she-cat to the ground as she crashed into her. "You know, Asylum had taken a lot from me. I lost my family because of them. And Eos? She just sat back and watched. She should have known better! I've killed before, I can kill again! Let it be known, your mommy is the reason you are going to die here tonight!"

There was no hesitation as Raisha clamped her jaws around Moonshine's neck. In fact, there was a certain joy in it, feeling her squirm beneath her paws, watching the life drain from her eyes. When it was all said and done, Raisha stood up, smiling at her work. Now Eos would know what it was like to lose someone too. It was a shame she would not be here to see the look on the former scout's face, as she was already making her retreat. Back from where she had come. She may not have met the other kits that night, but she left accomplished all the same.

Raisha used Killing Bite on Moonshine!

In one, unfair instant, Moonshine's life was taken from her. She didn't have time to react. Even by the time the threat had registered she actually panicked and froze. She didn't make sense of why she had to die for something her mother had done. Her mother. Not Dawnhawk. How? Why?

Moonshine buried her claws into her attacker in an attempt to push her away, but by then she had lost too much blood. Her thoughts went immediately to her kits, and how she would never want to leave them alone. Now what?

She would have no choice but to watch them grow up from Starclan...

Before she knew it, her pain was gone and her world was a flurry of stars all around her. Even surrounded by the beauty of a trillion diamonds in a colorful clouded nebula... her only thought was for her three kits.

Moonshine is dead.