Dancing in the Moonlight

A little giggle sounded from the darkness and two blue eyes peaked out from her hiding spot as she waved her tail in greeting to her clanmate.

"ya found me!" she purred happily trotting over to Larkshines side and giving her an affectionate nuzzle of a half hug half soft headbutt that cats always do.

Swiftheart was the sweet, talkative one of the clan and always pretty playful as well.

She tilted her head "oh hmm did I scare ya?" she asked eyes blinking in applogy

She sat by her friends side - "Not to worry we got some of the strongest warriors here now" she purred pointing her paw to Larkshine

"but... if you are looking for a scare maybe we can tell each other ghost stories?" she asked tail flicking back and forth - she really was like a kitten at times - a playful kitten with all the innocence of the world still in her - just that she also happened to be a full on warrior with some of the most fighting experience in the clan

(Sorry for my long delay on this one! Swiftheart is like my favorite comfort character idk how I let this topic go so long, my bad! I am back now though promise!)

Swiftheart gave an equally excited purr and rolled over looking at her friend and clanmate upside down in the most playful of manors before sitting back up and settling next to her.

She pawed gently at her friends shoulder in an apologetic manor for startling her so bad but the playful smile and attitude was back in an instant as she nodded thinking of what story there was.

"oh I know the perfect ghost story" she whispered lowering her voice to a hushed whisper and huddling closer to her friend for the ambiance of the situation.

"When I was a younger warrior... come to think of it I think I was about your age when it happened" she whispered flicking her tail slowly back and forth just the tip of it to draw her audience in.

"Shadowclan was ruled by ... she took a pause looking right into her clanmates eyes

"the dead"

she took a little pause thinking about the horrors she had to live under back then, she had watched her former apprnetice and her mate be killed by the dead and even long into the past it was something that still had a small grip on her.

She looked back to her friend narrowing her eyes a little for the spooky atmosphere

"the dark forest, shadowed out were their eyes and whisky smoke hung around their silhouettes - not fully alive - not fully dead

she slunk into a low crouch stalking towards her clanmate a bit

"their teeth were yellow and rotten from decay in their time of the dead forest and their pelts manged with death" she sniffed upwards at the sky making the story come to life "and their smell... they smelled like rotting rats from carionplace" she whispered lowly

"One of them, a dark lost soul by the name of Fawnpatch took over our clan and ruled mercilessly. She starved elders and corrupted appretnices. Her eyes were yellow and they stared into your soul"

Swiftheart was really getting into this ghost telling story even if it was not a story at all and very much so what literally happened to her. For so long Fawnpatch had haunted her in her memories of having to live under the dark forests rule... She had tried a lot of things to move past it none of which worked... but for whatever reason as she told it as a story and really got into the aspects of it... it helped. She didnt know why or how but it did.

She continued -

"her fur was always sogged out and damp - she was cursed to be that way when back here in the land of the living - cursed to remember the way that she died from drowning her first life" she whispered in a spooky tone

"She was a terrible foe to the entire clan - with all of the stars gone there was nothing we could do" she flashed her paw over the sky as if she had just scooped up all of the stars from starclan and stolen them away herself.

She raised an eyebrow - "until... one day - the bravest and most selfless of warriors made a sacrifice to make the stars shine once more" it was still her story but even talking about her first apprentice dearpaw / dearleap had her blinking back a bit.

She had made peace with her Dear but the memory of her doing what she did still hit.

The tone of the entire story had shifted - from its start as spooky and scary it had turned somber for a moment before now shifting once more to be vibrent and energy filled as she leaped up to her paws
"With the stars back we had a chance once more! We raised up and fought back our tyrrant overlords." She pawed at the empty air in front of her wildly

"But Fawnshine would not easily be undone she meowed ominously and imitated the dark ghostly cats stalk and lanky walk that the demon cat had always done.

"When the fight broke out she attacked my brother and had him pinned down and cornered along with our dad too. It was just me and her left"

"so there I was face to face and eye to eye with the dead she meowed intently



I thought it would be helpful to include the art of fawnpatch here below to help flush out the imagination of the story - this is what Swiftheart is describing in the spoiler below

art:

Swiftheart let out an amused purr happily. She seemed to have the attention with the story at least and that made her happy - being the center of attention was something she had usually liked her friendly extraverted personality thrived under it.


She tilted her head as if thinking but she really did like the suspense the pause had brought on as well.

"It was my brother Night and I up against this wicked Fawnpatch. My brother rushed in and was knocked out quickly by the evil undead foe - I was the last one to face her in a one vs one. she sat down next to her clanmate - although it was just a story now she still remembered it clear as ever and even just thinking back to it brought her heartbeat to an elevated level of adreneline.

I started to get the upper paw - I slowly beat her back more and more and put on an incredibly high amount of pressure on her. I offered her to surrender to me... she refused

Swiftheart flicked her tail once

"with no other way out I ended her. She was dark forest filth and as such she did not even die normally - she just disentegrated into mist and nothingness it was as if when I delivered the killing blow she just sort of ... vanished

Although gone - Fawnpatch never really left Swiftheart's mind. The Fawnpatch herself was forever lsot to the mist but the memory of her lingered forever


She glanced at her clanmate - "Ghost stories - fun for talk... but it is important not to forget our history - that day, our clan faced a test of survival and we won. One day, you too Larkshine might face a similar test. she placed a reassuring tail on her clanmates shoulder

"and I know you will pass it too

Swiftheart blinked looking at her friend before her. Larkshine was being humble and it made her heart squeeze for her. She loved Larkshine (just to be clear - strictly platonically and not romantically. Like, she loved her as a friend)
she flicked her tail thinking and gently head butted into her friends shoulder affectionately.
"you are stronger than you know. And heros don't always face their demons so directly on the battlefield as I had to. Your challenges might come in another form, regardless I know you will master it." She gave a soft purr reassuringly.
"and if I am able I will help you should that time ever come." she gave a playful and happy grin,
"who could challenge the two of us? Me the slayer of demons and you the strong of heart!
She gave a playful wink and nod.