Feathers

Chapter 9

Feathers sat up in a tree looking down on the base of Cyclone and his large group of cats. Finch was beside him. He sighed before changing from a sitting up position to a position in which he was lying down. "I shouldn't be the leader of this operation... None of the cats trust me anymore..." the tabby mumbled mostly to himself.

"One little setback and you're up here regretting all of your life decisions." Finch said, rolling her eyes before mocking him, "*I shouldn't be the leader of this, none of the cats trust me anymore.*"

The striped tail belonging to Feathers lashed back and forth in annoyance and anger, "You aren't the one who's in all of this chaos! The group of cats actually trust you Finch! They don't trust me because I didn't want to hurt Cyclone's son!" He snapped back at the small cat. "And look at this mess that my previous forgiveness has gotten me into!"

Finch rolled her amber eyes, "Ok then, if you don't want me to help you get on the right path then good luck Feathers." She hissed to him before sliding off of the branch and walking into the base meowing as she walked, "I'm gonna go eat a squirrel! Bye Feathers!" Her tone of voice was controlled, but her body language showed that she was upset at him.

The gray-blue tabby sat there in the tree looking down. He blinked a few tears out of his eyes and let his guard one hundred percent down. Feathers slowly and silently fell asleep sniffing every so often.

As he slept the male tabby cat had a dream. He was in the streets in a past memory of when they escaped the city. His pelt twitched as he looked around anxiously. He remembered the terror that he felt in the past but he couldn't fully remember why.

"Tetra?" He asked with his higher pitched voice shaking. "S-s-s-silver?" He asked, shrinking down closer to the ground. And then as he heard the motor of the car he remembered why he was filled with terror at this memory.

No. He thought as he slowly backed away closer to the meadow behind him. In front of him there was the gravel path where a blue car zoomed past. I have to save them. He thought remembering the cats that were farther ahead on the path. He sprinted as quickly as he could, yelling warnings but the car was faster.

"NOO! GET OFF OF THE PATH!" He yowled sprinting quicker and quicker with dirt flying up from his paws. He closed his eyes as he kept running and running and running but he saw the blue car disappear from view.

The tabby breathed a sigh of relief, catching his breath as he saw the small family of cats crossing the path. There was a father, a mother, and three young kittens. "Hello." He greeted them with a smile as they walked to him. But then his blood turned to ice when he remembered.

The car wasn't blue.

He quickly yowled, "Get off of the path! Quickly, come on! There isn't a moment to spare!" The father cat, the mother cat, and two of the kittens ran off but the white kitten just sat there staring up at a butterfly. All the cats were just about to run and grab him and save him but it was too late.

A flash of red went by in front of the other cats and Feathers closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch it but even as he closed his eyes he remembered the kitten suddenly realizing what was happening but moving too slowly.

He remembered the look on the cat's face as the car sped into him, and he remembered watching the perfect kitten suddenly being flattened.

"We should've ran out to get him instead of yelling at him... He was deaf..." The mother cat said in horror as her eyes were wide open and she didn't move at all she stared at the white and red lump of fur that was left shaking on the road.

He's still alive. Feathers thought rushing over to the kitten and picking him up so he could bring him to his family. He wanted to let the poor kitten spend his last moments close to those in which he loved the most.

None of the cats said it but they knew he wasn't going to survive after the collision. Even if a cat said it though, the little deaf cat wouldn't have been able to hear it, but it was a way of trying to avoid the truth.

All the cats, even Feathers who never knew the white cat, comforted him and groomed his fur. They sat beside him even after his blue eyes had closed and he stopped moving.

"I'm sorry," Feathers said apologetically before giving the cats a polite bow and walking away back to where Silver and Tetra would be waiting for him to bring back food for them to eat. Deep inside Feathers felt like it was his fault that the kitten died, and that night even though he caught prey, he never ate anything.

When he exiled Cedar all he thought of was keeping cats safe because of what he had seen, the grief, the sadness...

In his dream the tabby cat continued walking until he was where Tetra and Silver were. They looked at him with confusion before he explained his story and what had happened. Even though she hadn't seen anything, Silver shed a single tear followed by another and another.

Feathers continued sobbing in his dream before he was woken up from it by a stubborn squirrel that dropped a nut on his head. He growled, stood up, and lashed his tail back and forth as he looked for the small furry mammal up in the branches. He eventually saw the gray squirrel and his paw flashed in and out as he dragged the creature close to him, killed it, and then munched on it. He felt surprisingly hungry for some reason, and the sweet taste of revenge was fresh on his tongue.

After he was full, he prodded the bones off of the tree branch and covered his head with his paw before going back to sleep with a small happy sigh after eating the juicy tender meat of the squirrel. He felt a lot better and recovered from his nightmare. He fell asleep for a while dreaming about nothing in particular, and it wasn't until he heard the shriek that he woke up from his dream and saw a wolf in the camp and it had blood on its gray paws.

"If I really want them to have faith in me later I have to prove myself." He mumbled quietly before jumping off of the tree branch and landing on the forest floor facing the large canine. His drowsiness wore off in a moment, replaced by adrenaline. It was hanging onto the tail of a small black and white cat that he didn't recognize with its red tinted fur.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, getting the attention of the wolf. "Look at me! Come here! That's right!" The gray tabby meowed loudly before turning tail and running off slowly dragging his one foot. He knew it would distract the wolf, get it to drop the other cat, and follow him.

A few moments later the wolf was on his tail as he sprinted as quickly as possible, dropping the act. The wolf was tricked and Feathers knew he had to keep it distracted until the other cats could get away. He kept running and running until he was on a large rock that rose above everything else other than the sky itself. "Haha! Got ya!" He meowed triumphantly. He didn't think that the wolf would be able to climb up into the location that he was in but he had underestimated it.

The humongous wolf climbed the rocks with a growl in its throat and blood on its teeth.

"Oh no." Feathers hissed as he realized the rock dropped off into a deep cliff with a rushing current. He knew if he fell he would die and the wolf would get to the cats. But what can I even do now? He thought dreadfully.

He gulped as his paw slipped and he plummeted to his doom. As he fell he closed his eyes and imagined Starling falling down beside him with a smile on his shiny white teeth, he felt like he was a second from death.

"Oh great cats above, if I die please, please let the mission succeed. Please, not for me but for all the other cats. Don't let me be the reason their hopes are crushed and everything that they were wanting to do will never come true." He mumbled before he blacked out upon the impact of hitting the water and his head hit the deep dark rushing water and he went under without another word.