Spark { Warrior Cats Fanfiction ; Complete }

{fifteen}

Everything seemed to be numb. She could see them talking, but noise didn't reach her ears. Was this how Frostheart felt? She realized she was shaking. Was it fear? No. It was something burning: anger. She narrowed her eyes, everything rushing to her forcefully.

"It's not our kit, so I don't want it!" Elise was hissing, talking to the charcoal tom. How could such a monster even have kits?

"Kole, tell her to calm down!" Arden growled, annoyance laced through her voice. No, tell me to calm down.

"Enough!" His growl sounded, making every other queen awakened by the fight instantly silent. "Just throw it out of your nest. If it belongs to someone, they'll come an' grab it. If not, it's obviously not worth it." He watched Elise, who was shocked, reach in and grab the dark kitten with wide eyes. She plopped it down on the carpet and hopped back into her nest to watch from her mass of blankets.

Several she-cats watched with interest. Who'll take the kit? It's mother? Or a sympathetic queen? The kit was crying for his mother, or any mother for that fact.

Spark watched intently as well, though not watching the kit. She was watching the tom stalk about in a bored manner. I will destroy him. He ruined me. Kole turned his broad head, seemingly showing off his scar. The dark kit mewled and cried and over time got quieter, and the others stopped watching. Kole turned. Spark watched, digging her claws into her sparse little nest, attempting to restrain herself from lunging and giving him another matching scar somewhere.

"I've got to be off, you know how the leader gets when he's left alone for a while..." Kole growled, flicking his tail annoyed. Spark flicked her ears up. The leader. Her whole mission.

She turned to a dilute tortoiseshell she-cat next to her. She had three kits nestled to her side, their eyes open and ears pricking up. The kits were almost strong enough to leave the den, and every queen knew what that meant: they would be taken to the recruit area to train to death.

"Who's the leader, anyway?" She asked the she-cat, but kept her eyes on the charcoal tabby murderer the whole time, watching him turn and sashay away with two cats at his flank. Once he was out of sight, she turned all her attention to the dilute tortoiseshell.

"He doesn't come out much. I've heard he's mad in the head, though." She answered. She had a deeper, but very gentle voice.

"Oh, are you talking about the Leader?" A ginger tabby she-cat chirped loudly from where she was laying under a desk. A guard glanced down at her, his yellow eyes sharp. She smiled sheepishly and padded over across the den room, picking up the abandoned kit off the ground. Her soft ginger belly-fur was swollen, she was expecting kits. Elise growled angrily: the ginger tabby wasn't the owner of the nest intruder.

"Yeah. I just joined three moons ago, and I know next to nothing about him.. Or her. Is it a her?" Spark twitched her ears, the ginger tabby leaping up into her nest, curling up in Spark's nest. Too close. Personal space, dude. Spark fur tried to escaped the ginger long-furred tail that curled perfectly in the curve on her golden brown lower back.

"He's a he. I swear I've heard him yowling in the middle of the night. He's completely insane."

"He knows how to lead when he isn't in one of his fits, though!" The dilute tortoiseshell added. "I'm Grey." She added.

"Spark..."

"Do you want this kid, by the way?" The ginger cat added, referring the dark chocolate kit that was curling up next to Spark's chest.

"I'm actually supposed to be the one taking care of him..." She whispered automatically, not realizing she was talking to cats she couldn't trust. They could tell Elise, and StarClan knew what she would do. Sparkfur would probably be murdered in her sleep....

Instantly, there was laughing from Grey and the expectant mother.

"Oh, my! Elise could probably eat you whole, you're so tiny!" Grey said between laughs. Spark's fur grew hot with embarrassment and she ducked her head: it landed on top of the kit. The ginger tabby swished her tail over the DrizzleClan warrior's flank as she laughed.

"I don't blame you. She would probably take your rations, and then eat you!"

"So, the leader? What else have you heard about him?" Spark said, trying to change the topic.

"There's not much more about him. You'd have to ask someone like Kole if you want to know everything. He's the dark tom that was just in here. Hey, about this kit, what'd you even name him?"

"Hm? Oh.. I haven't picked a name yet. I guess because he's not actually mine?"

"Don't worry, you wouldn't be the first she-cat to mother kits that weren't her own. Actually, Sarah is a cat over there," Grey tipped her white muzzle in the direction of a cream cat laying side-by-side with another she-cat, "she's helping her sister Hanna mother kits. Here, if you help me mother my kits then I'll look after this one for you." Grey smiled.

"I understand if you want out of recruit training. It's really fierce; look at all those fresh scars you've gotten, from training, no doubt!" The expectant queen added, referring to the three new scars on Spark. A claw take down her shoulder, a small scar on her flank, and another on the same shoulder.

"Where I came from, my father--" Spark stopped for a moment as she realized she had called Asterfoot her father. She had always seen him as such, just never called him that, "--knew about herbs. He'd always treat my wounds."

"Did they kill him?" The ginger tabby said, before Grey covered her mouth with her thin furred tail.

"No. Why do you ask?" Spark looked at her white paws before looking up at the two queens.

"Usually, they kill useless cats who are younger cat's friends or family to get them to join. Like an older father or mother." Spark's fur stood on end. Is that why they killed Ryeheart?! Did they think he was useless?!

"No." She said sharply, standing up and leaping out of the nest. "I'm going out."

"You have to be back by sundown." The ginger tabby rushed out the words, hoping they reached Spark's ears as she padded out of the den quickly, pelt hot with grief.

Spark hated it there. Dead leaves swept across the pavement, hard on her paw pads as she made her way toward the docks. That was the way to the forest: cross the docks where the warehouse was, then the ground turned to earth and grass, then the forest line.

She'd be back by sundown. She'd rather not: she hated it there. No trees, little to no foliage, no soft grass to cushion her paws as she ran, no mazes of bramble and fern bushes as she attempted not to step on thorns. No friends. Just claws and relentless training. Neither had Ryeheart though, and that was all the rouges fault. So it was worth it: the bleeding paw pads from the freezing, hard pavement, the new scars, the boggy air. Because in the end: she'd avenge Ryeheart. Whether it was morally right according to the deceased tom or not.

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AN:
I want Sparkfur to be happy againnnn so I drew a happy Sparkfur with bees :)