~
Maple let out a soft snarl, staring at her dark forest mentor who had loomed in front of her, belittling her in front of a massive crowd of other cats from the foggy forest. The ex-leader knew she was destined to arrive here once she finally died thanks to the accidental murder of her kin, Poppydapple, but she wasn’t about to give into the evil cats and give them the pleasure of controlling her.
She sighed, rage boiling at her heart as she started with a slight tune to her growl. “Cross my heart and hope to die,” she stared at the blackened soil, glancing up to the older cat that was her mentor here. “you never cross my fucking mind.” She hissed, the crowd around them falling silent.
It was rare a cat would fight against their mentor, but Maple had much bigger ideas, her claws itching to dig into the other she-cat’s clear pelt. “Do you know what your little lies—” The dark cat had started once Maple was quiet, although she quickly retorted with a sharp snort. “Do you know what I had to fight through?” Maple could feel the fur rise on her shoulders, her muscles tensing as the feeling of her itching claws came back to her. She simply ignored it, growling as her eyes narrowed while she continued. “Nothing that you say is mildly true, spit deceit through shifty smiles; two faces you've had for a while.”
The slightly bigger of the two, the clear grey cat rounded up on Maple, her words laced with venom as she spat. “You act like such a fucking child! Who are you now? You're so hostile to me!” Maple felt her pelt continue to bristle, her muscles continuing to tense as she rounded back on the other. “I'm feeling homicidal!” She growled as a warning, continuing when the grey cat opened her jaw. “You better run and try to hide, ooh, I was livin' in denial!” Maple smacked the other with her paw and quickly jumped out of reach, she could feel the fury churning in her heart, assuming it would shine through her eyes.
“Through all this time you had me riled up! All the shit has finally piled up!” Maple could finally feel her claws dig into the dark soil, remembering the blood that had stained them long ago, imagining ripping into the grey cat before her, which she had full intention of doing. “There's no chance of reconciling us, with the falsehoods I've been filing away!” Maple felt like her muscles would burst if she tensed them anymore, a dark growl emitting in her throat. Her tail lashed and she could see the grey cat also unsheathe her claws, a dark look in her brown eyes.
“For months you've made these stories up! Sick from the untruths you're throwing up!” Maple continued, her voice growing louder and more aggressive, she could feel multiple eyes of the other dark cats burning her fur, although it only increased her aggression. “Had me thinkin' I was crazy but turns out I'm your favorite thing to discuss!”
Maple couldn’t hold back any longer. She pounced from her spot, scoring her claws deep into the other grey cat’s fur, earning a hiss of surprise and aggression, as well as shocked gasps from the other dark cats. Her voice boomed over everyone else, ripping her claws into her mentor in blind fury. “YOU KEEP ON TALKING, JUST SHUT UP!! YOU KEEP RUBBING SALT INTO THE CUT!!”
She glared her mentor straight in the face, baring her fangs out of her rage, feeling the rough paws battering at her sides and underbelly from the other, but she never let up, her claws embedded deep into multiple parts of her pelt, leaving massive gashes. “BROKE THE CYCLE, NEED TO RECONSTRUCT!!” As Maple glared into her mentors eyes, she saw sudden fear, confusion and aggressive sparking in the dark brown pools, the exact emotions she wanted. Her mentor had always belittled her for the death of her kin and how she did a good job, although she deeply regretted killing the other. “YOU’RE NO USE TO ME!! I’M GIVING UP!”
With another deep gash into her mentor’s stomach, she also ripped at her neck tuft until blood had splattered all over the dark floor and her own muzzle and chest tuft.
Once the other had finally stopped convulsing, she stepped off the cat, coated with blood from her rage. She heaved, a few wounds left of her own from the now deceased cat, who was now slowly vanishing.
She whipped around to face the other cats of the fogged forest, all of them staring in astonishment at her. She regained her breath and started once more, her voice hoarse from all her screeching and the tang of blood on her tongue, having consumed some of the vile liquid. “Baby, you're a loser, and I'm ashamed to say I ever knew ya.” She glanced up to the current ‘leader’ of the dark forest. A blue tom with tabby patterns, who simply stared down at her with a piercing amber gaze. Her tail lashed to her fading mentor as she addressed all of the other cats once more. “A user, taking all I gave ya,” she paused to take a breath, licking at the blood spattered along her pelt, the sticky liquid trying to embed into her fur. “I swear to God, I'll never miss ya..” She hissed as she watched the rest of her mentor fade, whipping around and padding through the shocked crowd, murmuring to herself. “Swear to God, I haven't missed ya..”
Maple eventually made it through the cats, hearing their murmurs as she left, gazing down at the puddle she would always use to leave whenever she was dragged here. She lapped at the vile-smelling pool, like she would the Moonpool, laying down next to it after cleaning the rest of her pelt drowsily. “God I hope I never miss ya…”
~~~
