Midnight (Warrior Cats Origins Fanfic W.I.P.)

Prologue

The sound of soft paws pattering swiftly across the floor broke the night's quiet. A small shadow appeared in the moonshine on the wall as the creature passed through it's light. Then everything went completely silent for one tense moment. A scream tore through the night as the black kitten pounced on her sleeping housefolk, startling him out of sleep.

Midnight leaped back on to the floor, fur fluffed out, ears flattened, green eyes staring widely. This was not the reaction she had expected. A loud gasp then a laugh, maybe, but not this bloodcurdling scream followed by shouting. Midnight flattened her ears further trying to spare her hearing, somewhat, from the loudness. She couldn't understand how this housefolk could be so different from her mother's. Her mother had explained before she was taken away that her new housefolk would be at least a little different from the ones she had grown up with and that it would take some time to adjust, but Midnight felt like this wasn't what her mother had expected for her.

Eventually Midnight's housefolk stopped shouting and roughly picked her up. He carried her from the his nest area into the peltroom where her basket was. Dropping her into her basket, Midnight's housefolk stomped out of the peltroom, slamming the door shut, making Midnight flinch and flatten her ears. She sat hunched in a ball for a while trying to figure out why her new housefolk was so mean. Her mother's housefolk had been so sweet. Even the female housefolk who had adopted her had been nice! But this one wasn't. Midnight hated him. He'd been mean to her from the start but had only gotten worse after the female housefolk disappeared half a moon ago.

Midnight sighed and curled into a tight ball. Why do I deserve this? I'm only six moons old she thought gloomily as she drifted into sleep.

The next morning shone brightly through the high peltroom window, but it didn't bring Midnight any cheer as she blinked her eyes open. Getting up, she stretched the stiffness out of her muscles. It was much too cold in the peltroom when her housefolk's various things weren't making noise. Midnight hunched herself up as she started her morning groom. She couldn't remember ever having felt so hopeless before. It was clear she would never be able to have fun while she stayed here with this nasty old housefolk. Midnight blinked. That's right she thought slowly, I'll never be happy here. So why don't I leave? Midnight's eyes gleamed with the idea. She couldn't believe it had never crossed her mind before.

Quickly finishing her groom, Midnight started thinking about what she would do once she left. She could try to find her mother or maybe where the female housefolk had gone. Midnight shook her head. She had been brought here in a monster so she had no idea where to go to find her mother. As for the female housefolk, the scent would be completely gone by now, so there was no chance of success there either. Midnight flicked her tail. She couldn't stay here, that was obvious, but what should she do once she was free?

After much consideration, Midnight suddenly had an idea. What if she found herself a new home? It would have to be away from housefolk so that they couldn't hurt her or return her to this one. With a nod and a purr, Midnight stood up, eyes gleaming as she saw the peltroom window was open. It took two jumps to bring Midnight to the counter below the window. Flicking her tail, she realised with annoyance that the window wasn't quite as open as she would've liked. She sighed then steeled her determination and crouched to jump up, and hopefully through, the opening. Midnight wiggled her haunches and crouched as low as possible to give herself as much power in her jump as possible. Once ready, she jumped, but to her surprise and horror her jump didn't land her on the small ledge like she had expected. Midnight yowled with shock as she hit the window and it swung open further, allowing her to fall outside.

Midnight landed heavily, gasping as the air was knocked from her lungs. After a few moments, she caught her breath again and stood up. That was NOT how she had planned her escape, but at least she was free. Sitting up, Midnight gave her ruffled pelt a few licks to calm herself down and plan where she would go from here. She was currently sat on one of the hard paths the housefolk made to walk on. In front of her was high growing grass and nettles. Midnight swiped a paw over her ear and flicked her tail. While the grass didn't look inviting, if she planned on living wild, she would have to learn how to navigate such places. With a nod, she stood up and pushed her way into the grass.

It's been several moons since Midnight made her escape from her housefolk. In that time, she has learned much, including how to hunt and fight. That first day she had spent wandering aimlessly, looking for a way to leave the housefolk dens behind her. Eventually her stomach had forced her to try hunting, when that failed, she had followed the tantalising scents of housefolk food. That, however, proved to be a mistake. Midnight had followed her nose and came across a bunch of wild cats who had not taken kindly to her asking politely for food. The ensuing fight would have left her in much worse condition if Blaze had not shown up. Blaze, a white dipped, ginger tabby tom with yellow eyes, jumped in on the fight, helping Midnight to get out alive. Once they were safe, he taught her how to look after her wounds, hunt and fight. Since then the two had travelled together, searching for a way to leave the twolegplace, as Blaze called it.

"This place can't last forever, can it?" Midnight huffed as she trotted beside Blaze down yet another twoleg path.

"It might," Blaze replied, "but I don't think so. Isabelle said that she's seen forests and fields before. She's the reason why I know how to use so many herbs, you know?"

Midnight nodded. Blaze had told her before. Isabelle, from what Blaze had told Midnight, was a she-cat who was like Blaze's mother, although she wasn't actually his mother. Apparently she had once lived on a farm but her housefolk had moved to live in twolegplace. Isabelle had advised them to head in one direction to find farms and forests, although she couldn't tell them which direction because her senses had been muddled when she was in the monster that brought her to twolegplace. In the end, they had decided that Blaze and Midnight would travel in a westward direction until they found a forest. That had been several sunrises ago. Since then they had travelled determinedly westward and although there seemed to be no end to twolegplace, the twoleg dens seemed to have more garden space than where they lived.

"Do you think we're getting any closer?" Midnight meowed.

"Yes," Blaze purred. "Look, the gardens are bigger, right?"

Midnight nodded.

"So that must mean the twolegs have more space to claim territory," Blaze continued. "That means we must be getting closer to unclaimed territory!"

Midnight purred. "At least there's less unfriendly cats about."

"True," Blaze laughed.

As they passed through another garden, Midnight paused, opening her mouth and pricking her ears.

"Something wrong?" Blaze looked back and blinked at Midnight.

Midnight waved her tail to tell Blaze to be quiet and dropped into a crouch. Slowly she turned from their path toward a small twoleg den from which the sound and scent of mice was coming from. Beside the den was an open bin smelling of rotting plant matter. At the base of the bin Midnight saw her prey, the small grey body too busy nibbling at a seed to notice her approach. Creeping a little closer, she began to wriggle her haunches in preparation for her pounce. One heartbeat, two heartbeats. Midnight sprang, pinning the mouse with her claws just as it noticed her. With a swift nip to it's neck, she killed it and stood up proudly with her catch, eyes sparkling.

"Well done," Blaze purred as he padded up and they shared the kill.

After their meal, the two cats spent some time grooming each other before heading into some nearby bushes to sleep in.

Three sunrises later Blaze and Midnight found themselves on the outskirts of twolegplace. Before them lay open fields and just beyond those, a dark smudge that indicated a forest. With purrs of delight, they sprang into the tall grass below the last fence and raced toward the forest. They dodged and weaved through fields and hedges as they made their way toward the forest. They had lost sight of the forest itself once they had descended into the fields, but scent and the memory of the direction they had seen it in allowed them to make an almost straight line toward it. Slowly the sun made it's way across the sky and they neared their destination. The sun was just beginning to set when Blaze and Midnight reached the outskirts of the forest. They had just squeezed through the last hedge and before them stood a vast forest with thick undergrowth. Midnight glanced and Blaze and saw her own amazement and triumph reflected in his eyes. They had found their new home.