Don't judge a cat by it's fur

Don't judge a cat by it's fur
Author: Scarletsky
Status: Finished
Series: Skyflight's Stand alone stories
Allegiances: none
Preceding: none
Succeeding: none
Spellcheckers: none
Tiger's life was hard. Now he is in StarClan and he and his mate Dream tell a lost, young kit about their story. Just remember, never judge a cat by it's fur.

*Author's note*

Two cats tell this story. Tiger's words are normal. Dream's words are like this. I hope you enjoy their story, even if it is a bit sad.

*End author's note*

Kithood to apprentice

Hello young kit. You're lost you say? You can't be, no one is lost in StarClan. Hey, don't cry. I'll tell you a story to calm you. Firestar? Who's that? I can't tell you a story about someone I don't even know about. I'll tell you one about me, from kithood to the reason I am here. That must be better than one about a cat I've never heard of.

I was born in FireClan. As a kit, I was bullied by my littermates and my own mother turned on me. All because of my pelt colour. I was a dark ginger tabby, with very dark, almost black, tabby stripes. Tigers were seen as bad luck. From a very young age, I was forced to sleep in my own nest which I had to look after myself, by getting moss from the medicine cat.

As an apprentice, I had no permanent mentor. Instead I had one moon with each of my littermate's mentor. One moon it would be Minnow's mentor, the next I would have Daisy then Sand. After Sand I would be back to Minnow. It was no surprise that I was not a skilled warrior.

What did you say? Where are my littermates? I don’t know little kit. My mother, her name was Pool, is here, somewhere. I never saw her after I...well you will find out what I did later in the story.

Because I had no mentor, I was not skilled as a warrior. I knew the basic moves and a few I learnt from watching my littermates. Ivy hoped I would be killed in battle but he knew that if I went into a battle, GrassClan, WaterClan and GroundClan would know that there was a tiger in FireClan and that meant that we would be feared. Ivy was stupid. If FireClan was feared, he thought that there would be no fun. Ivy’s idea of fun was border fights.

Eventually, three moons after my littermates, Ivy made me a warrior and allowed me to go to Gatherings. I loved Gatherings. There I met the beautiful Dream, a brown GrassClan she-cat. Where is she you ask? Over there, do you see her with the tortoiseshell she-cat? The tortoiseshell is her sister. I forgot what her name was. Where was I? Oh yes. When I met Dream.

Love

The GrassClan leader was called Bracken. He was an old leader and apparantly was Dream’s mate. But she informed me that she didn’t like Bracken and that he only liked her because she was the daughter of his deputy. Dream did not care that I was a tiger. She saw under my pelt colour, she saw me.

A couple of times we sneaked out of our camps and met up in Twolegplace. No cat could find us there. No little kit, we didn’t take food from Twolegs. Warriors do not do that. One day at a Gathering, Dream came to me looking delighted. She told me that she was expecting kits. My kits. Bracken anounced that he was the father but Dream assured me that they were mine. It still annoyed me though. Dream was my mate and she was expecting my kits. Her kits were not a leader's who was old enough to be an elder.

One night after Dream had kitted, I sneaked out to see them. Oh, they were the most perfect kits in the world. Two tabbies, a ginger one and a black and white tom. We named them together. Sun, the ginger she-cat, Patch, the black and white tom, Cloud, the grey tabby she-cat and Coco, the brown tabby she-cat. I am very proud of my kits, they grew to be fine warriors. That’s them, over there. Yes, they do look young. They died just under five moons. How did they die you ask? I’ll tell you later.

The follower

A cat had followed me to GrassClan camp. To this day, I do not know who it was. When they saw me with Dream, they must have ran back to FireClan and told Ivy. When I arrived back to camp, Ivy was standing in the middle, looking furious. He told me I had just the night left in FireClan.

In the morning, I was roughly taken out of my nest and into the clearing. Two of the toughest warriors did it. I didn’t know who they were, I was still half asleep. They threw me to the bottom of the Sacred Stump, where Ivy was standing.

“All cats of FireClan, gather here by the Sacred Stump,” he had called. My mother, father and littermates saw me at the bottom of the Stump where I was bleeding from a cut on my ear. Even though she had hated me from the moment I was born,I saw genuine sadness in Pool’s green eyes. My father, Coal, looked astonished. He must have loved me just a tiny bit because he must have known that his only son was to be punished.

“This cat has betrayed us,” Ivy yowled, “He has been seeing a she-cat from GrassClan and has fathered her kits.” Shock rippled through my Clan. “He broke the Code and therefore must be punished,” he continued, “Tiger, I sentence you to excile. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

You see, young kit, I thought that there was nothing wrong with seeing Dream. I told this to Ivy, adding that she saw beneath my fur and into my soul which had no faults. My impressive speech had no effect on Ivy and he told me that I could come to the Gathering to see Dream one last time.

I never went to that Gathering. I went to GrassClan and told Dream what had happened and what would happen to me. She was upset of course, anyone would be upset if they knew that their mate was to be exciled. Just as I turned to leave the nursery she called me back.

“I’m coming with you,” she meowed to me, “I’ll bring the kits.” This shocked me. How could the pretty, popular daughter of the GrassClan deputy just leave her Clan? I just nodded and we ran out to the forest.

What's that kit? You want to see Dream? Okay, here I'll take you. Dream! There's a kit here who wants to speak to you.

Dream

Hello kit, my name is Dream. Tiger says you want to speak to me. You want to know why I left my Clan? I'll tell you, this isn't just Tiger's story.

I remember when he came to tell me he had been exciled. I was upset and I felt like screaming at him. As he turned to leave the nursery, I realised just how much he meant to me. All those nights sneaking out to meet him were the best times of my life and when I found out that I was expecting his kits, I wanted to yowl my happiness to the world. Before I met him, my life had been boring. With Bracken thinking that he could make me love him by catching my favourite prey, rabbit, for me all the time, I felt sort of stuck. As if my destiny was to be his mate. StarClan had laid down a different path for me.

I made up my mind that, without Tiger, my kits would be told that he was their father and then they would never get the respect they needed. Young cats need to be praised. What? Why do I know this? Well kit, I was a mother. Once.

I felt that I couldn't live without Tiger and this was the reason why I left my Clan. Tiger assured me that where we were going was safe and we could start out own Clan. He was so determined.

Now then little lost kit, go back to Tiger, your question has been answered.

Twolegplace

Did you talk to Dream? She's beautiful, isn't she? Oh, I loved her more than anything. Hey, don't poke me! Where was I? Oh yes, we had just left the forest.

Someone saw us leave the camp. They alerted Bracken and we were chased. Our kits screamed for us to stop but we didn't until we got to Twolegplace.

We found a place to stay. We thought it was safe but we were wrong. You don't need to know about that, yet.

Dream was exhausted. One kit hung from her mouth another clung to her back. Both had been wailing since we started running. I guided her to a barn where I thought we would be safe.

I was so wrong.

Dogs drove us out, terrifying the kits and injuring me. Dream was frantic, trying to calm the kits and helping me. She supported me as we looked for somewhere, anywhere where we could be safe.

She found a small alleyway near the farm. I collapsed into a heap of ginger tabby fur splattered with blood. Dream licked me and found cobwebs for my wounds. Our kits tried to "help" by pouncing on her tail and pawing at mine. This made me want to flick my tail out of their reach but then they would play with it and that would be very annoying.

Somehow, Dream managed to get them to calm down and they eventually fell asleep. I did too, comforted by Dream licking my ears until the claws of sleep snatched me away.

I slept for a long time. Dream thought I was dead. I felt like I was dead. When I eventually awoke, I wished I was dead.

No!

"No!" I screeched, "No! You can't!"

A Twoleg stood infront of me, holding three of my kits by the scruffs of their necks. Dream was circling his legs, hissing. Sun, Cloud and Coco screamed in fear. Patch cowered behind me, shivering. The Twoleg walked off, holding three of our kits, all of whom were yowling their fright to us.

I dragged myself to my feet, wincing at the terrible pain it caused me. The Twoleg moved fast. Dream walked beside me, carrying little Patch. Soon the Twoleg stopped next to a river and I realised what he was going to do.

Before I could do anything, the Twoleg dropped all three of my kits into the river.

I'm sorry little kit. It still upsets me when I think of it. But they died so young. They had hardly begun to explore yet. We barely knew them.

Patch seemed to know that his littermates were gone. He was much less playful and seemed sad. He didn't pounce on my tail anymore. The mischevious gleam in his eyes was gone. At night he'd wake up and cry to me about nightmares.

But Dream, oh my beautiful Dream, was completely different. She stopped grooming herself and did not eat. Patch mewled at her because he didn't get enough milk but she ignored him. My Dream was lost. She seemed to no longer care about anything, even Patch and me. Slowly, she and Patch were dying.

I felt so terrible. I was still mourning my lost kits but I wasn't mourning them as much as Dream and Patch. This made me feel guilty. I would go hunting to keep myself away from them, often for a long time.

I knew I was taking a big risk by going away for so long. In her state, Dream wouldn't be able to fight and little Patch was far to young. One day, I came back to find Dream wailing loudly. It was a heart-breaking noise, full of fear and sadness. Patch was nowhere to be seen.

"Goodbye, my love."

It took a while for me to get Dream to tell me what had happened. It was Patch. The Twoleg had came and taken him. Patch was with his littermates now, they all went to StarClan the same way. The Twoleg drowned them all. For no reason.

When Dream told me, I was horrified, of course. I curled around Dream and gently smoothed her fur until she fell asleep. I carried on cleaning her until her fur shone. Then I fell asleep.

When I woke, Dream was gone. Her nest was cold, meaning she had been gone for a while. I knew that this was not good.

I was so worried about my beautiful mate. What if the Twoleg took her? What if I was next? I followed her scent until it was very fresh. But there was another stench, a foul one. The Twoleg monsters. There was Dream, sitting beside the Thunderpath, which was swarming with monsters.

"Dream! Come here!" I called. Dream turned to look at me. Her green eyes were dark and full of regret.

"Tiger," she said, "I never would have had a mate like you if I stayed at home. We've had such fun together."

"We still can!" I replied, "Please Dream, come back!"

Dream shook her head. "No. I'm so sorry my love. I can't live without our kits. I feel like my heart has been clawed into tiny little pieces. Only one piece remains, you are not gone yet."

"Dream!" I wailed, "Dream, I can't live without you! Please, stay with me!" My voice cracked and the last words came out as a whisper, "Please."

Dream stood up. A monster was coming along the Thunderpath. "I'm sorry Tiger. I must join our kits," she meowed, "Goodbye my love."

"NO!" I yowled, "Dream, no! Please, stay with me! We can find a new home, away from Twolegs, and start our family again! We can start a Clan! I'll do anything Dream, just please, please stay with me."

My words had no effect. Dream ran out onto the Thunderpath. She stayed still. "No, no! DREAM!" I wailed. Before I could stop myself, I ran to her.

"Tiger no," she said, "You must live, find another mate!"

"No!" I cried, "Where you go, I go."

The monster came along the Thunderpath. It swerved and screeched at us. And suddenly, I went flying through the air. I felt no pain, for I had Dream. Then, I landed and everything hurt. Pain, everywhere.

My eyes opened slightly. Dream lay beside me, blood trickling from her mouth. I was briefly aware of a Twoleg beside me. The images of my kits and Dream flashed before my eyes. I smiled.

And then the darkness came and I was with them once again, forever.