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Story
Kit
Wormkit was born with his two siblings, Flintkit and Skykit to his mother Emberflame and father Pricklehaze. Because their parents were either super absent or abusive, the three siblings stuck together and were super close- doing everything together! Wormkit quickly built a reputation for being a troublemaker that most got annoyed by. All this was until Emberflame had found out Pricklehaze had been cheating on her which tipped the already possessive and jealous molly off the edge.
In a snap fit of rage and revenge, Emberflame drowned two of her kits, Flintkit and Skyykit, when they were playing by the river. In her mind the kits were nothing but a reminder of Pricklehaze and she hated being their mother. Wormkit witnessed this although wasn’t near close enought for Emberflame to see until he cried out shock. Emberflame, planning to kill him too, attacked Wormkit but he managed to wriggle his way to freedom and ran away from the clan. Emberflame let him go, knowing he’d die out there anyway as he wasn’t even near apprentice age.
Returning to camp with her two dead children and an act to fool unsuspecting cat, Emberflame broke down about Wormkit drowning his siblings- whether it had been by accident or purpose she did not know and she seemed distraught he had gone missing too. Most cats believed her show and since Wormkit already had a troubled reputation, didn’t question it too much to upset the grieving mother. Emberflame was free from raising kits she didn’t want...but Wormkit was far from free of the horrors he’d witnessed.
Life as a Rogue
Wormkit wandered alone for who knows how long barely scraping by. He mostly lived off crow-food scraps and small bugs he could manage to catch which severely stunted his growth later on in life. Eventually Wormkit found a small snail to which he named Zoom’s. He talked to the snail as if it were a cat and brought it along on his ‘adventures’. If it wasn’t for this snail, Wormkit wasn’t sure he’d have the motivation or drive to keep on fighting for another day.
All this soon led Wormkit to discover a small group of rogue cats who assumed he was a rogue too. Their leader Crows-call let the tiny kit join them and help their cause to destory the clans. Wormkit thought he’d hit a stroke of luck finding these cats, although he had no idea this group was not a safe place to live and soon adopted their toxic mindset of power and revenge- putting all that focus on the one cat he hated the most...Emberflame.
Apprentice
While full of wonder for this new ‘rogue’ camp, Wormkit was also overwhelmed by the excitement of finally finding a new home. His admiration for Crows-call didn't last long as the rogue leader almost killed him for breaking her rules- which only made Wormkit gravitate to supporting Starlignsky through all the events that happened with rogues becoming Mireclan upon her death. Wormpaw took up an apprentice name and started excitedly training! Along the way he picked up more friends- becoming close to the now named Autumnpaw and Bubbles who become huge stables in his chaotic life. After having an...unexpected conversation with a fellow Mireclan member called Augury, Wormpaw was taught how to murder! Hooray! Sure that won't have any life-long consequences.
The older Wormpaw got, the more friends he made or bullied, Wormpaw wanted nothing more than his siblings to be here too. The guilt of surviving was too much on most days and would leave him a broken mess. Wormpaw set a date for himself to confront Emberflame as time went on. He’d trained tirelessly between getting shuffled around from mentor to mentor in his early apprenticeship hood. Was a new apprentice going to have the strength to take on a full grown warrior? Hell no, a part of him knew it. But the mission was worth the consequence in Wormpaws eyes. If he trained all this time to do it, then what other option did he have? He couldn’t have a normal life. Not with everything he’d been subject to.
Sunshine
After spending a few days watching patrols and casing the area, Wormpaw headed out to sneak into Brookclan territory and wait until he spotted Emberflame- althought he wasn't ready to see Emberflame with a cat who looked far too similar to Wormpaw emerge from the bushes. Wormpaw quickly confronted this apprentice- learning her name was Sunshinepaw and that Emberflame was her mother. Wormpaw realized Emberflame had just moved on in life and found a new mate...aND had a new kit who she seemed to love.
Sunshinepaw knew Wormpaw too as Emberflame had lied to her on what happened that day- claiming Wormpaw had murdered his own siblings. In a moment of rage, Wormpaw attacked Sunshinepaw and the two fought- all until Wormpaw landed a killing blow on her and she bled. Emberflame witnessed this happen and all Wormpaw could do was smile smugly to her and run away despite being in shock from what he had done. Sunshinepaw’s murder hit Wormpaw extreamly hard after realizing he'd taken a life, and he spiraled further into depression and self-hatred. He was conflicted between feeling guilty for what he had done and justifying it as revenge.
The weeks that followed seemed like a blurr to the apprentice. From picking a fight with every rogue he came across to hanging out more with his friends, specifically Autumnpaw, one thing that started to cross Wormpaw’s mind was the thought of his father. The question ate away at him until he brought it up with Autumnpaw and Wormpaw left the conversation with the ambition of finding his father and talking to him about everything that’s happened- hoping to get some closure on why he left them with Emberflame and caused her to do what she did.
Prickle
Wormshell waited at the Brookclan border once again and to his luck, a Brookclan apprentice called Sunpaw came across Wormpaw and retrieved Pricklehaze for him. To say Pricklehaze was happy to see his kit would be a lie. Having Emberflame tell him of Sunshinepaw’s murder, Pricklehaze denounced his son for his actions and deep down Pricklehaze was far too proud to admit his cheating had been the cause of all this. In an almost repeat pattern of Sunshinepaw, Wormpaw snapped and attacked Pricklehaze.
Pricklehaze went to fight back, but hesitated to lay a paw on his kit and backed off, although it was far too late as Wormpaw lunged for this throat and held on with all his anger and rage, finally feeling it be let out as he heard the choking gasps of his father. After murdering Pricklehaze and running off, Wormpaw returned to his place of death not too long after, in hopes of hiding the body. Sunpaw stumbled across Wormpaw doing this and in a desperate attempt to scare the apprentice into silence, threatened to murder him if he told anyone.
While Pricklehaze’s murder didn’t effect Wormpaw the same way Sunshinepaw had done due to becoming numb, it did confirm to him that he was the terrible cat he always thought. This caused a fight between Wormpaw and Autumnpaw where after attacking Autumn, Wormpaw for the first time told someone about his past and what he’d been through as a ki... although left out the murders he'd done. The two didn’t talk for some time but eventually Wormpaw came to apologize and the two became closer again. Unknownst to Wormpaw, Autumnpaw had started to develop a crush on him.
Warrior + Death
Wormpaw never thought he would make it to become a warrior, but after receiving his warrior name ‘Wormshell’ life started to look up for him now that everything had settled down. No news from Brookclan about him- he had no idea Sunpaw had been murdered by another cat nor would tell of his crimes. Mireclan was at peace. Wormshell swore he would try to become a better cat than those of his past have made him into now that he had a new name and new motivation in life.
Unfortunately…That was not what his future was destined to be.
Emberflame
As Autmnsong had finally gained the courage to admit his crush on Wormshell, Emberflame emerged from the bushes and confronted the two cats. His past had come back to haunt him, one last time. While Wormshell thought she had come to tell Mireclan of his crimes, Emberflame seemed to have her own ideas of justice for her daughter. Emberflame lunged for Autmnsong, wanting to kill him first seeing how much Wormshell was close to him- although she managed to injure him badly, Wormshell quickly came to his defense and fought his mother until he couldn’t hear her breath anymore. After pinning her down and slashing her throat more times than he could count, Wormshell felt his own world start to blur.
Wormshell knew he was dying, he knew he couldn’t be saved, he knew he didnt deserve to be saved in the first place. His own injures from Emberflames wrath were deep and he would soon bleed out. In his final moments Wormshell confessed everything he’d done to Autumnsong and hoped the other tom cat could forgive him for everything- all the pain he caused not only others...but him. Giving one last time to the cat he wished he could’ve spent a life with, Wormshell closed his eyes and never opened them again.
Starclan
Much to Wormshell's surprise, he awoke in Starclan rather than the dark empty place he’d been told the worst of the worst go. While confused, he was confronted by Sunshinepaw who told him that she forgave him and that granted him entryway into Starclan. Wormshell didn't understand and desperately wanted to go back to the living...but that's when he met his siblings for the first time since they were kits and lovinly reunited with them.
In the end, Pricklehaze wanted nothing to do with his kits so Wormshell never met his father again...not that there'd be anything Wormshell knew to say to him. Emberflame was sent to the deadlands, away from any cat she can hurt. Wormshell remained in Starclan with his three siblings- having lots of stories to tell and pleanty to do. While he still sufferings from the past and his old, angry, unstable and depressed self shines through, he feels happy and safe with his family for the first time.
