silvertongue.
you were given nine lives and you have wasted nearly every one.
i.
your first life that you are given is humor, and it comes from one of your brothers. your brother had always been better at socializing then you. he was the day and you were the night, you worked better in the shadows, and your brother worked better in the day. it was easier for you that way, to work in stealth, let things run smoothly. everything you did, you did to excel him further for it was he that should have been leader, that wanted peace, that wanted glory and all he got was gore. Sometimes you still see his mangled body being dragged into camp by wolfstar.
much like your brother loses his one and only life, you lose the life he gave you just like he did - underneath the fangs of a coyote. when you meet him, he jokes that the same coyote that finished him off had come after you and you do not laugh as your brother's laughter dies on his lips. 'remember what i said?' he asks you and you stare back, mouth not moving. 'i gave you a life of humor, of joy. trying to find something to laugh about' he whispers when he touches your forehead.
ii.
the second life is given to you from your mentor, waspfang and he gives you a life dedicated to truth and you lose it from your lies. it had always marveled you how a such a man dedicated to truth would raise a liar like you but it comes to you so easily - to lie with a silver tongue.
in your youth, you spread the lies out so easily - little white truths. to your apprentices like, you are doing so well, im so proud of you, to your brother, no im not doing anything shifty and to yourself, im happy with where i am.
the lies catch up to you one day and they cut you open and try to leave you for dead. before you wake up in the medicine cat's den, waspfang stands before you and says, 'no more lies.' and this too, like all the others, falls off your lips. 'i promise.' he frowns in distaste when you wake up in the medicine cat's den.
iii.
your third life is patience and you lose it by being impatient. a brief sickness pulls over the clan in the brief lull of war, and you are still trying to recover from the loss of your second life when it strikes you, leaving you coughing and heaving. you stand of course, you send warriors out to collect herbs, quarantine the sick and you push and push and push yourself to the limit until the medicine cat finds you choking and struggling to breathe.
your mother had given you that life and when you meet her in the heavens, she gives you a small sigh, a shake of the head as though you were a kit. 'those weren't just guidelines, they were gifts. don't misuse them dear.' she says and she touches her nose to your forehead.
iv.
your fourth life is lost in a flood. it was a gift of protection, the gift of protecting others and it is perhaps the only life you have lost properly. the river that separates gladeclan and marshclan floods unexpectedly, drawing the water up from the bayous and bringing fish and crayfish and slippery stones where water had not run in ages. it is in this occasion that a young apprentice slips and falls, and it is you that jumps in without so much as a second thought. there is a surprisingly strong current and you throw the youngster onto shore before you go under.
drowning is a painful death and your lungs are still burning in starclan as you struggle to breathe. it is gingerleaf that greets you, the medicine cat from when you are a kit and she merely huffs as you catch your breath. "it's about time you did something right.' she whispers before sending you back.
v.
your fifth life is given to you by your father and he gives you a life of judgement and it's the one you lose due to the loss of your own. he meant it for to guide you through the hard ups and downs of clan life, of choices and you had been building up this moment for ages but when you see his face you cannot bring yourself to say no, you cannot bring yourself to say no, i do not love you. perhaps it was because slade is the only cat that can tell that you are lying and god, you love that about him.
you judge the cats every day underneath your gaze, but you cannot begin to judge the cat before you, scarred and mangled and that is your undoing. one of his friends had already took your second life but it is a fox that takes your fifth life and you think it is a sign from starclan. your father's name was foxtooth and it's what the medicine cat pulls from your side. hornetblaze asks, 'is there something you need to tell me?' she says and you blink. 'no, of course not.' it's another lie and it slips so easily from your tongue.
vi.
the sixth life you are given is for diplomacy and you lose it trying to stop a war. this was after tawnytail disappeared leaving you flabbergasted, angry and confused but you kept this all under wraps. you imagine it was her lover you met at the border that day and it was consequently her clanmates that took that life from you.
it was the life given to you by minkstar, the leader before wolfstar who had given you the life with her silver coat filled with stars and her eyes cold. you want to ask if she made the right choice and how it must have felt for her - to have not one, but two leaders who are unworthy of their lives- a part of you is convinced it should have been Palepelt that should have been made deputy - not you but she merely sighs and you blink and you are back in MarshClan.
vii.
this is your seventh life and it weighs heavily on you. your seventh life is sympathy and you never learned to use it. it was given to you by your denmate, shellsong and you remember how she had spoken it so confidently. perhaps it's because you struggle to deal with your own emotions, let alone the emotions of your clanmates. each lesson, each gift was misused or wasted away and again you wonder if minkstar made the right decision. it had been the proudest day of your life, and you a cat, one who had never relished in the limelight - you had basked that day. You only have two more.
you are confident and dignified, trying to do your brothers right with a humorous attitude that hides your true nature. you aren't a bad cat, you would lay your life on the line for your clan, and you have done it many times. but you are misguided, and even in your old age, you push your limits just to see if you can.
the treaty between the three clans is a rusty one at best and you roll your shoulders. only the medicine cat knows how many lives you have left, but you know that you are on your last leg. you want what's best for meadowclan, always had and you sometimes doubt yourself, sometimes doubt your decisions. but you don't linger on it for long, you walk forward with your head held high - unafraid and certain that you will deal with whatever the world has planned to throw at you.