Flutterbreeze saga

TW for physically aggressive bullying & near drowning experience

Flutterpaw trailed slowly behind the group of apprentices, contemplating whether or not he should just turn tail and flee. It was not a real option, he did it once and now ever since then Snowpaw always keeps an eye on him. As he was thinking, he could see her up ahead turn her head to make sure he was still following. Taking a deep breath he picked up the pace, he wanted to be brave… It was just so hard.

Nearly running into Monkeypaw seemed to snap him out of it. “Hey, it’s going to be fine.” She whispered to him, trying to reassure him. Monkeypaw was there last time, he appreciated that she was here but he knew that the problem was Rippaw and Leafpaw. The fact they were together was a sign of trouble, and Snowpaw was not going to help him in the slightest. Monkeypaw moved so that she could walk right next to Flutterpaw. “Autumnpaw is here, if they act out his mom will make him intervene.” This was not a comforting thought to the anxious orange tom.

Autumnpaw was frightening, the upperclassman was mysterious and impossible to read. If it wasn’t the blue tabby boy or the white and black molly, it was the tall blue and tan tom cat. He was the leader’s nephew, and his parents were deputy and medicine cat. Autumnpaw was untouchable, he knew this and he used it against the other apprentices. He was terrifying.

Monkeypaw seemed to be waiting for some kind of response, so Flutterpaw gave a small nod. The group was very close to the beach now, Wolfprowl and her son led them through the tall grass and onto the sand. They turned around to face the group, Wolfprowl carried a stern expression while Autumnpaw’s was unreadable, as always.

“Listen up! I don’t want to see any fucking around! We are learning how to swim and hunt in the surf. The water is not your friend, so focus on yourselves and not on each other.” She looked down directly at Rippaw and Leafpaw, staring daggers at them. “Last chance, goof off again and I’m sending you home and banning you from training together.” Rippaw huffed while Leafpaw was silent, Flutterpaw was certain the second Wolfprowl turned around again the white and black apprentice would be rolling her eyes. He didn’t understand why these two disrespected Wolfprowl so much, she was scary when she wanted to be.

Wolfprowl signaled with her tail to follow and lead the kids to the shoreline. Autumnpaw waited to follow the group from behind. Flutterpaw pushed his way past Monkeypaw, he didn’t want the tall tom to be right behind him. He shot an apologetic glance at Monkeypaw, who shook her head in return. He knew she probably understood why, but he made a note in his head to actually apologize later. Now he had a new problem… He was right next to Snowpaw.

“What are you scared of, Flutterpaw?” Snowpaw asked, was she serious? Snowpaw had also bore witness to the last time he was disgraced by their cohort.

Flutterpaw looked away. “N-Nothing.”

“It’s okay, it won’t happen again.” Snowpaw continued to stare at him with wide eyes, she seemed so genuine… If only he could trust her to not always side with Leafpaw, even when it was clear Leafpaw was in the wrong. Flutterpaw let out a small whine on accident, which made Snowpaw giggle. “Really, it’s okay.”

The apprentices separated when they got to the surf, Flutterpaw tried to get away from the other cats but he was stopped by Autumnpaw who towered in his way.

“Don’t wander off, Flutterpaw.” The orange cat scanned Autumnpaw’s face, trying desperately to read him. Would the taller cat push him? Yell at him? The older apprentice turned his head towards the sea, pausing for several long moments. “The waves don’t look too bad right now, why don’t you go look for fish in the surf?”

“O-o-okay…” Flutterpaw managed to choke out. He inched closer and closer towards the water, he looked behind him and saw Autumnpaw was still watching. Why?! Please go away…

The ocean was icy cold on his paws. As the water flooded the area around him, Flutterpaw’s gaze darted back and forth as he watched for the familiar shadows of fish. While the water receded, he recalled his training and watched it go back out and kept an eye on the size of the waves. He repeated the process until he heard some splashing nearby, he looked up and saw… Oh, no. Leafpaw was walking towards him across the wet sand, she had something in her mouth.

Flutterpaw looked behind him, Autumnpaw wasn’t there anymore. He spotted Autumnpaw a great many tail-lengths away speaking to Monkeypaw. He looked past her and saw that Rippaw was talking to Wolfprowl while Snowpaw played in the surf near them. Flutterpaw backed away from the water as Leafpaw approached, she was carrying a shell. Once she was close enough, she placed it on the ground and batted it closer to Flutterpaw.

She looked at him expectantly. “Wh-What is this?” Flutterpaw asked, he looked behind Leafpaw again and whined when he saw the other cats were still preoccupied.

“A peace offering. Thought it looked cool.” She said plainly. Flutterpaw glanced down at the pretty white shell. It was also whole, normally shells were broken either by the waves or by seabirds. Flutterpaw looked back up at Leafpaw. “Well, are you going to take it?”

Flutterpaw yearned to sink into the sand and disappear forever. He looked down at the shell again, it gleamed in the sunlight. “Thanks, L-Leafpaw…” As he spoke, the water surged up and covered his paws and began to drag the shell away.

“I worked hard to get that for you.” Leafpaw said with venomous disappointment. Flutterpaw felt pressured into chasing the shell and catching it before it returned to the sea. The water was not deep, but it went up to half of his foreleg. Leafpaw was shorter than him, so the water reached her chest. Flutterpaw grabbed the shell underwater with his forepaw and started to pull it out, but he was pushed under. Leafpaw shoved him down into the bubbling surf, she used her other paw to hold his head down. Panicking, he splashed around with his back legs. He accidentally swallowed the salty sea water, it stung his throat and burned in his eyes. The few seconds he was held down felt like a lifetime, the water receded and the pressure on his body lifted off.

“I was trying to help him!” Leafpaw shouted, Flutterpaw’s vision was blurry but he made out that Autumnpaw had grabbed her by the scruff with his mouth. She continued to shout as he carried her back while Monkeypaw helped Flutterpaw. He coughed and wheezed, the icy water left him shivering.

“It’s gonna be okay, I’m here. We’re gonna get you dry, alright?” Monkeypaw tried to reassure him, but all he wanted to do was cry… And cry he did, he choked again on his tears as they flowed out of him like waterfalls. Once they made it to the soft dry sand, Monkeypaw began grooming him to help him dry off and warm up.

“Why would you do that, Leafpaw?! Don’t say you were helping him- I know that you were not.” Autumnpaw dropped Leafpaw on the ground and began demanding answers. Answers that Leafpaw was not going to give, she just blankly stared back at the senior apprentice.

Before he could say anything else, Wolfprowl raced over hissing. “I told you what would happen if you did it again!” Behind her stood a wide-eyed Snowpaw and a grinning Rippaw. “Are you happy, Leafpaw?!”

“He’s happy.” Leafpaw pointed at Rippaw. Wolfprowl turned around and snarled at him.

“You were just trying to distract me, weren’t you?” The warrior’s fur was bushed out with fury.

“Do you think hurting your clanmates is funny, Rippaw?” The blue tabby dropped his smirk upon hearing Autumnpaw’s question.

“...No.” Rippaw seemed hesitant. “But-”

“But what?!” Autumnpaw walked over and stood defensively in front of Flutterpaw and Monkeypaw.

“Oh- Come on!” Rippaw almost seemed to whimper. “Autumnpaw, don’t say you wouldn’t do the same! It’s funny!”

Wolfprowl growled furiously again. “He wouldn’t. Don’t speak so poorly to your future deputy.”

Rippaw’s ears went flat against his head and his eyes were large as he stared at Autumnpaw. The taller cat sternly shook his head. Flutterpaw’s heart pounded with fear as he was trapped behind the blue and tan tom, at least Monkeypaw was here. There was something so unsettling about the way he stood so eerily still as he challenged Rippaw.

At that moment, Flutterpaw understood why the other apprentices didn’t listen to Wolfprowl. They followed Autumnpaw, he was going to lead them one day. Flutterpaw wished he could be grateful that Autumnpaw seemingly looked out for him, but he can’t shake the feeling that it was conditional. The senior apprentice never interacted with genuine emotion, the cold calculated stares and emotionless touch that bore no kindness. When Autumnpaw looked over his shoulder at him and Monkeypaw, he felt like prey making eye contact with a predator. Flutterpaw believed he would never be able to trust him, if he let his guard down surely the other cat would turn into a hungry snake.

“I’m sorry.” Rippaw muttered quietly in defeat.

“Not to me, to Flutterpaw and Wolfprowl.” Autumnpaw’s head turned slightly to give the same frozen glare to Leafpaw, who’s wet fur was being dried by Snowpaw.

Leafpaw exhaled loudly. “Sorry, Wolfprowl. Sorry… Flutterpaw. Didn’t mean to push you.” She looked away with a bored expression.

Rippaw was next, he stared at the ground below his paws. “I’m sorry, Flutterpaw, and I’m sorry, Woflprowl.” Admitting his faults must be hard for him.

“Good.” Autumnpaw said in an affirmative voice. “You can go gather some nice, dry moss on the way back to camp. You don’t want to know what will happen if I hear the elders complain that you brought them wet moss. I will ask them, do you understand?”

“Yes.” Rippaw answered for both of them. He and Leafpaw left the beach together slowly.

Wolfprowl watched Autumnpaw handle the situation, she seemed proud of him. “Good work, son.” This must be part of his deputy training. Flutterpaw quietly hoped that she would stay deputy for as long as possible… Wolfprowl walked over to where the wet orange cat sat in the sand. “If you want to go see Redwood and Tinderpaw, I can walk you back to camp.” Flutterpaw thought for a moment, he did want to catch something… But he was very cold. He nodded and Wolfprowl tipped her head to the side to signal him to follow.

As he got to his paws, Monkeypaw gave him a couple more fast licks to help dry him off more. “Do you want the fish I caught?” The black she cat offered.

“Oh… It’s okay, I-I kind of prefer the forest prey. Thank you, though.” He gave her a weak smile. “And thanks for helping me d-dry off.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll see you later.” Monkeypaw was a good cat.

Wolfprowl paused. “I’ll take the fish back to camp, to make sure no bird steals it. I’ll check and see if Emberpaw or Wisteriapaw want to come out, then I’ll be back.”

“Alright, Wolfprowl.” Autumnpaw responded. As the warrior led Flutterpaw away, he looked back and his gaze connected with Autumnpaw’s again. There seemed to be a small flash of confusion across his face before disappearing as swiftly as it came. What would he have to be confused about? Flutterpaw kind of didn’t want to know, he hoped he was just mistaken.