A Scarred Life

A Scarred Life

Written by Otter

Statistics

word count: 1,526 (went a little higher haha)

time taken: 5 days (?)

characters with spaces: 8,439

characters excluding spaces: 6,937

Characters Mentioned

soft'kit - A cream she-kit with dark blue eyes and a short stature

coal'kit - a charcoal black tom-kit with a light grey torso and yellow eyes.

vixen'scar - a dark ginger she-cat with amber eyes and a huge scar on her chest and under her front leg.

milk'flower - A cream she-cat with stripes down her back, a white flash on her muzzle and green eyes.

blossom'leg - A light brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes and one twisted front paw.

robin'foot - a pale ginger tom with a striped dark ginger back and tail and green eyes.

willow'star - a short calico tom with amber eyes. His chest, tail tip, ears and cheek fluff is white.

heron'tuft - A grey tabby tom with pale ginger back legs, front paws, chest fluff and tail tip along with green eyes

hornet'thorn - A yellowish she-cat with black patches and stripes, and bright blue eyes with yellow circles in them.

The Story

the morning sun shone down on the clans, lighting their paths wherever they may go. sky'clan camp was thriving. kits and queens were peacefully playing in the nursery, medicine cats had enough herbs to heal hundreds, and hunting groups brang enough back to feed the entire clan for days! it seemed like the day couldn't get any better. well, in a way, you could say they were right. because things only got worse from there.

padding around camp, two kits were sneaking around quietly, bickering to each other, "why are we doing this soft'kit? we're gonna get caught!" "oh why won't you live a little, coal'kit? what's the worst that can happen? we'll get a time-out? we're just kits! we can blame everything on age, duh!" a female kit – soft'kit – explained in a whisper-shout. "well what if something bad happens? what if-" "enough with your 'what-ifs'! if you didn't wanna come, you could've said so!" soft'kit said, turning around to face the male.

soft'kit stops and realizes she was being insensitive. coal'kit was just looking out for them, "i'm sorry for getting mad, it's just… this is the only time we've been able to get out without anyone noticing, and i wanna take advantage of it." soft'kit said with a sigh. coal'kit smiled sweetly, "it's okay! i'm just a little nervous for us.. but hey, we're nearing the Elders Den! the Elders aren't as strict, so i think we'll be fine anyways. maybe they can play along with us!" coal'kit exclaimed quietly. soft'kit giggled, "good idea! let's go!"

as the two kits snuck around camp, a patrol group went out. the four warriors – blossom'leg, heron'tuft, hornet'thorn, and robin'foot – had no idea what was about to greet them, just outside of camp walls.

the patrol group was out for longer than they normally were. though, none of the cats questioned this, since they thought the patrol group was just carrying too much prey, and had to bury some to keep it safe. but oh were they wrong. a faint noise of what sounded like paws crashing on the ground neared the camp. a few warriors decided to carefully watch the entrance, just in case. but just then, a familiar furry face stood in the entrance, panting, like they had just run a five-mile marathon.

it was robin'foot.

...

and only robin'foot.

once he gathered enough breath, he yelled as loud as he could "fox!" queens quickly entered the nursery to keep the kits safe, the medicine cat silently sat in her den, elders retreated, and warriors ran outside to battle the red, furry beast.

but, cowering by the elders den, lay two defenseless kits, hiding behind blades of grass, "i told you soft'kit! we should've never came out here, now what are we gonna do? what if the fox gets in here? what if-" "coal'kit shut your everflapping mouth! if we-" "what are you two doing out here?" an old and hollowed voice hissed. both kits looked up and saw vixen'scar, an elder, towering above them.

"w-we- i- … s-soft'kit made m-me come w-with her!" "i did not!" "quiet, you two. hurry, into the elders den." vixen'scar said, turning around and disappearing behind the vines that covered the entrance of the den, "see? it's like i said, coal'kit, the elders are cool! they're not strict at all!" "if you don't get your tail ends in here i'll show you strict." vixen'scar said, popping her head out from the den and narrowing her eyes. the kits didn't hesitate to get up and go.

inside the elders den sat vixen'scar, soft'kit, and coal'kit. for a few moments, they sat in silence, not daring to make a noise. but, vixen'scar grew an idea. she remembered a time when something similar had happened. she turned her heads down to the two kits, who were cuddling close together. she let out a sigh and broke the silence, "you know, i wasn't always named vixen'scar." she stated quietly. the kits looked up, "really?" soft'kit asked, to which vixen'scar responded with a nod, "my name was vixen'tail, once." a small smile spread across her face as the two kits sat in awe, "let me tell you a story…"

"it was a gloomy day, a strong scent of dew in the air. when this particular event happened, willow'star wasn't leader. his name was willow'feather, and he was a fearless warrior, always jumping in to help anyone he could. blossom'leg – blossom'paw at the time – had come with him and i on a patrol. everything was off. it seemed odd. it was eerily silent, not even a bird was chirping. the only thing you could hear was the wind whistling in your ear.

"we paced around the forest, ears perked and eyes alert. though, somehow, we managed to make it almost all the way back to camp without finding a single thing. that was.. until i caught a glimpse of red from the corner of my eye. i swiveled to the side, peering into the shaded forest where i saw the red flash. we waited for what felt like hours, moving around in the forest, until i heard a twig snap behind me.

"i whipped around, only to be pummeled to the ground by a large force. i quickly opened my eyes, only to see two large orange ones staring right back at me. and then, a battle ensued. we quickly started rolling around on the dry ground, scratching and biting at any chance we got. as i finally got the fox off of me, we quickly surrounded it, watching as it looked from side to side, trying to think of a clever way to get out of the situation.

"then, it jumped on blossom'paw. that's how she got her twisted paw. maybe it knew that she was young, defenseless, or maybe it just jumped and hoped for the best. either way, i leaped at it, claws unsheathed, teeth bared. the next few moments happened like it was in slow-motion. the fox had turned it's head to see me leaping. it got up on it's hind legs, turned fully to me, and slashed across my chest, leaving a deep and gnarly cut.

"all i remember after that was willow'feather yelling my name. then i woke up in the medicine cats den. after getting my scar treated, i immediately went up to the leader and asked to change my name. thankfully, he agreed. after surviving through an attack like that, he thought i deserved it. ever since then, i was no longer vixen'tail. i was known as vixen'scar. and that's the end. that's how i got my name."

the kits just sat there in awe. coal'kit was the one who broke the silence, "wow that must've been so scary! i could never do something like that!" vixen'scar chuckled, "oh you'll get used to it, coal'kit. just wait til you're older." "i want to be older now!" "well it looks like you'll have to wait a little longer than you want to." vixen'scar said, keeping a small smile on her face.

she enjoyed telling kits stories. they were so cute when the story was finished. always asking questions, talking about certain parts, they're much different than telling an older cat a story. another thing was, the story would stay with them longer. maybe they would tell their kits, and then their kits would tell their kits, and the story wouldn't be forgotten.

maybe.

a few more minutes had passed before a warrior yelled, not extremely loud, "all clear!" immediately, cats came out of their dens to see if their friends were okay, and check up on each other. but one cat – milk'flower – was frantically looking around. vixen'scar sighed "milk'flower! over here!" the young she-cats eyes bolted to the older ones. at her side, she saw two tiny blobs of color.

coal'kit and soft'kit.

she hurried over to them, immediately hugging her kits "i thought you two wandered off into the forest! i had no idea what happened to you!" she said, looking the kits in the eye, "thank you, vixen'scar, i don't know where they would be if you hadn't taken them in!" she said, hugging vixen'scar. the older she-cat smiled, "well i wasn't just going to leave them out there to fend for themselves." she joked. milk'flower smiled, "c'mon guys, we're going back to the nursery. and i'm gonna keep a close eye on you two." the kits grumbled but reluctantly followed, leaving vixen'scar behind.

the elder sighed as she turned to the exit of the camp. how each day she used to go in and out of that place. the memories she had. she gave a soft smile, knowing when her day had come, she'd be remembered for another lifetime. she slowly padded back to the elders den and lay down, ready to take her midday nap. she let out a yawn before closing her eyes, dreaming of whatever first came to mind.

oddly enough, she dreamed about the fox fight again, but if it had gone different. maybe she wouldn't have such a scarred life if that didn't happen.