[♕] rise #300- ❝sedgefur❞

[aergia]

ｎｉｎｅ
beast
word count;; 605

The morning of their planned escape came and passed, and Jade was nowhere to be found. Felix anxiously paced back and forth around the tin pile, the place she had designated as their meeting point.

“Hello, brother.” Slash appeared unexpectedly. “Everything alright? You look worried.”

Felix spun around at the sound of his brother’s voice. “Of course, just looking for Jade. She, uh, promised to show me something today.”

“Oh really?” Slash replied, a gleam in his eyes. “I saw her this morning; she was running off into the distance with another cat. I was going to chase her down but I figured she would be gone by the time I was able to get a patrol together.”

Felix felt his heart plummet. He couldn’t breathe, his senses went awry and suddenly the ground was much closer than it had been before.

“Are you alright brother? I know you two were friends, but I could smell betrayal dripping from her the moment we met. Can’t trust anyone, except family.” Slash sat beside Felix as he finally regained the ability to breathe.

“I- I need to go.” Felix’s words fell from his mouth. “I’ll be back for the dusk patrol. Promise.”

He ran from the base. His legs ached but his body would not stop. He ran out of the human town and into the forest. Ground-dwelling creatures scattered as he ran deeper into the forest. Even the usually ever-present ocean breeze disappeared. His mind was focused on one thing alone, finding Jade.

Was his brother lying? Why would he lie? Brother’s shouldn’t lie to each other. Was Jade the one who lied? Where was she? Had she even loved him?

Thoughts swirled through his mind, all of them bitter and sad. The forest gave way to the clearing where he had first fallen in love with Jade. Her scent was stale; she hadn’t been here in days. He walked meekly through the daisies, the rising sun warm on his back. He remembered all the fond times they had spent here, it had been their secret place, their sweet escape from everything.

What had gone wrong?

Felix was a mate scorned. Abandoned. Tossed to the side in favour of another. His memories soured, Jade had never loved him. It was all a trick, a joke. He had been lead on a wild goose chase and his only reward was a broken heart.

Something inside of him snapped. His breathing steadied, he regained his senses, and his heart turned to stone. The daisies around him meant nothing, they were just flowers. He could not summon up any emotion, his entire personality slipped away. All that was left behind was the empty shell of a cat, a heartless beast.

He walked back to camp slowly and calmly. His mind was blank, all he could think about was the dusk patrol and punishing the unruly housecats and pathetic strays. He would become the fighter his brother needed, follow his every word as if it were law.

“Felix? Brother?” Slash ran up to him as he entered the camp. “What happened? Answer me.”

“Felix is dead. There is only a beast left behind.” He said plainly.

Slash grinned deeply. “Welcome brother, I knew you would make it. I knew she wasn’t to be trusted, too similar to her brother.” He turned to face the others assembled.

“Gather all, today my brother has opened his eyes to the truth. The cat you once knew is gone, in his place is Beast.”

“Beast! Beast! Beast.”

Beast stood up to take his place as the right-hand-man, ready to do to whatever was necessary.

[aergia]

ｔｅｎ
a battle
word count;; 628

Beast’s life turned in to a monotonous schedule of wake up, go on patrol, terrorise housecats, beat up strays, sleep, repeat. He felt no mercy as housecats would try to plead with him, no remorse against strays who tried to hide food from him. He was the perfect soldier. The months passed in a blur, soon he was second only to Slash and had the respect of the entire gang. He led patrols, commanded the lesser cats, controlled the food intake and output.

One day he found himself alone in the pursuit of a stray who had been wandering on their territory for weeks. She was quick but small, as soon as Beast caught her she would be easy to handle. His endurance had increased greatly since becoming second in command and he was certain he would catch her.

Then she ran into a familiar clearing. The daisies were still in full bloom but had spread further into the trees since the months he had last been here.

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size.” A voice sounded and suddenly Beast had been pinned to the ground by a large grey molly.

“Trespassers are all the same.” He replied, throwing the other cat off him.

The two walked around each other, both staying the same distance away. Beast hissed loudly, it would be enough to send this pathetic food-stealer running.

But the grey molly was not fazed. She lunged forwards, Beast narrowly avoiding her claws. He took up the defence, waiting for her next move.

He did not have to wait long.

She leapt forwards, quicker this time, and slashed a long cut across his flank. But Beast was not the only injured one, he managed to swipe his opponent across the muzzle just as she was about to dart back to safety.

“Little kittypet no good at fighting?” she taunted, Beast not knowing what a ‘kittypet’ was but understanding that it was definitely not a compliment.

He jumped at her, but she pushed him aside like one would a low hanging branch. Beast landed on his feet, ready to hold his ground. He was about to spring forward but the molly was too quick. She raked her claws down his exposed flank, deepening his earlier wound.

Beast gasped and fell. The pain was excruciating, but in that moment of fear, right before he was about to die, he thought of Jade. Her patched face, her soothing voice, her cheerful laugh and her flowery scent. He remembered coming here with her the first time, falling in love. She promised to always be with her, but where was she now?

He walked back from the grey molly and turned to face her from the distance. “Kill me if you must.” He was ready to die.

“No,” the molly responded. “leave us, and never come back. Then, I will be forced to take your life.”

Beast hobbled away, his fur matted with blood. He legs ached, he didn’t know if he would make it back to base. But something must’ve been in his favour that night, because he ran into Slash’s patrol.

“Beast?” Slash questioned. “Is that you?”

“It is. I was attacked. She was so strong, she evaded all my attacks. I could not best her.” Beast responded, it had been the first fight he had ever lost.

“You lost? To some stray?” Slash was dumbfounded.

“She was too strong.”

“You’ve let me down today.” Slash turned away. “Spinebreaker, take Beast back to base. And make sure he doesn’t die.”

Beast walked away and ducked his head in shame. Spinebreaker didn’t speak to him the entire way but had to help him walk after a few minutes. He didn’t mind, all he could think about was Jade.

[aergia]

ｅｌｅｖｅｎ
betrayal
word count;; 626

Beast recovered from his injuries quicker than expected. He found his mind often wandering to the large grey tabby who had given him the injuries. He had scented other cats in the clearing too, had the strays been hiding out from the gang? He initially was going to report them to Slash, but something made him hesitate.

He woke up one morning feeling fully recovered from his injuries. He went to go find Slash and tell him, he could already hear his brothers’ voice in the distance.

“Yeah, we had to kill her. She had this insane idea about running away, and my idiot brother actually wanted to go along with it. She was always too similar to her brother, they both had grand ideas in their heads, too big for their weak bodies. Both of them were easy to take down.” Slash said, Bonecrusher standing beside him. “Look how he improved without her foul words tainting him. I never would’ve guessed.”

“You killed her?!” Beast screaming, jumping out from behind a broken wall. “I loved her! How could you take her from me?”

Beast leapt onto Slash, raking his claws down his brother’s face. The two brothers stalked around each other, each the polar opposite of the other. Beast was enraged, he couldn’t think clearly. Slash was cold and calculating, waiting for Beast to slip up, make a mistake.

Slash ran at Beast, claws unsheathed. He narrowly dodged the claws, but was also unable to inflict any damage on his brother. They paced around each other, one hissing madly, the other mildly amused.

“Think rationally, brother. She was holding you back.”

“I loved her!” Beast felt his voice tremble with fury. He lunged forward but Slash expertly slid out of his grasp.

“She was too similar to her brother. Neither of them understood their place in the world.” Slash spat, eyes clouded.

“So you killed Jade the same way you killed Chestnut? You’ve become a monster.” Beast braced himself in case Slash attacked.

“So what?” Slash’s voice was empty, not a single emotion had stirred inside.

Felix was angry, but not surprised. How had he not recognised it sooner? Slash took joy from the misery of others, why wouldn’t he be aware of his own nature? It all made sense now.

“We’re too alike, brother. Our biggest weakness is that love makes us blind. And I will not set myself on fire to keep others warm.”

He looked up at Slash. The other cat didn’t look angry, he looked gleeful. The blood on his claws glimmered in the light.

“No Jet, love makes us stronger.” Felix said, determined to make his brother see reason. “Without it, you become cold and distant, a monster. Please, come back to me? I beg of you.” Felix realised he had become like Slash, cut off from the world. If he could change back, maybe Slash could too.

“You were always the weaker one. Unable to make hard decisions.”

Slash crashed into Felix, knocking him from his feet. His underside was exposed for a split second, but that was enough. Slash lived up to his name and slashed open his belly, claws raking over freshly healed wounds.

“You’re wrong. You don’t understand anything, so weak, feeble. Pathetic.” Slash towered over him, words laced with spite as he leaned in close. “So what if I loved him? He held me back, made me blind. I could see the same thing happening to you, but you were too weak to confront what would become your biggest downfall. I cannot imagine a world without my gang. I paid the price for that, now you will too.”

Felix felt his vision go black. He collapsed. It was the second battle he had ever lost.

[aergia]

ｔｗｅｌｖｅ
reunited
word count;; 687

Felix had not expected to wake up. He was in the forest, the place where Chestnut had been murdered. His head hurt and his body felt unbalanced. There was another cat with him. He turned his head slowly, it was the stray who had lead him to the giant grey molly. The stray was chewing leaves and then spitting them onto him. He would’ve jumped away but he was in too much pain to move.

“Stop moving.” The stray commanded him. “You’ll make it worse. It’s a gift from StarClan that you’re somehow still alive. You know, you aren’t the first ex-gang member I’ve found out here before.”

Felix stirred, but was still in pure agony.

“I said stop moving! I’ve only just stopped the blood flow.”

He laid there for much of the day, watching the patches of sun shift as the hours ticked by.

“-still recovering, might not make it. Are you sure that’s him.”

“I’m positive.” A voice said. Felix craned his neck to see the familiar face of the grey molly who had nearly killed him.

“What should we do with him?”

“Same as the others, we give them a choice.” The grey molly said, walking up to Felix. “Cat, what is your name?” she asked, more of a command than a question.

“F-Felix.” He sputtered. “I’m sorry.”

“It is not me you should apologise to, but Embercloud.” The molly responded.

“He doesn’t know who I am.” The molly, Embercloud, said.

“I remember. You’re the one I chased through the forest, until, um, she stopped me. Sorry.”

“My name is Sealstar.” She said, not laughing but her eyes were definitely amused. “How did you sustain your injuries? Was it this ‘Slash’ that I find myself so frequently hearing about?”

Felix felt a lump in his throat. “It was Slash,” he paused. “he was angry at me for falling in love. You see, he’s my brother.” Felix managed to stand up, braced against a tree trunk.

“I do see.” Sealstar said. “Come, let us escort you back to our camp. I believe you are familiar with the daisies?”

Felix flicked his tail in agreement. “You haven’t been here long, have you?”

“No, how did you know?”

“I used to come here, a long, long time ago.”

Sealstar hummed in response. “In fact, it was one of the former gang members who showed it to us. Embercloud found her the same place she found you.”

Felix momentarily couldn’t breathe, but not because of his injuries. Could it be? He daren’t ask.

They walked the same familiar path through the forest that Felix had almost forgotten. He was unsure how long it had been since he had last travelled down this path, it had to have been at least a few seasons. The daisies had spread to outside the clearing now, he could see them poking through the tree line, as if they were looking at him.

There were quite a few cats in the daisy field, many of them were familiar to Felix. They flinched when they saw him, he felt awful and shuddered to think what he would be doing right at this moment if he had never learnt about Jade’s death.

Sealstar suddenly ran forwards and leapt up the lone boulder in the centre.

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around HighStone.”

The cats wearily walked over, all of them shooting glances at Felix.

“Today, we have found anot–”

“FELIX!” Jade’s familiar voice sounded from the distance.

“Jade? JADE!” he yelled. He could see her ginger and black fur running towards him. He moved as quickly as he could towards her, completely interrupting Sealstar.

“I’ve missed you so much!” he yelled. “I thought you were dead, Slash killed you?”

“Felix, oh StarClan I can’t believe it’s you. Embercloud found me and saved me. What happened to you?”

“Slash.” Was all he needed to say.

“Sorry to interrupt, Maplestorm, but what is happening?” Sealstar asked, glint in her eyes.

“I told you he would see reason! I knew it. This is Felix, he’s the love of my life.”

[aergia]

ｔｈｉｒｔｅｅｎ
sedgepaw
word count;; 435

“Felix, you have come to our clan as an enemy. You have caused great suffering to many of us, do you renounce your past life and actions?”

“I do”

“Do you promise to be loyal to OceanClan and place the needs of your clan above your own individual needs?”

“I do.”

“Do you promise to uphold the warrior code?”

“I do.”

“By the powers of StarClan, I name you Sedgepaw, apprentice of OceanClan. You will be trained to become a warrior by myself, Sealstar.”

“Sedgepaw! Sedgepaw! Sedgepaw!”

Jade, or rather Maplestorm, chanted the loudest.

“I forgive you.” Maplestorm said to him later. “I saw you that night, when Sealstar had to defend Embercloud from you.”

Sedgepaw shuddered. It had bothering him for days.

“Don’t say anything.” Maplestorm said. “I don’t know what Slash told you, but I forgive you. I heard tales about you and wanted to go find you, but Sealstar said I was at risk. After you attacked her, I knew she was right.”

“I’m so sorry. I thought you had abandoned me.” Sedgefur paused. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make up for my actions.”

“You can and you will. You can start by apologising to half the clan.”

Sedgefur spent most of his first month, or rather moon, just talking and making up for his actions. He met cats who had lost families to Slash, and he decided that one day they would be strong enough to take on the gang.

Clan life was different, but much better than gang life. He still had patrols, but that only included chasing off the few intruders they ever had. He was not allowed in certain parts of the territory yet, lest he find any gang members. For the most part, he was completely cut off from his former life, just as Sealstar had promised.

“Was it you who showed Sealstar the daisies.?” He asked Maplestorm one day.

“Of course it was. I felt I owed it to her and Embercloud and the few others she had with her. They were quite a ragtag bunch at first, all of them terrified to go into the twolegplace.”

Guilt seemed to be a constant in his life now. “Oh.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. It’s your brother they’re scared of, all of them have warmed up to you it seems. Finally.”

“You don’t mind sharing?” Sedgepaw queried.

“What? The daisies? I used to, a few times I even regretted telling Sealstar about it. But seeing the clan live her together, it feels like home. It is my home. And now, it’s yours too.”

[aergia]

ｅｐｉｌｏｇｕｅ
content
word count;; 223

Sedgefur looked over the camp from the large oak tree by the edge of the daisy clearing. There were young kits playing in the nursery, their mothers trying to keep them under control. He could see apprentices in the distance, training with their mentors to learn battle techniques. He hated that they needed to know how to fight, but the presence of the gang was growing stronger. He’d heard tales from others they had rescued, Slash had gone insane after the ‘death’ of his brother.

“Sealstar?” he questioned his leader who was sitting beside him. “Do you think Slash is evil?”

Sealstar let out a deep breath. “I don’t know; I’ve never met him. From what I’ve heard from our clanmates, he is a brutal, terrifying monster. What do you think?”

“He’s my brother, but we are very different cats. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to hate him.”

“How is Maplestorm?” she asked.

“She’s doing well, moved into the nursery last sunhigh. I don’t know what she thinks about the other kits, but she’s been a bit grumpy lately.” He replied, grateful for the swift change of subject.

“She’s a tired mother-to-be, she’s bound to be grumpy.” Sealstar purred.

Sedgefur took a final look over the camp before jumping down to go join Maplestorm.

He was content with his new life.

[aergia]

ａｕｔｈｏｒ'ｓ ｎｏｔｅ
finally done!
total word count;; 8183

the editing is finally over! thank starclan! so many typos i only had 1 chapter (10) that didn't have any typos or weird wording to fix! i really enjoyed writing this story and i used it to build upon a lot of the preliminary worldbuilding i had already planned out for oceanclan. i wasn't sure i wanted to add romance in at the start, but after looking at my first extremely rough story plan, something was definitely missing. i tried to focus on conflict and how i can convey and build suspense as a writer, the practice being with poor little pancake earlier on in the story :c

hope it was as fun to read as it was fun for me to write!

also let's ignore the fact that i changed my username halfway through this comp