With Claws and Fangs

The tuxedo cat snickers.

"You smell like a ShadowClan cat to me."

"I was banished." They seem surprised by this, but keep their reactions to a minimum. The other cat speaks up again.

"What did you do?" He sounds genuinely curious.

"Be born. I'm half ShadowClan, and half rogue." The tuxedo cat sits down looking less hostile. The other looks suspicious and guarded, but empathic too.

"Your dad a rogue?" He says.

"Yes." I say, now it's my turn to be guarded.

"You're a long way from the forest, topside."

"I noticed." I say.

"I'm Claw. This is my brother Fang. Him/him." Claw says. The tux cat Fang speaks up.

"Hello." He says casually. He tail flicks in greeting, before he begins grooming his chest.

"Right... Nightwhisper. She/her." Claw nods.

"A good name. Do you know how to leave?"

"I think so. I just picture where I want to be." I say. His eyes widen.

"Where you a medicine cat?"

"No."

"You always had weird powers."

"Yes."

"Right, well there is this two-leg clan close to ShadowClan. Go thought the forest. Fallow the Sun. You'll get there. Some cat should be able to help you there."

"Thanks." I'm not sure I believe him. But I start moving. The sky changes, and I look towards the Sun. I think about the black-and-white cats. They were very strange. When night falls I stop and sleep in a small hallow. I dream of the Dark Forest. The brothers find me again. Both the tuxedo; Fang and the mostly black cat; Claw. I must have come to the Dark Forest in my dreams. Though I hadn't intended to, I think.

"Hello?" I step tentatively over the dead branches.

"Hello again!" Fang says. He sounds almost cheerful for a dead cat. Claw looked lost in thought.

"Did you find the two-leg nests yet?" He asks.

"I'm close I think." He nods.

"Good."

"Is something wrong?" I ask Claw. It's Fang who speaks.

"He's worried about the other Dark Forest cats. What trouble they'll get up to topside. Appearing in dreams. Or there treatment of some new arrivals." Claw's tail flicks with annoyance.

"Got these scratches trying to stop them." I did notice two new scars on his side.

"I helped!" Fang says. He's a rather silly cat.

"Yes I know." His brother says. We almost sitting in a circle. Fang lays down.

"What's it like. In ShadowClan?" Claw asks me. I think about how I explained it to Sunleaf long ago. I miss her.

"We're silent and stealthy. We solve our own problems and value independence, and power." I think. "We stick to the shadows." I think about Vineleap's assassination attempts. I suppose there's no danger in telling the truth. "We have the least prey in our pine forest, in leaf-bare. We've scavenged once or twice." I say coolly.

"Our father was RiverClan." Claw says, which surprises me. "It was a long time ago. He's long since joined StarClan."

"Our mother taught us the Warrior Code, and everything she knew about the Clans." Fang adds. "As much as she could remember. She didn't want us to be detached from where we came from."

"When we were old enough she brought us to the RiverClan border. She wanted to make us apprentices. The leader something-Star, and the rest of her Clan turned us away. Excluding our father. He got to stay, but we were raised by our mother. It was difficult being a young cat in the two-leg's nest at the time. Construction was still happening. You had to dodge two-legs if you didn't want to become a kitty-pet... or worse. Had to find scraps. We managed. We stuck together." Fang looks at Claw then. "Then we died. A few years ago now. We think. Do the Clan's even talk about us?" I wonder whether or not Sunleaf knew. I'm sure RiverClan doesn't talk about it. Especially with other clans. I'm sure if Sunleaf had from StarClan or otherwise she would've been angry, they had been refused.

"No, but another clan wouldn't have talked about one of their warriors code breaking. They would worry would be seen as a weakness." Claw scoffs.

"Of would've been worried that we were weakness." Claw says.

"You're not." I say firmly. "I new this Medicine Cat-"

"Medicine Cat?" Fang asks. I laugh explaining the concept.

"You would have liked her." I say.

"We'd like to hear about her and her Clan." Claw says. Fang nods in agreement.

"Well they can swim like no other cat I've seen-" It's hours before I'm awake again back in the forest above. Having explained Clan culture in as much detail as possible. We were similar them and I.