Warriors: Shadedcloud's Heart (A Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter 1 - Bad Path

There was a light creeping inside a hidden crevice of a dark tree. The light made its way to the furthest parts of the inside of the tree., which allowed it to reveal the gnarly roots sprawled all about. It was a den, with a slightly narrow entrance. Inside of this den were two squirrels, one was fully awake, yet not attempting to disturb the other. The former was a sow, who was much older than the latter, a boar who was a mere baby squirrel.

Bella, the sow squirrel, twitched her tail. Her coat was a mixture of light and darker brown fades, going down her underbelly and legs. Her beady eyes were a dark brown, but not as dark as her son's own eyes. She was sitting up, gazing out of the entrance with a twinkle in her eyes. She was reflecting, clearly, but she hoped her son would wake soon.

The boar was going to say something, but he yawned. Bella pursed her lips with a crooked smile at her baby's cuteness.

"Morning mama.." He mumbled, still blearily blinking. He was certainly going to feel drowsy for a bit.

"Good morning Quince."

Quince stared at her fur, somewhere to look down as he adjusted to the wake. Bella stared at him lovingly meanwhile, as they both listened to the wind outside. Quince shuffled his paws, looking around at the gnarly roots sprawled everywhere in the den. He then looked at the narrow entranced, mesmerized by the morning light shining through it.

His squirrel mind couldn't really fathom what it made him feel, and he was still a baby. He yawned again, exhaling softly and looking back to Bella. She slowly blinked, her smile now a little more relaxed as silence had been put into place. She craned forward a little.

"Are you hungry?" murmured Bella.

Quince nodded quickly and yawned again. "I want acorn." He said, his voice not fluctuating as he was still tired.

"Mm, you're hungry, huh?" She plunged into her thoughts, reminiscing. She was wondering if it would be safe enough to go outside. Bella had the common knowledge and survival instincts to know that predators were constantly on the hunt. Especially during the winter.

Food was scarce for predators, and for prey like her, too. It would probably take slightly longer to find food for her and her son. She had been incredibly fearful of endangering her son, after her mate and her other children were killed off; all one by one.

The thought made her eyes slightly water, but she blinked back the tears. "Alright, I'll get some food for us. I know we haven't got much food lately, but I promise soon that we can get more food." She gave him a reassuring smile. Deep down, she understood that she was reassuring him while also reassuring herself.

 Quince nodded slowly, giving a sweet smile to her. "Thank you mama!"

"I'll be back soon," Bella moved towards him, and bent down to reach his level. She bumped her nose gently to his. "Boop!" 

Her son gave a slightly drowsy giggle, wrapping his arms around her. She felt a tender, warm feeling swell up in her chest. A mother's love. She returned the embrace, but soon they had to let go of each other.

 "Bye mama." He grinned, watching her leave. Bella beamed at her young son, before squeezing out of the narrow crevice that was the entrance. She disappeared with a twitch of her tail.

Quince shuffled forward to her tail as she walked out, staying at the entrance as she left. He wanted to watch her go but he backed up shortly after standing at the entrance because he was too exposed to the cold, so he nestled back into the warmth of the den and watched her figure grow foggier and foggier into the snow until it disappeared.

Quince began realizing how boring it was in the den. He rolled over onto his back, gazing at the roots that sprawled out about in the interior of the den. He reached his tiny paws up to reach them, but found it was pretty much impossible due to the position he was in. He frowned, letting his arms fall on his belly. Quince felt incredibly restless, despite having woken up only a few minutes ago. He jerked his body upwards, his tail twitching ever so slightly. That childish urge to try and chase his own tail was nagging at him, so he gave into it. He stood, trying to gnaw at it but each time he snapped at his tail, it seemed out of reach.

Quince furrowed his brows, beginning to chase his tail. He spun violently in circles, trying to reach it, but he would have to push harder to reach his objective. However, spinning around in circles really fast in a short amount of time came with consequences. The consequences of getting dizzy. He felt himself fall to the ground in a temporary daze. He felt his mind whirling with an oncoming headache, so he let himself succumb to laying down for a little, to let himself rest from that random burst of energy.

He pushed his back legs up and he rested on his haunches, holding his paws together before beginning to groom himself. He scratched the underside of the right of his jaw quickly before rubbing at it. Then he raised his paw and scratched behind his right ear again, before rubbing at it. He settled more loosely on his haunches, scratching at his chest and making his way down to his belly, licking his paw and rubbing at where he scratched a couple of times.

Suddenly, a loud squeak pierced through the air, which interrupted his cleaning. He jolted upward, ear flicking. His expression contorted into worry. The squirrel cautiously stood to his now trembling paws, cautiously stepping to the narrow entrance. He perked his snout outside, sniffing. Quince's eyes surveyed the clearing to make sure it was alright to step out. When he confirmed it was, he slipped out of the crevice and walked into the shallow snow. Quince was fascinated by the snow, it looked so soft and crunchy. It certainly was crunchy, because it made a soft crunchy noise when he stepped in it. However, he had somewhere to investigate, so he could not play around in the snow.

As the squirrel kit wandered through the snow, he felt slightly uneasy. His mother had always warned him of the dangers the world had to offer, especially to a vulnerable and small creature like him. He found himself glancing around uncomfortably as he followed Bella's pawprints. The beige and cream hues on his pelt were unique, his mother said. This could have been why he felt uneasy while out on his own. He was easy to spot, because he didn't look like a typical squirrel. Therefore, he was easier for predators to spot. Either way, he followed her tracks hurriedly.

Amidst his quick journey, he stopped in her tracks filled with heavy dread that lunged at him from all sides, starting in his toes which had made him stop in the first place, all the way up his body and into his eyes, into his eyes, because what he was looking at..

He couldn't tell if the faint, massive shadowy figure standing hunched in the distance - foggy from the snow - had two or four legs, while looking like it didn't have a head because of how lowered its head. But, it was facing towards him and Quince knew it had a tail because it was lashing around like an angry snake. He could see no color, but he knew what color belonged to that terrifying smell.

Red. It was red, because the color of that smell, while Quince couldn't see or tell, pooled in the snow beneath the lump laying in it at the massive figure's feet.

Quince felt like he had turned and ran, but he was bound where he was standing. Fight or fright.  

Two triangular ears that looked like it had curled horns at the tip of them had raised up to look at him and when he saw the green-yellow flare of the cats eyes on its angular head, he..

..stayed in place. He wanted to scream.