Scourge's Second Chance

Chapter 13 - Roots of the Forest

* Firepaw's Point of View *

Firepaw strolled leisurely through the forest. It had only been about a moon since he'd found Yellowfang off in ThunderClan territory, and it had made Bluestar - and Graypaw - distrust him. First he shows "disloyalty" to ThunderClan and is banished, and then he takes in a scraggly rogue hunting on Clan territory. He was on thin ice. Thin ice with Bluestar, thin ice with Graypaw, thin ice with ThunderClan... and also, on thin ice with Sandpaw, who he was quickly developing a crush on. 

Firepaw resented it, but he knew that the smart, sarcastic, snappy she-cat was getting to him. She was admirably brave, and her resentment towards kittypets was... relatable, he supposed, considering how the tales of Pinestar had portrayed the leader-turned-kittypet as lazy, foolish, and rude. 

Suddenly, there was a crashing in the bushes. A short, white cat was bumbling about, with a deep claw wound on his shoulder. The cat was staggering about in a sort of haze, jiggling the ripped, blue Twoleg collar on his neck.

"Dog, dog!" the cat was calling. "Come fight me!"

"Woah," Firepaw said, inching closer. "I'm afraid you can't stay in ThunderClan territory. But if you could just stop the yowling and calm down, I think I can help you get your collar off and heal that wound. So you can leave your Twolegs behind and get a new life, y'know?"

But the white cat just hissed. Firepaw looked at him cautiously, just before the raving cat leapt at him.

"If I can't kill dog, I will kill cat. Join Ivy and the Becoming!" It yowled before jumping at him. 

Firepaw reeled back in shock before striking the cat on the chest, but the cat was skittering around and twisted at just the right point. The white cat was hit in the stomach, crushing Firepaw's claws out of their sheaths. The ginger tom cried out in horror as his white claws sliced into his opponent's stomach, fatally wounding him.

But as the cat wretched and convulsed on the ground something unexpected happened. 

A small black tom with a purple collar studded with teeth lunged out of the bushes, slicing open the cat's stomach from head to tail - using a white paw. Then the cat looked up, piercing Firepaw with his ice blue eyes.

"Scourge?"