Cricketkit was always expected to be a burden.
Born to a medicine cat, her life was safe from the very beginning. Then, Twolegs took her, and she though her way of life's been lost forever. When her clanmates came to rescue her, she's been beyond ha...
Empty woke up, shivering. Something at the back of her mind moved, but she shook her head before it could form a shape.
She forced her starved body to rise and walk. Putting one leg in front of each other, she slowly ascended toward the cat scents.
It wasn't that hard, really. For a cat that wasn't starving. Cat that wasn't starving would just put one paw in front of each other, until they would find the Clan cats.
But Empty was not fit to travel like this. She felt half-dead.
Clan cats were her only hope. She's heard so much about them. StarClan, the nine lives of the leaders, the battles they won, all of it. The Clans were something, and if Empty wanted to survive, she needed to find them. Fast.
--
Empty stood at the borders. She's found them. After days of desperation, she found them.
Now she just needed the cats to find her. Empty lied down, her tired body finally giving away from the exhaustion.
Her eyes closed, her body went numb, and, for the first time in days, her mind went blank.
--
"It's a cat."
"Of course it's a cat, Redfang. What else could it be? A badger?"
"Well, I feel bad for you, but it's not a badger, it's a cat, and she looks dead."
Raising her head, Empty opened her eyes. Three cats were looming over her. Two toms, one red- probably the Redgang one-, gray-blue tom and white-she cat.
"Look! She's alive!" The white she-cat exclaimed.
"Oh no, StarClan, look! The cat is alive! A gift from the stars! All hail to the cat that is alive!" The gray-blue tom snickered dramatically. He looked at his white clanmate. "Seriously, Plumheart, we all see she's alive."
The white cat, Plumheart, growled. "I don't sound like that, Aspensnap, and you know it as well as I do."
Empty eyed them hopefully. Finally she found Clan cats. She though thesy would solve all her problems. But looking at the arguing cats before her, she wasn't sure if she only made her situation worse.
--
When the Clan cats decided if she was alive or not, they all agreed to take her to their Clan. Empty didn't try to stop them. She didn't have the strength to do so. She let them take her. If they wanted to kill her, she'd be dead already.
The one named Redfang led them. Aspensnap and Plum-something supported her when she though she couldn't make another step. And that was, maybe, the moment she understood why the Clan cats always stayed together.
--
When they came to the Camp, Empty couldn't think of a way to describe it. She's never seen something like this. She though she could watch it forever.
She barely noticed Redfang slipping away, maybe to let his Clan know they had visitor.
She barely noticed as he walked back to her.
She barely noticed that he came back with another cat. Only when the cat spoke, she realized she was in trouble.
''I am Brindlestar, leader of BrookClan, and from now on, you are our prisoner.''
Empty gasped. "What?"
Energy surged through her veins, but some other cats were already taking her away.
"You- you can't! I am- please! Don't!" She cried, but Brindlestar has already turned away. She felt desperate, broken, and so, so lonely.
It was numbing. Empty let the cats take her wherever they wanted. She didn't care.
She came to the Clans, seeking help, and the only thing she got?
She's lost her freedom.
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