A Prophecy Reborn

~~Chapter 2~~

(AN) Sorry for the wait between chapters! I got better from my sickness of some sort and feeling great now. That along with laziness and New Years made it hard to continue the story. Sorry about my laziness.🤣 Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

   Slowly opening his eyes, Rusty stifled a yawn. Immediately realizing what was going on, he excitedly shot up. "Today's the big day!" he yowled to himself as he ran out of the cat flap in the door.

   A voice broke him out of his excitement, "What's the occasion, Rusty? Why are you so excited all of the sudden?"

   Rusty looked up to see Smudge, which he expected, sitting on the fence that bordered their gardens. His tail and ears drooped. He didn't want to have to tell Smudge what was going on again. "Well.. I uh... So you know how I went into the forest last night?- And the wild cats, right?" Smudge nodded curiously. "Well, they invited me to join their clan..." Rusty mewed, shuffling his paws nervously.

   Smudge's tail flicked in disbelief as he meowed, "What! Why would they do that?"

   "I don't know," Rusty lied, he knew for certain this time. However, he answered with what he said the first time Smudge asked this question, "I think they need extra paws in their clan."

   "Sounds a bit odd if you ask me. I wouldn't trust them if I were you." mewed Smudge doubtfully.

   Rusty let out a quiet purr, "But I do trust them. And I've made up my mind, I'm going to join them."

   Smudge stared at Rusty in disbelief once again before hastily scrambling down the fence to stand in front of him. "Please don't go, Rusty," he mewed, wide eyed and with alarm in his voice. He was clearly concerned for his friend's safety. "I might never see you again..."

   Nudging Smudge affectionately with his head, Rusty tried reassuring him. "It's fine! My Twole- I mean, housefolk will get another cat. You get along with everybody around here, you can get along with them!" he meowed.

   Smudge still looked sad as he wailed, "But it won't be the same.."

   "That's exactly the point. If I stay around here they'll take me to the cutter, then I won't be the same either," Rusty said with an annoyed flick of his tail.

   "The cutter? What's that?" Smudge asked.

   "The vet. I'll be altered like Henry," Rusty explained.

   "But.. Henry's fine.. Sure he's lazier and all, but he's not unhappy, so we could still have fun together!" Smudge mewed while looking down at his paws.

   Rusty felt a tug at his heart and he sadly mewed, "I'm sorry, Smudge. I'll miss you, but I have to go.." Every word was true, even if Smudge didn't know it.

   "I know I can't stop you.. But let's at least spend one more morning together." Smudge mewed, this time locking his amber eyes with Rusty's green pair.

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   The time was sunhigh, and Rusty was enjoying the beautiful morning with his friends. Looking up at the sky, he saw flinched seeing the sun and looked back at his friends again. "Wait! It's sunhigh!" he meowed, shocked. Quickly getting up, he said goodbye to smudge. The sad mews of the cats he grew up with slowly faded as he made his way into the forest.

   Approaching the clearing where he met the three cats, he sniffed the air. Lionheart. And I'm pretty sure Whitestorm too. He entered the clearing and pretended to sniff. "You can come out now, Lionheart."