Goofyclan's Rise Arc 1, Books 1-6 full collection! [CW in desc]

Book 2: The Lost Leader

Flashlight stared at Beethoven's bloody corpse lying down beside the pond. The cat who once meant everything to him, the cat who he once looked up to, now lying in the mud, dead.

I killed him...

Flashlight felt as if all the hatred towards Beethoven had disappeared. He became overwhelmed with guilt at the thought of what just happened. He looked at the cats around him. They were all cheering for him, praising him. Meanwhile, it felt as if there was a piece of crowfood stuck in his throat.

He dashed through the crowd of cats towards a fallen tree on the right of the side of the pond. Once he arrived there, he flopped down on the grass as tears started to stroll down his face.

Beethoven meant everything to me. Why didn't I give him a second chance??

Flashlight looked up and saw Muffins looming over him.

"What do you want?" Flashlight growled.

"Hey, why are you crying? you wanted to kill him."

"I-I just-" Flashlight stammered as he tried to form words.

"Why did everycat want me to kill him?"

"Because Beethoven was a shitty leader. Or should I say, quote-unquote leader. He would mistreat everycat, that is, until he died." Muffins answered. "Why are you sad about him dying?"

A huge whirl of memories struck Flashlight like a tidal wave. The way he (acted like he) supported him during tough times, only to be all aggressive towards him later. The times when he and Beethoven got high together, And the moment when he tossed him into the ravine. A quote of his rang in Flashlight's mind.

'Don't tell anyone about this. If you do, you're dead.'

Flashlight shook his head, then started to spill the beans.

"Beethoven.. Helped me to cope with my depression. When I was a kit, he introduced me to a.." he trailed off as he attempted to find the words to describe this.

"Continue." he heard Muffins say.

"He introduced me to a drug called 'catnip'. And he said; 'if you try this, the entirety of your worries will withdraw. '. So I did, and I ended up becoming dependent on it. Now he's gone. I don't see anything worth living for, now that he's gone."

Flashlight watched as Muffins let out a gasp, and covered her mouth with her paw.

"Oh my fucking god. Why didn't you tell us?!"

"B-Because he told me.." he started to sob quietly, as he meowed the last words.

"Not to tell anyone, or he w-would kill me!" his sobs became louder after he meowed that.

Muffins stared at him with a surprised look. "Beethoven is a fucking monster!" she growled. "What cat would EVER do such a thing?!" she unsheathed her claws and sunk them into the dirt below. "Also, how did you NOT notice his abusive behavior??"

"I-I don't fucking know!" Flashlight meowed. "I just... thought it was normal behavior. From him, at least."

"You're so stupid!" Muffins shouted. "HOW IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD COULD YOU BELIEVE THAT WAS 'NORMAL BEHAVIOR'?!"

He froze and looked at her vacantly as the words she recently said seeped into his brain and broke his little heart. He started to sob again as she continued to lecture him about how 'stupid' he was.

"I'M NOT STUPID!" he shouted.

"I WAS A FUCKING KIT AT THE TIME! I DIDN'T KNOW HE WAS A BAD CAT!"