Scourge was forced awake by the warmth that had comforted him all night being ripped away from him. He saw Ashfur walking away from him, and sit down in front of the alley wall. Confused, Scourge called out to his friend. "Are you okay?"
Ashfur's head snapped around in surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry... D-Did I wake you?"
"Yeah, but don't worry about it... Are you okay?" Scourge repeated.
"No, I already told you, I'm not okay." Ashfur growled.
Scourge scoffed lightly. He didn't understand how some mangy she-cat could mean so much to him. Scourge could sense she had never really loved him. Suddenly, an idea came to him.
"Hey, Ashfur..." He began.
Ashfur turned around. "Yeah?" Curiosity lit his eyes.
"I have an idea. How dumb do you think Firestar is?" Scourge said, more blunt than he had meant.
Ashfur looked at him like he was crazy. "Why?"
"Because... I think I have an idea to get Firestar to let me stay in ThunderClan."
After having Ashfur slap mud onto his fur, Scourge had removed the dog claws that were covering his own, and Ashfur ruffled him up, making him look weaker and smaller than he really was. "Well, you sure look desprate. Now you just have to play the part." Ashfur commented with a grin.
"Hey, don't forget, you have to act concerned!" Scourge spat back. Ashfur gave him a look, and Scourge understood what it was for. He rolled his eyes and said, in his weakest and most raspy voice, "A-Are you a warrior...? C-Can you h-help me?" He stopped talking to cough a few times. "P-Please... I... I need help..."
"Now you're playing the part!" Ashfur shouted, sounding impressed. "Come on, let's head to ThunderClan!"
After making the short journey to the border, Scourge leaned onto Ashfur and acted as weak as possible. They soon came across a ThunderClan patrol. Scourge felt happy when he realized he only recongnized one of the three cats there. The one he recognized, an orange and white she cat with a missing eye, stopped and bristled, while the other two ran up to them, concern lacing their gazes.
"Ashfur, what happened?" A gray and white she cat shrieked.
Ashfur replied, "I... I found him on the border... I didn't want to chase him off, because he looked so bad..."
Scourge looked up, one eye closed. "Please... h-help... I need some help... I... Ahh... So... Hungry..." Scourge started shaking and let his legs buckle underneath him, having Ashfur catch him.
"Oh StarClan..." the she-cat whsipered.
"P...Please..." Scourge let out one more deprate whine for help.
Even the she-cat he'd recognized let her fur lay flat. "Aren't you... Scourge...?" She asked, a confused look in her good eye.
"Y-Yes..."
"But you're... dead... Firestar said he'd killed you..."
"He... He almost did... Please... Can we put the past... behind us, I... must speak... with Firestar..." Scourge rasped.
"Ashfur, what do you think you're doing, bringing a kittypet here to ThunderClan?!" An orange she-cat demanded. She was the third cat of the group.
"Squirrelflight, I couldn't have left him..." Ashfur murmured.
So that's Squirrelflight. Scourge mentally inspected her. A flame-orange pelt, white paw, green eyes. Not a very strong looking cat either. How can he fall in love with such a cat?!
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