OC Forms/Art Book 4!

Flaming Feathers: Part 1

Chapter 1: Snapped

Point of view: Nobody

TW: Betrayal

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"Why would you ever think I'd want to be friends with a freak like you?"

Those are the words that shattered Nightbird's heart.

One of her friends, Carolyne, whom she'd known for almost a year, stood before her. The brunette human glared at the winged feline, brown eyes narrowed at her. Carolyne wasn't very sweet anymore. (Guess the song reference)

Nightbird could just...stand there. She couldn't move or speak, she couldn't do anything. She just teared up and listened as Carolyne pretty much verbally abused her.

"Freak."
"Psycho."
"Liar." A few things Carolyne had told her. Nightbird opened her mouth to say something, scream something back at her and put her in her place, but nothing came out. Just a heartbroken squeak and a few tears rolling down her face. Nightbird soon found herself wiping her now-pouring eyes with her paws, starting to sniffle, unable to understand why this was happening. What did she do wrong? Did she wear the wrong shirt? Maybe she talked to the wrong person? The mutant was asking herself all these questions, the main one being; "What did I do wrong?"

Nightbird eventually found the courage to yell a horrible comeback at her, figuring out how to walk again and quickly speed-walked away from her, wings dragging as she continued muttering and crying insults at Carolyne under her breath. She hid behind a tree, curling her knees to her chest and sobbing as she wrapped her charcoal wings around herself, shaking violently.

A few minutes later, her ear pricked at hearing rapid footfalls over the grass going over to her. "Bird?" the familiar voice of her sister Nightshadow came to her ears. She felt a paw brush over the black feathers on her wings, ruffling them, which normally calmed the she-lynx down. It didn't. "Sis?" Nightshadow asked. Nightbird moved her wing and looked at her with teary eyes, before unwrapping herself and hugging the patched feline.

The two held each other for a while before Nightshadow stood her up and walked home with her, listening to her explanation of what happened. By the time they reached the house, Nightbird had her head down and a dull look in her eyes, while Nightshadow was more than furious. She was definitely putting Carolyne in her place the next day.

Jason, one of their close friends, looked up when they walked in. "Hey guys!" he greeted. Nightshadow waved, but the winged feline said nothing and made a B-Line for the stairs, darting up to her room and locking herself in. Jason blinked. "What happened?" he questioned.

"Nnnnothing," Nightshadow swiftly muttered, then changed the subject. "Imma go train okay? 'Kay bye!" She ran off to the training room.

Meanwhile Nightbird had curled up in her bed, pulling the covers over herself, which was difficult with her wings. She just wanted to disappear. Then she heard a few knocks on the door. "Bird? You okay...?" Harmony, Jason's sister and one of Nightbird's close friends asked on the other side.

Nightbird stayed silent, hoping she'd go away if she pretended she was asleep. Harmony called again a few times, then gave up and walked back downstairs. The mutant lynx sniffled and buried her face in her pink and patterned blanket. Horrible was an understatement on how she felt at the moment. A mix of emotions flooded her body; pain, stress, rage, sadness, shock, betrayal...mostly rage right now.

Eventually, she fell asleep with dried tears on her fur.

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The next morning, Nightbird reluctantly got up, stretching out her wings before standing. She walked out into the hallway, going downstairs, wings limp behind her. "Hey guys," she mumbled as she rubbed her eye.

"Hey Bird," Jason greeted, glancing up from his phone to look at her. Nightshadow was sprawled lazily on the couch next to Harmony, who gave her a worried look. "You okay sis?" the wolf asked. Nightbird nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded, sitting on the floor as she wasn't very hungry. Harmony made a skeptical expression but nodded a bit, going back to watching the television. Nightshadow was half asleep so she didn't hear a word any of them said.

The day went pretty normally for the group, actually. Nightbird was acting a lot more drained and numb though, losing interest in a lot of things she used to immediately join and frequently hiding in another room or the bathroom. This time it was during training. She didn't have the energy to spar, so she slipped away and went into the bathroom as an excuse, sighing as she leaned against the door. Nightbird was still upset, unable to shake the memories from yesterday. She looked over into the mirror. Immediately she couldn't stand to see the look in her own eyes and swiftly turned away. She felt ashamed when she saw her reflection and didn't understand why.

"Kill her," came a voice in the back of her head. Nightbird tensed. "Kill her. Kill her and get revenge. She's hurt you so bad. It's only polite you hurt her back." Nightbird sniffled. Yes, she had killed people before, but only criminals and bad guys. Never had she even thought of murdering an ex-friend...but now that she thought about it...

-12:09 AM-

Nightbird snuck out of her window, making sure to be silent and not drop anything. A box of matches was hanging on her belt, for later. She spread her wings and took off into the sky, repeating Carolyne's address in her mind (she had visited her home before for a hangout). It wasn't too far, maybe a few miles?

Nightbird dropped down over a gas station, hopping off the roof of the building onto the concrete and running out to the stations. She silently prayed for there to be a gas can somewhere she could use. After searching around the building, she found two. Perfect.

At around 12:24 she reached Carolyne's house. The car wasn't in the driveway, so the brunette was home alone. Good. Thankfully they didn't have a pet so the mutant didn't have to worry about a dog or cat blowing her cover. She flew up to the roof of the smaller home, landing quietly. As she worked on splashing the chemical around the house, the scene from the other day replayed in her mind. She then realized how toxic Carolyne really was upon remembering what she had done before that confrontation. A grin played across her muzzle at the thought of having one less toxic person in the state.

After using up the two gas cans, she flew back down to the front yard and struck a match, walking to the wooden steps and crouching down, laying the flame near a small stream of the chemical. She then bolted out into the road and took off, flying away a good distance, before turning to watch the house burn with Carolyne in it.

In less than a few minutes the place erupted into flames. Nightbird grinned happily, picking up on Carolyne's panicked screams from inside the home. She then flew off back to her own home, feeling less sad than she was before.

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(Sorry if this part's kind of sloppy and unfinished, I was tired and spitballing the ideas according to how my brain badly remembered them. Carolyne is strongly based off a person in real life that hurt me emotionally, broke my trust, spread rumors about me, and lied about my parents to my face. Thankfully I haven't seen nor talked to her in two years.

Okay I'm gonna leave this here before I end up ranting about her. I'll edit the chapter later when I'm not tired)