sʜᴇʟʟ sʜᴏᴄᴋ [warrior cat fanfiction]

chapter two.

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❝ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ ❞

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Larkthroat wanderer through the forest. It was his safe place. He heaved a long sigh, the air rushing from his lungs like a great wave. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, letting the sun warm his furred cheeks. After a few glorious moments of golden warmth, a cloud passed over the sun and he was left standing in shade. After the sunshine, it was colder than normal.

He shivered and opened his eyes. I should hunt. That will prove to Brambleback that I can take care of myself and the Clan at the same time. He repeated this to himself many times as he stood there, ears angled in different directions to try and find a prey-scent. After most of the hunters had died in the war, now even warriors had the responsibility of hunting.

He would carry the responsibility.

The brown-eared warrior opened his jaws and tasted the air. The musky scent of mouse filled his jaws. He followed the scent. A small, bald tail whipped out of sight and into a clump of ferns to the side of the path.

Larkthroat's tail flicked in excitement. He pounced, not bothering to check how close he was to the mouse. But before his back legs even lifted off the ground, it fled into a bramble, squeaking furiously.

Disappointment filled Larkthroat's belly like stones. It weighed him down and made him feel uncomfortable. "Fox-dung!" he hissed. It was an easy kill, and of course he had missed it. Once chance. Now there was nothing.

"You need a little help?"

Larkthroat glanced up. "No," he snapped, turning away from his clanmate.

Her breathing stayed prominent behind him.

"What do you want, Juniperhiss?!" he growled, his back arched away from her.

"Look at me, Larkthroat." Her voice was commanding but not unkind. Something in it urged Larkthroat to turn around. And so he turned. The blue-grey form of his hunter clanmate stood resolute behind him, looking more blue than usual against the mellow greens of the forest.

"I know it's hard for you, Larkthroat. We all lost cats," she meowed.

Larkthroat felt anger wash through him, realizing she was going to say he was being over dramatic and that everyone was suffering and he didn't matter. But he was taken by surprise when -

"But you lost more than us. Even if the other cats don't think that it's valid, I promise I do." Juniperhiss's normally sharp expression seemed to have melted into one of concern. "Please," she begged. "Open up to us. To me. I just want to help you."

Larkthroat was silent. Mixed emotions swirled inside him but one of them was clear. "So the other cats really do talk about me behind my back! They think I'm not good enough! They think I'm overreacting!" His eyes became wild, his senses lost control. "I hate all of you. I thought Wrenshade, Orchidnose, Petalpaw, Glacierpaw, and Snowfox meant something to the Clan. I guess I was wrong."

He turned away from her, sweeping his tail across the ground and making leaves whirl in the air.

"You're wrong," Juniperhiss whispered at his receding form. "Some of us do care."

He pretended not to hear.