xx ever [s e a r c h i n g] eyes

[Shattered]

xx s h a t t e r e d s k y

[/color]

There she stood, the land stretched out before her, and her eyes ever searching. How long had it been since her paws had walked upon the lucious fields of the former ValleyClan territory? It hurt her head just thinking about the days that had disappeared and that she would never see again. She was no longer a kit, but the days had been kind to her; she had blossomed into a pretty little thing, an almost exact image of her famous grandfather, but with piercing sea-foam green eyes instead of emerald. She changed her name too in tradition with the old ways, to Shatteredsky. It seemed almost suitable for such a dreary, rain-filled morning. She was looking for something in particular, something she could reach out to, but not take back with her: her family. There were her parents, and her brother. Were they alive, or had the countless lonely days claimed them?

Shatteredsky knew she mustn't hope for much. These days, murder and death were as common as a blue sky or a white cloud. She had been lucky not yo have seen such a fate. One drop of rain landed next to her. Plaugekit. Another drop. Morninglight. Another. Hauntedstar. Drops kept coming, and those names she repeated, and their faces she kept as only mere images in her head.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[[don't]fear[the]reaper]

and.teach.me.wrong.from.right.and.i'll.show.you.what.i.can.be

Plaguestrike felt the presence of another cat on the barren plateau that rainy morn. It was a familiar presence, one he wasn't quite used to for a while, but as normal to him as the feel of wind in his brown-creme tabby fur. He glanced up from the shallow scrape of a den he'd been using for the past few months, and saw what he'd both been dreading and hoping for.

Shatteredkit. His sister.

Or, to be more precise, his half-sister.

The fact still hurt Plaguestrike. Shattered had been the only one he'd really been close to as a kit, and the discovery that they weren't even fully related had hurt. It had stung him for a while, but after a time, he'd began to feel whole again. Oh yes, there was still a piece missing from his heart, but it was small and of little consequence.

You see, Plaguestrike had found his real father, Abyssfang, and had been thoroughly disgusted by him. How could he be related to such a chauvanistic, brutal, murderous tom? But, eventually, it had come to him:
Plague had never been good. He was bad, inherently, and now, he was beyond redemption.

But that was nothing to discuss with Shatteredkit. No need to talk about what he'd done that night. So instead, he let out a friendly meow.
"Shatteredkit? That you?"

[and you thought he was dead!]

[Shattered]

xx s h a t t e r e d s k y

[/right][/color]

The ever searching eyes looked up. She saw what appeared to be a ghost, an older ghost of her brother Plaguekit. He had seemed almost exactly the same, only older, with the same pale eyes and the same tone of voice that she knew so well. "Shatteredkit? That you?" Yes, the voice was unmistakenly his, for no one but her brother could sound both brave and frightened at the same time.

She blinked slowly, not sure what to say. Her limbs had frozen too, so she couldn't move away from the ghost or even come closer to make sure it was really him. But his scent drifted toward her, and even through the light rain, she could tell the scent was his. Do ghosts have scents, she wondered, but even if it was a ghost, it was still her brother. . . one she had been looking for on that very plateau.

"Yes," she replied in a small, feeble voice that didn't suit her, "And is that really you, Plaguekit? It's been so long, and maybe you're just a ghost, and I'm only seeing you because I want to see you." She at last moved closer. "Is it you?"[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[[don't]fear[the]reaper]

"Plaguestrike now," Came the slightly-proud answer from the tom as he descended from the hillcrest to his sister's side. "I s'pose you have a new name too, Shatteredkit?" He asked in the same quiet voice he'd had since kithood.

Plaguestrike wasn't dumb, or deaf, or the silent type, either. He'd just been.... doubtful as a kit, about his parents and his family and such. Now that those feelings were confirmed, his confidence had plumetted still further. What else had he not been told? Did Shatteredkit know? Should he tell her, if she didn't?

Well, that only seemed fair, he reasoned. It wasn't right, knowing something and lying to the one cat who'd always been there for him since birth.

But was now the time to broach that topic? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

"Sis, I've got something.... some things to tell you. But you have to promise me you'll love me just the same, alright?" The first words were spoken gently, but that last sentence had come out swiftly, almost garbled. Even if he was evil, a demon in cat's fur, Plaguestrike still needed love and a warm body to comfort him.

Right?

[Shattered]

xx s h a t t e r e d s k y

[/right][/color]

Plaugestrike? It suited him well, but Shatteredsky had always wondered if her brother would've changed his name as a whole. He had always said that Plaguekit had been a terrible name, but it had been a name so he must've gotten used to it. "I'm Shatteredsky," she said, "I named myself. You probably did too, huh?" And she chuckled a little, but saw the seriousness that was plastered all over his face.

"Sis, I've got something.... some things to tell you. But you have to promise me you'll love me just the same, alright?" His words frightened her; what could he possibly tell her? Did he finally know the truth, the reasoning behind why their parents were always so cautious of him? She stepped a little closer to him. "Yes, of course," she said quietly, "I will always love you, Plaguestrike. You are my brother."[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[[don't]fear[the]reaper]

Plaguestrike shuffled his paws nervously. Well, that was heartwarming, what Shatteredsky had said. But, still....

Well, he had said he'd tell her, hadn't he?

So he began.

"Well, after we left Scarface's den that night, remember how we got seperated?" The brown-and-creme tabby said in his quiet voice. "I decided to go and look for the Answer." That part needed little explanation between the two siblings. The Answer meant the answer as to why Morninglight [their mother] and Hauntedstar [Shattered's father and Plague's stepfather] had so hated him. "I found it. Hauntedstar isn't.... he's not my dad. Abyssfang is. Or rather, was." Plaguestrike suppressed the urge to grin at that.

They'd been raised with the threat of Abyssfang in their minds. Morninglight had never ceased to warn them of the villianous tom. But never had they been told exactly how she knew of his evil.

"He... he raped Mom, Shatteredsky." Plaguestrike said angrily, a growl creeping into his voice. "And he didn't care. He was happy to see me, wanted to train me to be just like him." The tom shuddered suddenly, then continued, his voice low and choked with a mixture of rage and regret.

"I killed him."