Post by tiger beetle on Oct 3, 2016 19:50:19 GMT -5
Don't post here; it would be necroposting.
WARNING: death/killing
note: zero editing; I slapped this down and posted it
why you should read this: I don't know but it won a Tuesday challenge
I wrote this forever ago, but I still think it's the best thing I've ever written.
***
Finally fixed that broken image link.
***
Twitch would do anything for Peony.
It wasn't as if Peony couldn't hunt for herself. She was as capable as any cat. It was just that Twitch didn't want her to have to.
Neither ever went hungry for long. Leafbare's scarce prey sometimes left their bellies growling for a day or two, but they made an excellent team. When worst came to worst they would navigate out of the woods, over the bridge, and into the city where Twolegs left scraps of food lying around.
The forest here was plentiful in greenleaf. Occasionally there would be trouble with a badger or a sick fox or something, but Twitch was a skilled climber, and Peony could leap--Twitch claimed--higher than any other cat in the forest. Nothing could pursue them in the trees.
Nothing but another cat.
***
They were friends from the beginning.
"Peony's opened her eyes now," Blackcurrant announced, her voice soft and soothing.
"Peony," squeaked Twitch. "What color?"
Her mother closed her pale green eyes, purring. "She is still young, Twitch. Her eyes are stormy blue like yours."
Stormy blue, Twitch knew, was the color of both of her brothers' eyes. But many of the older cats she had seen had different colors. Her own mother's were green, just like those of Peony's mother, Heather. Frost's eyes were a pale sky blue; Copper's eyes were piercing and yellowish; Sable's were a brilliant copper.
"That's boring," said Twitch.
But Peony didn't think her eyes were boring. Peony was amazed. "They match," she said a few days later.
"Huh?"
"Your eyes. And Arum's, and Opal's, and my siblings' and mine."
"I guess." Twitch secretly hoped her eyes would be golden one day. Blackcurrant said they would probably be green, since her father's eyes had been green, too, but she still hoped.
***
Twitch's eyes were indeed green. But so were Peony's.
Their eyes changed color gradually. Twitch could not see her own eyes clearly in her reflection; they were always distorted, and the drinking stream's water was shallow and clear enough to see all the way to the pebbles and mud at the bottom. Other cats usually said Twitch's eyes were a bit darker and Peony's a bit yellower, but Hedgehog had said once that they were the same shade.
Twitch chose to believe Hedgehog.
***
Blackcurrant and Heather taught them how to fight.
"You need to focus, Flaxseed," said Heather, patting a paw on the ground before her daughter. "This is an important skill."
"I won't need to fight if I have everyone else," Flaxseed muttered.
"You may not have us forever."
Flaxseed grudgingly stood up. "Well, I need to see the move again. I don't know it so well yet."
"It's not that hard. Watch." Peony tackled Arum. The tips of her claws caught on tufts of long staticky black fur.
"Be careful, Peony," warned Heather.
"I didn't hurt him."
"Your claws are long and sharp. Battle is a very dangerous thing. You should have your claws fully sheathed."
"They wouldn't be sheathed in a real battle, and I didn't hurt him," mewed Peony. "If this were a real battle, I could have killed him right then."
"Restraint is an important skill to learn," said Blackcurrant. "Killing should be no more than a last resort."
"It's not every cat who can forgive themselves for a kill, even in self-defense," Heather meowed.
***
"I think I could do it."
"What?" Twitch rolled to her paws. "Kill a cat?"
"You don't think badly of me, do you?" Peony's green eyes--just like Twitch's--were pleading.
"No, no, of course not," Twitch promised. "But I don't think I could."
"If they're your enemy, then there's nothing to feel bad over," said Peony. "It's something that needs to be done sometimes. Sometimes…you have to use real force. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
Twitch didn't understand. Of course, she knew the meaning of Peony's words; she was not confused. But she could not imagine killing another cat. Maybe in the heat of the moment, but then she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life.
***
"You're growing into a wonderful hunter," said Reed. He had long canine teeth that poked from his mouth even when it was closed.
She felt herself glow with pride. "Peony and I have been practicing," Twitch mewed.
The old gray cat nodded absentmindedly. "She could use it."
"Peony's a great hunter. She's been helping me," said Twitch, drawing back defensively.
"She is resourceful, but she pays little mind to it."
"You can't--"
"Do not think that I speak badly of her," he rasped. "I only worry for the future. It will not be long now until we must go our separate ways."
Twitch bristled. "Peony is a better hunter than me," she snapped, turning and stalking away.
It did not come naturally to her to place any cat's skill above her own.
***
To tell the truth, Twitch did not enjoy hunting. She took great pleasure in the strategy of it. Staying downwind, treading lightly, swiftly, surely over the ground, avoiding twigs and dried leaves, pouncing just right. But Twitch hated killing the prey.
She thought sometimes she might not be cut out to be a wild cat. Hunting was the most essential part of life out here. Other times she thought more logically; she could kill when she had to, and the reward was great.
Blackcurrant and Heather had been friends for a long time. They and their mates lived in a little alcove in the rocky outcroppings near the riverbank, just far enough from the shore that it would not flood. The other cats had scattered dens nearby. Twitch didn't know exactly where some of them lived, though she could have sniffed them out had she been interested.
Unfortunately, with every mouth to feed, the forest's prey was spread thinner. So once the kittens were properly trained--a matter every cat had pitched in to support--they would strike off on their own.
Arum said he had friends farther south. Opal wanted to cross the river. Flaxseed and Minnow planned to travel east.
Twitch would go with Peony.
***
They made a nest not far from the same river. Nearby was a Twoleg bridge. This new nest was within three days' travel of their old home, though just barely.
Here they could hunt more freely, and the prey supply would not wear quite so thin.
The worst thing about living in the new nest had nothing to do with the territory or the distance from home. Twitch was not sure what was wrong. It was an awful pinchy sensation in her paws, as if something terrible was going to happen. But nothing really ever happened here.
***
There was only ever one rabid fox in this neck of the woods that Twitch knew of. She and Peony heard it baying long before it arrived, and it wasn't in the right state of mind to find them, much less to reach them up high in the trees.
Peony taunted it from the branches.
Twitch was ready to protect her. To throw herself in front of the fox's jaws if it struck.
But it didn't strike. It was upset. In pain. Twitch felt sorry for it.
Peony didn't.
***
"Too slow," laughed the cat on the fence. The mouse tumbled from his jaws down onto the other side.
Peony growled a word Twitch herself would never say.
The cat on the fence huffed, offended, muzzle puckering. "Well, I outran you."
"Get down here," Peony commanded. She dropped down, shifted her hind paws, and sprang up to the top of the fence.
"This isn't your fence to climb," he meowed. Twitch did not like his voice. It was loud and strident. He looked uncomfortable, curving away from Peony.
"That wasn't your mouse to eat," she hissed, thrusting her muzzle into his face.
He took a step back, one paw sliding from the fence, and toppled down. "You're a birdbrain," he called. Twitch could not see him, but she relaxed at the sound of his voice.
"Landed on his paws," muttered Peony as she hopped back to where Twitch stood. "The mouse was pretty much mush, too, all broken and nasty."
"Well, he's not going to be bothering us again anytime soon," said Twitch. "Don't worry about it."
***
Twitch was almost correct. The mouse thief was an indoor-outdoor pet cat named Osprey, and while he never tried to take their prey again, they lived close enough to his home that he would sometimes show up to talk to them.
Peony didn't like him. Twitch had grown familiar with his company, although she wished he would speak less.
***
It was really only after Peony got sick that Twitch got overprotective.
She wasn't sick for very long, but Twitch didn't know how to heal her. Osprey twisted up his nose and said there were plants in his garden if she wasn't too proud. He said he was an expert on their healing value: they had none.
It was probably just a passing cold. Peony recovered within a week. During that time Twitch hunted all the prey for the two of them. Osprey's yammering didn't help her focus, but it was a welcome distraction from the fear boiling in her stomach that Peony might die. It was almost comforting that he could still find so much to say about so little.
"I'm feeling better," Peony assured her, not for the first time.
Twitch shoved a mouse toward her. "You need to eat."
"I can hunt."
"You can hunt when you're healthy."
"I'm fine."
***
Then the other cats came.
Osprey was obnoxious, but he was harmless. These cats were far more dangerous.
"Stay away," hissed Peony. "This is our forest."
"It's ours just as much as yours," growled the pale cream tabby.
"We need this forest. We were here first." Twitch pushed in front of Peony. "Find your own hunting grounds."
"The way I see it, there are more of us than there are of you," meowed a black cat.
Peony padded forward around Twitch. "We will never give up our forest."
Twitch hoped it would not come to battle. She was not a very good fighter.
The other cats stood around for a bit, holding their offensive postures and refusing to offer any politeness. Twitch positioned herself between them and Peony whenever she could.
The newcomers left their clearing alone soon.
***
They did not leave the forest.
Sand and the other three stole prey sometimes. Unlike Osprey they actually ate it. They hunted their own as well.
Twitch and Peony had to thank the sky for bringing such a mild leafbare. The prey ran scarce now that six mouths devoured it, but no cat starved to death.
Twitch got into a few scrapes with the cats. Peony never did. Twitch kept them away. She lost half an ear to the massive black tom, the one who reminded her of Blackcurrant.
She fought only defensively. She did not go after the invaders. She would not allow them to hurt Peony, but she would not initiate battle.
Weak.
***
"I said give it back," snarled Peony.
The pale tabby cat, whom Twitch had come to know as Sand, flashed a look over his shoulder. He clutched a fat squirrel in his jaws and could not speak around it.
Peony launched herself at him. "You asked for this!"
"Wait, Peony," gasped Twitch, charging after her best friend.
Sand writhed beneath his assailant's paws. He was a small cat with little power behind his claws.
"Okay, okay, take it back," he sputtered, bloody squirrel falling to the ground.
"Get out of our home," snarled Peony.
"Wait," said Twitch.
Peony drew back a paw and slammed it down onto Sand's throat. "You don't belong here, and you never have."
"Peony, we can't just kill him," Twitch whimpered.
"Sometimes you have to use real force," said Peony. There was a pause. "You think I'm a terrible cat."
"No," said Twitch. "I just couldn't do it."
"Maybe it's morals," said Peony. "You have better morals than me."
"No," said Twitch again. "It's not morals. You are a stronger cat than I am."
***
"I can't pretend I'll miss you," Twitch murmured.
Sand's body was a pitiful sight, especially now that he had been here an hour or two. It reeked of death.
"You were a jerk. I will never care that you're dead. It's only…"
Twitch hesitated. This was not the most heartfelt eulogy ever given, but she had held no love for the little dead tom, and that would not change in death.
"I do feel bad that you died. I don't want anyone to die. But you understand, it had to be done."
She was mostly trying to convince herself at this point.
***
Twitch curled against Peony's side. She woke to a reddening sky as the sun touched the horizon. Soon it would be night.
"I'm going out hunting, then," she said.
Why was her voice so hollow?
She knew why.
It was because she was weak, she thought, lashing her tail.
Peony might laugh at her if she admitted this. Peony would never laugh at her. Twitch knew that. But still--she might.
Twitch was walking in circles. Small, tight circles. The ground was soft and soothing between her toes.
She stopped.
"Who's there?" she hissed.
"Are you okay?" mewed Peony, green eyes wide and warm, warm enough to dissolve the tightness in Twitch's chest. "You seem upset."
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Her friend padded closer. She had seen this look in Peony's eyes many times. "Is it about Sand?"
"No."
Peony didn't look convinced, but she slowly blinked her eyes, lowering her muzzle. "If you would ever like to talk about it, then I'll talk to you," she mewed, "but I'm going hunting for now."
"I'll go with you." Twitch scrambled after Peony. She would hunt, and that would help. She would clear her head, and soon she would be strong.
They did not see the three cats that day, or the next day, or the day after that. The horrible tingling in Twitch's paws was back full force.
***
The invaders were not gone.
"There you are," growled the gray invader. He was a bigger cat than Sand had been, but he was not impressive. He was only slightly taller than Twitch.
She did not know his name or the name of the massive black tom beside him. "Yes, I am here," she said, unsure. She could not defeat both cats in a battle.
"You killed Sand," stated the black tom.
She blinked. Not a slow, reassuring blink, but a quick blink that made her whiskers jump. "It wasn--yes."
The two cats exchanged glances. Twitch could feel the heat from their expressions. It crackled in the air and made her ears buzz. As they turned back to her, disgusted, she turned and fled.
***
It was not long before she and Peony had another encounter with the rogues.
The white she-cat stood her ground and fought.
Twitch hung back at first. She did not want to fight. Peony was a capable fighter. She had killed Sand. She was much stronger than Twitch.
Then Twitch saw the blood on the white cat's claws, the blood seeping from Peony's fur.
This was not acceptable.
Twitch lunged forward, caught the white she-cat about the neck, and slammed her to the ground.
Peony leapt toward them and drew her claws down the white cat's belly. Twitch prepared to strike.
And froze, fangs bared.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill this cat.
Peony knocked her aside, delivering the killing blow.
***
"Was it really worth it?" snarled the black tom.
"What are you talking about?" Twitch hissed.
"Killing Sand and Rye." He stormed toward her. "You've changed so much."
"I haven't changed at all," she spat. "This is who I am, and this is who I've always been."
"Not the Twitch I knew."
"You've been stealing our food."
The already gigantic tom doubled in size, his fur rising. "That is no excuse for murder."
"I'll fight you, too." Her threat fell flat as her jaw tightened. She could barely form the words.
He curled his lip, drew back a paw, and whacked her across the muzzle. His needle-sharp claws tore into her, and she felt the blood bubbling out of her whiskerpads, hot as the air before lightning, just like when this cat and the gray one had stared at each other, just like--
"Arum."
He stared at her in disbelief. "Of course it's me. You didn't recognize me?" His gaze hardened again. "Twitch, you are not the same. You have changed. You and Peony both."
"I'm only doing what I have to."
"You never had to kill."
"Yes, I did."
He stood stock-still, towering over her. His green eyes, so like Blackcurrant's, radiated disappointment. "You are not my sister."
"You are not my brother."
He hesitated for a long moment, then bared his teeth. "Scram."
"This is Peony's forest."
"This is everyone's forest. It was Sand's, too, and Rye's. And Fog and I will continue to live here."
"It's Peony's forest," she insisted, lifting her muzzle.
He advanced on her again, and Twitch lost her nerve. She ran away again.
Still weak.
***
Not so weak that she had not improved. She managed to chase Fog away.
Peony smelled the blood, but Twitch didn't tell her anything about the fight.
Peony didn't need to know how weak she was.
***
She would get stronger.
Twitch clawed at the trunk of the birch tree. It creaked, and the branches shuddered awkwardly. The tree did not sway. She did no damage.
"I hate you," she hissed. She thought of the tree as her enemy. This was Fog. This was Arum. This was a cat trying to hurt Peony.
The tree withstood every strike of her barrage. Twitch was too weak to fight an inanimate tree. Her paws throbbed. Her gums stung.
So instead she thrashed a bush. Its twigs and thorns stabbed at her skin, sharp as any cat's claws, but when Twitch was finished, several of its branches were snapped, and its leaves littered the floor.
"What are you doing?" said Osprey.
She had nearly forgotten he existed.
"Practicing," she snarled. It came out much more harshly than she had intended.
"Fighting trees," he said, and beneath his foghorn tones she could hear his fear.
"I can't practice on a cat," she pointed out, voice cracking. She would never be able to do any of that to a cat.
***
But she was.
Fog had Peony by the shoulders, his claws digging in deep, his back paws on her soft belly, and Peony was howling, and his teeth were in her fur.
The moment she saw what was happening, Twitch was at his throat. Fog was powerful, but he was unprepared.
Her claws tore into his flesh, again and again. She hated the feeling--it made her angry--angry enough to keep clawing, deeper and deeper.
"Dead once is dead enough," said Peony.
Twitch looked up. "He was hurting you," she snarled.
Peony nodded, looking a bit embarrassed. "Thank you for saving me."
Wasn't Peony going to be upset? Wasn't she going to yell? Twitch had just killed a cat in front of her, and she didn't even mind. She wasn't even upset about his attack in the first place.
The tightness in her paws was unbearable now. It was like vines twisting around them. Pain lanced through her legs with every step she took.
But she was strong now, strong enough to kill.
***
None of it was fair.
Twitch threw herself at the bush, ripping at it, wrenching at it, tearing its leaves and bark to shreds.
Why did it have to be her protecting Peony? Surely any other cat would do the same.
Arum was right. Twitch was not the same. But that must have been a good thing. This was the best way to be. The world was finally right.
She had to believe that was true.
***
"So I heard you killed someone," Osprey said warily. He perched again on his fence.
"I had to."
"Uh-huh." He leaned back, careful to keep a strong grip on the fence.
"I did."
His eyes flashed. "You don't even care?"
A chill shot through her chest. "Of course I care. I saved Peony." She kept her tone guarded.
"You don't even feel any remorse."
The tightness finally left. It left her muscles limp and her head and tail low. "I…cannot."
He sighed, straightened up, said, "Well, I guess that's that, then," and slipped back down on his side of the fence.
"Come back," she pleaded.
He didn't respond. She scrambled up the fence to see him slinking into his cat-door.
He was gone.
***
"You've been missing all day," said Peony. "Did you know that black cat left?"
"That was Arum."
"Your brother, Arum?"
"Yeah." The day was warm, but Twitch was cold. "I need to sleep." She would never get to sleep; her thoughts were like the river during a flood.
"Well, he left for good. We're alone now."
Twitch tried to smile. "That's good."
"You're upset," said Peony.
"No," said Twitch. "I don't have time to be upset."
She was strong now, but the price was steep.
Maybe in the end this had not been worth it.
But it had to be. For Peony.
***
[cats]
Arum - black longhair; green eyes; tom
Blackcurrant - black longhair; green eyes; she-cat
Copper - ginger tabby; green eyes; tom
Flaxseed - cream mackerel tabby; green eyes; she-cat
Fog - gray longhair; copper eyes; tom
Frost - gray and white; blue eyes
Heather - gray-and-cream mackerel tabby; green eyes; she-cat
Hedgehog - gray herringbone tabby and white; copper eyes; tom
Minnow - cream tabby; green eyes
Opal - black; green eyes; tom
Osprey - black and white; yellow eyes; tom; light purple collar
Peony - ginger mackerel tabby; green eyes; she-cat
Rye - white; blue eyes; she-cat
Reed - gray; yellow eyes; tom
Sable - black; copper eyes
Sand - pale cream tabby; yellow eyes; tom
Twitch - black longhair; green eyes; she-cat
***
This story was originally not going to be written out like this. It was going to be a comic. Today (um, not the real today anymore), I sat down at the computer and started writing. Maybe someday a comic similar to this will be made. No promises.
A couple lines of dialogue here are (technically paraphrased but as close as I could remember) from a conversation I had once. The rest of the story took shape from there. It stewed in my mind for a long time before I actually wrote it. Characters were named last minute as I wrote the story, but Arum being first and Twitch being last alphabetically was on purpose. No real significance to that except that it is, though.
WARNING: death/killing
note: zero editing; I slapped this down and posted it
why you should read this: I don't know but it won a Tuesday challenge
I wrote this forever ago, but I still think it's the best thing I've ever written.
***
Finally fixed that broken image link.
***
Twitch would do anything for Peony.
It wasn't as if Peony couldn't hunt for herself. She was as capable as any cat. It was just that Twitch didn't want her to have to.
Neither ever went hungry for long. Leafbare's scarce prey sometimes left their bellies growling for a day or two, but they made an excellent team. When worst came to worst they would navigate out of the woods, over the bridge, and into the city where Twolegs left scraps of food lying around.
The forest here was plentiful in greenleaf. Occasionally there would be trouble with a badger or a sick fox or something, but Twitch was a skilled climber, and Peony could leap--Twitch claimed--higher than any other cat in the forest. Nothing could pursue them in the trees.
Nothing but another cat.
***
They were friends from the beginning.
"Peony's opened her eyes now," Blackcurrant announced, her voice soft and soothing.
"Peony," squeaked Twitch. "What color?"
Her mother closed her pale green eyes, purring. "She is still young, Twitch. Her eyes are stormy blue like yours."
Stormy blue, Twitch knew, was the color of both of her brothers' eyes. But many of the older cats she had seen had different colors. Her own mother's were green, just like those of Peony's mother, Heather. Frost's eyes were a pale sky blue; Copper's eyes were piercing and yellowish; Sable's were a brilliant copper.
"That's boring," said Twitch.
But Peony didn't think her eyes were boring. Peony was amazed. "They match," she said a few days later.
"Huh?"
"Your eyes. And Arum's, and Opal's, and my siblings' and mine."
"I guess." Twitch secretly hoped her eyes would be golden one day. Blackcurrant said they would probably be green, since her father's eyes had been green, too, but she still hoped.
***
Twitch's eyes were indeed green. But so were Peony's.
Their eyes changed color gradually. Twitch could not see her own eyes clearly in her reflection; they were always distorted, and the drinking stream's water was shallow and clear enough to see all the way to the pebbles and mud at the bottom. Other cats usually said Twitch's eyes were a bit darker and Peony's a bit yellower, but Hedgehog had said once that they were the same shade.
Twitch chose to believe Hedgehog.
***
Blackcurrant and Heather taught them how to fight.
"You need to focus, Flaxseed," said Heather, patting a paw on the ground before her daughter. "This is an important skill."
"I won't need to fight if I have everyone else," Flaxseed muttered.
"You may not have us forever."
Flaxseed grudgingly stood up. "Well, I need to see the move again. I don't know it so well yet."
"It's not that hard. Watch." Peony tackled Arum. The tips of her claws caught on tufts of long staticky black fur.
"Be careful, Peony," warned Heather.
"I didn't hurt him."
"Your claws are long and sharp. Battle is a very dangerous thing. You should have your claws fully sheathed."
"They wouldn't be sheathed in a real battle, and I didn't hurt him," mewed Peony. "If this were a real battle, I could have killed him right then."
"Restraint is an important skill to learn," said Blackcurrant. "Killing should be no more than a last resort."
"It's not every cat who can forgive themselves for a kill, even in self-defense," Heather meowed.
***
"I think I could do it."
"What?" Twitch rolled to her paws. "Kill a cat?"
"You don't think badly of me, do you?" Peony's green eyes--just like Twitch's--were pleading.
"No, no, of course not," Twitch promised. "But I don't think I could."
"If they're your enemy, then there's nothing to feel bad over," said Peony. "It's something that needs to be done sometimes. Sometimes…you have to use real force. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
Twitch didn't understand. Of course, she knew the meaning of Peony's words; she was not confused. But she could not imagine killing another cat. Maybe in the heat of the moment, but then she knew she would regret it for the rest of her life.
***
"You're growing into a wonderful hunter," said Reed. He had long canine teeth that poked from his mouth even when it was closed.
She felt herself glow with pride. "Peony and I have been practicing," Twitch mewed.
The old gray cat nodded absentmindedly. "She could use it."
"Peony's a great hunter. She's been helping me," said Twitch, drawing back defensively.
"She is resourceful, but she pays little mind to it."
"You can't--"
"Do not think that I speak badly of her," he rasped. "I only worry for the future. It will not be long now until we must go our separate ways."
Twitch bristled. "Peony is a better hunter than me," she snapped, turning and stalking away.
It did not come naturally to her to place any cat's skill above her own.
***
To tell the truth, Twitch did not enjoy hunting. She took great pleasure in the strategy of it. Staying downwind, treading lightly, swiftly, surely over the ground, avoiding twigs and dried leaves, pouncing just right. But Twitch hated killing the prey.
She thought sometimes she might not be cut out to be a wild cat. Hunting was the most essential part of life out here. Other times she thought more logically; she could kill when she had to, and the reward was great.
Blackcurrant and Heather had been friends for a long time. They and their mates lived in a little alcove in the rocky outcroppings near the riverbank, just far enough from the shore that it would not flood. The other cats had scattered dens nearby. Twitch didn't know exactly where some of them lived, though she could have sniffed them out had she been interested.
Unfortunately, with every mouth to feed, the forest's prey was spread thinner. So once the kittens were properly trained--a matter every cat had pitched in to support--they would strike off on their own.
Arum said he had friends farther south. Opal wanted to cross the river. Flaxseed and Minnow planned to travel east.
Twitch would go with Peony.
***
They made a nest not far from the same river. Nearby was a Twoleg bridge. This new nest was within three days' travel of their old home, though just barely.
Here they could hunt more freely, and the prey supply would not wear quite so thin.
The worst thing about living in the new nest had nothing to do with the territory or the distance from home. Twitch was not sure what was wrong. It was an awful pinchy sensation in her paws, as if something terrible was going to happen. But nothing really ever happened here.
***
There was only ever one rabid fox in this neck of the woods that Twitch knew of. She and Peony heard it baying long before it arrived, and it wasn't in the right state of mind to find them, much less to reach them up high in the trees.
Peony taunted it from the branches.
Twitch was ready to protect her. To throw herself in front of the fox's jaws if it struck.
But it didn't strike. It was upset. In pain. Twitch felt sorry for it.
Peony didn't.
***
"Too slow," laughed the cat on the fence. The mouse tumbled from his jaws down onto the other side.
Peony growled a word Twitch herself would never say.
The cat on the fence huffed, offended, muzzle puckering. "Well, I outran you."
"Get down here," Peony commanded. She dropped down, shifted her hind paws, and sprang up to the top of the fence.
"This isn't your fence to climb," he meowed. Twitch did not like his voice. It was loud and strident. He looked uncomfortable, curving away from Peony.
"That wasn't your mouse to eat," she hissed, thrusting her muzzle into his face.
He took a step back, one paw sliding from the fence, and toppled down. "You're a birdbrain," he called. Twitch could not see him, but she relaxed at the sound of his voice.
"Landed on his paws," muttered Peony as she hopped back to where Twitch stood. "The mouse was pretty much mush, too, all broken and nasty."
"Well, he's not going to be bothering us again anytime soon," said Twitch. "Don't worry about it."
***
Twitch was almost correct. The mouse thief was an indoor-outdoor pet cat named Osprey, and while he never tried to take their prey again, they lived close enough to his home that he would sometimes show up to talk to them.
Peony didn't like him. Twitch had grown familiar with his company, although she wished he would speak less.
***
It was really only after Peony got sick that Twitch got overprotective.
She wasn't sick for very long, but Twitch didn't know how to heal her. Osprey twisted up his nose and said there were plants in his garden if she wasn't too proud. He said he was an expert on their healing value: they had none.
It was probably just a passing cold. Peony recovered within a week. During that time Twitch hunted all the prey for the two of them. Osprey's yammering didn't help her focus, but it was a welcome distraction from the fear boiling in her stomach that Peony might die. It was almost comforting that he could still find so much to say about so little.
"I'm feeling better," Peony assured her, not for the first time.
Twitch shoved a mouse toward her. "You need to eat."
"I can hunt."
"You can hunt when you're healthy."
"I'm fine."
***
Then the other cats came.
Osprey was obnoxious, but he was harmless. These cats were far more dangerous.
"Stay away," hissed Peony. "This is our forest."
"It's ours just as much as yours," growled the pale cream tabby.
"We need this forest. We were here first." Twitch pushed in front of Peony. "Find your own hunting grounds."
"The way I see it, there are more of us than there are of you," meowed a black cat.
Peony padded forward around Twitch. "We will never give up our forest."
Twitch hoped it would not come to battle. She was not a very good fighter.
The other cats stood around for a bit, holding their offensive postures and refusing to offer any politeness. Twitch positioned herself between them and Peony whenever she could.
The newcomers left their clearing alone soon.
***
They did not leave the forest.
Sand and the other three stole prey sometimes. Unlike Osprey they actually ate it. They hunted their own as well.
Twitch and Peony had to thank the sky for bringing such a mild leafbare. The prey ran scarce now that six mouths devoured it, but no cat starved to death.
Twitch got into a few scrapes with the cats. Peony never did. Twitch kept them away. She lost half an ear to the massive black tom, the one who reminded her of Blackcurrant.
She fought only defensively. She did not go after the invaders. She would not allow them to hurt Peony, but she would not initiate battle.
Weak.
***
"I said give it back," snarled Peony.
The pale tabby cat, whom Twitch had come to know as Sand, flashed a look over his shoulder. He clutched a fat squirrel in his jaws and could not speak around it.
Peony launched herself at him. "You asked for this!"
"Wait, Peony," gasped Twitch, charging after her best friend.
Sand writhed beneath his assailant's paws. He was a small cat with little power behind his claws.
"Okay, okay, take it back," he sputtered, bloody squirrel falling to the ground.
"Get out of our home," snarled Peony.
"Wait," said Twitch.
Peony drew back a paw and slammed it down onto Sand's throat. "You don't belong here, and you never have."
"Peony, we can't just kill him," Twitch whimpered.
"Sometimes you have to use real force," said Peony. There was a pause. "You think I'm a terrible cat."
"No," said Twitch. "I just couldn't do it."
"Maybe it's morals," said Peony. "You have better morals than me."
"No," said Twitch again. "It's not morals. You are a stronger cat than I am."
***
"I can't pretend I'll miss you," Twitch murmured.
Sand's body was a pitiful sight, especially now that he had been here an hour or two. It reeked of death.
"You were a jerk. I will never care that you're dead. It's only…"
Twitch hesitated. This was not the most heartfelt eulogy ever given, but she had held no love for the little dead tom, and that would not change in death.
"I do feel bad that you died. I don't want anyone to die. But you understand, it had to be done."
She was mostly trying to convince herself at this point.
***
Twitch curled against Peony's side. She woke to a reddening sky as the sun touched the horizon. Soon it would be night.
"I'm going out hunting, then," she said.
Why was her voice so hollow?
She knew why.
It was because she was weak, she thought, lashing her tail.
Peony might laugh at her if she admitted this. Peony would never laugh at her. Twitch knew that. But still--she might.
Twitch was walking in circles. Small, tight circles. The ground was soft and soothing between her toes.
She stopped.
"Who's there?" she hissed.
"Are you okay?" mewed Peony, green eyes wide and warm, warm enough to dissolve the tightness in Twitch's chest. "You seem upset."
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Her friend padded closer. She had seen this look in Peony's eyes many times. "Is it about Sand?"
"No."
Peony didn't look convinced, but she slowly blinked her eyes, lowering her muzzle. "If you would ever like to talk about it, then I'll talk to you," she mewed, "but I'm going hunting for now."
"I'll go with you." Twitch scrambled after Peony. She would hunt, and that would help. She would clear her head, and soon she would be strong.
They did not see the three cats that day, or the next day, or the day after that. The horrible tingling in Twitch's paws was back full force.
***
The invaders were not gone.
"There you are," growled the gray invader. He was a bigger cat than Sand had been, but he was not impressive. He was only slightly taller than Twitch.
She did not know his name or the name of the massive black tom beside him. "Yes, I am here," she said, unsure. She could not defeat both cats in a battle.
"You killed Sand," stated the black tom.
She blinked. Not a slow, reassuring blink, but a quick blink that made her whiskers jump. "It wasn--yes."
The two cats exchanged glances. Twitch could feel the heat from their expressions. It crackled in the air and made her ears buzz. As they turned back to her, disgusted, she turned and fled.
***
It was not long before she and Peony had another encounter with the rogues.
The white she-cat stood her ground and fought.
Twitch hung back at first. She did not want to fight. Peony was a capable fighter. She had killed Sand. She was much stronger than Twitch.
Then Twitch saw the blood on the white cat's claws, the blood seeping from Peony's fur.
This was not acceptable.
Twitch lunged forward, caught the white she-cat about the neck, and slammed her to the ground.
Peony leapt toward them and drew her claws down the white cat's belly. Twitch prepared to strike.
And froze, fangs bared.
She couldn't do it. She couldn't kill this cat.
Peony knocked her aside, delivering the killing blow.
***
"Was it really worth it?" snarled the black tom.
"What are you talking about?" Twitch hissed.
"Killing Sand and Rye." He stormed toward her. "You've changed so much."
"I haven't changed at all," she spat. "This is who I am, and this is who I've always been."
"Not the Twitch I knew."
"You've been stealing our food."
The already gigantic tom doubled in size, his fur rising. "That is no excuse for murder."
"I'll fight you, too." Her threat fell flat as her jaw tightened. She could barely form the words.
He curled his lip, drew back a paw, and whacked her across the muzzle. His needle-sharp claws tore into her, and she felt the blood bubbling out of her whiskerpads, hot as the air before lightning, just like when this cat and the gray one had stared at each other, just like--
"Arum."
He stared at her in disbelief. "Of course it's me. You didn't recognize me?" His gaze hardened again. "Twitch, you are not the same. You have changed. You and Peony both."
"I'm only doing what I have to."
"You never had to kill."
"Yes, I did."
He stood stock-still, towering over her. His green eyes, so like Blackcurrant's, radiated disappointment. "You are not my sister."
"You are not my brother."
He hesitated for a long moment, then bared his teeth. "Scram."
"This is Peony's forest."
"This is everyone's forest. It was Sand's, too, and Rye's. And Fog and I will continue to live here."
"It's Peony's forest," she insisted, lifting her muzzle.
He advanced on her again, and Twitch lost her nerve. She ran away again.
Still weak.
***
Not so weak that she had not improved. She managed to chase Fog away.
Peony smelled the blood, but Twitch didn't tell her anything about the fight.
Peony didn't need to know how weak she was.
***
She would get stronger.
Twitch clawed at the trunk of the birch tree. It creaked, and the branches shuddered awkwardly. The tree did not sway. She did no damage.
"I hate you," she hissed. She thought of the tree as her enemy. This was Fog. This was Arum. This was a cat trying to hurt Peony.
The tree withstood every strike of her barrage. Twitch was too weak to fight an inanimate tree. Her paws throbbed. Her gums stung.
So instead she thrashed a bush. Its twigs and thorns stabbed at her skin, sharp as any cat's claws, but when Twitch was finished, several of its branches were snapped, and its leaves littered the floor.
"What are you doing?" said Osprey.
She had nearly forgotten he existed.
"Practicing," she snarled. It came out much more harshly than she had intended.
"Fighting trees," he said, and beneath his foghorn tones she could hear his fear.
"I can't practice on a cat," she pointed out, voice cracking. She would never be able to do any of that to a cat.
***
But she was.
Fog had Peony by the shoulders, his claws digging in deep, his back paws on her soft belly, and Peony was howling, and his teeth were in her fur.
The moment she saw what was happening, Twitch was at his throat. Fog was powerful, but he was unprepared.
Her claws tore into his flesh, again and again. She hated the feeling--it made her angry--angry enough to keep clawing, deeper and deeper.
"Dead once is dead enough," said Peony.
Twitch looked up. "He was hurting you," she snarled.
Peony nodded, looking a bit embarrassed. "Thank you for saving me."
Wasn't Peony going to be upset? Wasn't she going to yell? Twitch had just killed a cat in front of her, and she didn't even mind. She wasn't even upset about his attack in the first place.
The tightness in her paws was unbearable now. It was like vines twisting around them. Pain lanced through her legs with every step she took.
But she was strong now, strong enough to kill.
***
None of it was fair.
Twitch threw herself at the bush, ripping at it, wrenching at it, tearing its leaves and bark to shreds.
Why did it have to be her protecting Peony? Surely any other cat would do the same.
Arum was right. Twitch was not the same. But that must have been a good thing. This was the best way to be. The world was finally right.
She had to believe that was true.
***
"So I heard you killed someone," Osprey said warily. He perched again on his fence.
"I had to."
"Uh-huh." He leaned back, careful to keep a strong grip on the fence.
"I did."
His eyes flashed. "You don't even care?"
A chill shot through her chest. "Of course I care. I saved Peony." She kept her tone guarded.
"You don't even feel any remorse."
The tightness finally left. It left her muscles limp and her head and tail low. "I…cannot."
He sighed, straightened up, said, "Well, I guess that's that, then," and slipped back down on his side of the fence.
"Come back," she pleaded.
He didn't respond. She scrambled up the fence to see him slinking into his cat-door.
He was gone.
***
"You've been missing all day," said Peony. "Did you know that black cat left?"
"That was Arum."
"Your brother, Arum?"
"Yeah." The day was warm, but Twitch was cold. "I need to sleep." She would never get to sleep; her thoughts were like the river during a flood.
"Well, he left for good. We're alone now."
Twitch tried to smile. "That's good."
"You're upset," said Peony.
"No," said Twitch. "I don't have time to be upset."
She was strong now, but the price was steep.
Maybe in the end this had not been worth it.
But it had to be. For Peony.
***
[cats]
Arum - black longhair; green eyes; tom
Blackcurrant - black longhair; green eyes; she-cat
Copper - ginger tabby; green eyes; tom
Flaxseed - cream mackerel tabby; green eyes; she-cat
Fog - gray longhair; copper eyes; tom
Frost - gray and white; blue eyes
Heather - gray-and-cream mackerel tabby; green eyes; she-cat
Hedgehog - gray herringbone tabby and white; copper eyes; tom
Minnow - cream tabby; green eyes
Opal - black; green eyes; tom
Osprey - black and white; yellow eyes; tom; light purple collar
Peony - ginger mackerel tabby; green eyes; she-cat
Rye - white; blue eyes; she-cat
Reed - gray; yellow eyes; tom
Sable - black; copper eyes
Sand - pale cream tabby; yellow eyes; tom
Twitch - black longhair; green eyes; she-cat
***
This story was originally not going to be written out like this. It was going to be a comic. Today (um, not the real today anymore), I sat down at the computer and started writing. Maybe someday a comic similar to this will be made. No promises.
A couple lines of dialogue here are (technically paraphrased but as close as I could remember) from a conversation I had once. The rest of the story took shape from there. It stewed in my mind for a long time before I actually wrote it. Characters were named last minute as I wrote the story, but Arum being first and Twitch being last alphabetically was on purpose. No real significance to that except that it is, though.
