Warriors: A Vision of Shadows #2: Thunder and Shadow

Lotusfall’s Performance chapter twelve

Review for the book: I love Violet, but not so much her sister. I won’t spoil anything in case you haven’t read it yet, but Twig’s character arc with her potential/future mate was terrible and cringey.

Now for my fanfiction:

The weight on Lotusfall’s shoulders suddenly lifted, and she opened her eyes to see the other cats looking at her with mingling looks of disappointment and contempt.
Patchshade let her stand up, and she shook out her pelt, not wanting to admit that she had been ready to die.
The Dark Forest cats glared at her, and Patchshade looked as annoyed as ever.
“Why didn’t you fight back?” He demanded, as they both started fading away. “You just… gave up at the end.”
Lotusfall woke up in her nest, sore and bleeding. She didn’t want to see the medicine cats again, in case it raised suspicion, so she started cleaning her fur. But in the nest next to her, Patchshade’s eyes glowed in the gloom as he waited for Lotusfall to answer his question.
“I figured you’d want to play heroic warrior,” she finally hissed under her breath. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “That would fit your power fantasy better than me beating you.”
“Admit it,” he snapped; a few cats stirred, and they both quieted down. Patchshade went on, his voice hushed. “You’re too weak for the Dark Forest.”
Lotusfall rolled over, fully aware of how dangerous it was to blindside the black and white warrior. She left her next words unsaid. I don’t want to be strong enough for the Dark Forest, anyway.

When Lotusfall woke up, she was immediately dragged on the dawn patrol. Even though she had Slatewhisker with her, her paws felt like they were made of stone, and she kept yawning. Slatewhisker had asked her a few times if something was wrong, and Lotusfall was grateful for her concern.
But she couldn’t admit to her the reason why. She couldn’t admit it to anybody. When they had returned to camp, Thorntail was the next to ask.
“You look like a heron that got trampled on,” he remarked, leaning forward to lick her face. “You even have your fur all messed up. Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” Lotusfall lied, her pelt prickling at her dishonesty. “I’m okay.”
She heard a squeal and looked over to see Fallingkit bounding over to her, followed by Saltpaw.
“You’re back!” The kit meowed, jumping up at Lotusfall’s legs; his tiny claws hooked into her fur as he pulled himself up. “I missed you!”
With a purr, Lotusfall sat down and let Fallingkit climb on her, despite her aches. “I’m sorry, I had to go on border patrol.”
“Aww… why couldn’t I go?”
“I told you already,” Saltpaw told the little kit, shooting Lotusfall an amused look. “You’re a kit, so you’re not allowed to leave camp. Once you’re an apprentice, then you can go.”
“When can I be an apprentice?”
Lotusfall licked his nose. “When you’re six moons old.”
“So…” his little face scrunched up as he tried to count. “That’s in…”
“Five moons,” Lotusfall answered, sitting up and accidentally letting Fallingkit tumble to the ground. She steadied him, but he nearly fell over again as he stomped his paws.
“But that’s so long! I want to be an apprentice now!”
“I know, but you have to wait,” Lotusfall soothed. She led him over to the fresh-kill pile and found a minnow for him. “Here, try this.”
As Fallingkit ate the minnow, Lotusfall hoped that he had a better life than hers. She realized that her clanmates didn’t really know who she was.
All they saw was the skilled fighter and hunter, with the honed senses and quick wit. They didn’t know why she had those skills in the first place.
Being surrounded by cats and her own kin who didn’t have any idea who she truly was… it was the loneliest thing she could think of. And her reality.
As Fallingkit moved on to chewing the tail, he looked up at her, and Lotusfall cocked her head. “What is it, Fallingkit?”
“Who am I to you?” He asked, sounding grave all of a sudden. “I know we’re not kin, but I still want to know.”
“Oh,” Lotusfall hadn’t thought of that before. “I guess you could think of me as your honorary big sister.”
Fallingkit looked even more confused. “What’s an honorary?”
“It’s like… calling something what it’s not, because it seems like it should be true.” Realizing that her terrible explanation was making him more confused, she changed tactics. “I’m not your kin—that’s Corruptedcloud and Blizzardstorm. But if I act like I should be your kin, then I’m your honorary kin.”
“Oh, I get it now.” Fallingkit’s little whiskers twitched. “But aren’t you kind of like my mother, too?”
“I guess,” Lotusfall shrugged. “Let’s just go with honorary kin, then.”
Fallingkit hugged her paws. “Okay.”

That night, when Lotusfall curled up to go to sleep, she realized that Patchshade was missing. She tried to put it out of her mind and chalk it up to him just going out hunting late at night.
But she couldn’t ignore the dread in her belly as she drifted off to sleep…

Next chapter in the next book!
- Sunsetsplash