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Scrunkles kept his body low to the ground, staying as quiet and out of sight as possible. He subtly glanced over at the newly built den from time to time. It looked like a slightly stronger breeze would easily knock it over.
The cat his family had kidnapped was laying inside, head on aer paws. He'd been tasked to catch food for the calico, but was never allowed to give more than one measily mouse.
Truthfully, he thought this was a horrible idea. There was no doubt that the cat's family was going to let this slide, even his father would be upset if some cat took one of his children. At least, Scrunkles hoped he'd care if one of them went missing.
He risked a quick glance around their camp, noticing that Whisper wasn't anywhere to be found. Still on his mission then. Bluebell was absent too, though he wasn't sure where she went. Actually, the only other cat currently visible in camp was Wolf. The ginger tabby fast asleep in one of the few sunspots that pierced through the thick canopy.
With Scrunkles's father likely in his den, he took this moment to wander over to Mosspaw, intending to hopefully lift aer mood a little. He imagined it would be pretty scary to be here with strangers, alone.
Mosspaw seemed wary of him once he sat down besides aer, but he had to admire the calico's bravery as aer immediately tried to get more information out of him, without knowing what the consequences might be.
The other was also a little blunt, asking whether his family hated him or not, which startled Scrunkles but from the look on Mosspaw's face, it seemed like ae may not have meant to blurt out a question like that.
Nevertheless, he began to answer when the booming voice of his father called him away, quickly getting up and leaving so as not to anger the large ginger tom.
He met up with Tangle, his father, at the edge of camp, large clumps of ferns towering over the two. The ginger tom barely acknowledged his son, only glancing at him once without a word. Instead, he disappeared between the ferns, but Scrunkles knew he was meant to follow the other. The tom led him to a spot a little ways away from camp where two of his half-siblings were busy gathering up an impressive pile of freshly caught prey.
Nettle, the youngest of their litter, held a squirrel in their jaws. The brown tabby deposited it on the pile before turning to face Scrunkles while the oldest, Dawn, simply stepped past him. The white and black she-cat had never been very interested in interacting with anyone not from her litter.
"Nettle, Dawn, good work." His father meowed gruffly, indicating the pile with a flick of his tail. "Go and wake Wolf up, I want to speak to all three of you in my den, don't dawdle." Twin looks of pride flashed over the siblings' faces before they quickly made themselves scarce, Tangle was not known to be a patient cat.
Once they were gone, Tangle finally turned towards Scrunkles, his face impassive.
"Get this back to camp." He growled. "And don't even think about taking a piece for yourself, you can catch your own food." The ginger tom didn't even bother to wait for a reply, instead heading back the same way Nettle and Dawn had gone.
Scrunkles smothered the familiar anger that threatened to bubble up at his father's indifference. It would not be good if he lunged at him, mostly because Scrunkles knew that's exactly what Tangle wanted. But this cat would never get the satisfaction of finally angering him enough that he'd lash out. If Tangle wanted Scrunkles to break his pacifist streak, he'd be waiting for a long time yet.
With a sigh, the dark gray tom began to haul the prey piece by piece to their fresh-kill pile.
His task went by faster than he had anticipated and as he looked around, he noticed Tangle's oldest children were still with him in his den, Bluebell was nowhere to be found and Whisper was walking away from Mosspaw with an annoying smirk on his face. Scrunkles lashed his tail once and intercepted Whisper before he was able to leave camp again. The pale gray tom rolled his eyes but followed Scrunkles to the farthest point in camp, where Tangle would never be able to overhear them.
"What were you doing?" The dark gray tom hissed lowly, not happy with the dejected look he had seen on Mosspaw's face after his littermate had talked to aer.
Whisper blinked, not particularly bothered by Scrunkles' aggression. "All I did was tell aer the truth, that other group of cats are worse than father on a bad day."
"Nothing is worse than father on a bad day."
"Maybe for you, but he actually likes me." Whisper meowed, looking proud of himself.
Scrunkles leveled him with a look. "Yeah, when I like someone I also swipe at them with my claws every chance I get."
"I swipe at you with my claws."
Scrunkles huffed. "You always keep them sheated and you only do it when Tangle's watching." Suddenly, Whisper seemed a lot more nervous at the mention of their father's name.
Scrunkles softened his voice a little, "we're far enough away, he won't hear us."
Whisper visibly relaxed, though he took a quick glance at the ginger tom's den.
It was quiet between the two of them for a moment.
"Are you still planning on leaving?" Whisper meowed so softly Scrunkles barely heard it, trying to catch Whisper's gaze but the tom seemed to be avoiding eye-contact.
"Yes, as soon as I can. Will you come with me?" It had been a question that Scrunkles had asked his brother multiple times now. The answer did not change.
"No, I can't." As always, Whisper did not explain why. The pale gray tom focused back on Scrunkles face. "But I won't tell anyone either, just make sure no one spots you."
Scrunkles ears drooped and Whisper took that moment to walk away, leaving the other alone.
The rest of the day, Scrunkles couldn't help but think. He knew he wanted to leave and that keeping Mosspaw here was wrong. Even if Whisper did not join him, he should at least help Mosspaw before anything else.
The tom waited until nightfall, stalking around the camp and approaching Mosspaw, hoping to convince aer to follow him.
But, just as they were about to leave, what he presumed to be Mosspaw's family ambushed them all.
Well, that certainly changed the plan a bit.