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Myler stared in horror as the big she-cat in front of him bled out coughing up blood in her final moments as the light faded from her amber eyes. He had tried to help the she-cat when she originally arrived at his barn, something about her giant fully calico frame had drawn him to her. But she did not want his help, she had hissed and swatted him away quickly running out and leaving, he didn't think he would see her again.
As it turns out he had been very wrong, a few days later she arrived back at the barn severely injured and would certainly die if she didn't get immediate help, Myler rushed over to help her but she again hissed and swatted at him.
“Please let me help you!” Myler shouted “you’ll die without help!” He insisted, getting closer to her again.
“Leave me alone! I don't need anyone” the she-cat hissed back quickly losing the last of her strength and collapsing completely.
Myler tried to rush forward again and help but it was too late, the blood was already pooling around her and she had already passed. He didn't know this cat at all and yet he could feel grief consume him. He would give this she-cat a proper burial, after all no matter who this cat was or what she did, didn’t everyone deserve to be in peace after death? Myler grabbed her body by the scruff and took her outside, quickly digging a hole to put her body in, he threw her body into the hole and covered it back up, marking her grave with some loose stones around the barn.
He sat in front of the grave bowing his head as he asked whoever is past this line of life to give her a peaceful life in death. After that he went back in the barn, completely exhausted he quickly collapsed into the pile of hay he normally slept in and passed out. When he reawoke he wasn't back in his barn but rather a forest with red grass and black trees with leaves equally as red. As he looked around he spotted a familiar frame, it was her!
“W-where am I? And what about you? Aren’t you dead?” He quickly asked looking into her eyes that now had black with amber in the middle rather than the full amber of before.
“You're in the dark forest” she started ominously, “and yes i am in fact dead, this is where bad cats go when they die” she finished before sensing Mylers fear “dont worry your not dead, just dreaming” she reassured eyes softening as she looked at him.
“But you are,” Myler said looking guilty, “if only i had been able to help then you wouldn't be-” he started to panic looking at her with pain in his eyes before getting cut off.
“It's not your fault” she interrupted “I refused your help and I paid the consequences of that” she continued, looking at him apologetically.
Myler still looked guilty but he shook his head and looked up a little bit more determined than before,
“Who are you? And what happened to you to end up here?” he asked looking straight into her eyes
“My name is Mapleshade, as for how i ended up here that's a much longer story” she answered beconing Myler with her tail to come sit next to her.
Myler awoke the next morning feeling extremely conflicted, the she-cat “Mapleshade” had told him all about her life, from the life of a normal clan cat to her forbidden relationship with a tom from a rival clan to the beautiful kits that came from that to the way to early deaths of them to the revenge Mapleshade sought out afterwards.
He felt so bad for her, she was kicked out of her clan when they found out the kits were half clan and they died on the journey to the fathers clan. He felt angry for her, the father rejected her blaming her for the death of their kits and the medicine cat of her clan and her best friend in the clan let her and the kits get kicked out. He felt scared of her, after she was rejected she left and then came back to kill not only the father but the medicine cat and her best friend for revenge.
But he also felt drawn to her, the more she talked the more he couldn't get enough, she was beautiful and smart and he couldn't help but feel what she had done might have been justified. He longed to see her again but he didn’t know how to dream of her again so he went on with his day till it was night, he ran to his pile of hay and layed down closing his eyes he thought of her trying to manifest her back into his life.
He looked up to see the same red grass and black trees of last night. Yes! He had done it he thought to himself as he ran trying to find her.
“Myler!” he heard a familiar voice shout.
Mapleshade! He thought as he ran towards her voice.
“I’m so glad to see you again” he said once he got to her, “i know you're still hurting but I want to be here for you.” He explained as he saw the slight confusion on her face.
“I-I really don’t know what to say” she said looking nervous but also hopeful. “Thank you” she seemed to finally settle on as she sat next to him.
“Now, tell me about yourself, Myler.” She said, looking down at him curiously.
And so he did, the two of them talked for what seemed like only minutes but turned into hours and hours before he woke again, both promising to keep meeting in their dreams every night.
He went through the days monotonously waiting for the nights full of excitement. As the days turned into weeks and those turned into months Myler fell harder and harder for the dead she-cat, he even started to hate the sun and daytime because it represented when he couldn’t see her.
Surprisingly for Myler, Mapleshade fell equally as hard, they became closer and closer eventually becoming mates, Myler stopped talking to other cats and he started avoiding the sun all together.
The more he fell the more Myler became mad with rage, there were so many cats that had wronged Mapleshade and too many of them were still living in Myler opinion. When Myler told Mapleshade this she looked slightly surprised but also happy at his admission of anger, and so they started planning.
Ravenwing, Frecklewish and Appledusk were already dead so they were out, but Oakstar who kicked Mapleshade and her kits out, Darkstar who never punished Appledusk, and Perchpaw who had killed Mapleshade were all still alive.
“So how am I supposed to kill three cats, two of them being leaders?” Myler asked quickly, he wanted to do this but he really didn’t know how.
“Oakstar goes on walks alone that’s when you can get him, Darkstar will probably be going to the moon stone to talk to her fallen clanmate she won’t have much defense either, as for Perchpaw he’s not that strong, he just caught me from behind so he should be easy.” She said clearly having thought this out.
Myler nodded quickly, nuzzling himself into her fluffy calico fur, he resolved that he would do everything in his power to kill those cats as he heard Mapleshade's loud purring.
He woke up the next morning ready and full of energy, he quickly ran out the barn scouting out where each territory was. Riverclan and thunderclan were right next to each other so he would go to thunderclan to deal with oakstar and then go back towards riverclan.
He made it to thunderclan quickly, he walked for a bit and spotted Oakstar with his head down, clearly grieving. Is this where Frecklewish died? He thought to himself as he crouched down waiting for the perfect moment. He spotted a snake slithering towards Oakstar, perfect he thought as he leaped up onto the nearest rock to distract him before he noticed the slithering creature.
“Wha- who the hell are you?” Oakstar hissed his dark brown fur spiking up.
“My name isn't important, what is important is the fact that you should be dead” Myler hissed back unsheathing his claws.
“Do you even know who I am?” Oakstar hissed back getting ready to leap at the black and white cat who had decided to antagonize him.
Just as he was about to leap at Myler the snake reached him and the snake jumped up biting his eyes in a shockingly similar display to the way his daughter Frecklewish had died.
“AUGHHHHHH” Oakstar yoweled and screamed as he writhed in pain, his eyes were rolling in the back of his head and his mouth was foaming as he gagged and coughed before death finally took over and he laid still.
Myler quickly ran away hearing a patrol coming, if the plan was going to work he couldn't be caught. He started heading towards the moon stone, if Mapleshade was correct he would have to be quick to catch Darkstar off guard.
As he arrived he noticed a cat in the distance, it was Darkstar! He quickly ran into the dark cave hiding in a dark spot as Darkstar walked in and pressed her nose up to the stone, seeming to fall asleep, now was his chance!
He creeped up, behind her sleeping body he quickly unsheathed his claws and slit her throat. The blood pooled, not seeming to stop as suddenly the giant stone in front started to glow, first a cool blue and then an angry red lighting up the whole cave. Myler could feel his fear spike as he watched the dead body in front of him gain life once again, the gash on the body still completely open and bleeding freely.
“Your lucky Darkstar was on her last life, and you're even luckier that Oakstar decided he wanted to be dead permanently.” The dead body started, the eyes wide open seeming to stare directly into Mylers soul. “I don't know who you are or why you're doing this but you wont get away with it” the body hissed, getting closer to Myler as he quickly backed away.
The body's eyes went vacant again as the body flopped back down onto the floor with a loud thud as the bleeding from the gash seemed to finally run out of blood and the stone stopped glowing. Myler ran as fast as he could out of the cave feeling both triumph and fear fighting for a spot as his main feeling. In the end neither triumphed and determination seemed to come full force once again as he ran towards riverclan.
Myler was worried about this last kill, after all he wasn't a good fighter and he had only killed the previous two cats without actually fighting them, but he shook his head as he saw riverclan territory and headed towards the reeds. It was a lot harder to find perchpaw than the previous two cats had been, it seemed he was in camp at the moment but myler was willing to wait. Just as that thought crossed his mind he spotted a short cat with pure black fur and blue eyes, it was him!
Myler crept quietly through the reeds but it turns out his steps were louder than he thought as perchpaws ears pricked and he turned towards the reeds that Myler was in.
“W-who’s there?” Perchpaw stated looking startled. “I-I-I’ve killed before and I can do it again” he stuttered, unsheathing his claws and facing Myler directly despite not being able to see him yet.
“I’m perfectly aware you’ve killed before…” Myler started walking menacingly out of the reeds. “That’s why I’m here after all” he continued getting closer to Perchpaw as Perchpaw backed away from him.
“I don't know who you are!” Perchpaw shouted as he continued to back away fur spiking in fear.
Suddenly Myler heard the voice of his beloved.
“Let me take this kill” she whispered, “I can possess your body temporarily and then once I'm done with him it will be all yours again my love” she finished as Perchpaw seemed to notice he was distracted and lept. “Watch out!” the disembodied voice of his mate shouted as he turned to see the apprentice leaping at him.
Myler tried to doge but he was not fast enough as he could feel the claws of the apprentice go straight across his throat, the blood quickly gushing out of him as he quickly fell to the ground in pain and anguish. He was able to see Mapleshade's spirit now, her beauty was infinite and he couldn't find a single regret in what he did.
“Y-your dead!” she said, completely horrified. “That little rat killed you!” she shouted as she quickly looked down at Mylers body and dived.
Myler watched as Mapleshade possessed his now dead body and it took like once again his pupils turning red as his body got up still freshly bleeding, Perchpaw turned to see the now possessed body, his fur spiking twice as much as it was before.
“It's been far too long, Perchpaw,” Mapleshade said through Mylers body. “You should have just let him kill you, now I'm gonna make you suffer a thousand times worse than anything he would have done to you” she finished hissing as she lept on top of Perchpaw, holding him down.
The smaller cat struggled under the weight of the possessed body as Mapleshade quickly bit the back of his neck and tore into the fur ripping out his spine as he bled and bled with no end, the blood staining the grass and reeds all around them.
Myler watched as Mapleshade left his body and his body flopped down on top of perchpaws body, he felt his body being physically pulled away from this physical plane as he saw Mapleshade also start to fade away, they were being taken back to the dark forest.
As Mapleshade and Myler nuzzled back down in the dark forest both of them finally felt satisfied and they swore they would do anything in their power to stay together and kill all of those who stood in their way.