꧁ ✧ Chapter 2 ✧ ꧂

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Willow opened her eyes to the quiet light of dawn and the gentle pattering of rain on stone. She saw Dandelion sitting by the entrance to the small hollow they found last night. The same hollow they curled together in, shivering after their tribe banished them. Resentment swam through her veins. His back toward her, he twitched his ears as she stood up and stretched. Her stomach rumbled. Before finding somewhere to sleep, Dandelion had caught a vole, which they shared. She looked at Dandelion, who was sat by the entrance, his ears pricked as he kept watch. Suddenly he turned tail, bounded towards her and shoved her roughly to the back wall of the unfinished burrow.

"Hey, what the- " His paw slammed into her mouth, and her head hit the wall. She wondered if he had gone crazy.

She was about to ask him what in the stars he was doing when he turned to her, and she saw urgency in his expression. When he slowly pressed on her back, she crouched next to him, and they stayed quiet. Suddenly, only a moment later paw steps were heard above their heads.

"I smell prey!" Dandelion's eyes widened. "And Branch!" Branch From Fallen Tree was a slightly older friend of theirs, around two moons difference. They were kits and to-be's together, and only a moon ago he turned into a full prey hunter.

"Let's go say hi!" Ears pricked, Dandelion bounded forward, and Willow leaped onto his hindquarters, and brought him down as quietly as she could.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She gasped. "We're outsiders now, remember? They'll hurt us!"

"Branch wouldn't hurt us..." he sounded sure, but his eyes told another story.

"I'm afraid he'd have to." Willow sighed. She thought. An idea sparked behind her eyes. "How many do you think there are?" She asked him urgently. Dandelion didn't look ready for such an eagerness from her and answered slowly.

"Uh... I don't know..." he listened for a moment. "I can only hear one set of paws, but there might be more. Why?" He sounded wary and looked at her suspiciously.

"I have an idea. You hungry?" She stared at him as understanding swarmed his gaze.

"Let's do it." Now feeling light, they crept outside and blinked in the light of dawn behind a bush.

"Are you ready?" Willow asked him, her eyes had been searching him since they left. His gaze was unusually sombre. Of course, he had just been banished by his tribe, but the look in his eyes was something different.

"Of course." They separated, going diverse ways. The wind blew from Branch to them, giving the scent of one other cat, but the other cat was out of sight. They continued, sneaking around him so they were on opposite sides. She saw a golden-sand-coloured tail lift from behind a rock. That was her signal to pounce. With a threatening yowl, she leapt onto Branch's back and brought him down with surprising ease. Branch screeched and flailed, not knowing what was attacking him. Dandelion helped her pin him down, and they held him there. He stopped wriggling. She remembered the fights in the nursery, and how he pinned her and won every play fight. Why was he so easy to beat now?

The mud plastered to his fur rubbed off on her as she pushed him down while Dandelion fetched the eagle he caught.

Impressive catch, she thought. While Dandelion headed in the opposite direction to the hollow, did a circle back and dropped it off, Branch's green eyes flitted up to her. He was panting when he breathed,

"Willow?" His eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in confusion.

"Not forgotten me yet?" She snarled at his face, half surprised at her tone and the level of resentment she had for a cat who she once believed to one day become her mate. She looked into his eyes as much as he could, and she realised they looked misty and dark. She found it difficult to look away as old fantasies were scattered throughout her mind while Branch sighed and blinked at her. She backed away. Branch scrambled to his feet.

"Who was that other cat?" He asked, "Was that Dandelion?"

"Uh, no." She had to protect him.

"A rogue I met. Dandelion's out hunting." Dandelion made an appearance through some bushes and stopped dead with moon-wide eyes when he saw him unpinned. He rushed over to her side.

"What's wrong, did he hurt you?" He gave her a quick lick on her shoulder.

"Out hunting, I see." But his eyes were wide and excited. "Dandelion, I must talk with you!" he took a pace closer. "Please, it's important."

Dandelion looked down, his eyes and ears lowered. His eyebrows twitched as he made a decision, and he stood tall, his head high. He was sure of his answer.

"No."

"What?"

"No."

"Listen Dandelion you don't understand." Branch tried to plead with him, but he was silenced quickly.

"We don't need to hear anything you have to say. We were BANISHED, REMEMBER?" He spoke softly, then harshly, a snarl in his voice. Willow hadn't seen this side of him before. He was always so chilled. The atmosphere had changed drastically since inside the tunnel when Dandelion had been excited to see him.

"And now we're gone, you've realised how much you need us. Well, it's too late now. Go away now, before I get angry." Dandelion stared hard at Branch's face, but Branch didn't give up.

"Dandelion please you've got to-" Branch leaped back, one eye squinting, the other wide in disbelief. A slash under Branch's eye oozed bright crimson blood. Willow turned to dandelion slowly. He was panting with aggression, his paw still raised. Blood tipped his claws.

"Give the tribe a message for me: You are all dead to us. We will never return, and we will NEVER forgive you." Dandelion gave Branch an aggressive jerk of his head, assigning him to leave. Branch stared at Willow hopelessly.

"I wish you both the best." He mumbled, before pushing his way through the bushes, tail trailing after him.