Chapter Two

"So, Fa'endel," Twizit mewled, staring intently at a leaf as she turned it over with her paw. " What was life like before we met up? As a lonely kit, I mean."
Fa'endel flicked one ear in hidden annoyance. She asked this question every moon, then forgot about it the next and decided to ask again. At first, he had simply told her over and over, but recently his mind was becoming cross at being asked the same thing. He let out a barely audible growl and turned his head, angling his ears in one direction as if he had heard something to avoid the question. He glanced back at Twizit, who had apparently forgotten about the question and was more intent on stalking a wind blown blade of grass.
Fa'endel narrowed his eyes in distaste. "Twizit." He murmured, "Im going to the river."
The she-cat's head snapped up at once and with a quick bound she was at his side, tail high in the air and staring up at him with bright, happy eyes.

"I'm coming!" She curled her tail over her back and set off at a quick pace, leaving a very agitated Fa'endel to catch up. She followed him everywhere. In fact, that's how they started travelling together. She had followed him a great distance from her mother, and he did not feel like taking her back, so he allowed her to come with him. Although, she was more of an annoyance than a crow trying to take your dinner.

But secretly, the reason he put up with the little she-cat was that he envied her for how happy and optimistic she was no matter what. His whole being ached to be like her, without a care in the world, doing as he pleased, but something inside him stopped him. Whenever he was happy, dark thoughts brewed in his mind, made him scared to be himself. He wasn't even sure who he truly was.

The roaring of the river reached him before he could finish his thoughts. The rivers churning currents and frothing surface made it a deadly place for cats, but for some reason the thought that cats had died here and he hasn't soothed him. He took great pleasure in staring at the foaming waters, occasionally feeling the spray of a wave straying from the pack and breaking over a large rock on his fur.
Fa'endel shook his head and quickly scanned the area for Twizit, who was perched beside the river and staring into a deep pool of currents and many fish. She knew that if she tried to jump in, the water would suck her down to the bottom and drag her, thrashing, into the main waters of the rocky river, where she would be battered and deprived of air until she didn't need it anymore. The first time he had said this to her, however, she took it as a notion that she would grow gills and be a fish-cat, so Fa'endel ended up having to pull her out of the river and explain that she would be dead, not a cat who could breathe underwater.

Fa'endel began picking his way over the smooth rocks, careful not to slide on their slippery surfaces and fall. Twizit did not see his approach, as she was too focused on the flickering shapes residing at the bottom of the pool.
About a fox's length away he stopped. Her back was to him and she leaned over the pool.

Push her in.
The voice startled Fa'endel. His ears pricked, but it did not come from the outside. Dark started to float onto the edges of his vision and the light pulsed. He felt dizzy but more coordinated than ever at the same time. He felt his paw brush against stone and realized he had taken a step forward. He felt his tail grow still. In his mind he could already see it. A panicked, high pitched yowl as she was thrown in. Claws and teeth preventing her from getting out right away, the light flickering off of the semi calm water as a pale brown shape was pulled deeper and deeper into the dark, clear water, the fish moving away from a possible predator. Mud floating up from where her desperate claws tried to stop herself from being pulled into the crashing water, then, nothing. Just a pale ginger cat, staring remorselessly into the water. Voices collided all around him, growing louder and louder, urging him on, yowling and screeching words that he did not want to hear but couldn't close off-

"Fa'endel? What are you doing?"
A confused purr snapped him from his imagination. The voices stopped abruptly as soon as she spoke. Twizit was staring up at him from her crouched position. He was standing over her, muscles tense, eyes dark and narrow and teeth slightly bared. After a moment, he relaxed his muscles and face into an expression of realization. He stepped away from her, eyes darting at the ground in front of him.

He had almost pushed her in, without even realizing it.

"Are you okay?" her voice was worried now.
He took another step back and looked up at her, plastering a weak smile on his face.
"Yeah....I am." Fa'endel let out a dry cough. "I just....please get away from the river."
Twizit leaped up and stared at him quizzically, but to her credit did not inquire further. She stepped away from the dark, churning water and instead went to play in a low bush that grew alone from the tree line.

Fa'endel sat next to the pool. His mind was going faster than the current and his eyes stared blankly into the depths. He was scared, but not for him. He was scared for the bubbly little she-cat, who could have died today if she hadn't spoke. He was scared that he couldn't even stop himself from....killing her.



Kinda short but eh:)