The Snake That Rattles

This is a story for Nighty's contest by Robo

Intro
Despite what you may have ever thought, I was always there, lurking in the shadows of your presence. From the moment you took in a sip of air, I knew everything about you. Your horrible fate, the dark future which you had the potential to make of your life, what would become of your life if that small little decision you made when you were a kit had been a different one.

I knew everything about you. And I still do, I know the things you refuse to admit to yourself, the darkest secrets which your soul had hid from your mind and heart. I remember those fatal details you were too distressed to remember. I know you better than you ever knew yourself.

Because I am you. That small little creature that you see on the ground; it's you. I am your heart and sould and mind. I am the deepest parts of your being. I am the part of you that only I know about. When I saw you slither out of your mother's stomach, what a disgrace you would end up being to her, I knew that you were Snakepaw; soon to become Snakerattle. And who was I then; why I was what I always have been. What we always have been. I was the snake that rattled.

Chapter 1
You were excited on your day of apprenticeship despite whatever lies you told the other cats. You were more than excited, you were ready to burst. But you were also a good liar, nonetheless, so I was the only one who knew about how you really felt, as opposed to what you thought was cool to say.

Yes, I was wathcing you then, too. I was always watching you. How could I not see what was happening to myself. I just hid there, lying on the ground, surronded by large creatures that looked like you.

"Oakclan is very lucky to be getting new apprentices," I had heard a cat murmur. Yes, it was the same one that you had heard. Don't look surprised. You just fail to understand that I see what you see, I hear what you hear, and I feel what you feel. We are one, we always have been.

And we were proud. Your pride infected me like the poison inside my desires would affect you. You thought you would become the greatest apprentice ever. I did too. Together we belived that you could become a leader, the greatest one the four clans; Oakclan, Mapleclan, Pineclan and Birchclan had ever met. We didn't know how wrong we were.

And so you stood proudly as Falconstar called you up to the high branch. You made sure to show off your skills, as you leaped from branch to branch. We were both relived that you didn't make a mistake and slip off the branch, You would have looked like a silly kit if you had.

When you reached one of the higher branched, across from Falconstar he looked at you curiously, waiting for any sign of weakness. Because all three of your siblings had died at birth, and your father was unkown. Your mother was the only cat who you could trust and who turlky loved you. You pretended that her care was annoying, but we really loved her, and we wanted her to come care for you; and show you that there was a cat out there who cared fro us. Not that you knew of any ''us. I was the one who knew about us, while you assumed that there was only a you.''

And you were upset to be leaving your mother's side now; as much as you might hate to admit it. I knew of course, I knew everything about you. I still do...

"Until you recieve your warrior name you will be known as Snakepaw, your mentor will be Russetpelt and I expect her to pass down everything she knows to you."

We were dissapointed. A potentially great warrior like you should not have ended up with a cat as ordinary as Russetpelt. I was angry, of course, and so were you. But we couldn't show it in front of the clan, so you pretended to look satisfied while I made no noise, from behind the bush which I had been watching you from.

Russetpelt bounded up to the tree and began to climb it, not surprised. You figured that she must have talked with Falconstar about it already.

"Russetpelt, you have recieved excellent training from Rowanfur and I expect you to pass down everything you know to this apprentice."

She leaped over to the same branch as you and slowly you touched your nose with hers. Despite whoever your mentor might be you were proud when she began to chant, "Snakepaw! Snakepaw! Snakepaw!" Your head was held up high; this was your greatest moment yet, although we both knew you would have much greater moments to come... Just not in the way that you might have thought at first.

When the cats were done cheering, you climbed back down the tree. No cats came to congradulate you; you had always been bullied as a kit for being the youngest and having no siblings, as well as an unkown father, so you had no friends to come cheer you on.

It was something you thought you had grown used to by now, but suddenly you could feel your eyes tearing up. I tried willing you to be strong, but there is no cure for an empty heart. A broken heart can cure with time, but there is nothing for an empty heart. That was what you had. You pushed the brimming tears out of your eyes and tried to look happy as you walked to the den for apprentices. Only I could sence the pain that was burning you from he inside out.

Because I knew what it was like not to have anyone to turn to when you had a problem. Not to have anyone that will congradulate you when you have acomplished or hold you up when you have failed. Your pain was something that would only live in us. I was the only one who truly understood you; But that was only because I was you.

And when you strutted into the apprentice den, you had your head high and your tail in the air. You were confident in yourself, and you thought you were bulletproof. You thought wrong.

"Hey, loserpaw," it was Marshpaw, the little brat that always tried to bully you. I once tried to poison her, without success. She almost squashed me, when she saw my face. So it was true that I hated her as much as you. Why I hated her ten times more.

You pretend not to notice. You think that she can't change the way she makes all the apprentices think of you. I guess we both forgot how well she can control others with her gorgeous little face. I remember everything it has done. As pretty as it looks on the outside, she was never anything but a monster. She even reminded me of your future a little bit.

Well, as we both knew very well, most of the toms were head over heals for her. They ran to her side and began to laugh at you, just to impress her. I spotted one of the cats who you had gotten along with as a kit. He no longer cares for you, all he wants is Marshpaw.

You continue to ignore, although they have now penetrated your first layer of defense. Despite all your efforts to hide it, Marshpaw notices and sneers, "What's wrong, snakeface?" She asks, "Missing your momma already."

Now, Marshpaw was more than stunning. She was smart, witty, sly and perfectly capable. Capable of breaking you.

You laugh, "You wish, Marshpaw," and your face hardens, "Don't you have any better tom to run after."

You thought it would do good, but even as the words came out of our mouth I knew better. I wondered what kind of a fool you were to say that.

The toms all bared their teeth at you, and Marshpaw's eyes widened in serious surprise, "Me? Like a loser like you?" She wrinkled her muzzle in disgust, "You, with your ugly brown tortoise pelt, and your uncontrollably stupid and sharp tongue? You with your unknown father and dead siblings, without any friends or hope for your life."

You unsheathed your claws. We both wanted her dead, but I was the smarter if us, and I willed you to calm down. You sheathed your claws and did something so rude, not even Marshpaw could have thought of it.

You spat in her face.

Her eyes widened and a look of disgust entered them. You didn't wait for her reaction, you just stormed out of the apprentice den, straight up to your mentor, no longer wanting to explore the den. You just wanted to train so that you could get your anger out on something else. Unfortunately for her, that things happened to be your mentor.

I watched your first training session with her that day, it was one for battle. And though you were inexperienced, your anger put some serious bruises on Russetpelt, even when you had your claws sheathed. I watched from under the grass, impressed with the strength anger gave you. It would prove to be your strongest weapon later on.

She was impressed but she constantly scolded you. Something you were not in the mood for. You would just respond with your smart tongue, managing to do nothing but make your anger contagious.

When you got back to Oakclan's camp, you were assigned with the duty of picking ticks of the elders. Your mouth had gotten you into nothing but trouble. It was something you could control but you were to stubborn to believe that so you wouldn't try. It was the same story with your destiny.

You continue used to get bullied by Masrhpaw, although you did fight back. But you were outnumbered and outmatched. Every apprentice would rush to her aid, leaving you stuck in the middle of them.

You were shaping up to be a great warrior though. You were good at hunting and when angry, which happened about everyday, you were a great fighter too. One moth into your training, you were given the opportunity to prove your skills.

Mapleclan and Oakclan had been having some disagreements lately, and a month after you became an apprentice, the two clans declared a battle against each other for territory.

You were thinking about proving yourself to your clan, but me? I was thinking about getting revenge for a months worth of torture. Of course, if i was thinking about it, that meant you were too, but you just denied it. I didn't try to remind you.

You wouldn't know about what you really were going to do, until the battle started.

Chapter 2
The battle was hectic, to say the least. Mapleclan was fighting fiercely, and I couldn't say any less for your clan. By the time you reached the area where the battle was taking place it had already heated up. There was blood and fur, staining the territory in between Oakclan and Mapleclan.

I watched it all play out, relishing your revenge, from right under the cats' feet. And they never even realized I was there.

You came with a patrol of several other cats to help your outnumbered clan mates; for that was what they were. They were losing terribly, and each cat had to take on three opponents. Your patrol changed the tide and Oakclan switched into offensive as Mapleclan became defensive. They sent another patrol to get help.

Your speicies is so stupid. Fighting over a little mouse that crosses the thinnest line. I was proud to notice that you didn't follow your clan, after a certain point in time at least.

At first you were fighting; claws extended, giving it your all. You wanted to prove yourself to your clan, and a battle is the best way to do that. And I will give you this; you were fighting very well for an apprentice. It was the kind of strength you only got from determination and loyalty. You stopped fighting when something turned that switch of loyalty off.

As always, Marshpaw was there to ruin your day. But this time it wasn't her words that did it; it was her presence. That's right, you two had grown to hate each other so much through rude remarks and competitions which she always won, that the sight of her, ruined your day.

Now, Marshpaw wasn't fighting. You would have to be dilusional to think that someone who had come to view her life as a fairy tale, where she was the princess, would actually risk a single hair on her pelt, for something that hardly concerned her.

The truth was that, even if she wanted to, Marshpaw wouldn't be able to fight, because the effect she had on other cats did not stop in Oakclan. Even the deputy of Mapleclan, Robinwing, didn't approach Marshpaw. He spared her pretty pelt and she didn't even need to aknowledge it. She was completly safe.

And that is why, while the rest of the cats were risking their lives for a cause, she was jumping over the cats playfully, like a butterfly soaring over the flowers. As elegant as one too.

And it would not be exagerating to say this drove you to the extrems. Seeing her get away from something so large, just because of the glossy color of her pelt, made you angry. And, trust me, it is not good for other cats when you get angry.

Because that is when I take control of your actions.

It it weren't for me, you never would have done it; never would have dared. But I was there, hiding under the grass, and I was all the persuasion you needed to make the blow; it was far too easy to control you.

Throwing off the apprentice that had you pinned down, you pulled yourself into a battle crouch. Like Marshpaw, you had completly forgotten about your surrondings. You were focused on just one thing; revenge.

None of the cats noticed you, you had crouched down so low you might have been shorter that me, as you slowly crept through the grass, slowly stalking up on your enemy. When she was standing in the perfect position; exactly where you would land when you leaped, you sprung at her.

She let of an 'oof', as she hit the soft ground. She didn't attack, assuming that when the enemy saw her, they would let go. She didn't know it was us.

You kept a firm grip on her, and when she eventually realized you weren't going to let go, she pulled her head up to look at the cat who had attacked. As much as you two hated each other, she certainly hadn't expected to see you.

"Wrong side," she hissed, "Attack our enemies, not me!"

Your eyes conatin nothing but hatred, jealousy and contempt, "My only enemy is you," you claim as you speak with a soft voice, "And I intend to attack my enemy."

She began to scream, understanding that you definitly intended to be attacking her, but her cries are drowned by the noise of the battle. That is why I chose to make you attack her then; when nobody could ever guess it was you. Only the three of us would know; and Marshpaw's pretty mouth wouldn't be around to tell anyone.

"Goodbye, Marshpaw," you whispered. You were blinded by your pain and hatred, as well as the darkness that boils inside of you. She tried to push you off, but she had no skill in fighting. She made an exceptional hunting with her grace and speed, but she was pampered too far to make a scratch on an enemy pelt during a battle.

You pulled your neck down, and attached it to her throat.

"You monster," she wheezed, and those are her last words that she whispered on earth. The rest are said in Starclan, and as dissapointed as you were; it is true that she did end up in Starclan. At least you two wont be together when you die, because there is no question as to where you will go.

Her body goes limp, and all of her tense muscles relax. You pull your teeth away from her throat, surprised. You had barely sunk your teeth into her neck, and she had just died; as if you had put something in her body that stopped it from working instantly.

You know what they say, "never mess with the venom of a snake." Maybe not around your type, but it is a common saying for my species. But what made us more special than most snakes who had venom, was our ability to hide it. We look like small innocent creatures on the outside, but our wrong side is the one that no living would want to cross.

A mistake that Marshpaw paid for with her life.

As you looked at her body, the full realization of what you did finally hit you. You slowly backed away from her limp body, there was no evidince to erase. Just a small nick on her throat, with no fur or blood on her body. The poison only lied inside her body; a place which will not be searched.

You took quick steps away from the body; as you gazed at it in horror. As you blinked heavily, something bowled into you. You looked up to see a cat from a rival clan, and hissing you bit his leg. That time there was no poison, no venom of hate flowing through your body. You just fought with this cat because it is your job, not because you wanted to.

As you bowled over with the cat, you soon heard a call of retreat. It belonged to Mapleclan, and your opponent jumped off you and ran to join his retreating clan. You stood proudly as you watched him run; momentarily forgetting about what you had done to Marshpaw.

You are soon reminded.

"Marshpaw!" an apprentice cries. You might not have liked her, but she was definitly popular among the clan.

The clan gathered around the pretty she-cat's limp body. "Rest in peace," some of them whisper, and you wanted to snort. You felt guilty for killing her, but you didn't ever want her to be happy again. I can't assure anything, but I think Starclan is a pretty satisfying place to be.

Some cats mentioned how strangely she died, but the clan decided it must have been a monster from Mapleclan.

Little did they know that the monster was you.

You didn't sit vigil for her that night; although the rest of the clan did. Every single cat but you. And as you watched them, you realized that the only cat that would sit vigil for you when you died would be your mother; if she was still alive then. Bitterly, you had turned away from Marshpaw's body and stomped into the apprentice den.

You eventually shook off the memories of everything that happened that day, but they were important ones for me. For us. A day which I have never, and will never forget.

It was the day you first brought out the monster in you, the poison in you, the hatred in you.

It was the first time you rattled.

Chapter 3
You looked around with excitement at all of the cats gathered around you. It would be a lie to say that you weren't excited for your first gathering. Which apprentice wouldn't be? You were prepared to have a great night, as you paddled around the patch of land used for the gatherings. You thought today you would learn so much and you wanted to see the other leaders. You were confident it would be the best night of your life.

No, if you wondered, it was most certainly not.

At first it was going just fine, as always I was watching you. I love to watch you, if you didn't realize by now. I feed on your living and to eat something you must know what it is. That is why I was perfectly aware of what you were doing with your life; every step of the way.

You looked around a little bit before deciding to join a group of Mapleclan cats. Your clan is still rather cross with them after the battle, but you figure they are better than your clan mates who treat you no better than they did when Marshpaw was around.

Speaking of Marshpaw, you had completely gotten over your guilt about her. Can you believe that? I was more than willing to considering how the piece of mouse dung treated you, but for a cat so small the clan would be shocked if they knew... Of course they didn't even know that you laid a claw on Marshpaw. That would always remain I secret in between you and me...Always

The cats didn't treat you with quite as much disrespect. In fact they were rather kind. That's Mapleclan, always have their manners in place; but 'kill' a cat just for a tiny strip of land. You were kind in return, but you wouldn't stay that way for long.

Eventually you got bored of all their chatting about things that only Mapleclan cats would be interested in. You decided to go see some Pineclan or Birchclan cats. You wanted to make the most out of this night; make some friends and learn a little more about the other clans, and the cats in them.

Surprisingly you actually learned more about one of your clan mates that night; your mother.

You were walking along when you heard her sweet voice. Now, let me remind you; you absolutely loved your mother. Simply because she loved you. You hoped dearly everyday that she would come and pester you about how your day went. And when she did, you pretended to be annoyed by her; as not to look like a kit, when it really made you happy beyond what words could express.

But this time, your mother ruined your day-or should I say night-by being near you, not being away from you.

I knew it would happen seconds, minutes, hours and even days before it did. To be honest, I knew that it would happen from the moment you were born, but the closer time brought me to the event, the sharper the vision of what would happen was. It was almost like I was there a couple seconds before it did. And I had no intention of stopping you from walking into a scene where you would lose your control yet again; and give it to me.

Why I loved to rattle; and I loved to make you rattle. You couldn't possibly rattle on your own, you didn't have it in you to do such a thing. You didn't bother fighting me, you hated your life too much to care, but unless I was controlling you, which only happened when you had high levels of an emotion, there was no way I could release the poison inside of you.

Don't look at me like I am a monster. You needed to get that poison out of your body; otherwise it would consume you. It wasn't me or you that caused you to end up the way you did, it was just how you were born. With poison that killed from the inside as well as the outside.

Part of the reason your life was always more painful than any other cat could understand.

"I've missed you so much!" You heard your mother say, and wondering who she might possibly be talking to, you eavesdrop.

"Me too," it is a Pineclan cat you do not recognize, "How is our kit?"

"Oh he's wonderful. His name is Snakepaw now."

You stood still, no longer aware of your surroundings. Your father was a Pineclan cat; and to say the least you were infuriated, shocked, weary from another blow that could give me control over your body.

But, surprisingly it didn't. You seemed to fight me out of you, and the only reason for that was because you had already plotted your own revenge. You would get back at your mother in the cruelest way possible; by doing the same thing she did.

You went to the cluster of Pineclan cats and began to chat with them, in a friendly tone. They quickly included you in their conversation and it wasn't long before you had their attention; randomly chatting about random stuff. Soon the leaders had called the clans for the gathering to begin.

When the gathering was finished you walked up to the first Pineclan she-cat you saw. It was Berrypaw, a pretty tortoise who had been sweet and kind. "I can't stop thinking about you," you begin and I will give you the credit; you were an amazing actor.

She looks at you, a little surprised, "I don't understand," she stammers making sure no one can here, "We are from different clans."

You let out a fake sigh, "Don't you see, Berrypaw, that no longer matters to me."

Her eyes soften, "I understand but..." she hesitates, before giving in, "Let's meet tomorrow night, then maybe I'll see, okay?" You nod and give her a lick of fake love before running back to catch up with your clan, thinking about what a fool Berrypaw was.

You grin, pleased that she was so easy to allure, but your heart still burns. You can't bring yourself to forgive your mother. You reminded yourself that she would pay. You had already taken the first step towards your revenge.

"Snakepaw!" Berrypaw paddled towards you as you walked up to her. You tried to look affectionate like all you had been thinking about was her, but it really wasn't. All you were thinking about was how you were getting the perfect revenge on your mother. I was very proud of you.

You and Berrypaw talk for a few hours about how much you 'love' each other and she huddles next to you as you gaze at the moon. You two had been mates for a fair amount of time, meeting almost every night, as I sat and watched. Not much to watch but Berrypaw falling further into your lie. There was a time when I wondered if she would ever realize that what she lived for was actually a lie.

But, of course, you had to release that deadly poison inside of you eventually.

When you leave her that day you give each other a lick, you can barely make it through without messing up your face. She disgusted you, as well as me, the way she fell for your lies so easily, but you needed her. Even if your mother never found out, you would still be getting the revenge you desired.

Revenge, revenge, revenge.

Sometimes one small thing can snatch your mind from you, pulling it out of your grasp. Marshpaw, your mother, and most importantly your life. You wanted to get back at your life for setting in up in such a wretched way. What you would never understand was that you were the wretched one, not your life.

That night when you reach camp your mother noticed you. You were curious as to why she was awake and she soon approached you.

She have you a sniff before her eyes widened in surprise, "I was suspecting something but I had hoped I was wrong," she looked disappointed, "I can't believe you are meeting a Pineclan cat."

A part of you was worried, you had been caught doing something that you could get kicked out of the clan for. But then you were also a little glad she had finally noticed. Not just because mommy was paying attention to her big boy now but also because this only made revenge more sweet.

In a way, it was what you had been waiting for.