shadow

~~~

"Meet Storm!" Venom proclaimed happily, leading her brother over to where the gray she-cat was standing. "Our leader!"

"Leader, huh?" Scorpion meowed with a confused flick of his tail. "I thought you were leader?"

"Venom was, but she passed that role onto me a couple moons ago," Storm filled in. "She was a great leader, and I've certainly got some large paws to fill!"

Scorpion let out a soft purr. "How are you enjoying the power?" It was meant to be teasing, but the gray she-cat froze up.

"I was having some trouble with getting the cats to listen to me, but Venom gave me some tips. Helped a lot," Storm mewed softly, pelt fluffing uncomfortably at the mention of her threats onto the PeaceClan cats.

"She's doing just fine now." Venom spoke quickly before Scorpion could catch onto Storm's hesitance. Last thing she needed was to explain herself to her older brother.

"Well." Scorpion gave Storm a big smile. "I'm glad I finally got to meet the cat I've heard so much about. Lion sure blabbers a lot about you."

The gray she-cat blinked, green gaze confused. "Lion? What does he say?"

Scorpion's tail-tip twitched, realizing that the ginger tom's words about Storm were mainly negative, probably not something he ought to bring up. 

Venom resisted a teasing roll of her eyes at her older brother's ignorance for mentioning Lion's name in the first place, mewing quickly, "Any of Lion's anger is my fault. I was the one who held him back and all that. It's all on me."

"Oh? But-"

"Let's move on!" Venom interrupted. It was clear that Scorpion was about to bring up how all of Lion's spite was directed towards Storm, confused as why that was when the blame was on Venom. The black she-cat wasn't in the mood to explain that, either. "I'll see you later, Storm." With that, she dragged her older brother off.

The rest of the day was spent in joy, one she hadn't felt in a long while. Being with Scorpion, knowing that he was alive, hearing his horrible jokes and small teases made everything better.

Venom dragged him around, giving him a tour, pelt fluffed with pride as she did so. She did all of this. She built a strong Clan based off of peace and friendship. She took in loners that could barely hunt and turned them into fighting machines. And she could not be happier to show all of that to her brother.

She introduced him to cat after cat, until she was certain every one of them knew who Scorpion was and would treat him with the same temper they would her. The brown tom seemed to get along well with all of them, cracking jokes and making conversation. And when the sun began to set, cats beginning to dig into prey, the air felt so much lighter, buzzing with laughter and chatter for the first time in a long while.

"Well, I'm exhausted," Venom meowed, pushing herself to her paws. "Any of you guys ready to go to sleep?" She addressed her brother and Storm, as they were the ones she was having the meal with.

"Oh, I need to speak with Cobra about the borders," Storm replied, "but you two go ahead."

"You can sleep in our den tonight, Scorpion," Venom mewed cheerfully, leading her brother into the boulder. "We'll make a nest for you, don't worry. I bet you're tired from all that traveling-" She broke off, noticing Scorpion's unusual silence. "Scorp? What's wrong?"

"I just-" Scorpion paused, flicking his tail as he followed the black she-cat to behind the rock wall, where the nests lay. "Your Clan-"

"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Venom mewed happily.

"Yes. Of course. But-" The brown tom shook out his pelt. "What do you call this Clan?"

"PeaceClan," Venom informed him. "I try to make everything the opposite of WarClan. I wanted a Clan built off of love."

Scorpion cocked his head. "I'm not exactly sure you have that, Venom."

The black she-cat stiffened. "What?"

"I just don't think..." The brown tom broke off, shaking his head. "It's nothing. Forget about it."

"No, no, continue," Venom urged, feeling a flame of anger flicker through her. She worked so hard on making this the perfect Clan, and Scorpion wanted to insult it? Well she'd hear what he had to say.

"It's just that... Don't you think it's odd, how Storm looks uneasy every time we talk about her leadership?" Scorpion asked lightly. "And when she talks about those tips you gave her... Venom, I have a guess on what they are, and I'd very much like for the guess to be wrong."

The black she-cat's amber gaze flamed as she stared up at her brother, challenging him. "Stop hopping around the bush and just spit it out," she hissed.

Scorpion's ears pressed themselves to his head in frustration, letting himself succumb to anger as well. "Storm isn't fit to be leader," he snapped. "She isn't! Any cat can see that, and there's nothing wrong with it. But you're pushing her to do it so bad, she's willing to do anything to accomplish that task to please you. So she takes your tips. And what are those tips? Harming the Clan members?" 

Venom opened her jaws to reply, but the brown tom lashed his tail, cutting her off. "I'm not blind, Venom, every single one of them has an injury of some sort! Too small to be from battle, too big to be from an accident. Tell me, just how is injuring your Clanmates creating a Clan build off love?"

"They need to learn to listen to Storm. Once they learn, Storm will fit in perfectly fine and everything will be okay."

"Will it? Or will they live in constant fear and Storm in guilt?" Scorpion demanded. "I don't know about you, but I find it odd that Lion's angry at Storm for something that's clearly your fault, not to mention how all of the cats say that you come up to them every day, telling them about which cats hate them when after speaking to all of them, it's clear that none of them hate each other!"

Venom lashed her tail to hiss back, but her brother barreled on still.

"You know what I call that, Venom? You know what the world calls it? Manipulation. You are manipulating all of these cats for your greedy needs, whatever they may be, and it's not right!" Scorpion meowed angrily. "Especially with Storm! She's hurting these cats, and at the end of the day, it'll be pinned on her, wouldn't it? That it's her idea to injure them in the first place." 

Venom felt rage slowly fill her body, one she hadn't felt in a long time, but very, very dangerous. Her mind engulfed, clouding her ability to think clearly. "I'd stop talking right now if I were you."

But Scorpion didn't. "PeaceClan? You call this Clan PeaceClan?" The brown tom's eyes blazed. "If anything, this Clan is worse than WarClan."

That was it. Venom's snapping point.

"How dare you!" the black she-cat shrieked, launching herself at Scorpion.

It was quick. Easy. It had been too long since she used her claws. All she could see was red, and when she stopped, when common sense returned, her brother lay dead, his blood gleaming off her claws.

"Oh, Spirits." Venom stumbled backwards, shaking. "What have I done?"

The two cats she loved the most, dead. Both dead at her own claws.

The black she-cat turned to collect her thoughts, heaving for air. But instead of a rock wall, she came face-to-face with Storm.

The gray she-cat's green eyes were narrowed. "I heard what Scorpion said," she meowed, "and I saw you kill him."

She had been standing behind the rock wall. The realization hit Venom as she fell into her nest. That was it. Years of this, and now it was all over.

"Is it true?" That wasn't a question that needed to be asked; it was clear Storm knew the answer, begging Venom to deny it.

"Tell me it isn't," Storm mewed, feeling her fury grow by the second. "Tell me that the cat I saw as a mother wasn't using me for her own benefit, and actually cared about me. Tell me!"

Venom shook her head, too wrapped up to reply. Too wrapped up to stop Storm when she jumped on top of the black she-cat, like mother like daughter, seeing nothing but red, feeling nothing but shear betrayal.

The black she-cat didn't even try to stop her. She could feel sharp pain, her blood tainting her black fur. Her vision blurred, but she still saw Storm's green eyes, sharp with hurt, paw raised.

"I appreciate you raising me and taking care of me, Venom, but really, I'd rather it if you'd just left me to die."

With that, she brought her paw down, and the black she-cat felt herself slipping away into darkness.

~~~

whoo! so that's it, final chapter of shadow!

big writer's block for this one. genuinely didn't know where to start with it, 'til i forced myself to just sit down and get it done. thoughts on it? venom finally got her confrontation!!

dunno if i'm going to write an epilogue, we'll see! honestly if i do, i'm honestly not sure what would happen, you know? i think it may be better to just leave it like this, i've got nothing more i want to add onto the story.

but i will be posting a chapter on what's coming next, along with an announcement, so definitely, it'd be much appreciated if you took a look!

thank you all so, so much for your support over the course of shadow! thank you for reading!!

~ lily