TW: Death, canon-typical violence, murder, suicide, child abuse
Revision: 2
This was the concept for a webcomic I scrapped due to mental health/disability issues. There are changes from the original script. I will rework this with more cats involved in the plot, but this is what you're getting for now.
Prologue: Clan Origin
The prologue is about how the Clans formed recently, led by their guides, Ashengrowl for AirClan, Cottonstep for LyreClan, Beargrin for BatClan, and Oakbloom for LichenClan. The young spirits led the group to the mountains, where they shall be safe.
TA couple of Dark Forest cats, Raventooth and Ravenclaw, nearly led the clan cats down a dark path. Some cats fell for their trap, but luckily, the guides collectively stopped the Ravens. But as a result, each Clan separated into their own groups.
It hasn’t been that long since the Clans have formed…
Chapter 1: Torment
A sick kit, Raven, was abandoned by some twolegs and was found by a LyreClan patrol. He was led to LyreClan camp to be nursed back to health. They gave him the name Darkkit.
He was cared for by the Clan. He befriended a few cats, Zappaw, Crowpaw, Wrenpaw, and Mosquitopaw. They ask about the weird thing on his collar. Darkkit doesn’t know either…
A slight timeskip. Darkkit is assigned the leader, Ruststar, as his mentor. His friends are concerned due to the leader’s recent, strange behavior. The leader doesn’t trust Darkpaw; he will always be connected to the Ravens, no matter what he does. Darkpaw doesn’t know what that means…
The leader abuses Darkpaw, pushing him around, slashing at him, hitting him…anything to bring him down for existing…
The friend group concocts a plan to help out Darkpaw…escaping the Clan. If he’s in a new clan who doesn't know about his previous name, things will be alright…right?
Chapter 2: Hope
The group plus one of the mentors, Thunderwing, lead Darkpaw to the border, trying to find their way to AirClan camp. They were stopped by two AirClan cats…one was Brushstar, one of the founders of the recently formed clan.
He demanded that Darkpaw be sent back. He didn’t want outsiders in the Clan! Let alone a kittypet!
Defeated, the LyreClan cats left. But they were not going to quit; they will just try again tomorrow.
They reached the border again a second time. Same mentor as before, but he was alone with Darkpaw and his apprentice, Wrenpaw.
Heatherbat and Brushstar were on patrol. A shame they had to witness seeing Brushstar, but thankfully for them, Heatherbat convinced Brushstar to let Darkpaw live at AirClan.
Heatherbat leads Darkpaw to clan camp on her own, leaving Brushstar alone to patrol since CLEARLY he doesn’t want to help.
They talk on their way to the camp. Darkpaw asks questions, like why the mountains? What’s so special about them? Who are the Ravens (he doesn’t know who they are, exactly…no one told him)? She doesn’t ask questions and just answers the ones she’s given.
They arrive at camp and the cats look at Duskpaw, confused. “Who is that?” and whatnot.
It isn’t long before Brushstar reappears, having followed them from a distance; a test for Darkpaw. He calls on a clan meeting without Heatherbat’s approval. Brushstar tells the clan that there’s a new cat in the clan, Darkpaw, and that he will need a cat to become his mentor, and that he will be thinking about who it should be.
Darkpaw is nervous, unsure why Heatherbat took to him so quickly…Heatherbat sets up a nest in the apprentices' den for him, to where he rests, falling asleep.
He finds himself in a forest with two cats in front of him. They tell him that they escaped their grasps for now. Darkpaw hesitates but then stands up for himself, telling them to go away, that he’s sick of this! The cats have a glowing smirk on their face as the dream ends, but not before saying, in unison, that this won’t be the last time.
The last few panels/pages show Finchdapple having a dream, where Ashengrowl shows up to warn him about something…it's far away, but so close…then, a monster suddenly crashes into Finchdapple, waking him up.
Chapter 3: Growth
It starts with Darkpaw training with Caterpillarback, being insulted for messing up along the way. He wonders if, perhaps this is his fate; to train under a terrible cat again. He got right back to where he was to begin with. Nothing as bad as Ruststar, but he will see.
He returns home and heads straight to Heatherbat, the one cat who understands. She was resting on a rock when her friend came to visit her. She greets him and asks about his day of training. “Fine, I guess..,” he answers. “Having a rough time with him…? I get it. I wish you had me instead of him, but is there much we can do about that?” “Probably not…he’s probably only assigned to me because I’m a bad cat, or something…”
She tries to tell him that it’s not the case. But he’s been training for a long time, so it’s probably too late to switch mentors. To hang on a little longer, and he’ll be free. They can do patrols more often with each other and the other friendly cats of AirClan!
That cheers him up and motivates him a little. To, perhaps, prove the cats wrong about him! He will be the best warrior the clan has seen!
Heatherbat smiles at him, proud that he can make it through everything. He will be the best warrior the clan has seen!
It skips ahead to a few days later when Icethorn carries home a litter of kittens, refusing to explain where he found them. Heading straight into the Nursery.
Darkbud visits the litter, Icethorn resting with them as a group of cats leave to find a nursing mother for them so they can have milk. He looks at the kits, wondering about them, hoping they will live a good life, zooming in on the pure white kitten"
Chapter 4: From Hell Itself
Chapter starts from the perspective of one of the kits (Nettlekit) when he heads to get his mentor. Darkbud is assigned his cat as his apprentice.
But he noticed something…odd about Nettlepaw; there’s a new scar on his side.
He asks where he got that from, and the kit hesitates, but tells him it's from Ravenclaw, which surprises Darkbud, causing him to panic a little, but Nettlepaw assures him it's fine! He’s not training in the Dark Forest or something, hehe! Let’s start training! With hesitance, Darkbud tells him they’ll train tomorrow, he needs to rest.
Cut to the apprentice’s den, Nettlepaw’s siblings talking about the fact they moved here! Nettlepaw falls asleep and wakes up in a forest, two cats in front of him with glowing teeth and eyes. The Ravens.
They ask if he is truly ready for training now. Nettlepaw nods, knowing it's time to start training. Then, Ravenclaw charges ahead, to Nettlepaw dodging. “You taught me that one already! Try something differe-” then Raventooth bites his shoulder.
He bucks the cat off of him. He then charges and tackles the cat in front of him, but then it cuts to Icethorn being tackled into a rushing river. Almost falling in too.
Icethorn screams and trashes about in the water, Nettlepaw smiling as he watches his father be whisked away by the river. He walks away, satisfied.
Chapter 6: You Can’t Help It, Can You?
Skip ahead to a cat being brought into camp by Heatherbat a while after Nettlegleam got his name. Churroclover is the new cat, laughing and blushing alongside Heatherbat.
Nettlegleam glares at the couple, wondering why they are so happy? Why can’t he be as happy? Why does Heatherbat deserve some lowly outsider like her?
He wants to tear it apart.
Heatherbat leads her right to him, unaware of his jealousy, introducing Churroclover to him, telling her that she’s one of his adopted parents after his father died. He puts on a fake happy face to hide his emotions, chatting along, nothing like how he feels inside. Once they leave, he thinks of a plan…
A while later, Nettlegleam walks over to Churroclover, asking if they would go on a walk so they can get to know each other. She agrees happily.
They talk for a while as they leave camp and explore the area. He leads her to the Thunderpath. He hears a monster coming, and Churroclover is concerned, but when it got close, Nettlegleam tackles her into the path of the upcoming monster, killing her in an instant.
He just walked away, happy that she’s gone, a smirk on his face.
Chapter 6: You Can’t Help It, Can You?
It cuts ahead to Churroclover’s burial. Heatherbat looked at the grave, tears streaming down her face. Darkbud sits next to her, comforting her, a terrified look on his face over the fact he might know who did it. He gets up, telling her that he’ll be back soon.
Darkbud walks to the Warrior’s Den and heads straight for Nettlegleam. He tells him to get up, to where he looked up at his ex-mentor, telling him to leave him alone. “No. Get up. We need to talk about something.”
Nettlegleam growls and gets up, looking at Darkbud. Darkbud bluntly asks “did you kill Icethorn and Churroclover?”
After thinking about it, looking away for a bit, before answering. “Yes. Are you proud of me?”
“Why would I be proud of you?! You killed your father and your mother’s mate!”
“Because I thought you might enjoy hearing me tell you~! I enjoy the power I have to take a cat’s life, and I thought you’d be the same!”
“No?! Why would you assume that?!”
“Just don’t tell anyone. I doubt you would, you coward. I can’t believe you didn’t say anything sooner~!”
“I tried! Brushstar doesn’t care!”
“Exactly! You will be crying wolf and no one will trust you~! And if you will excuse me, I’m gonna be getting a bite to eat.” And Nettlegleam walks away, Darkbud staying behind.
It zooms in on him as he thinks…he gets up.
Chapter 8: Punishment
Nettlegleam was heading out of the camp when he was stopped by Snowshard, Brushstar, and Finchdapple, telling him he’s not allowed to leave for now. They step forward and tell him that he murdered Icethorn and Churroclover, didn’t he? He denies it, explaining that those were coincidences! He didn’t kill any cat!
They don’t believe him, but they call up a clan meeting to decide if he should be exiled.
Nettlegleam stays calm as the meeting starts and Brushstar asks the Clan if they believe that he’s innocent. Several cats stand up; most of his siblings, Heaterbat, and Darkbud.
Seeing Darkbud step up enraged him, but he kept it to himself. He is a traitor…
Finchdapple stands up, saying he heard from StarClan. He agrees that it was Nettlegleam who killed those cats. That makes up the mind for the other cats; they decide to exile Nettlegleam, telling him that he’s not welcome.
Nettlegleam leaves the clan, not wanting to fight most of AirClan at once. He’s now alone, in the wild, outside the clan. He then hears a voice: “are you proud of yourself?” Looking over, it was the Ravens. “You’re such a fool…you need to keep your maw shut from now on…”
He tries ignoring them, tears forming in his eyes. He climbs down the mountain as he tries to ignore the Ravens as they taunt them.