O0O0OxX…XxO0O0O

Chapter 3: Breaking Eyes

"S-Shion, please! D-Don't do this! I-I'm your sister!"

Shion's eyes darted from his sister to his leader and mentor, Scourge. He was doubtful, but as Scourge hissed the command again, Shion knew what to do. It was kill or be killed. The hunter or hunted, and he wasn't weak. His eyes went back to his weak pitiful sister with her broken leg that Scourge had inflicted, laying on the ground and wailing – his own almost two moon old sister. They both were only days away from becoming two moons, and now, as they were in Scourge's dark alley, his sister had been set as the prey.

Her gray pelt shuddered, her white paws clawing at the ground as she tried to stand, to get up, to move and run away from him – her brother. Once again, her formerly bright amber eyes met his blue, now terrified and fearful of him.

He gulped, aware that Scourge was growing impatient. After what seemed like hours, he stepped forward and raised a paw, receiving another whine from his bleeding sister laying on the ground helplessly. Her eyes pleaded him, pleading and begging him to turn back and walk away. He couldn't do what she asked. Almost silently, as he gave one last sorry look at his sister, she mouthed a few words that he would never forget to him.

"No regrets. I have no regrets." His sister mouthed. His eyes widened, but as he realized he couldn't kill her, and his eyes flashed with fear, a loud scream came from his sister, and her white paws were stained with blood. Her own blood leaked down from her open stomach, slashed and torn to bits from Scourge's sharp dog claws. As he stood there, eyes wide and in shock, he felt something warm touch his paws, and he realized that it was her blood.

Horrified, he looked up to his mentor, who's one white paw was covered in crimson liquid. He couldn't even utter a sound – his sister's body was lifeless, unmoving, and her eyes were already shadowed over, but her last words already haunted him.

This path that he took, had killed his family, and now it had killed his only sister.

No regrets…

He gulped. His sister had no regrets in her short life, so now, as I felt his sister's warm sticky blood at his paws, he silently made a vow. No regrets, he swore, I will have no regrets in this path I have taken…No regrets.

Scourge's ice blue eyes narrowed at his apprentice, watching the blue-eyed tom close his eyes, and then open them with an almost scary courage and confidence. He licked his apprentice's sister's blood off his paw, and then put his paw down. He flicked his tail down in a stalling patience as he waitied for his apprentice.

Shion's eyes looked up at his mentor, dark blue meeting ice blue.

Scourge smirked. "You have lost the last thing important to you and your soul, and for that, I will give you your new name. Do not fail BloodClan, Soul. Do not fail me."

With another flick of his tail, Scourge was padding away down the alley, leaving the newly named Soul and his dead sister, Dusk, alone in the darkness. With death all around him, Soul closed his eyes once more, trying to take in all that had happened to him, and then opened them. He was Soul now, and everything that mattered to him was gone. He had no weaknesses, and Scourge wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he disobeyed him.

Hunter or Hunted.

X

The dark gray tom knew this was a perfect chance to strike, as he was behind the deputy had had met earlier when he had killed Firestar once. All the attention was on the ShadowClan leader, who had gone to speak first. Then, the skinny and small cat he assumed was a WindClan cat spoke from atop the tree. Not even the other deputies were aware of his presence.

His dark blue eyes caught a glint of the moon, but then it disappeared as dark black clouds covered the moon, and the leaders suddenly stopped talking, confused. Soul ignored it, seeing as it was only a warning from StarClan that wouldn't help saving their deputy. His eyes locked on his target, and in a blur, he was forward, paws tapping the ground as he leaped to the deputy's side, and then his claws touched his throat. The dark gray kit's eyes met amber as the deputy of ThunderClan, Brambleclaw, fell to the ground with his throat cut.

Yowls echoed around the clearing as they saw the ThunderClan deputy bleeding out, and the other deputies stiffened, hissing.

Firestar's tail lashed as the dark gray kit's eyes met his, seeming to dare him to come and play. Firestar looked down at his deputy, and then with a yowl, he launched himself out of the tree at the tom who had taken one of his lives.

"You've killed me once and now my deputy?" Firestar snarled, swiping his paw at Soul's face. The dark gray tom easily avoided it, and then attacked the ThunderClan leader with a blur of claws and smacked his paw across the ginger tom's face. Firestar hissed, shaken. Blood dripped from claw marks going from the bottom of his chin up to his nose.

"Fine! I'll give you my decision now!" Firestar growled, leaping away.

The dark gray tom narrowed his eyes. "Half…" He said, and before any cat seemed to realize it, another body hit the ground; one of ThunderClan. Mistystar let out a surprised hiss while Blackstar and Onestar looked stunned. Immediately, the unfamiliar cream tabby kit was spotted amongst them, and an angered Foxleap let out a battle cry and launched himself at her. Firestar's eyes widened as he saw a white pelt, Icecloud, unmoving on the ground.

Firestar's eyes switched back to the dark gray tom, fury blazing in his green eyes. The dark gray tom was unfazed by this, and the hostility of clan-cats around him. He held the green-eyed leader's gaze, not an expression on his face as he stayed, ready to leap back into a fight. For a long moment, the two stared the other down, neither giving up.

"You've given me no choice." Firestar said, attempting to be calm. In the background, Half and Foxleap wrestled and tore at each other's pelts, no other cats daring to step forward and join the fight between the ThunderClan warrior and a kit. Quickly, the medicine cats rushed over to the ThunderClan deputy, and attempted to heal his scratched throat.

Firestar put a paw down forward, tail lashing in pure anger and defense. "If Scourge wants a fight, we'll give him one. ThunderClan will go to war with BloodClan and we will win!" He lashed out, trying to claw the dark gray tom's shoulder, but the smaller only ducked under the huge paws.

"Firestar, what is this about?" One leader, RiverClan, asked. "Did you just say Scourge and BloodClan?"

The ginger flame-colored tom glanced over his shoulder at the she-cat. He gave a small nod, and then without another thought, he darted forward for another attack. Within seconds, the ThunderClan leader and the dark gray tom were fighting again, dark blue eyes against blazing green.

Slowly, at the roots of the great tree, the large brown tabby tom was rising to his paws and then settled into a hunched over sitting position. He took shallow breaths, his neck now patched up with tight cobwebs. His amber eyes glared at the dark gray tom, and he took it in his option to explain to the other clans what Firestar had begun to announce before he had almost been killed.

"Firestar was killed by this cat just a while ago. He came right into our camp and killed him, and then ran out – Blackstar, you and your warriors should have seen Sandstorm, Graystripe and I chasing him through your territory."

"So that's the explanation…" The ShadowClan leader grumbled, eyes on the fight and not the deputy, as if he were only half-listening.

"He gave us a warning before he killed Firestar. He said Scourge and BloodClan, and we confirmed it that Scourge was back with BloodClan at his side. He said we had three sunrises to decide, and this is the second night since the attack." Brambleclaw coughed, tail fur rising up at he then went into a small coughing fit. Cinderheart's small meow of worry came from beside the large tabby tom as she dashed forward to his side to steady him. Since Jayfeather wasn't there, there was only so much the white she-cat could do, even with the memories of Cinderpelt.

Brambleclaw gave one last horrid cough, and then he spat out a small pawful of blood, and fell right to his side. Cinderheart almost narrowly missed catching the big tom, grabbing his scruff and then setting him down lightly on the ground. The other deputies backed away, dipping their heads down as they saw the ThunderClan cat's breathing stop. Cinderheart let out a small wail, sticking her nose into his fur as if that would get the tabby to start breathing again. ThunderClan's cries arose and Squirrelflight screeched, running through the crowd who slowly made an open path for her to get to her former mate. Not even a fox-length behind was Lionblaze and Hollyleaf, rushing to their adopted father's side as if all the lies in their life's never happened. The clans seemed to freeze, and the leaders on the tree all looked down at the two fights.

The cream tabby threw the ginger tom off her, and then leaped after him and only his belly. The tom she was on tried to claw at her, but only got a small snag of fur. It didn't even bother the cream tabby as she raked her sharp claws down his stomach, blood splashing up in her face and dotting her own chest and belly and covering her small kit paws. The tom yowled in pain, blood running out of his stomach as his body finally went limp.

Foxleap was dead, his belly slashed open, along with his sister, Icecloud, her chest scorched in a bloody 'X' mark. The ThunderClan deputy, Brambeclaw, was dead, his throat cut.

Half grinned, leaping away as another cat attempted to attack her, and then dodged flying paws as she ran to her compainion's side. The dark gray tom faced off against the ThunderClan leader, who leaped away, scratches covering his pelt. The cream tabby was most surprised by how the dark gray tom had a cut on his cheek, under his eye, and a small scratch on his right shoulder and forepaw.

She pushed the thought that was appearing in her mind away. Soul wasn't getting worse, he was just facing a good opponent that had at least one life or more, and the one who had killed their own leader before. It was expected that he would get scratched, if not, then he might have been even better than Scourge himself.

The dark gray tom noticed that the cream tabby was done with her fight, and then leapt a few paces back away from the flame-colored leader. Half gave a nod, and then she jumped onto the tree bridge, the dark gray tom right behind her. No cat dared to chase after them, seeing all the damage that kits only a few moons old had done. ThunderClan let out yowls of sorrow, and Firestar let his head hang down, his ginger fur covered in scratches.

Onestar flicked his tail, leaping down to the roots of the tree by his deputy, Ashfoot. He glanced over at his old ThunderClan friend, and then turned away. Slowly, WindClan followed him as he lead them back to his territory, and after that, Blackstar with ShadowClan. Last was RiverClan, with Mistystar giving ThunderClan a sad glance, not able to help him against BloodClan after seeing how much damage they had done. The other clans said nothing as they passed ThunderClan, clouds still covering the moon.

"I say these words before StarClan, that the spirit of Brambleclaw may hear and approve of my choice. The new deputy of ThunderClan is Brackenfur!"

"Brackenfur!" Cinderheart called out, starting the chant. Slowly, all of ThunderClan kept up the chant, yowling,

"Brackenfur! Brackenfur! Brackenfur!"

"May Brambleclaw, Icecloud and Foxleap rest in peace." Cinderheart murmured.

X

Soul stopped running as he reached the foot of a stream, not far off from the town. He looked himself over, and then started to lick him wounds. Half stopped and sat by him, ears perked and listening for any enemies that might have followed them, but just as she thought, they were too scared and hadn't chased them.

Soul blinked, sensing his cream tabby companion staring at him, and lifted his dark gray head. He growled at her, and then started to lick the wound on his shoulder again. The cream kitten didn't move, and rather, smiled at him. It only annoyed him more – couldn't she see that if she developed a relationship with him, she would be killed? Scourge had killed everything important to him, and he couldn't keep his promise if she went off by herself somewhere.

He paused, his scratchy pink tongue stopping in his tracks. Raising his head back, he tilted his ears up, and looked at Half. His eyes weren't cold and dark, like they usually were, but curious. The old Half used to stay by him even when he glared at her or gave her a look.

"Do you…Remember?"

The cream tabby blinked, ears twitching. "What?"

The dark gray tom's eyes went down once more, and he gave one last lick to his lightly bleeding wound before he sat up, eyes changing. He flicked his tail, and then stared up at the sky, recalling the old Half, aware that the cream tabby was sitting next to him, looking at him curiously.

"Don't kill her!"

"Get out of my way! She's weak you stupid fool!"

Soul drew back, flinching. He had never heard that sharp angered voice of Scourge's before, but yet something told him not to back down. He had to protect the tiny scrap of a cream tabby kitten; it reminded him too much of his sister that Scourge had murdered. He wouldn't let her die – he couldn't. The spirits of his dead family were telling him, whispering to him to save that kit.

"Then you'll have to kill me first and you wouldn't want that, would you?" Soul growled, bristling. "I'm your only perfect killer, and if you killed me, then your trump card would be gone!"

Scourge wrinkled his nose, sharp dog claws emerging from his one white paw. He lashed his tail, angered that his own apprentice would stand against him to protect one tiny –weak- kit. It was ridiculous! He killed kits all the time, so why was this one any different? The cream tabby kit looked nothing like anyone his apprentice even knew, so why would he have any reason to risk his life for it?

"I will give my life for this kit! I'll name her too! I'll sacrifice myself for her – I won't let you kill her!"

"Then she'll be trained the same as you – you pathetic idiot." Scourge hissed. "I'll keep you to that stupid promise you just made. You make one wrong move, Soul, and I'll kill her – got that?"

Soul gulped, taking a step back towards the cream tabby kit that was huddling near him, her fur pressed up against his back leg. The let out a small squeak, and shuddered, almost making the dark gray tom lose his confidence under Scourge's burning gaze. Finally, he looked away from those ice blue eyes.

"Y-Yes, Scourge."

Scourge snorted, turning away. "She's useless. I've killed everyone you've loved and all your friends so that you could become strong – it was for you. Don't let yourself fall down because of one stupid weak kit like this. You'll turn weak if you grow close to anyone and anything," Scourge turned his head half-way to glare back at his apprentice, who tried to stand tall. He then added with a curled venomous hiss, "Soul."

X

"Where are we going, Shion?"

Soul smiled, looking back at the cream tabby kitten walking after him, struggling to keep up. He stopped for a few moments, waiting for her as she came to his side, a grin of happiness on her bright face. Despite going through the first day of training to be a killer, the small kit was still bouncing around on her paws after Soul. She had also learned his former name, 'Shion', and had brought up saying it as long as no one else was around. She was literally like his old sister Scourge had killed.

The cream tabby grinned widely. She dashed forward and within a few leaps of air, she was fox-lengths ahead of him. She looked back at him, her fur seeming to shine as a spot of sunlight glowed on it. The road they were walking on was cracked and dirty, and no cars were known to drive on it. The shadows of the buildings shadowed the road, so sunlight only came in small spots, and was a given gift when it came.

"Well, I was going to wait and surprise you," Soul started, jumping forward and racing towards the younger kit. "And I still will, so follow me!" As he shouted that, he ran past his friend, and she quickly leapt after him, racing by his side. They darted down the road, each grinning in childishly. They got a ways down the road before Soul veered off to the right, and the cream tabby kit followed him, her pale blue cloudy eyes brightening up as she saw where he had led her to.

She let out a yowl of happiness and stared around her at the sight. She was in a meadow; Soul a few paces in front of her, her paws touching bright green grass. Flowers of all colors; red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, white, and violet, were around her, flowing with the gentle touching breeze. Her eyes looked up to her blue-eyed friend, and she smiled widely at him before leaping forward and playfully knocking him down and pinning him. Soul laughed, playing back and pushing her off lightly before rolling over and standing up.

The two played for a while, until the evening came and the sun started to go down. Finally, as Soul thought it was time, he stood up and looked the cream tabby she-cat in her eyes.

"I give you your new name, for being the other half of me – my good side, my light side, and the side I couldn't live without. From this day forward, I give you the name of Half."

The newly named Half's face broke out into a big smile, and she purred out her name, pale blue eyes bright. She then leaped forward playfully waving her tail through the air, haunches up and front paws slide forward and down. Soul smiled, glad that the cream tabby she-cat accepted her name, and decided to let out a small purr of his own.

"Half," She purred admiringly at her own name. "I love it, Shion!"

"Soul?"

Soul was snapped out of his memories at the concerned voice of Half, who was leaning forward in his face, her pale blue eyes shining in worry. He jerked his head back, eyes slightly wide, and Half gasped, a small meow of surprise coming from her mouth.

"Stay away from me!"

The words were ripped from Soul's mouth, just like they ripped apart his heart. The moment it left, he begged the world to listen to him and bring it back. He regretted it so much he gaped himself, eyes widening in emotion. The cream tabby looked hurt, stumbling back a few steps. She flattened her ears down, her mouth open in words that she couldn't seem to get out.

"I-I'm sorry, I just was remembering – I didn't mean to!" Soul gasped out, blue eyes pleading the gods and dead ancestors to give him luck. "I used to have a friend! She looked like you!" She used to be you! "You surprised me! I thought she was here again and it just surprised me!"

The cream tabby's expression suddenly changed to that of a confused one. "S-Soul…? Why are you…? You never hardly even speak to me, and now you yell, 'stay away from me' and then you say, 'I'm sorry! I was just remembering an old friend that looked like you and I thought you were her!'? W-What happened to you?"

Now, Half actually didn't look offended, but more concerned at the dark gray tom's outburst of words. Soul realized that she was right, and he tried not to talk and interact with her too much in fear that Scourge would kill her.

"She's useless. I've killed everyone you've loved and all your friends so that you could become strong – it was for you. Don't let yourself fall down because of one stupid weak kit like this. You'll turn weak if you grow close to anyone and anything, Soul."

Everyone he loved and all his friends were killed – and Scourge knew he had sworn to protect Half. He had named her for BloodClan's sake! Scourge would kill her if he showed her how she used to be – if he cared about her, if he loved her like he did his sister, if he explained why she couldn't remember anything before the age of two moons. She had remembered her skills and her name, but nothing other! She wasn't the old Half – she had lost her memories.

No regrets…I have no regrets.

"Half…I'm sorry."

Half froze, eyes wide and staring at Soul. She was silent, just as she had always been, just like she could run without making a sound. He was dark, and she was light; his other half. Half. The dark gray tom looked up into pale blue eyes, and swallowed, putting his old personality back and trying to fix what he had just said. He put his face back into an expressionless one, thinking it was all for her sake, and for his own life, and turned away.

Soul padded away, and started off towards the town.

"Where are you going, Shion?"

"Where are you going, Soul?"

Half dashed up to his side, eyes staring into him, fierce. She wanted answers, answers that he wasn't sure he was ready to say to her and tell her – to tell the world of his own mistakes. He wasn't sure he himself could admit it, not yet, not now, not then. If almost against his will, something told Soul to look to the side at his companion, and he did. It hurt him to look into those pale blue eyes again, to see that cream tabby pelt, but for her to remember nothing.

"Well, I was going to wait and surprise you, and I still will, so follow me!"

"Your past, why you can't remember – that's where I want to go, Half." Soul admitted. "Right now, I have no idea why I'm breaking and showing you my real self, but if I told you then you wouldn't understand."

"So stay away from me. I'm dangerous, and you don't deserve to get yourself killed because of that stupid promise I made."

"I will sacrifice myself for her! I won't let you kill her!"

"I am the darkness, and she is my light. If you kill her, I'll swear I'll become BloodClan's enemy, and I will murder you until you beg for mercy at my claws."

"You are the perfect killer."

"I'm scared Shion! Help! Save me!"

"Half!"

"Don't let go!"

"Never!"

"I won't stay away – we're partners in our jobs, and even if I wanted to stay away from you, something tells me I shouldn't!" Half defended. "If you're too stubborn to accept me, then fine! That'll just make me want to stay by your side longer!"

Soul looked down at her again, eyes full of emotion. "You really are changing."

"Changing?"

"Remember."

X

"Shion!"

The cry rang out along the battlefield, cats stopping in their tracks. Him, dead? Shocked gazes were met as the tabby rushed forward, limping as fast as she could, towards her friend she never really knew.

A green gaze seemed to haunt the battlefield as well, looking up to see the broken tabby she-cat and the dark tom on the ground, blood pooling out underneath him.

"BloodClan…"

…

X

"You haven't broken that promise to me all those moons ago!" The tabby cried out, tears falling down and landing in the dark tom's fur and blood. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"You…called? S-Shion…"

"Yes! Yes, that's your name! Shion! Shion! Remember! Please, I won't ever forget again! Shion!"

A smile. Was it his? He couldn't tell, but for some reason, it was there.

…

X

"The Clans," He laughed like it was a joke. "I've joined them, what of it? I'm going to kill you, and what better way than to join your enemies?"

…

X

"Don't let go, you idiot!"

"Bloody hell I won't!"

It wasn't enough. She was falling, her paws slipping from her grasp, and all that was left was a broken body at the bottom, blood running across the pavement in rivers. He let out a wail, failing everything he had spoken of.

He let her go. His paw slipped. She fell.

It wasn't fair!

…

X

"H-Half…?"

She moaned, but barely in a whisper, she asked,

"Who's…Half…?"

His life ended right then and there.

O0O0OxX…XxO0O0O

- A/N: So, yes, the gathering is destroyed and Foxleap, Icecloud and Brambleclaw die (Sorry Bramble fans). Lots of more surprising things will happen, though, and at the end I decided to sort of experiment and see what my fingers typed out if Soul had a personality. Soul former name is Shion, so in the scene where Half was named and whatever, she used Shion instead of the name Scourge gave him; Soul.

I never really like Icecloud for some reason. I felt like the Erins really didn't explore the possibilities with Icecloud – she was just kinda left out except for in the part where she falls down into the tunnels. Poor Ice. Anyways, I love the name Foxleap, but I felt he had to be killed – he didn't need to be depressed by the death of his sister so he got to go with her! :D

Next chapter will be a POV from one of the clans! Review! It makes me update faster!

I also make longer chapters than most people, if you noticed or not, so please don't complain about update time if you don't give a crap to review or not – I get the chapters out as fast as I can, but if people don't update then I don't write part of the chapter every day. That's my rule, so review!

…

~Wolfy