One-shot about an Elder answering a simple yet deadly question asked by an innocent...

...

"War can make even the most innocent into demons. It can turn a pure dream, a wish, into a sick desire, a want, that is so twisted that only vengeance and hatred are the felt emotions of the tainted. The young and innocent, the kits, they are the angels. But as they grow, tragedy and gloom reap their situations, savagely tearing apart their minds and making even leaders unsure of the next move. War is evil. It breaks. Tears. Rips cats apart from the heart out. It's unwanted. Unneeded. Pointless. Because whoever wins in the end will be so awashed in death and hate and sadness they will only be a shell of their former selves."

"And so you may question, if war, battle, is so horrible, why do we have it?

"That, little kit, is a question with an answer so simple, so easy, and yet so complex that the wisest even have a hard time comprehending it.

"The thing is, you can't have the sun without the moon. Love without hate. War without peace. That is because without the other half, the other part is indifferent. You can't tell them apart. Say, if the sun was up all the time, and there was no moon, we couldn't tell the difference between day and night. Same with love and hate. If we were raised without knowing the difference, and then only having one part in our lives, how would we know what that part is? Someone could think love was the same as abuse and hurt because they don't have anything to divide it. They don't know. They can't tell. It's like that.

"Still don't get why we have both war and peace? I'll break it down. If we all lived in peace, we couldn't learn to defend ourselves against any combat, verbal or physical. Our lives would be dull, and we would have no purpose. We would have no victory to hope for. No faith in our friends to protect us and back us up. With war, our purpose is to grow and to protect our values, such as our Clan, and for the rare few, it is to lead others to victory. War makes us harder, yes, but it also helps us mature, to understand things more clearly. It all depends on how the cat works. They either let war control their fate, and make them into greedy controlling monsters, or they take their reason into their own paws and rise to the challenge.

"Now, little kit, after answering your question, you must answer mine.

"Will you let war control you, or will you take destiny into your own paws and do what is right?"

The young tom kit looked down at his paws, and then glanced back up at his senior, determination in his eyes.

"I shan't be controlled by any force," he says quietly. "I will do what I believe is correct and won't allow myself to be swayed no matter the cost. I will be strong. I will be powerful. I will be uncontrollable. And I will lead a force to victory one day, for a cause I think is deemed well."

The Elder cat shook his head, and even then, as he spoke, inside he knew that the innocent he was speaking to would one day be tainted by war as well, despite the important speech he had heard.

"May Starclan give you the true sight you will need, Tigerkit. Otherwise, war shall claim another and will darken his soul."