Comments and criticism Welcome

The ti
tle will make sense later on. I promise.

Warning to younger readers: Story contains occasional violence and some blood. But it's not like constant blood and gore, okay?

Chapter Zero: Prologue

"I smell blood, Indigo."  the cream colored tabby cat stopped walking looked at her friend with concern in her orange eyes. Indigo -a black tabby with a white muzzle and white patches all over his chest- scented the air. "I smell nothing." He replied.  He looked around, and couldn't see anything, either. "Maybe someone killed a mouse?" Indigo suggested dumbly.

       Nyctra-the cream tabby- looked at him, agitated. "There's too much, I can  smell it. It was not a mouse." She got in Indigo's face as she hissed the word 'mouse.' When Indigo backed off, she took a few steps towards the scent of the blood. "Something's wrong." She looked over her shoulder at Indigo. "Let's Go."

      "What?" Indigo protested. "You want to go towards the smell of blood, and not away from it?" He walked up to her and stood in front of her, in her way. "What if there's a fight? What if there are cats from Kyr's gang there? You want to die just so you can see where a little blood's coming from? Nyctra, that's ridicul-"

     Nyctra shoved him out of her way, stopping him in mid-sentence,  and he fell down on the gray pavement about a foot away. She bolted towards the scent of the blood.  She knew Indigo would follow, he was to afraid to stay out here alone. She looked over her shoulder after a bit of running and saw Indigo a long way behind her. "Keep up!" She shouted, and continued running. The smell of blood was closer now, and it became clear to the cream-colored tabby that it was cat blood. She looked over her shoulder again. "Come on!" She yowled, seeing that Indigo was still struggling to keep up with her.

     Nyctra soon realized that the blood wasn't the only thing she could smell as she began to recognize the horrible scent of death. She slowed down, knowing that now she was close.  The darkness of night made it hard to see, and she was nervous that this could be a trap, and that at any moment, cats from Kyr's gang would leap out of the shadows and attack her. She was releived when Indigo caught up to her and was standing next to her.

    "I-I smell it now." Indigo stammered, his dark blue eyes wide with fright. He looked at Nyctra, who did her best to comfort him. "I don't smell any cats from Kyr's gang. It'll be okay."  Indigo nodded, but it was obvious that he was still afraid.

     Nyctra sighed and scented the air again, following the scent of blood even further.  She looked around, since it seemed like whatever the scents of blood and death were coming from would be within her field of vision by now. There was nothing moving, which confirmed that some cat was dead. "Indigo, look around!" Nyctra Ordered, watching for a few seconds as the black and white tom began to look around the area. She then returned to looking around by herself. 

     It didn't take long for Nyctra to notice that there was blood everywhere. from small pools of it to splatters to bloody pawprints left by someone who had stepped in the blood. It disgusted Nyctra, and it was obvious that there had been a fight.  "Someone was killed." She said, talking to herself.

    "What?" Indigo shouted from across the alley.

    "Nothing! Get back to looking around!" Nyctra hissed, frustrated. She looked around some more. She found a tuft of bluish-brown fur, and sniffed it, not wanting to believe that she could regognize the scent. Not wanting to believe that something had happened to her brother.  She looked around some more, then turned around and looked over her shoulder to see what Indigo was doing, and if he had found anything.

     She saw Indigo backing away from something, shaking, blue eyes wide. She walked over to Indigo nervously, preparing herself for a gruesome sight that would scar her for the rest of her life. "Indigo?" She said, terrified by just the ex
pression on her friend's face as he backed away further. Indigo didn't move, and it was almost like he was frozen. "Indigo, what's going on?" Indigo was still frozen, too scared to move.  Fear kept Nyctra from looking where Indigo was looking, she didn't want to see whatever had scared him so much, but she knew that whatever it was, she would end up finding out eventually.

     Nyctra slowly turned her head, hoping it wasn't as bad as she thought and fearing the worst.  Her eyes went wide when she saw what Indigo had froze from.  She didn't have the same reaction, however.  She walked towards the six dead cats,  and as she did Indigo gathered the strength to come with her. "These were the cats that Arrow sent." She whispered.

    Indigo's ex
pression turned from fear to sadness. "They're all dead..." He looked at the bodies of the cats. "...Kyr's gang must have killed them."

    Nyctra recognized all of the cats; Yuko, Never, Jaya, Ink, Chantilly...and her brother- Tross.  She began to sob as the tears streamed down her face. "Why....why does Arrow insist on doing this every year?" She cried. "He's done this for Four years. And every single time, The six have been found dead."

   Each Year, Arrow, the leader of the gang that Nyctra and Indigo were in chose six cats to go out into the territory of Kyr and his gang of cats. The six cats were simply known as the 'six' each year, and Arrow had told them it was to stop Kyr's gang from invading Arrow's Territory.  But each year, the six had been found dead. This year was no exception.

Chapter One: Home

(two years later)

In the small wooded area at the edge of the city,  Nova could see the gray tom cat with torn ears looking down at her from the huge boulder he was sitting on. Arrow hates me. She thought, and wanted to scratch Arrow (the gray cat with torn ears) across his face. Or at least hiss at him, but that would only give him a reason to kick her out of his territory, and being part of Arrow's gang provided her the easy life she desired; not having to hunt as often, having other cats to fight alongside in battles. But Nova hated being around the cats.  Especially the other younger cats.

"Hey! Nova!" Nova turned around at the sound of her name, and saw Rosele, the tiny reddish-brown tabby and white cat who was much younger than Nova. Rosele was six months old and the runt of her litter. Rosele's brother was named Tross, and Tross was named after their uncle who had died as onw of the six. Rosele's mother, Nyctra, was very protective of her two kittens. And even for a runt, Rosele was small.  Nova blinked. "Hey, Rosele." She replied, not paying a huge amount of attention to the small cat. Nova had only recently been forced to join the group, and had only been there a couple of days. And Rosele was one of the few cats she had met already.

Nova had been forced to join the group because she was born into the enemy group, and was given up by them for a few small peices of prey. Nova's father, Kyr, was the leader of the group. Nova's father had sold her away to Arrow, so he could do whatever he wanted to her. Nova twitched her ear when a fly landed on it. The fly was caught by suprise and buzzed away.

"The other day I was out hunting," Rosele began, a small smile on her face, "And I caught a rabbit! A rabbit! In the city!" Rosele was smiling. "I swear, it was this big!" Rosele lifted her paw up off the ground up to about the hight of her chest.

Nova let out a small laugh, slightly amused by the small cat. She didn't believe that Rosele had really caught a rabbit, but Nova knew that Rosele was young. So let her have her fun. Nova watched the younger cat as she went on and on about her brave rabbit hunt.

That was when Feren came over to the two of them.  As soon as Rosele caught sight of the siamese tom, she ran behind Nova to hide, peeking out from behind the cat she considered her friend as she watch Feren come toward them. Nova turned around, annoyed with Rosele. "What're you doing?!?" She snapped, which caught Feren's attention.

An evil grin came across Feren's face as he noticed Rosele. "Hiding, runt?" He taunted, letting out his long claws.  Rosele tried to hide behind Nova again, and Nova felt a pang of guilt for letting Feren notice Rosele. Nova arched her back and fluffed out her tail, trying to look as big as possible. She hissed at Feren and could feel Rosele quivering behind her. "Leave her alone."

Suddenly furious, Feren turned to Nova with cold blue eyes. "What did you say?" He lashed out and held his claws to Nova's throat, but didn't press down or cut her.

Nova gasped as his claws touched her throat, and her eyes went wide in fear. "Nothing." She said quickly, and somewhat quietly.

"What?" Feren hissed, the evil smile on his face growing as he put a small amount of pressure on Nova's neck. Not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough for it to sting."I can't hear you."

"Nothing." Nova repeated, louder and more clearly this time. Disappointment came across Feren's face as he realized he wasn't going to get to slit anyone's throat today. "Very Well." Feren replied, His claws retracting back into his paw. He set his paw down and gave them one last glare before walking away from Rozele and Nova.

Nova stood up and turned around to face Rosele. "Why does he hate you so much?" Rosele shrugged. "I think it's just because I'm small and easy to pick on." She answered after thinking about it for a few seconds.

Rosele looked around at the cats for a while, then recognized another one of her friends. "Hey! Rikto!" A gray and white cat turned his head toward Rosele at the sound of his name. "Come over here!" Rikto bounded over to Rosele and immediately noticed that there was a cat here who he hadn't met. Rosele introduced them, "Nova, this is Rikto. Rikto, this is Nova." The two cats both said hello to eachother and then sat down,

"I heard Arrow has to choose the next Six in a couple of days." Rikto said.

Nova looked at him, confused. "The six?" She asked, not knowing what they were since she had been from Kyr's gang.  Rikto nodded, realizing that she didn't know, and explained. "Every year, Arrow picks six cats from the gang and sends them out into Kyr's territory to stop Kyr from invading the territory.  The six are sent to either wipe out of drive out Kyr and his gang, but the six have been found dead every time. Each year, he chooses a new Six, and he's going to do the same thing again within the next few days."

Nova was even more confused now. "If Arrow wanted to drive out or wipe out Kyr's whole gang, then why wouldn't he just send the whole gang out after them instead of just six cats? I mean, If you send out only six each year, of course they're going to die every time! They're horribly outnumbered! What kind of stupid plan does Arrow have?"

Nova had caught Arrow's attention by now, and the gray cat jumped down from the rock. "It is much, much more complicated than you may think, idiot." Nova wanted to hiss. "How is it more complicated?" She snapped, angry with him. He told her he wouldn't tell her, and Nova narrowed her eyes as he walked away. There's something not right about this...

Chapter Two: Rikto Alone

Rikto had noticed later that day that ever since Nova poited out the stupidity of the plans for the six, Arrow had been watching her more closely and nervously, almost as if he feared her. But Nova seemed to insist on ignoring Arrow, and Rikto wasn't going to try to change her mind.

Rosele looked up at the sky with bright yellow eyes. "It's getting dark." She said, and bounded onto a fallen log and sat down. She looked around the area for a few moments, then spotted her mother and Tross in their den ; a hollow tree stump. Rosele was still too young to have her own den, and she padded over to Nyctra and her brother and laid down in the back of the den to sleep for the night.

Rikto glanced over at his den, but didn't move. Nova climbed up into one of the trees and lay down on the branch, falling asleep quickly.

Rikto was one of the few cats who were awake, and the other cats who were still up were the lookouts, and they had to watch for danger all day and all night. they took shifts, of course, it wasn't like they never slept.

Rikto felt lucky to live in the forest, even if his gang only owned a very, very small area of it. It was better than living in the city, like Kyr's cats. it was harder to find food in the city, and Rikto knew that because the majority of the gang's land was city, and only a small area was woods.

Rikto laid down out in the open and fell asleep.

When he woke  the next morning, he realized he had slept for quite a while. It wasn't morning, really, It was more like noon. Rikto shifted his paws, to bored to sit still. He looked up at some birds chirping up in the trees. Nova probably could've caught those when she woke up this morning... He thought, remembering that Nova had slept in the trees.

He stood up and stretched out, yawning as he stood up again. He went to go find someone to talk to or something to do. He didn't see anyone to talk to, so he decided to go on a walk through the camp.

Rikto began to wander aimlessly through the camp, talking to no one and just walking around, but Rosele stopped his walk. "Rikto!" She never stops talking. Rikto thought, then turned to Rosele. "What?" He asked, hiding his annoyance.

Rosele wasn't smiling, which was unusual, and Rikto knew immediately to be concerned. His annoyance turned to worry. "What?" He asked again, more nervous this time. Rosele sighed and responded. "Arrow is choosing the six today." She said sadly and fearfully, afraid she would lose someone she cared about from going to be one of the six.  She already knew that her uncle Tross, who her brother had been named after, had been killed because he had been chosen to be one of the six. That had only been two years ago.

Rikto sighed and looked at the sky as he tried to think of what to say. He stared at the puffy white clouds and the burning sun. "It'll be okay." He said.

"No, It won't." Rosele meowed. "All Arrow is doing is basically sending six cats out to their deaths. No matter who's chosen, half a dozen cats are more than likely to end up dead."

Rikto sighed. "You're right," He admitted, giving her a sad look. "Every year six of us die." He thought some more.  "Someone should make Arrow stop doing this."

Rosele ws silent for a few moments. "Who? No one in the city or the forest is powerful enough to stop him from using his plan with the six. What Nova said about the plans made perfect sense, too. She had a point."

Rikto nodded and turned to her. "Don't say anything to Arrow about what Nova said." He told her.

"Why not?"

Rikto was suprised she'd asked why. "Because. It's just a bad idea. I think we would be severely punished."

Chapter Three: The Six

Rikto, Rosele and Nova sat beside the boulder where Arrow sat along with many other cats as the gray tom looked at the cats. He was about to choose the six. The six who would be forced into Kyr's territory. The six who were more than likely to die. He had a frustrated look on his face as he tried to decide who to choose. To most of the cats, it seemed that he was having trouble deciding between a few cats.

He turned his head to face a dark gray tabby who sat beside him. "Tyrin," He said. The dark gray tabby who sat beside him turned her head, looking at him with only one eye. The other eye was missing, an ugly scar where it would have been.  Tyrin was going to become the leader after Arrow died.

Rosele watched nervously as Arrow whispered something into Tyrin's ear. The gray tabby she-cat nodded and looked at the group of cats, then whispered something into Arrow's ear.

Arrow had decided on the first of the six. "Cheryn." He said, loud and clear. A longhaired calico she-cat gasped and nervously padded over to the boulder and sat down in front of it, facing the group of cats. There was concern and fear on her face. Nova could see it.

Arrow looked over the group of cats again, but didn't hesitate to choose the second cat as he had done when picking Cheryn. "Five." He said, showing no emotion. A brown tabby tom with ice blue eyes bravely came to the boulder and sat down in front of it, next to the calico.

Nova could see Tross' (Rosele's brother) face sadden as  Five went up. Nova figured the two cats must have been friends, even though Five was much older.

Nova's eyes widened as she heard the next name. "Rikto." Arrow said. It seemed like the words came from his mouth and came and clawed Nova in the back. She looked over to Rosele, and could tell that the small tabby and white cat felt the same way. She watched sadly as Rikto walked to the boulder and sat down next to Five. He stared at Rosele and Nova, his eyes full of fear.

Arrow could see the sadness in the faces of the cats who had cared about the three cats he had chosen already. He felt no guilt or regret, as he had done this several times before. He called up the next cat. "Nova." He said, and saw the anger in the young cat's face as he called her up. She slunk over to the border and sat next to Rikto, then looked at Rosele. Poor cat, she thought, Now she's just got her mother and Tross.

It hadn't suprised Nova that she had been chosen. She'd seen it coming. It was because she was born into Kyr's gang, not Arrow's. Or maybe it was because of what she'd said yesterday about the plans for the six. Also, Arrow seemed to hate her anyway.

Arrow's ear twitched as Tyrin said something to him which Rosele couldn't hear. His eyes widened, probably in suprise, and he paused. "Okay," He replied to her, but sounded unsure about whatever Tyrin had asked him. He spoke again, and it was a name no one had expected to hear. "Ailos."

There were gasps from the crowd of cats, and a black cat with amber eyes and a scar running from his eye all the way down his neck came to the boulder and sat next to Nova. Nova tried not to stare at the huge scar. Ailos caught her looking at the scar and said nothing, but gave her an irritated look. The black cat was huge, and his fur was blacker than night. His eyes were amber, but in his right eye there was a streak of blue.

Arrow was once again speaking to Tyrin when Nova looked back up at him. She could hear some of what Arrow whisper-yelled, but Tyrin hadn't yet replied.

"She's too weak! I've got to send her!" Came Arrow's voice.

"She's too young!" Tyrin protested.

"She can't fight! She's the smallest cat I've ever seen, and she doesn't want to fight or hunt! She doesn't want to learn!"

"But-" Tyrin was about to say something.

"I've got to!" 

"Arrow, Listen to me!" Tyrin pleaded.

"It's for the good of all of us." Arrow hissed.

"It's for your own pleasure!" Tyrin hissed back.

Not listening to Tyrin, Arrow spoke out the next name before Tyrin could do anything to change his mind. "Rosele."

Rosele's mother gasped as Rosele went to the boulder and sat down beside Ailos. The little tabby cat was shaking.

Arrow jumped off the boulder. He told each of the six cats that they would have a few minutes to speak to the rest of the cats before they began their training.

Rosele ran to her mother, tears streaming down the face of the small cat's face. Rosele would have no chance in Kyr's territory. She was too young and small and weak, and she would never kill. She would die.

Five had been going to say goodbye to Tross, but as he started to walk past his friend's mother, he saw her curled around Rosele, and both mother and daughter were crying. Five already knew why.

Nyctra's eyes were closed as she was curled around Rosele, her tiny daughter shaking  and soaking a small patch of Nyctra's fur in tears. A voice came, one that was familliar to Nyctra. The voice of her son's friend, and of a cat she trusted. "Nyctra.."

It was Five's voice. "...I'll make sure your daughter comes home."

Chapter Four: Training

Will be finished soon.

Five wondered if he would regret making that promise. What if he failed? After all, the six had died every year they had been sent out. Five decided that nothing would get to Rosele without killing him first.