Oneshot Loner/Rogue And it felt kinda like they were going home || Travelling ☁

[Cloudwatcher]

—————————— Winter's loss becomes summer's gleam. ✦

It had been moons. Long, lonely and suffocatingly cold moons. To admit, Cloudy had wandered from their old home, far from here, barely before the thaw began. Ice and frost, solid unforgiving ground nipping from underpaw. By now, that cold had subsided. It had the honor to behold life bloom anew. They'd been gifted many a new leaf, many a moon to see life unfurl again from the earth dispute the ever-clutching grasp of the winter. But such as death is inevitable for a cat, as is for the greater land they lived within. Seeing the cycle start anew was enough for pain to cling to their chest like a frost that refused to thaw.

For all of the cold months and some previous, their kin, Wildfire, they'd left for something else. Something greater. Word of a colony of wild cats. Wildfire, just like their name, had restless paws. Seeking something more. While Cloudy, too, sought more, unearthing everything they'd ever known wasn't something they thought they could do. And yet, Wildfire proved to be the strong cat that it always is. Promising to return before the flowers sprouted again if the colony was a fluke. So when Cloudy knew the cycle was to begin anew, and not a sign from the other. A fear gripped their form like a sickness. One they couldn't shake. No. No, they could not. That pestilence of fear writhed its way up their veins and implanted in their heart like a parasite. Suckling the life from their being as everyday ticked by.

And ticked by.​

And ticked by.​

Cloudy refused to let time go on the future without a fight. Either Wildfire had settled in that colony of cats, or something worse had occurred. The cycle had begun anew as they walked through droves of trees. They hoped nothing more than Wildfire had yet to return to be one with that cycle. Death was never something they feared; it was natural. Inevitable. They watched time tick by for every moon of life. But without a chance to say goodbye. Close a book that had been written in the two's blood for longer than Cloudy could remember. It wasn't something they were willing to leave incomplete. The least Cloudy should know if it was a story they had to complete themself.

They set out that cool morning towards the colony, still unsure about joining. Their priority was their kin; ensuring their safety was what they needed to know first and foremost. Perhaps if Wildfire had indeed integrated into the colony, much rather than having met a cruel fate as Cloudy's heart was determined to make them believe. Well then, perhaps they would join. It wasn't as if there was much left for them otherwise from when they came. This expedition was with a singular goal: to return to that place without Wildfire would only be to fail.

The longer they walked, the stronger the scents of these peculiar lands began to lace their ever since. New and unfamiliar, strange yet curious. Cloudy really had set out with little to no knowledge. There should be a colony near wherever they were, and their kin should still be there. Safe and sound. Though wild, feral cats were nothing unique to a single colony. Cats were near enough everywhere. They often paused to ask other cats where this colony might be, some had an idea, particularly some wary looking lot living in an abandoned shipyard where their fur was scented like salt for days. Others have no idea, especially those poor barn cats. The crumbling remains of a barn are acrid with the scent of ash from a fire that had destroyed it. Cloudy did not know those cats, though they remained there for a day to pay respects to those who may have perished.

All pointers lead to a forest so it seemed, Cloudy still had some days worth of travel, but it did not seem all was for nought. That maybe, just maybe, their aching paws and yawning stomach weren't all for a wild goose chase. They would be reunited with their remaining family and, maybe, just made, find a place they might settle in. No one would travel all this way knowing they were going somewhere they might soon call home.

- Come fin and tail, and paw and hoof.

For life has a passion for living. -

• 
  Cloudy
  ✦—Loner (Future Thunderclan Warrior) | 33 moons
  ✦—They/it
  ✦—"SPEECH", 'THOUGHTS', ATTACK
  ✦—A long, brown tabby dappled with white spots and a curled tail.
  #C2EDA0
  
  ⤷ Written by Cypress​