Light beams made their way through the upper branches of the forest as a young she cat padded on an old Twoleg path. She was white with big, black looking socks and black ears. She had ocean blue eyes and her long, fluffy tail swished in the faint breeze.

There was leaves clumped in her jaws, also known as thyme.

"This tastes horrible," she muttered to herself, her complaint muffled by the mouthful.

"Shadepaw."

She jumped, dropped the leaves and whirled around to face the thing that had said her name. Her eyes glistened anxiously.

She relaxed to see a familiar cat, only to tense up again as she realised who it was.

Darkthorn.

Darkthorn was a dark gray and brown tabby tom with fierce amber eyes. He was a dark forest cat too. He was out there because he had murdered the deputy, and threw a kit off the gorge. Additionally, poisoned a queen.

"Where did you go off to last night?" He sneered, claws coming out of his paws.

Shadepaw trembled with fear. "I-I... Softwing woke me up!" 

He snorted, standing up straight, muscles rippling down his body.

"That's no excuse. How could that excuse-of-a-cat wake you up? How could they wake up the almighty Shadekit?" He continued taunting the medicine cat apprentice, who looked down at her paws in shame.

She wanted to please the dark frost cat, even though she knew it was wrong.

"You can make it up to me." He finally stated, and Shadepaw looked up in interest.

He stared right into her eyes.

"Poison someone."

Shadepaw recoiled at the thought of poisoning someone. Her Clan relied on her! She would be exiled.

"What? You up to it? Or you too scared?" He began to circle her, eyes slitted in satisfaction at the hard choice: say no and be attacked, or say yes and be exiled.

"I..." Shadepaw thought hard about the opportunity to prove herself a worthy dark forest cat.

"You what?"

"I... accept."

.~~.

Was it mostly of fear, or desperation, Shadepaw didn't know. All she knew was that she had made the wrong choice of making the deal with the evil cat. She hadn't wished to become a bad cat, just respected and helpful. A good cat. But anxiety of what could happen had driven her into the wrong path.

She sighed nervously as she walked towards the death berry bush, shivering with fear.

Voices seemed to echo around her saying "Do it!" "Don't do it!" "You weak, pathetic mouse-brain!" "You mean, horrible traitor!" She had no clue which one to listen to. But she knew which one the negative one belonged to. And she knew she had to listen to Darkthorn. Or he would kill her.

Her whole body shook with uncontrollable fear as she reached up to pick some of the berries.

When she started, she couldn't stop. Soon, she had made the bush bare of the deadly berries.

She heaved a deep breath of relief as she picked them up with a leaf to cover them.

A terrible thought hit her.

What if I accidentally ate one?

She shook her head to clear the dark thoughts, and determinedly trotted back to camp, thinking of an excuse and where to put them.

I could put them under or next to my nest, near the wall. She suggested to her self thoughtfully.

"Hey, Shadepaw. What's in there?" The voice made her jump. It was Toadpaw, her brother.

"O-oh uh, nothing.." she stumbled on her words, quickly covering any possible sight of the berries with her tongue and leaves.

Toadpaw shrugged. "I don't know what you're hiding, but I won't ask." And with that, he walked away calmly.

Shadepaw relaxed at her brother's calm presence. 

She padded to the medicine cat den, praying to the dark forest that Softwing wasn't in there.

And she was in luck. She quickly made her way to her next and dropped the bundle behind it, trying to cover it up with some of her nest.

When the job was done, she sat down and began to groom herself.

Mission done. She would poison someone tomorrow.