ivypool_by_ivylight-d5v3hda

Mouse Level Up – Level 1 to Level 2
Mouse was the sort of cat you didn’t mess with. You wouldn’t know it from her bouncy, cheerful exterior, but inside, she was a cat of vengeance.
She’d once been pure – long ago, in her days of kithood, when her family was all still alive, Mouse didn’t know a grudge if she saw one. She was innocent, and bouncy, and, quite frankly, blind to the darkness that surrounded her.
But that changed.
If you’d met Mouse as a kit and told her she’d have powers that could heal others, she would’ve had a very different reaction from that of her reaction now. She’d of looked at you and said “Oh, awesome!” The only thoughts that would’ve ran through her head would be of her healing a mere scratch on her sister’s pelt, a common cold her mouther caught.
And never, never, would revenge have ever crossed her mind.
But things change. Cats grow up. Families are torn apart.
Mouse would forever remember that crisp morning in spring, coming out of her den she shared with her sister, moss-ball on her mind. She remembered the tang of blood in the clean air, having only smelled it once or twice, and never in such a vast quantity.
And then she saw the body.
If you had gone back in time and told her that day she’d have healing powers in the future, she would’ve asked why she couldn’t of had them now. She would’ve wondered why she couldn’t save her mother then.
And even still, revenge would’ve never crossed her mind. Revenge to who? The fox who had taken her mother’s life? It was just a fox; long-dead by the time Mouse entered the Tests, most likely. She’d never even seen the fox.
She just wanted to save her mother.
Mouse’s innocence had always been intact, despite the group of cats she lived with’s obvious favormemt of her sister. She didn’t know any different.
Now that innocence was gone.
And it was about to be destroyed more.
The poisonous pollen of the glade was a legend that gripped all of its cats with a crippling fear. It was deadly.
This was another place that would forever be frozen in Mouse’s mind – the murmurings, the stirrings, of cats who felt distress even before it proclaimed itself.
She’d forever remember her father’s lifeless body, carried atop other living cats, taken by the pollen.
If you’d told her now that she’d have healing powers in the future, she would’ve looked you in the eyes with that stare – that deadpan, empty stare, the stare of a cat who is only alive physically. She would’ve said, “What use are powers if so many cats are already dead?”
And even now, revenge was barely anything to Mouse. Revenge against pollen? What was she going to do, snarl at it?
But revenge was already on the mind of Mouse’s sister. Ash, the perfect angel. Ash, who’d lost both her parents as well.
More died of the pollen. The group split up.
Ash, who Mouse had never done anything but love, abandoned her sister.
Even if, during these blisteringly hot summer months, you’d told Mouse of her fate, revenge would mean nothing to her. She was angry at her sister, but not enough. Rather, she would’ve just looked at you numbly. “What use are powers?” she would’ve asked you. “Everyone I love is either dead or hates me.”
Somehow, some way, Mouse found a way to cope. When summer gave way to fall, you would’ve found her with a half smile, admiring a blooming flower. Grief, usually, cannot hold on forever.
But Mouse’s story isn’t done.
That autumn was when Mouse would lose the last of her innocence – innocence she didn’t even know she was holding onto. Innocence that had helped her hold on. Up until now, she’d still clung to the blind hope that good was still out there, that everything would be all right, that she still had a sister.
When she found Ash’s scent trail on a random path she’d been following, this innocence was quick to swoop in. If you’d told her now of the powers she’d gain, she would’ve looked at you, an expression of hope on her face. She would’ve thought that perhaps, in the future, she could save more lives.
This moment was also forever engraved in her memory, in her heart – another eternal, instant moment. A timeless moment.
Ash, who she’d always loved, who she’d invested all her hope in. Ash, sneering at her.
Oh, excuse me. Who are you? I don’t remember being related to a street rat. Get out of my camp, or it’ll be the place you take your last breath.
It would be impossible for Mouse to explain the pain, the crushing defeat, in that moment. Finally, the innocence she’d been holding onto all these years violently ripped itself from her, leaving her with nothing.
Mere days later, Pilate asked her to join the Tests. She joined to stop all the cruelty in the world – or, at least she thought she did. Darkness was brewing inside her, eating her alive.
She put on a happy face. It was easier than she imagined, not being trapped in a place that constantly reminded her of what she’d lost.
If you’d seen Mouse in the moment she finally gained her powers, it was nothing but happiness. But, beneath, an undercurrent of darkness, one she wasn’t even aware of, tore at her.
Now, it finally made itself clear.
Mouse wanted to help everyone with her powers, of course. Naturally. That part of her was still intact.
But there was a darker part – a part she’d never admit.
She wanted revenge.
Perhaps she’d only felt it now because she’d still clung to innocence. When the innocence died, she finally wanted to punish those who had made her suffer. But, as she would’ve said all those moons ago, what use is revenge to a fox, or pollen?
There was only one cat she could still possibly blame.
Of course, it wasn’t Ash’s fault that their parents were dead. But Ash had abandoned Mouse. She’d destroyed her from the inside out, finally made her break. When Mouse saw the light, Ash gave her the darkness.
Now, she knew what she was going to do.
You may of thought Mouse bubbly, sweet, and never with a sinister thought. But you don’t mess with her.
There’s darkness in everyone. She’s no exception.
When her powers grew, she would find Ash.
She would track her down.
And she would get her revenge.