Hello everyone! If you have read the story before, great! Those who are new, I wrote this story one or two years back, and I return to update it with an new, rewritten version. Hope you enjoy!

Prologue

When the first cat was thrown out, there was absolute turmoil. It was a dark day in their history. But it was always painted to be the start of something great.

This was what had crossed the gold-and-white tabby she-cat known as Springshine thought as her first kit was brought into the world. She felt a strong surge of dread as she turned to face her only kit, hidden by the soft white fur of her belly. She pawed the kit out of the crevice formed by her belly and brought it into the light.

The tiny kit was a pale, sandy colour with darker markings. Her wet fur was tussled from the fervent licking from Hawkwing, the silver medicine cat. Springshine felt her heart beat wildly in her chest as she nosed her kit in the chest. Her heart plummeted when she saw her kit's paw. The delicate paw, where the markings swirled down like a spiral into a huge pure gold spot that covered the kits paw...or stump.

Springshine buried her face in her paws. Oh no, no, no, no… The kits front leg, which should have ended in a petite, golden paw, tipped with five petite sharp little claws, was a stump. She cursed the spirits for doing this to her kit. The stump – a curse from Silverpelt. This stump – a mark which would condemn this kit forever. A life – nothing like a life at all, one of shame and hatred. No paw, no claws, no nothing. It was just a stump. She was beautiful, but she had a stump for a leg. The sandy kit yawned, oblivious to the torrent of emotions her mother was feeling. Springshine looked at the kit desperately, depression clawing at the corners of her heart, threatening to overwhelm her. She pressed a paw over her daughter's paw, hiding it. She was perfect, but not to the rest of the cats. They would look at her like she was a dog. They would look at her like she deserved to be sent to the foxes. Springshine's heart tore out of her chest as she remembered what had happened ages and ages ago, when the lake was first poisoned by the Twolegs. The first cat that was thrown out; it had been her father.

He had looked just like the kit. Springshine could just see his joyous spirit in the kit already. His sandy fur was there too, with the kit's sandy-gold pelt shining in the sunlight that had pushed its way through the nursery's walls. Who would have thought not having a tail would be his downfall? It had happened when he was just an apprentice – he had been caught in a trap set up by Twolegs to catch foxes. They caught half a cats tail instead.

That fateful day at the Gathering, Silverstar, Rabbitstar, Vinestar and Petalstar had decided that all 'deformities' to be cast out. "They are a weakness to the Clans!" Vinestar had declared when there had been yowls of objection from the kin of the Unnatural. Springshine remembered pressing close to her father as the swarm of infuriated Clan cats gathered below the tree where the leaders spoke, crying out in fury and horror. She also remembered her father, the brave and powerful deputy, Stormcrest, being torn away from her as she raced after the cats carrying her father away. His last yowl was 'look after your mother'. Springshine remembered how she had reached out to him, how in that last moment of contact, Stormcrest had expressed all of his love and care for Springshine and her mother in his large, round, shining sky blue eyes and a purr that 'everything would be alright'. Springshine had sobbed at that spot, in the glade where all the roses grew, as their crimson petals surrounded her like a pool of blood as she slashed at the thorny stems in anger and frustration. She had yowled Stormcrest's name. She screamed over and over again, until her mother, Foxfern, had found her, in a flurry of rose petals, head thrown back, wailing to StarClan. Her mother had wrapped herself around Springshine, red tabby fur against gold-and-white. Her slender muzzle had been resting on Springshine's forehead as the last of the soft red petals floated to the ground. Mother and daughter sat there, curled together, sharing that one moment of grief, together. Where did he go? Where did they take him? She kept asking her mother. I don't know, her mother replied. We will never know.

The storm of the 'Unnaturals' raged on. Cats deemed normal sat back and watched their Clanmates, friends, or even kin being dragged away by leader's cronies. 'Unnaturals' were being tossed out left right and centre. No ear – you can't hear as well as the normal ones. Out. No tail – not good enough balance. Out. No eye – half blind. Out. And it still raged on. Every time an 'Unnatural' was born, there was no hope for the kit. Once the kit reached apprenticeship, it was shoved out of the Clan, into the wild to the foxes, to the badgers. Springshine shoved the word "unnatural" out of her mind. No cat was unnatural, they were all special in a special way. What a cruel definition of cats born into the world with a unique appearance. Her father was brave and powerful. He had saved so many of these cat's lives, time and time again, but they took his one flaw, and held it against him. He had proved himself, over and over again, but they took what was left of his tail, and said to him: you're not good enough.

And now her kit, lay innocent to the evils of the world, her fate already out of her paws.

Springshine looked back at her kit. Her eyes glistened with emotion that was indescribable in words. She reached out with a golden paw, and touched the kits forehead tenderly.

Leopardkit, I'm so sorry.

You should never have been born. Now what a life you will have to live.

That was when her mate came in. Vinestar, the powerful tabby brown-and-white tom skidded to a stop. Springshine turned her head away from him, refusing to look at the leader. Why did she ever take him as a mate? Wait – she didn't even have a choice. She kept her faze fixated on her kit's round head. Vinestar let out a grunt. He had seen the stump. He looked at the kit, then back at the Springshine, expression unreadable. Hawkwing the medicine cat looked down, away from the rigid leader, and turned away from the mates, turning her back on the kit doomed to suffer a life of rejection and hate. Springshine felt budding loathing flower at the base of her being. Once again, they turn away from those who need them most. Springshine finally caught Vinestar's eyes, and glared at him with the deepest hatred which made her eyes smoulder.

'What is the meaning of this, Springshine?" Vinestar enunciated clearly, looking deep into his mates deep sky blue eyes, which were just like her fathers.

He took all that hatred and didn't even flinch. Springshine's stomach turned over. She realized that there was no impact on the leader because of one single thing – he was hatred.

review if you want, it is all appreciated!
-cloudy