Dead or Alive?

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

It wasn't his fault he had been shoved aside to become nothing. Just because he wasn't like his brothers, his mother often looked down on him. It was his father who took his needs into consideration. Once the illness hit his family, he had been the one to escape by only a hair.

Now, this small kit wasn't just any young feline. His pointed ears with the black tips and big paws indicated that he wasn't normal, possibly hanging around a Eurasian Lynx species. Of course he didn't know this at the time. He only thought he was the same as everyone else he had come across in the strange woods. But of course he knew how to navigate around the forest...Or so he thought he did.

It wasn't until he managed to somehow cross the river from Riverclan territory to Thunderclan territory that he deemed himself lost. It didn't help that hunger was beginning to crawl at his stomach, causing him to nearly double over and simply curl up right then and there.

He didn't understand a majority of things that were going on, but he did hope to find his family once again. After all, they did just get up and leave him.

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

A little fearful of replying right then and there with all the new faces to inspect, the small male simply cowered on the ground, ears pinned back against his head as he glanced up at the adults. Reminding himself that he was on his own now and his mother would go ahead and save him anymore, he suddenly stuck his chin up a bit and pulled his lips back into a snarl. It didn't do him much good considering his milk teeth were much too tiny.

"Ah...Mama told me she would be back soon!" Cocking his head to one side as though questioning what his own motives were for the time being. While he was still young, he was still smaller than the felines who had gathered around him. It wouldn't be long before he became slightly bigger than them to begin with. Of course, he was unaware of the fact he was different than these strangers.

"Have you seen mama anywhere?"

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

Confusion began to bubble inside the young male as the older tom reached a paw out towards him. Tilting his head to one side, he continued to stare up at him with wide eyes. Reluctantly, he gave in to the idea of stepping closer to him and with a couple clumsy hops, he was sitting right in front of him, his longer whiskers twitching as they touched the stray hairs on the tom's pelt.

"Does this mean you don't know where mama is?" He was still extremely confused as to why he hadn't given him an answer yet. He had found it to come off as slightly rude, but her didn't bother pressing on with it. His answer would come in time.

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

Pinning his ears back against his head upon being pressed into the adult's fur, he didn't quite yet understand why he was acting the way he was. Did he say something? He sure seemed to be fretting over him quite a bit now that he mentioned his mother coming back.

"Well...Do you know if she is coming back?" All these questions? He still hadn't gotten a satisfying answer yet that he was craving and needing. The only thing that caused him to tear his mind away from the fact he was beginning to wail over his mother was the fact his stomach was growling. Once having the feeling of his insides seeming to be eaten, he pressed back up against the tom and gave a slight whimper.

"She said she would come back to give me something to eat."

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

Those words just seemed to tear his little world apart. Beginning to fear for the worst of what might happen to him, he broke out into a series of loud wails as panic ebbed through him. What would he eat? Who would he rely on for any sort of comfort? His mother wouldn't have just left him for nothing, would she?

"Wh-what am I supposed to do then?!" Looking up at the male with wide eyes, he soon lowered her head and buried his face into his swollen stomach.

"Where will I go? Mama didn't tell me that."

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

"With...You?"

The words seemed to slip away from his mouth before he even had a chance to think about them. He had never once thought about being raised by another family before, possibly because he was extremely oblivious to the fact he would never ever be accepted into his own. That, and he didn't quite understand what it meant to be deathly ill in the first place. Survival instincts weren't quite a thing yet for him.

No matter, the tom was warm and his body heat kept him from shivering more than he had to. Not only was he cold, but the shock settling in from the thought of never seeing his mother again was still raging on. Either way, the softness of his tongue lapping at his fur was enough to calm him down slightly.

"I would like that."

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

Going silent under the comforting from the male, he soon found his nerves relaxing a little bit more. Keeping himself as close as he could to this sudden stranger he would now call a father of sorts, he made the silent oath to attempt and keep this new family that he had suddenly gained. He wanted nothing like this to happen again. Not again.

"Mama called me Erebus," he breathed, making sure those were the last words to be spoken from him before he fell back into silence.

[img width=510 height=219]http://i.imgur.com/V7NUxbE.png[/img]

At the whole idea of living with more beings rather than just his family, anxiety began to pick at his mind. He had to continue to remind himself that he was no longer alone, nor would he need to go off and worry about being lost any longer. It seemed as though he had found another path to take rather than the one that was getting him no where.

"I bet they're a very nice mate to have someone like you." Pinning his ears back once realizing that he had gone and spoken again, he cast a side glance up at the male.