[Fawn]

Originally Posted by starfall

@Benrito

The ebony tom had awoken to something tickling his nose, in fact it wasn't one of those, slowly blinking into reality type of awakening. No, he sneezed himself awake. He sniffed a couple times after the rude awakening and looked down at his nest. It was messy, strewn with anything soft, anything that would help, even the slightest bit, with the toms need for sleep. He had rarely been able to get a good nights rest, they even followed him into his dreams now, those voices. He didn't understand it, why they had suddenly refused to go away, why they got louder, why they're still here. It felt as though they had been there his whole life, but quieter, whispering in the darkness instead of piercing the light, the very little amount of life that was left in the felines soul. Chasing it away. He had been getting sicker and sicker, he could feel it, he was decaying on the inside. Yet he couldn't tell anyone about it, he would sound like he was loosing his mind. Not that he wasn't in a sense. He shifted the bits of leaf and moss around, trying to make sure he won't wake up to a sneezing fit again. The leader was going to try to go back to sleep, honestly, that was the best nights rest he had gotten in a good while, he wanted to see if he could still...grasp it. Sink into it. Drown in it. Although the voices followed the burly tom in his dreams, they were quieter, as if underwater, nothing but whispers and gurgles as he just sat there, staring at absolutely nothing, doing absolutely nothing. He couldn't tell if his dreams, now a days, were nightmares, or his own being caving in on itself. Either way, he wouldn't classify it as good. He didn't care though, he was quickly growing numb.

Fallenstar laid himself down and tightly curled himself into the tightest ball he could muster. He was cold, oh so very cold, he was also sore. This was most likely due to the event that happened a few days ago, the event that caused the tom to release pure emotions. It was the first time in moons he had felt like himself. It was pure bliss, but, it, along with everything good that had ever happened to him, melted away into nothingness, and he was once again numb on both the inside and the outside. He hadn't gotten a break after that, because then came Passionstar...the new Thunderclan leader, and the ebony feline was once again dragged into war. He was breaking, oh so slowly being ripped to shreds, piece by bloody piece. It was agonizing. Some days, he never wanted to wake up. Other days, he just wanted to run off and hand it over to Rowanflower. He loved this clan too much, however. He promised his mother he would try his best, she was so proud of him even though he himself hated it, loathed it. She believed in him, Russetswirl believed in him, Honeypool, his siblings? They believed in him, what kind of soul less jerk would he be if he didn't at least try? It was getting harder and harder to even get up every day, how soon until he broke? He shoved his muzzle beneath his fluffy tail and closed his eyes, knitting his brows together, maybe trying a little too hard to doze off.

Pacing around the mouth of the leader's den, Cedarsprint wondered if he should enter, but there was little option to back out now. His scent had probably already drifted in and alerted the cat inside, and what if he didn't go? Fallenstar would know he had been here and maybe would seek him out, then what would he do, how would he explain? Cedarsprint decided that Fallenstar had been a good friend to him throughout the moons of their lifetimes; he'd been there during the bad times, and they'd enjoyed the better times… but of course, that was prior to his promotion in the Clan. While Cedarsprint was extremely happy for his childhood companion's accomplishment and believed he deserved every bit of it, between duties and adventuring they had barely any time to actually talk to each other, even less so now that he was leader. One of the few interactions they'd had was him asking permission from his leader to try to enter the Dark Forest for knowledge-collecting purposes. There was still paranoia over another one sweeping the Clans and ruining everything they'd known and worked for, and he was determined to discover what may be in store for them. And he did, but it wasn't what he'd wanted to know, nor was it the news he had been hoping to deliver to Fallenstar. There was never an opportune time to report death and destruction being on the horizon, if the first Evil Era leader had any say in their future, but it had to be done before it was too late.

Gathering a bout of courage, he made the move to shuffle inside Fallenstar's den and saw a sad lump of fur curled tightly in his nest -- it was heartwrenching and worrying to watch the ebony tom in such a state, and Cedarsprint looked down in guilt. He wished he could have been there for him, prevented things from getting so bad -- an omen, essentially, was hardly what he should be telling a broken cat right now. "Fallenstar?" he spoke cautiously but with conviction, his voice teetering on gentle as he didn't want to disturb him any more than he had to. Cedarsprint wanted to ask if he was alright, but he held his tongue; Fallenstar probably didn't want anyone--much less him--to be coddling, as that wasn't really his style. As much as he wished he could do something about his friend's current seemingly-withering condition, there were important matters to discuss that left not even a shred of time for unrelated chatter and as per their agreement, he needed to report these findings to Fallenstar. "I know you didn't seem to be thrilled, exactly, with my interest in studying the Dark Forest, and that's… well, quite frankly, I don't blame you at all." Cedarsprint started, hesitance lost but replaced with something harder to identify, something closer to regret. He wasn't sure he should've ever done this, but the insights were valuable nonetheless.

"I'll be straightforward," the younger tom cleared his throat, "I met with Eternalstar." There was a heaviness in the air as he said it, or maybe it was his imagination--even referencing the horrid former leader was almost taboo. Buried in the depths of his own thoughts and speculation regarding the incident, he began to pace the expanse of the den as he spoke once more. "My attempts to contact him were in vain, but he appears to have the power to contact me." It was something he'd found intriguing--cats couldn't visit the Dark Forest at will, at least not to his knowledge, but instead were basically summoned by one already there. Stopping in front of Fallenstar, he meowed, "Which is strange, yes? We were under the assumption he was reincarnated… as Bucknight, but that apparently isn't the case. He claims Bucknight's alive, that he survived and escaped." Whether that was true or not, they couldn't confirm, but it wasn't the most pressing issue. The pacing around Fallenstar's den resumed, the same look of thoughtfulness in his yellow eyes. "That aside, I fear there's terrible plans in the works.. he's shared his intentions--a desire, if you will--to bring chaos to the Clans once again." Cedarsprint paused, an expression of desperation etched on his features as he hoped Fallenstar would believe him, take this threat seriously. "I don't know the extent of his power, but.. I'm also left unsure of what to do except continue to allow him to visit me." That may encourage Eternalstar to spill more of his plans, but it carried a risk of its own as well.