After delivering the kitten to the border, he began back home, and only made it to where he marked the ground with her blood and fur, too tired and anxious over being caught to actually prevent himself from being caught. Her scent covered him and one of his paws was stained by the briefest hint of crimson, with soft calico kit fluff (although she was old enough that she didn't have much of that anymore) between the claws of that paw. Not to mention his scent was all over their nest in the nursery and- lord. He better get home so he could get an alibi.
"No, Darkfall, I couldn't have taken your daughter, I was asleep the whole time." He thought smugly to himself, tail tip twitching as his delusional ass thought that the evidence against him wasn't damning enough. He was so consumed in thought that he didn't even notice an approaching cat until it was too late; If he had heard the cat coming, Haredive would have quickly left the scene or cleaned himself up, but he was too reckless to be aware of his surroundings. And it would soon be clear that that would be a fatal mistake.
[ @Dark - feel free to just get to this whenever :catpeek: ]
Shadow Fiend: Inactive | Beefed Up (T3)
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Darkfall was pissed. The last couple of days he was not in a good mood at all, fluctuating between moments of depression, and overwhelming rage and confusion. He’d spent the last week in a daze after hitting his head on a rock and only just got his memory back when he saw the state that his mate was in.
In short, he wasn’t having a very good time.
So why was it when he got up to check on his young sons and daughters, as he had no doubt been neglectful, the scent of another cat permeated the nest and he found one of them missing.
Fallenkit, his oldest daughter was missing.
Furious, Darkfall stormed out of the nursery hissing a stream of curses and obscenities. Melting into the shadows, he left the camp before quickly locating the scent of his daughter and the tom that took her and running in its direction. It was towards one of the borders, but he didn’t care about that. The only thing that mattered was that his child had been taken.
Now Darkfall wouldn’t consider himself a good father by any means. He hadn’t known his kids existed for the first few moons of their lives, and now that he had them with him (much to their reluctance) he went and hit his head and forgot everything. He was going to do his best by them, but he’d need some time to figure it out. One thing didn’t change though, Heron had trusted him with their safety and he’d be damned before he let something happen to them. He wasn’t going to lose anymore family.
Not again.
As he crashed through the undergrowth, he finally caught sight of the culprit. He immediately noticed the faint red staining one of his paws and the patch of calico fur held within. He did it. Haredive took his daughter.
”HAREDIVE!!” the tom roared, vision going red with his fury ”HAREDIVE!!!” he yowled one more time as he bowled the tom over. Sinking his claws into the other cat’s flesh and pinning him to the ground, he looked him in his face — eyes wild and foaming at the mouth.
”WHERE. IS. SHE.”
No other questions, no beating around the bush, nothing. He didn’t care how the other tom tried to get out of this situation, he messed up the moment he got his family involved and now he wasn’t going to escape. There was only one way this could end.
[ cw: this post has a brief mention of broken bones and some pretty dark thoughts/words ] Haredive
Haredive was a certified idiot. Looking up sharply as someone roars his name, the large tabby was pinned by a large force as a darker warrior landed on top of him and sank his claws deep into. His shoulders. Baring his teeth in a mocking smile, Haredive recognized Darkfall. Ah, so this was that little scrap's father. Murderous rage was clear on his face and Haredive knew right there that he was going to die. And he made amends. The only way he would be at peace with his death was if he left a lasting mark on the younger tom.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He sneered before making a mocking 'o' with his mouth. "Ohh, are you referring to that little she kit I saw a little while ago? What was her name... Flowerkit? Falconkit? Unfortunately, she's dead." Pausing for a beat, he let out a squawky laugh and quickly corrected himself. "Oop, juuuuuust kidding, ha-ha! We just went on a little walk, don't fret, pops."
Raising a bloody left paw, he would try to swipe his claws at Darkfalls face to both wipe his daughter's blood on his cheek and swipe his talons across Darks cheek if he was able.
"Guess what we did on the walk?" He chirped, voice darkening slightly as a cruel grin tainted his maw, wincing at the claws in his flesh. "We played around for a little, but I think I played too rough with the little thing, all her legs broke eventually because I bit down too hard. She was SO loud, good thing we were far from camp or it would've woken everyone up." Lie. Liar liar, tail on fire. Anything to haunt Darkfalls dreams and waking moments. Little did the Enforcer know, all of his daughter's legs were still in one piece.
"She cried for you the whole way there, it was sooooo annoying. Honestly, you should have seen her, shaking and sobbing like the world was coming to an end." Half lie. She only cried out for him when she realized the severity of the situation, but his mission was to make this sound as horrible as possible. And if he was a parent, he would be horrified. Even as a self diagnosed sociopath.
"And finally I brought her to a friend of mine on the border. He doesn't really like the clan and thought it would be fun to send a message through a kid of yours- actually it was my idea, can't have him taking the credit- and so i brought her to him. She's gonna stay with him for a while, the lucky little bird. He's pretty nice, so you will most likely get her returned to you in a moon or so- and even if you don't, no harm done, you have three others!" That was the truth. He wasn't going to tell Darkfall that his daughter was going to be okay when Haredive himself didn't even know what Toby had planned. Oh well.
Staring up at the tom above him, Haredive held eye contact with an insane glint to his eye, tail lashing as he desperately searched the icy blue eyes above him for fear, for desperation. For anything. This felt good, having this kind of control.
"I would tell you where she'll be staying, but unfortunately my dear friend's whereabouts are unknown to even me. Isn't it a horrible feeling? Being powerless? Don't worry Darkie, you'll get used to it." His voice was smooth like honey but his eyes bulged slightly, staring at the furious father cat about him, feeling his heart pound anxiously.
Cw: detailed breaking of bones, torture, dark thoughts, mental uhhh (i forgot the word, whoops) THIS IS THE FINAL WARNING
Darkfall listened to Haredive’s words in silence, not even so much as flinching when he wiped his claws on his face. The fire smoldering behind his icy glare would’ve been enough to send any normal warrior packing, but this vile, disgusting tom was not normal.
He sat there listening to each and every word, straining to keep his facial features neutral at the clear provocations. The only indication that he even heard was the tightening of his grip on the tom’s flesh and the increasing furrow of his eyebrows.
When Haredive finally finished speaking, Darkfall just stared at him for a bit – as if he were wondering what to say. ”Yeah?” he asked in a strained voice. His lip was quivering, not because he was scared, no no, but because he was angry. So unbelievably angry that the tom beneath him dared to do something like that against his family. Fear would come later, but now? Now all the large tabby could see was red.
”Powerless?” The dark tabby laughed. Who said he was powerless? He had plenty of power! ”How’s this then?”
Quick as an adder, Darkfall sank his teeth into the upper half of Haredive’s left front leg and maneuvered one of his paws to the bottom half before pushing with his paw and pulling with his teeth until a loud crack rang through their surroundings. Darkfall watched the other tom scream in pain and reach towards his now broken leg with his other one before he pounced upon it and made the same movement.
A twisted smile formed on Darkfall’s face as he removed himself from the howling tom. The curses and insults were like a bird’s songs to his ears. He spat the blood that dripped from his maw onto the tom in front of him and couldn’t help but let out a laugh. A dark, twisted, hollow laugh.
”That’s what you did to my daughter right?” He asked, malice oozing in every word. ”You broke her legs, right?” A rhetorical question, as even if he hadn’t actually done it, it was the principle of it. He said he did, so now he was going to suffer the consequences.
”Oh wait~ I forgot one little detail, hmm?” the grin was back. It wasn’t the soft and gentle grin he usually wore with his family, nor was it the grin he had when he was up to mischief. No, this was a grin of someone who’d completely lost it and was about to inflict the worst pain imaginable on the person in front of them. A grin that screamed “If you see me, run”. But where would the tom run? He couldn’t use his forelegs anymore. Of course, that didn’t stop him from trying to scoot away as the enforcer approached lazily. ”You said you had broken all of her legs.”
Ignoring the scream to stay back, Darkfall reached forward with both paws this time and gripped into Haredive’s closest hindleg. ”Let’s see here~” he said as he applied light pressure in opposite sides of the joint, relishing in the fear that was rolling off of the tom in waves. ”I think this-”
CRACK
”-will work.” he finished as he pushed until he hard once again heard the crack that filled their surroundings. The screams only fueled his desire to add more pain, to make the tom suffer more, to make him feel what he supposedly put his daughter through. The words no longer made sense to him, as he had long since stopped listening. It was all just noise. The screams of agony, the cries for help, the begging, the pleading to stop, it was just noise.
Humming to himself, Darkfall forcefully flipped the other tom onto his other side and looked down at the last intact limb. The Final Conquest he’d call it, the final thing he had to do to break even. ”You know… Everyone thinks I’m soft,” he said aloud, not to anyone particularly, perhaps even to himself. ”22 moons of being told that I’m too soft, having nightmares of not amounting to anything, nightmares of my loved ones telling me I’m a failure or I’m not good enough,” He put his paws on the last leg, taking a moment to admire how the muscles tensed in anticipation as he started applying increasingly more pressure. ”But you see, it’s not that I’m soft-”
CRACK
”-I just didn’t have a reason to really let loose. Y’know? To really just give in to the anger that’s been building up all this time. But you see, messing with my family is a no no. There is nothing in this forest that matters to me more than my family, and you quite literally made the worse decision of your life. It’s not my fault that you did this, you can only blame yourself.” He let go of the now broken leg and walked to the front side of the tom. A mere whisker’s length away, he settled himself down and rested his head on his forepaws.
”Why hello there~” he purred with satisfaction as emotionless blue eyes stared into those of the other tom "I belive that you mentioned something about being powerless?"
”Unfortunately for you, we’re not quite done yet, but I’d like the truth now. Where’s my daughter? Hmm? As much fun as this was, I do have to get her back, I promised her mom I’d keep her safe and all – you know how it is.” He said as if this were a normal conversation and he hadn't just spent who knows how long torturing the cat in front of him. He had a bit more planned, but first, he needed answers. His precious little girl was missing and that in and of itself was a problem, but right now he didn’t even know whether or not she was safe and finding out was his highest priority. ”Also, try to keep the nonsense to a minimum. I’m not in a particularly good mood right now and I might break each of your paws next, haven’t decided. So please, go on, tell me what you know.” He wasn’t sure if Haredive would be in some shock or not, but the end result would be the same anyway, he was going to kill him. That would only come once he decided he was through with him though.
[ @clarice. Darkfall snapped in this one (pun half-intended)]
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Little Disclaimer: I live in EST (UTC-5) and my sleep schedule is completely messed up, so posts may be erratic My Characters
tw: descriptive mentions of torture, emotional distress, slight insanity, suicidal thoughts, blood, broken bones. Read at your own risk!
Ah, Dark was angry. Continuing with a cruel, bitter smile, the tom hissed at the feeling of claw digging into his shoulder. He was just spewing things off, not knowing what would actually happen or not. "Can't you-"
Oh.
Oh crap.
He had sorely underestimated this cat-
CRACK-
A howl burst from his jaws as his leg was snapped, and he felt his whole body tense up. "NO!" The tabby screamed out, writhing and bellowing in pain, and for the love of STARCLAN he was crying. Sobbing just like he hoped this cat would when he couldn't find his kid. As his first leg was broken, the tabby tried to jerk himself away, trembling in rage. "I DIDN'T- I DIDN'T BREAK HER-" Pressure on his flailing unharmed leg had him snarling in fear, trying to escape, trying to free himself.
"Jackass-" He wheezed out, eyes burning with tears and glaring up at the tom. "I don't deserve this, I barely hurt her-" It was a bad day to be a liar, and a bad cat to lie to. Maybe a bad kit to lie about.
"You.... wanna.... know.... where she is?" Haredive roared, chest heaving and tears streaming down his face, the cost of his actions and his lies now slamming down their karma with an impact that shattered his bones- literally. "She's.... out there somewhere.... with... a cat.... who would LOVE to tear her apart just for fun because of this damned Clan.... and... I don't know, I don't, please, I just know it's in the outskirts- a-and..... and he smelled like the Thunderpath." The tabby let out a kitlike sob, chest heaving as he stared at the terrifyingly blank eyes of the tom beside him.
As the pain faded into numbness, he fixed a hateful, snarky glare as his boldness return to his sweaty, ghostly pale face. "Wanna know what I know?" He slurred out, the pain causing him slight deliria as he bared his teeth weakly. "I know that chances are, you'll never see that little girl alive again. Right now she's getting the sameee treatment you gave me, only she won't last as long as I am." He let out a gurgling chuckle, bloodshot eyes glowing with joy that he was able to concoct such a lie.
The way he saw it, the angrier he got this cat, the sooner death would come. And Hare couldn't wait for death, he relished it. "Picture her, instead of black and white, she'll be black and red, broken and alone and scared. 'Daddy, daddy save me. Daddy HELP me-'" He mimicked the squeaky voice of the little kit, moving to try to rip his claws at Dark but letting out a shriek of pain as all the agony of his shattered limbs came rushing back and he fell back, staring at the sky. Begging StarClan for the kiss of death. But no death came.
Maybe he would try a different tactic; cooperation.
Hare wanted death to come faster. He welcomed it, and if his legs weren't broken he would try to end it all himself. But hoping that if he gave this cat all the information he had, the little she-kit's father would grant him a quick death.
Wracking his brain as all the pain subsided into a terrifying, dull numbness, the warrior groaned out, chest rising and falling quickly. "I... told her that.... you wanted to see her... that's why she was quiet when I took her... but when she... found out I lied... she got upset and m-my friend told her t-that..." he tried to remember what Toby had said, tears streaming down his face.
"U-uuum, he said... 'for your sake and safety I’d treat me like I was your father'... a-after she found out I lied... a-and tried to run away... he a-also said... 'Where I’m taking you.... you’ll end up dead if you make a wrong move'. So sh-she might have been taken t-to a p-place with lots of cats-" Realizing that the girl's furious father might cause him more agony over the thought of his young daughter being taken to a group of fairly violent cats who wanted to spill Clan blood, the trembling, broken cat let out a despairing cry, staring at the cat. If only he cleaned his paw. If only he got to camp faster. If only he didn't exaggerate the kit's suffering.
"Tracking them will be no good. He covered his tracks and scent. She's gone. You won't find him unless he wants to be found. Or your kid somehow learns to telepathically communicate with you." How, how ironic his words would sound in a few weeks... but Haredive wouldn't be alive to witness it.
Terror was clear in his eyes as the disoriented tom lay there, and now, only now did he know the true definition of powerless.
[ @Dark - wrote this right after finishing a 10 page essay, so sorry that this is so awful LOL ]
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nightshade | birdsnow | daybreak | fallenkit
Last edited by poppy; December 12th, 2023 at 08:02 PM.
Darkfall quietly listened to all the other tom had to say. It seems that now that he had experienced it, he wanted to go back and claim that he hadn’t treated his daughter in the same manner. Oh well, should’ve been honest from the get-go.
It seemed that he still had a little bit of fight in him, as Haredive attempted to keep up a tough facade, but the moving his broken limbs was proving to be far too painful for him and his attitude quickly faded.
”Alright. Well, if that’s all, I no longer have use for you. Come along,” he grunted, not that he had a choice in a matter. Without another word, Darkfall grabbed the likely protesting tom by the scruff and began dragging him through the territory. He had a lot to think about while he decided how he wanted to dispose of him.
During the long walk, Darkfall thought about a few things. One, his daughter was out there somewhere, missing. Two, she was incredibly gullible and he’d need to talk with her about that after he found her. Three, she was very likely in a dangerous place with an unverified number of other cats who had it out for the clans. Lastly there was four, once he found out where she was, everyone was dead. No questions asked, just… dead.
A lot of time passed by the time he got to the ThunderClan border and plopped the baggage he carried with him down at the edge of the ravine that now separated the two clans. Taking a moment to peek over the edge, he muttered ”I wonder if the foxes are still down there…”
Azure gaze drawn back to the cat he brought alone with him, he blinked at him. ”Well, if I were you, I’d pray that you die on impact. Or if you don’t, the foxes are long gone and don’t get to you. If not, well… have fun?” he said.
To be honest, the anger had long since dissipated from his bones and he had gone and he was just being spiteful at this point. At the moment he felt… nothing. Oh well, Haredive had it coming to him the second he messed with his daughter and got caught, his fate was sealed.
”Goodbye,” Darkfall said coldly, ”Pray the dark embraces you during your fall.” and with that, the dark-furred tabby grabbed the large tom by the scruff before chucking him over the side of the ravine to the best of his ability.
Turning away, he began the trek home. ”StarClan forgive me for my sins, and help bring my daughter home.” he prayed softly. He’d see her again, he just knew it.
[ @clarice. Hush hush, I like it! Saving it’s awful is nonsense!]
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Little Disclaimer: I live in EST (UTC-5) and my sleep schedule is completely messed up, so posts may be erratic My Characters
Now playing: Dark Wick (p)
