They lifted their head, glaring at the cat who spoke to them. Are they a mousebrain or something? Ratwhisper had to just sit there and watch multiple cats die. Riverclan lost. How could one not be angry? Sure, Windclan was okay, but what about the other cats? The cats who lay dead in the grass? Were their families okay?
" Well, it's almost like a battle just happened, mousebrain. "
__________________
❝ Everyday, there's another thing on my mind. It weighs me down to the ground. ❞ Art Shop
Albatrossflare turned his head, and his eyes fell to Twilightstar. A well-practiced smile slid easily over his features, placid and polite. He dipped his head to her as she greeted him. "Twilightstar. A welcome surprise. I hope prey is running well in WindClan." He had been fully expecting to be questioned by a patrol, but WindClan's leader herself was a much more welcome sight. At least he knew she would be reasonable.
"I wish not to waste your time, so I will cut straight to the point: After some time away from the territories, I have come to request to join you in WindClan, should you allow me to. I have enemies in ThunderClan and I fear I would be putting myself in danger should I attempt to return. They were rather unreasonable the last I saw of them; I doubt they have changed since and am wary to show myself there again."
"As well as ever," Twilightstar replied to the polite greeting. It was a bit difficult keeping her tail tip from twitching in impatience, Twilightstar has never been the best with small talk. She's always liked to get straight into business. She kept her tail still and was glad to see that she didn't have to wait long to obtain the reason for the tom's visit. Oh, so he really was her to try and join WindClan, she had thought as much after picking up the lack of ThunderClan's scent on him, but guessing and knowing where to do different things.
"Do you mind explaining what you mean by enemies?" Twilightstar allowed her uneasiness to show in the way her front paws shifted themselves around. "If I'm being completely honest, I don't have much of a reason to not allow you to join my clan, but I need you to make your situation clear. Whatever enemies you've made may very well become WindClan's enemies should I take you." The leader's tone took on a sharp edge as spoke her mind.
It was always risky taking in cats from another clan, especially if that cat left on bad terms with their former clan. Risking WindClan's safety for one cat wasn't something Twilightstar would even think of doing. This is why she needed to hear the whole story and deem if whatever baggage the older cat had would come back on her and WindClan somewhere in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafspeaker
~~Flight~~
Flight looked back. So she is not accepting me in her Clan. Oh well. I don't care. Then she heard what the she-cat said. She looked at her. WindClan? That was a new word. The leader offered her medicine cat to look at her wounds and then she would have to be on her way. Flight nodded. "I wouldn't mind having my wounds looked at, not sure what a medicine cat is, and I will be on my merry way. I wish not bring your Clan any harm." The white she-cat lowered her head, locking eyes with the WindClan leader. "The rouges I know ran in the direction of the river. It should take them about maybe a day and a half to gain their strength back and get more help. I have about 24 hours before I know that they might be after me again. But they think that I would not go here cause of how easy it is to see around. That should buy me more time. Alright." Flight stood taller, flinching in pain at her twisted foot. "Take me to your medicine cat."
Twilightstar was relieved to see that Flight wouldn't be pushing the matter. It would be a pity if she had to run the cat off without allowing her to be looked at. "A medicine cat in clan terms is a healer, Cowpaw is WindClan's medicine cat, he should be able to patch you up," Twilightstar explained, a little surprised with how understanding this cat was. Slithering around Flight's right side, Twilightstar offered the outsider a shoulder to lean on. "After I take you to see my medicine cat, so long as he deems you fit enough, I'll take you to the outskirt's border." Twilightstar meowed, as she slowly began leading the way to her camp
(So I'll talk to ghostie about Flight and get back to you on how we'll be handling patching her up.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ~Fierce~
~Streampelt~
Though it couldn't have been more than a couple minutes, it felt like an eternity when he spotted Twilightstar. He was a bit nervous as he had never talked to the leader before but he was sure that she was somewhat nice from whenever he had seen her. Previously Streampelt would have flinched at the sight of Twilightstar's face this close but he was a different cat and was used to seeing eye problems before. If he could love Shadowheart the way she was, damaged eye or not, he was sure that he would never flinch at Twilighstar's face.
He could hear a bit of Twilightstar's suspicion in her tone but it was to be expected. It wasn't everyday that you saw two cats from different clans waiting at the border. Streampelt stood up slowly and dipped his head briefly to Twilightstar. "Hello Twilightstar. I'm not sure if you know who we are but I'm Streampelt and this here is Shadowheart. You can probably smell where we came from. Shadowheart is my mate. We've been meeting up with each other for a while before we decided to leave our clans. We just loved each other too much to be separated. Riverclan and Thunderclan didn't seem the right place to settle and Shadowclan was a big no. Outsider life was also a little unthinkable so we decided to come here. We're hoping to be joining Windclan if you let us." Streampelt meowed, taking in a silent deep breath after he finished talking. He looked directly and calmly at Twilightstar, waiting for her answer. He looked at Shadowheart too, to see if she wanted to add anything. @Moonraven @Nixey
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nixey
As her gaze found the approaching leader of Windclan, Shadowheart could feel the pounding against her chest from just how nervous she was. What if they two weren’t accepted? What would they do then? Trying to force back the negative thoughts, Shadowheart simply listened to her mate explain as she kept her muzzle closed and nodded along with every word he spoke. Though she attempted to seem calm, her paws worked anxiously against the moorland as she heard Streampelt finish.
For a moment she couldn’t think of anything to add on as Streampelt seemed to have mentioned everything she was thinking of, only to get a small idea. “We know it may not look the best on our part to have a forbidden relationship, considering our two clans. But we’re willing to help Windclan in anyway, and we’re both fully trained. We’d be ever so grateful if you allowed us the chance to prove we can be of value to Windclan.”
Twilightstar peered at the pair of warriors as they explained themselves and the predicament they were in. Considering she's never been in their paw prints before, she couldn't really say she understood their plan. She did get the whole being in love feeling and knew very well that it's not like you could stop pinning for a cat just because code demanded it. Love seemed to trump loyalty all the time. It wasn't like she could fault them for this.
Twilightstar ears served in Shadowheart's direction as the she-cat added aiding WindClan. Now if this were ShadowClan, Twilightstar would have been more suspicious of this, but the pair's story added up and it seemed they have just had the unfortunate luck of loving someone from an opposing clan. "I'm willing to give you a chance in WindClan, but as open-minded as I am, my clanmates may not be as accepting or tolerate of you. I won't make you two redo all your training, but you're going to have to be trained how to hunt in the moor and learn about our territory, so I will be assigning warriors to mentor you for that" She waited to see if they had any problems with that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wintersun
Ashkit let out a groan of annoyence.One of the other cats had spooked them bad enough to the point they darted out of the camp in a panic and gotten themselves lost. Ashkit found their way back though. Head hanging low assuming they were in deep trouble they sulked back into camp. At least they weren't gone that long. @Moonraven
Twilightstar cocked her head as she started out of camp in time to see a young kit walking towards the camp. She picked up her pace as she padded closer to the youngster. "Ashkit, what are you doing out here?" Twilightstar asked, lowering her head once she was as close enough to give the kit a sniff and checking over him for any sign of injury.
Flutterpaw felt strangely calm as she stepped into WindClan's camp for the first time in moons. She couldn't say a lot had changed physically about the place - that, or her memory was getting fuzzy. Enough had happened during her absence that she struggled to recall specific details of the structure of her home. Pathetic. Have you got nothing but fluff between your ears? Raising her head, Flutterpaw let her gaze land on Twilightstar's den. Squaring her shoulders with a suppressed wince, the albino approached the den, trying to ignore her weakening resolve with each jarring step. You said you'd come back when you healed, but look at yourself. You can barely- "Twilightstar?" She took a quick breath to steady her nerves. The depths of that den held the deciding factor to her future. "I'm back."
(Really quick, Flutterpaw is not in the missing, so the rejoining is optional. If you like you can just resubmit Flutterpaw to WindClan or we can do the rejoining)
One paw in front of the other. One paw in front of the other...
The pattern repeated in Wolffang's mind as he set paw in the WindClan camp. The journey back here had gone by in a blur. Lioncloud had blabbed about being loyal and stupid at the same time while she'd helped Toadpounce, Fernpaw had stuck by his side, fretting over his wounds... but he'd found it difficult to pay much attention to the apprentice. It felt like a massive paw was pressing down on him, slowing his pawsteps and forcing him to the ground, but he kept on walking. He didn't stop; he couldn't stop. They had to get back to camp. Now his teeth were gritted and his legs were trembling, but he wouldn't slow down. They had to get back. And... he had to see his home one last time.
On the journey back, it had become obvious. The horrific pain should've been an indicator, along with the blood. The blood, which had poured down from his multitude of wounds, seeping into the earth relentlessly... It was still coming down in a ceaseless red tide, surprising even him. Who knew a cat could lose this much blood? How could a cat even have this much? His pelt was badly torn, his flesh exposed in multiple places, and his dappled gray fur had turned dark red. His tipless tail dragged in the sand of the clearing, causing the grains to stick to it, and blood was trickling from his missing ear into one eye, forcing him to close it. He doubted that he looked much like a cat anymore.
No cat could survive wounds like this.
A little bit farther. Just a little bit... Wolffang wanted to think of so many things, but he was focused on his current goal. The simple action of moving, of not giving in just yet, was taking all he had. The former deputy continued to stumble into the camp, trailing blood behind him. Then, finally... finally, he reached the center of the clearing. He stopped and allowed himself a moment to spit out blood, too weak to try and hide it, before he painfully lifted his head. He had to speak. He needed to speak. The yellow eye that wasn't covered in blood flitted around his patrol and he sank his claws into the ground, willing himself not to fall over.
"Lioncloud, you're the least injured out of all of us. Tell Twilightstar that we drove out some dogs by the ThunderClan border and that they shouldn't be coming back. They’re badly wounded and scared enough…" He hoped that the scatterbrained she-cat would be able to handle that simple task. But right now, he didn't have time for that. In a worn-out voice tight from agony and wet with blood, he continued to the other members, "Toadpounce, Fernpaw, get to Cowpaw, now. Don't worry about me." He almost wanted to say I'll be fine, but that was so obviously a lie. And he remembered something, right before they'd been leaving...
You don't need to lie to me, Wolffang. Wolffang's gaze found Fernpaw. Fernpaw... he'd been through so much... and Wolffang didn't want him to lose him, too. If he could stay alive, he would, but... he couldn't. His wounds were too great, and too much of his blood had been spilled. Also... Fernpaw was older now. Stronger, had seen too many things for his age, but he wasn't a feeble young apprentice anymore. Wolffang knew that trying to hide it would be cruel, especially when it was plain to see. "There's... nothing you can do for me. It would just be... a waste... of herbs-"
Wolffang cut himself off, turning away and hacking up blood clots. His legs trembled even more severely, and suddenly he was on the ground, not remembering the fall. His own blood was turning the sand around him red, and he felt so weak, his head feeling like all of Seastones had been placed on it. He wouldn't die yet, but he was well on his way. "Go! Don't worry about me," he managed to gasp to his patrol members. He didn't want them sticking around, thinking they could save him. They had to report this in. But Fernpaw... Wolffang glanced at the apprentice and felt tight claws grip his heart. I'm so sorry. And... I'm sorry to everyone else, too. He really had thought that he'd get a good chance to serve WindClan now that he'd become a better cat. He had well-established friends, a strong sense of loyalty, a more stable mindset...
I've improved so much, and it's thanks to those around me. I wanted to use everything I've learned to serve WindClan. But I guess StarClan didn't have that destined for me. Wolffang glanced up at the sky, which was as clear and blue as ever. I... I'll hang on as long as I can. I don't want to leave... not yet... Wolffang didn't have long, but maybe he'd be able to see some of the cats he cared about? Get one last chance to speak to them before he died? Leopardsong... The bengal she-cat was the first cat to pop into his mind. I'm sorry. I... don't want to leave you or WindClan. He'd never get the chance to express his feelings or use Lilacdawn's advice.
Wolffang was determined to hold on as long as he could, but he knew that it wouldn't be long. Most cats would've passed out or died by now due to the severity of the wounds or the blood loss in general. And he was feeling the effects. His body felt limp and heavy, his head was spinning, and the agony felt like it was taking over... but he focused on the sky, the big blue sky, which, he decided now, was his favorite color. The blue of the sky. It made him think of WindClan, of home, of his friends and his Clan. He just wanted to spend a few moments here. Just a few moments. But then... he'd have to let go.
She was sleeping, Leopardsong didn't do that often if she could avoid it, but lately her paws seemed to be dragging and she found it hard to remain as optimistic about everything. The warrior wasn't certain what caused her to drag her paws like this, but it wasn't the first time she's been in a bit of a funk, she was sure every cat got them here and there. Maybe she needed a new purpose, clan life was fun and all, but having not seen either of the two apprentices she was supposed to be training in what felt like moons, and no longer having the guardian rank, left Leopardsong feeling aimless.
Wolffang was still around though. It perked her up seeing him act like a goofball around her. Since he wasn't being an angsty moody featherbrain, he was a lot more fun to be around and took her mind off of things that would eat her up if she let them. Leopardsong hated talking about her past, the bad stuff anyway, she rarely spoke a word about her kin, she had none left anyway. She enjoyed being that bubble ball of sunshine that was willing to be an ear for her clanmates' problems over speaking about her own. Wolffang was a walking problem, he had a complicated past, and once a rather terrible perspective on the cats that he should have called clanmates. He had started out all icy and doom and gloom, but now he was more like a cloudy day instead of a constantly stormy sky.
He was working on himself and Leopardsong was doing her best to support him, so long as he wasn't being an ass or taking her for granted. She really did enjoy tom's company though, and she was learning new things about him. He had a variety of expressions she had yet to see and it was honestly fun to learn that there was so much he didn't know. Like how—
Drawn from her musing, the white bengal left her nest in the warrior's den and padded out into the clearing at a cry from outside. The scent of fresh blood nearly knocked her off her paws. Her brown eyes drifted around filled with alarm as she frantically searched for a threat of some sort. Her eyes stopped on the cat laying on the ground near the entrance, she could see the red soaking into the ground from where stood. There were already cats drawn around him, but Leopardsong didn't see them as she recognized the large form and the gray pelt.
"Oh, no please no." The she-cat whispered ominously to herself as she finally unrooted her paws and padded stiffly over to the gravely injured warrior. She could feel the sting sensation behind her eyelids, and noticed the buildup of water in her eyes. Leopardsong let her tears drizzle down her face as she took a seat on the other side of Wolffang. Her sight went blurry briefly as weep quietly. She didn't feel the wet blood between her toes, and a mere glance at the wounds Fernpaw was desperately trying to stop bleeding told her everything she needed to know.
"H-H-How?" Her voice quivered as she lowered herself to lean down over the tom's face. As her heart broke, Leopardsong bled an ocean through her eyes, and her body trembled and chilled. Wolffang was dying and she didn't know how to make it stop. "This is a j-j-j-joke, right?" The she-cat words felt stuck in her through it was a fight to get them out. "You're getting me back for pranking you earlier. Well, I'm sorry I won't do it ever again. So please get up, Wolfie." Her tears blurred her vision and her sniffles shook her chest. Her throat felt tight and tense, words escaped as she butted her against the top of Wolffang's. StarClan couldn't take him from her too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NinjaBloss
Fallownose padded back into camp at the head of the patrol. Exhaustion caused his tail to droop and there was dried blood on his shoulder and muzzle, but he did not appear to be severely injured. "Those of you who are injured go see Cowpaw immediately, otherwise make sure you get some prey and rest. I'm going to report to Twilightstar," he ordered, before turning to look for the leader.
"Twilightstar! RiverClan lost the Cove and some of their cats, but WindClan is fine. Though Acornnose, Eagleheart, and Shredsky decided not to come at all and Cricketfire disobeyed orders once we were there," the deputy reported.
You know when you make a decision and then you immediately regret the decision but you can't take it back. That is how Twilightstar felt after sending Fallownose out with her cats to aid RiverClan in whatever problem they had. It felt a little hasty now that she thought a bit about it, Kestrelstar and Lionstorm were the only two leaders who actually put in the effort to aid WindClan, but by denying support to their successor, Skystar, would that be the same as damning the former leaders? The WindClan leader was extremely conflicted about this... but she knew in her heart that she couldn't turn away the request. Though her clan may have forgotten it, Twilightstar will always remember the cats that helped WindClan at their lowest.
Still, she needed to figure out how to make this work without getting overly involved in the feud against ThunderClan. She knew that she was not fond of ThunderClan at the moment and she held little to no remorse for fighting them, what really had her worried was if her clanmates would suffer again because of her decisions. Will they turn their backs to me again? She watched them do that to her once before, joining ShadowClan of all clans, because she was unable to protect and provide for them as a leader should. She tried to show them that WindClan was strong... no that was a lie.
She had tried to show them that she was strong enough, good enough to be their leader by raiding ShadowClan.... now look at the pain she brought them in return, Ashfeather, Deadpool, Nettlespark, Fernpaw, Yellowpaw, Breezefeather, Coyotesnarl, and the names went on. So many deaths and for what, because she was scared they abandon her. Now she finally got them out from underneath ShadowClan's claws to what! Throw them into ThunderClan's, a fight that wasn't theirs. It was for a good cause, it was, but was it really....
The WindClan leader's ears shot forward at the sound of her name called. Twilightstar composed herself as best she could, fighting off the urge to race out of her den, and padded out of the entrance and over to her deputy. Visibly, she appeared as stoic and tranquil as the moon, but that single green eye of hers bled with unspoken concern as she looked Fallownose over. Her deputy's report was short and simple, at the moment she couldn't even be upset at the cats that failed to heed the call for battle, she was just overwhelmingly relieved that WindClan wouldn't be burying any more of their clanmates today.
"You can punishment the warriors that didn't show up and Cricketfire as you wish, but I'm simply glad you all came home safely." The leader meowed earnestly, Twilightstar literally could not handle choosing another deputy after all of this. "You should rest, and if you have time, check in with Cowpaw about herb and see if he needs herb patrols added to the regular ones." The she-cat meowed and sighed loudly after.
"Oh, before you go, assuming Skystar was a part of the battle, can you tell me how he was?" Twilightstar was still curious about what kind of leader she was dealing with. Hearing they had lost the Cove, Firefly Cove, meant little to her. That chunk of territory originally belong to ThunderClan anyway. What she wanted to know was if Skystar would continue retaliating in his own way as Kestrelstar had done. Regardless, she should take some prey and pay a visit to RiverClan herself, once she worked out what she was doing about her current dilemma.
Rainypaw walked up to Fallownose, face red from embarrassment. They looked him straight in the eyes. “D-don’t ask. Bramble bush. And anyway, Lioncloud never showed up, so I’m here to report, and uh Ashfall was. there too, though I couldn’t see them come back because I was racing back to camp. And yeah- that’s pretty much it.”
"As well as ever," Twilightstar replied to the polite greeting. It was a bit difficult keeping her tail tip from twitching in impatience, Twilightstar has never been the best with small talk. She's always liked to get straight into business. She kept her tail still and was glad to see that she didn't have to wait long to obtain the reason for the tom's visit. Oh, so he really was her to try and join WindClan, she had thought as much after picking up the lack of ThunderClan's scent on him, but guessing and knowing where to do different things.
"Do you mind explaining what you mean by enemies?" Twilightstar allowed her uneasiness to show in the way her front paws shifted themselves around. "If I'm being completely honest, I don't have much of a reason to not allow you to join my clan, but I need you to make your situation clear. Whatever enemies you've made may very well become WindClan's enemies should I take you." The leader's tone took on a sharp edge as spoke her mind.
It was always risky taking in cats from another clan, especially if that cat left on bad terms with their former clan. Risking WindClan's safety for one cat wasn't something Twilightstar would even think of doing. This is why she needed to hear the whole story and deem if whatever baggage the older cat had would come back on her and WindClan somewhere in the future.
Twilightstar was relieved to see that Flight wouldn't be pushing the matter. It would be a pity if she had to run the cat off without allowing her to be looked at. "A medicine cat in clan terms is a healer, Cowpaw is WindClan's medicine cat, he should be able to patch you up," Twilightstar explained, a little surprised with how understanding this cat was. Slithering around Flight's right side, Twilightstar offered the outsider a shoulder to lean on. "After I take you to see my medicine cat, so long as he deems you fit enough, I'll take you to the outskirt's border." Twilightstar meowed, as she slowly began leading the way to her camp
(So I'll talk to ghostie about Flight and get back to you on how we'll be handling patching her up.)
Twilightstar peered at the pair of warriors as they explained themselves and the predicament they were in. Considering she's never been in their paw prints before, she couldn't really say she understood their plan. She did get the whole being in love feeling and knew very well that it's not like you could stop pinning for a cat just because code demanded it. Love seemed to trump loyalty all the time. It wasn't like she could fault them for this.
Twilightstar ears served in Shadowheart's direction as the she-cat added aiding WindClan. Now if this were ShadowClan, Twilightstar would have been more suspicious of this, but the pair's story added up and it seemed they have just had the unfortunate luck of loving someone from an opposing clan. "I'm willing to give you a chance in WindClan, but as open-minded as I am, my clanmates may not be as accepting or tolerate of you. I won't make you two redo all your training, but you're going to have to be trained how to hunt in the moor and learn about our territory, so I will be assigning warriors to mentor you for that" She waited to see if they had any problems with that.
Twilightstar cocked her head as she started out of camp in time to see a young kit walking towards the camp. She picked up her pace as she padded closer to the youngster. "Ashkit, what are you doing out here?" Twilightstar asked, lowering her head once she was as close enough to give the kit a sniff and checking over him for any sign of injury.
(Really quick, Flutterpaw is not in the missing, so the rejoining is optional. If you like you can just resubmit Flutterpaw to WindClan or we can do the rejoining)
Ashkit was silent for a moment,”…An older kit scared me…. And I accidentally went out of camp… Then I got lost….” Ashkit tried their hardest not to let their tail twitch knowing it could be taken as a sign of annoyance, in their case though, it was only anxiety. They’d always been like this though, but infront of their leader, especially on a matter so serious (or so they thought) Ashkit couldn’t keep in their anxiety and let their claws sink into the ground below and then, repeating the motion once their claws were out of the ground, Unable to look at the leader, Ashkit looked at their paws and muttered softly,”How much trouble am I in…?”
Twilightstar was relieved to see that Flight wouldn't be pushing the matter. It would be a pity if she had to run the cat off without allowing her to be looked at. "A medicine cat in clan terms is a healer, Cowpaw is WindClan's medicine cat, he should be able to patch you up," Twilightstar explained, a little surprised with how understanding this cat was. Slithering around Flight's right side, Twilightstar offered the outsider a shoulder to lean on. "After I take you to see my medicine cat, so long as he deems you fit enough, I'll take you to the outskirt's border." Twilightstar meowed, as she slowly began leading the way to her camp
(So I'll talk to ghostie about Flight and get back to you on how we'll be handling patching her up.)
~~Flight~~
(alright!)
Flight listened to the leader's words. "Yes. I used to use whatever I could find to heal myself in the wild. As thanks, Twilightstar, I will help WindClan in any future battles or wars, if you wish, that is." The injured she-cat let herself lean on the WindClan leader's side as she gilded her to the camp, Flight taking note of everything as they headed to the medicine den.
Wolffang's gaze was fixed on the sky. Amid the agony that clutched him, he still couldn't help thinking of how beautiful it was. Leopardsong had asked him what his favorite color was, and he hadn't known how to reply. But now he could say confidently that it was sky-blue. Leopardsong... Thinking of her made him think of his friends and Clanmates. Would he get to see them one last time? Surely he would. Him collapsing in the clearing, ripped into and covered in blood, wouldn't go unnoticed. I can't go yet. I need... to see them one last time. There was so much he wanted to do, so much he wanted to say, but so little time. Wolffang dragged his gaze away from the beautiful clear sky and was anchored back to reality, where the pain clutched him even more fiercely, and weakness dragged him down, making him feel unnaturally heavy. Yet he was feeling slightly detached. Not yet, he begged StarClan, trying to anchor himself further to the real world. Please, not yet. If you want to take me away, then so be it, but let me say goodbye first.
First, there was Fernpaw. Wolffang heard the apprentice telling him not to say that, not to admit that he was dying, and his heart lurched. Fernpaw had wanted him to tell the truth, though, and it would've been incredibly cruel to try and lie about his wounds. It was inevitable. He would be dead soon. Suddenly, Fernpaw was gone, and he was coming back with a bunch of random stuff - stuff that Wolffang could hardly see or comprehend right now as agony and exhaustion threatened to cloud his mind. They weren't herbs, but Fernpaw was still pressing them against his pelt, trying to stop the bleeding. But it was pointless. The blood would keep flowing, and even if they did help, the wounds themselves were too severe. In fact, Fernpaw pressing the material against him just made his wounds hurt more and threatened to make him black out.
"Fernpaw, please... stop... that hurts..." His voice was weak and raspy, and he was in so much pain... but if he let himself slip now, he would fall into a world of agony and clouded thoughts before vanishing into nothing, and he couldn't let that happen yet. Fernpaw was begging him to stay, and Wolffang's heart began to ache. He forced himself to anchor here, fixing his bright yellow gaze on the brown-and-white tabby apprentice.
"You... told me... not to... lie to you." A pause. "I'm... so... sorry. But... things like this... happen sometimes. You deserve... much better... but..." His mind flashed back to when he had first found Fernpaw again, after he'd come back to life. "You... have to keep moving forward." Talking was a struggle. It hurt and tired him out even more, but Wolffang was determined. He would say what he wanted to say to the cats who he wanted to speak to, and he wanted StarClan to try and stop him. "Bad things happen... and it's okay to feel sad. But... life goes on. Everything... moves forward. You're... a great cat, Fernpaw... and you've been through... so much..."
Wolffang tasted the metallic saltiness of blood that was starting to clog the back of his throat. If he let it do so, he'd die. Turning his head, he spit out blood, hacking it up. His body trembled and more agony burst from his wounds with the effort. When he looked back up, he saw that Toadpounce also hadn't obeyed his orders. He wanted to protest, to feel annoyed, but he didn't have time for that. If Toadpounce wanted to stay with him, he could. Wolffang just hoped that his wounds - and Fernpaw's - didn't get worse because they decided to stay with them. Suddenly, there was another warrior there, too. Owlglide. The brown tom was asking Toadpounce what happened just before he overheard Wolffang and started insisting that there was something they could do. But he cut himself off, and Wolffang knew that he knew how bad these wounds were. No cat could survive this.
Owlglide positioned himself at a certain angle beside Wolffang which the dappled gray tom couldn't quite determine, and dipped his head. Was it a gesture of respect to the fact that he was dying? Wolffang wanted to be a bit surprised, then he pushed that feeling away immediately. Yes, he was very imperfect, and yes, he'd said and done a lot of undesirable things. But he had still been a strong and loyal warrior to WindClan, and even though he'd messed up as deputy, he hadn't done everything wrong, either. Wolffang knew that he had to stop thinking woe-is-me. That was old thinking that he shouldn't still be lost in. Cats wouldn't like him, cats wouldn't forgive him, and that was okay. But there were still cats who respected him, who loved him. This train of thought made him not want to leave even more, but once again, he knew that survival was impossible.
A familiar voice reached his ears. Bravebird. He couldn't make out what she was saying at first, but suddenly she was beside Fernpaw, trying to comfort him. Wolffang felt a flicker of gratitude. He didn't see Bravebird's current state due to the agony and exhaustion that were forcing to take over his mind. However, he couldn't help thinking that he was so glad that Twilightstar made her Fernpaw's mentor. Surely she'd be able to help him through this. "Thank you..." The words were a weak, almost indistinguishable mumble, and he wasn't sure if Bravebird would know what they meant, but that didn't matter. He meant it. And then one of her paws was on his, and he could see how much she was struggling to hold it together.
It seemed as though he was attracting all the cats he was closest to, because out of nowhere, Skyleaf was there, trying to wipe the blood away with her tail. That just caused more pain, but Wolffang didn't have the strength in him to grimace. He was conserving what little energy he had left to speak. And now she was begging him not to leave. Which was greater, the emotional pain or the physical pain? He couldn't tell. She was urging him to wait for Cowpaw and to keep breathing. Reminding him about his breath just made breathing harder, because now he was focused on how difficult the task of simply breathing was. Yes, just keep breathing... until you can't. Wolffang didn't want to die yet despite the pain. He loved WindClan and his friends so much, and he didn't want to leave...
Skyleaf kept on trying to help him, trying to stifle the bleeding with her own fur - which again made him hurt more - then she was sobbing, pleading with him not to die. She kept saying how he'd been a great warrior and deputy, and that she'd miss him, but kept begging him to stay. Wolffang knew that she'd been dead for so long. She'd only just come back. How cruel was it that now he was dying, before they'd even gotten a chance to really connect? "I've made... a lot of mistakes... bad mistakes... but I've always... tried my best to serve WindClan." Pain was making his mind feel muddled, and trying to both speak and concentrate was taking everything he had. "I wish that we... could've spent... more time together. But I guess... I'll die... and I don't think I'll come back. But I'll be... in StarClan..." Not many cats got second chances. Actually, quite a few had recently, but Wolffang wasn't sure if he was one of those cats. Would StarClan want to send him back after all he'd done? Even though he'd worked so hard to be better and had improved so much, they were ripping his life away from him. I can't blame StarClan. Things like this happen...
"I'll miss you," he managed. Suddenly, Lioncloud was speaking. Wolffang had assumed that she had gone to tell Twilightstar, but nope, she was here. He hadn't been annoyed with her for staying with him at first, but... she was still a cat, like everyone else. Well, a cat who had hardly done anything during the fight with the dogs and kept on being like "everyone run and leave me" in a situation where that was not appropriate, but he found it hard to be mad at her now. That is, until she hissed at him that she "couldn't think of going back to camp when he was in this condition". What? They were LITERALLY IN CAMP. Wolffang narrowed his eyes at her. Lioncloud wasn't bad, exactly, but she was scatterbrained and had the sense of a kit. Twilightstar demoting her to an apprentice would do her good. Maybe Fernpaw or Toadpounce would be able to suggest it... But his mind couldn't stay on that for too long. He just couldn't be angry for that long. That took too much of his energy.
And... she was there. Leopardsong. The familiar soft scent drifted across his nose, and then she was sitting beside him, her tears dripping onto his back. The claws around his heart clutched even tighter, and for a moment, just a moment, his own horrific wounds vanished. He got enough strength to turn his head slightly. There she was, sobbing, and suddenly she was leaning over him, asking him how. Wolffang knew what she meant. She wanted to know what happened. And now she was crying even harder and trembling, and she was asking if it was a joke, butting his head over and over again. Wolffang felt awful. He was dying, but... he was hurting the cats he loved. He hated seeing Leopardsong like this. In fact, he didn't think he'd ever seen her like this. But... they were close friends. Of course she'd be sad; Wolffang would be devastated if she died. But it still hurt to see her so upset.
"Leopardsong..." The words were weak and choked with blood that clogged the back of his throat, but the world seemed to narrow and she was the only cat he saw. "I-I'm sorry." He took a weak, labored breath, feeling the blood start to choke his throat even more. Wolffang owed her an explanation, and hopefully the surrounding cats would hear too, so they could get an accurate report to Twilightstar. At the moment, he didn't think that Lioncloud was up to the task. She was so scatterbrained, she'd probably say all the wrong stuff.
"Dogs. Three of them, at... the ThunderClan border. They... attacked us... and we had to fight. We... drove them out... into ThunderClan. However, I doubt they'll... be a problem... to any cat. They were... badly wounded... and will probably be... skittish of cats. A close eye on... the border... wouldn't be a bad... idea, though." His vision was clouding, and his strength was failing him, but not now. Not now. He had to talk to Leopardsong. Wolffang loved all his friends, he loved his Clan, but... he felt something different for Leopardsong. Yet he'd never get to confess his love. Doing it now, right before he died, felt... weird. Almost shallow. Now wasn't the time, and there wouldn't be another time. But he wanted her to know how great she was and how much he appreciated her.
He had to pause to spit out the blood that was choking the back of his throat. But then he looked back up at Leopardsong, into her beautiful brown eyes, and spoke. "Leopardsong... I just want you to know that... you're amazing. You've been... so great to me... and you're... such a great cat. You don't have to... forgive me... for how I've... acted toward you... in the past. I don't know if I can... forgive myself. But... you've been a great friend... and a wonderful cat... and I'll miss you so much." He tried shifting one paw to place it over hers - the one that Bravebird wasn't holding onto. Leopardsong felt like an anchor to the world. No, all the cats around him did. His Clanmates, and the cats he loved...
"I'll be in StarClan," he mumbled. His voice was becoming quieter and weaker, and the agony was fully setting in, as exhaustion continued to press down on him like a relentless paw. "I'll miss you all... but I'll... watch over you... I promise..."
[I'll make one more post after this to finish his death. He isn't dead yet, but he will be very soon, and he won't be able to talk anymore. However, if your cats decide to say or do anything else, he will hear them.] @JAE. @Ravensong @Spotty @marni @starry. @Kunaiskrill @Moonraven
Last edited by TheNyanCatMinecart; May 16th, 2022 at 06:40 PM.
> Owlglide @Shade. @xath @starry. [We got another extension to the 17th, but for the sake of time, we could disregard the posting order. Both apprentices need one more post each before we can go and report (Shatt's all good though)]
While he liked the young cats' enthusiasm at learning new things, they needed - as Tawnypaw pointed out - to move on with the patrol to get back in time. Owlglide had seen many patrols gone without being reported back. None of them had been his, and while this wasn't led by him since Cowpaw had come to all of them, he wasn't going to let this one be his first late patrol.
"Ok then, everyone look around for some cobwebs." While working this way through two more cobwebs, he happened to glance towards Shattervenom, who was being rather quick. "Keep in mind that it's best to only carry one stick per cat so you don't drop any." He padded back and redistributed some cobwebs so there wouldn't be too many sticks, and gave the two apprentices - Tawnypaw and Turtlepaw - time to finish before nodding to himself. "I think that's enough. Cowpaw might need a little more then usual for the recent battle wounds, but this should cover it anyway."
[Also sorry this is short, I wanted to get something out quick <3]
Re: WindClan Clearing
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