A Heavy Burden [Open]

Mottleheart had never expected to be here again, but here he was. The scent of blood was strong as it threaten to overwhelm him but he held himself together as he tugged the limp form of Rockpaw after him with Brindlewhisker on his tail. It was tough, trying to do his best not to get Rockpaw stuck on anything as he navigated the deep undergrowth that he was so unused to but determination flared in his body and finally he saw the bramble entrance. His a flicker of his tail and a flash of hope, he bounded forward with Rockpaw dangling from his grip as he darted into the entrance of the camp. The ThunderClan camp had not changed since he had come with Ashstar to bring Rockpaw back to the camp for the first time and he gently lowered Rockpaw to the ground. He raised his head, opening his mouth to call out when another voice stopped him.


"...Rockpaw?" There was a tremble to it as Lionspark stared in horror from where she had been eating a squirrel only to be rudely interrupted by the think scent of blood and the sound of paws. Her eyes were wide as her fur stood on edge and she jumped to her paw, her meal all but forgot as she darted forward with a slight hiss. "W-What did you do?" she growled as she shoved her nose right into the brown and white tom's face, her eyes narrowing suddenly as her claws dug into the ground. "Did you have anything to do..." Her voice suddenly died off as she realized the foolishness in that question - the tom couldn't have raised a paw against Rockpaw.

There was no blood on him and she could scent the panic that rose from his fur. Her eyes remained narrowed however as she took a step back before she turned her head to the leader's den. "Darkstar!" she cried loudly, hoping that the leader - Rockpaw's mentor - would hear her before she spun her gaze toward the medicine cat's den. "Dreamleaf! We need you!" She allowed her voice to ring across the clearing before she spun to stare at Mottleheart again, more or less shoving her nose into his face. It was this time, being inches away from him that she recognized him. It was one of the WindClan cats that had brought Rockpaw home that one time. Well, that answered the question of how he found them. "What happened?" she found herself asking in a low tone, letting her body relax as she came to the conclusion that him - along with the battle-worn she-cat that followed - meant no harm.


Mottleheart found himself stumbling back as the feisty golden tabby stalked across the clearing and shoved her nose into his, her blue eyes intense. Panic and fear flashed across his pelt, fearful that she would attack him as his struggled for an answer. "I-I..." It was all he could manage, not even sure what had happened from when the rogue had lunged at Rockpaw to until it was all over. Hot shame flooded his body at that reminder of his weakness in that moment, of the pure panic that had seized him and memories he had hoped would never come to light like that again. But it was to late and nothing oculd be done. Luckily, the she-cat seemed to relax suddenly before calling out for her leader and medicine cat before pointy shoving her face back into his. He took another step backwards as he glanced over his shoulder at Brindlewhisker, knowing he was not the one suited to answer such a question.

"Darkstar! Dreamleaf, we need you!"

Mosskit let out a huge yawn at a warrior's yowl, her pink maw stretching wide, and as she did so, several scents flooded her mouth. One was a tangy, metallic scent that she recognized as blood, from when warriors came home with throns in their paws and scratches in their pelts. She would have gone back to sleep if not for the next scent, one of rain and heather and open air and grass. She could only assume that WindClan was attacking her clan!

Mosskit leaped lightly out of her nest and peered, quivering, out of the brambles of the nursery. A lithe white tom with brown patches was standing over the limp body of Rockpaw. Lionspark, a warrior of Mosskit's own clan, had yowled for the leader and the medicine cat. Mosskit felt a growl gathering in her throat, and she pelted out of the nursery. Arching her spine, Mosskit skidded to a halt next to the golden tabby warrior. Her brown eye and blue eye alike were aflame with anger. "Get out of our camp, WindClan!" she spat, her blue and white tail lashing, her ears flat against her head. Then her eyes grew huge. "Lionspark, he's killed Rockpaw!"

Maplecloud padded slowly into camp, carrying a squirrel in her jaw. She had just come back from an evening hunting patrol by herself, in which she had success. She blindly trotted over to the fresh-kill pile, then turning back to head to the warriors den. Horror struck her face when she spotted Rockpaw, Mottledheart, Brindlewhisker and Lionspark in a tussle, and what looked like to be a bad one. She ran over to where they were standing, taken aback by the ferocity in Lionspark- her friends- voice. She quickly examined the situation, determining her next action."I'll go fetch Darkstar, Mosskit, you go see to it that Dreamleaf makes it over here." She padded quickly over to Darkstars den, mewing slightly when she reached her den."May I come in?" She sat and waited for her response, hoping it wouldn't be a harsh one.

Darkstar's head raised from her nest, a bit irritated from being woken up, but the scent of blood wiped her thoughts away as she pushed past both Maplecloud and the ivy veil of her den to see, yet again, Rockpaw being brought back into their camp. However, this time he was severely injured, the blood staining his pelt, not to mention stinking like a piece of crowfood. "Dear Starclan," she muttered, jogging hurriedly to her apprentice. He looked worse up close. It seemed odd that only one of the Windclan warriors with him were similarly wounded, although they appeared to be from a larger cat. Apprentice's claws couldn't make nearly such large gashes across the she-cat's face. Something was off here.

She nosed Rockpaw gently. He was still breathing. The leader looked to the two warriors, yellow gaze flickering to the tom she recognized, he'd been in the same group that had delivered her adoptive son to her before. "What has happened to my apprentice?" Her eyes shifted slightly to look at the fresh scars on the tom's stomach. She's never seen such awful wounds on any cat from her clan, as the predatory birds found the open moors easier to hunt in than in the forests, where the trees blocked their line of sight.

"Rockpaw!!" Cloudpaw shrieked and ran over to her friend. No no no.. is he dead?! She thought panic rising in her chest.

Sandpaw and Stonepaw raced out from patching a hole in the warriors den at their sisters shriek. They didn't particularly like Rockpaw but he was their clan mate.

A shriek rippled along camp.

Blacktwig raced out of his den, a terrible pain firing up his crippled legs. The scent of WindClan mingled with the tangy scent of blood was encumbering him, and it lingered in the air. Panting, the burly tom's eyes flashed. "What happened here?" he demanded, paw pads raw from leaning on them so heavily. Instead of looking cross, he seemed rather confused at the occurring situation. It was painstakingly hard for him to limp over, so he stayed in one spot.

He saw a horrified Lionspark, and a determined Mosskit shouting orders. Cute, but cute wouldn't help in this situation. Blacktwig staggered backwards at the scene unfolding before him. He blinked at Brindlewhisker and Mottleheart. Blacktwig opened his mouth, before closing it again. He wasn't about to ask any questions to the tuckered out Rockpaw.

Dreamleaf stumbled out of her den as panic rose in the air.
"What in the name of Starclan is going o-..." she hissed in surprise. She glanced around.
"What happened?" Dreamleaf demanded as she ran over.

Cloudpaw almost sobbed in relieve when Dreamleaf ran over. She refused to leave her friends side.

Sparkpaw raced out to the commotion, hot on the heels of Dreamleaf, stumbling over her own feet as she hurried to the situation. She let out a small gasp as she saw what had happened. "What happened? Who did this? Quick, someone get some, um, spider webs, ah...and Dreamleaf - what should we do?" she asked, a little panicked but trying her best to appear calm.

Blacktwig limped around in frantic circles, before ducking his head to a silky substance. Gripping it neatly in his jaws (but rather lightly, at that), he gave it to Sparkpaw. "Here," the injured tom meowed, sitting back. He looked at Rockpaw worriedly—even if he wasn't the most fond of the stormy apprentice, he had to aid a cat in need.

Goosepaw was not able to speak. Something horrible happened and she figured out when Mosskit started to shout for different cats. Rockpaw was laying on the floor and close to him stood other clan cat. What is happening? She was not sure where the Rockpaw was and what was he doing. Because he was an apprentice, she knew him, but not very good. Goosepaw came closer and watched what was happening.

Lionspark stared intently at the tom as her Clanmates came padding out in horror, her gaze quickly shifting over to Mosskit as the young kit spoke up. Her eyes widen as she gently moved to push the kit away - she didn't want him to be exposed to something so grim. "Shush Mosskit," she whispered softly, glancing over at the brown and white tom that stood in shock over her fallen Clanmate. "I don't think he had anything to do with Rockpaw's state." To her relief, Darkstar and Dreamleaf, along with Sparkpaw, came into the clearing. Her eyes filled with worry as she watched with a flickering tail, panic rising in fear that Rockpaw wouldn't be saved. He looked on the verge of death...

Mottleheart wanted to take a step back as more ThunderClan cats started to come from their dens, many casting glares in his and Brindlewhisker's direction as they all questioned what had happened. Emotions welled up in his chest as he glanced from cat to cat, giving Brindlewhisker a quick glance before sighed. He would have to be the one to tell everybody, wouldn't he? And so with a nervous swallow and a clear of his throat, he glanced at the cats as they fretted over their fallen Clanmate. "We...We had been meeting at Fourtrees," he explained as he shifted on his paws, unwilling to look down in risk of seeing his Rockpaw's torn form and instead let his gaze meet Darkstar. "Rockpaw...He was...Is a friend of mine and we were mending that relationship after it was broken for so long when a rogue stumbled across us. The...The rogue attacked Rockpaw," his voice shook a little as he recalled the last thing he could before his panic attack. "So much happened in that moment and I...Brindlewhisker saved him. She fought off the rogue and we brought him back to the camp as swiftly as we could," he voice broke. He could only hope that they had been in time. "I-I don't know exactly what happened in the fight, I had panicked and...I don't remember a thing of it other then I know I didn't help." Finally, he lowered his head. "Please...Please save Rockpaw..."

The journey from the sacred Fourtrees hollow to ThunderClan's camp had seemed like the longest journey of her life- stretching on endlessly in a strange time distortion despite the reality of how short the trip actually was. Before they could even travel halfway through the dense undergrowth that comprised ThunderClan territory, Brindlewhisker's face had puffed up and grown hot while her left eye had sealed shut in an attempt to prevent anything from further irritating the torn eyelid and the slashes that marred her muzzle and cheek stung like a horde of wasps. The shallow teeth marks that pierced the soft flesh of the bottom of her jaw had eventually stopped bleeding around the same time her eye swelled up, but the blood that had oozed from the wound and into her fur had dried into a sticky, knotted mess that pulled at her skin in an awkward way. Even tilting her head to snatch befuddled glances at the massive trees that filled the forest-dwelling Clans territory caused a spike of pain as the sore wound was stretched- carrying Rockpaw would of caused even more pain of her behalf. She could do little more than stumble blindly after Mottleheart, doing her best to help unhook Rockpaw's tail whenever it became snagged on foliage.

Once they reached the camp, Brindlewhisker's legs were trembling in exhaustion and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her nest beside Thistlefall and sleep for a moon- but she knew they still had to inform Darkstar of what had happened and inform Ashstar before she could even contemplate relaxation. Only just managing to drop into a weary crouch beside Mottleheart, she watched intently as Rockpaw's curious Clanmates were greeted with the sight of the beaten apprentice. She had to stiffly crane her neck to and fro to catch a decent glimpse of the ThunderClan cats that came slinking from their dens within the shadows, lips twitching warily at all the strange cats. "Give him some room." Brindlewhisker rasped sternly as Cloudpaw came rushing up towards them, automatically moving into a defensive stance above Rockpaw. 'He's been through enough without getting stepped on by hysterical apprentices.' She reflected irritably, although her attention waned from the pestering apprentice to Darkstar as the leader approached. She flicked her ear gratefully as Mottleheart began to fill in Darkstar, relieved that she didn't have to speak immediately.

A nagging thought kept pestering her tired mind, and she found herself mulling over the events as much as she possibly could- what was Mottleheart missing? It seemed as if he had covered the majority of what had happened, but something just wasn't right. Closing her good eye, she found herself pulling an odd face as she tried to retrace the entire battle the best she could, furiously going over all the dialogue that she remembered clearly. Then suddenly, several things that the rogue had said filled her mind with an unprecedented urgency, causing her non-injured eye to snap open eagerly. "The rogue said that he's captured several Clan cats", Brindlewhisker suddenly chimed in, swinging her head slightly to stare at Darkstar with her unobstructed eye, "He also admitted to the murder of a WindClan cat," She continued, rasping slightly due to the scathing pain in the back of her throat, "But I think tonight was more than just an over-zealous rogue wanting to expand his ego- he said he wasn't going to let us leave." She continued, stiffly rising to her paws to move closer to the ThunderClan leader. Hopefully she wasn't overstepping any boundaries, but this information seemed a bit more vital than explaining how Rockpaw's insults possibly caused him to get smacked around. "Have any of your Clanmates gone missing?" Brindlewhisker questioned lowly, whiskers twitching with anticipation. 'I'd believe that if I hadn't already captured several Clan cats.' The jeering laughter on endless replay within her throbbing skull making her muscles twitch out of instinct.

The words and shouts were muffled, sounding like his head was submerged underwater, some pitches higher and some lower. The tom felt heavy, though he felt as if he wasn't there at all. No body to hold down his soul. Slowly, the sounds seemed to sound just a little closer, just a little clearer as whatever it was pulled him back into his body. He felt suffocated as his eyes opened just barely, his vision blurry as he looked at all the cats above him.

Paws shifting as his mouth flapped and gaped uselessly, his voice hardly seemed to work. Rockpaw's breath rasped as his sore throat shifted as he continued trying to work his voice from his vocal cords. A huge black shape shifted over his vision, his paws shifting as he tried to get up to meet her but failing. "M-Mom..." He spluttered, his voice so quiet and rough that he doubted that anyone could here.

"Yes, yes," chimed Blacktwig hoarsely, paws burning to race up to Brindlewhisker with gratitude. Perhaps she knew? "Mottledwing, she's my daughter, she's gone." Blacktwig couldn't have stopped himself; he knew in his right mind that it was rude, but he needed to tell Brindlewhisker. He seemed more like a desperate father—which he was—than a noble warrior. The older tom rose to his paws, hind legs withered with pain. "Oh, I apologize," he mumbled, dropping again. He had gotten too eager at the fact that Mottledwing might possibly return from her exodus. The battle-scarred tortoiseshell wrapped his tail gingerly around his bloody paws, his torn tail sticking out like a ramshackle branch. He didn't see Rockpaw, the grey apprentice's energy swiftly depleting. This supposed rogue's act seemed like a terrible feint. He felt frost nipping at him—right when warmth was hastening to greet them, it returned with the conniption of a thousand blizzards. Dear StarClan, may Newleaf be on its way, he prayed.