We Were Never Friends (Open)

Rockthorn choked slightly as he was yanked from Leopardclaw with a 'hrk', and swiftly tossed to the ground. Struggling to take in enough air as he felt Darkstar weight on him, scrabbling briefly before his eyes landed on Falconpaw. Rockthorn felt so miserable having the little tom looking at him his mind whirling as he realized the poor apprentice he orphaned might just start doubting what he said about self-defence and that he was just a monster. Rockthorn retched almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

Everything twisted again, but it seemed to be a bit more peaceful despite the urgency of Sparkpaw and Dreamleaf, Darkstar hovering over him again, Cloudpaw right behind as Mottleheart and Brindlewhisker were talking of Bear again. His neck and mouth were drenched in blood, everything seemed so real but fuzzy. Rockthorn was angry though, furious even. So he spat and raged, flipped at anyone he could claws flew in the air as he tried to swipe at anyone.

"You all belong in the dark forest!" The tom screeched, blind angry eyes flickering to everyone above him, Mottleheart seemed shove Brindewhisker seemed about ready to smack him but he didn't care for he knew his words had weight, especially on the older cats. He heard the stories. If Rockthorn had lips, he'd spit in the face of Darkstar, not a care in the world for his bloodied and mangled shoulder filling with dirt and small rocks.

Darkstar's demeanor was beginning to soften when she heard Leopardclaw's honest words, but as Rockthorn began to thrash beneath her, she struggled to contain him and his claws raked her chest and legs, causing her to hiss in pain and rage. She shoved him away instinctively before she realized what he'd said. The Dark Forest? He knew nothing of it. Her words came out at a low growl, and yet her eyes betrayed a shred of long-lasting fear of those horrid creatures that pretended to have once been Clan cats. "You weren't even alive when they were here. I feared, no, we all feared for our Clanmate's lives. You don't know them, and I pray to Starclan that you never have to. So don't you dare ever mention them again." She was remembering when she'd been captured by Twolegs. Most of those memories were still fuzzy, but the moment she woke up with her three kittens and found her leg gone...

She wished she could forget that. It had been like losing her last connection to her parents, despite the fact that it was something that had hindered her greatly. Once Frozenflame and Blacktwig - then Blackpaw - saved her she thought everything would be put right. She didn't realize that she'd left her third kit behind. She shook her head. This was not the time for regret. In the moment she recognized Rockthorn as not being entirely with them, but his words still sent a wave of fear and hatred down her spine. "Leopardclaw, go see Dreamleaf." The leader continued to stare at her former apprentice, put off that her training had not put a dent in him. Had she made a mistake?

Leopardclaw nodded numbly, turning his head away from the disturbing scene that lay in front of him. Rockthorn....it seemed like he was looking and fighting someone else. Not just with Darkstar, but I saw that some look in his eyes before he injured my belly. Shaking his head to clear his mind, his torn ear flung a few droplets of blood onto the ground. Reminding him of his injuries, the golden spotted tom limped his was over towards the medicine cat's den, but looked over to Blizzardshine when he passed her. Eyes wide with shock and shame, the young tom opened his mouth to speak, but instead hung his head. There's nothing I could say at this point. Sighing, he passed through the brambles to enter Dreamleaf's den.

Blizzardshine lowered her ears at Rockthorn’s words, flashes of her memories about the Dark Forest reign racing across her eyes. Darkstar’s words brought her back from her memory-induced trance, sighing and trying to regain her cool, though a soft glare was now visible in her “I lost friends and family to the Dark Forest. I interacted with them, I saw what they can do. I saw clanmates fear for their lives, queens terrified of letting their kits get only a couple whisker-lengths away of them, good kits turn into fox-hearted monsters after going through their training” She hissed, a mix of a long buried pain and fears resurfacing as she spoke “I lost my only littermate to them, and for many sunrises I feared that he would never find his way to StarClan after they chased them away, or worse, be forced to roam the Dark Forest forever when he did nothing wrong” The face of Sedgewhisker soon rushed to her mind, making her feel her chest heavy and throat close “Think before speaking next time Rockthorn. The Dark forest isn’t something you can just mention and expect to not carry consequences”.

Blizzardshine’s eyes landed on Leopardclaw as he walked at her side. No words were needed for her to understand how he was feeling, but given the current situation it wasn’t like she could just tell him that everything was going to be fine to make him feel better. She would wait until things settled down a bit to have a word with him.

Rockthorn swiftly gave up his struggle, just listening and once more the familiar sense of regret washed over him. Panting heavily and surfacing a bit more back into reality he meowed with a raspy voice, slurred just a bit due to his scars. " 'm sorry, but Leopardclaw was right... we both started it.. but I know my words won't fix anything." Rockthorn hissed softly, so many more words unsaid that he wanted to say but couldn't.

He'd have to talk to Darkstar about everything, the thoughts he thought that were killing him inside especially. He saw the weight of his actions much clearer now than he ever did, but he didn't know how to fix it. Looking up at Darkstar, his eyes misting and pleading he sputtered. "I want to get better mom, I don't know.. I don't know all I'm causing is grief for my clan, I look at what I've done to Leopardclaw and I can't... I don't want.." Rockthorn sputtered like a kit that had it's food ripped from it.

But he was quite, he couldn't bear having his 'mother' angry at him, he couldn't bare having to relive what he had done when he saw a squirrel or Falconpaw, he couldn't bare seeing this fuzzy images of cats that weren't there. "I don't want to be here..." Rockthorn silently quivered, his words slurred and stuttered as his body racked with his grief under his mothers paws.

Lichenfang heard the commotion and had spotted that Leopardclaw was involved. She decided she would figure out why. She took noticed of her mate disappearing into the medicine cats den and she followed after him. The scarred she cat not taking mind or notice of the others at the moment. She followed after him."Leopardclaw"she mewed as she reached him.

Leopardclaw turned at the sound of his mate's voice, and felt his heart clench in his already tight chest. She saw? Oh no.... With a sigh, he turned to face her, his eyes gleaming with pain and shame. For a moment he tried to think of what to say, but in the moment as he looked into her moss green eyes, he was speechless. He knew what she was going to say; What were you thinking? What happened? Who started it? Are you okay? You idiot, what did you do!? Hanging his head, the golden spotted tom whispered, his voice tense and sad; "I...I'm sorry."
(short ahhh)

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Leopardclaw nodded, his head still hanging shamefully as the full effect of his actions once again crashed over him.  How could I do this?  I should never had let myself become so angry....but Rockthorn was practically begging me to attack him.  Saying all those things about my past, my family....  Lifting his head, a dull fire began to throb in his eyes as he stepped forward to meet Lichenfang, giving her a brief nuzzle.  "I'll be fine, it's not as bad as it looks."  Flashing her a comforting smile, that was soon overtaken by a conflicted grimace.  Turning away a bit, the golden tom dug his claws into the ground as he spoke, his voice low and brimming with fury.  "I...I wasn't thinking.  I just reacted.  Rockthorn....that piece of murdering scum goaded me on and....I just lost it."  Looking up, he met his mate's concerned gaze with burning intensity, his few mumbled words holding more emotions than he could even count.  "He...he said that I deserved to be orphaned."  He knew that the calico she-cat would understand; she was one of the only cats who he had opened up to fully about his origins, and how sensitive he was about it.

She blinked listening to him speak before she heard his last sentence and her fur spiked up slightly. "He shouldn't of said that I understand why but...please don't so it again"she mewed and nuzzled him back.

Falconpaw sat silently, thinking about the whole ordeal. With tears of frustration, he lashed his tail and stood up, this was all his fault. They were throwing around the event of his mother's murder as if it was nothing! Was.. was it nothing? He looked up at the the two who were finally apart. "Y-y-you're a-all s-s-so.. so.. s-stu-stu-stupid!" He stammered out, tears glistening in his eyes as he said the words. He stiffened after he realized he had said that. "I-i... I'm so-so-sorry!" He mewed and disappeared into the apprentice den.

"I wont, I promise."  Managing to suppress his intense anger, Leopardclaw took a deep breath before smiling at Lichenfang, his eyes flooding with love and appreciation.  I don't deserve her, yet she always stays by my side; I've never felt love like this before, and I hope it never ends.  Leaning forward, he gave her a sweet lick on the forehead before ducking farther into the medicine den to get his wounds treated.