Where is Your God Now Part 2 [PLOT]

Dawnhawk managed to hop across a few rocks and partially submerged logs in the ice to get across the river. Eos was with him, though her injuries had slowed her considerably. He would have left her if he wasn't so worried about needing help to defend his family. He cared about Eos, but not as much as he cared for Honeycomb or Tornpaw or Waspkit. If needed, just like the guard in the nursery that day, she would be a useful sacrifice. The patrol leading Skyclan back to Skyclan territory probably was ahead of them by now, and the thought fueled him with fear. He had no reason to believe any cat would be kind to Honeycomb or the kits... especially not after they found out about what he had done in that nursery. He'd killed Featherkit, fought with Beechface and killed Cerberus, the brown tabby that had been by his side the whole time. What if they killed Tornpaw... what if they killed Waspkit? His heart raced and his agitation grew with Eos not moving as fast as normal.

"We're almost there... I'm afraid they'll kill my family if we don't hurry though." The urgency was in his voice, but he tried to be as respectful to her as he could manage, given the circumstances. Images of Featherkit being thrown against the wall was replaced with his own kits. He felt sick. Even more so when he heard an eruption of noise coming from Skyclan territory. Cats... cheering? Yowling? Fighting? No! NO! "Eos please!" Dawnhawk begged, begged her to move faster. Somehow. Maybe he should leave her here... They were both beaten to bloody pulps. how much could they accomplish even together? Dawnhawk felt his legs weaken... was it shock? He sunk to the floor as if he were more injured than he was.

Dark Forest... I have done my best to destroy Starclan. If you have any sense of gratitude at all... save my family!

Eos' head was spinning. Her vision blurred. Still, she forced herself to keep moving. She had to keep moving. Dawnhawk had helped her make it out of fourtrees, though the scout wasn't entirely sure she'd have the strength to continue on much longer. Her head was pounding, and that crack when Ivystar had brought her paws down upon Eos' head had been far more than just the sound of impact.

Dazed, she forced herself to keep putting one paw in front of the other. She wasn't quite aware of her surroundings, though Dawnhawk's voice stood out to her. He was there, so she was safe.

The shock of icy water against her paws as they crossed the river made her lips curl in disgust, the cold managing to force some semblance of awareness into her brown eyes. How did Riverclan stand the cold? Well, Riverclan was no longer her problem. They could have their stupid, frigid river all they wanted.

The she-cat hissed, hackles rising as she turned her gaze to Dawnhawk as he spoke. He was banking hard on this ruse working. If the clan cats thought he was fighting an Asylum member, surely they'd rush to save him once they were spotted. He'd be taken to camp, where he could find his family and get them out.

A cacophony of noise - Skyclan? Riverclan? Eos couldn't tell - nearly made her stop there, nausea making her stomach churn. Not helped at all by the way the world seemed to spin around her.

Bloody, hare pelt askance on her short-furred frame, Eos knew she did not look like the kind scout that Riverclan had come to know these past few moons. Ivystar's heavy blow had made sure there was nothing friendly in her almost-glassy stare.

The scout took a step towards Dawnhawk, ears flattening, lips curled into a snarl. Her movements were far from graceful (thanks, Ivystar) and from a distance would appear far more aggressive than than they actually were. Her claws unsheathed as she took a heavy swipe at the fox pelt. Vision blurred as it was, her claws were very likely to catch Dawnhawk's actual pelt if he didn't move.

Ashstorm heard the celebrations and cheers that Skyclan was free.  She cheered along with everyone else, but was not as happy as they seemed to be.  She did not know if much would change.  Most of her life the Asylum was there and she barely remembered life without them.  Then something occurred to her.  Dawnhawk!" She thought immediately worried.  They could kill him.  They probably will kill him. Without much thought, she left the Skyclan camp in search of her brother.  She needed to tell him.  She could not just allow them to kill him.

Ashstorm began looking for him, then suddenly she smelled Dawnhawk's scent, but... she also smelled blood.  Rushing towards where the scent was she saw another cat attacking him.  She did not have any time to think.  She needed to trust her gut.  She needed to save her brother.

She ran up behind Dawnhawk, as quietly as she could.  Before she knew it, her jaw was on either side of Dawnhawk's neck.  Her fangs dug into his skin, harder then she meant for them to.  Next to them was a river.  She dragged him a few steps towards it, causing some skin to tear on Dawnhawk's neck, and then with most of her strength threw him into the river.  Right when she let go of his neck to get him into the river, she quietly whispered the words, "I love you, brother."  She was unsure if he even heard her or not.

Then she turned to the cat that she thought was trying to kill Dawnhawk.  She quickly, again not thinking, stood on her back legs and, with all the force she had, hit Eos in the head with her paws.  She saw Eos fall to the ground.  Most likely dying.  Ashstorm took a step back.  She realized what she had done.  "I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry." She said, wishing there was something she could do to help.  But she was not a medicine cat and even if she was Eos' condition was too fatal.  She backed away, horrified by what she had done, looking between the river and Eos.

This was not what was supposed to happen.  Ashstorm just wanted to save Dawnhawk nothing more.  Confused, afraid, hurt, were just some of the emotions she had at the moment.  No, no, no, no.  What did I just do?  She shook her head, afraid of everything that just happened.  Her ears flattened down to her head and her eyes were wide.  Starclan if you can still hear me please let my brother be okay.

Ashstorm used Killing Bite on Eos, killing Eos and using -10SP

Ashstorm
45HP / 150SP (-10SP)

Eos
Dead
0HP / 0SP

Dawnhawk had only meant for Eos to follow him back to camp. Sure, he had intended to use her as a barrier between himself and his kits, but it wasn't an easy decision for him to make. She'd done nothing wrong in this entire situation and didn't deserve to be treated the way she was. Then she mimicked an attack towards him. Dawnhawk stared and just took the hit. A superficial scratch after going through the fox pelt wasn't much to be concerned with. A light blow between his ears. The pelt was hooked on Eos's claws and was removed just enough to expose his neck. The porcupine quills down One-Ear's hackles were there for protective reasons... but with them removed it left him wide open for what was to come.

"Eos..." Dawnhawk stared as his vision turned blurry. She was willingly sacrificing herself for him. They had spent no more than a day or two together in total... and yet she was willing to be the sacrificial lamb for him and a family of his that had nothing to do with her. I didn't deserve you... He thought as he choked back a sob and stared into her eyes. They were unfocused and appeared to look through him more than at him. She'd suffered a terrible trauma. She didn't deserve anything that had happened to her. At least he was guilty of a lot of horrible things, but what had she done? Nothing.

Then teeth were being buried into the side of his neck. Dawnhawk panicked, lashing out blindly with his claws, but the battle and the journey before hand had left him tired and ineffective at best. He looked with his eyes to see Ashstorm. She was dragging him to the river. No! Not at those temperatures! Dawnhawk dug his feet into the earth in an attempt to anchor himself in place, but he was too fatigued. The dirt slipped between his claws and toes as he uselessly scrabbled at it.

"Let go of me! Ashstorm why?! I thought-" "I love you, brother." What??? And then his feet left the floor. Pressure pinched at the flesh on the side of his neck as her teeth buried deeper. Warmth and wet ran down his neck. Just when it felt like it might be a lethal amount, Ashstorm released him and Dawnhawk was airborne.

"WHY?!" Dawnhawk barked out, right before his body crashed into the icy water. He was tumbling. the water tossed him around beneath the surface without mercy as the warmth of his body was sapped from him. He tried to swim towards the light, no matter how many times he tumbled under the surface. He knew the light meant up.

Something solid blocked him from breaking the surface. Ice. The river had frozen in spots. Dawnhawk's claws screeched against the ice as he tried to push through it and the water kept forcing him down river. There was a break in the ice just long enough for him to breach the surface and gulp the air greedily. A sharp smack on the back of his head... and back down into the water he went.

Dawnhawk was swept down river for miles. Miles away... all in agony as he struggled for breath and felt his strength waning. His only thought was confusion as to why his family had betrayed him so. From the beginning... he'd been the least favorite. Fine then... if that was how they would all see him then he would just be what they wanted to see. Dawnhawk had no family. There was only Tornpaw and Waspkit. They were all that mattered, but he was ready to sever their bonds as well, if they decided that he was a monster too.

I was not a monster, no
The one I thought I could trust
thought I was a monster, so
That's when I began to embrace the Monster

~ "Monster" - Divide Music

Dawnhawk said her name, and just for a moment Eos' eyes seemed to clear. Brighten. She wanted to apologize for the scratch, for her unsteady movements having torn at the fox pelt. He'd have to see a pelt ward about it, but she thought that both his one-eared fox and her hare pelt were both past the point of saving. A shame. He'd offered her the fox pelt so she could stay warm in Asylum's wind-swept camp, and that simple act of kindness had stuck with her.

And then her head spun. She hardly registered the arrival of the new she-cat, but she felt the agony explode in her skull as paws made the connection. Eosphoros crumpled mid-step. Her body hit the ground with an agonizing thud, and then she felt weightless.

She saw Dawnhawk struggle before he was thrown. Heard his voice, but whatever he said was incomprehensible to her now. She should have been alarmed, should have run, tried to defend him, but her paws didn't work. She attempted to lift her head, and the world spun once more. Eos closed her eyes against the sensation, not realizing that her head had hardly made it off the ground before her chin rested against the earth once more. She hardly felt it.

"Dawnhawk... I'm sorry, I failed." Eos tried to speak, but the words didn't make it past her lips. There was something sticky on the back of her head and neck, an uncomfortable sensation that was rapidly spreading. Soon, even that faded.

The forms of two kits became visible to her, though Eos couldn't recall opening her eyes or where they'd come from. She recognized their patchy pelts, however. A small, fleeting smile crossed her lips, or maybe she had imagined it.

The scout's chest grew still, the plume of breath from her muzzle fading into nothingness.