What's the matter, lives flashing before your eyes? (Open)

"Greetings, Leopardsun. I'm just confronting Shrikestar on why his warriors keep crossing our borders, starting fights and hunting prey." Nightstar meowed, inviting her over to join him before he turned his gaze back on Shrikestar.

"Some of them are wounds from a hawk, yes." Nightstar responded flippantly, unfazed by Shrikestar's act of aggression. His own anger and rage simmered under his pelt, so much so that it felt as if it cloaked him like his Badger pelt and soothed him. "You know. I'm really wondering if this alliance is worth it anymore. Considering how many times your cats have crossed my borders, to attack my cats or hunt. I'm thinking that maybe Windclan has gotten too cocky, thinking that they can do what they want with our borders because of our alliance. So I'm calling it off. I simply cannot trust Windclan as it is to send my warriors to fight your battles." Nightstar hissed, tilting his head to Shrikestars warriors.

"They cannot even hold their tongues when it would be wise to do so. What stops them from crossing our borders some more?" Nightstar growled, leveling the Windclan leader with a glare. "I will take my leave if you've got no objections." He meowed, waiting calmly... as calmly as he could be that was.

Birchpaw’s voice, though not overly familiar, still managed to soothe Russetrye, slowing her soft hiccups to nothing as the tears subsided. It was okay. Her medicine cats were here, and the wounds she had sustained no longer sent sparks up and down her leg every time she moved it. Her head slowly turned at a half-familiar voice- Leopardsun? The very cat whom she had interacted with so light-heartedly only a week or so ago, now on the other side- and she now understood why the Warrior Code advised against friendships from other Clans. It hurt. It hurt a lot to see a cat she could’ve called a friend on the other side, despite how much of a voice of reason she was at present.

A hot wave of shame rolled over Russetrye, her pelt prickling as she noticed the face the ShadowClan tom- Locustcall, Nightstar had called him- made as he backed away from her. He- let him be beat up out of nowhere! See how he liked it! She curled her lip, eyes dull yet still shining with unshed tears.

And then- and then Silverwing appeared, and after her Sleepyhollow, and Russetrye internally screamed- she didn’t want this, this cold facade they currently sported. She- all she wanted was for someone to come and lead her away and curl up beside her and let her cry- her gaze met Silverwing’s, then flickered to Locustcall, not comprehending what the older she-cat said, only that Silverwing was not letting her bury her face in her mentor’s fur. And Sleepyhollow- Russetrye bent silently to the wet moss, squeezing her eyes shut at the total lack of emotion in each statement, missing most of what her friend said.

Then, finally, Shrikestar appeared, and Russetrye finally felt the slightest inkling of calm. He- he took her side. He stood up for her. Some of the tension eased out of her shoulders as the red-pelted she-cat took a deep breath, as if she’d forgotten to breathe the last few minutes.

And then-

What had she done? Russetrye’s head snapped up as she stared at the leaders in dismay. Had- she’d caused this. She had broken the alliance between ShadowClan and WindClan, something that had been in place since she was a kit. Something vital to WindClan.

And she had ruined it.

Batsong was so done with this shadowclan leaders nonsense. She wanted to tell him off but that wasnt her place and she had made her position known clear enough. Anything more would have been out of place, besides this was Shrikestars decision and his job to deal with now. Her job was to take care of the wounded.

She figured that Russetrye no longer needed to hear Nightstars foxdung accusations, hadnt he hurt her enough by now.


She rested her tail on the warriors shoulder as Russet cried a bit. She did her best to help the warrior onto her paws and lead her over to the med den. She could get Russet a quiet place at least while the warrior rested and the herbs worked to heal her wounds.

She was very glad to see that at least Shadowclans medicine cat was willing to help clean up the wrongdoing that had occured to her clan. What made Nightstar think they wanted this alliance anymore either, he hadnt done anything for them anyways besides beat up their warriors for misunderstandings.

She nuzzled Russetrye gently, this was her friend and she was hurt bad in alot of different way right now.

The cold that had been eating at Silverwing continued to do so, only helped by the constant joining and yapping of other cats. She just wanted them all gone, far from this place so that none of them could speak over Russetrye or keep Silverwing from doing what needed to be done. Luckily enough for the she-cat, Russetrye wasn't using her words. Silverwing's eyes followed Russetrye's, landing on the tom beside Nightstar, Locustcall. She had a name and a face, she would remember this cat and no matter how long it took she would get him. Now wasn't the time for that, not in front of these cats anyway, she would need to find a proper setting for what needed to happen between the two.

No, this wasn't the time to attack, but the more Silverwing stared at the smug warrior the colder she became. In an instant, the cold turned to a searing heat, almost as if begging the she-cat to take action. She let a few seconds pass, just enough to let Locustcall enjoy his last moments alive. Silverwing leapt at the Shadowclan warrior, claws slashing furiously at any hint of the tom's body. It wasn't enough to go for a fatal blow, she wanted this to hurt, she wanted Locustcall to be begging for the finisher by the end of this. A rabid snarl escaped the she-cat as she continued her onslaught of claws, only breaking long enough to plant her teeth into Locustcall's shoulder with as much force as her jaw would allow.

Leopardsun watched and listened as Nightstar spoke- trespassing was an offense, certainly, but there had to be a better way- an easier way, certainly- to deal with it than dragging bloodied and beaten warriors into their own camp; and he followed it up by breaking off the alliance that he had been working to secure for- how long had it been? Some time, certainly. She had never seen much of a point to it, but she'd made an effort to connect with at least a few of the WindClan cats they were living with (and circumstance had certainly made that easier than it might have been otherwise), because if they were allies it seemed important to maintain positive relations.

It seemed that no one else had come up with that particular idea, from the way this particular conversation was going. As much as she didn't care one way or the other for their alliance, to see it broken so suddenly- it was jarring.

Not as jarring as a WindClan warrior she vaguely recognized leaping forward to attack Locustcall. For the second time that day, Leopardsun wondered just what he and Nightstar had done. Nightstar mentioned that there had been a hawk, but... There had to be more to it than that.

"I won't pretend to know what happened between you, and at the moment I do not care to," she began, stepping slowly toward the WindClan cat. "I was hoping we could end this conversation without any further bloodshed. I'm certain there will be time for explanations later. Apologies, Shrikestar-"

For a split second, anyone watching might have thought she was joining the fray; but her true intentions quickly became clear: prying the WindClan warrior off of Locustcall, without injuring either of them further. Or at least putting an end to this particular confrontation before it could escalate any more than it already had.

"As it stands, this is not the time or place for this! Do you not see your own medicine cats and ours, tending to your own Clanmates' injuries? Do you have such little respect for their time and resources, that you would actively attack someone who was leaving while your own are injured?"

Leopardsun sighed, shaking her head. This entire conversation was doomed from the start, of course, but- surely it didn't need to go this badly? And for it to break so easily, just what sort of alliance had they had in the first place?

"Locustcall," she regarded the warrior with some apprehension, "return to ShadowClan camp. Nightstar and I will follow momentarily. Burdockroot, if the WindClan medicine cats have no further need of your talents, please tend to Locustcall."

Coyotegrin remained silent through the interactions, a frown, almost a grimace frozen on her face. Everything she had worked for to keep the clan safe was thrown away by insolent children who clearly wanted WindClan to burn, to die. Sharp pains nagged in her stomach area but she ignored them. Her anger simmering under her pelt; Shrikestar had been too lax and now they would pay the consequences. When Sleepyhollow arrived, she broke her stare to turn her head back to her. "Sleepyhollow, please..." She murmured in a quiet voice, urging her daughter to behave and not make this worse... Not be a part of them, whom will, if Shrikestar wanted to save this clan, face punishment. She turned back around to face Nightstar as Shrikestar strode up, his anger clear. 'My love... Please save this...' But he didn't. Nightstar called off the alliance and that was when Silverwing launched herself herself on Locustcall... And when she cried out in pain and fell to the stone beneath her.

----

Burdockroot didn't want to leave the situation, but with a dip of the head she strode off at a quick pace to her den for moss. That was easy to replenish. When she returned she ignored the chaos around her, but tuned in just in time for Nightstar to call off the alliance. With ears pinned to her head she stopped what she was doing to glance at the leader quizzically. Break an alliance over this, when his own clan was a danger to itself? Redice, this Locustcall? Nightstar was doing something incredibly stupid. A flurry of silver broke her out of her thoughts followed by Coyotegrin's cry. The medicine cat in her immediately started to race over to the queen, clearly going into labor as she was called away by Leopardsun to attend to her own clanmate. Glancing back to Batsong and Birchpaw, she knew they could handle it.. Hopefully. Her duty was first and foremost to her clan. With any sense of emotions wiped from her face, she strode back to Locustcall's bleeding body. Intentionally brushing past the silver WindClan cat intentionally, she bumped the warrior further away from her patient. Shooting the tabby a harsh glare with her mismatched eyes, almost challenging, Burdockroot got her satisfaction. Turning back to Locustcall, she started ushering him away.

--

Coyotegrin's entire body was wracked with spasms and pain beyond belief. All she could do was manage to try to compose herself and stand up before another spasm wracked her body. How incredibly embarrassing - going into labor as Nightstar called off the alliance. Staggering forward, she let out another gasp. "Shrikestar... The kits..." The anger and stress of it all had caused her to go into early labor. StarClan, did this mean her kits were already doomed? Bracing against the pain, Coyotegrin desperately walked on uneasy legs closer to Batsong before collapsing once more. This didn't feel right... None of her other labors were this painful...

The anger that was brimming beneath Shrikestar's pelt was palpable. The anger was sent out in a number of directions: at Nightstar for his rash decision-making, and at his own clanmates for being unable to keep themselves together for one moment. It was as if everything was happening at once. Nightstar was calling off the alliance, Silverwing was attacking another ShadowClan cat, his own cats were hurt... What a complete and utter disaster. He was enraged, and was going to tell Nightstar so, but then his mate went into labor.

"Coyotegrin!" He rushed to his mate, who had fallen next to their medicine cat. "Batsong, we must do something!" As if that wasn't obvious enough, but he was just a concerned father at that point. "Keep back," he warned the others around her, not wanting any more cats stepping forward and making things harder for Coyotegrin. He at least was able to turn to Nightstar, who was taking his leave, along with the entirety of ShadowClan. "No objections," he spat, glaring at the ShadowClan leader.

Amberstone had been utterly still for most of this... confrontation. She was slowly getting her head in order, finally daring to glance at her injuries as a medicine cat worked on them. Okay... it actually wasn't even half as bad as she thought. Slowly, her limbs began to obey her again now that the adrenaline had worn off. Dear Stars she hurt. Amberstone got to her feet slowly, hardly hearing much of the conversation or giving a rat's tail about it.

I walked around in the outcropping under an alliance agreement. Whoop-dee-Stars-Cursed-do Nightnuts. Amberstone was finally getting a bit of her sense back, and now that she knew she hadn't been mortally wounded, her anger was taking over where fear once was.

"Foxing idiot," She muttered in reference to Nightstar, but didn't look at him. And then all too suddenly Coyotegrin went into labor. Oh for fox sake.... Amberstone would normally volunteer to help, but right now.... no. She already had little patience for kits, and on top of that she was injured, physically and her pride. The medicine cats didn't need to focus on her, that was fine. She knew the kits would require more attention, but right now, she wanted to lay down. She'd be nice one time to anyone who tried to bother her, and if they didn't get the hint she was in no mood to be polite a second time.

Batsong had just gotten Russetrye situated into a nest and was trying to comfort the warrior when a feral sound made her look over just in time to now see Silverwing attacking the shadowclan warrior.  She wanted to scream, could this day get any worse?? Luckily the shadowclan deputy was able to break up the foolish attempt at yet another fight.  Couldnt everyone see that Birchpaw, herself and Burdock were busy enough as it was without needing more piled on top of them.  It was a foolish action, one taken in anger and without thinking and was putting them in an even worse spot.  Dont get her wrong, she was furious at what had happened too but she and everyone else was able to at least keep their cool, now it was just worse.


Then the next thing she knew, Coyotegrin was on the ground in pain too.  At first she was scared a shadowclanner had attacked her.  How dare they attack a queen!? That was low even for them.

But the situation was quickly clarified when Shrikestar spoke.  She nodded and rushed to her herb supplies getting Burnet for strength and Chervil the two common herbs for kitting, luckily they were in good supply as her and Birchpaw had been preparing for this.

she had been around for the kitting that Beechface had helped deliver and she had one kit of her own long long ago so she was familiar enough with this



"Birchpaw, big stick she can bite down on to d-distract the pain

although I wouldnt mind using Nighstars tail for Coyote to get to bite down on either. she thought to herself quietly

She went to Coyotes side and got her the herbs.  "aright, you can do this, she encouraged.

She was well aware everyone was staring at her and coyotegrin and birchpaw.  But she kept focused, at the same time however she didnt want everyone crowding in....

"Windclan show our "guests" out please and dont crowd us, S-shrikestar only for now

Luckily amber was also under alot better and stable condition too it appeared, well enough that she and birchpaw could focus on this for now. She would be by later to check on Amber but this was her highest priority for now.

Locustcall wasn't paying much attention to the cats beside him, his gaze on the two leaders as they spat tense words to each other. Nightstar shared his views, neither clan held stakes in this alliance as far as the calico could tell. It was better off for Shadowclan to care for its own warriors and not have to kit-sit another clan of kittens.

Suddenly, one of the cats that had been comforting the crying warrior lashed out at him with unbridled ire, the tom letting out a hiss of shock when claws raked into his shoulder, tumbling to the side from the force. The younger warrior had already raked the skin there, the silver she-cat reopening the wound and making some of her own. Half-choked cries of pain followed, the tom desperately trying to swallow them down before they could manifest into wails. Confusion and shock clouded his eyes, but were quickly replaced with his own rage. They didn't want this conflict to be over? Fine, he had no qualms against dragging her through the dirt of her own camp.

His free paw raised, the sharp points of his claws digging into what flesh he could to try and pry her off. Leopardsun was speaking, but he paid no attention to what her words were until she prematurely tugged his opponent free from his shoulder. Locustcall hastily returned to his feet, his tail lashing behind him and his fur prickled as he glared at the furious silver she-cat. It took an unfathomable amount of willpower to keep his paws where they were and not launch his own counter, but the deputy was correct. This wasn't the time, not the place. If he lost, too many cats would see...

Locustcall tore his attention away from the conflict and instead follow Burdockroot, anger still brimming under his pelt. He didn't know what possessed Nightstar to make an alliance with these cats. Clearly, they were all fools.

It was only the swift reactions of his deputy that prevent Nightstar from tearing Silverwing to shreds, quick and decisive command pulling her off and away, getting Burdockroot in the way and getting them both out of the situation. Good. Nightstar stared with a cool - as cool and calm as he could be in the moment, anyway - and passive expression, watching and observing as Smallbean did absolutely nothing when his warrior was attacking Locustcall; same with Shrikestar, who at the soonest convenience fell to Coyotegrins side and took no action himself. Nightstar looked down at Coyotegrin as she writhed in pain, she took no action herself, but he could hardly blame her this time.

Nightstar knew how hard kitting was, it was what took his mother from him forever, losing a life and subsequently losing the rest of hers in her sacrifice. Nightstar looked from Silverwing to Shrikestar once more before he turned on his paws and padded towards Leopardsun. "We are leaving. We are returning to Shadowclan territory immediately." He meowed, whisking past her with a high tail, his gaze forwards, locked on the horizon.

Coyotegrin faintly heard the voices going on around her as consciousness started to get blurry around her. The pain was excruciating and it clouded her head and pounded blood in her ears. She felt a stick being pushed into her mouth and dutifully she bit down, having gone through two previous litters she knew the drill. This time though, it was more painful. She took solace in Shrikestar being there, and curled into his fur as much as she could.

The kitting took a lot longer than normal, and by the end of it, she was exhausted and in pain. Five kits laid before her, Shrikestar, Batsong, and Birchpaw. Only four of them were alive. The fifth, the youngest, was stillborn. After all was said in done, she looked around to the cats around her.

"Kestrelkit, Eaglekit, Jaykit, Sparrowkit" she whispered hoarsely, pointing to each in turn and looking to Shrikestar for confirmation. The look was brief before she turned her attention back to the stillborn kit. Her grief was just compounded. So many kits lost. Quickkit dying as a kit, Vixenkit missing for moons. Goldenpaw dying, Daisybreeze dying so recently... She couldn't bear to lose even one more. If she was remaining and all of her kits were dead, the thoughts of what she would want is unbearable.

"Robinkit." The queen whispered, sad eyes turning back up to Shrikestar. "I can't handle burying them. And I want to go home. I want our kits to only know the moors." Voice waivering, she tore her eyes away from her mate and back down to the kits.

Smallbean recoiled when his question was met with hostility. It startled him, but resentment flared up inside of him. It was obvious that the Windclan warriors had never intended to harm Shadowclan, that even a kit could see, but clearly not Nightstar. The deputy's anger may have been directed toward Shadowclan leader, but he was still angry with Amberstone and Russetrye. Stars, he was angry. But Nightstar was a much bigger problem right now.

His thoughts raced, but his voice lagged. It took a great deal of strength to force out a response to Nightstar's uncivilized dissension. "This... This..." 'come on! "Is no way to address this.. situation." He choked out, voice wavering, but gaze steady and unbroken, challenging Nightstar's. He was being watched, and he knew it, but he couldn't let himself think about it too much.

Once Nighstar had backed off, he looked over at Birchpaw, feverishly nodding at their suggestion. This was escalating quickly, and it worried him that it was happening in Windclan camp. Nobody had prepared for this, there was no way to know that Nightstar would intrude into their camp with such a hostile nature.

Then, more Shadowclan cats entered. Was this a raid of some kind? Smallbean was panicked until he noticed that they were only the medicine cat and deputy. Leopardsun was among them and, unlike her leader, she regarded the scene with a level head. "Thank you... uh- Leopardsun." Before he had the chance to explain what was going on, Nightstar had already given his own version of an explanation to the other deputy. One that was obviously missing details.

Before he had the chance to say something ruinous (or to not say anything at all), Shrikestar entered the scene, taking over. Letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding, he took a step backwards. Smallbean couldn't be more thankful for Shrikestar in that moment, he felt like if he was bombarded by one more cat he'd faint. That wouldn't be the end of the stress, though. As if the dark forest had broken loose, Silverwing had leaped onto the Shadowclan warrior accompanying Nightstar. "Silverwing!" He called, rushing forward before skidding to a halt - Leopardsun had already torn Silverwing from the Shadowclanner.

As if a fight wasn't enough, Coyotegrin collapsed, going into labor. He stood, frozen, unsure of what to do. He was rendered useless, there was no task for him to fulfill - there wasn't even time for him to figure out how he was feeling toward who, everything had happened to quickly. His gaze darted back and forth, between Coyotegrin writhing on the ground and Nightstar, who was now turning to leave. 'Good riddance.' was the only thought that came to his mind. Sleepyhollow's voice sounded nearby. Turning to it, he nodded toward the warrior, muttering an inaudible thank you.

The newly named Sparrowkit squirmed amidst her siblings, quite possibly the smallest of the bunch that yet lived. She didn't mewl as she moved as close to her mother as she could, no, she remained silent. Perhaps it was her small nature that caused her silence... or maybe she was just hungry, that could explain it too. Little did she know that her world had become more dangerous that day, Shadowclan's alliance being broken off, but until she understood what that meant, she would squirm to be close to her mother.