A Spark [only Dimmeh gets special treatment and can post]

As grass parted, a blur of white fur followed by black dashed through the long dry stalks. Bat's eyes narrowed as he veered off to block his target. It turned as well and he took chase
 After a few heartbeats the long legged tom got close enough to take a bite. He clamped down on one of the creature's legs just as he took a misstep sending them tumbling. His jaws were luckily still firmly clamped around the limb as he used a paw to slice it's neck, dropping in at last.
 The tom dragged it's prey out of the grass near the beat up barn and glared at his left paw. A rat bite had left it difficult to use not to mention painful.
 He limped into the barn and dropped the rabbit he had worked so hard on getting, he was getting better at hunting slowly but surely. Now he got the reward for his efforts.

-----------Pepper---------------

Green eyes stared down at dirty white paws. Pepper had never felt this lonley before, tucked away in a corner of the place she once loved, now it was filled with painful memories and let her drown in their torrential sound.

 "If my mother could do it alone, then I know we can do it, side by side. I love you, Pepper, and I'd face all the evil in the world to keep us together."

Scorchfrost had claimed that... 'side by side' he said. 'Keep us together' he said.

  Where was he now? Not at her side, that's for sure. After she had given up her kits for their own well being she has faded from hid mind, she was just background noise. 

 She wasn't with her kits either. He hadn't kept them together. The first time she saw them since leaving them in that barn had been when she was unconscious on the road!
 Now they were gone again, with the privilege of raising their own kits already. Even their kits were raising families!

  She'd never know their names, how many, or what the looked like. They'd never know her and how hard she work just to watch everyone she loved die or leave her.

 How she tried to form a much needed bridge for loners to know what a forest even looks like without the chance of getting killed and left rotting by a clan cat.

 Gray had been right, the clans wouldn't listen. They hated her and the rest of the cats she once knew.

They were ignorant and arrogant, too full of themselves and couldn't care less about the kits that died in trash everyday or the mothers that were murdered desperate to find safe food for their kits. The sisters and brothers torn apart.

The clans dealt with them like pests. Put them in a cage with little hope of eating without dieing soon after.

She realized that was the fuel in the fire filled gaze of her leader. Gray knew the same, Pepper had just denied it for too long...

 Luckily, the sound of paws and something being dragged rescued her from her mind. The scent of prey hit her nose and reminded her that she had relied on whatever traveling herbs she found scattered throughout the barn. It made her furious how depleted the supply was after ThunderClan swooped in to seek refuge. Most of the herbs were in tattered shreds now.

She peeked out of her spot behind a pile of hay and looked at the tall rather odd looking cat.

----------Bat------------

 Bat heard the shuffling of hay in the darker corner of the barn. He narrowed his eyes, "Who's there!" It wasn't really a question, more like a demand. His deep voice rang through, resonance show that he had matured quite a bit. 

----------Both------------

 Pepper shrank back at the sound of his voice but soon came out of the shadows. A solemn look on her face.

Bat didn't expect her to be that way, it was kind of jarring. She was eerie and quiet, back legs laying useless behind her and her fur was messy, making her seem even more unwelcoming.

"What do you want? No one comes here just to socialize with an old rat like me."

The she-cat sighed, the question seeming to tire her out.

Bat glanced down at the rabbit and shook his head.
"I don't need anything except a place to stay while I eat."
He noticed how thin she was, her fur hung off on her bony form and made her look sickly. She most likely was.

Pepper nodded and turned away, "Fine by me, just-"

"Wait.. You should eat something."

She looked at him with a puzzled look.

"Charity doesn't bring rewards I'm afraid, you don't need to do that."

Bat bristled and took a step forward on his bad paw with a hiss. "I don't care, you should eat."

The she-cat sighed and gave him a sullen look that was just narrowed enough to show annoyance.

Blacktwig padded into the barn, holding a mouse in his jaws. For once, he was going to try and get his ill grandmother to eat. He sat down, laying the scraggly mouse down, bleeding from all sides. He glanced up, spotting Bat. "Who are you?" He hissed, slightly fazed by the arrival of a random rogue. He stood up, fur bristling.

Bat's attention switched almost immediately to Blacktwig, and he swiftly moved to stand over the rabbit he had caught.
"That answer depends on who asks. So, you answer first."

Pepper watched Bat's steps and focused on the paw he held slightly above the ground, stepping gingerly on it. Rat bite. She could basically smell it. A bad one as well, he had obviously never treated it. She slipped away to where the few intact herbs sat in a small pile, gathering the necessary herbs.

Blacktwig hesitated, before replying. "I'm, uhm, Blacktwig." He answered. His gaze flicked towards Pepper, before returning to Bat. "I'm only here to help." His voice was stern yet quiet, and he noticed how inflamed the black rogue's paw was becoming. He then looked angrily over at Pepper. "Pepper," he insisted, trotting over. "Let me do it."

Pepper looked up at Blacktwig.
"Sure, and I'll let you deliver kits too, you have the training." her voice was flat and the claim sarcastic. The cat was lucky that burdock root was in her possession or he'd be without much treatment. "I'll do it Blacktwig."

Bat watched the two bicker briefly before laying down on the thin hay.
"Well, it's not every day you see forest cats helping out." he mused with a rumble, looking at the rocky territory with thin plants, it was more open than an alley, he could get used to this.

"It's not every day you see a mousebrain leave his paw like that either."
Pepper said as she dropped the dried root near him.

''A mousebrain? I've never heard that before."
Bat mewed in amusement, he thought her terms were strange but got the message.

Blacktwig blinked at their useless exchange, then nodded to Pepper beside him. "Alright," he sighed, giving up. He glanced towards Bat once more. "I'm helping out for a reason. Anyways, who are you?" Blacktwig prompted, simply wanting to know the black tom's name so that he wasn't a complete stranger. And if he was with his grandmother, it must be important.

Bat looked up at him "Bat," he said plainly "Nothing extra, just Bat."

Pepper sighed and glanced at Blacktwig. "If you really want to help, you can find the Catchweed in that pile, it has burrs on it. I don't want to use cobwebs on this, it's already infected." With that she started to chew the root into a poultice.

Blacktwig nodded obediently, craning to snatch the Catchweed in his jaws. He twisted around, glancing at Bat, and began to work along with Pepper. No matter if he was a rogue, a cat should always be helped. He didn't seem too hostile, anyways.

Bat shifted awkwardly looking to the side. "What brings you here anyway?" He asked the other tom icy blue eyes now fixed on him.

Pepper finished with the poultice and placed it without a word as she slid to the ground with a sigh, the difficulty of dragging herself around short distances was getting easier but not fast enough.

"I promised Pepper I'd help her," Blacktwig informed Bat, expressionlessly, as he looked at Pepper, avoiding Bat's gaze. He wanted to help Pepper get better, and even though he knew she would never thank him, he wanted to be as good of a grandson as he could be.

He nodded, wincing at the sting of the poultice on his paw, "Fair enough I suppose." he mewed.

Pepper looked up at Blacktwig with a bit a surprise, a hint, just barely there, of a smile showed on her muzzle before she felt the ache in her healing legs. "Well, I'm glad you came. I've been left to my own thoughts for far too long."

A small smile, barely noticeable as well, spread on Blacktwig's maw. "Don't worry, I'll help you," he said to the black-and-white she-cat, sitting down with the few herbs they had. His claws groped the hay gently, fiddling with it.

She nodded and closed her eyes as the aching grew stronger. "So.. What's your story, stranger?"

Bat blinked and looked down at the she-cat. "Well, nothing to brag about. Like most of us I didn't stay with my family forvery long. I just learned how to keep my heart beating and well, here I am."

Blacktwig blinked, before glancing down nervously at Pepper's leg. He silently hoped it would be okay, however, he wasn't exactly a medicine cat. He hunted.