Until Our Last Breath [Sunningrocks War]

Cloudstone stepped back as his opponent was dealt with, a fire still blazing in his eyes. Although, as he stepped back and saw the carnage, he could only feel regret. In that moment, he wished he'd never been brought to RiverClan, so that he wouldn't have to be the one to witness this.


Blood flowed from Darkflight's ears as she lay on the stones. Her world was spinning around her, and an eerie high-pitched noise was all she could hear. The battle was over. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, but he body swayed unsteadily. What... what was going on? She frowned and looked around the blood-splattered Sunningrocks. The words pertaining to hostages didn't register in her brain. Her son, Shrewheart, was laying some ways away, bloody and defeated, but alive. On the other side, her granddaughter, Specklefang was screeching in the face of some RiverClan cat. He seemed familiar, but his place in her mind didn't quite fit. Hadn't he been dead for seasons? She looked away to see Leafstorm leaning over a small scrap of fur. Who was that?

She hissed at the RiverClan cats that had finally defeated her and pushed them out of her way with her broad, bloodied shoulders. The old she-cat limped slowly towards the younger, now tailless warrior. After an agonizingly long walk, she finally reached them. At first, she didn't recognize the body before her. Leafstorm's rambling however, made her realize who this was. "Thistlepaw," she knelt beside her kin's lifeless form, eyes fixed on the horrific wound on her neck. She smelled strongly of her first opponent, Otterleap. That was his name, yes. Her head raised and she turned to face the tom, alongside her granddaughter. "No ThunderClan cat killed Thistlepaw. I saw you as an equal in battle, but it seems I was incorrect. If I didn't know any better I would wonder if there were some Dark Forest scum still walking this forest." Her tail lashed, streaking the blood across the rocks. Although she was physically defeated, her heart was not, and the vicious snarl on her face showed that.

Spotpaw's eyes fluttered open. He lifted his head from the rocks. Everything was blurry, and he could see a lot of blood. That wasn't good. We... won? He thought. His eyes focused on one thing. An apprentice, dead. Thunderclan, but dead. At first the look sickened him, but then he realized. We really did win, he thought. See? They ARE weak! And yet... one managed to render you unconscious. I'M the weakling here. He let his head back down, dizzy from the blood loss. Some sleep sounds good right about now... He could no longer deal with the consequences of the battle. Spotpaw continued to lay on the rocks, bleeding from his wounds.

Every muscle strained as the pure white tom just barely stirred. The fighting appeared to have come to an end. His awakening came just in time to catch the final words, and it took a second for realization to hit. Thunderclan had lost, an apprentice was dead, and they were taking hostages. Artemis strained to stand up and was just barely able to rise to his paws. Although, when he did. He stood as if there had been no weakening of his body over the course of the fighting. All it took was some gritted teeth to bear through it. Other things stung more than wounds right now. The very side that so desperately needed a win, had fallen at the paws of their treacherous enemies. For once in his life time, he had lost a fight. He had not been able to do enough to stop the injustice that had happened before him.

His gaze and thoughts only darkened further as they settled on the picture of Thunderclan cats grieving over the still frame of their fallen love one. A father cried out over the loss of his kit. He could not help but think that if the rest of his kin had stood here, such a thing would not have been allowed to happen. The extra, well trained paws could have helped to hold back the onslaught of attacks. So many less wounds would mar pelts of the struggling clan cats. Slowly, a ragged sigh escaped his maw. The countless sufferings could not even be named. Anger at the wrongs here seemed to burn like a blue fire in his eyes. Underneath it all was an undeniable sadness. Even if he was not a part of the clan and did not share in the full extent of their wounds, he had been taught concepts of honor and justice from a very young age. None of that was present here now.

As much as he wanted to yowl obscenities at the Riverclan leader who so cold-heartedly took cats away from their kin, he kept his jaw tight. Nothing more could be done right now. The battle had been lost. He was in no shape to fight anymore either. Artemis turned and silently padded away into the shadows. The white snow nearly seemed to absorb him as he slowly and stiffly walked away. After leaving the territory and healing his own wounds, he would return to aid the clan. As he got further, it occurred to him that the neat flakes that covered the ground here were not stained crimson. If only he could forget the sight at the rocks.

OOC: The irony is that Toadleap got taken out by his own (albeit unknown) half-sister Splashwillow.   Also, that all happened really fast. At least the thread is pretty much done; I can finally relax on vacation instead of having to go on here every chance I can get.

IC: Toadleap, pinned down by Vixenleap and then battered in the stomach and the shoulder by three RiverClan cats, could no longer move. Grimacing, he thought, StarClan... I can't believe they triple-teamed me. The fight with the owl was nothing compared to this. He lay where he had been attacked, heaving in pain. Hissing from his injuries as the RiverClan cats sped away from his bleeding body, he spat after them with narrowed eyes, "RiverClanners... really don't play fair at all." The majority of his youthful appreciation of them had vanished with the viciousness of their attacks against him.

Even though his vision threatened to give out every so often, he was still able to take in the sights of the remaining battles around him. Catching a whirling out of the corner of his eye, he turned his head, and to his horror, he witnessed Otterleap slamming down his front paw onto Birdflight's head. His eyes widening, he yelled, "BIRDFLIGHT!" This time, he really did black out, too overcome with shock to continue struggling against his fatigue.

After some time, he woke up groggily. His whole body throbbed, and he was sticky with both Vixenstep's and his own blood. For a moment, he didn't remember anything and was confused by the blood-drenched surroundings. Still able to hear despite the blood rushing in his ears, he heard Ivystar lay her demands on Blizzardstar. Growling in frustration, he remembered that a war had taken place and how he had been taken out. The still bleeding swirled tabby muttered to himself, "All of that... for nothing." While he was relieved that he had never had to fight his father, he couldn't feel happy due to the grim circumstances of himself and his clan.

Suddenly, he remembered what he had seen right before he had fainted and leaped to his feet in fear. Staggering from his lack of strength and his bleeding shoulder, he grunted, but he wouldn't be detered from finding Birdflight. I can't believe my father did this to... Birdflight... Is she alright? His heart beat quickly as he scanned his surroundings. With a pang, he noticed how stricken his clanmates looked. "You and me both," Toadleap meowed to himself with displeasure.

Finally, he spotted Birdflight and limped over to her as quickly as he could, hopping like a bird on three legs to accommodate for his injured limb. Upon reaching her, he collapsed next to her and buried his face into her tri-colored fur, overcome with emotions. He was so glad she was alive, but, at the same time, was still horrified that he had almost lost her to his own father. With his face still in her fur, Toadleap mumbled, "Bird... flight..."

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Waking up, Ashpaw saw the carnage around her. Rising slowly to her paws, she winced as she felt the pain in her stomach. She gingerly started to lick her bloodied fur around her sliced open and still bleeding belly, and soon realized that she would need a medicine cat.

Hearing her mother speak, Ashpaw paused to listen to the announcement. Hearing that RiverClan had won, Ashpaw relaxed a little. We won, after all. Even though I lost the battle, I didn't do that badly for my first fight against a cat, and our family won the war. That's all that matters. Smiling even though she was still feeling the pain from her wounds, she meowed quietly to herself in satisfaction, "RiverClan is... safe."