The world crumbles. (Closed)

Kestrelpaw bounded eagerly through the camp entrance. She had been assigned to the hunting patrol this morning, and despite the lean times of leafbare, she was still in high spirits. She looked back at her mentor and the other cats she was to hunt with in excitement.
"We'll come back with the most prey ever!" Kestrelpaw declared as she padded back to where Frostfeather and the rest of the cats were, only to bound off again. "Come on, Softpaw! You two Stormpaw, don't be slowpokes." She teased the other two apprentices playfully. Her dark head and tail sticking out blatantly in the snow.

FrostFeather smiled at how happy her apprentice was. "im coming as fast as I can." she said giggling even though she was only walking. She could be quite fast when needed. She had intived softpaw and stormpaw to their little hunt cause they looked bored and Shen wanted to change that.

OOC: lol this will be an awesome plot. She could be in mourn so bad she stopped paying attention to her kits or Echofall lol omg so many good plot ideas.

Stormpaw glanced around, his eyes wide as he searched around him. His alertness and paranoia had increased tenfold. He was never such a jumpy cat! His gaze snapped back to Kestrelpaw. Kestrelpaw, the cat who Fawnpaw had risked her life to save.

She also saved Stormpaw from death, but he tried not to dwell on that as it only caused him tears.

He nodded, and a grin played about on his face. "You wanna see some real speed?" The older apprentice teased, bunching his back legs as he prepared to run. He pushed off, sprinting away faster than a rabbit. This felt good. With the wind in his fur and the moors under his paws. This was his home. He grinned and slowed down, circling back round to the group, with a half-smile on his muzzle.

"That's the spirit, Kestralpaw," Nectarleap agreed with the apprentice, stretching out his muscles. And early morning run right before hunting would be just the thing to wake him up a little more. As soon as Kestralpaw took off, he went after her, hardly even feeling like he needed to exert his energy. As an apprentice he had made up his mind to become the fastest cat in the clan, and though that hadn't quite happened, he had become quite a fast warrior. At the apprentice's side, he saw Stormpaw speed in front of them as fast as a twoleg monster. For a second he considered joining the swift tom, but decided to stay back. No use wasting his energy before they started hunting. As the apprentice came back and slowed down, he stopped as well. "Who's ready to hunt?"

"M-me." Softpaw said quietly, following after his clanmates. He couldn't wait to get out onto the moors, and luckily the patrol was full of friendly cats- otherwise he would have been really nervous. Softpaw padded through the morning snow, squinting against the light it reflected from the sun. He purred in amusement when Stormpaw darted off, and laughed lightly when the tom returned. "I-I would race you... but it wouldn't b-be much of a fair match. Y-you'd stand no chance." Softpaw said teasingly.

"Come on then Softpaw!" Kestrelpaw teased back, only to race off into the vast whiteness again when her eyes caught something. A slightly darker streak against the snow. "Rabbit!" She called out to the others. The rabbit was racing away from the cats, it's own shadow having given it away and Kestrelpaw bolted after it. The race forgot in the thrill of the chase. She could see it head down a small slope and plunged after it without a second thought. She only paused for a split second as she realised that it ran into a hole big enough for a cat to get into.

Determined, they needed the Rabbit for their clan, she plunged into the tunnel. Distance scrabbling sounds could be heard as the rabbit continued running. Kestrelpaw broke back into a run, then immediately stopped as her head smacked into a rock that was slightly lower than the rest of the tunnel. All at once, there was a massive rumbling noise. The ground trembled beneath her paws as she blinked bleary-headed from the blow. She looked up to see if any of her clanmates had followed before fear sunk in. Rocks began to fall from the ceiling, the world seemed to move in slow motion as terror sank into her bones.

"H-Help!" She cried. All at once, the rumbling noise stopped with a massive crashing. The section of the tunnel she had run blindly into collapsing on top of the apprentice. Clear snow on the top broke into frozen dirt and rock. The only thing left, was her pawprints that lay scattered across the moor.

"W-wait, Kestrelpaw! Those are the tunnels!" Softpaw shouted, alarmed that she would even think of going in. He ran after her, and for a split second their eyes met before the tunnels came crumbling down around her. "NO!" Softpaw wailed, desperately trying to dig into the earth where she had disappeared. "Kestrelpaw!"

Stormpaw laughed at Softpaw, shaking his head in a joking way. ”No way would you beat me in a race!” he smiled. It was then that Kestrelpaw chased the rabbit. Stormpaw fully expected her to catch it, but it ran into a tunnel. The thing that disturbed him was how the apprentice ran after it. What was she thinking?! ”Wait! Come back!” He called, forcing his paws to move forwards. His heart began to beat a light, rapid rhythm - a dance of warning. The cry for help and the collapsing of the tunnel made him stop.

No.

Images flashed through his mind. The badger. Fawnpaw. All their sacrifices, to let little Kestrekit live. Was it all in vain? Because there was no doubt now that Kestrelpaw was dead. She would have died either way. Fawnpaw didn’t need to die. It was a waste of a life. Stormpaw felt as though some massive weight landed on his back, forcing his weak knees to give way as he fell to the ground. A choked sobbing sound escaped his jaws, as he pressed his face into the grass. Tears blurred his vision and ran down his cheeks, little salty streaks of grief. A yowl sounded from his mouth, barely muffled by the wispy strands of grass that pushed their way through the snow. It didn’t matter. None of it did. He couldn’t find it in himself to get up and help Softpaw. His wails echoed through the air, as he shook with the weight of his tears.