A Young Life Cut Short (CLOSED)

Gingerstripe was patrolling alone around the borders, still trying to get used to the new territory. As he passed by the Gorge, which he'd seen many times before, he noticed some commotion by the other side, on WindClan's territory. Two cats seemed to be fighting- a dark-looking tom and a light gray she-cat. A battle? A skirmish? Something wasn't right. Intrigued, and worried, the tom drew closer to the thinner part of the canyon, eyes narrowed as they made out the distinct forms of the two battling cats. The gray she-cat had the form of a WindClanner, but the dark tom was something else entirely. He- wait. Gingerstripe looked closer. RiverClan warriors had told him stories about an evil rogue who had been exiled from their Clan for trying to murder cats, and who had been terrorizing the forest ever since. The brown tom on the other side, who seemed to be the aggressor, matched the description he'd been given. Was that Shade? If it was... he had to do something about it. And the gray WindClan she-cat looked extremely familiar as well. Something about the way her eyes looked, staring at the tom, bright green and terrified and- As the rogue smacked the she-cat to the ground, preparing a final blow, it finally hit him. That she-cat was Fernpaw, the apprentice he'd saved from the Thunderpath back when he was a loner! Except she was probably a warrior now. And he was just sitting here, trying to figure out what to do!

As the fight seemed to be hurtling towards a swift and bloody end for the already-beaten she-cat, Gingerstripe sprinted with all his considerable speed towards the end of the Gorge that was thin enough to be leapt over. If he didn't get there fast enough, there was no telling what would happen. As fast as he could, the tabby tom hurled himself over the Gorge, with no thought of trespassing, and flung himself onto the rogue, pinning him down before he could get in a final blow. "Leave her alone, Shade!" he snarled, sticking his muzzle in the bloodstained tom's face, claws digging into his shoulders. "Haven't you already caused enough damage?"

Shade widened his jaws, letting Fernwing see his razor-sharp teeth, reveling in how she absolutely quivered in terror and agony at the sight. But before he could use them, what felt to be a monster slammed into him at full force, knocking the breath right out of him, and this time he had a harder time recovering from the blow as he hadn't expected it. He glared up at his new attacker, though he didn't exactly recognize this tom. He smelled of RiverClan, with a hint of loner or rogue.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know you're not supposed to trespass?" he snarled rather with a bit of rather spiteful humor. He was weakened by the battle, but he was still able to shake the cat off him, and he stumbled back to his paws. Glaring at Fernwing, he snorted. "Well, she's as good as dead anyway, so I suppose I'll let her die out slowly and painfully rather than giving her sweet relief." With a dark chuckle and a furious glare at Gingerstripe, the dark tom broke into a streak, making his way over the border into Fourtrees and disappearing behind the hills.

Only once Shade had disappeared did Fernwing struggle to speak. Unlike Gingerstripe, she instantly recognized the tom to be the cat who had saved her life on the Thunderpath as an apprentice. Her green eyes were dim with agony, but they still seemed to twinkle a little with a soft joy. "G...Ginger...stripe... You... s-saved me... again..."

Gingerstripe sent a last glare over at the tom as he ran off, wishing with all his heart that he could run after him and put a stop to the murdering rogue for good. However, there were more important things to be taken care of. For example... the she-cat he'd known as an apprentice who was dying right by his paws. There was a certain amount of panic in his eyes as he looked down at Fernpaw, noticing the severity of her wounds. Tears welled up in his eyes at the sight of her bloodied form, the bright light in her eyes slowly dimming. "Oh, Fern.... I wish I'd gotten here soon enough." A pang of grief hit his pieced-together heart, and he nudged the she-cat's bloody face gently, mourning the fact that such a kind and vibrant cat had been wounded by that horrible tom. Eventually he got control of himself, knowing that the warrior definitely had family who would need to grieve over her, as he did. He had to offer an explanation to her family... and to her leader. Maybe he could get her back in time for her suffering to be eased. "Come on, Fern- let's get you back home." He gently took her scruff in his teeth and carried her back towards the moor and WindClan's camp, trying not to acknowledge the tears that were slipping down his face.

Fernwing gave a loud, breathless gasp as the pain in her belly was one again reignited by the movement. She wanted to help this kind tom drag her along, but she just didn't have anymore strength to do anything. She barely had enough strength to live. But she needed to at least make it back to camp so she could say goodbye to her loved ones.

She looked up at Gingerstripe as he helped her back, and a soft smile crept onto her muzzle despite everything. "I... I'm a warrior now... My n-name is... Fernwing... Thought you'd want... to know..."