how we fall, how we rise [closed]

Mistyrain took a deep breath as she approached Tinystar's den. She cleared her throat softly as she peeked in. "Tinystar?" she asked. "I think this might be a good time for us to discuss the past moon." With everything seeming to be constantly on fire in SkyClan, they hadn't yet found time to discuss alone the events of the trial and what had surrounded it. "I've organized the patrols for the day. No one should need me in camp. Do you mind going for a walk? I think it might help to be away from the chaos," she added with a hint of a smile. Clan life had been chaos, and she was eternally grateful that it finally seemed to be calming down.

They left the bustling camp behind and entered the peaceful atmosphere of the forest. Her jaws parted slightly as the scent of a mouse, but she ignored it, instead focusing on the matter at hand. "Tinystar... you know I forgave you for Sparrowpaw a long time ago. But I couldn't stop Burningsun, after what was called for last gathering... all I want to ask is please, don't make that happen again." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Did you agree with what happened? Was Burningsun right to do what she did, do you think?"

Walking alongside Mistyrain as they left camp, Tinystar let out a sigh as the she-cat spoke. While part of him wanted the subject to be over with already, he knew that his sister-in-law had every right to ask questions, in which he had no choice but to answer.

"Y-yes, I think she did the right thing," the little leader mewed, making sure to keep up with the larger cat beside him. "I'm not exactly sure why StarClan chose her as the representative for Sparrowpaw, but they have their reasons, no matter how mysterious they can be," he added, his head lowered and ears flattened. "Mistyrain," he began again, looking up to his deputy. "I'm sorry... for all of it. For not coming to you before what I did to Sparrowpaw… and for not being a better leader. I pray that when you become leader, you learn from my mistakes and make sure to keep the clan's best interest in mind, even if you think you're making the right choice for them," he mewed solemnly as the pair padded through the territory. While he himself had always kept his clan's best interest in mind, he hadn't thought about the precautions of his actions, even when he thought he was doing the right thing.

Mistyrain bowed her head in acknowledgement. It was a brave thing, she thought, to acknowledge your wrongs and accept the greatest punishment. Burningsun was quite a character and to put oneself at her mercy was punishment enough. "Thank you, Tinystar. But you have been a great leader," she mewed. "We all make mistakes. StarClan knows we've both made our fair share leading this Clan. You have taught me so much, so many things that I will never forget. If it comes time for me to lead, I hope to lead with every bit of wisdom that you have given me." She sighed, but it was a sigh of relief. She glanced down at him, trying to read his solemn expression. This was something she had had on her mind for a while, and it felt freeing to finally say it. Tinystar was like a second mentor to her, and although she sometimes disagreed with his choices, she knew it was important to stay by his side.

Snapping out of a daze, Mistyrain's ears suddenly pricked, her nose catching a strengthening scent. "Tinystar, is that-" she didn't need to finish her sentence. Both of them had caught sight of three foxes, one older and two younger but still deadly. Without a glance back, Mistyrain took off running. "If we lead them towards ThunderClan, we might lose them across the Thunderpath," she panted. She knew the implications of both leading foxes into ThunderClan territory and trespassing there themselves, but there was no better option. Running towards the twoleg nests behind their own territory would only prove to be more dangerous. "Let's do it." The small deputy altered her course to the right, nearing the ThunderClan border, so she was running a direct path towards the Thunderpath.

Glad that Mistyrain seemed to understand him, he was truly greatful for the she-cat's support. He knew he'd been right to choose her as deputy, even if she had been very young at the time. And now, they stood side by side, supporting each other through thick and thin.

Opening his maw to thank her for her kind words, the little legged leader's ears perked when Mistyrain mentioned foxes nearbye. He certainly hadn't heard or scented anything, so they couldn't have been close... but sure enough, snapping his head around, Tinystar locked eyes with a vixen and her two pups. Thankfully, him and Mistyrain had the same idea, and he took off running just as she did, somehow keeping up with her pace. The yaps and howls of the viscous canines sounded behind them, but he didn't dare look back.

"Yes, but be careful," he huffed, keeping up the pace, no matter how much his muscles screamed at him to stop. At this point, being cautious of the Thunderpath and ThunderClanners would be a challenge, especially with the foxes on their tails, but all that matter right now was getting them away from their territory. If needed, they'd deal with such precautions of possible trespassing later.

With a brief sideways glance, Mistyrain panted, ""I think it's safe to cross!" Her pawsteps were like thunder on the ground and blood was pounding in her ears. The small deputy dared not look back to see if the foxes were still in pursuit; it was not worth the risk. She and Tinystar shared the unfortunate attribute of having rather short legs, Tinystar far more than herself, but they had kept up an impressive pace in their flight from the foxes. All of this flashed through her head as she and her leader shot towards the hard, mysterious surface of the Thunderpath, nearly side by side. As she reached the path, her paws hit the strange surface hard.

At that moment, she knew she had been horribly wrong.

She heard Tinystar yowl something that sounded like "Look out!" but she was moving too quickly to change directions. The Thunderpath seemed to shake beneath her paws, and the fierce sound of a monster's growling filled her ears on both sides. In her peripheral vision, she could see two of the giant beasts approaching like lightning from opposite directions. She could feel Tinystar at her tail for a split second, trying to urge her forwards more quickly, but he was not fast enough. She took a flying leap of desperation, knowing that her only hope was reaching the opposite side of the Thunderpath. She travelled through the air almost gracefully. The lush, green grass on the other side seemed almost within a paw's reach.

Then, in an instant, the edge of the monster's nose collided with the Deputy's small body.

In the same instant, Mistyrain's eyes blinked closed and her life blinked out.

On ShadowClan's side of the Thunderpath, the small, empty, battered, cold, lifeless body of SkyClan's deputy landed almost softly, looking so peaceful that it could almost be a deep, deep sleep.

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In the same instant that her eyes blinked shut, Mistyrain's eyes blinked open. Instead of the thriving grass and marshy soil of ShadowClan that she had hoped to see, she saw a starry expanse, a territory not unlike the clans', but with an otherworldly quality. This was StarClan. She raised her head, and seated facing her was another cat; like StarClan's territory, she had not hoped to see him here either.

"I'm sorry."

{click me}

His paws drumming across the path, they'd underestimated how large the path actually was, for reaching the other side took far longer than expected. Unfortunately for them, time wasn't on their side, as a pair bright, shining eyes reared around the corner. Within a mere second, it had already almost reached the cats, their growls and hollers of rage deafening the forest air.

"Look out!" Tinystar screeched, trying to push Mistyrain aside, though his efforts were in vain as he screeched to a halt, frozen in fear. In front of him, his deputy and half sister was flung into the air after being devoured by one of the monsters. Usually, monsters drove in solitude, but not this time. Just was quickly as the first had left, another monster raced past him, just barely missing his whiskers.

"Mistyrain!" he yowled, but snapping his gaze to the left with wide eyes, another monster screamed towards him, but this time, it didn't bother to avoid the tiny tom. Within an instant, the panic that had overwhelmed him dissipated into a silent darkness. There were no monsters, no foxes chasing them... only darkness.

But then, there were stars... and a cat.

~~~~~

Blinking his eyes open, Tinystar knew very well where he was; StarClan. Pushing himself up to a sitting position, stared at the cat in front of him, who was none other than Mistyrain herself. "M-mistyrain... No..." he choked, his eyes welling with tears. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't! He could understand and accept if he'd lost a life, or even all of them for that matter, but her... she was young, full of life, and deserved to live on; to lead SkyClan to a better future.

Standing up, he took a step towards the deputy. "You're can't be here, you can't. Go back down and get up, you have to," the little legged leader mewed sternly, in disbelief and denial. She couldn't lose her life, not today... not while he was still alive... she just couldn't.

{ click me }

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Mistyrain took a deep, shaky breath in. "T-tinystar," she choked. "I wasn't fast enough." Tears welled up in her shining yellow eyes. She briefly raised one star-flecked paw to scrutinize, then returned her gaze to Tinystar. "T-this time, you have to go back without me." Her voice shook a bit as she said this, one of the most painful things she had ever uttered. "You still have lives left. Go be a great leader, Tinystar. I know you can, I've watched you do it for many moons now."

With another deep, sharp inhale, she stood and approached the tiny leader. The former deputy crouched, burying her nose in Tinystar's pelt. "I'll see you soon, Tinystar," she promised, voice no longer shaking. Traces of tears barely remained on her muzzle. "I'll be here to guide you now. I'm so, so sorry that I can't live in your legacy, Tinystar." Mistyrain closed her eyes, her pelt still pressed close to her leader's.

{click me}

Standing absolutely still, Tinystar lkistened as Mistyrain spoke, her words sincere, yet hitting him like a paw to the face, seeing as though he wished she didn't have to say such things in the first place. "Mistyrain," he began, tears streaming down his maw as the two of them embraced and his pressed his muzzle against her fluffy side. He didn't want to accept it, he really didn't, but why else would she have been up here with him?

"You choosing to stay in SkyClan those many moons ago was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and you were the best deputy and sister I could've asked for," he purred, though his purrs were frequently interrupted with soft sobs. "I know that you-" he began, but before he could say anything more, the she-cat's pelt began to fade away into the stardust that repeatedly claimed the dead. "Wait! Don't go!" he begged as he pawed the air in front of him as to try and keep her close, not wanting to let go of her comforting, familiar scent. "Not yet!"

And just like that, Mistyrain was gone, leaving Tinystar by himself in the star filled abyss. Just as quickly as she'd gone, his vision began to grow dark once more, which only meant one thing.

~~~~~

Opening his eyes, Tinystar let out a gasp for air as his body writhed in pain and he laid against the hard ground, praying that no more Monsters were on their way. Glancing around, his eyes shot with fear just had they had been when he'd met he gaze of  the Monster, the foxes seemed to be gone, which was a relief, but where was... Mistyrain. The deputy's mangled body laid a few foxlengths down the edge of the path from him and then he remembered, she was gone. While he knew such facts, he didn't want to accept it. Besides, maybe she was still clinging on, who knew.

Letting out a yowl of pain as he tried to get up, the short legged leader drug himself over to Mistyrain, tears welling down his eyes from pain and sorrow. "M-Mistyrain," he choked, prodding the deputy's side before collapsing in a heap of exhaustion. Lifting his head, he pushed himself up so that he rested on her bloodied side and buried his face into her grey pelt, the scent of blood nauseating. But he didn't care. "Mistyrain… come on, g-get up," Tinystar mewed, the air after his words being filled with silent sobbing. How could something like this happen and so suddenly?

Horsetail, horsetail, horsetail.

Tall and bristly. Tall and bristly.

Sagelight repeated this over and over in his mind, trotting towards the Thunderpath in his search for the herb he needed. Mintwhisker had sent him on a quest for horsetail, an herb she explained that helped with infections and bleeding. She was running low, so he was sent off to find some more. She told him that horsetail grew in marshy areas so he had hoped to find some near the border to ShadowClan. He didn't really have any idea what they smelled like, so hopefully his poor eyesight would be of some use today. Tall and bristly.

The acrid stench of the Thunderpath crept up on him and he huffed to clear his nose. Just ahead of the treeline he could see the flat, gray stone, dotted with strange yellow and white stripes. A monster roared past and he shrunk back, shaking out his fur. Those pesky monsters crept up on him sometimes; he tried to stay away from the Thunderpath as much as possible for that reason. Slowly, the medicine cat apprentice padded out of the trees and along the edge of the path, looking around for any horsetail. "Hmm...It's not too marshy over here..." he muttered to himself, frowning. Maybe there was another place he could look.

A strange noise found its way into his ears and he raised his head. It sounded like a cat's yowl. Sagelight squinted across the Thunderpath, spotting two shapes he hadn't noticed before. One was small and white and the other was larger and gray. It almost looked like--...

"Tinystar?!" he yowled, inching closer to the path. Hadn't Tinystar and Mistyrain said they were going on a quick patrol together? "Why are you on ShadowClan's side?! What are you doing?" Something must be wrong. There was another smell he could sense over the bitter stench. Blood. Just as he had been trained to do, he looked both ways very carefully and waited until he could feel no rumbling before he darted across the path, skidding to a stop on the other side. Pausing to catch his breath, he looked around until he spotted the two cats again and bounded over. It was not pretty. Mistyrain had apparently been hit by a monster; her body lay bloodied and broken in the dirt. Tinystar lay sobbing on top of her. He didn't look good either but he wasn't as bad off as Mistyrain. Sagelight realized what had happened and bowed his head in respect for the fallen deputy before leaning down and licking her ear. He mumbled, "May StarClan welcome you, Mistyrain..." then turned to the small leader. "Tinystar, we need to get you home," the younger tom mewed, a sense of urgency in his voice. "SkyClan has suffered a great tragedy and you must go and see Mintwhisker. How badly are you hurt, can you walk? I can carry you back if I need to."

Hearing a panicked voice grow closer and closer, until it was right over him, Tinystar lifted his head just enough to see Sagelight, who was saying something back Mistyrain and StarClan. He couldn't remember how long he'd had his head buried in her pelt, but it had to have been long enough for him to forget about the pain. As he tried to keep his head lifted, pain rippled through his tiny body and he couldn't help but lay back down, soaking in deceased deputy's scent once more.

"Mistyrain, don't go," the little leader mumbled, tears streaming down his bloodied cheeks. He couldn't possibly get up, not in this state, and maybe, if he was lucky enough, Sagelight would leave him be.