Red's Death Nonredemption (Closed)

Finally, the patrol slowed. Burningsun's shoulder ached like fire, blood dripping out of it. Her chest heaved with the effort of running as they all circled up. Lightfang stood next to her. Her love. She had to save him, and herself by extension. Tinystar would never forgive this patrol. He would see all of them as murderers. All of them would lay bleeding in the camp. Especially her, though she had nothing to do with the death. It would be the excuse Tinystar would need, like he had with Sparrowpaw. An empty one, but one that let him sleep at night. Even if Lightfang did not get executed, he would be crushed. Finally, her breath slowed but her heart still raced. "We cannot go back to camp." There was no use beating around the bush. "Tinystar will kill us or exile us. I've been thinking about it for moons. I did not want this to happen like this, to have to run out of pure fear. I wanted to run with dignity and strategy, but today has clawed that from us." Was this her fault? It actually all was. Holding the Trial. Executing Tinystar. Starting the border fight. "I had planned on going to WindClan. Finchstar- he will protect us. I know so. He loves his clan, and he knows first hand of Tinystar's danger. We will tell them everything that has happened and dedicate ourselves to WindClan. Guys, we have to go. All of us. Please!" Her eyes pleaded in desperation for all of them to listen to her. She couldn't lose any of them.

For the second time in his life, the world had crumbled at Highpine. He was beginning to wonder if the place was cursed. Deep, deep down, Lightfang realized he was probably in shock. Part of him had gotten stuck on the initial thought that Sandblaze isn’t dead and was refusing to process anything beyond that, as if focusing on the single, feeble bright spot in all of this would drown out the dark. Blood trickled from the thin lines on his belly, leaving vaguely pink stains. He couldn’t bring himself to worry about it. All that mattered was the ginger pelt against his and getting his family out of this alive.

As his breathing eased, he began to groom Burningsun’s shoulder, avoiding the wound itself so as not to irritate it. Fixing what little he could fix.

At the second trial, at Moonlit Creek, at the top of the split stone that stood not far from this spot, he had chosen Burningsun. Now he chose her again—to follow her across the forest. To protect himself and his brothers. To protect their mother in the only way he could think of, knowing they couldn’t go back to warn her or bring her with them. Finchstar would have no reason to defend them when ShadowClan inevitably came calling, but until then, he would shelter them from Tinystar’s claws. From what Lightfang knew of WindClan, they accepted every scrap of fur that blew past their borders. Loners, rogues, runaways. We’ll fit right in, he thought bitterly.

”I’m with you.” The words were heavy on his tongue. No matter how he wished for another solution, Lightfang was not a planner. There was no time to plan. He could only hope Finchstar would let them make their case…and that his brothers would go with them. He looked at them in turn. Swallowflight, Sandblaze, and back again. Whether he was searching for their agreement or for a different way through this, he wasn't sure.

Faster, faster, faster. Sandblaze was only vaguely aware of the thuds of pawsteps around him. All that concerned him was the hastened beat of his own heart. He skipped every few beats and every breath was labored. He couldn't see. His eyes were full of wetness. He could not escape the inalienable truth that pressed itself into his body. He killed the ShadowClan deputy. He was always an agile cat. But this was the run of his life, and there was no outrunning his own hubris. 

He didn't feel his legs stop, but for a moment the world stopped spinning. He looked up, and the Halfstone was behind him. Burningsun's voice was muffled and dull. It took him a few minutes to even register what she was saying. It clicked. 

Whipping around with violent fury, he snarled in their faces. "How can you possibly be thinking about Tinystar when I just MURDERED somebody?!" he hissed. "Thornstar is coming for my head! She could be out here, right now, looking for us! If you think she won't check WindClan, you've got bees in your head!"

He began to pace. Back, forth, back, forth, chest heaving with the effort of standing up straight. "I've dishonored our mother. Do you know how hard I tried to fit in? For her sake, for the clan she loves? But no! Our father's half won me over! StarClan help me, they saw my face! They'll come for me no matter where I go..."

As his voice drifted off into oblivion, he came crashing to the ground, his paws over his head. He figured that perhaps when he opened his eyes he would be somebody else. A silly hope. The weight of the entire forest rested in his shoulders as he realized that he may have just started a war. He had to hide. If he followed them, they would surely die. He would put an entire new group of cats in danger. WindClan was already considered somewhat roguish by many members of SkyClan. The appearance of a supposed murderer wouldn't exactly help. Sandblaze slowly stood up, facing his siblings with weepy eyes. 

"They'll come for me. Not for you. I can't follow you, my brothers. I love you. I can't put you in danger." He cleared his throat. "Go to WindClan. Keep yourselves safe. Protect each other. Burningsun, don't let my brothers get hurt. They're all I have."

His eyes moved to the east, where Twolegplace was not far. He did have connections, after all. It was the perfect place to hide in plain sight. But it wasn't enough. He needed more. "I'll call myself Arno, in honor of the father we never knew. I will always come when you call. You'll know where to find me." A playful scowl crosses his lips. "I forbid you from dying, you rat-tailed birdbrains."

There was one last thing to do. "I have one request: Somebody scar my face. Both paws. I'm sure Twolegs can fix it, but if I'm going to hide, I need a little more anonymity. I don't care who. I won't even look. Just... do it quick." He took one last look at both of his brothers. "It's okay. I promise it'll be okay. When this all blows over, the sun will shine on us again." With a forced smile, he shut his eyes and awaited the claws.

Burningsun's breath finally slowed and reality slowly started to creep the way in to the situation. Lightfang's tongue graced her shoulder and her heart swelled, despite the situation at hand. She leaned into him more, and purred with a nod as he confirmed his dedication to her. Her attention then turned to Sandblaze as he spoke just as panicked.

Her ears flattened to her head as Sandblaze snarled at her. Leaning away from her mate, her fur bristled and she moved to face him, paws planted firmly in the ground. She let him finish, but trained her angry, multicolored gaze on the tom. Run away, completely. And he called them a cowered? He was abandoning his true clan. A snarl escaped her lips as she began to speak, only to be cut off by Swallowflight. She let him speak, but then it was her turn.

"Okay Sandblaze… Arno. Abandon your brothers. We were your true clan, but… I will protect them. It has, and always be my true goal." As she stood there, his eyes staring at her her mind wandered to when they were apprentices. The tom she knew then wasn't here now. Without warning, Burningsun reared up and slashed down the sandy tom's face, granting his wish. As she did so… her mind flashed to Tinystar and she growled at the memory, whipping around to not look at the new face.

"Say goodbye, my love. Swallowflight. We have to get to WindClan." Limping, she started heading to Four Trees. They'd get through WindClan that way.

Though he flinched under his brother’s sudden fury, Lightfang’s heart leapt, hopeful, thinking Sandblaze would have a solution as he so often seemed to. It was a foolish hope. Sandblaze yowled about Thornstar and Tinystar and putting them all in danger—and the worst part was, Lightfang couldn’t fight it. To a forest full of cats who had met Sandblaze on the battlefield or not at all, who knew him only as a featureless face and a set of claws, he was a murderer. That was where the story ended. Once Tinystar or Thornstar spoke up, there was no question who the Clans would believe. If Sandblaze followed them to WindClan, he would bring ShadowClan’s wrath with him; if they followed Sandblaze, they would give the forest four possible trails to track instead of one. The safest solution separated them forever.

A broad, bleak future stretched before him, moons of not knowing, never knowing until he crossed paths with Sandblaze in the stars above. Even so, he wouldn’t ask him to stay. Sandblaze was too headstrong to listen, and Lightfang had long ago learned his lesson about dragging cats back where they shouldn’t be. Thus, he stood silent as Sandblaze became Arno, honoring a rogue who hadn’t lived long enough to justify his right to name them. He stood silent through Swallowflight’s desperate protests and Burningsun’s accusations and Swallowflight storming into the woods, close enough that Lightfang could hear him weeping.

The pale tabby felt, rather than saw, his mate leave his side. He did not look up until the last echoes of claws on flesh had left his ears. Blood tracked from the fresh marks running across Arno’s eyes. Under it, he still looked like Arno. He always would.

”Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Lightfang huffed. Advice and an admonishment as if they were kits again, him playing the responsible one the way he’d used to with Maplekit. It was just enough to stop his voice from wobbling. ”Please, Arno. Try to stay safe. No picking fights you can’t win, all right?” At Cardinalpaw’s exile, Lightfang had moderated himself. He had let too much go unsaid. He’d cared what SkyClan thought of him, then. Now he stepped forward, gave Arno a single lick on the forehead somewhere amidst the blood, and said what he should have said to his sister when all of this had begun—what he wanted his brother to remember, if he chose to remember anything. ”I love you. May StarClan light your path.”

That was it. That was goodbye. He would never be forced to harm Arno, nor would he be able to patrol with him, hearing him flit from branch to branch with the grace of a bird, or spar good-naturedly with him, or share a den the way they had all their lives. There would be no Gathering night reunions. He turned to address the trees. ”Swallowflight.” Finally, the words caught on the jagged lump in his throat. Lightfang was quiet for a long moment, searching for something that wouldn't break him entirely. He couldn't allow that. Not until they were safe…all three of them. With his paws angled toward Fourtrees, he sighed. ”I don’t want to leave without you, too.”

Arno did not try to defend himself from Swallowflight's verbal onslaught. His shoulders rounded and hunched, eyes cast down, he let it wash over him. This was the only way. Maybe one day, his most volatile brother would understand why it had to be this way. Burningsun was next, accepting the final favor Arno asked of the three. Her curtness verged on horrifying and menacing. He lifted his head to meet her gaze. Hardened, he spoke his one truth for all of the trees to hear: "There's nothing I wouldn't do for the three of you."

Better to make it quick and painless, right? Burningsun's claws were quick, yes, but he couldn't say painless. He stumbled backward, a harsh yowl cutting the air as the she-cat's slashes pulled apart his face. The blood came in little dots before running cleanly down his cream cheeks, tinting his eyesight a reddish hue. His brother's gentle voice, a soft lick, and he knew it was over. Cowering and nearly doubled over with the pain, he staggered backward.

"I'll see you again one day. I promise! If something happens, I'll always come when you call!" he cried out in a wobbling, kitlike voice. The only cats he ever loved were walking away, running as far as their legs could carry. Freedom was a mere journey across SkyClan away... in opposite directions. Blinking once, twice, three times, Arno stuffed down his sobs and took to the trees.