Birth of War [Closed // Lionize]

He didn't appreciate patrolling by his lonesome enough, Flintshard realized. There was something relaxing about padding along the border in silence...Other than the faint noises of the world. It was early - or at least, early for him. The sun was still in the sky, even if it was on its way to setting. He had trouble sleeping...He always had trouble sleeping but it felt awkward to try to deal with it, and so here he was...Walking along the border. He closed his eyes, enjoying the faint chirping of birds from the SkyClan territory, the croaking of frogs from his own and...There was a faint sound that caught his attention, gaze shifting toward the Highpine and to the SkyClan border as he froze, head tilting every so slightly in curiosity as he waited to see if what had made the sound would show itself.

Beanpaw hated the afternoon. He hated it so much, yet somehow this is what he ended up doing.

Every day.

No matter how cold or hot it was, whether it was raining, snowing, or so hot that he could hardly breathe, Beanpaw was out in the territory, patrolling by himself. Ever since Tinystar had retired, Beanpaw was stuck without a mentor, which meant there was hardly anyone to take him out for a patrol, let alone training. Having the leader as your mentor meant you hardly got a chance to actually do things outside of the occasional patrol, and the same situation applied to not having a mentor at all. There were many things that had simply been skipped over in the fluffy black and white apprentice's training, so many things that he still had left to learn. And he was perfectly alright with it.

His head twisted immediately when he heard the crunch of the fallen leaves across the border, his ears swiveling to pinpoint the sound. When he finally spotted the ShadowClanner, he could feel the heat behind his yellow eyes as he stared on from Highpine. Thinking back to when ShadowClan had invaded camp, all he could feel was anger. ShadowClan had practically maimed Foxfire, for StarClan's sake! Before he could even think about it, he was on his paws, running towards his fluffy opponent. He was almost sure that the tom had been on that same patrol. When he finally made contact with him, both of them rolled over in a mess of fur and claws. When they came to a halting stop, Beanpaw had the tom pinned beneath him. "You and your filthy rats ruined my Clan's deputy!" Sharp claws sunk into Flintshard's shoulders as Beanpaw balanced on top of him, no sympathy to be found in his angry eyes.

Huh. Flintshard simply blinked at the black and white mound that was charging at him, before being crashing to the ground by the large apprentice. Claws dug into his shoulder as he found himself pinned, his expression not even changing as crimson started to lightly stain his dark colored fur. "Sorry?" he meowed, seemingly unimpressed. "We haven't touch your deputy as far as I am aware," he meowed, not even bothering to fight back at the moment. It didn't seem worth it - this tom was spouting off nonsense. Thornstar had decided to leave SkyClan alone after all and he doubted that any ShadowClan cat would risk... 'Ruining' their deputy in revenge as he found that few were willing to cross his mother. "Now I recommend you return your side of the border. I would rather not bother Thornstar with the tale of this encounter, and I won't if nothing comes from it."

Beanpaw's anger merely grew as the tom acted oblivious to the fact that SkyClan's deputy had been torn to shreds by one of their own. "Don't act stupid, you blithering idiot." The fur on Beanpaw's back raised further as the tom leaned down closer to the other warrior's face. "Foxfire came home half-dead. It was your Clanmates that were out for revenge, can you really be this foolish! It might as well have been you!" Leaning back, the tom lifted one paw from the tom's shoulder, scoring a long wound down the center of his belly. He was preparing to attack again, to seek revenge for what had happened for Foxfire, but he fumbled slightly. He panicked as he lost balance, stumbling back but catching himself just before hitting the ground. He turned to stare at the ShadowClanner, his eyes still full of fury. "You're all cowards, the whole lot of you stinky marsh-dwellers," Breathing heavily, he narrowed his eyes as he stared on. "and I'll do what it takes to get revenge for Foxfire." With a snarl, Beanpaw dared Flintshard to attack back.

What was this tom talking about? It couldn't have been one of their warriors - surely none of them would go against his mother's words. It was law after all. He opened his mouth to retort, to tell the SkyClan cat of how little sense he was talking but his voice caught in his breath as the tom raised a paw. He barely had to raise a leg, shoving it between the two of them as the claws raked down his stomach - and the leg he had gotten between them. He blinked, eyes widening as he used his now injured leg to push the off-balanced tom away from him, rolling onto his paws as he crouched, trying to ignore how his leg screamed in pain as he put some weight on it. Well...That hurt. But still, his expression didn't shift as he forced himself to his paws despite the throbbing pain, ignoring the blood that was dripped down the back of his legs from his stomach wound and the claw marks along his front paw as he turned to look at him. "I don't know what you are talking about," he repeated, taking a step forward.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he halted, taking in a deep breath. He would have rather this didn't end with a fight, but the black and white tom had made a move that couldn't be ignored. The pain in his stomach was nearly overwhelming, even if he didn't show it, and he knew that it was a nasty, low blow. This tom wasn't pulling any swipes, he had made a choice that could not be turned back. "But I do understand where you are coming from," he added, blinking as he shifted his weight back onto his hind legs. "Justice must be gotten for wrong-doings. But you? You have just done something worth fighting back over," he retorted, eyes glimmering dangerously. "I swear to you that I have no knowledge of what happened to your deputy...And so what you've done is injustice." With that, he threw his weight forward as he sprung toward the warrior-sized apprentice, claws digging into  his shoulders as he became locked in combat.

Beanpaw's eyes narrowed even further, the slightest sliver of yellow peeking out from beneath his eyelids. "I'm having a difficult time believing that not a single one of you rat brained carrion-eaters had no clue what was going on inside SkyClan's own borders." He retorted icily, staring at him as he stepped forward. The young tom had to force himself not to flinch as he stepped forward, despite the fact that they were nearly the same height. "What do you mean injustice!?" Beanpaw wanted to tear this tom to shreds, but before he got a chance to strike again, his opponent was on top of him. Rolling to the side with Flintshard still staying on top of him, he squinted as he stared at him. In the slightest bit of panic, the tom raked his unsheathed claws across the tom's face, blood dripping down into his own eyes. If that didn't force the oaf off of him, he wasn't sure what would.

Flintshard pinned the tom to the ground, his expression as cold as ever as he narrowed his eyes at the SkyClan cat. "I am simply telling you what I know - and it has nothing to do with whatever apparently happened to your deputy," he responded, claws digging into the tom. "I had no part in what happened. Thornstar did not attack you for what your Clanmates had done to Redwing - we only wanted the cat who killed her. You had no right, no cause to attack me when I had no part in any of this." Perhaps he would have said more, but it was cut short when claws raked down the side of his face. He stumbled backwards, blinking his eyes - or at least the only one he could open at the moment. Blood raced down his face as he stood there, almost confused at the wound as he tried to figure out if he had been blinded - the pain hurt as he glanced up at the apprentice. "You really don't know when to stop, do you?" he murmured before he lashed out at the tom, claws raking his shoulders - even if the blow wasn't as well-aimed as he liked, having trouble judging the distance with only one eye currently open.

Beanpaw’s heart pounded as he stared into the ShadowClan warrior’s eyes, glare narrowing the more he added on to his speech. ”I’ll stop when my Clan and Foxfire get the justice that we rightfully deserve!” Just as Flintshard’s paw was withdrawing from bis previous strike, Beanpaw lurched forward, clamping down hard and hanging on to the tom’s leg. Shaking his head back and forth furiously, he tossed him around the best he could manage before throwing him to the side, taking a defensive stance for the off-chance that the tom rose after such a severe injury.

Flintshard's body grew ridge when the sharp teeth dug into his leg, his eyes widening in a rare flicker of emotion before he was thrown around by the large apprentice. It wasn't just the sheer gull of the action but the burning pain in his leg told him something was wrong - very wrong. His skin was torn, deep as his leg was forced up and down the tom's teeth before he was finally released, hitting the ground hard. He laid there, stunned for a moment as he stared at his injured leg. Blood gushed, a bright crimson as he was left with a terrible gash that ran down it from where the violent shaking had managed to tear the wound the teeth left open and wider.

It hurt as he struggled to get it to respond to his will - something was wrong, it wouldn't move right. The tom had... His eyes flickered up, narrowing in a chilling coldness as he slowly pushed himself upright with his good legs. His injuries one hung limply as he stumbled forward, anger burning within him but...Cold as he tried to approach...Only to freeze as another scent caught his attention. Another ShadowClan cat. His gaze flickered to the side as he realized who it was.

He was taking way too long. What could have been keeping Flintshard from coming back in time to camp? He thought he had taught him better... but at the same time... there was an unnerving tension in the back of his mind, wondering if the tom had maybe encountered an unwanted fight. He knew how to fight... right? He could defend himself well.

However, as much as he tried to shake those ideas away, the scent of blood made that nightmare more real than ever. The scarred tom knew exactly where that smell came from... and he did not like it. Once arrived, the worst he imagined happen. His green eyes widened with horror at the sight of his badly injured former apprentice, about to collapse. His initial shock went quickly as he lifted his face to see a Skyclan tom covered in the blood of the young Shadowclan warrior. He did not have to be a genius to see what has happened. The shock turned into pure fury. The fur of his whole body rose up as he curved his back, showing his long fangs in a ferocious hiss. "I. AM. GOING. TO. KILL. YOU. FOR. THIS. I WILL BURN YOUR CLAN TO PIECES." He did not shout but the words that came from his mouth were filled with poison. The large, heavily scarred warrior unsheathed his claws and took a step forward to strike, ready to end the life of the miserable apprentice.