The stars that fell (clan announcement post gathering)

Frostpaw knew she was going to be punished. Her outburst went too far. Sighing to healed herself, she nodded at Oakstar, noticing something wrong about Willowpaw. “I know what I did was wrong. I didn’t see anything for myself. I shouldn’t have lashed out. I’m sorry.” Guilt filled herself as she reflected back at what she had said. The small, white apprentice was normally afraid to speak out, but this time, maybe it was because she was just bothered by the fight at the Gathering. Either way, Frostpaw vowed to herself that she was not going to step out of line ever again.

Just like that, the meeting exploded into chaos, insults, accusations, and most importantly, the truth. Cherryblossom watched Rainstrike with narrow eyes and a cold disdain as the apathetic she-cat callously admitted to standing idly by while she watched Dacedream die a horrible and violent death. Just as quickly as Stormpaw had exploded, she was gone, the tip of her tail whisking out of the camp entrance with determination and a mind that had been long since made up. She felt a little pang of sadness that she had never been able to act on the promise she'd made to herself, but she hoped that one day she'd be able to make good on it. Nonetheless, she watched Stormpaw, Vixenpaw, and Frostpaw all lay into the warrior the way that the little tabby would have liked to, but the words died on her tongue as Oakstar quickly punished the latter two.
For once, Vixenpaw's right.

Cherryblossom knew there was bitterness in Rainstrike's heart, or perhaps apathy. She may not have known why the warrior was the way she was, but she knew she could never trust Rainstrike again.
Make all the excuses you want, Rainstrike. You'll never gain my trust again.

Icecloud stared in shock. She had no idea how to react to this. She went off someone silent and excluded, not wanting to hear anymore of these terrible things.

(OOC; I’m sorry I haven’t been posting as much! I’ve been sidetracked!)

Batbite sat perfectly still. The adrenaline that had fueled her through the fight was fading, now, but Rainstrike's words granted her a renewed sense of vigor. "I don't claim to know why you did what you've done, Rainstrike," she began. "But what I do know is that once I was done fighting off one of those StarClan cats, the sight I saw was you attacking my mate. Who am I supposed to believe - you, or the cat who has saved my life time and again, who has proven to me that I can trust him with my life just as well as my heart?"

Her history with Minkstream wasn't common knowledge, the fact that their friendship dated back to their early apprentice days when they'd been stranded in Twolegplace with the others, but she wasn't clear-headed enough to explain it all. Her entire world was crashing down on itself, again. "That you didn't intervene with Dacedream's fate... That was a choice that belonged only to you, and I can't hold wanting to live your life against you. But what I can say is that you seemed to believe she deserved it, and that is wrong."

Truthfully, she could hold Rainstrike's inaction against her, and she did - but only on a personal level. It was her belief that a warrior's oath of loyalty was to the cats within the clan as much as the clan itself, and Dacedream was as much a warrior as any other. They were meant to live and die by this oath she held so sacred, weren't they?

And then Rainstrike called her own loyalty into question. It wasn't unfair, though it felt like it - she had deserted her Clan, albeit with permission. But she had been loyal since her return, she had stayed and fought by their sides. "Questioning my loyalty... That's fair enough. I haven't always known what path I was meant to walk, and I have wandered far from this forest both by choice and by circumstance... But I have never been disloyal. Even when I left. This is my home, my family... Or it was, once upon a time. I don't know if that still rings true now."

She looked to Oakstar, the cat who had been like a second father to her throughout her life. The cat who had been her mentor. Despite Leopardstar's words just hours earlier - "You have nothing to be sorry for, my dear," the words echoed in her mind on an endless loop - she suddenly wondered if she'd made the right choices.

"I'm sorry... I never should have come back. I thought I was finally choosing the right path, but I was wrong."

She curled her tail tightly around herself, closing her eyes. She couldn't face the cats around her anymore.

I have everything to be sorry for.

Minkstream opened his eyes as Oakstar spoke, his mouth closed, his eyes mute. His gaze slid to Rainstrike, a brief flash sparking in the depths of his eyes, the lines of blood-crusted fire on his face and his belly smoldering.  He opened his mouth-

Stormpaw screeched.

He stiffened, his ears tilting back, his mouth suddenly dry, his fur starting to rise. What in the Dark Forest does she think she's doing?! The madness in her eyes was a mirror of his own, sending an eery chill down his spine, his claws pricking partway from their sheaths in half-felt response.

For a heartbeat the world seemed to still, the struggle of emotions tangled in his chest freezing his sickness-weakened muscles with indecision.

And then Oakstar spoke again, and his head whipped around in disbelief, the fur along his spine rising despite himself. Stormpaw deserved more punishment? For a reason Oakstar wouldn't even hear her out on? The words of Oakstar rang through his head, and he repeated incredulously, barely hearing himself, "Embrace this?"

Embrace what? Pain? A traitor?

The barest hint of tooth glinted beneath his lip before he forcefully stifled it, acutely aware of Batbite by his side. Oakstar... Oakstar was her father. And yet... the tom he had come to respect....

They'd been through so much, Oakstar had been absent for so much of it. He'd changed.

Or had he always been like that?

It felt like the ground started crumbling under his paws, Stormpaw suddenly announcing that she was leaving in reply, and he was forced to take his attention off Oakstar to turn it to her, every word suddenly sticking in his throat. He felt like he'd been struck dumb, all the words sucked dry from his mouth by one turn and then another.

He shook his head violently, feeling his head reel. One thing stood out clearly through the exhaustion twisting his thoughts. She's making a mistake. She was making his mistake "Stormpaw, you don't know what you're doing-"

The grin she cracked looked almost familiar as she turned and spoke to him. He knew that look. He knew why. The bitterness. A frantic worm of electricity crackled his fur, and he doggedly opened his mouth again, struggling to hold on to the ground beneath his paws. "There are other ways. You have cats here who love you, you can't throw it all away. You'll get- you'll only get more pain-"

He was talking to himself. He was reasoning with someone who wouldn't listen, just like he hadn't. Something like despair rose up in his chest, a bursting frustration, a cry that he couldn't articulate. Everything... everything had fallen apart....

Vixenpaw was shrieking now, her air-shattering voice screeching the sky down, raging. He set his jaw, squeezing his eyes shut, feeling his teeth grinding, his ears flattening. Whirling, his head spun, thoughts raging like a droplet in a cascading torrent.

It isn't supposed to be like this.

We won.

Did we?

His claws, rusted with dried blood, dug into the earth, a faint rumble threatening to break free of his throat as Rainstrike replied. Every muscle in his body tensed, though what he would have done, he didn't know. His mate's voice stopped him, halting the surging flood with her words - the waves stilling, though they still churned.

"Questioning my loyalty... That's fair enough. I haven't always known what path I was meant to walk, and I have wandered far from this forest both by choice and by circumstance... But I have never been disloyal. Even when I left. This is my home, my family... Or it was, once upon a time. I don't know if that still rings true now."

Something drew a silent claw across the flesh of his heart as she continued - Rainstrike fading to the background, Oakstar and the rest of ThunderClan along with her - a helpless pain in his eyes as he looked at Bat. Mutely, he touched his tail to her back when she looked at Oakstar, trying to offer some comfort, trying to take away the pain she was clearly feeling. That they were all feeling.

"I'm sorry... I never should have come back. I thought I was finally choosing the right path, but I was wrong."

Strom's heart broke to see her like this, curling in on herself. He pressed himself to her side, his teeth gritting together. She wasn't wrong, but she wasn't right. They couldn't have stayed out there at the barn forever. But maybe... maybe this hadn't been the right place to come back to. His eyes squeezed shut for a moment. It had seemed so right... but now....

He took a slightly shuddering breath, the green of his eyes, muddied with tiredness, opening again, a spark of coldness in them as they turned slightly to find Oakstar and Rainstrike, the grey molly standing in front of the dark tom, her eyes silently daring. The bitter feeling of bile rose up in his throat. So he picks her side. The scars on his face told everything - every word from the apprentices whose opinions no one cared about true - yet no one would believe them. "You talk about what Dace would want. You're right, she wouldn't have wanted this, she wouldn't have wanted any of this." His voice came out soft, bitter. Defeated. "But you're wrong. Stormpaw, Vixenpaw, all the apprentices, were right - Rainstrike fought against us. Every fresh wound on my body came from her... and you won't believe it."

The muscles in his cheek twitched as his mouth closed tightly again, and he turned his head away from them to press his muzzle gently into Bat's fur, the bitter taste on his tongue burning. "We both made a mistake, Bat," He murmured, a tiredness that had nothing to do with battle fatigue washing across his pelt and through every muscle. "It wasn't just yours."

Any comfort he could offer wouldn't take away the regret, but she wasn't alone. He couldn't let her be. They had made their separate mistakes, but this one was different. And it wasn't something they could have known, though maybe they should have. Naive.... He'd been so naive to think they could just come back, and everything would be fine. It never worked that way. Never had.

Thank goodness. So Nettlefire hadn’t chosen to leave him, had merely wanted to say good bye to her sister. He watched as Rainstrike stood in front of him, then gave her a firm look.

"Do not get in the way, Rainstrike. This decision is the apprentices own. Stand down." He ordered firmly, then turned his head in the direction he had heard Nettlefire from behind the other cats. He listened as a couple of the apprentices backed down in the face of the choice… and Batbite and Minkstream. His head tilted with an expression of bewilderment. "I believe you two misunderstand." He meowed calmly, in the face of all that Batbite said.  "These apprentices are being punished because of their support to a truly reckless action. A cat should never be attacked in camp as long as they are on trial." His gaze turned to Rainstrike. Amber gaze conflicted.  "...as much as I am loathe to admit it, Rainstrike is on trial." He turned to Batbite with more focus now. His expression held clear hurt behind the stern features.

"I am encouraging ThunderClan to embrace love and tolerance among themselves. To wait and listen. There is no need to disrupt the clan’s proceedings as these apprentices had done. If they had simply waited their turn they could have spoken freely. Instead, they encouraged attacking a clan mate. I cannot let that go unpunished.” He shook his head, clear disappointment in his face as he turned and padded back to High Rock to leap on top of it.

"Now then. Is there any other cat who questions Rainstrike’s loyalty. I have heard Batbite’s evidence, as well as Minkstream. The events of Dacedream’s death are ones that are passed. What did she do in the battle we just came home from, is the focus now."

Beepaw watched with terrible graveness as chaos resumed. His mother leapt to the aid of her former apprentice, and Oakstar took back the Clan by the scruff, quieting their discontented whispers. Stormpaw was gone. Was she... gone, gone? Beepaw blinked. He felt bad for her. He felt bad for Rainstirke, too. What she said made very much sense. It seemed that everyone had been against her since Dacedream died. He found Cherryblossom in the crowd. Were they blinded by their love for Dacedream, or was he acting without empathy? He had not been close enough to her, but she was kin to his kin. Most importantly, she was his clanmate. She was dear to Duskrain. But all of that felt so far away, so long ago. It felt shameful to dig up the dead for grudges. Rainstrike hadn't killed Dacedream. She just hadn't been willing to die for her. Beepaw wasn't ready to decide if that was right or wrong, even though everybody else had.

The Gathering was another story. Apparently, not many cats had even seen. The battle had been so chaotic, and Beepaw wasn't shocked. But... what did that mean? Rainstrike would be without outside witnesses. Oakstar would prove his bias against her. ThunderClan's bias.

"I could barely see my own whiskers out there. I doubt anybody else saw."

Oakstar waited with patience for any other cat to speak. The sun rose higher, but his hopes sank deeper. Already there had been one traitor… he didn’t know if he could bear another. Still, it was Batbite and Minkstream who seemed the most suspicious. If she did attack him, he very well could not just let her be free. There needed to be a consequence. Something to make the lesson stick, as well as be able to judge her loyalty. It struck him hard… it hurt to think of… but it seemed right.

"Rainstrike, Step forward." He called. His amber gaze firmly on the familiar pelt of his granddaughter. "Your clan mates call into question your loyalty to the clan. I do not believe Batbite would lie about you attacking another cat of ThunderClan. However, I also do not believe that you have no sense of loyalty. So, here is my judgement."

"Rainstrike, I am hereby stripping you of your warrior name. You will be known once more as Rainpaw, and will be under the mentorship of Batbite and Minkstream. You will remain as such for twice the length of a normal apprenticeship, and will not be permitted to leave camp without your mentor and at least one other warrior. Should your mentors believe that you have proven yourself early, you may regain your warrior name earlier. As you will not fit comfortably in the apprentice den, you will reside in the elders den." His head lifted towards the rest of the clan.

"All of you who fought against the dark stars did well tonight. Now, as the sun rises, I urge everyone to go to their nests and get some needed sleep. If anyone has any other concerns, you can find me in my own nest." He leapt off high rock then. His muscles weary and aching. Blood still stuck to parts of his pelt, but he tried to ignore the itch of it.

Blood thundered in Rainstrike's ears as Oakstar finished his sentencing. Demoted? Mentors. Them?!

Her eyes, full of shock and rage, turned to Batbite, and then Minkstream, hovering there on his with a deadly promise flashing in their icy depths: you misstep one time, let your guard down for even an instant, and I'll kill you. She wanted to cry out, to snarl and hiss and bellow her rage at the night sky, at the clan, at Oakstar, but... she didn't. Rainstrike swallowed hard, letting her eyes close, slowly, deliberately. It took every single ounce of self control she possessed, but she stayed silent, letting Oakstar turn his back.

Her claws slid into the dirt. Her tail twitched. She visualized herself sinking fangs into flesh.

She blinked, and the vision was gone.

"As you wish, Oakstar." Her voice was cold, flat... the only emotion she could muster other than white-hot fury. Rainstrike's tail brushed Ferretnose's shoulders in thanks as she stood without another word and headed for the elders' den.

Ferretnose watched with a pained and torn heart as Rainstrike brushed past her and padded towards the elders' den, accepting defeat with faltering composure. The senior warrior could only bite her tongue. Oakstar's word was law, and even more, she had truly attacked Minkstream. Ferretnose, too, believed in Batbite's unmitigated honesty. The Clan had made a decision about Rainstrike's character, and she would have to prove them wrong by herself. Ferretnose had done all that she could do to guarantee her apprentice a fair trial.

She padded to Batbite, her head dipped as she sat beside her friend. "I'm sorry," she murmured, touching her tail to the little black she-cat's flank. "I couldn't watch them act out like that... no matter the charge. In any case, you came back. You hunt for us, you fight for us, you don't divide your loyalties. So, as far as I'm concerned, you're ThunderClan. Allegiance is a choice. You made yours." Her good eye flickered to Minkstream. She tried to trust him, as she trusted Dacedream before her passing. It would take a few more moons for her doubts to finally be quelled. For Batbite's sake... she kept them silent.