the sea is bubbling beyond the shore

Batbite woke with a single thought on her mind, even as the haze of a peaceful sleep and the warmth of her mate called to her.

It's time.

There was something in the winds today, something that struck deeper than the chill; the anticipation of something just over the horizon, though how it would end she was still unsure - but something had finally bubbled over, and she couldn't stand idly by any longer while injustice upon injustice was served upon them. She'd waited long enough, truth be told, and the itch beneath her paws for something new - something different - was calling to her with a pull she hadn't felt since her wandering days.

She'd thought ahead, taken every precaution she could think of, drawn the plan in sand like the tracker she'd always been - have a plan, always have a plan, but be ready to adapt if the need should arise - and she wasn't going about this alone. She was confident that it would work.

(They were in this together, as they always were; and that, more than anything, was what gave her the confidence to act.)

She'd spent time trying to befriend and learn from a few of the Asylum cats in hope that it would benefit her now. It helped that she was never feigning interest in their ways of life - it was no secret that she looked upon clan life with criticism; though, admittedly, she couldn't see how their way was the answer. They were free to go where they liked, and weren't bound to one place, but they were bound to their groups and their factions and she failed to see how it was any different in the ways that really mattered.

Either way, she had spent time trying to befriend and learn from them. Which meant it wasn't all that suspicious when she'd asked for one of their pelts to see what it was like, when she'd been eyeing them curiously for quite some time.

Now she hid behind the pelt of a raccoon as she waited for a signal, eyes fixed on the camp entrance. The weight upon her shoulders was strange and unfamiliar, as was the way it stuck, but the disguise would serve its purpose.

It was her partner's turn to act.

The days had become muddy, an odd dream of wandering beside the river, fog obscuring anything but the quietly rippling waters, so dark... If he just stepped off the bank, let his paw touch that solid-looking surface of ice and flowing currents, where would it lead him? Down, down, sucked into the depths of blackness with a crushing weight squeezing the air from his lungs. He'd felt it, rising up; afraid of it, clinging to the hope that there was something ahead, that he wouldn't have to plunge in to swim across.

But it was too late. The hope had died, the dark coldness of eyes watching from the shadows constantly on his pelt, always in his mind. Never gone, always watching....

And then a ray of light. This plan... A smile touched the edge of his maw as he rose, morning leaf-bare light filtering down into the ravine spilling coldly through the dawn. The flame rekindled, a spark of determination reborn as they worked together.

It only made him realize how much he'd been a fool the first time - when he'd stumbled with a half-hunted plan to chase down the Righteous Few and make them pay. Things were better when they were done together, and Batbite's strengths of planning and plotting made up for his weaknesses. Never again, not even if it meant keeping her safe, would he dare to try and keep her from this. The prickle of hot shame that had come with the realization lingered - a reminder that it was her own choice to do what she felt was right, to take risks. No cat deserved to be stifled in the name of "protection." To be too afraid to let her go would lead to losing everything he loved. Even if it twisted his gut, he knew he had to let his grip slip, and simply stand beside her.

If we fall, we'll fall together

It was exhilarating, in a way. It was freedom.

It was time.

He could feel the anticipation buzzing in his paws, an undercurrent of nervousness as he took a deep breath and stomped over to the camp's entrance. Every hair on his pelt seemed to radiate irritation - a hostility towards the whole regime and everything that had happened that had only gotten worse in recent days. It wasn't too hard to feign - he could still feel the resentment simmering beneath his pelt, alive and well now that there was a plan in place, a way to fight back.

His eyes smoldered at one of the shadows before deliberately turning back to the path ahead, tail lashing once, and his paws stood firmly in front of the entrance. "I'm going hunting," He declared, practically spitting the words and curling his lip as he threw a glance around the clearing, eyes seemingly landing without any particular purpose on a raccoon pelt. "Hey you, pelt, you look alive. Let's get this thing over with before the day rots, if I have to be watched."

It was just an act, but still the words made an uncomfortable feeling churn in his stomach, especially since he had to keep it up, turning without another comment and pacing up the path out of the ravine, muscles rippling in a simmering annoyance he forced himself to continue portraying. Stars, it was hard to be this venomous towards someone he loved. To his relief as he stalked out, her pawsteps were the only ones he could hear following. And no sharp voices calling out yet, either.

Could they actually do it? A surge of cautious excitement bloomed in his chest, ears alert, muscles tensed. He turned his head slightly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, a quiet, soft murmur passing through carefully still lips.

"So far so good."

It was jarring, to say the least, to find herself on the receiving end of her partner's disdain - admittedly it was crucial, they wouldn't stand a chance if he said nothing at all, but it still felt strange. If it would benefit them, though, there was no good excuse to avoid it; and so here they'd found themselves.

Without a word, she followed him out of the camp - and to her amazement no one seemed to really pay them any attention, as they moved further and further from camp and no one else had followed. There was a sense of freedom to it, despite their current task - that she was free to simply exist again, without being watched like a piece of prey, at least for a short while. However their little escapade turned out, she would remember the feel of the forest floor beneath her paws and Minkstream at her side.

She nodded silently to her mate when he spoke and she was confident there was no one watching, not daring to risk revealing her voice when they might yet be caught.

Lead the way, she tried to indicate wordlessly, with all the cool casuality an actual guard might have felt. I'll follow.

He caught the wordless indication in the flick of an ear, the slight tilt of her head. Keep going; lead on. Stars, they were actually doing it. His heart picked up the pace slightly, the tang of the forest passing over his tongue in a sweetness that somehow belied the bitterness of leaf-bare. There was no one looking over their shoulders, no Asylum eyes piercing their pelts.

There was no going back.

And he found he couldn't care less; it was the best feeling since this whole mess began.

Brittle, damp leaves left where the snow had melted passed underpaw, the trail leading over roots and through the dimness of the undergrowth. He tried to keep the path going through places where other scents were strongest; where their pawprints wouldn't show. The quiet stillness beneath the trees reigned - he didn't dare speak in case other patrols were about. Besides, if a wandering, bored Asylum cat happened to be out alone - as they tended to do sometimes - or an actual predator was around, conversation would give them away faster than he could say "mouse."

Luckily, the way wasn't long. Soon, he picked up a familiar sound over a familiar scent drifting beneath that of leaf mould and damp wood. A vaguely trickling, muffled one - the river locked underneath its skin of ice. A part of him marvelled that they'd actually gotten this far, within tail-lengths of the border.  Taking a deep breath, he brushed through the undergrowth to where it crowded along this edge of the river, his glance at Batbite shining with a mix of anticipation and nerves, the start of a grin edging at the corners of his mouth. We made it. We're here.

All of his senses indicated that they were alone - not an Asylum or Clan cat in sight. Just a chill breeze whisking across the dark ice of the river, faint ripples moving beneath its surface the only sign that it still flowed, brittle, brown reeds rustling with a hollow sound in the marshes on the other side. His paw touched ice - the first step over this border it had made in moons.

"Ah, ah, ah. I thought you Clan cats would have learned by now..." A silky voice rose from the shadows as Theron slipped into view, her brown pelt masked by the dark gray pelt of a badger that was draped with care over her shoulders. She approached the pair, a toothy smile on her muzzle as she glanced between the two. It had been by pure luck - or perhaps fate - that she had taken to patrolling and spotted these two. She was growing bored of this entire thing, sitting on her tail. So, she had sought to seek her own excitement and here she was...Thrilled by the idea of how this could turn out. "And where do you think you two are going?" she questioned, before she gave her head a shake as she clicked her tongue. "Tsk, Eris won't be happy to hear that there are ThunderClan cats who haven't learned their lesson..." She raised a paw, claws sliding out as she studied the pointed tips as she flashed the two a bored look. "...So, is there anything you have to say for yourselves, or should we do this the easy way or the fun way."

He froze as a voice came from nearby, head snapping around as the fur along his back prickled. How- where-? Glittering yellow eyes came from behind the patterned skull of a badger's pelt, malice sparking in their depths behind the false silkiness of her voice. Her casually sauntering walk brought her right up, paw raising to extend glinting claws, her purring words taking on an ominous tone.

And his racing mind finally recovered enough to speak.

Letting his eyes narrow, he sauntered out fully onto the ice's surface with a flick of his tail, his heart thundering in his ears even as he growled, "Look, I don't know who in the Dark Forest you are, but as I already explained to that pelt-wearer over there-" He indicated Batbite in the raccoon pelt with a gesture of his tail "-I'm technically allowed to walk all over the ice if I want. This is inbetween territory."

He set his jaw, expression loathing as he said sarcastically, "I mean, if you want fun, we can slide around on top of the river, but I wouldn't recommend it." Letting his eyes flash with a faint challenge, internally wondering if that was such a good idea with an Asylum cat he'd never seen before, he flippantly added with a hint of venom, "Unless, you know, you want to fall through."

His mind screamed at him that this was a terrible bluff - if she really recognized Bat as ThunderClan, and not Asylum, they were probably dead. On the other paw... We have nothing but a bluff. And she couldn't possibly know all the cats in Asylum. In his mind, he prayed that she'd take it, prayed with all the fervency he'd never had since he was an apprentice to StarClan that they would slip out of this.

Batbite kept perfectly still, trying to look as though she were irritated when Minkstream gestured to her - which wasn't particularly difficult, as the presence of an actual Asylum cat was just about the only thing that could have tripped this plan up at all, and they'd been doing so well up til now. Their only hope was an awful bluff and silent prayers for StarClan's mercy - a mercy she wasn't entirely sure she still believed in, after everything, so things seemed grim indeed.

(Even then, StarClan's mercy still seemed a little more likely than receiving any from the Asylum cat before them.)

Silently, she narrowed her hidden eyes and gestured for him to get off the ice - she wasn't really expecting him to, but figured that was what an actual guard would have done; honestly, she should have put up with the spying a few more times, if only to have a better idea of how she was meant to act now. Had she really been so sure of herself - of them both - that she really believed they wouldn't be caught?

Overconfidence and self-assurance, perfectly classic failures of any would-be troublemaker - these were lessons she'd learned as a prankster apprentice, how had she forgotten them? They should have curbed their expectations, tried something smaller and less likely to get caught.

Then again, she thought, recalling a lifetime of reckless curiosity. We've never been good at keeping out of trouble, have we?

Still, if she were to speak now she'd give herself away for sure; keeping silent and acting on assumption was all she could really do. She'd already resigned herself to however this mission turned out, and she'd known the risks, whether or not she'd truly processed them in the moment. It was one thing when it was all hypothetical, and entirely another now that she was standing here and sending a prayer to the stars she was fairly certain had long forsaken her.

Theron twitched an ear as Minksteam mentioned the 'Dark Forest.' That seemed...Familiar. She paused to muse on it, before it clicked. Ah yes, Goldengale had spouted something like that towards her when she was running away after saving that fool Finchstar. Hm. She blinked, drawing back to the present as Minkstream gestured at the raccoon-pelt wearing she-cat as she lazily slid her gaze over to her. She said nothing until she was certain the tom had finished his...Bluff. It was what it was, after all. "Cute. But I'm not a fool," she meowed with a soft snarl as she stepped forward. "Tip for you - Asylum cats know how to mask their scents. Not everybody uses it all the time but its helpful when you want to be sneaky. It also, would have helped hide the scent of ThunderClan reeking from beneath that raccoon pelt. The other Asylum cats may have only seen the pelt but one does not get to Captain by being so easily tricked." She paused, raising a head. "...And you wanted to know who I am? I am Theron, Captain of the Nightstrikers. My fun...Is the hard way."

In a swift motion she spun on her paws and kicked out with her legs - aiming straight for Batbite's head to throw the she-cat off. She then hooked one of her back paws beneath the warrior's leg, pulling it out from under her as she sent the raccoon-wearing she-cat to the ground. With her out of the way, she then sprung at the ThunderClan deputy. With a hefty grunt, she rammed her shoulder into him to knock him to the ground and brought down her claws on either side of his neck. She lifted her head with a grin, claws digging ever so slightly into the soft flesh - in such a postition that any sudden movements from her would end with a torn throat. "When are you Clan cats going to learn? You can't win. The sooner you learn that and lie down, the less bloodshed that will happen..." she lifted her head and gazed off in the direction she had stalked from. "Alois! Please help take the pelt-wearer back to her camp. The one who actually took the first step...Well, he will be coming with me."

Out from the shadows stepped another cat, cloaked in a fox's pelt. It barely hide his bulky form as she came to a stop next to Batbite, growling softly as he glared down at her. "You heard the Captain. Get up. Seems you get to be lucky," he noted with a huff.

"Lucky? Oh no, she gets to pass on our message," Theron noted, tail lashing in glee over this entire situation. Ah, it had been a while since she had been able to strike fear in the heart of the Clan cats. Not since she had stopped visiting WindClan due to the fact that they didn't seem to like her for some reason. "Stepping out of line will ensure a harder punishment. Cats who are deemed a risk will be taken to where we can keep an...Eye on them. Stay in line, or lose your Clanmates one by one. The choice is yours. Alois?"

The large tom grabbed Batbite by the scruff yanking her away from Theron and Minkstream as he started to forcefully drag her back towards the ThunderClan camp. Theron stepped off of Minkstream for all but a second, shoving him hard so he would roll enough so that she could grab his scruff before he could make any attempts to strike back. She started to drag him off, padding down the length of the river as she headed to a place only a few cats knew.

Another cat had been stolen for the 'glory' of Asylum.

Batbite stayed silent, playing along, and they stretched the painfully thin lie as far as it would go. It had been too far - the bluff broke with a snap almost audible in Minkstream's head as that lazy look slid from him to his mate. And he knew as she spoke that they'd lost. They'd taken a gamble, thrown their mice, and lost. To his horrified mental vision, he could suddenly see the sheer lunacy, all the gaps they hadn't filled out in their haste. That one thing - why hadn't he thought of scent? They should have expected to run into Asylum, into someone who could see through the guise they'd woven. He should have expected it.

"I am Theron, Captain of the Nightstrikers. My fun...Is the hard way."

She lashed out and he dropped the act with a lunge, sheer horror searing through his pelt as her paws went not for him, but Bat. "NO!"

His paws fought for traction on the dark surface of the ice, and he cursed himself for walking out onto it in the first place as she hooked Bat's legs out from under her, all in one flash of a movement. Leaping for her, lips peeling back in a snarl, he was caught off guard as she whipped around, smashing her shoulder into him and sending him skidding back on the slick surface. Faint cracks sounded beneath him as he crashed to the ground, but that wasn't what held his attention.

Claws at his neck, a mad grin that glowed with a sick yellow light in her eyes. He struggled, tensing his muscles, feeling hot pricks of pain in his neck. Her words buzzed inaudibly in his ears as he gasped for breath, surging rage running hot through his veins. Rage and fear. What would she do to Bat? He spat back in her face, his own eyes flashing pure viciousness, uncaring of the trickles of red his movements brought. His ears cleared enough to hear what she threw back over her shoulder at someone else, and the ice beneath him crept into his veins like spikes.

Back to camp. Memories of Beartooth's cries as that monster tore into his flesh zapped like lightning across his eyes. Camp didn't mean safety anymore. It meant bars - cold twoleg-made bars.

He barely caught what she said about his own fate. He'd had no doubts it would be bad, whatever happened. Struggling further, bunching his hind legs, he lashed out, feeling claws dangerously close to his lifeblood, vibrating with the rumbling snarl that broke free of his lips. "Get away from her, mangepelt!" He couldn't even see the cat this monster had been talking to. Monsters, all of them. Sick and twisted every single one.

Her words chilled him to the core, maddened him beyond any shred of intelligent thought as he cried out. "NO! BAT!" He could barely breathe, hind legs seeking to pummel soft belly regardless of the claws at his skin. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Only instinct pulsed through his body, desire to tear through these monsters even if his own throat was torn out. To get them away.

And then abruptly, her claws were off him, even as he started to twist. With the sudden pressure unexpectedly gone, he flailed for a half-beat. Too long. Even as the surprise shocked through him like cold water, her shove smacked his face into the icy ground, the hit briefly stunning him. Teeth yanked at his scruff, and he twisted again, lashing out with a feral hiss, trying to rake claws through her pelt, through anything he could reach.

Everything was a crazy whirl. He could see a fox dragging Batbite away, spiking panic coursing through his pelt as reality slipped. Those foaming jaws. They'd kill her. Red and black swirled through the white and green of the terrain around him.

He went berserk.

With a caterwauling yowl - more half cry, half howl - he bucked and threw himself to the side. Fully extended claws slashed out, a spitting maelstrom of teeth, claws, and bristling fur. Pain coursing through his body only buzzed to the thunder of his heart. They won't TAKE ANY MORE FROM ME!