Swiping Stars from the Sky [C]

OOC: Takes place after the Dawnhawk reveal thread. Will be vague since that thread is not complete yet.

Dawnhawk was caked in mud, killing his scent as the Asylum had taught him to do. Between his teeth were clumps of his own white and gold fur, of which he raced down the Shadowclan/Skyclan border. He scaled a pine tree on Skyclan's side and left clumps of his fur dangling in the pine needles... among other things. It was the dead of night. No Skyclan cat should be awake at the moment. Once he felt satisfied with his work, he dropped quietly off of the pine tree. He made his way back down the border in silence, the mud beginning to flake off of him now that it had dried. It wasn't enough to leave a lasting scent, as long as he hurried... He'd nearly made it to the river when a flash of white caught his eye and his heart jumped.

Moonshine crept silently after a familiar pale pelt... one that nearly mirrored her own. All she saw was that he dropped from a pine tree caked in mud. What had he been doing? Her father had a flash of fear in his eyes that was gone the instant he recognized who his stalker was. That irritated her. "Dawnhawk? Wow, you are still alive!" She growled at him. She stayed in a fighting stance and glared daggers into his face.

"Go home, Ivory." Dawnhawk growled, though more out of annoyance than out of feeling threatened.

"It's Moonshine!" She spat. "I am a Shadowclan warrior now. Flintstar is my leader and you are no longer my captain." Her fur bristled. She retreated into the shadows of the bushes and foliage around her, actually surprising Dawnhawk with how well she was able to hide in darkness despite being as brilliant of a white as he was. Still, he picked up on the pain and resentment in her tone. He'd used it before himself.

"I'm allowed to be on the border." He said to her, sounding bored. He began to walk forward, determined to get away from here.

"Rogues aren't allowed in Skyclan, I know that." Moonshine watched him from the darkness, and she smirked to herself when his eyes flicked toward her voice with surprise. She had moved completely to a different side of him and he never noticed. She had come a long way as a Shadowclan warrior. "You specifically are wanted dead by Skyclan... and I know you're not welcome in Shadowclan territory either. I heard you were a liar and murderer... funny. You're at least not very good at the former." At those words, Dawnhawk stopped and there was a slight change in his eyes. They looked... colder.

"And I suppose you think you're going to be the one to kill me, my daughter? Do you think this is wise? I became a captain in the Asylum for a reason and you... what was your rank? One, maybe Two towards the end? You weren't a Nightstriker." His voice was still eerily calm and his tone matter-of-factly. Moonshine moved around him again, towards the front to stop him from advancing again. Only then did she appear from the darkness like a ghost. Dawnhawk's eyes snapped to attention in front of him.

"My rank isn't a reflection of who I am now, so it doesn't matter." She growled. Her tail lashed in agitation, which only brought a small half-smile to Dawnhawk's face. One she wanted to tear off of him.

"Right... so you must have been very low. I'm not wrong." He purposely tilted his chin up to look as haughty as he possibly could... and Moonshine fell for it. She launched herself at him, fire burning in her eyes and her claws extended. Dawnhawk easily ducked away from her claws and threw his shoulder into her exposed belly. A rush of wind escaped her jaws right before he pinned her to the ground where she fell on her side. In a flash, his teeth were on the side of her neck and his claws pinned down both of her forelegs. His hind legs were planted on the ground above her hips where she couldn't slash at his belly with them. She struggled, an explosion of fear overwhelmed her upon realizing the uselessness of her endeavor to get free. She knew with his current position, all it would take was a hard bite downward and a sharp pull to the side and she was dead.

So why was she still alive? Why hadn't he killed her yet?

"Let go of me!" She mewed, trying to sound intimidating but her voice betrayed her. Her pulse beat wildly in her neck. No doubt he could feel it and knew exactly how scared she was.

"You came after a murderer, Moonshine. How did you think this was going to go? Did you even think?" Dawnhawk growled into her fur. She tensed and closed her eyes tightly. Any moment now and he'd end her life... She struggled once more to get free, but again to no avail. It didn't even matter that he was stronger than her. He was putting pressure on her wrist joints in a way that if she struggled, she could dislocate them. His claws weren't even necessary.

Suddenly... that pressure was gone and his teeth released her neck. Moonshine was on her feet and a fox-length away from him in an instant. She turned to face him, lowered to the ground and breathing hard with her fur bristled out to it's maximum length. Dawnhawk didn't even bother with a proper fighting stance. He knew that she didn't have the confidence to strike again.

"Go home. I won't release you a second time." He warned her, and she believed him.

"I don't understand... why did you let me go at all? I'm not your favorite daughter... I know who she is!" Moonshine managed a growl towards the end. Her limbs still shook, but she did her best to look brave anyway. Dawnhawk's expression was very... unamused. He blinked boredly once and sighed quietly.

"I don't want trouble with Shadowclan." He answered simply. A twinge of pain shot through Moonshine's heart. He didn't even deny that he had a favorite. He didn't even try.

"Why..? Why is Tornshadow more deserving of love than me?" She asked, her voice cracking just a bit towards the end. She thought she might have seen Dawnhawk's eyes soften a bit. Something went through his head at that moment... but whatever it was, he wasn't about to share it.

"Tornshadow's mother was Honeycomb. I loved her. She was a Skyclan cat, and so is Tornshadow. Skyclan blood still matters to me more, even after what they've done to me. Your mother, though she was a good cat, was a means to an end, as are you and your siblings." As he finished, Moonshine's vision blurred and her face had warm lines running down it. For several moments, she couldn't speak. Dawnhawk at least, didn't try to push passed her or speak again. He was allowing her to take the information in.

"What end? What happened to my mom?"

"I had a goal to climb the ranks in the Asylum, which obviously I did. Contributing physical bodies, namely you and your siblings, instead of just racking up a body count helped me climb higher, among many other things. As for Eosphorous, she died. She had a head injury, tried to cross the river, and she drowned." It wasn't the whole truth, as he didn't need Moonshine to try to avenge her mother by going after Ashstorm. Moonshine's face fell. She'd had a feeling her mother was dead, but this confirmed it.

"A head injury? How?"

"I don't know. I found her like that." He lied. There was a tense moment of silence that passed between the two of them. Dawnhawk stared, emotionless as a snake, and Moonshine began to sob, no matter how hard she tried to hold it back. "I'm leaving." Dawnhawk said flatly. Moonshine had already lowered herself to the ground, her eyes saturated. She made no move to stop him as he passed by her this time. Once he was a few fox lengths away, the pale tom stopped and spared Moonshine one last glance.

"It's better that you don't get close to me anyway. Bad things happen to those who get close to me, almost as often as the bad things that happen to my enemies. You're not Tornshadow, but if you weren't my daughter, Moonshine, I would have killed you just now. Even if it's only a small comfort, I hope you take it." And with that, he sprinted away with the speed of a Windclan cat. Moonshine lie on the ground, on the border between Shadow and Sky, and buried her face underneath her paws.