I've Had Enough ... [Twisted Waters Plot; Closed]

Klaus bolted after a particularly unique rabbit... one with a white pelt and speckled with brown. It's pelt would be a unique trophy, if only he could catch the odd-furred rodent. Klaus had had little trouble catching rabbits and hares before, but this one was different. It purposely let the cat pursuer get close before darting in an unexpected direction, sometimes changing direction three times in the matter of an instant. Klaus had slid out of reach of the rabbit twice... Gritting his teeth with determination, he charged after it a third time. They were getting dangerously close to raging river, but he figured if the rabbit could set foot on a spot, so could he. He wasn't about to get spooked by the strategies of a rodent!

The determined rogue closed in on his prey and he smiled to himself. The rabbit had no choice but to turn left or it would fall into the river... and he was waiting for it to make that mistake. Alas, the rabbit turned out to be a genius of it's species. It darted left only briefly, to which Klaus bolted to follow. Then the rabbit swerved to the right, right up against the ledge that bordered the river. Klaus overcorrected himself, desperate to stay on course. His paw slipped on dirt and gravel that was loose. Only then did the rabbit bound away to the left. As the odd-furred rabbit bolted into the bushes, Klaus teetered over the edge and fell into the water.

The shock of the cold had him writhing in pain before he broke the surface and sucked in a breath greedily. Not the river again! Come on Klaus swim to the side! He coached himself in his panic. He kicked his legs furiously trying to reach the ledge again rather than fight the current upstream. The river shoved him under a log, his back skimming the smooth surface stripped of bark from moons of being bombarded by water. It forced him under and whipped him around wildly, disorientating him. It was all he could do to not panic and release his breath. A few terrifying moments later, Klaus's head broke the surface of the water again. When he surveyed what was around him, the water had somehow pushed him nearly in the middle of the river.

He could feel the colder temperature beginning to sap his strength. What if there were no twolegs to save him this time?

As she sat on the very edge of the sandy bank, Ivystar's eyes flitted to the opposite side of the river at the sound of a quick scurry and scuffling. This was definitely the sound of a cat clumsily navigating near the border, but for what she wasn't entirely sure. Galavanting so close to another Clan's land so close to Leaf-bare was a dangerous decision to make for any cat. Soon enough, the source of the sound was made evident to her, and with narrowed eyes, her gaze landed on a sandy golden tom chasing an oddly-pelted rabbit through the dried reeds and grasses. The tom was certainly fast, there was no doubt about that. So much so that she wasn't able to recognize him- not that she had much of a chance to, because he plunged into the water before she could get a good look at him.

A voice in her head screamed to push forward, to dive into the water and save the tom. A part of her hesitated, though, because as his head bobbed above the surface of the water, she knew exactly who this tom was. His not-so-subtle threats on Bearspirit's life hadn't gone unnoticed during their previous encounter, and the only reason he'd gotten away was because of the value she placed on her Clanmate's lives above drama from other Clans. This time, though, it was just the two of them. She could sit just where she was and let him drown; watch that nefarious glint in his eyes fade away as the rapids swallowed him whole. She could put her Clan back in SkyClan's good graces and deliver his soaked pelt right to their camp.

The two choices nearly drove her mad as she watched him struggle in the middle of the depths, but finally, she shoved herself onto her paws and dove into the water, pushing herself through the current and dodging debris to get to him. She'd let SkyClan decide what to do with him after she dragged his soggy behind to their front entrance. Her head bobbed above the water as she came up for air, plunging back into the frigid water in Dawnhawk's direction. Once she was able to feel the tom's soaked pelt, she latched onto his scruff and began to heave back to shore, lungs already stinging with the effort of it all in the cold waters. Her thick pelt only did so much to protect her from nearly freezing waters, and admittedly, she didn't spend too much time swimming like this outside of Greenleaf. After what felt like ages, she felt sand and rock beneath her paws once again, and her head dipped above the surface of the water. She greeted the cool air with a deep inhale, dropping Dawnhawk's scruff for just a moment so that she could regain her bearings.

Once she had taken just a moment to catch her breath, she wasted no time and began hauling him by the scruff along the riverside, hoping that the chilled rapids knocked him out for long enough that she'd be able to get decently far.

Something silver plopped into the water with him. Then there was teeth in his scruff, but it wasn't an attack. He knew the difference well enough. A set of more experienced swimmer's legs was pulling him along and Klaus used a bit more of his strength to try to swim with his rescuer rather than just be dead weight. Had to be a Riverclan cat... and when his eyes finally got out of the water long enough to see who it was, he smiled. His paws finally hit solid rock and sand and he collapsed to the ground next to Ivystar.

There wasn't much to be said as he caught his breath. Slowly, shakily, he got to his feet and shook himself off. His tongue immediately went to trying to dry out his fur, but more teeth in his scruff and... a very pushy Ivystar pulled his tongue back away from his body along with his head. A noise somewhat like "gah!" was made as he was whirled around and forced to walk... towards Skyclan territory???

"Uh... thanks for saving me Ivystar. You can let go now." He tugged gently away from her, but her teeth held firm. Dark Forest he was cold! He tried padding ahead of her as far as his stretchy scruff would allow before he hurriedly tried to shake off his four paws. Ivystar kept pulling him along though, so that task was pointless.

"You're pretty for an old lady, truly, and I mean that in the best possible way... but your clan probably wouldn't want us this close together. You know?" He was really hoping his attempts at flattery and humor would be enough to get her to let go so he could escape into the trees. He really hoped maybe she was going to take him somewhere to dry off...

But the closer they got to Skyclan's borders, the more he doubted that.

"Ivystar," His voice was suddenly very serious and the pitch in his voice had dropped dangerously low. "I said let go."

In spite of the wiggling and writhing of the tom as she pulled on his scruff, Ivystar continued to drag him through the sand at an increasingly fast pace. A huff escaped her lips as she held tight, trying to ignore the silky golden fur sticking to her tongue. His flattery beheld nothing from her but an intense eye roll, though she was tempted to make some biting remark. Her grip tightened as she kept walking, working out in her head exactly what she was going to say as she marched into SkyClan's camp. 'Yes, here's the tom you've been searching for for moons. I found him drowning in the river. Don't mind the fact that he's drenched. Well, have fun, I'll be getting back to my camp now.' As odd as it sounded, she hoped that they'd appreciate her going out of her way to deliver him to their doorstep.

When Dawnhawk's voice dropped, she stopped and stood silently for a moment, teeth still clamped tightly, drawing blood that she pretended, for her own sake, not to notice. With a sigh of frustration, she abruptly dropped his scruff, whipping around to face him. Tail lashing she growled, "Do you think you scare me, Dawnhawk? Because you most certainly don't." Pushing forward, her claws remained unsheathed, leaving little tick marks in the sand underpaw. Her teeth were bared and she came within an inch of his face, snarling, "You're nothing more than an entitled kit, running around as if the world owes you something because you've had a rough go of it." Bunching up the muscles in her hind legs, she pushed forward and shoved Dawnhawk into the sand, pinning him down by the shoulders and sinking her claws into his skin. Green eyes narrowed, she focused on the tom's icy blue ones, analyzing each little movement he made.

"I don't blame SkyClan for hunting you down. In fact, if I didn't have the sole responsibility of ensuring my Clan had food in their bellies weighing down on my shoulders, I would've helped them chase WindClan out myself in search of you. The truth is, you've got a soul darker than a fox's heart in the middle of leaf-bare. So, you've got two choices. Either I bring you to SkyClan and you face whatever punishment they choose for you, or I'll skin you myself right here, and dump your entrails in the carrionplace for the rats to snack on when they've found nothing better to eat." Lowering her face down to the tom's ear, she hissed, "So, what'll it be?"

He was surprised enough when she let go that he physically stopped. All of that anxiety he felt was gone and replaced with confusion. Ivystar turned to look at him and he just watched. The little bit of blood and the slight stinging on his scruff was pushed to the back of his mind. He even assumed it had happened when she pulled from out of the water.

Then she started talking.

His ears rotated out on either side of his head as more confusion set in... was that a hint of anger on the edges of his confusion too? He almost didn't have time to process her first question before she was talking again. She wasn't afraid of him... apparently... Had he given her a reason to be? No. So that would make sense. She got in his face next.

"You're nothing more than an entitled kit, running around as if the world owes you something because you've had a rough go of it."

"... You... know?" He couldn't elaborate. Did she know how Smokefeather treated him? Was that what she was referring to? It certainly seemed like it. No sympathy for an apprentice neglected by his father and beat by his mother? It had happened on her territory after all... maybe she saw something and never said anything.

Now there was no mistaking his anger... it was spreading slowly like an oil spill in an ocean in his chest. His claws unsheathed, but he said nothing. Then she jumped at him and he hit the sand with a thud. Her claws pierced his skin. Something inside Dawnhawk stirred. Something dark. It felt like a snake trying to force it's way out of an egg in his chest and from the darkest corners of his mind. The scent of Riverclan was still on Ivystar despite the water...

A mono-chromatic she-cat was in his face. She had put him on the ground. She was lecturing him. This was too familiar. This was too familiar. This was too familiar.

Ivystar continued to talk.

His heartbeat had quickened and his breathing became labored. His ears finished their rotation and plastered back against his head. His lips peeled back to reveal pointed teeth, the same fangs that had taken several lives. His eyes narrowed and his pupils constricted until they resembled a viper's on a hot greenleaf day. Whatever that thing was in him stirred even more... Maybe it was his imagination. He couldn't tell with all of the fury that clawed away any rational thought he could have had in this moment.

"You're really not afraid of me, Ivystar?" His fur bristled, and in that moment... there was the slightest warning of what was to come. His pupils dilated ever so slightly as his decision was made. "You're an idiot!" Dawnhawk pressed into her claws, not caring that it tore the flesh pinned down there. It freed him enough to reach Ivystar and his fangs struck out with a lethal swiftness.

They plunged deep into her throat and he clamped on with all of the strength he could muster. His rage exploded in that instant. That odd squirmy feeling in his gut finally broke free of its confines and wildly ripped through the tom's entire being. In his feral state, Dawnhawk was hardly aware of his movements, but it seemed his body knew what to do without much conscious thought from him. He legs shot upward against Ivystar's body to force her away from him while he still had her throat flesh in his vice-like grip.

Hot crimson fluid fell from his jaws and ran down his already soaked pelt. He thrashed his head from side to side, determined to separate what was in his mouth from the body it belonged to. His claws buried themselves knuckle deep into the Riverclan leader's body, determined to keep her away from him. Adrenaline raced through his veins as he struggled beneath his opponent and he closed his eyes as more blood was freed from the flesh sack above him.

Ivystar could have been pummeling him with her claws for all he knew... all he could focus on was bite hard and thrash violently. Once he felt her body begin to go slack, he used what remained of his strength to roll her off of him and onto the sand beside him. He spat out the meat between his teeth... and it was only then that he realized he'd been biting so hard that his jaw ached.

Dawnhawk rolled into his belly, unsheathed paw lashing out to grip Ivystar's head while he lie there. His body trembled as if he were cold, but if he got any warmer right now he'd vomit. A familiar, vile feeling bubbled inside of him... the same feeling he had when he had killed Featherkit and fought Beechface in a fit of manic rage.

Foxdung! Tears welled up and flowed freely from his eyes as he rested his chin on the sand. He needed a moment. He needed a moment to make sense of the world around him right now. Was everyone so apathetic and heartless in this forest? Had he unintentionally killed anyone who may have loved him at one point? All he could think of was Blossomstep. If only he'd watched exactly where his claws were going... She would still be here.

To the Dark Forest with everyone else.

If he had no chance of finding a fresh start...

What was the point in trying?

Spoiler:

Ivystar's muscled tensed as she stared down at Dawnhawk, claws tightening deeper and deeper every second they remained buried in his skin. She was waiting for him to surrender, to back down and allow her to finally drag him to what would hopefully be his bloody end in SkyClan. Once he did, she could finally wipe her claws of him, the worry that he'd attack one of her Clanmates absent from her mind with SkyClan having taken care of him. Seconds ticked by, slowly as dripping pine sap in the harshest of leafbares. Finally, she saw his eyes dilate, and before she could register exactly what was coming, his fangs were lodged deeply in her throat.

Despite her futile attempts to fight back, to scramble forward and bury her claws back into his shoulders and force him off of her, her body quickly went limp and fell to the ground by his side. Though in this world her consciousness remained in a deep, dark state of emptiness, she awoke among the stars, her opaque pelt standing out against the translucent, star-spangled environment she now found herself in. Disoriented, she struggled to rise to her paws and remained in a sitting position as she regained her bearings. Once the spots in her eyes subsided, she was greeted by the sight of a grey tabby, with an unsettling resemblance to her. Eyes filled with tears, she launched herself forward, only to be disappointed when there was no physical shoulder there for her to lean on.

Jaystar's humble gaze remained trained on his daughter, searching for all the right words as she stared back at him. A seemingly eternal silence stretched between them before Ivystar finally murmured in a low, sunken voice, "I tried, Jaystar... I'm trying to do the right thing. I was so certain, just like you told me to be..." Her ears were pinned to the back of her skull as tears streamed down her face, and she wanted nothing more than to press herself into his shoulder like she had so many times as a kit. And then, finally, his wise words echoed across the sandy, starry clearing they sat in. "You've done nothing wrong, my love." Padding forward, he ended up sitting across from her, just a tail-length away. Almost tangible.

"You may feel as if you are failing your Clan, but you are not. Your actions are noble, your intentions are true to yourself and your morals. That is how I raised you to be, no?" A smirk formed on his muzzle as he looked down at her, that fatherly gaze comforting her in some strange way. "Now go, before he rises. Don't stray from the path you've cleared for yourself- stay true. I love you always." Colors began to swirl and muddle before her very eyes, leaving Ivystar paralyzed. Eventually, she was forced to close her eyes as a blinding light stretched across her peripherals, covering everything in sight. Soon, she'd awaken next to Dawnhawk, and send him where he belonged- the dredges of the Dark Forest.

Why..? He thought as he clenched his claws harder over Ivystar's skull. I helped feed your clan as an apprentice... I fought against dogs to protect one of your warriors... I didn't have to do that. I didn't have to do that Ivystar! But I wanted to! It felt good to do something good for someone else... His eyes shut tighter and forced back a sob. Then even Bearspirit was going to drag me back to Skyclan... it didn't matter that I helped him. I helped you both! Why does that not matter to either of you?! He swallowed the hard lump in his throat and slowly got to his feet. He grit his teeth and growled, forcing himself to stop crying. He blinked one final time and let the tears roll... and then he forced the rest of the tears back.

I'm not meant to be good... A thought suddenly occurred to him... and all of the shaking in his legs stopped. Was that it? Was that his problem? Any anchor he'd had to being good, or at least trying to be, had been severed in one way or another. Honeycomb was gone. His parents had neglected and betrayed him. Sunnyskip stopped trusting him once his identity as Dawnhawk was revealed. Blossomstep died to his own claws purely by chance. Ashfall, as far as he knew had no real reason to despise him, yet she did. Tornshadow was stars knew where.

I guess I should stop trying. Tarot had been good company, when he was around. The tom hardly counted as good though, and would probably be just as shunned as he himself was. Cannibalism was generall frowned upon, and even Dawnhawk was weirded out by it. Still, Tarot had proved to be loyal thus far which is more than he could say for most cats. Waterlily... it was only a matter of time before she knew who he really was. She'd reject him too, he had no doubts, despite being exactly the same tom he was right now.

Dawnhawk looked at the dead Riverclan leader, knowing she'd likely revive soon. He doubted he was lucky enough to have killed a leader on their last life so easily. "Not fearing me, even a little, was your first mistake." He said smugly before he leaned down to grab her by the throat again. He'd keep pressure to prevent the wounds from healing, at least for now.

The whole forest wants to hunt me down? I'll never be allowed a second chance because of mistakes I made moons ago? Because I refuse to let those who have wounded me so deeply and irreparably live? He dragged Ivystar down river just a bit. He saw a spot in the river with a long over some stones. Just beneath that log, the water on the surface seemed to be swirling.

The pale tom walked as close as he could to that spot, spread his paws for balance and rooted himself in the strongest, most stable position that he could. He took a few breaths to ready himself before he heaved Ivystar's body into the whirlpool. He could still make out her broken shape beneath the water... and it looked like the river was doing it's job of keeping her submerged. But how long would that last when she came back to life?

Dawnhawk targeted one of the stones and leaped onto it, his Skyclan strength not failing him just yet. The log was only just barely balanced on the stone he had hopped to. He looked back into the whirling water below. "Then I declare war on the whole forest; Every leader in every clan, every elder in the elder's den, every kit in every nursery... you are all my foes. You will all die." He was muttering to no one in particular, but it made him feel better to say it out loud. He dropped a shoulder beneath the log on the opposite side of where it was the least stable...

He rammed the log sharply a few times with his shoulder, very likely bruising it, but the log finally rolled out of place, into the water... and pinned Ivystar beneath the swirling water. She was doomed, regardless of how many lives she had left.

Dawnhawk angled his head towards his back and ripped a mouthful of his own fur out to place on the stone. He wanted the whole forest to know that he had done it. No more slinking around and hiding. No more.

"I have had enough... I will die when time catches up with me... but I will leave a scar upon this forest so deep it will never stop bleeding before that happens. Every clan and every cat in them, will know my name and shudder." But which name should he go by? Dawnhawk was a Skyclan cat that "had a rough go" as Ivystar had put it. Nightwind was just as much of a shadow as he resembled; A myth, a lie, an illusion. Klaus was a disgruntled, frustrated rogue cat that was out of options...

He was none of those things now. Now he was the forest's adversary, not just Skyclan's. He leaped off of the rock and back onto the sand. He would need to go back home, to the old Asylum camp, and speak to Tarot about his decisions. What he absolutely needed to do, was train the dark tom faster. Hopefully he wouldn't regret that, but he supposed that if he had to kill Tarot, or even Tornshadow or anyone who he hoped to be his allies... he would do it and not feel pain or remorse. He was determined.

I was treated like a snake so I became one... and I don't even care. He thought bitterly as he left Ivystar's watery, twisted grave behind him. His pelt would dry as he moved. As long as he stayed moving he would be warm enough to survive. He needed to move away from this spot for now and regroup with Tarot.

Spoiler: