Faded Hope [Shadowclan Finale]

Swiftheart nuzzled her mother back for a breif moment when Rain was done for how she missed her so much and seeing her back again was such a relief.

She nodded at her leaders words about finishing the few remaining DF cats. She followed her mother into battle and snapped at the dark forest cat that her mother had chosen to go for as well.

She snapped at poppymaw but she could tell that she was getting really tired from such a long battle. She wanted to finally have peace in the foret once more and to not have to live under the fear of the DF

Swiftheart used snap on Poppymaw. For 10 dmg + 1 and using 7 sp


Poppymaw: KO PENDING
-3/100 HP (-11)
145/180 SP

Murkystar:
80/80 HP
111/170 SP (-10)

Redwing:
56/80 HP
148/170 SP

Leopardsun:
Night Finesse
25/30 HP
41/80 SP

Marshmallow:
30/40 HP
86/100 SP

Swiftheart:
30/63 HP
63/140 SP (-7)

Snowfoot gasped as Webwhisper dissolved into shadow. “Thalia. Thank you!” She got to her feet, a bit shaky. “Good work everyone!”

Snowfoot is finishing her stun. If there’s still another battle going in a bit, she’ll help out.

Snowfoot
6/40 HP
81/100 SP

She exhaled a sharp, almost hysterical, "Hah!" at Leopardsun's threat. Dancing on her grave? Comical. "That's brutal, kit," she laughed.

The cacophony of attacks were getting to the she-cat. Her body was weak, her brain losing oxygen, and her sanity draining. How much time did she have left?

More cats joined the fight, it was too much. Surrounded by many enemies, there was simply no where to run. "Rat-dung-eaters! All of you! Mangy flea-bags!" she hissed, spinning around to let spit fly at each of their faces, "YOU CAN NEVER KILL ME!"

---

And with that final blow Poppymaw fell, her blood-stained corpse shredded into pieces and blown away like nothing. After a life of bloody, power-hungry crimes, brave and noble warriors struck her down, winning their freedom.

Poppymaw is KO'd!

Marshmallow finally found the strength in herself to move again, just as Poppymaw's body hit the ground. "Proved you wrong." She commented bluntly. She felt no sympathy, though she could hear the pain in the she-cat's shrieks. As quick as a tail flick, the Dark Forest cat hit the ground. "Did... We win?" She glanced around the clearing, trying to see any cats. Nobody, not even Fawnpatch. A part of her felt... something, at that realisation, but she wasn't sure what the feeling was exactly. "Is everyone okay?" She tilted her head specifically at Swiftheart, and then to Leopardsun, both seeming incredibly tired.

Webwhisper gasped at teeth met her neck, and her paws seemed to feel lighter and lighter. She had died once already, in a similar manner... And now it was happening again. Her hate-filled eyes darted to each opponents, fighting to remain standing tall as long as she could. "You don't have the slightest clue... The next time you're starving in leaf-bare and StarClan doesn't come to help you hunt the way we did, remember how we assisted you. We kept your fresh-kill pile fat and plenty..... Yet you turned on us for nothing. I hope you all feel forsaken by the stars and feel my pain someday." She growled as the last of her physical body disappeared.

Webwhisper is no more!

---

Murkystar swayed slightly in place as the final opponent fell, gazing around at her clanmates thoroughly. She was mildly surprised to see Marshmallow only a few tail lengths away, having been fighting - the last battle she hadn't participated in. Perhaps she had learned after all... Offering a small nod to the she-cat, she continued to scan the area for her loved ones. Swiftheart wasn't far away, but where was Basilbloom? Nightstalker? Echopaw, Harepaw, Rosekit? Bat and Misty? Her heart sank as she found some but not others...

Murkystar is open for interaction!

Harepaw had stuck by Rosekit's side during the battle, unwilling to leave her alone and risk her trying to joi in, despite the queens that she knew would do the same job just as well (or better, she knew logically). As the final dark forest cat fell, she slunk forwards, wide mismatched eyes taking in the forms of her bloody and clearly exhausted clanmates.

"Swiftheart...? Are you okay?" She and Nightstalker both looked terrible. They'd fought that filthy she-cat that had been starving dad, though the she-cat had clearly gotten into plenty of blows against both of them. Harepaw's claws flexed in anger as she glanced at the spot where Fawnpatch had fallen, before returning to her older siblings, as well as Murkystar's tortoiseshell frame. "Are they really gone?" It almost seemed to good to be true. She'd grown so accustomed to their presence that not having the living shadows prowling around camp so suddenly felt strange... But if they were really gone, that was a good thing. And Murkystar was finally here, that meant things would be fine, right?

---

Mistyfalcon had felt a grim satisfaction at watching Fawnpatch taken down, though both it and the twinge of regret he felt at not being able to be the one to do so tempered by concern for Nightstalker and Swifteart's injuries.

As the last dark forest cat fell, the thin elder forced himself to his paws. Fawnpatch's tender care had done a number on him, clearly, ribs clearly defined under a thinning pelt only just the start. Maybe now that she was gone his family would stop fretting and fussing over him once he got some much-needed food in his belly... Or, he thought, probably not. He'd seen the way Murkystar glanced around the clearing. Feeling as weary as if he'd fought in the battle, Mistyfalcon limped over. His tail brushing Nightstalker and Swiftheart's flanks as he passed them. He'd noticed Harepaw had stayed out of the fighting and stuck near Rosekit, and perhaps selfishly was relieved that the younger of his family had escaped injury. If only the others had been so lucky.

"Murkystar," He nudged the top of her head with his own,, just glad that she was back.

Leopardsun nodded to Marshmallow; despite her disastrous failure to attack that first time, she wasn't hurt too badly during the fight besides that. Part of her wanted to make sure the other she-cat was alright, but once she realized the danger was no longer immediate, she nodded politely to Murkystar before returning to Deerleap and Sootwhisker's bodies. "It's over, right?" she whispered. "So you can wake up now, right? Please. Wake up... Say something!"

---

The Dark Forest cat's words were harsh, but Thalia was barely listening. The battle was over, and everything she'd put out of her mind for its duration was threatening to come back at once. She shook her head in an attempt to clear it, keeping her eyes anywhere but the ground. The blood and dust that covered it in patches was something she didn't need to see. The scent of blood and death was more than enough to ensure her sleep would be restless.

But the threat was gone, unless there was something she'd missed, and she could at least try to relax. The sight of ShadowClan's leader caught her attention as she was looking for something to focus on, and she took a few cautious steps forward, waving her tail in greeting. "It's good to see you, Murkystar. We certainly missed you."

Snowfoot caught sight of Leopardsun by her parents’ bodies. She could do nothing, and didn’t really know what to say, but she limped over and brushed up against Leopardsun, thin tail draping over her back. Her best friend was dead.

(OOC: If I'm correct, both soot & deer's bodies would go to the stars now, and they wouldn't remain here like usual dead cats anymore, since it was mentioned in their deaths that they faded away)

Their battle was over. Life shone through the stars as they did once more before — and StarClan, all of them, were officially back. Things were normal again... Until so much had been done, he knew it wasn't. Deerleap, his very own daughter, was gone. They've lost their clanmates, and he lost her — the pain of having to grieve someone rose again, as horrid flashbacks of Ratrunner's, Loudnose's, and Sootwhisker's deaths. They all weren't in vain, and so was Deerleap's death as well. They'll return to the stars now. Even if I can't see, nor talk to them as usual anymore, they'll keep a look over us.

With a quiet, breathless gasp, he turned to look at Murkystar — dipping his head, before smiling with relief. "You're really back, Murkystar. Thank you for fighting alongside me earlier, and though then I hadn't gotten a chance to properly thank you then, I do, now. Welcome back... We all waited for your return." He longed to search for Swiftheart, but he was sure they'd find each other again, sooner or later.

Then — as he glanced back, another sight broke him. His efforts of staying so strong — were easily swayed by just a simple, yet so overwhelming scene. Leopardsun grieving them. Deerleap and Soothwhisker. With a heavy heart, he excused himself, quietly walking over to Leopardsun and Snowfoot. "Their sacrifices were not in vain, Leopardsun, Snowfoot. I'll certainly miss them too... but now they walk among the stars. With StarClan. They'll be well there." He sat down. His heart felt like it would drop out of his throat — but his clanmates needed him to be strong. They both were in a better place now, and what's been done couldn't be undone.

Suddenly, a thought struck Snowfoot and she gasped. “VIXENPAW! Where is she?” she yowled. She hadn’t seen her apprentice this whole time, and her parents…

It was finally over, all of it.  Basilbloom, panting from the effort of running around between her clanmates and trying to plaster cobwebs on the worst wounds, felt her head spinning.  She couldn't rest yet though, her clanmates needed her.  Fuzzypaw couldn't do it all on his own, she wouldn't place that burden on him.  However, in the midst of it all she spotted a familiar pelt, one so alike to her own.  "Mama...Mama!"  The small tortoiseshell she-cat ran over to the spirit of Murkystar and nuzzled her head against her chest, breathing in her scent.  "I've missed you so much...you're coming back to us right?  The Dark Forest is gone, you can revive now!  Right?"  Her voice was desperate, pleading.  This was all so strange to her, she had always thought she'd known StarClan since she'd become a medicine cat but the past few moons had proven her wrong over and over again.  All she wanted was to have her mother back, and for everything to go back to normal.  And it would...right?

Loudnose watched stars bloom through the black, brighter than he had ever seen them. "We won!" he bellowed, jumping around in joy. Energy took control over his tabby paws, carrying him away from the four trees he had been trapped in for so long. The ghost raced through the swamps and pine trees and loudly celebrated the victory with yowls of rejoice, "Shadowclan is saved!"

He halted at his home's entrance, taking a deep breath before walking in like he had done many times before. He saw ghoulish bodies evaporating, sent back to wherever they had crawled from. He saw cats examining their wounds, and saw cats calling for their loved ones. But most importantly, he saw his family. "Mama!" he cried, rushing over to her sparkling form. Basilbloom was there too, who he gave a big nuzzling to before looking up to Murkystar. "Mama did you.. die? Are you okay? Or.. or is that all your lives? Th-that's okay, you can come to Starclan with me! Let's go Mama, let's go find Condorpaw!"

Swiftheart sat a bit dazed after the battle she had been hit pretty hard and her wounds stungs alot.  She blinked a couple times trying to focus her vision back to normal.  UGhh those dark forest cats could really hit hard. Hmm she should probably stop by Basilbloom's later to have her older sister take an extra look... but for now she was positive ti was nothing too serious.


She saw her family gathering nearby as well as the entierty of the clan actually and she went to join them all.

"mom" she purred relived to see her leader back again and well.  

Harepaw was there as well, her apprentice and younger sister asked if she was okay and she nodded slowly ... she couldn't even pretend to hide her exhaustion however and the usually energetic she cat felt like she could barely even stand and walk around right now... she wished to just sleep off the battle for a couple moons or so.  

However, the though of getting to see all her family together, to have Murkystar back was enough to keep her going.

"Yeah you are fully back now right?" she mirrored her older sister (BAsilblooms) question hopefully.  Mom was gonna be fully back and everything would be good as new


Rosekit bounded over and asked questions about Fawnpatch and the kind hearted white furred molly couldnt help but flinch when her younger sister wanted so much to find the Dark forest cat that only moments earlier was trying to kill Swiftheart and her kits...
Hmm... how to answer that question... maybe their siblings would have a better way with that... for once Swiftheart stayed quiet on that whole issue not really wanting to go there for now.  She made a mental note to sneak Rosekit out of camp again at some point... she couldn't let her younger sister get too bored and besides... the whole no kits out of camp rule was one she never fully agreed with even if she followed all the rest of the rules to a perfection.

Her eyes drifted away and they landed on where deerleap and Sootwhisker had made their ultimate sacrifice... Her first apprentice and good friend... was gone now, why did it have to happen like this?? if swiftheart had known of this plan she would have begged Deerleap to let her take Deers place... She would have done it too... Deerleap shouldnt have to end like this, she saw Duskflight and Leopardpaw and snowfoot all gathered around... Poor leopardpaw... Sootwisker and Deer had adopted her in a sense and now ...  Her throat welled up as she slowly made her way to the group...

She wished she could offer any sort of comfort to them but knew there wasn;t really much she could do.  Seeing Duskflight like this made her feel so much pain, ... she cared about him alot and losing his daughter and son-in-law like this ... it was so unfair.  

She carefully approached him and laid her tail gently on his tail"Im so... so sorry Duskflight... she didnt know what else to say and the usual very talkative cat fell silent actually.  The pain was great for all of them.  Deer and Soot were exceptional warriors and their was no doubt their sacrifice would always be remembered and never in vein.  She stayed with Duskflight, Leopardpaw and Snowfoot for a while remembering them both.  She briefly laid her head on his shoulder letting him know she was there for him best she could be. You are right... their sacrifices were not in vein" she reassured Duskflight with a small nod.



Then a very familiar voice called out and she turned to see Loudnose in a stary from

"Louddddd" she called for her brother... her paws found a small amount of new energy and she padded over to him still she was clearly exhausted and much more tired than her usual self.

She nudged her older brother in a hug. "I missed you so much"

.... hmm what was this now?? Loud said something interesting that really caught her attention... go to starclan with him?? Murkystar???

Swiftherat sat there stunned for a couple long moments ... huhh??

She thought maybe she was imagining things... wow she really did get hit hard in the head in the battle???

Until it finally dawned on her in a slow realization... no... that wasn't fair... Murkystar had so many lives left ... surely that was a mistake that Loud had made? Right?

Her head whipped back to Murkystar and her lips trempled ... "...wait what?" she asked totally confused