The Day the World Moved [November Gathering 2022]

It was amazing to see just how important Nightstar was for ShadowClan to collectively try and reach his smooshed body. As the tree began to roll away from the leader, she looked to Leopardsun for further instruction. Because Iceheart was right. It was unfortunate and heartbreaking, but they'd have to come back for him after getting everyone else to safety.

She wasn't exactly close to the tom but he did allow her to stay with his clan when Leopardsun had brought her back that day. He was kind of mean looking, if she was to be honest, but it was the simple act of not kicking her out on sight that pushed his rough personality aside for her. She would still miss him. And she knew what she would see if she looked now, but she just couldn't help it. From experience, even a mangled corpse was still better than no memory at all-

To her surprise he wasn't as... broken as she thought he'd be. Minus the blood pooling out his mouth and wound on his back he seemed almost fine but she knew that slack-jawed look anywhere. He was gone. Heartbeats passed before she bowed slightly, paying respects. She would come back with the others to properly bury him- ???

Moving. He was moving? He was. Moving. A nasty cough escaped the tom followed by a bunch of blood. This was normal for a dead cat, right? Her mom made similar movements when she- "It- It'll take a lot more than a tree, to kill me. Nightstar never dies." A laugh rumbled out from Nightstar.

???

The very sound made her entire body freeze up. Her stomach churned. This cat was dead. This cat was smooshed. This cat was lifting his head to look around. Her jaw loosened and Applekit and Sunkit fell to her paws in a mewling heap and she staggered backwards. "Haha!" A laugh escaped her but not because she thought Nightstar's little quip was funny. No. if anything, it was a terrifying response. There was absolutely no way she just watched a cat rise from the dead and crack a funny. This had to be a very very mean joke. Had she felt this kind of sickening fear before? She couldn't recall. Her head felt heavy. Her legs felt weak. Her soured tummy took the lead and allowed her to vomit, her eyes and thoughts clouding over.

One last staggering heave of her last meal into the mud below her and everything went silent.



Harrierpaw has fainted and needs assistance to Four Trees.  Applekit and Sunkit need a new carrier.

Swiftheart forgot to breathe for a bit when the tree finally rolled off her brother. Sure the damage wasnt as bad as maybe expected but his limp body and pool of blood around his mouth left her feeling completely numb.

She stared for what felt like a very long time at his broken looking body tears welling in her eyes. She had lost her littermate and leader just like that. With each passing second she remembered how Murkystar had lost more than one life in a death... how many had Nightstar just lost? 1? 2? ... all of them?

No, she had to believe he would be back. When he finally twitched she felt such relive as she finally breathed a sigh of relive, Iceheart was busy getting her clanmates into gear to get them outta here, a good idea and if she had not been so fixated on making sure her sibling came back, that would have been what she should have been doing.

"Good to see you didnt lose your humor life" she said quietly offering a paw to help him back up.

Just then, Harrierpaw fainted right next to her after getting rid of her lunch... eek. Swiftheart didnt know the apprentice well at all.

She was more so open to the idea of loners joining them especially if they were still kits as Harrier had done.

The warrior-queen quickly grabbed Harrierpaw gently by the scruff getting her face out of the standing water and mud.

With a heave she hoisted the apprentice onto her back. Oh man this would be a tough walk to fourtrees but she wasn't about to leave any clanmate behind.

"Duskflight! Grab one of the kits! she said quickly . It was unusal of her to boss others around: (and she didnt really enjoy leading at all) : but given enough pressure she would take on a command role, being a senior warrior it was what the situation demanded.

She looked around for another warrior who was available to help

Oh good! Honey, and Ice had told him to be ready for exactly this situation.

"Honeylight! you take the other kit!" she ordered quickly

Sablestrike stared breathlessly at the broken heap of fur in front of him. Nightstar wasn’t dead, leaders were given nine lives by Starclan, he was going to get up any second now. Any Second now. Any second now. Each second that passed felt like an eternity, the world around him losing any sound or color as he realized that Nightstar might not be coming back. The only thing that kept the young warrior on his paws was the mud that had slowly been eating away at him. This wasn’t happening. The stars wouldn’t let Nightstar die like this, he had been chosen by Starclan for a reason, what sense did it make to rip all of his lives away like this? What sense does it make to take him from us? The last conversation he had with Nightstar hadn’t been a friendly one, and now he would never be able to reconcile with his mentor, he would never see the cat walking around camp, never hear his voice again. The reality of this death sent sharp pains through Sablestrike’s chest. Nightstar was the only cat the Sablestrike would ever-

A cough broke the silence of his mind, shocking him back to the real world. The hurricane of emotions inside him didn’t calm, but he could feel hope returning as the leader opened his mouth to speak. Sablestrike angled his ears to better hear what Nightstar was saying. A joke. He had just died and come back, and the first thing he thought to do was make a joke? The young warrior chuckled quietly to himself. A joke. That’s right, a joke. Sablestrike’s laugh grew in intensity, becoming riotous before long. The force of it threatened to knock him off his paws, but the mud blessedly held the warrior upright. After what seemed like minutes, the warrior’s laughter died, replaced by deep gasps for air. There was nothing he could say, and even if he tried Sablestrike knew that he wouldn’t be able to speak. His clanmates moved around him, but Sablestrike couldn’t take his eyes off of Nightstar. Actually, he wouldn’t.

Lighttail stepped back once the tree was off of Nightstar, giving the rest of her clanmates room. She didn’t worry, didn’t cry, didn’t think, and certainly didn’t break down in laughter like her brother. She simply let Snowpaw down off her back and began walking to Fourtrees while supporting her mother. She felt nothing.

Sunkit’s world collapsed yet again as he was dropped, his brother landing on top of him. He let out a piercing scream and started batting Applekit with his paws.

Burdockpaw had been tending to herbs when the shaking began. Fuzzybelly was nowehere to be seen, but she could hold her own. She was getting good, and fast. The apprentice liked the methodical side of things. Soon, the ground began to shake and water started to fill the den, ruining her perfect sorting and her perfect herbs. With a growl, she turned to tell Iceheart to evacuate the den, but she was already doing so. Every other cat just ran, leaving her to save an entire clan's worth of herbs alone. Quickly, she grabbed her badger pelt and slid it on. As quickly as she could, she shoved as many herbs as she could under the pelt to try to carry more before bundling the rest in her mouth. All in all, she made it out with about 75% of the herbs. Slowly and carefully, she began to walk to Four Trees.

Rookfire was in a deep dream when the quake hit. Surprisingly, the black tuxedo didn't wake immediately from the trembling, though he did wake from water seeping into his nose. Pushing himself up, he woke up to see most of ShadowClan evacuating. Burdockpaw, ShadowClan's newest medicine cat apprentice, seemed to be grabbing as many herbs as she could with her pelt and mouth. After grabbing most of the remaining herbs, the ShadowClan warrior followed the crowd out of camp - to Fourtrees, apparently. It's likely we'll see the other clans there as well, if they're being affected similarly.

~~

Poppykit is securely in Marshmallow's grip because I have little muse to write him rn (i need to be sleeping)

Leopardsun blinked gratefully toward Iceheart, and the warriors around her as the kits were shuffled around. She was free to move and speak again just in time for Nightstar to stand- the part of her that had half-doubted his return was at peace, but the part of her that was present was less than impressed with his response. She wasn't sure how to respond at first: a choked laugh escaped her, though she wasn't sure she'd found it funny. "At least you're alive. Can you stand, Nightstar?"

---

Once Nightstar was freed and clearly still alive, Thalia took her leave from the gathered warriors; dashing away after the cats carrying kits to keep an eye out for danger.

Fuzzybelly was so dizzy, he barely knew what day it was.

"Uh... Anybody... Hurt...?"

The brown tabby felt like all of his paws were replaced with tails. Nothing was the same, his own feet trying desperately to find solidity.

This must be the beginning, he mused.

Of what?