then let my heart be hardened [RC/TC vs SKC BATTLE TOPIC]

Silhouettes gathered silently, an ominous warning on the horizon. The enemy was out there, waiting, watching and without a doubt filled with relentless bloodlust. Littlesplash felt the world slow down as he stared ahead. Every breath, small shift of paws, was noted with the subtle twitch of his ears. It was the rushing sound of the river that he tried to match his heartbeat to after speaking to Cindersky and Silverdusk. A brief moment of silence seemed to blanket the forest before erupting into a myriad of shrieks and yowls. Immediately, he was back at the lake.

Blood welled up at the fringes of his clouded vision as flashes of various coats pelted by. Much like before, his paws froze to the ground in terror. From the corner of his eye, the medicine cat say Cindersky bowled over and an audible gasp left his maw as he stumbled backwards. No, no, not already! She wasn't supposed to fight! Littlesplash longed to help. For the first time in his life, he longed to have the skills and heart of a warrior, brave enough to leap into battle and rip the attacking Skyclan cat off of his beloved friend.

But reality set in at once, crashing down in a way that nearly caused him to choke on his own saliva. His duty wasn't to one cat right now. It was to the clan, to protecting the herbs at his paws. As the exchange of furious blows continued ahead, the tom lunged to sink his teeth into the hare pelt and used all his might to pull it backwards. This hiding place had not been enough to shelter them from the line of sight. He needed to pull back from the fighting cats and hoped they would all be engaged enough to hold back. During this time, he failed to realize the trembling in his paws that had set in.

If only Sandyshell were here to offer guidance. If only any cat was at his side to offer comfort. Instead, he watched helplessly as his clanmates struggled against tearing claws. Cindersky and the Skyclan warrior had wrestled furiously back and forth, crimson flowing from their pelts and streaming into the river where his clanmate had briefly dunked the enemy under the tides. It made his stomach churn and for a moment the healer thought he would be sick. Even without her tail, Cindersky fought with the fury of a Lionclan warrior in his defense. He wanted to desperately to push between the warring cats but what would a pawful of herbs do now?

A flash of tan, silken fur exploded from the backdrop and joined the fray. There was no hope for Cindersky. In a motion that make him feel instant pangs of regret, his eyes snapped shut in a futile attempt to block out the world. He couldn't bear to see her in so much pain. No! A voice shouted in his head and Littlesplash's eyes snapped open. Instead of seeing the familiar pelt, he started into molten eyes that burned with incredible fury. There was no time for panic just resignation as he felt his body go limp. Those were not the eyes of a cat but the eyes of a predator. It was as if one of those wolves, their hot breath on his coat, were about to sink into tear into his flesh. Sunfire was his wolf.

There was a motion too fast for him to follow in such a defeated stupor. The lump that had settled in his throat was dislodged the second his breath left his maw and searing pain like no sensation he had ever felt before tore through his throat. An unusual and ghastly warmth slicked down the fur on his chest. Littlesplash found himself immediately gasping for air, flailing about in a natural response to flee from the agony of teeth that shredded at his tender flesh. Untested claws battered the warrior, finding the wound unintentional. He wasn't meant to hurt, to feel blood underneath his pads, he was meant to heal.

A wail left the tiny tom as Sunfire was ripped away. Shreds of his fur scattered along with droplets of blood. Eyes impossibly wide, he gasped, staring ahead at the panic consumed him. Inside, he felt so cold. The stream that dripped down his fur and onto the ground felt warmer than his pads on a sun-touched stone. One might have expected tears to well from his eyes that were as wide as the moon. Instead, he stared in disbelief, coughing at the sensation that tugged at the back of his throat. His paws collapsed underneath him as he fell to the ground. Wildly panicked eyes started ahead and drank in the sight of Vipershade, Sunfire, Cindersky... all of their pelt soaked in blood as carnage was strewn across the frosted earth. Rough breaths wracked his shuttering body, unaccustomed to any wounds marring his pelt and now shivering as his throat bled out. He couldn't move. No matter how much he willed himself, as shocked pressed him into ground. He had come here to heal, to help, and all he had done was stare into the face of death.

Littlesplash used Random Recall, using 5 stamina, to overcome his stun. Littlesplash also used, Front Paw Stike, dealing 6 damage and using 7 stamina.

Littlesplash
HP: 17/25
SP: 43/60 [-12sp]

Sunfire KO Pending
HP: -1/73 [-6hp]
SP: 64/160

Time slowed. He could feel Littlesplash's pulse against his tongue, and the rapid thrum thrum thrum thrum thrum of the young tom's heart would have betrayed his terror even if he didn't reek of fear-scent, even if his eyes weren't round with panic and fright. Sunfire couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the sight or the smell of him, and it made him angry to have this weak, insignificant little creature in front of him. It was disgusting, it made his skin crawl like there were a thousand fleas in his pelt. All around him, there was so much fear, so much weakness, and the maddening part was that it didn't just come from the enemy, it was from SkyClan, too - shameful, disgusting, stinking fear.  

Distantly, he heard his name. A tattered ear slanted backwards to catch the voices. Falconmoon. Thymelight. Stormwatcher. All of them, pleading for him to stop. Weak. He'd seen the waves lapping at Beechfang's too-still body, heard Stormwatcher wail as she fell. And he'd felt Mottlestar's teeth closing on his own throat, her goal unmistakable until Falconmoon stepped in. Thymelight had watched that, too... had even patched the brutal wound the ThunderClan leader had given him. Yet it was Sunfire who they cried out to? Who they begged to show restraint? Weak.

The patrol had crossed their border with intent to kill, had spilled blood on SkyClan territory, and his own clanmates wanted him to back down while there were still enemies standing on the battlefield? Every single one of them were a liability to the clan, just as every single enemy that walked away from this fight was a threat that could return later, that could steal more lives from SkyClan. He wouldn't have it.

Sunfire heard the pounding of paws against the sandy earth only a second before the weight was on his shoulders. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as teeth met in the back of his neck, and reflexively, he opened his mouth to screech in fury, releasing the little RiverClanner but sparing him only from an immediate death. He saw Littlesplash collapse, and then his front paws lifted off the ground ever so slightly as his new opponent hauled him backwards. His limbs flailed, claws searching for purchase on ground or flesh indiscriminately, but then the other tom twisted and released him, and Sunfire rolled, off-balance, in one direction, and his dark opponent in another.

The SkyClanner was the first on his paws, but the effort it took to do so was alarming. His vision blurred again, and it took a moment for the dark shape in front of him to materialize and reform into an identifiable shape. Nightstar? Sunfire hadn't recognized the former ShadowClan leader at first... and perhaps he should have questioned why Nightstar was fighting for ThunderClan... but as he closed the distance between them, Sunfire found that he really didn't care. ShadowClan, RiverClan, ThunderClan... what did it matter? Nightstar had chosen to march into battle with his enemies, and Sunfire would make him pay for it.

Nightstar had landed on his back, and would have been slow to rise, but Sunfire never gave him the option. He reared up and came down heavily with both paws on top of the former ShadowClanner's head to keep him down. The motion made his vision swim, a mixture of vertigo and bloodloss and fatigue causing the ground to shift beneath his paws again. Sunfire staggered, one clawed paw stabilizing him on the ground, the other dragging down Nightstar's cheek and coming to rest on his neck where a pale scar peeked out from beneath ruffled black fur. Sunfire refocused his gaze, bright yellow eyes flicking upward to meet the other tom's amber hues. And then he shifted his weight to the paw that was pressed against Nightstar's throat. The yellow warrior's claws dug in knuckle-deep, through layers of scar tissue and muscle and sinew, and with one swift tug opened a river of blood at his paws.

His energy abandoned him the moment life left Nightstar's eyes. Sunfire fell to his haunches, one paw still pressed against the dead cat's neck. Adrenaline and bloodlust had carried him further than it had any right to, and now it had run its course, leaving room only for a level of exhaustion that glued his paws to the ground and made it nearly impossible to keep his eyes open. He'd done all he could, for now... he just needed a moment to rest, and then SkyClan's enemies would continue to perish as he bade.    

Sunfire has killed Vipershade.

Littlesplash
HP: 17/25
SP: 43/60

Sunfire
HP: 0/73
SP: 64/160

Vipershade
Dead

Though she was ready to deal the blow for death, she was not a merciless creature. Rage roiled off her pelt in a desire thick enough to have been its own meal, but she did not miss the signal of yielding as he made to the ground. Her gaze followed that of his own, trailing to the scene that she saw before her. The very tom that had begun her fury, right towards a medicine cat. One who had no choice but to retaliate with his own blows. With a singular grunt of affirmation, the teeth that she had kept on the tom's feathered tail left, her new target marked. Keeping her previous opponent visible in the corner of her eye, she departed.

A venomous snarl curled her maw, and she charged forward. Though, even as she made her dash, it seemed she was too far away on the battle field. A blur of onyx and crimson had darted forth, a shade that barreled into the yellow-furred tom with the speed of a viper. It did not even take her a heartbeat to register just who it was that she saw before her eyes, and the yowl that tore through her maw was with such a force that her voice split before it could truly cry out his name. Could do nothing as she was forced to skid to a stop.

She hoped every Thunderclan cat could have witnessed his act.

For all the war that he had brought down, for all the ire and anger that had marred his pelt, had harmed his clanmates... Vipershade was going to go down fighting. For Riverclan. For Thunderclan and its ally. He had deserved a place amongst Thunderclan, plain and simple, and it would be forever marked in her mind. She did not have the time to process the fact that there was a very high possibility that she would not be bringing him home a war-hero, but the corpse of one that had died before his Clan could recognize him as one of their own. That he wouldn't survive, and that she wouldn't get to bring home her mate. The thudding of her heartbeat roared in her ears, and the bile stung at the back of her throat as she forced herself to shove that fact away to process at another time.

Wild, frantic eyes darted about the battlefield to assess where the rest of her allies were. The moment that they collided with the glacial ice of the Riverclan leader, she mouthed a single word in a plea: Littlesplash. So that the leader would know to help her medicine cat if Vipershade had failed. Another blur of movement had caught her attention, and that was the one that she honed in on.

Her Clanmate was up against Skyclan's leader, the treacherous Birdstar who refused to acknowledge the idea of having done anything wrong. It was a blow that was undoubtedly going to knock Nightdancer out; and she couldn't stand for that. Spinning on her heels, she sent a prayer - no, begged - Starclan to keep her allies safe. As she slid, her shoulder took the impact that was meant for her Clanmate, and the tortoiseshell released a hiss of pain. Even then, it was worth it. "Fox off, Birdwatcher! Your clanmate attacked a medicine cat!" She growled with absolute ire. "There is no honor left for any of you!"


Mottlestar used Blocking Leap to take the damage for Nightdancer! She took 14 damage, and used 4 stamina.
Mottlestar
16 / 30 HP (-14)
27 / 170 SP (-4)

Birdstar
55 / 83 HP
111 / 170 SP

Nightdancer
10 / 70 HP (+14)
120 / 160 SP

Mottlestar released him and bolted away, but there was no need for her interference on the medicine cat's behalf. What transpired happened so quickly Falconmoon could only stare with his mouth agape. Nightstalker's dead body hit the ground with a thud and Sunfire sank to the ground, tired, shortly thereafter. Falconmoon watched as Mottlestar did her best to protect another of her warriors from Birdstar, but that was unlikely to end the way the Thunderclan leader thought it would. As Falconmoon's eyes traveled around the battlefield, the intensity of the sun and the ferocity of the hawk feuded with the serenity of the moon and the swiftness of the falcon within the ivory and gold fur suit that encased them.

Comfreyheart... Falconmoon's eyes were soft and hurt as he watched his "daughter" clash with the Shadowclan born scum bag that had teamed up with Smokefeather way back when to send him to the Dark Forest. If it were only the three of them here... if he still had his strength... He'd seen Briarthorn around, but the softer side of his psyche always told him to just avoid the Shadowclan she-cat, even if for no other reason other than to avoid the temptation to strike.

His forced his eyes to look away, knowing that if, Stars forbid, Briarthorn were to land a fatal blow, he might lose control and shred the Shadowclanner where she stood. He drank in the form of his weakening brother, Sunfire. Stars-cursed fool... Falconmoon's eyes were filled with disappointment and even a hint of betrayal. He'd taken a hit to save him... just for him to turn around and do this. Yet another part of him deep inside knew he couldn't truly blame his brother either. This was war. War was messy. Nothing good ever truly came from it unless your only goal was to kill. A battle without strategy or a goal was really nothing more than a massacre though. Maybe that was all Sunfire understood. Could he be reasoned with? Falconmoon never tried. Perhaps after this, if there was some way to salvage this idiot, Falconmoon would try.

His eyes went to Honeydew, seeing that she was actually holding up fairly well was a nice surprise, though he could see the pain in her face from more than just the wounds. This is exactly what he wanted to avoid. Was harboring Beechfang worth all of this? His eyes went to her... her body. Emotions he hadn't expected crashed down on him harder than the river ever had. He'd heard Stormwatcher yell, he'd known what had happened... but actually seeing her body was too... official.

Falconmoon got to his feet, slinking forward and kept his ears flat, a signal to all that he was not looking to start another conflict. This was over. He would not be the one to try to keep it going. If there were to be other battles, then so be it, but this one was at it's end. He approached the still silver form with an ache in his chest that Falconmoon couldn't quite grasp and Dawnhawk hadn't been expecting, nor knew what to do with. He lie down next to her body and wrapped himself around her, as if keeping her warm.

The sounds of battle faded away around him. The ground dissolved into darkness and the sun dimmed to a candle's glow as Falconmoon allowed memories to flow through him. All of their fighting and bickering as kits, as apprentices... and even once they earned their warrior and medicine cat names... How far away and insignificant it all seemed now. He lifted his head from her for just a moment at that thought. His sheathed paw traced the scars from the top of her head down her back. I did that... He remembered, suddenly feeling a hard lump in his throat form. His vision began to blur. He'd done it to her and he'd done it to Sunfire.

That is one day that if I could take back, I would. For you, for Featherkit, for myself. Smokefeather's horrified face flashed through his memory and his eyes flickered into a hardened gaze for just a moment. Maybe not her. He banished Smokefeather back to the void of nothingness where she belonged. He'd never speak her name again. Let her name and memory fade from the world, as she was no more anyway.

"I wish things had been different, sister." He muttered to himself, so softly that even a cat a tail-length away from him would have had trouble hearing him. These words were for Beechfang alone anyway. Souls wrapped in a pelt of starlight didn't need to be spoken to as loudly as those still walking in their mortal skins. "We get along well, when we want to." He lie his chin back down on her jawline, uncaring that her blood mixed with his.

Falconmoon sighed slowly and closed his eyes, letting the warmth fall ever so slowly and softly down his cheeks. It was almost as if releasing the breath he'd been holding was releasing Beechfang into Silverpelt.

Where she belonged.

"I must have loved you on some level this whole time, for this to affect me so badly. So... strongly is the better word. With your passing, passes the last cat on this earth that truly knew me." He swallowed hard as he finally accepted this truth and let it scatter his heart into a million mouse food sized pieces. ...The last cat that could have ever truly loved me for me. Not that he had been exactly the most lovable cat in the past, but what about the future? What about the improvements they both had made?

Perchstar was convinced she only murdered a murderer. What she'd really done was destroyed an important piece of history, a wealth of knowledge of healing, battle, growth, forgiveness... and ultimately acceptance. But how could Perchstar know that? How could any cat not as ancient as he really was or even as old as Beechfang ever truly know that? They couldn't. He picked his head up and swallowed back the remainder of his tears. He took a shaky breath to steady his heart and to quiet his mind before he slowly looked back down at her. He looked into her eye, glazed over and lifeless, but he forced himself to give her a small smile.

"I'm still going to do good. I will still be better. I may not have my rock in which to steady me, but I am determined to do it. I know you're watching. I know dad is too, although I'm sure he is waiting to crush me with a tree or something. Tell him I said, "try harder."" Falconmoon chuckled, but it was a hollow sound. His smile slowly faded, giving way to a somber expression. There was silence for several heartbeats, or at least it seemed that way to him.

"I'm really going to miss you, you old badger." This time, his smile did not return. He sighed once more... and the sounds of battle around him began to fade back into existence. "May Starclan light your path." This time, he said it in a normal volume. He didn't care who heard that part. Someone here should say it.

Falconmoon looked away from Beechfang's body and his eyes landed on the corpse of Nightstalker. "You too. Sorry about the mix up... heh." Falconmoon pushed himself to his paws and let the last of his tears fall. No more. Now he needed the fighting to end, however it was meant to. He had things to say to Perchstar, Riverclan, Thunderclan and even Skyclan once this was all over. He'd honor is willful surrender that he gave Mottlestar. He would not interfere with the fight any further.

As Honeydew's claws tore through Silverdusk's ear, the bubble they were in popped. In a moment unbecoming of the silver warrior they let out a yowl of agony. Blood sprayed the snow beneath them, and their vision swam all too similar to her time spent being sick. The two had finally broken apart, after matching each other for so long, blow for blow in a rough and tumble that never truly favoured the other, they had split. Pain buried under adrenaline and the fierceness Silverdusk had cultivated to compensate for all their flaws, wracked her frame. Their chest heaved, head bowed, blood dripping in a steady stream from the wounds that crisscrossed their pelt. She couldn't look up, couldn't meet their opponent's eyes, as they struggled for breath, struggled to come to terms with the fact she wasn't invincible. There was a hacking sound, shortly followed by Silverdusk spitting a wad of blood onto the ground between the two. This couldn't be the end? Was death the only way the cream warrior would let them leave this fight? Was she just as cruel and evil as the rest of SkyClan?

Finally, Silverdusk lifted their head. Green eyes met blue, an understanding passing between the two.

Neither had ever planned to kill the other.

Honeydew still trembled, and Silverdusk still had their resolve.

"..." the silver warrior opened their mouth to speak, to offer the young molly something, but whatever words had been on her tongue died in a wordless gasp as Silverdusk stared down the embankment in horror, straight over Honeydew. She froze, rooted to the spot, only capable of watching as everything went wrong. It wasn't like she would have made it in this state. Their heart sank, not Littlesplash, please. He was good. Silverdusk watched as Sunfire lifted the tiny medicine cat up, his paws scrambling for mercy as he cried. "Stop..." she mewed hoarsely, even though no one, but Honeydew could hear them.

For a moment it was as if Gekala had answered their prayers. Vipershade was moving, a blur of dark fur, bowling Sunfire over and freeing Littlesplash. A sigh of relief that turned into a shriek of pain and anger left her maw. Vipershade, for all his heroics, for everything the mysterious tom encapsulated, was old. He was slow. Slower to rise than the scum that was Sunfire. Sunfire didn't wait, didn't see reason. He never would. He took the old tom's life without blinking. Mottlestar's raw scream cut through Silverdusk, it was like Honeydew had attacked them again, but no, both of them were watching what had just happened, wearing matching  looks. He was a clanmate, a denmate, and now he was gone. They knew nothing of his previous life, of who Vipershade was, all Silverdusk saw was her fallen comrade.

Another life taken by SkyClan. Another life taken by Sunfire. It all clicked

Claws unsheathed again, but there was no move to attack Honeydew. Rage and anguish roiled over the molly, their heart thumping against her chest as she swallowed the lump in their throat. As she found her voice. "I hope you will not stop me when we come for him." they growled "You don't have any clue what your clan has taken from us, do you? What they continue to take from us?" Silverdusk let out another angry snarl, pressing their forehead against Honeydew's, pushing the smaller she-cat into the snow. Tears pooled in their eyes, voice thick with emotion and pain Why?!...Why?! ThunderClan did nothing to you! Nothing!"

Silverdusk used oh Sunfire needs to be put down immediately, but I can't interfere in a canon event (disengage)! Silverdusk used all remaining stamina !

Silverdusk

disengaged

Honeydew

13/20 HP
29/80 SP

Briarthorn could feel her energy draining as she fought not to be brought down. She had no concept of what was happening around her; all of her focus was on Confreyheart. With a grunt, she shifted her weight and once again gripped on to the other she-cat’s scruff and shook with all of her might, leveraging her weight and using her front claws to tear into the ThunderClanner’s shoulder as deeply as she could.

Briarthorn used Scruff Shake, dealing -10 damage and using -20 stamina. Comfreyheart is stunned for one turn.

Briarthorn:
6/73 HP
86/160 SP [-20]

Comfreyheart:
8/65 HP [-10]
69/130 SP

Perchstar couldn't help but let out a huff of pent-up worry, exhaustion, anger as she saw the cowardly tom turn tail and run. He'd picked a fight and threatened to kill and hadn't even finished it. At least he was leaving instead of trying to cause more damage; better late then never. A sick feeling grew in the pit of her stomach as she finally turned around to see what he'd been staring at, and it only worsened when she saw the golden tom who'd been fighting Mottlestar sinking fangs into Littlesplash's neck. Time slowed. Her eyes opened wide, her jaw dropped to let out a scream that did not reach it from her tightened throat, releasing no sound. She'd died to save Poppyshine from death, and now history was repeating--but instead of a drowned white corpse, it would be a tiny one bleeding out on the forest floor with no hope of survival. SkyClan's history repeated itself. Every member of their Clan was a bloodthirsty monster, excepting only the two she barely saw crying in her peripheral vision. Even though a half-dead former-Nightstar lunged to tear the monster away, it might be too late. It might be too late. They would never be satisfied, they would never stop. Her paws shook.

It was only after thirty seconds of torturous waiting, heart beating so loud she could not hear nor think, that she saw Littlesplash's eyes still open. Drowning in fear, but still alive. Bleeding, hyperventilating, frozen, but still alive. The relief nearly forced her legs to give out--but she hadn't trained during her entire leadership to deny her body's physical needs for nothing. Now that the attempted murderer had been taken care of, there were only a few more loose ends to tie up. Perchstar tried to slow her breathing as she glanced around the war-site. Cindersky had collapsed on the ground, but her sides still rose and fell, and so another seizure of panic was headed off. She wanted nothing more than to go over there and help--but there were still threats walking around, fighting her allies. Poppyshine had taken out another warrior. Mottlestar exchanged a glance with her briefly, nodding her towards the medicine cat, but the SkyClan medicine cat got to him first to offer help--the only thing that sent a brief shock of warmth through her before it was iced out by the swarm of negative emotions. Two ThunderClan warriors were still tied up in their battles: one with Birdchaser, where Mottlestar was running now, and one with that--wait. Was that Briarstar? A blink of shock made its way through Perchstar's haze of pushed-away emotion. She'd thought that the SkyClan leader who had agreed to exile Beechfang was dead. Why else would Birdchaser have suddenly gained her suffix? What on earth was she doing still alive? And if she was alive, why had Beechfang been re-accepted and this entire fiasco dredged up from its grave in the first place? Questions for later. There was no time to think. There was no time to look at the bloodied bodies of Poppyshine and Cindersky and Littlesplash because then Perchstar might stop being able to move, and then she would be an easy target for the fangs that she still knew wanted to seek her throat.

There was no time to do anything other than shove each and every bit of fear and self-loathing and frustration and anger down deep inside of her where it would never resurface, and then turn and run. Run to help Mottlestar. Run to stop the last opponent who could possibly keep this fight going. Lash out with a clawed paw to rake across Birchaser's hindquarters, hopefully to distract her from Mottlestar. The last thing Perchstar needed was another one of her friends to meet a violent end.

"It's over," she said, her voice managing to not convey the pure agony of nearly watching another medicine cat die and seeing two of the kindest, most sweethearted cats in her Clan beat within an inch of their lives by cats who threatened and tried to kill them. All of this for one cat. If Beechfang had been given up none of this would have had to happen. All of this blood now to save peace for later. Her Clanmates would hate her if they didn't already, but it was done now. It was over. It was over. She could hear Gingerstripe's voice in the back of her head, offering mercy. This was the only mercy she could attempt. "Stop now. There is no longer any point."

Perchstar used Front Paw Strike on Birdstar, dealing 12 (10+2) damage and costing 6 (7-1) stamina.

Perchstar:
30/80 HP
70/170 SP

Birdstar:
33/83 HP
111/170 SP

Mottlestar:
16/30 HP
27/170 SP

He was an idiot.

Was one of his last thoughts, as the golden Skyclan tom loomed over him and all he could muster was a snarl. Claws pressed into his throat and Vipershade's paws flew up to try to push it away, shove him off- anything to preserve his last life. His claws were not able to resist as the claws sank into his throat and blood started to gush, oozing between the Skyclanners toes as everything started to become fuzzy, and amber eyes connected while Vipershade did everything he could do to show every bit of vitriol he felt- as if trying to curse Sunfire with just looks alone. Pink froth oozed past the old tom's broken teeth and drenched his chin as everything started to feel cold- cold in a way that felt hot. His strength was quick to fade, his arms trembling as his cheeks felt unusually hot. Faintly he caught the shrieks of anguish and rage as everything felt like it was starting to shut down- as he felt his mental processes start to cease scarily quick, but on his immediate deathbed Vipershade lost his sense of fear. One shaking paw climbed up the paw that was still sunk in his throat and he smiled.

Only a heart-beat more and his head knocked back and everything went black.

When his eyes opened again, he was still looking up, paw still fastened to his throat but he no longer felt the choke of blood clogging his throat. Warmth buffeted his long fur, no longer feeling the mats that pulled at his skin as he found himself getting to his paws with an energy he had not felt in moons. Amber eyes surveyed the battle field saw that Skyclan medicine cat was tending to Littlesomething and that some cats were fighting with a vengeance while others stood with stilled bodies, faces contorted in horror and rage yet frozen in time. Vipershade couldn't help but be surprised that there was any sort of emotion outside of relief or satisfaction. It'd pass soon, they'd realize who he was or be told about his ventures and those faces would be made in time.

He scoured the battlefield, feeling remorse as he looked at Mottlestar. He truly did want a better life with her, with his kits even though he knew they'd hate him and there wasn't a way he'd be able to mend that relationship, but he wanted to try nonetheless. But fate was a cruel mistress and he had acted too late, maybe if he had tried earlier then he'd have been able to get to know them but... He shook his head, maybe he'd still get that chance, but he hoped that they would not meet him wherever he was going.

Idly looking across the battle that he had been thrust into, he saw the body and... the soul? Of the cat they came to collect on? He found his paws padding forwards toward the she-cat with a quiet passivity and inquisitiveness. "The past always comes to collect." He meowed, looking down at his first opponent questionably before redirecting to Beechfnag. "It's cruel but I suppose the both of us deserve it." He continued, his eyes flicking across her pelt that was filling with stars. "But at least Starclan is welcoming you among their ranks despite the fact you killed one of their mouthpieces."

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