Bloodstained Roots [Post War Topic]

Stormwatcher sat dazed as Sunfire blamed him for this. He licked at his wounds and flicked his ear still in a lot of pain from the beating he took from riverclans high ranks. He had tried to make their deputy run off and maybe sunfire was right, she had seemed fine after 2 seconds with the med cat. Maybe he shoulda gone harder and now his sister was gone.

He pinned his ears flat against his head anger at his own actions brewing stirred on and worsened by his friend.

"sunfire is right... Riverclan is nothing but blood thirsty cats. I say we attack them next half moon when their med cats are not around to heal them mid battle. We cant let this go unpunished or the other clans will try and bully us too." he glanced at anyone who might oppose

"and anyone who did not have to live through that battle consider yourself lucky and keep your mouth shut on such issues


he answered grumpily and salty as ever, they had lost and he was furious both at himself and their enemy.

Falconmoon stared unblinkingly at Sunfire. His brother had made a lot of mistakes, and now that they were in his face of course he was going to fight back and justify his reasons. Falconmoon had many reasons to not want to provoke Starclan's ire, and the biggest reason wasn't anything he wanted to share with anyone. Sunfire wouldn't believe him anyway. He said nothing in return, simply let Sunfire walk away. They would be talking later, whether Sunfire was in the mood for it or not. This was a kind of rift that caused internal conflict and Falconmoon had no desire for Skyclan to be against itself.

He did notice Shatteredsky pushing his way through to Honeydew and he gave the young tom a hard stare. He was going to have a serious talk with him too at some point. He'd given the overgrown kit plenty of time to come to him and he chose not to. Knowing where that behavior could lead, Falconmoon knew that going to him was going to be the better option.

And that was before Shatteredsky's outburst. He did his best to not let his mind rot from the sheer amount of nonsense being spouted from his own blood. Falconmoon responded quickly, but not without a very loud "Ha!" first.

"First of all, Shatteredsky, threatening your deputy is punishable by exile or death, so be quiet. Secondly, boy you couldn't fight your way out of a soggy bird's nest and everyone here knows it. Be quiet before Wolfblossom sends you back to the apprentice den or worse. We will be talking later. Not another word out of you." And he flicked his tail dismissively. He was done talking to his son for the time being, but he figured discrediting him and embarrassing him even more than he embarrassed himself would be the most effective thing right now.

He gave an apologetic look to Wolfblossom, but his mind had also traveled to the stars in that instant. Nice try, Starclan. I will not beat him out of frustration like Smokefeather did to me.

More cats spoke up, and Wolfblossom closed her eyes, feeling the heavy weight of their righteous fury and grief settle upon her shoulders. The moons of peace seemed so very long ago, as she listened to Stormwatcher and Sunfire in turn.

"They want us to be the dark forest they claim us to be. We will not give them the satisfaction, Stormwatcher. No cat is to place even a whisker over the border. Not now, not when your wounds haven't even been healed. Do I make myself clear?" Her gaze met Stormwatcher's and then Sunfire's holding each in turn.

Shatteredsky's outburst was another thing that Wolfblossom had not hoped for. Falconmoon inserted himself quickly, and the deputy let out a sigh. "Falconmoon." Wolfblossom admonished, "He is wrong. But belittling and trying to embarrass him will not help. You might be his father, but I am his deputy. Let me handle it." Now... How to approach this without making the situation worse. Shatteredsky had little care or regard for his clanmates... Except for his siblings. Were it her own sister in such grave shape... No, she needed to not think like that. Doing so would cloud her judgment.

"Shatteredsky," Wolfblossom turned her attention to her grandson, "We have the best medicine cats in the forest. Three of them. You are right that Honeydew should not have been so severely hurt. I regret that she was on that patrol at all. But you all took an oath to defend your clan." She began, "Death threats against your own clanmates - your own kin - will not prevent what has already happened. More bloodshed will not fix things. More stress won't help them heal. Now go. Help Thymelight and Smokepetal get the injured into their den." Shatteredsky had threatened her... She wanted to believe it was simply the shock of Honeydew so horrifically injured. But with the tom's past behavior and lack of care... She would be keeping an eye on him. She would keep him close.

Harepaw had been sitting in the back through the whole thing. Eyes locked on the corpse of his mentor. Still. Unmoving. He knew that the war was unavoidable, that Beechfang was going to be taken from him, but reality was in front of him. This wasn't dreams or his imagination, it was real. She was dead. Taken from him, when she shouldn't have been. It was their fault. Riverclan's fault. All because they couldn't let go of the past.

The golden tom could hear arguments going back and forth, everyone unhappy with the matters at hand. His brother among them because Honeydew had gone on the battle patrol. Wrong.. Wrong. All wrong. Why did everyone keep talking? Why did they keep arguing? Harepaw gritted his teeth so hard, he thought they would break. His brother was wrong, Sunfire was wrong. Stormwatcher was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. This was a cats life that was gone because of another stupid clan. Their precious ones were still alive, so what right did they have to complain? Then he heard another voice. Mallowpaw.. That is someone he could correct. Someone who was equal footing with him. Someone who couldn't hurt him as badly as others.

"Take your tail and shove it in your mouth Mallowpaw. Shatteredsky threatened our deptuty, threatened our clan. He deserves punishment for that. Everyone can see that but you are stupid enough to think it's about speaking out." Harepaw growled. It felt good to get his anger out on someone deserving of it. Even if it was wrong, even if he was wrong.

"Now if you would actually use your brain for once, then you would be pointing the blame at Riverclan. They were the ones who couldn't let go of the past. They were the ones who wanted war. They are the ones that killed our clanmates!" His tail was lashing at this point, claws digging into the earth below. "Should we just let other clans tell us what to do? Let them walk all over us? Let them determine who can be in our clan? If you think that is the case then go ahead and leave. You have no place in Skyclan." Harepaw felt the urge to rake his claws along the other apprentice, wanting to watch him bleed, but he wouldn't make his violent urges known. Not like his brother. He wasn't stupid like his brother. He was better. He would be better.

Harepaw kept his steel blue glare on the other apprentice before letting out a scoff and walking away. Paws carrying him to his former mentor. His body slumped to the floor next to the scarred she-cat, his face resting in her fur. His teeth clinching, eyes shut tightly as tears stung at the corner of his eyes. The clan didn't need to see him cry. He couldn't be weak in front of them. Not now. Beechfang would want him to be strong. His father would want him to be strong, so he would be. For them.

No matter how tightly Bubblebeam pressed her face into Crookedlight's fur, no matter how far she pinned her ears back against her head, it only got louder. The screams got worse. Her father's voice, her cousins' voices, even her grandmother sounded upset. Encroaching in closer, physically surrounding her and piling on top of her until she felt the very breath being squeezed out of her lungs. Soon she wouldn't be able to hear anything. Someone was... talking to her, maybe? In the absolute cacophony of sound and the hyperventilating, it was hard to tell. Cautiously, nervously, she pried one eye open, nudging the slightest hint of her face out from its safe place in the fur. A voice, and then a physical sensation. A familiar scent. Mintglade? The large she-cat was half-blocking her off now, out of Sunfire's vision. She wanted to turn, she wanted to hug her friend and sob, but she couldn't move. She was glued to Crookedlight's side. And besides... the words that made it through the wall of sound....

"Hey, Bubs... it's okay. I'll talk to him later, alright?"

Sunfire would listen to Mintglade. Sunfire... loved Mintglade. They'd had kits. But her father couldn't spare a single glance for his daughter. Hadn't been at her warrior ceremony. Even now stood bloody, screaming in camp, and though she hid weak and cowering, her friend said she'd talk to him. She'd make him better. She knew him better probably, didn't she? Where were these bitter thoughts coming from? It must have just been the lingering fear and the images of mangled throats and scars that made her feel this way. But Bubblebeam didn't turn to her friend. She stayed still, trying to calm the shaking of her shoulders and the unending streaming of tears from her eyes.

Another familiar voice. Sorrelpaw... Sorrel. Her sister. This was a voice that smoothed her fur in the slightest bit, managed somehow to pierce through the terror just slightly. Through the breakdown of every cat she knew... Sorrel was still here. With one cautious, weeping eye, Bubblebeam made out a different emotion on her sister's face. Hidden beneath the concern; something darker, something unhappy directed towards their father. Something she couldn't quite read. But she was right to think it, wasn't she? Even as the tom hissed and spat and now stalked away, speaking only to his younger kits. Something deep inside Bubblebeam twisted. "I... I'll be fine, I think," she whispered past the quick intakes of breath. "I don't know... there's so much blood. So much screaming." Even as she spoke, another voice yowled across camp; she didn't even want to ascertain who it was. Back to hiding in Crookedlight's fur.

Something small pressing against her leg. A tiny voice. A... kit? One of Sunfire's kits. Her half-sibling. Combined with the screeching noises, with the heavy scent of blood, it made Bubblebeam's heart contort strangely. A kit Sunfire actually loved. No, no, her father loved her didn't he? Didn't he? She couldn't think, all of this sensation attacking her was so much, so much, too much, even with multiple barriers of well-meaning fur. The tears would not stop. Her ears swiveled wildly for a moment before pinning back again, shoulders tense and tight. Sunfire would keep them safe, he said. From ThunderClan and RiverClan? But... were they really the enemy here? Yes! What do you mean? Just remember the way Great-Aunt Bird's throat-- A strangled sound escaped from Bubblebeam's throat before she could stop it. Kits were seeing this? Another thought, unwanted and bitter, crept across the small part of her brain that still functioned. But who's going to protect me from your father? She couldn't say that. She couldn't believe she'd thought it. The stench of blood would not leave her nose and she felt as if she would vomit if she remained here for a second longer. "Sorry." She forced the word out. Sorry for not liking you and your father and my best friend and feeling weird about this whole thing and hiding like a coward. Sorry, I can't stop myself, I can't do any of this. I can't be a warrior like this.

Surrounded on all sides. But her solid rock was moving, shifting, and forcing her to put some weight on her own paws. Bubblebeam could not see very well with the blinding tears that shimmered across her vision, but vaguely--echoey, as if from far away--she heard Crookedlight speaking. "Get away from all this noise..." Wordlessly, almost mechanically she nodded. Leave. Leave. She wanted to leave. As best as she was able, she followed after the black and white pelt, focusing on it as if it were the only lifeline and she were drowning. She was drowning in blood and noise and fear and the deluge of bitter, unfamiliar thoughts and sensations. "Please," she whispered, begged. "I wanna go."

Yewpaw was a late face when it came to greeting the battle patrol, having settled in for a nap after taking one of the early patrols. He was awoken by furious screaming and the scent of blood. Had RiverClan and ThunderClan won and invaded the camp?

He rose to his paws on shaky legs, his eyes wide. He peeked out of the apprentices' den. He breathed shakily as he witnessed the horror beyond recognition. Birdstar was dead, Beechfang... and Honeydew was among those who were gravely injured. It reminded him of the bodies he saw at the lake - nearly as mangled. A strangled gasp escaped Yewpaw's throat. The battle patrol had finally returned.

"No... no, this can't be happening." He whispered to himself, rushing to check if she was still alive and settling among Mallowpaw. He didn't care. He didn't exactly care about all of the screaming. He wanted to assess the situation.

She looked terrible, yet she was breathing. He released a soft sigh. He was staring, his ears ringing. He could hear talking around him - some cats trying to push agendas, ideas, only a few tail lengths away from the dead. He could barely hear them. The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood and his paws felt like they were made out of stone.

Our strength was now extinguished and now they'll be able to finish us.

He almost felt nothing at all.