Breathing Heavily At My Feet [O]

OOC: Directly follows the September Gathering.

IC: It had been a long trek back to the ThunderClan camp, mostly due to Acornstar starting to slow the closer they got. Even at the lax pace she had been setting, she felt absolutely exhausted to the point where it took effort to keep her breathing steady. Her chest was tight and she ached for her nest - to collapse and drift off into sweet nothingness and let her body recover from...All of that. Part of her felt sheepish about the desire - she hadn't taken the worse of the wolves' attacks after all. A paw swipe to the side and the hard fall from the Great Rock.

As she pushed past the bramble, a wheeze escaped her - an attempt at a sigh of relief to be safely back home. She made her way to the middle of the clearing, swaying a little on her paws as she glanced behind her to locate Sageroot in the mess of cats filtering in behind her. "Sageroot, double the guards for tonight," she managed, her voice not as strong as she would liked. From the large gathering of wolves that had chased them from the Lake, she had her doubts that there was only two. No, they would have to stay on watch until it was clear if there was a pack waiting for them or not. "I'll...I'll explain what happened...To those who didn't go...Tomorrow morning," she murmured, giving her head a shake. Something was off, she could tell but she didn't have the energy to put any thoughts towards what it could be.

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Flurrypaw was lying awake in his nest, ears perked for the sound of the returning Gathering cats. There was no real reason he had neglected to go, thought he had soon come to regret the idea of not letting the other Clans get to bask in his greatness. The sound of pawsteps caused him to sit up, pushing himself to his paws as he poked his way from the apprentice's den. His nose caught the scent of blood first before he laid eyes on the ragged state of some of his Clanmates - Acornstar having a streak of blood down her side.

His eyes only lingered on the wavering leader for a few heartbeats before he stepped fully from the den, tail puffed. "W-What happened?" he questioned, but Acornstar was busy giving orders to Sageroot - she would be giving answers tomorrow. That wasn't good enough for him, thought as he started to scan the cats. "Mom? Whe-" he only got halfway through his call for her before he spotted the black pelt. "Mom!" He sprinted towards Nightdancer, only to start slowing down as he scolded himself for even being worry - of course his mom was alright! "Did the other Clans break the truce? What happened?" he questioned, brushing against her in relief even if he should have known better to even fret for a moment.

Sageroot had walked home in a daze, her mind numb. She didn’t dare think. If she tried to think, all she saw was blood. Mostly Acornstar’s blood. “I need two volunteers to sit guard tonight along with the existing shift,” she called out in monotone. “The danger has most likely passed, but… we can’t afford to not be careful. Apprentices are not to leave camp until after tomorrow’s meeting, unless they have a warrior escort and I personally have approved it.” Her heart sank as she took in the few bedraggled pelts that made up her clan.

As Sageroot started to give orders, Acornstar heaved a heavy sigh. She turned, taking only a few steps towards her den before she stopped and blinked. Everything felt... Wrong. The world shifted around her, she could barely think with the faint heat in her head - a dizziness starting to set in. She shook her head, but the movement was more sluggish than she wanted as she tried to take deep breaths to steady herself but it wasn't - she wasn't... Her chest was tight, she couldn't breath. How long had she been unable to breath?

Finally, as the thought truly stuck her that something was very wrong... The leader collapsed to the ground. A ragged wheeze escaped her, broken up by coughs - crimson staining her paws as she tried to stop herself. "Oh," was all she could manage to say before her head slumped forward and the leader slipped into darkness.

Sleepycloud's attention was immediately caught by the ruckus at the front of camp. Immediately, she scavenged together what herbs she could possibly need. If it was during the short time between when they left for the gathering and now, it wouldn't have been a slow-acting illness. Her clan members had seemed fine before they left. Definitely injuries. But what could have caused them? A battle between clans? Heart sinking, the medicine cat apprentice limped out of the den with herbs in her maw. Even the strong scent of the many herbs could not hide the stench of blood. But was it cat blood?

Acornstar...!

She put pressure on her leg and bounded towards their leader. "Step away--" Sleepycloud commanded through the herbs in her jaw. With gentle paws, she felt the flank of Acornstar, noting a lack of major injuries on the outside that would cause her collapse. Eyes narrowing, she pressed a paw to where the ribs were, noting one out of place. Broken. Flicking her gaze towards the puddle of blood in front of her maw, Sleepycloud understood. She placed the herbs down and turned towards the other cats. "Bring her into my den." She could do nothing right now for Acornstar. A pierced lung was something only StarClan could heal. But, at least, maybe they didn't need to make a spectacle.

"If you are injured, please see me." Her voice rang out, holding an authority she had been unfamiliar with. Her goal was to help her clanmates who did not have lives to spare.

It took a while for the leader to take in what happened, almost startled by how clear her head felt compared to what it had been just a few heartbeats ago. She slowly worked herself to her paws, ears twitching as the world seemed strangely silent - glancing around her Clanmates' seemed dull in colors, mouths open but no words reached her. "What..." she barely managed, before she looked down to see herself laying at her own paws. Her heart skipped a beat - partly in terror of the realization that it wasn't beating. She was...?

She stumbled backwards, tail lashing but a flash of golden - almost a ray of sunlight itself compared to the washed out clearing caught her eye and caused her to freeze. Her eyes drifted up to a familiar face - one from her leader ceremony as Lionspark sat a few tail-lenghts away, her face twisted in sad sympathy. "Its never easy to realize you have died - even with multiple lives as a leader, I've been told. You will return to them in time so calm yourself," she urged like a mother trying to calm down a kit.

The leader's mouth parted but no words left her, turning her gaze downwards once more to stare at her still body... Before she carefully stepped over it to cross the distance to Lionspark. "I've...Lost a life? How?" she questioned, shaking her head in disbelief. She had barely been injured - some claw streaks down her side. The rough landing from her fall had honestly hurt a bit...More...

The golden she-cat gave a sad nod as realization crossed Acornstar's face. "Broken ribs - and ones that did not break kindly. You bled heavily, Acornstar - but not from the outside. We will heal your injury so that you may return, but we cannot undo all of it."

"...Why?"

The question, as sudden and out of the blue as it was, caused Lionspark to jolt as she flashed Acornstar a confused look but had no time to respond before the leader went on.

"Why is my Clan suffering like this? We've lost so many cats - some we can mourn, others disappeared. And now the beasts ruining a night of peace... Is my leadership not enough? Was taking my name, these lives, a mistake?" There was some relief - as much as asking these things out loud hurt - in being able to ask StarClan themselves. She braced for whatever answer she would receive - feeling as unsure as she did the night she gained her lives on what she wanted the answer to be.

"...None of this is your fault," Lionspark breathed - pushing herself to her paws so she could nuzzle into Acornstar. "For the power we wield, we do not control the whim of others. We cannot explain why some of your cats disappeared, we did not send the wolves. But...Things are not hopeless for ThunderClan - good fortune lies behind you."

The simple statement caused Acornstar to pause, considering it. Behind her? Not...In front of her? What did that mean for ThunderClan's future - things had not felt... But slowly, the true purpose of the words settled in as she glanced behind her - eyes widening at the familiar pelt that stood at the entrance of the camp - confused and horrified by what he had arrived to see.

Her mouth parted to call out - but then the world around her shuttered... And suddenly she was breathing again. She sputtered as she tried to push herself to her paws and failed. "Wiggle...worm," she gasped, turning her head to stare at him in awe. He was back, one of her missing warriors was back! ...But... Where was Bearpaw, who had gone missing with him? And Silverdusk? Slowly her relief started to be filled with dread. The eyes of her Clanmates were still on her so she pushed herself to her paws carefully, recalling  Lionspark's warning to be mindful of the injuries that remained. "I'm...I'm fine," she said, as if she hadn't just died - she didn't have the time to dwell on that whole thing as she turned to look at Wiggleworm. She could see the confusion still on his face, a sigh escaping her.

"The Gathering was ambushed by wolves," she explained - loud enough for all of those who hadn't been at the Gathering to hear. "Two of them, both dealt with but there could easily be more. But Wiggleworm, what happened to you? Where...Have you been?" she asked, uncertain if she wanted to speak of Silverdusk to him in the moment. There was always the chance that the warrior had simply failed to cross paths - but she had made a vow, she would be back by the first snowfall at the latest. ...If Wiggleworm was  here, she could only pray that Silverdusk would be willing to return empty pawed.