I wanted to delve back into the Warriors fandom after a long absence with a little idea of mine. Basically, I'm taking scenes from the Warriors series that I and others find sub-par and re-writing them to be darker, more realistic, and less cliche. My current to-do list of scenes consists of my own ideas as well as suggestions from the people over at the official Warriors forums, but you're welcome to leave a review in regards to which scenes you'd like to see re-written and why. I won't re-do any scenes from DotC as I never read that series, nor will I re-do scenes that are too big of "game-changers" (i.e. having Bluestar keep her kits) or death scenes that I thought were done well (such as Bluestar and Yellowfang).
The rating is what it is because some 'shots are darker than others. I'll post a rating for each individual one-shot just so you can skip ones with ratings that are uncomfortable for you.
Scene: Tigerstar's death/Meet BloodClan
Rating: M
The cats of BloodClan stood motionless before the forest cats, their tooth-studded collars and menacing eyes glowing in the darkness of the woods. They all stared straight ahead at both everything and nothing, their countenances expressionless.
Whispers rippled through the forest cats like a breeze, every cat looking at one another for an answer that no one had. Only one cat, a bright ginger tom, was brave enough to give life to the question they all had.
"What is this?"
The perpetrator, the instigator, looked at him with sharp, devilish amber eyes. His muscles rippled beneath his pelt as he stood tall before his own cats, clearly confident in his own superiority. "Proof that I mean business. This is BloodClan."
The name echoed throughout the true Clans, their voices laced with an uncertain fear.
The tom, known to all as Tigerstar, twisted his face in an almost unnatural grin. "I gave you all the time in the world, Firestar. You could have prevented this. You could have submitted to the New Order. You could've kept these cats away. But you resisted, and for that you're going to pay."
A low, rumbling growl rose in the ThunderClan leader's throat. "You're not going to change anything by bringing in a bunch of kittypets with teeth stuck on their collars. My warriors are braver than that."
The tabby leader let out a mocking laugh. "Kittypets? Is that what you think they are?" He waved his tail in a gesture toward the cats he had assembled. "These cats are rogues, Firestar. Through and through. They have to fight for every morsel of food, every drop of water, every pawstep of ground. You shouldn't be scared of them; you should be terrified."
The ginger tom lifted his head to look Tigerstar in the eye. "The answer's still no." His decision was met by courageous cries from his own Clan.
Taking the time to laugh again, the ShadowClan leader whipped his massive, solid head around to look at WindClan's frail, aging leader. "And what about you, Tallstar? What matters more to you- your ego or your warriors' safety?"
"My warriors know their safety is jeopardized regardless of my decision. And that decision is still no. I will not subject my Clan to your horrid ways."
The broad-shouldered warrior got close, his stinking frog-breath right in the tall-tailed leader's face. "Are you sure about that, Tallstar? This is your final chance. Think of the things we could accomplish together. We could bring peace to the forest. We'd never run out of land or prey to eat. We could be unified under one solid, strong force. If you join us, Firestar will have no choice but to follow. One Clan cannot stand alone against three. If you say yes, we can have all of that. Together."
The black-and-white tom snorted. "I may be old, but I haven't lost my mind yet, Tigerstar. I know who you are. You're lying, manipulative, and untrustworthy. I would never trust you with the lives of my warriors."
His words were met with murmurs of agreement, none as strong as those from ThunderClan. Perhaps, then, the WindClan cats didn't fully understand what Tigerstar was capable of doing.
They were about to find out.
Angry now, Tigerstar flew up onto the Great Rock with a humongous leap, his claws scraping painfully loud against the rock. "Then clearly it is time to show you what happens to those who don't comply. BloodClan, attack!"
Nothing happened.
Looking slightly confused, he tried again. "I said, attack, BloodClan!"
Still, nothing happened.
Before Tigerstar could say anything further, the crowd parted to allow a massive tom to step forth. He, just like the rest of his Clanmates, was wearing a tooth-studded collar, his claws reinforced in an extremely menacing way. His eyes glowed harshly as he looked at Tigerstar.
"You do not control us."
A baffled Tigerstar looked at him, at a complete loss for words for what was likely the first time in his life.
The tom continued. "We agreed to come here today not to help you, but to help ourselves." He began pacing back and forth before his group. "I am Bone. I spoke with Tigerstar several moons ago about a plan to force the four forest Clans into one mega Clan. I, of course, found the idea absurd, but went along with his plan for the sole purpose of getting you all here together, right where we want you.
"We have spent many countless moons bending under the weight of the forest Clans. We have suffered in silence while you have prospered. We struggle to feed ourselves every day while you enjoy hearty meals with your loved ones. You sit atop your thrones of blood and bones, thinking that you are so great because your necks are free and your paws may walk wherever and over whoever you wish. That ends today."
Tigerstar burst out then. "Bone, stop this! This was not part of our plan!"
"Silence!" Bone snarled. His voice was so fierce that even some of his own warriors shifted. "You have spent your entire life talking, Tigerstar. Now it's time for you to be quiet. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from the cats who bested you."
He said nothing, although his eyes glittered with a sudden rage.
"Now I understand that many of you may assume this to be nothing of concern," Bone went on. "And I understand that. After all, the concept of BloodClan is new to you. Adjustment periods happen, and I'm willing to accept that. However, with any adjustment period comes a harsh blow of realization that things are changing. Allow me to present that blow to you by introducing you to the one that runs it all; Scourge."
Almost out of nowhere, a small black tom with eyes like ice appeared. Under normal circumstances, a cat would have laughed at the sight of him. He was no bigger than an apprentice, after all. However, his face was what completely destroyed any innocent look about him. It was twisted in a permanent look of violence, as if he were stuck in some kind of permanent battle. He twisted his reinforced claws as he walked, making them look ten times as menacing. Any cat could take one look at him and know he had control.
He smiled. "Hi."
That one word sent shivers up nearly every cat's spine.
Slowly, the tiny cat approached the forest cats. He sauntered forward rather leisurely, as if he were about to attend some sort of casual party. "Now, which ones of you are the leaders?"
Bone, who had since dragged a resistant Tigerstar down from the Great Rock, gestured to him. "That one. Tigerstar." He nodded to the other three leaders, who had since clustered together. "And those three. Firestar, Leopardstar, and Tallstar."
Scourge, as would be expected, approached Tigerstar first. "So," he said, drawing the word out. "We shittin' ourselves yet?" He chuckled and started walking around again, studying each cat with intelligent, manipulative eyes. "Gonna be Poo Poo City here real soon." His smile got even broader. "Yeah."
"You might be wondering why we wasted all of this effort hashing up this plan. The answer's real simple. You all simply do not understand the meaning of respect. You barge into our home, thinking that you own the place, and march around telling us what to do. You attack our cats, and then when we try to retaliate, you just attack and kill more of our cats." He stopped, looking at Firestar. "Not cool. That is so not cool, you know? You really do not understand how not cool that is."
"We can work this out," Firestar said. His voice shook slightly under the pressure of Scourge's ferocious, unforgiving eyes. "I'm sorry that Tigerstar brought you here with lies, but we can still work this out. Talk things over, and-and go back to the way things were."
"You wanna make a compromise then, huh?"
He nodded. "Yeah, we-"
The tom cut him off. "Alright, then, let me hash out a compromise. You give us half of your shit, and we don't kill you. That sound like a fair enough compromise for you?"
He looked a bit startled, but gave a response nonetheless. "I don't really think you get what I'm saying."
"Oh no," he said, his voice dripping with malicious intent. "I get what you're saying, I get it. You're used to sittin' up on Cloud Nine with the rest of your little hee-haws. You're used to being in charge. I can imagine it feels like shit to be ordered around. But that's how life works, you know? You do it right or you don't do it. Your leadership was flawed, and so it brought you to this point. So now I'm here to make it all better.
"It's real simple to understand. Every month, my warriors are gonna come. Each and every one of you is gonna give them half of your prey, half of your herbs, and half of your kits. If that demand sucks the life and blood out of your Clan, then I am sure you can find, make or steal more and it'll even itself out eventually." He let his gaze sweep across the Clans. "It's either that, or we kill you. And I don't wanna have to kill you, 'cause you can't work for me if you're dead."
His movement stopped beside Tigerstar, whose anger had been replaced by a look of sheer uncertainty and perhaps a little fear. "Which brings me to my next point. I don't take the deaths of my warriors lightly, and you shouldn't either. But you clearly do, seeing as you all seem to just love walking into my territory and killing my cats. If it had been just one or two, I could have forgiven you. I'm a forgiving cat. But after suffering for so long, watching you kill more cats than I can count, for that? For that you're gonna pay."
He raised a paw, flexing his reinforced, sharpened claws. "Half of your stuff isn't enough compensation for what you did to me," he said, looking straight at Tigerstar. "For what you did to my cats. No, it's gonna take something more. And so, tonight I'm gonna pound the holy fuck outta one of you."
If fear was tangible, every cat would have been feeling it. The cats of the Clans stood together, pressed up against one another like kits against their mother. Their eyes were wide; even the bravest warriors had glints of terror in their eyes.
Scourge of course noticed this, and basked in it with a smile. "Yeah, you're gonna regret crossin' me in a few minutes. You really are." He started walking back toward his Clan, only to stop and turn. He raised his head slightly, this time talking to the cats of all the Clans.
"It must make you feel lower than the shit you produce to realize that you don't know anything. You've lived sheltered lives, and that's turned you all into a bunch of fucked-up fuckfaces. Well, now's the time for you to meet the New World Order. And that order is us. I know it's quite complicated for you fuckbrains to understand, but I think I've spelled it out enough for you."
He approached Bramblepaw then. The little tabby cowered beneath the tom's harsh stare, reduced to a shivering mess.
"What's the matter?" Scourge taunted. He slapped the apprentice lightly with the side of his paw. "Lighten up a bit, kid. Sheesh. And they always said you forest cats were brave. I guess my arrival is a bit too much for you to handle."
"Then stop this!" Tigerstar roared.
"Hey!" Scourge shouted, making everyone jump. He whirled around to face the tabby leader. "You do not speak to me like that. Don't make me kill the future serial killer."
Tigerstar stared him down, his body shaking with fury. Scourge approached him slowly, eyes alight with a fiery rage.
"You brought this on yourself, Tigerstar," he spat. "You don't have the right to tell me what to do. Not anymore. I'm not a little kit anymore. I won't be thrown around by the likes of you, nor will my cats." He stood before him now. "Accept that fact, and this gets a whole lot easier. The more you resist, the longer it's gonna take for this to end. Everyone's sittin' around the fresh-kill pile, waiting for me to make my decision."
He started pacing up and down the line again, thinking. After several moments of terrifying silence, he burst out with, "I simply cannot decide!"
He ran his tongue around the corners of his mouth, shaking his head. "It's simply too difficult of a decision. Four leaders. Four important cats I can pick from. Or their warriors, perhaps. Which do I choose? Who do I choose?"
His back was to the Clan cats now. No one dared to look around, their bodies frozen as ice.
The BloodClan leader stopped abruptly. "I know!" he exclaimed, spinning on two feet to face the forest warriors again. "It's the perfect way!"
He stopped at the facing right end of the front line, consisting of the four leaders, their deputies, Bramblepaw, and Sandstorm. He started with Tigerstar. "Eeny."
"Meeny." Blackfoot.
"Miny." Leopardstar.
"Moe." Tallstar.
"Catch." Deadfoot.
"A tiger." Firestar.
"By its toe." Whitestorm.
"If he hollers," Sandstorm.
"let him go." Bramblepaw.
The line started again. "My mother. Said. To. Pick. The. Very. Best. One. And you. Are. It."
He sneered down at Blackfoot. "Anyone moves, anyone says anything, kill the fucker that started it all. You can scream. You can cry. Hell, you're all gonna be doin' that."
With one swift movement, he brought his paw crashing down against Blackfoot's shoulder. The deputy stumbled, lowering himself enough for Scourge to land another harsh blow to his head. The white warrior fell, blood pouring out of the gashes in his forehead. Screams of horror erupted from the surrounding cats, several of them jumping back, away from Blackfoot.
"Damn!" he cried triumphantly. "Would you look at that! Takin' it like a hero!"
The beating continued, with Scourge bringing his paw down on Blackfoot's head again and again. The blood-stained warrior lost consciousness at an unknown point. By the end of the whole ordeal, his head was nothing more than a bloody mess, the force of Scourge's paw having driven bone and fur out of their place to create a truly horrifying scene.
When the ordeal was done, Scourge stepped back, his stoic face returning to replace the glee he'd possessed whilst killing Blackfoot. "I hope you've all learned something today. My warriors will come by in three days' time to collect half of your stuff from each of your camps. If any of you weed-suckers resist, I will personally come to your camp and kill another of your own. And if any of you even think about setting a paw in BloodClan's territory, think again. You work for me now, and that means my land is off limits to you." He smirked. "Have a nice day."
Scourge turned and began walking back to his Clan, tail high. He didn't get far, however, before a desperate Tigerstar made a desperate move. Eyes wild with a mix of grief and fury, the TigerClan leader hurtled himself at the smaller cat, claws extended. Everyone in the sacred grove - BloodClan included - drew in sharp breaths.
The black cat, however, was unaffected. Almost methodically, he swung around, bringing his paw up in a well-practiced arc.
A horrid, gurgling scream came from Tigerstar as Scourge's claws tore through his throat. Blood splattered the ground in a massive puddle that Tigerstar quickly fell into, his body violently convulsing as blood poured from his wound. Scourge stood over him, allowing his enemy's blood to wash over his paws like a red river. Cats from both sides watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as the most hated cat in the forest jerked and flailed in his own blood.
His body went still for just a few moments, and Firestar was able to recognize through his numb mind that he was losing a life. However, StarClan clearly couldn't heal this wound, for soon the thrashing and screaming started again. Pure terror lit the tabby's eyes as he came to life again, only to fade as he lost another life.
He's dying nine times... Firestar realized. Oh StarClan, no! Not even he deserves this!
Through it all, Scourge stood motionless, staring Tigerstar in the eye with a look of absolute hatred. After what felt like an eternity but could have been longer, the movement finally stopped and the light died from Tigerstar's eyes. His blood-soaked flanks stilled, and the blood pouring from his gaping wound slowed and thinned before stopping altogether.
Tigerstar was dead.
Scourge broke his silence to violently kick Tigerstar's body with a single blood-soaked paw. His head snapped up, his icy eyes fixed on Firestar. He chuckled.
"What? It's not like you trusted him anyways."
Woo! That was intense. I hope you all enjoyed the first entry in my Warriors Rewritten series.