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Foxheart: Betrayal

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A/N: Another drabble about another underappreciated ShadowClan warrior—Foxheart. I guess I have a soft spot for little mentioned or used characters. If you haven't seen the guidebooks, then check out the Warriors wikia for information about her. There isn't much. This is my own interpretation on what I think could have happened to her.

This story is my own creation, but Foxheart, Brokentail and Warriors in general is © to Erin Hunter.

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Panting with exertion, claws unsheathed, Foxheart—the deputy of ShadowClan—ran as fast as she could. Running just ahead and to the side of the red tabby was another ShadowClan warrior. "Are you sure the kits headed towards the Carrionplace Brokentail?" She yowled.

A short curt nod was the only answer given by the dark brown tabby. He pulled on an extra burst of speed and pulled ahead. Foxheart merely followed. The secretive deputy's eyes narrowed. She was not fond of Brokentail. True, the rumors around the clan that she was his mother, sired by Raggedstar, had lent her a certain stature of respect within ShadowClan which she certainly did not mind....she never actually encouraged the rumors but her silence on the subject only goaded them on. She knew as much and welcomed that.

Still, she never liked Brokentail himself.

Even so, when the dark warrior came ran up to her as she came back from a patrol, yowling about some of the kits running off in the direction of the Carrionplace, what could she do but follow him?

Foxheart lost sight of Brokentail as he darted into the Carrionplace, surrounded by piles of Twoleg garbage. "Brokentail? Kits?" Foxheart meowed as she stealthily strode through the mounds, her pawsteps not making a sound in true ShadowClan fashion. She frowned. The stench of the carrion drowned out all other scents.

As she made it past one pile Foxheart came to a clearing and paused. In the center was a swarm of rats gathered around a piece of...freshkill? Foxheart's fur bristled as she realized that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

She started to slowly back away, hoping the rats wouldn't notice her....when suddenly a loud racket broke through the silence of the night. Foxheart whirled, eyes wide and fur bristling. A pile of rubbish had fallen over, blocking the way back out that Foxheart had just used to enter!

The rats squealed at the sudden noise and soon noticed Foxheart. The tabby's fur prickled as she saw and heard many more rats come crawling out of the rubbish all around her....and her only way out was blocked.

She hissed at the rats, bearing her teeth and swatting at the air in front of her with her claws, trying to keep the rats at bay. "Brokentail! Where are you, you furball?!" She yowled.

The rats lunged. With a single swipe Foxheart's claws slew two of the rodents, but given their numbers two rats more or less didn't matter. Foxheart narrowed her eyes as she presence of the freshkill that drew the rats out and the absence of the supposedly missing kits raised dangerous questions...but ones that would have to wait as the rats surged.

The next few minutes were a blur of shrieking rodents and flashing teeth and claws. Foxheart struck out again and again, killing rat after rat but still more came. As she turned to slash at one rat that lunged for her ear, she spied a cat sitting atop of the rubbish behind her. "Brokentail! What are you waiting for?!" She called at him.

Brokentail sat still, merely flicking a tail. Foxheart seethed. "Coward!" She spat, then had to duck to avoid a rat who lunged for her head. After a quick swipe that sent the rat flying, the ShadowClan deputy turned back to Brokentail who had not moved a mouselength. "Coward!" She thought again, then paused as his eyes glimmered, a terrible smile on his face. Her blood ran cold. This was no mere cowardice—but treachery!

In a terrible instant of clarity that a medicine cat would've envied, Foxheart understood it all. The story about the missing kits, Brokentail's racing ahead, the piece of freshkill that just 'happened' to be there to draw out the rats, the falling pile of rubbish that trapped Foxheart with the rats—

"Traitor!" She yowled at Brokentail even as she battered aside rat after rat. "Do you think you'll become deputy once I'm gone?"

"Naturally." Brokentail meowed, fairly purring in pleasure. "Especially after my father hears about how bravely I fought to save you, even though you were overwhelmed by the rats. And that softhearted fool will believe anything I tell him!" Foxheart's ears flattened with a growl as she saw the truth in his words.

"Raggedstar has his admirable qualities and strengths," Foxheart thought to herself, then went on bitterly, "But he's always been remarkably obtuse where his brat was concerned!" If nothing else, Foxheart was comforted by the knowledge that she wasn't Brokentail's mother. She wondered if he knew that...then she shuddered as she realized that Brokentail couldn't know if she was or wasn't his mother—in fact, he probably did think that, thanks to the rumors and Raggedstar's and Foxheart's silence on the subject. And the fact that Brokentail was prepared to murder a cat he might have believed to be his mother made what he was doing worse than Foxheart could've believed possible.

And if Brokentail could murder his deputy and possible mother—what cat could say that he wouldn't also be willing to murder his leader and father? Foxheart bared her teeth as she bit down on a rat that had gotten too close. With an amused mrow, Brokentail stood. "Good-bye Foxheart. Give StarClan my regards!" He bounded off, out of the Carrionplace.

Then Foxheart was alone, surrounded and cut off by more rats than there were leaves at Fourtrees, or so it seemed. She fought on with the grim and bitter fierceness of one who knew herself abandoned and betrayed. "If I go to StarClan tonight I'll take as many of these rats with me to whatever fate they face!" She yowled as her claws lashed out again and again.

The tabby hissed as she was bit once, twice...and again and again. Growing tired and sore and bleeding from any number of tiny bites and cuts, Foxheart fought on. With all the fierceness and ferociousness of TigerClan, the doomed deputy killed rat after rat after rat.

It wasn't hard for Foxheart to kill so many rats--she kept picturing Brokentail's face one each rat. She didn't know how long she'd been fighting, the ground grew littered with dead rats until she couldn't move or leap in any direction without tripping over one. Ironically, her successes against the rats only hindered her as she could no longer move around, her feet trapped by the bodies of the rats she'd slain.

Her strength ebbed from her as she bled from more cuts than she cared to think about. "Great StarClan I'm going to die...alone..." She winced as a cut on her forehead trickled blood down into one eye. Using what little energy she had left, Foxheart turned and made for the fallen rubbish pile that blocked her path. She panted with exhaustion as she desperately tried to clamber onto it, rats biting at her haunches. Somehow she managed to pull herself up. Then, weak as a kitten she fell down the other side. Foxheart panted in the dirt as she tried to crawl out of the Carrionplace. With the adrenaline of the fight leaving her, all that was left was the exhaustion and the pain and she knew that she was dying.

"Foxheart!" A voice yowled. Wearily, Foxheart lifted her head up to see Raggedstar, Yellowfang, and a whole patrol of ShadowClan warriors dashing forward...including Brokentail. A sudden spark of hope made lit up her eyes. "I can still tell them!" She thought fiercely. "I may die, but I'll see that every cat knows what Brokentail is!"

Raggedstar pressed his muzzle against Foxheart's flank. "Be still. Yellowfang will help." Silently, for her mouth was full of herbs, the ShadowClan medicine cat sat next to Foxheart. She said something Foxheart couldn't hear. Her vision and hearing was fading in and out. She felt Yellowfang pressing come cobwebs into her fur to stop the bleeding, but the red tabby knew she was too far gone for that.

Foxheart opened her mouth to speak, but only a dribble of blood came out. Mustering her strength she tried again. "R-ragg...gug...."

Raggedstar licked her ear. "I'm right here. Brokentail told me what you did...facing all those rats because you thought they endangered the clan. All the clan honor's your bravery." Foxheart weakly tried shaking her head. She opened her mouth and tried to warn him, but only faint croaks and gasps emerged. Her vision went dark again...but this time it wasn't coming back.

Mentally, Foxheart wailed. "StarClan no! Just give me another moment! Please! I have to tell them about Brokentail...please just another second! I-I'm not ready to die! StarClan please, just another--"

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Foxheart gazed up silently as her vision returned; standing in the midst of her warriors ancestors, their pelts gleaming with stars. And despite being surrounded by StarClan, she had never felt so alone and hopeless. She looked at her ancestors, her head bowed, her ears flattened, and her shoulders slumped

"I failed."

THE END

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