Written for the DimClan Challenge: Forbidden.

onwards.

Separate Ways

Mothclaw had never been more terrified than he was in this very moment, faced with the love of his life and the roaring of a battle around him. He couldn't fight her. There was no way, but he also couldn't protect her.

Snakefoot looked into Mothclaw's eyes for a moment, but she could see him wavering. She didn't know whether to be happy or pained. She had led the honest tom astray. She looked away from him, disappearing back into the fray.

Mothclaw barely saw the cat that rammed into his side moments later. His breath slid right out of him with a low hiss, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"This your first fight, buzzard brain?" the large black and white tom hissed lowly. Mothclaw bared his yellowing teeth in response, shoving the SandClan tom off of him easily. Mothclaw wouldn't satisfy the other with a response. Instead, he leapt to his paws and quickly raking his claws across the other's face. The tom yowled loudly, drawing the attention of two other cats, who came running to his aid.

"Need a little help over here?" Foxleap asked, her green eyes bright with excitement. She had only been a warrior for two moons... Mothclaw nodded curtly, and they attacked the other two cats. There was really too much happening, and Mothclaw was worried about Snakefoot.

While Mothclaw was distracted, he was knocked off his paws again. This time, by a cat with more skill. His eyes widened when he realized it was the SandClan deputy. The deputy was knocked him off of his paws once, twice. Mothclaw's pelt stung and burned as blood darkened it. He was terrified.

Snakefoot came bounding forward, her eyes stretched wide, "Stop! The fight is over!" She stood between the SandClan deputy and Mothclaw with a serious expression. Mothclaw felt embarrassed that she had come to his rescue, but it was true. The battle was over. SandClan had won, and the first yowls of grief began.

.

Mothclaw couldn't stop thinking about it. The way that Snakefoot had jumped in to end their fight. The way she had protected him as if he could not protect himself. It was maddening. He couldn't forget about it. Not in the slightest.

Within a day, after all the poltices were applied and Mothclaw was told to stay in his nest for the rest of the sun, he hated Snakefoot for intervening. Mothclaw believed himself to be strong and capable. He couldn't have a she-cat jumping in to save him. It was wrong, he thought, and of that he was very convinced. It was like the one time Snakefoot had mentioned that she didn't want any kits. It was nonsense. What she-cat didn't want kits?

Mothclaw was growing stir-crazy. He needed to move, stretch his legs, but the medicine cat got onto him everytime he tried something. He was obsessing over every little thing that bothered him about Snakefoot now. The things that they disagreed on, everything. The problems just seemed to grow and grow and grow. He had to put an end to this. It was only fair.

Mothclaw didn't want to fight with Snakefoot. He knew that he still loved her, somewhere inside himself, he still did. The issue had to be that they couldn't truly be together. It had to be...

.

Mothclaw sat on the border between LeafClan and SandClan, partially hidden in the tall grass. His body still ached from a few cuts from the battle three suns ago.

"Are you feeling better?" Snakefoot asked, her voice soft and careful. Mothclaw stared at her for a long moment.

"No. I don't think we can continue this," he meowed, and Snakefoot stiffened.

"What do you mean?" she inquired, hurt already coloring her voice.

"It's forbidden!" Mothclaw snapped in reply. Snakefoot flinched at his words, her dark gray fur bristling.

"That didn't stop you before," she said quietly, not even meeting Mothclaw's eyes.

"It is now," he said bitterly, turning away into the grass so he wouldn't have to see Snakefoot's reaction. Never knowing what turned him bitter.

Mothclaw ended up not being a great cat, but I still made a forbidden romance exist so...

Thanks for reading. Leave some thought if you're feeling like doing so.

~Minatu