Sooooooooorry this took so long. This is the homestretch of WriDaNoJu. So this chapter marks my 75K completion! Wooooooooooo! 75K in twenty-four days doesn't seem that bad at all, does it? Also, I wrote like 12K today so I'm reeeeeeeeeeeeally tired of writing right about now. XD Darn last-minute things. I do like working under pressure, though. =3
LarkspiritofForestClan - Hee~ I wuv both of them. XD
Crowstorm - Yo yo yo! Word to your mothaaaaaaa'! That's about it. And I'm the whiteyest whitey in all of whiteydom. XD Not so much the gore - I don't much care for that - but plenty of fighting! Fightfightfight!
Sky Fireheart - Oooooh~! That sounds interesting! I do love Deadliest Catch now, and Dual Survival, and Cake Boss. I have lots of shows I love, actually. XD
Queen of Pens - Aaw, you want Lucky to die? -thinks of the possibilities-
LegendaryHero - Ooh, my bad. *Pinky Pie Swear. There we go. XD It is so hard to do a good fight scene. If you go to omniscient PoV, which doesn't really always make sense, it seems like an overview strategy game or something. But if you stay in one character's mind, you have to focus on their fights, on their observations. Plus cat fights are really repetitive. XD You'll have to tell me if I did an alright job! XD I'm only on episode nine, unfortunately. My pony time is severely lacking because of WriDa, but now that that's over, I can go back to the magic! -shiny eyes-
theDiabolical - Whoooooooooa! -huge eyes- Majorly high praise. Careful, or you'll give me such a big head, I won't be able to sit upright! XD
Amazingly Awesome Person - I do love the adult kit kind of deal. I like to think that the Rogue is like that, too. Something stunted in his poor little cat brain. And oh no! Did you have to take him to the vet? That happened to my guinea pig Dawson and I had to take him in and get it poked with a needle. Poor little piggy did NOT appreciate that! You'll have to tell me if he's alright! D:
Smokefrost - I never got into Sailor Moon for whatever reason. I remember watching it when I was younger and not understanding anime and just wondering about how she got her head to look like little blonde meatballs with pigtails streaming from them. XD
tufted titmouse - Man, I wish I had your machine, then! I can't even log in and get to this page without it coming up. D:
ponyiowa - I do love the love. =3
artemis7337 - Oh, God. Bones. They drew it out for so long it was physically painful for me to watch that show. BUT I LOVE IT SO MUCH. D: I do like the ones with mixed personalities. I mean, no one is entirely good or bad, y'know? Shades of gray and all that. Which is probably why I always liked Darkstripe. I even named a Mightyena after him! XD
Tangleflame - Heehee~! I'm glad you like it! :D
Okay.
Enough of the jibba-jabba!
Onto the story~
Outside the Warren, the Claws were in place. Declan was with the second group, the one perched at the far side of the gate. They stood on the other side of the fence, peering around the corner to keep a fix on the ghostly pale entrance to the Warren. He narrowed his eyes, trying to keep the adrenaline from making his heart beat so quickly, and thought back to when Twist had been late in coming back.
Sorrow was livid. "That filthy, lying traitor!" she spat, raking her claws through the dirt. "She told me she would get Lucky out by midnight! It's almost time and I haven't seen anything! Leo," she snarled next, almost making him leap out of his fur in surprise, "you go down to the barrier and check it out. Tell me if you can hear anything."
And so Declan did. Scooting alongside the fence, he pressed his shoulder against the pale wood. So close, he thought, and still an outsider, a stranger.
He managed to make it all the way up to within a few tail-lengths from the gate before he heard a yowl rise up: "—and defend it! We won't allow the Claws to hurt us anymore! We will fight back Sorrow and her miserable band of ratty warriors and take back what is ours! Our cats will come home where they belong!"
Declan was shocked. That was Viktor speaking!
Has Lucky handed over command to him? Declan wondered. Almost immediately, he discredited the idea. As if Lucky could bear to part with control of the Sliders unless his life was on the line.
Suddenly, it went quiet within the walls of the Warren. Declan pressed his ear against the wood but couldn't hear anything else.
Darting back up to the hillside, he caught the attention of both Sorrow and Sparrow. "Well?" Sorrow demanded. "What did you hear?"
Declan shook his head. "Not a thing. It's silent as death in there."
Sorrow accepted this without question, though Sparrow's eyes lingered on him for far too long for comfort. It was impossible that he suspected him, right? After all, Sparrow was the one cat who everyone in the Claws trusted warily—after all, Declan had heard, Sparrow was responsible for the release of a mountain she-cat who had been vital to the Rogue's entire operation. For whatever reason. Declan had never asked far beyond that, afraid of poking his nose into business of which he had no right.
And now they were preparing the attack. Declan had dug his claws deeply into the soil, trying to shake some confidence into his bones. He knew he couldn't raise a claw against the Sliders—they were his friends, after all—but could he switch sides in the middle of a battle? Could he attack the Claws right there out in the open without retribution? Sorrow would kill him.
But it would be worth the risk.
"Be prepared," Midnight, the leader of their group, hissed. His claws, long and hooked, were kneading the soil in preparation for attack.
"I am so ready for this," the Shredder almost purred. "I've been dying to attack."
Declan looked away, repressing the desire to gag. The Shredder, a puny little punk of cat, had long since proved his uselessness in battle. He was a sniveling coward and every cat knew that. Why he had been allowed onto this attack group in the first place was mystifying.
Then he realized that the Shredder could possibly have been brought along for the simple fact that he would be claw fodder for the Sliders. Nothing was more distracting than an easy target.
"And I'm starving," the Shredder continued in a plaintive yowl. "Can't we go hunt?"
"You should have hunted before," Zib snapped. "Now you're holding the rest of us up. Just shut up and be quiet. You'll have your fill of fighting soon."
Declan sighed tightly, his discomfort sitting in his ribs like a weight.
"Seriously, I might die if I don't get a bite to eat. I caught a mouse but Sorrow took it."
"Sorrow needs it more than you do," Midnight spat. "She's actually capable in a fight. You're just going to be a burden to everyone. Nobody's going to want to save you."
"No one needs to save me! I'll be showing you all up!" The Shredder puffed out his chest, taking a step forward, that weird tufty bit of fur on his head flipping upwards like a fledgling's feathers.
Midnight pressed them closer to the fence until their fur brushed against it. "Should be time soon," he whispered. "We just have to wait for Sorrow's call and—"
A high yowl raked its way into the air, nearly splitting Declan's ears. The entire group froze.
"That…wasn't Sorrow," Zib said slowly.
As soon as he spoke, Declan felt a rumble beneath his paws. He sprang back, his fur on end.
The sound was coming from…underground?
The Shredder was the only one who didn't move. His head was cocked so extremely to the side that Declan half-thought he would fall over. "Badgers?" he thought aloud, his head tipping to the other side as he listened.
Midnight, eyes wide in surprise and a little bit of fear, said, "Go look, Shredder."
The Shredder, who had already gone over to where the dirt was now pushing up a bit, turned angrily to Midnight and spat out, "I told you. I told all of you! For the final time, my name is the Shredder! Not just—"
The ground, which had been rising steady just in front of the Shredder's paws, suddenly burst open like an abscess.
A pair of paws raked out of the dirt, claws extended and glistening, and grabbed the Shredder around the neck, pulling him beneath the ground.
The Claws let out a simultaneous screech of terror.
"Stay together, stay together!" Midnight was shrieking the words above the yowling but his voice was almost lost. Declan, bolted to the ground with the strength of his fright, stared at the gaping hole in the ground. At once, a roiling mass of fur and hard eyes boiled up out of the dirt, shaking off pelts thick with clods. They attacked at once, seizing upon the nearest cats, rolling over and over again in the dirt.
Declan's first thought was, These cats have come back to life to kill the ones who stole their families.
His second thought was, I need to get out of here.
His third thought was, The Sliders have truly thought out their plan well.
They looked terrifying, with shaggy clumps of dirt clinging to their fur, dragging off their bellies. Now that he had really begun to look, the place where the Sliders had erupted from was loose, falling through in some places to show tunnels.
Genius. No Claw was expecting their enemy to lurch up out of the ground, looking like the dead reanimated. The fury that lit the Sliders' eyes was strong enough to scorch right through the Claws' smooth procedure of cold concentration.
Declan was so busy marveling at it all that he didn't even notice the cat flying at him, claws extended, until it was too late. It hit him with the force of a boulder, knocking him onto his back. Twisting immediately, Declan seized his claws into the cat's thick belly fur, catching it there and tossing it aside with nothing more than a lucky bruise. Before he could think straight, he had leapt on top of the cat and sank his teeth into its neck.
"D-Declan?" the cat squeaked.
"Audrey?" Declan gaped. "You tried to rake my pelt off!"
"You actually did rake my pelt off!" She licked her shoulder with a resentful set of her jaw, though her eyes were shining with excitement. That thrill that only a battle could bring. He never imagined he would see it in Audrey's eyes, of all cats. "Twist knew you'd be here! Come on, there are some Claws over there we need to—"
A cat rushed her, bowling her over with a choked-off screech, his teeth in her scruff. He flipped her onto her side, stepping heavily onto her ribs, hard enough for Declan to hear the strain of bones.
Sorrow turned to Leo, still standing on Audrey though now with her claws extended. "Why is it," she asked in a voice taut with fury, "that you were speaking with this cat, Leo? Don't you know that all these cats are enemies? Every single cat who doesn't smell of your master, Leo. So go out and fight now. And don't let me catch this again."
Declan hesitated, hoping, praying that it did not show on his face.
Sorrow, confident that he would obey, turned back to Audrey, lips pulled back to expose her fangs. She snarled, "Let's see how stale the blood of the Sliders runs these days!" She lunged toward Audrey, ready to rip, to tear, and Declan was helpless to move. Audrey's green eyes fixed on his, a silent, begging plea, but he couldn't budge a mouse-length.
"Stay away from her!" A black and white blur came out of nowhere, hitting Sorrow so hard that Declan felt the reverberated impact deep in his own bones. Snit, a snarling mass of fangs and claws and furious spitting insults, tackled Sorrow again, forcing her to the ground, her chin digging into the sand.
Her eyes, ferocious and marked just like his, fixed on him with a hatred that almost hurt to look at. "You!" she screamed, twisting around so that she was lying on her back, all four sets of claws exposed and glistening as she ripped at Snit. "You dare show your face to me? Filthy, stinking traitor, wait until the master gets his claws into you! If you're lucky, you'll live long enough to beg and grovel for his forgiveness!"
Snit leapt backwards, every hair on his pelt on end, and sprang again, barreling Sorrow over and over again, raising a cloud of dust that made Declan choke. "He's not my master," he snarled, sinking his teeth into Sorrow's back until she screamed in agony. "And you're nothing to him, Sorrow. You're not the kit he wanted. I am. And I reject him. I reject everything he has to say! He's nothing to me now! I'd kill him as easily as I'll kill you if you don't leave this instant! I'll kill every Claw on my land!"
"Your land? Lucky's land, you mean!" Her eyes raked the clearing, filled with a turbulent mass of bodies, twisting and writhing in a deadly dance. "I don't see him out here," she went on, her voice maliciously sarcastic. "Has his luck run out?"
"Lucky doesn't have to deal with you," Snit growled gutturally, his head sunk below his shoulders. His eyes glowed in the half-light. "Because I'll take care of you myself. Your time is here, Sorrow!"
She laughed, raucously like a crow. "I'd like to see you try! Insolent kit, I was a warrior before you were even born!"
They fought again, a shrieking tangle of silver and white, shot through with black. Declan caught the shine of their eyes, reflecting the madness that burned within like a sickness.
Audrey stared, watching with a kind of fascination.
"Get away!" Declan yelled, coming to his senses. He nudged her shoulder, pushing her along. "Go find another cat to fight!"
Her eyes never left Snit. "But…but he—"
"This is Snit's fight. Go find your own." When she didn't move, he arched his back and hissed in her face. "Go!"
Her eyes, wide and frightened, flicked to his face once before she turned and fled, disappearing back into the fray.
Declan watched her a moment, out of breath and shaking, until he followed her himself.
The next cat that hurled itself at him was a black cat he recognized as Ink, one of the Sliders he had worked with many times during his moon cycle of service. "Stop!" Ink shrieked, clawing the air in front of him. "Don't come a pawstep closer or I swear I'll make your fur run red!"
Declan just stared. "It's already red," he pointed out, stunned.
Ink's eyes narrowed to slits. "I'll make it redder!" he snapped. "We'll see if your blood is as strong as your friends, Claw filth!"
Declan evaded Ink's ill-planned attack, darting back into the crowd. He heard the tom yowl curses at him but ignored him. There was only one cat on his mind right now and he had to find her, to protect her. There wasn't a cat he would rather stand and fight beside.
As he fled, ducking beneath fangs and darting around slashing claws, Declan couldn't help but marvel in a kind of sick enthrallment at the battle. He had never been in a fight on such a large scale before. Everywhere he looked, he saw claws splitting skin, ears being shredder, clumps of fur falling like rain. And all the while, the caterwauling of wounded cats set the beat for the fight, pulsing louder with every blow and every kick, every bite and every lash.
It was horrifying. It was terrifying. It wasn't a victory, not for the Claws and not for the Sliders and certainly not for the Rogue. Cats could die tonight, Declan realized, sidestepping past a fallen cat with blood slowly seeping through its white fur. Cats would die for this, for nothing. For a war with too few players and too much hatred.
It was sickening.
The fight in front of him stopped in his tracks. Rowan, the heavy cat he was, was pinned on the ground by the joint efforts of Kent and Marco. The small tom had grown into quite the warrior, Declan thought, as he shredded Rowan's pelt to ribbons. Rowan was shrieking with pain, his eyes rolling back in his head.
He caught sight of Declan. "Leo!" he called, voice shrill with fear and agony. "Thank the stars! Leo, help me!"
Declan froze in place. He couldn't get the picture of this cat raking his claws down Twist's beautiful dark pelt out of his mind.
Rowan's eyes glazed with confusion. "Leo!" he called again. "Help me!"
That caught the attention of Kent. He swiveled around to stare at Declan, eyes widening as he realized who he was. "By the stars," he breathed, barely audible over the cries on the battlefield. "It can't be."
Marco's jaw dropped.
At their lack of attention, Rowan made his move. Twisting on the ground, he managed to get his paws, shaky and unsteady, beneath him. Slouching heavily to one side, he lunged to Declan's side, pressing his flank against Declan's. "Leo," he panted, his voice ragged. A line of blood trickled out from his mouth. "We can take them. Double team them. We can do it. Ready?" He staggered forward pitifully before falling to his side.
Declan crouched beside him, looking up at Kent with desperation. "Don't kill him," he begged. "He's just an old sick cat."
Marco's eyes narrowed. "He's a Claw," he said coldly. "If you protect him, you're one of them." Then his eyes widened. "He called you Leo. Are you not one of us anymore, Declan?"
Kent seemed similarly curious. One ear lay back on his head in tattered, slowly seeping blood through his gray pelt. "Well?" he growled.
Declan could say nothing in his defense. "Don't kill him," he whispered again. "He's a Claw but…he doesn't know what he's doing. None of them do."
"He certainly knew when he bit off Max's ear!" Kent yowled.
Declan turned to Rowan, who was all the way to his belly now, his eyes barely open. A deep slash bisected his shoulders, filling the air with the sickening smell of blood. "Is that true?"
Rowan didn't seem to hear him.
Kent growled, "It was him. I remember. He wanted to kill Max, Declan. You'll protect a murderer over your own group? We might not be kin, but we're family. And this cat tried to steal a member of that family. You're going to sit there and take that?"
"You don't understand what I've been through," Declan said. He stood protectively over Rowan, despite how sick he felt protecting one who had brought harm to Twist. "Or this cat. He might have been through the same."
"I've seen enough," Marco said darkly. He stepped forward, falling into a hunter's crouch. "If you don't get out of the way, I'll have to go through you. And I will. While you were out with the Claws getting all buddied up, I was training. I'm not a little messenger anymore, Declan. I'm a warrior too. And I'll fight until I die to protect the ones I love!" He leapt on the last word, launching himself straight at Declan with claws unsheathed.
Declan stood there, unmoving. He closed his eyes as Marco approached, not willing himself to show any trace of fear at the coming pain.
But Marco never made it.
"What's gotten into you?" Twist scolded Marco, cuffing him over the head. "Can't you see that this cat has been beaten? He can't even stand!" Once she was done spitting at Marco, she turned to Rowan, without looking at Declan. She looked down at Rowan, not a trace of pity in her eyes. "I remember you," she began. "You're the one who carved his mark into my skin."
Rowan looked up at her, bleary gaze clearing for a split-second. "Twist."
"That's right. You nearly killed me. See this?" She turned, displaying a shoulder that was still red beneath a patch of dark brown fur. "You did that to me. And I will never forgive you for what you did. I'll never stop seeing your face when I think of how much I hate the Claws. I will never get your voice out of my head when I think about my capture. But," she went on, and her voice turned into barely above a whisper, "I can't let someone kill you. You're a miserable, vicious, ignorant old cat, but you don't deserve to die. And it's not up to me when your life should end. So go." She slammed her forepaws into the ground in front of Rowan, startling him into sitting position. "Go! And if I ever see you on Slider territory again, I'll let Marco treat you the way you treated me!"
Rowan stared at her with something close to awe. "I… Thank you."
Twist's lip curled. "I don't want your thanks. Get out of here!"
And Rowan obeyed.
Once he was gone, Twist let out a deep breath, her shoulders sinking forward. Turning around, she said in a businesslike voice, "Well, that takes care of that."
Declan rushed her at once, pressed his muzzle against the top of her head. He placed one paw on top of hers, burying his nose against her fur and drinking in her scent. "Twist," he whispered against her fur.
Twist turned and pushed her muzzle against his white chest fur. He could feel her purr through his body, vibrating off his bones. "I'm home," she breathed.
Declan closed his eyes. Please let this moment last forever, he thought.
Kent cleared his throat. "Shall I give you two a moment alone?" he asked in a voice tinged with annoyance.
Declan pulled away first, still keeping Twist as close as he could. Kent was staring at him with open loathing while Marco was staring anywhere but at the two of them, his fur prickling with discomfort.
"You know, we do have a battle going on, right?" Kent went on, eyeing Twist with a little more suspicion. Declan wondered what Twist had done to garner this kind of response from everyone.
"We'll go fight together," Twist said roughly, glaring hard at him. "Come on, Declan." She raced away towards where the sounds of fighting were thickest, her tail raised with excitement.
Declan shot Marco and Kent a look that was probably less apologetic and more giddily amused, and took off after her.
When he caught up with her, Twist spat, "I'm so tired of this. I get home from the Claws and everyone here treats me like I'm going to turn on them and kill everyone with my eyes alone. I mean, really! What's the deal with these crazy cats?" She ducked underneath the cuff of a cat of indeterminate color, his pelt smeared flat with mud. "I risk my life over and over for them—against my better judgment—and they still treat me like an outsider!"
Declan pounded the cat with both forepaws, leaving him stunned and senseless in the dirt. "I don't know," he responded, grabbing another Claw with his teeth and swinging it to the ground, stepping back for Twist to take several quick jabs at its belly. "Maybe they really will be suspicious forever."
Twist kicked sand into the Claw's eyes, waiting for him to make another attack, but he fled with his tail fluffed out to twice its size. She let out a jeering yowl after him, puffing out her chest. She turned to him, her yellow eyes positively sparkling. "And that's how you do it," she said, closing her eyes happily.
Declan was overwhelmed by her presence. He gently touched his nose to hers, surprising her into opening her eyes. "Twist, I—"
"Look out! Look out! Incoming!" Pop and Lenny had just arrived, doling out nose-slashing to anyone who got close. "Real Sliders coming through! Look at how well we're fighting. Pop, I am just so surprised, aren't you?"
"Sure am," Lenny replied, casually pouncing on a Claw's unwitting back and sending him into the dirt. "I've never even unsheathed my claws before!"
"What about catching mice?" Pop asked, dancing back on his hind legs as a Claw rushed him.
Lenny grabbed the Claw's tail, pulling hard enough to make the cat shriek. "I just always use to Claw method," he answered readily. "Wait until a family of mice goes by and just steal the youngest. Why go for the older ones when you can pick the young'uns off with ease? I mean, it works for them, doesn't it? Who cares about honor when you can have ease!"
Declan and Twist ran past them—they clearly had everything covered—to where Viktor was fighting three cats at once and holding his own.
One of them—the horrible cat the Shredder—was clinging to Viktor's back, laughing obnoxiously loud. "Can't touch me, can you, you Slider filthy?" he called cheerfully, digging his teeth into Viktor's ears. "How 'bout I give you a lashing and make your eyes match? You could finally have symmetry back!"
Viktor reared up on his hind legs, shaking his powerful shoulders back and forth, but the Shredder had a firm grip. He dug his claws even deeper into Viktor's thick tabby fur, pricking the skin hard enough to make Viktor screech.
Declan leapt and barreled the Shredder off Viktor's back, slamming him into the ground. "I'd tell you to pick on ones your own size but it appears this battle has run out of mice," Declan said, baring his fangs.
The Shredder's eyes widened. "No way!" he cried. "Leo? You're one of ours!"
"It's Declan actually," he corrected him, pushing his shoulder deeper into the dirt. Leaning right up into the Shredder's face, he said, "That name-changing thing doesn't work for me, Daffodil."
The two Claws, distracted and open-mouthed by the Shredder's sudden turn of bad luck, guffawed. "Daffodil!" one of them echoed. "What kind of stupid name is that?"
"Shut up!" the Shredder shrieked. "I will have respect!"
"Try being a good fighter next time," Declan growled, sinking his claws into the Shredder's fur. "And you can take that fact right back to that master of yours. Tell him that Leo is through with him!"
"Leo might be," a cold voice suddenly said. "But you certainly are not, Declan."
Declan whirled, jaw dropping. Unnoticed, the Shredder squirmed out from under his grasp and joined the cat, licking his wounds.
It was Sorrow. Her mouth quirked rather scornfully as she looked at him, tail swishing behind her in quick lashes. "I knew you couldn't possibly still be ours," she said calmly, though her tail jerked quickly at the end of her words. "That look in your eyes left as soon as you came back with her. I knew I shouldn't have trusted you."
"You never trusted me!"
"I did!" Sorrow spat, now sounding finally angry. "And you betrayed me! You betrayed the Claws!"
"I was never one of you!" Declan snapped back, the fur spiking along his back and up his neck. "I have always belonged to the Sliders!"
Sorrow's eyes narrowed to furious slits. "You're lucky that my father isn't here to see you. He had such confidence in you."
"Because you brainwashed me! I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for you!"
"Yes," Sorrow drawled, rolling her eyes. She took a lithe step forward, challenging either of them to make a move. "I did lead you back here, didn't I? And I led her back too." She hissed furiously in Twist's direction. "And look at the two of you. Together. Betraying everything that you could be. I could have made you great. You could have served a powerful master. But instead you crawl back to Lucky on your bellies like worms!"
Twist bared her teeth, stepping forward so quickly that Declan had to stop her. "I would never serve him!" she yowled. "He's nothing to me! Nothing to anyone but Lucky! You don't even want him, do you? You just want his position! You think that this is going to change anything? Well? Do you?" When Sorrow was silent, Twist went on: "You couldn't possibly kill him yourself. You wanted this battle to start so you could send him out here yourself. So he could die in battle. Well, that's not going to happen, is it? You've failed, Sorrow. You've failed your cats. You've failed your father. You're nothing."
Sorrow's eyes curved upwards as she took a step sidelong, eyes brushing over both Declan and Twist. "I see you haven't noticed anything, have you? Look around you. Your cats are dying, Twist. No one will be left from this war. Not the Claws, not the Sliders. And not you. You're the one who will be nothing. You came poking your nose in where it didn't belong, trying to uncover our secrets. And you know what? You did. All except one."
Declan growled to Twist, "She's lying. Don't trust her."
"Oh, I'm not," Sorrow assured him. She took another step, her paws light on the ground, despite the screams and howls in the background. Her eyes narrowed again to lovely slits and even Declan had to admit she was a beautiful she-cat. But her beauty was terrible, horrifying. She used it against cats. She had used it against him. Even though that smoke-haze in parts of his brain, he could remember Sorrow's wily charms.
Suddenly, Twist said, "Where's Snit?"
Declan's stomach dropped. The last time he had seen Snit, he'd been battling with Sorrow. Now here Sorrow was, alone, with Snit nowhere to be seen.
Sorrow's mouth twisted again. "I'm sorry?"
"What did you do with him?" Twist yowled, leaping a pace forward, her back arched.
Declan was stunned. He didn't know that the two of them were so close. Twist had always seemed unsettled by the black-and-white tom—especially after his betrayal. And even now, seeing Snit battling Sorrow had been a shock: he must have switched sides mid-battle.
"I didn't do anything to him." Sorrow sighed dramatically. "He tried to pick a fight with me and I just had to put him in his place. Just like I did when he was a kit. Only this time it was a little more…permanent." Her teeth bared, white and glistening. "He should have listened to me when I swore to kill him."
Twist stared at her a moment longer. Then she pushed past Declan, not even aiming for Sorrow, and disappeared into the crowd. Declan followed her with his eyes, not wanting to believe the sickening pit in his stomach caused by Sorrow's words.
"You better go find her," Sorrow told him. He looked at her; her face was completely wiped of emotion. "She's about to make a very grave mistake."
Declan curled his lip at her. "If you've killed him, I'll—"
She laughed coldly. Curling her tail suddenly around the Shredder's neck, making the tom choke in surprise, she said, "I told you, Declan. I want things to change. Nothing will change if someone doesn't get them moving. Come." The last word was a command to the Shredder. The two of them disappeared again back up the hill.
Declan stared at them, wanting to rake all the fur off Sorrow's pelt. Then he turned and followed Twist.
He found her on the edge of the battlefield closest to the forest. It was the place where he had last seen Snit.
Panting, he demanded, "What are you doing, Twist?"
She didn't turn around. "I can't find him," she said, her voice thin and broken. "I can't find Snit. What if she's killed him, Declan?"
"He's a traitor," Declan spat.
"He's not!" She spun around, her yellow eyes very bright. "He's been on our side all along, fighting for the Sliders. He might have started off on the other side but he's definitely for the Sliders. The Claws were wrong—they were all wrong for him." She was rambling, taking huge heaving breaths. "He can't be dead. He can't be."
"Calm down, calm down." He pulled her towards him, reveling in the simplicity of this contact. "It's okay, we're going to find him."
Twist hid her face against his fur. "I'm scared," she whispered.
He leaned his cheek against the top of her head. "I am too," he admitted. "But we're going to win this, Twist."
"How?" she demanded raggedly.
He sighed. "I don't know. But we will. We can do it."
Twist was silent for a moment more. "He sent you to me."
He pulled back to look at her. "What?"
Twist looked down at the ground, eyes hard. "Snit did. He sent you to me. He told me you wanted to find me. And he also told me he sent you right where the Rogue would find you. They did…they did horrible, unspeakable things to you, didn't they, Declan?"
He looked away. Part of him wanted to keep that a secret but the other was dying to spill everything to her. He eventually gave in to both sides and said, "Yes."
She nodded, as if it had confirmed something in her mind. "Thank you."
Declan laughed weakly. "What are you thanking me for? I couldn't have left you there to die."
"You could have," she murmured, so gently. "You could have. It would have been easier that way."
His heart panged. "It would not have been easier," he assured her. "In no way imaginable."
"You don't think so?" There was something in her voice, an undercurrent of some emotion that was almost untraceable.
He touched his nose to hers gently, closing his eyes. "Absolutely not."
There was a high shrieking noise, splitting the air even above the screams and yowls of the Claws and Sliders.
Declan looked up the side of the hill, past the clusters of fighting cats, to where a single cat perched on the top of the hill. "Oh, stars," he breathed.
It was the Rogue. And stretching out on either side of him were lines and lines of cats, more than the Sliders—more than twice the amount of Sliders.
The entirety of the Claws had come to the battle.
Guys, I wrote this in an hour in a half. I AM SO BEAST.
But now my wrists ache and it's almost three in the morning. And I have to get up early tomorrow. D:
Oh well. You suffer for your art, I suppose. XD
I don't really have anything else to say, so... RANDOM FACT TIME.
Did you know that most people have an above average number of legs? Think about it. It's true.
:D
You know what to do!
R&R~
Shadow