Hello hello hello!
This fic is slowly coming to a close,,, here's a pretty major chapter.
Review Replies:
Somestormleaf: heheh yes he is! And yes- finchpaw is VERY confident. They're just really sweet! And yep - she's getting oldddd. And nice. Nice reference.
Mintflight0245: DAMN
SilentsongOvO: she is wayyy too foxtstarry. And the reference is snowpool and cricketsong, as well as hawkpaw! And hehe - hopefully you'll like this chapter.
Dragonbreathjr: she is. And it's fine dw!
Duskspiral: No worries! And yes! Finchpaw.
Moonscar was just returning from hunting when she heard the ear-splitting yowl, echoing from camp. It was a shrill cry, signifying nothing but pain and heartbreak. She hastily dropped her sparrow, and raced to camp, running as quickly as she could. For some reason, there was a feeling of horror building in her stomach, and she had a terrible, terrible feeling something really bad had happened. That feeling only increased the closer she got to camp, her heart pounding in her chest.
She shoved through the brambles into camp, not caring that the thorns stuck to her pelt and tore at her skin. She skidded into the clearing, and looked around wildly. It took her a heart-beat to work out where the cry had come from - it was Emberlight.
She dashed to her sisters's side, and grabbed her shoulder with her paw. It wasn't polite, and Emberlight would probably bruise, but her sister was just sobbing. Not looking at her. Her amber gaze was fixed just past her, staring at a bundle of leaves on the floor. Her eyes were glazed over, and her shoulders were shaking.
"Emberlight!" She cried out, not looking around her, her eyes fixed on Emberlight. "What happened?"
Emberlight raised her gaze, and blinked at Moonscar. With a trembling paw, she pointed ahead of her. Moonscar glanced up, and followed Emberlight's paw.
Curled up on the mossy floor was a cat - not a bundle of leaves, after all. Moonscar padded closer, and noticed two things.
One. The cat was dead. Their throat had been - Great Starclan - their throat had been torn out, and the cat's chest was matted with blood. They had a fearful expression on their face, their mouth stuck in a snarl, their eyes wide.
Two. The cat was Finchpaw.
Moonscar stared at her apprentice's body, and felt tears brim in her eyes. She turned back to Emberlight. "Who did this?" She asked, as stoically as she could. She couldn't bear to look at the limp form of Finchpaw for any longer. Her apprentice. Her over-confident, cocky little apprentice. Her niece. She was dead, never to breath again, never to cross the gathering bridge again. She'd never feel the sun on her back or the wind on her whiskers again. She was a young cat, as well. Just eight moons old. Barely out of the nursery. Not old enough to die. Not old enough to be torn apart like this.
"Foxstar took a patrol to fight Skyclan this morning." Emberlight mewed, her voice utterly void. "She took Finchpaw with her, and… some other cats." She explained.
"Who?" Moonscar questioned.
"Heatherskip, Dovefoot, Hawkclaw, Flintfur and Spiderspring." She explained, and Moonscar looked around wildly. Where was Berryfoot? If Heatherskip had been asked to go on the battle patrol, surely she'd been in as much distress as Moonscar was. She suddenly realised something. For a battle patrol, especially one invading another clan's territory, it was a tiny one.
"Was that it?" She asked.
Emberlight nodded. "I told her to wait for you." She mewed. "She said that she had enough cats - Starclan, she said that it'd be a good experience for Finchpaw!" She cried. Moonscar's claws unsheathed. Emberlight let Finchpaw go on this patrol? This patrol that was clearly unsafe for anyone, let alone a hardly-trained apprentice? Surely, her sister had protested Finchpaw going on the patrol. She had to have. Her mentor wasn't there. (Starclan, Moonscar wished she'd been there. She wished she could turn back time, and offered herself up for that battle patrol.)
Moonscar blinked. "Where is she now?" She all but growled. Emberlight took a step back.
"Hawkclaw came back into camp carrying Finchpaw." Emberlight explained. "She got some more cats - Sheepskip, Berryfoot, Sparrowthorn and Smokeshadow. They went off to help the battle patrol."
"They just left you here? With Finchpaw? Where's Sunpaw and Dawnpaw?" She hissed.
"Nightlark took them out hunting after Finchpaw left. They were upset, because they hadn't been included." Emberlight said.
"Where's Bramblepaw?"
"She's prepping herbs for when the patrol returns. She… she doesn't know yet." Emberlight meowed lightly. Moonscar nodded, and padded forward to Finchpaw. She knelt down, and pushed her nose into her apprentice's soft fur. She wasn't cold just yet, which made Moonscar shiver. Poor Finchpaw. She'd been all geared up, ready to race into her first battle, and instead she'd died. Her life had been snuffed out before it had really begun.
Moonscar snapped her head up at the sound of a patrol crashing through the trees. Her ears flicked up, and her nose twitched. She could smell fear. And- yes, blood. Definitely blood. She backed away from Finchpaw, and started towards the entrance to camp. Before she could go, the patrol burst through the brambles. Sheepskip and Berryfoot raced to Moonscar, their expressions distraught. Moonscar met Sheepskip in the middle, and nuzzled into him, her tearfilled eyes wetting his fur. Her mate was bleeding - not heavily, just a shallow cut on his shoulder. She lapped at it.
"Foxstar's dying." Berryfoot mewed grimly. "And-and Heatherskip's hurt. Bad." She mewed. Moonscar nodded sharply. This battle had already taken so much from her, and- wait. Foxstar was on her last life.
That meant-
That meant, if she died, Moonscar would be leader.
She whirled away from Sheepskip in absolute horror. She couldn't be leader yet! She hadn't even managed to take her apprentice to warriorhood, how was she supposed to lead a clan? She had only just overcome her struggles with being deputy. She knew she'd be a awful leader. She didn't want this. She didn't need this. The clan didn't need this. The clan didn't need her, not as their leader.
She blinked up at Sheepskip. He wouldn't know that Foxstar was on her last life, she realised. That was knowledge only her and Daffodilheart shared. She struggled to change her expression to one that wasn't just pure panic, and tilted her head. "What happened to Heatherskip?" She asked.
Berryfoot looked blankly ahead of her. "Foxstar was fighting Swanstar, and he grabbed her, and threw her across the clearing. She- she hit her head or something. Heatherskip raced at Swanstar, and clawed his throat. Cherrycloud went for her." She explained. Cherrycloud, the usually calm Skyclan deputy, must have been enraged to go for Heatherskip.
"How is Heatherskip hurt, then?" Moonscar asked, trying to gauge how badly her friend was injured. Berryfoot might have just been pessimistic. Heatherskip could be fine. She prayed so. She couldn't bear to lose another friend.
"She's pretty torn up." Sheepskip explained, cutting in for his foster sister. Berryfoot smiled at him gratefully. "She should recover, but it'll be hard."
Moonscar nodded, but before she could answer, there was a ear-splitting cry from the medicine cat den. She stood up, ready to investigate, but before she could enter the den, Daffodilheart padded out.
He blinked at her sombrely. "Foxstar is dead."
I AM SO SORRY FINCHPAW SORRY GUYS