Warriors: The New Era
Chapter Fifty Three: Broken Toys
This will be probably the more darker of my chapters, talks about depression, loss of yourself, and suicdal tendencies. If you are afraid or squeemish, turn back now.
Otherwise...let's begin.
"So she's down here?" Lionblaze asked.
Cinderheart nodded, "Yeah..."
They stared down the cold and dark stone tunnel, with lantersn fixed on the wall as their source of light. The breeze from the end of the tunnel lapped against their face.
"Will you be accompanying me?"
"I wish. Honeyfern needs help setting up some defenses."
Lionblaze kissed her forehead, "Be safe."
With that, Cinderheart turned and left Lionblaze to walk down the tunnel to his uncertain future.
He walked through the cobblestone floor, his boots echoing across the hall. The driping of water filled his ears as he descended deeper and deeper into the underground. The rats payed him no mind, and the bats avoided his flashlight with harsh cries.
Eventually, he came acrossa giant door, with a rust handle to pull it open.
"Poppyfrost?" He knocked on the door. "Poppyfrost, it's me. Lionblaze. I'm here to check up on you. Can I come in?"
Silence was the only answer. Lionblaze gently pulled the door open, revealing a strange sight.
The whole room was set up like a hotel dining room. Neat rugs on the mahogany floors, white square pillars that kept the place up. A bar station was to his left, and the place was lit brightly by a high chandelier. Circular tables with four neat, comfy chairs on each side of the table, lined up like a library. The room span across a hundred feet, with the bar table itself having lights in the table, making the counter glow yellow with light. Everything looked so fresh. Clean. Pure.
This was definitely not Poppyfrost's work.
"Poppyfrost?" He shouted, looking for any signs of the red head thief. "Poppyfrost it's me!"
The door to the kitchen opened, revealing a blonde woman with an eyepatch, who's eye widened in alarm, "What are you doing? Get out of here now!"
"Brightheart, I'm here for Poppyfrost!" Lionblaze cried, "Where is she?"
"There is no Poppyfrost here!" Brightheart drew a double barreled sawed off shot gun, "Now get out of here!"
"I know she's here Brightheart!"
"You CAN'T see her!"
Lionblaze smirked, "Brightheart, you know that gun won't do shit."
Brightheart scowled, "You CANNOT be here! I'm not messing around, you DON'T want to see her."
"Oh, yes I do!" Lionblaze snarled, pounding forward. "STEP ASIDE!"
Brightheart fired the gun once, the pellets bounching off of Lionblaze while he hoisted her up and threw her across the room.
Lionblaze kicked the door to the kitchen, shouting, "POPPYFROST!"
He groaned when he spotted another door, half open in the rush that Brightheart made to stop him. He passed the oven and serving table, and opened the door.
"GRRAAAAWWWLLLLL!"
He was tackled by a behemoth of orange and white, a giant Bengal Tiger pounced on him the second he opened the door. It tried to sink it's teeth into Lionblaze's jaw, but his powers kept his skin intact. He punched the tiger off and burst threw the door, the tiger following suit.
Now they were in some dimly lit throne room, a small lantern hanging above the center. The room was small, and smelled of blood. A corpse was in the corner of the dome like room, and Lionblaze had no intention of meeting the same fate.
The Tiger dropped into a crouch, circling Lionblaze as the golden boy flexed his muscles, "Down Kitty Cat. Just want to find your owner!"
"LIONBLAZE!" Brightheart burst threw the door, and quickly stepped back when the Tiger looked at her.
This was a battle.
The Tiger leapt forward, and Lionblaze grabbed it's front paws in midair, slamming it to the ground. The cat slapped Lionblaze away with it's mighty paws, this time finally pushing Lionblaze to the ground.
"GetoffaMe you overgrown house cat!" Lionblaze hissed, lifting the cat off of him slowly and surely.
"STOP THIS!" Brightheart yelled, afraid of what comes next.
The Tiger pressed it's weight on it's front, pushing Lionblaze back down, and getting ready to bite his eyes.
BANG!
The Tiger leaped off of Lionblaze, and slowly padded away, head hung low.
Lionblaze looked to the sound of the gunshot and widened his eyes.
The silhouette of a woman had a pistol trained at his face.
"You know. Normally the Tiger is supposed to be first line of defense...Lostface," the silhouette said.
"Poppyfrost?" Lionblaze asked.
"Don't call me that...who are you?" the feminine voice slurred.
"Poppyfrost, it's me, Lionblaze."
"Oh...you...Sister's Boyfriend..."
Lionblaze hoisted himself up, the gun still trained on his head. "Come out of the Shadows Poppyfrost. Let me see your face."
The soft chuckle escaped the darkness.
"What do you hope to see when I step into the light?"
"The face of a friend, for one," Lionblaze said sternly.
The gun moved forward, and the sounds of boots hitting the floor echoed in the pavilion.
Lionblaze had to cover his mouth..."Oh God..."
There she stood. Her face was sunken and dark, the bags over her eyes hitting her cheeks. Her hair was a mess, tied in a sloppy braid in the back, and her teeth looked yellow. She smelt of manure and other volatile liquids, and her eyes were crusty and red. A bandage wrapped across her nose, and her attire was that of baggy clothing. A giant hoodie, and sweatpants to big for her small legs. Her mouth was coated in what Lionblaze assumed was vomit.
Gone was the seductive, beautiful femme fatale...
In her place stood a broken, and suffering little girl...
It looked like she hardly cared about anything anymore.
"Now you see me, Lion," Poppyfrost muttered, glaring daggers at him, before lifting her other hand to drink from a flask. Lionblaze assumed it was beer.
Lionblaze gasped and sighed, "Christ Poppyfrost, what happened to you?"
Poppyfrost stopped drinking the flask, her eyes shooting open with a blind rage.
"I allowed myself to care," Poppyfrost curled her lip, "Get out of my sight, or I will kill you!"
"No, I-"
His eye burst with pain, as Poppyfrost shot it.
"Oh get up. We both know it bounces off."
"STILL HURTS!"
Poppyfrost let a soft smile escape her, her eyes shining mad with anger and rage.
"You know nothing of pain..."
She turned around and coughed, staggering through another door as the Tiger followed after her.
Lionblaze rubbed his eyes in shock.
"I told you, Poppyfrost isn't here," Brightheart folded her arms, "Not the one you knew anyway."
"What happened to her?" Lionblaze asked.
Brightheart sighed, "Grief changes people. She blames herself. She thinks if she never got involved, the Court would never be a target. And her people would still be alive."
Lionblaze looked as Poppyfrost's back as she opened the door and shooed the tiger in, following after.
"She lost someone she loved...didn't she? Was it Fang?"
Brightheat shook her head, "No...worse."
Lionblaze already figured it out, but didn't want to say it aloud, "No...tell me it's not true..."
"Lionblaze...her children were up there when the bomb went off..."
Foxleap pulled the hood over his head, following after Alderheart.
"Alright, through here," Alderheart pulled some palm leaves away, revaling a staircase into the ground, "Take a good look at the sky friends. It's the last you will see of it for a good long while."
Half Moon sighed, "Goodnight moon, I guess."
"Heh, good one," Alderheart smirked, brushing his hair out of his eyes, opening the cellar.
Berrynose went first, hockey stick pointed up, ready to swing, with his sister following after. Hazeltail twitched her lips, "Of course it had to be dark..."
"Scared of the dark?" Half Moon asked, following after.
"Scared of what's in it."
Midnight smirked, "I don't mind. I have night vision."
Alderheart gestured to the stairs, when Foxleap was the last one left, "After you, kind sir."
"See you haven't lost your sense of theatrics," Foxleap mumbled, walking down as Alderheart closed the door behind him.
"It'll take more then a Meta-Human psychopath to bring me down! Which reminds me, how is she?"
"Tigerstar shot her."
"Oh so he's still alive?"
"Yeah," Half Moon responded, the darkness only providing her voice, "We thought he died after you, but he was faking it."
"Something tells me it was more complicated then that! Spill!"
Berrynose groaned, "The Bastard cheated death by fusing his body into a walking machine."
Foxleap nodded, which no one could see, "His mask was pretty cool though. It pumped Oxygen into his lungs and sucked the carbon dioxide out, so he never needed to breathe."
"Wonder what that's like."
"AGH! SOMETHING TOUCHED MY FOOT!"
"Oh that, that's just the rats," Alderheart chuckled, "Don't mind them. Means we are close actually."
"Hazeltail, get off of me!" Half Moon snapped.
"I see a light!" Berrynose cried.
After several more moments, the door opened to reveal a marketplace, hidden from the world. It had floodlights above, with a stone roof to prevent cave ins.
"FOXLEAP, HEY!" A familiar voice cried out. Foxleap turned to his left to see Ivypool throw her arms around him."
"IVY! Oh thank God you're alive!" Foxleap hugged her.
Midnight raised a brow and grinned, proud of Foxleap.
"GUYS! HEY GUYS FOXLEAP IS HERE!"
Soon enough Hollyleaf, Fallen Leaves, Hawkfrost, Dovewing, Tigerjaw, Crowflight, Ravenheart, Cinderheart and Honeyfern all joined them.
"Oh thank God you're here!" Firestar came from the other side of the group.
Alderheart looked around, "Hey, where's Fernsong, Jayfeather, and Sparkpelt? And where is Icecloud?"
Before Cinderheart could respond, a loud voice interrupted.
"HEY GANG!" Tigerstar smirked, smiling wide, "What now? Anyone up for celebratory pancakes?"
"TIGERSTAR?!" Berrynose shouted in shock, while Midnight's arm immediately split open to reveal her cannon.
Tigerstar rose a brow, "I'm guessing she prefers waffles?"
"WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!" Half Moon shouted.
Firestar sighed, "I need him. He knows more about Bloodclan and The ARS more then anyone. That, and he commands loyalty. He'd lead our army to the battlefront well."
"Only to shank us in the back!" Half Moon retorted.
"TRUST ME, no one is more upset then ME!" Hawkfrost scowled.
Ivypool nodded, "It's unfortunate, but he's necear-wait ME? Hawkfrost you just said 'me'!"
Hawkfrost widened his eyes, "We did?"
Berrynose scratched his chin, "Doesn't that mean he needs to meditate?"
Ivypool shook her head, "Sorry lost focus! We need Tiger-"
Something about that made Foxleap angry. The way Hawkfrost and Ivypool got along so well...he tuned out, boiling with rage...
"-and because of his experience as a leader, he can help lead the army to win."
Tigerstar smirked as Half Moon shook her head, "There has to be someone else!"
"Like who? Brokenstar? Scourge?! THEY ARE DEAD!" Hollyleaf yelled, "So we need him! Like it or not, to which we don't!"
Foxleap sighed, "Okay, look. I'm going to go clear out my Bunker. Make sure no one has touched my stuff or broken it."
"I'll come with!" Ivypool said, rather to fast, which made Foxleap feel a little better.
"Uh, yeah! Okay," Foxleap nodded, and said goodbye to everyone (but he glared at Tigerstar)
Jayfeather looked at the Moonstone on the table in front of him, and growled, "Is this what you wanted? Chaos and death everywhere?"
The Moonstone hummed in response.
Sparkpelt raised a brow in confusion, while Fernsong sighed, as Jayfeather stared intently at the crystal, "It can't respond to you."
"Oh, yes it can. If it could corrupt Brokenstar and Lionblaze, it can talk to you."
"It feeds off of negative energy, and brings it out," Fernsong responded.
"So why does it listen to you? How come it doesn't corrupt you?"
Fernsong grinned, "Oh, it does try."
"Wait what?" Jayfeather gasped.
Sparkpelt, who's eyes were fixed on the Moonstone like it was a sacred object, didn't pay any attention.
"Well, where do I begin," Fernsong shrugged, "At an early age, Aunt Hollyleaf trained me how to shield my mind from it's power. It tempts me, and tries, but I am way more stronger and mentally resolved then it thinks. That's why everyone else can fall for it's tricks to sway you, while I..."
Fernsong immediately grabbed Sparkpelt's hand as she reached to snatch the Moonstone
"-can keep my thoughts and pure and clear."
Sparkpelt widened her eyes and lowered her hand, "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."
"I do, and it's not your fault," Fernsong patted her shoulder, "It tries to control whomever it can. Don't feel bad. Just stop staring at it."
"Right!" Sparkpelt's eyes left the stone, looking up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the Moonstone.
Jayfeather sighed, "Wow...I wonder how many times it's tried to destroy us all?"
"How did you get the thing even?" Sparkpelt asked, "I thought half of them were destroyed?"
"They were," Fernsong nodded, holding the Moonstone and dissolving it into thin air, "This was the one Brokenstar tried to use to turn back time."
"Then why did he need the machine?" Jayfeather asked, "I remember, before we fought, Brokenstar had some machine that amplified it's power..."
Fernsong raised an eye brow, "Really? I don't know anything about a machine...but in MY future, Sol was leader, not Rock..."
"Wait..." Sparkpelt tied her curly hair out of her green eyes, "Sol was alive in YOUR timeline?"
"Yes, that's why I have been no help," Fernsong admitted, "It's impossible to predict what comes next. Even me..."
Sparkpelt grinned, "I may have an explanation."
"You do?" Jayfeather asked, shocked.
"I remember reading quantum physics in the Library," Sparkpelt began, slowly grinning, "And I remember something in temporal anomalies section. You know of a sonic boom right? Well, Time Boom!"
"Time what?" Fernsong and Jayfeather said in unison.
Sparkpelt sighed, then started to elaborate, "When you break the sound barrier, there is a sonic boom! Well, imagine you break the time barrier! Time Boom. A shockwave, forms."
"Oh," Jayfeather responded, "I think I understand..."
"These anomalies send out ripples of distortion throughout reality, shifting things so miniscule, so tiny, but enough to change the course of billions of lives."
Fernsong rubbed his chin, "So...just my traveling back in time, was enough to change the future itself?"
"Possibly," Jayfeather nodded, "How do you know this Sparkpelt?"
"I spent half my junior high age in the library. What? You think just because I'm a homeless thief and a killer that I am stupid?"
They actually did think that...
Foxleap pressed his handprint onto the keypad, it glowing up in activation, scanning his palm print.
Ivypool sighed, "You sure love the dramatics."
"Access Granted. Welcome to the Tank Garage Bunker."
"Thank's K.A.R.A.I," Foxleap mumbled, knowing that the voice wasn't the same as the snarky A.I he had built.
The doors opened up, and he pushed them out of his way.
Instantly he scowled.
"What's wrong?" Ivypool asked.
Foxleap hissed, "The lights are on."
Someone was here recently.
"JAYWHISKER!" Foxleap shouted, "YOU BETTER HAVE DAMN GOOD EXPLANATION AS TO WHY YOU'RE IN HERE!"
Silence.
Foxleap passed his mech suits and tanks, all that he built from scratch. This was the place he shipped his completed inventions when he was done building them in the Foxcave.
Essentially, the Foxcave was the factory. This place was the garage.
"Fucking hell," Ivypool mumbled, "This is a lot of stuff! You have tanks, mechs, and grenades galore!"
"Yeah," Foxleap snarled.
And he didn't like it when people messed with his stuff.
His fury grew as he looked at all that Jaywhisker had modified or wrecked. Foxleap growled, "JAYWHISKER!"
He turned the corner to see Jaywhisker's back facing him, with his hands hidden in front of him, creating something.
"ASSHOLE! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TOUCHING...my..." Foxleap slowly stopped his blind stomping towards Jaywhisker.
His arms were covered in the gauntlets, that glowed a bright green.
"FAILSAFE 255," Foxleap muttered.
Jaywhisker turned to face him, just as angry as Foxleap was, "SO YOU DID BUG MY SUIT!"
Ivypool raised a brow in confusion, "I'm sorry, what?"
Foxleap's hand went to his mouth, "Jaywhisker, you-"
"HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DIE? YUP!" Jaywhisker snarled, aiming his palms at Foxleap and Ivypool's heads, "DEACTIVATE IT! NOW!"
Foxleap held his hands up surrender, "Jaywhisker...I-"
"DEACTIVATE IT OR SO HELP ME GOD, I'LL KILL YOU AND MAKE ANOTHER SUIT THAT WILL KILL ME!" Jaywhisker growled, already getting ideas for a Terminator that would get the job done.
"That won't stop the suit!" Foxleap tried to reason, "Listen Jaywhisker, put the arms down, and let's talk."
"I DON'T WALK TO TALK! I WANT TO DIE! DEACTIVATE IT!" Jaywhisker shouted, "FINAL WARNING!"
"No," Foxleap said sternly.
Jaywhisker gritted his teeth.
"Then you will die."
Jaywhisker fired the gloves.
Ivypool dashed out of the way, to dodge, and turned to see Foxleap not moving a muscle. She was about to dash back towards him, but the blast missed his head by near inches.
Foxleap hadn't even flinched.
Jaywhisker aimed again, only for the gloves to twitch to the side, firing around Foxleap instead of at him.
Foxleap glared at him, "Did you think that you could build a suit that I couldn't beat?"
Jaywhisker gasped as Foxleap smirked.
"255 lines of code. 255 scenarios I've written down. 254 ways you can't kill yourself. But I only needed one to make sure I wouldn't die by the hands of my creations," Foxleap bragged, "Because let's face it Jaywhisker...you're not as smart as I am."
Jaywhisker was about to retort, when Foxleap opened his mouth again, "You may be the faster inventor, but I have the faster mind. I don't need super powers and tragic backstories...I just need my head. You can build your armors, and you can build your toys, but you could never beat me in this."
"I know WHO you built that suit for," Foxleap took a step forward, his mouth firing off like a motor, "And I know what happened to him. And I'm sorry."
"I DON'T WANT YOUR PITY!" Jaywhisker shouted.
Foxleap went off, "FINE THEN! YOU DON'T WANT MY PITY, THEN I'LL MAKE YOU PITY YOURSELF! HOW DOES THAT SOUND?! Why did you make an EXACT replica of the Iron Man suit? Why not branch off with your own designs? Why did you build stuff that I ever built? Why did you try to run from your problems instead of facing them and growing?"
In any normal circumstances, Ivypool would have stopped Foxleap from edging a suicidal kid on, but Foxleap was nothing if not clever. He trusted her, so she would trust him.
"Because you have no imagination..." Foxleap shook his head, "Did you ask for help? Did you talk to anyone? Did you even tell people you needed help? NO! You opted to take the easy way out, because that is what OTHERS would do. You built shit that's already been built! And you like to take the route that others have been on! Instead of carving your own path, you take the roads people travelled on. I don't know WHAT it was that bent your life so out of shape, but that doesn't matter!"
"WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?! Jaywhisker shouted, angrier then ever before, "A SWEET LITTLE BOY WHO WAS UNDER MY CARE HAS DIED! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT FEELS LIKE!"
Jaywhisker expected Foxleap to just shut up then and there.
He didn't expect Foxleap to reach into his pocket...
"HANDS UP!" Jaywhisker shouted, aiming the gloves again, despite the knowing that it was futile.
Foxleap pulled out his wallet, unfolding it and grabbing a small picture.
"My Baby Brother..." Foxleap smirked at the picture, "Shrewpaw...he hadn't chosen a name yet...Shrewpaw was about to receive his when he died..."
Ivypool felt herself tense up. She looked at Jaywhisker, who looked as confused as a shark on land.
"One day I took him to the park, he wanted to use the swing set he loved one last time before he got his name...he ran into some friends there, and they started playing catch...I was sitting on the bench and was busy breezing through my phone when I heard the truck horn...the ball rolled into the street and Shrewpaw tried to get it..."
Jaywhisker's hands lowered, watchingas Foxleap stared at the picture.
"I was with him...I was looking at my phone...I am responsible for his death. Not the truck driver, not the kids who threw the ball too far...but me. YOU are NOT responsible for Russ' death. He died because WE were to confident to have a backup plan..."
"We all have to suffer," Foxleap sighed, folding the picture back into his wallet, "That's what I'm trying to say. There has never been a peace without suffering...the greater the suffering, the greater the peace. This is our suffering...you have no intention of understanding that!"
Foxleap was now nose to nose with Jaywhisker, and he grabbed the gauntlet, and in one fluid motion, he tugged and the gauntlet, and it broke into tiny pieces and clattered on the floor, revealing his hands.
"If you really think that this suffering is it, and that there is NO light at the end of the tunnel," Foxleap sighed, "Then be my quest. Do it! Kill yourself! But if you think that there is even the slightest way to conquer your suffering, that you can beat this, and that at the end, this will all be worthwhile then I implore you...put the walls down...and accept the suffering with the rest of us."
Foxleap pulled him into a slight hug, "I'll admit...I have no idea what to say. I don't have the skills necessary to help you. I could be making things worse for all I know. But I'll still suffer with you. Because you don't have to suffer alone...that's why we have friends..."
Jaywhisker didn't know what to say.
Three minutes ago, he was dead set on killing both himself and Foxleap.
Now all he wanted was to keep talking.
"You're right," Jaywhisker sighed, "You do suck at this..."
Foxleap's face paled, "Well, I-"
"But you did say the truth...which I didn't want to hear...but I think I needed to hear...all you've really done so far is make me curious as to how things could get better..."
"Then go to your friends...talk to the resistance...let them be there for you, as you were there for them..." Foxleap politely responded.
Jaywhisker looked at the pieces of the gloves on the floor, then his eyes darted to the pistol on the desk he was sitting at...
He rubbed his eyes, "I'll talk to Mallowleaf...and if she does a better job then you, I'll quit it..."
"I have no doubt she will give you the help you need," Foxleap responded, as Jaywhisker sauntered past him, hands in his pockets.
Ivypool sighed, lettng the bullets fall to the ground the second Jaywhisker left.
"You unloaded the gun?" Foxleap asked.
"I'll be honest," Ivypool shrugged, "You don't have the best track record with pep talks..."
"True that," Foxleap said, picking up the pieces of the gloves...
Ivypool nodded, "So...why did you lie?"
"Hm?" Foxleap asked.
"About bugging his suit."
Foxleap smirked, "Like you said, I don't have the best track record of pep talks..."
Dusty poked the fire with a stick, making sure it was still hot enough to give them heat.
"Guess who's back...back again..." Sunfield hummed, with an oddly shaped backpack across his back. "Sunny is back...tell a friend..."
"What's that?" Dusty sighed, "Did you loot again? You were supposed to get supplies!"
"I did," Sunfield dropped the bags of fruits and snacks, "The guitar was a bonus..."
Sunfield slipped the thing off his back, unzipping the bag and revealing a brown and black striped guitar.
"I didnt know you played..." Dusty shrugged.
Sunfield started to tune the guitar, "Yeah...Alderheart and Jayfeathet gave lessons at the court every other sunday...was our own little church choir..."
That caught Dusty's attention, he leaned forward, "Really?"
"Yeah," Sunfield nodded, "I played back up vocals and guitar..."
"I thought you liked to sing?" Dusty asked, "So why be backup?"
Sunfield, in a rare case of seriousness, responded with a blank face, "I have my reasons."
Dusty rolled his eyes, and laid on his back...looking up at the sky.
And so, Sunfield started playing the guitar, softly strumming the strings, while he smiled and closed his eyes, allowing himself to be enveloped in his own little world.
Dusty sighed, "You know, with a fire like ours and the guitar, you're practically waving a flag that says 'Hey come get me' to the world."
Sunfield smirked, still strumming the strings, "I don't mind...I got you here to protect me."
Dusty chuckled at that, "You nuisance."
"Buzzkill," Sunfield said right back, eyes still shut.
The guitar being their only solace, Sunfield smirked, "My mother used to sing 'Don't you worry Child' to me every night as I slept...loved her voice...miss it too."
"Can...can you sing?"
"I can, I thought we discussed this?"
"No, I mean...can you sing right now?"
Sunfield opened his eyes in confusion, "What, now?"
"Please? Helps me sleep."
Sunfield sighed and started to tune the guitar again, "Okay..."
"I thought I saw the devil, this morning...This morning..."
"Looking in the mirror, drop of rum on my tongue..."
"With the warning..."
"To help me see myself clearer."
And so he sang, melancholy and sweet.
Dusty smiled. His voice was much less professional then Axis was when he sang. Axis sounded like a choir of angels to him, hand crafted by God himself, while Sunfield just gave off the presence of a singular angel. He didn't sing with as much enthusiasm as Axis, but somehow he sounded like he'd been singing far longer then Dusty or Axis ever did. Not a note missed, not a precious breath wasted, even throwing his own little adaptations and notes in, to make it sound more pleasant to himself, which Dusty had to admit, did sound rather better.
"I never meant to start a fire..."
"I never meant to make you bleed..."
"I'll be a better man today!"
His fingers brushed past every strong with a surgeons precision, strumming away as if he had memorized the whole song...
"I'll be good, I'll be good...
"And I'll love the world, like I should..."
"Yeah, I'll be good, I'll be good..."
"For all of the time..."
"That I never could."
Dusty found himself asleep rather fast.
Lionblaze sighed, wiping the tears from his eyes, "God...first Jack, then Icecloud, and now this? The hits just keep coming."
Brightheart nodded, pouring his glass full of water, "She blames herself for this. She thinks that if he had just let Fernsong go, and not insist on trying to be a hero and save the day, that the court would never be a target."
"The court was always a target," Lionblaze muttered.
"You think we don't know that?! Gee, a homeless shelter for Sin City itself being targetted?!" Brightheart snapped with sarcasm, "No, we knew the risks...But Poppyfrost should have been here. For her people..."
"We are her family!" Lionblaze snapped.
"So?" Brightheart snapped back, "The second things got hard for her, you all turned your back on her! These people look for her for leadership and guidance and when they needed her the most, she wasn't there! Why wasn't she there, Lionblaze?!"
Lionblaze hung his head down, blame crashing into him in waves, "Because she was with us..."
"Bingo," Brightheart scowled, before softening her expressions, "Listen...I am sorry. But she is in no condition to help out. She isn't stable enough to go to war again, and she knows this. That's why she's hiding down here. She doesn't want her people to see her this weak..."
"But the court won't follow us or Tigerstar!" Lionblaze protested, "They'll follow her! Blindly and all!"
"I know..." Brightheart sighed, "I know...that's why we need to snap her out of this...without her, the Court of Miracles will NOT go to war."
"Can't you command them?!" Lionblaze asked, "You've been here just as long as Poppyfrost! Won't they follow you?!"
Brightheart shrugged, "Like, half of them, for sure. But we can't fight a war with HALF an army."
"For now that'll have to do...until we can knock some sense into Poppyfrost..."
As they conversed, Poppyfrost's cries and whimpers could be heard through the tunnels.
Okay, that is it for now.
Sorry for the delay, I had to deal with some personal shit, but don't worry. It's working out at the moment...
So the squad is in quite the predicament aren't they? The Underground will only follow Poppyfrost into battle, but she is in NO condition to lead anything at the moment. Speaking of which, this is almost the end for Poppyfrost. Her story is coming to an end, matter of fact, they ALL are.
Next Chapter, Dusty and Sunfield finally catch up with the rest, and an inside look on what the Resistance has been doing this whole time.
Until then...
Adios.