Disclaimer: I do NOT own Warriors. It belongs to Erin Hunter.
'Thoughts' Dreams Memories
The night was starting to get cold and Bluestar still did not so much as twitch. Ravenpaw had taken to cleaning his and Sandpaw's wounds and fur after the pair had decided to finish eating the red molly that Sandpaw had killed.
Sandpaw then stood, thinking that there was nothing left for them and nudged Ravenpaw, ready to leave Bluestar's body when the leader's tail twitch. Both apprentices blinked, thinking that what they saw was just a trick of their minds when Bluestar's body shifted slightly.
The ThunderClan leader groaned as her eyes regained their light and awareness and she slowly moved her head to face the apprentices looking down on her.
"What...You're still here?" she croaked, her ears giving a small twitch. Sandpaw snorted softly and turned her head away while Ravenpaw looked uncomfortable.
"We were...about to leave you and head to ThunderClan, actually." the male muttered, his tail flickering back and forth.
"But you stayed this long..." the leader muttered before shaking her head then struggled to get up, yet when Ravenpaw tried to help her up, she growled softly at him. "I can do this myself!" she grumbled, shaking her head.
When she finally managed to get to her paws, realization dawned on her and she looked about. "Those demons...that's what Barely was trying to warn us about! Did he...did he ever come to fight."
"No, he didn't. He probably thought it was best to stay away. He probably didn't think his help would have been appreciated." Sandpaw groused, getting to her paws and shaking out her fur. She pretended that she didn't she the mild glare Bluestar sent her. "If you are fit to travel, we should get going. ThunderClan might still be in danger."
Bluestar couldn't argue with that though to have an apprentice telling her what to do was a little irksome. But then we didn't have time to chat, they needed to leave now.
After shaking out her fur, Bluestar led the way, she realized they had lost a lot of time while she was coming back from StarClan and she could only hope there was a Clan to come back to when they finally got there.
XxXx
There endless yowls and snarls of pain, rage and fear. ShadowClan had followed Tigerclaw right into the heart of ThunderClan camp and fell on the unprepared warriors like a dark wave once given the signal by the dark tabby. All over the the camp, there was fighting, screeching cats. The demons all tried to stay together but soon, the sheer amount of ShadowClan cats invading forced them to separate and slowly but surely, be overwhelmed.
Tigerclaw was in the battle and while he made a show of fighting, he was careful to keep his claws sheathed. He would only lightly bat at an opposing ShadowClan warrior and they would dart away from him and run a small distance before rounding on another warrior of the camp.
He saw Lionheart and Whitestorm fighting side by side. The two big toms protected each other well but soon one ShadowClan cat brought Whitestorm down and Lionheart himself was pinned and had to help himself first. Darkstripe was tangling with two ShadowClan warriors, snapping at their faces and managing to drive one off before turning to face his other opponent. Runningwind and Longtail were struggling to fight their battles, having to deal with warriors twice their size. It was a fight they knew they wouldn't win.
The tabby half demon looked around and smirked, it seemed like all was going according to plan, soon the normal cats of ThunderClan would be so weak they would look to him and his brothers and sisters for protection. That was until he noticed one ShadowClan cat, the demon warrior Clawface, heading for the nursery, the tom narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
What was going on, why was that warrior heading to the nursery? There was no one but a regular warrior guarding the kits. Surely they could spare one warrior if for that reason? Tigerclaw's eyes widened when he saw Smaller try to defend the kits, even succeeding in giving Clawface a nasty bite before the younger and bigger warrior slices his throat and throws his body thrown cruelly to the side before snatching up two kits and trying to make off with them.
"Stop!" Tigerclaw snarled, blocking the warrior's path with his fur bristling. "This wasn't part of the deal! Put those kits back!" Clawface only twitched his ears, moving around Tigerclaw only to be blocked again.
Clawface narrowed his eyes and snorted, his tail flicking in mounting irritation. "Deal? No, Tigerclaw. There was never a deal. You thought you could control us but Brokenstar never needed you in the first place. But the sight of seeing you actually betraying your Clan, thinking we would help you become strong...now that was something none of us could pass up." Clawface then looked over Tigerclaw's shoulder and suddenly smirked before bunching his muscles and heading into the shadows.
"Looks like you have to face your disloyalty sooner than you think, Tigerclaw." Clawface's laugh echoed from the shadows and Tigerclaw tilted his head before turning around to see Spottedleaf staring at him.
She was wounded and covered in blood but right now, that was the least of her worries. She narrowed her eyes and hissed loudly at Tigerclaw. "Tigerclaw...tell me I heard wrong. Tell me that you really didn't betray us."
Tigerclaw flinched and looked Spottedleaf in the eyes, his expression turning mildly frantic. "There's no time for that, Spottedleaf! Clawface stole our kits! We need to chase after him!" However when he turned to chase after the ShadowClan warrior, Spottedleaf only snarled at him, forcing the tabby to stop.
"Tigerclaw! They are killing your Clan! Smallear is dead! Goldenflower is hanging on by a thread! Our brothers and sisters are being slaughtered!"
"I didn't mean for it to be this way! I just wanted us to be able to live in peace! I never wanted this!" Tigerclaw shot back, flattening his ears as the true weight of what he had done was starting to hit him.
"Traitor! THIS was how you were going to help us?! You're actions are going to get us all killed!"
"No! Please auntie! It wasn't supposed to be this way! Redtail didn't understand and I had to-"
"Redtail? What did you..." Spottedleaf then faltered as the pieces fell into place. "You...you killed him! You killed my brother!" her voice rose in agony as she threw her head back in grief. Tigerclaw shuddered, taking a step back and shaking his own head.
"I didn't mean to... I never wanted to kill him. Auntie, I'm sorry!" Tigerclaw tried to nuzzle Spottedleaf, but she flinched away from him, showing her fangs before raising her claws at the tom's head, slashing into his cheek and muzzle. She reared up on her hind legs and swattered Tigerclaw hard against a tree, snarling loudly.
"You killed him! You killed my brother! I will never forgive you, Tigerclaw! Never!" she then pounced on him, sinking her fangs into his shoulder while Tigerclaw desperately tried to get her off him.
Without truly meaning to, the tabby warrior used the claws for which he was named to batter at Spottedleaf's belly. His thorn sharp claws ripped and tore into the healer's flesh but she still attacked him, biting at his face and neck and tearing large wounds into his body.
Both cats were soon more blood than feline and both were getting tired, Tigerclaw used his larger size to finally push Spottedleaf off him and staggered to his paws. The healer took a few seconds herself to regain her energy then took a step to finish this fight.
"For my brother! For Redtail!" Spottedleaf muttered, looking to the sky before turning her furious gaze on Tigerclaw, who stared pleadingly at her.
"Spottedleaf...please..." Tigerclaw panted, trying to back away but Spottedleaf followed, leaping at him with claws and fangs aiming for his vitals.
Tigerclaw reared up to meet Spottedleaf, the force of her jump sent them rolling into the darkness if the camp. There was two screams of pain before it went silent. After a few minutes had passed, Tigerclaw stumbled out of the the darkness, his neck and chest ripped open. Yet despite his horrible wounds, he turned and dragged Spottedleaf's body to the center of camp. The healer's belly was further torn, her intestines dragging into dirt. Finally Tigerclaw collapsed, his breathing shallow and fast.
"Auntie...I'm...sorry...I never wanted...this..." Tigerclaw gave one last look to Spottedleaf before darkness claimed him. Spottedleaf was in no better shape, her eyes holding a fading glow of hatred for what her nephew did.
"Tiger...claw...I will haunt you...for the rest of your days...you killed my brother and members of our Clan...May you never...find...peace..." Spottedleaf used her last breaths to curse her nephew before her eyes lost their light and she breathed her last.
All around the pair, ShadowClan was running from the camp, yowling in triumph as they left Thunderclan in shambles.
XxXx
Bluestar, Ravenpaw, and Sandpaw finally reached Thunderclan's camp, only to find ShadowClan's scent and the smell of blood covering the whole area. Bluestar slowed to a halt and looked all around, finding only Tigerclaw and Spottedleaf huddled still in the center of camp. The rest of her Clan were hiding in their dens.
"Darkstripe, report!" the leader called to her deputy who limped out the warriors' den towards her. He briefly looked down to the slain Spottedleaf and unmoving Tigerclaw, wondering what happened to them. But Bluestar's growl pulled him back to what was asked of him.
"ShadowClan attacked us with barely any warning, if it wasn't for Tigerclaw, we all could have been killed. I mean there were a few casualties but..."
"Where is Whitestorm?" Bluestar interupted him, looking all around for her kin. Lionheart stepped forward, gently carrying the older warrior over his back, his white fur ripped and stained with blood. He wasn't moving.
Bluestar's eyes widened as she stooped to Whitestorm's side, pressing her nose into his cooling fur and nudging him gently. "Whitestorm? Can you hear me? Please...get up. You have to get up!" Her voice was starting to edge towards frantic, licking a gruesome cut of his shoulder, her whole body shaking.
Lionheart bowed his head and stepped closer to Bluestar, his shoulders shaking a bit. "I'm sorry. We were fighting together. He was pulled down by his opponent and then swarmed. I tried to help him but was pinned. When I was able to get free, it was already too late. Whitestorm fought bravely, down to his last breath."
Bluestar remained still, still nuzzling into her nephew's fur, licking his cheek before turning her gaze onto the golden warrior. Her breath began to come out harsh and fast before without warning, striking with her claws at Lionheart's eye, causing him to cry out in pain.
"I told you to defend my Clan! This is how you do it!? Did you even truly try to save Whitestorm?! Did you even try your hardest to fight against ShadowClan?! Any of you demons?!" Bluestar yowled, tears filling her eyes as she walked towards her stricken warrior. She was about to raise her claws again but Darkstripe blocked her path.
"Get out of the way, Darkstripe!" she roared, flecks of white beginning to froth from her mouth.
"Do you think these cats wounded themselves? Of course they fought for the Clan! And they have suffered much! Smallear is dead! Spottedleaf is dead! Graypaw, Goldenflower, Tigerclaw and Willowpelt are barely hanging on. Only Whitestorm is gone! I would say we normal cats got off lightly. All of recent deaths have been our demons warriors."
"A pity ShadowClan couldn't finish the rest of you off." Bluestar scoffed hatefully to the shock of even her normal warriors. "Whitestorm didn't deserve to die, he still had so much to give his Clan. He was a true warrior! Unlike you useless pieces of crowfood!"
Lionheart's nostrils flared, gritting his fangs in mounting anger as he stalked towards Bluestar, he barely registered Darkstripe trying to hold him back. "How DARE you?! We gave everything we had to defend this Clan and now our brothers are dead and all you can do is..."
"They're gone! Frostfur's kits are gone!" Brindleface cried out, stopping anything that Lionheart was going to say.
A/N: Well shit has hit the fan. A good chuck of the demonic half of the Clan is either dead or injured. The sole medicine cat is dead and now kits are missing. Surely it can't get any worse? Stay tuned and find out and as always, enjoy.
