Disclaimer: I do NOT own Warriors. Erin Hunter does.
Clawface sat down as he looked over the three males, wondering about the best course of action. If he woke them up, there could be the risk that they might attack in a blind rage at first. Or they may just run at the sight of him, thinking more ShadowClan cats were around, waiting in ambush.
Shaking his head to clear it, the burly tom didn't really have much options. He had found the rest of WindClan's cats. A quick sniff around told him that no other cat was here. These three toms were all that was here. Taking a deep breath, Clawface stood and padded over to Onewhisker, seeing that he was the youngest and thought to use that to his advantage.
Nudging him carefully, Clawface backed away as the tom started to wake, he watched as Onewhisker stretched before slowly lifting his eyes, Clawface could see the flecks of pale green in left amber eye, to see the ShadowClan cat. There was silence between the two toms before Onewhisker slowly, patted Deadfoot on the shoulder, who continued to snore. As he continued to try at wake the deputy, Onewhisker kept his eyes on Clawface, his expression tight with mistrust and beneath that, fear.
Clawface only bowed his head, he feared that if he said anything, it would make things worse. Finally, Deadfoot was roused, though he grumbled and quietly hissed at Onewhisker, only to see Clawface not too far away. Immediatly the deputy stood, moving quick despite his twisted paw and narrowed his eyes, snarling. Clawface could see the swathe of white covering the bottom half of Deadfoot's blue left eye and seeing the angry full demon made the ShadowClan cat think that he had to be very careful.
"What are you doing here?" Deadfoot growled, his tail lashing. Clawface took a deep breath but before he could speak, he noticed Tallstar stirring.
When the leader rose and turned to see them all, Clawface expected him to look confused or even angry. Instead, he merely blinked at the brown tom before silently walking away from the group.
Eyes widening, Clawface stood, ready to call out to Tallstar but Deadfoot beat him to it. "Tallstar! This is a ShadowClan cat! In fact, he's one of the ones who chased us out! Don't you want us to send him away, or at the very least question him?"
Tallstar stopped at that and looked coldly at Clawface before turning that same frigid gaze on Deadfoot, who shivered and lowered his head.
"Why? There was a time when I thought ShadowClan would come to find us, but it doesn't matter anymore, WindClan is dead. He is no threat to me, I don't care."
After that, he kept walking and it was all Deadfoot and Onewhisker could do to not call after him like kits. Clawface blinked before feeling dread fill his chest and without thinking, bounded after the retreating tom. To his credit, Tallstar only stared at him when the other Clan cat blocked his path. But Clawface wished that there was something in the black/white tom's eyes. Staring into Tallstar's eyes was like staring into a dead thing.
Clawface swallowed and took a breath, noting vaguely that Onewhisker and Deadfoot had moved to stand side by side with Tallstar. The leader didn't even acknowledged them. Tallstar himself still stared down at Clawface, and the bulkier tom shivered again, even going so far as to crouch before the leaner tom.
"P-Please. We...we've come to bring you back. Back to the moorlands! The tyrant...Brokenstar is gone, you have nothing to fear from him. Or us!" Clawface realized that even with Brokenstar gone, he figured that Tallstar may think that ShadowClan might change their mind and turn on them. "We want to do right by you, atone for everything that ShadowClan has done to WindClan. We want to bring you home!"
Even as his voice rose in his effort to sway the leader of WindClan, Clawface was dismayed to find that Tallstar still regarded him with silence and cold, dead eyes. Tallstar blinked once, then without a word moved around Clawface and continued walking alone.
Clawface could nothing but watch, stunned and rooted to the ground. Onewhisker and Deadfoot sat staring at their leader before the older of the two gestured to Onewhisker with his tail, and the young warrior clambered after Tallstar, urging him to wait. Tallstar kept walking, not even looking back.
"He always tries to leave us, but we just can't... no matter what, we are still a Clan." Deadfoot muttered, his voice was quiet, as if he was trying to convince himself as well as Clawface.
The ShaodwClan cat blinked, seeing and hearing Onwhisker try and talk to Tallstar, he could hear nothing from the older cat and flattened his ears. If Deadfoot and Onewhisker had to force themselves onto Tallstar, then was there any hope at bringing them all home?
Without their leader, WindClan was just as lost as before.
Standing up stiffly, Clawface turned to face Deadfoot, his eyes lighting in growing desperation. "You have to help me! Please!"
Deadfoot looked at the ShadowClan tom and blinked, as if seeing him for the first time. He tilted his head and blinked again. "Did you really come here to bring us home? This...isn't a trick, is it? You aren't here to finish the job, are you?" Clawface had gotten to facing where Tallstar and Onewhisker had disappeared to, but at the deputy's words, he whirled on him, his frayed nerves causing him to growl before he truly looked at Deadfoot's face. "Of course I am! I only want-"
He could see the façade had broken away. Deadfoot looked exhausted and just wary. The older tom's shoulders slumped, his whiskers drooped and his eyes were dimmed. He looked at Clawface not with the cool calmness of a Clan deputy but with the air of a cat who was just...tired. Clawface watched as Deedfoot laid down, his eyes staring straight ahead. Clawface opened his mouth, but soon closed it, what was there he could say? He turned his head in the same direction only to see Onewhisker limping up to them, his shoulder bleeding from a fresh bite wound, and came to bury his muzzle into Deadfoot's chest fur.
The older tom seemed to come out his despondency to comfort the younger warrior, seeming to know what had happened. Clawface could guess to, as he sighed and sat back down. "What do I do?" he whispered softly, his tail wrapping around himself while his ears lay flat against his head.
Taking a deep breath, Clawface looked up at the the pair and made his decision. "I will...I will go to him. I'll do everything I can to convince him to go back with us. The others, they are sheltering by the Sky Thunderpath. They are waiting for you."
Those words seemed to pull at Deadfoot more and the older tom looked up, his eyes wide. "They...are waiting for us? They are nearby?"
"Yes," Clawface said softly, knowing that this was a sensitive topic for them. "They realized that they shouldn't have been afraid of you. They forgive you and want to be by your side. You should go to them. I will try to handle Tallstar."
"He won't let you come near him!" Onewhisker blurted, turning to the ShadowClan cat with fear for him. "He always told to go away once he disbanded WindClan, but we stayed with him because it was the right thing to do! But he never attacked either of us until now. I think...I think he's finally at his limit. Deadfoot, I don't think he will come with us!" As he spoke, the young warrior's voice started to rise in both pain and panic, Deadfoot licked his forehead and tried to get him to come down.
"Hush now, we can't think like that...we just...can't. This ShadowClan cat will talk sense into Tallstar, we must have hope." he spoke gently to the younger tom before slowly and carefully hauling him to his paws and began to lead him off the hill land to the flat land below them. Just before they were out of sight, Deadfoot turned to Clawface, his expression full of fragile hope for his leader.
Clawface met the look head on and nodded, standing up straighter. Once Deadfoot and Onewhisker was far enough away, Clawface moved to follow Tallstar's scent.
As he followed the ex-leader's scent trail, he noticed something about the wind. The whole time it has been blowing at a steady rate, but now, now it was gone. Not enough a tiny breeze. This was compounded further when he eventually finds Tallstar sitting on a small rise on the hill and staring up at the sky.
As he got closer, Clawface could see blood on the bi-colored cat's muzzle and thought of the nasty bite that Onewhisker sported. It just served to remind him that Tallstar was no mood to hold himself back from fighting. Taking a deep breath, Clawface continued on until he was right next to the old tom.
At his approach, Tallstar moved to face him, blood still dripping from his muzzle. He glared at Clawface, the first emotion the ShadowClan cat saw him display before it faded away and he was left staring at Clawface with those cold, dead eyes once more.
"I thought I made it clear I didn't care what you wanted. I'm not going back to them. WindClan is dead, we crossed only line we had left."
Clawface tilted his head and dared to step forward, Tallstar watched him, his hackles raised, but he did nothing. Clawface took this as a sign to press on. Now, he was standing eye to eye with Tallstar.
"We...we met your Clan, under a Sky Thunderpath, in a tunnel. They are frightened and weak, but they gathered there to wait for you. They don't blame you, any of you, Tallstar. They want to return home with you."
Tallstar said nothing at first, but turned his body away from Clawface and when the other tom tried to get close again, he suddenly felt claws rip apart his flesh at the shoulder and was suddenly pushed to the ground.
He was now staring up at Tallstar, his jaws parted in a wordless scream as he began to tear at Clawface. It was all the ShadowClan cat could do to get free. "You're lying!"
Clawface didn't have time to react to Tallstar's roar of rage before the leader charged at him, his claws and fangs seeking any part of the cat to tear into and soon leaving Clawface a bloody mess. The ShadowClan cat didn't want to hurt Tallstar, but he didn't want to die either.
Gasping out an apology to Morningflower, Clawface whipped around the older cat, jumping to land on his back and bite at his scruff. Then using his weight to pin the other down, he bit into Tallstar's leg and pull him along, for a bit before dumping him and creating a bit of distance between them. He needed time to breath and think of something other than this.
Tallstar got up, growling and glaring at Clawface, the younger tom only prepared himself for the next strike, but as he did, he started backing away. "Your Clan needs you, Tallstar! They realize that you are not monsters and they want you to be with them. They missed you and they want you to see how sorry they are. Please! You have to believe me!"
"How dare you?! How dare you spout such filthy lies to me! If it wasn't for you and your bloodthirsty leader, my Clan would be safe. My Clan would be whole! We wouldn't have never lost ourselves, we would have stayed strong and kept them safe!"
The leader hurled himself at Clawface, despite the wound on his leg and aimed his claws for the larger tom's eyes. Clawface had just managed to swat him away, shaking his head.
"I know! I know it's our fault, you have a right to be mad and for what we did to your Clan, but that's why we came to help. To make things right. Please, Tallstar, think of your Clan, think of what you can do." Clawface went on, before thinking of his own redemption. "If you truly think you did wrong, then try and make things right! Show your Clan that you will never harm them again. They are waiting for you, Tallstar. They need you, they want you!"
"We want you!" three voices cried out, the wind suddenly picking up and Ashfoot, Morningflower and the gray molly all slammed into Tallstar, knocking the older cat over and huddling against him.
Tallstar went from snarling and enraged to confused and hesitation. He looked at Moringflower with surprise but that surprise shifted to the gray molly who was back at the tunnel. Tallstar's eyes grew wide. "You...want me?"
The gray molly raised her head and nodded, her eyes soft and regretful. "We were wrong to think ill of you. None of this was your fault. And we were wrong to think otherwise. You always protected us and treated us well. Without you, we probably would have died to ShadowClan's raid. Please, Tallstar, come back to us, let us be a Clan again." the gray molly said, nuzzling Tallstar and purring softly.
The three mollies backed away to let Tallstar up who slowly got to his paws. He looked dazed but th gray molly leaned against him and with Moringflower's and Ashfoot's help, they all travelled down to where the tunnels of the Sky Thunderpath waited.
Clawface followed from a distance, limping but grateful. As they got closer, he could see the rest of the Clan gathered by the tunnel entrance. They all cried out in relief when they saw Tallstar, Onewhisker and Deadfoot chief among them. The sight caused Tallstar to freeze for a moment but he soon continued though his gaze was dark with remorse. The whole of WindClan crowded around the leader, talking to him and giving their apologies and thanks to him.
Clawface walked until he found Heartseeker and Sandspirit off to the side. The two females began to lick his wounds, but Clawface hardly felt them anymore. They had found WindClan, all of them.
The first part of the journey was over. It was time to bring them home.