The aftermath
Prompts: battle, guilt
It was a day like any other one of this leafbare. No one could guess what was about to happen. As always, the deputy, Dreamtail, sent out the patrols. The mentors went out to train their apprentices, and elders told kits stories. The rogues that had been sighted at the edges of ThunderClan territory hadn't been seen for nearly a moon, and everyone assumed they had left. Stormpaw and Darkmist, her mentor, claimed to have caught whiffs of their scent. "It'll be fine. Even if they do attack, we're prepared" Moonstar decided at their report with a flick of her tail. Darkmist growled as the silver tabby she-cat went back into her den. "She'll be sorry…" By sunhigh, worry was starting to spread as a border patrol hadn't returned. "What if the rogues took them?" Sandpaw mewed. Autumnpaw laid her tail over him, calmingly. "I bet they'll be fine. It's a big border" she mumbled. "And if the rogues attack, we're ready for them!" Gingerpaw Yowled excitedly. "We'll be in a real battle!" "Let's not assume the worst" Ashleaf Said. But as they talked, loud howls of anger and thrashing noises rang into camp. "We're under attack!" Lakewind screeched. "Kits and elders to safety!" Cats ran around camp, bashing into each other and trying to regain position. Rogues pooled into camp, tearing up the dens and clawing at any cats that got in their way. Stormpaw furiously batted a Ginger tom, who was growling menacingly at Rosebriar, whose kits were cowering behind her. She leaped up, swirling around mid-air to land on the toms shoulders, pushing him down to the ground. He struggled beneath her claws, but she pressed his snout into the ground and dug her claws into his shoulder. "Leave. And never return" She hissed in his ear, digging her talons deeper into his flesh. "Yes! I will! Please, let me go!" He squealed. Stormpaw lifted her weight off him. "what is your name?" "I- I'm Sammy" The tom answered, a fearful expression on his face. "Well, Sammy, go and tell the others of your group to never return" Sammy nodded quickly, then turned and fled. Stormpaw hissed: "Coward"
Autumnpaw and Gingerpaw were fighting back-to-back, a technique they had practiced. Gingerpaw raised herself onto her rear legs, batting away at the rogues with her claws out. They were both already covered in blood, partly from them and partly from rogues. A pure-white she-cat came hurtling at Autumnpaw, who was already fighting off two other rogues. Gingerpaw threw herself in front of Autumnpaw, just blocking the She-cats attack. "Gingerpaw!" Autumnpaw howled. She whipped around, dashing towards Gingerpaw. They fought off the rogues in steady attacks, but Gingerpaw was already heavily wounded.
Moonstar was battling a jet-black tom with white ears. She hissed, ducking under his claws and jumping on his back. "Hah! I thought the leader of ThunderClan would have some better tactics" He laughed, before rolling onto his back, forcing her to jump off. "Who are you?" She mewed. "Oh, you still don't remember me?" He growled. "I thought you'd recognise your nephew, even if you sent my father away after all these years. I am Frozen, leader of the survivors!" He shouted at her, with an angry undertone. He charged towards her, unspeakable fury glowering in his eyes. Moonstar held up her paws, trying to shield herself from the attack. I shouldn't have banished Iceclaw, If I'd given him a chance, h
e might have stopped being evil, this is all my fault, I… Her thoughts were cut off by pain. Strong pain. Unbearable pain. Frozen dug his talons into her chest, pools of blood coming out. "No- don't…" She managed to sputter out, before frozen dug his talons into her chest and everything went dark. When she woke, several starry-furred cats were gathered around her.
In the distance, Stormpaw saw her leader crumple under the weight of a massive black tom. No, she thought, it can't be. He can't kill Moonstar. The battle around her seemed to slow down, the shrieks of cats fighting faded into the background. She stepped, paw by paw, towards the figures. "Who. Are. You." She growled, her voice low and demanding. "Me? I am frozen. Leader of this pack. And you must be some other clan cat who's come to fail in battle against me" He smirked. With a bellow of fury, Stormpaw launched herself at him. With a surprised expression he tumbled to the ground, but quickly replaced it with the smirk again. Aghhh, how she hated it. "You think it's that easy? You'll have to do more" He pushed her away with ease. Stormpaw launched another attack, which he easily batted away. "try hardr next time" He hissed through his teeth. He rolled away, and before Stormpaw could turn around started clawing at her back. She fought furiously, but caught a glance of movement from the corner of her eye. She went limp.
Moonstar blinked again. "St- StarClan?" She mewed. The cats nodded silently. "you have lost a life, but now you must return to the battle. You clan needs you" She awoke to a blurry battlefield. She saw to cats fighting just next to her, and attempted to get up. She stood still for a minute, regaining balance. Finally, she saw it was Frozen fighting Stormpaw, and he seemed to be winning. She carefully went in hunting position. One… two… three… She punced at Frozen, sending him off Stormpaw. Together, they managed to hold him down. The battle had begun to centre around them, rogues trying to protect their leader but to afraid to interfere. "You," Moonstar growled. "Are the most formidable cat I have ever seen. You're not even a good villain" With those words, she slashed across his throat. His eyes rolled up to the sky and went blank. "Frozen is dead!" A ginger tom who seemed to be on the rogue side yowled. Several others fled, and seeing they were outnumbered, the remaining ones left too. Suddenly, a terrible feeling of guilt grabbed Moonstar. He was my nephew. Maybe if I hadn't banished Darkclaw, he could have been good… She sat down, breathing heavily. "Moonstar!" Stormpaw rushed to her side. "Are you alright?" She worried. "Yes, I'm just- exhausted" She sighed. "We need to repair. We never know, if the rogues get a new leader, they could return. We need to prepare. This is only one battle of a war, I can feel it" Stormpaw nodded, standing beside her. The rest of the clan joined them, looking down upon the camp, and even though most of them were badly wounded, they wore prideful expressions. Proud to be ThunderClan. Proud to not be like those rogues. But still… if I had been banished instead of Darkclaw, would I have turned out like this?