'I will never disappear
For forever I'll be here.'
'Keep the Streets Empty for Me' - Fever Ray
¢нαρтєя тωєηту-ƒσυя: "ι'м нєяє."
Splinters drove themselves deep into his paws, though he ignored the stinging in favour of focusing entirely on digging Rainpatch out from under the heavy branches. After he'd gotten the injured WaveClanner out he could go and flay the skin from Apollo's bones for pulling such a ridiculous stunt. Dropping a tree on the ancestors without thinking to even inform anyone in the area!? He was slightly thankful she'd used him as bait now.
A muffled groan sounded from beneath the branches. Willowclaw sighed in relief. At least Rainpatch was alive enough to make noises. That was promising. He spotted a patch of blue fur through the dull brown of the fallen trees, frantically yanking at the branches to get to his friend. Claws snagging into Rainpatch's pelt he hauled the tom out, letting him slither ungracefully into a crumpled pile.
His sides rose and fell in a steady rhythm. "Don't you usually save the damsel before dropping a tree on the enemies?" Rainpatch spluttered, eyelids fluttering open to pin Willowclaw under a light-hearted glare.
"Where's the fun in playing by the rules?" Willowclaw retorted. He couldn't explain just how glad he was that Rainpatch wasn't just alive but awake as well. At least now he wasn't alone, he had another Chosen with him to work out what to do with the others.
Dust skidded up in a cloud beside him, stirred by the sudden stop of Apollo, paws fumbling as her rapid dash to admire her handiwork ended abruptly. "Oh my," her voice was quiet with awe. "I didn't expect it to work so well."
Willowclaw twitched his ear, discomforted by the she-cat's lack of belief in her own skills. He knew just how badly that could've gone if the trees hadn't fallen right. Right now he could've been fighting for his life against not one but two ancestors, feeling their massive talons flay the skin from his bones.
"Is that," Rainpatch squinted a little, "Felix and Sadie?"
"They helped, a little, I guess," Willowclaw mumbled. "If you can count offering yourself up as bait as helping."
The white-patched tom eyed him with a raised brow, "isn't that what you did?"
Willowclaw's tail twitched. "They didn't dive towards falling trees in an attempt to save you."
A bout of laughter erupted from Rainpatch's chest – though it tapered off into an unpleasant wheezing sound, the tom coughing and hacking, sides heaving. Eyes narrowed in concern, the dark tabby leant over and pressed his ear to Rainpatch's side, listening closely. He could hear a sort of rattling sound; it didn't sound normal.
"We need to get you back to Tau. I think there's something wrong with you."
"There's always been something wrong with me," Rainpatch replied tiredly with only a slight hint of his old humour. He looked very old all of a sudden, exhaustion tugging on his muscles and making his face look haggard.
Fur brushed against his shoulder. Glancing to the side he found Apollo watching the tangle of branches, blue eyes concentrating on one spot in particular. "Something's moving in there," she hissed quietly, "and I don't think we're going to like whatever it is."
"Sadie, Felix!" Willowclaw called as loudly as he dared. The two ex-soldiers perked their ears, scurrying over after he'd beckoned them with his tail. They looked at him with trust, something he'd never imagined any cat would look at him with. It made his heart feel light. "Take Rainpatch back to Tau. He needs medicine; tell her there's something wrong with his breathing."
"What are you going to do?" Sadie asked through a mouthful of Rainpatch's fur. The WaveClanner had passed out, head lolling back as the two manoeuvred him into a comfortable position atop Felix's back.
"I need to make sure they're both dead," he answered. "Stay in camp until I get back. Do not leave under any circumstance."
He didn't miss the dark look that flitted across Felix's face, darkening his features. An unpleasant feeling settled in his gut. If they left the camp unguarded they could risk the lives of everyone; they'd already left the camp alone for far too long. Blute wouldn't be able to take on a patrol of Crimson's soldiers by herself.
The sound of snapping branches dragged his attention away from their retreating figures, back to the fallen trees. Something was forcing its way up, throwing its shoulders against the branches trapping it in a sharp prison. Willowclaw's breath caught in his throat as a pair of enraged orange eyes met his through a covering of leaves.
Beside him, Apollo went through a dramatic change. Her loose stance changed, becoming taut, ready to burst into action at any second. It looked, to Willowclaw, like a stance she'd used many times, her body simply falling naturally in it. A cold look had replaced the cheerful one on her face, muzzle twisting into a ferocious snarl. From her throat rumbled a growl that sent a shiver rolling through his body.
It seemed that he had underestimated the strange she-cat.
Kateria exploded from the branches, strong shoulders catapulting sticks and leaves everywhere. A mighty roar erupted from her open jaw. Blood dripped from a slash above her eye. She turned and all Willowclaw could see reflected in her fiery eyes was hatred. This was a monster created to do nothing else but hate and kill.
A warrior Crimson would be proud of.
"I'll flay you!" Kateria howled, huge paws ripping a path through the fallen trees. Her tongue swiped around her lips. "Then I'll hunt down all your disgusting friends and flay them too! Once I'm done there won't be any cats left to fill these never-ending grasslands."
"You won't be going anywhere," Willowclaw snapped.
The leopard threw back her head and laughed a nasty, cackling laugh. "You can't stop me. No one can stop me. I'm too powerful."
"I knew someone who thought like that once," Apollo spoke up. There was a tone of sadness to her voice, longing as well. "They died a very miserable, painful death."
A powerful leap brought Kateria slamming into the ground whiskers away from where Willowclaw and Apollo stood, her sides heaving in barely restrained laughter. He could see a sheen of insanity tinging her bright eyes. "Don't worry, silly Clan cats, I won't die miserably. In fact," she crowed, "I'll make you a promise. I won't die at all!"
Dashing to the side he avoided a swipe at his shoulder, rolling with his momentum to put himself out of reach of another swipe. Beside him Apollo moved, throwing herself at Kateria with a leap high enough it gave her access to the leopard's powerful shoulders; the strange she-cat's claws sinking into skin, drawing rivulets of blood.
One massive paw swept by whiskers from Willowclaw's muzzle, hooked claws slashing through the air where his head had been heartbeats before. Meeting Kateria's wild gaze he saw the thrill of battle reflected in them, as well as bloodlust; the need to kill showing so clearly in her crazed orange eyes.
It wasn't hard to picture how he would die by her paws, slit open from throat to tail. He could practically see the blood gushing from his own body whilst he lay dying alone. Strangely enough he didn't mind dying alone all that much, it was no different to how he'd entered the world.
"Now is not the time to be panicking!" Apollo screeched at him, dealing a heavy blow to Kateria's face whilst she spoke. The leopard howled and threw her head back but Apollo clung on for dear life, scrunching up her face into a snarl. "Do something or we'll both die!"
"Oh, little kitty, do me a favour and stay still," Kateria crooned in a hoarse voice.
Willowclaw opened his mouth to reply with a hiss, shooting just under the jaws that snapped shut above him. Saliva splattered over his back, dripping through his fur with a slimy sensation. Apollo was right, now was not the time to let his thoughts take over. If they didn't deal with Kateria now she'd only reappear later.
He threw a quick glance over at the fallen trees with their tangled branches weaving a thick prison knowing that Padshiy's body must be under there. The tiger hadn't fought his way out or made a single sound since the heavy trunks had crashed into him. Willowclaw hoped he was dead.
"I'll flay the skin from your bones!" Kateria's angry shriek brought him back to the fight, his eyes widening as Apollo was flung from the leopard's shoulders, landing with a heavy thud a few foxleaps away. She was back on her paws in moments, advancing on the leopard with furious yowls.
How were they supposed to take down a leopard – an ancestor of all cats – when they were but two tiny cats who had never worked together before in their life? The outcome didn't look very promising.
"We could push her back towards the fallen trees," Apollo murmured near silently in his ear, "might give us an advantage if she's boxed in."
He gave the white-furred she-cat an appreciative look that masked his surprised curiosity. What happened to the weird cat with a plan to pull down two trees? This was a cat who acted almost like a leader, giving orders without a moment's hesitation.
They surged forwards, ducking under Kateria's fatal swipes, nipping at her sides. A claw caught his side, tearing through the flesh with a sickly ripping sound. He cried out and retaliated, plunging his teeth into the soft skin of her stomach. Chunks of it, mixed with fur, came away when he pulled back but the leopard did nothing more than growl and send him hurtling backwards with a flick of her paw.
Hitting the ground forced the air from his lungs and left his head spinning. The side where Kateria had gouged skin from burned ferociously; he could feel the blood still running from it. A loud yowl sounded from Apollo as bloody teeth fastened around her tail, yanking her back from the safety of a hole in the fallen trees.
"Let me go!" she caterwauled, clawing frantically at the ground in an attempt to haul herself away from Kateria's reach. The leopard brought a paw crashing down onto Apollo's side and the she-cat let out a mighty cry of pain.
Willowclaw rocketed to his paws, "no more cats will die in my place!"
"You think they're dying for you?" Kateria scoffed. She'd let go of Apollo's tail but her paw remained, pinning the panting she-cat in place. "You sure do have an ego. What makes you think they're dying for you? Every cat you've met who has decided to follow you has done if for their own reasons." A grin twisted the edges of her bloody muzzle, "even Icepetal has her own reasons for being here."
"How do you know about her!?" he demanded. What if she'd sent Crimson's soldiers back to the tribe's camp knowing that there would be no cat there to guard them? What if, right now, his friends were being murdered in their sleep?
Kateria laughed. "Crimson has told us everything she saw when she first laid eyes on you. She saw your past, your present, and your future. She knows everything there is to know about you, Willowclaw. How are your parents by the way? I know you lied about them."
"You don't know anything! Nothing that bastard told you is true." He couldn't stop the terrified beating of his heart as it raced beneath his skin.
"Son of Lucius and Theda, the two greatest commanders Crimson ever had. My, weren't you and your siblings just the talk of the army when Theda brought you into the world? Heirs of the great commanders! Everyone expected you four to grow up the most powerful soldiers under Jinx and Tornheart themselves."
He could see them, their bright eyes smiling down at a nest full of kittens that played loudly without a care in the world, but not through his own eyes. It was like he was watching from another cat in the den. Lucius – long, patched brown tabby fur, battle-scarred and well-muscled, eyes of fiery amber – resting his chin atop the head of his mate. Theda – fur a creamy white spotted with dapples of soft brown, gentle eyes the colour of an early morning sky – purring loudly.
"Who would have expected their closest friend of murder? You were there, remember? Can't you see the blood?"
"Shut up!" he hollered. He was there again, in that same den, but it was so much colder and darker than before. Blood dripped from the brambles, his siblings' torn limb from limb, scattered throughout the once warm den. He can hear the howls of grief; see his mother turn on the ragged silver tom with claws flashing. His eyes don't close when those claws slice clean through that tom's throat. It is his first look at death and he stares it straight in the eyes.
Kateria's grin is crazed, Apollo had fallen silent under paw; she watched Willowclaw as if through new eyes. "The sole heir of Lucius and Theda remains alive, though he is haunted by the deaths of his siblings. It drove you, didn't it, Willowclaw? You used your dead siblings to power through the expectations forced on you at such a young age." She dragged her tail across the nasty scar running along the side of his neck. "Thrilled your parents to see their son becoming a monster like them."
His breathing is nothing more than heaving gasps for the air he can't quite reach. He can't take anymore. Throwing himself at Kateria with a shrieking howl, his claws cleaved through her eyes. She screamed, removing the paw pinning Apollo. "I know everything!" she cackled loudly. Blood streamed from the claw marks that have blinded her.
"Crimson has fed you lies," Apollo growled, struggling to her paws. Red stained the side that Kateria crushed. The look she gives Willowclaw tells him she thinks otherwise.
The leopard swung her head back and forth, nose twitching violently. She can't see anymore, her eyes gouged out by Willowclaw's angry swipe. A shiver ran down her spine ending with a twitch of her tail tip. A gust of wind brought the scent of fresh air.
In a flurry of paws Willowclaw finds himself dumped on his back, Apollo crushed beneath him as Kateria makes her escape. The ancestor had scented the freedom of the open grasslands, grasping the faint hope that she could escape knowing that her blindness has made her the prey.
"We need to catch her," he grunted, rising unsteadily to his paws despite the terrible throbbing in his side. Once again he can feel the blood spilling from it. Tau can look at it later, he decided.
Apollo nodded in silent agreement but the distrust he spotted earlier hadn't left her cold eyes. It made him feel nervous, though it didn't stop him from hurtling after the injured leopard. She'd left a trail of blood behind, leading them on a hunt through the darkening forest. The sun was slowly beginning to set; he could feel the chill of night.
They emerged from the forest onto the top of an incline that sloped steeply down towards a small pool. Before them stretched the tribe's grasslands – the camp was not far, peeking out over the crest of another hill – bathed in the soft gold of early evening. A strong wind tugged at their fur, pushing against them as it rushed by.
From the bottom of the incline came a shout of pain and the near silent thud of a body hitting the ground. Curious Willowclaw exchanged a swift glance with Apollo before plunging down the steep incline. He dug his claws into the soft dirt under the short grass to stop himself from tripping and tumbling down to the bottom.
A sight he hadn't been expecting greeted his eyes once he came to rest safely on even ground; it made his eyes stretch wide with disbelief.
Her tortoiseshell fur gleamed in the rays cast by the setting sun, illuminating each strand in a warm golden light. Gusts of wind buffeted her from behind but the tribe leader refused to move, standing deathly still, head bowed. She stood as her tribe's final defence.
Kateria groaned rubbing at her forehead with a large paw. "What'd I hit?" she mumbled more to herself than anyone listening.
"For the Clans." Blute's words were hard to hear over the wind. "For the Chosen. The tribe is unimportant. Crimson must die. Chosen must prevail. Such is the will of..."
"What?" Willowclaw couldn't believe what he was hearing. Since when did any leader put someone else before their tribe or Clan? "Such is the will of who!?"
Apollo snarled behind him; he could imagine her lip curled back to reveal bloody teeth. "She better get out of the way or she'll be killed," she spat.
Upon hearing her words Blute's head snapped up and Willowclaw was sure the sound he made was hardly befitting of a Clan warrior. He was also sure the tribe leader's eyes had been a pale blue before he'd left the camp earlier that morning. Now...now they were an unearthly green, glowing in the dying sunlight, blank and empty. "For the Clans."
He blinked. Something was very wrong with the tribe leader. She wasn't acting like her usual self at all – or at least, she's not acting how her father would, he added begrudgingly. The way she moved wasn't as agile as the tribe cats, it was more defensive. His eyes narrowed. Littleflame had acted differently by the waterfall that day but she'd claimed she'd been possessed...
It clicked. Could Blute be possessed as well?
"Out of my way, tribe cat!" Kateria had shaken off the soreness that had come with tumbling down the hill and now stood baring her teeth at the tribe leader.
A flash of bright green light blinded Willowclaw, searing his eyes but not damaging his hearing; an agonised scream mixed with the sudden heavy rushing of the wind. It was bloodcurdling, and full of pain. He didn't know who it was. The scream rung in his ears long after it was cut off by the sickly sound of tearing flesh. Warmth seeped into his fur.
His blindness faded, a grim scene was laid out before him.
Kateria was dead. The leopard's throat slit, an irregular wound curling around to snake across her shoulder and down to her stomach. It was her blood that had been the warmth soaking into his fur, mingling with his own that coated the wounds of the battle he'd fought against the ancestor. Her once fiery eyes were slowly dulling as death settled over her.
As he twisted his head to look at Blute he could have sworn he saw a hauntingly familiar green-eyed cat standing by her shoulder, illuminated by the final splash of light, but it was gone before he could so much as blink.
The tribe leader wobbled on her paws panting heavily. She met Willowclaw's gaze and he was relieved to look back into pale blue. "Why am I here?" her voice was croaky.
"That's what I'd like to know," Apollo grumbled darkly. "Care to explain what you just did?"
Blute's eyes widened, "you aren't one of the Chosen. Who are you? Why are you on the tribe's territory?"
"Ungrateful wretch, I just helped your tribe!" Apollo snapped, lashing her tail from side to side. She winced as a small trickle of blood slipped from the wound on her side.
"I need to get back to camp. Willowclaw, you should come as well. The sleeping cats were starting to wake up!" There was no missing the excitement in Blute's tone, it reached into her bright eyes and lit up her entire face. "If that she-cat's with you then she might as well come too. Father will no doubt be pleased by the sudden onslaught of strange cats in his camp."
He'd already begun picking his way in the direction of the camp when he felt a tug on his tail that stopped him in his tracks. Peering over his shoulder he was met with the Apollo he stumbled upon earlier. "Mind if I tag along? I've always wanted to sneak into the tribe's camp. You can't see much from the trees back up there, too concealed their camp is."
"Fine! Just, shut up, okay?"
He didn't really want to bring Apollo back to the camp with him but his paws itched to return, if the sleeping cats were waking up then that would mean he wasn't alone anymore. Eaglestrike could take over the leader duties, Willowclaw didn't want them anymore. There was too much responsibility with having the lives of other cats in his paws. If previous experiences had taught him anything, he wasn't really suited to leading. He was more of a follower.
Apollo didn't shut up. She prattled on all the way to camp about anything that struck her fancy. How did the tribe stay fed during the cold moons? Did they only eat rabbits? How hard was it to catch rabbits? What's it like being so far from home?
She hadn't mentioned anything that Kateria had said about Willowclaw's parents but he knew it was only a matter of time. He racked his brain for yet another lie; they were slowly becoming harder and harder to construct as time passed. A quiet growl rumbled in his throat. He thought he'd left all the questions of his past behind in RogueClan.
"Sit still! My goodness I'm going to poke your eye out if you're not careful!"
"Stop putting that stuff on my wounds then!"
Willowclaw wasn't really surprised to enter the camp and hear Rainpatch arguing with Tau just outside the medicine den. The two were glaring at each other; Tau with a pawful of crushed herbs hovering dangerously close to an angry looking scratch on Rainpatch's forehead.
The WaveClanner perked up when he spotted Willowclaw, only to shout when Tau slapped the poultice down onto his head with a victorious cry. "Trickery!" Rainpatch shouted as the tribe's healer scurried away with her tail held high. "Honestly, Willowclaw, you'd think she was trying to kill me!"
"She was only trying to fix you up," Willowclaw pointed out as the blue-furred tom rose stiffly to his paws, joining Willowclaw near the centre of the camp. "Have the others woken up?"
"You could just ask us that yourself," Eaglestrike commented from behind them.
Willowclaw huffed, "here I was thinking you lot were all dead."
"Charming," Eaglestrike smiled. "It'll take a lot more than a tiger to take us down. We had a lovely nap whilst you were running around after your tail, though." It was more than a relief to see his friends were awake and alive. Littleflame stood beside Eaglestrike with a soft smile on her face.
"Blute told us that you saved us all," she purred.
He rolled his shoulders dramatically. "I guess you could say that I did."
"Don't be stupid you had plenty of help." Apollo had reappeared at his side after having vanished into the long grass after a bright butterfly. Her sudden appearance garnered the puzzled attention of the Chosen.
"You don't count as help, you dropped a tree on Rainpatch," Willowclaw sniffed.
"That was you!?" Rainpatch gasped. "Do you know how uncomfortable it was being buried under two fallen trees?! I had sticks poking me everywhere!"
As the two argued Eaglestrike nodded to Apollo with a glance that asked a silent question. Who is she? "Apollo," Willowclaw supplied quietly. "Don't know where she came from but she killed Padshiy and helped me deal with Kateria. Without her...I really don't want to admit it, but I'd probably be dead."
"What is she like?" Littleflame asked curiously.
"Crazy. She is one cat that has been on her own for far too long."
The small she-cat laughed, "Shame she had the fortune of meeting you."
Out of the corner of his eye Willowclaw spotted movement by the medicine den, long white fur brushing against the twisting tree roots. A brown, plumy tail flicked absently. He felt his heart give a painful stutter. Beside him he felt Littleflame brush her muzzle against his shoulder. "Go on," she murmured.
"Icepetal!"
Her head snapped in his direction and there was no missing the pure joy that flooded into her eyes, warming the usually icy orbs. Careful not to jostle her too much he pressed his face into the thick fur of her neck, inhaling her scent, listening to the strong, steady heartbeat that now thundered beneath her skin.
"I'm here," she murmured into his cheek where her nose rested.
She was here. She was right there. She was alive.