Bluestar
Love.
Hate.
Loyalty.
Corruption.
It was all so clear in retrospect. She had fallen so very, very far. Now none of it mattered. Bluestar had finally hit the bottom of the abyss called despair.
She lay alone in her den, watching the light play tricks on the shadows on the stone floor before her. Oakheart was dead. And it was all her fault. Tigerclaw, perhaps the best hope for ThunderClan, was now banished. Fireheart, the cat she had wanted to trust, was probably just as corrupt as Spottedleaf. But none if it mattered. StarClan had played a cruel game with her.
Finally, she drifted off to sleep.
She awoke in that dark forest she was so used to. The thorns and shadows were comforting. At least she knew what they were. They couldn't turn on her.
"Now do you know how it feels?" The strange, cheerful mew was familiar.
"I don't know, Redtail. I think everycat has a different breed of sorrow." The small cat sat down beside his ex leader, his eyes bright.
"I always knew you would turn out like me. You weren't cut out for the life of deceit. Like I was never cut out for the Clans."
Bluestar sighed, "I know now that you're right. I wasn't meant for any of this. I regret everything… Everything and nothing."
Redtail nodded slowly, "I know."
The two sat in silence, staring out at the twisted forest before them.
It was Bluestar who broke the silence, "How could you do it, Redtail? How could you kill cats?"
He paused for a moment before replying, "It wasn't ever hard. Like killing a mouse, or a fox. We're not really all that different, anyway. It's almost like a mercy, if you think about it. I chose spare them from all the pain of life."
"Is that really a choice you can make? What are you that decides who lives and dies?"
"What makes StarClan a better judge?"