AN: Mallowfeather of EarthClan asked for a chapter with Sinkingsun and Hawkfrost in it, so I have happily obliged. But I feel that you're going to want to kill me at the end. Enjoy.

Chapter 23: Sinking and Slipping

Rain pounded against the ground, slicking the grass down and turning dirt to mud. Thunder rumbled above the trees, sending animals scurrying back to their dens. Lightning flickered and flash across the dark cloudy sky, illuminating the harsh looking forest and its vicious beings. Below the huge masses of boiling clouds, struggling fearfully through a thick patch of vicious brambles, was Screech. His paws pulled him forward at a dangerous speed through the brambles, and he felt their vicious claws bite into his skin and tear pieces of it away. Fear framed his eyes as a loud shriek rocketed through the thunderous night, seemingly splitting the storm in two.

The shriek seemed to place even more fear within Screech, as he began to plough even faster through the brambles. He was completely oblivious to the storm that hurled icy cold rain and bitter winds at him from the skies. It was like all he was focused on was getting through the seemingly endless patch of brambles he had fallen into whilst fleeing from the creature that was shrieking. His heart felt like it was going to burst and his sight flickered before his eyes. Fatigue was beginning to play on his muscles, tightening them, locking them down.

Another shriek sent Screech shooting out from the brambles and he tumbled over the edge of a small cliff. With a cry of both pain and fear, the tom crashed into small ledges and out poking tree roots before he crashed into the ground with a painful crunching sound. He groaned loudly and peeked out from under his eyelids, only to look straight into the blazing green eyes of the creature he had been running from.

"Thought you could out run me?" the stranger spat with a vicious laugh. "Better luck in the afterlife, rogue."

Screech sat up too quickly and he could feel every muscle in his body protest against it. His hind leg burned with a fierce pain, something he was not quiet use to. But his suspicions were confirmed upon inspection of the mud streaked golden she-cat standing before him. "Sinkingsun," he growled. "What do you want?"

His eyes flashed from side to side, surveying the rather small rock ledge he had fallen onto. Behind him he could feel cold winds rushing up from a vicious drop, and in front of him lay the only way up and a rather angry looking Sinkingsun. "To play the Game," Sinkingsun snarled back.

"Really?" Screech hissed. "You want to fight on a ledge hardly big enough for you, let alone me!? Are you crazy!?"

Sinkingsun unsheathed her claws and took a step closer. "I do believe I am. But at least I'll survive!" Then she pounced, her leap bringing her crashing down on top of Screech. He clawed desperately at her chest, blood spattering against his face. Pain suddenly sparked in his shoulder as he felt teeth sink into it and scrape against bone. With a shriek he shot out from under Sinkingsun, his claws tearing through her underbelly as he went. Panting, he turned, only to see Sinkingsun's claws slash him across the face, tearing his ear to ribbons and temporarily blinding him with blood.

In those moments he felt himself be shoved closer to the edge of the ledge until his hind paws scrabbled against the edge. Pieces of the ledge dislodged themselves and tumbled to the rocky surface that as only just visible. Fear pounded in Screech's head as he watched Sinkingsun pace from side to side, a crazed grin plastered across her face. "Well, this doesn't look familiar at all!" she purred.

"Familiar? How does this look familiar to you!? Does RisingClan teach it's warriors to throw their enemies off cliffs!?" Screech cried. He moved away from the edge slightly before a cruel blow from Sinkingsun sent him sprawling back.

The she-cat laughed and pushed Screech again. She watched with excitement in her eyes as the tom slipped off the edge, only saving himself from plummeting to his death by digging his claws into the edge of the rock. With a taunting look on her face, Sinkingsun prowled up to where Screech dangled from the ledge. "No. I threw Shadepaw off a cliff two mornings ago. He made a hideous screeching sound before he hit the bottom, though not as hideous as the sound of his bones crunching as his body made contact with the forest floor all those fox leaps away." As she spoke a far-away look appeared in Sinkingsun's eyes, making her look like she enjoyed remembering murdering an innocent cat. "But we are getting off track. Is there any last words you would like me to pass onto anyone before I push you to your death?"

As the crazed she-cat spoke, Screech had been watching an ominous looking black striped snake slither closer and closer. In wonder he watched as it stared at him with bright yellow eyes, something he had not seen in a snake before. It snuck up to Sinkingsun silently and reared up until it nearly reached her flank. He watched as it opened its small mouth wide and produced two nasty looking fangs, dripping with what Screech presumed was poison. He was brought back to reality by a prick of pain on his paw. "Well?" Sinkingsun persisted. "Any last words?"

The snake seemed to wink at Screech before he answered, much to his shock and surprise. "What would you say if I told you there was a snake behind you?" Sinkingsun gaped at him but was given no time to look before the snake buried its fangs deep into her flank. Her shriek of pain filled Screech's ears, but all he was focused on was dragging his dangling body into the ledge. His muscles screamed in pain but finally, after what seemed like moons, he pulled himself over the edge and collapsed in a heap. His eyes traced a trail of blood dots to where Sinkingsun was convulsing on the ground, frothing at the mouth, eyes wide with fear.

With a groan, Screech hauled himself to his paws and crept over to the writhing she-cat. He was careful to avoid the snake that was still slithering calmly around the ledge. "Sinkingsun?" he whispered. "Ar-are you okay?"

The response came out as a mess of hisses and snarls, but Screech could still make it out. "Do I look okay? Fix me! Kill the snake! Do something!"

A slither of pity for the she-cat filled Screech before he pushed it away. She tried to kill you! She was going to kill you! his mind screamed at him. And for once, he actually believed himself. Sinkingsun deserved to die. But something was still niggling away at the back of his mind. That snake, didn't seem like ordinary snakes. Its eyes were strange and its behaviour even more so. The fact that it was still slithering around the ledge only made it appear even stranger.

Screech was about to turn away from Sinkingsun when he felt the she-cat tug on his tail. She looked to be in less pain, albeit her breathing was still a little harsh. "I'll be watching you from the shadows," she spat.

"The shadows?" Screech repeated. "Why do you want to go up there so much? Do you want to go and share the same forest as those that have sentenced us to death!?"

Sinkingsun chuckled lightly before another shudder rattled her battered body. "Where else is there to go, Screech? There isn't another afterlife but the Dark Forest."

"Haven't you ever heard about StarClan?" Screech asked in a hushed whisper, suddenly worried that the snake was a Dark Forest spy.

The she-cats ears flattened and her eyes grew dangerously cold, like the freezing sheets of ice let loose from the mountains during leaf bare. "StarClan are gone. Wiped out by the Dark Forest. Never speak of them, Screech. The Dark Forest hears all, and they'll make you pay. Forget about StarClan. They no longer exist, and they never, ever will." She convulsed and let out a mew of pain, before laying still. No more breath stirred her whiskers and the light in her eyes began to fade.

A loud shriek, filled with agony and rage, filled the suddenly silent night. Screech raised his head to stare at the sky, where boiling clouds once allowed lightning and thunder to strike, to see a shape, silhouetted by the moon, shooting towards the spot where the snake was coiled up. The snake blinked up at the shape with its odd amber eyes before it hissed at the shape and uncoiled itself. Screech could now pick out the shape, a hawk, and a large one at that.

The tom crouched low to the ground as another shriek ripped from the hawk's beak and it's blue eyes focused on the shape of the snake. Wait..blue eyes? Since when did hawks have blue eyes? Screech didn't have a moment longer to think about it before the hawk crashed into the snake with force not ever seen in birds. But before his eyes the two creatures took two different forms. A dark tabby tom and a brown tabby tom with piercing blue eyes.

The transformation left Screech beyond stumped. "H-hawkfrost?" he whispered. Hawkfrost didn't pay Screech two heartbeats as he tore into the dark tabby's pelt.

"You killed her! How could you kill her!?" he shrieked. "You know the rules, Darkstripe! Never kill a contestant!"

The tom called Darkstripe laughed a chilling laugh and ducked under Hawkfrost's blows to bring his claws crashing up under Hawkfrost's chin. "She was going to die anyway. I just pushed her over to death."

"If I don't flay you then Tigerstar will," Hawkfrost snarled, digging his claws into Darkstripe's face and throwing the tom to the ground. Once pinned, Darkstripe stood little chance against Hawkfrost's rage. The brown tabby tore his claws through Darkstripe's pelt and sunk his teeth into his neck.

Before there was the snap of bones breaking, there was a thundering roar that pierced Screech's eardrums and forced him closer to the cold rock. A stray flash of lightning split the darkness and illuminated a huge cat creature that Screech soon realised was a tiger, something his mother had told him stories about when he was a kit. The tiger stared down at the tussling toms with flaming eyes and let out another thundering roar before it launched itself down the cliff, claws digging into the rock face to give it a boost.

Once its paws touched the rocks it lashed out at the toms with a huge clawed paw. Darkstripe shrieked as the whole paw caught him on the side of the face and tore half his face away. Another swipe and Hawkfrost was cast nearly over the edge of the cliff, only his transformation back to his hawk form saved him from tumbling to his death. The tiger roared again, its amber eyes full of rage. "What are you doing?" it growled.

Its voice was strangely familiar to Screech, but he was feeling slightly lightheaded at the thought of all the Dark Forest cats being able to transform into animals. But it was Hawkfrost's answer that set his fur on end. "He killed her, father! He killed her!"

Tigerstar. Screech nearly laughed. Of course the dark leader would choose to be a tiger. It suited him very well. "I know he did," Tigerstar rumbled. "But I think you two have forgotten the audience you have. And the secrets you just spilt. Let's just hope the High Stars or the Clans weren't watching this."

Three pairs of eyes turned on Screech and he had to stop himself from mewling in fear. "Should we kill him?" Darkstripe asked.

Hawkfrost resumed his normal cat form to rake his claws across Darkstripe's torn up face. "Do you want me to kill you?"

"Shut it, both of you. I know you loved her, Hawkfrost. But she awaits you up in the Dark Forest. Go find her, son. Tell her how you really feel," Tigerstar ordered his voice surprisingly soft. For a tiger.

The icy eyed tom nodded and leapt off the ledge without a second though. Moments later his hawk form swooped back up and took off towards the clouds. And then he vanished, allowing two pairs of eyes to return back to Screech. Tigerstar took a small step closer to Screech, his huge paws nearly knocking Sinkingsun's body off the ledge. "If you wish to remain in this game then you must promise to never speak of this to anyone," he warned, a hidden threat hovering beneath his amber eyes.

"Y-yes. I promise. No one will ever know," Screech replied quickly.

Tigerstar nodded and bounded over to a small path that lead back up to the forest. He flicked his tail at Darkstripe on the way up and a silent message seemed to pass through them. Darkstripe grunted before he glanced over at Screech. "Never mention StarClan again, apprentice," he sneered. Then he transformed into a snake and slithered away into the night, leaving Screech alone on the ledge with nothing but Sinkingsun's dead body and his thoughts. For once he wished the sun would rise and that he would wake up and this would all be a dream.

But the sun did not rise and Screech did not awaken from the nightmarish world he had found himself in.

-000-

Tornheart's breath caught in her throat as she stared down at Cloudingsky's half hidden body. His head was poking out from the side of the bush and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth. The clearing suddenly felt a lot darker with the presence of death. Until Tornheart prodded Cloudingsky's leg and he shifted.

The sudden movement made Tornheart jump and she found herself cowering at the other end of the clearing with Cloudingsky's pale blue eyes piercing her green eyes. Anger mixed with disgust swirled around in his eyes before he snarled weakly at Tornheart. The snarl nearly broke Tornheart in two, but she shouldered past the pain and stalked up to him. "How are you still alive?" she asked.

"I ran. But one of your 'friends' caught me, nearly killed me and then threw me in this bush," Cloudingsky spat and then winced.

Tornheart scrunched her nose up, already knowing who had attacked him, "Was your attacker an ugly pale yellow?"

He nodded and then sighed sadly. "She's dead, isn't she?"

Hundreds of emotions suddenly shot through Tornheart, the main being jealousy for she knew exactly whom Cloudingsky was asking about. "Yes."

"Who killed her?" the blue tom persisted.

Tornheart suddenly didn't want to tell him who did. But then she realised he couldn't hate her anymore than he did now. "I did. I killed her."

Cloudingsky fell silent and the silence nearly killed Tornheart. The tom looked back up and then lashed out at her, his claws catching her above her eye. He sliced down over her eye and blinded her with a waterfall of blood. Tornheart didn't want to react, but something in her body told her too, like another part of her wanted to tear Cloudingsky apart. And she let herself be drawn away by her other half, let herself be lost by the bloodlust.

Her claws ripped through fur and skin and allowed blood to spurt out from Cloudingsky's body. When her body was given back to her his body laid at her paws, throat and chest torn open. His scarlet blood had stained her paws and Tornheart collapsed into the puddle of red.

She stared into Cloudingsky's sightless eyes and felt the world tilt out from underneath her. The world no longer wanted her. It was clear how much it hated her. Clear how much it didn't care for her. As she felt herself slipping away she whispered three words, hoping that Cloudingsky's spirit might hear her.

"I love you."

AN: I'm sorry! But Sinkingsun had to die.

So. Three out of twelve contestants have died. Tinder, Shadepaw and Sinkingsun. I didn't write a death scene for Shadepaw because I felt that he wasn't that important of a character. I might write a one-shot about his death. Who knows.