A.N: Haha, yes, I killed Firestar. I get to kill even more now ^.^ And obviously, with Firestar dead, Brambleclaw has to name a new deputy
Brambleclaw was speechless as he stared at Hawkfrost, who leered back, the mirror image so clear that every cat could see it. From the back of the ring of cats, an eerie wail of mourning came up, one that begged to be joined with. But the voice was silenced with a gurgle that carried across the silence of the camp. Dark Forest cats and ThunderClan cats alike stared at the corpse of the greatest cat that had walked the forest. The fire that had been chosen to save the Clan was put out in the darkness that swamped the forest. There was no hope now.
"Your leader is dead, ThunderClan. And you have chosen the wrong side in this war!" Tigerstar shouted gleefully, and turned to a couple of the warriors behind him. "Make sure none of them get out," he hissed, and his cronies slunk away to guard the entrance of the camp. "Your leader," he continued, padding over to Firestar's body, past his son's paralyzed form, "Is dead. Soon, the rest of you shall be. But let me start first, with the ones that never belonged here." His dark amber eyes swept the crowd as the Dark Forest cats began to herd the remainders of ThunderClan together.
Brambleclaw turned to make sure that all the cats were accounted for, and spotted the blood-covered pelts of Foxleap and his sister, Icecloud on the floor of the clearing, clearly dead. Ferncloud huddled next to Sorreltail and Daisy for relief, and stared blankly at the ground in front of her.
"The kittypets, the scum of this Clan." The massive tabby spat, looking at the shattered remains of the Clan. "The Half-Clan, the unfaithful, the disloyal! When I lived in the forest, there was none of this! It started when this kittypet filth," he kicked Firestar's body, which weakly flopped in the mud and gazed up at the sky with glassy green eyes. "Joined the Clan. Now, there is no more kittypet leader, and the Clan will be purged." His growl was as smooth as the river flowing past, and the clearing fell to a hush.
"Now obviously I know which of you are not truly ThunderClan," he taunted, signaling his companions to drag a stunned Daisy and Mille out of the crowd of cats. "From the cats that fight beside you, because they told me all your little secrets." Blossomfall, Birchfall, Mousewhisker and Ivypool writhed against their captors as they were thrown before Tigerstar.
The deputy-now leader- stepped back among his Clanmates. "Listen, carefully." He murmured, and felt pelts brush his sides as Tigerstar continued gloating over his victory. Some cats growled, and he backed farther into the group so his voice could reach more cats. "I'm going to kill Tigerstar." He stated calmly, and a low grunt of acknowledgement surrounded him. Sandstorm's eyes met his, and her gaze was burning with anger. "I'm with you." She hissed.
"As am I," mewed Hollyleaf from somewhere to his right.
"No, Hollyleaf. You can't go." He turned his head slightly to her, and he could just see her green eyes blazing. "Hollyleaf, with the passing of Firestar, I am now leader. Now, I say these words before the body of Firestar so that he may hear and approve my choice."
The traditional words made cats shift and glance toward their new leader. "Though you left the Clan for a while, and you have recently rejoined us, I name Hollyleaf the deputy of ThunderClan. Her wisdom and sharp wits will keep us safe in this time of need and continue the existence of ThunderClan after I am gone." Hollyleaf's eyes were wide with shock, but she nodded silently. Brambleclaw beckoned her over to his side, still without turning his head, in order to avoid alerting the Dark Forest cats of what was going on. "We need the Clan to get out of here," he breathed in his deputy's ear, as close to a closed council meeting as they could get. "I need you to lead them. Don't stray off course, don't let any cat fall behind. Sandstorm and I will be creating a distraction."
"Brambleclaw?" Hollyleaf murmured, turning to look at her leader. It sounded like…
The tabby shook his head minutely. "I'll catch up," both of them seemed to know that the promise was hollow, and Hollyleaf would be the last hope for the Clan. "You can't stay in the territory after you flee, go to ShadowClan, tell my sister what happened. We need to rally the Clans-all of them- in order to defeat this evil."
"Like how the Clans defeated BloodClan?" The black she-cat asked in awe.
"Exactly," the leader confirmed.
Silently, the new deputy pressed her muzzle into her leader's shoulder before looking straight ahead again. "We… we never blamed you for what Squirrelflight and Leafpool did." Her voice was choked up slightly, especially as she mentioned her mother's name.
"And I loved you as if you were my own kits. I hope it was enough," Brambleclaw breathed, and moved forward through his Clan again. He approached his father, who had Daisy pinned under his claws, ready to sink his teeth in. With a flash, he knew he had to act now.
"Sandstorm!" He grunted, and leapt across the clearing, crashing headlong into Tigerstar's muscular frame.
His father stumbled, and his amber eyes shot up to look at his unruly son, who backed away when he saw that the head butt hadn't even affected the Dark Forest cat. "I give you everything. And this is how you repay me?" Before Brambleclaw could blink, the dark mirror of himself had stabbed through Daisy's throat, sinking his claws into the ground below them.
"Enough," he spat, tearing his gaze from the kind queen. The Clan would have time to mourn for her later, when they weren't caught in an execution. "Enough blood has been spilt for today."
This time when Brambleclaw leapt, his father let go of Daisy's carcass to respond in kind. The two fell in a bundle, and the new leader found himself using moves that he hadn't used for so long; Dark Forest moves he had been taught as a warrior, and a deputy. He slashed down with both paws, and then fainted left before leaping to the right. Tigerstar was with him every step, crouching to leap before pulling Brambleclaw's legs out from under him and digging his teeth into his shoulder. The two fought viciously, and there was no sign of Sandstorm.
Brambleclaw had managed to pin Tigerstar to the ground, his broken body screaming in pain at the new injuries. His father looked equally spent, though he took no chances to find out if it was a ruse. Without hesitation, the younger tabby aimed a couple of blows at the senior's stomach. But before they could land, Tigerstar shimmied forward, unbalancing his son and reached up to take his neck in his jaws. Brambleclaw could feel the teeth closing around his throat, and struggled backward, doing nothing but choking himself further. The dead weight that was Tigerstar dragged in the mud, and instead of backing away, he collapsed and panted quietly. The tiredness that he had seen before clearly was an illusion, as the dead leader leapt to his paws and pinned his son to the dirt. "Daddy's here," he hissed psychotically, a fiendish look in the amber depths of his eyes that Brambleclaw had learned to avoid in the Dark Forest. "Do you think that StarClan will take you now? You'll come back in the Dark Forest, and come with us to attack the Clans. Your worst nightmare, forever."
The leader choked, gasping for air before Tigerstar let him go. Thoughts hazily swam in Brambleclaw's head and darkness crowded the edges of his vision before he could wonder why Tigerstar had let him go. Blinking to refocus the world, he spotted a streak of gold.
"I beat you once, you piece of foxdung," Lionblaze snarled, his amber eyes burning, "I can do it again."
Tigerstar smirked at the young warrior. "That was when I was weak. How do you think I feel in your world? So full of life, just for me to take." He slammed into the tom and ran his claws right through Lionblaze's pelt. As the golden tom leapt away, he suddenly understood that even though his powers were greater than the stars, they weren't greater than the darkness. He could be killed in this battle.
"Lionblaze!" Brambleclaw croaked, realizing the same fact. "Go with the others. We'll be alright here."
"But Brambleclaw!" The devoted warrior crouched and his tail snaked along the ground as Tigerstar smiled.
"Run back to your Clan now, little kit."
"Now Lionblaze!" Brambleclaw rose to his paws and towered over the gold cat. The warrior still looked torn, but dashed away into the fighting.
"You are more important than that Half-Clan filth, and yet you sacrifice yourself for him," Tigerstar shook his head. "I will never understand this generation."
The young leader hissed as Tigerstar once more pushed him over, and kicked the dead cat's stomach, leaving mark after mark, until he felt the black blood gushing out over his hindquarters.
"So I think I'll just kill them all off instead," The huge tom hissed, and sliced Brambleclaw's throat. The cat tried to scream, but his voice bubbled in his throat, hissing out through the hole in his windpipe. There was no air, no air to breath. His pelt felt warm and sticky, and his eyes were dimming as he gazed up at his father. No words could express the hate he felt for the tomcat that stood above him, with a mockery of sadness in his eyes.
"It would have ended better if you were with me," He growled forlornly. "Now your blood is mixed with that of your Clan. Is this what you wanted? Is it?!" Brambleclaw wouldn't have thought he would watch his father hysterically yell at him, but… was he hallucinating? A picture of Ferncloud flashed across his sluggish mind. After all that Tigerstar had gone through… his kits were the last thing left to him.
Hawkfrost… Brambleclaw let his head loll as he looked across what had been an open stretch of ground before was now swarming with cats. A flash of hazy blue eyes was the only proof that his brother was dead forever before the body dissolved. Sandstorm stood by him, blood all over before glancing at the battle and leaping again.
His gaze directed back at Tigerstar, he mustered up a smirk in his failing body. "Yo-our lin-ne ends-s-s her-re. Fat-th-her-r." He spat the blood that was climbing up and down his throat, mustering up enough air to speak.
"My line will never end, as long as there are cats with hatred in their hearts and blood on their paws," the tabby hissed, dodging the spittle that now ran across Brambleclaw's muzzle.
'No, it ends now.' Brambleclaw pushed his body upward, and clamped onto his father's throat. There was nothing more for him to do in this life, he had saved his Clan and now he would take the evil that started it all with him. Tigerstar tried to back away, but just like before, the dead weight of his son's body would not go far. There was a moment of disbelief before the tabby dropped, eyes filming over slowly, so slowly that Brambleclaw could not watch. He just wanted to sleep, to let go into the gentle blackness that was invading the back of his mind. He couldn't remember where he was. What he was doing… who this cat was even? But a sense of peace swirled around him as he closed his eyes, jaws still locked tight around Tigerstar's throat in a death grip as the body shook and pulled, only resulting in a thick ripping noise as the skin at the points where Brambleclaw had sunk his teeth began to separate from the rest of the cat's body. Black blood poured out as the twitches faded through the Dead Forest cat's corpse, and ran across the son's face, covering his eyes and sending him reeling into the darkness filled only with stars.
A.N: Awwww! I killed my Narator! Damn! Who should I do next? Review D