Fallen slowly relaxed his tense body, the pain slowly ebbing into a dull throbbing in his limbs. The branches he had run through seemed to have cut him in various places, though there wasn't much blood. He must have been out long enough that the bleeding had stopped. He knew her concern was sincere, by the look in her eyes. It suddenly ran through his mind how close their faces had been, and he became instantly shy.

"... Yeah, I'm okay."

He told most of the truth. He would be fine physically, as his scratches would heal. But his mind would be forever scarred, that moment he found his brother and the body burned into his memory. And his father's face, as he chased Fallen away...

"You are Fallen! You are no son of mine!"

Fallen flinched, the voice of his father echoing in his head, accompanied by a sharp pain. It seemed to intensify, coming in sharp waves. He wobbled on his paws, and his legs gave out, causing him to collapse on the floor. The she-cat rushed over to his side, using her paw to push gently on his body to see what was wrong. After a few seconds of hurried examination, she promised to return as quickly as she could, and hurried away somewhere.

Fallen's breathing had become shallow, but he tried to stand back up. It was a futile struggle, and he fell back to his side as pain lacerated his coherent thoughts. As his head hit the ground, everything went dark.

Fallen woke to a loud clamoring. The sound was echoing somewhat, and Fallen realized he was in a cave. He opened his eyes, discovering that the pain in his head was gone. He felt as if he had been dreaming, but he couldn't remember what it was about. Lifting his head slightly, he examined the area he was in.

It was dark, and he was laying on a nest of soft green moss. The clamoring was coming from outside. Fallen unsteadily got to his feet, taking shaky steps towards the mouth of the cave. As he peered outside, he realized that it was night. A silver tom stood on a tall rock, above a large crowd of other cats. They were all yelling and arguing about something, though he couldn't make out any words. The silver tom yowled loudly, and the crowd grew silent.

"We are not to move against him! We don't know enough about this kit to know if he's a threat or not." The silver tom said calmly. The group began to protest, but the tom shot them a glare, and their protests died on their lips.

"We don't know if he is part of the Prophecy. We can't get rid of him until we find that out. But he is just a kit. He isn't much of a threat, especially after what SwiftPaw has told me. He has been badly injured, and can barely move. We can afford to wait." Cats murmured in agreement, and only a few protested against what the silver tom said.

"She has offered to keep a close eye on him, and monitor his behavior. If she sees any dangerous behavior, we can dispose of him."

Fallen realized they had been talking about him, and quickly moved farther back into the cave, laying back down. Dispose of me?

Fallen realized he was shivering, and wrapped his tail around himself, though the chill had nothing to do with the cold.

Had he escaped from one hell, only to be thrown into another?

He heard the cats disband, and the one known as SwiftPaw came back in. Fallen feigned sleep, and he heard her moving around the cave. Suddenly, something was being spread onto his wounds. It stung, and he jerked away from the pain. He opened his eyes to examine the wound, and realized that it was a chewed up plant.

"It's Dock. It helps to soothe wounds. Though, it does sting a bit. Sorry." SwiftClaw smiled at him apologetically, and Fallen felt a small rush of embarrassment go through him. "The medicine cat said it would help. He's busy treating DovePelt for whitecough."

Fallen nodded, laying back down to allow her to put dock on the rest of his wounds. He closed his eyes, bearing with the sting of the medicine. He grew drowsy as the pain of the stings faded, and he sank into the blissful silence of sleep.

When he woke up, it was still dark. He could tell even behind his eyelids that the sun had not yet risen. A sudden shuffling noise near him caused him to open his eyes, and he was looking into the face of a strange, unknown cat. Fallen jerked awake, throwing himself away from the cat, taking notice of the leering face.

Fallen's ears went down as he sensed something was wrong. He backed up quickly, though his tail hit the back of the cave not even four steps later. The strange cat smiled cruelly at him and began approaching slowly. Fallen noticed a few other cats behind the first one, all of them either glaring or leering at him. He recognized them with a small shock.

The cats who were against letting me live!

Fallen began to panic as they approached with deliberation. "We won't let you destroy our clan!" The first tom spat at him. The tom suddenly threw himself at Fallen, and Fallen barely moved fast enough, as the tom hit the wall behind him with a resounding thud. Fallen tried moving away, but the other cats formed a ring around him, effectively boxing him in. The first tom stood, the shock of impacting the wall fading. His ears went back, and he swiped a claw at Fallen, his face contorting into one of intense anger.

Oh gods, he's really, really mad!

Fallen shrank back from his approach, though as soon as he neared another cat from the ring, they swiped at him. Fallen sprang away from them, only to have the first cat bowl him over onto his back. The other cats, sensing that it was almost time for the kill, approached.

Fallen closed his eyes shut tight, fear overwhelming his senses. But... He was glad it would be over soon.

He relaxed slightly, ignoring the pain of his wounds re-opening, ignoring the feel of breath approaching his neck, and the inevitable bite that would follow.

He waited for the inevitable end.

Poor Fallen. ;w;

I kinda feel bad for putting him through so much. And yes, I'm ending this with a cliffhanger. But fear not! I'll begin working on the next chapter tomorrow. c: