Talon steps back into the healer's den, fighting hard the urge to wince slightly. The walking and frigid air outside clearly agitated the wound, the cobwebs covering it partially dangling loosely from his fur after all the motion. Stepping past Frost, whom seems to be the last cat awake in the den currently, Talon nods his head in greeting. Frost returns the gesture, it being nigh impossible to see that he did were it not for the reflecting shine of his eyes at this dark hour, the sun still a long way from rising. Even so, Talon can see that Frost is somewhat absent, eyes full of thought and pondering. The red eyed leader would have liked to strike up a conversation, enquire what's got the wounded warrior so deep in thought, but neither the soundly sleeping clanmates around, nor the uncomfortable pulling and stinging of his wounds really entice Talon to stay and talk. Nor for that matter the sudden exhaustion, crashing down upon the dark grey tom like a massive wave, now that he is out of the chilling wind and in the somewhat warmer healer's den. If Frost won't speak up, then surely it can wait. Slowly Talon drags himself onward, before falling into the nest he has been occupying. His thoughts briefly move to Ashfur and Silver. Let's hope that ends up working, he would have been of very little use had he gone himself tonight. Sleep comes easily, eyelids feeling heavy as lead within mere moments of granting his body it's much needed rest. Within mere heartbeats, the leader drifts off into the welcoming numbness of slumber.

Talon's surprise isn't too great as he opens his eyes mere moments later, perceiving the dreadful emptiness of the void once more. At least the exhaustion and pain of his body would not follow him to this place, small consolation as that may be in this hope devouring abyss. More hope invoking are the two figures sitting patiently before Talon as he rises up.

„Greetings, Scourge, Bone."

Bone nods his head in response, the towering cat's eyes holding a kindly shimmer as he looks at an old friend. Scourge does not answer, instead rising up and motioning Talon to follow him as he leads the way. Without much further ado, Talon complies, padding after the former leader, Bone right by his side as they travel. Only a few moments later does Scourge speak, not stopping his advance to do so.

„We called you in closer to the Dark Forest this time. We are still not sure if the dead there can notice when we do so or from how far. So we remain cautious. Although, it doesn't seem like anyone can sense it. They keep bringing sleeping ones in and there seems to be nothing giving it away from afar."

Talon nods slowly, noticing that the further they go, the more the absolute nothing around seems to give way to familiar, barren, crooked trees, illuminated by the gloom of the dimly blue glowing mushrooms. They got there way faster this time indeed…

„Caution is always wise. Prevents surprises…"

„Then we do you not heed your own advice?"

Scourge launches a sharp stare over his shoulder at Talon

„Th forest cat, bargaining with Wrath, letting a traitor run around unhindered, following Kestrel's schemes… you are the furthest thing from cautious, Talon."

Talon lets out a nasal breath, ears folding a bit more flatly against his skull, before shaking his slightly lowered head, letting his ears rise once more only after a few heartbeats of silence. Scourge gives no further reaction until the party stops, seemingly having pierced deep enough into the Dark Forest for the small black tom's liking.

„I gave simple instructions. Stay put, get the faction through leaf-bare, don't get distracted. So then why and how do you seem to fail at all three parts of this?"

Scourge turns to face Talon, sitting down in the same motion, his cold blue eyes unwaveringly staring down the larger dark grey cat. Talon feels a chill run down his spine, considers how he should explain the situation to Bloodclan's late founder, but hesitates for a brief moment. He looks down upon himself, the wounds he received there, partly crusted over with dried blood and Venom's poultices, partly faded into scars already. Buried beneath these new wounds was the notch Scourge struck earlier. His reminder to Talon. Scourge does not wish for excuses and all Talon's actions were for a reason.

Forcing the chill to the very edge of his mind, Talon sits down, head high and returning Scourge's gaze. Every instinct screams that this is a dangerous move, Scourge could still very much take him apart, or decide to abandon Talon in favour of someone else. But Bloodclan's leader can not cower.

„I made decisions for the good of my faction, the good of the clan. That is all there is to say"

The faintest worried quiver sneaks it's way into Talon's tone, but otherwise he holds firm. Time slowly ticks by, heartbeats pass into moments, pass into what feels like days of only silence, Scourge's cold eyes staring into Talon's piercing him at the seems. Talon grits his teeth in his maw, his pads sweating as he holds firm, keeping up a reasonably solid façade despite the doubt and worry that howls louder in his thoughts with ever further moment of silence.

At long last Scourge slowly nods, nothing about his expression changing as he flicks his tail

„So it is…"

A breath escapes Talon as a lot of tension finally falls off his shoulders, the amount to which that is noticeable causing some embarrassment to rise up in Talon, especially as he hears a quiet chuckle from Bone. Scourge closes his eyes and lets off a small sigh

„That still requires some work, clearly… But enough of that for now. We are here to train. You will need to be the most formidable warrior you can be in the face of what's yet to come."

Shaking off the embarrassment, Talon looks on to Scourge, nodding

„Of course. I am ready"

The small tom raises his white paw, fixing his whiskers calmly

„I will not be your opponent tonight. Bone will test your ability to react to a bigger and stronger foe. I have places to be."

Talon turns his head, looking up at the former second-in-command with a pleased, nostalgic expression. Good memories of their sparring matches and training when Talon as younger resurfacing, spectres of a time where life was finally looking up. Bone returns a calm smile, green eyes shining in reminiscence

„Brings back memories, doesn't it, Talon? I remember when you joined. How old were you then, seven, eight moons?"

„Must have been something like that, I didn't exactly bother to keep count. I remember you batting me around like a bottlecap when we sparred in the beginning"

„Only in the beginning?"

Bone raises an eyebrow amusedly, both cats chuckling at this. Scourge rises to his paws

„Don't spend all night gossiping, Talon is here for a reason. I'll go see if I can find more of our dead in the void. If Snapper returns before me, get his report. He's been keeping an eye on the living the Dark Forest cats are training."

The small black pelted tom brushes past close to Talon, giving him a look from the side

„There has been a familiar new addition to them recently… Seems your forest toy has indeed found a new sparring partner."

Talon's ear perk up, turning his head towards Scourge

„Ashfur trains in the Dark Forest too?"

„An ancestor of his has taken him on for training recently. The Dark Forest knows you're training the fool. Be cautious, Talon. Don't let them pull you into whatever mouse-brained nonsense they are plotting."

With that said, Scourge continues on his way, back the way they had come, before long disappearing from view. Talon is left looking where his former leader just disappeared, thoughts swelling up in his mind. This could work out in Ashfur's favour, making him stronger indeed… just as easily as it could suddenly raise the stakes for Talon. If the Dark Forest cats end up making the Thunderclan warrior choose which `mentor` Ashfur stays with, let alone turn him against Talon…

Talon lets out an annoyed scoff. He already has to gamble on a lot of things with Bloodclan, Abrarc convincing Wrath, Kestrel's ploy to find more food, Granite not pulling something foolish with the dogs. He used to visit his place by the river to get away from it all for a moment, now it pursues him to his one place of respite too. Perhaps Ashfur and he were getting closer to being friends rather than mutually beneficial tools, but now that might have to compete against actual kin of Ashfur. Not the best odds…

Feeling his clanmate's frustration, Bone rests his tail on Talon's shoulder in a comforting gesture. Talon is pulled from his deeper thoughts with a small startled jerk, before he slowly calms.

„Well, this opens a whole new range of unnecessary problems… can't ever be simple, can it?"

„No fault of yours. But as leader, you'll need to remain able to make decisions, no matter how convoluted things get. If it helps, view it as training for leadership."

Talon rolls his eyes at that, sending an at first somewhat forced, then slowly increasingly anticipating smile up at Bone

„We shall see. But I guess we should get started now anyway, rather not risk Scourge's ire on this. After these news, I need to clear my head a bit anyway. Let's see if you still got that pin in you that you used to keep me down back then."

Bone smirks, his tail pulling off of Talon's shoulder before taking a few steps back

„Wrung down the second-in-command of a forest clan with that during the last battle."

„That battle was a long time ago by now, sure you haven't rusted through yet?"

A quiet excitement runs through the Dark Forest clearing as Talon gets done casting off his reinforcing claws, the two cats beginning to slowly circle each other, eyes locked and hackles raised.

„Come at me and find out, why don't you?"

Talon huffs hard for breath, Bone's heavy paw keeping him well pushed to the ground. If he still had the energy, he could have tried to twist out from underneath it, but barely catching enough breath as he currently is, no chance. Talon, lays down his head on the dried, dead leaves littering the Dark Forest's ground in an admittance of defeat. Bone, out of breath as well, but still very much mobile, lets out a chuckle and lifts his paw off of the red eyed tom.

„Good try. You're definitely getting better… Not quite there yet, though. Score stands at five to two for me by my count"

A breathless chuckle rises from Talon, looking up at the towering victor.

„Sure…. Rub it in… won't you? Eugh, didn't think anyone would, huff, counter a bodycheck with a gripping bite. You got solid stone for a neck"

Bone shakes his head, laughing as he sits down

„Not quite, but superior mass makes a big difference"

Slowly, amid grunts, Talon gets up before shaking out his pelt, sending dead leaves flying in every direction. He slowly sits down, visibly still a bit balance impaired after his last impact with the ground.

„Seems so. Still surprised you went down at all. They said a bunch of young ones swarmed you. I'd have thought you would have just changed out from them, stomped them one after the other, literally."

Talon looks to Bone with a pained, yet amused smirk. His smirk slowly fades as he finds Bone staring down at his paws with a deeply thoughtful, almost ashamed look.

„Maybe I could have. Maybe I should have. I was… not entirely there anymore. Got distracted, I suppose"

Talon tilts his head. Rarely has Bone ever been seen so pensive. And distracted? That does not sound like the dutiful second of Scourge. Curiosity rises in Talon, battering against the question of wether or not he should pry on this matter. The decision is made for him as Bone raises his gaze to look at Talon, the questions just about written across the red eyed cat's face

„I saw Barley during the battle."

Talon's eyes widen briefly, before he lowers his head. He'd heard the rumour that Barley fought among the forest clans, but so far he presumed that was all that was, malicious rumours.

„I see…"

Bone shakes his head, sighing

„No, you don't. Be grateful for that, Talon. I thought I still had time to fix things, fix my family. I neglected my kits after my mate died, kept myself too busy with the clan to have much time to think about anything else. By the time I noticed, Jumper and Hoot had become Snake and Ice, Barley left and Violet nearly died. Still, I thought I could still mend things… But seeing my son fight with heart and soul against Bloodclan, the hate and disgust in my own kit's eyes looking at our clanmates… I knew any chance at fixing things had passed. Now Snake and Ice are gloating about killing Bloodclan cats, and it is all because I failed them as a father."

Talon's ears droop low, a feeling of shame rising in his chest at having brought the matter up.

„Apologies, Bone. I did not mean to…"

„No matter"

The large black and white tom shakes his head, his regretful expression making way for the stoic look he'd usually wear standing guard before Scourge, not a hint of his sorrow remaining to be spotted in face or voice. A veritable statue of a cat, immovable, unshakable, the Bone that always emerged when a situation demanded serious, the second-in-command Bloodclan could always rely on.

„I made my choices in life, Talon. Every choice comes with consequence. I accepted that truth a long time ago. Now I get to assist in preparing you for your task of bringing the clan back together. A worthy endeavour. A necessary one…"

Talon nods, tail curling around himself. His heart continues to pound strongly in his chest, but for the most part his breathing has normalised by now. Dwelling on dire matters does not seem a good direction for their current conversation. Pondering shortly where else he could lead the discussion, Talon quickly finds that he still has a fair number of questions, about the afterlife, the Dark Forest…

„How many of our dead has Scourge managed to find so far?"

Bone looks down at Talon for a brief moment, before rising to his paws

„Easier to show you. Come, our camp isn't far from here."

Talon's ears perk back up in interest, finding himself immediately padding after the former second-in-command as Bone leads the way. The Dark Forest remaining as unnatural and treacherous feeling as ever to him, Talon remains close to his guide, holding no desire to get lost in this place, nevermind running into any Dark Forest spirits as exhausted as he is after training. His ears perk up onward, locking on to the sound cats talking. As Bone and Talon brush through a few bushes, the talk immediately dies down. Exiting from the barren, thorn-ridden vegetation, Talon's fur stands on end as a figure shoots forth straight for them in a long leap. The brown and black tom, soaring through the air, jaws parted and headed straight for Bone's throat, finds his flight cut short as the former second-in-command's large paw descends down on him mid-flight, knocking him straight to the ground in a loud thump. Bone glares down at the cat in annoyance

„It's me, Snipe. Don't be so jumpy, if you try this stunt with Scourge your life is forfeit"

Grunting as Bone raises his paw off of him and he slowly rises up, visibly disoriented from the impact still, Snipe shakes his head. Even without having unsheathed his own caws, just by wearing the reinforcing claws Bone appears to have given the grounded warrior new, pleasantly perpendicular cuts on the back of his neck, blood slowly trickling down

„Hnn… bit late for that, wouldn't you say? But I get it, yeah… Sorry, Bone. Guess I'm still on edge a bit"

Talon's fur slowly lays back down as he recognises the tom, teeth glistening on his black collar as Snipe shakes his head out in a vainful attempt to clear away the disorientation, ending a few droplets of blood flying

„Snipe, it has been a while"

Talon nods his head in greeting. The new voice initially startling Snipe a bit before his eyes seem to focus in on the red eyed cat.

„Talon? Well… didn't expect to see you here just yet. Scourge said you're gettin' groomed to be the next leader, when all this faction nonsense stops anyway."

Talon is about to answer as motion catches his attention. Looking past the still recuperating Snipe, three more cats approach, Talon recognising two of them instantly.

„Good to see our leader in the making. How fare you, Talon?"

Talon gives a small smile as he pads past Snipe, content to see another old friend again

„As well as can be expected. It's good to see you, Claw. I see Scourge found most of our dead already."

Claw sits down, his short black pelt well groomed, the russet calico spots on his legs well displayed.

„From the forest battle, yes. Also been looking for some that died before that, but… those Scourge did find were… too far gone already. Void's not a good place to stay in too long. Snipe's the last one Scourge brought back… longest one continuously out there before being rescued. Nervous mess sometimes, but it's slowly getting better, thankfully for everyone involved"

Snipe scoffs loudly from behind Talon at this, seeming finally in condition to walk again. Beyond expression his displeasure at the remark, he says nothing to disagree, padding off a little distance to lay down at the roots of a tree. Meanwhile, Talon looks through the rest of the cats, along with Bone now sitting in a circle.

„Greetings, Fury."

The she-cat curtly nods in reply, seeming mostly to sit there because there is nothing else to do. Her old tick of constantly unsheathing her claws into the ground making it obvious that she is itching to bloody her paws, Scourge's decree to remain in hiding no doubt not sitting well with the battle hungry female. Finally Talon turns his gaze to the one cat there he does not recognise, who stands out by not wearing a collar either

„I don't think I know you… you a friend of Bloodclan?"

The large ginger tabby shakes his head calmly

„I don't think you could know me. I joined Bloodclan in the forest. Tigerstar brought me in from twoleg-place at first, but when Scourge showed up, it became pretty clear where I should place my loyalty. I prefer Jaggedtooth, but you can call me Snag if you like, my old rogue name. Some do so, some so"

Talon nods slowly at this. Under different circumstances, the affiliation with Tigerstar would have sufficed to sprout a healthy weariness of this cat in Talon. But he is here, which means Scourge, who'd have no trouble leaving a troublesome cat for dead, decided he should be here. Besides, he died fighting for Bloodclan.

„Very well. Jaggedtooth it is then. Sorry that your time in our clan was cut rather short then"

Jggedtooth's eyes shine in quiet gratitude at Talon's choice for his name and he nods, flicking his tail

„Eh, we all die someday. At least it was for something, as part of something. Better than anything I could have hoped for as a rogue. Also, being dead has it's perks. No more biting hunger for me."

Bone clears his throat loudly, drawing the collective attention to himself before turning towards Talon

„I wouldn't mind you staying and talking with everyone, Talon, but I think it's slowly time you wake up. The night is coming to an end soon and you have a lot to do out there. That and Venom might get worried if she's working on you and you remain fast asleep."

Talon sighs with some disappointment

„She'll put me to sleep permanently when she hears that I might be trading the herbs away soon… But you're right, probably."

Bone shakes his head, an amused little chuckle escaping the huge warrior

„You are her leader, Talon. Everyone's leader in due time. You need to start acting the part."

Talon hums quietly, returning Bone's gaze with a thoughtful expression

„I probably will have to soon enough. But tell me… will that not alienate me from our own clan?"

„What is more important, your need to be coddled, one among many, or being able to keep them alive?"

Talon's eyes widen as a chill descends his spine, Scourge's shrill, cold voice the last thing he hears from behind him before the dream rapidly fades around him. The tiredness of his training replaced once more by the stinging of the wound on his chest. A new day, as his eyes flutter open.