Chapter 110: Who Mourns the Tyrant

The morning of the first day was filled with tension. What could we do to prepare? How could we make ourselves ready? We, as Thunderclan, were going to be fighting the most deadly of all Scourge's factions, the one he ruled himself. I could already feel it. Not everyone would survive. Now was a time to settle any unfinished business, to cherish those around us. There was no guarantee we'd see them again.

Speaking of death, there were two cats I needed to visit with. I found them sitting together at the edge of the camp, a strange emotion visible in their eyes. I approached them knowing what I felt was similar in nature.

"Darkstripe, Longtail." I greeted with a nod at both.

"What brings you over here? Given Scourge's threat, I thought you'd be preparing for it." Longtail answered, clearly trying to wave me away.

"The wellbeing of my clanmates is how I'm preparing for the battle. Right now, you two don't look ok, and I think I know why. It's Tigerstar." I stated calmly.

"Tigerstar was a monster!" Darkstripe bit out, and yet his face held some level of remorse.

"And yet he was your mentor. Despite all he did wrong, you can't help thinking of the good times. I can tell you right now that there is nothing wrong with that. I detest Tigerstar for all he did, but I myself can't help missing our early interactions, the way we schemed around each other, those quiet nights where we discussed our ambitions. I sincerely mourn that Tigerstar never took my lessons to heart. I wish he'd chosen better. If I, the cat who had the most reason to hate Tigerstar can mourn him as well, then there is no shame in you doing so." I stated, letting that eerie feeling of loss twinged with regret touch me.

Darkstripe seemed to consider my words a moment before speaking. "Thanks. I don't thank many cats, but you seem to understand us. As much as I hated Tigerstar for what he did, I'll always have fond memories of him as well. I still can't believe he'd go that far, but at the same time, I somehow always knew that his ambitions would someday get the better of him."

Letting the silence hang for a moment, Longtail decided to put in some of his thoughts. "While I was never as close to Tigerstar as Darkstripe, I've also got some fond memories. Do you remember that time when I was just an apprentice and tried to take on a whole Riverclan patrol?" Longtail queried.

"Yeah." Darkstripe answered. "How did you ever think that was a good idea? They had five cats. We were lucky Tigerstar was nearby and heard the commotion. He managed to turn that fight around, and then he gave you an earful for picking a fight you couldn't win. I swear you crawled back to camp after that rant." Darkstripe teased.

"Not as bad as that time you were trying to teach me to climb a tree only to get completely covered in sap. I was honestly surprised when Tigerstar took the time to clean you. Of course, he was muttering how embarrassing it was that his former apprentice was still getting in apprentice levels of trouble when he was a mentor." Longtail teased back.

"That's just how he showed that he cared. You should have heard him in private. Even you Smudgefoot were target of his affectionate griping. I don't know how many times when you were an apprentice that he'd berate your ability to fight or hunt. Sometimes he'd slip and say something positive like how sneaky you were or how well you picked up on context clues. I could even pick up hints of jealousy when he told me about how Bluestar had that test to decide her deputy. In a way, I miss him. By that I mean the Tigerclaw of old, not Tigerstar. I wish he'd have been the warrior we all thought he was. Also, the way he died; I wouldn't wish that upon any cat." Darkstripe stated with a shudder.

I said nothing, having known that Tigerstar dying many times over in a row was a real possibility when we convinced Scourge to betray him. Even then, I couldn't forget the rage in Tigerstar's eyes as he forced himself towards me to attempt to settle our long-standing vendetta. That cat that died that day did not feel like the Tigerstar I'd met the first day I entered the forest. In the end, we'd have to put these memories to rest, the same as Tigerstar's actual body.

"Do you two want to go to Fourtrees to give a final goodbye?" I asked, knowing the answer already.

"Yeah. That sounds good." Longtail mewed.

We all set off towards Fourtrees, reminiscing on our pasts with Tigerstar, no Tigerclaw. That's the name he'd had when we still cared for him. Finally, we entered the clearing where everything had went down the night before. While Tigerstar's body was gone, blood still stained the ground where he'd finally fallen. We stood around it silently, each not knowing what the best way to break the silence was. I managed to muster something up after what felt like an hour.

"Hey Tigerclaw. I know you'd be pissed to hear me calling you that name, but it's the one I remember you as. We came here to give you a final farewell. You honestly were a pretty terrible cat in life, but you had your moments. I wish what I'd given you had been enough. I wish we'd still been friends, but you got too impatient and greedy. I do honestly hate you, but I wish it hadn't been necessary. I guess this is just me saying that I will in some strange way miss you." I mewed.

Longtail was next. "Hey Tigerclaw. It's Longtail. I'm much the same as Smudgefoot. We had some good times together. We were friends long ago. If only you hadn't needed more. I looked up to you, you know. I thought that Tigerclaw was the epitome of being a warrior. It saddens me that I was wrong. Smudgefoot told me about where bad cats go, the Darkforest. It sounds like a terrible place, but somehow, I just know you'll thrive there. Goodbye."

Finally, it was Darkstripe's turn. "Tigerclaw, you meant a lot to me. You were my mentor. You taught me how to hunt, how to fight, and even how to think. I know now that things could have turned out a lot worse for me. If I'd have been just a bit more faithful to you, I could have been led down just as bad of a path. Regardless, I still remember our lessons. I still have you to thank for making me such a good warrior." Darkstripe mewed somberly before his face twisted into a snarl. "Why couldn't you have just waited a bit longer? Why'd you have to go and screw everything up? You could have just waited Bluestar out. If you'd have waited even a day, you'd have never needed to kill Redtail. We could have helped you. You could have gotten what you wanted, but you were just too mousebrained to see it." Darkstripe growled before his tone sunk back into somber. "Just… why? Why couldn't you wait? Now, you're gone. Guess you were just too impatient to become an elder, huh? I guess this is goodbye. I don't know if you can even hear us, but I'll miss the Tigerclaw I knew."

With that, we returned to camp, feeling the calm of having unloaded our emotional burdens. Tigerstar was evil, but that didn't mean we needed to remember him as just a monster.