Chapter Text
The screams continue, pained and full of pure panic. Hurried voices are heard faintly whenever the noise dies down, likely a Riverclan patrol. Fireheart looks back to Tigerclaw, the deputy doesn't seem to even register the noise, staying perfectly focused on that one spot. Fireheart growls, turning away from the tabby to rush through the trees, Ravenpaw right on his heels. When they reach the shore of the river the yowling has stopped, two cats are on the other side of the river. Mistyfoot and Stonefur he recognizes the two warriors, they both have worried expressions on their faces as they frantically look into the water. Stonefur wastes no time diving in, going under the water. A pool of red is staining and spreading through the water.
Mistyfoot locks gazes with Fireheart as she notices him, she dosen't say anything before stepping down into the river after her brother, staying close to the surface. Stonefur resurfaces within a moment, the scruff of another cat clasped tightly in his jaws. Even with being a notably strong tom he struggles to keep the cat afloat even with Mistyfoot assisting him. As soon as the cat coughs out the water that had filled it's lungs the pained yowls continued. The Riverclan cats struggle to heave the cat onto their shore, failing to get him up every try. Mistyfoot meows something to Stonefur and they both look to the two Thunderclan cats before swimming over, the injured warrior in tow.
With a voiceless understanding between them, Fireheart and Ravenpaw rush towards the shallows of sunning rocks where the Riverclan cats were making their way over. Fireheart and Ravenpaw grab on and help the two heave the panicking tom onto land. So many questions were running through Fireheart's mind, non of the reasonable scenarios for why the warrior was uncontrollably shrieking could match what he saw when they got him to land. Blackclaw of Riveclan was laying in the wet sand before them, screams turned to hyperventilating. The tom would have seemed fine if it wasn't for the fact that he was missing his entire lower half. Where his legs should have been was now only his lose hanging intestines that had drooped out of his body.
Mistyfoot and Stonefur look horrified, neither had expected their clanmate to be in this state. Ravenpaw had his eyes wide open, glossy with tears as he forced himself to look away from the mess of a cat. Fireheart felt nauseous as he took in the gruesome sight, this was not how his day was supposed to go. He turns away to wretch, his eyes catching Tigerclaw now closer to that damn bush he was so fixated on. Hold on, is he talking to a cat? Fireheart can't be bothered to focus more on the tabby as he turns back to the Riverclan cats, Blackclaw's muzzle is open in a silent scream, only a shaky whine escaping his lips.
"Ravenpaw, run back to camp. Get Yellowfang" Fireheart's voice snaps the shaking tom into action.
Ravenpaw runs off, audibly squeaking as he passes by Tigerclaw, Fireheart's too focused on the Riverclan cats to see why. Mistyfoot is shaking as she looks down at her clanmate, shifting her paws to move to help him but stopping when she realizes she doesn't know what to do. Stonefur's lip quivers as he looks completely lost , placing a paw on Blackclaw's side but recoiling when that made the mutilated warrior writhe and thrash in panic.
"What happened to him?" Fireheart forces the words out, looking to the two littermates.
"We were fishing, he.. he just got dragged under" Mistyfoot sounds baffled, the she cat's eyes wide with shock.
Stonefur holds Blackclaw's head, turning it so he can't see how badly he's injured. More hoarse, pained noises scrape from the warrior as he presses his face into Stonefur's thick pelt.
Fireheart is at a loss of what to do in this situation. The orange tom glances at the water, was there something in it? He shivers at the thought of a dangerous predator so close to their territory. Him and Mistyfoot take the opportunity to press onto the cat's severing injury, trying to stop the waterfall of blood spilling from him. Yellowfang would get there soon, right?
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Tigerclaw follows the beckoning tail creeping out of the foliage, it had been haunting the sides of his vision all day. Not all day, no. He had been seeing him for moons now.
It was just dreams at first, more so nightmares that pursued him almost nightly. He'd feel the hate and anger and most of all, the betrayal that he was responsible for. Redtail and Lionheart, their cold, dead, hurt eyes piercing into his soul every night.
But now, it wasn't just dreams. all day Tigerclaw kept seeing that red bushy tail slinking into the bushes, his short muzzle leaning out from the side of a tree, his red eyes locked onto him from just across sunningrocks.
Without words the brown tabby pads into the foliage out of sight from all the others, moving forward until he finds himself in a small clearing, the trees above blocking out most of the natural light.
There he is, right in front of him. Redtail.
The small calico sits looking back at him with a kind smile on his face, his tail curled neatly around his paws.
Tigerclaw stands there, mouth agape, head pounding. He puts a paw down to take a step forward but stops himself as his former mate stands.
Tigerclaw feels his cold heart skip a beat, feeling a warmth bubble within him that he hadn't felt in moons. He was really here, wasn't he?
Redtail gets closer, placing a paw tenderly on Tigerclaw's cheek. The previous deputy is missing any of the hate or betrayal in his eyes that Tigerclaw expected of him. The anger and hate that he deserved to feel, to be scorned for what he did to the tom.
"I know you didn't mean to hurt me" Redtail whispers softly, his jaw spasming as he whispers.
"Redtail... I-" He doesn't know what to say, there were so many things he needed to say, but none of them came out.
"You're not real... you can't be" he tries to reason with himself, but the calico's soft touch makes him forget any doubts he has. His mate's alive again, the cat he murdered given new life, or perhaps never he fell in the first place.
"I'm sorry..." he murmurs the words, his eyes glossy.
If any of his clanmates had seen him like this they would have thought he was a completely different cat with how far he was from the put together deputy face he always wore.
"shh, it's alright. I'm here now" Redtail coos, his icy cold breath flushing over the tabby's face.
"I've missed you, more than I can put into words" Tigerclaw sighs, a look of vulnerability on his face that he never allowed anyone else to see.
Sure he had Goldenflower, and Darkstripe wasn't subtle with his crush on the large tabby, but he never felt that same spark with either of them that he had with Redtail, that warmed his blood and softened his heart. With how hateful and betrayed the calico had looked in his dreams, he was so sure he would never be forgiven for his crime. But now, seeing that reassuring smile on the tom's face that he always seemed to wear made him feel like the weight of a thousand twoleg monsters had been lifted off his back. He felt like he could breathe easy again, that everything would be alright.
Tigerclaw feels Redtail press his shorter muzzle close, lips touching his softly in a way he missed so dearly. The sweet kiss doesn't last long before the calico pulls away.
"I forgive you you know, for everything" Redtail purrs softly, stroking the tabby's ear reassuringly.
Tigerclaw exhales with a gasp as Redtail kisses him again, deeper and more passionate this time, more aggressive than he remembered him being. Fog clouded his brain as all he could think about was his beloved mate. Why wasn't he angry with him? Did he truly forgive him for taking his life?
"I know you were just doing what was necessary" He continues, "The clan needs someone like you to lead"
His mouth doesn't seem to move as he speaks.
His former mates words are like honey to the large tabby, soothing the deep seated fears he had about that day. The tom dances his tongue with the other's, closing his eyes blissfully, finally feeling at ease for the first time in what felt like years since he spilled his lover's blood.
He flinches as the calico pecks his way down his cheek fluff, his crooked sharp teeth nicking his skin. Redtail presses his face into the crook of the other's neck. Tigerclaw wouldn't have it any other way, all he wanted to do was hold the other closely, like they used to all the time.
The calico's chilly breath makes his fur bristle as he presses into the thick fur around his neck. Redtail's jaw slowly opens, much wider than cat's reasonably should. The previous deputy's pointed fangs press against the soft skin, slowly closing around the vital area.
"Tigerclaw!"
The brown tabby's eyes shoot open, just in time to see his lover's bushy tail retreating into the forest. He turns towards the voice calling his name, it was Whitestorm? The white tom stood behind him, he could pick up on the scents of Longtail and Yellowfang close by as well.
"what are doing all the way over here?" He eyes Tigerclaw suspiciously.
"uh-Whitestorm" he coughs, trying to think of some explanation.
There was no way he was going to tell the white tom that he was making up with Redtail, he would just sound crazy. Maybe he was crazy, he thought to himself.
"I was just hunting" He states gruffly, regaining his composure and matching his gaze with Whitestorm.
"You seriously don't hear all that commotion? Ravenpaw had to run back to camp to alert us" Whitestorm looks at him sternly.
"Alert you? Of what?" Tigerclaw hisses, sounding genuinely confused.
"That Riverclan warrior, the guy's been maimed. Yellowfang's checking him out now."
"You look out of it" Whitestorm comments, noticing the tabby's drowsy gaze, the dribble of saliva drooling out the side of his muzzle, and unkempt fluffy pelt.
"Just come on in case they need us, Yellowfang can check up on you when we get back to camp" With that, the White feline turns and hurries back in the direction of all the ruckus, flicking his tail for the deputy to follow.
It's only then that Tigerclaw gags, Suddenly realizing a rancid taste plaguing his mouth, like he's chewed mouthfulls of carrion. He retches, turning his head to empty the contents of his stomach onto the ground of the forest. He suddenly feels more awake and alert, the fog in his head clearing. The indescribably foul taste is still clinging to his tongue, he's had traveling herbs that tasted better. Tigerclaw looks around, panting softly. Redtail is nowhere to be found, but it feels like the calico never left his side. With a growl, he slowly pads back towards sunningrocks.
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The group of gathered cats around the dying Riverclan warrior parted to allow Yellowfang to get close, the old molly’s eyes widen at the state he’s in, even with her level of experience this was a gruesome wound. Yellowfang prods her nose around his missing half, the crimson liquid squirts out in a slow rhythm with his slowing heartbeat. The elderly she cat hums in thought, quickly pressing her paws down on his major arteries, it slowed the sheer amount of blood he was losing but his chances didn’t look good. Mistyfoot holds her breath, like there’s a faint hope that her clanmate can be saved by the medicine cat.
“Longtail, run and fetch me some cobwebs. I need a lot of I’m to stop this bleeding!” The medic orders, not taking her gaze off of her patient.
“What in the stars did this, did he get hit by a monster?” The pale tabby looks uneasy looking at the brutalized cat.
“Now Longtail!” Yellowfang repeats with a stern growl.
It’s enough to snap Longtail out of his stunned stare and the tom rushes off into the forest to look for the cobwebs.
“You can fix this right?” Mistyfoot asks quickly, her tail swishing anxiously.
“Hold him still, all this thrashing is just gonna lose him more blood” Yellowfang shouts to Stonefur, not answering the blueish molly.
The bulky tom is quick to hold his clanmate still, having to put in less effort as Blackclaw’s panicked thrashing grew weaker.
“Is he going to be alright?” Fireheart repeats his friend’s question, though he already has a guess on what the answer is judging by how red the shallow water has gotten.
“I’ll do everything I can, but he’s lost too much blood. I’ve never treated something this bad before” Yellowfang growls, shaking her head. Even if she could stop the flow of blood the Riverclan tom was undoubtedly missing a few vital organs from where his lower half was ripped off.
Blackclaw’s eye’s grew heavy and with little resistance closed for the last time as his body went limp in Stonefur’s arms.
“No no no no, come on. Keep your eyes open” Stonefur growls, shaking the black tom’s head with no success.
Rushed pawsteps approached them from the forest, Longtail dropped a silky bundle of webs hastily.
“Found some” he announces, “is that enough to save him?”
Yellowfang shakes her head solemnly, taking her paws off of her deceased patient, no more blood squirted out as his heart had stopped completely. “I’m afraid there was nothing we could do, there wasn’t any way for him to recover from that, even with all the cobwebs in the forest”
Fireheart swallows, not sure what to say or do aside from resting his tail on Mistyfoot’s shoulder comfortingly. His friend had her eyes screwed shut, and a pained expression on her face. He couldn’t imagine how she felt, losing a clanmate so fast in such an unexpected and unexplained manner. Stonefur’s expression was unreadable as he stared down at Blackclaw’s fresh carcass, his forepaws dampened with red. Longtail had a look on his face that Fireheart never thought he’d see on the usually smug and over confident tom, he looked almost scared and nauseated.
“I’m sorry” Fireheart murmurs softly to the Riverclan cats.
“There was nothing you could’ve done” Whitestorm pads over beside him from the trees, patting him on the shoulder. The large white tom was good at reassuring his clanmates.
Fireheart turns his head away from Mistyfoot as he hears Tigerclaw as the massive tabby stumbles towards them looking like he just woke up. The deputy looks at the body of the newly deceased Blackclaw and growls. “What are Riverclan doing on our territory” he hisses defensively. Mistyfoot glares at him through tear filled eyes, her tail lashing.
“At ease Tigerclaw, they just lost a clanmate” Whitestorm speaks calmly with authority. Tigerclaw reluctantly backs down, putting a paw to his head and wincing as if he had a headache.
“What do we do now? Should we help them take his body back?” Fireheart asks Yellowfang, biting his lip uncomfortably.
Before anymore words can be exchanged, a furious yowl sounds from across the river. Fireheart jumps at the sudden sound, turning to see a patrol of Riverclan cats glaring daggers at them from across the river, no doubt seeing their bloodied clanmate.
He recognized Leopardfur at the head of the group, her muzzle twisted into a snarl as she leaped into the water and swam across towards them. The others followed along with her, a few cats that he didn’t recognize. A shorter warrior growls at the Thunderclan cats as he climbs ashore, shaking with anger at the sight of an enemy clan around one of his dead clanmates.
“Murderers! What the hell did you do!” Leopardfur prowls closer, her voice cracking with rage as she looked ready to claw at Yellowfang who was the closest, her eyes widened once she saw just how brutalized her clanmate’s body was.
Mistyfoot weakly opens her muzzle to try and stop the Riverclan deputy from escalating, even in her shock from the recent death she knew that a fight was brewing from the misunderstanding.
Whitestorm speaks before Mistyfoot can get her words out, “Hold on now, this just a misunderstanding. Your clanmate was-“ Whitestorm is cut off as the brown tabby swats at him.
“Get back Mistyfoot! Have they hurt you?” One of the warriors narrows their eyes at Whitestorm.
Longtail and Tigerclaw rise to aggressive stances at the Riverclan cats, hissing and spitting insults while Whitestorm and Fireheart try to keep the peace.
“Enough! Quit acting like fussy kits, we didn’t kill your friend over here. He already lost too much blood by the time we got here” Yellowfang yowls bluntly.
“Liars! Just like Thunderclan to kill so dishonorably” Leopardfur growls, not backing down.
“Come on Stonefur, help us kick their asses!” One of the warriors hisses with malice.
“Enough Leopardfur” Mistyfoot finds her voice, “they.. they’re telling the truth, Blackclaw got attacked by something”
Stonefur continues for his sister, “we were just fishing as usual, Blackclaw thought he saw a cat fish and jumped in to snag it. But.. then he went under and when he came back up he was torn in half” the large tom explains, his short fur bristling.
The spotted she cat doesn’t look convinced by the siblings, her glare still aimed at the thunderclan cats.
The Riverclan deputy snarls, clawing at the ground. “Those cowards must’ve ambushed him!” She grits her teeth.
“Get some sense in that hollow head of yours, no Thunderclan cat had a part in his death” Yellowfang scolds snappily.
It takes some arguing, but eventually Leopardfur concedes and the Riverclan cats cross the water again, taking Blackclaw’s body with them. Stonefur and Mistyfoot seen almost timid to get in the water, and swim to the other side with a frantic speed Fireheart had never seen from Riverclan before. He had mewed a goodbye to them and a finale condolence for their friend before they left.
“This isn’t over Thunderclan” Leopardfur growls from their side of the river, saying the clans name like an insult.
Fireheart flicks his tail, ears pinned. He could already tell that the battle hungry Leopardfur would no doubt use Blackclaw’s death as an excuse to amplify aggression between the clans. Whitestorm ganders at the spot where the deceased warrior was lying moments earlier, the sand red and the shallows foggy.
“What kind of thing could even do that to a cat? What if it’s an underwater fox?” Longtail ponders out loud, eyeing the river suspiciously. At least the aggression from the Riverclan patrol had seemed to get him back to his usual demeanor.
“Some predatory fish maybe? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of something like that before though. To my knowledge the water doesn’t have any dangerous wildlife” Whitestorm hums, curling his tail around his paws as he gazes into the murky blue.
“It’s Riverclan’s problem now, let them deal with it” Tigerclaw growls, squinting his eyes shut as he rubs the side of his head with a massive forepaw.
“We should get going back to camp, all this humidity is bad for my old bones” Yellowfang grumbles, snatching up the excess cobwebs and starting her way back along with the others. “I’m sure Bluestar will be just thrilled to hear about this little encounter”
“I want to see you in my den when we get back, you can barely walk straight” the medicine cat meows to Tigerclaw, who seems to have trouble keeping his balance.
“Nonsense, I’m perfectly healthy and I don’t need any of your damn herbs or your help” the tabby hisses back, his voice sounding exhausted.
The two grumble back and forth to each other as the cats pad back to camp under the setting sun, the forest growing dark as they slip in through the camps entrance. Yellowfang won the argument apparently as she sternly guided the deputy to her den.
Fireheart sighs, what a day that was. His paws ached from the training his with his peer and his pelt unkempt. The fur around his paws was still damp from the river, at the very least he had gotten very little of the riverclan cat’s blood on them. He spots Ravenpaw giving his pelt a thorough grooming by the apprentice den, the skittish tom had not returned to sunningrocks after running for help, Bluestar must’ve had him stay back.
He waves his tail in greeting before he sits himself next to the short tom. His fur brushes with Ravenpaw’s soft pelt as he settles, a purr escaping him as he joins Ravenpaw in grooming his out of place fur.
“How are you holding up? I know all that must’ve been a lot” Fireheart asks between laps of the soft fur on the smaller tom’s ear.
Ravenpaw shrugs, though Fireheart can feel the tension in his shoulders, “training with you was nice. I wasn’t expecting what happened with that Riverclan cat though” the fur on his back bristled which Fireheart was quick to smooth down with gentle laps of his tongue”
“Thank you for helping me today. I’ll have another hunting assessment coming up soon” he pauses a moment his cheeks warming before asking a question that was on his mind, “do you think we could practice more? Together?” Ravenpaw asks quietly with a little smile tracing his lips.
“Of course” Fireheart agrees with a purr without hesitation. Whatever busy schedule he had with warrior duties he could surely find some time for his close friend.
The two sit in a growing silence only broken by their combined purring, until a large gray ball of fluff all but slammed into them.
“Graystripe!” Ravenpaw squeaks in surprise.
“What’s up, heard you guys had a big day. Didn’t even invite me” the heavy gray tom puts his paw to his chest in an exaggerated betrayed gesture.
His casual tone seemed to further dilute the tension from the incident with Riverclan.
“You can come with us next time, Fireheart’s taking home out training again soon” Ravenpaw purrs.
Fireheart felt a path of jealousy in his heart, he was hoping it would be just the two of them.
Wait, why was he thinking like that. Graystripe is his best friend.
The ginger tom shakes his head as if throwing those thoughts from his body before agreeing.
“You know you’re bound to get your name soon. What do you think it’s gonna be?” Graystripe wonders aloud to his friends, “Ravenwing, Ravenfoot, Ravenstrike?” the fluffy tom throws out suffixes.
Ravenpaw giggles, “I’m sure Bluestar will pick something nice” a warmth fills his heart at the thought of joining his friends in being a warrior.
The three close cats spend the rest of their evening in each other’s company as the moon rose into the sky and night overtook the forest. Despite the time with his friends that took his mind off of most of the day, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. With how aloof Tigerclaw had been acting and the almost certain conflict with Riverclan, it left an uneasy feeling pricking at his pelt.