Work Text:
Finding the tortoiseshell was easy enough. The anger had blinded her momentarily when she’d left the gathering in a storm of rage, followed soon after by her brothers.
Hollyleaf had managed to shake them off her trail, hunkering low a ways away from Thunderclan territory until the waters calmed. She felt anger, yes. But after giving herself until sundown to think, she also started feeling. Guilty.
Guilty for killing Ashfur when she could’ve found another solution. Guilty for breaking the warrior code. Guilty for her very existence going against her beliefs. Guilty for likely making the Clan shun her brothers- who were innocent in this situation.
She had departed soon after the sun had felled beneath the horizon, leaving only its golden glow behind. Hollyleaf had known little of where her paws brought her, but she had an inkling that she was headed the right way.
Forest made way for open plain, and the tingling in her paws brought her to a run-down twoleg place. The cover had crumbled into itself. The familiar scent was not strong, per se, but present. The slippery fox of a tom was no doubt hiding out here.
Neither said any when Hollyleaf met Sol’s eyes. One smug and relaxed, the other cold and hateful.
Sol swiped his tail against the wooden ground of the twoleg nest, nodding his head in invitation for Hollyleaf to join him.
Hollyleaf walked slowly, observing the tom with chilling hatred and calculated precision. She had killed once and she was not afraid to do so once again if Sol tried anything funny.
Sitting a few tail-lengths away from the cunning tortoiseshell, Hollyleaf was tense but kept her expression unreadable.
“It’s been a while.” Speaks Sol, voice dripping honey curled in a soothing rumble. One that draws you in. A predator luring in its prey with a false sense of security before striking.
“Sol.” Hollyleaf doesn’t bother to return the pleasantries, tail flicking irritably. Her own voice is sharp, ready to cut.
The tom gives her a placating smile, tilting his head. He stands and Hollyleaf restrains herself from lunging at him. Sol walks closer and circles her once, before sitting closer.
“You’ve betrayed your Clan.” The stray speaks, voice a low purr of satisfaction.
“I did what I had to.” Hollyleaf quickly shuts him down, tail curling over her paws protectively.
Sol merely chuckles, shaking his head with amusement. Hollyleaf remembers how he manipulated her and her brothers, promised them greatness. What a hoax. Hollyleaf grits her teeth, having to bite back a nasty insult.
“You came here for a reason, my dear.” Sol says, long tail swiping against her own. Hollyleaf recoils at the contact, nose curling with disdain. “You were a promising youth. Such ambition tied to a cat with strong morals. And look at you now.” He tuts, shaking his head with mock disappointment.
“I’ve come to kill you.” Says Hollyleaf bluntly. She knew that the tom likely already knew as much and wouldn’t react strongly.
Sol laughs flatly, body quivering with too-practiced ease. His fangs glint in the moonlight seeping through the wooden nest’s roof.
“You were always my favorite, dear Hollyleaf. Such a strong personality.” Sol drawls. Hollyleaf tenses. The last time she’d seen him, she was an apprentice. Sol never got her warrior name. But Hollyleaf supposes it wouldn’t be out of the question that the tom had stalked her and her brothers.
“Your flattery won’t work.” Hollyleaf says sharply. It was tempting, how his voice soothed her nerves and drew her in, but she knew better.
Sol shook his head, standing back up to continue circling Hollyleaf, tail brushing against her pelt occasionally.
“Such a healthy body, wasted on a cat who doesn’t even know how to use it.” He says slowly. “You’re strong. You could overthrow your leader. But instead, you are deathly loyal to your clan like a fool.”
Seems he has finally dropped the friendly act, words condescending as he curls his nose in disgust at the prospect of throwing away such opportunities.
“Imagine the possibilities. You could exile those traitorous cats you called out.” Sol says. Yep, he has definitely been spying, Hollyleaf thinks. “I could be there with you, helping you make Thunderclan great. Not a clan filled with code-breakers and liars.”
Hollyleaf wants to argue that she is both a code-breaker and a liar, but she bites her tongue, not wanting to start unnecessary conflict.
Sol circles around her back, before stepping close to her side and getting way too close for comfort to murmur into her ear.
“We could finally rule the lake as we were meant to.”
Hollyleaf has enough, shoving the tom away roughly with a low growl.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Hollyleaf sneers. The thought is tempting but her morals are stronger.
Hollyleaf rises to her paws, turning tail and padding towards the exit of the twoleg nest, tail lashing.
She doesn’t acknowledge the bristling tom behind her until he’s lunging, sinking teeth into her scruff in an attempt to stop her from leaving.
Hollyleaf remembers her original reason for coming her and yowls in outrage, somehow managing to spin around despite the teeth latched in her neck fur, claws unsheathed as they rake down the front of the older cat.
He yelps, letting go of her fur and taking a step back to prepare for a fight.
Hollyleaf doesn’t grace him with preparation, though. She’s already on him, fangs sinking into his shoulder and claws tearing out tufts of fur at his side.
Sol seethes, claws scratching at Hollyleaf’s face, only narrowly missing her eyes and instead giving her a nasty cut on the forehead.
Hollyleaf jumps back, multicolored tufts of fur between her claws as she pants. Not wasting another second, Hollyleaf lunges at Sol, knocking him over and biting the fur on his chest, pulling at his skin and hauling him a tail-length.
Hollyleaf refuses to give the tom a break. She remembers how Ashfur succumbed beneath her bloodied paws and the anger she felt towards both toms. Hollyleaf’s jaws clamp shut around the skin at Sol’s jugular.
The world feels still as she presses her forepaws against Sol’s chest and pulls her head back sharply.
Her ears ring and her head feels fuzzy as she pull and there’s finally a give. She tumbles back with a ball of fur in her mouth. She realizes said fur is attached to a chunk of flesh.
The cat that was previously sporting that flesh is now lying on the wood ground of the nest, eyes wide and breath rapid as he presses a paw to the gaping hole in his throat.
Hollyleaf spits the gore out, snarling. She approaches the tom slowly, tail lashing.
“Age did not make you wiser. This is what you deserve.” Hollyleaf says. Her paws feel numb and she feels that familiar pit in her stomach at the realization that another cat’s blood stains her paws once again.
Hollyleaf sees the fury and pain slowly leave the cat as the blood loss weakens him, until he’s finally fallen still.
She did what she had to.