Hunter's Kiss

[Charbarboo]

OOC: My own continuation of 'I'm Only Sleeping... ....' Hunter's Kiss is a song by Rasputina.



Stormcloud came to a halt once he had reached the Burnt Sycamore. The gray warrior's legs quivered. His head dropped, ear flattened. Why was this dream troubling him so?

All those precious, irreplaceable moments he had witnessed again. But, that one... ... Why had he seen it? Was it from StarClan, or from his own mind? These questioned gnawed at his mind. All he needed to know was if Nightsky was still alive. Then, just then, he could breath easily.

He breathed in a few shaky breaths. He desperately needed to know what had happened in the WindClan nursery. He was completely drowned out from the real world, and caught in his thoughts like a fly in a spider's web. No escape.

The gray tom tried to think of the other scenarios, where no cat had to loss a life, but his mind kept stirring up the happy scenes with tragedy. Did that mean the romantic comedy had turned into a full on tragedy?

Stormcloud couldn't take it anymore. He had to find a way out of his thoughts. But, it seemed every time he struggled to escape the terrifying spider's web, it just made it more difficult.

Just as he was about to give into the horrible alternatives racing across his mind, he snapped out of it.

The warrior let out a sigh of relief. But, that relief soon vanished as he looked up. To his dismay, an orange and black creature was padding not far off from where he had his breakdown.

Fox.

One of his first instincts were to run and get help, but that didn't seem to get through his skull. Instead, he did the unthinkable.

Instead, Stormcloud found himself charging at the fox head on. As the canine turned it's head to where the sudden disturbance was coming from, the gray tom leaped onto it's back, sinking his forepaws in and clawing at the fox with his back claws. The fox yelped, but was soon turning it's head to bite Stormcloud. When it realized he was out of range, the fox rolled on his back to shake the attack.

As the fox rolled, Stormcloud found himself yowling, his body being crushed. But the fox soon stopped to attack him once more. It managed to give him a deep bite in his shoulder before he came at the fox from another way.

[Super Lemon]

((ooc:i don't have a shadowclan cat..))

[Riverflame]

(( Foxeh's turn. D= ))

Foxheart dove down, paws slamming down hard on her prey, a misplaced rabbit. Why it was in ShadowClan territory, she didn't know, but it was young and hurt, resulting in easy prey.
She bit it's neck, glad it wasn't an average rabbit, too fast for any cat to catch unless they were in WindClan; she'd hate to use all her energy on one piece of prey.
She purred, imagining how proud she would act when she brought it back to camp, pretending it was able-bodied and quick when she caught it. She imagined the other cats' faces, seeing her trot in with so much prey, including one of WindClan's choice food sources.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a yelp alerted her, making her look up anxiously. There couldn't be a fox here, could there? She hadn't scented one...
But as the wind shifted directions, three alarming scents mingled together drifted towards her; Fox, Stormcloud, and the faintest trace of blood.
"Oh no," she gasped, and raced in their direction, hoping she would get there in time. She ran until the two were in sight, and with a loud yowl she threw herself at the creature, digging claws into it's flank. "Stormcloud, are you alright?" she choked, out of breath from running and struggling to hold on, willing herself to stay with the fox, and not allow herself to fall and be crushed.

[Charbarboo]

"That doesn't matter right now!" Stormcloud hissed.

The gray warrior clawed at the fox's sides. The fox still trying to nip at him as he did so. But, the fox wasn't as fast as he. All that running to the Fourtrees must of paid off.. The fox managed to sink it's teeth in once again, this time dangerously close to his neck. He let out another hiss as he managed to bite into one of the fox's hind legs.

The fox's reaction to this was forceful. The fox kicked the bitten hind leg back to where Stormcloud had not yet gotten out of the way.

He was driven back a little, the air knocked out of him. He shoulder ached, but he still struggled to get back to the fox. His gray pelt was stained with blood from where the fox had bitten him. Determination glittered in his amber eyes.

[Riverflame]

Foxheart hissed in frustration. Stormcloud was so stubborn!
"Fine then," she growled, and dug her claws in deeper, sinking her fangs in the fox's ear s it flicked past her. The canine yelped, and shook his head angrily side to side, sending the warrior off to hit a nearby bush. She grunted, feeling the hard ground under her, along with the branches of the bush snap behind her from the forceful landing.
As the she-cat stood, she let out a slight laugh, amused despite the danger she was in. Here she was, Foxheart, fighting a fox for her life. It would be helpful if the fox could understand her, and some kind of kinship would form since they shared a name.
She broke away from her insignificant thoughts when she noticed the fox coming towards her. The she-cat lunged forward, sinking teeth into the fox's shoulder. She cringed, not daring to let go, as the sharp tear of fangs met her leg, and she jerked away, forcing the bite to tear, opening a long gash in her leg.

[Charbarboo]

"I didn't mean it like that," Stormcloud tried to meow. But, there was no time for explanations right now.

As his mind was trying to work out something to fight this fox out, he remembered one of his first meetings with Nightsky. She said that they had killed a fox in an old Badger set. Maybe, just maybe, if WindClan could do it, so could ShadowClan.

The tom went for the fox's back once more, digging his claws in as much as he could, anything to try to keep steady for the task at hand. Stormcloud leaned forward to try to get to the fox's throat. He withdrew a fore paw for the deed to be done.

A heartbeat before he could attempt to slice the fox's throat, it rolled over again. Panic ebbed in every last muscle of his body as he hit the ground. He tried clawing it's back, but it was no use.

Stormcloud found it hard to breath as the fox got up and bit one of his hind legs. But, this time, Stormcloud couldn't get up to fight off the canine. He struggled to get to his paws, but found himself unable to. Several of his ribs were broken, and blood soaked out of his hind leg.

His breaths were a battle all their own.

[Super Lemon]

((OOC: noo! XS whyyy? just let him get away with a few bad indjuries! don't kill hiim!! pleeze!oh! i could get snowleaf to come! she could be patrolling thunderclan borders!))

[Charbarboo]

OOC: I've been meaning to do this for a while now, it helps my plot. Plus, how could there ever be a Romeo and Juliet thing without Romeo dieing? It's hard for me to let him go, but I have to.

[Riverflame]

(( This is so much like when Alex killed off Smallclaw! *cries* ))

Foxheart fell to the ground, releasing her hold on the fox when Stormcloud attacked. She clawed at it's flank blindly, lashing out in rage. But as it rolled, she jumped, landing on it's exposed underbelly. Her claws dug into it, but only for a moment before it rolled back and revealed the bleeding Stormcloud. She watched in horror as he hardly bothered fighting back as the fox's teeth dug into his leg.
"Stormcloud!" she choked, and the sight made her want to kill this piece of fox dung. It was too much, and she doubted she could help him if the fox continued attacking.
With a battle cry that seemed loud enough to alert the whole forest, the she-cat lunged forward and dug claws in the canine's lowered head. She heard yelps and a volley of snarls, and even felt the sharp tear of teeth meeting her shoulder once or twice, but she ignored them all. She couldn't feel the pain, nor could she concentrate on such things. All she cared about was annihilating this monster, and after a few vicious attacks, both given and received, the fox backed away and ran, tail between it's legs. Foxheart knew that she had clawed at it's eye enough times to blind him- hopefully -and then gouged open his nose, but suddenly the pain came to her, and she let out a yowl. She closed her eyes shut, cringing to the ground as she noticed her foreleg all but torn open. She felt several more gashes down her sides, but when she remembered Stormcloud, probably still lying there, she limped over towards him. Halfway she ended up half-dragging herself.
"S-Stormcloud," she growled, teeth gritted as she sat, making her foreleg throb in pain. "You alright?"

[Charbarboo]

My Last Breath

Stormcloud's vision was blurring, everything in his body shutting down. He felt his body going numb. And the only thing on his mind was Nightsky. He loved her more than anything, now he was leaving her. It couldn't end like this. She had to know... ...

"F-Foxheart... .... Tell... Nighsky.... Even in death our love goes on," he mewed with his last breath. His amber eyes slowly slid into slits for the last time. And his body went limp.

-----------
Suddenly, all the pain disappeared. Stormcloud was looking at his own limp body, covered in blood.

Am I really dead? A shiver ran up his spin. Would Foxclaw tell Nightsky? Would Nightsky even be at the Gathering?



OOC: 'My Last Breath', 'Even inDeath' and lyrics (Even in death, our love goes on) is Evanescence's

[Riverflame]

Foxheart watched as the tom's breathing got shallower.
"Stormcloud?" she murmured, confused. "Nightsky...?"
He had fallen in love with a she-cat... from WindClan? Why? What was wrong with the she-cats in ShadowClan?
She shook her head, blinking rapidly in an attempt to both understand, and to numb her own pain. It was too much... too much to know, and too much to bear to see a Clanmate die right in front of her. It was different when her friend Foxclaw had been killed; she had been dead when she came back to camp. But now... seing Stormcloud in his final moments, and to be told his last request... it overwhelmed her. She closed her eyes and bent her head, grieving silently.
You will find peace in StarClan, she thought, and then looked up. I'll tell Nightsky, don't worry, she added as an after-thought.

[Charbarboo]

Stormcloud was staring at his own body. Like in his dream, but this time, it wasn't memories.

The tom took another last look at himself, and Foxheart.

He followed the voices that seemed to be calling him. They lead him on the familiar path to the Fourtrees. There, starry figures of all those in his past that had joined StarClan.

His brothers, Graybird and Shadepelt, bounded up to greet him. Their pelts bushed, he hadn't seen his brothers moons, and even though they were never the closest, he was still glad to have them around him.

"Welcome, Stormcloud," Graybird and Shadepelt said in union.

His brothers went back to the tangle of cats. He could see Crowstar, Bearstar, Foxclaw, Serpentwind, and many others.

One older she-cat made her way over to him.

"Mousetail!" he exclaimed. It seemed like ages since he had heard his mentor's last request.

"You made a wonderful warrior, Stormcloud. I'm sorry that StarClan had to take you so young." she mewed, licking the top of his head. He purred. Stormcloud had been very close to his mentor, and she never got to see his warrior ceremony.

She went back to her Clanmates and another elderly she-cat slowly came his way. It was no other than Cloverbelly, his mother who had went to StarClan recently.

"Oh, son." he could tell she was overwhelmed.

After Cloverbelly went back to her Clanmates, Bearstar spoke.

"Do you admit that you broke the warrior code by meeting with Nightsky, and becoming mates?"

"I will not deny it, Bearstar." he told her.

She nodded.

But, is she here? he bit his tongue to hold back the question.

"She is fine, a mother of four kits," she meowed as if reading his mind. "It seemed as though you suffered enough just this past day, Stormcloud."

Stormcloud dipped his head.

There was a pang of sadness as he realized that he would not Nightsky again until the day she joined StarClan. There were a lot of cats in his life, but she stood out above all.... .....

There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more


OOC: Sorry, I stole Brokensoul's Bearstar. 'In My Life' is by the Bealtes

[Super Lemon]

((ooc: i suddenly got an image of all the cats forming a congo line singing the beatles. LQTM.)

[Crowy]

ooc- No problem :> Bearstar was just a name for a big fluffy brown cat <3

bic

Crowstar,

Serpentwind? & Poppyclaw%

Crowstar padded over to his loyal warrior, and lay his head on his shoulder. Crowstar looked like he was when he was first made leader, his stride long, his head held high, his muscles twitching. "Stormcloud, I tried to tell Starclan not to take you so young, but as soon as I knew you were mates with Nightsky, Starclan had another path for you..." The tom mewled, leading Stormcloud away. "I can take you to a place where you can watch your kits, and your clanmates. I watch my kits everyday. Is Silentstar being a good leader?" Crowstar purred. "I was surprised he mentioned Vlek'tu as the deputy. I was expecting him to take Burntface or yourself." Crowstar sighed, flicking his tail towards his mate, and Poppyclaw.

"Hell Stormcloud. Crowstar has been telling me so much about you. Your kits are doing fine. I've been watching them. Don't worry, Nightsky is fine too." The she-cat purred, three kits tumbling around her feet; Rookkit, Firekit and Dustkit.

"Stormcloud, I'm so sorry." Serpentwind said. "Last time you saw my children, were they okay? Were they doing fine?"[/color] The she-cat asked, a little worriedly.[/right][/size][/color][/font]

[Charbarboo]

Stormcloud nodded. "I would love that." he mewed. The thought of being able to see their kits and his Clanmates again brought joy into his heart.

"Silentstar has been a fine leader so far. I think the whole Clan was surprised when Vlek'Tu became deputy." he meowed.

"Thank you so much," he mewed to Poppyclaw. He smiled down at the three kits beneath her feet. They had been so young.

"Clawear has taken good care of them, Serpentwind. They are as playful as ever and Silentstar plans to make them apprentices soon." he told Serpentwind.

[Riverflame]

Foxclaw sat slightly away from the other three cats, staring at her paws rather than at Stormcloud.
"Foxheart won't tell anyone but Nightsky," she murmured, though she didn't think the tom at any worries about it. Yet. "She has kept secrets better than any other cat."
She sighed and glanced up, her fur glistening again, unlike when she was killed, dusty and bloodstained.
"On a lighter note, if there is such a thing in death," she added sarcastically, back to her old self. "I have to ask. What made you fall in love with Nightsky? She's not in ShadowClan, for one thing, and keeping that kind of secret must have been heck to deal with. And two, she had to lie to just about every cat when she found she was pregnant. You two both made life difficult for each other," she laughed. Having never been in love, the she-cat found it hard to understand why cats would even bother with each other unless they were of the same Clan.

[Charbarboo]

Stormcloud gave a slow nod to Foxclaw. He took in a deep breath, it seemed impossible to explain his love to any other cat.

"She's one of those cats that you just can't forget. She's kind, smart, caring, and beautiful. I love her for being.. .. Her. It's hard to explain. Everything we did was because we loved each other," he softly mewed to the she-cat.

Trying to explain his love was more difficult than trying to take on a Badger single pawed. It was just something that only he and Nightsky had shared.

[Super Lemon]

((ooc: aww.... XD soo sweet!))