[BlooRey DVD]

41 Moons Tom NightClan

The sun slowly descended from the sky when Sunpulse's eyes blinked open from within the warrior's den. The day had been hot and dry, not particularly inviting to a NightClan cat, not even one with Sun in his name. Jaws cracking open in a yawn, the warrior figured it was best to start moving now, to take as much advantage as he could of the cooling air. Rising from his nest, he wasn't particularly surprised to not see Hollystorm. With a soft sigh, Sunpulse stepped out of the nest and headed for the den entrance.

Hollystorm had really thrown herself into training Coalpaw in recent days. Sunpulse rarely saw her, for she'd somehow manage to return to the den after he'd already drifted off, and leave before he woke up. Greencough had taken her mother, and the black warrioress had not been quite the same since. He tried to offer her words of comfort, but she seldom paid him more than a few moments worth of time. She is just healing, don't indulge this feeling. He told himself, ignoring the tension in his shoulders that told him something was very wrong. He'd begun to notice the distance even before Ghostlight's passing.

Figuring his time would be best used taking a leaf from her branch, the sun-colored tabby directed his paws toward the apprentice den. Although Coyotepaw would probably rather not see him at all, Sunpulse had promised to get him to warriorhood. That wouldn't happen if they continued to just avoid one another. And so he would put on a happy face and do his best to not lose heart at Coyotepaw's obvious distaste in him. A flicker of movement caught his eye, a dark shape ducking through the camp entrance, but Sunpulse passed it off as a trick of the mind.

He'd seen enough of that flicker in recent sunsets, his mind cruelly holding onto the hope that he'd hear her voice calling his name, asking for him to join her on a walk, a patrol, anything at all.
--
Word Count: ~340 words
Tags: Fawn
Notes: Oh she'll call your name alright bud. But you're going to wish she hadn't.

I got that sunshine in my pocket, I got that good soul in my feet
I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops

[Fawn]

27 Moons. She-Cat. NightClan.

No I won't apologize for the fire in my eyes

---

Hollystorm had been a fool. A frogbrain, to think that she could selfishly juggle her mentoring duties with her increasing affections for Sunpulse; for the past few moons, her interests had been on her own happiness. Her own social life, and not on Coalpaw's training. He was three moons overdue, paying the price for her negligence.

'Sorry' didn't come easy to Hollystorm, and it never would. She had too much self-pride for that, she was too sharp of mind and hard of heart to let a little thing like humility make up a large portion of her personality. However, with that sharp mind, came the ability to acknowledge when she was wrong - even if it was only to herself.

Despite all the grief that had struck NightClan like a flash flood, filling the entire camp and drowning every cat inside it, barely a few days had passed before the rumors and the whispers had started. Coalpaw was too large for the apprentices' den now, and every cat knew it. They also knew that Hollystorm had spent more time with a certain ginger warrior than she did with Coalpaw - and there were cats, like Snakeflower, with her narrowed face and condescending tone, who wouldn't let her forget it.

Fresh from a patrol she had not enjoyed (for once not the fault of her Clanmates), her stomach was wadded up like cobwebs, with no visible end or beginning, solidifying into a stone in the pit of her belly. This needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. Hollystorm's pride had been wounded by these rumors, and the downright icy look Starlingcry had given her at the start of greenleaf, even in the midst of her mourning for Dimstar.

A flash of ginger fur near the apprentices' den when she arrived made her heart start running. Hollystorm's green eyes betrayed the seriousness of her mindset, but her tone was friendly, though subdued. She wasn't going to make a scene in the middle of camp; unlike the rest of the Clan, she actually wanted her private business to stay private.

Though they'd all hear about it eventually.

"Hey, sunshine. Come on, let's... walk. I need to talk to you." Hollystorm turned before she could see the expression on his face; she could be mean, but she wasn't heartless. She didn't want to see how happy he looked in her company, or if her own feelings betrayed her all over again by urging her to drop the subject entirely.

To just turn this into another pleasant evening, walking by his side and keeping up their playful banter.

No. This has to end. It was going to end, because she was going to end it right now, before any more damage was done. Her throat tightened, and she cleared it just as they cleared the camp entrance, beckoning Sunpulse to follow her into the forest.

Only when she was certain they had privacy, did she finally turn to look him in the eyes. It was nighttime, but his ginger pelt still picked up traces of moonlight, making him glow pale against their dark surroundings. Hollystorm raised her jaw, digging her claws deep into the part of herself that knew this was right for her. For him. For Coyotepaw. For Coalpaw.

"Sunpulse..." Just say it. "We need to stop seeing each other. I've disappointed my mentor and my apprentice by neglecting Coalpaw's training. I can't do that anymore - and I can't have the Clan thinking that I'm some feather-headed she-cat who only cares about toms." Her heart prickled uncomfortably, as if she'd stepped on sharp fragments of bone and they were starting to cut deep. "I don't want to stop what we have, Sunpulse," her tone softened, despite her best judgment. "But I don't want to be known as an irresponsible warrior anymore. This isn't goodbye, this is ... a break."

A break up.

"Once I've proven myself to the Clan, and both Coalpaw and Coyotepaw are warriors, You and I can..." Start over? Pick up where they left off? "...be something. But for now, we have to be Clanmates. Just, Clanmates."

Hollystorm's throat felt tighter than ever, as if trying to restrict her airflow - but it was already too late. She'd said those words, and as StarClan as her witness, she wasnt' about to take them back now.

---

Let me show you my true colors
It ain't your rainbow

Word Count: 733 Words
Tags: Hellion

Fate of Five Staff
Thread of the Season Nominee
Reason: Because OMG </3
Members Involved: Spottedfawn, Bloodrose

[BlooRey DVD]

41 Moons Tom NightClan

All at once, it was like his heart was soaring and plummeting. That familiar voice greeted his ears, but there was a pinprick of doubt in his heart, for her voice was not quite right; it lacked everything he'd grown accustomed to. Even when she called him Sunshine, there was something missing, like he'd stepped out of the den expecting bright light, but found only the moon. Yes, there was a light, but it was colder and offered only a fraction of the warmth he'd so desperately craved. Nodding his head despite the fact she'd already turned away, he managed a rasping meow.

"Lead the way, let's not delay." Oh but how he wished it would be delayed. Padding silently after her, the ginger tabby stared down at his paws, the ground passing by in a flicker as they moved. Eventually, they slowed to a stop and Sunpulse had to force himself to meet her gaze. The air escaped him, seeing the distant regret reflected in eyes that had once held such light as they gazed on him. His haunches folded beneath him, the sun-colored tabby holding his breath as though the act alone could change what he felt was coming.

It was like standing muzzle first against a roiling storm. You could dig your claws in, but the sheer force behind the storm would always make you stagger. We need to stop seeing each other. He flinched slightly, struggling to stop himself from fully recoiling away from her. What we have. What did they have? To him, it had felt as though he'd been walking on air and he'd thought she'd been there with him. He didn't care what the rest of the Clan thought of him; what mattered to him was what she thought of him.

Apparently, the sentiment was not returned by her.

This isn't goodbye, this is ... a break. Then why did it feel like a goodbye? Why could he hear the simple, two letter word that followed, the one that left him feeling like whatever bond they'd shared had been severed. His heart decided what it wanted to do then, sinking in his chest to rest like a rock in the pit of his stomach. Somewhere, he acknowledged that there was... Logic in her choice. They had allowed themselves to get too distracted by one another. But... They could have figured something out, they could have smartened up.

....Couldn't we have? He opened his mouth, knowing that she deserved something from him, yet... He couldn't find the words. His tongue, usually masterful in its delivery of rhymes, was leaden in his mouth and his muzzle contorted briefly as he ground his teeth. Forcing a smile that didn't reach his eyes, he made it look as though he were meeting her gaze, though in truth he stared off to some point just behind her. "Oh." A great start to a riveting speech. "Yeah, totally, of course I understand. Good... Good luck, I'm sure you'll do... Grand..?"

Even he knew it was sloppy, the rhymes no longer coming naturally to him as they once had. And then he thought... Why bother? "I should.. Go. Branch Trail. Training. You know. I'll uh see you around. Maybe." Rising stiffly, he didn't wait for a response of any kind from her. Turning quickly to mask the hurt in his eyes, the new senior warrior took off at a run. His excuse might have been plausible, if he hadn't disappeared in the complete opposite direction to that of the Branch Trail.
--
Word Count: ~600 words
Tags: Fawn @minxxy
Notes: S'fine. I didn't need a heart anyway. Moondance, save your bro

The night has a thousand eyes, and the day but one;
Yet the light of a bright world dies with the dying Sun