[Justice]

He hadn't said a word to anyone when he'd walked out of camp today. He hadn't responded when Honeysong called his name, hadn't stopped or slowed down or done anything to acknowledge that his mother had called him. He just walked briskly away, moving with purpose further and further from home. There would be some questions when he came home again, but at least this would be the last time he left camp for this particular reason. He had to end this now. His heart constricted inside him, eyes burning as he picked up his walk into a full run. He wanted to be with Herondive. He loved her, was in love with her. The only she-cat he'd ever felt like this for, as thought StarClan had fashioned her specifically for him. They just fit. And yet at the same time she was his greatest distraction. He was being tested and tortured all at once. He couldn't decide if StarClan hated him or wanted his happiness. It felt like they hated him. Showing him the most perfect she-cat he would ever know, and then snatching her away because he was chosen as their Medicine Cat.

He hurt and he was only causing her to hurt, which was worse to him. He wanted her to be happy above everything else, and having to sneak around to see him wasn't right. He wanted to be able to be with her, to see her whenever it suited them and not have to hide their romance from their clans. He couldn't stand being away from her, but he could deal with his own breaking heart. Herondive had her whole life ahead of her, he couldn't ask her to remain the beloved of his heart when she could never have all of him. He couldn't give her everything a normal tom could. He was a medicine cat, and it broke the code. He loved her enough to let her go.

Familiar terrain was under his paws and he felt his lungs burning from the hard run he'd taken to get to StoneClan's territory in good time. He stopped at StarClan's claws and was gasping for air, panting and letting the exhaustion of his body push out the horrible pain rolling through him. He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to do this. He had to let her go.

Their nest was long gone, cleared before the last Gathering most likely. Their time spent lying together in the nest a well cherished memory. The only time he'd felt like a normal tom, stealing a moment with his sweetheart. He sat on the spot where they'd hidden their nest and let his heart rate return to normal, feeling the sting of tears and the trembling in his frame.

Eventually he pulled himself together, regained his composure even though internally he was already a wreck. He could be the strong one. He could break her heart, could set her free. For Herondive, he would do anything. "I'm sorry dear heart." He spoke words to the air that he wouldn't dare speak to her. He had to do this. He couldn't let it linger any longer. It was time. He turned for the border and started to pace it in search of the she-cat that would forever hold his heart and haunt his thoughts.

BlooRey DVD

[BlooRey DVD]

HERONDIVE

Claws sunk into the back of a blackbird as it tried to take to the skies, the cream and white she-cat's tight grip hauling it from the air as gravity claimed her. Muscles coiled to absorb the impact as she landed, paws immediately pulling the panicking bird to her jaws so she could finish it off with a bite to the neck. Feeling the ebony prey fall limp, Herondive allowed her body to relax, pulling herself to a seat as her breath billowed from her lungs in short gasps. For several heartbeats, she dared not move, allowing her body to recuperate following the short, yet demanding, burst of activity she'd thrown herself into.

Eventually, she began to move, rolling her shoulders to ease away any lingering tension or soreness. Her kill, although successful, had not been her cleanest, nor best executed. Heavy thoughts plagued her mind in recent days, and her concentration suffered for it. Though... The last part was not necessarily a new development. She hadn't quite been herself for a few moons. Now the reason was more somber than in days past. Where once she'd been captivated by a euphoric high, now only a foreboding somberness lingered.

So many things had started to go wrong... She couldn't help but think StarClan had turned against her. That they were after her, and that her sorrow would only increase tenfold in the near future. The feeling had clung to her shoulders for upwards of a moon now, the StoneClan leader's daughter living in a constant state of 'what now'. Every pawstep felt as though she were treading upon thin ice, where one wrong move would send her plummeting into the frigid and unforgiving waters of the Sky Pools, an abyss from which she would never re-emerge.

As she sat stretching her limbs, a ghost conjured of her imagination caught her eye. Bright blue eyes flicked toward the border, where she could see Falconstorm pacing. What a cruel world, what cruel ancestors... Sending her such a tantalizing vision. She wanted nothing more than to be at his side, and yet with things as they were? Herondive was lucky to escape to the dirtplace unsupervised when the sun set on a day of activities. Shutting her eyes, the StoneClan warrioress willed the vision to go away, to leave her alone.

Except... He was still there when she opened her eyes. And now he was looking straight at her. It wasn't until his scent drifted to her nose on the wind that she realized this was happening. Her ears shot up in alarm, and she glanced over her shoulder as though expecting someone else to appear and catch them like this. ... Like what? What was this? He never came by light of day; it was far too risky for them to meet when anyone might stumble across his scent. And they never, ever met on StoneClan or TreeClan territory.

Practically leaping to her paws, black bird entirely forgotten, Herondive slunk toward the border. "Falcon...storm..?" She whispered, the uncertainty and disbelief evident in her voice. "What... What are you d-doing here?" She asked, the urgency apparent in the tone, and in the way she looked over her shoulder again. What's going on..?

warrior of stoneclan

Justice   | background image | table by phoenix

Note: 33 moons