[Deleted]

PUT QUOTE HERE

Dustclaw

Dustclaw could feel the snow cracking beneath his leaps and bounds, lungs screaming as he tore through StoneClan territory. I have to find Flintfang! The brown tom's heart skipped as he saw shadows in the distance, though the vultures took flight as soon as he came close. It made sense. Not many would want to be outside on a day like this. Snow continued falling, making his travel slower, his legs burned from the strain of deep snow and fear.

Fear that his brother would perish because of his cowardly escape.

Dustclaw justified it as getting help, but the black shadow whom Mothflight was so unfortunate to come across sent chills clawing up his spine. The tom flailed through the deepening snow, hearing his brother's cries in the distance and seeing the camp not far ahead. He screamed for help, though no one came. Dustclaw kept pressing towards camp anxiously.

Something wasn't right.

Dustclaw felt a cold loneliness engulf him as he entered the camp. It was deathly quiet.

"Help! Someone help, Mothflight is in trouble at Sun Stones!" He let loose a pained yowl, frantically running from den to den.

Nothing. No one.

Snow began filling the camp with intensity. Mothflight's wails had stopped. Dustclaw spun around, a familiar voice filling his chest with dread.

"You abandoned me." Mothflight choked sadly, his white fur bloodied and his body mangled as he lay dying in the center of the empty camp. "Why-" His brother gurgled. "W-why did you leave me?"

Dustclaw felt tears moisten his face, though his paws were frozen in place from shame, from fear.

Dustclaw's eyes shot open, the familiar warmth of the warriors den quenching the cold horrors of his dreams, though his dead brother's words and the image of his broken body lingered in his mind as he sat in darkness. He couldn't sleep without guilt and grief ripping him apart by morning, leaving him lifeless on patrols. It all felt like a nightmare that he would eventually wake from. Dustclaw had grown much more quiet since his brother's death, and the look on Flintfang's face when his older brother left for the mountains sent him wallowing in an endless abyss of emptiness. He hates me. Dustclaw thought in the darkness. He blames me for it, and he's right.

It was his fault. He shouldn't have left Mothflight alone with the two LightningClanners, not even for a second. Getting help was something a scared apprentice would do, not a full-fledged warrior. Dustclaw had regretted himself every day since seeing his brother's crippled, crimson stained body at the Sun Stones. How was it that Mothflight, the most innocent and lighthearted of all of them, had met his demise in such a way?

No matter how often he tried to justify himself, Dustclaw always came down to the same conclusion: if it weren't for his cowardice, Mothflight would still be alive.

The soft breathing of his clanmates calmed his racing heart and tempered his loneliness, though a glance at where Mothflight's nest once lay made him grow cold. The tom pulled himself to his paws and slipped through the maze of his resting comrades, accidentally stepping on one of their tails.

"Sorry." He murmured, slipping outside.

He had never felt so lonely in his life: losing all of his kin so quickly made him question his reasons for living. Contributing to the clan was important, though what was the point? Why continue giving and giving for a life that had only ever taken the things he held dearest?

Dustclaw laid down in the shadows of a secluded corner of camp, face wet from the strangling, suffocating, and inescapable sadness of mourning.

The day was about to begin, though he just hoped that today would be the day it would all end.

STONECLAN - WARRIOR - 24 MOONS

Word Count: 647
Tags: Taxx
Notes: At this point, Mothflight is dead and Flintfang has already left StoneClan...

[Taxx]

Smokestorm

This gal right here's gonna rule the world
No, I won't sit still and look pretty

Sometimes, sleep was hard to come by. It hadn't been an easy leafbare; poor hunting had led to hunger among the Clan, and sickness had taken several lives- it was somewhat comforting to imagine them safe and well in StarClan, but if hardly eased the burden of grief that lay on those left behind. At least there were no kits- apprentices could hunt to feed the Clan, and even though kits ensured their survival, she would rather them born in newleaf and greenleaf, to stuff themselves on plentiful prey and grow quickly and strong before the next leafbare came again.

Smokestorm pushed herself hard- a bit too hard, maybe, but she hadn't gotten sick and it meant she could crawl into her nest at the end of each day knowing that she would sleep; sometimes, though, when she woke in the short time before dawn lit the sky, she would lie awake and find herself struggling not to dwell on thoughts that would only depress her. Constant action helped- patrolling, hunting, keeping busy however possible to keep those losses from tormenting her: that was how she got by.

As it turned out, it was the low mutter of pain, followed by an apology, that woke her this time, and her head lifted to see the tail end of one of her warriors slip from the den. Lifting her head, Smokestorm scanned the remaining bodies, and when she spotted the empty one- close beside two others who were empty now, the scents of their occupants fading since their departure, she knew who it was. Slowly she rose, arching her back in a quick stretch before stepping from her nest and winding her way toward the entrance of the den. By sound she located Dustclaw, and she turned toward him, sitting down in front of him- gazing at him but remaining silent for a moment.

With a quiet sigh, she closed her eyes and bent her head to him, speaking quietly to keep her words between them. "Bad dreams?"

Deputy of StoneClan

@jet     Notes

[Deleted]

PUT QUOTE HERE

Dustclaw

Smokestorm's presence truly caught Dustclaw off-guard, and although he heard her quiet meow, his throat was still rough with anguish. The brown tom felt ashamed, turning his head to hide his watery eyes, sucking in a ragged breath, trying to loosen the tightness in his chest. He attempted to smooth his voice, though it was still sharp with sadness.

"You could say that." Dustclaw meowed roughly, throat and eyes burning as if he was standing amidst a forest on fire. The flames of grief and loneliness turned his next words to ash, leaving a dry taste in his mouth for several moments. I left the warrior's den so I wouldn't bother anyone. He thought emptily, eyes tracing the shape of his paws in the darkness of early morning. I ended up waking Smokestorm on my way to go cry like a kit. Dustclaw shifted uncomfortably before his past mentor, glancing up at her for a moment, his olive green eyes almost lifeless, an inkling of shame adding guilt-ridden depth.

He couldn't quite find the words to formulate a valid excuse for his current behavior, but the desire to uphold his usual bravado had evaporated, like a tear on dry ground.

"Sorry for waking you." Dustclaw muttered, averting his gaze back to the ground. The tom said it as a courtesy, though his words had little backing nowadays. Dustclaw would have rather had Smokestorm see him lassitude and numb to the world than wallowing piteously in it, though her presence did temper his loneliness.

He felt his heart yearn for the warm laughter of Mothflight's blue gaze, and he even missed Flintfang's hard, abrasive stare.

What have I done? Dustclaw thought blankly. Why couldn't it have been me who died that day?

STONECLAN - WARRIOR - 24 MOONS

Word Count: 304
Tags: Taxx
Notes: xxx

[Taxx]

Smokestorm

This gal right here's gonna rule the world
No, I won't sit still and look pretty

You could say that, Dustclaw replied, eyes dull and voice ragged. Smokestorm could imagine what the dreams had been about; it had been some time since Mothflight's death, and it had hurt Dustclaw deeply- and with his other brother's decision to leave StoneClan entirely, he probably felt more alone than ever. Half of her understood it; the other was a touch irritated. Of course he had every right to mourn his brother's death, but it wasn't like he was completely alone; his Clan were still here and willing to help, if he wanted it.

She shrugged. "Don't worry about it, it's time I was up anyway. Patrols need to be sorted." Sitting at his side, her tail flipped to rest over his shoulders as if on accident, her face turned outward to the camp and making no attempt to draw attention to her gesture. If he didn't want it, he could say so and she'd remove her tail, but otherwise it'd stay. "Do you want to talk about it? I know you must feel upset... and Mistcloud's always trying to tell me that talking helps." Somehow. Personally? She felt that just going on about it was lingering on the bad- the loss. But then, Mistcloud certainly did seem to have a grip on most of the things Smokestorm struggled with. "It wasn't your fault. It was an accident, and you couldn't have changed it."

Deputy of StoneClan

@jet Notes