shoutforMERCY. open.

[[xoxo] shard. :)]

Marblepaw

[/color]

I see a red door
And I want to paint it _black
No colors anymore
I ^want them to turn black[/center]

A lanky figure slunk from the apprentices' den. Today was so boring. He'd considered going out to hunt or practice battling on his own, but he'd ruled out those ideas. It was sort of hard to practice battle technique alone, and he didn't really feel like hunting. The Clan would be in need of that. He made a note to do so if he thought of nothing else.

He searched around the camp, searching for someone to talk to. As far as he could tell, no one was around. The camp was pretty much deserted. Marblepaw sighed, flopping onto his stomach and rolling onto his back, nestling himself into the ground in an attempt for warmth. Greenleaf was slowing diminishing, the heat going along with it. Then would come leaf-fall, where it would become chillier, and before he knew it, the harshness of leaf-bare would be upon the Clans. The transition between summer and autumn was taking place, a fight between the two seasons to dominate, the temperature varied. But, just like every year, Leaf-fall would eventually win. Today happened to be one of the days that fall was in charge. It was quite cool out. A freshly-hued reddish-orange leaf drifted down from above and landed lightly on his muzzle. The bengal shook it away irritably, pushing himself back to lie on his belly. He let out a huff.

Where was everyone today? He figured that everyone was hunting or making themselves useful in some way. Marblepaw sighed haughtily. But then he stopped his little stuck-up act, his head lowering, his tail lying on the ground, his ears flattening. A single tear slid from one of his lime green eyes.

More than anything, he was just lonely.[/size][/blockquote]

[Dansen[Mouse]]

{<Harmonypaw}>

The beautiful she-cat padded out of the Medicine cats den, slowly stretching each of her limbs in the warm sun. Finally she looked up and tasted the air, feeling leaf-fall being not far off. Some of the trees were already losing there leafs from a gorgeous to a crisp red or orange or just plain, dead brown. But she also bristled at what was coming with the chilly season. Colds, whitecough, greencough, or even the deadly blackcough.

And to fight that, they needed catmint before the chill killed it all off. But them were also low on catmint, and the only place to get it was outside of their territory on the other side of the Thunderpath where an old abandoned twoleg nest was.

Harmonypaw knew that she had to get some catmint, but she couldn't go alone and she had never been across the Thunderpath before.

Finally she spotted the young, lonely apprentice, bored out of his mind. "Hey Marblepaw, can you help me?" She asked him, hoping that he has been across the thunderpath before.

[/blockquote][/size]

[[xoxo] shard. :)]

MARBLEPAW.

[/font][/right][/color]

Marblepaw's ears swivelled about until he detected the source of the noise. He lifted his head and turned to look at Harmonypaw, the medicine cat apprentice. His lime green optics blinked. The tom forced himself to his paws, hiding how happy he was inside by habit. "Sure," he mewed indifferently, padding up to her. He figured that he only would be helping sort herbs or something, but he knew beggers can't be choosers.[/size][/blockquote]

[(aurora) of the problematique]

I will never let you _fall
cardinalspire
I'll stand ^up with you

[/font] forever[/size][/center]

<sub>He was woken up by the sound of two voices, and the tom blinked and stirred. When he licked his lips, he was disgusted. It tasted metallic and nasty. Cardinalspire sat up, and then the sickly tomcat gaped. A small black puddle had collected where his muzzle had been seconds ago. He dropped down and began wheezing violently, blood spraying his bed like a gory battle lost.

"Harmonypaw!" he managed to croak out, his thin shoulders shaking like a dead tree in a blizzard. The ginger looked up helplessly, whimpering like a newborn kitten. "Help me...please..."</sub>

[SHADE. :D]

secretcalling

Secretcalling had been hunting. He had forgotten how bleak the MoonClan grounds were in leafbare. There was barely any prey to be found. And he knew it would only get worse. The lean silver tabby padded into the camp, a mouse in his teeth. He tossed it onto the fresh kill pile with careless ease. There were a couple of apprentices in the clearing, chatting, but nobody else to be seen. They were probably all trying to do the same as him, hunt, before the winter set in. The warrior shook himself, indigo eyes shutting briefly. He opened them as the strong smell of blood hit him square in the face. What had happened...? Shock rippled through him as he caught sight of his daughter's mate, Cardinalspire, covered in blood and wheezing for all of StarClan. The silver warrior padded to the ginger tom's side. "Harmonypaw? I think he's in trouble," he mewed skeptically. He had seen many die over the moons. Sickness was something that really did not phase him.

wovenknot

In the warmth of the nursery, a pair of light blue eyes flickered, then opened wide. This pair of eyes travelled to her stomach, where three small bundles were curled. Wovenknot's face seemed to relax. She rasped her tongue over Honeykit's fluffy back as her three kits slept. They looked so peaceful, Sablekit silent, not bossing the other kits around, Valleykit immobile, not rushing around, crafting things out of nothing, Honeykit still, not pondering endlessly over a forgotten word. Wovenknot felt tiredness tug at her paws. She was about to lay her head on them and go back to sleep when the sharp tang of blood reached her nose. She inhaled, nose wrinkling in disgust, before easing herself away from her kits and getting to her paws. Though she had been temporarily replaced by Scorchedleaf, Wovenknot still felt compelled to carry out a few of her deputy duties. And investigating the injured was one of them. The steely tabby pushed her way out of the den, blinking in the sudden light. She gasped at what she saw. Cardinalspire, on the ground, blood all over him. Her father, stood over him. She ran. Her paws were a blur on the ground. Wovenknot cannoned into Secretcalling. She wasn't a kit anymore. She could stand up for herself. "What did you do to him?" she demanded.

[/blockquote]

[Dansen[Mouse]]

<{Harmonypaw}>

The gray she-cat was about to tell Marblepaw what she needed help with when Cardinalspire started coughing up a hacking fit. A chill was sent strait down her spine as she knew that the coughing was bad, real bad. She looked at him and then the black puddles around him. Blood. Black diseased blood. She wasn't sure where her mentor was but she knew what needed to be down. Dancinghare had told her what needed to be expected in the coming leaf-bare and she had run the herbs through her mind over a hundred times. She was glad when Secretcalling came up but fear rippled through her when Wovenknot ran into the tom.

"Wovenknot, stop!" Harmonypaw knew that she was only an apprentice and it felt odd for her to be telling the Deputy what to do, but at a time like this she wasn't helping. "Secretcalling didn't do anything, Cardinalspire has blackcough! I need you to get back to your kits, please, and don't come near Cardinalspire until I can do something. We can't risk your kits getting the sickness." She turned to Marblepaw, "Go find Dancinghare!"

Finally she turned back to Secretcalling. "Bring him to the Medicine cat den, a bed should already be ready." She hoped that they would listen, but fear ran through the young apprentice as Dancinghare's dreadful words ran through her mind, 'Blackcough is deadly. No cat has ever been known to survive it.'

[(aurora) of the problematique]

I will never let you _fall
cardinalspire
I'll stand ^up with you

[/font] forever[/size][/center]

^{His tremblings increased violently as Secretcalling approached him and towered over him, only to be barreled into by Wovenknot. Cardinalspire let out a meow and waved his paws at his mate, trying to get her attention but she was hellbent on chewing her father out. He sighed, exhaling a spray of blood that he quickly wiped away. "Wovenknot," he whimpered, bending his ears back timidly. He reached out his paw to her but was caught off by Harmonypaw driving his mate back. Cardinalspire mewled and curled his tail over his paws, sinking into a set of dry-heaving blood-speckled coughing.}

[SHADE. :D]

wovenknot&&sablekit

The grey tabby continued to snarl at her father, until Harmonypaw interrupted her. Her blue eyes grew huge and round, and glistened with terror. "Bl-Blackcough?" she stuttered. She had had Greencough when she was younger, and that had been bad enough. She had never known a cat to live through the terrifying sickness. "He... I..." The she-cat's ears pinned to her skull as her mate spoke her name. But the voice was not his own. Not lively and filled with mischeif. He sounded so... So weak. Wovenknot made a move towards him, only to be rebuffed by Harmonypaw. "I have to be with him!" she blurted, her muzzle twisting with fear. She whimpered almost as piteously as her sick mate, her blue eyes huge. She backed away, then ran into the nursery, her tail lashing. She was in termoil. When a sleek, tall shape padded serenely towards her, nose wrinkled delicately, she barely recognized her own son. "I say, Mother, what is that most pungent stench?" Sablekit mewed, his voice filled with disgust. He began to protest as Wovenknot pulled him against her chest, weeping into his fur. "Mother! Mother! This is most degrading! I demand you release me! Mother!"

secretcalling

Secretcalling wailed in shock as a blunt-headed figure smashed full-on into him. He was briefly flying, then landed with a loud and painful thump. The lean tabby barely recognized Wovenknot as she loomed over him, blue eyes slits, teeth at the ready. She was not the same snivelling kit he had tormented all those moons ago. "Get back, stupid queen!" he snarled menacingly, his indigo eyes narrowed and deadly. "Can't you see he has Blackcough?" Secretcalling picked himself up in a dignified manner as Wovenknot backed off. He watched her in her distress, almost unable to keep the gleam of pleasure out of his eye. He didn't want Cardinalspire to suffer - the tom seemed friendly enough - but he had made a mistake getting mixed up with his black-hearted daughter. "Of course, Harmonypaw," he mewed smoothly, padding to the ginger tom. Without even the slightest inch of repulsion, he picked up the smaller tom bodily and carried him into the medicine den, teeth clenched in the blood-soaked tom's scruff.

[Dansen[Mouse]]

<{Harmonypaw}>

Harmonypaw rushed into the medicine cat den to gather up a few supplies. She forced herself to stay as calm as possible because she knew if she allowed herself to panic she would lose it and possibly her patient as well. She grabbed the few petals of catmint they had left and brought them back to Cardinalspire. "Here, eat this."

Ooc:// Sorry its small, must go.

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

valleykit.
• • •

Valleykit had always been curious. And frankly, lately she had been downright nosy, following others around like a duckling would his mother. Once again her daily routine started up, and as Wovenknot left the nursery, so did she. Actually, the little tabby hadn't woken up until she heard Wovenknot yelling from outside. What was she angry about? Honeykit was quietly sleeping beside her, and she didn't want her butting in and asking an insane amount of questions. But where was Sablekit? Frowning seriously, she squirmed away from her sister and crept towards the entrance to the nursery. It took her a while to notice what all the fuss was about, but when she did notice the crouched, trembling form of her father just outside the warrior's den she forgot that she was supposed to be asleep and rushed over to her mother's side.

It only got worse from there. She pushed herself into her mother's silver fur, then withdrew again, padding closer to Cardinalspire, her expression tortured. "...Papa...?" she mewed, touching her nose to his paw. It was so warm! And the smell... Valleykit gasped when she saw the ginger tomcat's muzzle, stained with blood. He was sick! He was bleeding! But why? She shook her head, wide green eyes never leaving the scarlet drops that stained his muzzle. "Papa! What - what - what happened to my papa?!" the she-kit screetched the sentance, her voice reaching a new octave from fear and worry. Panting, she looked from Wovenknot to Secretcalling to Harmonypaw. Blackcough...? What in StarClan's name...?

[(aurora) of the problematique]

I will never let you _fall
cardinalspire
I'll stand ^up with you

[/font] forever[/size][/center]

<sub>"Wovenknot~!" Cardinalspire roared, weakly trying to move towards her but was unable to do so. "Sablekit!" He began to hyperventilate, his pupils dilating and almost eliminating the beautiful signature green hue. As he was picked up by the scruff by Secretcalling, he reached out with his out-stretched paw to Valleykit. The scream for his daughter was one of the last to ever exit his maw. He dropped to the floor of the medicine cat den, his eyes hazy as he stared at Harmonypaw. He shook his head and toppled over, wheezing roughly and then going deathly still.

"I dun wanna go...dun wanna die...dun wanna die..." was the final exhale rippling across the latest puddle of blood. The tom let out a shaky whimper, his chest heaving like mad before going silent once more. That time, he didn't move again.</sub>

[Dansen[Mouse]]

<{Harmonypaw}>

He's dead, you failed.' The words ran through Harmonypaw's mind over and over again. For once she was speechless, she couldn't even tell Valleykit to go back to her mother, she just stood there. Her calmness had turned to horror as she looked at Cardinalspire's lifeless body. She lost him... Dancinghare had warned her that she would find out what it was like to lose a patient. She knew she would but she wished that it wasn't so soon at that it wasn't this father.

Finally she looked up at Valleykit, her eyes had gone dull. "Valleykit... you need to go back to your mother." She merely whispered to the kit.

[Spice..xx]

_Honeykit[/size][/font]

The little fluffy kitten woke up with a start as she heard her mother sobbing into her brother's chest. "Mummy? Mum? Whats wrong, whats happening?" she blurted, her eyes huge, not even waiting for an answer as she dashed out after Valleykit. She looked at her father, terified, as he spoke of dying before suddenly going quiet and still. She burst into tears as she had no idea what was going on, before turning tail and running back to Wovenknot. "Mummy! Why did Daddy talk about dieing and then go all still and quiet and Harmonypaw is really sad and Daddy won't wake up and I don't know what to DO!" the normally mild mannered little kitten screamed the last part of her sentence before collapsing on the floor, sobbing her heart out.

Roseglade[/size][/font]

As she entered camp she knew. She could just tell that something was wrong, that something bad, terrible even, had happened. Roseglade dropped her prey on the pile and turned to see Honeykit run screaming across the clearing. It felt like her heart had stopped. "Cardinalspire" she whispered, before taking off towards the medicine cat den. The rank stench of death hit her and she felt her eyes fill with tears. She looked over to Harmonypaw and then back to her brother. "What happened?" she whispered, tears beginning to spill down her cheeks as she stared at the limp form of her brother.

[/sub]

[SHADE. :D]

wovenknot

The threelegged grey tabby she-cat blinked. Her mind was screaming at her. Her face was dripping with tears. What was happening to her mate, to the only tom she had ever loved so much? She held her wriggling son close to her chest as though she would never let go, but when Valleykit and Honeykit slipped out of the nursery past her she released Sablekit. Wovenknot rose, her blue eyes widenening. "Valleykit! Honeykit! Get back here!" she stepped from the nursery as her calls were ignored. The grey tabby followed her small kits to the medicine den, dread filling her as she saw and smelt the blood. She found her wailing daughters near Cardinalspire, and pulled them back with her paws. Wovenknot then noticed Harmonypaw's expression. She stared at the ginger tom. "Cardinal... Cardinalspire?" her voice was soft. She padded round his body a couple of times, then nudged him with her nose. Once. Twice. Thrice. "Cardinalspire, stop messing around, this isn't funny!" Her voice was beginning to gabble, the high-pitched tones racking off the ferny walls of the den. Her body began to shake. He was dead. Her mate was dead. No. "No. No. No!" The last word shuddered into loud, pain-filled sobs, and Wovenknot collapsed on her mate's blood-splattered body.

paprikaleaf

She had been sleeping in the warriors' den, but the commotion had woken her. The fluffy cream she-cat now stood just outside the den, wide-eyed. Cardinalspire was dead? Oh, those poor kits! The young warrioress padded forward as Wovenknot began to sob over her mate's body. She bundled Valleykit and Honeykit towards the nursery with her paws. "C'mon, dears," she mewed under her breath, ushering them into the bramble thicket. Paprikaleaf blocked the narrow entrance with her fluffy body, her light green eyes wide. This was terrible. Just terrible.

[Dansen[Mouse]]

<{Harmonypaw}>

The apprentice wanted to be back in nursery again, to be a young kit curled up, and nestled by her mothers warm fur. These kits were going to grow up fatherless. 'Just like I did.' A voice called in her head as she remembered the day she asked her mother about her father, Justicefaith. She remembered Sapphireheart telling her that the day she bore them her father died in battle to help protect the forest.

Harmonypaw almost jumped when Roseglade came up to her and asked what had happened. "I couldn't save him, thats what happened... the blackcough... I have to get more catmint!" The small gray she-cat ran though the camp entrance, off to find more catmint so no other cat would die. Her vision was partly blurred by the tears streaming from her eyes.

[KURI. (happy birfday to me :D)]

valleykit.
• • • • • • • • • • • •

At first when Paprikaleaf began herding her and her sister into the nursery, Valleykit was in shock. What had just happened...? She stumbled alongside Paprikaleaf at first, but when she turned and looked at her mother, her long-furred shape on the ground crying, she began to struggle. "No! Stop! No!" As Paprikaleaf shuffled her along Valleykit turned and tried pulled herself away from the she-cat, but Paprikaleaf's paws kept getting in the way, which only made her more determined to go see her father. "Let me go! I want to go see my papa! I want -- I want --" she screamed at the she-cat, and while she would probably feel bad about it later, right now Valleykit's mind wasn't really in the state to care about anyone other than her father.

Finally she was able to duck under Paprikaleaf's paw, and in a sudden burst of energy she sprinted towards Cardinalspire, not stopping once to even look at her mother or Secretcalling. With a weak gasp she pushed herself into the fur on Cardinalspire's neck, curling herself into a little orange ball until she was barely distinguishable in the sea of ginger fur. Tears matted her face and she was shivering at the cold touch of her father's body. "Papa..." she sobbed, digging her claws into his icy skin. She was never going to move... not until he woke up again... even smart little Valleykit was losing her rationality. Shock does horrible things, it does.