Bloody Love ( Scourge x Cinderpelt )

Heaven's Sorrow

Spottedleaf felt cold.

Lashing down from above, the rain soaked into the she cat's dappled fur. Her vision swam, barely able to focus on the ground in front of her. The cat's breathing was hollow, her lungs struggling to receive vital oxygen. The air kept slipping through the ragged wound in her wind pipe. Blood pooled around her neck.

The kits! He has the kits! The Clan must be warned!

​​​​​​Mustering every fibre of her being, the she-cat tried to stand. Burning as if on fire, her muscles screamed in protest and refused to move. Shakily she managed to raise her head. Pain shot through her from the gash. With a feeble mew, she fell back into the mud.

Just give up. What could you do? Just lie down and die.

With a whimper, Spottedleaf collapsed back into the mud, the muck staining her once beautiful dappled coat. Streaming down her muzzle, the tears blurring her already fading vision further and reducing the landscape to a watery haze. Darkness began to enter her peripheral vision. It took every ounce of strength left in the medicine cat to not just fade away into unconsciousness.

She had been on her way to the nursery to deliver some mouse bile to deal with Frostfur's ticks when an unfamiliar scent filled her nostrils. Cautiously she had approached the nursery. Then she saw him.

 Emerging from the nursery had been a large brown tabby tom, his face disfigured by a network of scars. Hanging limply from his jaws was a small bundle of fur. From the depths of her mind, Spottedleaf recalled the name Clawface. Seeming just as surprised by Spottedleaf's arrival as she was by his, the tom unceremoniously dropped the bundle to the ground. The kit gave a pained mew as it thudded onto the ground.

Claws unsheathing, Spottedleaf had briefly turned her back to the intruder, mouth agape to deliver a warning yowl to any nearby ThunderClan warriors in the vicinity. Smashing into her, a great weight forced her to the ground, knocking the wind for her lungs. Eyes burning down at her from above, Clawface rained down a series of claw strikes on the medicine cat from above. It had been evident that the ShadowClan warrior wanted this to be over before help could arrive to complicate his mission.

Pushing back at him with her hind legs, Spottedleaf had tried to kick him off of her. If she could have just gotten her head clear of him, she could have sounded an alarm. The other ThunderClan warriors would have come running. Clawface would be brought down and interrogated. Most importantly the kits would have been safe.

But that had not happened. With one particularly vicious blow, Clawface tore a deep red line across the tortoiseshell's throat. Spottedleaf's pleas died on her lips, transformed into a pitiful gurgle. Coughing blood, the tortoiseshell fell. Clawface watched her with an emotionless expression as he quickly bundled up the kits and sprinted out of the camp.

What did you think would happen Spottedleaf you fool? She thought as she lay there in the dirt, A medicine cat against one of the most seasoned warriors in the entire forest. Now he's gone and you will die. All you have come to love and cherish will soon be taken from you. You will never see them again! ThunderClan. Bluestar. Whitestorm. Firepaw.

An aching numbness had began to spread itself throughout her body. Spottedleaf couldn't feel her tail or paws anymore and the rest of her body was following behind. The rising and falling of her flanks as her breathing became her more shallow. Everything seemed to be going quiet.

No. She thought with a content resignation reserved only for those who know they are about to come to terms with their fate. I am not losing them. I am merely going down a path different to theirs. Though it may wind away to parts they cannot follow, I know that one day we shall meet again.

"Sooner than you think," came a smooth purr crystal clear in the silence. Startled Spottedleaf tried to look about her for the source of the voice. But it was useless. The encroaching darkness had all but swallowed her vision, leaving only a small claw-prick of light left. 

'Who's there and what do you mean?" She had to tried to say but the words only came out in an incoherent gurgle. In the end, all she could manage was a very faint "Wh-wh-who?"

Striding into view, a figure blocked what little sight the she-cat had left. A scent, distant yet tantalisingly familiar filled nostrils that penetrated through the fug of damp mud and her own blood. Squinting, Spottedleaf tried to make out the figure in more detail but to no avail.

"You can call me "Old Friend," The mysterious cat meowed softly as it looked down upon the dying medicine cat (at least she thought the stranger was looking down at her), "But that's not what's important right now. "

Confused, Spottedleaf tried to ask what the stranger meant when she felt a soft paw touch the gash in her neck. She half expected a sudden flash of pain and braced for it. Instead she felt a warming, tingling sensation. Slowly she felt the air begin to fill her lungs once more and the numbness begin subside. The relief that this brought was almost torn away by the blinding agony that followed as her pain receptors came alive once more and began to wail their distress. Vision still clouded, Spottedleaf try to draw a bead on the stranger.

"Why?" she croaked.

"Every cat has its time," The stranger meowed softly with a voice that carried with it the depths of aeons, "You too will have your own Spottedleaf. But not now. You have a greater purpose to fulfil."

 Straining to see, the dappled medicine cat tried to focus on the source of the voice. Yet even as her vision grew brighter, so to did the stranger seem to fade. She wanted to ask for more details but couldn't quite manage the seemingly monumental feat.

"When ash becomes the cure, a time will come when ThunderClan will have to endure. When bad blood runs pure, the fate of the forest will be assured."

The words echoing in her mind, Spottedleaf sank down in the mud. Distantly she was aware of yowls of anguish. She thought she made out an orange shape standing over her. Firepaw? He seemed frantic. More cats gathered around her. Was that sadness in their eyes?

"Firepaw help me get her inside!" Bluestar's words echoed strangely as though she were speaking from underwater. Spottedleaf winced as she felt them lift her and bring her inside her den. The normally strong aromatic scent of herbs seemed muted this time. Did she need to get more? Looking up, she could just about make out Firepaw passing Bluestar some cobwebs. Then it all went dark.

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Author's Note: My apologies it has been so long since an update. Shortly after the last chapter, I moved to University and didn't have the time for creative writing. I am trying to get back into writing for enjoyment and would like to continue this story but I am afraid updates may still be slow for some time.

This chapter is made to replace "Whispers in the Dark" (which shall be deleted after I release this one) as over the years, I forgot the exact details of the Spottedleaf subplot and decided to try and rewrite it. Hopefully this flashback is an acceptable replacement and don't worry, we will see Scourge and Cinderpelt again soon.

Once more I apologise for the wait and for if my writing skills have gotten "Rusty" (I'll see myself out now..)