The Moonlapse [ABANDONED]

IV

A loud gasp fell from Needleclaw, immediately catching Squirrelstar. She stepped closer to see Needleclaw staring into the cave, her tail lashing as she hyperventilated. 

"What happened!?" Panic was beginning to drum in her chest, her pelt burning from gooseflesh."What happened to them!?"

Needleclaw whipped around, claws unsheathed eyes wild in her clear terror. "THEY'RE GONE!" she screamed, pure terror pouring from her tongue in the form of a mad cry.

"Gone!?" Squirrelstar felt the panic blaze like a wildfire, thrashing upon her heart and burning through her blood. She immediately bounded through the bright glass, fleeing the blinding sparkle of the sun and bursting through the ferns, plunging into the rose-toned shade of the cave. Needleclaw was right. The burgundy ridges of the den held only an empty cavern, the only trace of a soul here being the smudged dents in the grass. 

A wave of pure fear crashed over her. She felt heat roll through her, the mighty pulse of her flaming heart powerful enough to drum through every inch of her body. From the tip of her ears to the end of claws, he felt utterly paralyzed, like this horror had gripped her in malicious claws and frozen her in searing shackles. Squirrelstar had no idea what to do. 

The she-cat couldn't believe it, it just happened so quickly. The Clans had lost a deputy in a flash, in a way no cat could ever explain. Squirrelstar turned to Needleclaw again, unable to breathe, unable to think. 

"Needleclaw..." she forced it out. "Please...tell their poor families and friends what happened. They...they have to know."

-

Shadowsight was trembling. He could feel a fierce hurricane of dread in his soul, his body shaking from the agonizing curse. His eyes overflowed with tears, tears that cascaded down and rolled into the grass beneath. "Do you think Ashfur could be back?" his voice was a shivering wind. 

"Ashfur was killed. He was set on fire and erased forever. Plus, what kind of cat is powerful enough to kick a cat from existence itself with the flick of his paw?" Tree replied, his tail curled around Needleclaw, who shivered and sobbed beside her father. 

"Yes, but-" Shadowsight was cut off by nothing but a surge of blood from his own heart. The shock and devastation that had struck him down made his throat feel as if it was lined with thorns, a barrier of daggers for any word that tried to exit his mouth. He had to force each syllable through the wall of thorns. "When I went to the Dark Forest, Ashfur faked his own death. He- he made it looked like I'd killed him, then when I wasn't looking he just woke up fine. Maybe he's done the same."

Squirrelstar stared at him in pure fury and dismay, as though bringing up the possibility was a speech inciting a curse of terror and sorrow.  "Spotfur's sacrifice couldn't have been for nothing!" she cried. 

"How are we supposed to search for them?" Kitescratch meowed. He was unbelievably calm and collected, almost robotically so. "Unless they were teleported or something, they aren't anywhere here. They couldn't have gone to StarClan or the Dark Forest. They must've just...disappeared." 

Shadowsight felt an overwhelming surge of dread when he heard the word "disappear." His tainted emotions collected into a seastorm, and he became entrapped within the tremendous tsunamis. 

"I wouldn't say they're gone forever just yet," Fernsong meowed. Of course, he was always the creator of mirth. During the blackest nights, he would always muse at the light of the constellations. During the most ferocious hurricanes, he would listen joyfully to the music the rain sung. "When Bristlefrost was possessed, she said she was trapped inside a dark void. Maybe the same happened now?"

"That was a mental space, not a place where living, physical cats could go," Shadowsight forced all the words out again. The air had gained a deathly feeling. In that moment, all the joyful crowds of leaves and grass and the frenzied sunlight was a lie, and this place was simply a funeral for all things of delight. A nameless shadow suddenly bounded towards him, rushing into the caverns of his form. Sharp amber eyes flashed through his mind like lightning, and then, without warning, he was a statue.

Huh? He couldn't cry for help, his jaws were bound together. Shadowsight could not breath. Every muscle in his body had been turned to granite, and his heart and lungs were frozen by death. He was a heavy corpse, confined in a sitting position. He could only beg helplessly. 

Just then, he began to thrash about against his will. His mouth ripped right open, and a scream burst from his lungs. His paws tore at the grass without him moving a muscle, and by invisible hooks and invisible claws, he was tossed through the grass as screeches tore out of him without him even doing anything. 

-

Squirrelstar stared wordlessly at Shadowsight. He rolled and thrashed about in the grass, ear-shattering screeches ripping through the air. Flashes of amber burned in his eyes. He thrashed and flailed like a snake, his bones breaking as he flailed helplessly and cried in pain.

"What's wrong!?" she hissed as she rushed over, pressing a paw down on his shoulder. He shattered into another deafening screech, eyes so wild they nearly bulged out of their bloodshot sockets. He clawed out at nothing, striking his claws through his pelt and ripping fur from her skin. Squirrelstar let out a hiss of pain as he tore through her flesh, bounding back in searing pain. 

"Is he okay!?" Ivypool gasped in horror. His screams were ripped and scarred in indescribable agony, the pain of a cat who had been ripped apart, torn to ragged shreds of flesh and bone and left alive in their torture. They clawed at her ears, shattering her eardrums. He burst up, spinning and thrashing again, gasping out in breathlessness. 

As Squirrelstar threw herself forward again to try and stop him, he suddenly shattered into an explosion of black lightning. The sight was blinding, causing her to immediately lurch back from the explosion and shut her eyes. When she opened them again, there was nothing. The lightning was gone, but no cat was sitting where he had once laid.

"Shadowsight...?" she spoke his name, but it did nothing. No cat laid in the grass where he had been. Shadowsight, too, was nowhere to be found.