The Moonlapse [ABANDONED]

XII

Sunset burned throughout the sky. Its flames enwrapped heaven in a vicious hug, the golden flames of the sun soaring a million miles through the crimson sea. Sparks flew down gently and majestically, their fire burning upon the forest's thick labyrinth and glimmering upon the grass like stars that burned only in furious fire. 

"I'm sorry about what happened to Rootspring," Squirrelstar meowed as she and Bristlefrost relaxed in the wavering grass, watching as the sun fell away into a sea of flames. "Again."

Bristlefrost wasn't even eating the mouse that laid on the grass before her. She sunk her monstrous talons into its flesh, rage alight in her teal gaze. Squirrelstar could tell just by looking at her that she was flooded in furious desire to kill. 

"Why are you still here?" Bristlefrost snarled, her hoarse voice already a vicious screech. "At any moment, I could kill you."

"I know you wouldn't," Squirrelstar's voice remained gentle and soft.

"I sliced my father's throat out like it was just a piece of rotten bracken, right after crushing my mother's windpipe in a few seconds with a single, bare paw. What makes you think I won't do the same thing to you?"

Silence swept over them for a few moments. It was as if Bristlefrost's rage had veiled all in darkness, leaving all embraced by none but an eclipse. Finally, the red she-cat slowly sighed, turning away and elegantly trotting of in silence. Bristlefrost turned away from the sight of her friend departing to see Cinderheart stepping up towards the peak, her ocean orbs staring down gently at her.

"She probably remembers the death of Bramblestar," Cinderheart spoke, her voice as soft and delicate as the song of a rising spring. 

"Who I killed," Bristlefrost growled with a vicious glare.

"But-" The charcoal she-cat's soft voice was buried beneath a sea of shock. "You were possessed, right? It wasn't you who did it! You didn't even remember, do you?"

"Now I do," Bristlefrost replied, watching as the acting deputy's sapphire eyes widened. "Mapleshade erased my memory so that nobody could know about her possession. But it's been slowly coming back, and now, it's clear as day. I was in my body, I was completely aware and I knew what was happening, but I couldn't move or speak. I was in full control of my mind but not my movement or my actions, trapped in my body and watching Mapleshade use my claws to brutalize and kill him. Over and over again. Nine times." 

She stared down at her claws, watching them gleam and shimmer under the golden rays of the sunset. It was so biazrre how these claws had torn souls apart and destroyed lives, they'd demolished a whole world for so many, and yet they were always there. She used them when she hunted, they were unsheathed when anger surged through her. They were always there.

"That sounds...terrifying." Tears were slipping from Cinderheart's eyes, streaming down her eyes like sparkling droplets of dew. 

"Don't tell Squirrelstar, but...actually," Bristlefrost paused. She kept staring at her claws, the malicious blades captivated her sight. It was as if the weapons were something magnificent.

"I think I enjoyed it."

An expression of confusion poured itself onto the molly, and yet, she did not speak.

A smile slowly slipped onto Bristlefrost's face. Now her azure gaze shone in sadism, in a mad desire to kill. "And I'm excited to see what else these claws can do."

-

This slumber brought a warped nightmare. Bristlefrost found herself standing in wide fields of darkness, a vacancy that consumed all to the horizon, and all that lay beyond. The skies were painted in the hue of blood, all she could see above her was bathed in crimson. The fierce red of the heavens looked Hellish, the way it flew in malice above the dunes. Like the winds of perdition had crafted the shape of these hills.

"Bristlefrost," a voice whispered. "We're here."

She turned around to see Squirrelstar stepping delicately towards her. She walked as though every step was a vain attempt to bless the scarlet abyss, but instead of lighting the darkness, she simply stood out. Squirrelstar was a golden angel in a crowd of bloodsoaked ones. 

"What do you mean?" she replied. The leader's words were odd. "Have you entered my dreams again? And what do you mean 'We'?"

"Bristlefrost, it's me," Squirrelstar meowed, her saffron eyes too deep, too detailed to simply be images painted by her dream. Bristlefrost slid her claws back into their sheathes. The chestnut she-cat continued, "We came here to help you."

Shadowsight slowly stepped out from behind her, his eyes softer than usual. Rootpaw galloped out like a blonde foal, his eyes sparkling in an eagerness. Bristlefrost felt almost blown back, her tail swishing. Then, another voice chimed in.

"Let me join." She turned around to see Hollyleaf stepping towards them, her pelt glimmering under the ruby glow. 

Bristlefrost's claws slid from her sheathes again, unearthed to gleam under the red eclipse. Passion rose in her stomach again. Within her was a flame, and perhaps only blood, only death, could keep it blazing. "Come on," she hissed to the gathered group. "It's time for Mapleshade to die."

"I doubt that'll be easy," another voice spoke to disrupt their determination. When the group turned, Mapleshade gently sauntered towards them on rotten bones, the light bathing her in an infernal glow. The way her fiery pelt burned in the scarlet made her resemble something otherworldly, a monster that had crawled its way out from the deepest pit of Hell.

"What makes you think you are stronger?" Hollyleaf hissed. "There are five of us, you're just the rotting body of a dead cat too stubborn to rest!"

At the spirit's furious tone, a smile fell across Mapleshade's face, before they were surrounded in a labyrinth of eyes. Shadows crawled together in a sea of the deceased, opening their skeletal jaws to cry out in distorted roars of despair. A spire rose from the ground with a thunderous roar, and Mapleshade quickly scrambled to the top. She sat malicious upon her throne, the vortex of insanity that imprisoned her mind clear in her expression.

"Because," she whispered. "This is my dream."