The Moonlapse [ABANDONED]

XIV

Moonlight spilled through upon walls of granite. The oil-black sky was enclosed in many bleak shades, but the moors outside were hueless. All that broke their shrouding was the pale lunar glow. The wavering grass shivered beneath the nightly chill as a gust of freezing wind bellowed over the hillside, a band of souls howling in desperation to the full moon. Within the den sat an apprehensive group, encircled in a cloud of tension as they stood around a resting shape.

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Rootpaw mewed in worry. 

"Do you think we lost her?" Squirrelstar whispered.

Shadowsight turned around, whiskers trembling from the quick spin. "No!" he growled. "She's breathing, I can tell. But she'll be unconscious for a while."

Squirrelstar pulled Rootkit closer, wrapping her tail around him to stop the apprentice from trembling. A deep sympathy filled her heart as she watched him shake, every nervous thought dashing through his head was surfacing in his ocean-toned mind. Poor kit, she thought, memories of Needleclaw's death scuttling through her thoughts.

Hollyleaf sat at the entrance, backbone almost curling into an arch as her tail lashed. A wave of moonlight fell soft from the stars to kiss her pelt, dressing her in a translucent light. Freezing clouds of breath puffed from her nostrils in fear as she stared out at the hills. Shadowsight turned away from Bristlefrost again, slowly tearing towards her. "Hollyleaf, are you-"

"No! I'm fine!" the black she-cat hissed, hiding her claws beneath the sandy earth. "It's just- I don't feel safe in the dark anymore. I'm trying to stay in the moonlight."

The tom gently sat down beside her, his bushy tail curling around to rest over his paws. "Hey, I understand. I couldn't stand being in misty places after you and Rootspring..."

"After you thought we'd died?" she spoke. "I'm glad I'm alive, at least right now. But Ashfur would've considered death too good for us."

Concern began to form in her friend's expression like a rising tide. "What do you mean?"

"We were spirits. If he made us fade like everyone else, we wouldn't have gone to any afterlife. We simply would not exist anymore. But he thought that killing us would just end our suffering if we went like that, so he kept us alive so that he could keep inflicting pain on us. But hey, it's good that I was able to get out and live to see you, brother!"  Hollyleaf explained.

"Brother!?" Shadowsight just looked confused now.

"It's an affectionate nickname!" she replied, letting out a bright laugh of joy. Her laughter was suddenly silenced when a low groan sounded at the back of the den. Shadowsight's crimson eyes grew wide as he bounded over to Bristlefrost, and Hollyleaf hesitantly stepped over as well. 

Bristlefrost twitched, teeth gritting like she was slowly being unearthed from sleep and back into life. Her eyes cracked open, and she slowly dragged weary claws over to grip at what was left of her leg. "You did a good job patching her up, Shadowsight," Squirrelstar complimented. "It's surprising you even managed to keep her alive after losing a leg and being covered in wounds."

The gray and white molly was caught in an entrancing state as her eyes darted around the den. Her mind was a wasteland, it had been wiped blank of any memory or thought. All that remained was a bleak, empty, void. 

"Bristlefrost!" Rootpaw's eyes lit up, glowing with the light of a thousand stars. "You're awake!"

Where am I? Her tongue was silenced by exhaustion. Bristlefrost drifted, comfortable in the darkness, until the trance that'd stolen her memory was suddenly shattered. Grotesque images flashed through her mind. Of a crimson sky, of the crass of a stampede of paws, of a warm feeling of blood on her pelt. The series of nightmares tormented her, holding her captive in the pain. She remembered now. She remembered it all.

"Can you stand up?" Squirrelstar asked. 

"Ugh...yeah," Bristlefrost replied, slowly pushing her aching bones down until she stood on all four- wait, no. Three. All three paws.

"Wow!" Hollyleaf meowed. "I'm glad you didn't die. I'm glad we didn't come on this quest just for you to die again, like we did with Rootspring."

Bristlefrost froze. She turned, gritting her teeth again, before she stared at Hollyleaf with a deadly glare. Rage began to flood her soul, like a swarm of flies around a discarded fruit. "What did you just say?"

Hollyleaf's eyes suddenly widened, and the cheerful mood was sucked out of her soul. "Wait, I-"

She leapt forward, her paws sending powerful quakes through the earth as she ran towards Hollyleaf, grabbing her throat in her jaws and beginning to dig her canines  into her flesh. A thrilling passion blazed through her, a flame of pleasure surging through her as a scream of agony pierced the night. The monstrous lust for blood was suddenly stolen when an image of Ivypool flashed into her mind, and quickly it broke the possession the bloodlust had on her soul. She let go and flinched, stumbling back while Hollyleaf stared in pure shock. 

"What the Hell!?" Hollyleaf hissed, her back forming into an arch as her tail lashed back and forth. Anger was a flame clear within her gaze, and her claws pierced the earth.

"Well, she lost a lot of blood. I doubt she's in the right mind right now," Squirrelstar meowed, laying her paw on Hollyleaf's shoulder as her fur spiked up along her back. But Bristlefrost's soul was being lost under waves of terror as Ivypool's scream played on repeat in her head. She'd nearly killed Hollyleaf, and she'd enjoyed it.

This time, there had been no spirits claiming her body. No uninvited guests to her soul. Those were her paws, running over to slash out her comrade's throat. That was her heart, thumping with passion as she nearly killed the companion she'd saved.

All of it.

All of it had been her.