Theories | Warriors [Book 4] (Completed)

| 795 |

Acorn looked slightly confused, flicking his tail and pausing. Lightning took his paws off of his head and looked up at Crow. The black tom shot an icy glare at Lightning, sending the golden tom reeling back. The black tom looked back up at his father, awaiting for permission to speak.

⠀⠀"Traitor?" Acorn echoed, staring at Lightning.

⠀⠀Crow nodded. "Yes."

⠀⠀Acorn looked around, calling over Gorse, Cougar, Twister, and Flynn. "Go check the area," he ordered. "Make sure there aren't any other ThunderClanners." His voice ended in a snarl, narrowing his eyes and sending them off.

⠀⠀The brown tabby tom turned back to his son, sitting down and wrapping his bushy tail around his small paws. "Speak."

⠀⠀The black tom shifted his blue-green eyes over to Stormwatcher. Lightning let out a muffled whimper.

⠀⠀"This cat—" he began, indicating toward the ThunderClan tom, "and Lightning have been meeting up for the past few nights."

⠀⠀Acorn sat still as he nodded for Crow to continue. "I couldn't hear them, but I believe Lightning knew about the attack the whole time. I'm confident he wanted to join Stormwatcher and rally against us."

⠀⠀The golden tabby tom sprang up, lashing out at Crow and drawing blood. The black tom hissed in pain and stepped forward, tripping Lightning and holding him down.

⠀⠀Crow looked back up at his father. "See?"

⠀⠀"You're a liar!" Lighting spat, tears streaming down his face. "You don't know what it's like to lose someone you trust!" Granted, Lightning had only known Stormwatcher for a few days, but still ... when you're as lonely as him, anyone that pays attention to you is trusted that easily.

⠀⠀"Traitor," Crow snarled, his claws sliding out. "You deserve this."

⠀⠀I didn't do anything ... I wasn't going to rally ... why can't anyone understand me?

⠀⠀Acorn is staring at Lightning, unblinking and lashing his tail. His father was angry. Angry at Lightning for being a traitor. His own son.

⠀⠀"Even if I can't prove he was going to join in on the attack," Crow continued, "I do know he was meeting up with Stormwatcher. And they weren't just coming across each other — they deliberately talked. I wouldn't be surprised if Lightning shared BloodClan's secrets to this dirty rogue." Crow lazily looked over at Stormwatcher. "It's a good thing I killed him before any real damage could be done."

⠀⠀Lightning let out a yowl of anger and threw Crow off of him. The golden tom leapt on his "brother" and raked his claws against the black tom's flank. Blood splattered on the ground but Crow didn't even seem to be hurt — he was ... he was enjoying this.

⠀⠀"You bastard!" Lightning hissed, biting into Crow's neck. The black tom wrapped his paw around Lightning's throat and threw him off, twisting the golden tom over and pushing him into the muddy ground.

⠀⠀"You're weak," the black tom growled. "You can't even defeat me?"

⠀⠀Echo was standing farther off, blue eyes wide in dismay. She would help ... she would have ... she would help Crow.

⠀⠀But something came over her. Her own paws wouldn't allow her to move — she would't be able to make herself fight Lightning. Not her own brother ... no matter how big of a traitor he was, she would not allow herself to.

⠀⠀Seeing Crow insult Lightning hurt her heart but she didn't dare step forward to defend him. She would look like she was a traitor, too.

⠀⠀"Enough," Acorn boomed, standing to his paws and walking forward. He smacked Crow off of Lightning as hard as he could. The black tom gasped and fell to the ground, staring up at his father.