•◇•

"It only takes a drop of evil, to fuck up two beautiful people"

•◇•

The deep viridian of the evergreen forest stood in stark contrast
against the bland sky.

Dawnclaw's limbs ached. She had been hunting all morning, along with Aquiver, Maplepaw and Snakestar. The cold rattled her.

Maplepaw was carrying a squirrel, and Snakestar's pride was clear. So was Dawnclaw's. Aquiver too, which struck Dawnclaw as odd. Aquiver and Maplepaw seemed to be quite friendly, but when did they get the chance to talk?

But another part of Dawnclaw wasn't really surprised at this - Aquiver and Maplepaw had similar personalities, or at least a similar thirst for knowledge.

Everything was calm and peaceful, aside from shreds of fear that drifted around, bringing apprehension for Leafbare, and rising terror surrounding the murders.

The other Clans were aware of what was going on. They had to be, an OakClan apprentice had been killed too. The matter was clearly shrouding all three.

The air changed. It wrapped around Dawnclaw like tendrils, choking her and burning her.

Everything was wrong.

Her blood was pouring from her ears, lining the ground with it's oil-like filth. Tears stung her eyes as the wrongness stopped her heart.

She was dead.
But still alive.

"Dawnclaw? What is it? Are you sick?" Snakestar asked, impatience laced within his concern.

"Hraith" Aquiver muttered, and her paws began to shake.

"Something is wrong" Dawnclaw whispered.

At the same time, Aquiver began shaking violently.

"I feel sick I need the medicine den." She said, all in one breath. She became a blur of brown.

The patrol walked in silence.

"Snakestar!" A wail split the air.

Stormthroat came running through the trees, and Dawnclaw saw the small shape of Coyotepaw running past, towards camp.

"Snakestar, you have to come and see this. Have you eaten recently? Because you'll vomit. This is absolutely.. well, come and take a look" Stormthroat's words were vague, and she immediately began running back to where she had been.

Dawnclaw cast a bewildered look with Maplepaw.
If it could provoke this kind of reaction from Stormthroat, then whatever it is must be horrible.

"Come on." Snakestar commanded, and spurred his legs into action. Dawnclaw and Maplepaw followed.

With swift gaint, and apprehensive hesitance, Dawnclaw's body was on fire.

Motion guided her, the twigs and leaves underpaw dug into her hardened pads.

She was a string, undone.

She was wild, she was noctilucous.

And then she saw it.

The scene.

In comparison, it wasn't as bad as what happened with Bearkit. In Dawnclaw's mind, nothing was. But this was haunting.

An ElmClan cat, one Dawnclaw recognised as Lotusfur, had a wire wrapped around her neck. Embedded into her flesh, it was clearly strangling, clearly deliberate.

But the wire was wrapped around a branch, in a tree. She was hanging, suspended. Dawnclaw had never seen anything like it.

And if that wasn't enough, Lotusfur's mouth was agape, her needle sharp teeth glinting in the late sunlight. But there was blood filling he mouth, still spilling down the sides.

She wasn't yet dead.

It struck Dawnclaw that Lotusfur was a friend of her sister's. First her secret mate, the father of her kits.. and now her friend?

Lotusfur was a light cat.. but dragging a full grown cat up a tree.. who could've done this?

"She's alive! Why have you done nothing!" Dawnclaw howled, though all she could hear was incessant ringing.

"There's nothing to do. She'll be dead shortly." Snakestar replied.

It was true. No one could live through that.

"Well, it looks like she's hanged herself. Except you primitive Clan cats have no idea what that is, nor the concept of it." The familiar low voice sounded.

Dawnclaw turned sharply, like cutting through fog.

"I thought you were sick." She growled, her eyes narrowed.

"I simply needed to, ah, clear my insides." She said delicately.

Dawnclaw flattened her ears against her head, Lotusfur was trying to speak. But all that came out was a horrible gurgling noise.

It bubbled and splashed in her throat, coating the forest around her in thick, hot slime. It clogged Dawnclaw's insides, and no matter how much she coughed and screamed, she couldn't dislodge the heavy sludge.

The gargles cut off, and Dawnclaw was free. Her throat cleared, and her stomach was light. Her heart could beat, and her lungs were once again functional.

But she wasn't yet out of the woods.

"Is that... is that a...?" Maplepaw's words hung in the air. Dawnclaw was in such a state of stupor, she didn't notice that her daughter was still here; she would've sent her away from this terrible scene.

She looked at the place that her daughter's gaze was fixated upon, she screeched at what she saw.

A tongue.

No wonder Lotusfur couldn't speak. Her tongue was ripped out, and a wire constricting her throat.

The sight of it was revolting. Lotusfur's body was hanging from the wire, in a gruesomely, romanticised way.

And the tongue, StarClan the tongue. What was the meaning of it?

Dawnclaw gave some kind of unintelligible screech, it sounded foreign to even her own ears.

Dawnclaw vomited. And again
Soon she was a retching, babbling mess.

No one spoke for a while. Stunned silence uncased the area.

"Well, we have to get her down. We can't have corpses just swinging from trees." Aquiver's voice was monotonous, a greyscale, steady and gave a vibe that felt like the opposite of comfort.

The brown molly scaled the tree, while Snakestar began to walk back to camp. Wordlessly, the others followed him.

"Stormthroat. Take Lotusfur back to ElmClan later."

•◇•

Dawnclaw was curled up against Coyotepaw, he was still shaking.

"I don't know. We have to keep caring for Sablepaw and continuing the therapy, but everything is getting so complicated! Soon I'll be giving the entire Clan therapy! Still, at least the group sessions would be interesting." Swiftear ranted, with a rueful laugh.

"Watch Coyotepaw closely, what he just saw is honestly quite scarring. Dawnclaw? Are you listening?"

Dawnclaw's was asleep, her subconscious was prancing in the meadows, dancing with a cat with heaven in her eyes.

It's a shame that creatures of purity are so easily corrupted.

____________________________________
A/N: I keep forgetting the kits are apprentices now.

I have so much homework, I'm going to pretend to be sick, so I can do homework all day rip.

Fact of the Chapter: Lotusfur and Minkfoot had once been a little closer than Dawnclaw knew ;)