▪️ CINDERSTORM ▪️

"RiverClan attack!" Feline shapes immediately began to swarm the camp. Cinderstorm let out a battle cry before leaping at the nearest RiverClan cat. As he landed on the tom's back, the WindClan deputy recognized it to be Troutheart, one of RiverClan's best warriors. The large grey tabby shoved Cinderstorm off and leaped at his newly exposed belly. Cinderstorm scrambled to his paws and let out a yowl as Troutheart's sharp claws dug into his flank. He twisted and bit down on Troutheart's neck.

The RiverClan tom hissed before lashing out at Cinderstorm's forepaws. The tabby fell and Troutheart smirked before clawing at Cinderstorm's shoulders. The deputy held in a yelp of pain before he reared up and smashed his paw into Troutheart's head, who tripped into another RiverClan cat and knocked them both down. Crowrunner, who had been fighting the RiverClan she-cat who had fallen, gave Cinderstorm a nod of thanks before leaping at her again and pummeling her where she lay with his hind-paws.

Troutheart stumbled to his feet and snarled at Cinderstorm. He leaped at the tom, though he missed since he was still dazed from the last hit. Cinderstorm jumped out of the way and scored his claws down Troutheart's flank. The other tom whipped around, prepared to leap at Cinderstorm again, when a dark grey ball of fur rammed into him, knocking him aside. Ryestorm looked up at Cinderstorm with wide eyes.

"The nursery is under attack!" Cinderstorm immediately whipped around and raced around battling cats towards the nursery. Every so often he would get hit by a stray claw or trip over some-cats who were fighting.

By the time he reached the nursery he was battered and bleeding heavily from his right flank. The RiverClan warrior Rushfeather was in the middle of fighting one of the queens, while he could see Flamekit and Redkit safely behind them in a corner of the nursery. He felt his muscles un-tense in relief before he felt claws tear at his shoulders. The weight that suddenly landed on him made him collapse and he raised his head to try and see his attacker. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Burnpaw, who stood watching as Cinderstorm was attacked, a helpless RiverClan apprentice pinned under the toms paws.

"Burnpaw help!" The amber eyed tom narrowed his eyes at Cinderstorm's plea. A grey flash leaped onto the cat holding Cinderstorm down. He heard an angry snarl and watched as Flintpaw wrestled with the brown tom, Leafwing. The apprentice was able to get a few good hits on Leafwing before the warrior disappeared into the heather with a hiss of defeat. Flintpaw turned back to Cinderstorm before his eyes widened.

"Cinderstorm look out!" The tom whipped around to see claws flashing and a searing pain exploding in his neck.

"Cinderstorm!" He heard a screech from the nursery and saw Redkit trying to shove past Flamekit to help him.

"Redkit no!" The small spotted tom yelped, a few stray tears drying on his muzzle fur.

Cinderstorm began to feel nauseous and light-headed, his throat bleeding heavily from the lethal wound. He staggered on his paws and stared into the terrified eyes of the RiverClan warrior, Whitewater. Her claws were stained red with the WindClan deputies blood.

Cinderstorm tried to speak, but a few coughs were the only thing to escape from his torn up throat. He tasted blood in his mouth and his eyesight blurred and doubled. He paws buckled underneath him and he felt the life quickly draining out of him. He tried to force his vision to focus so he could take one last look at his kits, but instead the starry figure of a ginger she-cat stood in front of him.

"Pepper...?" He smiled a little before he let his head fall. His eyes dulled and his heart stopped.

▪️ FLAMEKIT ▪️

The ginger kit grabbed his sister by the scruff as she tried to get past him.

"Redkit no!" A few tears fell from his eyes as he held his sister back. He caught the eyes of Vipersting, who was crouched in the back of the den, her swollen belly hidden behind her fluffy tail. The she-cat glanced behind them to see what Redkit and Flamekit had witnessed.

"Dear StarClan...."

-----

Flamekit had his muzzle buried in his fathers cold, dull pelt. WindClan had claimed victory of the battle, but for what?

Morningsun had covered Cinderstorm's body in mint and rosemary to hide the scent of dead, but the toms body was still stiff and cold, not at all alive. Flamekit could feel his sisters sobs as she cried, her pelt rubbing against his.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Aspenpaw, his fathers apprentice, with her nose deep in his fur.

'Why now? Why ever? Why did you die...?'