Run Away Bravely (Stormwind)

“That is the power Starclan has given me. I can never be defeated in battle.” Lionblaze finished for Heathertail, notching she seemed more intent on listening than on being involved, and hoped that she was believing the words coming out of his mouth, all of which were true. The Tom’s ears flattened slightly in embarrassment at this point. “I got so involved in talking with my siblings so constantly, trying to figure out what we are meant to do with our powers, what threat it is that we are meant to protect against, that I stopped prioritizing meeting with you in Darkclan.” The tom glanced up at her, meeting her gaze evenly as he mewed earnestly “And I regret that more than anything else I’ve ever done.”

She stared at him silently, head tilted slightly to the side as she listened. She made no comment in reply to his question, not wanting to interrupt him and give him a chance to not tell her.

(Must’ve been tired for that one. Lol!)

“Before we were born, while the clans still lived in the old forest, Firestar was sent on a quest by Starclan. You can ask anycat who was around then. His task was to rebuild Skyclan, a long-lost fifth clan. On that journey, he received a prophecy that said that three kin of his kin would have the power of the stars in their paws. I am one of those three, Heathertail. Have you ever noticed that I come away from every fight and every battle entirely unscathed?”

She made an impatient, ‘get on with it’ gesture. “You’re just stalling by now.”

(Grandfather*)

“Fair warning, I am going to sound like I have bees in my brain, but I promise you that it all is true…” Lionblaze realized the enormity of what he had to tell Heathertail, going back to when his grandfather had received the omen about him and his sibling, and some unknown third cat.

Once the tabby had shaken as much water out of her pelt as she could, she turned to Lionblaze and stared at him both sternly and expectantly. It was clear that this was the last and only chance he was getting.

“Much better,” Lionblaze murmured, glancing up from grooming some of the water out of his pelt and meeting her eyes. Great Starclan... the tom had to shake his head to keep from getting too distracted, and took a moment to decide where to start.

Heathertail darted after the tom, breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out that it was, indeed, somewhat dryer underneath the trees. Not by much, of course, but they weren’t having bucketloads of water dumped on them and they would actually be able to hear each other now.

Lionblaze nodded, just then becoming aware of how thoroughly soaked he was getting. “Anything to get out of this!” He Replied, darting under the trees as Heathertail had suggested.

“Everyone else is hiding away in their dens,” she pointed out.

Lionblaze dipped his head. “And we won’t be listened to?”

Heathertail paused to think about it. “We’ll just have to go into the forested part and hope it’s dryer.”

“Where can we go instead?” Lionblaze asked, having to raise his voice a bit over the torrential rain.

“You better,” she growled, glaring at him. “But not out here in the rain. It’s too wet.”

“You did nothing,” admitted Lionblaze, hanging his head in genuine shame, the misery of the last few moons all coming back to him at once. “I messed everything up, I know I did, and I feel terrible about it. I promise, I will tell you everything.”

Heathertail stiffened and held herself taller. “What is there to talk about?” She spat, several moons’ worth of anger exploding out of her. “You’re the one who left me! You decided being the best warrior was more important than I was! I was left standing there wondering what I had done wrong to make the one I loved leave me!”

Noticing that they were totally alone now, Lionblaze recalled how well they had fought together, some sort of natural connection between them that was seemingly stronger than the divide between clans. Finally, the tom mewed simply “We need to talk...”

Heathertail stared at the tabby tom silently, absently noting that they were the only ones left out in the open now. She realized that some of her anger had faded when she had realized how willing he had been to protect her when she needed it, but didn’t try to build it back up again. She was too tired to.

Naturally, Lionblaze’s pelt was pristine, unscathed despite the injuries sustained by cats on all sides of him. “I’m just fine,” The tom panted softly to his sister, looking around him as the rain began to fall in thick sheets. The male flicked his ears irritably at the droplets as they came down on his back, chilling him to the bone. He waited for Hollyleaf to pad away to seek shelter before turning to Heathertail.

The peacemakers took this oppurtunity to calm down the fighting cats and drive them back to their own camps, promising that everything would be resolved once the storm was over. After helping do so, Hollyleaf made her way over to Lionblaze and Heathertail, looking over her brother. “Are you okay?” She questioned, despite knowing he would be. She just always had to ask.

Lionblaze blinked as a flash of lightning suddenly nearly blinded him with its bright white light, the bolt striking the lake not far from the island. Unbeknownst to the fighting cats a storm had rolled in suddenly, the way it had used to when Starclan disapproved of the way a gathering was going. The strike, and resulting massive thunderclap, stopped all of the fighting cats for an instant. Then the rain began to fall, and several of the fighters began to retreat into their own camps.

(Yeah. And we’re gonna stuff the baked potatoes with meat and cheese afterwards, then I’m gonna mash mine up and mix it all together. It’s gonna be delicious.

You’re in college? Huh. I don’t know that. I’m only a sophomore in high school :p)

Heathertail twitched an ear, half-listening to Lionblaze and his Clanmates as she ducked beneath the blow of a ShadowClan cat, lashing out to give him a harsh blow to the muzzle and send him stumbling back.

(Sounds delicious. I miss home cooking, being away at college and all.)

Lionblaze swiped and slashed indiscriminately at the felines surrounding him and Heathertail, until he got to Berrynose. Instead of clawing his clanmate, he sheathed his claws and gave the half-tailed tom a forceful swat to the side of the head. “Is this what you wanted, mouse-brain!?” Snarled The tom, having to close his eyes as droplets of someone else’s blood splatted against his face.

(I was putting potatoes in the oven)

Hollyleaf had been on the outskirts when the battle had started and so hadn’t not gotten swept up in it. She was now standing to the side and anxiously searching the battle for her brother, despite knowing that he couldn’t get harmed in a fight. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted him, going strong and unharmed.

Lionblaze, on the other hand, had no reservations about fighting back against the Windclan cats coming at them. Soon enough, without even realizing it, he had naturally retreated into a defensive position with Heathertail, back-to-back with the female, the pair fending off attacks from all directions. This was something that it could take moons of battle training together to do so naturally, and yet it just happened between the pair of warriors.