nothing lasts forever, and it's fine - breezeclan

The deputy attempted a couple glances at the she-cat, only when he couldn't feel her eyes on him. It was successful, but he almost tripped over a few roots in the meantime. That was enough of a warning to keep his eyes on the path the rest of the way. He exchanged glances with some of the patrol members and they dipped their heads in return. "Let's try to split into groups. We need to scout ReedClan's borders." Once he flicked his tail, they went in separate directions. He leaned in closer to Doemoon. "One of the runners reported seeing a large lizard sitting on the shore," he chuckled. They must have been referring to an alligator.

Doemoon was at his heels. The wind ruffling her fur as she ran alongside Coalbreeze. She felt as though she belong being with Coalbreeze. She shook the thought out of her mind as the icy Winds blew, the wind whistling In her ears. They came to a halt near the top of a cliff. There was several other warriors freezing their tails off waiting on these cats.

Coalbreeze stepped back. The she-cat looked as if she were planning to give him another scar across his cheek, one to match the one on his muzzle. The tom looked out where her gaze reached, seeing the queen in a haze of snow rushing her kits. He dipped his head to her as they passed, not saying a word. He turned away, bracing himself as a breeze blew past him. "Come on, then," he flicked his tail and hurried off, paws gently thrumming against the snow-covered grounds.

She glared at him. “It’s not a joke!” She complained her tail flicked in anger. She sighed. “I know my place. I’m a striker, you’re right we should go.” She stood u and fluffed our her fur to get warmth back into her body that the cold survived had ruthlessly stolen from her. She looked out through the cave’s entrance. She noticed kits playing and pouncing on top of one another. The snow was coming down slightly heavier. The kits’ mother came out and hurried them into the nursery. The wind howled, Doemoon sighed.

"A privileged," he echoed, trying to stifle his chuckle. "Well, you've got your head screwed on backwards. We're strikers. We aren't supposed to handle herbs. Our job is to defend the clan." He flicked his tail, ignoring the look of longing in her gaze when she cast her eyes the other direction. His ears spiked up as he remembered what their day had in store. "We're going to patrol today, actually. We need to watch the borders."

Doemoon turned to face the charcoal tom. She smiled. “Good morning to you too, and I see you have not stopped your teasing.” She galnced over at the medicine cat as they sent apprentices to get herbs. “Honestly fetching herbs is not a job for an apprentice, it’s a priviledge for a warrior.” She scoffed. Clearly disgusted that such cats should handle such an important message. She rolled her eyes as she’s turned back to Coalbreeze’s her face mingled with disgust and something else. Was it longing?

Longing to be a medicine cat?

As he reached the edge of the stones, Coalbreeze angled his ears forward to listen to the buzz of camp. Some kits were already out playing beneath pointed stones, one pretending they were a leader like Mousestar, and another a deputy. The edges of his lips curled in amusement, but he shifted his hearing elsewhere in camp, catching the last of Doemoon's conversation with their medicine cat. "A warrior shouldn't do an apprentice's job." His ear twitched. The charcoal tom padded forward, pads finally reaching frozen grass. He flinched slightly as the cold reached his pads, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it. "So," he snorted at reaching the striker. "Still trying to help the medicine cat?"

Doemoon was talking to the medicine cat and how they were low on herbs. Doemoon quickly offered to fetch some but the med cat laughed and padded away, muttering about how a warrior should not be doing apprentice jobs. Doemoon‘s head tilted to the side, her confusion visible. DoeMoon sighed, she couldn’t understand how fetching herbs was an apprentice job. Herbs are a precious thing and are rare to come by a thing this time of year. Maybe she would go hunting instead. Doemoon looked outside. There was a thin layer of snow and more continued to fall. She shivered leaf bare has really begun.

The deputy arose a few minutes after Doemoon's scent had left the den. All that remained on the walls was a damp essence that could almost be tasted. The spotted tom shook out his fur, bits of old moss falling at his paws. He stepped over the nests as he made his way out, welcoming the breeze that blew through the cave. He glanced before reaching the exit, over his shoulder to find a couple apprentices leaving with their mentors. The runners would have to make timing to gather enough to even hold the clan over for the night. The strikers would border the territory once again. It seemed as time went on, more and more of their enemy clans were getting closer to the border to catch prey. He smirked to himself. They wouldn't be able to catch a rabbit, even if they tried.

Doemoon’s eyes slowly blinked open the next morning. She had finally fallen asleep after many attempt. She looked around some cats were still asleep. She padded past Coalbreeze. Doemoon glanced around the camp ,the cats were all busy helping to prepare for the oncoming Leafbare. She realised handn’t eaten anything since the mouse with Coalbreeze. It was really nothing more than a nibble. Her stomach grumble. She padded over to the fresh kill pile. Empty. Her stomach grumbled. She sat down and licked her paw flicking it gently over her ear. The sun reflected against her pelt. The sun was warm but the air was cold and snatched away the warmth of the sun against Doemoon’s pelt. She sighed, this would be a long day.

She looked to him then to the stars. Doemoon nodded ,he was right, StarClan wouldn’t abandon them. Would they? She opened her mouth to speak but nothing was left to say. She looked down at her paws and turned to walk back to the dens. With her back to Coalbreeze her head turned to the side and she said, “You’re right there’s a reason for everything ,the future may be uncertain but we’ll be okay, goodnight.” She smiled, she swished her tail cheekily, brushing it lightly against his cheek. She walked off back towards the den. As she did the cold winter air howled with displeasure.

Coalbreeze was about to speak, and then she stood, leaving his jaw hanging open with no words filling them. The tom pulled his tail from his paws and held it in the air to stop her from leaving. "It's hard to say," he went on, searching for the right words. "We just have to believe. StarClan tore WindClan apart many moons ago, but they made a promise to us then." The deputy stared ahead, wondering what the future held for them. They couldn't say what StarClan was planning for them, but they had to keep following. "We will never know, but we have to follow our gut." He rested his tail again, telling her that he was done and she could leave if she wished to.

“What if... what if they don’t care... or what if they can’t do anything? What then?” Doemoon avoided eye contact with Coalbreeze. Her eyes studied her paws. She scraped around dirt. Her tail swished anxiously, hoping Coalbreeze wouldn‘t be too judgy about what she had just said. “You know what it’s getting late ... forget I said anything ... um ...” she abruptly stood up looking uncomfortable now. She seemed a bit confused and flustered now. Unsure on what to do.

Coalbreeze watched the dark figure in the distance, his ears turning forward as if to listen to it. "It's fine," he insisted. "We just need to try harder this season. StarClan is watching over us. They won't let anything happen if they can help it."

She nodded in a agreement. The bird swooped down to make a kill. “I must confess I wouldn‘t have come out here if I hadn‘t of thought you were asleep.” She turned to look at him. “I‘m no medicine cat but it doesn’t take a genius to realise that this leafbare will bring unnessary death.”

"I hadn't really fallen asleep yet," he confessed, taking a spot near Doemoon. He puffed up his fur against the cold as the outside air seeped through the cave and curled his tail neatly over his paws to protect them. Beneath, his claws dug into the rock as an effort to ignore the cold. "We're going to have a long day tomorrow."

Doemoon startled by Coalbreeze whipped around to face him. She sighed relieved that it was only him. “Yeah, you could say.” She flicked her tail inviting him over. Her sky blue eyes reflecting the stars. Her coat appeared ghost like from the moon that emerged from the trees. Her ears wear pressed flat against her head. She turned her attention back to the scattered stars. “Did I wake you?“ she didn’t turn to like at Coalbreeze but kept her attention on a bird flying in the sky. “I’m sorry if I did.” She turned to face him.

It seemed that he had lost himself in time. It was going by slowly, and it felt as if every minute had stretched to hours. The stillness of the den wasn't any more comforting to him, until he could feel the movement in the air. Green eyes opened as soon as the familiar scent of Doemoon passed under his nose, and he sat up to see the shadow of her tail disappearing into the tunnel. Grunting, he got up after several moments of wondering whether he should follow her or not. Tiptoeing over the other cats, Coalbreeze stuck close to the wall, letting his whiskers guide him to the entrance. He paused at seeing her silhouette before continuing to stand beside her a few tail-lengths away.

"Can't sleep?"

A lot of time had gone by since DoeMoon had talked to Coalbreeze. She opened one eye as if in response to the cold winter breeze slowly creeping its way up Doemoon’s spine. She slowly sat up and looked around at the sleeping cats. She watched Coalbreeze as his flank rose and fell. Convincing herself her was asleep she crept out.

Doemoon sat herself infront of the warriors den. Before deciding to edge closer to the cave entry. She sat down and stared up at the sky. The stars scattered across the sky like glitter spilt on a page. A weary sigh escaped her lips. A flicker of a shadow caught her eye.

Coalbreeze let his gaze follow her for a moment, eyes clouding slightly with an unspoken confusion. He brushed it off, grabbing the detached limbs in his jaws and carrying the remains away under the night sky. He dug a small hole, deep enough to hide it long enough for the earth to devour and scooped the bones into it with his tail. Covering it again, he dipped his head, as if sending off a silent thanks to the stars above. Turning to pad back to the cave, the moonlight showered down on his back. He slithered off into the darkness, shifting through the tunnels that lead into the warriors den. Picking past the sleeping warriors, he settled into his own nest. The dry moss was uncomfortable on his side, but he closed his eyes, making a mental note to tell the apprentices to change the bedding.

she nodded. She stretched out her legs. “Goodnight.” She purred and pressed her flank against Coalbreeze‘s. She padded slowly over to the warrior’s den. Her eyes filled with guilt and sorrow. She shivered as she padded into the den. She curled up into her nest and put her tail over her eyes.

Coalbreeze wasn't entirely convinced, but he didn't press Doemoon. The dark furred tom just ignored the odd behavior, deciding not to make too much of it as he proceeded with another bite. He couldn't make the warrior eat any more than she wanted, despite wondering if she had enough to hold her over until tomorrow. He took another, then another, licking his lips between eat gulp until the body had been devoured and the bones were picked clean. In times like this, it was best not to let anything go to waste.

Glancing at her in the corner of his eye, he noticed her muscles stiffening with the frigid air. He too, was cold, and dreaded what the snow would bring as time went on. "You should head to the den," he said with a flick of his tail. "I'll bury this."

She jumped at Coalbreeze‘s words. “W-what...” she stammered. ”No of course not, I just...” her words trailed off as the owl hooted again. She shook her head unable to finish her sentence. She looked down at the mouse near her paws realising what Coalbreeze had said to her before. Her stomach churned and she felt sick, unable to eat. She didn’t want to bring anymore attention to herself so she took a small bite out of the creature. Pushing the rest to Coalbreeze she said. “Here you have the rest I’m not really hungry.” She forced a smile. DoeMoon stood up her muscles stiff from the cold.

The deputy looked back up at her when she didn't respond, furrowing his brows. He knew some owls could be dangerous, but he didn't understand what she was getting so worked up about. They were safe in the cave. An owl wouldn't dare wander into a place with claws and teeth waiting for it. The warrior was acting as if she had seen a Dark Forest cat walking around. "What," he snorted. "Have you got fire ants crawling in your fur or something?"

She hadn’t heard Coalbreeze ,she was staring into the forest trying to pinpoint the owl. The noise has come from somewhere distant to the camp. Her fur was standing slightly on end giving away her fear. Her eyes were hard and no longer glittered ,it was as though the sound of the owl had broken her. She seemed like she knew something Coalbreeze didn’t. Something terrible.

He opened his mouth to reply, but instead fell silent as the owl introduced itself in the darkness. The night was peaceful, more often than not. Coalbreeze scanned the camp, then turned to peer over his shoulder. Everyone was tucked away in the dens that lined the walls of the cave. A breath steadily fell from his chest. "We will share it, then," he decided, settling on the cold jagged surface beneath. He held the lifeless body between his paws and tore away the top layer of fur and flesh before pushing it towards her with the back of his paw.

Doemoon looked into Coalbreeze’s eyes, she had not had her share yet. Pushing her own hunger out of her thoughts, she nodded. “Everyone has had their share ,you must eat to keep up your strength.” Her ear tiwtched as she heard an owl hoot somewhere out in the forest. She shivered not from the cold but from fear that StarClan had sent them an omen. An omen of death. But she was a warrior not a medicine cat ,so what did she know?

Lost in thought as he watched few snowflakes glint in the light of the moon, the deputy was startled by Doemoon's voice. The tom's eyes fell to the mouse that lay on the stony floor, a whisker twitching as he recalled how hungry he was. As much as he wanted to resist it, he knew he had to keep up his strength. Coalbreeze reached out with a paw and brought it closer, pausing as he loomed over the creature. "Has everyone been fed?"

Doemoon noticed Coalbreeze sitting alone. She padded to the fresh kill pile, it was almost empty. This leafbare was definitely going to be the worst by far. She picked up a mouse and tiptoed over to Coalbreeze. Her fur seemed to glow from the moonlight that dimly shined through the cave entry. She sat down quietly beside Coalbreeze observing his emotionless expression. She dropped the mouse at his paws. “Eat.” She mewed to him, her voice stern but her eyes glittered with joy.