private running with scissors [rattleheart]

[SCORCHSTAR]

The trek back to camp seems daunting, with their task completed. Halfkit and Tanglekit have been delivered to Sunstride, well on their way across the border to ShadowClan territory now, and there is nothing more that she or Rattleheart can do to help them along. Nothing more but to make their way back to WindClan’s camp, and remain silent. The secret of their involvement in Sunstride’s plot will die with them—she trusts Rattleheart with her entire heart, and she knows that she would never speak a word against her sibling. Turning to the other tunneler, Scorchstreak asks, "Do you think we’ve done the right thing?" Halfkit had been noisy on the walk through the tunnels, trying to convince them to turn around and go back. Trying to convince them not to return herself and Tanglekit to the father who was likely worried sick about them.

"Either way, I’m glad that we did it. I just worry what Sootstar will do…" She trails off as realization strikes her. Rattleheart has already fallen under suspicion, and it’s clear that neither Sootstar nor her most trusted warriors like them. If their involvement were ever to be found out, Rattleheart would surely be exiled—or, in this new WindClan, perhaps worse. Perhaps they wouldn’t be given the chance to run. She knows that the chances of them being found out are low, only being the delivery tunnelers, and she trusts Sunstride not to spill their secrets. But there is no guarantee that they weren’t spotted by some soul out across the moorland. "If anything comes of this, I should take the blame." There’s a chance her punishment would be lighter, considering her position as lead warrior—it could also be harsher due to that, but she won’t entertain that. And if it comes down to it, she trusts her own ability to stay alive.​

[ BE A FIRE, BURN THIS DOWN ]​

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[RATTLEHEART]

There's a certain shake to Rattleheart's paws with each step back towards camp, their pale green gaze slightly distant and unfocused as they concentrate every bit of attention on putting one paw in front of the other. They didn't regret what they and Scorchstreak had done, but they couldn't help the knot of anxiety that had formed like a heavy weigh in their belly. Sunstride had done everything possible to keep them both safe even in their travels to help him, but what if even he couldn't do anything against the legion of loyalists that Sootstar commanded? What if one of them had simply been waiting for the best moment to strike, and had decided the pair leaving camp was the perfect time to follow? Their mind was racing, frantic and uncontrollable, only finally encountering a blockade in the form of their sister's questioning. They glanced over at her, swallowing down the nausea that had been tormenting them. "...Yes. Yes, I do. Halfkit may not realize the full extent of what happened to her or her sibling yet, but... I think we did the right thing. We helped reunite a family, and I'm sure they'll both be much happier there." That wasn't a strike against Windclan - though rising tensions had been testing their love for their home clan - but instead an endorsement of how much family truly mattered to Rattleheart.

Halfkit and Tanglekit deserved to be with theirs, and not stolen away by someone who had lied to them with every step.

Their sister puts to words what they were already agonizing over, and they couldn't help the grimace that immediately flashed over their face in response. "We can... we can only hope that she'll regain some sort of sense, and see that this was the right thing to do. Even aside from it just being wrong, Shadowclan would have figured it out eventually. If she doesn't, well, then..." They trailed off, that distant look returning to their eyes. What would they all do if Sootstar had truly fallen irreversibly into madness? Was there even anything they could do, when she still commanded so much power? They weren't sure, but they also weren't allowed to dwell, Scorchstreak's offer causing their ears to flick back. "What? That... no, Scorchstreak, you can't. We don't know what Sootstar will do, and your kits need you. Windclan needs you." Far more than Windclan had any need of them, at least in the tunneler's own eyes.
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[ PENNED BY EO ]​

 

[SCORCHSTAR]

Rattleheart tells her that they think they’ve done the right thing, and Scorchstreak feels a thread of the tension leave her body. Halfkit’s complaints, her attempts at persuading them to take her back to WindClan, were only the words of a kit who didn’t understand the full extent of what was happening to herself or her sibling. It’s a comfort, the calico thinks, nodding along as her sibling speaks. Eventually, Halfkit will grow to understand that what had happened to her was unacceptable, and that she and her sibling are better off in ShadowClan with a father who worried over them for a month. "You’re right," she states softly, tail flickering.

But aside from the first statement, Rattleheart does not agree with her. The black and white tunneler protests against her idea, saying that she can’t take the blame. "It’s only a matter of time," she protests, tail lashing. "Everything is crumbling, and it’s only a matter of time before Sootstar accuses someone else of betraying her." The more this all goes on, the more certain she is that whatever happened with Badgermoon and Curlewnose that night, the leader hasn’t been entirely truthful. There is no evidence of it, though, except for the suspicions of someone who’d lost both her closest friend and the father of her kits in the same night.

Her expression tightens, tension twisting itself into the lines of the scars that cross over her eye. "If it’s between you and I, I’d rather take the fall than you. They’d kill you." Not that they wouldn’t also kill Scorchstreak, but that’s beside the point. Her kids can survive without a parent—they’ve done well without Badgermoon around. And WindClan is still standing after nearly two months without her here to hold them down. It may be worse off, with the rarely-used tunnels and the clan’s social climate both in a state of near-disrepair after her absence, but still Scorchstreak thinks herself the better option if one of them has to take blame for what they’ve done.​

[ BE A FIRE, BURN THIS DOWN ]​

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