- Jul 23, 2022
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How did he get roped into this? Sharpeye wrinkled his nose as he padded along behind Gale on silent paws. The night bathed the realm around them and cloaked them in the growing shadows cast by the trees and bushes. All discussion about their roles in their little hare-brained mission had now since stopped as they neared the route that Gale had theorised that their targets would take. The pair of toms slipped under some nearby cover as voices briefly graced the night air and alerted them to the gradual approach of their quarry.
Time seemed to drag out into longer and longer minutes as Sharpeye found himself holding onto a tense breath as he remained poised to enact his role in the crime to come. If Gale hadn't been as charismatic as he was then perhaps he would have declined the request to assist, but the former WindClanner had such a way of speaking that it had been hard to reject the plan. Not only that but he still felt as though he owed Gale for taking him in and giving him purpose again. "Let my claws serve him... may my paws carry me swiftly... let me see the next dawn."
It was time, and with his prayers made he bolted forth from the cover in order to confront the pair of toms ahead. A caterwaul broke from his lungs as he faced the pair of WindClanners after springing out in front of them, and he made an attempt to slash at Sunstride, though his aim was off. Well, that was the difficulty of judging distances when you only had one good eye left. Despite the miss the action still had the intended effect as he attracted Vulturemask's guard completely, so he turned and sprinted off into the night with the guard in hot pursuit.
Now came time for the real battle, and Gale wasted no time at all in launching out from the bracken in order to attack! Utilising his speed and the element of surprise, he thundered forth and collided into the medicine cat with a snarl. "Hello Leech. It's been a while." He sneered as he brought up Vulturemask's former name. The tom snapped his jaws at the other with an audible clack as he sought to intimidate Vulturemask further. Though he hoped that his presence alone would be enough to unnerve the other, given that his fate had been unclear for a long time by WindClan. But here he was, alive and thriving, and now starving for revenge. He just wished it had been Sootstar who he had found, but that day would come soon enough. For now he had a very old score to settle with his greatest rival.
Vulturemask would stare up at his attacker and for a split second as shock settled into his cold gaze. However, that didn't last for long as this ambush was not doomed to paralyze him for long. With that name getting spat out from the traitor's mouth a look of contempt was not difficult to miss. "Get your filthy paws off of me!" he snarled, absolutely disgusted by having this unpleasant reunion with this vermin. His snarl lasted even after the former Windclanner tried to intimate him by snapping his jaws at his face. Vulturemask didn't flinch. It would take alot more than that to scare him!
Gale only seemed to give a cocky smirk back down at him though. Suddenly Vulturemask winced as he felt pain from the claws sinking into his chest. Those claws, which were so sharp, were digging into flesh to spill blood - his blood. Vulturemask was beyond mad. The fact that someone as filthy and impure as Gale dared to touch him was making him repulsed. Out of anger and spite the medicine cat used his back legs to kick at his ambusher's underbelly with all of his strength while at the same time he used his forepaw to slash right across Galeforce's face to send his head toward the side. It was thanks to both of these techniques that Vulturemask was able to kick Gale off him.
Rolling to his paws, Vulturemask was quick to get up as a hiss left his throat, fur now bristling. Galeforce who had not been knocked over completely was able to stumble briefly before regaining his footing. They both cast each other a glare of raw hatred. Both were feeling just as passionately about each other in their contempt for the other.
"You have a lot of nerve to attack one of StarClan's chosen ones. Laying a paw on a medicine cat will cost you greatly." Vulturemask spoke wholeheartedly believing that StarClan would punish Galeforce in his name. Galeforce simply snorted in distaste towards the other. "HAH! As if I should fear the very cats who elected you into such a lofty role! They are flawed and not worth my respect!" His voice was loud and roaring just like how Vulturemask remembered it to be. Galeforce looked unfazed and he took a step forward. "First I will take your life and then I will go after Sootstar! I won't stop until I have justice and have finally freed WindClan from its curse!"
"You're nothing but a filthy disease..." Vulturemask would mutter in realisation as his eyes went wide. That was what he viewed Gale to be; a sickness! And he couldn't cure him. If he didn't put the tom down now then the disease would spread and infect others. He couldn't allow that to happen! No more traitors. His destiny was to purge this world from infection. That was why he was still alive. It was his true purpose! That was why StarClan had chosen him. Vulturemask couldn't let rats like this one run free anymore... StarClan would understand. He was the judge, jury, and executioner under StarClan's watch after all... "This world needs to be purified from the likes of you..." he continued to mumble his own insanity as he wholeheartedly believed it. Galeforce was nothing but a filthy wretch in his eyes.
Galeforce snarled in disgust at his words, feeling fury rise up inside of him. He did not waste any time after that as he charged forward ready to strike. Vulturemask dodged out of the way as the more muscular tom came flashing past, and the two briefly locked their gaze. They turned towards one another and reared up onto their hind legs as their forepaws entangled in a vicious struggle. Both were snarling and hissing, their cries of battle filled the air. Galeforce used the force in one of his forepaws to push the medicine cat's paw away and used it to slash the ebony tom right down his right eye. Vulturemask winced and as the pain flowed through his system he was left vulnerable for the next attack that came seconds later.
With his mouth parted, Galeforce went for Vulturemask's right ear, ripping into it. With a hiss of pain, the medicine cat landed back on his four paws while his attacker clung to his ear like a leech. Not caring about anything else but to break himself free, Vulturemask yanked his head with force away from his attacker to break himself loose.
With unbearable pain from his ear getting torn, Vulturemask managed to get himself free but not without the throbbing misery that felt like fire just had torched his skin after having lost the majority of his lobe. A piece of him was left inside of Galeforce's mouth. Vulturemask barely took a breath, ignoring the blood that ran down his face, before he charged forth with a hunger for his rival's blood. Galeforce spat the ear out of his mouth before making a leap over the ebony cat, but what he not had expected was for Vulturemask to make a swift turn so he could follow Gale's movement before he made a leap to land on top of the bigger tom's back. There Vulturemask would use his former name to it's glory as he bit right into Galeforce scruff just like a leech latching onto it's victim.
This time the growl came from Galeforce as he started to toss and turn in an attempt to get Vulturemask off him until he stood back up on his hind legs, now able to throw himself backwards with the intention to crush the medicine cat underneath him. Vuluremask however seemed to have figured out what was going to happen so let go just in time to get himself away before Galeforce landed on his back. Just when the brown tabby rolled back onto his stomach the medicine cat was in his face and this time he tackled them back to the ground and both went rolling across the ground while biting and clawing at one another until they broke free from the others grip. Standing back up, both were bruised and bloody but neither of them looked even close to being finished.
"Tch! I'll give you some credit, you fight like a damned badger! But I'll kill you anyway like the miserable insect that you truly are!" Gale was seething with fury as he bared his teeth in the direction of Vulturemask. Slowly the two toms began to circle each other, every movement tense and calculated as they poised for the final conflict. One of them would be walking away from this, the other would not.
"You talk big, but unlike you my claws are guided by StarClan and I will live out my great destiny whilst you become nothing more than a forgotten nightmare!" Surely the ancestors were with him, and with his own encouragement at his back the medicine cat lunged forward to meet Gale half way. The two combatants met in the middle, shoving and clawing at each other whilst the air was split with the echo of their shrieks and wails. Though it was Vulturemask who hauled Galeforce sideways before wrestling the other to the ground. The dark furred tom lurched his head forward and latched a solid hold of Gale's cheek before twisting to and fro in order to cut deep into the tender flesh.
Screams rang out as Gale was left writhing in misery, but like any cornered beast such pressure made him increasingly dangerous. He seized his chance by sinking his claws into the face of his rival. He could barely remember what exactly happened immediately after he did so but as the haze afflicting his mind faded he became aware that he was stood over Vulturemask. The metallic tang of blood hung heavy in the air and there before lay the broken looking form of the WindClan medicine cat.
Gale's sides rippled with hefty breaths as he stood exhausted and bleeding from fresh wounds that enveloped his face and neck. No doubt during his haze of fury he had received as much as he had given. Gulping back the fluids that filled his maw he then focused on Vulturemask with an intense look as he mustered up the strength to finish things. "Any final words before I put you down like the vermin that you are?"
With a pained grunt Vulturemask pulled his broken right foreleg closer to his body as he tried to maintain a defiant air towards the rogue. Bloodstained teeth were bared and his single remaining eye blazed with an energy that burned so bright even Gale looked somewhat perturbed by the sight. "You can call me vermin all you like, Gale, but it is truly you who has sunk so low as to become less than that of a maggot! I ascended into being something so much greater than what you could possibly begin to imagine! Even if I were to die here I will be welcomed by my kin in StarClan! But you... you will perish and be left alone in the darkness. No one will be there waiting to greet you, not even Sunsetbreeze!" Hysterical laughter rang out from the twisted tom as he relished in the sight of Gale's fear. A glimpse of weakness that he would savour until his final breath.
Gale felt the cold tendrils of fear creep through him, clasping at his heart and mind with a vicious embrace. StarClan... he longed to be free of them and their influence, but that lingering belief in their power hounded him from the shadows. It was like having a starving hound lurking in the recesses, just waiting to lunge to tear him apart. Sunsetbreeze... he had longed to see him again one day once the final sleep came for him, but what if he would never walk at their side? Denied because of his actions and forced to fall endlessly in a void of nothingness?
No! Had to steel himself and bring about an end to the madness! Gale raised his claw up high as he prepared to deal the final blow, but before he could make the swing Sharpeye exploded from the undergrowth and barrelled towards him in obvious panic. "We have to go!" The sandy coloured tom exclaimed in desperation as he shoved Gale with urgency, interrupting the tom's actions.
"Sharp! No! I have to-"
"LEAVE HIM! This fight is over, we must hurry and leave!"
It left a bitter taste in Gale's mouth but he found himself nodding in agreement as he heard the crashing of another cat nearby heading their way. He was in no condition to fight another cat, and clearly neither was Sharpeye given that the small tom bore some fresh injuries to his flank and face. He spared a final glance towards Vulturemask before he allowed himself to be ushered away. Together the toms raced off into the night, leaving behind the heavily wounded medicine cat to the mercy of the fates.
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Darkness was falling quickly in front of his very eye. Blood was running down from his mouth, each breath become more difficult to take then the last. The world around him was becoming pointless...meaningless. Everything hurt, he was in an intense pain that damaged leg twisted and turned in an unnatural position. Yet he remained unfazed despite the pain. There was some sort of freedom to be felt with this pain after all because he knew his time had come at last. That sweet kiss of death which would set him free once and for all. No more suffering. No more living a life in misery and loneliness. This was what he had been waiting for, longing for. So while taking his final breaths a smile was finally at peace on his maw. He had done his part in this heartless ungrateful life. There was nothing here he would truly miss...beside his siblings. Only them he would regret having to leave behind but he would comfort himself in knowing he would be watching them from above there he would find eternal peace. This was his final farewell to a world he wouldn't even miss...
With that final breath of sweet release Vulturemask body went completely still, motionless. He died with a smile on his maw knowing his pain finally would go away.
// written by me and @HaggisBeast thank you a ton Beast for writing this final project with me <33
@ava @SOOTSTAR @SUNSTRIDE @revelations
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