Falling With the Rain

~ Where I Draw the Line ~

"That was weird." Murmured Fireheart, mostly to himself.

"I..." Longtail's voice faltered. "I d-didn't know that Rain... that she joined ShadowClan with Tigerc–star." He finally managed to stammer.

Swiftpaw pressed against his mentor, clearly shocked at how afraid Longtail was.

Instead of a comforting tone, Sandstorm replied with a snort: "I don't know what you expected Longtail, if a cat as loyal as Rainsong left ThunderClan, she's gonna be loyal to the cat she left with."

She instantly regretted her harsh words as she saw Longtail bow his head in grief.

"I'm sorry." She meowed in a softer tone. "It's just that Rainsong's betrayal came as a shock to every cat, all of us looked up to her."

"I know..." Longtail whispered in reply so quietly Sandstorm had to strain her ears to hear him.

Fireheart started a light conversation with Longtail, presumably to distract him. Sandstorm kept to the back, glancing over at the ShadowClan territory every now and then. Swiftpaw fell in step with her. Glancing at his mentor, he hesitantly asked Sandstorm a question that must've been clawing at his throat for a while.

"Why is Longtail so afraid and depressed at Rainsong's betrayal?" He mewed quietly, not wanting his mentor to hear.

"Not many cats know, but Rainsong is Longtail's kin." Sandstorm answered in a voice that matched the apprentice's soft one. "According to the elders, Rainsong was so excited to have a younger cat as kin that when Longtail was born, she practically raised him. One-eye even said: 'They were like the bestest of littermates, inseparable'. Frostfur also said that if Rainsong weren't so close with Brindleface, Longtail would be her closest kin.

"Longtail probably feels awfully betrayed and that needs to prove his loyalty. It's one thing to have your close Clanmate be a traitor to the Clan, but it's another thing to have both a close Clanmate and your closest kin be traitors. He'll feel that he needs to prove his loyalty because he was close with both traitors and he's going to think that every cat won't trust him because of it."

Swiftpaw took his time processing the information she gave him. As they were already half-way back to camp, he nodded.

"That makes sense." He said simply with a shrug before bounding away to catch up with Longtail and Fireheart who were a couple fox-lengths in front of them.

Sandstorm stared at the group of toms ahead of her. One was almost broken, shredded down to only being able to save himself if he got some of his life back. One was learning, but couldn't move on to the next level because he had a broken leader. The last held his head high, sure, hardened confidence plastered all over him. He was brave, he had compassion, and he was fierce like fire. He was what would save the Clan, if it wasn't him, it wouldn't be any cat. This last cat was the cat Sandstorm couldn't tell how to feel about. She loved him, but he seemed still stuck on Spottedleaf. Would he ever really love her? Sandstorm didn't mind that he had loved Spottedleaf, Spottedleaf had been a great medicine cat. But Spottedleaf was dead, and it had been many many moons, it was time to honour Spottedleaf as a memory now, not as a medicine cat that was still alive.

Rainsong Third Person POV (I've been trying to practice third person POVs because I suck at them, so YAY!) + ~ Major Timeskip ~

"What do you mean there was cat blood at the dog camp!?" Rainsong screeched with disbelief.

Only moments earlier, Tigerstar had come back from his visit with the dogs looking rather shocked and dumbfounded. When Rainsong had told him to spit out what was bothering him, he had confessed in a hollow and horrified tone that there had been cat blood close to the dog's camp.

Now, Tigerstar was cowering under the wrath and fury of the tortoiseshell warrior. She was leaning forward, her muzzle bared in a snarl and despite her size, she seemed ten times larger than Tigerstar who leaned cautiously away from her teeth. What made Tigerstar much more afraid of her was the fact that her wound had healed and the leaves and cobwebs had come off. Leaving Rainsong with a deflated looking closed left eye.

"What do you mean that there was cat blood at the dog camp!?" Rainsong repeated in a voice that now leaked with icy venom.

Tigerstar visibly gulped–Rainsong noted–before he answered in a quavering voice: "I mean I think that the dogs killed or gravely injured some of the ThunderClan cats!" His sentence was quickly said, fear leaking heavily in his voice.

A deep, threatening and furious growl came from Rainsong's throat. Thrashing her tail, Rainsong let out an enraged hiss and stalked away to the exit.

"Where are you going?" Asked a mentally scarred voice from behind her.

She turned her head around, facing the ShadowClan leader with a glowering expression.

"To check it out myself." She spat in reply.

Tigerstar did not dare argue with her.

~ Wee Little Timeskip ~

Rainsong sniffed at the second puddle of dried blood. The first was Swiftpaw's. And there was a lingering scent of death on it. Poor Longtail, he had lost his apprentice. The second froze her blood and sent shock through her bones. Brightpaw. Brightpaw was kin, Rainsong could not afford to lose kin on her account. She had been the one to tell Tigerstar that he could potentially use the dogs to get his revenge. She had only suggested it so he wouldn't have gotten so suspicious. But now, all because of her, Brightpaw could be on her way to StarClan. Unable to stand it any longer, she bounded back to ShadowClan camp.

"Your back!" Exclaimed a pleased sounding Tigerstar once she had entered the camp.

"That's too bad that you're pleased, because I'm leaving." Rainsong replied in a flat and harsh tone.

"Are you going to come back?" Asked the same voice, it was rather fearful this time. As if he were afraid that he would lose his precious best warrior.

"No." Rainsong mewed over her shoulder in a cross tone as she stalked back to the tunnel she had just bounded through. "Some of the blood belonged to my kin. I'm leaving."

"Then I will hunt you down and kill you and all of your kin!" Snarled Tigerstar, clearly recovered from his little episode of fear.

"I'd like to see you try." She retorted with a snap.

Rainsong walked right up to the 'oh so intimidating ShadowClan leader' and thrust her muzzle into his face.

"Tigerstar, I draw the line at kin. Always." She whispered in a dangerous whisper, only loud enough for him to hear. With one final glare, Rainsong left the camp, leaving a shocked Tigerstar and a dumbfounded Clan.

Not wanting to waste a single moment, Rainsong bounded out of ShadowClan territory and crossed the Thunderpath. Dizzy with the sudden feeling of freedom and tired from her constant running, Rainsong settled herself between some ferns and fell asleep with her ears pricked.

~ End of Chapter A/N ~

>:3 She's back. FOR GOOD! I won't lie, I'm very proud of myself for already making it this far in the fanfiction. Which is like ⅙ way but like YAY! I promise there IS excitement coming, you just gotta be patient, it won't be long till all the excitement comes over loading!

~ LittleOwl