Warriors: Clockwise

<------ Chapter Twenty-One --->

Lilypool was soon called away, and he redirected his course to the sidelines in an effort to escape the commotion, he spotted Foxspring conversing with Roach, the she-cat who had returned with him to the Clan. He wasn't sure what compelled him to do so, but as he came within earshot, he simply stopped and stood, watching.

"...and I know we've only known each other a short while, it's hardly been more than a week, but I just..." Foxspring was reasoning, too wrapped up in discussion to notice Hero was there at all, "We'll never know how this battle could end. There's no way to know what could happen to you."

Standing in front of the calico she-cat made Foxspring look so big in comparison. Roach held his gaze, her warm brown eyes trained on the orange tom's bright blue ones. 

"What are you saying?" She asked simply.

He cleared his throat quietly, then paused, then cleared it again. 

He inhaled.

"I want you to be my mate."

He exhaled.

It was a long moment before Roach moved, and when she did, it was only to cast him a faint smile. Then she stepped towards him, pressing her face to his cheek and burying her face in his fur. Foxspring looked stunned for a moment, his eyes wide, though when the she-cat stepped away from him Hero inhaled sharply.

"You're right. We don't know how this battle will end," she murmured, still smiling softly, "But I know how it will begin. How it should begin. With the two of us as friends, fighting alongside each other in battle."

Foxspring nodded and returned her grin. "I would like that."

Hero ducked out of view as the two cats headed back towards the crowd, and he resolved to do the same.

"For our second team, we have chosen cats with the greatest speed and stamina from both Factions and Clans to act as battlefield messengers. They will be in charge of accounting for the cats lost in battle, and deliver news between whomever is in need of their service."

Hero easily picked out Tags among a row of armor-clad cats; her spotted coat was groomed to perfection, and she stood atop a crate, basked in silvery light as she finished putting on her own glimmering armor. Between her paws rested another skull-shaped helmet, and Hero realized how harmless his own looked in comparison. Hers was lined with teeth stretching along the jaw, clearly made to tear at the throats of enemy warriors.

"Hero," she greeted, if it could be considered a greeting; she said it rather dismissively, as per usual, and he stopped at the side of the crate.

"I think that's the first time you've said my real name all night," he chuckled, as she finished fastening the plated guard on her chest and turned to look down at him. In that moment, he recalled the conversation between Foxspring and Roach, and suddenly came to realize that this was the cat who would hold his life in her paws on the battlefield. She continued to watch him, curious. "I... I would like you to have this."

He shook off his helmet, and almost simultaneously, the watch around his neck slid off along with it. It landed agains the helmet with a clattering sound, and he carefully picked it back up again, leaping onto the crate and setting it before her. 

She considered it for a while, and Hero couldn't read her expression past intrigue. Then the corner of her mouth tilted upwards, and she looked directly into his eyes, their faces impossibly close to touching. "Your human trinkets will only slow me down."

With that, she bent over and lifted her own helmet onto her head, sauntering past him without another word.

The gesture itself would seem contemptuous to any cat other than Hero, and it took all he had not to laugh out loud. The cat who hated him with every living fiber of her being, who spent weeks trying to obtain the object he had just offered to her, who would rather kill than trust him, had just in her own subtle way told him that she considered him an ally.