A screech tore Hero's gaze away from the wreckage, the whirling dust a flurry of movement at the edges of his vision. Sharp bits of stone peppered the ground where he had planted his paws, the powder clotting his throat and nose, but he refused to squeeze his eyes shut to block out the debris. He couldn't see where the sound had come from, but his gaze frantically flickered across the landscape, wavering on each flash of shadow until they disintegrated into the surroundings.
"Swiftstorm!"
Snowfeather's shrill cry jolted him awake. Hero pinned his ears to his skull, gagging as he became increasingly aware of the scratching in his throat. Struggling to breathe, he trotted towards the sound, the world spinning before him and erupting in splashes of bright color that didn't seem to fit the dull tones of the world around him.
"Over here!"
That voice was Estelle's, and it was answered by a spluttering gasp so abrupt that it made Hero wince. He identified the form of a large pile of rubble only a few feet away, and seeing as the ground to either side was patterned with shattered glass, he hastily begun to scale the mound of cement and iron.
The dust had begun to settle, and as Hero reached the peak of the obstacle, he could make out the forms of three cats. Snowfeather's coat was so heavy with soot that he appeared to be the same color as Smokewhisker, who stood a pace ahead of him, and then Estelle a few steps ahead of that.
"Wha-t -" Hero stuttered, his throat dry and sore, continuing towards them cautiously to avoid slipping on the uneven terrain as the wind began to pick up.
Then he came to a very sudden halt.
Whipped away by the breeze, the air had become terrifyingly clear, and as the sight dawned upon him he wished for the dust to rise again. Snowfeather screamed.
Pinned to the wall like a sick depiction of a trophy kill, Swiftstorm teetered on the edge of a narrow ledge, one of her hind paws gripping the surface as the sunlight glared off the iron bar that had been shoved into her skull. A gurgling cry escaped her throat.
"Get her down!" Estelle snapped so venomously that Hero flinched, and he realized that both Snowfeather and Smokewhisker were too shocked to move. At her exclamation, Snowfeather shook himself free of his fear and panic, a deftly began climbing the piled of stone and glass to reach the she-cat. "Hero, Snowfeather, find something soft she can land on. She'll live so long as she's got the ledge under her paws. We're getting her off that spike. Now."
Hero, glad to have a directive, dashed off without a moment's hesitation towards a mangled seat cushion he spotted peaking out from beneath the stone. Smokewhisker seemed to have forgotten Jayflight's disappearance temporarily as he too scrambled towards a large slab of foam.
"It's going to be alright," Snowfeather cooed, though his eyes had gone wild with determination, and he slowly inched along the wall towards her. She tried to nod, but only emitted a strangled squeak, and made no effort to try it again as Snowfeather continued to murmur encouragement.
Snowfeather was past the point of terror. He had gone completely numb, and an unsettling calm had descended on him.
Hero's paws shook as he grabbed a hold of the cushion, pulling it free with strength he didn't know he possessed, and dragged it to the base of the wall where Swiftstorm was pinned. Smokewhisker added the rectangle of foam, Estelle quickly placed a plush material on the pile.
"I'm almost there," Snowfeather swallowed, picking up his pace slightly as a landing pad was put in place. Swiftstorm's blood stained the fabric.
With bated breath, the three cats watched Snowfeather sink into a crouch, his paws finding a hold on the surface though his eyes remained trained on the tortoiseshell she-cat. A few more steps to go. Snowfeather moved forward ever so gingerly, setting his paws on the most stable surface he could grasp, until only a foot of space remained between the two cats.
Estelle exhaled. "Okay, okay. Snowfeather, listen to me very carefully. This won't work unless you do. You're going to need to-"
Without any warning, fractures like lightning bolts shot up the side of the wall, and the stone beneath Snowfeather crumbled away. He leapt backwards, claws digging in to find a foothold as the stone scratched his paw pads raw.
Maybe only a second had passed, but as Hero watched the ledge give way beneath Swiftstorm's leg, time could not have moved more slowly. He couldn't call out, and if he started running he didn't get there fast enough. As the tremors continued to wrack the earth, the sound of shredding flesh and muscle reached his ears, and Swiftstorm slipped so abruptly that her neck snapped backwards against the stone.
Snowfeather moved before he could think, lunging towards her and taking hold of her scruff. He lost his hold on the wall immediately, but held tight to the smaller she-cat, winding himself tightly around her as they tumbled towards the ground.
The two sent up a plume of dust as they landed, and all three cats rushed towards them. Snowfeather was winded, and Swiftstorm was drenched in her own blood, but Estelle had her ear pressed to the she-cat's chest in an instant.
"She's breathing," she muttered, her tone not indicative of relief. "We can thank Snowfeather for that."
Snowfeather struggled to his paws, ignoring Estelle's grimace as she spoke, and leaned over Swiftstorm, gently nudging the she-cat's bloodied cheek.
"Are you there?" He whispered, eyes widening when he received no response. "Swiftstorm, you've got to get up."
Fear had crept into his tone, and Estelle's gaze softened. "Snowfeather, she can't hear you."
"I need you to wake up," he continued, shoving the she-cat to the side when she tried to step between the two, and Snowfeather gave the tortoiseshell a shake. Hero could see he was shaking himself. "Swiftstorm, please. I need you to wake up. Please w-wake up-p."
His voice cracked on the last two words, and Estelle lifted her paw as if to try to separate the two again, when a spluttering cough interrupted the action.
"Swiftstorm!" Hero gasped, and Estelle pushed past Snowfeather, quickly turning Swiftstorm onto her side.
The coughing continued as Swiftstorm came to, blood dribbling out of the corner of her mouth. Snowfeather was at her side in an instant, murmuring relieved encouragement to her, though he didn't force her to move. He only remained by her side, waiting as she began to regain her strength.
"Are w-w-e s-afe h-here?" she stuttered, and Snowfeather looked to Estelle, who in turn directed her attention to Smokewhisker.
Smokewhisker shook his head, and the faintest trembling in the stones emphasized his point, "Staying here would be a risk. If the tremors don't get to us first, the enemy will be doing a sweep of this area, and who knows what kind of toxins-"
"We can't move," Estelle cut in matter-of-factly, and now Hero's features were creased with a frown.
"We can't stay," he reasoned, but even as he said it, he realized there was no way to move Swiftstorm without injuring her further. He could barely comprehend how she'd managed to stay awake this long at all.
"We have to," Snowfeather murmured, and who Swiftstorm seemed to stare straight through him. Snowfeather smiled at her faintly, though his next statement was directed towards Smokewhisker and Hero. "I'm staying here with her. You should continue towards the bridge, they'll be needing reinforcements."
Snowfeather smiled at him then, and Hero could tell how hard the smaller tom was trying to mask his uneasiness with fake confidence. Hero observed Swiftstorm, and though his eyes were only on her for a moment, he could see everything. The pike had torn through her, the blood draining from the gash in the side of her head massing her fur into ugly clumps. Her stare was hollow, her face expressionless, and she was leaning against Snowfeather so heavily that Hero suspected if the tom were to move she'd cave in on herself like a stack of cards.
The look Estelle shot him confirmed his suspicions. Whether they moved Swiftstorm or not, her chances of surviving were slim. The chances of her staying the same were slimmer.
Hero exhaled. "We should get to the bridge."
"I'm staying too," Smokewhisker swallowed, sounding as pained as Swiftstorm looked. "They'll need help. And protection."
Hero could only expect that from such a loyal cat.
"May StarClan light your path," Estelle murmured to him, rather shortly, indicating that they were pressed for time. Hero wasn't aware that she knew anything of Clan customs. Hero dipped is head to her, and considering reminding her to take care of his cats, but the words didn't escape his mouth.
Instead, swathed in silence, he turned tail and sprinted off across the courtyard, listening to the sound of his friend's voices fade into the white noise.
"Snowfeather, apply pressure here, don't let up unless I explicitly tell you so. Smokewhisker, I'm going to need something to soak up the blood, so snap to it. There's a high likelihood of cerebral hemorrhaging, we'll need something to prevent infection, before it... hold on, no. Snowfeather, stop what you're doing, I need something sharp."
"What for?"
"The eye's useless now."
< —————— >
Thump.
Hero's pawsteps thrummed against the slick asphalt, and each time they made contact the sound reverberated along his spine and made him clench his teeth. His sides burned with the effort of his constant pace, so he focused on anything he could to distract himself; the delicate, fractured spirals in the cement, the flickering lamps that cast yellowed light into the crevices that had been ripped open by the quake, the moon that sunk lower and lower in the sky, a silver lining at the edges of the stark buildings.
Thump.
That time it was his heart. By the time Hero came to a stop, panting but trying to quiet the noise for fear of being overheard, his heard was racing. He could feel it pulsing in his limbs and behind his eyes, but it had grown from a dull throbbing to a sharp jolt that made him feel jittery, as if the wind might pull him apart.
Foxspring. Annelyse. Bling. Lilypool. Jayflight. Maybe he had even lost Swiftstorm, and she'd died just after he'd left to fight in a war he couldn't prevent. Maybe all of them had been crushed by falling stones, or ripped apart by vicious Faction cats, or swallowed into the earth like-
A metallic clang rang out amongst the stars.
It sounded distant, maybe a couple of blocks away, but it shook Hero of his worries and reminded him of his orientation within the city. It was too close to be the main battle; still, if he could save even a single cat, it would be worth it. Though his sides heaved, he started off at a trot once again, intent on reaching the conflict as quickly as possible. The faster he ran, the more his ragged breathing tore at his lungs, the more easily the ache would overwhelm the misery that clawed at his heart.
"Oi!" came an exclamation, and as fate would have it, Hero's eyes met with those of a spotted she-cat whose eyes blazed with a wild sort of uncontrollable energy. "Eyes up, Timekeeper!"
It took a split second for Hero to realize that "eyes up" quite literally meant "eyes up".
Craning his neck, he could now see Tags outlined in the moonlight, struggling to avoid the edge of the unstable metal platform where she had locked claws with an enemy cat. Tags moved soundlessly and skillfully, orienting herself so that each move she made kept her from being shoved off the edge, but the battle-scarred grey tom who fought against her seemed to be at no disadvantage.
"I could use a little help here!" Tags snapped, and the tom grunted as she outmaneuvered him for the third time in a row.
Hero narrowed his eyes, trying to pick up any useful information from where he stood, but he couldn't see enough of the outcropping to give Tags any sort of helpful directive. A moment passed. He moved on to the tom.
He zeroed in on a stray piece of leather dangling from a patch of armor on the tom's haunch. "The stitching on his flank guard is-"
Thump.
"...defective."
Hero barely had time to dodge out of the way when the body landed at his paws. He had barely caught the end of the fight, and when he glanced up again, Tags had begun to navigate her way back to solid ground.
Then something rammed into his side.
Hero tripped, his head snapping back as he was flung onto the pavement, clawing at whatever enemy had knocked him onto his back, but they met only with air. Tags raced towards him, but she was quickly hidden by the form of a gruff, long haired brown tom.
"Levi, heel!" Tags snarled, as Hero had begun preparing his counter-attack, "He's one of us."
Levi's lip curled, but he muttered an apology under his breath and stepped off of Hero.
Embarrassed at having been taken off guard, Hero nimbly got to his paws, shaking off some of the dust that clung to his fur. "Charming companion."
Tags didn't respond; her expression had turned to something attentive in nature. Four more cats were approaching, all with varying degrees of injury. "Is the asset safe?" she called out once they were within earshot.
"Sofi is perfectly fine," Levi retorted, coming to stand on the other side of Hero.
"Asset?" Hero inquired, blinking at the she-cat, "What's going on here?"
Tags nodded a greeting to the four cats, containing with her own train of thought. "The cream tabby she-cat's Dodge, the darker brown tabby is Rhys, and the grey and white she-cat is Sofi. You've already met Kilter and Levi."
It had taken a moment for Hero to pick out Kilter from the crowd; the tom looked forlorn, his eyes unfocused and his steps uneven. It was the same expression Snowfeather had adopted when he though he had lost Swiftstorm.
"It's nice to meet you all. What the hell is happening?" Hero repeated, though Tags looked intent on avoiding his question. "Right, don't tell me then. We've got a battle to be getting to anyway-"
"We're not going to the battle," Tags murmured in exasperation, begrudgingly turning to face Hero. "Well, not the one you were going to."
Hero cocked his head to the side. "Were?"
"We'll tell you on the way there," Tags explained shortly, and began walking away from the group.
"I didn't agree to come," Hero scoffed, his words lost in the silence of the night as one by one, each cat started off after Tags.
"Just go with it," Dodge sighed, nudging his shoulder as she passed, "Resistance is futile."
Sorry about the update gap! I'm going to be doing the next two chapter consecutively, and will be attempting to publish both before the end of the week. As always, tell me how you liked this chapter in the comments!
~Frost