x.making.your.heart.STOP;; {Patchy/Open}

[Đarκsong]

Darksong padded towards camp, Snowdrift's lifeless body draped over his back. The ebony tom was boiling over with anger. He figured the walk would calm him down, but it only intensified it. He was furious with Patchstar.

Figuring he shouldn't frighten everyone in the clan by bring the queen's body in, he dropped her by the camp entrance. He could feel that her blood was caked onto his pelt, but had far more important things to take care of then dirty fur.

"Patchstar!" He yowled in an angered tone, heading towards the hateful leader's den.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Patchstar was in his den as Darksong had expected, attended to by his daughter as usual. Somewhat less than usual -- although more common of late -- they were arguing heatedly.

"Daddy, I don't know what you thought you were doing. You can't just kill two faithful warriors!"

"They attacked me." The leader's voice was whiny, the truth of his words doubtful. "And they're disrespectful. I need cats' respect, Starr."

"Daddy, if you want respect you'd do better to earn it --"

"You don't know what you're talking about, dear."

The age-old, offhand retort burned in Starredmyst's ears, causing a sudden rush of fury to boil, completely unexpected, in her stomach. She rose to her paws, eyes narrowed, tail whipping.

"Of course not," she spat, finally at her wits' end. "If I knew what I was doing, I'd have given up long ago, and you'd be dead."

To Patchstar's utter astonishment, she whirled around and stalked out of his den, practically running into Darksong. Her ears flicked at his yell and she glanced at the blood in his fur, but hardly seemed to take either in.

"He's inside," she snapped, shoving past him. "Don't try talking sense into him. He's not in the mood to listen."


Patchstar's glare snapped towards the entrance of the den as he heard the black warrior's disrespectful tone. "Darksong," he called coldly. "Don't stand out there screaming like a kit. If you have something to tell me, come inside and say it."

Outside, Starr rolled her eyes and made a rude noise. She started to stalk away, then changed her mind and returned to the den entrance.

"I'm eavesdropping," she told Darksong forthrightly, ice dripping from her words. "Don't try to stop me and don't bother telling D -- telling Patchstar I'm here. I'd like to know what's going on in the Clan before all hell breaks loose, for a change."

[Đarκsong]

Darksong just ignored all the bickering and drama. He had his mind set on one thing; telling Patchstar he screwed up. The thought of telling him this almost amused the ebony tom. Thus, he walked into the leader's den, not caring if Starredmyst listened.

"We just found Snowdrift dead out in the forest. I'm sure that rouge I told you about killed her!" He hissed, "I told you he'd cause trouble, but you ignored it......now a queen is dead and kits are in danger!"

[♫.Starredmyst]

Patchstar's eyes narrowed at Darksong's accusations, but luckily he'd had an excuse ready since early on after his last conversation with the warrior.

"You are mistaken," he told the black tom coldly. "I did not ignore you. I charged you to take care of the rogue. Did you choose not to?"

Outside, Starr's eyes widened, then narrowed in disgust. How could her father be so heartless? There was a queen dead, and all he cared about was not being blamed for it --

But then, he tried to kill his own warriors, a cold voice whispered inside her. Oh, she was through protecting him now.

[Đarκsong]

Darksong's heart was pounding so fast it felt as though it might burst out of his chest. He did feel a pang of guilt about the situation, seeing as Patchstar did say that. Then again...

"If you do not trust me as much as you seem to, why would you leave me to take care of it? Why didn't you say anything to the rest of the clan? I'm not going to run things for you like Moonwhisker does!" His eyes narrowed as he spoke, "Be a leader for once. All you do is sit in here all day talking to shadows and let everyone else deal with everything you should be doing. Take some responsibility for once and stop blaming everyone else for your negligence."

[♫.Starredmyst]

Patchstar listened to Darksong's words with every sign of indifference. He was quiet a moment after, as though to make sure the tom's rant was completely finished, and then spoke with a hint of condescension.

"I do not care how you think I run the Clan. I gave you an assignment the last time we spoke. I just asked you a question, and I expect it to be answered. Did you kill the rogue?"

[Đarκsong]

Darksong burned his amber gaze into Patchstar before storming out of the den. He stopped for a moment in the clearing, pelt shaking and chest heaving rapidly.

"Fine. I'll go take care of him. You wanna know why? Not because you told me to, but because I actually care about my clan mates." He then padded towards the camp exit, "But don't be too surprised if I don't return."

As he walked out, another thought crossed his mind, killing Patchstar would probably do more good for the clan than killing Secret. It brought a smirk to his face for a moment.

[♫.Starredmyst]

Patchstar flicked his tail, careless, as the warrior walked out. His orders were being followed; at the moment, that was what was important in the half-mad tom's mind.

"Starr," he called, wanting to continue the tedious business of convincing his daughter he was in the right, but the she-cat had already stormed away.


Starredmyst followed Darksong.

"I'm coming with you," she snapped, repeating, "don't try to stop me. I can't believe somecat would stoop so low as murdering a queen. And even if killing rogues doesn't make Patchstar any less stupid, it'll make me feel better."

[Đarκsong]

Darksong shot an angry glare at Starredmyst. He wasn't mad at her though. It was just that he would have preferred to take care of this by himself. Then again, he supposed misery enjoyed company. "Fine"

He then padded out of camp without another word. Even though he said he didn't want to return to camp, he would. Darksong couldn't leave Rainclaw and their kits. He plotted the possibility of all of them leaving, but then shoved it out of his mind. He didn't want to think about that right now. -exit-