Gaheris (Hollyleaf Kills Leafpool AU Fic)
Mar 23, 2022 21:10:01 GMT -5
Katanaheart, 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, and 1 more like this
Post by vectoring34 on Mar 23, 2022 21:10:01 GMT -5
"Ah, Sir Gaheris, knight of the Table Round, foul and evil have ye done, and to you great shame. Alas, why have ye slain your mother that bare you? " - Le Morte d'Arthur
Fair warning for a bit of blood and death in this fic!
Fair warning for a bit of blood and death in this fic!
Deathberries would have been easier. But they weren’t there. Claws tore through half the medicine den before accepting that fact, leaving destroyed herbs and leaves scattered all throughout as a testament to the desperation of their owner. Hot, rancid breaths echoed in that claustrophobic space, poisoning the air as surely as the deathberries would have. Yes, they would herald death as surely as the deathberries had. Surer still; after all, unlike these death berries, these breaths had actually been felt by a dead cat before.
A dead cat!
No, a piece of prey that had to be removed by his betters! Starclan itself would have-no, that was a lie, should have-praised the kill, the kill that was enforced by the authority of one with the power of the stars in their paws. But the venerated ancestors kept their praise to themselves, favoring to cast down with their impassive, harsh starlight that seared holes through the pelt, muscle, and bone until a cat could shriek. And one did, through teeth which grit together so tightly that they were in danger of shattering. But they couldn’t break yet. Not when justice had yet to be done.
No, nothing as lofty as justice could come from such a miserable creature as the one laying in the shadows of the medicine den, unworthy to even touch Starclan’s light. But vengeance? Even the half-clan, bastard Hollyleaf could surely achieve this much. Her existence had to be worth this much.
“Hollyleaf?” a voice said from outside the den.
Blood rushed in her ears, a roaring tide that drowned out everything else. Even her vision seemed to turn red, all of her senses being swept away. Every muscle in her body was held as tense as a tree under a hurricane, just a whisker away from snapping. The storm of purpose lashed at Hollyleaf so densely that she moved almost automatically, tensing up her haunches and lowering herself to the ground in preparation to leap. And yet, some tiny, insignificant fragment of her resisted the hurricane.
She was chosen by Starclan. She was one of the Three. She had a grand destiny to save these clans from themselves. She could not get weak now! If it had been poisonous deathberries, she wouldn’t have even hesitated. But she still remembered the way Ashfur-the prey!-had looked and felt as his blood stained her tongue. It had a filthy taste, as if bile had exploded from her gut and replaced her blood and innards in a way that it would never wash out, no matter how often she cleaned herself. Was she really willing to let even more fester within her?
Leafpool was a medicine cat. A valued member of the clan. The tiny fragment of Hollyleaf that was weak and had failed the code and Starclan mewled piteously like a kit ripped away from its parents-what else?-as it begged its case. The storm howled and beat against it, but that tremulous, weak little voice continued to paralyze her. It was a freezing snow cast over her, keeping her paws pinned to the ground, ripping away the strength from her limbs before she could do what she could never undo.
But then Leafpool spoke again. And with the storm in Hollyleaf deadened by the snow, her ears were wide open to hear exactly what Leafpool would say.
“It’s alright. I forgive you.”
Leafpool was her mother too, after all. And that was exactly why she couldn’t stop in this holy mission. This was her mother, the one who had done this to her. Had made her a bastard, had dared to give her the possibility of being one of the Three. And she held herself so high that she could forgive Hollyleaf?!
The ice melted away, replaced by a fire that could have burned down a forest. It melted Hollyleaf’s innards, boiled her blood, and made her bones crack and pop like the branches on the day where she realized the truth. It overpowered the storm, flames feeding upon flames in a conflagration that would surely reach Starclan itself, a fiery revenge that she must have obtained when she consumed Ashfur like a mouse. It was Hollyleaf’s now, to explode out of her mouth and sear her tongue as hot blood met her lips.
Someone screamed. It couldn’t have been Hollyleaf, her teeth were fastened around Leafpool’s windpipe. It couldn’t have been Leafpool for the same reason. But all the same, the screaming, high pitched noise pierced Hollyleaf’s skull, coming in time to the thorn-sharp claws of her mother beating fruitlessly against her face. Black fur was torn out in tufts, one of her eyes was even gouged, but Hollyleaf was a warrior even now; no medicine cat would be able to escape her. Even so, Leafpool wasn’t dying fast. Why is she struggling so much? Stop, it’s for the good of the clan and your own good too! I care too much to see this clan disgrace Starclan and our kin by your harlotry!
There were words Hollyleaf wished she could have said, but she was reduced to mumbling and snorting, drool, snot, and blood mixing together on her face and Leafpool’s neck as the pair thrashed together in a pile of limbs and dishonor. All Hollyleaf could do was grunt and whine, shredding her claws against one who deserved every last drop of this suffering and clamping down ever harder to try to make her die more quickly. She had failed to kill Leafpool like prey, like she had killed Ashfur. If she could not finish this as a warrior, then she must finish it as a beast would, as a dog would. Yes, that’s all she was, a big, stupid, brute of a dog using nothing but its strength to overwhelm a weaker being. Let her name be stained with that if only she could just end this!
The screaming reached fever pitch and the fire burned so hot that Hollyleaf’s vision burst. And in that same instant, she felt blood spray across her muzzle from the rapidly expanding bloom in Leafpool’s neck. Leafpool coughed and shuddered one last time, and finally the light left her eyes. The fire died too, and the noise went away too. Finally, her body was cool and her ears heard nothing else. Hollyleaf coughed out something ugly and red and stared at it before looking over her second victim.
She had freed Thunderclan and her kin of this burden, had purified them. This was her power, this was her moment of triumph! She had finally cleared them all of the shame they had been suffering!
There was a corpse in front of her. The medicine den was destroyed and blood filled her mouth and one of her eyes didn’t see right anymore and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and-
Her limbs moved by themselves, stumbling her out of the cave like a shambolic nightmare out of a story made to scare kits. The fire was gone, burned out of her by its own intensity. Even the sickening bile had gone too. There was just emptiness as she sat outside of the medicine den, staring at the stars with her one good eye. Starclan’s silence was deafening. So she screamed at them instead.
“I WAS DEFENDING OUR CLAN AND KIN’S HONOR! I SAVED LEAFPOOL FROM BEING ENSNARED BY HIS CHARMS AGAIN! IT SHAMED US ALL!”
Hollyleaf waited for a reply again. She waited for a long time. She waited so long that she forgot she was even alive.
Somewhere in the middle of her waiting, her brothers had gotten to standing in front of her. Lionblaze’s eyes were wide, staring without a hint of recognition as though he was looking at some strange new animal rather than his own kin. Jayfeather’s own expression was twisted into a sickened one. They’re the real three. I’m just a fake.
Hollyleaf wanted to run, but her paws were too heavy to move as she lay down before her kin, staring up at them. Jayfeather would understand once he read her mind. He would know exactly why this had been necessary. Lionblaze had fantasized about killing Heathertail; he too must understand. They had to, because otherwise, this would have been for nothing. All of the suffering that had started from the moment their bastard existence had been born would have been utterly meaningless.
“Crowfeather did it.” Hollyleaf thought those words as a statement. But Jayfeather spoke it aloud as a question. “Hollyleaf got here too soon to stop him…”
Jayfeather understood. Or maybe he didn’t, and just felt pity for the wretch before him. Hollyleaf could not bring herself to care. Caring took too much energy, and her vision swam in and out of focus uncontrollably.
Lionblaze stared at his kin with a horrified, dumb expression befitting a mouse more than a warrior. The words which came next from his maw were thin and reedy, making it sound hollow as Hollyleaf’s heart. “Another lie? I swear I’ll kill you if it is.”
“No. We’re free from lies now” Hollyleaf croaked out, standing up and staring hard at her brothers. The real Three looked upon her, judged her, and then nodded their heads ever so slowly. They had no faith in her, even Hollyleaf could see that. But some force of kinship compelled them to not instantly strike her down as the power of the stars surely demanded to do.
No, they had other work to do. The hollow space in Hollyleaf began to fill with heat once more, as she realized the meaning of the lie.
“When we next find Crowfeather, we can avenge Leafpool.”
A dead cat!
No, a piece of prey that had to be removed by his betters! Starclan itself would have-no, that was a lie, should have-praised the kill, the kill that was enforced by the authority of one with the power of the stars in their paws. But the venerated ancestors kept their praise to themselves, favoring to cast down with their impassive, harsh starlight that seared holes through the pelt, muscle, and bone until a cat could shriek. And one did, through teeth which grit together so tightly that they were in danger of shattering. But they couldn’t break yet. Not when justice had yet to be done.
No, nothing as lofty as justice could come from such a miserable creature as the one laying in the shadows of the medicine den, unworthy to even touch Starclan’s light. But vengeance? Even the half-clan, bastard Hollyleaf could surely achieve this much. Her existence had to be worth this much.
“Hollyleaf?” a voice said from outside the den.
Blood rushed in her ears, a roaring tide that drowned out everything else. Even her vision seemed to turn red, all of her senses being swept away. Every muscle in her body was held as tense as a tree under a hurricane, just a whisker away from snapping. The storm of purpose lashed at Hollyleaf so densely that she moved almost automatically, tensing up her haunches and lowering herself to the ground in preparation to leap. And yet, some tiny, insignificant fragment of her resisted the hurricane.
She was chosen by Starclan. She was one of the Three. She had a grand destiny to save these clans from themselves. She could not get weak now! If it had been poisonous deathberries, she wouldn’t have even hesitated. But she still remembered the way Ashfur-the prey!-had looked and felt as his blood stained her tongue. It had a filthy taste, as if bile had exploded from her gut and replaced her blood and innards in a way that it would never wash out, no matter how often she cleaned herself. Was she really willing to let even more fester within her?
Leafpool was a medicine cat. A valued member of the clan. The tiny fragment of Hollyleaf that was weak and had failed the code and Starclan mewled piteously like a kit ripped away from its parents-what else?-as it begged its case. The storm howled and beat against it, but that tremulous, weak little voice continued to paralyze her. It was a freezing snow cast over her, keeping her paws pinned to the ground, ripping away the strength from her limbs before she could do what she could never undo.
But then Leafpool spoke again. And with the storm in Hollyleaf deadened by the snow, her ears were wide open to hear exactly what Leafpool would say.
“It’s alright. I forgive you.”
Leafpool was her mother too, after all. And that was exactly why she couldn’t stop in this holy mission. This was her mother, the one who had done this to her. Had made her a bastard, had dared to give her the possibility of being one of the Three. And she held herself so high that she could forgive Hollyleaf?!
The ice melted away, replaced by a fire that could have burned down a forest. It melted Hollyleaf’s innards, boiled her blood, and made her bones crack and pop like the branches on the day where she realized the truth. It overpowered the storm, flames feeding upon flames in a conflagration that would surely reach Starclan itself, a fiery revenge that she must have obtained when she consumed Ashfur like a mouse. It was Hollyleaf’s now, to explode out of her mouth and sear her tongue as hot blood met her lips.
Someone screamed. It couldn’t have been Hollyleaf, her teeth were fastened around Leafpool’s windpipe. It couldn’t have been Leafpool for the same reason. But all the same, the screaming, high pitched noise pierced Hollyleaf’s skull, coming in time to the thorn-sharp claws of her mother beating fruitlessly against her face. Black fur was torn out in tufts, one of her eyes was even gouged, but Hollyleaf was a warrior even now; no medicine cat would be able to escape her. Even so, Leafpool wasn’t dying fast. Why is she struggling so much? Stop, it’s for the good of the clan and your own good too! I care too much to see this clan disgrace Starclan and our kin by your harlotry!
There were words Hollyleaf wished she could have said, but she was reduced to mumbling and snorting, drool, snot, and blood mixing together on her face and Leafpool’s neck as the pair thrashed together in a pile of limbs and dishonor. All Hollyleaf could do was grunt and whine, shredding her claws against one who deserved every last drop of this suffering and clamping down ever harder to try to make her die more quickly. She had failed to kill Leafpool like prey, like she had killed Ashfur. If she could not finish this as a warrior, then she must finish it as a beast would, as a dog would. Yes, that’s all she was, a big, stupid, brute of a dog using nothing but its strength to overwhelm a weaker being. Let her name be stained with that if only she could just end this!
The screaming reached fever pitch and the fire burned so hot that Hollyleaf’s vision burst. And in that same instant, she felt blood spray across her muzzle from the rapidly expanding bloom in Leafpool’s neck. Leafpool coughed and shuddered one last time, and finally the light left her eyes. The fire died too, and the noise went away too. Finally, her body was cool and her ears heard nothing else. Hollyleaf coughed out something ugly and red and stared at it before looking over her second victim.
She had freed Thunderclan and her kin of this burden, had purified them. This was her power, this was her moment of triumph! She had finally cleared them all of the shame they had been suffering!
There was a corpse in front of her. The medicine den was destroyed and blood filled her mouth and one of her eyes didn’t see right anymore and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and the blood would never wash away and-
Her limbs moved by themselves, stumbling her out of the cave like a shambolic nightmare out of a story made to scare kits. The fire was gone, burned out of her by its own intensity. Even the sickening bile had gone too. There was just emptiness as she sat outside of the medicine den, staring at the stars with her one good eye. Starclan’s silence was deafening. So she screamed at them instead.
“I WAS DEFENDING OUR CLAN AND KIN’S HONOR! I SAVED LEAFPOOL FROM BEING ENSNARED BY HIS CHARMS AGAIN! IT SHAMED US ALL!”
Hollyleaf waited for a reply again. She waited for a long time. She waited so long that she forgot she was even alive.
Somewhere in the middle of her waiting, her brothers had gotten to standing in front of her. Lionblaze’s eyes were wide, staring without a hint of recognition as though he was looking at some strange new animal rather than his own kin. Jayfeather’s own expression was twisted into a sickened one. They’re the real three. I’m just a fake.
Hollyleaf wanted to run, but her paws were too heavy to move as she lay down before her kin, staring up at them. Jayfeather would understand once he read her mind. He would know exactly why this had been necessary. Lionblaze had fantasized about killing Heathertail; he too must understand. They had to, because otherwise, this would have been for nothing. All of the suffering that had started from the moment their bastard existence had been born would have been utterly meaningless.
“Crowfeather did it.” Hollyleaf thought those words as a statement. But Jayfeather spoke it aloud as a question. “Hollyleaf got here too soon to stop him…”
Jayfeather understood. Or maybe he didn’t, and just felt pity for the wretch before him. Hollyleaf could not bring herself to care. Caring took too much energy, and her vision swam in and out of focus uncontrollably.
Lionblaze stared at his kin with a horrified, dumb expression befitting a mouse more than a warrior. The words which came next from his maw were thin and reedy, making it sound hollow as Hollyleaf’s heart. “Another lie? I swear I’ll kill you if it is.”
“No. We’re free from lies now” Hollyleaf croaked out, standing up and staring hard at her brothers. The real Three looked upon her, judged her, and then nodded their heads ever so slowly. They had no faith in her, even Hollyleaf could see that. But some force of kinship compelled them to not instantly strike her down as the power of the stars surely demanded to do.
No, they had other work to do. The hollow space in Hollyleaf began to fill with heat once more, as she realized the meaning of the lie.
“When we next find Crowfeather, we can avenge Leafpool.”