A Blaze During Drought

[Deleted]

| Creative title is creative. Blaze only. |


Drought stifled a yawn as he flopped down on a low branch of his tree, paws dangling in the air. Things were quiet in DeathClan recently. Perhaps he wasn't doing enough, perhaps he should order a raid on a Clan - it wouldn't do to let those CloudClan-worshippers get too relaxed, now would it? But he would need time to consider it. There would be no more massive takeovers. Not after the incident with Lyric, anyway. The invasion would have to be short and sweet; he'd need to hit the group of his choice where it would really hurt.

Maybe it would be better to wait until leaf-fall had really settled in. Better yet, he could wait until leaf-bare: a small group of cats could easily be sent to destroy herb supplies and steal stored prey. Yes... that would do nicely. In the meantime, however, there'd be nothing to do.

Just sitting around for moons would be extremely boring. The leader furrowed his brow; he supposed that he could always go to the rogue lands and recruit cats if only to give himself something to do. But rogues were usually rogues for a reason; many wouldn't be willing to listen to him, and those that were had probably already joined.

Indeed, Drought was about ready to drown in the depths of his own boredom when there was a flicker of movement at the edge of the clearing which surrounded his tree-den. "Who's there?" called the black-and-white tom immediately; he could've sworn he saw a reddish-orange pelt in the shadows. Had that fox decided to come back for another beating?

[Blaze]

☣In the night your heart is full but in the morning empty☣

Time was liquid under the moonlight.

It shimmered, flowing forth like feather-light will-o-wisps that lit up a path and winked out of existence the very next second. It was a fickle mistress that brought about the most unwelcome of change and destroyed the most precious of balances. Blaze understood it far too well. After all, she had spent the past few moons contemplating the delicate orb of quicksilver in shards at her paws. She had decided to call for a pause. Life was busy. Deathclan was shifting through unsteady turmoil, and she was one that was supposed to support the rogue alliance through the brambles. However, she had been nothing but a passive observer. There was nothing she could do. Once one leader was gone, they got another one, then another, and she really could do nothing to quell the chaos that was new members crying out in hunger. The noise got too much for old ears.

So she left.

Part of her really regretted turning her back, but she had assumed that nature would bide its time turning around the course of natural entropy in the "clan" she had poured so much of her time and energy into. Fighting. Hunting. Soothing. Everything had its ups and downs, and hopefully this time around, she would be able to see the highest mountain peak from her position in the valley. She would ask nothing of the place. She would simply slip back in. She was adaptable - able to fit in the little kinks of the machine like good-quality oil to get rusty gears turning again. The flame - the catalyst - had returned.

The senior warrior slipped through the night like a bloody red scar on the inky background. He brilliant pelt had been reduced in color from its usual fiery red to a dim candle flame under the lack of light. Nonetheless, she was still positively clandestine. She was a flash across the vision, and that was only if whoever had noticed was looking, paying attention. And it turned out that cats did after all pay attention here. That was a good sign. The somewhat familiar voice made her stop in her tracks, her light padding vanishing from pointed ears as she switched to stealth.

"Drought," her silky voice poured forth from the trees like time itself - silky, enticing, and sweet. However, it was a voice that was almost apologetic, and time was anything but rueful about its own cruelties. Blaze emerged, melting out of the shadows into full view like a match suddenly lit into a ghostly fire. "I dare say that it's been a while."

☣I'm the one who left you you're not the one who left me☣

[Deleted]

Now here was a cat whom Drought had assumed dead, or otherwise long gone. Blaze had been around in the days of Viper, back when he was still a youngling and new in DeathClan. Then, around the time that Anarchy had replaced Viper and Fallacy had taken over in place of Anarchy, the reddish-orange cat had disappeared. Drought hadn't thought it too odd - before he'd taken charge of the rogue Clan, most of the older members had left. He'd built DeathClan back up with new blood instead. It felt wrong that so few cats knew the DeathClan of old.

The appearance of Blaze brought old questions back to light. Drought blinked in astonishment for a good few seconds before he was able to utter a response to her calm greeting.

"Great Darkpool, you're actually alive? Where have you been for all these moons?"

It was a good thing that Blaze seemed unscathed. Had she been seen in the territory, younger cats would have probably taken her for an intruder and attacked. Indeed, as the black-and-white tom leaped from his perch and stepped over to her, he could tell that her scent had changed. But, to his relief, it did not carry any traces of the four Clans. She must have been hiding in loner or rogue territory... or perhaps some other uncharted place, far from the cats of this land.


| Sorry, don't really have enough muse for 400-ish word posts. Hope this will do. |

[Blaze]

☣In the night your heart is full but in the morning empty☣

The look on the leader's face was priceless, and Blaze let loose her chesire grin to express her endless amusement. Her ability to adapt and survive seemed to shock many cats, but surprise surprise, she was the one that had made it through. She had been born smaller than average, but deadlier than most. Her smaller stature lent itself to her speed and her clever, quick wit. The scars she had gained from the past were hidden beneath her new flaming pelt, breathing a new fiery light into a ghost that should have been long gone. But she was not gone. Older, yes, but nowhere near weakened. Only stronger.

"I'm actually alive," the she-cat crooned in reply, her emerald eyes flashing like the brilliant scales of a venomous snake. Her voice was silk, but it preyed on others. On the way up, she had to bring others down. She was the mamba a the forest that ate itself and forever on through renewal. She took a moment to scan her surroundings, finding a sense of nostalgia and unfamiliarity at the same time in the Deathclan she had returned to. It was surviving, at least, and she would have to thank Drought for that in his own way. He was leader now, from what she had heard from the not-so-silent mouths of the novices in the territory, squeaking out conversations as they tried to make life out of a land very much dead. "I took a break," she answered simply, and it was true. Nothing more, nothing less. She was an optimizer. She took advantage of what was present, and if nothing was, she would fade away and wait until times were more favorable

☣I'm the one who left you you're not the one who left me☣

[Deleted]

"A break? I daresay it's been a bit more than that." The leader's shock at seeing a comrade he'd assumed dead was now fading... and was replaced by a sharp twinge of anger. Blaze hadn't exactly leaped into a long-winded explanation of her adventured as he'd hoped she would. But like it or not, Drought needed to know where she'd been for all those moons. Had she been living in the Clans at one point? The black-and-white cat had become extremely paranoid about traitors after what Lyric had done. He couldn't allow Blaze to casually slip back into life as a DeathClanner if she'd been aiding the enemy. If he'd have to turn her away... so be it.

His expression hardened, and he spoke again. "You abandoned DeathClan at a time when it needed you. With the changes in leadership, we were weak. Not to say that you were the only one who left... but that doesn't make the situation any better." Drought's tail-tip flicked impatiently. "You haven't exactly answered my question either. Where were you?" There was quite a distinction between 'where' and 'what' - while he still hoped that Blaze would give a more detailed explanation about what she'd been up to, the places she'd been were a tad more important at the moment.

[Blaze]

☣In the night your heart is full but in the morning empty☣

Fury fury. It rolled of his tongue like liquid fire, feeding her amusement and flickering like flames of irritation. She didn't mind it. She had a naturally bright demeanor. It wavered in the wind, but never went out. She was no candle flame. She was a blaze alive in a dark forest that continued to eat itself, renewing, over and over again. She simply continued to smile at him, trying to think of any cat that would have made a better leader than him. From what she could remember, the candidates were either too old or not fierce enough. Drought fit perfectly, so he had assumed the position.

"I never had any doubt that Deathclan would pick itself up. I've served longer than you, and I have watched the way this alliance breaks and then reforms itself. I wasn't needed. Besides, tell me how much use I would have been? I was never one for quick violence, and those capable of leading would have torn themselves apart for the position with or without me. What matters is that Deathclan still exists right now. For that, I must thank and commend you." The words were smooth and sweet like honey, soothing more than defensive or angry. She did not want a confrontation, and it was true. She had disappeared for a long time, and she did not have much of an excuse for that. She had left Deathclan, but she had been confident in its ability to find its feet, nonetheless.

Blaze sat, blinking her emerald eyes at the impatient leader. Part of his image made her think back to Viper, his demanding aura and commanding presence. A new era indeed. "I went home. I wasn't born here, obviously. Imagine my lack of surprise when I found my old forest gone. Twolegs everywhere. I remained on the edge of the trees for a while. I was looking for anyone left behind. Not a trace of any cat." It was the reason she had left home in the first place. Her mother had been carrying her younger sister, who was complaining because she was both exhausted and famished. They had reached the edge of Rockclan, and for trespassing, they were attacked. Her mother was left for dead. Her sister had joined the clan. She had fled, and then she had joined the Deathclanners. Her sister, she had learned, was no longer alive. She had died serving the clan that Blaze so hated. A traitor, she had deemed Blizzardwind, but that didn't matter much to her anymore. A past was a past, nothing more, nothing less.

☣I'm the one who left you you're not the one who left me☣

[Deleted]

Drought sank his claws deep into the ground when Blaze chose to stare and smile for several long moments. He ripped up clods of earth and grass with each small twitch of his paws. Darkpool willing, he wouldn't have to tear into Blaze's pelt that day.

Then again, Drought did not make decisions based on his feelings. He only did what was necessary, and had turned on many former allies. It had been difficult for him the first time... a friend of his had spoken out against Anarchy before fleeing. But he'd gone after her, and dragged her back to DeathClan for justice. The scarred tom had found it easier to act on logic after that; when Lyric betrayed him, there was no hesitation as he shredded her before his underlings and cast her out from the territory. He had truly grown numb to emotion.

He narrowed his eyes when he finally did get a response from the flame-colored female. "You weren't here in the moons before I seized power; you don't understand how bad it was. DeathClan was a shell. It's a miracle I was even able to bring it back... and while I did, there were plenty who would oppose me. For Darkpool's sake, there still are; they're just quieter now. It certainly wouldn't have hurt to have an experienced cat supporting me while I struggled to claim leadership."

A growl rumbled in the back of his throat as he continued to stare at Blaze. Naturally, he had no idea what exactly 'home' was for the female... But it seemed that she was being honest about not spending time in the Clans, so Drought decided to let it go. The one remaining issue was the fact that she had left in the first place, when he would have appreciated an ally backing up his claim to leadership.

[Blaze]

☣In the night your heart is full but in the morning empty☣

It was safe to say that she was slightly tired from her journey back. she wasn't in the mood to be lectured by someone younger than her, leader or not. She watched Drought carefully with her bright emerald eyes, half a smirk and half a smile on her face. Expressions were hardly ever lost on the senior warrior, but they were also hardly returned by her at the same time. She seemed to know nothing but that mask, smiling, smiling, forever smiling. She just waited patiently, taking in his claws that scored the earth. It was a nice patch of grass. she didn't see why he had to go and tear it up. It could have been a good spot for prey to feed on. And they fed on prey. But she wasn't about to go and tell him that now.

"Drought, don't deny that the fight has made you tougher. Any young and capable cat could have stepped up to claim the position, but with you fighting for it like that, you made the position yours." That much was true, and she knew that if he hadn't been able to squash opposition with his own strength, then he wouldn't have deserved to be leader at all. The she-cat stood, stretching casually as her pelt rippled in the darkness like a fledgling flame.

"If you are going to be so sour about it, I could leave. I go where I am wanted, and if you will not let me reestablish my home here, I will find a place in the rogue territory. I am here to offer you my services. I am nothing more than a support. I have never been capable pf more than that. In a time of chaos without a clear leader, I have no place. I don't expect you to understand that about my character, but I do know a thing or two about advising, if you will allow me to return to doing that."

☣I'm the one who left you you're not the one who left me☣