xxForever x My x Eternalxx [Open]

[~Hawktail~]

Bleak grinned viciously. "Perfect!" he yowled, leaping forward just as Night did, landing on the other side of the fox's throat. Sinking in his fangs, the little tabby's ears rang as the silence of the night was ripped apart by the screams of the fox. It shook and staggered, but Bleak refused to be thrown aside again. Pinching his eyes shut, the tom bit down, down, down. Blood poured into his mouth, and yellow eyes snapped open in surprise at the hot liquid. Almost instinctively, Bleak's claws sank into the skin of the fox for a better hold, his jaws loosened, and his small tongue lapped up the blood. A shiver of delight passed through Bleak's body. The fox toppled, writhing on the ground. Bleak clawed into the animal's veins. He completely removed his mouth once the fox had stopped moving. Blood rushed from the tom's maw, and it was sprayed into his pelt. he turned to Night, "You all good, Night?" His hushed, high voice ice. jaws were parted as he panted, making him look like an insane vampire cat. But,then again, who's to say he wasn't?

[Barketh]

[ Wow... Bleak...]

Closing his jaws tighter, the tom dug in his claws, feeling blood seep slowly from the creature's fur. However, when he should've shared Bleak's sense of victory, he felt a shudder of horror as the fox let out one last cry in the throws of death before falling still. But all the black tom could feel was the limp body at his paws, still warm. The blood that washed from its wounds. The eyes that had once shone brightly now glazed over. And a cold, cold memory swept through him.
Shaking it off, Night reminded himself that it was for self-defense. The fox had attacked him and Bleak. It wouldn't have hesitated to kill them either.
Blinking, he turned around and his eyes widened as he spotted the after-math of Bleak's attack. Blood dripped from the small tom's mouth, and for a moment, Night thought the tom's jaw had been broken. But as he looked closer, he was shocked to see that it was the fox's blood, splashed across the tom's muzzle. Swallowing back an uneasy response, the tom reapplied a sense of calm.
"Yes. And you?"
He meowed, keeping his limbs stiff to stop them from trembling. In the battle, he'd forgotten all about his previous injuries.

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[~Hawktail~]

OOC:: I guess... I get into my RPing... ^-^'

Bleak panted a few times before he responded to Night. "Just a little shaken up. I'm fine though." Bleak swiped his tongue around his muzzle, the bitter fox blood stinging his taste buds. Sitting down, Bleak lifted a blood-covered paw and began to wash up a bit. The tabby didn't mind the tang of blood, he was used to it, and he had come to like it. Once his paw was cleaned, he began to wash behind his ears at at his muzzle. "You fought quite well for a cat who just nearly died," he commented in his high-toned voice. Night had been very brave to have fought by Bleak's side. Now that he was thinking about it, Bleak couldn't recall anytime that he had fought side-by-side with another cat. Well, there was always a first time for everything, wasn't there?

[Barketh]

OOC: Gaa, sorry for the super late response. =O

Shrugging, he winced slightly as he irritated a cut he'd received on his shoulder from his fall. Blinking, Night smiled wistfully at the loner.
"Well, I'd say the same for you. Conquering one's fear is considered one of the greatest obstacles in life."
He meowed, shivering slightly as a cold wind swept through the trees. He couldn't recall ever really learning to fight properly. Sure, he'd trained with Streak and Hawk under the instruction of Raven, and he was still honored to have been taught by his family's best fighter. However, it didn't change the fact that, before Thorn and Jack's ambush, he had never been in a serious battle. He'd sparred and wrestled with his cousins and siblings when he was younger, but never with claws unsheathed. In fact, his first battle was also the first time he'd killed.
Murderer...
The voice whispered in his ears again, and he noted that this was the third time it'd spoken to him since fleeing to the forests. Blue eyes similar to the hue of the river just before the sun set, the tom looked over at where Bleak was standing.
That was when the tom's body caught up to all that had happened, and like a boulder dropped into a lake, the tom's legs buckled under him and he collapsed, vision ebbing in and out. Still, despite his own weariness, the one thing he had on his mind, the only thing he could see and think about, were the cold, glazed eyes of the cat he had killed while defending his kin.
He had faught to protect them, but that wasn't a reason to kill. No, there was never a reason to commit murder.
Closing his eyes briefly, he welcomed the darkness that clouded his vision and numbed his body, taking away the pain.
"I'm sorry... Forgive me, please... Even if it was to protect them, who would die anyway... I'm sorry..."
He murmured, words slightly mumbled and slurred. However, just as he was about to slip into the shadows of his mind, he was startled awake by the voice speaking again, seemingly yelling at him to stand up. The tom's eyes flashed open and he struggled upwards, barely managing to lift himself off the ground. For a moment, his limb trembled, quivering and threatening to give out, but he finally was able to hold himself upright, panting but awake.
Swaying slightly, he regained his balance and glanced over at the fox's corpse.
"As much as I hate to say it, we should probably move its corpse elsewhere. Either that or we go to a different location. If this fox was bold enough to attack us, then larger predators might try it to; especially with this blood scent around us."
And that was when it hit him. The fox hadn't been brave, and it hadn't been so starving that it had resorted to eating cats. Rather, as the tom thought about it, the realization dawned on him painfully, like a cavern slowly caving in around you until you noticed too late that you were trapped.
"No... Actually, I should probably go."
He meowed, looking up, eyes taking on a darker tone.
It wasn't Bleak, or the fact that the fox would've only had to deal with two cats. I fell earlier. I was already bleeding. It was my blood-scent that attracted the fox. Just burying it elsewhere won't help at all as long as I'm around.
His eyes narrowed and he cursed himself under his breath for not realizing it sooner.

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[~Hawktail~]

Bleak's yellow eyes widened as Night fell to the forest floor, muttering something. The little cat took a step forward, but, just as he did, Night rose. "Move it? You were heavy enough..." the tom muttered, glancing back at the dead animal. Looking back at Night in time to catch his words, Bleak blinked with surprise at the dark aura that seems to role around the mostly black cat.

"Why?" Bleak blurted out. He clenched his teeth and looked down at his spotted paws. Why had he just said that? He had no need for the cat to be here. But there is no reason for him to leave either... A voice sounded in his head; small and weak. His old self... Bleak snapped his head up at Night. Words began to tumble out of his blood spattered mouth before his teeth could catch them. "There is no need for you to leave. Plus, you're hurt." His wide eyes dashed around, as if looking for something to say. "You just can't!" he finally yowled, his voice cracking with desperation.

OOC:: The past always comes back and bites you in the butt...

[Barketh]

OOC: Yeah... Tell me about it. ^^

The tom stared blankly at Bleak for several moments. However, his eyes widened at the cat's words, leaving him slightly shocked and taken aback. As far as he knew, Bleak thought of him as being at the same level as the fox. Unnecessary. However, why the tom seemed to desperate to make him stay was a mystery to him, and his mind emptied as he was left without an answer.
However, it brought back the bitter-sweet sensation of having someone tell you to stay when you otherwise would've left. He recalled always leaving on hunting trips with Static, Scree, and Iris. Leaf would always beg him not to go, and he would always tell her to wait for him to come home with plenty of prey. And he always had.
The tom blinked, dismissing the memories. Looking up, his eyes hardened and he found himself itching with an uncharacteristic irritation.
"You said so yourself, didn't you? That I'm a burden... Besides, that fox smelled of cubs. I wouldn't be surprised if its family is nearby. They'll smell my blood and come over here looking for their kin. When that happens, you don't want to be around. You'll be better off without me."
He meowed, voice harshly direct as his eyes narrowed. The tom straightened up, and if a cat from his former kingdom saw him, they might've instantly made the mistake of believing him to be Moon, his father.
Night wouldn't let someone else get hurt because he couldn't help them, though. He might've been unable to save his kin, but this time he had a chance to change things. It was different now.

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[~Hawktail~]

Bleak suddenly felt so weak and small once Night stood tall. The tabby was much smaller than Night. "I never said that..." he whispered as Night said burden. Once Night finished, Bleak couldn't help but get a little angry. "And how do you know I'm better off without you?" he hissed, though his eyes still pleaded. "You wouldn't know! No one does!" Raising his voice stung his ribs and ears from the fox blow. "I don't know your past, and you don't know mine, but... but..." Bleak fumbled for words. Crouching down and looking up at Night, his eyes huge and begging, Bleak mewed all that came to mind. "Just don't go... I don't want to be left again, not now..."

[Barketh]

The tom stiffened, and he felt the familiar claws of loneliness tear at him. He wanted to stay, wanted the companionship of another cat. Yet that was his own selfishness. If he stayed, he would only end up hurting the tom.
He recalled a time when he had been unafraid to make friends, to do whatever he wanted. Yet now...
His past would always haunt him, he couldn't change that. Even now, he would only be luring those foxes. He hadn't been lying when he told Bleak that the tom wouldn't want to be around. Night hadn't only been referring to the foxes, but also to his own past. If he had anyone with him while Thorn was hunting him, he doubted his cousin would show any mercy.
However, he was about to turn around and walk away when Bleak suddenly reminded him of a face he knew too well. Helplessness, a bitterly agonizing feeling of loneliness. Of being abandoned.
He knew, because he felt this. What had happened to the tom to make him hurt enough to plead for him not to go?
Biting down on his tongue, he winced as his fangs met contact with the cut from before.
"Why... A cat you only just met... Shouldn't mean anything to you..."
He meowed, though his voice wavered and pain clouded his gaze.

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[~Hawktail~]

Bleak began to tremble slightly. He might stay! He could hear the thought pound in his head. the little cat shook his head. "I don't know." His high-toned voice was surprisingly hushed. "I just recall being left once... To fend for myself because of my problems and what I had done." Yellow eyes clouded with bitter memories of water, claws, and blood. His mother shrieking at him not to do it; not to kill his litter mates. But he had ignored her cries of despair and finished the job. She couldn't step in, since he had tied up her paws. Once she had freed herself, it had been too late; only one of her kits had lived, and that kit was Bleak. She could have killed him, she could have clawed his throat and avenged her kits' deaths, but she didn't. Instead, she had left him, and he had felt it. Loneliness. Racing after her to apologize , but only getting swatted away and cursed. Now her words rang in Bleak's mind and he murmured them aloud. "Bleak, you are not my kit. You are nothing but a heartless monster. You killed them, how can you even be called a cat? Now stop following me before I am forced to do what you did to your siblings. You demon!" Shrieking the last sentence, Bleak felt hollow inside. Curling into a tight sitting position, he held his head low, looking to his paws. His head shook back and forth, his eyes pinched shut and muttering over and over again, "You demon... You demon..."

OOC:: Abandonment issues...

[Barketh]

The tom was like him, in a way. He had never wanted to be left alone, but sometimes fate took a course you could not alter. And from what Bleak was saying, it seemed as though the tom had done some things that had resulted in his own abandonment.
However, his eyes clouded with confusion momentarily until he realized that Bleak's words sounded as though he was reciting what another cat had said to him. Most likely his mother or father. Wincing slightly at the words 'monster' and 'demon', he recalled the words that had always been thrown at him and his cousins whenever they went walking around the kingdom.
He knew his father was hated for killing Bane, the just ruler who every cat seemed to have looked up to. And the weight of his father's sins had fallen on his entire family. Night, Leaf, Claw, Streak, Blacky, Hawk, everyone.
Shuddering slightly, even though he had never shown it before, every time he had ever been called a demon, claws had seemed to tear through him. He didn't want to be alone, didn't want to be hated, and most importantly, didn't want to be abandoned.
"No... You're not a demon... No one is... Not as long as they still have emotions that other cats can feel and understand. Bleak, whatever you did... It doesn't matter anymore, at least not to me."
He smiled sadly, looking the loner in the eye.
"We should hurry up and go before those foxes come."
He meowed, using the word 'we'.

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[~Hawktail~]

Bleak looked up at Night. The other cat's sad smile twinged at Bleak's heart. Hearing the word 'we' instead of 'I', the little cat smiled slightly. Nodding, he stood, preparing himself for whatever might be out there for the two cats. Well, I'm not alone tonight...

OOC:: Gah! Short... If you wanna keep going with this, I'm up for it!

[Barketh]

The tom smiled, limping steadily into the undergrowth as he pushed past the bushes and ferns.
"I guess we can try finding a bed of moss or something..."
He trailed off, violet eyes scanning the forest for some sort of shelter. He wanted to put as much distance between them and the foxes. If he brought harm to the cat with him, he would never forgive himself. Yet he was at a cross-road. Bleak would hate him if he left, and if he stayed he would only hurt the tom.
Biting down, Night gritted his teeth, pausing as he searched for a suitable den.
We could always go to that place...
He thought, remembering the cave where he had met Elodie. He hadn't seen her since, even after passing by every now and then, and he had a feeling she had moved out. Perhaps they could stay there, if not anywhere else.

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[~Hawktail~]

"Hm," Bleak made a soft noise. Flicking his tail, he followed after Night. glancing about, searching for someplace. Turning his head back to Night, Bleak decided to speak softly. "I don't know this place very well, so I'm clueless for the matter. Some help." Bleak looked about once more, seeing as they needed to get away from the murder scene.
Bleak suddenly got an idea. "Wait, I know. If I try to leave a murder scene, I just go and find someplace eventually. Heading in the opposite direction normally works best. Foxes are idiots, so they wouldn't know left from right. I say we head that way." the little cat flicked his tail away from the dead fox. going the opposite way always was a good thing for Bleak, and it had yet to fail him.

[Barketh]

Blinking, he wondered why he hadn't thought of that in the first place. Smiling, he nodded appreciatively at the tom.
"Alright; good idea."
Following the tom as they headed back to where the fox's carcass lay, he cringed slightly at the blood scent but brushed it aside. It was rather funny that he was still not used to the heavy, metallic smell.
Glancing around, he wondered if any cats had seen the fight, but he doubted they had, otherwise they might've arrived afterwards. Unless they were scared away by the two cats, that is. Recalling how Bleak's muzzle had been splashed with the fox's blood, he resisted the urge to ask the tom why he'd drank the creature's lifesupply, but he said nothing. Instead, passing through the clearing and heading in the opposite direction of the fox, he decided to leave those thoughts behind him along with the animal's body.

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[~Hawktail~]

Bleak flicked his ears and led the way through the forest. He grimaced at the drying blood that clung to his fur and tugged with every movement, but refused to complain. glancing about, Bleak wondered if they would run into anything else and have to fight once more; the thought tired him, so he pushed it aside. Finally deciding to break the silence, Bleak clicked a few times. Hitting his tongue in the floor of his mouth and making the clack echo around the air, the little cat felt a little more at ease. He wondered if Night would mind, but then ignored that thought. Night would tell him to stop if he wanted to. Looking around without stopping the noise, Bleak could only see darkness. I hope Night sees better in this than me...