With Redstar and Meadowmist’s forces closing in, SkyClan plans an ambush. Birdswoop, a young warrior and dedicated spy for WindClan’s leader-healer, is quick to relay any and all information. Meadowmist and Redstar organize patrols to sweep the whole area and take SkyClan once and for all.

Seeing an opportunity, Redstar assigns Amberstrike, Lightfall, and Sandtalon to a patrol lead by the sturdy and beloved former deputy Eagleheart. Their patrol is sent deep into SkyClan’s remaining territory, somewhere they would never survive without backup. If Applescar’s father and brothers are gone, she won’t have any more family left, and playing her back into his paws will be easy.

But he miscalculates.

When Eagleheart- strong, trusted, noble Eagleheart- comes back to the northern camp painstakingly dragging bodies behind her one at a time, when those bodies are bloodied and mauled beyond anything the Clan has ever had to see on their own warriors, when Lightfall’s eyes have been reduced to two horrific splits in his face and Sandtalon’s neck is still bleeding out and Amberstrike’s ears are shredded, dangling ribbons of delicate skin-

Applescar breaks.

If they’d had the word for it, northern ThunderClan would have called it supernova. The explosive death of a star. Applescar screamed like all the fire of StarClan was inside of her, like LionClan had possessed her lungs and she roared.

“YOU KILLED THEM!”

She turns on Redstar, his cold blue eyes, his perpetually bloodstained fur. She turns on him and screams again, claws digging into the soft bed of pine needles, blood roaring in her ears. She’s vaguely aware of the collective step back the Clan takes, of the choked noise Eagleheart makes. She doesn’t know how long she’s been wordlessly wailing or how loud, maybe the other ThunderClan camps could hear her, maybe SkyClan, maybe her entire family now in StarClan could hear her. She doesn’t know when the tears start to fall, when the screams turn to sobs, when her throat goes raw. It could have been heartbeats. It could have been seasons.

In the same moment Applescar feels her legs give out, Smokemist appears at her side and pushes her to her paws again. Redstar leaps down from the thick tree branch above his den and pads forward, pawsteps soft, but not like a concerned leader or clanmate- he steps slowly toward Applescar like she’s an alert mouse.

“I did not kill anyone, Applescar,” he meows, voice carefully even. “It was your father and brothers that lost the fight.”

Applescar opens her mouth to say something, anything, but all she can do is make a broken little sound at the back of her throat, pelt growing hot with shame as Redstar looks her up and down. She was stronger than this, better than this, why couldn’t she get it together-

“Leave her be, Redstar.” It’s Smokemist’s raspy voice that saves her, their flicking tail bumping hers over and over again. “Her family’s just died. I’m taking her to the healer’s den and I don’t want anyone bothering her.” Smokemist gently nudges her in the direction of their den, and it’s all Applescar can do not to trip over her own paws and crumple to the ground. She catches one last glimpse of Redstar’s cold stare before she’s pushed past the ferns draping the entrance of the den.

“They’re gone,” Applescar whispers when she can finally breathe.