Sweetberry gave a yowl of victory as she sent Willowmist bolting away, blood pouring from the scratch on her neck. Suddenly, claws raked Sweetberry's ear. She whirled around, expecting another RiverClan warrior, but she could only see Stoatfur. "Stoatfur! What are you doing?!" Sweetberry cried. "I saw you one night! With him!" Stoatfur snarled, gesturing towards a silver RiverClan tom. Terror shot through Sweetberry. He'd seen them. But how? She was always so careful! "Sweetberry! What's going on!" It was Ripplestrike. There was no more time to think. Stoatfur darted in for another blow. Sweetberry dodged his claws and twisted around so she was facing him once more. "You could have been happy with me! We could have been mates!" screeched Stoatfur. His amber eyes gleamed with rage and sorrow. "I loved you! But you chose him!" And he lunged for her throat. Suddenly, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion- Stoatfur leaping towards her, claws outstretched, teeth bared; Ripplestrike sliding in between them, snarling; Stoatfur letting out a yowl of surprise as he slammed into the silver tabby RiverClan warrior; Ripplestrike slicing his claws down Stoatfur's underbelly as they hit the ground. Sweetberry leaped forward, trying to help, but Ripplestrike shoved her away, shaking his head. Slowly, he rose to his paws. Stoatfur lay motionless beneath him, his eyes glazed. "I had to kill him, Sweetberry. It was him or you," meowed Ripplestrike. Sweetberry buried her nose in her Clanmate's lifeless brown body. Ripplestrike was beside her immediately. "I am sorry. But, Sweetberry, he was trying to kill you. I would never let that happen. He looked up. "There's a battle going on, Sweetberry. I- I must go. We'll need to throw his body in the river, to wash away our scents. We can't let anyone find out that this happened." Sweetberry nodded numbly. A part of her grieved for Stoatfur- but another understood. Ripplestrike was right. It had been him or her. "I'm sorry, Stoatfur," she whispered. "I never wanted this." Ripplestrike lifted Stoatfur by the scruff and flung his body into the foaming river. Sweetberry watched as Stoatfur was swept away, staining the river red as he vanished beneath the surface. With one last look at the rippling water where Stoatfur had disappeared, Sweetberry fled back into the battle. Her secret was still safe. For now.
You may not understand this if you haven't seen my projects Sweetberry Must Not Chase The Boys, Stoatfur- A CCE, or Sweetberry And Kits. ALL CREDIT TO EvieRules13 FOR ART! I just recolored. Okay, I'll give a short explanation of the story. So, Sweetberry is a WindClan cat who fell in love with a RiverClan cat named Ripplestrike. She went out to visit him some nights. But a WindClan warrior named Stoatfur loved Sweetberry as well. And, one night, he saw her meeting with Ripplestrike. Later, RiverClan and WindClan were fighting. The story tells what happens next! Press space for next pic in the project. The brown cat is Stoatfur, the creamy one Sweetberry, the silver/gray tabby Ripplestrike. Hope you enjoy! Also, on the backdrop where Stoatfur is sleeping, I didn't change the den just for the heck of it. He's WindClan. He sleeps under a gorse bush. Okay, please do not comment telling me "Hey, you stole Squirrelflight/Ashfur/Brambleclaw's story!" because I wasn't thinking of that when I made it up. This is different, very different. Also, another thing, I just realized, there is already a cat named Stoatfur, an orange and white SkyClan tom. But I've mentioned Stoatfur so much. . . . I am too lazy to change his name now.
