[lone]

Originally Posted by NoireRose

Azulpaw’s eyes were closed as he heard Alabasterpaw. He wanted to reply with something, sarcastic-like, but he was in too much pain, and he feared that she would continue to torture him, and he wasn’t up for that yet, so he laid down in a mess, breathing hard, eyes closed, and wishing to welcome in sleep. Sleep that he wouldn’t get. Yet. As she left him there, tears silently streaming down, he huffed out in frustration. His eyes fluttered open once, but then closed. He tried to get up; push himself up, but his flesh wasn’t cooperating. So, he fell back down, sighing deeply, and closing his eyes once more.

Where was Bluepaw? Wouldn’t he care about what happened to his brother? Why wasn’t Bluepaw there to confront the demon that loved seeing him suffer? Of course...with Asterpaw. The two lovebirds made his pain worsened, and he felt his heart clench at the thought. He noted that emotional pain was worse than physical pain. He had no desire to get up again whatsoever, and he closed his eyes, allowing the tears to cascade freely.

When he heard paw prints, he shook his head vigorously. ‘’Please, Alabasterpaw...just leave me alone.’’ His voice was rough, and he shot opened his eyes to welcome the white feline, but to his surprise it was Asterpaw, and he gulped. He quickly shuffled to his pain, stumbling as he did so, tears falling from his face, but he turned it away to not look at the blue she-cat.

‘’Please stay away from me, Asterpaw. Just please. Go be happy with Bluepaw, and leave me alone. I’m for real this time.’’ He got up to his paws, falling down. As he laid on his stomach a bit, his paws sprawled around him. He once again got up, and tried to limp away, but instead of limping, he dragged himself as best as he could. ‘’Besides, you wouldn’t care anyway.’’ He added more quietly, and pushed himself away from Asterpaw. She was the last cat he needed to see right now.

He need to find Silverpaw. She would make him happy. She always did anyway. He hoped she would be nearby, so that he wouldn’t have to drag himself fully there, but half-way on his journey, he couldn’t stand it anylonger, and he collapsed. He fell to the ground on his side, his eyes closed for a second, and he fluttered them open. ‘’I could totally welcome in the darkness at this point.’’ He huffed, meekly.

Bluepaw was amused at Alabasterpaw. He nodded to her devious plan and decided to follow through with it. ‘’How long do you think you’ll be torturing him for? I mean, a tom can only take so much, Alli.’’ He spat, mockingly. As long as he had Asterpaw, he truly didn’t care. Alabasterpaw was allowed to torment until her heart was content. Then again, when they first met, he didn’t think that Alabasterpaw would turn into such a...disgrace. A she-cat that longed to be a torturer. A part of him did feel guilty, but his hunger for love and envy overpowered that low feeling.

He was beginning to tell that Asterpaw was getting annoyed with him, and he figured that he needed to tone it down a couple notches before he offended her by what he said about Azulpaw. But why would she care? She didn’t like him...yet she ran after him as if she had some hidden feelings lingering. The thought made Bluepaw growled, and he sneered at Alabasterpaw, ‘’You better hurry up with this. I’m really sick of her getting defensive about Azulpaw. Besides, however else would I treat my dear, Ast?’’ The blue-eyed tom smirk. ‘’She is...after all, a delicacy that needs to be cared for as if she were a flower planted to bloom. I will treat her with the utmost gentleness.’’ He purred. ‘’I have our entire future plan out. And the best part? Azulpaw will not be apart of it.’’

Bluepaw held a lot of pride within him as he said this to his new evil partner. They did work well together, he’ll give her that, but he also knew what type of cat she was, and he kept himself guarded around her in case she ever decided to trade on him. ‘’If it’s possible I would love for him to be dead before our warrior ceremony.’’ His eyes deadpanned on her.

Alabasterpaw? What is he talking about? Did he hit his head? She thought, shifting her weight. She was terrified now. Terrified that the one thing she was avoiding was now the fact that might be true. But she needed proof. She had to see Alabasterpaw actually doing it...to accuse her sister of something like this was serious. To accuse anyone of doing something like this. "I...I can't. I can't be happy with Bluepaw. It just-- we just don't-- I don't know, but it just doesn't feel right. Like it's not who I'm meant to be with. I want to make him happy, it's my fault-- I didn't stop Alli-- but I just can't. I know he's your friend. I'm really trying, truly I am...I'm sorry." She bit her lip to keep from crying, tasting blood, but at this point it didn't matter. There was no way he would be this badly hurt just from falling out of a tree. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. "Tell me who did this." She spoke in a calm voice, or at least it seemed that way, but to a trained ear it was shaking with emotion. I want to help. Please don't shut me out like this. Please. I want to care, but I-I don't know how...she thought.
　
Now it was all she could do not to cry. Why would someone do this? Sure, she might have wanted to push him out of a tree-- but she never would have actually carried out her threat. What kind of monster would be so jealous, so angry with a single cat that they would hurt them like this? Who could stand to break someone in this manner? Her hues flashed with frustration as she heard his quiet words. She couldn't watch him dragging himself away like that. What had happened to all the fight he had had earlier? What had happened to the cat she had met before, with so much sarcasm? Whoever had done this had beaten him until he was losing the will to continue. "I do care. More then you know. And maybe you would realize that if you weren't so busy trying to shut me out now. Maybe it's you who doesn't care." She sighed, sitting down and wrapping her tail around her paws. And now she was going to cry.
　
She could only keep up a barrier for so long. She could only hide herself away for so long. And this was the only thing she could do now. She cared so much it hurt-- but did he? No. He probably would have preferred Alabasterpaw to hurt her in the first place. Because like he had said, he was a master at everything. So maybe he'd just been playing with her like Alabasterpaw had been playing with Bluepaw. Maybe Alabasterpaw-- if she had done this, which Asterpaw still wasn't convinced she had-- to protect her. To protect her from this cat. She watched as he moved further away, feeling herself only crying more. She couldn't stop it. Why couldn't she stop it? Why had this happened? What had he done? StarClan, please...don't let him get hurt like this again...I know you're there, I know you can hear me...don't let him die. Don't let this happen, I'm begging you. Please. She thought. That was all she could do. She didn't want to attack her sister without proof. And, without proof, she had no idea who was behind this.
　
After she was done crying-- emotionally drained-- she approached him again. And once more, almost began to cry. But she stopped herself-- it wasn't going to help. And it certainly wasn't going to keep her calm. Slowly she lay down beside him, and gently curled her tail over him. "You can't push me away this time. Okay?" She whispered in the softest voice. She didn't know what to do. This was all she knew how to do, was be here for him in the moment. No one could predict the future. But she was pretty sure-- and this was just a guess-- that things were going to get much darker. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you. "I'm sorry." She whispered. This is my fault. My fault. I could have prevented this, and I didn't. My fault. She thought, curled up against the tom. But she could protect him now. She could do this.
　
"Until he's broken, Bluepaw. Until he's broken and begging me to stop. And then I'll kill him." She mewed. She knew it would only be a matter of time. But when it came to the heart...who knew how much he would be able to take? Perhaps she should ask his friend. Maybe then she would be able to figure out how much he could take before he broke, or if she would be able to kill him before he did. "How much do you think he can take-- if he really does love Ast?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. This was crucial information, information she should have gotten at first... but she hadn't thought of it until now.
　
"And what if she maintains her care for your friend? What are you going to do to her then?" Alabasterpaw demanded upon hearing his words. Sure, she could take the life of a cat that Asterpaw cared about...but could she take that care from her? Well, no. That would be Bluepaw's part of the deal. To get her heart-- she was just getting rid of the competition for him. And once the competition was out of the way, it was his job to win her heart and they would be able to be together. Her eyes flashed at him mentioning Azulpaw wanting to be dead before their warrior ceremony. "Absolutely not! I would rather be a warrior before I get chased out of here. You don't seriously think I would be allowed to stay in the Clan after killing him, do you?" She asked with a furious snarl, her hues flashing again. If Bluepaw thought that, he must be stupid. And up until now, Alabasterpaw hadn't had him pegged as someone who was stupid.