Skipstep snarled, pelt bushing out as he slapped the strike away glaring at him. "You have gone mad. The Sun God faltered, and had been proven to be guilty of many crimes. An infallible benevolent God would not have such damning evidence from his own former soothsayer presented against him."

Skipstep's ears flattened. "You're going to pay for what you did. To the clan, to Jetfire, and to all of my children that you stole out from under me." He snarled lashing out again to force Bloodystar back, planting himself at Littlestar's side, Bloodystar wouldn't get any low blows with him at his beloved wife's side. racer Honeystorm Jadie

Paintedcanyon’s functional ear twitched as he heard the faint sound coming from the tunnel. Mustering up as much strength as he could, the long-furred tom struggled to lift his head up to peer down the tunnel. It was dark, but he could see the faint silhouette of someone trapped in there. With a soft groan the tom rolled back onto his side. No, he would not lay down and allow himself to be dragged into unconsciousness. Paintedcanyon pulled himself forward, reaching into the tunnel until he could brush his paw against the body he had seen. The ginger tom stretched forward a bit more until he was able to wrap his paws around them. Grinding his teeth, Paintedcanyon started slowly pulling the apprentice out of the tunnel.

“Pixiepaw...” he coughed, carefully running his paws over her to see if she was hurt. “What.. what happened?” Jadie

Carnagepanic scurried to help hold her up, his heart sinking. They needed to move quickly if they wanted to escape, but he could barely run while supporting her, much less while looking after another cat. They didn't even know where her mother was; what if she was already safe, and staying here put them in more danger? "I-I don't know," he stammered, unable to meet her eyes. He didn't want to die young. But... he didn't want to hurt her, either. If he left her, she would go after her mother, and they'd both die.

He swallowed hard. "Okay. Okay, let's find her." Carnagepanic led her hesitantly into the throng of cats, looking around for Tinymutiny. He couldn't remember what she looked like, but surely her daughter would notice.

Jadie

The sky was filling with dense black spoke, ashes and embers were raining down on them, cats were screaming in pain and terror or both, it was absolute chaos yet still a half dozen cats had made it to Bloodystar, all with something to say and different ways of saying it. He pushed away from Littlecrow as Skipstep nearly swept him off his feet, putting a few tail-lengths of distance between him and the growing number of cats, his eyes shifting wildly from cat to cat. He was not sure exactly where to place his focus.

"Were you on Littlecrow's side all along, Dusky?"

This whole interaction felt like some kind of intervention, especially since so many cats got close to him without even a little bit of trouble. Naturally this lead his paranoid mind to assume that Duskyslayer was somehow responsible for all of this. After all, there was no way that he himself had made a mistake. So, the true meaning of Duskslayer's words were lost on Bloodystar, he'd hardly heard them but that fact likely would surprise no one. He'd never been a good listener.

"You thought that bringing her here like this would somehow help me? That the Sun God was really a monster and I was wrong?" In the past heartbreak like this would surely have crushed Bloodystar, but as it stood he was numb to it. If he had faced the facts sooner surely there were signs. Duskslayer was always what seemed now as conveniently absent when Bloodystar often needed him most and now he stood before him in line with his greatest enemies.

He took another step back, confidence faltering some. Every instinct told Bloodystar that he needed to run. He as still a cat, after all, and the volcanic eruption was terrifying him just as much as everyone else, but the difference was that he had unshakable faith in the Sun God. Bloodystar believed with all of his heart that he represented his deity's will and remembering that brought him a cold calm. His breathing slowed down, his fur flattened some. He could tell that the Sun God was closer than ever.

When he returned his gaze to the assembled cats, they rested solely on Littlecrow. Cut off the head, kill the snake. With a fierce yowl, he charged toward her and, instead of using claws or fangs, he head-butted her as hard as he could right where he'd carved to moon in her head. His goal was to daze her long enough to knock her off her feet and do as the spirit had told him... Faith racer Jetclaw

~*~

Discordantmelody was giddy as she watched the confrontation of Bloodystar vs the world. She actually felt bad for her big brother especially since she'd done her fair share of misleading and manipulating him. His decisions were his own, though, and he was going to have to live... and die... with them.

Still, she'd do what she could to help.

Seemingly coming out of nowhere, the dark furred calico she-cat lunged at the cat closest Littlestar that wasn't the former High Priestess herself, Skipstep, "Hey, hey, hey, let the kids duke it out on their own!"

She wasn't fighting to kill, just stall. Jetclaw

Valleyrose casually eating a flower from her ear was the last thing he expected to see, and despite all of the chaos surrounding him, it was perhaps the most confusing aspect of this day. There was no time to process it, though, so he just nodded a little and headed for the water. "Tinymutiny," he called, ears back as he skimmed their surroundings for the tiny she-cat. "Is that her over there?"

Littlecrow was ready for his attack, but instead of dodging she took it head on their heads meeting with a loud thud. With her smaller size, she knew he would be expected her to try and avoid the attack. It sent her head swimming into a daze, but after the moons of suffering at the paws of others she knew her pain tolerance would be much higher. Recovering quickly, she used Bloodystar's disorientation against him surging forward and darting under undeath the larger cat's chest and lunging upwards to attack his unprotected underbelly with her teeth, claws slashing out at his hind feet to unbalance him. Bloodystar had size and strength on his side, but she had agility and experience. 
Jadie
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Darkpaw led Blindfaith and Perfectstorm through the crowd. Carefully picking their path through the panicked cats to try and avoid being seperated by the fleeding cats or stopped by those that wanted to keep them there. Finally they found where he had left Bravepaw and Soaringpaw. Darkpaw returned to his sister's side, pressing his nose to her cheek to look down upon where Nocturnepaw was trying to move their siblings "Tunnel?" he questioned blindfaith, "way out?" Faith  Jadie  Honeystorm  @samiam  
-------------->

Tinymutiny swayed back and forth, even as the cats scrambled towards the bridge to escaped the almost impending death. 
Jadie Cleaver

There was only one thing on Littlecrow's mind, this had to end. Taking advantage of him dropping to the ground, she went straight for his throat fangs bared and claws digging into his chest to help her momentum. She felt his claws ripping into the exposed area of her underbelly though it didn't slow her progress. The two cats wrestled in a flurry of claws and teeth, both cats trying to best the other leaving smears of crimson in their wake amongst the newly fallen layer of ash upon the grass that now clung to their pelts. One moment it looked like like littlecrow was winning, and the next Bloodystar. Their snarls and growls, and screeches of pain reaching the ears of all the cats that were engaged in their own battles near by.

Then everything was still, as the pair came to a stop. Bloodystar's throat now held in Littlecrow's jaws, her claws imbedded into his chest ready to plunge into his heart

Jetclaw Jadie Honeystorm

Littlecrow held tight in her position as Bloodystar struggled below. She could felt the soft flesh of his throat between her teeth, the pulsing blood around her claws. Bloodystar wouldn’t be the first cat she had killed, so why did she feel her paw trembling? Bloodystar had scared and humiliated her, tortured her family, and led the clan she had left in his care to ruin. All the sacrifices she had made to bring peace and a better future for SunClan now meaningless. How long had she imagined this moment? When revenge for everything that he had done would be hers.

It wouldn’t be hard. All she had to do was clamp her jaws shut or twist her claws and it would all be over. So why couldn’t she do it? She gazed into his eyes,  but it wasn’t Bloodystar that she saw but the kit he had once been. So excited to learn and full of life. How had he turned out this way? She already knew the answer to that question as hard as it was to swallow. It was her, at least in part. How had she not seen the signs? Why hadn’t she stopped it before it had gotten to this point. Even though she didn’t budge, her gaze began to soften. The anger that burned within her golden gaze dying into smoldering embers. She couldn’t allow him to continue as High Priest, but neither could she bring herself to kill him. 

It was only then that she noticed something odd, the pattern that was painted onto his pelt catching her eye. Spiraling downwards, ending on one of his back paws. The recognition of the pattern hitting her just as harshly as if she had been slapped “Where did you learn that pattern” a deep growl rumbling in her throat, flash backs to the terrible ritual she had been forced into coming back all at once 

So that... thing was here. She was already to late. The images of SunClan falling to ruin around her, her family all dead or slain flashing through her mind as she stared down at Bloodystar. The anger there was gone, replaced with a concoction of conflicting emotions. She held his life in her paws, and yet she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't bring herself to kill him. 

Soon Bloodystar would feel something warm fall upon his cheek, washing away the ashes and paint as it slid down towards the sandstone. Then another and another, as the claws that had dug so deeply into his chest began to retract. until it was only the pressure of her paws on his chest. His throat falling from her jaws, as she allowed his head to fall back against the sandstone "I will have to answer for my crimes same as you in the end" her voice was soft, seeing the fear written all over his face as he realized that she was about to kill him "Everything I have done was for my clan or family, but I only have one regret" for the first time, Littlecrow faltered. Her voice quivering as she spoke the tom would be able to feel her shaking, though she didn't let him up 

"Bloodyrondo.... I'm sorry that I failed you"