We All Fall Down...

[Taako]

As much as he tried to keep it to himself, as much as he attempted not to let it show, Boarkit was getting sicker, his cough was getting more angry and violent, and he was getting scared. But Mothstar would never be proud of a kit who was afraid, who let a little sickness get the better of him, so he'd tried his best to stand strong through it, but he was getting weaker by the day, and the tell tale sight of blood could be seen flecked in the white patches on his chin and chest, his eyes were listless, and he'd gotten alarmingly thin for a kitten his age and size, and as much as he wanted to keep fighting, he was still a kit who was scared, and when one was scared they did the only thing they knew to do.

...They went to their parents for help.

Of course, he'd never been especially close to either of them, but he still tended to favor Mothstar over any other, the old tom was rough and mean, but even a kit could see that he cared somewhere in that grizzled old heart of his. He hadn't heard what happened at the gathering, he had no idea his father had fallen there, such news rarely made it to the nursery, deemed too dark for kits to hear most of the time.

His violent coughs could be heard as his wobbly steps took him to find the leader, hoping he was in his den, if not the kit would just wait there until he came back...He needed to rest after walking over here anyway.
KingHarry

[KingHarry]

Boarkit was lucky that his father had just been returning to his den. Mothstar was exhausted still. Dying had taken it out of him and he had yet to fully recover from it. Perhaps he was still ill and that was affecting him somehow? The leader wasn't sure, but it was certainly a possibility. Even if dying had cured him, perhaps he could have caught the disease again? After all, it seemed to be spreading incredibly easily.

As well as physical exhaustion, Mothstar was beginning to tire emotionally too. He would never admit it, but the deaths of his clan were starting to get to him a little. He was supposed to be their protector - the one who kept them safe - yet he could do nothing to stop the multiple deaths that had already occurred and were likely to continue happening. In a way, it made him feel like a failure.

Of course, he could never say this. If any cat in the clan got wind of this they may see him as weak. Such a thing would be unacceptable. Nobody wanted to follow a weak leader - especially not after they'd given up their original clans for him. No. No, he needed to remain strong - even if it was just a facade on part.

The first thing Mothstar noticed when he saw Boarkit was the blood. It was hard not to spot such a thing after it had become so widespread throughout the clan, and especially after he had died himself. In fact, the leader's own fur was still flecked with blood - tiny droplets that he was struggling to fully remove thanks to the excess of hair covering his body. Boarkit looked ill. Why had nobody noticed this yet?

Noting the kit's wobbling movement, Mothstar decided it was best not to let him continue walking on his own. He scooped Boarkit up by the scruff of his neck and carried him into the leader's den, where he placed the kit down again and sat down besides him.

"Have you been coughing, Boarkit?" Mothstar asked, though he already knew the answer. "Tell me the truth now."

[Taako]

His breath came out in a wheezing rattle as he tried to catch it after the trek from the nursery to here, it normally wouldn't have been anything for the large kit, but he was weak, and even holding himself up enough to speak had been getting more and more difficult over the last couple of days. He was listless, and so tired, so he put up no fuss when he felt himself lifted by his father's jaws and carried into the den, he only hung like a limp sack of fur, fluffy tail dragging the ground beneath him.

When he was set down, he was quiet for a few heartbeats, unsure how to answer that question, until he finally nodded and hunched in on himself, tail curling tightly around his paws, "yes, for a while now...It's just getting worse and..." He trailed off, stopped himself before he could admit that he was afraid, instead lowering himself further to the ground, "M'scared..." The words were mumbled softly, like he was ashamed to say them out loud, the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his father, and the clan leader, by showing so much fear and, in his eyes, weakness.

His face was thoughtful for a moment, before he looked up at him and took a breath, broken by a string of violent coughs that he tried to muffle into his paws, it burned in his throat and made his eyes water, and he felt dizziness wash over him, "what's going to happen...W-what happens when you're sick?" He glanced up at him finally, imploring the truth instead of the saccharine lies that a lot of the queens would have told him.

[KingHarry]

That was that then; Boarkit was likely to die. What a shame. Honestly, Mothstar would be sad to see the kit go. He wasn't exactly involved in the lives of his children but they were still his blood and, while they were mainly appearing disappointing right now, the leader was certain that at least one of them would prove impressive at some point in their lives.

Perhaps it would be alright, though. Perhaps Cedarleap would find a cure in time. Yes... In fact, Motherstar would reminder to get on with that when he escorted Boarkit to her den. She was taking too long to do this. If she continued to fail to find a cure, Motherstar was really going to reconsider allowing her to be the medicine cat.

But that was a matter that could be addressed later. For now, Boarkit had a question that needed answering.

"You die." Mothstar bluntly stated. "You lose control of your body and you die painfully." That was a lesson that the warrior had learnt the hard way. Even now, almost a moon later, he still clearly remembered how it had felt to have his life torn from his body only to then be dragged back from StarClan again.

[Taako]

The longer the silence stretched between them, the more the world seemed to become hyper vivid around him, the more the sounds came through strange in his ears, the more dizzier he felt, until he wasn't entirely focused on Mothstar so much as he was focused on some far away point in the den, or maybe even farther than that. His eyes had dilated, but that didn't register to the kit as his little legs became very shaky, he only just caught Mothstar's words when they left the ragged tom's mouth, and his heart dropped, the vacant look being coupled with fear, he didn't want to die, he wasn't ready to die...Was death really the only thing waiting for him now? As assured and matter of fact as breathing or eating, it chilled him to the bone.

But he didn't wail, or react with fear, he just turned a look on the leader that was as much here as it was gone, and nodded, "Oh. Okay then..." He wasn't sure if the words came out as words, because they didn't quite sound like words in his head, in fact, nothing sounded right at the moment, perhaps he should lie down? Yes...That sounded like a good idea.

He collapsed after that, his legs going stiff under him as he unbalanced onto his side, he stayed like that for just a few second before he started to heave and gasp unevenly, his eyes stretched as wide as a kitten's eyes could go, already bushy tail puffed up to the max as he began to kick and convulse against the den floor. Drool bubbled up out of his mouth to mingle with the blood caked around his mouth and chin as his tiny body was gripped by the sudden and violent seizure.

[GnawingOnIce]

Cedarleap hobbled into Mothstar's den, carrying the herb, Elfdock, in her jaws; a Starclan cat had come to her in a dream and told her it was the cure for Redcough.
"Mothstar! I found the-"
She dropped the herb when she saw that Boarkit was having a seizure.
"Boarkit!"
Cedarleap quickly grabbed the flowers and tore off a few of the roots.
She gently put them into the kit's mouth, not wanting to hurt him more than he was already, then massaged his throat to be positive that he would swallow them.
Starclan, let this work.
The small cat lay down beside the kit, watching how he would react closely.
If this didn't work, Boarkit would die.

[KingHarry]

Mothstar watched with a look of horror on his face as his son collapsed. Despite his lack of major connection with his children, he didn't want them to die - and he especially didn't want to watch such a thing happen. The seizure looked violent but the leader didn't want to hold the kit down. He was a huge warrior that didn't know his own strength sometimes - attempting to restrain Boarkit in any way may bring more harm to him than good.

As if she knew what was happening, Cedarleap suddenly arrived. Her unexpected presence shocked Mothstar, and that shock quickly turned into anger. "Help him!" He instructed, his growling voice almost shouted. "That's your job, isn't it? Help him!"

Thankfully for Boarkit (and Mothstar's temper), Cedarleap seemed to have... Something. Whatever it was, the leader didn't care. He was happy as long as it helped his son. And it did seem to be helping. Could it be that his medicine cat had finally found the cure to this illness? Mothstar didn't want to get his hopes up, but it was certainly looking like that was a possibility.

[Taako]

Boarkit was lucky, in some sense, that he was small, that the herb only took a short time to run through his system and begin to take effect, his spasms began to calm slowly, his legs flailing less, his breathing slowing, until the only remnants were the ghosts of twitches in his paws and face. He didn't stir for what felt like ages, his breathing finally becoming more even as it rattled out, the only sign other than the clockwork ticking of his tail that he was still living.

Waking up from any state like that was alarming and disorienting all on it's own, and he fought against opening his eyes as the world began to weigh him down with reality, but eventually he did blink them open, only to be seized with a horrifying realization.

He couldn't see...

His paws began to work unevenly as his eyes darted vacantly around, an attempt to get to his feet, but the attempt was stumbly and each time he fell back on his side, his legs just didn't seem to want to right themselves under him, "s'd-d-d-dark...Dark..." His cry was panicked and low, with a stutter that sounded less out of fear and more involuntary, with the way his tail tip ticked with every hitch in the word, he couldn't find anyone around him until his reaching paws came against fur, but he had no idea who's fur it was.

[GnawingOnIce]

The small gray and white she-cat waited for what seemed like seasons when Boarkit finally regained consciousness. His body slowly stopped spasming and twitching. "He'll live, I'm not sure if.. he'll be disabled or not." Cedarleap knew that redcough could either kill a cat, or leave them permanently disabled by something. Boarkit blinked open his eyes, but there was something that was blocking his pupil. His eyes were glazed over and clouded.
Cedarleap watched in sorrow as he tried to figure out where the ground was and attempted to steady himself. "s'd-d-d-dark...Dark..." As if wasn't obvious enough, Boarkit was blind. His paws found her shoulder, but she knew he didn't know who it was. "It's me, Cedarleap. Go over to your father, Mothstar." She nudged him gently away from her and toward the leader. She had to admit that she was scared as to how Mothstar would react.
Would he ask her why she couldn't have come sooner? Or blame his kit's blindness on her? Either way, she'd still be his medicine cat and he might as well thank her for getting here when she did. She decided that she'd try to explain her dream and the herb, Elfdock, to him in a bit, he deserved to know.

[KingHarry]

Dark? It wasn't dark. Slowly, Mothstar came to realise what Boarkit meant. He was blind, wasn't he? StarClan... What was he supposed to do with a blind kit? How could he ever be a warrior now?

His thoughts quickly turned from the future to Cedarleap. This was... This was her fault! Whatever she'd given Boarkit, it had blinded him! Instead of being glad that his son was alive, Mothstar instead allowed his anger to take him over completely. Cedarleap had blinded one of his children and he could not allow that to stance. Letting out a yowl of pure fury, the leader threw himself at the short-legged medicine cat, claws unsheathed and with the definite intention of pinning her to the ground and doing damage. She had hurt his son and now she needed to pay.