Fade to Grey

Written by Violetofen4

Stormdusk had it all.

A mate who adored him, kits that loved him, a clan that looked up to him with respect.

''But one fatal move may make him lose them. All of them.''

He'll begin to wish he could fade away into the grey...

Prologue
"Judgement! Judgement!"

He crouched down, fur prickling in fear as cats who had once trusted him glared at him with evil eyes.

"Judgement! Judgement!" they chanted, endlessly.

Until a voice cut its way in, "Silence!"

That was Lilystar, the leader of ThunderClan. She was menacing, alright, with her intense blue eyes and rose-cream fur bristled out against the darkness.

He felt his clanmates' stares burn into his fur. Their angry, twisted glares.

"Stormdusk, you are charged with the murder of Cindersplash, Thrushpaw, Junepaw, Streakriver, and Tornwhisker!" she yowled.

He yelped, "I didn't do it! I didn't do it!"

"Quiet!" she snapped.

Her clanmates edged closer. Before the blue-grey tom lay the bodies, mangled and beaten, like dried herbs that'd been torn up in several spots. Their faces had been twisted in agony before their death.

''I didn't kill them, Lilystar, it was Frostbane! ''he wanted to call, thinking of the betrayel of his friend. The deadly secret he was forced to keep for life. The silver tom with ice-blue eyes smiled at him from the crowd pleasingly.

This menace's words echoed in his head.

"I will kill every single one of the cats you love within the moon's end. You tell a soul and I will end you too."

"Any last words before you are punished?" she snarled, baring her ugly, snaggly teeth at him.

She crouched down, raising her white hackles, before glaring down at him.

"I didn't kill them. Do whatever you want with me, but whatever it is, know you lost an innocent cat who knew who the killer was."

"Then who is the killer?" Lilystar persisted.

"I can't say. I swore I wouldn't tell so I wouldn't die too."

"Because it was you!" a cat in the crowd hissed.

Lilystar stared to the cat, then back to the blue-grey tom, Stormdusk, who shivered and quaked in fear. His black paws itched to run away. His blue eyes darted from side to side before settling on the leader.

He lipped something that was probably, "Please."

She felt a pang of sympathy, a gut feeling that maybe he was telling the truth. That he wasn't the killer, and someone else in the clan was. Maybe he didn't tell for the fear of his life.

But she didn't back down.

"Your punish shall be death! Finish him off, Frostbane!"

The tom slunk forward, a grin on his face, as he lunged forward. Stormdusk held his ground, dodging the attacks.

"MURDERER!" he yowled desperately, struggling as the claws lashed. The guiltless tom fell backwards, stumbling in his own blood, before staring restlessly at the grey skies above...