We Get Up Again (Littlestar and Sparklestar)

   Part two to this story: And we all Fall Down

 "All clear on my end. Same for you?" He asked, scanning the camp to be sure there were no stragglers they had missed. No whisker of anycat seemed to be left, except of course the two leaders. He looked back to Sparklestar, "I'm ready to head out when you are..." He was almost cut off as another huge boulder crashed into the camp making both cats jump., It was time to leave.

    The moment Sparklestar heard the giant boulder crash behind her, she knew it was time. If they had missed anybody, which it didn't look like they did, it was too late. It seemed like they were the last two left though. As far as she cared, everyone was safe.

    "Guide the way," she replied, nodding her head towards the tunnels, "You know where to go more than I do." Before she would have had a chance to say anything else, she heard a loud 'crack' and through one of the other walls a monster's bright pelt began to appear. They had to leave.

    Littlestar staggered at the appearance of the monsters gleaming yellow pelt. "Stay close; I don't want to lose you," he yelled over the noise, then bolted down the tunnel that would lead them to the Highclan border. He was relieved, in a way, to smell the scents of his own Clan and the LeafClan cats that had passed this way before them, even with the fear scent mixing with the familiar aromas of family. Another quake made him pick up speed. He hadn't thought of the stability of the tunnels, and was worried when a small shower of fine pebbles and dust fell onto his fur. He could feel Sparklestar’s nose brushing the end of his tail and was glad to know she was still behind him.

    "Don't worry. My pelt's made for a forest, not dirt tunnels. I'm sure you'll be able to spot me," Sparklestar joked. As she did, Littlestar began to race down a tunnel and she followed closely. She had begun to get used to his scent, so even if she had to keep her eyes closed from all that was raining down on them, she had a feeling she'd manage to stay nearby still.

As they continued on into the tunnel that presumably the two clans had been lead through, the monster activity began to get quieter and quieter. Maybe they only wanted the camp, not the tunnels. That'd make the escape a bit less terrifying. However, that hope deep down was shattered quickly as the tunnels began to rumble louder and louder.

    "The monsters are following us down the tunnels!" she shouted over the creature's roar. That meant the LightningClan camp was likely fully destroyed. And now the tunnels were about to go down

    Littlestar was beginning to relax when the monster noise began to drain away, but then his heart plummeted when it grew tenfold and he felt like his bones were vibrating with the noise. He could hear Sparklestar screaming something at him. He couldn't believe they would fit, but he couldn't deny that the monsters did indeed seem to be following them into the tunnels. He let out a distraught wail as he realized his home was most likely completely destroyed, it was a crippling feeling and it hit him hard.

    He kept his pace through the tunnels despite the demise of his camp and home, the air was starting to smell fresher. Soon, they would be out of the tunnels… Then, as he reached the fork between two branches of the tunnels - one quite a ways shorter than the other - the tunnel in front of him collapsed. He tried to back up, but Sparklestar rammed into him. He stumbled, forward into the longer tunnel and nudged the LeafClan leader back to her feet; it wasn't over yet, "Come on! Before the rest falls in on us! We need to get out now!"

    Sparklestar forced herself to her feet just as she had done what felt like moments ago after waking up.

    "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm...I'm fine," she muttered. She had just got a little tripped up by his sudden stopping was all. That's what she'd convince herself.

    Finally the amber leader got to her feet, and just in time. A large piece of the roof began to crumble and collapse right in front of them and had she not stood up, she wouldn't have had the chance to narrowly pull Littlestar out of the way. It was getting bad. By now, most that fell was big enough to at least injure a small cat, but at most kill a big one.

    "Where do we go now?" she asked, staring at the collapsed tunnel before her. There were other tunnels, but what if they had fallen as well? And where would they take them?

    Littlestar was shaking, but he managed to tell himself it was because the ground was shaking. "We are going to be fine, this tunnel here leads out as well," he took a shuddering breath, "It is a bit further than where we wanted to get out, but we are fine. We are going to make it out of here, you have my word... plus, I owe you for pulling me back from that rock fall.." He steadied himself before jogging down the tunnel, and then picking up his speed as he heard Sparklestar following him. "Not to far to go now," he said again, as much to reassure himself as Sparklestar. The truth was this path wound closer to the camp a bit, and he hoped beyond hope it would hold up to the monsters.

    Once again, Littlestar focused only on putting one paw in front of the other, the rocks were falling more frequently it was like an endless shower of dirt. He could once again sense the air becoming clearer, or at least he thought it was, with all the dust now nesting in his nose he couldn't be sure. "We should be out in just a ...." A huge lurching shudder hit the tunnel, and Littlestar had barely enough time to turn around and push Sparklestar back a bit as the tunnel above them fell in on itself. A sharp pain seemed to engulf him, then everything went black.

    The next thing Sparklestar knew, the monsters were much quieter, but everything she saw around her was much more destroyed. She glanced around the room a bit, her eyesight was foggy. Everything ached and she could still feel pressure pushing down on most her body. She had trouble surveying her surroundings. She knew she had lost a life though.

    As her vision started to clear, she realized that the roof of the tunnel had been opened. It was a miracle that she only lost one life to the damage around her. She also realized that within the rocks, right next to her, lay Littlestar.

    "Littlestar!" she meekly called to him. Her voice was weaker than ever, but she knew that she wasn't the only leader here who had lost a life. Hopefully, he had others.

    Finally, after what felt like ages more of moving nothing more than her head, Sparklestar slowly began to crawl out from under the wreckage of the tunnel that had cost her a life. Even though he was close to her, she still had to hobble over to him to be able to reach him. She lay down next to the Lightningclan leader and playfully, yet gently batted his face to try and get him up.

    "Littlestar, are you okay? I think the monsters are gone for a bit," she murmured to him.

    Littlestar felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and something kept hitting his nose. He just needed to wake up. Wake up and tell his kits that they needed to not wake him up when he was sleeping... But, no, his kits were warriors. No, that wasn't right. He opened his eyes a bit to try and figure out what was bothering him. He was so tired. His eyes took a second to adjust and finally focus on to the LeafClan leader. He blinked a few more times, trying to figure out why he was on the ground. He tried to move and he realized that he was under quite a bit of earth not just laying on it; it came back to him. The tunnel had fallen in on them, and another life was gone. He noted that he couldn't hear the monsters anymore, so at least one thing was going right. He also noted that it was nearly full night time now. He sighed, and focused in on Sparklestar. "... You... you doing okay?" he asked weakly as he began to wiggle slowly out from the rocks that were holding him down.

    From the way she looked, he assumed he wasn't the only cat to lose a life today. At least, the rest of their Clans had made it out. At least, he hoped with all his heart that they had gotten out of the tunnels. He was halfway out of the rubble when he realized his tail was a bit caught deeper in the rocks. "Do you think you can help dig out my tail?" he asked, pushing some of the rocks off the top of where he figured his tail was hidden.

    Sparklestar let out a little sigh of relief. Littlestar was obviously okay, besides the whole lost life thing. That wasn't too much of an issue to her. She knew she had six more.

"Yeah...yea sure hold on," she breathed. She slowly clambered onto the nearby rocks and began to try her best to push them out of her way. The two were still a bit weak, but together they made good enough progress, and eventually she was able to see Littlestar's tail under the rubble.

    "Well the tunnels are destroyed," Sparklestar commented, "So I guess we might be able to find a hole in the roof to get out through. If not, we might be stuck here for a little bit," She left out the final part of that which is how long they'd be stuck here for. The answer to that was either when the monsters returned, or when it was too late. Both sounded undesirable.

    Littlestar gingerly flexed his arms legs and tail making sure everything was still working, and then surveyed the tunnel. He could see the sky above them, which was the good news. He just needed to figure out if there was a way up any of the destroyed areas; he spotted a promising rock pile a few paw steps away. "We can try climbing out over there, then we can find someplace to rest for the night. I don't think either of us are in any condition to travel," he said, then padded slowly over to the pile, trying to figure out if it was solid enough to support them out.

    "Well, if this doesn't work we can see how well our families listen to the 'we will catch up don't come back for us' order,” he laughed weakly, and looked back at the rock pile. He really didn't want to do anything right now, but they couldn't stay in the decimated tunnel. Not unless they wanted to meet the monsters face to face.

    Sparklestar meekly laughed along with him, though she was fully hoping that he was right.

    "Eh, LeafClan's been through enough. It's about time another clan goes along with our bad luck. Hopefully Shiningheart and the other cats in SeaClan haven't brought forth a huge hurricane or a giant wave in yet," she snickered. The two of them were no longer pressed for time and right now all they had to worry about is escape. Now was the time for joking, not only to keep moral up, but also just because it was in her nature.

    Sparklestar began to climb up and down the rock piles surrounding them, sniffing everything very carefully and drinking in the air like one would water after not having any access to it in weeks. Eventually, she began to smell the one thing that they needed at the moment- fresh air. She didn't hear anything, presumably because the monsters drove away all life, but she could certainly smell it in the distance.

    "I think there's an escape this way," she meowed, nodding with her head in the direction of the scent.

    Littlestar nodded, not really feeling like talking at the moment. This was the second life he had lost, and he tended to be rather quiet after. He nodded at the bad luck, though he didn't blame LeafClan for this disaster. Two-legs and monsters were never logical and he couldn't understand why they wanted LightningClan's camp, but they did.

    Littlestar scented the air and nodded again. "Hopefully it's closeby," he mewed, then walked a little ahead to see if there was a piece of tunnel still intact further along the rock piles.   

    "Can't really see anything by ways of an exit but there seems to be another gap down along there, shall we go investigate?" he asked.

    Sparklestar slipped past the other leader and began to scan the hole. The two of them could likely fit without accidentally breaking it and having it crush them. She poked her head through and looked around. The area hadn't completely caved in yet so maybe it'd be one of the safer areas to check out. And even better- that scent of fresh air smelled stronger through it. She had a feeling that this was the right way to go.

    Pulling her head back through the hole, she called over to Littlestar. "Yea, I think this looks safe!" Without awaiting a response from him, she carefully stepped through the hole to check out the area more. Maybe this tunnel wasn't fully destroyed. Or, at least not from the spot they were in onwards. If anything, maybe something was still living in it that they could eat and the two could rest in the area for the a little. They were still both weak from losing a life. Then again, they didn't really have that kind of time. With a slight sigh, Sparklestar headed back to the hole and stuck her head through again.

    "Yea, it's safe. At least far as I can tell," she calmly informed Littlestar. It looked like progress was being made.

    Littlestar waited as Sparklestar stepped through the hole. He listened carefully, making sure that her passage hadn't disturbed any rocks or any other object that might be supporting the opening. Luckily, everything seemed to go well and soon her head popped back through. He let out a small breath he hadn't realized he was holding and nodded at her words. "Okay, well, here I come then. No use standing in this part of the disaster all night."

    He pushed himself through the hole, taking care not to move any rocks as he did. Entering into the new open area, he noticed it smelled a lot fresher here, and he tried to recall how close they had been to the tunnels exit when they had been crushed. "I think the opening was really close when the tunnel fell in. We might be smelling the air from that... if it is that close, we should be able to get out. At least, that's the hope." He walked around towards the far end of the passage and was surprised to find a well worn piece of ground right at the edge of the wall. Typically the tunnels with most use had areas like this from all the paw steps. "I think this end over here is the way we want to go; it's very worn and it seems like this might be the opening, just caved in..." He thought about how to get through the wall and nothing came to mind. Well, nothing that he considered a safe option at least.

    Sparklestar stuck close behind Littlestar as the two carefully headed down the tunnel they were originally headed. She studied the entire inside of the tunnel that she could see, half looking for an exit and half out of curiosity. LightningClan cats learned how to traverse these caverns and where each and every one of them went from a young age. However, now it felt like she was as lost as their leader was. It was amazing what the monsters were capable of doing past their abilities of mass destruction. Terrifying creatures they were.

    Eventually the two found their way around a corner and before them was…

    "Another dead end," Sparklestar groaned. Before them stood a large pile of rocks. She plopped down onto the ground in defeat and let out a large sigh.

    "It's all dead ends..." As she complained, she looked up at Littlestar and glanced above him. There was an opening. Not the hugest opening in the world, but the two of them might be small enough to weasel through. Was it possible to get up there by climbing the rocks? Well, it had to be.

    "Littlestar look up," she whispered. Hopefully, he caught onto her idea.

    Littlestar stared at the new dead end. He was tired and this made him feel like he could just curl up and sleep forever. He glanced around the rest of the tunnel that remained, lowering his head to the floor. They were quite stuck it seemed. "Seems all we have are dead ends. You’re right, Sparklestar," he mewed, and let out a long sigh. When she told him to look up, he almost thought she meant to look on the bright side, to chin up - which he didn't see much point in at the moment. Before he shot back a sarcastic retort, he noticed her gaze was fixed on something above him. Twisting his head towards the roof of the small chamber, he saw a small opening.

    Small was probably an understatement. In actuality, it was probably about the size of his head. "Do you suppose we could get to that?" he asked, trying to judge the distance from the floor to the opening, "And if we can, will we be able fit? It’dl be tight that's for sure..." He looked around to see if there were any loose rocks they could pile up to form a sort of step to reach it.

     "Lets look for stones that we can safely move to try and reach it," he suggested to Sparklestar.

     "Well, there's a fair amount of rocks already underneath it. Doesn't look too safe, though, and we will need a little more to reach it, but I think it's doable!" she exclaimed. Hopefully, they'd have the time for it though. While the thought of escape was exciting, the ever looming threat of the monsters coming back was haunting her. They had no idea if it was still nighttime, or if it was even nighttime at all. Monsters were strange beasts; maybe they slept at random. She wouldn't be surprised. And even further than all that, she was getting hungry. The two definitely wouldn't find any food in the tunnels. Not now.

    Sparklestar began to search the tunnel for any rocks or piles that she thought she could move herself. While she did find some, she knew the process would take ages at this rate. Then again, what other options did they have? Hopefully it would work.

    "Okay, let's get hunting!" Littlestar went off to try and find some rocks suitable to the task. Taking some, he pushed them over to the pile. He had a bit of luck with a nice flat rock, and was able to wedge it along a side of the pile to stabilize the rocks that were already there. At least, they seemed more stable. Making the pile taller was another story; the rocks didn't want to stay on the top of the current mess of tunnel floor. He found a few more, and decided it was about the right height now. With his and Sparklestar’s found rocks combined, it was elevated about half a tail length. "Sparklestar, you can come back now. I think we have enough to try reaching the opening," he turned to find the LeafClan leader, "Who wants to try and scale the pile first?" He chuckled as she came into view

    Sparklestar knew that Littlestar not volunteering was likely code for 'okay you go first'. At least, that was how it worked when she, Shiningheart, and Barkheart were kits and about to do something admittedly silly and dangerous. This was a different level of dangerous though. And not as silly.

    "I guess I can," she offered. Carefully, she stepped on the first rock, staring down at her paws the entire time. It seemed stable enough. So, she began to climb further and further up, never removing her focus from her paws.

    Eventually, she had made it quite high up, but she could tell it was getting a little less stable now. And then, next thing she knew the pile ended. The exit was right above her, but she knew she'd have to jump to get through.

    "Here goes nothing," she called down to Littlestar. She said it as a joke, but truly she was terrified. Sparklestar checked her footing once more before launching off the rock pile, sending a few rocks tumbling down the other side, but not bad enough that Littlestar would have any more trouble than she did. Next thing she knew, she was out in the open. She poked her head back through the hole.

    "Your turn!"

    Littlestar watched as Sparklestar climbed the pile of rubble, and flinched a few times when rocks came loose. She made it to the top well enough, though. "Good luck!" he called back to her as she hunched a bit before jumping towards the opening, climbing through. His ears perked up in relief and curiosity as he waited to see if she was alright. When her head popped back out into the cave, he let out a breath. "Glad to see you made it! Here I come."

    He climbed the rock pile carefully, and when he got to the top, pushed off a bit quicker than Sparklestar hadn which turned out to be a bit of a mistake. As he scrabbled a bit at the opening and kicked about into open air with his back legs, he managed to heave himself the rest of the way through with a huff. "Well, that went alright, I think. Not as graceful as you, but I made it," he joked lightly.

    Sparklestar watched in amusement as Littlestar struggled significantly more than she did. It didn't take long for her to realize that while in LeafClan climbing was life, LightningClanners spent far more time on the ground. Though rocks were not the terrain she was used to, it seemed like for Littlestar the action of climbing was what he struggled with more.  

    Finally, Littlestar had reunited himself with her. They both stood happily out in the open night. Now that she knew he was safe as well, she felt more comfortable resting in the grass alongside him. Though they had not been in the tunnels long, she felt like it had been ages, and she nearly forgot what grass was like. It felt amazing. It was also notable that there were no cats around them, as far as they could see. Sure, her eyesight was not her strong suit, but the scents of passing LeafClan and LightningClan cats had already begun to fade. It seemed like everyone followed orders and went to HighClan.

    "We should rest for a little bit. Then, we can go to HighClan. Hopefully our Clans are there waiting for us."

    Littlestar was very happy to be out of the tunnels. He let the wind ruffle his fur a bit and plopped down. "That sounds like a good idea. I hope they are all safe .... I know Faintstar and Rookfeather won't let our clans go unaided." He began to curl his tail around him when a sharp pain hit him like a ton of bricks. Letting out a hiss of pain and inspecting his tail, it seemed to be sitting at an odd angle. He tried to move the tip, but it didn't want to budge.

    "Well, I guess I didn't come out of that unscathed,” he said, testing his tail’s movement, gingerly prodding the part where the break seemed to be. He also became aware of a few minor scrapes that had started to sting under his fur. It seemed that now that they were safe, the wounds they had left unnoticed decided it was time to strike. "Do you have any wounds, Sparklestar?" He asked, looking over at the ginger she-cat in an attempt to spot any blood or breaks on her.

    As Littlestar began to awkwardly move his tail, Sparklestar watched, worried. His tail looked like it wouldn't heal easily, if at all. Hopefully that wouldn't throw off his balance too much, but she believed he'd figure out how to live with it in time. Then, he asked about her own wounds. It was likely all the adrenaline of the past few events, but she began to realize that her legs ached. Her whole body did. Then again, her whole body was crushed by rocks not too long ago, so it wasn't too shocking. Once they made it to HighClan, she knew the two of them would need to rest a bit.

    "Nothing too bad. Other than, of course, my eye-" as she mentioned the scar over her bad eye she began to really focus on it. Her sight in it had gotten worse. And from what she could see out of it, there was some dried blood. Maybe a sharp rock reopened her scar at some point when she was unconscious. That was just great. She already knew she was slowly losing sight in that eye and this definitely sped it up. Other than that, though, she had come out with wounds that would likely be prescribed little more than rest to heal. That was fortunate.

    "Okay, so, now what's the plan?" She wanted to take her mind of her slowly fading sight and Littlestar's broken tail, put it on something a little more useful. The two of them were quite roughed up, so if they left soon, they could take their time to Highclan. Going later would let them heal more naturally, though. Either way could be a danger to their health. Hopefully, a HighClan patrol would find them and help them to their camp if they really were housing their Clans. She was tired of climbing rocks today.

    Littlestar stopped fussing about his tail when Sparklestar mentioned her eye. It looked a bit raw, now that he looked at it. Her fur was mildly matted near her scar. He sighed. At least she didn't have any breaks like he did. If he couldn't hunt before, this was going to make it even worse.

    When she asked about a plan, he refocused on getting back to their clans. "I feel like we should head off soon. I don't want to think about how bumped around we are going to feel if we rest too long," he could already feel his muscles getting tight from getting crushed, "I feel like the quicker we get to HighClan, the safer everyone will be. I don't want our Clans to get worried and send patrols after us... I wish we knew how long we were down there."

    What do you think? Should we take a quick break and head up? StarClan willing, lead a patrol our way so we can get to the camp so we don't wander. I know this area fairly well. It's a bit further than where I think the camp is, but we can't change where we were able to get out," He thought about where they were for a second, and hoped that he hadn't just let his biggest secret slip by saying he knew this area near HighClan so well. Then, remembering Songwing, he suddenly had an urge to stay right where he was for a long time.... How would that play out....? He shook himself out of that train of thought.

    As much as Sparklestar wanted to see her clan and make sure everything was safe, she knew they were both in no condition to travel. After a few moments of pondering, she let out a sigh and shook her head.

    "The two of us should rest up a bit. We did just both lose a life. Most cats only endure that once. We can find our clans when we regain our strength," she decided. Part of her instantly regretted it, but another part of her was in far too much pain to argue it. She only hoped to Starclan that Highclan kindly welcomed the two clans into their own, and that nobody was too worried about them. Neither of them knew how long this recovery would take them. The last time she lost a life, she was able to recover quick enough to cover it up, but this was a much more serious situation. They both likely had injuries only Starclan could see. Why was Starclan doing this to them?

    "Do you know anywhere safe for the two of us to recover? If not, maybe we can find somewhere in Leafclan territory that's not been destroyed. I doubt the monsters will go back there. I think they've already done what they wanted to my clan's home," she began to trail off. What have the monsters done in Leafclan anyways?

    Littlestar nodded. "There is a sturdy bush along the border that will do us some good, I think, and if a patrol comes by there we should be easy to smell. Especially if they are looking for us," He thought about the place, and hoped that it was still standing. It was close to where they were now and it was on the outskirts of the Highclan territory, so they might not be found for a time, but it was the best he could think of and he knew it would be safe. "Shall we head out, then?" he asked and cautiously stretched his sore limbs preparing for the short walk ahead of the,, and the long recovery after.

    The two eventually made it back to their clans, taking longer than they expected, but glad to be in the safety of HighClan and back with their families. At last.  

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they are finally back with their clans!!!