chaos is an infectious idea.

once the first stone is thrown, what can be done but watch the tower fall? chaos spreads quick, and with it, it brings despair.

tansyheart- innocent as a flower on the surface, selfish and snake-hearted underneath. her namesake, the tansy bloom, brought an evil sentiment- 'i declare war'. it was a symbol of violence, and violence was something tansyheart, the cat whose soul hungered for rot, endorsed.

so despair wasn't the only thing that led tansyheart's five new allies to her- deep down, they were just as cruel as she was.

***

"calla lilies... they kill slowly, but once consumed, there's no way to extract it. this is perfect, tansyheart."

greedy jaws snatched away one, two spotted leaves and began to chew them into a poultice.

"it's pure luck that the cat we killed happened to be so poisonous, but i accept your gratitude." tansyheart licked her paw and drew it over her ear. "but you all are essential to my ambitions, too...!"

"of course, you can't forget to feign innocence when all the clan has their eyes on you." coneflower sat a tail-length away from tansyheart with his tail curled over his paws, glaring at whoever looked their way.

"tansyheart, save your energy for the ritual." rosewither's meow seemed cut through the stagnant energy, and in an instant, everyone seemed to tense up.

"you two-" rosewither nodded to the poultice-making warrior and to another cat, "-go do your jobs."

the poultice maker took their concoction in their mouth and ran off, glaring through the darkness and waving their tail to signal their friend to follow.

"hey, wait-"

"i know what i'm doing, you faithless scum." the poisoner didn't stop a second time, and the two disappeared over the rise.

"what of our talents?" another cat spoke, glaring at rosewither. "we didn't join you to become mere observers."

"no, you joined because you're cowards who value your own lives over all else," rosewither spat. "you have power, but not drive, mouse-brain. if you want to act, act- i wouldn't stop you."

the traitor grumbled, but said nothing.

"fox-heart... keep that up for long, and tansyheart will have you disposed."

another shadowed shape huddled behind the first cat and flattened their ears, but neither said a word.

"coneflower, tansyheart-"

"she'll be ready whenever we receive a body," coneflower snapped.

as if on cue, the two figures re-appeared over the rise. as rosewither watched, one stumbled, and the other stopped to berate them. the one who had stumbled carried a newly deceased body in their jaw.

"come on, come on!" rosewither's gaze narrowed to condescending slits.

the traitors reached rosewither and dumped the body at coneflower's paws.

"awake and muttering to herself about how something or other had failed," the first one grumbled. "seriously, if we hadn't killed her, her lack of sleep would've."

"you're not sleeping either."

"do you want me here or not?" the traitor glared at coneflower, neither cat making a move.

"oh, what childish quarrels. but at least it's proof that we have nothing bigger to worry about."

tansyheart rose and dragged the body to the cliffside, two tail-lengths from the calla lilies and their bone prison, muttering something under her breath. the corpse's white fur was stained with dirt, and its head hung at an awkward angle when tansyheart bit its spine. glassy blue eyes were frozen wide with shock.

"wouldn't it be ironic if all of fieldclan turned into their namesakes?" tansyheart's claws picked at the smooth white pelt, scratching out little red wounds. "but wouldn't that be boring?"

shoots began to sprout from the nicked pelt between the ribs and out of the stomach, and as the shoots grew taller, the body melted away just like it had before. the new traitors backed away, staring in awe, while rosewither smiled to herself and coneflower just watched calmly.

"oh, it's so fragrant!" tansyheart nuzzled the still-growing plant, which was bushing out and already sporting countless flowerbuds, some of which had already opened. "legend says that these flowers can soothe a worked up cat- how very ironic! if i was mad and someone told me to calm down, i'd kill them myself on the spot..."

"these flowers... they're just as white as she was..." tansyheart kicked the last of the corpse; now, only bones and the faint stink of blood remained, and the fracture of the spine and the skull hanging off, staring sightlessly with fangs exposed at the calla lilies... "how sweet. this plant also symbolizes deceit. but she was never as evil as you!" tansyheart grinned at her followers. "well, well... she wasn't like you. she was just a chaos lover with a pretty face."

"however, beauty is just a convenient disguise for evil..."

***

tansyheart, rosewither and coneflower were waiting when the clan arrived to the cliffside.

lavendersong and harethistle had quickly noticed that she was missing, but as for her whereabouts... her whereabouts were unknown to the clan, yet whenever it was brought up, tansyheart couldn't help but smile to herself as her tail laced the mock orange blossoms she'd grown.

despair strengthened its grip on the clan as rosewither batted away the lowest branches of the newest shrub, revealing the skull and bones.

and at the rising tide of fear-scent, as the clan realized that their white light had died, rosewither only grinned.

"this game of deceit and strategy has only just begun."

━━

peonyleaf was killed by the traitors.

━━

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