This was a contest entry for firestar4ever's Warrior Cats Writer's Games! The prompt was 'empty' so I decided to make a short story about Finchstar and Talonstar from Retribution. This takes place after the prologue.
Warriors (c) Erin Hunter
Cats/Clans (c) Me and firestar4ever may use with my permission.
Empty
"Send me back."
Talonstar blinked uneasily and looked up from the cool and refreshing stream at his paws. Finchstar was standing on the other side, looking at him with expecting green eyes.
The former ThornClan leader swallowed the water that had collected in his mouth before speaking. "What do you mean?" he asked carefully. Finchstar knew he wasn't stupid; he knew exactly what the former GaleClan leader meant by his words.
"Send me down there," the ginger and white tom demanded once more. The stars in his fur seemed to swirl more aggressively and he pondered if he would attack his fellow Clan leader if he didn't get what he ordered.
"And why would I do that?" Talonstar replied nonchalantly. "Do you wish to stir up more trouble down there if you did?"
Finchstar let out a faint growl and his starry ginger shoulder fur rose a bit. "I'm trying to ask nicely," he spat.
"And you're obviously failing at it." He drew an opaque white paw over one of his dark brown ears.
"Don't make me do something I'll once again regret later!" Finchstar hissed, obviously tired of the older tom's act.
Talonstar paused, reflecting over the younger tom's response. "Something you'll once again regret later?" he echoed.
The ginger and white tom froze, letting his fur lie flat. He looked more like the young cat he was than a powerful Clan leader. "Yes," he murmured softly. "I…I wish to go back down to the living world…and see for myself the damage that I've created."
The former ThornClan leader mused over Finchstar's request for a few heartbeats. "That is a noble request," he began, and mentally kicked himself for feeling sorry for the useless scrap of fur, "but you know that we cannot do that."
"We must have some power left over!" Finchstar insisted. "I will not rest happily until I see what is left of them." When Talonstar didn't reply right away, the former GaleClan leader went on. "I know that you've never liked me, and I was never fond of you, either," Finchstar confessed. "But I'm asking this as a fellow StarClan cat, not as an enemy or a friend."
"Very well." Finchstar breathed a silent sigh of relief at Talonstar's agreement. "You can only be down there for a few minutes and you will be invisible to every cat who sees you. Understood?"
Finchstar nodded and before Talonstar could touch his muzzle with his nose, he stopped him with a raised black-tipped tail. "Thanks."
Talonstar didn't say anything in reply and simply gently pressed his brown nose against the younger tom's star-filled form while Finchstar closed his eyes. White light in the shape of orbs appeared from the frosty ground and began to circle around Finchstar's slim body. More spheres of light appeared from the prattling stream between them and joined in the parade with the others. They raced and danced faster and faster until Finchstar was covered in a blinding white light. When the light faded away, Talonstar was left alone, with only the chattering creek to keep him company.
When Finchstar opened his eyes, he wasn't in the familiar star and forest-filled landscape that had become his home for countless seasons, but instead he was sitting on top of a large faint blue-gray rock that's flat and even apex was smooth to the touch. The rock was called the Frail Sheet. He glanced down and took note of the opaque surface and saw a small pond far below through the rock. The rock he sat upon was home to a small cavern below while housing a small pond called the Star Pond. The Star Pond is where the medicine cats and future Clan leaders used to communicate to StarClan with.
The invisible cat shuddered. How sadistic Talonstar was to place him at the very spot where he died several seasons ago. Pain-filled memories soared through his mind and he quickly shook his head to rid free of them. Not yet…
Finchstar looked around and saw the familiar Large Claws, the five enormous pillars of rock that resembled claws emerging from the ground that surrounding the Frail Sheet. He recalled the numerous amount of cats that used to gather here under the full moon, but that was seasons ago. Beyond the five Large Claws the land gave away to a diverse selection of territory. Directly ahead of where Finchstar was staring was the pine tree dominated forest where FrostClan used to thrive. To his left was a large and windy river that guarded a marshy territory that the cats of SalmonClan used to roam. To Finchstar's right was his former home, the meadows of GaleClan. Behind the former Clan leader stood a mix of dark oak and undergrowth that used to house the two Clans, ThornClan and MapleClan.
Bunching up his muscles, he leapt nimbly down from the Frail Sheet and the haunting memories that came from standing there. No…he didn't want to remember, no matter how many times he argued against himself. He padded past the rocks and towards the towering pine trees; he wanted to see if the rumors were true about his mate's Clan. He detected no border marks as he entered the evergreen forest, but there was a bountiful scent of prey. He didn't hear any sounds of cats conversing or hunting or even training! Finally, he reached the FrostClan camp and was flabbergasted to find no cats. The camp was still intact, the dark blue-gray boulders that littered the mossy and shady clearing were a bit dirty, but Finchstar's sharp eyes could still detect the leader's den beneath a large blue-gray rock, the warriors' den amongst the leafy ferns and the medicine cat's den from behind a rotting, fallen pine tree.
"Where did they go?" Finchstar whispered to no one in particular, but the wind replied by gusting fiercely into his starry fur, ruffling it the wrong way. There weren't any signs of life in the camp and it looked as if no cats had lived there in seasons upon seasons. He couldn't stand to gaze upon the empty camp where young kits were transformed into legends, where the mighty warrior code thrived and kept balance and prosperity, where all were in harmony. All of it was gone.
Was this all my fault?
A sudden surge of powerful memories threatened to break Finchstar's skull, and he knew that he couldn't hide those thoughts back any more. With a sigh, he let those memories flood into his mind.
It was at a Gathering many, many, many moons ago. Finchstar was leading his cats to the Gathering when they ran into Deerstar and her Clanmates. They decided to journey the rest of the way together and that was when Deerstar whispered into his ear her exciting news; she was expecting his kits.
Finchstar, of course, was beyond pleased and knew that his kits would grow their Clans closer together. When they arrived at the Gathering, Talonstar of ThornClan, Vinestar of MapleClan, and Pikestar of SalmonClan were already there, so the Gathering began immediately upon their arrival. At first, the Gathering went by uneventful, with Talonstar and Finchstar throwing casual threats to each other as perusal, until it was Deerstar's turn to report. She accidentally stumbled and that's when things turned from good to nasty.
Vinestar, being a she-cat after all, promptly figured out that Deerstar was expecting and that was when Finchstar confessed that they were his kits, mostly because they were bound to have figured it out eventually. Vinestar and Talonstar were shocked and immediately disproved of their relationship. They continued to throw insults at each other's throats, until Finchstar rejected StarClan's position as "useless cats who do nothing but spectate above".
That was the final straw for Talonstar. He leapt at Finchstar's throat and the two toms scuffled on top of the Frail Sheet. Vinestar, Deerstar and Pikestar tried to break them up, but they too were thrown into the skirmish.
The battle ended when StarClan themselves broke the Frail Sheet, sending all five Clan leaders into the frigid waters below. All of them drowned and their Clanmates could only stare in horror as the blood from their wounds turned the water into a bright crimson color…
From that day forth, no cats entered StarClan.
The Clans had tried to move on with their lives, but since the new Clan leaders couldn't receive their nine lives, the Clans fell into disarray and stopped believing in StarClan altogether. Because of the lack of believers, StarClan began to lose their power to send forth prophecies or to grant cats their nine lives. Eventually, rumors began in StarClan that some of the five Clans disbanded to become kittypets, rogues and loners, but Finchstar wouldn't have any of it. Now, he finally believed those rumors when he stared into the empty FrostClan camp.
"Was this all my fault?" Finchstar cried to the sky. "If I hadn't admitted to every cat that Deerstar was expecting my kits or if we hadn't fallen in love to begin with, would none of this have ever happened?"
But how he not fallen for the pretty she-cat? Deerstar was Finchstar's life, and he simply adored their kits. However, he and his family still received nasty glares from the others in StarClan, and how could he explain to his kits that it was his fault that StarClan was about to disappear forever? What's the point in StarClan if cats don't believe or don't arrive in StarClan?
He wanted to run. He wanted to run away from his troubles and vanish like the morning dew, but he knew that he couldn't. He stayed in the empty camp, not saying a word, until the sun began to disappear behind the horizon. He longed to check on the other camps, including his own Clan's, but he didn't want to face the empty homes once more. Finchstar glanced upward and saw that one-by-one the stars were beginning to appear on the empty black canvas. He took note that they were similar to the stars that laced in his fur, but unlike the ones on his pelt, the ones above were lifeless, just empty faces staring down below. StarClan didn't watch the Clans anymore, and the Clans didn't watch StarClan.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to the chilly air.
Suddenly, the familiar orbs of light appeared from the moist ground beneath his paws. They appeared amassed from the ground and began to dance around his form. They circled faster and faster until Finchstar was surrounded in a blinding light. He quickly closed his eyes for a heartbeat and when he reopened them he was standing where he left Talonstar by the stream. The star-covered older brown and white tom was staring at him with emotionless amber eyes.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Talonstar gruffly asked.
Finchstar nodded numbly and sagged his shoulders. He muttered something under his breath.
"What was that?" Talonstar asked.
Finchstar repeated his words louder this time. "I'm sorry," he sobbed quietly. "I'm so sorry."