A/N: This is a oneshot for a MeadowClan challenge: Mystery. Not sure if it really fits in the genre, but still... Enjoy! And you can join MeadowClan!
The news around ThunderClan was... Ashclaw was dead. One day, he had went out to hunt, and never returned. ThunderClan had searched. Nothing.
The best cats had been sent out. Nothing.
Even Foreststar himself had checked. Nothing.
Cloudstream had even asked StarClan to check, but StarClan had refused. If they had checked, then the whole Clan would know who was responsible, but maybe this was better. Once the Clan had found out which other Clan had actually done it, they might wage war.
Scratch that, they would wage war.
The news hit Maplepaw especially hard. He was her mentor. But that wasn't all. The day he returned, she had woken up in her nest with bloody paws, still wet, and bloody paw prints leading to her nest.
She had nightmares that night.
Maplepaw couldn't fathom why this had happened and the rest of the Clan was just as confused, and now everyone seemed to be treating her suspiciously, as if she was a prisoner. It was horrible and she ended up spending most of her time at night trying to figure out what she had done wrong.
But still. Everyone just assumed she had killed Ashclaw and Oakpaw, another apprentice, had even gone as far as to ask her if she had murdered Ashclaw. She hadn't! Had she...
Anyways, Oakpaw(That total arrogant furball) had gotten a hard scratch on the muzzle for his trouble, during training.
Maplepaw sighed. Vinefur was assigined as her mentor until they sorted out who was responsible. Then...
"Vinefur! Take Leafcloud and Maplepaw out to mark the ShadowClan border and check around there. It's where Ashclaw said he was going hunting." The deputy, Frostwind called out. "Hopefully you'll find out what happened, or at least a clue."
"Even though there hasn't been a hint in ages and the WindClan border is getting stale, Foreststar still must insist on doing this." Maplepaw heard Frostwind's mutter.
"Let's go." said Vinefur.
"Maplepaw?" This time it was Leafcloud. "Are you coming?"
"Oh..." Maplepaw woke from her thoughts, of blood, and death. "Yes."
Great! A patrol! That'll be just the thing to keep my mind of that murder. Who knows, it can't be me!
She scrambled after them.
The small patrol quickly reached the ShadowClan border.
The day was bright and cheerful, the air smelled fresh, and the birds sang. The earth was cool underneath Maplepaw's feet, a breeze lifted her fur, and she lifted her face to the sun. She felt like lauging, in this beautiful, new world. A beautiful, perfect day. Certainly no murder could have happened here, could it...? It just wouldn't be fair. Even the Dark Forest couldn't be so cruel.
They reached the ShadowClan border.
Maplepaw tasted the air. There was no scent of blood, or death, or anyone, except fresh ShadowClan scent. Yuck. Wrinkling her nose, she turned away and began to wander aimlessly away from the rest of the patrol. She walked.
And walked.
Maplepaw wasn't going anywhere.
Just walking.
Away.
Away from it all.
Away from murder, from death, from those thoughts...
Those bloody thoughts...
It was bliss, she was in StarClan, just out of it all. Out of it all. It all.
"Maplepaw!"
"Mmm?"
"Maplepaw!"
"Yes?"
"MAPLEPAW!"
Huh?" she asked, and to her surprise found out that she had gone several fox-leaps from Vinefur and Leafcloud.
"Maplepaw, we were calling your name and you just kept on walking! What was wrong with you?" asked Leafcloud.
"Oh... I was just... deep in thought?" The excuse sounded feeble even to her own ears.
"Well, we'd better finish." Vinefur was already padding away, his back to them.
The rest of the patrol passed without incident, save for Leafcloud looking at Maplepaw quizically.
That night, Maplepaw rose from her nest. She padded out.
"Who's there?" called the guard, Redfur. "Maplepaw? Is that you?"
"Nothing's wrong." her voice was low, monotone.
"You should go see-" Redfur said, but was cut off.
"I just needed to steretch my legs. It's fine."
Redfur seemed dubious as he let her go out.
Maplepaw walked as if she were in a dream. She stumbled over rocks, crashed into trees, but she didn't stop. She kept going. Soon, Maplepaw had reached the ShadowClan border. She reached it and waited.
She waited.
And waited.
The ground was cool against her paws, darkness was in the forest, ShadowClan scent was heavy on her tongue, like earlier today, on the patrol. Deep in the forest, an owl chirped.
A breeze lifted her fur. Maplepaw would have laughed and ran around. But this wasn't Maplepaw. It would never be Maplepaw again.
In the hours just before sunrise, a time to reflect and think, blood was splattered on the grass where there should have been nothing but scent marks.
"I could have sworn I tasted ThunderClan scent, Swallowleap." came an annoyed voice from a ShadowClan warrior, who was obviously confused.
"Check again, Foxpelt. There's nothing there but that bush." there came a second female voice who was annoyed as well. "You didn't have to drag me up this early. The dawn patrol will be out soon. They could have checked here! I swear, you are the most annoying lizard-brain ever!"
The cat named Foxpelt sighed and checked. "It's best to be thorough."
Swallowleap rolled her eyes. "Is it best to check every single blade of grass, or every single little pebble? There's exact and too exact."
That's when she pounced. Maplepaw leapt out of hiding. In a few seconds, the young apprentice murdered two well seasoned warriors.
The question remained, how? How did it happen? What happened? Was she possessed by the Dark Forest?
No matter how it happened, it was obvious.
StarClan received two more spirits, that night.
The third one came as cold, sweet, revenge.
There's no saying where it went.