Yay! New story! Yes, I know, I'm bad. I should be working on Alone and Endless Rays of Starlight, not this. But I'm so bored these days. Plus, this story was just begging me to write it. So please, please, please review, or I'll stop writing. Like on Flight from Blood, you're missing out on a great story by not reviewing…*advertises* Oh and check out my profile! Read the stories there!
Jayfeather struggled to keep the light ginger she-cat breathing as she strained to push out the second kit. I knew she was too old to be having kits, he thought despondently as he urged her on. But she was failing fast.
"Sandstorm!" Firestar wailed from outside the nursery. "Leafpool, what's happening?" His meow was panicked and desperate.
"Firestar, Sandstorm is fairly old to be having kits. There's been a…complication," Leafpool answered gently. "We're trying everything we can."
"No," Firestar whispered. "Let me in there!" Jayfeather moved from Sandstorm's side. She wasn't going to make it.
"Let him in," he murmured. Jayfeather could feel the waves of agony coming off of his mentor and moved away from the nursery. Firestar rushed in, and Leafpool followed.
"Sandstorm!" Firestar gasped, pressing his nose into his mate's fur. "You have to live!" Sandstorm shook her head weakly.
"I'm going to join Starclan," Sandstorm argued in an almost inaudible voice. "Take care of our kits." She groaned and struggled, and with one final heave a black kit slid onto the mossy nest. "The…the ginger one is…Flamekit," Sandstorm struggled to meow. "And the…black one is Shadowkit."
"No," Firestar denied. "Don't leave me."
"I'm sorry Firestar," Sandstorm whispered. "I'll be waiting for you in Starclan."
Her sides gently stopped moving and Firestar let out a long wail, full of all the grief and pain of the world.
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"…will be known as Flamestorm. Starclan honors your courage and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan." Flamestorm felt exhilaration rush through her as she finally received her warrior name. It had been a long, hard path, but now she was finally a warrior. Thunderclan chanted her and her sister's new warrior names, their voices echoing around the camp.
"Flamestorm! Shadowflight! Flamestorm! Shadowflight!" Flamestorm grinned and turned to her sister. Shadowflight was staring straight ahead, her deep black pelt gleaming in the sunlight and her violet purple eyes were deep in thought.
Shadowflight must have noticed Flamestorm staring at her, so she turned. "What?" She meowed, a smile lighting her solemn features.
"We finally did it," Flamestorm replied, joy shining in her emerald eyes.
"Yeah," Shadowflight mused, remembering all the hardships they had faced. As kits, growing up without a mother. How kind Sorreltail had been to nurse them. When they were apprentices they had lost their older sister, Squirrelflight, the only family member who spent much time with them. Firestar was always busy, and Leafpool was the medicine cat. When she had been killed by foxes it had been a hard blow.
Then Shadowflight had caught Greencough when the epidemic came around that Leaf-bare. They hadn't even known if she would survive. But she had, and here they were, finally warriors.
Flamestorm trotted off the ledge, fur glowing in the sunlight. She looked so like her father, many cats remarked. But sometimes she felt nothing like him. He never wanted to fight, or spill blood, but Flamestorm loved a good fight. She had been trained well by Cloudtail, anyway, and considered herself a good fighter. Not to brag, or anything.
"Tonight you must keep vigil, as us tradition," Firestar meowed. "But for now, you may rest."
Flamestorm motioned for Shadowflight to follow and the two sisters made their way over to the fresh-kill. "Prey tastes so much sweeter as a warrior," Flamestorm mumbled around the vole she had chosen.
Shadowflight nodded, her mouth stuffed full of robin. It's not just prey that's better as a warrior…she thought, taking in the sights around her. "New den tonight," she swallowed the prey. "New nest, new denmates…"
"It's going to be great," Flamestorm meowed.
"Of course," Shadowflight smiled and the two new warriors finished their meal together. That night they sat vigil, as all warriors did, and with the next morning came everything that comes with being a warrior. Everything went normally until one day six moons later…
Shadowflight raised her eyes to the sky, which was smooth black only interrupted by the pinprick of stars. Thinking she was in her own camp, she looked down again, wanting to go back to her den. But her eyes saw nothing of Thunderclan's cozy nests.
She was standing alone on a grassy plain with nothing to see for miles and miles. It was endless. Well, except for the stars that seemed to descend from the sky to the ground and form, perhaps, the figure of a cat. They formed more sharply to reveal a she-cat with silver fur and kind, light blue eyes. Shadowflight looked on in astonishment, and knew she was dreaming.
"Shadowflight," the she-cat murmured. "I knew you would come."
"You did?" Shadowflight asked. "Who are you?"
"I am Feathertail, one of the cats who went on the Great Journey. I died in the mountains." Shadowflight could hear a trace of sadness in the young cat's mew.
"Why did you call me here?" Shadowflight wondered aloud.
"Because you could do much good, if you choose to accept your gift. Right now you are in the Border, the place between Starclan and earth. Cats come here after they die to release all their ties to the world and prepare to join Starclan. This is also where we can access live cats to give them prophecies.
"You may not have known this, but once a cat was killed who Starclan thought deserved to live. So they sent her back in new life. This can only be done from the Border. But you have a power, a gift. You can bring cats from Starclan to the Border and then back to life."
Shadowflight's eyes flew wide. "I can resurect already dead cats?"
"Yes," Feathertail replied. Just keep her talking. Feathertail thought. Her defenses are strong, but if I can just keep her distracted…
Shadowflight stood gaping, thoughts whirling and twisting within her. She had a power? A power she could use to help her clan. So she must be in a prophecy, then? The weight of responsibility came crashing down, making her uneasy.
But then she felt her mouth closing and her paw stretching and moving. Without her control. Slowly she was being forced to the back of her mind, and she was losing all control of her own body. Soon she was just a prisoner in her own head. She screamed and fought, but it meant nothing. Someone else had possessed her.
Scourge sighed as he entered Shadowflight. He was finally within a living body. It had taken him all this time to learn how to possess someone, but now he had finally perfected his skill. He had easily possessed Feathertail, but she was already dead. This was a new kind of power. And he had fooled her so well! The cat had actually thought she had some power. But no, she didn't. But Scourge was in control of a living body, and could finally return to the world of the clans, and wreak the revenge he had always desired.
Scourge rose to his paws that morning, stretching as he padded out of the warriors den. His new violet eyes took in everything around him, and he reveled in the chance to be so near the target of his revenge--that ginger fool. But he wouldn't kill Firestar right away, no. First he would torture him with the death of his daughter. It would be so easy. All he had to do was lure Flamestorm out to the forest and when she was least expecting it, strike!
Flamestorm stirred beside him, yawning as she rose. "Hey, Shadowflight," she meowed sleepily.
"Hey," Scourge meowed casually. "After we get some fresh kill, do you want to go hunting with me?" He forced himself to smile.
"Sure," Flamestorm meowed. "Let me grab something first." Scourge nodded and padded out to the fresh-kill pile with her. When they had finished eating Scourge ushered her out to the forest, wasting no time. They talked as they walked, Scourge using Shadowflight's memories as easily as his own.
"Wait," Flamestorm signaled with her tail. "I think I hear something." She crept forward silently, intent on her prey. Scourge nearly trembled with excitement. He was so close! Then, without hesitation, he jumped onto Flamestorm's back. Quickly he sunk his fangs into Flamestorm's throat, killing the she-cat instantly. He let the body lay motionless on the floor, cleaned off his paws, and strutted casually back to camp.
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