What Really Happened After Firestar's Death?
Athenawolf360
Chapter 1
Molepaw snapped his eyes open. Sunlight filtered down through the roof of the apprentices' den. He could hardly wait! Today was the day of his warrior ceremony! Careful not to wake his sister, Cherrypaw, he picked his way out of the den.
Dovewing and Ivypool were sleeping in the apprentices' den too, even though they were warriors. The warriors den was full with all of the warriors—he and Cherrypaw were the only apprentices!
But as he emerged from the apprentices' den, all the memories came surging back. All the images, the feelings, the pain, it all came crashing down on Molepaw like a huge wave.
The battle. With the Dark Forest. That had actually happened. It hadn't been a dream. Molepaw's heart sank. The rest of Thunderclan(or most of it) were gathered around the bodies of their fallen clanmates. Hollyleaf, Ferncloud, Mousefur, and Firestar's bodies were clumped together in a heap.
Molepaw heard the sound of branches rustling and turned around to see Cherrypaw coming to stand beside him. Together they went to join their clanmates in grieving.
Finally Brambleclaw (soon to be Bramblestar) rose to his paws and announced that the bodies should be taken out to burial. Purdy, the Clan's only elder, said that he would take Firestar's body out first. Almost at once all the cats were suddenly saying their last goodbye's, even though they know Firestar's body couldn't them—but way up in Starclan his spirit still could.
Sandstorm volunteered to help Purdy carry Firestar out of the camp, and Spiderleg and Thornclaw followed with Hollyleaf. Jayfeather and Lionblaze stood side by side watching them carry their sister's body out of camp.
Jayfeather turned to Lionblaze. "Maybe if she hadn't come back she would still be alive," he muttered to his brother. Lionblaze reared back in surprise.
"Would you rather live your whole life thinking that she was dead when she wasn't? At least now we know that she really is dead and we can grieve for real," Lionblaze snarled. Jayfeather was silent for a moment.
"Do you want her to be dead?" he said quietly a few minutes later. At first Lionblaze looked too shocked to say anything. Then:
"No," he whispered. Jayfeather looked satisfied and sat back.
Molepaw looked away from them to see that the last two bodies were being carried out of camp: Poppyfrost and Rosepetal carrying Mousefur, and Icecloud and Bumblestripe carrying Ferncloud.
He saw that Dovewing and Ivypool were awake, finally, but he also saw something strange—Ivypool was limping. Molepaw cocked his head. He had thought that Ivypool wasn't training in the Dark Forest, but maybe the ones that were left were still trying to get some Clan cats on their side. As if any Clan cat would be dumb enough to fall for their tricks after yesterday's battle.
Molepaw noticed that Ivypool went straight to Brambleclaw and talked to him urgently for a few minutes. Then he saw Brambleclaw gasp and Molepaw ran forward to hear him say, "No way! Your too young!" Ivypool said something Molepaw had to run forwards to hear.
"I know, I know, but I talked to Jayfeather and he confirmed it." Brambleclaw just closed his eyes, shook his head, and pointed her towards Daisy.
Molepaw was confused. What would Ivypool want Daisy for? The cream she-cat was from the horseplace, and she was no good at warrior skills. She had taken the role of the head queen of the nursery—Molepaw froze. It was all clear: Ivypool's limping, why she talked to Jayfeather and Brambleclaw, and why she needed to talk to Daisy. The pieces all clicked together in Molepaw's mind—Ivypool was having kits!
Chapter 2
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Bramblestar's yowl rang around the stone hollow.
Molepaw was so intent on his thoughts that he nearly missed Bramblestar's call. He jerked his head up in time to see Berrynose and Poppyfrost running towards him. He rolled his eyes. Parents always were obsessed with grooming their kits before ceremonies—but he and Cherrypaw weren't kits now!
As soon as Berrynose was finished with Cherrypaw, Poppyfrost started on him. Molepaw thought it was weird that they groomed them one at a time. But the thought was yanked away from him as soon as he saw Bramblestar underneath the Highledge. Excited flooded through him. He paced, restless. Poppyfrost scolded him, but he didn't hear her words.
For he was staring intently at something nobody else had noticed—a strange shadow passing back and forth on the ground of the stone hollow. Suddenly Squirrelflight, the deputy, jerked her head up. "HAWK!" she yowled. Bramblestar looked up, saw the hawk, and then frantically beckoned to her, and the two of them started shouting orders. Squirrelflight ran over to Leafpool, her sister, and started whispering urgently. Leafpool nodded and hurried to the medicine den, talked urgently with Jayfeather, then went over to the nursery.
Molepaw had gone over to watch the hawk. He had never seen one, but he had heard the elders' stories of them—they rarely ever come to the lake. He watched as the hawk swooped closer. It landed about four tail lengths away from him. Molepaw dropped into a crouch and started creeping slowly over to the hawk—it didn't look dangerous. But the second he moved, ever so slightly, the hawk let out a terrible screech and catapulted straight at him. Molepaw crouched, frozen in fear, as the hawk hurtled towards him. It was just inches away, just inches—suddenly a fearsome yowl rang out around the hollow, and Ivypool launched herself at the hawk. Claws outstretched, teeth bared, Ivypool ripped a long gash in one of the hawk's wings as it tried to fly away. Squawking, it tried to shake her off, but when she held on it tried to turn its head around to bite her, but- Ivypool slid down to the ground and let the hawk take off. Molepaw ran to her, but before he reached her she collapsed, gasping for air. Leafpool ran up. "Someone fetch Jayfeather! Hurry!" she cried. She helped Ivypool to the nursery and laid her down in a nest just as Jayfeather burst into the nursery next to them. "Where is she?" he snapped.
"Right over here," Leafpool said gently, starting to guide her blind son over to where Ivypool was. Jayfeather shook her off roughly. Then he made his way over to where Ivypool was. He felt her belly, and said, "Leafpool, fetch me some chervil root!" Leafpool raced away. "Brightheart, we're out of fennel, could you go get some, quick…, and someone get wet moss, and a stick…."
Dovewing crouched by her sister and licked the top of her head. "So, Ivypool… who's the father?" Silence.
Then, "There is none." Ivypool gasped. Dovewing exchanged a glance with Whitewing.
"No father? Ivypool, kits have to have a father." Whitewing said gently. Ivypool struggled to stop her gaze from drifting to Foxleap.
"I- I d-d-don't know." She stammered. "I- I haven't-"
"Shh, it's okay…" Brightheart soothed. "Bite down on this stick when the pain comes."
They didn't have to wait long. Ivypool let out a wail of agony and bit down hard on the stick. It started to splinter but then Ivypool broke out in a fit of coughing. Jayfeather nudged the moss closer to her, but she just kicked it away in her fit of hacking and coughing. Jayfeather laid an ear against her belly. Ivypool quieted.
Someone near the edge of the clearing called, "Where's the kit?" and was immediately shushed by someone else.
Jayfeather frowned. "I don't understand. She hasn't had any spasms, that coughing was just whitecough…." He froze. "Just whitecough…" he mused. "What if the whitecough killed the kit before it was born? If it was still alive it should be here by now. I think it's dead." Ivypool started hacking again.
Jayfeather turned. "Let's move you to the medicine den." He said, gently nudging her towards the entrance of the nursery. "I'll be able to treat you more easily if you're there."
Molepaw turned and started. Bramblestar sat right in front of him, eyes gleaming. Did he look amused? Or was it just Molepaw's imagination.
"Well," Bramblestar purred, his voice a deep rumble, "shall we finish what we started?"