Ashfur's Problem
"He doesn't deserve to be in StarClan!"
"The young'un's problem was only that he loved too much."
"He hasn't taken the trial yet. Let's wake him up."
A light gray tom was crouched in the area of which the light and darkness merged together. The frothy mush of the Dark Forest was spread over the dewy grass of StarClan, and he took no notice of it. His mind was whirling with confusion until he remembered what had happened.
Stealthy.
Silent.
Ashfur was beside the river, sitting on the riverbank, flecked tail curled around his paws.
He dipped his head to drink, his tongue delicately breaking the surface of the flowing water.
A noise made him turn, the flash of claws, the wooshing of the wind as he felt something tear at his throat.
A flash of red blurred his vision, and then he plunged into the water.
A merciless face stared down at him as he sank deeper, and deeper.
Then his world went black.
His killer was alive, he dead. Safe from all wanting claws. The murderer would have to live through the lies now. The deaths. The killer and its littermates held a dark secret. A dark one that Ashfur had failed to reveal to the Clans. "My revenge..." he whispered.
He could feel his claws ripping through his murderer's flesh and soul, ridding it from the world forever. A sickly thought entered his mind, when he peered into the darkness and saw two cats appear. The first appeared to be a black-furred one, the other ghostly white. Both were transparent, and he flicked his ear. These were probably just StarClan cats. "Wha-?"
"Silence, stranger." The black-furred cat hissed. The words were drawled out in a snake-like way, and their voice was eerily commanding.
The pure white cat cast a look at the shadowy black cat. They tentatively nodded. "I am the light that guides you to goodness, they are the darkness that drives you to the shadows. Ashfur, you have done so much wrong, even when you knew that all this time, Brindleface was watching you," they murmured.
Saying those words, Ashfur turned to see his mother, alive and healthy with stars dappling her fur. The last time he had saw her was when she was broken and bloodied, dead underneath Tigerstar's treacherous plans. He purred and bounded forward, only to be met by a sad and angered gaze. "Brindleface!"
"Ashfur, my beautiful son. I will always love you, but you have forgotten what I told you when you were a kit. Revenge means nothing. You were given a chance to go on, forget about Squirrelflight, have a new mate and kits... but you still lingered in the past. You wanted to hurt innocent lives. Innocent lives. It wasn't Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather's fault they were born."
Ashfur opened his jaws to protest, suddenly feeling a burst of anger well up in him. "I gave her-"
Brindleface continued, her face now hidden from his sight. "Squirrelflight told you as lightly as she could that she was with Brambleclaw, and then she had his kits, or... someone's else's kits. Both raised them all to be fine, well-respected cats – you even trained Lionblaze! If you had succeeded in killing the littermates, you would have been killing your love's foster kits, also your former apprentice and his littermates. These attempted actions are simply unforgivable. I am sorry, Ashfur. You will never walk among the stars... ever."
"But wait! Who is the mother of Squirrelflight's foster kits?"
The mottled gray tabby she-cat looked up at him for the last time, her green eyes filled with regret. They reminded him of an achingly familiar cat...
Ashfur closed his eyes as a dark abyss opened underneath him, and he fell, a spiral of darkness meeting him. I'm sorry...
