I'm back and better than ever. I think. Not sure. Maybe I'm exactly the same. After all, it's only been like a week and a half. *scratches head* I think I'm the same. Anyways, back on topic... Here's the prologue of Greenleaf, Newleaf's next adventure. :)
Greenleaf
A Sequel to Newleaf
By: Coqui's Song
Prologue
The night was quiet, save for the rasped coughs and sneezes that echoed throughout the ShadowClan camp. The stars shone coldly in the dark night sky, the moonlight illuminating the camp slightly.
The leader's den was dark, the moonlight only picking out the two cats' silhouettes.
The small tabby medicine cat pressed against his leader, who was too weak now even to cough. "Nightstar," he whispered, but the elderly black tom cut him off.
"Why are you here, Runningnose?" the ShadowClan leader's voice was just barely a growl. Nightstar feebly attempted to stand, but his energy was completely drained so he collapsed back down again. "You should not be trying to heal me. You should be trying to heal them," Nightstar wheezed, flicking his tail at the outside of his den.
"Nightstar," the medicine cat meowed sternly, "you are very ill. More ill than any cat in the Clan. I must try to help you."
"More ill?" asked Nightstar. "Then why are so many of my Clan dying? No, Runningnose, you should be putting the Clan before me, as I am doing now."
"You only have one life," Runningnose hissed in reminder to his leader.
"Which is no less than any of my Clan," the ShadowClan leader mewed. "StarClan still gave me my name. I am still leader; I am still your leader. Heal them, not me!"
As ill as he was, Nightstar put such force into those words, Runningnose flinched. The medicine cat dipped his head respectfully to his leader. Ever since he'd received that omen a few nights ago, he'd been trying his very hardest to cure his leader of the strange sickness in an attempt to delay the prophecy. But Nightstar kept refusing his herbs, telling the medicine cat to instead cure the rest of the Clan. Runningnose sighed as he realized the ShadowClan leader wouldn't take no for an answer. "Very well, Nightstar."
Ω Ω Ω
Darkwing swallowed back the irritable tickling in his throat, trying to ignore the soreness of it, the burning he felt that could not be relieved. He knew he was getting sick, he knew, and yet he did not ask the medicine cat for herbs. Runningnose was far too occupied helping heal Nightstar, anyway.
Darkwing pondered this, and the fact that Whitethroat and Littlecloud had abandoned the Clan in this time of great need. Littlecloud did not abandon ShadowClan, he told himself sternly. He went to seek healing herbs and food, for though it was greenleaf, and the forest should be teeming with prey, the disease that spread throughout ShadowClan was impacting even the prey they caught.
He thought of the omen Runningnose had interpreted a few nights ago, and wondered how Nightstar could lead ShadowClan to greatness if he was so sick. He will get better, he tried to reassure himself. He must get better. But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed impossible. If Runningnose hadn't found a remedy by now, there was no cure, surely? The black warrior tried to shake off these despairing thoughts. Of course Runningnose would find a cure.
The sun had no warmth, no shine on ShadowClan recently, and Darkwing fixed his gaze to the stars. Why won't you help us, StarClan?
There was no answer from the small beams of white light above, dotting the black night sky.
Fur brushed his pelt, and he glanced at a pretty dark brown tabby she-cat. He growled at her. "What are you doing here?"
"I am still a ShadowClan cat," she defended herself, her voice raspy. She was beginning get sick as well. "I always have been. I never left. I may have sided with Brokenstar once, but I see sense now. You helped me see sense."
The dark black warrior looked away, pelt prickling. He didn't like Marshypool, not after he had found out she'd betrayed him and his friends. But what the tabby she-cat had said was true –these past few moons after… Newleaf had left, she had been agreeable.
But he still didn't trust Marshypool. He doubted Newleaf would either.
"She was a good cat," said the pretty tabby after a long time of awkward silence, seeming to know who he was thinking of. "She wouldn't take the easy way out, she never compromised her beliefs. That helped me understand that some parts of the Code can conflict with the others, and some are more important than the rest."
He nodded, agreeing, and lay down, stretching his forelegs in front of him.
"I'm sorry what I did to you," she continued, laying down next to him and staring deeply into his dark eyes, which made his pelt bristle uneasily again. "All of you. But I'm not asking for you to trust me; I'm asking you to try."
Darkwing nodded again, breaking eye contact. "I will try," he promised, "but I may not be able to. You were my friend."
"I was her friend too," she pointed out. "Do you think she would trust me now?"
He shook his head. "I doubt it very much."
Marshypool sighed and gazed upward at the stars. "Where do you think she is?"
He relaxed and fixed his gaze back on the dark night sky. "I'm not sure. She couldn't have gone far, don't you think so? ShadowClan will always be part of her."
The dark brown tabby nodded in agreement. "And she will always be part of ShadowClan, no matter what she may think. Taking the cat out of ShadowClan doesn't make her any less a ShadowClan cat."
"She would never abandon ShadowClan when it was in need," he continued, nodding and warming to an idea that had crossed his mind often since the sickness had spread and even before that, in the days when she had only just left, in leaf-bare. "She would stick right by it, and make sure she saw it through to the end."
Marshypool glanced at him, her gray eyes suspicious. "You can't be thinking what I think you're thinking."
"Maybe I am," he sighed. The ache in his heart sharpened as he remembered her, and he looked away, his long black tail brushing fallen leaves lightly. "She needs to be here, in ShadowClan, where she was born."
"She chose to leave," Marshypool pointed out sternly, her fur beginning to bristle. "It wasn't your fault. Her heart wasn't into being a warrior anymore. Do you really think she would come back?"
"Yes," he mewed quietly, "I do. And if Nightstar really is on his way to StarClan, she would want to say her last farewell to her father."
"Please, don't be mouse-brained," the tabby rolled her eyes, struggling not to cough. "We're all ill. You will be too, in a matter of days. What if you don't find her, and you die?"
"Like I said, she couldn't have gone too far." Darkwing heaved himself up to his paws and stretched, his young, hard muscles rippling smoothly underneath his silky black pelt. He was still well enough to take on this new challenge. "I'm going, and you can't stop me."
He raised his head to Silverpelt above, his still-healthy dark blue eyes gleaming with the reflection of its light. The moonlight caught on his black fur, making it glow darkly, as if shadows were coming alive in his pelt. He had to find her. Because as long as ShadowClan not only had faith in StarClan, but had her support as well, they had hope. And it was time to bring the light of hope back to ShadowClan. "I'm going to find Newleaf."
A few notes: 1) I will be switching POVs. You'll see both Newleaf and Darkwing's POV. Isn't that great? 2) Yes, this takes place in Rising Storm/A Dangerous Path. 3) There will be romance. Not enough to make it a romance fic, but enough to please you romance crazy readers I have. 4) Know how I was evil in Newleaf, giving you so many cliffhangers and generally just being mean to you poor readers/reviewers? Yeah, I'm going to be the same, or even worse. Muhahahahaha!
Review?
~Coqui's Song