Hello again, readers!
This is The Renewed Trilogy's second book, Wind's Nocturne. Clearly I changed it from its earlier title idea, Once Upon A December.
So. Little. Speech. So. Much. Description.
Sorry it's up so late… writers block, y'know?
Wind's Nocturne – Lunar Silver Star Story
Hollyleaf watched interestedly through Hollykit's eyes.
She hadn't learned very much about what she was supposed to be doing, but knew some of ThunderClan's goings-ons.
Hollykit had a sister named Petalkit, whom she was very close with, and a brother named Sparrowkit, who liked to play pranks on his two sisters. Petalkit was a very light gray with dark flecks, and playful amber eyes, and Sparrowkit was orange with amber eyes, a spitting image of his father.
She had yet to know what Hollykit looked like, because inside of her, it was impossible. Hollykit probably didn't even know what she looked like. All that she knew was that she didn't look like either of the parents, and that some cats looked oddly at her for it.
Hollykit was oblivious to the stares, and Hollyleaf had yet to make herself known to her, waiting for the right time – when Hollykit was alone, that way if she replied out loud, no one would hear her and she wouldn't look like a loon. That had yet to happen, because Hollykit and Petalkit were glued to each other. If one went somewhere, the other one followed closely, giving Hollyleaf a dilemma of sorts. Especially because she already didn't know exactly how to contact her.
In other news, Ferncloud had once again had kits with Dustpelt. Rainkit, a gray tom with amber eyes; Dawnkit, a she-cat with light brown fur and green eyes, and Frostkit, a dark gray tom with green eyes.
Fernclouds kits were four moons old, and Cinderhearts were five.
Graystripe had a cough; Dustpelt-though unwillingly- was considering going to the elder's den; Berrynose and Poppyfrost were in an argument, and both refused to apologize first.
She had also heard some cats gossiping, and found out that Redwillow and Applefur had two kits, about the same age as Hollykit, Aquakit, a oddly bluish colored she-cat that was interested in becoming a medicine cat apprentice when she grew up, and Owlkit, a light brown tom named after Redwillow's brother, Owlclaw, who was dead-set on becoming a great warrior.
Rosekit and Rockkit were now Rosepaw and Rockpaw. Rosepaw was being mentored by Blackstar, and Rockpaw by Redwillow. Hollyleaf approved of those choices, but she wondered if Blackstar still had trust issues about Redwillow.
The most disturbing thing for Hollyleaf though, was the choice of deputy. Instead of Rowanclaw again, like everyone expected, she had heard that it was Crowfrost.
She could only wonder how Blackstar could be foolish enough to actually give a blue eyes cat with white fur that position.
Hollyleaf had found out things about her little area too.
If Hollykit fell asleep, she did too.
If Hollykit woke up, she did too.
That was helpful, so that if Hollykit was ever alone, Hollyleaf would know, and could take her chances trying to communicate.
They shared dreams, but Hollyleaf could never manage to actually appear to the she-kit, and remained invisible in the shadows, and could only see a faint outline of who she assumed was Hollykit.
But she found out she could do something else, too. If she tried hard enough, sometimes she could make Hollykit do something. It was only simple things, like yawning, a flick of the tail or an ear, a paw twitch, but Hollykit was growing curious of it.
Hollyleaf knew that because she could read Hollykits mind as well.
And that helped Hollyleaf figure out how to get into her –kind of- reincarnations mind.
Only with trying extremely hard did Hollyleaf get to do the listed things.
So, naturally, if she tried hard enough to get out of Hollykit's mind in one of their dreams, she could probably get out.
Sure, she would risk scaring the kit to death, but life inside a head was boring.
Suddenly Hollyleaf recalled talking to Scorchfur, "So… I'm giving this cat schizophrenia?"
That now seemed so much more entertaining, and so much less demented.
Boredom was a curse, especially when you have to put up with it for four moons (Hollyleaf had arrived when Hollykit was just about a moon old.)
So throughout the day, Hollyleaf paced around in wherever-she-was, as she liked to call it, waiting for Hollykit to go to sleep, and hopefully have a dream. She would prefer to have this done before Hollykit was apprenticed, and not be used to this at all, and end up being another Firestar, as popular saying went, courtesy of Dustpelt.
Back on topic, Cinderheart was currently giving Hollykit her nightly wash and check-up.
Hollykit was whining in a small voice, trying to force her mothers attention on her sister, so she could get out of her bathing routine and go to sleep. Sparrowkit was laughing at her, already curled up in their shared nest, clean and shiny from being washed moments before her.
"Who are you to laugh?" Petalkit growled in her sister's defense. He laughed harder as her turn was up, and Hollykit joined him in the laughter, earning a glare and a cry of protest from Petalkit. "I stood up for you!"
Hollykit grinned, "And I thank you for that," and then the siblings continued their taunting, another one of the things that happened a lot.
"Cut it out, you two." Cinderheart finally snapped, sending them each a failure of a harsh look, because amusement shone in her eyes.
Clearly she had grown used to this too.
Hollyleaf sighed at her former best friend. "You shouldn't encourage them…" she scolded no one, but Hollykit's ear flicked as though she had heard it.
At last, Petalkit joined them, sniffing defiantly, and ignoring her siblings subtly as they poked jokes at her, and then laughed to themselves and each other.
"Go to sleep," Hollyleaf whispered, praying that Hollykit would hear her soothing voice, and listen.
Hollykit's laughter paused, and her body stiffened suspiciously. When she heard nothing else, she faked a yawn and lied down, kicking Sparrowkit into his own nest area. "'Night," she mewed to Sparrowkit and Petalkit, who glared at her again, and turned away.
Hollyleaf lied down too, knowing that when Hollykit fell asleep, she would too, and waited impatiently for the familiar black wave to wash over her.
When it finally did, she was instantly transported to Hollykit's dream world, which consisted of a forest, like it usually did, her being in ThunderClan and all.
Trees rose high above their heads, and bird chirps sounded peacefully, like any cat would imagine the forest before they actually went into it.
Hollykit formed beside her, but it was clear that she didn't see Hollyleaf, because she walked past her without a glance.
'It's now or never,' Hollyleaf thought determinedly, gathering all of the willpower she possessed. "Hollykit." She called over to the outline.
It's attention, which had moments ago been on a fluffy bird sitting on a low branch, flicked over to her instantly. "Who's there?"
Taking a deep breath, Hollyleaf pushed herself to appear.
She must have been, because slowly but surely, Hollykit's appearance was appearing, and Hollyleaf could already see her wide, blue eyes.
Hollyleaf froze as the rest of her came into her vision.
"You!"
Hollykit took a step back at her sudden exclamation, and cowered down slightly. "Who are you?"
Hollyleaf tried to find words, but everything fled her mind at the sight of the she-kit.
It was the cat from her dream.
Light brown fur, lake blue eyes, and her one black sock on her front left paw.
She hadn't even thought of her dream since she had gotten here, but suddenly it made sense.
She couldn't touch the rats that brought the berries. She couldn't frame Ratscar.
The berries, though touchable, did nothing. Olivenose wasn't guilty.
The bulky bird that, who Hollyleaf now knew, was Hollykit tackled down. Hollykit was destined to kill Crowfrost.
And the bird lunged at her, signaling that it would get her in the end.
It wasn't white because it was a dove; it was white because the killer had white fur. It was a crow the color of a dove.
As she finished pondering this, she remembered Hollykit, who was still looking at her frightfully.
"Don't be scared," Hollyleaf meowed soothingly. "I need to speak with you?"
"I'm not scared." Hollykit mewed defiantly, standing up straight.
Hollyleaf waved her tail dismissively, "Sure, sure, you're not scared." Hollykit cried out in protest to her unbelieving tone. "Anyway, back to the reason I'm here in the first place," Hollykit glared at her, and sat down patiently. "Oh, gosh, I didn't think of how to start this…" she paused awkwardly.
Hollykit glared at her, growing impatient.
"Well, let's start with my name!" Hollyleaf exclaimed like it was a brilliant idea. "I'm Hollyleaf." From the way Hollykit's eyes grew in wonder, she knew that Hollykit knew about her. "I'm your aunt."
"I know," Hollykit nodded seriously, "I was named after you." She tilted her head curiously. "Why are you here? Are you mad at me for taking your name?"
Ah, the innocence of a kit…
"Of course not," Hollyleaf meowed quickly, "I… well, to be honest, I've got about as much of a clue as you do to why I'm here."
The impatient look came back.
"Okay, okay! As you probably know, I was murdered." Hollykit nodded, so she continued. "I was killed because there's a string of murderers around the Clans of the lake. I found out who the killer was, and before I could do anything about it, or tell anyone I knew, he jumped out at me.
"We fought for a good few hours, or at least it felt like it, before I cut his throat. I thought I had finally killed him, so I let my guard down. But he wasn't dead, and instead he killed me.
"When I 'woke up' I was in a place called the In-Between, a place between StarClan and the living world. Scorchfur, my dead mate, came to take me here, and explained some things, and these are the only things I know about what's happening:
"One; I'm dead. You're alive. Two; though you can't see me, I'm with you" - she used her tail to point at her head- "In here. Sometimes you'll move involuntarily, or you'll hear a voice the no one else hears. That's me; I've been trying to contact you, but I've just finally been able to. Three; it's your job to kill the cat that killed me."
Hollykit stared up at her blankly.
"This is probably a lot to digest for a kit, but you're the one with the evil look."
Hollykit continued to stare, before she leapt to her feet. "That's so cool! I have a special voice-cat-thingy to keep me company!"
Hollyleaf mentally smacked herself in the face with her paw. "Yes, I know, schizophrenia, amazing." Hollyleaf mewed impatiently, "Did you hear what I said? You have to kill a murderer!"
Hollykit waved her tail at Hollyleaf, "Yes, yes, that too. I don't have to worry about that now, though. I'm only still a kit." She paused, then looked at Hollyleaf curiously, "So, who is the killer?"
"I'll tell you sometime else," Hollyleaf replied, brushing the question off. "When you're older."
Hollykit glared again, but Hollyleaf remained unfazed.
"Now, young Hollykit, it's probably almost time for you to wake up. Remember, you can't tell anyone about me. Not even Petalkit!" She warned, "But if you have a question for me, I can read your mind. I can also probably reply, now that we've acknowledged each others existence."
Hollykit nodded at her, then slowly faded away, and Hollyleaf and her woke up simultaneously.
Ta-dah!
Enjoy, and review please?
Once again, sorry it took so long to get up. I probably won't update every four days like in Come Clean. Probably every week or so? I guess we'll see.
Edit: Lyrics were taken out because the were against the rules; please take the time to look up the lyrics or listen to the song.