Prologue, Part One.
Going to the mountains is going home.
The whole world is burning.
It doesn't make sense, but everything he knows is on fire. He could see the smoke, smell the stench of it, from the Moonspire. It took ripping him from a dream, a dream where he was supposed to receive his nine lives, for him to really see it.
He races back to his territory, Lichenwhisker keeping up as best he can. The medicine cat is old, though, and can only run for so long. Distantly, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he should have brought Goldenleaf instead. The apprentice is still young, could keep up, could help him.
It's selfish. It's not who he is. But he needs to get back, he needs to save them.
The flames haven't reached the camp yet. He can see that. The scents at the borders are gone, the forest is ruined around them, and yet he can still see the shallow valley, nestled against the side of the mountain, where his home is. It's not gone. Not yet.
He saw Jaytalon in his dream. His brother. His brother, who was alive when he left him in charge of the camp. Jaytalon, who can't possibly be dead, who looked at him in the dream and told him to run even though it hadn't made sense at the time.
He plunges across the rocks, down into the camp, Lichenwhisker yelling after him.
The first thing he sees is Jaytalon's body.
It's in the center of camp, over the spot Sorrelstar had laid the night before while her Clan grieved. He's twisted at a horrific angle, his fur caked in blood, blue eyes stunningly lifeless and reflecting the flames in the distance back at him.
Despite what he knows, he won't let his brain confirm what he sees in front of him.
He wills his brain to shut down, his emotions to compartmentalize, when all he wants to do is crouch down on the ground and scream to the sky.
Now, he notices that he sees no one else.
The camp is empty.
There's no terrified howls, no warriors herding the queens and elders out into safety. There's no noise except for the embers crackling in the distance, the roar of the fire growing closer.
Casting one glance back at Jaytalon's body, willing his heart not to betray him, he takes off around the rest of the camp.
There are no apprentices or warriors. Goldenleaf, where she had been resting in the Medicine Den watching over Mothtail, is gone. Tattered scraps of leaves and crushed berries line the ground, the moss nests where they had been lying torn apart. Like they were ripped away in their sleep.
He finds two more bodies lying not far away.
Blackwing and Rocktooth, lying so close together he can hardly tell them apart. The only two elders the Clan has and they're lying, broken and battered, at his gray-stained paws. He feels bile rose in his throat and forces it back down.
He already knows what the answer is, but he checks the nursery anyway.
The two occupied nests are all but gone - Minnowstream's, lying near the back, is practically non-existent. Wrensong's, the one that held his niece and nephew, is stained with blood. His brother, and now them. The only family he had left in the world, after his parents died.
They're all gone.
Lichenwhisker yells again, something frantic, and he races for the camp entrance before his mind even makes the decision to follow his body.
The brown and white tom is standing where he left him, perched on the rocks, hair standing on end.
"Where—?"
"They're gone, the whole Clan— I don't—"
"Easy, just breathe," Lichenwhisker says, even as he nearly chokes on his own breath. The smoke is too bad. They need to leave. "What do you mean?"
"It's like they were taken, everyone's missing besides..."
"Besides who?"
"Blackwing and Rocktooth. They're dead," he forces out. "And— and Jaytalon."
Lichenwhisker stares at him, fear obvious in his eyes, and tries to lay his tail across his shoulders. He shrugs it off, stepping away, and finally notices what he should have when they were running.
They made the mountains their home for a reason - ValleyClan and SlopeClan. They led the way for travelers, for those who dared to cross the mountains. They protected what no one else could, had fires lit by StarClan that never wavered, high up on the mountain peaks. Lights to follow in the darkness. What most cats feared they relished, kept burning for the sake of others.
And it was those fires that were destroying the forest, bursting forth from their rocky captivities to devour everything around him.
Lichenwhisker follows his gaze up the mountainside, realization finally dawning on him. They both stare for far too long, smoke blurring across their vision.
"We need to go," he finally says, nudging Lichenwhisker away from the camp. He wants to go back. He wants to bury Jaytalon, and his elders, and he wants to know what happened to his Clan. But he can't.
"You're the leader, Icestar."
Icestar. The name nearly burns a whole in him. He's not Icestar. He got ripped from the dream before he got any lives. But Lichenwhisker doesn't know that. He's still deputy, and he has nothing to fall back on, and no one else knows.
"What about SlopeClan?" Lichenwhisker asks. He can hardly tell which way is up, let alone which way the border is. But maybe they can get to SlopeClan. Maybe they can be saved. Their borders don't exist anymore, when something like this happens. Even in regular times, they hardly exist at all, with how close the two Clans are.
He knows Lichenwhisker won't leave him, but it forces them to move at a slower pace. The older tom is still wheezing, still stumbling over burning rocks and stones. The fire is thinning in this direction, though.
Maybe that's why he finally starts smelling blood instead of smoke.
He halts, the medicine cast stumbling into his haunches.
"Stay here."
"Icestar—"
"Stay here," he hisses. He's not risking him too, not when the rest of the Clan is gone. Not when he doesn't know what they're walking into.
He makes sure the medicine cat stays hidden before continuing upward, further on the hill toward the SlopeClan camp. He can hear voices, now, caterwauls and cheers and nothing that sounds right. The smell of blood is stronger than ever, and he can still see the fire, roaring ever closer.
He can't walk into the camp. That's suicide no matter what's going on. He's been here only twice in his life, but he knows there's a mess of fallen trees off to the left, one that shelters almost every den in the camp. He's covered in soot, his white fur blending into the shadows, and no one will know he's here.
Crouching low on one of the logs, trying to be as quiet as possible, he knows that it's bad. The roaring in his ears is covering up whatever the cats in camp are saying, but what he sees makes everything worse.
There are bodies. Almost nothing but bodies, scattered around the camp, the grass running red with blood. He recognizes one of their elders, lying only feet away from him, and the bodies of four kits, flung in every direction away from what has to be their mother. There's a lone apprentice, crumpled by the body of her mentor. He finally sees Applestar, throat ripped out and blood spilling out onto the ground, and she shows no sign of waking. She's surrounded by dead warriors, like they tried to protect her and failed.
Another voice snaps him out of his stupor.
"—take the other group back to Fable. You knew that one best. Shame, though, that we had to get rid of almost everyone here. Seems like we had a few promising ones."
"Last time I checked I didn't take orders from you. These ones all deserved to die. ValleyClan can be persuaded to change sides for their own survival. I know how they work."
He knows that voice almost better than his own.
Shadestrike.
He's heard others say it before, how betrayal makes it feel like a piece of your heart is being ripped from your chest. That's what it feels like, hearing Shadestrike's voice in SlopeClan's slaughtered camp.
"Also," he hears her hiss. "I don't remember you saying everyone was found, Lenon. If anyone is still missing from these Clans by the time we get back to Fable, I don't think him or I will be very happy about it."
He can see the two of them now, Shadestrike's dark gray pelt almost invisible if not for the flash of white on her chest, her eyes icy even in the darkness. The tom speaking to her is tall and lanky, his brown tabby pelt bristling.
"You just want little Iceheart back. Icestar now, is it? He's gonna be a real pain to kill when he shows up, fancy nine lives and all, now won't he, princess? If you even want to kill him that is."
This Shadestrike is no different than the one he knew in ValleyClan. If it was a Clanmate she'd quip something back, bat them over the head, stalk away in irritated silence.
Lenon isn't a Clanmate.
The next thing he knows the tom is lying dead at Shadestrike's feet, blood spilling out of his stomach and mouth. He didn't even see it happen. Shadestrike swipes a bloody paw across the grass, glancing around at the bodies around her.
"Get ready to move!" she calls out to whomever else is lurking in the shadows. He knows there's more of them, he can hear them. "Anyone that falls behind, Clan or not, can deal with the wolves on their own."
Get ready to move.
Clan or not.
Back to Fable.
His Clan is still alive, spared by words spilling out of Shadestrike's mouth, and they're being taken to the only other group he knows that lives anywhere in these mountains. The same group that Shadestrike came from.
He doesn't know how much longer they'll be alive, if he's right.
He takes off back down the log, paws slamming into the ground. Lichenwhisker is still waiting for him, ducked behind a thicket of brambles. He wastes no time in shoving the medicine cat back, pushing him away from the camp without any explanation. The horror in his eyes must be enough to convey it.
They move for hours. Crossing the borders, deeper into the mountains. He doesn't know where Fable's group lives, where Shadestrike will take his Clan and the rest of Fable's followers. All he knows is they need to get away. If Shadestrike is hunting anyone that escaped, he'll be among the first.
Lichenwhisker can hardly move, after that long. His paws are raw and bloody, and he stops every few moments to catch his breath.
When they stop, they're both silent.
All he can think about is that prophecy, the one Lichenwhisker received the night he and Jaytalon were born. The one that just came true in front of his eyes, because it never made sense until this moment. Jaytalon's dead. He just lost, and Shadestrike just won. She was never supposed to be the darkness, but she just destroyed everything, set fire to everything he loved.
He can't force the words out, can't make himself say out-loud that SlopeClan is dead and ValleyClan isn't too far behind. Lichenwhisker stares at him, hardly able to keep his eyes open.
Distantly, he wishes that the mountainside would crumble and kill the both of them, bury them in an avalanche so thick no one ever finds the bodies. But he knows, just like in every dream he has had about re-living this moment, that it won't happen.
He'll make up the next morning, and the forest will still be burning. Three days later he'll lose Lichenwhisker. Dead in his sleep. Too much smoke, or maybe he just can't handle not being able to save the Clan after caring for them for so long.
After a week, he tries tracking Shadestrike and the group that leaves the forest. He finds nothing. Even their prints in the mud are gone, destroyed by the rain that finally came the day before.
He doesn't stop for two moons. The mountains are vast and wide, and he still can't find anything.
A stranger talks to him for the first time in three moons, an older she-cat named Micky who lives in a desolate two-leg nest, high up in the woods. When he goes to speak his voice is raw with disuse. She feels bad for him, so he leaves. He can't sleep with her pitying gaze on him.
Seven moons after, and StarClan hasn't come to him once. Not Sorrelstar, not Jaytalon. No one bothers visiting his dreams.
He starts to lose track of time, after that. Time doesn't matter much, when you have nothing to live for.
Nine moons later, and he's still alive. He doesn't know why he's alive. He wishes death upon himself every night before he falls into a restless sleep, and every morning he wakes up he hates himself a bit more. StarClan won't take him because he destroyed their Clans, and the Dark Forest doesn't want a coward like him.
He has nothing left, anymore.
Barely even himself.
Ten moons later, he really wakes up.
He's been sheltering under the same rocky outcrop for three days, trying to ride out the freezing rain. It won't stop, though. It's kind of fitting, for the mood he's been in lately. He has the dream every few days, like clockwork, no matter where he is, though. Relives the night his whole life fell apart like StarClan enjoys reminding him. He doesn't blame them, though he's surprised StarClan even remembers he exists.
He used to be Iceheart, deputy of ValleyClan. He was supposed to Icestar, before he lost everything.
Now he doesn't know what to call himself.
A ghost isn't far off, though.
FORMER VALLEYCLAN
LEADER - SORRELSTAR - a tall, dark brown tabby she-cat with green eyes
DEPUTY - ICEHEART - a broad-shouldered, pure white tom with green eyes
MEDICINE CAT - LICHENWHISKER - a brown and white tabby tom with yellow eyes (APPRENTICE - GOLDENLEAF)
WARRIORS:
JAYTALON - a pale gray and white streaked tom with blue eyes (APPRENTICE - CHERRYPAW)
SHADESTRIKE - a dark gray she-cat with white paws, a white chest, and blue eyes (APPRENTICE - BRACKENPAW)
HONEYCLAW - a golden-brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes
BUZZARDFLIGHT - a speckled brown and white tom with amber eyes
MOTHTAIL - a pale, gray-brown she-cat with amber eyes
SOOTCLOUD - a solid black she-cat with green eyes (APPRENTICE - STARLINGPAW)
FLAMESTORM - a huge dark ginger tom with white paws and amber eyes
HAILFOOT - a dark gray tabby tom with green eyes (APPRENTICE - FLINTPAW)
BADGERFANG - a broad-shouldered black and white tom with blue eyes
SPOTTEDBIRD - a thick-furred tortoiseshell and white she-cat with amber eyes
APPRENTICES:
GOLDENLEAF - a long-furred, golden she-cat with amber eyes (Apprentice to the Medicine Cat)
CHERRYPAW - a tortoiseshell and white she-cat with green eyes
FLINTPAW - a black and white tom with amber eyes
STARLINGPAW - a black she-cat with one white paw and amber eyes
BRACKENPAW - a long-legged light brown tabby tom with a cream underbelly and green eyes
QUEENS:
WRENSONG - a small, light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes (Mother of Jaytalon's kits - Skykit and Frozenkit)
MINNOWSTREAM - a silver-furred she-cat with white specks and blue eyes (Expecting Flamestorm's kits)
KITS:
SKYKIT - a mottled gray and white she-cat with amber eyes
FROZENKIT - a silver streaked white tom with one yellow eye and one blue eye
ELDERS:
ROCKTOOTH - a scarred dark gray tabby tom with green eyes
BLACKWING - a black she-cat with amber eyes
FORMER SLOPECLAN
LEADER - APPLESTAR - a dark, red-brown she-cat with green eyes
DEPUTY - BIRCHWIND - a long-furred mottled gray she-cat with amber eyes
MEDICINE CAT - PEBBLENOSE - a dark gray tom with green eyes
WARRIORS:
IVYSPLASH - a light brown tabby and white she-cat with green eyes
REEDBLAZE - a pale, tall, cream-furred tom with green eyes (APPRENTICE - RIVERPAW)
SQUIRRELFANG - a lean, dark brown tabby tom with a white underbelly and blue eyes
PINEFROST - a dark blue tabby tom with amber eyes
FAWNSTEP - a pale, golden and white dappled she-cat with amber eyes
LAVENDERMIST - a very pale gray she-cat with green eyes
FOGWHISKER - a shaggy, pale gray tom with amber eyes (APPRENTICE - CROWPAW)
BLOSSOMCREEK - a long-furred tortoiseshell and white she-cat with blue eyes
CEDARSTRIPE - a mottled dark brown tom with amber eyes
APPRENTICES:
RIVERPAW - a gray she-cat with amber eyes
CROWPAW - a black tom with green eyes
QUEENS:
DOVESONG - a pale gray she-cat with blue eyes (Mother of Squirrelfang's kits - Robinkit, Dawnkit, Spiderkit and Stonekit)
BLACKFLOWER - a long-legged jet black she-cat with amber eyes (Expecting Reedblaze's kits)
KITS:
ROBINKIT - a small tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes
DAWNKIT - a blue-cream and white she-cat with blue eyes
SPIDERKIT - a black tom with white paws and blue eyes
STONEKIT - a blue tabby tom with amber eyes
ELDERS:
OWLMASK - a brown and white tom with blue eyes
RUSSETFOOT - a red brown tom with amber eyes
MISTPETAL - a pale gray she-cat with green eyes
I was coerced (read: bullied) into writing a Warriors fic in the year 2017. Also title in all caps because I'm edgy.
So thanks very much to the four people who thought this was a good idea and an equal amount of thanks to everyone who clicks/reads/faves/comments whatever on this fic. It is much appreciated, despite how little of this actually makes sense without any other chapters or context. This idea originally spawned many years ago and was unfortunately dredged up again and here I am thousands of words into it. It's a wild ride.
Much love.