Hollyleaf could hear the blood pounding in her ears as she raced through the forest. She had to get away from them. She just had to. There was no way she could live with the thought of being half-Clan. It was as if just by existing she was destroying the thing that she cherished most: the warrior code.
Hollyleaf blinked tears out of her beautiful green eyes. She stopped running and steadied her pace to a walk. There wasn't any need to run. The rain wouldn't stop falling anytime soon.
Then she thought of the prophecy. How would she hold the power of the stars in her paws now? No. The prophecy couldn't be about her. It wasn't possible. She couldn't be powerful without the warrior code. None of them could be. Finally, Hollyleaf saw the old fox den she'd spotted a few days before.
"Hollyleaf, stop! We can work this out together!" her brother Jayfeather yowled over the pounding rain. She felt a pang of pure agony rip through her heart when she thought of all the good times they'd had together. She loved her brothers furiously and she'd do anything to protect them. She remembered the day when Jayfeather had fallen over the ledge. Luckily, he'd landed in Leafpool's den and hadn't had any real injuries. But that day, Hollyleaf had been sure that she would never see her brother again. She felt more tears pricking at her emerald eyes. She shook her head. She had to be strong now, for her brothers.
She stopped at the entrance to the fox den. She could hear the river roaring in the underground tunnels. She remembered when she'd saved the RiverClan kits from drowning. She remembered how Lionblaze had broken the warrior code by going down there to meet with Heathertail. But she didn't realize that if he hadn't broken the warrior code, the kits would be dead right now.
Hollyleaf felt anguish in her heart. She'd killed Ashfur and now she knew what it felt like to stare death in the face. She hadn't wanted to kill him, but it had to be done. She didn't even see that by killing him, she had dissolved the anguish in his own broken heart.
"Hollyleaf, stop. You can't do this," Lionblaze yowled. Hollyleaf felt as if claws, sharper than any warrior's would ever be, had just ripped through her very soul.
But it was too late. Hollyleaf turned and raced into the tunnels. She didn't gasp when the roof, made fragile by the rain, began to give way. She didn't feel the pain when the entire forest floor, along with all the rocks and debris on top of it, came crashing down on her body. She only felt the pain that had been building up inside her heart for so long.
Suddenly, Hollyleaf felt as if a great sadness had just vanished like morning mist in the sunlight. She didn't feel sad anymore. She didn't feel the guilt of having a medicine cat as a mother; the guilt of having a WindClan cat as a father. It was as if the spirit of an eager young apprentice, the spirit of Hollyleaf in all of her former glory, was rising to the heavens to hunt with StarClan.
Deep underground, buried beneath the forest floor, in the tunnels where she had saved the kits from certain death, lay the body of a single black she-cat. Hollyleaf had passed into eternity.