(GAWD DAMMIT THIS IS THE THIRD TIME WRITING THIS!!!! DX)
Bleh, based off the backstory from a Warriors video I had made. Bla, bla, bla. The first few chapters are indeed heavily refrenced off of Starlight and whatever's spoken matches word for word. Bla, bla, bla. Uh, this is because my story starts off exactly how Starlight starts off but the further along you read the more you'll notice small diffrences until it finally breaks off and becomes a whole new story. Bla, bla, bla. So in other words, just bear through the first few chapters before you get to the actual story. Bla. Bla. Bla.
Summary: Crowfeather's mission was simple. Capture Firestar's precious daughter and hold her as a hostage for Mudstar. It was the ThunderClan leader's fault Onewhisker was dead after all. It was a fairly simple task... but the medicine cat's gentle eyes... her soothing voice... her gentle features.... He was her captive and she was his prisoner.
Warnings: Rate T for a reason. This story will take a much darker tone later on. Beware character death, non-cannon shippings, possible OOC-ness, eye blinding grammer mistakes and some explicite scenes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors, Erin Hunter does. If I owned Warriors, Longtail would not be blind and if he was he wouldn't have been blinded by a freakin rabbit.
A dark brown tabby climbed warily up the ridge in front of him. He was tired of this, tired of pushing up hills, tired of slipping in ditches, tired of sleeping in the rain, tired of the continues groan of his stomach. He glanced back, watching the hundreds of cats stumbling and crawling after him. 'This has to stop.' He thought angrily, turning and pushing his paws forwards on the sloping earth. 'We need a place to stay… we need a home.'
The tom felt as if he'd been leading these cats for moons. Pushing and urging them on with promises of a land for all of them. Of a place with prey and dry nest to sleep in. A place without Twolegs. A place far away from the barren, destroyed lands they had once dwelled in.
'StarClan please,' he prayed silently, staggering to a halt at the top of the ridge. 'I don't want to lead these cats to more death. Give us sign that we're near our destination!' And they answered. The faint breeze on his pelt strengthened, breaking up the clouds so the moon's light shone through, lighting up the cats and their surrounding area.
The tom stood, frozen, at the sight. Sloping steeply, the ridge flowed down into a vast expanse of water. Its smooth surface seemed to reflect every star in Silverpelt, shining and shimmering peacefully.
"We're here." Brambleclaw turned to watch another tabby, this one lighter with white paws, pad up beside him. Her amber eyes danced with happiness and excitement as they gazed at the water below. "This is the place StarClan meant for us to be."
The tom blinked, letting the meaning of her words sink in. 'We're here…' Brambleclaw stared down at the lake before turning back to her, "Are you sure, Leafpaw?"
The she-cat let out an amused purr, pressing against her friend's flank. "Of course I'm sure, Brambleclaw. Do you not see the stars in the lake? StarClan are telling us we are supposed to be here. This is our home."
Brambleclaw shook his head tiredly, to tired to even try to understand to strange world the medicine cat lived in. Stars and plants were not his thing. "I believe you. We finally made it. We're home."
Mudclaw, Leopardstar, Blackstar and Firestar began to lead their Clan slowly down the slope towards to lake. The two tabbies looked on as elders, warriors, kits and queens alike blundered on, thin and ragged with dull eyes and weary paws.
"What's the matter?" Squirrelpaw, Leafpaw's sister, bounded up to them. Leafpaw gave the two a quick, awkward nod before slipping into the throng of cats. "Why are you standing there like a frozen rabbit?"
Brambleclaw turned to look at her before up once again the group. "I want…" A familiar, tortoiseshell coat caught his attention and he jerked his head, summoning his sister towards him. "I want all of us the go down together," he explained once Tawnypelt was standing before them. "All the cats who made the first journey."
The she-cats nodded in agreement. Four cats had been chosen to find the Clans a new home. Six made the journey but now only four remained. All of them had formed a strong bond with one another as they searched and found a place for the Clan cats to live. A great friendship that would not be easy to give up once they made their separate ways. They would be rivals, fighting for food and land, and Brambleclaw wanted to cherish what little time they had left together.
"Where's Crowfeather?" Tawnypelt questioned.
Brambleclaw looked over at the group of cats, finding the gray-black shape a few tail-lengths away, padding restlessly beside Tallstar. The black-and-white leader looked frail and half-starved, barely seeming to be able to put one paw down after the other, leaning heavily on Onewhisker, another warrior of WindClan, with their medicine cat, Barkface, close behind.
"Hey, Crowfeather!" Squirrelpaw shouted.
The tom glanced at his leader before racing up to join them. "What do you want?"
Brambleclaw blinked at the unwelcoming tone, wishing the WindClan warrior would at least try to be friendly. He thought he'd be able to ignore the tom's sharp tongue, knowing Crowfeather would fight to the death for his friends if danger called. But both toms had been completely thrown off balance with the news Crowfeather's mother, Ashfoot had admitted when all four Clans had been preparing to leave their beloved forest home forever.
Crowfeather was the son of Tigerstar. Crowfeather was Brambleclaw's half-brother.
The brown tabby desperately wished that the tom would drop his defensive barriers if only so the two could share bond not unlike the one Brambleclaw held with Tawnypelt. But if anything, the WindClan warrior had gotten more distant since the news.
"Travel down to the lake with us," Tawnypelt urged, also seeming to wish for a closer bond.
"I want us to finish the journey how we started - together." Brambleclaw ended.
"There's no point," Crowfeather whispered, lowering his head. "We'll never be together again. Stormfur lives in the mountains now, and Feathertail is dead."
Brambleclaw laid his tail on the younger cat's shoulders, sharing his grief for the RiverClan warrior who had given her own life to save them and the Tribe of Rushing Water from Sharptooth, the lion-cat that had preyed on them. Afterwards, Feathertail's brother, Stormfur, had stayed behind to live with the Tribe and his love, Brook. They all missed them both, but their grief was nothing compared to Crowfeather's anguish over Feathertail.
"Feathertail is with us now," Squirrelpaw insisted as the WindClan warrior angrily shook away from the comforting tail. "If you don't know that, Crowfeather, you're even more mousebrained than I thought. And we'll see Stormfur again, I'm sure. We're closer to the mountains here than we were in the forest."
Crowfeather shifted. "Okay," he sighed. "Let's go."
Critics are welcome but no flames. As I said in the above, the first few chapters are heavily refrenced off Starlight and I once again ask you to bear with me for awhile. Things'll kick off my way once Tallstar dies so just wait around a bit, have a muffin, do some yoga, just be patient.