This is my first fanfic! Please review and enjoy!
A yowl cut across the frigid clearing, and the soft murmuring silenced almost immediately. Four cats sat in an ancient oak tree, one on each branch. One of them, obviously older than the others, stepped forward first. The one who yowled stepped back with a respectful nod toward the other.
"I will go first," the tabby announced, her voice hinted question, as if anyone wanted to challenge her. With a nod she started, "All is well in Shadeclan. One of our queens, Larchwing, has given birth to two kits, and we have a new apprentice, Foxpaw!"
She paused as the cats below cheered for the apprentice, their breath clearly visible within the moonlight. The red apprentice shyly ducked away as her mentor purred beside her.
"Our prey is plentiful despite it being the middle of leaf-bare, and we have had no more trouble with the stray fox that wandered into our territory for the past moon, thanks to my deputy, Flintstrike, and Lizardclaw and Wetpaw. Shadeclan has nothing more to announce, Ivystar?" with a slight nod to the other she-cat, the brown and black tabby stepped back.
Ivystar stepped forward and sat down on the thin branch, twitching her ears at the slight sway of the branch. "Thank you, Leopardstar, I'm glad your clan is prospering even at the beginning of this cold leaf-bare. As with Shadeclan, Streamclan is well. The river, although slightly frozen over, is still plentiful and full of fish," some murmuring was heard among the cats, but grey she-cat decided to ignore it and move on. "Unfortunately, my old deputy, Reedtail, has died from an early case of green cough and we mourn for him. His bravery will never be forgotten, and I hope his kits pass this trait on as well. They are now apprentices, Icypaw and Timberpaw!"
The clans cheered for them, but the apprentices obviously tried to put on a smile as they shouted their names and their father's. She waited till the noise died down to finish.
"My new deputy is Aspenshade. We have had no more trouble with the two-legs since the river started to become colder. Streamclan had nothing else to report," she finished. With a glance across the clearing, she backed up and sat down.
A large brown tabby stepped out next, much to the dismay of the other leaders, and held his head high. He cleared his throat and began to speak.
"I will go next," he started. "All is well in Cloudclan. We have two new warriors, Morningblaze and Rabbitfoot, and one new apprentice, Tinypaw!"
"Morningblaze! Rabbitfoot! Tinypaw!" the clans cheered, mostly from Cloudclan. The new warriors and apprentice smiled proudly.
"Cloudclan has one more thing to announce," some of the cats shuffled their paws, as if knowing what he was going to say next. He looked around the clearing and started to speak. "Cloudclan is growing bigger, and with more mouths to feed we need to expand our borders. We will be moving our borders at dawn into Stormclan territory, as far as the sycamore tree."
Yowls of outrage erupted from clearing all at once from Cloudclan cats and Stormclan cats, with Shadeclan and Streamclan awkwardly scooting toward the edge of the ravine, looking nervously at each other, the other clans, and at the moon where thin clouds started to drift around slowly.
"This is outrage, Thornstar! You may not move your borders. We will fight tooth and claw to defend them if you have even the slightest urge to steal what is rightfully ours!" the Stormclan leader retorted, voice echoing among the clearing. Stormclan cats cheered for their leader.
"What gives you the right to do so, Thornstar?" Ivystar asked, her green eyes blazing.
"It's simple, we have more mouths to feed then Stormclan. Everyone knows Stormclan's ranks have decreased ever sense the badger attack last leaf-fall, while our ranks are growing!" he yowled. Some of the Stormclan cats faltered a bit at the mention of the badger attack, some shooting glances around as if the badgers will jump out of the shadows.
"We will never move our borders, Thornstar. Stormclan is strong!" the golden tom shouted.
"Well then, Bumblestar, prepare yourself for a ba-"
"Look at the moon! Starclan is angry with all the arguing!" the Shadeclan medicine cat cried.
"Yes, stop fight-!" another medicine cat stopped mid-sentence and collapsed, along with the rest of the medicine cats, except the apprentices.
Frightened shrieks erupted while cats fearfully looked at the moon, now totally covered with clouds, plunging the clans into darkness.
"Calm down everyone! Calm down!" Leopardstar shouted above the noise as her and the other leaders and deputies surrounded the medicine cats.
"They're still breathing!" a dark grey apprentice exclaimed.
Suddenly, all four medicine cats stood up with the other cats jumping back. They opened their eyes, but only light streamed out.
"On the full moon of the coldest night, they will come. The four, with powers unseen till now. From the depths of despair, they are found. A Storm will save them, then they will save it," they said in union with voices that weren't theirs.
And with that, they collapsed again, shutting their eyes, the light now gone again. The clouds started to float away and the clans started to calm down. They slowly stood up, this time with their eyes normal. The leaders, deputies, and medicine cat apprentices all just stared at the medicine cats with awe and slight fear, shaking, but not just from the cold.
"Wha- what happened? Why are you all looking at us?" the Stormclan medicine cat asked drowsily.
Thornstar quickly broke out of the trance and replied, "You, um, blacked out and started to say things, things that kind of sounded like a prophecy. Do any of you remember anything?"
"…No? All I remember is arguing and the moon being covered up, after that I-I don't remember a thing," a black she-cat said, slight fear obvious in her voice.
Leopardstar suddenly turned around toward the clans with them looking at her questionably. She turned back around.
"It appears that the clans didn't see or hear anything that happened here, and we mustn't speak of it. We will just wait for Starclan to give another sign to us or our medicine cats about what it must mean," she told them hurriedly. In a louder voice, turning toward the clearing of cats, she added, "The gathering has ended, Shadeclan, follow me."
And with that, she and her clan left toward the marshes, Cloudclan and Stormclan not far behind, leaving Ivystar and her clan in the clearing. She whispered to her deputy to lead while she took the rear, taking one last glance at the empty ravine, thinking back to what happened moments before. With the last look, she dashed through the undergrowth, not making a sound.