The first thing that Leafpool noticed was the frigid air. It tore through her pelt like an enemy's razor sharp claws. She shook her head to clear away the drowsiness and immediately was on the alert. Why was it so cold in the medicine den?
Millie and Briarkit had whitecough! The last thing that ThunderClan needed was an outbreak of greencough. She was running low on herbs, an epidemic could be devastating. Then something else occurred to the tabby she-cat.
There was no sign of Millie or Briarkit. Their nests were gone as well. Jayfeather was also absent, as was the stock of herbs and everything else. Then den was completely empty; her stiff muscles alerting her that she had slept on bare, hard ground.
"Jayfeather? Millie?" She called quietly.
There was no answer. Leafpool stepped out of the medicine den into the main clearing. It was completely deserted. There was no sign of any cat, just bare, empty ground. She padded slowly across the clearing to the bottom of the Highledge with Firestar's den at the top.
Springing upwards and sinking her claws into the rough stone, she pulled herself onto the ledge. Calling out a greeting, she stepped into the den. Empty. Scrabbling down the cliff back to the ground, she looked once more around the empty camp.
There was no fresh-kill pile, which was a shame, because her empty stomach growled pitifully. She checked the other dens and confirmed the fact that there was nobody around. It seemed as if the camp had been deserted for many moons.
"Where is everyone?"
Padding out of camp, the woods was deathly silent. There was no chirping of birds in the trees, no sound nor scent or prey in the undergrowth. The sky was covered in dark clouds, and fog swirled around her causing trees to fade in and out of sight.
She found her paws taking her across ThunderClan territory. She stopped suddenly as a terrible stench reached her open jaws. It smelled like crow-food, like mouse bile, like death. She walked the last few steps cautiously, then stepped out of the undergrowth.
"Oh, StarClan…"
The words came out in a hoarse whisper, because her had throat closed up at what she saw. Sky Oak was there like it always had been, but then there were the bodies. Hundreds of limp, lifeless feline corpses hung in the branches, at all different heights until they were lost to sight near the top of the tree, which was hidden in fog.
They were hanging by their necks, a loop of vine making a functional noose. The she-cat looked down at her paws, feeling nauseous at the horrible sight.
"I've been waiting for you."
Leafpool looked around, unable to find the source of the voice. She sprang back with a yowl of shock as a small body dropped in front of her. The loop of vine around its neck had been seemingly cut, but with what she did not know.
The cat was a tom, small enough to be a kit. His body was in awful condition. A row of deep holes ran across his back, one ear had been ripped off, and a gaping hole had been slashed in his stomach.
Then it moved.
Slowly the kit's eyes flickered open, and it slowly got to its feet. His deep, blue eyes seemed to bore right through her.
"I've been waiting. Where have you been?"
Through her shock, Leafpool found it difficult to speak. Finally she found her voice, "who are you?'
The kit looked slightly disappointed that Leafpool didn't know his name. Heaving a sigh, he spoke. "Snowkit. Ever hear of me? No, I doubt it. They never talk about me anymore, do they?"
Leafpool looked confused, and Snowkit sighed again. "Never mind, I'll tell you. I lived back in the old forest during the time of Tigerstar. When the deputy was your loving father." There was a note of disgust in his voice, and his eyes narrowed in hatred.
Leafpool stared at Snowkit, "what are you talking about? What did Firestar ever do to you?"
Snowkit bared his teeth, making his appearance even more gruesome when coupled with his injuries. "It's what he didn't do! It's what none of them did! My mother, Speckletail, left me alone in the middle of that clearing! Firestar, who was Fireheart then, always thought I would be useless! They all did just because I was…"
"Deaf?"
The kit scowled at Leafpool; "I couldn't hear the hawk when he dove at me. I felt his talons dig into my back, I felt the terror as he carried me off through the air, and I felt the agony when it tore me apart and ate me. I woke up here, reliving the last moments of my demise."
The medicine cat backed up a pace, then another scent other then death hit her. It was a thick wind-blown smell, including clumps of gorse and rabbits. She knew it anywhere.
"Crowfeather? Where is he? I can smell him!"
Snowkit chuckled then, as if the question was obvious. He carelessly gestured up into the tree with his right forepaw. "Up there."
Leafpool felt bile rise in her throat and a cold weight settle in her stomach. There was the lean, smoky gray tom, hanging by his neck in a vine noose, dangling from a tree branch. His body swung slightly in the non-existent breeze.
"He is doomed to hang here for all eternity, just like so many others."
Leafpool let out a choked sob, "no! You liar! StarClan would never let something like this happen to any cat!"
Snowkit let out a noise halfway between a snort and a laugh. "StarClan! Ha! Few of them even know that this place, or myself for that matter, even exists. Those that do keep it a closely guarded secret. But they know so little compared to me that it's pitiful."
Leafpool opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out. She couldn't think of a way to argue with this kit.
Snowkit smirked at her bewilderment, "Come on, Leafpool. One as intelligent as you can surely understand the nature of this place. I'll explain it to you anyway. Think of all the stress and grief you experience in your everyday life. It constantly tears at your mind, wearing it down into a state of submission. Joy and happiness counteracts this."
"Now when a cats dies, they end up here. If they have had more happiness and joy then anything else, they go to "StarClan", if the opposite is true and they are more depressed and angry, they come here."
"Crowfeather is not dead!" Leafpool protested hotly.
Snowkit didn't bat an eyelid. "Think of it as a prediction. An essence of them trapped here before the rest of their spirit is. Before a cat dies, you can see a translucent form of them in the tree. If the form becomes solid, they are doomed to hang here forever, and nothing will change that."
Leafpool felt horror grip her as she looked back up at Crowfeather's body. It looked solid, almost real.
Snowkit seemed to read her mind. "His fate is sealed. Haven't you ever noticed how sad and bitter he is all the time? And it's all your fault."
Leafpool was trying unsuccessfully to fight tears. "No! I would never dream of sending Crowfeather to a place as horrible as this! I love him!"
"But you did!" Snowkit snarled. "He gave up everything to run away with you! And you chose to come back. That was the final blow. Because of you, Crowfeather is doomed to stay here when he dies. How ironic that the one cat you cared for the most has been doomed to this place by your own doing."
The medicine cat opened her jaws again. Scenting the air more carefully this time, she came across the WindClan tom's scent. She noticed something she hadn't before, fear and agony. It didn't go away, just continued to turn and fester.
"His essence is already here, even if the rest of his spirit is not. Crowfeather is going to consistently relive his dying moments, all the pain and agony, for the rest of eternity. All because of you." Snowkit whispered.
Leafpool couldn't take it anymore. She looked around wildly, "Spottedleaf! Help! Please help me!"
The disfigured kit rolled his eyes in annoyance, "do you really think Spottedleaf has gone to StarClan?"
"Yes! I've seen her before in my dreams!" The she-cat insisted.
"All an illusion. There are few cats in StarClan compared to the number of ones that end up here. Spottedleaf died in pain, murdered by a rouge. Then she also has to suffer the feeling she felt for your father who she could never have."
Before she could protest, Snowkit motioned with his tail up at the tree. Hanging a few branches away from her lover was a young tortoise shell, completely solid.
"It was all a fake..." Leafpool didn't want to believe the words, but they kept forcing their way into her mind. She could then scent Spottedleaf around her, coupled with pain and depression at loving at cat that would be her's.
"There are only a few cats here in StarClan, Leafpool. Most of them are the original leaders from the first time the Clans were formed. The rest end up here."
Leafpool managed to force out the next words, "what about non-Clan cats? The Tribe? SkyClan?"
"Kittypets, Rouges, and Loners are doomed to hang here from the moment they are born. The Tribe of Endless Hunting is another illusion, same with SkyClan. Their descendants were cruelly driven from their home, and they faced many hardships when Firestar tried to form them into a Clan." Snowkit said, almost like a prayer.
"Do any other living cats know of this place?"
Snowkit let out a chuckle, "only one living cats has ever laid eyes on this place. What's that apprentice of yours? Jaykit?"
Leafpool bristled, "his name is Jayfeather! How dare you call him a kit!"
Snowkit didn't wipe the smirk off his face. He simply pointed up into the tree with his nose, revealing a gray tom with sightless blue eyes swinging from a branch. "Poor Jayfeather. Not quite a full medicine cat and already doomed to hang on the tree. Yes he has seen this place, but not quite the way you have. This place has no permanent physical shape. Jaykit has seen it in the form of the tunnels that lead under WindClan territory. He experienced the single essence of a cat who drowned there, one known as Fallen Leaves."
Leafpool slowly spoke her next thoughts, "is my fate sealed?"
"Is it? You are almost there, Leafpool of ThunderClan. Your fate is not sealed yet, although it would take a miracle for you to move back. And I don't believe in miracles."
A gleam came to Snowkit's eyes, as if he had finally been able to solve a difficult problem with a simple solution. He calmly lay on the hard earth, looking up at Leafpool expectantly. "Okay, I'm ready."
"What?"
"You must kill me, Leafpool. Then I will readily take my place hanging in the tree. You will replace me, to stand guard over this place as a the Sentinel until your replacement comes along."
Leafpool looked startled, "how...how can I kill a kit?"
Snowkit's eyes narrowed. "I am cursed with this frail shell of a kit, but my mind knows and understands everything. I feel as if I am many seasons older. Now, Leafpool of ThunderClan, kill me."
Leafpool stepped back, but Snowkit began to speak before she could flee. "Think of all the pain you have caused. Your family is all doomed to hang here. It's all your fault."
A haze of red came to the medicine cat's vision. Anger burning in her belly, she sprang forward, claws unsheathed. As the red mist faded, Leafpool blinked her eyes open to see the kit's throat ripped open. Snowkit smiled at her gratefully as his eyes began to dim.
"So that's it. You will be the next guard over this place, as cats come to hang. Maybe, when your replacement comes, we can hang beside each other in the tree. Farewell, for now."
Jayfeather opened his sightless eyes, stretching his jaws in a yawn. He shook scraps of moss from his pelt and gave the sleeping Millie and Briarkit a sniff. They were healing well, thank StarClan.
It was unusual that Leafpool wasn't awake yet. She was usually up much earlier then him. He silently padded over to his mentor and gave her still form a sniff. With a screech of surprise, he turned and ran out into the camp clearing.
"She's dead! Leafpool is dead!"
Leafpool gazed into the tree, noting that her apprentice's form was a bit more solid then before. She gave a small grin, scanning the corpses of her former Clan that hung in the tree.
Everything that Snowkit had said made perfect sense. There was no StarClan, no Dark Forest, just this place. And she was to be the Sentinel.
A.N.: Review! Please?