~Lives of Nine~
"Aspenflight, are you sure you'll be all right?"
The grey and white tabby queen lifted her head and looked at the ThunderClan medicine cat, grief still visible in her deep blue eyes.
"Yes," breathed Aspenflight, as she heaved herself up. The body of ThunderClan's dead leader, Crowstar, still lay in the middle of the clearing, but the elders were beginning to make their way through the grieving Clan to bury his body.
"I have to go now, anyways," she whispered to Silentcloud, as the medicine cat helped her to the Highledge. Aspenflight bowed her head once more, then looked at the sky in sorrow. "My kits will be born any day now, and I cannot afford to let my Clan without a leader for too long. I have to go."
"I understand," meowed Silentcloud, though worry still glimmered in her green eyes. "But you'll have to be very careful on the way to the Moonpool. Your kits' lives are at risk, and you mustn't forget that."
"I know," sighed the grey and white deputy, as she prepared to summon the Clan. She didn't have the force to leap onto the Highledge, but her clear and commanding voice got every present cat's attention.
"Cats of ThunderClan!" yowled Aspenflight as the ThunderClan cats turned their heads towards her. "We all grieve Crowstar's death, but I must go to the Moonpool tonight. Our leader chose to let me continue being deputy even though I found myself expecting, and I can only fulfil his will by receiving my nine lives."
Yowls of support erupted from the clearing, though a few of the cats stayed silent, their faces worried and solemn.
"But before I go, a new deputy will be named," continued the grey and white tabby she-cat. "I say these words before the body of Crowstar, so that he may hear and approve my choice. Lionfang will be the new deputy of ThunderClan!"
A golden-brown tom with green eyes lifted his head in stupefaction, and joy filled his gaze as his name got chanted by the Clan.
Aspenflight nodded to Lionfang, and prepared to leave, not noticing a pair of gleaming green eyes following her as she padded towards the bramble entrance.
"Aspenflight, please be careful," whispered the tom with the green eyes, running towards her at the last moment. Aspenflight turned around and nuzzled her mate, eyes full of love.
"I will, Leafclaw, don't worry," she murmured. "The Clans have never seen a queen become leader before, but it is possible. I am sure of it."
"Come on, Aspenflight, we have to go now. It's nearly moon high."
Aspenflight whispered a last goodbye to her mate before running towards Silentcloud, our of camp. Both she-cats took the trail towards the Moonpool and followed the stream, arriving at the silver pool as the moon shimmered with all its brightness. Exhausted and tired, the queen settled down beside the pool, making sure her heavy belly was splayed out comfortably on the cold stone.
"It is time," meowed Silentcloud, and both she-cats pressed their nose to the glittering surface of the Moonpool, making tiny ripples swirl on the water.
Aspenflight felt herself swirl and swirl in the darkness before she touched the ground. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a moonlit clearing, surrounded by star speckled trees.
"Welcome to StarClan, Aspenflight."
The grey and white tabby queen flipped her head to find herself in front of a small dozen of starry cats, their transparent shapes becoming more and more compact.
"Whitesnow," whispered the queen as she noticed the speaker, her eyes opening widely.
"With this life, I give you bravery," meowed the white she-cat who had spoken moments earlier, touching her nose on Aspenflight's head. Aspenflight jerked her head back, shocked by the force which seemed to make its way through her body. She gasped, but the pain soon went away, leaving just a tiny tickle in her belly.
My kits, she thought, suddenly worried. I hope they're all right...
"Use it well to help your Clan in times of need," continued Whitesnow, not seeming to notice Aspenflight's worry.
A brown tabby tom then stepped forward, his amber eyes twinkling with pleasure. The grey and white tabby she-cat flicked her ears in recognition, but did not dare speak aloud.
"With this life, I give you wisdom," murmured the tom, touching Aspenflight on the head with his nose. The queen did not feel the pain, and instead felt a rush of warmth flowing through her body. "Use it well to lead your Clan, and decide what is best for you, and for those you love."
Aspenflight dipped her head in thanks, and the brown cat stepped back to reveal a pale ginger dappled she-cat, who padded towards the queen.
"With this life," meowed the ginger she-cat, "I give you trust. Use it well to follow the advice of those who want you no harm."
A spasm of pain rippled through Aspenflight's body, and she arched her back, sinking her claws in the ground to resist to the pain. It ebbed away after a few moments, but the she-cat still felt the force of it swarm through her, like a wave crashing on top of her.
Aspenflight endured four more ripples of pain, as four of the StarClan cats respectively gave her a life for resilience, justice, loyalty and strength, before coming face to face with a pale grey tabby she-cat with blue eyes matching hers.
"Mother," she breathed as the she-cat approached her. The grey tabby's eyes shone with love and gentleness, and Aspenflight purred as her mother touched her nose on her forehead.
"With this life, I give you love," whispered her mother. "Use it well to care for your kits and mate. Nothing in the world will ever make your love for them waver."
Instead of pain, a gentle wave engulfed Aspenflight, and she felt more and more determined to let nothing happen to her kits.
Oh, I love you so much already, she thought as she could feel them squirming in her belly.
Aspenflight watched with sad eyes as her mother disappeared in the crowd of cats, leaving the place for the last cat to give her her life. A pure black tom with stars shining in his fur padded towards her, and the grey and white queen looked at him in awe.
Crowstar, she thought, as the black tom advanced towards her, chin high. You have not changed a single bit. I feel as if it was only when I was a new warrior, when you lead your Clan at the peak of your youth.
"With this life, I give you hope," meowed Crowstar, touching his nose on her head. "Never forget that your ancestors are here to guide you, and that there will always be a way to solve a problem. Use this life well, Aspenstar. I hail you by your new name! Your old life is no more. You have now received the nine lives of a leader, and StarClan grants you the leadership of ThunderClan. Defend it well, care for young and old; honour your ancestors and the traditions of the warrior code; live each life with pride and dignity."
"Aspenstar! Aspenstar! Aspenstar!"
The new leader lifted her head as StarClan called her name in the night, and she felt submerged by sudden happiness and calm. After a few moments, the queen felt herself fade away and woke up heartbeats later, finding herself staring at the glittering surface of the Moonpool. Dawn was already on its way, and Aspenstar looked sideways to see Silentcloud looking at her with pride in her eyes.
"Well done, Aspenstar," purred the ThunderClan medicine cat. "Let's get back to camp. They must be waiting eagerly for your arrival."
...
Aspenstar shrieked in pain as a huge spasm rippled through her body, matching the ones of the lives she had received only a few days earlier. After long, agonising moments, the queen finally panted in relief, two tiny newborn kits suckling at her belly.
"You have two, healthy she-cats," purred Silentsong as she looked at the newborns. "Do you want me to call Leafclaw?"
"Yes please," murmured Aspenstar, her past pain forgotten as she stared at the two tiny silver shapes with love. Both of the she-cats had a pelt similar to hers, one of a darker grey than the other. But the shape of their heads and tiny tufted ears were clearly from Leafclaw's side.
"They're wonderful..."
Aspenstar purred as her mate curled around her and their kits, eyeing them with love.
"What do you want to call them?" he murmured, looking at her with wide green eyes.
"The darker grey tabby should be Silverkit, because her fur shines silver in the moonlight," whispered Aspenstar. "What do you want to name the other one?"
"Lightkit would suit her well, I think," purred her mate, touching both his kits on the head with his muzzle. "For her grey pelt is lighter than her sister's."
"I love it," meowed Aspenstar, before she drifted into a dreamless sleep.
...
"Lightkit, Silverkit, please come forward."
Aspenstar puffed her chest in pride as she meowed those words, eyes full of pleasure at naming her kits apprentices of ThunderClan.
I am finally going to be able to lead my Clan fully now! And my kits are apprentices... This is just great, she thought as she meowed the ritual words.
"Lightpaw, your mentor will be Briarleaf! I trust her to pass on her skill and experience to you," purred Aspenstar as Briarleaf touched noses with her new apprentice. The ginger warrior would be a great mentor to Lightpaw, and she already knew that they would like each other very much, as both her daughter and Briarleaf's eyes shone brightly.
"Silverpaw, you mentor will be Buzzardtail! He has trained Lionfang into a fine warrior, and I trust him to do the same with you!"
Aspenstar had thought and thought about which mentors to give her kits, and had finally settled on Briarleaf and Buzzardtail, who would match her kits' characters very well. Lightpaw was the calm and shy one, and Briarleaf would make her forget about her fear to talk to others. On the other hand, Buzzardtail's calm nature would soothe down Silverpaw, who was always bursting with energy and waiting to do some mischief.
I can't wait to see them grow into the fine warriors they will become, thought the ThunderClan leader as the Clan cheered their names.
"Lightpaw! Silverpaw!" she chanted with them, her heart filled with joy.
...
"SILVERPAW!"
Time seemed to slow down as Aspenstar yowled her kit's name, making Silverpaw's screech of fear seem quiet compared to her mother's yowl. The grey and white tabby leader rushed towards Silverpaw as her kit fell, fell towards the ground, rapidly closing the gap between the branch on which she had just stood and the ground.
Foolish, foolish young cat. She had sneaked out of camp in an attempt to try to climb a tree, because she hadn't managed to climb it the day before. Her mentor, Buzzardtail, had told her they would wait until she had more balance, but Silverpaw had still gone during the dead of night.
Aspenstar had sensed something was wrong, and had woken up suddenly. Motherly instincts.
Upon finding her nest empty, the queen had raced out of camp, following her daughter's scent, and finally finding her perched on one of the highest branches of a tree.
"Look, Mama!" meowed Silverpaw as she noticed Aspenstar arriving. "I climbed the tree!"
But the silver apprentice hadn't noticed the slight creak in the branch she was standing on, and Aspenstar let out a cry of warning as Silverpaw walked further on. The branch swayed, and Silverpaw let out a yelp as it suddenly broke under her weight and the she-cat plummeted downwards.
"SILVERPAW!"
Aspenstar blinked as the flashback which had happened only heartbeats before came back to her memory, but it didn't stop her race towards the spot where her daughter was supposed to fall. Branches snapped as Silverpaw fell downwards, and Aspenstar yowled again in fear as her kit bumped a few times on the tree trunk. The silver she-cat was no longer wailing, and Aspenstar made a final attempt to leap in order to catch her daughter, but she was too late. Silverpaw crashed to the ground.
"Silverpaw, no..." wept Aspenstar as she stopped next to her daughter's body, which was covered in scratches and bruises. Her leg was angled in a bad way, and Silverpaw was unconscious. Not daring to breathe, Aspenstar put her head next to her daughter's chest, and felt for any trace of breathing before backing a few steps, sobbing.
Silverpaw was dead.
"No...no!" she yowled, her cry of pain echoing in the night. Blindly wailing like a lost kit, Aspenstar buried her face in her daughter's soft, still kit-like fur, which was still warm.
The heartbeats seemed to drag on and on as Aspenstar wept, until the nearly full moon illuminated her daughter's face. Silverpaw's green eyes were wide open, the life drained out of them.
"My kit..." whispered the grief-stricken queen as she stared at those green pools of light, gleaming brightly as the moonlight swept over them.
Suddenly, Silverpaw blinked, and let out a cough.
"Silverpaw?"
Aspenstar's eyes went wide in astonishment as her kit let out a feeble meow and blinked another time at her mother, before closing her eyes, unconscious.
But—but she was dead! thought Aspenstar, nudging Silverpaw with her nose. She's alive now? I don't understand!
Aspenstar didn't question herself anymore, because Silverpaw had to get to a medicine cat. If she was alive, then she needed treatment, and now.
...
"She really is all right?"
"Yes, I assure you," meowed Silentcloud as she examined Silverpaw for the third time. "Only her leg is broken, and I see no sign of the injuries you mentioned before. When you carried her back to camp, I swear she had just that broken leg. Nothing else."
"Thank you, Silentcloud," whispered Aspenstar, lost in her thoughts.
How can that be? she thought dreamily. Silverpaw was dead, and covered in injuries. And now...
...
"Aspenstar, may I talk to you?"
"Of course, Silentcloud," meowed the ThunderClan leader, as the medicine cat padded into her den.
Silverpaw had recovered completely, and was now as healthy as always. She didn't even had a limp, and that made Aspenstar wonder even more about what had happened that night. Silverpaw had no more trace of the fall, and had healed too quickly for the Clan to even notice.
"About that night when you brought Silverpaw to me..." started Silentcloud.
"Yes?" meowed Aspenstar, perking her ears in interest.
"I had a theory about why she healed so quickly, and maybe even why she didn't have those injuries you saw," meowed the medicine cat.
"Tell me," whispered the grey and white tabby leader, eyes earnest.
"First, I have one question," meowed Silentcloud. "When Silverpaw fell, did you think she was dead?"
"Yes, it looked like she was, but now I'm not so sure..." murmured Aspenstar, shocked about Silentcloud's question.
How could she know?
"Then you just confirmed my suspicions," sighed Silentcloud. "You remember that you were pregnant with Lightpaw and Silverpaw during your leader ceremony, right?"
Aspenstar nodded, unsure of where Silentcloud was going.
"Well, I think that some of the nine lives you received were transmitted to your kits, instead of you."
...
Silentcloud was right all along, thought Aspenstar as she watched Lightpool and Silvermoon from the Highledge. Some of my lives were transmitted to them. But how many? Silvermoon lost one during her apprenticeship, and Lightpool lost one during a battle against ShadowClan... But that mean that I have lives too? I haven't died yet... And were my daughers' 'old' lives stripped out of them during my leader ceremony?
...
"Silentcloud, I have a question for you," meowed Aspenstar as she padded inside the medicine-cat den.
"Yes?"
"How many lives do I have left?"
"You haven't lost a life yet, so why ask this to me?" meowed Silentcloud.
"You know very well," sighed the grey and white leader. "If Lightpool and Silvermoon got some of my lives, that means that I never got all nine. So how many do I have?"
"Do you really want me to tell you?" murmured Silentcloud.
"Yes, I am sure."
"You have three."
"Is that all?" whispered the ThunderClan leader, shocked about Silentcloud's words, even though she had known the answer all along. If everything had gone according to Silentcloud's theory, then both her daughters had four, because their old lives normally hadn't been stripped from them. But Aspenstar's old life had, and that meant she only had three lives left.
"Yes," sighed Silentcloud, but her eyes betrayed nothing.
"Have you known since the beginning?" asked Aspenstar after a moment of silence.
Silentcloud bowed her head, unsure about what to answer.
"You can tell me, I won't punish you," meowed the leader kindly.
"I had guessed, but my suspicions were confirmed only when you told me that you had seen Silverpaw die and resurrect. I knew you weren't lying about those injuries you saw on her. You always had sharp eyes," meowed Silentcloud.
"I understand," meowed Aspenstar, and both she-cats stared at each other in silence once more. "Lightpool and Silvermoon don't know, and I don't want them to know. We should be the only ones to have this secret, am I understood?"
Silentcloud nodded in agreement, and Aspenstar exited the den with a friendly wave of her tail.
Silentcloud maybe thinks I'm angry about not having more lives, but I am not, thought Aspenstar. She will never understand that the biggest present a queen can have is the life of her kits. I would rather have one life, and give my two others to Lightpool and Silvermoon.
Thank you StarClan, for making my kits have this gift. I will forever be grateful for that.
I hope you liked this one-shot!
Oh, and have you noticed that Lightpool and Silvermoon's suffixes make 'Moonpool'? ^^
~Lightning