This is my first Fan-Fic about Hollyleaf which is quite surprising as she is one of my favourite characters. Please tell me if I should continue or not- you can be harsh, I'm quite thick-skulled- so please R&R!
Hollyleaf kept on running despite her brothers' desperate calls. Her emotions were crackling like fire inside her heart, and her clanmates were the wood feeding it. All Hollyleaf wanted to do was escape, and the tunnels seemed like a perfect place to do just that.
"Hollyleaf!" Lionblaze's yowl signalled he had joined the pursuit after her. "Can't we talk this over?"
"No," she sobbed underneath her breath. Everything had gone wrong. The Warrior Code had been the base of her life, but now, with the truth of her birth following her like a shadow, it meant nothing. It's all just lies, lies lies! If the Warrior Code was so powerful then why did it allow her father to be a Windclan warrior? Why did it allow her mother to be a liar and a medicine cat? How could it have let Squirrelflight break Brambleclaw's heart by just keeping a secret?
Hollyleaf paused at the entrance of the tunnels; how could it drive me into killing Ashfur? She shook her head to clear out her thoughts just as Lionblaze and Jayfeather stopped beside her.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jayfeather hissed. Behind his fury, Hollyleaf could see he was scared for his sister. "Do you think you could just calm down?"
"No," she choked out. "You don't understand… everything has gone wrong! I thought that with Ashfur out of the way everything would go back to normal."
"You, you killed Ashfur?" Lionblaze stuttered, eyeing her like he was seeing her for the first time.
"I did it because Ashfur was going to ruin everything," she wailed. "I did it for the warrior Code.'
Lionblaze looked a bit confused. "But you told everyone about us at the gathering anyway, why kill Ashfur?"
Hollyleaf could feel Jayfeather probing into her thoughts and felt uneasy.
"I knew that you guys wouldn't understand.' She breathed. "I'm sorry, goodbye." With that she bounded into the tunnels, blind with her confusion and grief. She heard her brother's calling for her but she didn't stop. All Hollyleaf wanted to do was escape.
She was several fox-lengths into the tunnel an ear-splitting crack echoed through the musty underground air. Hollyleaf screeched to a halt, looking around. She heard the patter of her brothers' footsteps coming after her. Her ears pricked. No, it wasn't the sound of her brother's chasing after her. It was a heavier, clumsier sound. She angled her head around and over her shoulder. Hollyleaf's eyes rounded with horror. The roof of the tunnel was caving in; at first it was only small rocks tumbling down but they soon grew into bigger and bigger boulders. She was going to get crushed!
She wailed, turned tail and ran into no particular direction. She nearly knocked herself unconscious when she ran into the corner of the tunnel. She quickly regained her footing and bolted around the corner. The rumble of the rocks falling down filled her ears, she was too scared to worry about where she was going; her strong instinct to survive had kicked in.
How long do these tunnels go for? She could barely hear her panicked thoughts through the loud pounding sounds that echoed around the tunnel. Just when she thought that she would run out of steam and get crushed, the booming thunder-like sound ceased into nothing. All was quiet; she cast a panting glance behind her.
There was a huge wall of rock separating her from the other end of the tunnel. It was impenetrable. Hollyleaf shuddered at the thought of being underneath that huge mass of rock. She opened her mouth and took in a deep breath of air, trying to calm her raging lungs; at first her nose wrinkled at the musty, old scent but she soon picked up a second smell. Water!
Hollyleaf directed her nose up and sniffed around. There! She looked to the right and saw a calm little brook running through a huge little clearing in the cave/tunnel. Her heart stiffened as she remembered how it had flooded and nearly drowned her, Jayfeather and…
Jayfeather! Lionblaze!
With her heart in her mouth she raced back to the wall of rock; wishing with Starclan's will that her two brothers' didn't follow her into the tunnels.
"Jayfeather! Lionblaze!" she yowled, scraping her claws against the wall of rock. Only a few pitiful, crumbly pieces of earth came loose. Please oh please don't let them be dead! "I'm alive, are you alive?" She tried again; her desperate calls echoed all around the tunnel but didn't seem to make its way through the rock and to the entrance.
Hollyleaf's bottom lips quivered; if they were dead it was her fault. She imagined them running after her and getting knocked to the ground and crushed by the huge mass of earth. She shut her eyes in an attempt to block out the thought.
"What do you think you're doing?" "Just calm down." "Don't go, wait!"
Her brother's last words echoed in her head. She tried to block them out but it just seemed to aggravate the memories.
They're dead, and it's your fault. Guilt pounded through her, she squirmed with the pressure. You're a murderer; first Ashfur, now your brothers!
"No!" she argued with her merciless thoughts, "Please, I didn't mean to!" Her words ended in a wail. "I'm sorry Jayfeather. Please forgive me Lionblaze!" She gazed blindly around, her heart aching.
Maybe they aren't dead… she thought, but she found it hard to believe. Her eyes drifted up to the roof; they were searching for Starclan. Can you hear me, Jayfeather, Lionblaze?
She closed her eyes; Starclan had ruined her life, she had had too much faith in them. Hollyleaf grimaced when she remembered how she had thought Starclan knew everything and were superior to all of the cats that's heart was still beating. All Starclan could do was walk in other cat's dreams, whereas she could fight, take a life if she really wanted to. Hollyleaf stopped that thought; she had now taken three lives. She took a deep breath, Lionblaze and Jayfeather were walking in Starclan now, and she should respect the starry warriors for giving home to her brother's.
She opened her eyes, look after them. She sent the prayer to Starclan. Hollyleaf settled down, she would sit vigil for her brother's as one last act referring to clan-life, and then she would go and never return to the lake.
So how was it? I don't know so I'd really appreciate some feedback, R&R Trixygirl.