"What?" Jayfeather asked, puzzling once again at Rock's usual odd behavior. Rock sat calmly, bulging eyes trained sightlessly on him.
"Walk with me." He turned, waving his skinny, hairless tail. He plodded into a thin tunnel and Jayfeather followed quickly, not wanting to be lost in the maze. They didn't walk far before Rock turned into a small cave. Suspended in the center, shrouded in the golden light that Jayfeather was looking for was pure white stone.
"This is the Timestone. It allows me to control the flow of time. Anything that's happened. I can go back to that time, do something different, watch it again…" He broke off and a pale face appeared in the shimmering light. Her jaws parted with happiness as she saw a light gray tom pad towards her.
"Half Moon!" Jayfeather reached for her but his paws cut through the light. He shut his eyes as though willing her to be there. Suddenly, he could feel harsh winds in his fur.
"Jay's Wing?" He turned to see Half Moon and his heart burst in his chest.
"You can have her now." Rock turned to Jayfeather. "You can have kits. You can lead the Tribe with her. In exchange for one thing."
"Anything…" Jayfeather was frozen in time, but he could still communicate.
"My place." At once, Jayfeather's eyes filled with visions. Him shattering Rock's stick, wailing to the night air, running through the tunnels.
'It will never happen again.' whispered another voice. It was Jayfeather's own. Lionkit and Hollykit were gazing at him excitedly as they hunted foxes, travelling to ShadowClan to save Briarlight from fatal infection, racing to Lionpaw and Breezepaw's rescue, standing defiantly at Dawnpelt's accusation. The flames licked his paws as Squirrelflight's life fell apart before him. He could feel himself firing up at Yellowfang's sharp tongue. He could remember Firestar's death like a bitter taste. He could smell Leafpool's familiar scent as she led him out of the snow. Skywatcher's prophecy echoed through his ears. Memories like minnows. And then Rock telling him how to save the Clans… And suddenly he disappeared and Jayfeather was standing alone, and the Clans shattered.
"I don't…" He shut his eyes against the screams of his Clanmates.
"Others will be more vulnerable!" Rock hissed, the ancient cat snarled frighteningly. Rock held the Timestone between his teeth and began to fade. A disembodied voice resembling Rock's told Jayfeather it was time to go. Jayfeather peeled away until he was as faded as a StarClan cat and he could see the outline of himself.
"I'm sorry, my love. I'll… always remember you." He ran over to Half Moon, gently nuzzling her cheek, caressing her face, drinking in her scent. But she wasn't looking at him.
"Jay's Wing, you're going to leave again, aren't you?"
"Yes. I'm sorry." Jayfeather tried to block out Jay's Wing hollow voice.
"You really believe this whole thing, then?"
"Stop, Rock! Stop this!" It was too cruel, watching this again. He turned to see the glint in Rock's eyes until they were both sucked through the Timestone. "Rock, no. We need you!"
"Some cat will fall and live to regret it."
So this is really boring and stuff, but what I intend to do is have the cats live through the moment first so I can basically rewrite the story and pretend it's canon. Btw, i used to believe Jaymoon was OTP, but now I like Briarfeather too and theyre my two favorite ships so there'll be a lot of those. Any moment u wanna see, plz review to tell me!
