AvatarCat12: I know it's been quite a while since I uploaded this story, so I'm gonna get back on track. And I'm sorry I haven't been able to upload anything yet.
Katara: Let me guess. You got distracted by stuff as usual.
AvatarCat12: Yep. You know me well, Katara. You know that?
Aang: Just like she knows me. Right, sweetie? (Kisses her on the cheek)
Katara: (Smiles) That's right, sweetie. (Kisses him back)
AvatarCat12: Just be thankful Sokka isn't here right now. He'd be complaining of oogies before you can say mouse. Anyways, who wants to say the disclaimer?
Aang: I will!
Disclaimer: Bryke and the four Erin Hunters own all rights to Avatar: The Last AirBender and Warrior Cats. AvatarCat12 is blending them together for other's enjoyment.
Summary: AvatarClan has arrived at a dirty river, where the cats have grown sick from starvation and sickness. Silverheart feels concerned for them, and when she hears of a tale of an ancient medicine cat, will she learn to be a medicine cat in return?
Uploading Date: April 5, 2012
All three: Enjoy!
...
The Tortoiseshell Angel
Silverheart had to keep herself from gagging as she watched Goldwing swim. Actually, nothing was wrong at all with him swimming, but it was the water he was swimming in that was wrong. In place of the clear blue water, there was greenish-brown sludge everywhere. Tobias had joined his owner, flying above the water and skimming the surface with the tips of his wings.
He's gonna soil his feathers, Silverheart guessed. She knew how harmful stuff like that was to a bird's feathers. Oil spills and other disasters had spoiled the feathers of sea birds like seagulls back when Twolegs were alive.
"Tobias! Oh Tobias!" Goldwing mewed, popping his head out of the sludge. He ducked under the water just as Tobias landed on top of his head. Goldwing popped his head back up and purred, "Heh-heh, you found me, buddy!"
It seemed to finally dawn on him that he was swimming in toxic filth. He leapt up into the saddle and meowed, "I think this river's polluted."
He Bended the goop off himself, sliming the rest of the pack in the process. Silverheart gave a small sigh at this; she had spent most of the previous day grooming her new white tabby fur to perfection. Yet another blast of air got everyone clean.
"Damn. So that's why I can't catch a fish around here. Normally, my fishing skills are…off the hook!" Ashfeather laughed. "Get it? Like a fishing hook? Eh?"
No one laughed. There was the sound of a cricket chirping...with a bird chirping. Either way, the joke was nothing more than a failure. Nightfoot seemed to be the first cat to even say it.
"It's a shame your skills aren't on the hook," the gray she-cat muttered.
Her joke was more successful. Everyone except Ashfeather laughed; the black warrior just gave them a scowl. But despite the scowl, he said nothing.
"We'll have to stop at somewhere else for food," Silverheart mewed, watching a dead fish float past Archie as she laid out a scroll in front of them. "Assuming we can fit this into Ashfeather's master-planned schedule."
Her brother leaned down to inspect it, both his forepaws planting the scroll firmly to the ground. Straightening up, he meowed, "It's doable, all right. But you know what that means? It means we only get two bathroom breaks today!"
"Why don't we get some food from there?" Goldwing piped up, flicking his tail somewhere.
Silverheart looked over the rim of the saddle to see a village from some way ahead. Fog was just rolling around it, enshrouding it in a thin layer of mist. There wasn't that much more to go to get to the village; all they had to do was to get something to float over there.
They stopped at a private spot in the nearby uplands, where Goldwing was covering Archie with a blanket of grass. Tobias was already similarly concealed in a little bush.
"There! Now you two look like bushes with horns and feathers!" Goldwing purred. "We'll see you two later, buddies!"
Archie groaned in reply while Tobias laid perfectly still like a bird in the storm. The four cats gave another "See you later" before they started padding away.
After they travelled over the rocks, they arrived at the edge of a cliff, surrounded by rolling fog. They looked around for the village, but there was so much fog that Silverheart felt like they would just pass it without noticing.
Nightfoot sniffed the air and remarked, "I don't smell or feel anything. Where's this village at, anyways?"
"It's in the middle of the river," Ashfeather replied, trying to peer through the fog.
"Sure is!"
The four cats looked down the steep hill at a skinny black-&-white tom looking up towards them. A little boat was sitting in the sludge river, floating as if it had no problem with the dirty water. The black-&-white cat meowed, "The name's Fritz. Mind if I ask who you four are?"
Silverheart looked around at her friends, trying to find an answer to that. Taking a breath, the white tabby she-cat lied, "We're...um...from the colonies of FireClan. You know, in EarthClan."
"Wow-wee! Colonists!" Fritz meowed with amazement. "Hop on, partners! I'll give you a ride to the village."
The four cats exchanged looks before they leapt down the rocks towards the black-&-white cat. Once they got to him, all five leaped on board and set sail for the village in the water. Fritz was paddling through the water with his paws, making Silverheart retch a little at this.
"Why do you live on this river?" she asked him.
Fritz explained, "Because we're a fishing town. At least...that's how it was before the factory moved in."
"Factory?" Silverheart and Goldwing asked. They looked towards an ominous-looking FireClan weapons factory, visible through a gap in the cliffs.
"Army makes their metal there," Fritz went on. "Moved in a few years ago and started mucking up our river. Now our little village's struggling to survive in this change."
...
Finally, the boat holding the five cats arrived at the fishing village, where the boat bumped very gently against the dock. All four cats save for Fritz leapt off the boat and landed on the dock as carefully as they could.
"Thanks for the ride, Fritz! It was fun!" Goldwing purred.
Fritz nodded and paddled away. Silverheart nodded her thanks in return before turning around to see the village. But what she saw made her heart nearly split in two.
Cats everywhere were looking hungry and sick, due to hunger and enforced illness. Those who had died from starvation or illness had their bodies piled up one after the other. And the other animals that shared the village didn't look healthy. Fish bodies were littering the water while a raven swooping down to catch a fish got stuck in the sludge and slowly choked until it died.
Silverheart could not bear to see this sad scene. Something had to be done to help these cats, even if they were from an enemy Clan. If something wasn't done, then they would all die a slow and painful death.
"Look at this place. Isn't it so sad?" she crooned. "We have to help them out somehow."
But Ashfeather turned to look at her. "I'm sorry, Silverheart, but we're not gonna waste time here! We have a mission to stay focused on! These cats are on their own!"
Silverheart faced him with anger, hardly believing what she heard from her brother's mouth. She spat, "These cats are sick and starving, but you want to leave them behind! How could you be so cold and heartless, you fucking fox-heart!"
"I'm not trying to be cruel; I'm just being realistic," Ashfeather retorted. "We can't run around and save every lowdown town we go to! We'll help them by beating Darkstar!"
"Yo, bigmouth!" Nightfoot hissed, slapping her tail on his mouth. "I think we gotta talk a little bit quieter about beating Darkstar," she added, her voice going to a whisper.
Ashfeather's voice dropped to a whisper as he turned to his sister. "Come on, Silverheart. Just be sensible about this. We WOULD help these cats out, but our mission comes first. Got it?"
Silverheart let out a reluctant sigh. Part of her wanted to yowl at Ashfeather that they could hold off their mission for a bit, but another part of her told her not to. This part of her told her that helping Goldwing defeat Darkstar was more important. Yet she couldn't help but feel sorry for all the cats in this village.
"Yeah," she finally answered.
"Now let's just see what we can get and get going," Goldwing spoke up.
The WaterClan siblings turned around to join the Avatar Cat and Nightfoot at a counter of an outdoor market stall. It was staffed, to all appearances, by the same aged black-&-white tom who gave them a lift into town. He seemed to be wearing a sombrero on his head.
Ashfeather meowed, "Hey, Fritz! I didn't know you worked here!"
"Fritz?" the black-&-white tom meowed. "Fritz is my brother! The name's Duke!"
The cats shared baffled looks.
"But we just saw you at the docks!" Goldwing mewed. "You even have the same pelt! But the only thing different is that you're wearing a hat."
The tom meowed, "Fritz wears hats; that's why they call him Fritz. And I work at this here shop; that's why they call me Duke!"
Goldwing gave him a blank stare. "I don't get it."
"Me neither!" Fritz replied, pulling out a tray of reeking seafood. The stench itself was enough to make Silverheart retch. "What can I getcha? Hey, I'll give you a special deal! If you buy three fish, I'll throw in a clam with a pearl for free!"
The four cats were revolted by the foul haul; this cat was crazy enough to collect crowfood. But prey was prey, and that meant they had to eat something.
"Fine. We'll take the fish only," Ashfeather spoke up. "Hey, can you tell your 'brother' that we need a ride back to shore?"
Fritz ducked beneath the counter, apparently rummaging for something. When he reappeared, he was no longer wearing the hat he was wearing just now. Ashfeather took one fish by the tail into his jaws while Silverheart did the same.
"Hey, colonists! My brother told me you wanted a lift back to shore."
The warriors watched as Fritz padded ahead of them to the boats. Silverheart padded behind to observe some more of the miserable scene before her. All the cats and animals in the village were too weak to see them; they were either staring blankly into space or chewing on a dead worm-infested cow in front of them. Silverheart could not bear to see them like this, but there was no way to help them...for now.
Great StarClan, if you can hear me, let us stay here for a while and help them out.
But before she got to the docks with her friends, she felt a small pressure tug at her tail. The white tabby she-cat turned to see a skinny gray kit looking up at her with huge eyes.
"Excuse me, miss..." the kit squeaked weakly. "Can you spare some food?"
Compassion filling her heart, Silverheart dropped the fish down at the gray kit's paws. The kit looked up at her again, seemingly unable to speak.
"You can have mine, young one," she meowed to him. "I just wish we had some more."
The kit nodded and took the entire fish into his mouth. Silverheart watched with compassion as the kit scampered over to a skinny brown she-cat, perhaps its mother. However, crows were just gathering around them as if waiting for a good chance to feed.
Silverheart reluctantly tore her gaze away from this sad scene before following her friends to the docks. StarClan would not allow cats to be sick for this long, or they would come and heal them themselves. The WaterClan she-cat knew StarClan could not directly interfere with the living, but she wished they could ignore that rule for once to help those cats.
...
Back at camp, the Clan warriors were preparing for dinner to be made. Well...almost all the Clan warriors. Ashfeather was just busy looking over his schedule while the three Benders in the pack worked on Bending the pollution out of their cooking water. Archie and Tobias lazed around, just waiting for their next meal to come by.
"Our detour into that village today threw us off track on our schedule," Ashfeather began saying. "It's time to get serious and get back on schedule like we've always done! So let's get some very serious finagling and do it."
Nightfoot yawned. "All right then. Finagle away, Schedulestar."
Ashfeather glared at her in protest, but he ignored her. "First, we need to wake up forty-three minutes earlier than usual every morning."
"Forty-three minutes every day?" Silverheart gasped. She wasn't too much of a morning cat.
"We only have a moon to get to Darkstar in time for the invasion and the eclipse," her littermate explained. "Which, by the way, only lasts for eight minutes. And we lost a whole day. If we want to make up the time and stay back on track, we have to wake up early!"
"No way. I am NOT waking up early," Nightfoot snorted, her kittypet roots triggering.
Ashfeather gave her a sly smirk this time. "OR we can cut off our eating breaks."
This caused quite a loud uproar among the Bending cats.
"WHAT?" Goldwing whined.
"No way!" Silverheart mewled.
"Forget it!" Nightfoot growled.
"All right then," Ashfeather meowed. "How about this? From now on, we do bathroom breaks all at the same time?" As the cats groaned in disgust, the black-pelted tom insisted, "Look, it may be gross, but it's efficient. Either way, we're leaving at dawn tomorrow."
Silverheart looked away from the talking cats to the village. She just couldn't get the hungry and sick villagers out of her mind.
...
"Hey, Silverheart. What's up?"
Morning had arrived, and Silverheart was sitting beside Archie for a few minutes, hearing him groan lowly. Goldwing had come over to see his dragon along with the other two cats behind him. Archie let out another low groan, and that made his owner look at him with concern.
Silverheart looked up from rubbing Archie's forehead. "I think he ate something and got sick."
Ashfeather's pale blue eyes widened with horror. "What? Archie's sick? Aw, hell no! This is awful!"
"Wow. I didn't know you really cared," Nightfoot smirked.
"Well, of course I care! Maybe I should just throw away the schedule right now!"
This caused the three other cats to give him a stink-eyed glare. Ashfeather noticed this and gently rubbed Archie's forehead, adding, "Not to mention that I'm concerned for my poor big buddy being sick!"
Silverheart gave a small sigh.
Nightfoot sniffed the dragon's fur calmly. "I think he got sick from drinking that tainted water."
"He doesn't look THAT sick," Goldwing mewed. To Archie, he asked, "You okay?"
In reply, Archie opened his mouth and let his tongue roll out in front of them. His tongue was now a deep purple, slightly like eating a blueberry or more. Silverheart thought it was mildly funny to see a purple tongue, but she kept quiet.
But Goldwing didn't seem to find this funny. Instead, he groaned, "His tongue is deep PURPLE? Oh shit, this isn't good! Can you heal him, Silverheart?"
"I don't think my healing powers can deal with this," the WaterBender replied. "It looks like he'll need some medicine. Let's go back to the village and get him some herbs."
...
When they arrived at the village, things seemed a bit different. For one, the animals around the village seemed a bit healthier. The second was that the cats of the village, once complaining of lack of food, were now happily eating. Silverheart could see two she-cats take a bite out of their own prey before swapping it, a custom made by the Tribe cats.
"Hey, is it me or...does this place look different?" Nightfoot asked, looking around.
"Yeah," Goldwing agreed, looking around too. "Everyone looks...happy."
Silverheart jumped a bit to the side as the same gray kit from the day before bouncing a ball on his nose. A few more kits followed him, squealing happily as they playfully squabbled over the ball. Silverheart allowed a small smile to cross her face; it looked like StarClan HAD come by and helped them all.
The four Clan warriors padded up to Fritz's market stall, where he wore the same sombrero that "Duke" was wearing. It looked like he was displaying his "Duke" character.
"Hey, Duke," Ashfeather meowed as they got near. "What's up with everyone today?"
Fritz purred, "Ah, something wonderful happened the night before. Food was delivered to our village by a mysterious and wonderful cat. Her name is...Spottedleaf."
"Spotted who now?" Silverheart asked.
"Spottedleaf. That's her name!" Fritz purred, plunking a colored figurine of his cat down on the counter.
Silverheart looked down at the figurine. She was a heavily draped tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat with ornate face make-up, amber eyes, and a wide-brimmed conical hat. To Silverheart, this cat appeared to be a kind and beautiful she-cat; she had heard tales of this great medicine cat.
Fritz went on, "She's part of our town's lore. They say she's a river spirit who watches over our town in troubled times. I always thought she was a legend; in fact, ever since the last battle of the Ancient Clans, she hadn't been seen much by cat eyes. Until now."
"See?" Ashfeather mewed to his sister. "We don't need to help these cats; they have another cat to help them. All we need is medicine for our sick friend," he added, turning back to Fritz.
"Medicine? Sorry, but we don't have that," Fritz replied. "All our medicine goes to the factory. That's the reason why there's so many sick cats in our village."
Those words made Silverheart smirk a bit to herself. Here was a chance for her to try and save these cats; if not, then Spottedleaf could help. So she meowed, "Well...looks like we'll have to stay another night until Archie feels well."
Ashfeather stared at her as if she had grown two heads. Then, with a very exasperated groan, he groaned, "Fine. I guess we can stay for ONE MORE night. So Fritz, got any food for sale?"
"Sure do!" the black-&-white tom purred, two piscine horrors laid out on the counter. "What would you four like today? A two-head or one-head fish?"
Ashfeather leapt onto the counter, observing this disgusting haul and mulling it over. Finally, he meowed, "Two-headed, please!"
This made the three other cats gag with disgust. And like backing off from a skunk, they backed away from the two-headed fish Ashfeather was holding in his jaws.
"What?" Ashfeather asked defensively as they backed off. "You save more money like this!"
...
That night, the crescent moon shone in the sky like a silver claw. A cryptic figure, resembling Fritz's Spottedleaf statuette, glided over the water on a carpet of fog and entered the village. She waited for any of the cats to wake up; when they didn't, she went on her saw.
The tortoiseshell cat stepped into a home, likely a hospital, where several cats were sleeping on the floor. Nodding down at their sleeping forms, she bent over each of them, healing them with herbs. Her last patient was the mother of a gray kit, her son sleeping at her side. The gray kit woke up as the tortoiseshell turned to go and silently followed her out the door.
"Thank you, Spottedleaf," the kit mewled.
Startled at the sound of the kit, the tortoiseshell she-cat turned and nodded to him. When the kit spun around to go back to sleep, Spottedleaf sprang out the door and ran off into the night.
...
Commercial Break
...
The next day, the four Clan warriors went back to the village to check for food. As usual, Fritz was polishing his Spottedleaf figurine with a rag as Ashfeather stepped up to the counter.
"Hey, Fritz. Where's Duke at?" the black warrior asked him.
Silverheart heard a small groan beside her and turned around. Goldwing was not falling for this cat's many personalities.
"Let's see..." The black-&-white tom ran around the shop and ducked beneath the counter to switch hats. He ran out again in his "Duke" disguise and purred, "Hey there! Back again, eh?"
Nightfoot nodded. "Yep. We need more food for our friend. He's still sick, and we can't leave until he gets better."
Fritz obligingly presented them with a platter of toxic clams. Silverheart almost wretched at the smell of the clams. "Oh, that's too bad. Maybe if you guys are lucky, Spottedleaf will visit you in the night and heal your friend."
Being the eternal skeptic he was, Ashfeather grumbled sarcastically, "Oh yeah, sure. And then she can give us a whale to eat and we'll sing the Campfire Song!"
"Maybe she might!" Fritz purred, oblivious to the sarcasm. "Hey, guess what? Spottedleaf came to our village again last night! Healed most of our folk!"
"Is this why everyone looks so...festive?" Goldwing asked. He flicked his tail to the villagers erecting a large bronze statue of Spottedleaf in the town square to the cheers and applause.
Fritz nodded. "Yep! All because of Spottedleaf!"
"Can you believe how much a village can be affected by one cat?" Silverheart mewed in a very rhetorical way. Noticing the looks on her friend's faces, she backtracked, "I mean...spirit."
"Well, I hope she comes here every night," Ashfeather spoke up. "Otherwise, this place'll go back to what it used to be."
Silverheart faced him with a look of mixed indignation and joy. "Ashfeather, why the hell would you say that? Look at these cats! Look at how better off they are!"
Ashfeather snorted. "Yeah...for now. They won't be able to fend for themselves without that cat around. If Spottedleaf really wanted to help, she'd use her spirit magic to blow up that factory." He made some weird gestures to indicate explosive spirit magic, adding weird noises with his throat, "Oooooo...pow."
"Spirit magic doesn't work that way," Goldwing insisted. "It goes like...whoooo..." He ended up doing an elaborate yet strange dance to one-up the WaterClan warrior.
Silverheart gave a low growl as she left the two toms hamming it up together. If the two toms weren't going to help her try and cheer the cats up, she would have to do so herself. And she was sure Spottedleaf would come around at night and help these defenseless cats once again. If only she could stay up at night...
And I think I know how.
...
Night had fallen over the territory of FireClan once again. Silverheart opened one eye to make sure the other cats (plus Archie and Tobias) were fast asleep. Once she was sure, she lifted her tail away from her face and sat up, shaking the dust off her fur. Then Silverheart slipped out of her nest and stuffed dried grass into it to disguise her absence.
She made a makeshift Spottedleaf costume and wrapped a ragged gown around her, painting her face in a Bended ice mirror. Then Silverheart finished it off with a wide conical hat similar to the StarClan cat's but with a filmy white veil covering her face. To make sure she got the fur color right, she quietly painted her fur until it became tortoiseshell-&-white.
Silverheart felt guilty about what she was doing, yet she knew it was the right thing to do. She had been disguising herself as Spottedleaf for the past few nights and delivered herbs and food to the village. No cat knew she was doing this, yet she decided this was going to be worth it.
"Hope this is the last time," Silverheart thought aloud to herself.
Without another word, she glided away toward the village, but not quietly enough. Her ruffling noises woke up Tobias, who fluttered to Goldwing and nudged him awake.
"Huh? What is it, Tobias?" the tiger-striped Avatar Cat groaned. But then...he spotted her at the top of the cliff.
"It's her!" he squealed, getting up and racing towards her! "Greetings, Spottedleaf!"
Startled, Silverheart spun around on the spot and leaped down the cliff. Using the rocks on the cliff side, she managed to climb down the cliff safely with no problem. Once she got down, she begins running away, but she was only barely able to keep ahead of the determined AirBender.
Goldwing was yowling, "Excuse me! I don't wanna bother you, but my friend's sick, and we're on a tight schedule! I'm the bridge between StarClan and our world!" As Silverheart ran on, Goldwing yowled, "I know Kwan Yin! We're close friends!"
The AirClan warrior chased her across the land, over the river, and into the village. Running along a rooftop, he gave a long shout to her...but, distracted by the vocalization, he ran into a roof pole. He showed no signs of getting up right away; Silverheart gave a small sigh and went on her way.
The disguised WaterClan she-cat continued on through the village, across the river, and onto the opposite riverbank. She stopped to catch her breath, turned around...and faced Goldwing. He had appeared out of nowhere.
"Hey there!" he mewed. "My name's Goldwing! I'm the Avatar Cat!"
Silverheart had no idea on how to reply, but she thought of a plan. She used the hat to hide her face and started meowing in a fake spiritual voice, "Greetings, Avatar Cat Goldwing. I'd love to stay and talk with you...but I am very busy tonight."
Goldwing nodded. "Yeah, I know how you feel. I hate that too." Then, suddenly peering close to her under the hat brim, he added, "You know...you look really beautiful for a StarClan spirit. I don't meet many other cats or spirits in StarClan, but the ones I DO meet...not that pretty."
Silverheart felt herself go hot under her fur as he called her beautiful. She had seen him staring at her in awe three times already; one of those times he DID call her beautiful, that was back at the city of BoulderClan. A little voice in her head was telling her that he was attracted to her, yet she pushed that thought away. She didn't have the time to have a mate yet.
So she chuckled in a nervous way and meowed, "Thank you, but..."
"Hey." Goldwing had leapt in front of her and was studying her closely. "You look familiar too. Do I know you?"
"A lot of cats say that," Silverheart replied in her fake voice.
Goldwing's dark gray eyes narrowed with suspicion. "No, you REALLY seem familiar."
Silverheart began to step back. "Look, I should be going. I have places to go."
Then she began to turn around to leave, hoping Goldwing would fall for it. But a gust of wind from the AirBender blew the hat off her head and blew her into a puddle. When she got out of the puddle, she was horrified; the water had washed away her tortoiseshell colors, revealing her white tabby fur.
Frantically, she leapt behind a rock to hide herself. But...
"Silverheart?" Goldwing's voice was shocked.
"Hey, Goldwing," the white tabby sighed, knowing there was no hiding her secret anymore. She stepped out from behind the rock, some tortoiseshell color still left on her pelt.
Goldwing kept gawking at her in shock as he rasped, "You're Spottedleaf?"
Silverheart hung her head. "I really wasn't at first, but...I just wanted to help the village cats. You saw how miserable they were when we first saw them. But since everyone thought I was Spottedleaf for a while...I guess I DID become her."
The possible angry look on Ashfeather's face made her hang her head even lower. She was sure her brother would forbid her from helping other cats while on their mission.
"So you've been sneaking out at night while we've been here!" Goldwing probed. Then, with suspicion in his voice, he asked, "Wait, is Archie really sick?"
"Well..." Silverheart meowed, shuffling her forepaws. "He might've gotten sick of the purple berries I've been feeding him. But other than that, he's fine."
Goldwing's jaw fell open. "I can't believe you lied to us so you can help these cats!"
Silverheart looked away from him, a tear of shame in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Goldwing. I know I shouldn't lie to you. You probably think of me as a liar, don't you?"
"Hell no, Silverheart! I think it's awesome!" She looked back to see eagerness on the Avatar Cat's face. "It's like you're a secret StarClan cat! Like a hero!"
"Hey, if you wanna help me out..." Silverheart purred, feeling better at this. "There's one more thing I have to do before we leave."
She kinked her tail towards him and raced off towards the direction of the factory. He followed her to the edge of the factory, black smoke billowing out from the pipes on the top. It felt like they were walking into a gas chamber, patiently waiting for their doom.
"So you want to destroy the factory?" Goldwing asked Silverheart.
The white tabby she-cat nodded. "Yeah. Ashfeather was joking earlier about this, but he's right. If we can just get rid of this factory, then everyone will be saved permanently."
They entered the factory and diehard Bending-assisted mayhem ensued. Goldwing did many things like causing melted metal to pour to the ground and cracking pipes with EarthBending. In the meantime, Silverheart used WaterBending to flood the floor and clash with the melted metal.
The carnage ended with explosions rocking the building and the two cats running out. The sun was just rising over the hills as they returned to the campsite, shades of pink, orange, and blue decorating the sky. Goldwing and Silverheart were swapping tales of what they did back at the factory.
"Ha ha!" Goldwing laughed as he padded beside Silverheart. "Did you see me bring those pipes down to the ground? BOOM!"
"Yeah, but keep it down, okay?" she meowed in reply. "We don't want to wake Ashfeather up."
But when she rounded around a corner, it was too late to take it back. Ashfeather and Nightfoot were sitting at the entrance of the camp, looking suspicious. But Ashfeather looked more angry than suspicious; Silverheart could see Goldwing smile a fake cheesy grin.
So she did the same and greeted them, "Hey, Ashfeather! We were just...out for a walk! This sure is a beautiful morning for a morning walk!"
"A morning walk, huh? How stupid do you think we are?" Ashfeather growled, flicking his ears towards his sister's grass-filled nest. "I knew you were pretending to be Spottedleaf. I knew you were sneaking out at night! And I really knew you lied about Archie and fed him those purple-tongue berries!"
At that, Nightfoot stuck out her now-purple tongue and shoved a bag of purple berries forward as innocence. Tobias was beside her, part of his beak now purple.
But Ashfeather went on with a snarl, "Silverheart, what you've been doing is putting our entire mission at risk! We're leaving right now!"
Silverheart wanted to complain that she was just helping the cats, that Spottedleaf would approve of her helping out. But the glare in Ashfeather's pale blue eyes did not change from the slight begging look she gave him. Giving a small growl in reply, Silverheart spun around and stalked back to camp.
"And how long have you known about this?" Ashfeather was growling at Goldwing.
"Hey, I just found out a few hours ago," the tiger-striped tom replied.
The black-furred tom eyeballed him shiftily, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he followed him to the camp, where Silverheart and Nightfoot started packing up right away. Silverheart couldn't help but give a snarl in her brother's direction, which he ignored.
Suddenly, a strange sound filled the air and they look up to see what it was. When they reached the edge of the hill, they saw a unit of FireClan warriors on jet skis racing down the river towards the village. The looks on their faces told Silverheart that these cats were angry about something. But then...she knew why they were angry.
The factory! Goldwing and I blew up their factory!
"Huh? What's going on here?" Nightfoot mewed, looking around.
Goldwing's dark gray eyes were wide with shock. "FireClan warriors! They're heading for the village!"
Ashfeather stared in shock before rounding angrily on his sister. "Silverheart, what'd you do?"
Silverheart shuffled her forepaws guiltily. "I, uh...kinda blew up their factory."
"You WHAT?"
"It was your idea!"
Ashfeather shook his head. "I was just joking! I also said, sarcastically, to use some spirit magic and funny noises!" He let out a low and angry hiss. "Rrrr! Did you EVER think this damn plan through? Now the army's gonna blame the cats in the village! They're going there right now for revenge, and it's all your fault!"
Silverheart glared back at him, offended. "Well then, what was I supposed to do?"
"Just leave! Do nothing! Leave these cats to fend for themselves!" her brother spat.
Survival of the fittest. She had heard of this before, and this was what Ashfeather was implying. Her own Clanmates was actually ignoring the Warrior Code, where the safety of the Clan was to be above one cat. A motherly nature tugged at Silverheart's chest; she could not bear to see all those cats and their kits be killed for something she did. Not to mention that she recalled whatever she had done for them during those nights.
There was only one answer...
"No!" Silverheart meowed firmly as she faced Ashfeather. "I will never EVER turn my back on those who need me!"
Ashfeather's glare turned to a shocked look.
Getting up from her spot, Silverheart went on, "If you want to leave like a cowardly bastard, then fine. But I'M going down to the village, and I'm gonna do whatever I can to help them."
Ignoring Ashfeather rising from his spot, the white tabby she-cat began climbing down the rocks and padded towards the village. If Ashfeather wasn't going to help her and leave those cats to die, then it was his problem, and his problem alone. She didn't mind Goldwing and Nightfoot not helping; it was her brother who had a problem with it.
But she hadn't really gone that far when she smelled a familiar scent. Ashfeather was sliding down the rocks and leapt forward to land before her.
"Silverheart, wait," her brother meowed. "...I'm coming with you."
"I thought you weren't going to help?" Silverheart retorted, her dark blue eyes narrowing. "I thought you wanted to leave them to fend for themselves?"
Now Ashfeather was the one who looked guilty. "I-I'm sorry. You're right; I was being cruel and heartless. Besides, you need me. I'll never turn my back on you, sis."
Now Silverheart was the one who looked shocked. Her brother was protective of his sister, but what he said seemed to make him take a level in kindness. She threw him into a big hug, purring, "Oh Ashfeather! You DO have a heart!"
Goldwing and Nightfoot had joined them and watched the siblings embrace lovingly. Then, as they watched on, Goldwing wiped a tear from his eye and mewed to Nightfoot, "He really DOES have a heart, doesn't he?"
But Silverheart knew her former apprentice well; the gray she-cat had a low tolerance for this kind of girly rubbish. With a growl, Nightfoot hit him in the chest with a forepaw, felling him to the ground.
...
Commercial Break
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"I thought we could all live together in peace as neighbors," Silverheart heard a mottled brown tom snarl as she hid in the reeds. "But I guess I was wrong. You stole our food from our camp, you stole our medicine from our storage...and you destroyed our factory!"
Popping out of the crowd, Fritz meowed, "We didn't do any of that." He popped out in a very different place wearing his Duke hat. "Yeah! Spottedleaf brought us some food. She's the one that healed our sick, not your medicine."
The brown tom scoffed, "Oh sure. The mysterious Spottedleaf did it. And I suppose she drew the army emblem on your vessels too? Well, who do you think you're kidding? She was killed in the last battle of the ancient Clans! This damned town's full of nothing but thieves and liars!"
He Bended a fire blast towards a house, destroying it to Silverheart's anger. The mottled brown tom jeered, "Where's your Spottedleaf now? We're gonna cure the world of this vile village!"
The FireClan warriors spread out and began demolishing the town. Silverheart could feel herself shaking with anger, but she waited until the time came to strike back. Even though she had a very strong urge to leap out the reeds and fight, she had to hide and disguise herself.
But when two of them lit up a large igneous ball perched on a float in the river, her anger turned to fear. If that was lid up...and if it exploded...then all the cats in the village could get killed in the explosion. Silverheart could not bear to see the explosion, watching the bodies of cats and blood polluting the river even more.
But just when the flames got onto the float, a mysterious gust of wind from nowhere blew the fire out. The FireClan cats fired another bout of fire at it, yet the trick was repeated. Silverheart gave a relieved sigh; now those cats could still be saved.
"Rrrr...light it again!" the mottled brown tom snarled.
They did so, yet the wind blew the fire out yet again. Eerie flute music began floating over the water like the fog surrounding Silverheart.
"Look!" a black-&-white FireClan she-cat gasped as the fog settled over them. "Where's the fog coming from?"
A ginger tom replied, "I don't know! Something weird is going on here!"
Silverheart tried not to bristle as an ominous growling noise echoed over the river. For she knew who was doing the growling.
"It's Spottedleaf," the gray kit breathed. "She's coming."
"Spottedleaf isn't here, you little brat!" the mottled brown FireClan cat spat.
The black-&-white she-cat retorted, "Well, tell us what that sound is, then!"
A repetitive thudding noise, as of giant footsteps, had begun. Silverheart knew what was going on at the further bank. The thudding was caused by Nightfoot elevating and dropping a large boulder, Archie was doing the growling, and Ashfeather was working the flute.
"Huh," the ginger tom meowed, sniffing about. "Maybe there IS something going on."
Silverheart knew that now was the time for her plan to go into full action. It's now or never, she thought as she slowly stepped out of the reeds. It's time FireClan got driven out of this town for good. Spottedleaf, wherever you are, watch over us!
She allowed the fog to part dramatically as she stepped onto the water, using her Bending to balance herself on the water. The tortoiseshell fur and strange clothing was enough to make the villagers stare at her in awe. She paused a moment for the dramatic effect to pass before rushing toward the FireClan warriors in a burst of WaterBending. She alighted on the dock and slowly prowled towards them.
"Hurry! Do something!" the mottled brown tom hissed, pushing his warriors forward. He seemed to be disturbed by this sudden appearance.
As they timidly drew near, they were rattled by a blast of AirBending. Silverheart looked down to see a dark gray eye twinkling with mischief.
The FireClan warrior spat, "Stand your ground, warriors!"
Quivering still, the FireClan warriors had no choice but to pounce at her with bared claws and fangs. Reacting fast, Silverheart Bended two jet skis into a nearby cliff. As she raised a paw to wreak further damage, the FireClan warriors jumped into the remaining jet skis and sped off, leaving their patrol leader behind.
"Fine! Go ahead and run, you little piss ants! I'll take you down myself, spirit!" The tom spat the last word out like it was a curse.
He Bended an arc of fire around his black claws and leapt at Silverheart. Goldwing, who was still hidden beneath the dock, sent Silverheart flying into the sky on a column of air. The tom and his flames passed harmlessly beneath her. For good measure, Goldwing split the dock into two with a blast of wind, sending the cat flying into the river.
As he floundered about, Silverheart rose out of the polluted water before him and raised her tail up threateningly. The splashing of the cat got onto her face, yet she ignored it.
"Leave this village," she meowed, sounding as if StarClan spirits had come to her side. "And never return."
The mottled brown tom nodded, his amber eyes wide, as he swam desperately away from her. A stray jet ski passed by, and he clambered into it. Once he got on, the ski buzzed off. Silverheart watched them go with a small satisfied smile spreading across her face. The warriors were now gone from the village, so it was soon time for these villagers to fend for themselves.
Ashfeather and Nightfoot paddled over to the village, pulling themselves onto the mooring and shaking the sludge off their fur. Goldwing joined them by pulling himself up, his claws sinking into the wood and scraping it. Meanwhile, the villagers had gathered around to cheer Silverheart for what she had done.
"I knew you'd come," the kit purred, smiling up at Silverheart.
"Yeah! Thanks, Spottedleaf!" Fritz added with a goofy smile.
"You're the best, Spottedleaf!" a brown tabby cheered.
Fritz nodded. "Me and my brothers owe you so...wait a moment!" The black-&-white tom had stopped as he stared at her in shock. "Hey, I know you! You're not Spottedleaf! You're that colonist white tabby queen!"
The kit piped up, "Yeah! You gave me that fish a few days ago!"
Silverheart gasped and looked down at her paw. When she had stopped to wipe the sludge off her face, she had rubbed the fur paint off her fur, leaving mottled paint on her paw pad. Now all the cats were yowling at her in anger.
"You've been tricking us! You're a WaterBender!" Fritz yowled.
"Yeah! How dare you impersonate Spottedleaf!" the brown tabby snarled.
Yowls of "Banish her!" and even "Kill her!" rose into the air as they stalked angrily towards her. Silverheart braced herself, ready to fight her way through the angry mob if she had to. But what they were doing...she wasn't expecting this. I just wanted to help! she wanted to wail.
Please believe me...
"You ungrateful bastards!" It was Ashfeather, who had placed himself between his sister and the villagers. "Look, she may be a WaterBender, but she wanted to help you! And because of her, that factory won't pollute your river, and the army is gone! Instead of attacking her, you should all be down to the dock thanking her!"
That caused the cats to back away and arch their backs in anger, hissing. The black warrior did the same thing minus the back-arching thing. If something wasn't done, then unnecessary and angry violence would break out.
So Silverheart stepped around her littermate and meowed, "Ashfeather, stop. It's okay." Facing the angry crowd and removing her disguise, she explained, "I know I shouldn't have tried to be someone I wasn't, and I'm sorry I tricked all of you. My brother's right; I just wanted to do something and help you all. But it doesn't matter if Spottedleaf is still in StarClan or not. Your problems are real, and this river is real. You can't wait around for someone to help you. You have to learn to help yourselves."
She stopped talking, half expecting the villagers to just jump at her and kill her on the spot. But instead, they exchanged ashamed glances as they gave small smiles to her, murmuring apologies to her. Her friends gave her proud smiles as she felt a purr rise into her throat and escape.
"You know what? She's right!" Fritz spoke up. "But what can we do?"
Nightfoot had suddenly appeared into the crowd; it appeared that she snuck around to slip into the villagers. Then she called in a deep voice, "I know! Maybe we can clean the river!"
Fritz's yellow eyes lit up. "Hey, yeah! We can clean the river!" As cheers followed this, the black-&-white cat turned to Silverheart, meowing, "Thank you! Hey, you're not that bad for a WaterBender! I just wish Spottedleaf was a WaterBender."
Ashfeather's eyes lit up at the sound of that. Quickly, he asked, "Hey, if you don't mind, would you mind not telling anyone about this?"
"No problem! My lips are sealed!" Fritz purred. "Shutting my mouth is a specialty. My brother Duke, on the other paw, oh hoo! He's one hell of a chatterbox!"
"So are you gonna help us clean up, Fritz?" Silverheart asked.
Fritz shook his head. "No ma'am. That's my other brother Dumbo! He LOVES cleaning rivers! I'll go get him!" To her amusement, the black-&-white tom brazenly switched hats right in front of them. He wore a cowboy hat as he purred, "Hey there, I'm Dumbo! Let's get some good river cleaning done!"
"Knew it!" Goldwing called, stepping forward with a satisfied tone. "I KNEW you were the same cat! You're the boat owner and the shop owner!"
"Oh, those were my brothers Fritz and Duke," "Dumbo" replied.
Goldwing let out an agitated hiss. "What? But we just saw you! You just switched hats and called yourself a different name!"
Fritz purred, "You know who does that? My brother Fritz. Be careful, though," he added in a whisper. "He's crazier than a fox in a fit!"
That made the tiger-striped ginger tom growl and sink his claws into the dock. He gave his friends an aggravated look as if he was saying He's been drinking sewage for too long! But that made Silverheart and the others laugh as they heard Goldwing mutter something unable to be heard.
So everyone got right to work and worked hard at cleaning up the river. The healthy oxen in the village had gotten up and helped them out by hauling out loads of sludge and pushing it away. Some seagulls from the ocean had swooped in to eat at the rotting fish before heading out. AvatarClan did not stop to complain about anything, not even Ashfeather, who would usually complain.
And at last, by sunset, the river was completely clean, giving off a blue and pristine color.
...
Night had fallen over FireClan land. The sounds of crickets chirping and owls hooting had returned after moons of leaving the river. Silverheart rose her head wearily from her nest to see if any of her friends were asleep. When they were, the white tabby she-cat got up and slipped quietly out of camp, ignoring Ashfeather's sleep talking.
She arrived at the bank near their camp, bent her head low, and calmly began lapping up cool water with her tongue. The taste was so cool and refreshing that she felt like she was being born once again. Little gusts of wind made her shiver a little, but it made her feel relaxed; she had worked hard all day and was expecting to find a cool way to cool down.
"Silverheart..."
The WaterClan she-cat spun around on the spot to see who had spoken, yet she found no one behind her. Then she realized that the something that spoke to her was a bit above her, so she turned back to see who it was. And when she saw this speaker, she had to keep back a yowl of surprise.
A she-cat spirit was sitting in the air in front of her, smiling gently down at her. She was a beautiful and dappled tortoiseshell-&-white she-cat with an orange-tipped tail, white paws, and bright amber eyes. Her smile was enough to make Silverheart feel as if her mother was gazing down at her from the stars.
"Thank you, Silverheart," Spottedleaf purred, dipping her head towards her. "You have saved the village and stopped a needless genocide from happening. May you be remembered by many as that hero. Thank you..."
After one more head-dipping, the ancient ThunderClan medicine cat gave her one more smile before slowly fading away.
Silverheart gave a small smile in return after the fading Spottedleaf. She would never forget the spiritual strength this ancient cat had given her, and she would remember her for all the moons to come. And when she would have kits of her own one day, she could tell them all about how she helped Spottedleaf save the village.
To be continued...
...
AvatarCat12: Due to Spottedleaf dying again on The Last Hope, I decided to let her be on this chapter in honor of her. She was a good medicine cat when she was alive and dead. We will never forget her.
Aang: That's what I got confused about. When a cat in StarClan or the Dark Forest die, where do they go?
AvatarCat12: I have no idea.
Katara: Someone had a theory about that. If a StarClan cat dies, they go to a place even better than StarClan. And if a Dark Forest dies, they go to a place even worse than the Dark Forest.
AvatarCat12: You know what? That might be true!
Aang: Yeah. It's kinda like the Spirit World. And I think I better finish this to go to the review and preview for Ashfeather's mentor. (To the readers) Anyone who reviews this chapter will get virtual Spottedleaf or Firestar. They died on The Last Hope, so we pay our final respects to them. We don't allow flames on here, and we allow advice and constructive criticism on here.
Preview: Three cats in the AvatarClan are Benders, but Ashfeather doesn't feel like he fits in for not being a Bender. Instead, he feels as if he can try to learn the way of the dagger. So he tries to find a good dagger mentor to teach him while his friends grow bored without him doing the planning. Meanwhile, Irontail looks as if insanity has taken over his mind...or has it?
All three: See ya next time! And Happy early Easter!
