A/N: I have a slight case of writer's block, so don't expect this chapter to be the best. If it's absolutely horrible, I'll redo it later.


Chapter Six

No, Stripedpelt did not enter StarClan after his death. He haunted the minds of Mosskit and Shadekit and left WindClan in the dark about what had happened, but he did not gain a pelt of stars or walk among those who no longer walk this earth. His heart was too dark, and it would've destroyed the already weak ancestors.

We watched on as the tabby died in his own blood, his throat slashed mercilessly by Goddess Blossom in her little fit of rage. And we felt not a scrap of sympathy.

Duckkit, Ravenkit, Shadekit, and Mosskit feared what would happen to them next, after Blossom had tossed the corpse of Stripedpelt aside and came to them. There would be more death.

Being the first to die by my half-sister's claws, I can completely sympathize.


Blossom stared at the pale gray kit as she began reeling out words. Words that told the story of her life. How her father hated her, but she loved him anyway. For the rain. For the butterflies. For the fire, the ice, and her brother.

This was the exact opposite of her life, and yet it was the same. A dad who had ruined his daughter's life. Same.

A daughter who loved her father no matter what he did or how much he loathed her. Different. Blossom felt the voice receding just a bit, and her eye felt like it was flickering again. Because these words made even more memories swim before her eyes.

"Blueflame?" Blossomkit licked the ruffled fur on her chest. Her mother touched her noae to Blossomkit's head.

"Yes, my little flower?"

"What's a father?"

Blueflame's eyes portrayed shock. "Where in the name of StarClan did you hear that word?"

Blossomkit shuffled her paws. "Adderkit asked me who mine was."

The blue she-cat narrowed her amber eyes. "A father . . . is a parent who's a tom."

"I thought you were my parent," the black kit squeaked. "How could I have two?"

"Oh, my dear. Everyone has to have two."

"Then why don't I know him?" The moon-old kit stared up innocently at Blueflame. "Who is my father?"

Blueflame sighed, a sound that whistled past Blossomkit's ears. "I won't ever lie to you, my flower. Remember that."

"I'll remember, I promise!"

"His name is Mouseclaw." Though she didn't know it yet, these words would change Blossomkit's life.

"Mouseclaw?" The kit wrinkled her nose. "I don't know anyone in ShadowClan named Mouseclaw. Is he the deputy or somethin'?"

"No. He is Mouseclaw of ThunderClan."

"Does he love me like you?"

Another sigh. "I don't know, Blossomkit. I really don't know."

Blossom narrowed her eyes at Stripedtail. Instead of a dark tabby with green eyes, she saw a gray-and-orange cat. In this cat, she saw her father.

The next few moments passed by subconsciously. She felt herself swiping at the tom, knew when she was tracing his neck, saw the pool of blood.

But she didn't know that she had just killed until she saw the blood on her claw and the tabby's neck twisted awkwardly to one side. Goddess Blossom saw him writhe, once, and then he left the world.


Shadekit eyed the bloodied mess of his father. The body was kicked to the side by Blossom, who now focused on the four kits. She gave a strange, wild sound that could've been a chuckle.

"I see the sacrifices have been delivered . . ." Her voice sounded young and faraway, like that of an apprentice.

Shadekit was awfully observant. He saw and heard details that no other cat, kit or warrior, could see or hear.

The smoky kit analyzed his enemy. The black cat's eye seemed to be flickering between the usual red and another color.

Green?

It decided to settle on the leafy forest color. Shadekit noticed that Blossom seemed more aware of her surroundings now, and she spat out the blood that she had lapped up from her claw moments before. Then the black cat gave a raspy whisper. No one else seemed to notice it, but Shadekit did.

"What have I done . . . ?"

And so he stepped forward to answer her question.

"I know what you have done."

Mosskit and the other sacrifices stared at him in horror. Of course; they were expecting him to get killed this very moment.

"You have murdered my father in cold blood without even realizing it. You were driven mad by some kind of memory or voice. Rage is in your heart."

Even StarClan didn't know how Shadekit gained these quick spurts of wisdom. He was an insignificant kit, a sacrifice amongst many others, and yet he possessed a power no one else had.

The goddess watched the smoky tomkit curiously for a moment before turning to the other sacrifices. She looked as if she was being torn apart; like a half of her wanted the kits to go and not die, but the other bit wanted to tear into them and drink their blood.

"I see ThunderClan and WindClan gave me cheeky kits this moon. But no matter. They will die."

An paw slashed at Shadekit's throat and he braced himself for the pain and darkness that came with it.


Mosskit was moving before she even thought anything through. She got a deep wound on the cheek, but the kit's unsheathed claws latched on to Blossom's. The two stayed there, staring into each other's eyes for a brief moment. The black cat stepped away from the heavily bleeding Mosskit.

"Why did you do that?" The goddess asked five simple words that had a simple answer.

"I love my brother," Mosskit croaked as salty blood flowed in to her mouth and down her throat.

Blossom looked stiffly from Shadekit, who was standing stone still as he supported his sister's weak body. She turned to Duckkit and Ravenkit, who were cowering in the shadows of the cave.

Ravenkit curled his lip, showing a small set of fangs. The black cat merely chuckled. Mosskit buried her head, sticky with blood, into Shadekit's shoulder just in time. She heard a cry of agony and a snarl.

And yet another life had been taken.

Ravenkit was first to die of the four. It was probably the most painful death since moons. Blossom had cut the neck deeply; too deep.

Shadekit shuddered, a movement that shook Mosskit away from the tom. She cast her eyes to another mess of blood that matched Stripedpelt's.

Mosskit screamed.

The black ShadowClan sacrifice's head was torn completely off his body. It had been severed off by Blossom's claws.

A kit, right before her very eyes, had been beheaded.

Her screams seemed to have awoken something in the black she-cat. The goddess stared at the dispatched Ravenkit before stepping neatly over it and going to Duckkit. The bloodlust had all but evaporated from Blossom's eyes. It was as if something was controlling her as she swiped at Duckkit, who fell as silently as the butterfly.

Perhaps the yellow kit had been muted by the sudden shock of Ravenkit's death. But she didn't make a single sound during her execution.

The body earned a quick look of agony from Blossom before getting passed over like the last. The fearsome she-cat advanced towards the last two sacrifices.

Mosskit, and her brother.

The pale gray she-kit pressed against her bristling littermate. Blood continued to flow from her face onto the ground. Mosskit shielded Shadekit, waiting for the blow.

But it never came. Instead, the goddess meowed:

"Run. Run away, before the voice gets back to me and I kill you two." Blossom's face was strained and weary, her voice hoarse. The black cat's green eye was shining with a pure light. Mosskit heard herself whimper. Shadekit pushed his sister forward, ready to run, and the siblings exchanged quick glances. Was the goddess crazy? What was the voice she was talking about?

And suddenly, before they could move, there was a sort of explosion.

Blossom couldn't take it anymore. Her life had been twisted since the moment she learned about her father. The voice was feeding off her rage and pushing her in the opposite direction she wanted to go in life. And so she fixed her mind on one goal in life: to escape her tainted heart.

The goddess roared and leaped at Shadekit, pinning him to the ground. Mosskit feebly swiped at Blossom's sheathed paw.

"Listen. Mosskit, I'm offering you a deal."

Mosskit paused and pricked her ears. Blossom's grip of Shadekit was loosening.

"If you stay with me and be my apprentice, you and your brother will live."

"Why would I ever want to do your dirty work?" questioned the kit.

"Because your life and this kit's life depends on it," the goddess meowed simply. She let Shadekit get to his paws. The smoky tomkit shook himself.

Blossom sat down watching Mosskit. The pale gray kit looked at Shadekit, then back to the goddess. She knew she was choosing the coward's way out.

"I accept."

"Very well," Blossom said briskly. "You two should stay out of my sight, just in case the voice controls me again. Fleabag." Her voice lowered menacingly, and Mosskit saw her brother shuddering.

Those kits would do anything to protect each other, even if they had to jump off a cliff or run across the while earth to do it.

Mosskit did as the goddess said and stayed behind. Her face had stopped bleeding at last, but she felt dizzy. Shadekit continued to walk down the tunnel that Blossom had started walking to, letting his sister lean on him.

"How did you do it?"

The question caught Mosskit by surprise. Blossom had turned around.

"How did I do what?"

"Do . . . that. Love the father that hated you."

"He gave me the rain."

The black she-cat growled. "You gave yourself the rain. And you saved me." Mosskit stared at Blossom, who continued to speak.

"On the day of your sacrifice ceremony, Shadekit was the one who was chosen. Yet even though he did absolutely nothing to save your life, you loved him enough to go in his place. That's what broke a bit of the spell. Love."

Blossom had only felt love once in her life, and it had hurt her beyond words. She didn't understand why cats would still love despite the grief that would come. And that was why she wiped out love during the creation of the new world

"My eye turned green. Long ago, I had the same thing you did; a father who hated me. I was ShadowClan. He was ThunderClan. He ruined my life and tore it to bits, and my rage took a hold of me. I swore revenge on Mouseclaw.

"Then I met a cat named Silver. She was desperate; completely consumed by the voice and looking for a cat she could give the curse to. She lured me in with the promise of power. Took out my eye—" Blossom displayed the thin scar that ran down her red eye "—and made me drink her blood."

Mosskit felt herself choke. "You drank blood?"

"I was overwhelmed by my lust for power. And then the voice became my heart; my tainted one. It spoke to me and turned my spark of anger into a wildfire of fury. And so I did this. I ruined the Clan, all for revenge."

Everything fit in Mosskit's head, and she realized what Blossom wanted just as Shadekit spoke.

"You want my sister to be your heir." His voice was shockingly cold.

"Not necessarily. I have a plan to get rid of the voice." The goddess dipped her head to the two kits and continued walking into a tunnel that had been hidden in her lair. Blossom sighed.

"In the end, the only one who will die is me."


A/N: Yup, Mosskit is helping Blossom regain control of herself again. And then our loveable goddess will die.

Or so she thinks.