Turn it Off - Paramore
"Hollyleaf padded through the brush in confusion. Where was she? She had been in ShadowClan moments ago, hadn't she? A small crowd of rats rushed passed her, and she leapt back in shock. These aren't rats, she realized, Their fur is white, not gray…? They squeaked loudly, bumping into each other in a mad rush to get somewhere.
One of the rats stopped in front of her and stared curiously. It leaned down, and dropped something, before taking off after the others with a loud squeal.
Hollyleaf stared down at the item it had dropped. 'A nut?' she thought incredulously, They dropped a nut for me? She looked at it closer, No. A berry. She realized, pawing at it curiously. The white oval shape wiggled, then lay still.
With a shrug, she continued through the confusing, unfamiliar territory. Squawks of varieties of birds rose around her, but as much as she looked, she couldn't find a single one. A couple of more mice –or rats, it was hard to tell- ran by her, seemingly not frightened by the bigger creature with the claws able to kill them with a single swipe. She glared at them, annoyed, and swiped a paw at one of them.
Her paw bounced off of nothing, unable to hit her target, and she recoiled with a gurgled cry of shock.
The rodents turned to her, and a small spark of fear went through her. She couldn't touch these. Will they attack me? she thought fearfully, backing up a couple of steps, Can they touch me?
They squeaked at each other, and then all turned and scurried away, leaving Hollyleaf breathing a sigh of relief. She looked around cautiously, noticing a path that led up a hill, and quickly padded up it, trying to figure out where she was.
A bush rustled close to her, and she whipped her head around to glare suspiciously at it. A flash of blue eyes caught her attention, and she lunged towards the bush. Her claws ripped away at the leaves, and in the middle of the bush was-
Nothing.
There was nothing there.
She turned and glanced around, frightened at the thought of her being followed in this unfamiliar territory. "Who's there?" She cried in frustration, turning in circles. She halted, her tail swishing, snarled at whatever was there, and continued her trek of the unknown.
Another pack of rats ran by her. Her gaze followed them, but she kept walking, finding no point in paying attention to them when she now knew she couldn't do them any harm. One of them chased after her, and dropped another nut, similar to the first one.
She batted at the rodent impatiently, and trotted away from it, veering off the path, and into the tree crowded forest.
A loud bird call caught her attention, and she turned towards it, ears pricked. A white bird sat a few feet in front of her.
A dove? Hollyleaf mused, inching closer to it, No. It's too bulky to be a dove. Dove's are daintier than that. She crouched down, preparing to leap at it, testing if she could touch this mysterious creature, when she was interrupted.
A brown blur slammed into the bird, which let out a strangled cry that was cut off spontaneously. It sat up, a feather falling from its mouth, and Hollyleaf took a step of shock backwards.
A she-cat stood in front of her, brown fur shining cleanly, one of her paws, that was holding down the dead bird, was black, and her ice blue eyes caught Hollyleaf's almost coldly.
"That was my prey." Hollyleaf growled lowly, holding back a shiver of fear, "And who are you?"
The she-cat opened her mouth, and it moved quickly, no sound coming out.
Hollyleaf tilted her head in confusion, "W-what?" She mouthed again, this time slower, but Hollyleaf still couldn't follow, "I'm sorry, I don't understand…?" Hollyleaf wriggled uncomfortably, glancing around, trying to avoid the other she-cat's gaze.
The other she-cat rolled her eyes impatiently, and once again opened her mouth, but before she could start mouthing again, the bird under her paw, which Hollyleaf had assumed dead, shook violently, and sprung at Hollyleaf.
'Run!' She barely heard the urgent whisper of who she recognized to be Scorchfur, who wasn't anywhere in sight.
She flailed her paws at the bird with a wail of shock, and the world around her blackened.
Hollyleaf lurched up, gasping for breath, ears flattened against her head.
A pair of surprised blue eyes met hers, "Are you okay?" she heard from the mouth of the figure that was slightly hunched over her.
She blinked once, catching her breath, and looked at the cat in front of her. She barely retained her hiss of distaste, "I'm fine, Ratscar," She snapped weakly, "Go back to sleep."
He looked at her oddly, but weaved his way over to his nest, with a small, muttered, "I wasn't asleep in the first place…"
Hollyleaf stared after him, head spinning, and inched closer to Redwillow unsurely, before laying her head back on her paws and trying to drift back to sleep.
Hollyleaf blinked her eyes open, and stretched her neck up slowly.
The den was almost full with still sleeping cats, but Hollyleaf stood up, slowly stretching out her legs, and padding out of the den quietly, trying to not disturb the other warriors.
The sun shone down brightly for such an early state, and Hollyleaf blinked, disturbed by the bright light in her eyes, That's one way to wake up. She thought with a growl.
She surveyed the camp quickly. The fresh-kill pile was stocked up with stale mice, birds and frogs from the previous day, and few cats mulled around, grumbling tiredly.
Redwillow and Applefur were eating together in a small shaded area near the side of camp, Rockkit and Rosekit were both roaming around, looking around in boredom, Ratscar was standing by the fresh kill, looking around awkwardly, as though something seemed out of place.
Rock-kit noticed her, and zoomed towards her with a cry of happiness, "Mommy!" Rosekit, now noticing her mother too, chased after him. Rockkit bowled Hollyleaf over, and leaned down to lick her nose, "You stopped visiting!" he whined loudly.
Hollyleaf pushed him of her lightly, and sat up, sticking her tongue out at Redwillow, who was watching with much amusement. "Sorry," she apologized, now fully awake.
Rosekit looked at her hopefully, "When will see Daddy again?"
Hollyleaf blinked down in surprise, "W-well I told you that he wasn't coming back."
Rosekit nodded seriously, "But we'll see him again someday, won't we? In StarClan?"
Hollyleaf's eyes softened, "Yes, little one. But not anytime soon, got it?"
Rosekit nodded again, albeit a little sadder, "But we will?"
Hollyleaf licked her daughter's head, "Of course."
She ducked away with a noise of disgust, and a cry of: "Ew! Mommy spit!" she head-butted Rockkit, "It's on you now!" She ran away from her brother as he got to his feet.
"That's not fair!" Rockkit wailed after her, then raced towards her as she hid behind the nursery walls.
Hollyleaf rolled her eyes, and padded towards Redwillow and Applefur. Redwillow nodded a lazy greeting, and Applefur frowned at Hollyleaf's intruding on her time alone with Redwillow. "Good morning, you two. You're up early." She greeted politely.
Redwillow nodded again, and yawned, "Woke and couldn't get back to sleep. Plus Ratscar kept fidgeting." He sent a glance towards the tom that was still by the fresh-kill pile, "He seems pretty disturbed about something." He sent a meaningful glance towards Hollyleaf.
Hollyleaf nodded, "I'll go talk to him." She started padding away, but not before adding in a quick tease, "Besides, I'm sure you two want your alone time."
Redwillow stuttered out embarrassed nonsense and Applefur let out an insulted: "Hey!"
Hollyleaf approached Ratscar cautiously, "Is everything alright, Ratscar?"
He jumped, and turned towards her unsurely, "Uh, uh, y-yeah. I'm fine. W-why?" he stuttered.
"You just seem a bit jumpy." She said calmly, "Sorry for snapping at you last night. I had a nightmare."
He nodded, looking anywhere but her, "I-I am a bit jumpy, huh? I'm just fretting." He chuckled.
Hollyleaf tilted her head curiously, "Fretting? Whatever about?"
Ratscar looked around the camp, a frown falling, "I haven't seen Owlclaw since sun-high yesterday. He was supposed to be back last night." His eyes filled with worry.
Hollyleaf's breath caught in her throat, "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him." She glanced towards Redwillow, who was glancing at her every couple of moments, to Applefurs annoyance, "I'm sure he's fine." She said quickly, though she herself was unsure as well, "He probably just fell asleep or something…"
Ratscar nodded slowly, not looking reassured.
Hollyleaf flicked her tail in farewell, and padded back towards the other two.
"So?" Redwillow asked as she sat down shakily beside them.
Her eyes caught his, "Owlclaw is missing."
He shot to his paws, eyes widening in panic, "Missing?"
Hollyleaf placed her tail calmingly on his side, understanding his sudden panic; Owlclaw was Redwillow's only other brother, and he suddenly disappeared, right after Redwillow found out about the string of continuous murderers. "Everyone is starting to wake up; I'll tell them to keep an eye out for him." He nodded sadly, so she added, "And you, Applefur, Olivenose and I can go on a patrol to look for him."
He looked up, hope and understanding flashing through his eyes, and Applefur nodded in agreement, worry evident in her green eyes.
Hollyleaf glanced towards the warrior's den hurriedly, "Go wake up some cats," she told Applefur. She nodded and ran towards the den, leaping inside quickly, and disappearing out of sight.
"Olivenose and Applefur…?" Redwillow asked unsurely.
Hollyleaf nodded, "Tell Applefur you smell some prey, and you two go off somewhere. I'll talk with Olivenose meanwhile."
He nodded, "Are trying to set me and Applefur up?" He asked in amusement.
She grinned sheepishly, "Perhaps?"
He smirked at her and shook his head, "When will you ever learn?" he scolded jokingly.
She flicked her ear, turning her attention towards the warriors den as Applefur hurried out, "I woke up a good chunk if the warriors." She huffed, sitting next to Redwillow.
Hollyleaf nodded her thanks, and watched as cats filed out of the den, grumbling unhappily at being awoken. "I'm setting up patrols," Hollyleaf called to them, gaining their attention. They crowded around her, shaking themselves awake.
"Tawnypelt, you can lead a patrol of Smokefoot, Ivytail and Ratscar hunting. Rowanclaw, ThunderClan border, along with Toadfoot, Shrewfoot and Dawnpelt. Tigerheart, RiverClan border patrol, with Kinkfur, Starlingpaw and Pinepaw. I'll be leading a hunting patrol of Redwillow, Olivenose and Applefur." She ignored Olivenose's suspicious glare, "I want you all to keep an eye out for Owlclaw. He didn't come back yesterday, and was supposed to be here by now."
The patrols went to their proper leaders, and headed out to do their duties, and Hollyleaf turned towards the three cats for her patrol, "Keep a close eye out for Owlclaw. I'm worried."
Hollyleaf sprinted out of camp, eager to start looking for her missing clan mate. Redwillow pelted ahead of her, fear scent drifting off his pelt. Applefur trotted beside Redwillow, and Olivenose strayed a few feet behind Hollyleaf.
Redwillow said something to Applefur, and looked over his shoulder at Hollyleaf for permission to leave the group. Hollyleaf slower her pace slightly and nodded determinedly as Redwillow and Applefur veered towards the left, chasing after prey that may or may not exist.
Silence fell over the two she-cats, and Hollyleaf struggled to find words to say in such a situation. "I smell a mouse over there." She sighed; pointing her tail towards a small path that lead through some trees and bushes.
"W-wait!" Olivenose said behind her suddenly.
Hollyleaf turned around to face Olivenose in surprise, "Y-yeah?"
Olivenose turned to the ground, shuffling her paws, "Ah… I wanted… to talk to you about something." Hollyleaf sat down expectantly, and she continued hesitantly, "Um. W-well, this is kind of awkward," she scoffed, "but I wanted to apologize. I was a real big jerk, and I shouldn't have acted how I did." Her gaze flicked to Hollyleaf, "I was hopping that you could forgive me for being so horrible to you. I'm not usually like that – really!"
Hollyleaf gaped at her in surprise. The last thing she was expecting was an apology. "I… I can't forgive you until you answer a question of mine."
Olivenose nodded at her confusedly, "Sure, ask away."
Hollyleaf turned her head towards a nearby bird in a tree, avoiding Olivenose's gaze, "Why were you at the battle with ThunderClan when you weren't listed as a fighter?"
Olivenose did a double take, "What? What do you mean?" She asked, "Y-you saw me?" Hollyleaf nodded. "Oh… promise you won't smack me?" Hollyleaf nodded again, amused. "I was spying on you. I wanted to see if you were really loyal to ShadowClan or ThunderClan. And I saw you talking to your brother in the middle of the battle, so I got suspicious of you…" she glanced around the clearing awkwardly, "But you haven't really been doing anything suspicious, so…" She trailed off, "Anyway – forgive and forget?"
Hollyleaf stared at her blankly, "You were spying on me…" She repeated slowly, letting all of Olivenose's explanation sink in, "So you came to watch me throughout the battle…" she continued, nodding slowly to herself, "I see…"
"So?" Olivenose persisted hopefully.
She blinked, shocked, "Uh, yeah, I guess I forgive you." Hollyleaf mewed, But that doesn't take you off the suspects list. She added mentally.
Olivenose's face lit up like Hollyleaf had just given her the day off, "Really?" Hollyleaf nodded, "Like, really really?" her body was vibrating with excitement.
Hollyleaf's tail tip twitched with a mix of amusement and annoyance, "Yes, really. Really really really."
Olivenose literally jumped with joy, "Thank you so much!" She cried, twirling herself around Hollyleaf gleefully, "I'll make up my horrible deeds somehow, just you wait!"
Doubts suddenly clouded Hollyleaf's mind, Seeing this side of Olivenose, I'm having trouble believing she's a killer.
Olivenose rushed ahead of her, "Come on, then; we've got hunting to do." She called over her shoulder, running forwards again, so she was out of sight.
Hollyleaf leaped to her, "Wait up!" Hollyleaf cried quietly, not wanting to scare away any nearby prey.
That thought was ruined when a bloodcurdling shriek came from up ahead.
Hollyleaf sped up to full speed, fear spiking at her soul, "Olivenose!" She called desperately, narrowly dodging a tree. Another wail answered her, and she followed the sound closely.
Olivenose's figure appeared, head pointing up in another scream, fur bristling, and the scent of fear and blood surrounding her. Hollyleaf slowed her pace as she approached Olivenose, catching sight of what had caused her such reaction.
Owlclaw's body lay sprawled out in front of them, dried blood crusted around his neck and spread across the area's ground. His eyes were wide with shock, fear and pain, and his mouth was open in an unheard cry for help.
Olivenose buried her face in Hollyleaf's fur, shivering with fear, sobs racking her body.
"What's going on?" A voice called close by them. Hollyleaf identified it as Redwillow, "Hollyleaf?"
"Don't come over here!" Hollyleaf called desperately, "Just… go back to camp and get Blackstar!"
"What? What's going on?" Bushes rustled, and Redwillow crawled through them, trotting towards Hollyleaf worriedly. Until his eyes caught Owlclaw.
Another scream filled the air, and Hollyleaf cringed in pain. "This can't be happening!" Redwillow shrieked at the top of his lungs, "No! No! No!" he repeated over and over and over again. His legs collapsed on him, and he fell to the ground weakly, still calling out, voice cracking in horror, "No, no, no…"
The bushes rustled again, and Applefur and Blackstar appeared, Applefur's eyes wide with worry. Blackstar's eyes popped open widely, and he approached the body. He leaned over it, examining the fatal neck wound, eyes clouding over with sadness, and his mouth mouthing the word 'Toadstool.'
"No, no, no…" Redwillow continued to call loudly.
Applefur sat next to Redwillow, whispering into his ear in a hushed tone, tail stroking his fur soothingly.
Olivenose glanced at the body again, and winced, turning back away from it with a pained grimace.
Blackstar turned to them, his eyes catching Hollyleaf's, his eyes asking hopefully that she had caught the killer. She shook her head slightly, and his eyes fell in disappointment, "Come on, you four. We need to get back to camp." He picked up Owlclaw's scruff, and Hollyleaf reached down to grab some loose skin on his back to help Blackstar carry him. Olivenose walked beside Hollyleaf, a look of grief imprinted on her face, and Applefur led Redwillow along.
"No, no, no…" she heard him whisper quietly.
Aw, I killed another character… only one more left to kill. Who, you ask? Like I'd tell you! Just over six pages long! I'm so proud but theirs only 3,100 words. Sigh, that's pretty good though. Just wish it could be longer, as usual.
Probably my favorite chapter yet - I loved writing the dream sequence. Especially because I'm the only one who understands exactly what's going on.
Edit: Took the lyrics out because they were against the rules. Please take the time to listen to the song or search it up.