Chapter 9:
"As of now, we are at war," Violetstar's voice echoed around the camp, "the cats of Lightningclan, Heatherclan and Rainclan have turned against us because of our choice."
Stormlight sat in between Brightfur and Starlingwing, looking up at the black and white leader who was making a loud announcement to her clan.
"These three clans have been meeting without us to talk about war," she told them, "we know this thanks to our helpful spy in Lightningclan."
"Sandfeather," Brightfur muttered to her.
"Really?" Stormlight said, surprised.
"Scarletclaw told Starlingwing who told me," said Brightfur.
"We know we have three days to prepare until they approach on both the Rainclan border and Lightningclan border to split us up. But we have a strong clan, filled with both normal and Powered cats alike. We will train our apprentices, we will hunt out prey to keep us strong, we will not lose this battle."
"We will divide up into three patrols. I will lead the first, going to the Rainclan border. Scarletclaw will lead the second, to the Lightningclan border. And, Owlheart, will lead the third, smaller patrol, that will remain to defend the kits."
They began to list who would be on each patrol. Brightfur, Starlingwing, Ace, Flamefern, Shadowheart, Stormlight herself, along with other Cursed cats from Pineclan or from the other clans were on Scarletclaw's patrol.
Stormlight reflected on how big Pineclan was. A lot of cats had defected from their clan to join Pineclan, some were Cursed, others just wanted to see a change in the code.
A lot of the cats were very powerful. Burntpelt, a previous Lightningclan cat, had the power to scorch anything with her powers. Stingclaw, a Pineclan cat, had the Power to make his claws and teeth grow to abnormal lengths. Lightfoot, an ex-Heatherclan cat, could move super quickly. Bouncefur, an ex-Rainclan cat, was stronger than any cat. Rabbitears had an amazing sense of hearing and Yellowtail could predict battle moves.
They were the strongest Cursed cats on Violetstar's patrol. On the other hand, the rest of the strong powered cats had been put onto the Lightningclan one.
That included Stormlight herself.
The Cursed cats, in the four days she'd spent in the clan after her recovery, would pit themselves against each other to see who was the most powerful. It was still an ongoing thing. Stormlight had found herself to easily be able to take on Starlingwing, Burntpelt and Flamefern, who could control plants, along with lots of other Cursed cats. She had struggled but, eventually, succeeded in a fight against Brightfur.
Her and Ace had fought to a draw and she hadn't dared to go up against Shadowheart. Not because his power scared her, though it did slightly, it was mainly because she couldn't look Shadowheart in the eye.
She'd been a wreck after their conversation around a half moon ago and had pushed it out of her mind ever since.
"So," Stormlight heard Starlingwing beside her, "what do you say to a rematch, Brightfur?"
The black and white she-cat turned to the ginger and black one, "oh yeah? I'll just destroy again."
"Wanna bet?"
Brightfur snorted, "of course I do."
Suddenly, she was knocked to the floor by a strong gust of wind in her direction. Brightfur got back to her paws, looking at Starlingwing, who was laughing loudly, with an unamused look on her face.
"Wanna go, Pineclanner?" She playfully hissed.
Starlingwing flicked her ears, "sure, you're practically just a fish with your fancy swimming."
"'Fancy swimming?'" Brightfur repeated, looking genuinely hurt, "you can just make it windy, I can stop rain and freeze a lake."
"I can uproot a tree and probably blow your pretty little fur off."
"You think my fur's pretty?" Brightfur peered at her, laughing.
"If you two don't shut up I'll electrocute you," Stormlight told them.
They both glared at her with mock fear and Stormlight laughed.
She glanced over to the corner of the camp where Ace was talking with Scarletclaw. Stormlight was almost tempted to interrupt them but decided not to as they looked to be in deep conversation.
The sight of Ace made her remember a conversation they had had half a moon again.
"I don't understand," Stormlight had said, "if he hated me so much then why not confront me."
Ace had shrugged, "you know Shadowheart was never one for confrontation, plus…"
She glared at him, "plus what?"
"Plus, don't you remember what he said in the fire?" He asked, "he told you that he never told you about his power because you waited for ages to tell him about your own."
Stormlight sighed, "I'm a terrible sister. I didn't even realise I was pushing him away but I was too scared to tell him anything, especially after we saw Gingerpool kill her own brother."
"See, that's where you're not thinking again," Ace said, "that's why he's mad, you thought he'd be just like his mentor, which he wasn't."
"Oh, stop blaming me for this."
"I'm not blaming you, Stormlight, I'm as much to blame, but Shadowheart is messed up in the head, he could've told you that you were pushing him away and he didn't, he brought this on himself because he's an idiot."
"Mouse-brain," she cut in, correcting him.
He laughed, "I can say 'idiot' if I want."
"You say lots of strange words," she muttered, "you say 'bastard' a lot, I don't understand what that means."
"It's an insult," he said, "I'm not sure of the meaning myself, my dad used to say it a lot to any old cat really. I'm sure it does mean something, but it's a city-cat word."
"Why did you come to the clans?" Stormlight asked suddenly, "I realised I never asked you. I mean, you had your sister, why leave her?"
Ace looked at her, "family was always important to me, my sister especially. We always kinda stuck together, through everything. It was… difficult to leave her but I knew it was for the better."
"How so?" She asked.
He opened his mouth, ready to answer before shaking his head.
"No, that was a lie, who am I kidding?" He said, "It was never for the better. I left because I couldn't stand the guilt whilst my sister got over it so easily. I love Amber, still do, but I was too selfish to stay. I left her because I hated myself."
Stormlight found her mind drifting back towards the memory of her own sibling.
No, she didn't want to think about Shadowheart, not now.
"What life do you prefer?"
Ace looked at her, "are you asking me to chose either you or my sister."
"No, I'm asking you to chose between this life and your old one."
He paused for a long time, his silence hung in the air between them as he stared across the lake they were sat at.
"My life works down in lots of stages, really," he said, "it starts when my mother was still alive, and then into the city, and then when I just lived with my sister, then in Lightningclan and now, in Pineclan."
"So, what's your favourite?"
"My mother," his reply was almost instant, "but… I have a good feeling about Pineclan, so I can't really say."
"What about your least favourite part of life?" She asked.
"Living with just my sister," he sighed, "what about you?"
Stormlight laughed, "I don't think my life's been as exciting as yours. Lightningclan was my family, but I can't look back on all the good times, not anymore."
"They killed our kits."
"But before that," she looked at him, "when it was just me and you and no worry about the clan. The part before they turned against me, the part before the fire. That was good."
"Even with Duskpelt?"
"Duskpelt kinda helped me grow as a cat," she said to him, "I don't think he's a great cat, he's a terrible guy, but I think that I learnt a lot from him."
"I know what you mean," he said.
Stormlight breathed in, "what do I say to Shadowheart? I need to talk to him."
"What would you say?"
She shrugged, "I don't know, try to say sorry?"
"It probably won't work."
"You're right," she sighed, "so what do you think that I should do?"
"Your two are siblings, right?" Ace tipped his head, "you can sort it out, I'm sure."
She glanced at him, his eyes were focused on the lake, deep in the thought.
'He's thinking about Amber,' she realised.
Stormlight sighed, looking out over the lake as well, watching the sunlight hit the water.
She shook her head, wiping the memory from her mind. Starlingwing and Brightfur had gone back to bickering. She spared one last look at Ace before excusing herself. She almost walked straight into Shadowheart before avoiding him at the last second.
She sighed, watching him walk out of the camp, the conversation with Ace unwillingly coming back to her mind. She would have to talk to Shadowheart at some point.
'I'll do it after the battle,' she told herself, 'that way I don't have to worry about it whilst prepping.'
'Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.'
A/N: God! I hate filler chapters! You'd think that chapters like the Fire one are hardest to write but goddammit filler chapters are so difficult. Question, does the relationship between Stormlight and Ace feeling realistic? I'm not sure. When I write them I feel like they have chemistry but I'm not so sure how well that translates to the readers.
Anyway, the finale is approaching and I want to give three hints of what's to come. This battle won't fix all the problems the code has, there will be a sequel that I will hint to in an epilogue *wink, wink* and one character will die in the battle.
Thanks for reading!
