Chapter X: Verge of the Exodus
UPDATE:: Added BG info on Skyleap. I felt that was lacking, although I did lose a plot device I was going to use.
Blueblaze POV
Blueblaze awoke to another day of hardships, and hopefully triumph. She let loose a deep, unfurling sigh and slowly trudged outside. She looked toward the dew-laden ground, and she felt the same haunting feeling that something was amid her.
It had been seven days since they were deemed Warriors and it had truly lived up to the task of "Warrior". She had fought in training every day, no breaks, and no idealization. She had had to hunt or starve (literally) every day, and with little experience hunting, this was proving tricky for the both of them. Just because she beat ForestClan's best Warrior, and had immense wars, and pulled them together, didn't mean anything. It gave a title; not immense working that required pulling themselves together.
There was no denying it. They were starving relationally. They both hated each other with savage passion. They very consistently talked as if the boundaries that had been set did not exist, yet when it did. The limits were completely invisible to anyone but themselves.
A Feathercloud stampeding toward her with ecstatic force very quickly interrupted the moment of deep thought. She came to a skidding halt in a cartoon-like fashion, and shook her head in recoil. "Did you hear the news?" She asked, with a large grin on her face, and let out a little joyous giggle near the end.
"No." Blueblaze grumpily acknowledged, and took a single breath.
"Dovekit, well, now Dovepaw," Feathercloud said in precisely the same exact voice as before, "Has returned, and is now an apprentice!"
Blueblaze under-reacted. "Cool." She did not have much knowledge of her family and friends, and did not realize as to what there was in front of her. She then realized what this meant after thirty seconds of dead silence and pondering. "We need to talk to her. I think she's back for a reason. StarClan." Blueblaze suddenly said very seriously, and her eye faltered toward a somewhat aggravated-looking expression and her fur was trying to stand up.
"Angry much?" Feathercloud responded, with her whiskers quivering, and she made an attempt to put derision on Blueblaze via mockery and arching her back, but failed. The two got up and started walking to the apprentice den, when Feathercloud halted for a brief moment and rotated toward the fresh-kill pile.
"Get me a mouse. I'd bet you want a vole." Feathercloud nudged Blueblaze with her tail. Blueblaze just simply stated, "Ok. Let's get something for you, and we will eat up with Dovepaw." The blue Warrior went and retrieved grass, a vole, and two mice, and sorted them out accordingly.
She waited for a short bit before seeing the three cats reach her. They came, greeted each other, and sat down accordingly and respectfully. The three chatted about being a Warrior, and how Dovepaw earned apprenticeship and life in general.
Then, one of the big questions rolled out. "Alright, now what in the name of StarClan happened by the Moonpool? You utterly disappeared from existence. I can not ever call to mind as to anyone saying anything about you besides us! What would have happened that made this a thing?" Blueblaze shouted at Dovepaw, perturbed about her being missed. Dovepaw simply shrugged, and continued eating her mouse. "Well?" Feathercloud responded, now slightly angry. "Where would you go that you got virtually eternal protection from StarClan?" Dovepaw, finished up her bite, spat out the bones by a nearby tree, and prepared to give a rather long explanation.
"Alright. It's a long story. You may be late to training today." Dovepaw paused and put stake in the ground (theoretically). "Alright. So it all originates after the events of StarClan giving you the mission by the river. I was also there, and ran off right before they gave you the mission. This was because that I didn't think that StarClan was a good, reliable place and I thought Dove's Wing or Dovewing as I later called her, was from the Dark Forest. The Dark Forest apparently wanted to choose me to be the messenger of some form of 'overly powerful power'. I was supposed to be training with a person called Brokenstar in my dreams prior to this. She was the sole protector of this happening, and when she let go, I was being trained in my nightmares indirectly. I had to go through massive amounts of pain, to be desensitized to them, the nightmares. It was unbearable. At the end of it all, I ascended into StarClan, and I repented. I repented my disbelief in them, and I was and am ready to see what I was. I was sent into a point to where I was forced to utilize my powers, and I have discovered and controlled them."
Dovepaw then shut her eyes at the end of her speech, and her expression morphed into a somber, deep face. She breathed very deeply, and suddenly staggered back with an exasperated face, and she suddenly looked very confused. "What?" She exclaimed. "It's not working for some odd reason. Go to your training, I'll get it working eventually." She wished them a good-bye, and Dovepaw wondered off to wherever she felt.
Feathercloud suddenly darted off in the direction of her training, and Blueblaze followed through. The two just showed up as roll call started. "New Warrior training program roll-call." Tigerheart, the new deputy, went through the methodic and long process; "Do not say 'Here' unless you are called. Blueblaze."
"Here."
"Feathercloud."
"Here."
"Skyleap."
"Here."
"Foxpelt."
"Here."
After the list, there was a usual warm up by hunting for about thirty minutes grouped in trios. Feathercloud was hunting with Skyleap and another cat anonymous to Blueblaze. Blueblaze however stuck with Foxpelt and another cat under the alias of Cloudpaw, one of the apprentices who was sticking around with the two.
The two groups went in separate directions, the one with Feathercloud heading toward the moor and the one with Blueblaze reaching the very border of the trees and near the Moonpool. However, the unknowns usually guarded it around this time. Blueblaze, upon entering the forest, took a whiff of the area, and was that it was very plentiful of prey, especially mice.
"Cloudpaw." Blueblaze ordered. "Go and see if you can catch a few mice near the bushes over there." She pointed her tail to show direction as to where she was meowing about, and the gray apprentice obeyed orders and fetched her. "The rest, go in search of whatever you want yourself to do." Blueblaze was surprised at how willing the other cats were to follow through with Blueblaze's orders, and how effective they were as well. Within minutes she had reports of over five catches of prey. However, she herself had caught none.
She spotted a squirrel, weakened by a fall from a tree. This could be a chance to catch something. She thought to herself. She distributed her weight amongst her legs, and she sneaked up on it with immense stealth. She saw that it was weakened, and she suddenly pounced with a heavy amount of strength.
The squirrel now had the senses to see that it was being pounced on, and it couldn't move in time. Blueblaze buried the kill, and then actually saw that there was a nest of squirrels in a nearby tree. Judging by the corpse, it was a female, and there was newly found pups in the tree, and she repented killing the poor thing.
It was just weakened from giving birth. She stifled her muscles a little bit, clearly fazed.
She then looked toward the area she saw the corpse, but there was none there. The Warrior saw a squirrel climb up a tree towards the nest she just looked at.
That's the same one as before! She exclaimed mentally. What in the name of DarkClan?
"Time's up for hunting!" Tigerheart shouted from a far distance away, but it was still audible.
Blueblaze then just stupidly sat down next to the two hunting parties, and looked at the immense pile they had just made from effort and repetitive, vigorous hunting. She just looked down at everything they caught, and counted it with a blue face.
Four mice, three birds, two squirrels, and seven voles, Blueblaze somberly looked down at her paws and suppressed a frown. Not a single piece of prey from me.
"Why are you so sad?" A nearby cat, which wasn't identified in Blueblaze's mind as Skyleap until the end of the sentence, said. "You caught four voles! That's insane! Do you even remember running after them at a ridiculous speed, and catching two of them at once?"
Blueblaze was now confused, and left with a choice. She could tell the truth as to if she caught them and possibly starve, or just lie. She didn't know what to do, so she made up a third option.
"What did you catch?" Blueblaze responded quickly, and tried to get him off of the Warrior's shoulders. Skyleap was now curious, and also changed the topic although he was a good bit eager involving this.
"Not much. Three birds, one was a sparrow." He made his statement clear and frank.
Blueblaze thought of something on a whim upon saying this. A very big, and bold thing, but it was still sane. Blueblaze thought something a little different with this tom upon meeting him as an apprentice. She remembered a specific time when he brought flowers upon almost dying, and he treated her with a newfound respect ever since she defeated Lionblaze.
This was too simple: Love. StarClan talked about three things at the meeting: the Flamewar, the dangerous cats, and love. It was suppressed completely in the Clans. It was when a male loved a female, and or vice versa. They could then become mates, and have kits if they so desired to. Since these Clans were going to be destroyed, there was some recourse.
Tomorrow would be the Last Auoura, but tonight was the crossroads. The crossroads of confession and the crossroads of survival were the only things left to worry about.
After a long and heartfelt training spent mostly in deep thought, there was one thing left to do. She had to tell Skyleap as to what she exactly felt about her.
"Skyleap. Come here for a moment." Blueblaze pulled him out at training, and they went to the same place she earned apprenticeship at, and the place she became a Warrior.
"What?" Skyleap's tone was a mixture between confusion, and understanding.
"I have a confession to make to you." Blueblaze said calmly as she could muster, but she was internally struggling to the point to where she was physically shaking. "I love you."
The words were said. They were true.
She expected a 'Why?' a 'What does that mean?' a 'Well, I don't, go screw off.'
The words out of his mouth came, and were so shock inducing, she nearly fainted.
"I do too."
He, also was shaking, and quivering wildly. She regained a small amount of control, but was still utterly paranoid of something else happening. They literally sat in silence for about five minutes, awing that both of them knew what was happening, and they felt alive.
"I think I know why you said that too. StarClan?" He made a response that meant that he was going out on a huge limb. He was stating she knew about it, made a term to say it publicly, but was still a normal person that had been only spoken to a few times.
A normal, sane cat would think this was abysmal.
"Yes. So you heard about the Flamewar from them?" Bluepaw replied with some of the initial shakiness disappearing.
"Yup. I thought it would be a good idea to maybe make a mate-ship with these Clans ending I guess." Skyleap responded again. His fur soothed, and he was confident about a 'Yes' incoming. He sat and smiled at the world.
"Yes. What did you expect?" She was now playful, under the now setting sun. "When did you discover StarClan?"
The conversations went on, and on, and on. She found out that he was also another cat whom was recruited on the mission StarClan set up, and he went and oversaw the three and their sheer power the three apprentices held on the Clan. He could see lots of devotion, so he plummeted straight into the three, when he realized he found interest in Blueblaze. Actually, quite a lot. He had blossomed a love, before they knew it, and with only speaking several words to Blueblaze, she was in love with him. It felt heart-warming.
Although there was a soon-coming exodus for the Clans, you know what they say. There can be no life without death. From the ashes of the Dark Forest would be new life. Struggles. Hardship. Tears. Pain. Joy. Peace. Love.
Blueblaze once again reached for a memory of a moment like this. One came to mind.
As soon as Brambleclaw had the news, he had mental glitch in computing events, and entered into a massive hysteria.
All of the Three were dead.
At least two of them; Lionblaze was a traitor. If the Dark Forest were sincerely infinite as they promised, the last hope that StarClan promised was nonexistent.
Every apprentice was dead.
As the corpses piled in, the Place of No Stars just continued to get stronger. Cats that were dead for decades joined into the fight for vengeance, or for some other reason Brambleclaw couldn't foresee.
WindClan was dead.
Eventually, there was no aid, no nice little remarks, and no messages about the dead.
ShadowClan was dead.
It reached a point to where there was only one thing to do. Surrender. Brambleclaw decided he would go limp to avoid pain, and give the Clans to the Dark Forest.
There are neither kits nor queens left.
He knew it was the only way. There would always be the one rebel who would continue the war.
Every cat from every Clan would express themselves as rogue, and would be.
Brambleclaw didn't know who it was going to be. But it was going to be.
And it was.
Plotline III: From The Ashes