As soon as the cats exited Emeraldstar's den, they knew that word of their "exile" had spread around the camp. Every cat made a point of ignoring them, even Echotrail, who flashed them an apologetic look.
"Flintpaw," Flamingpaw was the only one to approach them. "Is it true, are you leaving?"
The look Flintpaw gave Flamingpaw made Swamppaw sick.
"Yes, Flamingpaw, I am," she murmured. "I hope that maybe one day, we can meet each other up in Skyclan."
Flamingpaw stared at Flintpaw for a few more moments, then Shadowleaf called him for training.
"Well, I won't stand for this!" Ebonyshine insisted. "I'm going to talk to Mintdapple, she seems like a reasonable cat."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Skyshadow asked. "She could always kick us out even sooner then she's decided to."
"It's work a try," Ebonyshine turned to the medicine cat den.
Swamppaw turned to Mistblossom.
"I'm going to talk to Flintpaw," he whispered to her. "She needs to know her and Flamingpaw will never happen."
Mistblossom nodded, her eyes clouded with an unknown emotion. "Be careful with her."
Swamppaw and Flintpaw left the clearing, leaving just Skyshadow, Jaymint, Nightsky, Mistblossom, and Ambercloud. Mistblossom and Ambercloud left to talk to Echotrail, Skyshadow and the others left to go and figure out what they would do next.
0o0
"Mintdapple?" Ebonyshine asked, walking into the medicine cat's den.
The medicine looked up at her, her eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"
"Why are you doing this?" Ebonyshine began inching closer to the she-cat. "We told you the truth."
"Then why did Skyclan not speak to us?" the medicine cat demanded.
"I don't know!" Ebonyshine thought for a moment. "But don't you want to redeem yourselves after your clan left the forest?"
"Left?" Mintdapple looked at her closely. "Is that what they told you? That we left?"
Ebonyshine nodded.
"We never left!" Mintdapple snapped. "Those fox hearts that you call clanmates exiled us!"
"Because you continued to steal prey!" Ebonyshine replied.
"Willowclan never stole prey! Those greedy cats saw us as a threat from the beginning and kept attacking us time and time again. It was no longer safe for us to let our kits wonder out of the nursery at one point, because any kit that they saw, they would steal and raise in their own camp, that's how so many cats became descended from Willowclan. Then one day, they decided to exile us over some tale about us stealing prey," her eyes got sad. "We obliged and left, because we all knew it was better then the life style we had lived up until that point."
Ebonyshine was taken aback. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "But if you exile us, doesn't that prove that you're no better then the other clans?"
"You lied to us," Mintdapple growled. "And made us believe you were sent here by Skyclan, and now that we know that isn't true, we aren't going to take any more chances. Now leave!"
0o0
"What do you want, Swamppaw?" Flintpaw was now facing her brother, more annoyed and irritated then ever.
"I want to talk to you about Flamingpaw," Swamppaw sighed.
"I already said good-bye to him, don't worry," the she-cat seemed very bitter. "You should be thrilled."
"But you still like him!" Swamppaw snapped.
"So what? Am I not allowed to do that without your approval?"
"Flintpaw," Swamppaw tried to rest his tail on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "You need to understand that you and Flamingpaw will never be. You are both from different clans, and the way things are going, you two could be enemies."
"My mind knows this, but my heart doesn't," Flintpaw murmured. "Can't I dream that some way, some how, we can be together?"
"No, Flintpaw," Swamppaw told her. "It won't happen."
"It just won't happen because you don't want it to happen! You hate him because he likes me, admit it!"
"Flintpaw-"
The she-cat turned and left the hollow, her tail slapping Swamppaw in the face as she left.
0o0
Echotrail stood in the shrouded hollow with Mistblossom and Ambercloud, her face serious for once.
"Can't you help us?" Ambercloud asked. "You know we're telling the truth, don't you?"
Her face didn't change one bit.
"I don't know if you are telling the truth," she murmured.
"Echotrail, we came all the way from the forest just to see you guys!" Mistblossom argued. "We practically got exiled!"
Echotrail stared at them for a few moments. "I believe you," she admitted. "But Emeraldstar does not, and I am not going to be the first one to tell her I believe differently."
"But-"
"I'm sorry," Echotrail then left.
0o0
Featherlily glared at her mirror, seeing that Lakestar had tried to contact her while she was visiting Swamppaw in his dreams. She knew that it was dangerous too try to contact her back, because she wasn't sure whether her annoying siblings had made contact with the first leader of Lakeclan or not.
"Hello, daughter."
She whirled around to see her mother, Lavenderstream.
"Mother," she attempted to hide her mirror. "What...are you doing here?"
"I got the weirdest visit from a friend," Lavenderstream explained. "Who told me that you were keeping your siblings captive in your mirror."
"That's ridiculous," Featherlily laughed it off.
"It's funny, though, because this same cat said that they hadn't seen your siblings in weeks," Lavenderstream gave her a pointed look.
"I would never do anything like that."
"Then give me the mirror."
"I-b-b-...what?" Featherlily stammered.
"Why are you so nervous, if you have nothing to hide, why not give me the mirror?" Lavenderstream asked.
"Mother, it's my mirror, do you not trust me?"
Lavenderstream saw through her disguise. "Give me the mirror, Featherlily."
"Fine," she bowed her head in shame.
Lavenderstream bowed her head and looked down at the mirror, seeing the faces of Winterlily, Specklevine, and Blazesummer.
"Featherlily, how could you?" Lavenderstream shouted. "We finally thought we could trust you, and then...you go and do this. Honestly, Featherlily, did you really think this whole romance with Swamppaw would work out? He didn't even love you!"
Featherlily looked taken aback. "He will love me!"
"No he won't," Lavenderstream replied. "Because you are now banished from Skyclan and the walking world."
"So now I'm getting punished for falling in love?" Featherlily demanded.
"You're getting punished for taking your love too far and ruining a young apprentice's life," Lavenderstream hissed. "Now go!"
"I refuse to leave!" Featherlily snarled. "I will not leave Swamppaw in the paws of that...fish-face!"
"Featherlily, leave or I will force you to," Lavenderstream hissed, barring her teeth.
Featherlily backed up. "Fine," she whispered. "I'll leave, but mark my words, you haven't seen the last of me; I will have Swamppaw!"
She backed up a bit more, then disappeared in a whirlwind of feathers.
0o0
It was just before moon-high when the traveling cats all met up.
"Anything?" Skyshadow asked.
"Echotrail refuses to help," Ambercloud reported.
"Ebonyshine?"
"Mintdapple told me some interesting information, but offered no help either."
"So I guess we're leaving," Jaymint whispered. "I feel like we've all failed Skyclan."
"No," Mistblossom shook her head. "If anything, Skyclan failed us. They knew how important it was to send that message to Willowclan and they didn't."
"It is time for you all to leave," Emeraldstar's meow was cold as ice. "Leave my grounds at once and do not return."
"Wait!" Flamingpaw came up to Emeraldstar. "I'm going with them!"
"Oh no you're not!" Swamppaw snapped. "We don't want you, neither does Flintpaw."
"Flamingpaw, you are staying right here," Emeraldstar more or less ordered. "Go find Shadowleaf."
Flamingpaw looked like he was about to argue, but after a few moments, he left with one final glance at Flintpaw.
Ebonyshine bowed her head. "We will leave, but you should know that you are letting down all the clans, and even though the darkness isn't coming for you yet, it will."
"Ebonyshine, you shouldn't pick a fight with the strongest clan out of them all," Skyshadow whispered in her ear.
"The clans let us down the moment they started ganging up on us, and you want us to help them?" Emeraldstar hissed. "Let the darkness come to us, we are ready."
"That's what you think," Ebonyshine muttered, turning to walk out of the camp with her comrades.
As they approached the exit, they saw Echotrail standing right beside it, looking apologetic, though the others didn't care, they all ignored her.
"What's the plan?" Ebonyshine asked as they got further away from Willowclan's camp.
"We've got a few ideas," Skyshadow murmured. "For now, let's find a place to camp."
0o0
Featherlily walked through a large marshy area. A thick fog prevented her from seeing anything that was more then three feet in front of her, yet somehow, she knew exactly where she was going. Through the fog, she could see outlines of cats, some of whom were older then Featherlily herself. A couple fox-lengths later, she reached the heart of the marshy area. There, sitting on a mound of mud and grass, was a dark brown tabby she-cat.
"Featherlily, why do you come here?" she asked, her yellow eyes glittering in the eerie light. "I thought I banished you after you returned to the light."
"Darkstar," Featherlily bowed her head. "Something has happened, and I am no longer on the side of good. I want the same thing that you do now; to see the forces of light destroyed. I wish to have a second chance."
Darkstar smiled, flashing her white teeth. "How do I know I can trust you?"
"I have no one to run to, so you have nothing loose."
Darkstar pondered this for a few moments. "Welcome back, Featherlily," she finally said. "Are you ready to watch the clans fall to their knees?"
"Always."
Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated, but honestly, it's the summer, and I've been spending lots of time in nature. Also, I've been mixing up my days a lot. Anyways, I'll try to update as much as I can, so until the next time,
-Mallowbloom