Here are your Special Edition plushies, my faithful reviewers! *throws plushies*
Sorry that this chapter is so short, but I just got back from Ottawa, and wanted to post ASAP.
Hollyleaf: Yeah, thanks for abandoning us for your silly church thing.
Mormeril: Hey! I had the best time of my life, and met fantastic people! And I will have you know that the United Church of Canada means the world to me! And the 41st General Council was a historic event! We changed our crest, elected the world's first openly gay head of a church, and did so many cool things, such as pass a motion on what the church's view on Israel and Palestine will be, and got dissed by Harper, I believe. Yup. Politicians told us to keep our noses out of politics and stick to our knitting. So we, comissioners and Youth Forum members alike, knitted up a storm :)
Hopeflower: Sounds like fun!
Mormeril: It was. Oh, and the Youth Forum Flash Mob on Parliament Hill was super fun, and LONG LIVE YOUTH FORUM RHAPSODY!
Chapter 9
Ashfire
The moon was bright that night, a large, round, full orb of shining silver in the starlit midnight sky. A single cat, a handsome, dark gray tom, sat alone at the edge of the cliff, staring at it.
"Moonshine," Ashfire murmured as he gazed up at the moon from his lonesome place atop the cliff. "Wherever you are, please be all right. I need you to be all right."
"Why are you talking to yourself?" Ashfire turned his head to see Flightwing, a ThunderClan she cat, one of Firestar's last litter, standing behind him.
"Oh, uh, I was just thinking about Moonshine," he meowed, embarrassed.
"Oh." Flightwing's long, silvery tail flicked slightly. "You really care about her, don't you?"
"Yeah," he replied. "She means everything to me."
Flightwing purred. "I'm sure that she's fine. She was gone already when DarkClan attacked us, so she must have escaped the slaughter."
Ashfire glanced at her, realizing that the ThunderClan she-cat was right. "I suppose. But do you think that I will ever see her again?"
"Of course you will," Flightwing meowed firmly. "She will come back. All the cats who vanished will come back."
"How can you be sure?" Ashfire questioned.
"Because I have faith," Flightwing replied quietly. "Faith that they will return."
Ashfire stared at her for a moment, trying to understand how she could be so certain just because of her faith. It didn't make sense to him. Sure, faith made sense as far as StarClan was concerned, and besides, StarClan had fought beside his parents in the last war. But relying on faith to know that cats who were missing and possibly dead would return? That part made no sense to him.
"How can you be so certain just because of faith?" Ashfire asked, amazed.
Flightwing sighed. "Those of you born after the Dark Forest War know so little of faith. You are more certain because of actual proof, whereas those of us born before are used to relying on faith for certainty. Things are changing for all of us now. Cats now believe in StarClan not because of faith, but because there is proof, true, physical proof, whereas before it was all just faith, and taking the word of leaders and medicine cats who had seen them in dreams. But now there is physical proof for us all, and faith isn't really all that necessary."
Ashfire stared at her and tilted his head. What she was saying was true, he realized, every last word. Faith was less a part of their lives than it had been before, now that there was physical proof of StarClan's existence, so they weren't used to relying on faith for things to be true. What would that mean for future generations? What would become of the Clans if they lost their need for faith entirely? Was lack of faith why Moonshine, Rosepetal, and Hopeflower left, along with other cats from other Clans?
"You must learn to have faith, Ashfire," Flightwing meowed softly. "Without faith, life is empty, lonely, painful, frightening. Faith makes everything better. Have faith."
Ashfire wandered through the forest just below the cliff in which the rebellion and the Clan cats were camping. He was trying to hunt, but his thoughts kept drifting back to his earlier conversation with Flightwing about faith.
She was right, everything was changing. The newer generations were able to rely less on faith because StarClan had revealed themselves fully to their parents. Because of this, faith was less important, not as needed. Things were far different than they had been in the past now, different from the glory days of the clans, back in the Old Forest that they so often heard of.
He gazed up at the moon and stars, shining brightly overhead. What if, someday, the lack of faith led to the loss of belief, if cats grew less and less reliant on faith, and saw no evidence of StarClan? Would StarClan then vanish? What would become of the Clans?
He shook his head. There were too many things to think about.
His thoughts then drifted back to Moonshine. Where was she? What was she doing? Did she miss him? And, finally, did she feel the same was that he did? Did she love him as much as he loved her? He had never found out before she had left. He had wanted to tell her his true feelings the night she had disappeared, the night that everything had changed. And now he truly, deeply regretted it, now that she was gone. He regretted not telling her that he loved her more than anything, that she was his whole world, everything to him.
And now I might never get another chance, he thought, shutting his eyes.
No, Flightwing was right. He had to have faith. Faith that she would return to him, to ShadowClan. And the moment that she did, he would tell her everything that was in his heart. He would tell her that he loved her, and always would.
Blackstar: AMEND THIS MOTION ONE MORE TIME I'LL SCREAM!
Mormeril: I'LL SCREAM! I'LL SCREEAM!
Hollyleaf: You just had to teach him Youth Forum Rhapsody, didn't you?
Mormeril and Blackstar: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN COME IN HERE AND ROCK OUT THIS GYM? SO YOU THINK YOU CAN SING THAT IN HERE 'STEAD OF HYMNS?
Hollyleaf: Why did Featherpaw have to steal my sledgehammer in Faithblossom's response to Mormeril's review to that fanfic? Review, please -_-