Echopaw padded with Jayfeather to the edge of ThunderClan territory. Echopaw felt her heart start to quicken with anticipation. "Who are the other medicine cats again?" she asked nervously.
Jayfeather sighed. "Us for ThunderClan."
"I know that!" Echopaw scoffed.
Jayfeather shot her an angry glare. "Do you want to listen or not?"
"Yes, Jayfeather," Echopaw mumbled.
"Okay." Jayfeather looked straight ahead. "Us for ThunderClan. Littlecloud and Flamepaw for ShadowClan. Kestrelwing for WindClan, and Mothwing and…"
Jayfeather faltered, so Echopaw put in, "Willowshine, right?"
Jayfeather seemed to shake himself. "Yes. Willowshine."
Echopaw could sense that he didn't feel…right about Willowshine for some reason. So she dropped the subject and continued forward at Jayfeather's flank.
"Jayfeather!" a voice called out.
Echopaw saw Jayfeather close his eyes for a moment; then he responded, "Hello, Kestrelwing."
A light brown tom scurried up beside Jayfeather. He smelled strongly of WindClan. "Hi, Jayfeather," he meowed breathlessly. "I can't believe I'm actually going by myself. It feels so wrong to be going without Barkface, though I know I might meet him in StarClan."
I hope I meet Silverfire, Echopaw thought.
"Come on, Echopaw," Jayfeather growled, and he started to stalk away, Kestrelwing still chattering behind him. Great StarClan, can this cat talk! Echopaw thought as she padded behind Kestrelwing.
"Wait!" came a new voice.
"Littlecloud," Jayfeather and Kestrelwing meowed simultaneously.
"And Flamepaw," a ginger tom piped up.
"Hi, Flamepaw," Echopaw meowed, bounding over to him.
Flamepaw looked puzzled. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Echopaw," Echopaw introduced. "I'm Lionblaze's daughter."
"Lionblaze!" Flamepaw exclaimed. "How is he? Tigerheart's always asking about him. Don't know why."
"Lionblaze is fine," Echopaw replied.
"And, oh, hi, Jayfeather," Flamepaw meowed, looking up at Jayfeather with admiration in his eyes. When he looked at Jayfeather, though, his gaze turned confused, and he looked back and forth from Jayfeather to Echopaw. Echopaw knew what was coming.
"You two look exactly alike!" Flamepaw exclaimed.
"Do we?" Jayfeather meowed drily, and Echopaw realized that he wouldn't know what she looked like. That made Echopaw think--how did Jayfeather know colors if he never saw colors? She had never pondered that before.
The five cats continued on their way to the Moonpool.
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Echopaw picked her way out of the thistles and looked over the rise. Below, there was a large pool of water. It sparkled in the moonlight and reflected the stars. Echopaw thought she had never seen anything more beautiful in her short life. A waterfall gently plashed in the far corner.
Flamepaw came up next to her. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he meowed dreamily. He looked at Echopaw, his blue eyes sparking with wonder. "Even after I've seen it for this many moons, I'm still in awe."
Echopaw was silent, still staring at the scene before her. She didn't notice the other medicine cats going down to the side of the pool until Flamepaw gently laid his tail across her back and guided her down. Her paws slipped into the ancient paw prints of cats before her.
"Wait for us!"
A golden she-cat and a gray tabby she-cat flew over the side of the ridge and down to the side of the Moonpool. "Sorry," the golden she-cat panted. "Otterheart's kits got into a thorn bush, and it took forever to pick out all the thorns from them, especially since they kept squealing and squirming around."
"It's fine," Littlecloud meowed firmly. "I would have waited for you, anyway, because I have a special ceremony to perform."
"What?" Flamepaw meowed excitedly. "Do you mean...?"
"Yes," Littlecloud meowed warmly. "It is time for you to receive your full medicine cat name."
Echopaw would feel guilty about it later, but she paid no attention to Flamepaw's medicine cat ceremony. She was too busy looking at the gray tabby she-cat, Willowshine. Willowshine looked like Jayfeather, except with darker blue eyes, but still not as dark as Cinderheart's. Willowshine kept looking at Jayfeather, trying to get his attention, but Jayfeather stared straight ahead, only moving to congratulate Flamepaw. Willowshine started to look desperate, openly nudging Jayfeather, but Jayfeather just hissed at her, and turned to the Moonpool.
"Come on, Echopaw, it's time to speak with StarClan." Flamepaw, or whatever his name was now, looked excited. "This will be my first speak with StarClan as a full medicine cat!"
"Okay, Flamepaw," Echopaw meowed absentmindedly. Then, realizing her mistake, she meowed, "I mean, um, Flame--"
"Flameheart," Flameheart corrected kindly. "Don't worry, it'll take me a little while to get used to it, too."
Echopaw laid down at the side of the Moonpool. She lapped up a few drops of icy cold liquid, and then she fell into a deep sleep.
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"Echopaw!"
Echopaw opened her eyes to see the starry forest of StarClan. In front of her, there was Spottedleaf.
"See? I'm a medicine cat apprentice!" Echopaw hissed, her hackles raising. "And I'm proud of it!"
Spottedleaf sighed. "Okay, Echopaw, fine. You're a medicine cat's apprentice. But that's exactly why I'm here."
"You can't stop me from becoming a medicine cat!" Echopaw growled, unsheathing her claws. She knew she wouldn't actually attack the StarClan cat, but she was just so irritated that she couldn't help but try to look threatening.
"No, I don't mean that," Spottedleaf hissed. Then she paused, and added thoughtfully, "Though it would be good if you added that to this lecture."
"Get on with it."
"Oh, all right. Since you're a medicine cat apprentice, you need to keep your feelings in order."
"What?" Echopaw spluttered. "You think I'm going to fall in love?"
"I don't think, I know," Spottedleaf retorted softly. "It's just the curse of us ThunderClan medicine cats. And besides, I can see into the future."
"When will I become a medicine cat?" Echopaw asked hotly.
"Never, I hope."
"Then you can't see into the future, because I will!"
"Echopaw, just listen to me. You have to be careful where your affections fall. I know I can't stop you from having feelings, but you have to keep them in check. Please, Echopaw, please."
"Who will I fall in love with?" Echopaw mewed angrily.
"Well," Spottedleaf replied despondently, "I can't tell you that. All I can say is that he's closer than you think."
"Do you mean Flameheart?" Echopaw asked suspiciously.
Spottedleaf flicked her ears and muttered, "Oh, no. I'm always too conspicuous."
"FLAMEHEART!" Echopaw became enraged. "I will NOT fall in love with another cat, especially not one from another Clan, ESPECIALLY not another MEDICINE cat from another Clan!"
"Oh, Echopaw, you're so foolish sometimes," Spottedleaf meowed sadly. "Now, I'll let you visit your brother, Silverkit."
"His name is Silverfire." Echopaw spoke so venemously that she could almost hear the poison dripping off her words.
"He died as Silverkit. StarClan knows him as Silverkit." Spottedleaf shrugged. "I may be able to take it up with Thunderstar and such. We'll have to see. But for now, he's Silverkit."
Mist curled out of nowhere around Spottedleaf, and she vanished. In her place was a familiar sleek silver shape.
"Silverfire!" Echopaw cried joyously.
"Silverfire?" Silverkit asked. "Who's he?"
"That's you," Echopaw meowed, her happiness deflating. "Don't you know that?"
Silverkit shrugged. "I died a kit. I'll never become a warrior."
"But...Silverfire--or, Silverkit--...don't you want to be a warrior?" Echopaw sounded desperate now.
Silverkit shrugged again. "I guess so. But I can't. StarClan is just a place of eternally staying the same."
"Well, to me you're Silverfire," Echopaw mewed vehemently. "Firestar gave you a warrior name, and you deserve it."
Silverkit shrugged a third time. "Okay, I guess I'm Silverfire."
Echopaw studied Silverkit closely now. "Silverkit...you're not acting like yourself."
Silverkit shrugged a fourth time. "I thought I was Silverfire."
Echopaw stumbled backward. "You're...you're not Silverkit!" she gasped.
Silverkit's blue eyes turned a hard shade of amber. "What makes you think that?" he asked, his voice dripping with false sweetness.
"S-Spottedleaf!" Echopaw yowled, terrified. She kept stumbling back, and Silverkit advanced on her, his eyes filled with fake love.
"What's happening?" Echopaw cried. "Spottedleaf! StarClan! HELP!"
StarClan's forest before her started to swirl. It was soon replaced by a forest. A forest so dark. There were no stars, and the only light came from glowing green fungus.
Suddenly, a chilling voice said her name. "Echopaw."
Oooh, cliffie! Anyway, I didn't know what color Flamepaw's eyes were, so I just made them blue. Anyway, still don't review.