I recently discovered that something called work is god-aweful and must be exterminated at any means nessecery. This reminds me again of why I want to be self-employed, and never have a boss in my entire life. But that's a different story. My work schedule has been a little hectic and, -gasp- I've been actually going out into the world and doing shit, so I've been too tired to actually do any writing when I get home. But besides that, I found time while working to type up most of this, and then editted it while at home and finished it and, no, am posting it for all of you~ As I said before, this chapter is all White/Cedar, and, if you can believe it, we only have two more chapters left. :( I'm considering adding a short epilogue to that as well, so mayyyybe three. We'll see how the last chapter ends up.
So, once again, I present to you Chapter Nine: Cold, Black Rock.
Glimmer Icewood: I love making crazy shit happen, because it keeps me entertained while I write it, and it keeps you entertained while you read it :)
tufted titmouse: I haven't decided if Reedpaw will get Swallowpaw or not... I should figure that out, no?
Whitepaw bounced over the top of the ravine, a fat sparrow in her mouth. She had spent the morning hunting it, along with several other birds, and had perfected her own technique of hunting them. The bird was still warm, and she hoped that Cedarheart was at Fourtrees already so that they could share it.
Whitepaw had spent a lot of time by herself for the past three days, Firestar had been feverish and too sick to leave his den, and because of Graystripe's sudden promotion to deputy, and Whitestorm's demotion and retirement, Whitepaw had gone largely unnoticed by the other warriors and cats. So she snuck out every day behind the apprentice den before Spiderpaw and the others woke up and practiced hunting. Whether or not she was able to catch something was up to her, and with Cedarheart's help from before, she was easily able to catch small mice and voles. Rabbits and birds, she was learning, took a different technique, and she was still working on both of them. The sparrow was a pleasant surprise, and she was eager to share it.
Cedarheart was already waiting at the bottom of the ravine, his near-black fur clean and shiny in the sunlight, and his bright amber eyes already waiting for her. He stood as she bounded down the ravine, and smiled when he saw the far sparrow in her mouth and watched as she dropped it in front of him triumphantly.
"Did you catch it yourself?" he asked.
"Of course! I worked really hard to catch it, and when I did, I came straight here!" Whitepaw glanced up at the sun and frowned, "You're early, how long have you been here?"
"A while," Cedarheart admitted sheepishly, "I guess… I wanted to see you as soon as possible."
Whitepaw flushed and kicked at the dust, averting her eyes from Cedarheart. She had been wanting to tell him since the Gathering… She pushed it aside, despite the heat in her ears, and grinned up at Cedarheart. She pushed the sparrow to him, and crouched down and nosed it.
"I brought this for us to share, come on, before it gets old and funny-tasting."
Whitepaw and Cedarheart shared the sparrow. He laughed with Whitepaw accidentally got a feather stuck in one of her nostrils and began sneezing uncontrollably. Cedarheart held her head still while Whitepaw struggled to contain her sneezes, and plucked the feather from her nose. Whitepaw giggled and plucked a few more feathers and blew them in his face, and Cedarheart whacked her playfully and swallowed the last bit of the sparrow.
"Turkey," sniffed Whitepaw.
"Kit," Cedarheart batted her head. Whitepaw grinned and tackled him, and the two tumbled around together on the ground. Cedarheart finally stopped rolling when Whitepaw came to a rest on top of him, and his amber eyes glowed warmly. Whitepaw flushed when she realized that she was sitting on top of him, but Cedarheart bent up to lick her nose, and Whitepaw was sure her ears turned pink. But Cedarhearts peacefully happy expression faded to something more sad and quieter, and he gently pushed Whitepaw off of him and said, quietly:
"Whitepaw, I Need to talk to you-"
"I figured out how to hunt birds yesterday, you need to stay really low and move really fsat, and come up directly behind them-" Whitepaw tried not to think of his sad look, and the way he was looking at her. Just go back to the way you were, just lets go back to being happy…
"Whitepaw-"
"Then you need to get as close as possible and jump as high as you can when you pounce, because they always start to fly away and it's hard to-"
"Whitepaw, Blackstar was killed two nights ago."
Whitepaw froze and stared at Cedarheart. He glowing his glowing amber eyes and heaved a large sigh, then sat down and motioned for Whitepaw to sit next to him. Hesitantly, Whitepaw padded forward and sat down next to him, close enough for their pelts to be brushing. Cedarheart cast his eyes down, not looking at Whitepaw as he spoke.
"A cat that smelled of ThunderClan crept into the Clan camp and killed him while he slept. She was spotted by the guards and fled, and the entire Clan searched for her afterwards, but she wasn't found. Russetstar left for the moonstone that night, and apparently met Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy, while she was there… Whitepaw, Leopardstar and Blackstar were killed on the same night by the same cat and…" his voice trailed off. Whitepaw stared at him, her green eyes widening.
"…and the description is a she-cat with green eyes. We believe she covered herself in ash to hide her pelt." He turned and stared at Whitepaw long and hard, and Whitepaw felt a stone grow hard and cold in her stomach. Was he… He was really…
"You think… I killed them?" she whispered.
"No, no, I don't think you killed them. But… do you know any cat in ThunderClan who could… do you have any idea who this cat could be?"
Slowly, Whitepaw shook her head, "No… no I don't. I'm the only she-cat who has green eyes in ThunderClan and… and I think the last one was Sandstorm, Firestar's mate before she died."
"I… I see. I'm sorry, Whitepaw," Cedarheart lowered his eyes again. Whitepaw watched him for a long time, his eyes were distant, and his thoughts were miles and miles away from her right now. He was lost, but at the same time, he was finding something inside of him, perhaps. Tentatively, Whitepaw touched his shoulder with his muzzle.
"Cedarheart, what happened?" she asked quietly. Cedarheart did not look at her when he answered.
"Russetstar named me deputy, Whitepaw. And… and she's tasked me with finding out who killed Blackstar."
Whitepaw stood up and backed away from Cedarheart, her green eyes even larger and full of fear now. It was one thing to meet a friend at Fourtrees. It… it was a completely different thing to be meeting a Clan deputy and… and to be…
"Whitepaw, don't be afraid, nothing is different-"
"No… no, everything i-is different now. Y-you're a deputy a-and I'm… I'm…"
"Whitepaw-"
"N-no! I didn't know wh-what you were… I shouldn't be here a-and…"
"Whitepaw, you don't need to be afraid of me just because-"
"No, no, I do!" Y-you're a deputy now and I thought… I thought you and I could be…" Whitepaw lifted her eyes to him and stared at him for a long time. His eyes were clouded and confused. Whitepaw backed away slowly, the fur on her back spiking with fear, "I should go. We should pretend this never happened."
"No, Whitepaw-"
"No, I-I thought that I could tell you that I… B-but…"
"Whitepaw, there's nothing different from before. I'm still your friend, we can still meet like this, I can make it work-"
"No! This never happened, I never met you and I never… I never…" Whitepaw turned and did the only thing that came naturally to her. She ran.
"Whitepaw!" Cedarheart called after her. But Whitepaw ignored him, scrambling up the side of the ravine and weaving between the plants. She could feel Cedarheart shrinking behind her and her heart squeezing with every step away from him. She stumbled over a rock and felt a thorny bush scrape against her forehead, and felt something give on her skin. Blood began to trickle down her forehead, but she scrambled to her paws again and kept on running. She heard Cedarheart call behind her, but she kept running. If she could just get away, she could forget about him, she could fall inside of her Clan, she could-
"Whitepaw-"
And then Cedarheart was in front of her, and she was skidding to a halt before she could run into him. His long legs carried him so much faster than hers, and before she could dodge around him, he pounced, knocking her onto her back and pinning him beneath him, nose only a breath from hers and his amber eyes no longer clouded with confusion, but clear with desperation.
"Please, don't leave me," Cedarheart whispered and lowered his muzzle, eyes dropping in desperation and the feeling of crumbling defenses, "I love you. I don't… I don't want to stop seeing you, even if I'm deputy now. Please, Whitepaw, I… I don't know what to do. I haven't been eating right, I haven't been sleeping well, and my dreams are full of fire and blood… I can't stop thinking about you. It takes all my willpower not to cross the border to find you and just… see you. Please, Whitepaw. I love you. I love you."
Whitepaw stared at him for a long time, watching his broad face, his half-opened amber eyes so distraught and filled with love… and slowly she leaned upwards and licked his forehead. Cedarheart stepped back and let her up, and Whitepaw touched her muzzle to his, leaning against his shoulder and pressing her body as close as possible to his.
"I wanted to tell you the same," she murmured, "I… I love you too."
They sat next to each other for a long time, Cedarheart slowly turned and began to lick the cut on her forehead until it stopped blooding. Whitepaw closed her eyes, drinking in his unique smell of ShadowClan, marsh, and faint heather. She marveled at how he kept his fur so clean while living in marches, and how gentle he was despite being a ShadowClan cat. She sighed, pressing her muzzle deeper into his chest, and Cedarheart didn't push her away, pressing his muzzle against the top of her head and sighing.
"Well, it's this touching. Two cats so deeply in love they didn't even notice a patrol of warriors circling them."
Both Whitepaw and Cedarheart sprang to their paws, Whitepaw shying closer to Cedarheart, who bristled and bared his teeth. A smoky black tom stinking of RiverClan slid from the bushes along with six other RiverClan warriors.
"Blackclaw," growled Cedarheart, "What are you doing here? And why bring so many warriors? Fourtrees is neutral territory."
"Only during the full moon, Cedarheart, and we can still fight on neutral ground, can we not?" Blackclaw grinned and slid his yellow eyes to Whitepaw, "We have no quarrel with you, however, we just need her."
Whitepaw whimpered and shrunk closer to Cedarheart. For all her inborn hunting abilities, she had never been once trained to fight.
"And what would you need her for?" demanded Cedarheart.
"Mistystar sent me, her new deputy, to capture her as a bargaining piece with Firestar. ShadowClan and RiverClan are allied now, so hand her over, partner."
"No, she's just an apprentice," Cedarheart growled, "You can't use her as a bargaining chip."
"According to Mistystar, we can."
"According to me, you can't."
Cedarheart's eyes flickered from side to side, watching the RiverClan warriors begin to close the circle and stalk towards them. One bared his teeth and hissed, and Cedarheart hissed back. Whitepaw whimpered again.
"Have it your way," Blackclaw grinned,"RiverClan, attack!"
All six warrior rushing in at once, four tackling Ccedarheart and throwing him to the ground, while Blackclaw and the two others grabbed a shrieking Whitepaw and began hauling her towards RiverClan territory. Cedarheart roar and threw his opponents, leaping to his paws and darting between them, bowling into Blackclaw and sending him rolling and then flashed around, knocking back the two other warriors.
"Whitepaw, run, run for ThunderClan!"
And Whitepaw did, running as fast as her white legs could carry her, she scrambled down the ravine and back towards the ThunderClan territory. But she had hardly made it to the Great Rock when the RiverClan warriors caught up to her, seizing her by the nape and dragging her back towards RiverClan territory. Whitepaw screamed for Cedarheart, but he was trapped beneath Blackclaw and three other warriors, hissing and battering at them with his back paws, managing to throw them off and scramble to his feet before Blackclaw jumped onto his back and pinned him down. Whitepaw felt the world turn cold as Blackclaw raised his claw and Cedarheart looked up desperately, his amber eyes meeting hers for a heartbeat before Blackclaw's claw fell on his head, and Cedarheart went limp beneath him.
"NO!" Whitepaw screamed, flailing. Another warrior pinned her to the ground with his claws before sinking his teeth into her scruff as well, helping the first warrior drag her back to RiverClan, "No! Cedarheart, no!"
The other warriors trotted around Cedarheart as if he were a rock on the ground, and when Blackclaw neared Whitepaw, instead feeling the rush of hatred and rage she thought she would feel, she could only feel that cold black rock growing in her stomach again. One glare from Blackclaw and she lowered her eyes and gave up fighting, and allowed the warrior to surround her and escort her back to the RiverClan territory. Her tail dragged in the dust and her head fell, and when she tried to look back and see Cedarheart's body one last time, all she saw were the blue eyes of a black RiverClan apprentice, watching her curiously.
"I loved him," Whitepaw whispered, half to him and half to herself, "I loved him."
Bum-bum-BUUUUUM
Well, nothing more to say than we are NEARLY DONE. Something big is going to happen... and soon. I'll have you all wriggling in your seats by the end of the next chapter, hopefully. I'll have my fun, oh yes, I will :)