Hello again!
Thanks to everybody who reviewed. It makes me so happy :D
Anyway, a couple of you have asked, 'Where did you get the mutant idea from?' Well, I'll answer that question right now.
I watch a lot of superhero movies, like Captain America, Thor and Spiderman. I got the mutant idea from, you guessed it, X-Men.
So, enough talkie-talkie and let's get reading!
Chapter 10 (Birdkit's POV)
This was the first night that she spent in the OddClan camp. Finally full-fed, she thought that it would be easier to sleep from now on.
I guess that wasn't true.
She was in the nursery, lying down on a little bed of moss. The faint smell of blood was still present, and Birdkit stopped breathing through her nose. Earlier that day, right after Ripplekit's burial, Birchstar had asked Morningdust if she could be her foster mother. Morningdust, still weak, had replied; "Of course, I'll do whatever I can." This had made Birdkit squeal in delight and it took Vinepaw and Nopaw to calm her down.
Birdkit sighed. She wondered how WindClan was doing. She wondered about the mother and father she never met. Did I even have siblings?
She poked her head out of the nursery. The air was chilly. Then, she saw Nopaw quietly come out of the apprentice's den with a grunt.
"Hey Nopaw, where are you going?" Nopaw froze at the sound of her voice. He turned around.
He sighed with relief. "Phew! I thought you were Eggclaw for a second." Birdkit tilted her head. "Why where you going out in the first place?"
Nopaw shrugged. "Dirtplace. I must've shared a bad sparrow with Clearpaw before. Just don't tell Dawnwish," he added quickly.
"Why?" "Because she has a lot to worry about right now. Splashpaw told me-" He buckled up. "Urgh, Excuse me. Gotta go." He rushed out of camp towards the Dirtplace.
Birdkit stood there for a second. What was that all about? And why would he not want Eggclaw to know? She decided not to worry, and she returned to the darkness of the nursery's insides.
Birdkit was in a sparkling clearing. There were four trees standing around her, making some sort of square shielding her from a dark forest that lay beyond.
She sat down and smelled the air. She could only smell the pure scent of nature; it was amazing, it was beautiful.
Birdkit looked over her shoulder and saw that she didn't have wings. She sighed. She never had them in her dreams. It made her feel free, like a normal cat.
She laid down, and stretched, rubbing her shoulders on the grass. Little glimmering sparkles rose into the air like little wisps.
Birdkit looked up, watching the wisps float up. She gasped as she saw two cats looking up at her with amusement.
"Shimmerpelt! Sparklefur!" she chuckled as she recognized the two cats who had saved her adoptive mother's life. They purred and nodded.
Birdkit looked around. "Is this... StarClan?" The two cats nodded.
"Am I... Send me back!"
Shimmerpelt stepped forward and meowed, "You're in a dream. You already know that." "Oh, right." she mumbled.
"Usually, when I'm in dreams, I'm in the WindClan moor. What am I doing here this time?"
Sparklefur stepped forward too. "Remember the prophecy Shimmerpelt almost gave to you? Well, we thought about it. At a kits' age is the best time to deliver a message. We have sent a message to Dawnwish too." They both leaned closer.
Their eyes grew dark. A sudden cool breeze chilled the air.
"The ripples returns when the world grows dark,
The bird will spread open her wings like a stark,
With the help of her friends, she will turn on the light,
But only after it is time to fight."
Birdkit stood still for a moment. She thought that prophecies would be hard to crack open; but this one was easy! The ripples returns when the world grows dark; that must mean that water will ripple, signalling that the darkness is here. The bird will spread open her wings like a stark; Obviously there is a bird, most likely a stark that will open her wings, possibly for the first time. With the help of her friends, she will turn on the light; the stark's friends will help her turn on the light... How do they do that? Is there some sort of light switch that they could use? But only after it is time to fight.There is going to be a fight. That part creeped her out a little bit.
She turned back the the StarClan cats. "Why did you want me to know this?" The cats started to fade. "What in the name..?"
"We told you because," Sparklefur whispered
"The bird," the cats had almost disappeared,
"Is you." They disappeared in a puff of sparkles and dewdrops.
Something prodded her side and Birdkit woke up with a start. Brightkit had kicked her in the ribs.
Birdkit sighed, got up and padded into the clearing. nobody was awake yet, even though in was dawn.
She streched and thought, Those cats are bonkers. I'm no bird, just a mutant cat with wings. What can I do about that?
She decided that that meeting had never happened, and that it was only a dream
Only a dream.
(Dawnwish's POV)
Her tail twined around Cloudclaw's. They purred together, savouring the cloudless night sky. The stars twinkled above them.
"I bet Stumptail is up there tonight," solemnly meowed Cloudclaw. Dawnwish nodded. "He is, and I bet that he's watching over us."
Cloudclaw smiled and cuddled closer to her. He sighed. "I wonder what it feels like to fly," he whispered.
"One day, we will all have wings, and we shall soar through the clouds; together." Dawnwish whispered back.
They were silent for a few moments. Then, Dawnwish spotted a shooting star. "Quick make a wish!"
When the shooting star flashed away, Dawnwish asked; "Did you wish for your wings?"
Cloudclaw shook his head. "No, that can wait. I wished for you. I love you, Dawnwish," he meowed.
Dawnwish nuzzled him. "I love you too."
Dawnwish woke up with a start. Was that all just a dream? She sighed, and let tears splash on the floor. Birdkit had asked her yesterday if she still had feelings for Cloudclaw. Dawnwish said no, but it was a lie. Dawnwish dreamed about him every night, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.
She got up and headed outside. At once, she saw a little baby bird on the ground. It probably just only hatched, she thought. She carefully picked it up with her paw.
"Hum." she murmured as she inspected it. The bird was small and a creamy-ginger colour, and it tweeted softly.
Dawnwish hobbled out of the OddClan camp. When it was out of sight, she placed the bird kit on the floor and she dove into a nearby bramble bush. She waited for something to happen; maybe a mama bird would come and pick her birdling up.
A couple minutes had passed, and she started to get bored. The bramble thorns were prickling her sides, and the bird just lay there, tweeting away. I should just finish of its miserable life. It'll be good food for the Clan too, she thought. She crept out of the bushes.
She stood over the bird, claws in the air. Then she gasped.
A giant cloud-like thing came swooping over the baby bird. The little bird cawed happily as the white thing grabbed it gently and held it in a puffy palm. The two things rose into the air, then disappeared with a puff of sparkles.
The sparkles slowly fell beside her, like falling snow. After a while, it stopped. The ground around Dawnwish now looked like Leafbare had come early.
Then she heard a voice whisper in her ear. We know you well, Dawnwish.
Dawnwish spun around, but there was nobody there. She rolled her eyes. Sparklefur.
But wait! If Sparklefur was here, then this would have been a sign from StarClan! Dawnwish gasped. She thought about the 'cloud paw' pick up the bird kit gently, then when they both disappeared, they created sparkling snow which made the grass look like speckled fur. "Oh no..."
It all fell perfectly into place. The cloud claw picked up the bird kit as though it had been his father, then they created speckled fur on the grass below. It was too simple, to easy, to horrifying to think of.
Cloudclaw and Specklefur had kits back at WindClan.
And one of those kits was Birdkit.
She couldn't believe it. All those moons with Cloudclaw and he betrays her love, even after he wished for her on that star that night by the lake shore.
Dawnwish shook her head. Strange things have been happening since her arrival. I think that there is only one thing to do, no matter how strange and awkward this would be. I haven't seen him in many moons.
She sighed. I'll ask Birchstar if I can call the... the Expert.
(Birdkit's POV)
Birdkit thought about the dream she had most of the day. She knew that she agreed not to think about it until the time had come, but she longed to learn what it meant.
"Hey Birdkit!"
Birdkit looked up. She saw Nopaw, Splashpaw and the warrior named Icepath coming towards her.
"You look bored. Do you wanna have some fun?" Icepath meowed. "I know that your new denmates aren't old enough, so we figured..."
Birdkit tilted her head. "Where are we going?" Nopaw shuffled his paws. "I don't remember saying anything about going out of camp," retorted Icepath.
She snorted. "I can tell by your faces. Of course I want to come! But... Aren't you a warrior, Icepath? Shouldn't you know better than sneak little kits out of camp?"
Icepath shrugged. "It wan't long ago that I was a kit to, you know. I remember how I always wanted to leave the safeness of the camp. So now, I shall give this opportunity to you!" He sounded prophetic at the last sentence. Splashpaw sniggered. "No, it's also because he is the youngest warrior and barely an apprentice. He still has loyalty to the rule-breaking club."
"Rule breaking club?"
"Yeah. The senior warriors always call the apprentices the rule breakers. Anyway, Let's go!" piped up Nopaw.
They led Birdkit out of camp. On the way, they bumped into Dawnwish, who looked distraught.
"Oh my goodness! So sorry, Dawnwish!" Splashpaw stuttered. Dawnwish waved her tail in dismissal.
"It's alright, it's alright, carry on!" She sounded high-pitched and concentrated on something else. She didn't even look at the patrol, or ask them what they were doing!
"Whew, that was close. C'mon, not a second to lose!" Icepath whispered and trotted off. Birdkit grinned and followed.
Sometime later, they arrived at a clearing. She remembered the fallen tree here and could not help but blurt out, "Snakefang's Tree!"
Splashpaw tilted his head. "How do you know about it? Did you ever come here?"
Birdkit didn't want to say the truth, so she muttered "Dawnwish told me that there are great berries here." Splashpaw noded, obviously agreeing with his mentor.
She thought for a moment. "What are we going to do anyway?" Nopaw snickered. "You'll see," he whispered.
Splashpaw ran across the clearing, sending water everywhere. Birdkit gasped when he was done; the clearing was no longer a clearing: it was some sort of pool.
Water lapped at her legs, soaking parts of her belly along with her paws. "Ehhh... I don't want to go for a swim!" she groaned. Splashpaw laughed and picked her up by the scruff. "Hey!"
He placed her in a tree. She saw that Nopaw and Splashpaw had done the same. Only Icepath remained in the water, unmoving. "Watch this!" he yowled. "Three, two, one, go!"
He lightly tapped the water with his nose. Birdkit gasped as coldness ran through the water ripples, making it a lighter shade of blue. Icepath felt it with his paw. It had turned to ice. "It's ok, you can come down now!"
Nopaw and Splashpaw jumped down with no hesitation. They landed on the iced clearing with a thud. They slid around, laughing. It looks like fun, she thought.
"C'mon, Birdkit! Don't be afraid! It's really fun! We call this... Ice Sliding!"
Birdkit looked down from the tree she was in. She wanted to try 'Ice Sliding', but was it dangerous? Her wings pressed tightly to her sides, she sprang from the tree. She landed on the ice smoothly.
The frozen water felt cold beneath her pads. She tried to walk, but she slipped and slid towards the end of the clearing. She came to a mighty stop when she crashed into the tree.
It didn't really hurt, and she joined in to the laughing.
They 'Ice Slid' all afternoon; from sunhigh till dusk. As the sun went down, Birdkit realized how tired she was. Her pads were sore and cold, and she was exhausted from all that sliding. Soon, even Icepath was tired and they decided to head home.
Icepath picked Birdkit up since she was too tired to walk on her own. They turned to leave when they heard a voice call out to them.
"You guys aren't going to leave that ice around in the clearing, are you?"
The four cats froze. They turned around and looked up. Sparkwhisker, Icepath's brother, was perched in a tree. He lept down.
"So? Are you...?" Icepath's brother asked. Icepath just bowed his head.
"We never thought of that," mumbled Nopaw.
Sparkwhisker frowned, then smiled a light, cheerful, joking smile. "That looked really fun out there! I'll help you clear out the ice if you guys promise me that you'll take me with you next time." They purred.
"Sure! Now help us, please," Splashpaw begged, still purring. With a flick of his tail, Sparkwhisker touched the ice with his nose, just like Icepath had done, but instead the ice began to melt away.
"There you go. Now come on, the Clan will be looking for you. Especially Birdkit. What were you thinking, bringing her out of camp? You know that we are not allowed!" Sparkwhisker bugged his brother. Icepath ignored him until they got to camp.
Nopaw picked up Birdkit and half dragged, half carried her to the nursery. Morningdust was not in there, but her three sleeping kits were. Petalkit, slightly glowing Brightkit and Firekit were all snuggled up to each other, dreaming of wonderful dreams. Birdkit snuggled up to her future friends.
Moments later, before falling asleep, Dawnwish crept into the nursery, muttering to herself.
"I'm happy that Birchstar said yes, I do sometimes wonder how Xeno's doing..." What, and who, was she talking about? Who is Xeno? wondered Birdkit, pretending to be asleep.
To her surprise, Dawnwish came up forward and licked to top of Birdkit's head. "You may not love me anymore, Cloud of Wind, but I will always love you, and I will take care of the kit you abandoned until my last breath."
What was she talking about? was all Birdkit could think of until she fell asleep. The next morning, she could barely remember a thing.
Not to exciting, huh?
Well, it's pretty important for future chapters.
Hum... I wonder who Xeno is... *sigh...*
Reviewers get a... Icepath plushie. Yeah, that's good!
'May misfortune follow you the rest of your life, but never catch up' is what I like to say. Of course, being Irish...
Yolo,
-Random Irish Person (nah, just kidding.) :D