Chapter 10 of Nuke Warriors has arrived! I am really looking forward to hearing the reviews that I have had in abundance recently. 33% of all my reviews have come in the last three chapters, which makes me a happy bean!
New reviewers since C9 (I think):
Hawkfire111
Aerial4Jesus
Wildheart231
Fenix Firebird
Hawkfire: Thanks, I will.
SymphoniaFreak: Well done (again!). The reason why I called C9 'C8' was because C1 was the Prologue. Isn't it supposed to confuse you (in a small way, at least)?
Gazingmoon: :P
Aerial4Jesus: I will only say that they are humans, and human life is parallel to the cats-turned-humans' life too!
Wildheart: Lionblaze is around…
LoOkLeFt: :P
Tanglestalker: * sniffs happily * I'd like to thank my Nan, my dog, my keyboard… XD
Fenix Firebird:I felt the buzz earlier, but it was because I was holding on to my brother's drums, and the vibrations buzzed up my arm…We aren't a doughnut eating country…we like biscuits…
I am a half-Christian. I like all the morals, but I very rarely pray and I don't go to church.
.lolcatsrule. : Thanks!
Laughing Rain: Like the Josef Goebbels of the Clans (but in a good way… - if you have done anything on Nazi Germany, you have to know who Josef Goebbels is…if you haven't then he was the 'behind the scenes' publicity man in the Nazi operation…). Jayfeather, I agree, just wants a quiet life, with Cinderheart and his friends, but the prophecy, I'm afraid, isn't gonna let him much…
This is…yet again…Jayfeather telling you about his boring lectures about human behaviour…
PS – the date is the 21st of December 2012!
Disclaimer – I do not own Converse or Land Rover, or anything that they brand. This disclaimer disclaims any ownership, in part or in whole.
With regards,
Leopardstorm
Chapter 10 – A Diminished Power Returns…
I rolled onto my side, my eyes starting to open to the blurry array of light that was coming from the outside world. Strangely, at least to me, this place, these high-rise buildings, the acrid smell of pollution, and the smoggy haze that engulfed the city of London felt much more like home.
Scrabbling on the side of the bedside cabinet, my hand tried to grab my glasses that were only just out of my reach. Finally my hand caught the fragile metal frame of one side, and I slotted them on the bridge of my nose. The swirling vortexes began to form into objects, making me feel much more secure. In the first few days I have had my sight, I realised I have become so much more reliant…I'm not sure I can return to being blind again…
I got up, beside me the angelic face of Cinderheart twisting and turning in time with the loud, reverberating snores coming from inside. I shrugged and got dressed, putting on some jeans, a grey-blue T-Shirt and some blue socks. Then, I opened the door quietly, as though not to wake Cinderheart, who looked completely zonked out. I smiled, and then quietly shut the door with a tiny click.
I walked up the next set of stairs, leading up to the second floor of bedrooms and other places. There was a games room, a study with a brand new computer and an attic-type room. I walked in, knowing exactly what I was looking for. I walked round a path of the piles of supposedly old stuff, and eventually found what I was looking for: a pair of new (or hardly used) green Converses, the laces still pearly white, the green greener than grass or oak leaves. They even felt new when you touched them.
I felt attached to them, almost like 'the Stick'. I put them on, fitting perfectly. It just felt great to wear them, like they suited me. I had found them when I was on the way to bed the night before, when I was looking for an alarm clock to wake me up earlier than the day previously. I had stopped looking when I had found the shoes, and I woke up okay…there was no harm in trying them on, I had thought. It was too dark to see with little light (as a cat it would have made no difference whatsoever…but when had a cat worn shoes?), so I had vowed to go this morning.
I felt new hope, now that the event at midnight last night had been a success. I was even skipping as I walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where Squirrelflight was serving up bacon sandwiches.
"Morning, Jayfeather!" Squirrelflight chirped brightly as the chair scraped along the wood-panelled floor. "You've decided to join us this morning!"
"Ha Ha" I said sarcastically, but still humorously as I took a bite of the sandwich that Squirrelflight had just put in front of me. "Are you always down here first?" I asked curiously. She was always down first, I realised.
"I seem to be," she admitted. "I think it's baby," she patted her tummy, which was starting to enlarge. I was surprised she wasn't bigger, being now six out of nine weeks through her pregnancy. "He seems to like kicking a lot, it feels like there are more than one in there sometimes…"
"He?" I raised an eyebrow quizzically. Do women know what their baby's gender will be before they have it? I thought, but shook immediately after it entered my mind. It was impossible. "How do you know?" I asked, pretending to be highly sceptical.
"It's what we both want," I presumed Squirrelflight meant she and Brambleclaw. "Brambleclaw says that he would feel more connected to it if it was a boy and I'm not exactly the girly type." She laughed as she set down cheese toasties. They were equally as scrumptious.
"How do you know how to make so much good food?" I asked with my mouth full. I hadn't told her anything and she was already making mouth-watering food at the first sign of mealtime.
"Experimenting," she shrugged as she sat down, taking a bacon sandwich from the pile in the middle. Suddenly, a burly, well-built man strolled into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Squirrelflight!" he called as his mate kissed him on the cheek. "'Morning, Jayfeather," he called as I raised a waved hand in welcome.
"How's baby?" Brambleclaw asked as he sat down, taking a cheese toastie in the process.
"He's fine," Squirrelflight placed her hand onto her tummy once more. "It was kicking earlier, it felt like a stampede!"
Brambleclaw laughed as he put an arm round Squirrelflight's shoulder.
"What are you thinking of naming it?" I asked.
"Er…" Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw looked at each other awkwardly. "We weren't sure what to," Brambleclaw looked at me, his head tilted at one side. "What do humans call their children?"
I tried to recollect unknown thoughts from the knowledge I had received from StarClan. Suddenly, I found it.
"Human's naming system is a first name, a middle name and a last name. Also, they have their own names, not like Grass, Tree or Oak, like we do. They have names like Charles, Emily and James that often have meanings in other human languages. Their middle name is often the same type of name as their first, but their last name is determined by their family name. For instance, if someone's parents' last name were Jones, their last name would also be Jones. Did you get any of that?" I asked hopefully.
The two mates just shook their heads blankly. I sighed, feeling slightly irritable. "But if everyone else's name was a Clan name, would your child feel out-of-place?" I asked.
"I suppose…" Squirrelflight mused. "But we can't call them things like 'Bedkit' or 'Clockkit' can we? It just doesn't sound nice…" she trailed off, ending the conversation.
"I'm going to go out for a walk," I said. "Do you mind telling Cinderheart that I have gone out?"
"You can tell me now!" the object of my request laughed as the grey-black-haired woman trudged down the stairs in sleepiness.
"I'm just going for a walk," I explained with a smile. "I won't be long."
"I'll come with you!" she yelped excitedly and ran back up the stairs to get changed. I shrugged, still smiling as she came back down wearing some rather fetching winter gear.
"Just make sure you take a sandwich and a toastie from the pile," Squirrelflight said to Cinderheart as she skipped slightly towards the kitchen.
"See you later," Squirrelflight called, Brambleclaw just waved as he had food in his mouth. "Don't forget," the ginger-haired woman said to us. "Be back before lunch so we can all go to the meeting together."
I nodded farewell and walked outside, the bitter air nipping at my face as I reached out for the coat I forgot to take. Cinderheart followed me out, taking a blue coat from the hanger and shut the door behind her.
"Nice foot-things," she complimented, looking down at the green Converses.
"Do you think so?" I asked rather quietly, feeling a little self-conscious. I noticed that a little scrap of hair was out of place. I quickly tucked it away before she noticed anything was wrong…hopefully.
"Yeah, they make you look…interesting to be with," I hoped her pause was a good one.
"Thanks," I replied. "So what made you come out with me?"
"We don't have much time together when we are back at the house," she pointed out. "And I like being with you," she added a little shyly.
"I…I like being with you too," I told her as she grabbed my hand softly. "Where shall we go?"
"I want to explore the city!" she sounded like a six-moon old apprentice who wanted to explore the territory. "Can we?"
"Well, I suppose so," Cinderheart did a victory leap at my words, "but we better take the car so it won't take long to get back."
We walked back to the house, and walked towards the car. It was a good thing that I had put the ignition key ring on the house keys. Looking at the car, I realised it was a very new car, a new Land Rover in fact. I thought that it was bulky when I first drove it, but it stuck to the tarmac well. The car unlocked with a robotic 'bleep' and we hopped in.
"Remember to do up your seatbelt," I cautioned Cinderheart as she reached for the black belt at her side. I turned the ignition: the car sprung into life as the engine rumbled monotonically. Feeling like I have been driving for decades, I smoothly drove out of the drive and towards the city.
The further we got towards London's City Centre, the more buildings I began to recognise. I decided to drive to Big Ben first, because that is the place that Cinderheart would probably recognise the most. On the way, we flashed through a deserted Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square to get there, the pigeons cawing noisily as they searched for food around the famous square.
Finally, we were there. I stopped by the side of the river to have a look at the magnificent sights.
"I recognise this place," Cinderheart ran up to the fence around the Clock Tower. "This is where you did that thing at midnight."
"That's right," I replied. I looked up at the clock, its hands sparkly with frost. It read twenty-five to eleven, the square that the tower overlooked silent, except for the birds that were flying around, hooting loudly.
"It's not going to go off again?" she ran up to me. "It was really loud last night, it almost hurt."
"No, not for a little while anyway," I said, putting an arm around her. "Come on, let's get back in the car!"
We ran over to the car, and quickly got back in. The car revved and we set off. As I drove, I looked at the landscape: there were tables upside-down with chairs all over the place, windows were smashed and broken, with the glass littered across the pavement. The humans must have been just as confused as us…were they to blame?
I shook that thought and concentrated on driving again, driving towards a massive cathedral with a huge white dome on the top.
"That's St. Paul's Cathedral," I pointed out to Cinderheart who was looking eagerly out of the car window. "It's a bit like a Moonpool for humans, but anyone can come and speak to the spirits that they believe in."
We drove further into the City, the sun behind us creeping into the winter blue sky. I tried to keep to the river-edge, so I knew how to get back to the place we started. We came to a rest by a old, large fort-like building. It had four towers at each corner and it had a British flag waving proudly at the top of each tower.
"This is the Tower of London," I told Cinderheart who was looking at the towers inquisitively. "Centuries ago, the king or queen of England took traitors here to execute them. They often did cutting off the traitor's head, but sometimes they stoned them or they hung them."
Cinderheart was looking a little sick, but still managed to ask, "What do kings and Queens do?"
"They are like the leader of the country, and their son or daughter or next relative is their deputy that succeeds them as King or Queen." Cinderheart nodded as we hopped back in the car. We could look round the building another day. We got back in the car and reversed on the road to go back down the river and toward home. Going back into Parliament Square, I looked for the time. It read a quarter to one.
"Blimey, we have been gone ages!" I exclaimed as we sped out of the square and drove for home.
"That was fun!" Cinderheart said as we zoomed past buildings and offices. "I still think Twolegs do the strangest things…"
"Not if you think about it," I replied. "Having the time like that keeps everything on time, and driving cars everywhere makes getting to places easier."
"I suppose," she conceded.
"And don't forget," I added, "If we hadn't been turned into humans, we never would have got together."
"Thank StarClan," Cinderheart murmured as she put an arm around my waist; I let myself fall back into her hold, contented that we were, again, alone in the car. I pulled into our now familiar street. I steered the car up onto the drive and turned the ignition off, the engine dying almost instantaneously. We were just sitting there, in total silence. It seemed like everything was waiting for me or Cinderheart to do something.
"So shall we get…?" Cinderheart leaning over for a big kiss that almost turned into a snog stopped me, but we controlled ourselves enough to finish it early and get out. We walked hand in hand towards the front door, but we had to part so I could unlock the door. The keys jangled in the midday sun as it fit into the hole. I twisted the key and the door made a small click telling us that it was now open. I opened the door to an empty room.
"Hello?" I called into the deserted ground floor. "Anybody around?"
The floorboards creaked loudly above me, signalling that someone was coming down the stairs. It was Crowfeather, who was looking a little flustered.
"Squirrelflight is feeling really sick," he explained. "Brambleclaw is with her, and he's pretty worried."
"Shall I go up?" I asked. Crowfeather nodded weakly as he went to sit down in the living room, Cinderheart following.
I ran up the stairs quickly, I could hear the weak groans from the ginger-haired woman, even from the bottom of the staircase. I burst into the room; Squirrelflight was on her bed looking completely opposite to what she was like when I had left earlier this morning. Brambleclaw was shaking in fear, holding her hand, trying to reassure himself more than her. He got up and moved a little so I could get in.
"Squirrelflight," I said. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel really faint, and I get really dizzy if I stand up," she replied weakly. "Is this expected?"
"Yes," I confirmed. "But I think you should stay home today, to keep baby safe,"
"Are you sure I can't come?" she looked a little desperate. I went to open my mouth but Brambleclaw got there first.
"No," he pressed. "You must stay – you don't want to harm him, both of you," he raised his eyebrows sternly. I think he was just sounding forceful because he was scared for his mate. "I'll stay with you, if you want?"
"Don't you want to go to the meeting?" Squirrelflight asked softly.
"Yes, but I'd rather stay here with you and make sure you are all right," he whispered.
"I won't argue with you," she chuckled as she moved over to let Brambleclaw lay next to her.
"I'll leave you now," I said as I walked over to the door. "Make sure you drink plenty of water and try and eat something light if you can."
"Will do," she rasped as I shut the door quietly. I walked down the stairs, Cinderheart and Crowfeather were talking quietly in the sitting room.
"Is she okay?" my father asked, getting up.
"Yes," I replied. "She is going to stay home though, Brambleclaw is staying too."
The two of them nodded as we headed over to the door, getting ready for the meeting. The car journey was uneventful: Crowfeather was still wary about car journeys and Cinderheart was humming a little tune over and over on our way to the Houses of Parliament.
We arrived, but crowds of people were all gathering outside in masses. The closer I looked, the more I could guess at what they were gathering for. They were all looking in shock at the entrance, pointing and exclaiming, I drove up to the entrance, people moving out the way to let us get close. When I saw who it was, I nearly crashed the car into the Clock Tower.
"Hello, brother…"
CLIFFHANGER!!! :P This is going to make the story a little more exciting (I hope). Please review, I'd love 13 reviews again. Don't be afraid, I reply to every review (in someway or another).
PS – Nianque, what I will do is do this whole story from a Warriors POV, but then I will do a parallel story from the Twolegs POV. That will give me more scope for story lines.
Read and Review!!!
Leopardstorm! :P
