Icegaze could see with her eyes when she woke up. She knew she was dead if her eyesight was back. She sighed. Where was she now? Certainly not StarClan. What was it? Flame? Wasn't that where dead Gemini went?
That must've been it. She had died, and then had gone to the place where StarClan kept all of the 'dangerous' cats.
"Icegaze!" She looked up, then stumbled back. It was him.
"You!" Icegaze spat. "Hawkfrost! You killed Frostdawn!" She glowered. The memory was still fresh in her head. He had to have done something. Her mother couldn't have just died on her own.
The tom looked hurt. "No I didn't-" He tried to protest. Maybe he hadn't, but she didn't care. She was frustrated, angry, and confused, and she needed to take it out on something.
Icegaze lunged forward. She opened her jaws, biting Hawkfrost. Her teeth sank into his forepaw, and he winced. Icegaze tasted blood. She let go, then swiped at his face, slicing his nose. Blood trickled into his mouth, and he spat viscously.
Something inside of Hawkfrost seemed to snap, and his eyes glittered with rage. He let out a growl and knocked her away. Icegaze's eyes widened in suprise. She landed on the ground with a thud.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hawkfrost asked, his voice slightly different from before. It wasn't tainted with fear or hesitation anymore. There was just pure hatred.
Icegaze scrambled to her feet. "Fox-dung!" She hissed. "What just-" Then something hit her. "Aha! Your Gemini power is that you have a split personality! Then what about your sister?"
Hawkfrost advanced on Icegaze. A growl rumbled in his throat. "Wrong, you annoying mouse-brain." He tensed his hind legs, ready to pin her to the ground.
"Then what?" Icegaze demanded. She stiffened, anticipating his attack.
"Hawkfrost!" The two cats both turned to look. "Enough, brother." A dappled golden she-cat approached Hawkfrost and Icegaze. There was a tired look in her eyes.
"Mothwing?" Icegaze whispered.
The she-cat glanced at Icegaze. "Yes, I am Mothwing." Then she turned to face her brother. Her gaze hardened. "I can't believe you! Trying to kill one of our own kind?"
Hawkfrost didn't falter. He narrowed his eyes. "You know that it's in my nature. I can do nothing to stop it."
Icegaze shook her head. "What? What are you talking about?"
Mothwing sighed. "You wanted to know what our Gemini powers were? I can only heal. I can fight, but I cannot kill. Only heal."
"And if that's the case..." Icegaze began, realizing what Mothwing was saying.
"Hawkfrost can only kill." Mothwing finished.
"Yeah, that's too bad." The large tom curled his lip.
"I have a question, though." Icegaze swallowed her rage that was beginning to bubble up. Memories of the dream where she had met Hawkfrost flooded her head, threatening to blind her with anger. She tried to control herself; she needed to know what had really happened first. "What happened when Lionear and I met you, Hawkfrost?" Icegaze asked, her voice low. "Tell me, what did you do that night?" She unsheathed her claws. "Tell me everything!"
Hawkfrost sighed. "Okay, okay. Calm down, or StarClan's gonna suspect something." He said, a hint of mockery in his voice.
Icegaze did everything in her power to keep herself from tearing out the dark tabby tom's throat.
"Well, Mothwing over there was trying to heal me. I guess she was hoping that I wouldn't want to kill anymore. But that's like hoping that I'll turn into a bird by eating catmint." Hawkfrost began, his eyes gleaming.
"So that was why you were acting so weird. One moment you wanted to kill Lionpaw, the next you were apologizing!" Icegaze spat.
"Don't interrupt me, Gemini." Hawkfrost rumbled. "You asked for answers; I'm giving you them."
Mothwing stood. "That's enough, Hawkfrost! She's going to have to wake soon! Tell her the whole truth." The medicine cat's eyes flashed with annoyance for a moment, then turned dull.
The tom glared. "Whatever." He growled. "Yes, that was why I was so unlike myself. And yes, I had been lying to you about 'being in StarClan' and 'training apprentices'. Though that must be very obvious."
Icegaze felt like she was being toyed with. She curled her lip. "You know what I want, you piece of dung. Give me the answer!"
Hawkfrost lashed out, hitting Icegaze square in the face. She stumbled back, blood sliding down her face. She stared at the tom in shock. "I told you not to interrupt! You ignorant-"
Icegaze lunged forward, tackling Hawkfrost's legs. They buckled, and she moved just in time before he fell on her. She delivered a blow to his flank, giving him a deep scratch. Hawkfrost screeched and rolled over, using his hind legs to hit her temporarily exposed belly.
Icegaze fell, winded. She jumped up, then tried to pin the tom to the ground. He stepped to the side at the last moment, and she crashed into the ground. Hawkfrost brought down his paw on her head, and everything around Icegaze started spinning. She gasped for breath, and she heard Mothwing moving in between them and scolding her brother.
Hawkfrost scrambled up and began licking his paws. "Filth!" He spat.
Icegaze quickly recovered from the blow, and she heard what he had said. She opened her mouth to say something stinging in reply. Hawkfrost's sister interrupted her though.
Mothwing ignored him, and turned to Icegaze. "You must wake soon. I will tell you, Icegaze."
She shook her head wildly. "No, I cannot let you do that, Mothwing." Determination shone in Icegaze's eyes. "I want to hear it straight from the coward himself!" She glared at the tom, and unsheathed her claws again.
Hawkfrost would have attacked Icegaze, but his sister was in the way. He growled. "Call me that one more time..." He threatened.
Icegaze narrowed her eyes. "Coward!"
Hawkfrost knocked Mothwing out of the way and leapt toward her, bowling her over. Icegaze heard Mothwing yowl for them to stop. She didn't want to, though. She was going to get her answer, even if it meant forcing it out of the powerful warrior.
"Freak of nature!" Icegaze screeched. "You killed my mother!"
Hawkfrost's eyes burned with outrage. "Shut that ignorant mouth of yours!" He hissed. He tried to hit her, but Icegaze dodged and shot inside, managing a blow to the tom's soft belly. He knocked her away again, then grabbed her tail with his teeth. She wriggled free, then spun to look at him.
"Then tell me what you did! Why did you lie? Just say it!" Icegaze screeched. She dodged a swipe and lunged forward to nip Hawkfrost. He moved backward, then brought a set of paws down on her, knocking all of the wind out of her.
"I didn't kill your foolish mother," Hawkfrost's voice rumbled. "It was her doing!"
Icegaze didn't believe a word he said. She rolled out from under his paws and sprang up. She feinted, and the tom fell to the right, giving her an opening. Icegaze jumped into the left, scoring her claws against his flank, relishing the blood that was seeping through her fur.
"She starved herself out of grief!" Hawkfrost snapped. "She was so depressed that she died of her own sadness. There!" He spat. The tom spun around, knocking Icegaze away. She stumbled, then righted herself.
"Wh-what?" Icegaze stood there for a moment, eyes wide as she panted for breath.
"You better believe it, Gemini." Hawkfrost growled. "I lied to you because I was not in my right mind." He shot a pointed look at Mothwing, who was staring at the two of them in horror.
Icegaze shook her head slowly. "B-but she was already dead!"
"You can pretty much die twice. She faded away. She's gone forever." Hawkfrost was beginning to catch his breath.
Icegaze growled. "Then why are you still alive?" She spat in disgust. "Why were you in the Dark Forest all of those seasons ago if you were a Gemini?"
"Because I didn't fade." Hawkfrost scoffed. "Everyone remembers me. Even your brother. Of course, no one has given Frostdawn a second thought, so of course she's never coming back." He didn't answer her second question.
Icegaze trembled. "That makes no sense! I remember her! Lionear remembers her!"
Mothwing shut her eyes tightly. "Icegaze...that's not enough. Many more must believe. If they do not, then once the cat who is dead fades away, they will never come back."
Icegaze let out a wail. She collapsed. "Frostdawn!" She screeched. "No!"
Mothwing slowly approached Icegaze. "I'm sorry. I am very sorry." The medicine cat nosed Icegaze. "Listen, you must wake up now."
"Wake up?" Icegaze trembled.
"Yes. You might have died, but that wasn't what Fate wanted. Now you're going to..."
Mothwing began to fade away. She disappeared quickly, never finishing her sentence.
"Oh..." Icegaze sighed. "I am waking up to a new life? Where will I restart?" She wondered out loud. She felt like she was having a dreamless sleep, but that she would wake soon. "This must be the price of death." Icegaze felt herself beginning to wake.
"The afterlife only exists if enough cats decide to think about you. What a cruel fate."
