OKAAAAAAAYYYYY! This is like the last chapter, and then there's gonna be an epilogue. I made it extra long to catch up from all my extremely short chapters from before. Enjoy!
It still felt weird to be walking around camp without being seen. Whenever someone called my name, I could never answer; when someone looked at me, I knew they were just looking at something behind me; it hurt to see all my friends having fun with 'me' while I stood on the outside, an invisible third wheel.
Three sunsets passed since my meeting with Half-Moon, and Jayfeather hadn't given me the signal to complete our mission. I was starting to feel impatient, watching my life go by without taking part at anytime.
I was sitting at the bottom of a tree, counting grass, when something blocked my light. I looked up to see my own face scowling down at me.
What? Can't you see I'm extremely busy at the moment? I snarl at Emberstrike.
His face stayed the same, "Right, because counting grass is the most important thing in your life, and you can't ever be interrupted." He said sarcastically.
Exactly, now leave me alone. I turned back to the grass, but sadly he didn't leave.
"Your plan won't work."
How can you be so sure? I shot back
"'Cause I know what you're going to do."
I stared blankly at him, He knows our plan? How?
"Even though I'm not in your body, I can still hear your thoughts." He pointed out, as if I had forgotten the fact.
Well that's extremely helpful.
"I just wanted to tell you that before you go and do something stupid, like tackle me in my dreams." He turned around and walks back to camp, leaving me completely lost.
I waited patiently at the door of the medicine cats den, hoping that Jayfeather would go to sleep soon. A cat came running into the den and I groaned again. Until I realized it was Silverpaw.
"Jayfeather, have you noticed something weird about Rubyflame?" She asks him as he continues to sort his herbs.
His head shots up and turn mine to listen, "Maybe… What's so wrong about her?" He asked innocently.
Why are you acting so innocent? Jump up and scream 'you too?'
Silverpaw fidgeted a little, looking down at her paws, "Well you see, she ignores me completely, and when I do manage to talk to her, she just looks at me with plain boredom. It's as if she has something against me!" Silverpaw started shaking and she looked completely crushed.
Emberstrike, you so going to pay for treating my beloved sister like this!
Jayfeather looked at Stormpaw awkwardly, and then he slowly guides her to her bed, and says stuff I can't hear, but it seems to calm Silverpaw down. Her breathing starts to get even, and slowly you can tell she fast asleep. I look over to see if Jayfeather is asleep, and glad to see that he is sprawled on the floor, in a deep dream.
"What do you mean he knows our plan?" He exclaims.
"You know exactly what I mean. He knows what we're going to do! You need to find a new plan. Plus, it can't involve me." I say.
A series of emotions fly through Jayfeathers eyes. Anger, fear, confusion, irritation… But all that gets hidden by his usual stony facade.
"What do you mean it can't involve you? Why?" He asks calmly.
"Emberstrike can still hear my thoughts." I reply, not as calmly as he did though.
Jayfeather looks at me for a moment, and then shakes his head. "I thought this might be possible, that's why I made a backup plan."
"Thank Starclan you did!" I say in relief, "But don't tell me it, okay?"
Jayfeather rolls his eyes, "Of course I won't tell you, you bird-brain, but I'm going to need to have someone help me in the real world." He looks at me, a glint in his eye telling me that I should know who he's going to ask for help.
"Silverpaw?" I croak.
Jayfeather nods, "I think she can be trusted, plus she noticed that you weren't normal, so it's better to just tell her the truth."
I argue with myself a little bit, not wanting to cause any possible harm to Silverpaw, but my selfish side knows that she's the only hope to getting freed out of this.
I sigh, and then look up at Jayfeather, "You're telling her without me."
Jayfeathers words from yesterday ring in my head:
Go out of camp tomorrow; go visit some of your Windclan friends. I'll tell Silverpaw, and we'll see how she takes it.
I didn't understand why he wanted me out of camp, but I decided that he wouldn't make me leave without a good reason. A reason I couldn't know because of a certain someone reading my thoughts.
Instead, I took Jayfeathers word to heart and went to visit Robinpaw and Windpaw in Windclan. When I first arrived, there were barely any cats in the camp. So I had fun and ran around with a few kits, trying to catch their moss-ball, but sadly it went through me instead.
When a few cats came into the camp, I looked up to see if any of my friends were coming in. Indeed they were. Robinpaw was laughing along with Windpaw and another cat I had a distinct memory of, but just couldn't remember her name.
I trotted up towards them, but sadly none of them looked up at me. I knew they weren't, but I couldn't help but feel a little tinge of disappointment. That I quickly brushed away, of course.
"I can't believe you actually went into the hole, Darkswipe!" Robinpaw exclaimed.
Right, Darkpaw. Or now, Darkswipe it seems.
Darkswipe giggled and looked up at Robinpaw, "Well, I didn't want to lose our well earned rabbit!" I rolled my eyes; did she really think that look was going to work on Robinpaw?
Well, apparently it did, because he nudged her affectionately, laughing along with her. Weirdly, I didn't feel a thing, but I still did get annoyed at her tone of voice. And so did Windpaw, because she groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm going to leave you two alone." She said kindly, but her eyes said: I'm getting out of here before I throw up!
Robinpaw looked up at her, "Are you sure Windstorm?"
"Of course!" She snapped and then walked away from the two of them. I always knew she was smart.
I just stayed because I was curious about Robinpaw's warrior name.
Which turned out to be Robinwing. How do I know? 'Cause Onestar came in yelling his name at the top of his lungs, and also straight at me, so I did the smart thing and ran away.
After running at top speed through Windclan territory to camp, I stopped to take a breath. Screaming leaders always freaked me out, but I'm sure they freak everyone out too.
I walk into the camp, only to walk backwards out of it. Emberstrike had the nastiest look on his face and was glaring straight at me the moment I stepped into the camp, so I decided that I shouldn't go inside. I walked as quickly as possible away from the camp, but sadly Emberstrike caught up to me.
He cornered me against a tree and looked down at me, fire burning in his eyes. "You told your sister?" He snarled.
Technically, you never told me I couldn't. I retort.
He glares at me for a moment, and then leans, in a not so friendly way. "Your dear sister cornered me this morning, yelling about giving you your body back. She didn't give me enough time to answer though..." His voice trailed off in thought.
First of all, you have no right to be mad at me. You heard me talk to Jayfeather yesterday, so you should-
"You talked with Jayfeather yesterday?" Emberstrike exclaimed.
Yes, weren't you eavesdropping? Anyways, don't interrupt me. As I was saying-
"What did you talk about?" He said, eyes blazing with anger.
I stared at him for a moment. Do you really think I would tell you? Now stop interrupting me, you should listen to what I'm say-
"Tell. Me. What. He. Said!" Emberstrike growled louder than before.
I shook my head. How am I supposed to tell you if you keep interrupting? Now please be quiet, alright? Emberstrike glared at me, but his mouth stayed shut, thank Starclan.
Now, were you having a nice dream yesterday? Something involving a lot of talking, like becoming the leader of the clan perhaps?
Emberstrike opened his mouth to speak, but I gave him a meaningful glare that closed it.
Now, if you had eavesdropped, you would have heard that he told me that you were being not so nice to Silverpaw. May I ask why?
Emberstrike snorted. "Medicine cats are useless, as if I would waste my time talking to one of them."
The small bubble of anger in me started to grow bigger. Since you were not nice to my sister, I would advise you to pay a little visit to her in her dreams- and don't say anything, I know you can do that- and you're going to apologize. If you do so, I'll tell you what me and Jayfeather talked about while you were enjoying being the leader of your own clan.
Emberstrike looked at me in disbelief. "You're not serious are you?"
I continued to glare at him.
"Fine, I'll go apologize to your sister. Then, you better tell me every little detail of your conversation with Jayfeather last night." And off he went, grumbling.
It felt good to yell at him for once.
That night I crept into the medicine den, and entered Silverpaws dream. I had told Jayfeather about what Emberstrike and I had argued about earlier today, and he had very clearly told me to spy on them. Then he smiled evilly and walked away, mumbling something about the backup plan. I just hoped he wasn't planning anything ridiculous.
I sat behind a bush as Silverpaw walked through the flower meadow in her dreams. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bright red figure approach Silverpaw. She whipped around, eyes wide in fear.
"Who are you? What do you want?" She hissed.
"Um, I'm the person -uh- inhabiting Rubyflame's body." Emberstrike said awkwardly.
Something flashed in Silverpaws eyes, but she quickly hid it with another hiss, "What do you want, invader?"
Emberstrike was at a loss of words, and I felt immensely proud of my sister.
"I… uh…" Emberstrike stumbled on his words; he probably hadn't thought that Silverpaw would be so hostile.
"Spit it out!" Silverpaw growled.
Emberstrike continues to stutter, but something else caught my attention. The bush next to me started to rustle, and Jayfeather stepped out quietly.
I sighed in relief and shot him a questioning look.
"We're going to banish him to the Dark Forest." He whispers to me.
I flinch, the obvious reaction anyone has to hearing the name of The Place of No Stars.
"How?" I ask quietly.
Jayfeather shuffles through to let a bright white cat creep next to him.
"Half-Moon!" I whisper excitedly.
She gives me a meaningful glance and points towards Emberstrike and Silverpaw with her tail. I turn towards them and start to listen to what Emberstrike is saying.
"Look, understand that I didn't want to do this at all. It's your annoying sister that has information that a dearly want and she forced me to say this to you so that I could get it…" Emberstrike continues to ramble on, obviously not wanting to utter the words 'I'm sorry' to a medicine cat.
Jayfeather slowly stands up and nods at Silverpaw. In return, she barrels Emberstrike over, and pins him down. I rush out of my bush to help her, and she smiles at me as I do.
Jayfeather and Half-Moon come out too, both having a stony glare plastered on their faces. They stop and look down at Emberstrike. They both look at each other and nod. They start chanting this really weird thing, but I'm too focused on pinning Emberstrike on the ground to listen.
Slowly, his pelt starts to become transparent, only his outline visible. Then, even that disappears and my paws fall to the ground. Even though Emberstrike is gone, I still feel his presence floating around me.
Watch your back; I'm not done with you yet. His voice echoes through my head, and I look at the others to see if they heard it too, but they show no sign of hearing Emberstrike's parting words. I shake my head; I shouldn't have to worry about him anymore.
Silverpaw turns to me, beaming, "You can finally have your body back!" She nudges me affectionately and I smile weakly. I shake my head again and smile strongly at the three of them, those who got my body back for me. I shouldn't have to worry about him anymore, I really shouldn't.
Or should I?
Okay! That's the last chapter for you! Don't worry there will be an epilogue! PLEASE review what you thought of my story; it'll really put a smile on my face :) I will post an epilogue as soon as possible, but I kinda like the ending like this, so tell me if I should write one. Thank you to SliverClaw for giving me names for Robinwing and Windstorm. Also thanks to all the other reviewers who took time to read my story and review!
Thank you for reading all this time :) Read some of my other stories (even though they're not Warrior Cat fanfics) if you have time!
-Heart of Rubies OUT