Epilogue coming soon!

Chapter 11

Think you have nine lives, do you?

Don't make me save you again.

Crowfeather's eyes were locked on her body. The camp was a storm around him, but it didn't seem to matter – none of it seemed to touch him. His shoulders sagged impossibly, and he looked at her blank, blank blue eyes as blood pooled beneath his paws.

He'd seen those eyes before.

"Feathertail…" he mumbled, stumbling over his words.

"You were…" he breathed, "you were Feathertail…"

Oh, StarClan.

She was Feathertail.

How had he not noticed? How could he have been so blind? He had spent nearly every day with this cat, and he hadn't noticed it was Feathertail.

Crowfeather staggered on his paws. Beyond him, the dogs were being driven out of the camp. Applefrost was attacking the massive dog with the fury of a thousand warriors – Crowfeather wondered if he had seen what Featherfall had done.

He didn't dare look away.

Crowfeather blinked, and the world stopped all around him.

Feathertail stood before him, shimmering in all her glory. Starlight shimmered off of her pelt, glittered in her eyes. She looked at him with love, with sadness, with…

Disappointment.

Crowfeather looked up at her. Through her, he could see that the world had truly stopped – time was halted, held still by her presence.

"Feathertail, I…" he began, choked with too many emotions to name.

She raised her tail for his silence, and Crowfeather obeyed.

"Oh Crowfeather," she murmured, her voice sweet. "Oh, my beloved Crowfeather… I am sorry for the deception. For what I had planned to do, I could not just visit you in a dream – no, I needed another way and… and though they warned me of the risks, I didn't think that I would have to worry."

"Is… is she…?" Crowfeather whispered.

Feathertail shook her head. "No – StarClan will not take her today," she replied. "She has her own life to live."

Crowfeather breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, he panicked, "What… what about you?"

Feathertail blinked. "I was not hurt by what Featherfall did," she told him. "I will not disappear today, Crowfeather."

Relief washed over Crowfeather again.

Then, he asked, "Why, though? You mentioned a plan…"

Feathertail blinked at him. The disappointment was there, again.

"I came back to help you, Crowfeather," she told him. "To teach you the wrongs of your actions."

The argument, Crowfeather thought. The one that I walked away from. The one that made me so angry… so upset…

"Featherfall tried to tell you," Feathertail meowed. "I tried to tell you – Crowfeather, your actions have hurt others, and you've done nothing to make amends for it."

Crowfeather was silent.

"Nightcloud, Breezepelt, Leafpool…" Feathertail mewed, "these cats were all hurt by your actions. You used Nightcloud, and ignored and neglected her. You refused to try loving Breezepelt like your own, and refused to attempt to be a father to him – you pushed him into the Dark Forest's paws. You ignored Leafpool when she tried telling you about the kits, and when the truth came out you publically destroyed her heart."

Crowfeather blinked at her.

Feathertail narrowed her eyes. "Your actions have caused so much damage, and yet all this time you have refused to acknowledge that it was you that was the cause. You shifted the blame on others – on Nightcloud, on Leafpool… you disappoint me, Crowfeather.

"You aren't the cat I fell in love with."

Crowfeather felt her words sting him, pierce his hide sharper than any tooth or claw he had ever felt before. Featherfall had argued as much with him, but Crowfeather hadn't listened. Now, though, with Feathertail floating before him and her words in his ears, he couldn't help but let the words sink into him.

"You behaved like a spoiled little kit," Feathertail growled. "When you were an apprentice, when I knew you on the journey we took, you were a crude cat with a warrior's spirit. You had the potential to be a great leader, a great warrior, and a great mate. But you threw it all away by letting your emotions take charge of your actions, not your mind.

"You've hurt these cats, Crowfeather, and you were too scared to face the punishment for yourself so you dumped all of the blame onto them," Feathertail told him. "You've stunted yourself, becoming a bratty warrior who hurts anyone to get what he wants, and then wants more because what he has isn't enough… and when he doesn't get it, he mopes and ignores and jibes…"

"Feathertail," Crowfeather mumbled. "You… you don't really think that, do you?"

Feathertail narrowed her eyes. "Crowfeather," she said, "I do think this – and I am not the only one."

Crowfeather staggered back onto his haunches.

"Oh StarClan," he whispered. "I've been so blind…"

"Cats can change, Crowfeather," Feathertail told him. "You can always change."

"But I…" Crowfeather mumbled. "I don't know how."

"It all starts with one step," Feathertail meowed. "Just one step, one step that starts a great journey of character. Admit your faults, and apologize. Make things right again. The world will not hate you forever."

Crowfeather blinked, taking it all in with a deep breath.

Feathertail pressed her muzzle against his. Her scent wreathed around him, and Crowfeather wanted to take it in to keep and never forget it again.

"I believe in you, Crowfeather," she breathed. "I always have."

"Are… are you leaving me?" Crowfeather asked.

Feathertail pulled away and nodded. "My time here is done, and I have done what I came here to do," she meowed.

Crowfeather glanced at Featherfall. She seemed to glow beneath Feathertail.

"She will not remember any of this, nor should she," Feathertail meowed, getting Crowfeather's attention. "Understand? She needs to live out her own life now."

Crowfeather nodded.

"Good bye, Crowfeather," Feathertail meowed. "I hope you've learned something."

Crowfeather promised her, "I have."

Feathertail's eyes sparkled. "I believe you," she decided.

And she was gone.