Okay, woah. 104 reviews? Thank you everyone who reviewed and gave me positive comments! And just a general announcement, with the school year having started, my stories will be updating about one every two months on average or so. So just expect very few updates. With that out of the way, individual replies;
Willowstorm of SkyClan: Thank you, I tried!
Key of Light and Darkness: They do need to sit down and talk it out, that's for sure. Read on to find out more about the Moonpool!
Amberpetal: Thank you!
WarriorsErin: Thank you! My best answer to your questions is that Ashfrost felt guilty, and she took the easy way out instead of actually facing her problems. I love your thoughts on the shooting stars though, too! :)
SimbaXNala: Glad you had a great day! And thank you about Ashfrost's warrior name!
SilverflowerXRavenpaw: Yay for tractors, and thank you for the quick spelling tip. And that comment about the dead rabbit made me laugh. :)
Hailstorm turned over in his nest uncomfortably.
"Hailstorm." A quiet voice called. "Hailstorm."
The warrior spun in a circle looking for the voice, and out of the rolling moors, a white she-cat padded. Her muzzle, paws and tail-tip were a faded black, and in her fur glittered stars.
"Who are you?" Hailstorm asked, then he took a closer look. "You're the cat who Ashfrost killed!"
"Yes." The she-cat's voice was dry, blue-green eyes filled with unreadable emotion- hatred? Disgust? Both were equally plausible. "My name is Swansong, and the fate of Ashfrost and in turn, the Clans, lies in your paws. Come along now."
So he followed.
Meanwhile, in a bare patch of dirt under a thorny and craggy bush-
"It's all your fault!" The voices howled, wind whipping around Ashfrost. "You killed Swansong, you deserve to die too!"
"It was an accident!" Ashfrost curled up, ears pinned to her head as malevolent voices chanted and swirled in the fog where she could not see them.
"Are you sure?" There was the battle again, cats screeching and yowling, with the same faint ringing that grew louder. "You enjoyed it, enjoyed the warm gush of blood over your paws, the power of controlling another's life-"
"No!" Ashfrost curled up next to a slimy tree, wet moss covering it trunk. Were all trees slimy? Or just this one?
"Yes." The voices were silent, with only the velvet-soft and silky-smooth voice that delivered the prophecy speaking. "You're just denying yourself your birthright- Tallflame."
The name felt poisonous, wrong on a fundamental level. For a moment, the ringing went away, and the sound of battle returned, the sick squelches of the ragged breathing of a dying cat first and foremost this time. But at the same time, there was a sense of rightness. Of home, security. Family. Ashfrost hated it. There was a rising panic in her- wrong, wrong, wrong wrong wrongwrongwrongrightwrongrightwrongrightright. It was confusing and terrifying and painful.
"My name is Ashfrost!" Ashfrost shrieked. The ringing returned.
There was a silence, a pregnant pause. Then the voice laughed.
"Pity. I would have loved meeting you in the realm of the living." There was a sense that Ashfrost had failed a test. The winds has stopped, the fog had thinned a bit to see the figure of a cat, ice blue eyes- a faded, washed out version of Swansong's- glittering.
"Who are you?" Ashfrost called, courage returning somewhat with the sight of a potential target.
"My name is not for your ears." The cat replied. "But you may call me Snake."
And then the cat vanished.
With a screech, Ashfrost bolted out of her dirt patch. It was raining. The bush offered some shelter, but with its lack of leaves, it offered very little. Ashfrost looked up at the dark sky. With a sigh, she set out in the direction of nowhere, just wandering.
"How do I save the Clans?"
"As you may know, Ashfrost and I are not the true children of Lionblaze and Cinderheart." Swansong began. "We are only two of a litter of four- and the only two who lived."
"But you're dead-" Hailstorm began. Swansong hissed.
"You do want to know how to save the Clans?"
"Yes?" Hailstorm squeaked.
"Then shut up and listen!" Swansong calmed down, her fur gently settling. "We survived- but first- our mother. She was a rouge who briefly spent time in WindClan, just enough to give birth to her kits. Naturally, Onestar asked her if she would like to stay until her kits were grown enough to travel, or to formally join the Clan. This she-cat was not in the best of minds- giving birth to four kits does that to you!" Swansong added savagely, seeing Hailstorm open his mouth. "Something happened during the birth- something went wrong inside her, I suppose- and she grew frantic, certain that Onestar would take us away from her and have us killed. Naturally, she stole away in the dead of night, and carried us down to the lake shore. Having heard dark tales of RiverClan and ThunderClan-" Here Swansong sniffed, disdain written on her face. "How she came to the conclusion ThunderClan is bad, I'll never know. So she set out for ShadowClan.
"Despite not knowing how to swim, she put us on a branch and attempted to make her way across the lake. Naturally, as we were only about a half-moon old, something went wrong. One of us- Adder, was his name I think- fell off the branch and our mother went after him. They both drowned. The remaining kits- Ashfrost, our unnamed brother, and I drifted back to shore, where a ThunderClan patrol found us. Our other brother didn't make it."
"How do you know all of this?" Hailstorm asked, shocked by the story. Swansong looked off into the distance.
"When we die." Swansong began, looking distracted, like a thousand voices were asking for her attention at once. "We have the choice- live as we did, and eventually fade in ignorance. Or- have all that we have lived and seen laid out before us. Our memories are dredged up and we live though them again. Then we live in StarClan, and when we fade, we are reborn. Of course, there are exceptions."
"...Okay..." Hailstorm blinked in confusion. "But how do I have the Clans?"
"Flame trumps earth and the stars will run with life." Was all Swansong said, her form slowly fading.
"Well, the Clans are going to burn." Hailstorm mewed pleasantly. "Because I have no idea what means!"
The tom set out over the flat moor, letting the breeze play in his whiskers. Then, at the sound of a cat's heavy breathing, spun around. The new tom was decrepit, all bony angles and sagging skin. His milky brown eyes were staring straight at Hailstorm's own blue.
"Holy StarClan above!" Hailstorm yelped, leaping back.
"More like "Holy StarClan around me"." The tom grumbled.
"But you're old!" Hailstorm stammered. "I thought that-"
"We all were young?" The old tom sighed. "No. Only the ones that chose rebirth, which is most cats. I chose to fade eternally."
"Fade eternally?"
"I will fade from existence, but as long as some cats remember me, I was will grow older, my body slowly failing me. It's a huge risk showing myself to you." The old tom squinted. "Die early, and don't make a lasting impression on the world, that's my advice. And don't fall in love. Love will kill you."
"Okay?" Hailstorm pinned his ears. This dream was taking a very odd turn. The tom's red pelt was patched, which looked more like battle wounds than anything else.
"You look just like her..." He sighed, his pelt fading as he spoke.
"Who?"
"Remember the Starpool." The old tom grumbled, his form fading even more until he was nothing but a brown pair of eyes. "Remember the Starpool." And with that, he faded entirely. A cold wind blew, and Hailstorm suddenly knew what he had to do.
Hailstorm shot out of his nest and shook the scraps of moss from his moss before going to find Onestar. He had a she-cat to find.
QOTD time!
QOTD1: Who was the old tom?
QOTD2: What do you think of the dreams, Ashfrost's and Hailstorm's?
QOTD3: What about the prophecies?
QOTD4: Are you having a good day? If not, I hope that (if you're a student) that you don't get too much homework and get nice teachers. If you're an adult, I hope you just get to take a day off and do whatever.
I-really-hope-not signing off for now, I'll see you later on They Walk Alone, Weak Instead of Strong, or Jumpstorm's Story!