Sorry it took so long, but I've been swamped with assignments. This chapter is a blast to the past, going through the memories of most of the cats. I hope you like it, and thanks to all of my reviewers, ~enjoy~!
Chapter Twelve
As dawn's light shone on the camp, Sandstorm, Longtail, and Mousefur, the sane elders, took Berryleaf's body out to be buried. He had apparently saved Whitewing's life and took the fatal blow during battle.
Honeydapple, though, was strikingly all right. The clan figured that she'd be torn to pieces. Yet, she was fine. Chicorykit, Saffronkit, and Adderkit were bawling at her side, Chicorykit, amazingly, the most quiet of them all.
Hawkpaw padded over to Honeydapple. "I'm really sorry," he mewed. His blue eyes were a bit dulled. The killer hadn't struck this time; a WindClan warrior had killed him.
That was a good thing, but in retrospect, it wasn't. ThunderClan's lack of warriors had caused them to lose the battle.
"Don't worry about it," she meowed. Her bright blue eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears, but her body betrayed no signs of it.
"I thought you'd be more like Ferncloud, learning that your mate had died," he paused, "The whole clan thought you would."
The she-cat shut her eyes tightly, and drew in a deep breath. "The truth is…I already knew that he was going to die," she admitted.
Hawkpaw gaped in amazement. How could this she-cat know that her mate was going to die?
"When Ferncloud went insane, they shared with me the fact that Berryleaf would die in a future battle. They wanted me to know this so that I wouldn't go mental like Ferncloud did. I took it in, and still acted the same around him, treasuring every last moment I had with him. I can't say that I'm hurt, but I can't say I'm perfectly fine either."
Hawkpaw nodded, and sat there for a few more moments before getting up to go and talk to Cindershadow about it. She had been recovering from the shock of killing the WindClan tom, and he wanted to make sure that she was all right.
"Hey, how are you?" he mewed, sitting down next to her. She was curled up away from him in the warrior's den. He sighed, hoping she'd be all right.
"Alright, I guess," she sighed, and sat up. "I can't believe that I killed another cat, I feel so horrible! It's against the warrior code to kill in battle unless it's completely necessary, and I think I broke that rule."
"I would've died, you did the right thing," he assured her, and gave her a lick on the cheek. "Come on, let's go for a walk. It'll clear your head."
Cindershadow nodded, and the two padded out of the den, and towards the tunnel. "You guys going on patrol?" the familiar voice of Hazeldawn asked.
"No, a walk," Hawkpaw answered, trying to evade the she-cat.
"Can we join then?" Birchfall, who had been standing next to her, asked.
"Fine," he shot back coldly, and the four walked out into the woods. Cindershadow gave him a curious look, and he butted her in the shoulder. "I'll tell you later," he whispered.
She snorted, and had a mischievous look in her eyes. She shot off ahead, and Hawkpaw dashed after her. He grew close enough to pounce, and he landed on her back, and the two began tumbling over each other.
They finished in front of a sad area, and Cindershadow had him pinned, again. Hawkpaw wiggled out from underneath of her, and shook the scraps of bracken and undergrowth from his pelt.
The two were laughing for a moment before Hawkpaw came to realize where they were. They were standing where the clan burial ground was. Hawkpaw stepped back, and Cindershadow realized it too.
In a separate area were freshly dug graves; those were the graves where the cats killed by The Killer were lying at rest. Hawkpaw padded over to the first, and sighed. This was where their old leader, Firestar, was buried.
The fresh breeze ruffled his ginger coat, and his green eyes sparkled. The clans had finally made it to their new homes, and a new prophecy had been restored.
This prophecy had been like no other, Tigerstar's son, and his daughter had saved ThunderClan, along with four other travelers. Crowfeather of WindClan, Stormfur and Feathertail of RiverClan, and Tawnypelt of ShadowClan had traveled with the two ThunderClan cats.
Oh, how terribly mistaken had he and Cinderpelt been when they interpreted the first sign, a tiger inside flames, destroying the forest. Chuckling to himself, he remembered how desperately he had tried to keep the two of them apart.
But now, it was time to perform a special deed. A deed that filled his heart with the same fluttering emotion and happiness as the first time he confessed that he loved Sandstorm.
As the clan cheered the name of Squirrelflight, Firestar was definitely sure that he made the corrected decision. It matched her fiery personality, and how she jumped to every conclusion.
She was Squirrelflight, the she-cat that matched his fire step-by-step, breath-by-breath, and glance-by-glance.
Hawkpaw looked down at the grave of Leafpool, and remembered the sweet medicine cat. Oh, how any cat could kill her.
Smokey gray fur, pain filled blue eyes, a great tom for any she-cat. Leafpool had fallen for him, like Feathertail had. At one point, she had even carried his kits. She and Squirrelflight had devised a plan.
Just before she had been killed, she decided that Squirrelflight would act like she was pregnant. When Leafpool delivered the kits, she would eat parsley to stop her milk from coming.
They would act like Squirrelflight's milk never came, and Ferncloud or one of the other queens would nurse them. The kits would grow up acting like Squirrelflight was their mother.
It was all a perfect plan before fangs met her neck, and her life was soon drained away. The last thing she saw before she died was Crowfeather, replaced by Nightcloud and Breezepelt. It was never meant to happen, but in some ways, Leafpool wished that it actually had.
They moved onto Dustpelt, and Hawkpaw couldn't help but let of an amused meow.
I had fallen, fallen hard. She was beautiful, captivating, every way around. When Darkstripe was exiled from the clan, I hoped that she hadn't been hurt in any way. I would've tracked him down and skinned him alive if he had.
When she earned her warrior name of Ferncloud, she soon moved into the nursery, proudly expecting my first litter of kits. Spiderleg and Shrewpaw, the sweet toms, I loved them very much.
Shrewpaw was taken on the thunderpath, by a monster, and I helped Ferncloud to get through it. Of our kits, Spiderleg, Shrewpaw, Hollykit, Larchkit, and Dustkit stood by his side.
When Ferncloud went insane, Dustpelt felt a pang of sadness, and knew that she would be joining him soon.
They made their way to Poppypaw's grave, and Hawkpaw purred, knowing that she was the object of Birchfall's affections.
Her whole life, everything had gone wrong. Her brother, Molepaw, had died of some unknown cough.
Her sister Cinderpaw, now Cindershadow, had been way too timid compared to Poppypaw, and she was always compared to the 'perfect' she-cat.
Honeydapple got pregnant, and gave birth to a litter of three kits, so the clan swarmed around her. What had Poppypaw gotten? Nothing. She had had a crush on a tom, but she never had enough effort to confess to him.
That tom, yes it had been Berryleaf, to tom that her sister was mates with. But now, Berryleaf stood by her side, and was in love with her. While Honeydapple suffered to raise her kits without a father, Poppypaw would be satisfied in StarClan.
Hawkpaw changed his glance to Sorreltail and Brackenfur's graves, the suicidal pair.
Yes, Sorreltail too had suffered her fair share of tragedies, but she survived them, growing stronger than she had ever been. Her mate was with her, both of them brutally killed by an unseen killer.
They knew who she was know, but the time for sharing was approaching. Brackenfur too, had suffered through being made an apprentice early, watching his sister get struck on a Thunderpath, and his other sister get mauled by a dog.
Yet all of these hardships had made them closer, more perfect for each other. Now they watched as their daughter, Cindershadow, discovered love, and their daughter, Honeydapple, raised her kits.
They sympathized and empathized for the young she-cats, as they were united as a family, together.
Hawkpaw moved on to Cloudtail's grave. The tom had always been a bit snobby, and Hawkpaw wondered what sort of adventures he had been through.
Cloudtail had never been more proud in his life. He was angered by the fact that he wasn't able to be with his mate, but he was very proud of her.
She finally made it into the higher ranks of the clan, having her own apprentice, and being deputy. If Bramblestar died, which was unlikely, his own mate would be leader!
His daughter too, oh, she was expecting Spiderleg's kits. Spiderleg was with him, too, and they were happy for her.
Soon, she would give birth to two kits, Cloudkit and Spiderkit. That day was still two moons away, but they would be watching her every step of the way.
Spiderleg had found a mate for himself, and his heart ached when he was away from her, but he knew that she was suffering more than he was, and one day, they would be reunited once more.
Hawkpaw found Dustkit's grave very painful. This tom hadn't gotten the chance to live out his life, as it should have been.
Dustkit stared into the pool that all kits that died got to look into. He saw himself as Duststorm, a brave warrior. His siblings were Dawnbreeze and Pyreblaze. They were an unstoppable trio.
He had his own apprentice, and a mate of his own. Saffroncloud was his mate, Chicoryleaf was Pyreblaze's, and Adderfang was Dawnbreeze's. It was really quite strange how it had all ended up, but it did.
Duststorm was one of the cats next in line for deputy. Bramblestar was still alive, but just barely. His deputy, Brightheart, was on her way to StarClan, and Duststorm was highly respected.
As time passed, he grew to be Duststar with Dawnbreeze as his loyal deputy and Sunbreeze as his medicine cat. What a life it would have been.
Yeah, I know, no Berryleaf. His memories will come later. All of these are the cats killed by The Artist, not a WindClan cat. I hope I'll be able to update by Wednesday, but if I can't, I apologize, gomenasai. So, please, review...~Sayonara~!