PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right…well I just wanted to say that I've just finished the Fourth Apprentice (about time too, I've been waiting for forever) and just wanted to say this…..
I AM NOT CHANGING ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not the names, not the pairings….
Nothing.
And if you don't like it, too bad. Live with it. I happen to like this story just the way it is. Besides, this is a fanfiction. Emphasis on the fiction part.
So ha.
Now, back to business! SOOOOOOOOO sorry about the long wait. But anyway, welcome back everyone! Now, after the last loooooooooooooong chapter I'm thinking I'll make this one short and sweet…
Just kidding!
Disclaimer: I own nothing about Warriors or its characters. Happy now?
Pain. Pain beyond imaginable. "StarClan save me!" Hollyleaf wailed. "I didn't realize it would hurt this much!"
"I know," Cinderheart murmured. "But it'll all be over soon."
Hollyleaf shut her eyes tight, trying to ignore the pain.
It didn't work. "Where's Jayfeather?" she panted when it eased a little bit. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming when it came back, stronger than ever.
"He'll be here soon," Daisy soothed. "He's just gathering some herbs."
"How long is it going to last?" Hollyleaf asked no one in particular.
"It depends…" Icestorm mewed doubtfully. "Sometimes it takes only a little while. But sometimes it can take more than a sunrise."
Is this it? Hollyleaf wondered bitterly. Is this the price to be paid for half-Clan kits?
But she mustn't think that. These kits were hers, and they were worth fighting for.
She was distracted by a gray pelt beside her. "Here," Jayfeather mewed, pushing a mouthful of spiky-looking leaves towards her. "These will help."
She took them in her mouth, then almost spat them out again. "Ugh. What was that?" she growled after she swallowed.
"Rasberry leaves. They'll help the pain."
"They're not working."
"It takes a minute for it to work."
Hollyleaf sighed as the pain faded almost entirely. "Thank you."
Jayfeather put a paw on her belly. "All right, now when I tell you to, I want you to push." He paused. "Now!"
Hollyleaf did, and all at once there was a searing flash of pain. Brightly colored dots flashed before her eyes. She cried out.
"What's going on?" Cinderheart sounded panicky.
"I…I'm not sure. But something's gone wrong." His voice grew urgent. "Hollyleaf!"
She was falling, her vision growing dark. "Jayfeather?" she sounded far away, as if in a dream.
"What is it?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore. At all. Is that good?"
"No, no it isn't…"
"She's dying, isn't she?" Cinderheart cried. "Hollyleaf, no! Don't leave!"
"There's the first kit," Jayfeather mewed.
"Hmm?" Hollyleaf raised her head a little bit to gaze at her firstborn, and caught her breath.
She was…gorgeous. Amazingly so. Her pelt was as dark as her own, and still damp. Hollyleaf could see Breezepelt in her lithe form, and herself in the shape of her muzzle. In a word, she was…perfect.
Moonkit.
Yes, that would be her name. She was as beautiful as the full moon in a cloudless sky, bringing light into Hollyleaf's life.
Everything was suddenly clear. She could see Daisy taking Moonkit gently in her mouth, guiding her away from Hollyleaf. She tried to protest, but was immediately overtaken by a wave a pain.
"And there's a second," Cinderheart purred.
This kit was just as beautiful as his sister, his pelt as dark as hers, with four white paws and a small stripe of white twisting down his muzzle.
Eaglekit.
With his mixed ThunderClan and WindClan blood, he would be as powerful and graceful as the eagles she had seen during her trip to the mountains. He would be as swift as the wind over the moors, just as fast as his father, if not faster.
And she was falling again.
And she...stopped.
Nothing hurt anymore. She sat up, blinking in the sudden moonlight. She felt like she knew this place, but she had never been here before. And she wasn't alone. Whispers…
Can't be happening…
All wrong...
Not her time…
Not right…
Must go back...
"Hello?" she called out. "Anyone there? Hello?"
The prophecy…
Power of the stars…
Not right…
Must go back...
"Hello?" she called again, wandering deeper into the strange-yet-familiar forest.
No…
Go back…
You must…
No farther…
Go BACK!
Terrified for some unknown reason, she broke into a run, losing track of where she was going.
"STOP!" Suddenly there was a glittering form facing her, the form of a powerful she-cat with ice-blue eyes.
"Bluestar!"
"Hollyleaf," she murmured sadly. "It was not your time."
"What do you mean?" Horrible realization striking, she looked down at her paws.
They were sparkling.
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