I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY for not updating for WEEKS! I'm a terrible person to leave you hanging for that long!
Sorry this chapter isn't about the gathering! It would be a LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG chapter if I was to include the gathering on the end.
This chapter may or may not be terrible. Truth is, I'm pretty much all out of ideas to fill the time between this point in the story and the final battle. All my beautiful plans are falling apart! Trust me, I have been searching EVERYWHERE for inspiration. I really have no idea what exactly is gonna happen at the Gathering! Can you give me suggestions? Ideas? Inspiration?
I'm really sorry, but next chapter might take this long to write. Depends on how many ideas and review I get. Which reminds me...
I HAVE 92 REVIEWS! That's almost 100! YAY! You guys are seriously AWESOME! SO...
Whoever gets 101st review (not including spam reviews) gets to have ONE favour added in to the story. This can be a chapter idea, a special OC, a shipping, some random event, ANYTHING. And I WILL put it in the story, no matter how much I think it would not tie in with the storyline. I'd just go with it. I'm sure I'll find a loophole!
Thanks EVERYONE for being so EPICALLY AWESOME! You've stuck with me for so long! It's the greatest thing, waking up to half a dozen emails saying NEW REVIEW.
So now, replying to reviews!
SkyClan Legend (Guest): I'm sorry if this chapter isn't exactly what you were hoping for, but I do hope you enjoy it! I'm glad you liked the little love triangle, and thanks for pointing out my mistakes!
Guest: I'm sorry for not adding Acornmist yet! I'm not exactly sure when she'll come either... BUT she WILL come eventually!
Wolf That Howls At Eclipse: Thanks for your poll answers! It might not be about Mistkit herself, I have, ahem, different plans for her. And thankyou for the suggestion too!
Hggfg (Guest): Haha, thanks for the spam.
Sapphire Iota: Thanks for the poll answers! Once again, it might not be about Mistkit herself... I do KINDA have a plot in my head. KINDA. I'll name the deputy next chapter if I get enough inspiration! I don't think Dawnsky's gonna help Featherheart in this story, but she'll appear in the sequel-ish thing for sure :). It seems that I've made everyone hate Venom now! Haha, oops!
Pumpkinfur (Guest): Don't worry, she's gonna get her nine lives real soon!
Aquagirl64: Glad you liked the chapter. Sorry, Silverflash is not Silverleaf. Hopefully Silverleaf's coming soon! A reincarnation story sounds pretty good, I think I'll use that if I may...?
Okay, finished replying to everyone's reviews! On with the story!
Frostshine stared up at the bare, black sky, eyes wide. "Oh, Featherheart..." He stammered. Featherheart sat down heavily next to her mate, her dark ginger pelt touching his silver one. She scanned the sky once, twice, three times more. "They're all gone. All of them." She whispered, raw sorrow in her voice. But, just as she was saying it, a star even brighter than the moon appeared. It glowed brighter, brighter, brighter, until it was almost blinding.
Featherheart flinched and closed her eyes. Through her eyelids, she saw the light dim, and she opened them again. A starry cat stood before her, a very familiar cat. Her white pelt, flecked with spots of silver, seemed to glow. "Petalpaw!" Featherheart exclaimed.
Petalpaw greeted her friend with a purr. "Do not be afraid, Featherheart. StarClan are not gone forever." She meowed. Featherheart couldn't find words to say, so she just nodded dumbly.
"The Dark Forest attacked. Most of the cats have vanished, but there are survivors like myself. We are with you, and your clan! There are cats living in the very tunnels you and your companions dwell in. All you must do is look, and you will find." The white and silver she-cat finished, and, pressing her muzzle into Featherheart's fur, she faded in a blast of light.
Frostshine blinked. "Are you okay, Featherheart?" He meowed anxiously. "You... a bright light surrounded you... and your pelt turned to flames..."
The dark ginger she-cat blinked. "I'm fine. StarClan has sent a sign. They are not yet gone." She meowed. "Come on, let's get back to the tunnels."
The two cats padded through the thick forest, taking in the almost familiar surroundings. The silence was broken only by the occasional hoot of an owl in the dark night, or the sound of the wind rustling the leaves on the trees. Finally Frostshine spoke. "Featherheart... Venom was growling at me and the kits, like we were a threat or something. Why?" He meowed quietly.
Featherheart blinked. She hadn't really thought about it before now. After all what had happened in StarClan there was no time. Her mate spoke again. "I can put two and two together, Featherheart. He loves you. I am your mate. I guess that's why." He sighed.
Featherheart nudged Frostshine in sympathy. "Frostshine, I have great friends, a loving mate and three adorable kits. Why would I love him when I am so lucky as to have you?"
Frostshine broke into a purr. "I believe you, Featherheart. It's just - I was so afraid that... that I had been replaced." He explained. His mate cuffed his ear. "You're irreplaceable, Frostshine. You know that."
It was like they were cheerful apprentices again. The two cats bounced and pounced and played together as if StarClan wasn't gone, and Dawnstar was still good, and nothing at all out of the ordinary was going on. As the purple of dawn crept across the sky, however, Featherheart realised that it could never be that way again.
She knew she should've tried to stop her sister moons ago, tried to bring her cheerful, loving sister back before it was too late. But it was too late now, and she knew that however much she wished she could, she could never go back to the time when she had a chance of changing her sister's mind.
By the time the two reached the tunnels again, orange was being replaced by brilliant blue in the sky and the two cats were exhausted. They knew that there wouldn't be calm and peace for long, but they looked forward to a bit of quiet in the caves. Yet, on the contrary, Frostshine and Featherheart were met by Hollykit announcing that Fallenkit was... dead?
Featherheart rushed inside. Indeed, the white cat was sprawled out on the floor, and she wasn't breathing. Though every cat was taking it in turns to try and find a pulse, there was no luck yet. "She's DEAD!" Yowled a sorrowed Tawnykit, sitting in the corner with her head drooping. Skyfeather and Wolffeather were keeping her company, also drooping their heads in sorrow for the cat they never really knew.
By now Venom was taking his third go checking the body, but still no reassuring breath, or even a pulse. Featherheart padded up to the small she-cat's body. Venom acknowledged her with a dip of the head and backed away. As the dark ginger cat put her right ear to Fallenkit's chest, she found what everyone was evidently looking for - A pulse! The slow beating of her heart echoed in Featherheart's head.
"Everyone, she's alive!" She exclaimed, and a surge of cats rushed forward, knocking Featherheart over. She sat amongst the fussing, and was the first to notice a faint glow of light from Fallenkit fur. She watched in awe as the light became even brighter, and the cats surrounding her backed away in sudden silence.
When the light became so blinding that every cat had to look away in fear of losing their sight, there was a sudden flash and the light swiftly dimmed. As Featherheart's blue eyes adjusted to the dim light of the cave again, she noticed something extraordinary - Starry, translucent cats stood around the body, eight of them. She recognized most of them - there was her mother, Squirrelstripe, and Rainshine, and Silverwing, and Goldenstar, and - That golden tabby... Was it Rosepelt? Featherheart was also pretty sure she recognised the former Medicine Cat, Ravenpelt.
One of the cats broke off the group - Ravenpelt - and padded slowly towards her. "We know you have no medicine cat, and you do not know how to chose one. So we chose for you. We think Fallenkit is obviously the right choice." She mewed. Featherheart nodded in agreement. Though the kit could be snappy at times, she had a pure heart and could keep her head in even the wildest of situations.
She noticed another familiar cat was walking up to her with Fallenkit. "Petalpaw!" She meowed. She nodded and beckoned for Fallenkit to say what she must. The kit said, a bit uncertainly: "Petalpaw came to me in a dream, and said I had been chosen to be FireClan's Medicine Cat."
"But who will be your mentor?" Featherheart asked. Petalpaw purred. "Why, me, of course. StarClan has been banished from their territory. We must find homes elsewhere. So I humbly ask you - May I reside in your tunnels to train young Fallenkit?"
Featherheart looked around the tunnels as if waiting for approval from the other cats. She was surprised to see that they were all frozen in various positions. Time had been frozen! She took a deep breath. She realised that she shouldn't have needed to ask for approval from any other cat. She was the leader of FireClan, and she already knew the answer anyway.
"Of course you can stay."
I failed at the cliffhanger.
Anyway, this story's kinda inspired by randomness that happens to me in real life. I'm actually going through a bit of an emotional hurricane right now... I'm kinda having random mood swings. And the mood of the story also kinda depends on which song I'm listening to. Haha.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Bye for a while! I'm off to visit my cousins for a week and a half!
~Breezefeather