Chapter 24

Hollyleaf's black pelt remained fluffed up, even as the next two days had come and gone. Stress reduced her to nothing but a mess as she awaited the fate of Dewstep, who seemed as if he would never awaken from his sleep. Eternal rest would await the young cat, and Hollyleaf didn't want that the happen. Dewstep deserved more, and she deserved far, far less. The days had given her plenty of time to think about her actions, what she had done, who she had made her deals with and where her soul would end up going.

No one could change her mind, and it was rare that a cat had even given her a "Hello" other than Lionblaze, who seemed only happy that she had returned to Thunderclan intact… but it was better than being a dead body, Hollyleaf assumed. It would probably have been more terrifying that she returned a body and not a full cat.

She wasn't a full cat, anymore, she knew. Everything she had done had been out of spite, jealousy, revenge, hatred. The cats she met along her own journey, every challenge she had faced to bring her sons to the clans, it had all been for nothing. There wasn't anyone willing to do as she wanted, and Raven's words clung to her as if they had claws. No matter how hard she tried to throw his words away, they returned with ferocity.

He made the right choice.

He defied me, Hollyleaf always tried to reason with herself that she was the one in the right here, no one else. Not even Bramblestar, the newest leader of Thunderclan who recently lost a life to one of her sons. Bramblestar couldn't defeat Darkfire in battle, I know that…

For now, Hollyleaf stayed beside the medicine den, even as it began to rain from the clouds in the sky, as if agreeing with the conflict of emotions she was currently experiencing. Today, things had changed more into Dewstep's favor, at least that was what Jayfeather had said earlier in the morning. Dewstep had stirred for mere heartbeats, however, he only took two laps of water before passing out once more.

He could still die, Hollyleaf thought to herself as she looked at the entrance to the den, her tail flicking across the dirt with fur plastered to her pelt from the rain. As she looked at the entrance, she saw that Jayfeather had come out. He seemed tired, and she knew why. The medicine cat barely slept the past few days, both patients he had were in a lot of trouble but his eyes were different this time.

"What happened?" Hollyleaf stood up, pelt heavy from the rainwater. "Is Dewstep okay?"

Jayfeather was silent for several heartbeats before nodding. "Dewstep is fine… It's Briarlight… I… I have to speak to Millie…" Tears were streaming down Jayfeather's face, glazing across his eyes. If Hollyleaf didn't have her sharp eyes, she would've never noticed the tears in the first place.

Shaking her head, Hollyleaf could feel the grief rolling off of him in waves. "She can't be dead…"

"No, but she got sick not very long ago," Jayfeather explained, his tail absolutely still as his gaze looked over to the warriors den. "Briarlight isn't able to move much when she's sick, so she can't keep her chest clear of disease. The sickness hasn't left and she hasn't moved in the past moon, not much… She's dying, Hollyleaf, I can't do anything to fix it…" Jayfeather finally turned his gaze to her. "A part of me needed Leafpool here, Hollyleaf. I know you hated her, but you didn't have to force the deathberries on her." There was a pause, Hollyleaf didn't know they knew. "I saw it, Hollyleaf, when I had my powers. Leafpool was so emotional, and now she's gone because after that, she believed she wasn't worthy of being in the clans."

It's… my fault that Briarlight is dying…? Hollyleaf shivered a bit and looked back at the entrance of the den. "I… I'm sorry, Jayfeather…" Hollyleaf whispered.

"You should be…" Jayfeather mumbled and padded slowly across the camp, towards the warriors den. Graystripe appeared first and Jayfeather seemed to freeze in place, his blind blue eyes looking up towards the large gray warrior. In that moment, they both seemed to understand each other, and Hollyleaf slowly felt the grief latch onto Graystripe with a calm passion.

Hollyleaf shivered as she watched Graystripe disappear in the warriors den, and there was a sudden silence over the entire hollow. The grief was spreading faster and faster, and Hollyleaf began to realize why the rain was here now. Not only was the clan grieving, but so was Starclan. They were the only ones who could see Briarlight's destiny faster than Jayfeather, and now it was far too late.

Warriors began to come out of the den slowly, leading them was Graystripe and Millie. Jayfeather's gray pelt returned to the medicine den and after several agonizing heartbeats, he returned with a barely breathing cat on his back and following him was Brightheart, the famous one-eyed warrior, whose tears glazed across her only eye.

Jayfeather padded to the center of the clearing, slowly setting Briarlight down as the grief finally reached the climax. Up on Highledge, Bramblestar appeared, his cobwebs on his wound were almost falling off from the rain, barely clinging onto him as his amber eyes closed. The cat who lay in the center of the clearing was barely breathing, if at all. Graystripe and Millie were the first to greet her, their words drowned out by that of the rain.

Hollyleaf felt her own heart begin to shred, ripping at her, she felt the terrible wave of grief that the clan was now feeling. The warriors and apprentices remained behind Graystripe and Millie, both whispering to the small she-cat.

"You'd feel the same if it were your son," Raven's whisper broke Hollyleaf's grief and she looked up at the orange-eyed tom. His gaze was on Briarlight, whose crippled body her soul would soon be released from. "I already feel their pain, as if Dewstep died already. You were right, Hollyleaf, I should have been there for our kits. They deserved a father and now I…" Emotions flooded through the tom. "I was regretting a lot during the time I wasn't with you, Hollyleaf," Raven whispered as he regained his voice. "Now that I'm here, I remember a lot of the fun times we had. And when you gave birth to our kits, you had changed… It wasn't for the better, Hollyleaf…"

"Stop…" Hollyleaf whispered, not wanting to listen to him now.

Raven's ear flicked to show he heard, but his voice continued. "You became something else, an agent of hatred and darkness to come. I had a dream the night you gave birth, when I had fallen asleep… You were going to become a sort of evil incarnate, and… I became scared, Hollyleaf. I left because I didn't want to be caught in your storm, your hate… When I awoke, I left as quickly as I could, and left our kits with you. You know I didn't have many friends, let alone any she-cats who could feed Dewstep and Darkfire."

"Please stop, Raven…" Hollyleaf felt as if she was starting to beg, she didn't want to bow down to this tom and she didn't want her feelings to spill out.

"No," Raven whispered in her ear gently. "You need to know what you have become, what you still are… but you can change, it is why I returned in the first place… I want to help you, Hollyleaf… Let me help you. I love you."

Hollyleaf felt herself begin to tremble and she pushed the tom away, whispering, "No. No on can help me." Turning away, she padded into the medicine den and looked at her son, whose side had long stopped bleeding from Darkfire's attack, and his throat remained bloody and deadly. The cobwebs were no longer needed, it seemed, and she leaned forward with tears in her eyes as she pressed her muzzle gently between her son's ears. "No one can help me…"

Raven's scent entered the small den and Hollyleaf's tail flicked slowly. "No one can help you if you don't let anyone in, Hollyleaf!" Raven padded closer, slowly, Hollyleaf unable to pull away from her son now. "Just let somebody in, Hollyleaf," Raven pressed his nose between her ears and Hollyleaf flinched. "If not me, let Dewstep in… He won't die, I believe that… Dewstep is strong, he is your son after all…"

"No…" Hollyleaf whispered, shaking her head and pulling her nose away from Dewstep's fur. "He is your son, not mine… Dewstep shows more of you than he ever has of me, and Darkfire has become what I never wanted to become… I became that which I fought against for so many moons, and haven't understood a thing until now…"

Her gaze finally looked back up at Raven, and before he could reply, she continued.

"Darkfire can't be allowed to return to the clans, not while I am here," Hollyleaf shivered a bit. "He has become the newest agent of darkness, the one she wanted…"

"Who…?"

"A cat from the Dark Forest, a cat whose grudge has ran since the dawn of the clans," Hollyleaf whispered. "Not once has she given me her name, but she has been building since then, she came to me when I went to the Moonstone… I was told to go in a dream, to head there straight away, and I brought the kits on a dangerous journey. I shouldn't have, but I did. Dewstep almost died, and Darkfire was barely healthier than his brother." Hollyleaf looked at Dewstep. "If I don't make this right, who will?"

Raven was silent for a moment before looking at Dewstep as well. "He will," he finally replied after several long moments of silence. "Dewstep has your confidence, your speed, and your strength. But I believe that not only does he have those, he has your old kindness and your old heart. Your love is in him now, and I think it is up to him to stop his brother. This is no longer your battle Hollyleaf… it is no longer your challenge to overcome, it is his."

"When did you become so wise…?" Hollyleaf whispered before gently tucking her head under his chin and breathing in his scent, not realizing how much she missed the tom.

"A long time ago, I would like to think," Raven replied with a slight chuckle.

"Shut up, mouse-brain," Hollyleaf mumbled as she curled her tail around herself.

Raven licked between her ears, silent now as they both took in each other's scents. There was nothing more but Dewstep's body, Briarlight's scent, and them. The air was calm, but with the hint that the storm would end soon. Outside, the sound of rain was slowly becoming non-existent as the clouds began to break apart in the sky. Sunlight beamed down the center of the clearing and both Millie and Graystripe had looked up.

Briarlight's body became absolutely still, and for a few moment's, Millie cried out from the grief, her gaze turning back to the body before an orange tom appeared from the entrance. The stars were at his paws and he padded forward, the clan, blinking at the cat who pushed between them. Rising from the body came Briarlight, but she was standing on four legs with eyes as bright as the rest of the world. Purrs erupted from the spirit cat, she looking at Millie and Graystripe before nuzzling each of them.

Nothing was left for the spirit warrior, and she looked up at the orange flame-colored tom who had appeared. They didn't speak, Briarlight knew she was dead, that she no longer belonged here in the physical realm. Now she belonged to the world above, where the stars met the sky and where leaf-bare never came. Both her and the flame-colored tom disappeared, tears falling from every cat in the clearing. Even Stormpaw, who had no idea who the cat was but had understood these cats now.

Sun erupted through the entirety of the clearing, and everything seemed to be looking up now. Every cat to every piece of prey, one of the border patrols returning to camp and finding the dead cat in the center of the clearing.

Hollyleaf found herself feeling every single wave of emotion that the clan was feeling, as if she finally found the place she belonged.

"I'm sorry, Raven," Hollyleaf whispered as her mind began to clear of the darkness that had buried itself deep. "But no, I can't let Dewstep do this… I created Darkfire, I will not let him destroy the code like I originally planned. To recreate the code for everybody… I don't want that anymore, I have caused enough trouble for the clan cats now, it is time I stopped the evil that I have created."

"But… you can't! Who knows what Darkfire can do now?" Raven flinched and his tail flicked across the ground, he shaking his head. "You can't do it, you can't just go and kill your own son! Our son! I won't allow it, not when we have just reconnected…"

Hollyleaf's tail flicked along with Raven's. "What I do is not your decision to make, Raven." Hollyleaf kept her voice even but she was still terrified, even with the fresh mindset she had set out. My future is to save the clans, I've realized, Hollyleaf thought as she looked into Raven's gaze. Not to save them from some large, unnatural force like the Dark Forest… No, that is long gone, it is my own mistake that I must fix. I was never destined for anything more than to save the clans from myself.

Reaching up, she pressed her nose against the tom's own. "I'm sorry, Raven… but my decision is made… I cannot let the clans suffer because of my mistake…"

Raven had paused now, his eyes closed tightly as his tail gently curled around Hollyleaf's. "I wish you didn't come to this conclusion, Hollyleaf…" Raven whispered, his tail tightening a bit. "I always wanted you by my side, just you and me…"

Hollyleaf gave a small smile and opened her green eyes once more. They had become clear again, admiration, empathy, happiness… even love had become emotions that Hollyleaf could feel once more. "I would love nothing more than to be by your side again, Raven… but if Starclan has a destiny for me, then I must take the chance. If it kills me, then that will be okay with me. I know you believe now, you can feel their spirits like they are your own ancestors, even though they have never come close to you before. Starclan is real, Raven… And I promise you that if you believe in them, we will meet again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep…" Raven whispered, his ears pressed back.

"I made a mistake," Hollyleaf replied softly. "It is my job to fix it, not yours. Not Dewstep's. I would rather not kill Darkfire if I could, but I can feel it, I can't change him anymore… He is gone from us, Raven… I think you understand that."

Raven's pelt bristled lightly, but he nodded slowly, as if unsure. "What can I do to help…?"

Pulling away slowly, Hollyleaf glanced towards the entrance before looking at Dewstep. "Introduce yourself to Dewstep, Raven… Be his father, someone he can count on when he comes to trouble. Be what I couldn't be, a parent. It is time for me to take my leave, if I don't come back, don't come looking for me."

"I promise I won't…" Raven shivered once more, terror in his eyes. "I love you, Hollyleaf…"

"I love you too… Raven."

Linebreak

Two days earlier…

Darkfire found himself back in Tanglewood, his yellow eyes looking around with terror at the den where he had once been as a young tom. "Hollyleaf!" he cried out, panic flooding through him as the early dawn sun began to rise. The black she-cat was nowhere to be seen. "Hollyleaf! Please! I'm sorry! I failed!"

"You have not failed, Darkfire…" Hollyleaf's voice seemed to reach to his ears and he turned around, trying to find her.

"Yes, I have!" Darkfire trembled, his paws barely keeping him up as the dirt shifted beneath him. "I can't do this, I can't change the clans! I hurt Dewstep!"

The voice returned, soft and loving. "Dewstep was a traitor, Darkfire, but you aren't… Now it is your job to finish what you started. It is quite alright, and there is something you must know. An imposter has entered the clans of me, I need you to kill her, destroy her… You are faster, stronger, I know this. Then you must kill every cat I tell you to kill, to keep those disloyal to the warrior code is not a possibility. Destroy them and rule over them, my son."

Darkfire nodded slowly. "Where must I go…?"

A fog slowly rolled in, and Darkfire felt a cold tail touch his spine. "You must go to where the moon shines in the pools of the clans. The destiny of the clans will be decided there, and if you fail me… I assure you, Darkfire, I won't be easy on you…"

Darkfire's tail flicked and he nodded, not wanting to look at his mother until he finished his journey. He didn't deserve to look at his mother until he could make her proud. "I will come back when the mission is done… Or not at all."

"Good… You've made me proud, Darkfire…" Hollyleaf's voice turned into a purr and Darkfire smiled slightly, standing up with more confidence in his paws. Energy coursed through him now. "Save the new energy I've given to you, Darkfire. Save it for when you must fight her. When you're done, I want you to finish off your brother… He will rest peacefully once he understands the code, I will teach him when he reaches Starclan."

"Thank you," Darkfire whispered before beginning to walk back towards the clans.