Looks like everyone reviewed about cliffhangers. Not surprising. :D

Cliffhangers are certainly my friends. I have to actively try not to overuse them ._.

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Cave of the Forgotten

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Chapter Twenty-Six

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In some ways, Mousepaw had been ready for this. The moment that Leopard charged toward her, she spun out of the way and landed—barely—on all four feet, just a tail-length away. "Really?" she yelled. "Is the glowing fruit really this important?"

"It should work," Leopard was muttering under her breath. "It has to work. Because you promised me that you would do it."

"Look, I'm tired of the pronoun game already. I promised I would do what?"

"Eat it."

"Um, I know, but..."

Mousepaw glanced over at Lightning for help. The tom was now staring back and forth between them as if it were a rather intense game of mossball. His expression was conflicted, and he seemed to be struggling for the right words. Turning back to Leopard, she continued, "Does it... do anything?"

In the back of her mind, a thought whispered, it kills you, but she managed to grind that part to dust.

"It helps to strengthen your connection with Driftsong," Leopard finally said. "Then she will be able to take Mousepaw back."

"Say wh—"

"No," Lightning suddenly said.

Both of them spun around. He took a deep breath, seemingly steadying himself before continuing on. "She's not going anywhere with you, and especially not with Driftsong. She's staying right here."

Normally, this might have comforted her, but there was a strange possessiveness about the way he said it. Mousepaw sighed, exasperated. "Is this about the whole 'boo hoo I'm so lonely please donate a friend to my psychopathic self' fund drive?"

"No," Leopard clarified. "That was a lie. She just needs to use you for—"

That was all Mouspaw needed to hear. "Great, now that was helpful," she said, rather louder than was necessary. "That's it. I'm not going anywhere."

"By the way, why are you being so open with that information, uh, Leopard?" Lightning asked, clearly trying to sound casual. "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be trying to manipulate her with promises of glory or power or love or something."

Leopard grinned. "Oh, well, I thought she had already been through that with the whole alternate-self fiasco. Now that I think about it, threats work so much better, don't they?"

Lightning immediately fell silent.

Gripping the stone with her unsheathed claws, Mousepaw tried to keep calm as best as she could. "So you threatened me into it? Let me guess. There was lots of death involved."

"Lots of death," Leopard said cheerfully. "The death of all thirty-two of your remaining clanmates, in fact."

There was another long period of silence. Then, finally, fighting to keep her voice steady, Mousepaw said, "I thought... that was already going to happen."

"I see you have been paying attention," Leopard said, sounding mildly impressed. "But she has changed her mind. If you agree to this, then she will let them go. If you don't, then, well..."

She trailed off, staring at Mousepaw intently.

"Don't," Lightning suddenly said. "It has to be a trick, somehow. Besides, you don't know what Driftsong plans to do."

"No, I'm just wondering about something," Mousepaw said absentmindedly. "If that's true, then what was the point of wiping my memories clean of each day that goes by?" Too late, she realized that she had accidentally said it aloud, but maybe keeping secrets didn't matter anymore. "It just seems like a waste of time."

"So you really don't remember," Leopard remarked. "Even after all that pressuring, even after the added threats, even after the run-in with my, ah... friends." She smiled in a vague way that Mousepaw want to tear right off her face. "I was wondering why they reported that you seemed so confused."

Mousepaw tilted her head. "So in a way, the memory loss makes me less compelled to agree to your demands. That sounds rather counterproductive."

"It is," Lightning agreed, "which is strange, don't you think?"

Immediately, Mousepaw whipped around to face him. "Hold on," she said, "you don't seem to be surprised at this at all."

She registered shock on his face before he quickly stammered, "Um, I mean, I am, I'm more surprised than you know, it's just that—"

"Just what?" Mousepaw snapped. "Just that you could be my first suspect?" Turning around, she began muttering. "It all makes sense now. How you never seemed to be surprised by what was happening to me. How you always appeared to know more than you should. Even the fact that you outright stand out from everyone else—you're the only real cat here."

"I can explain," Lightning said desperately. "Just give me a moment for me to think, I—"

"Time is ever running out," Leopard said, now beginning to juggle the glowing berry between her paws. "So. Speak now or forever hold your peace."

Mousepaw ignored her. Turning back to Lightning, she said, "Explain right now."

He quickly backed away a few steps. "Um, we have more urgent matters at hand. Seriously, we do."

"More urgent than the possibility that you have been wiping my memories?" She sighed. "It makes sense. Even now, you're telling me not to go. Look, if it really was you, at least it's better than working with Driftsong. But I still can't believe you didn't just try to convince me from the beginning."

"I'm telling you, it really wasn't me."

The berry suddenly hit her back and tumbled to the ground, and Mousepaw turned around. "Choose," Leopard interrupted, sounding irritated.

"No."

"I said, choose."

"That's my decision. I said no."

"Then they'll all die."

Mousepaw closed her eyes and sighed. She had to go warn them somehow. If they got far away from a Scorchwing, then maybe even Driftsong would have a hard time tracking them. But still, that was unlikely. "How much time do I have to decide?"

"Until the day ends, I suppose," Leopard said, narrowing her eyes. "Due to your... ah, condition."

There was a long period of silence, and then Mousepaw muttered, "I need to think outside."

Then with that, she headed for the direction of the faint light and ignored Lightning's footsteps resounding behind her.

It turns out that the entrance wasn't even hard to spot. Just beside her paws was a noticeable crack where a spot of sunlight shone in, at which she ducked down and squeezed her way through.

To her surprise, as she stepped out into the light, the giant ruins were off in a different direction than she had expected. Instead, in front of her stood the formidable mountains that had previously seemed so untouchable. She must have been moved much further than she thought.

Behind her, Lightning and Leopard followed her out of the cave, blinking. "Um, where are you going?" Lightning said.

"Those mountains," Mousepaw muttered. "There are other cats living in them, right? Plus the weird feeling that I got last time I went there..."

"Hey, you listening?" he tried again, stepping in front of her.

She sidestepped. "Could be just the work of whoever is taking my memories, but maybe those mystery cats have powers of their own. Huh, actually, I'm not sure if I can figure this out... but there's something else I can."

Lightning immediately stepped back, as if anticipating what she had to say next.

"Not it."

"This isn't tag," Mousepaw scowled. "No more waiting. I'm not giving you any more time to come up with stories. Just the truth, right now: who you are, why you're here, what do you want, all of that."

"Holy mackerel!" Lightning shouted. "Do you not trust me in the slightest?"

"The answer to that depends on your responses to my questions."

Lightning sighed, then cast a weary glance over in Leopard's direction. "Uh, alright... we can talk over this in detail, then. In private." He nodded toward the mountain. "I guess somewhere over there, in the trees, would be fine."

Then with that, without another look back, he turned around and began trotting up the path, whistling through his teeth (rather forcefully, Mousepaw thought).

Surprisingly, Leopard made no attempt to follow after them.

Soon, they arrived in a small clearing, tall fern fronds surrounding the edges and sunlight shining through into the center. Lightning took a deep breath, leaves rustling under his paws. "So. This might come as a slight shock to you."

"Jeez, I never would have thought. So what is it?"

Lightning shifted uncomfortably. Maybe it was just her, but the air around them suddenly seemed a lot more... compressed. "In some ways, I guess you were right about me being involved with your missing memories. But wait," he quickly said just as Mousepaw scowled again. "Not like that. The thing is, I had absolutely no say in the matter. Besides, I kind of need it."

"So you're just piggybacking on the opportunity, basically. Got it."

"It's more complicated than that."

"Tch. I'm sure it is."

"Seriously."

"Mhmm."

"Uh, wait, is the air... shimmering around us?"

Mousepaw squinted at him suspiciously. Sure, she was getting a weird feeling right now, but surely that wasn't related. "Don't try to change the subject."

"I'm not. It feels like someone is... trying to rip their way here from another dimension."

The trees suddenly shook, their leaves flapping in the sudden wind. Mousepaw winced. "That sounds stupid. How are they supposed to—"

"Hello," a familiar voice sighed from somewhere up above.

Both of them started.

Mousepaw instinctively backpedaled away from the sound, accidentally crashing into Lightning in the process.

"Oh, you're terrified," Driftsong said. "Completely terrified." She almost sounded mocking, but she sounded more tired than usual. "I know what you're thinking. 'I'm totally shaking right now. She's the most intimidating cat I've ever met.' "

Mousepaw squinted around her. There didn't seem to be anyone standing near her, so she lifted her chin to search the trees instead. To her surprise, Driftsong was perched on the top branch of a nearby oak... alone. How had she been able to appear so terrifying back in the spirit realm? Now, she seemed like just another young she-cat.

Then she realized something. "Hold on. How are you here? I thought you had to stay over there."

"Oh. Haha. That's cute." Driftsong, rather uncharacteristically wobbled on her paws and nearly fell. She seemed like she was half-asleep. "The thing is, uh, well... she kicked me out. She's surprisingly strong. Oh, also, I'm not actually here. She's still over in the spirit realm with my physical body, but I'm just here as a... semblance. Of sorts. I just wanted to pay you guys a visit. Uh, hi, I guess."

"Just curious, what are you o..."

"Huh?"

"Never mind." She took a deep breath. She had to sound confident. "Tell me who this 'she' is, first."

"Ha." Driftsong finally managed to balance herself. "The... other half of myself that's hijacking my body, of course. I hate her so much."

Mousepaw decided that this wasn't supposed to be surprising at all, given what she had learned in the last few days. She would have to think about this later. "So explain. Explain all of this memory-taking thing. Lightning's who you give all the memories, right?"

"I mean, since you've already found out this much..." Driftsong sighed. "I suppose. But it wasn't my doing."

"So I was right."

"He doesn't just take the memories. The memories are what he literally is. He's been doing this for... oh, I don't know. Much longer than I was alive. Since forever, basically."

Mousepaw turned around, frowning. "He's... what?"

Driftsong didn't respond; with no other explanation, she leaped over to another tree and began heading up the mountain.

"Uh, you want us to follow?"

Still no response. Her figure was now a shimmering haze over the backdrop of the setting sun.

Due to poor planning, I'll now have to cram so many things into the next chapter alone. Sorry this one wasn't as eventful as I thought.

By the way, the "split-soul" thing that Driftsong has isn't just a gimmick I decided to throw in. It's going to address some stuff we came across earlier, and probably actually makes (no) sense, trust me.

Reviews are still appreciated though lol