Chapter 25 time! :)

Thanks, Rain for getting these to be completed nice and quick!

The sun peeped over the horizon, with the silver warrior gazing at it wistfully with pine green eyes. Her tail flicked back and forth…back and forth…back and forth. Brightfur's mind raced and shouted with annoyance.
Rise, sun! I screamed. Rise so that I can tell Darkstar Drizzlestorm is gone!

Then the first ray of sunlight hit her back and her bright green eyes lit up. Squirreltail also got to his paws, and for a second, both of them were staring at that one single ray of sunshine.

Brightfur let out a loud yowl. "Darkstar!"

Squirreltail joined in too. "Darkstar, Darkstar! Quickly, Darkstar!"

Both of them stared at the Fire Rock, awaiting the shadowy figure of their leader. Squirreltail began to pace back and forth in annoyance, while Brightfur didn't keep her eyes off of Darkstar's den. Come on, she silently pleaded in her mind. Come on!

Finally, finally, he poked his head out of the den, silver eyes glistening with absolute annoyance.

"What is it? Is the sun even up yet?"

"Drizzlestorm!" Squirreltail wailed. "She's gone, gone, gone!" His tail lashed back and forth as he limped slightly up to the Fire Rock to look up at his leader.

"To MoonClan," Brightfur replied angrily, digging her claws into the dirt as her tail lashed back and forth.

Darkstar's eyes widened, and he retreated into his den, only to come sprinting out and performing an astonishing front flip off of the Fire Rock before landing neatly in front of the young warriors. "What?!"

At times before this one, Brightfur might have laughed and joked with Drizzlestorm that their leader was a show-off, but not now. There was no Drizzlestorm here to joke with. There was just Squirreltail, who was looking more stressed then she had ever seen him before. Ever.

"So, you're saying that Drizzlestorm abandoned us for MoonClan, of all Clans?" Darkstar proclaimed, lashing his tail as he stalked in front of the new warriors.

Both Squirreltail and Brightfur nodded as one.

"Then why in the Dark Forest did you mousebrains not get me?" their leader roared, his back fur bristling as he glared with angry silver eyes. Squirreltail flinched backwards, but Brightfur stared her leader—and grandfather—directly in his eyes. Pine green clashed on silver as the young she-cat replied matter-of-factly, a smirk on her face.

"Silentvigil, remember?"

Darkstar hissed in annoyance and dug his claws deep into the dirt, but surprisingly didn't say anything more, just leapt back atop the Fire Rock and let out such a loud yowl, Brightfur thought it could have woken up the cats from EarthClan.

"Will all cats old enough to catch their own adders join here at the Fire Rock for a Clan Meeting?"

Slowly all of the cats of FlameClan began to trudge out of their dens, yawning and whispering with each other, wondering why there was a meeting this early. Eagletalon even padded out of the medicine cat den, looking curiously up at the leader.

Brightfur spotted Gingermoon gazing around, looking for her kits. The silver she-cat felt a stab of pain deep inside when she knew her foster mother's amber gaze wouldn't rest on Drizzlestorm.

"Cats of FlameClan," meowed the dark leader gravely. "For unknown reasons, Drizzlestorm has left our Clan and has run away to MoonClan."

Shocked mews echoed throughout the clearing, but Gingermoon's was the loudest of them all. "That's impossible—not my little kit! Not my Drizzy!" The ginger and silver she-cat wailed loudly and collapsed, making Brightfur feel sick. She could hardly get out the next words.

"S-she has." It was with a tremendous effort that the silver warrior said this without wailing herself. "I saw her."

The cats of FlameClan began to murmur even louder, and the ginger and white cat Flowerbreeze wailed, "What shall we do?" Her mother, Maplestep, curled her tail over her daughter's shoulder and glared out at the crowd as if they had caused her daughter's distress.

"We have to fight MoonClan for them," Whitescar meowed grimly.

"NO!"

Every cat stopped and looked up at Darkstar, who was hissing angrily as he paced back and forth. "We will not fight. In less than a quarter moon, there will be a Gathering." The leader looked at Shadowwhisker for confirmation, and the black medicine cat nodded her head.

Darkstar continued, "Drizzlestorm will show her face at that Gathering. Trust me, I know that she will. I've lead more cats than I can count—and I know young cats like her."

Someone in the crowd muttered something—on second glance, Brightfur noticed it was Fangscar, the only elder at the time. The white tom rolled his eyes and whispered something to Whitescar that sounded like "Icewhisker."

"Meeting dismissed," Darkstar yowled, and with one whisk of a night black tail, he disappeared back into his den. In a few short leaps, Berryfrost followed him, her grey-and-cream fur glistening in the dawn.

As the rest of the cats began to perform their morning duties, Brightfur found herself talking with Squirreltail and Ebonyflight, both of whom looked incredibly distressed.

"Oh, oh!" the brown tom wailed miserably. "I don't think I can wait 'till the Gathering!"

"You have to," Ebonyflight replied, but she was obviously panicked herself. "Look, I don't like this anymore than you do, but isn't the Clan leader's word law? That is part of the code, after all."

Squirreltail groaned, and Brightfur nodded, running her tail along his dusty brown flank. The tom sighed. "B-but I miss her so much already! I've never been apart—it's like we're twins! Except we don't look anything alike—but still!" His violet eyes were so mournful that Brightfur felt her heart rip into two.

"Maybe you should get some rest," Ebonyflight suggested, and without protest, Squirreltail padded into the warrior's den and disappeared from sight.

The silver she-cat's former mentor turned to look at her next. "Aren't you tired too?"

"I…I guess I am," Brightfur admitted, feeling a yawn creep past her jaws as she stretched. Right now a bed of warm, fresh moss sounded really good.

"Then go sleep," Ebonyflight whispered affectionately, butting Brightfur in the right direction. The silver she-cat stumbled into her new den and looked around through half-closed pine green eyes.

Three fresh nests had been prepared. One of them was occupied by a softly snoring brown hump that was Squirreltail. Two more nests were prepared next to his—one was completely empty, but another had a beautiful golden flower on the top and had a faint scent lingering on it. Was that…Eagletalon?

Brightfur padded over to the nest with the flower on it and huddled down, glancing over at the empty nest—no sweet, smoky scent, no piece of black-and-white fur tangled among the moss. There was only nothing.

And nothing it would stay.

Dun dun dunnnn