All this switching around in time is tough work, actually! We're back to a new part of this whole thing. This time, Skysong will give us her take on the events of "when the border falls."

Hopefully this should answer some of the questions I've gotten re: StarClan and what happens next :)

Chapter 35: The Cat Who Created Paradise

The moment the border fell, everything blew apart. Every realm Skysong had ever reached or dreamed of reaching was torn asunder, left to drift as isolated planes for a terrifying, enduring time. Skysong felt herself root into the very core of it all and stood there, her eyes shut tight, as wind she couldn't control buffeted around her ears and made her fur tingle, like she was being frozen and torn apart herself.

When it all stopped, Skysong opened her eyes tentatively and screamed. Lying beneath her paws was absolutely nothing – just open sky below her. She scrambled for a second before realizing that she wasn't falling. Skysong flexed her claws and found that she was not standing on open sky – but some layer of solid ground, like ice maybe, that she could see entirely through.

"Where am I?" asked Skysong, but no one answered her. She shivered. She had never felt so alone. She crawled back and looked around, and she could see everything at once. At least, that's what it felt like. Massive orbs, like boulders, hovered around her, each one holding images of the others.

First she saw the interior of a cave – Mountainstone standing back-to-back with Bluemoon, fighting as shadows swooped in around them. Her ears flattened to her head, and Skysong tried to reach out as best she could with her mind, her paws, everything. The orb hovered in the air above her, showing her the images, but far outside her grasp. She was no closer to reaching Mountainstone than she was to reaching this orb.

Sitting back, Skysong looked at the other floating orbs around her. The next she noticed held Birdfeather, Jayfeather, and Rushfire hopping through what looked like Old StarClan. But it wasn't Old StarClan. As she peered through the transparent surface and into the images of the realm of her fallen ancestors, she realized that this wasn't Old StarClan at all. Parts of it were from StarClan's hunting grounds, yes – but other pieces were from the Dark Forest. She recognized those cruel, looming trees just as she recognized that this was also a realm she could no longer reach.

Skysong flexed her claws. If she couldn't do anything, could Ivypool? She looked around the orbs around her head and located Ivypool stepping with caution through the world-between-worlds, sititng before a ginger-and-white cat Skysong vaguely recognized but could not place. That looked safe, but Ivypool looked frustrated, hopping between paw to paw and clearly trying to use her powers. Once, Skysong and Ivypool had shared the same power to cross between the realms. Here, though, Skysong felt that power fading, like she had always been ordinary.

She saw Willowleaf and Mouseclaw in an orb just beyond the one containing Ivypool. They were walking through what looked like a field made of grey grass. Skysong recognized that field as the one that she had been dreaming of for moons upon moons. It was their field. The field where the prophecy had come to them all. Tall greyish, dark grass, paths of tinted grass that fled away. Skysong now saw that there were five paths, as there always had been, but they lead together into a hollow. That was where Mouseclaw and Willowleaf were headed, but why, Skysong couldn't say.

If…if I am in the way of Willowleaf doing her duty…please don't let her save me. Mouseclaw's words rang back to Skysong, and she took a deep breath. They would be fine. Willowleaf would protect Mouseclaw just as passionately as he would protect her. Skysong knew she had always underestimated their love, but she feared doing that now. She didn't know what lay in store for Willowleaf, and watching her walk along a path of grass white as snow, Skysong couldn't see where it would end.

There were more orbs, too. Doveheart was strolling through the trees in leaf-bare, looking around the trunks to see where she had been placed, and why she had been left there all alone. Skysong investigated the orb, but from what she could see, Doveheart was not in danger. Another orb held Lionstar and Icecloud, and Skysong breathed out in relief as she saw that they were talking to cats she recognized: Bramblestar and the rest of New StarClan, sitting there. She tried to get closer to that orb, which hung slightly out of reach of the next. But as her paws slowly moved, the orb drifted away. Unlike the others, it was cloudy – but Skysong could see, if she squinted, that the entirety of the world where New StarClan rested was shifting every few seconds. It was like they were standing on the branches of trees that were about to give way.

"What am I supposed to do?" said Skysong. She glanced around at the orbs again, at each of her family members. They were all facing their own trials, but she was trapped here just watching them.

Light flashed out of the corner of her eye, and Skysong whirled, hoping it would give her some clue. She stood there staring as the orbs suddenly flew into a tight circle, all connected once more, with the orb of grey-and-white, the world-between-worlds, in the center.

Skysong watched Bluemoon plummet into the abyss and cried out, but her words rang out in empty space and vanished, and no one heard them. She saw Ivypool leap out of the frame of one world and into the next, standing beside Mountainstone. Skysong felt rears running down her face and her jaw trembling open as she watched Mountainstone rage. She could hear his cries, even if the orb was silent. She watched Ivypool and Mountainstone escape, and the bright form of Bluemoon appear in the hollow of the moon, waving her tail at them.

And right next to it, she saw Birdfeather set the hollow of Old StarClan on fire. She cried out as the hunting ground blazed brightly, as everything went up in flames. She watched Birdfeather and Jayfeather tumble into the world-between-worlds, saw Mapleshade swoop down on them. As Jayfeather and Breezepelt burned, Skysong screamed. She leaped for the orbs and could not touch them with her claws. She tried to focus on the feeling of wind behind her paws and leap higher, but it was like there was no wind here. There was only her screaming into nothingness, and the orbs.

I need to get to them. I need to get to them. Skysong lashed out, her claws reaching midair, over and over again. She faltered and tripped and went splaying out onto the open skyspace. The transparent surface like ice held. Skysong could see her tears trembling on the surface to overlay a background of bright stars. Fire danced behind her still from the reflection of the orbs Birdfeather had set on fire. Skysong winced as she heard something shatter and crash. She turned around to see the orb that had once provided her vision to Old StarClan careen into the transparent surface and pass right through it, returning to the empty sky below her. Skysong watched it fall, taking slow breaths in and out.

"Skysong." At the voice, Skysong started suddenly. She looked around for another cat, any other source of life here, but there were only the orbs. Then, again – Skysong.

Skysong looked up and realized that a new orb was revolving slowly beneath the orb she had seen Doveheart in. And there, every few seconds: Skysong. Her name was the only single word she could hear.

She approached cautiously and stood right underneath the orb she had failed to notice, and saw with a rush of excitement that it was Greyheart. The scene he moved through was unlike all the others, which were full of pain and only death. As Skysong stared into its depths, it seemed to get bigger. She could feel a little of her power returning to her, enabling her to leak some of her consciousness into this orb.

She had no time to consider why this orb and not the others, but suddenly she could see the events inside it all around her and hear everything. It was very obviously a dream, but Greyheart probably couldn't see that.

They were in ThunderClan's camp in the early days of green-leaf, and Greyheart was moving around carefully. Skysong glanced down at her paws to see that she didn't even exist in the dream. She couldn't call out to Greyheart, but she could watch him. She saw him stop as a sleek she-cat appeared from the entrance to camp. This cat was the most lovely cat Skysong could imagine: light grey and mottled, like Skysong, but with more grace than Skysong had ever had. She was a dream-like construction, and Skysong knew that. She felt a tinge of jealousy as Greyheart watched her move – why was he looking at any she-cat that wasn't Skysong like this?

The beautiful she-cat approached a tom snoozing in the sun. He, too, was beautiful: dark grey and powerfully built, shimmering slightly because he was so perfect he had to be a dream. As the she-cat approached, the tom looked up.

"Good morning," said the she-cat in a sing-song voice. Skysong pricked her ears at the sound, hoping she would catch a name, but the name seemed to be muffled. The tom replied by looking up with eyes bright, blue, and in every way identical to Skysong's eyes.

"Mother should call the Clan meeting soon," said the she-cat. "I hear she plans to name new warriors."

"Really?"

"All cats gather for a Clan meeting!" It was a progression too convenient for real life. It fulfilled all of Greyheart's desires, that was all. Skysong looked up in time with the rest of the camp – the empty, somewhat distorted camp – to see herself. But it was not herself as she knew herself: this cat was brighter, somehow. This Skysong glowed and shone with every turn of her head. She regarded them all with a temperate gaze, and eyes brighter than Skysong had ever realized herself to have.

"See, what did I tell you?" murmured the she-cat.

It hit Skysong then what imaginary cats Greyheart was dreaming of, and she felt her heart give out slightly at the very thought. Suddenly she hungered for more of the words of the two cats, the idealized kits Greyheart wanted to have with her. As she turned to try to make out their faces and memorize them, something else caught her eye: a grey-like shimmer to the edges of the world. Skysong recognized this shimmer as what happened before someone would wake up – but it was stronger, almost. The world of Greyheart's dream was losing its color, becoming less bright and ideal, but Greyheart himself was not fading. That didn't suggest waking up.

Skysong felt herself tumbling back from the dream and shook her head, dislodging herself from the orb. She was back on the odd transparent surface that hung over the stars.

The first thing she noticed was that there was a shaking in the air – a tremor that almost felt like a wind. The orbs were turning carefully, beginning to spin. Skysong was drawn to stare at the orb where New StarClan and Lionstar and Icecloud were still locked in conversation. That orb seemed like it was cracking.

"How can that be?" murmured Skysong. She looked around at the others: Greyheart was becoming brighter in a world that was becoming duller. Doveheart was doing the same. Willowleaf and Mouseclaw were still walking, unfazed, and everyone in the center orb was alright. But Old StarClan was gone, and New StarClan was fading, and the dreams were falling apart. Would New StarClan vanish, too? She thought there was supposed to be something that saved New StarClan and granted them their own hunting grounds. But right now, nothing was happening. It was like they were all being swallowed up into grey darkness. If someone didn't do something…

I must do something. Skysong turned and looked all around herself. She could feel the wind that blew behind her ears grow a little stronger, definitely a breeze now. What were stars, if not the sky? What was the sky, if not for air? She was all of those things. She could make them into being.

Skysong closed her eyes and sat back on her hindlegs, then focusing hard, she grabbed hold of the slight wind with all of her might. It bent to her will as it always should have. Skysong gave up on trying to reach the other orbs and focused on bending the wind, shaping it, turning it into a solid sphere that spun. Skysong opened her eyes and cast her new orb into the space where Old StarClan's orb had been.

The second the circle was complete, Skysong gasped out and felt her body come undone. She panicked at first, but in the back of her mind, she knew she had to give in. So she let her body fold and leak into the new orb she had created.

Skysong felt herself existing outside her body. She hovered above an empty grey plane that seemed to be both sky and ground at the same time. But it was all star-space, it was all…sky. She could shape the sky.

Which is what she did. Carefully, Skysong commanded the world to take shape: she called up grass made of wind, and trees bent out of space, and moonlight dripped upon the plains and the fields. Skysong didn't know what she was doing really – she was curving the lines, making everything the way it should have been. Order. That was what Skysong had always sought. She could create it now; order could flow from her paws so easily. She almost laughed aloud with delight as she hovered and turned about the new realm of her own devising.

Here there were no harsh boundaries between evil and good, and there was no unstable border that would one day fall. It was one realm, beautiful and shaped from the air and space itself. Skysong felt her body drifting back to her, light as a feather. She fell into the embrace of her own realm, which welcomed her.

Skysong could breathe again, and this time, she was no longer the creator, just another inhabitant of a realm. It felt like…it felt like StarClan's hunting grounds had once felt. Skysong looked up, feeling moonlight splatter her pelt. In the back of her mind she felt this orb solidify, and other orbs spill and crack and break.

The shapes of cats appeared carefully: Ivypool and Mountainstone, Birdfeather and Jayfeather. Skysong sat up to meet them. Then Doveheart appeared, too, stumbling out into the field. Each one looked around this new place with eyes wide open, amazed. Skysong felt very weak suddenly.

"You did it, Skysong." She looked over her shoulder and saw Littlefalcon appear tentatively, his pelt brighter than usual, his tail waving slightly. His eyes were pure amber and smart as they always had been. Skysong had never felt such relief to see her brother. Littlefalcon touched her flank with his tail. "You've created New StarClan's hunting grounds."

"Is that what this place is?" Birdfeather opened her mouth with glee as she looked around. "It's even more beautiful than Old StarClan was."

"You created this?" Mountainstone shook his head. "This is amazing, Skysong."

"I saw what you all did," whispered Skysong. "You were all amazing, too."

"Look," murmured Doveheart. Skysong turned in the direction the tabby she-cat was indicating towards and saw figures approach. She stood up on weak paws, suddenly exhausted, but she felt sudden relief.

It was Lionstar and Icecloud, leading New StarClan into their proper home. Skysong felt like running to her parents and burying herself in their scents and their pelts, trying her best to become like a kit again. She had done it. She felt it in her bones: that this was the part of her destiny that had always been fixed, no matter how much meddling Littlefalcon chose to do.

"Skysong." At the front of New StarClan was Firestar, looking every bit the leader of legend she had always been taught of. He smiled, green eyes calm. "You've done so well."

"Is this it?" said Lionstar, turning to Firestar. "Is it over yet?"

"Not yet," murmured Littlefalcon. "Trials remain."

Skysong turned to her brother then and looked around at the group.

"Where's Willowleaf?" asked Skysong. She blinked. "Everything is together, I feel we were all pulled here, but…"

"Her part in this still remains to be decided," said Littlefalcon. He sighed deeply and shook his head.

"We can help her, can't we?" Birdfeather said. "We need to help her."

"I was told Willowleaf was far away," said Ivypool. "Outside the origins of the border and…and everything." Ivypool's ears twitched. "I can't sense any channel that would allow me to reach her."

"We have to let Willowleaf decide what to do now," said Littlefalcon. His amber eyes were sad, like he had feared something all along that was finally upon them. Skysong wanted to ask what that something was, but Littlefalcon knew, and he rested his tail on her shoulder.

"We'll wait and see what happens," he said. "We have to believe in Willowleaf now."

Skysong nodded and thought of Willowleaf, and in that beautiful space, the paradise she had created, they waited to see what would become of the real world.

Where there is destruction, there will always, always be creation. 3 At least in this fic.

It's a bittersweet thing, getting rid of Old StarClan. I'm really sorry it had to happen, and for a while, I looked for all sorts of ways out. This was like the final plot decision I made, but I think there's this whole thing with the remaining kiddos (Littlefalcon/Willowleaf) that would make more sense with New StarClan being this new era. So, yeah. New hunting grounds for New StarClan.

If it wasn't clear, there also is no Dark Forest. Because the only thing worse than having evil cats in StarClan is leaving evil cats to fester somewhere alone and vulnerable to growing even more corrupted. :/

~Elsi