I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. What's wrong with me? Why didn't I bother to update for over four months? Ugh, no point crying over spilled milk. But I want you to know that I really am sorry. I won't do it again. Maybe I've been away for too long for anyone to care about this story anymore, but I promised I'd eventually finish this story, so I will. Thank you so much for reading, and for reviewing. You guys are the best. Now, since it has been over four months, you may need a refresher course (I know I needed one to write this chapter!) so for what it's worth, here are some story highlights. Read them if you want. It might be kind of out of order, but that doesn't really matter.
Moonkit is born. Twigpelt predicts that she's in for an interesting destiny, and says she shouldn't be named Moon. Mistblossom listens to the part about her having a cool destiny but ignores his warning about the name.
Mistblossom tells Moonpaw about Twiggy's prediction that she's gunna have a radicool destiny.
Moonpaw thinks that there's something more to Mist and Twig's hatred for one another than meets the eye.
RiverClan attacks.
Moonpaw learns that Mist hates Twig because when Mist was a kit and Twig was an apprentice, sickness was attacking the Clan and Twig's mentor (Mintleaf) died. Twig dealt with his grief by running away from the Clan, and Mist's mother died. Moonpaw still thinks that there's something more to the story.
Moonpaw becomes a medicine cat apprentice.
RiverClan keeps stealing food from SkyClan and this list is totally out of order. Brackenstar unsuccessfully attacks them once, and won't attack RiverClan again to make them stop, so a group containing Branchtail, a friend of Moonpaw's called Briarpaw, Rainbreeze (who's the deputy), Brighteyes, Gorsepelt, and maybe some cats I'm forgetting plans to attack RiverClan themselves.
During a visit, StarClan tells Moonpaw that she, Twigpelt, and Mistblossom will all die in a battle. Moonpaw becomes sure that this battle is the one Branchtail is trying to start.
Twig and Moonpaw think maybe that they can prevent their deaths, and they meet with the rebel group to try and convince them to call it off.
A ditsy young writer types up an author's note promising to update within a week.
And that brings us up to now. And away we go, right back to the meeting with Branchtail and company, on the day the battle is set to go down!
"You don't want us to assume we're right?" Twigpelt scoffed. "Everyone assumes they're right."
"I want you to keep an open mind, that's all." Branchtail glanced back at her comrades. "Let's get down to business. The hunger caused by RiverClan is a significant hazard to our health. Agreed?"
Twigpelt nodded. Moonpaw reluctantly did the same. "That doesn't mean it'll be worth it," she said.
"Do you concede that successfully attacking RiverClan would probably stop them from stealing from us?"
"If you strike them hard enough, then RiverClan would probably stop stealing," Twigpelt said. "Please remember that 'if.'"
"And if we manage to sustain no injury ourselves, then we would certainly not lose anything?"
"No!" Moonpaw meowed. "Lost time, angering RiverClan, waste of energy, getting Brackenstar mad at you!"
"Those are petty compared to the amount of prey we're losing."
Moonpaw unsheathed her claws and raked the ground. "You don't even have any way to make sure that no one's hurt."
Briarpaw pushed her way in front of Branchtail, her mentor. "SkyClan cats are fast; RiverClan's slow. If things go wrong, we can be up in the trees and halfway to camp by the time it takes them to bring backup. Brackenstar brought too many cats when he attacked, that's why we failed then. With our little group, we can be in and out in two tail shakes."
Moonpaw flattened her ears against her head. "That's an okay plan, but it's no guarantee."
"But what if we don't attack?"
"Newleaf will come eventually," Twigpelt said. "If we can just hold out for it-"
"Because everyone knows that the instant the leaves come back, the river melts and forest is filled with prey," Branchtail said. "If we don't attack, cats will die. So what if one or two die even if we attack? If we don't go, it'll be the kits and elders who perish - the very cats we must protect the most. Better for one of our group to willing sacrifice himself in the pursuit of protecting the Clan than for a defenseless kit or elder to die pointlessly."
Better for a kit or elder to die and be mourned than for both medicine to die and the rest of the Clan to die as a result. But Moonpaw couldn't say that, at least not so blatantly. "But cats will die in the battle."
"Only either RiverClan thieves or willing SkyClan warriors."
Ugh, how could she stop this argument? It felt like she had been in this underground hideout for over four moons... "You have-"
"Very well," Twigpelt interrupted. "I see there's no persuading you."
"Excuse me?" Moonpaw hissed.
Twigpelt stood up. "Come along, Silver. We have patients to assist."
"Excuse me?"
Twigpelt tugged Moonpaw's tail with his teeth. "We're going."
Even Branchtail looked surprised. Couldn't Twigpelt see how nutty he was being? "No, we can't go!" Moonpaw hissed. He gently pulled her tail again.
"Go on," Branchtail said.
Mousedung, now she was being kicked out. The two medicine cats exited the hideout. "What?" Moonpaw snarled.
"Exactly what I said. There's no persuading them."
"Mousebrain! We could've just told them that StarClan said the battle would go wrong."
"When we asked Mintleaf in StarClan, she said 'do as you always do.' That means to act as we would even if we hadn't had both our deaths foretold. And in other circumstances, I would let Branchtail attack."
Moonpaw gritted her teeth. "That's stupid! If we were supposed to act exactly like we didn't know about the prophecy, why tell me about it in the first place?"
"I don't know, but we have to listen to Mintleaf's most recent message. Sorry, Silver."
Great. Tonight they would die, but that was just peachy, 'cause at least Twigpelt was sorry about it.
Updating within a week, this time for real. Thank you all for hanging with me!
