Hi this time I'll put the disclaimer because somehow I get sort of lost in the story and exactly what I want to happen. List of exclusive sneak peeks:
-Ivy will not stay fixated on Jay, she will move on with someone you will meet (but probably not expect) in possibly ten or so chapters, though she will always have a fear of dogs
-She will have a second run-in with the Clans, which you might already have suspected since you knew Crystal was planning to use Ivy to destroy them
-Slick will get to play his part, and it will be important too
-I'll probably make a sequel about Ivy's daughter
-Unfortunately, unfriendly rogues do show up, because a) I need them for plot purposes, and b) they're fun and they make more fight scenes. Though this isn't much of a sneak peek, because it starts... right now in this chapter.
Mintflight0245- I'm so happy you like my story! I have as much fun writing it as you seem to have reading it. Your review made me really happy, it's made my day! I'll check out your story too ;) Thanks for the favourite! My first ever!
See ya at the end, where I will hopefully not have forgotten the disclaimer again. *bumps head against desk in frustration that she always forgets the freaking disclaimer.*
Chapter 16
Ivy lay in the sunshine, loving the way it warmed her fur and made her pelt look shiny. She purred as she finished the last bite of the squirrel she had caught earlier on in the day, burying the few bones that were to big for her to swallow without choking. She stretched luxuriously as sun rays rippled across her sleek fur. It was thick and well groomed, reflecting the sun. Muscles, barely hidden behind a thin layer of citypet fat that stubbornly remained, relaxed into her otherwise awkward stance.
She could hunt; she could fight; therefore she could survive, out there, in the hostile wild. Although it didn't seem all that threatening when it was all sunny and warm like this. Everything was lit up, and light seemed to fill the forest to the brim. It was already two moons since she had come back to the forest, and she had made the decision to stay. She couldn't face the Band again, and she didn't even know if they would accept her after vanishing a second time. She was happy in the forest. It wasn't a particularly safe place, but as Leaf-season wasn't far off, it was warm, and sunny, and so far, her luck had held.
She had sometimes heard or vaguely seen or smelled other cats, but, remembering Slick's advice, had kept well out of their way. Predators had enough to eat in their own territory, and she had now grown big enough that most foxes wouldn't attack her unless they were starving. Life was good, and it only showed signs of getting better. She was certain that almost no wild cat would realise that she wasn't forest-born now; she felt like she belonged here from the tip of her nose to the end of her tail.
She stopped stretching and started walking away, trying not to make too much noise, and succeeding, so as to hear anycat approaching before they heard her, or not to scare of prey that some other cat could be stalking. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, because she was pretty sure that she still couldn't take on a grown cat, though she beat Crystal more and more often.
Her mind wandered freely, her paws moving on their own on the now familiar paths of the forest. She let down her guard, submerged by thoughts on how leaving the City had been the best decision for her, that she was close to where Jay had lived and died... But had he? She hadn't known much, or enough, about him. She remembered, though, that he didn't like speaking about his family, and that every time he talked about his past, a shadow would obscure those strange green-gold eyes. She hadn't even found his body.
Then... She bumped into something. She closed her eyes against the pain: she had collided head-on with whoever it was, and they seemed to be in pain too. The cat smelled familiar though.
"Slick?" She didn't believe it; after all the time she had spent searching for him!
"Wait - what?" He mumbled. He had fallen into a clump of brambles and was doing his best to get out. "Ivy? Can you help me?"
Carefully avoiding the sharp thorns, bit away a few stems that were tangled in his fur and paws. Now he could get up, and he could explain why she hadn't found him in two moons. She said so.
"Well," he meowed, between licks of his not-so-slick black fur, "I found... I found a body. It was Jay... I could smell cats on it, but I got a bit confused, because..." Slick swallowed. "Because he's obviously been caught by a dog, there was only cat scent. Anyway, I buried him. I kept vigil, because, even though I didn't know him well, he saved my life, so -"
"Wait," Ivy interrupted, "what's a vigil?"
Looking mildly surprised, Slick answered. "Well it's when you knew a cat well, or you owe them in some way, and they die, you sit with the body without sleeping on the night following the death. Most cats prefer to hide the scent of death with rosemary and lavender. You in general reminisce over memories you shared, and groom their pelts and arrange them so it looks like they're sleeping. And you bury them at dawn."
Suddenly, Ivy wished she had been able to do that for Jay.
"After that, I didn't really feel like staying. I needed to sort myself out after Jay's death and... other stuff that's been happening." He added evasively. "So I left. I wanted to travel again, but much further than before and of my own free will."
Well that's a lot of secrets in one sentence. What other stuff? What does he mean, travel again? And of his own free will? Sounds like he was forced to travel. But isn't travelling a choice that you make if you want to see the world? Confused, Ivy decided not to ask him questions which he didn't seem like he would be comfortable answering.
"So when I was travelling, I settled down in a place very far away from here. I was quite happy there. But I soon realised that my home is here, and that I missed it. So I came back." Slick finished licking out the last thorns. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, nothing half as interesting as you." She knew she was lying but Crystal had told her not to tell anycat about their dream meetings. "I -"
Something jumped out at them. Two more shadows followed. "What are you doing here?" The first cat, a huge, light grey tom, demanded. "This is Blood territory."
Behind him, a black, green-eyes she-cat, and a shaggy-pelted dark brown tom with brilliant amber eyes swished their tails and raised their hackles, ready for attack.
The timeline is not the one that I set before. Redtail and Dustpaw appeared but imagine some other cats were there. This is far before Firestar's time, but after SkyClan was driven out. AU where BloodClan was formed around the time of Dawn of the Clans, and is named Blood because I guessed that it was Tigerstar's idea to make their name into a Clan name. Hope that Ivy gets out alive, because they're just as fierce as they are before they are defeated. Leaving you hanging ;)
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~Crystalshine of LightClan (REVIEW!)
