Maybe I should make a Bone and Jayfeather crossover story. There isn't a story on the site yet that has both of them listed as characters... hmm, I wonder how I'd do it.
delecttric Not a Lionblaze fan, I assume?
Runereader of the Nightwings Jayfeather is pretty neato- at least my fannon version is for sure. Ivypool is coolio too, but unfortunately she doesn't have an immense role in this story. If I remember correctly, she had a much more impactful role in the original Jayfeather's Conclusion.
MistLion After so many rough and harsh chapters, I figured we could slow down and take a short breather. I think everyone was looking forward to more JaxXBriar lemons- I mean cheese- I mean fluff! :)
P D Val de Fleur Mmmm, delicious and nutritious feedback. To respond to just some of the things you brought up: a lot of human terms don't exist in cat-speak so I try to make up some cool stuff. Erin Hunter already gives me plenty to work with like "crow food" and "Greencough." Yes, I think breaking traditions is important, especially if those traditions are flawed. And yes, there already is a list of all the cats at the beginning of the story in the allegiances. Also look up chirping cats on YouTube.
Jayfeather climbed confidently up the rocks with Briarlight at his side. His pads were rough and hardened from living over a moon in the mountains. They had been traveling for a long while and they were running out of time to keep searching the mountains before sundown. He really hoped he and Briarlight weren't wasting their time. He assumed if they found a cave with mystical properties, he would know, but he couldn't be sure. They had found plenty of divots and crevasses in the earth caused by the tremor, but none were large enough for the Tribe to live in nor seemed to have any connection with the ancestors.
Jayfeather, if you can hear me, I really wish you would come home. We need you so badly...
His mind was still distracted with thoughts. Over the past few days, the many cries of pain rising up from the base of the mountain had been snuffed out for one reason or another. He was absolutely sure he had heard Lionblaze's voice calling for him to return to the Clans and it was tearing his heart in two. Part of him wanted to stay loyal to his Clan's traditions, while the other part felt betrayed that they would never accept his love for Briarlight. Of course, he hadn't told Briarlight the whole truth because he didn't want to upset her.
Instead, he really did try to imagine a mock-fight between the two of them. Both of them had become faster and stronger since leaving the Clans, and it could be a fun test to see exactly how far the two of them had come. He had the weight and strength advantage, but she had working eyes and more battle-training.
"You are still thinking about the Clans, aren't you?" Briarlight meowed, interrupting his thoughts.
"No, actually I was thinking about my glory over you when we do decide to battle," he told her smugly. "Why would you think I was thinking about anything else?"
"I just know you really well," she meowed simply. "You get a distant look in your eyes. And you're ears, which are almost always swiveling to hear everything, are unnaturally still."
He was genuinely surprised that she could read his body language so well but he wouldn't admit that she was partially correct. He intentionally wiggled his ears. "No, see, they are definitely moving."
She purred. "So what is bothering you?
"I don't want to talk about it and it's nothing you haven't heard me say already," he meowed. "The Clans this, suffering that, you know it all."
Briarlight let out a bark of laughter. "Sassy Jayfeather has to be one of my favorite Jayfeathers."
"There is only one Jayfeather," he muttered, feeling his fur grow hot beneath his fur. "Just out of curiosity, what are some of your other favorite me's?"
"I mean, there aren't very many other options," she pointed out. "Grumpy, content, and bored are the only other ones I know."
His eyes grew wide in mock surprise. "Only four me's? What about 'beating up Pack cats' Jayfeather? Or maybe 'saving you from falling out of a tree' Jayfeather?"
"I'm pretty sure both of those times were grumpy Jayfeather."
He flicked his tail pretending to be angry. "Come on, let's keep walking." He kept his head lowered so she couldn't see the amusement across his face. I was actually scared when I saved you from falling out of the tree and filled with righteous fury when I fought Boulder.
"Jayfeather, over there!"
He turned as Briarlight raced away up the mountain. She must have spotted something. He followed slowly, feeling the ground beneath his paws begin to slope steeply.
"There is a cave here and it look big enough for cats to live inside," Briarlight described once he had joined her. "The only problem is there is a sheer cliff right next to it that goes thirty fox-lengths down.
He edged his way closer to the precipice. He could sense the open space in front of him and the wind threatened to pull him down. "This isn't safe enough for the Tribe to live and I don't feel any connection here with the ancestors. We'll keep looking."
Briarlight let out a loud moan of frustration. "Why couldn't the ancestors be more specific about what they wanted us to find and where to find it?"
He purred and took a few healthy steps away from the ledge. "Vagueness is something all ancestors share in common. None of them ever tell us exactly what to do, and because of that, we understand many of their prophecies only after they are complete." He stopped and thought about his own words. "But then I wonder why prophecies even exist if they come true without us doing anything to help them along." He noticed she was still giving off agitation from her pelt. "Is there something else you would rather be doing?"
Her tail swished through the air. "I'm sorry for being impatient, but can't you just go to the Tribe of Endless Hunting and demand answers?"
Jayfeather shook his head. "You know as well as I do that the ancestors can't be bullied or bribed. The best we can do is trust in them and... great StarClan, I'm regressing. I thought I was past the point where I put my absolute faith in our warrior ancestors."
"The Tribe of Endless Hunting is okay, but StarClan is not," Briarlight pointed out. "The Tribe have no rules that say two cats can't love each other... at least not that I know of."
"I suppose you are correct," Jayfeather agreed, remembering all the cooped up pain and anger he had felt while he was living in ThunderClan. Leaving the lake was the best decision he had ever made. "We'll be done with all kinds of ancestors once we leave the mountains. I still plan on finding out the truth about Sol's SkyClan."
But he could tell Briarlight was still itching with pent-up feelings. Her fur felt like it was buzzing with disgruntled bees. "You are still not satisfied. What's wrong?"
She turned to him and her loving gaze washed over his pelt like a cool breeze on a hot day. "I've just been thinking about us. While we've been walking, I couldn't help but feel like we are wasting our precious time. Something horrible could happen again, and if one of us died, we'd wished we spent more quality time together while we still had the chance."
He was taken aback by the amount of emotion in her words but she made a good point. They had barely had any quality time alone since reuniting at the base of the mountain. At first they had been traveling with Jay and Crash, and then there was the kerfuffle between the Tribe and the Pack, and now they were still dealing with other cats' problems. "And you were pestering me for worrying about calamities and catastrophes."
She laughed. "All of your moping got me to start moping. I'm a hypocrite, I know, but I'm serious. I want us to be together again, alone."
I don't plan on staying much longer," he meowed softly, padding to her side and pulling her close with his paw. "If I remember correctly, you said it was a noble cause to help other cats in need."
She pressed her muzzle into the fur on his shoulder so her words were muffled. "Now I feel bad."
He gave her a lick on the head. "Don't be hard on yourself. I am also itching to be moving along with our journey. Once we do this last favor for the mountain cats, I promise we'll be alone together at last."
Briarlight separated from him and her fur suddenly lit with energy. "Then what are we waiting for! Let's find a cave that doesn't have a sheer drop next to it where cats can fall to their deaths!"
"I was thinking the exact same thing," he meowed cheerily, following her. Happy Briarlight is my favorite.
"0.0"
It was almost sundown and Jayfeather was carefully padding back down the mountain towards the Pack's cave with Briarlight right behind him. He had made the decision that it was time to return since they were having no luck finding anyplace that could be useful. His paws weren't tired but instead felt weighed down by guilt. They were just as close to finding answers now as they were at the beginning of the day. Perhaps Flora and Nettle are having better luck than we are.
The evening chill was creeping across the stones again but he could tell that it was noticeably less cold compared to a moon ago. In fact, the breeze rustling his pelt was quite pleasant. Even though the tremor had rearranged a lot of the rocks and even altered the airflow that tumbled down from the top of the mountain, he had already mapped out the land in his head. He knew exactly where he was, the direction to the Pack's cave, and where the old border between the Pack and Tribe lay; it was only a few fox-lengths away. They had traveled almost as far as where the Tribe's old cave had stood before turning around.
"Can we stay out a little bit longer," Briarlight asked, suddenly stopping. "There are no clouds and I bet the moon will look gorgeous."
"I couldn't care less what the moon looks like," Jayfeather stated flatly. "But I wouldn't mind waiting a little bit longer before we head back. I just don't want the others to get worried and send a search patrol for us."
"I'd be insulted if they sent a patrol to try and find us," Briarlight laughed, sniffing the air and guiding him towards a patch of thyme. "Haven't we proven that we can take care of ourselves?"
Jayfeather breathed in the sharp and familiar scent of the herbs. They were used for cats in shock but everyone had recovered enough from the disaster that they wouldn't be necessary. "What if a Sharptooth attacked?" he joked. "Do you think we could handle that?"
Briarlight flopped down in the dirt. "You mean a mountain monster a dozen times larger than us that enjoys eating cats? I'm glad those don't live around here anymore."
He purred and lay down beside her, curling his tail around his muzzle to keep himself warm. "They might. The mountains are vast and plenty of it is outside of the Tribe's border. Who knows what other creatures could be lurking among the rocks waiting for a chance to attack."
She suddenly leapt to her paws, scattering the tiny thyme leaves in her excitement. "I guess we would have to fight it together! I'd claw at it like this, and then do this-" her paws swished through the air, ripping through a stalk of the leafy herbs that surrounded them. "-and then I would drop a huge rock on its head, just like Feathertail did in the stories."
He laughed. "That was probably the best imitation of a freshly made apprentice I have ever heard."
She dropped back down to the ground beside him, panting. "Don't forget that I was only an apprentice when the tree fell on me and put me in the medicine den for all those seasons. I should be allowed to have fun now that I'm free to run and hunt again."
Her purr of affection was so loud, he could feel it in his bones. "Of course you are," he meowed. "No cat can take away the second chance you were given."
The two of them lay beneath the thyme, listening to the gentle gusts of mountain air rustle through the leaves. Jayfeather felt at peace for the first time in a long time. For few heartbeats, his mind was clear of all the confusion and uncertainty he had felt over the past few days. All that mattered was the moment he was sharing with Briarlight. Neither of them said anything else until the night was fully upon them and the sun had gone down below the mountain top.
"It is half-moon tonight," she sighed. "I wonder if all of the medicine cats will be going to the moonpool."
He rolled over onto his back so he was facing the sky. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew the half-moon was high above his head. "Maybe," he meowed. "With StarClan's guidance, I know the Clans will be okay. Besides, they are safer down there where the mountains can't collapse and crush them to death. I've stopped worrying, you should too."
But he could tell from the restless flickering of her tail that she wasn't convinced.
He turned his head towards her. "What?"
"What what?"
"What are you worrying about?" he pressed. "No, I didn't read your mind, I could tell because you are twitching like you always do when you are upset about something."
Briarlight purred in amusement. "We really do know each other well. I guess that happens when you live in the same den for so many seasons. If you really want to know what's bothering me, it's the fact that you said you could feel misery drifting up from the base of the mountains for many days after the tremor. If the horrible calamity really was just a quick shake, why would so many cats be suffering for so long afterwards? Surely most cats would have been fine unless they were underneath something when it happened."
"That's a good point." He turned his head to face the sky again. "Something else must be going on down there. But we won't know for sure until we make the journey down the mountain ourselves. Until then, I don't want to think about it."
"Fine. Let us never bring it up again," Briarlight agreed.
They both fell silent and let the sounds of the mountain twine around them. There were no trees to shake their leaves in the wind, nor owls to shatter the air with their cries. Instead, Jayfeather enjoyed the almost complete quiet. The only time he had experienced true silence was when he had been inside the underground tunnels that criss-crossed the lake territory. It had been moons ago, but he still remembered the earthy scents and the suffocating hollowness he had felt as he was crawling through the depths. But we made sure to collapse all of the entrances to the tunnels so no cat will ever get trapped down there again.
"I wish you could see the stars and the moon," Briarlight sighed, a glimmer of sorrow etching her meow. "And the rocks and the plants and the clouds. The nights are really pretty in the mountains."
"I wish I could see it all, too," he murmured. He had vision in his dreams but he could only imagine what the real world looked like. "Why don't you describe it to me."
"Sure, I can do that," she meowed, cheering up a little. She sat up and let her tail rest on his chest. "Firstly, the moon looks like it is cut right down the middle as if a giant star cat ripped half of it away."
"And I thought Sharptooth was bad enough," he joked. "Just imagine a cat so big, they could eat the moon."
She purred and carried on. "There are clouds in the sky but they are wispy and far away. They remind me of ripples of water in a river."
He tried to imagine the picture in his head. "Keep talking."
"There aren't any real trees growing on the mountain, just shrubs, but the flowers are in full bloom and they look like they are made of silver ice in the moonlight. The rocks and boulders around us are leaving rolling shadows on the earth, and if I look down the mountain towards the lake..."
"What is it?" Jayfeather meowed, noticing her surprise. "Are the Clan territories visible from here?"
Briarlight couldn't explain what she was seeing and there was silence for a few moments. "I- I can't see much because everything looks like smudges from up here, but I think the ground around the mountains is reflecting the moon? Does that make any sense?"
"The ground is reflecting the moon," Jayfeather pondered. "Are you looking at a pond or a lake that might be causing the reflection?"
"No, there definitely weren't any ponds or lakes there when we passed the twolegplace," she told him. "There was a river but no body of water big enough to reflect the whole moon. It's as if everything is covered with water."
He didn't like the sound of that. "Maybe there was a flood. That might explain why I detected prolonged suffering rising up from below. I don't know if the ground shaking could have caused it."
"How could it?" she mused. "It wouldn't make any sense that shaking rocks caused water to cover so much land. Maybe it has something to do with the twolegs, they are always doing strange things."
"Maybe," Jayfeather meowed. It was very late and their friends would definitely be getting worried about them. He stood up. "I think we should head back. We'll find out if there actually is a flood once we get down the mountain. Come on."
She got to her paws and padded to his side as they began their walk back to the cave. "I know we agreed not to mention it, but I'm sure the Clans can deal with a flood. They have in the past."
"That is true," he agreed. The Clan territories often flooded after leaf-bare ended since all the melted snow would drain into the lake and raise the water level. "I'm more worried that we will never find the Pack's ancestors no matter how much we explore the mountains."
"Or a new home for the Tribe," Briarlight added. "Maybe we'll be stuck up here forever trying to find a way to help the mountain cats."
Jayfeather purred in amusement and shook his head vigorously. "I won't let that happen. No matter what, I plan for us to leave within a quarter moon, if not just a couple of days. It is about time we continued our journey."
Apologies for the long wait. I had about 2500 words done and then couldn't figure out how to finish the chapter. I tried three different endings and none of them seemed to be working. I also lost motivation for the story...
