Warriors: The New Era.
Chapter Eleven: Fernsong's Story.
This chapter is focused on Fernsong (no shit) and what he went through and what he escaped.
I applaud Watermist and her opinion, because that has helped me greatly in writing future chapters.
So let's get to it!
He was locked in the Foxcave's separate room, used for storage, being watched via the camera's. He knew she was watching, and he hated it.
"Stop staring at me!" Fernsong roared glaring at the camera.
His mother's voice came over the intercom "No! If you have Lionblaze's strength, you could easily bust yourself out...so you have to be watched. 24/7."
Fernsong growled leaning against the wall of the empty room "I have a mission! I won't let my future be contaminated!"
"It's not your future to change! You can't change the-"
"CAN EVERYONE STOP FUCKING SAY THAT?!" Fernsong roared, clenching his fists "I WILL! I WILL CHANGE MY LIFE, AND YOURS!"
Silence. The camera kept watching him.
Fernsong groaned, thumping his head against the wall "Poppyfrost trusted me. Why can't you?"
"My sister isn't me."
"Clearly! She can see reason, something YOU can't!" Fernsong growled "I can rip myself out of this whenever I want, you know."
"I do. So why haven't you?"
"Because if I do," Fernsong snarled "None of you will trust me."
"And shouting at us won't make it either!" Cinderheart shot back.
Fernsong scoffed, closing his eye.
He laid in the darkness, furious. He'd come to far to have been turned back. To far. He had fought Titans, Dragons, Robots, all for this. He would stop Sol. Even if he had to die in the process. He'd lost to much to him.
"Am I...am I alive, in the future?"
Fernsong bit his lip "I shouldn't say..."
"Am I?"
Fernsong sighed, no longer caring "Yeah...but you're not really alive either. Once da...once Lionblaze died, you became a husk. You don't speak, you don't fight, you just sit and stare off into space with a dejected look. I was raised by Aunt Hollyleaf…"
"Fernsong! Get back here!" Hollyleaf ordered.
Fernsong giggled, racing through the streets...cars were moving at a steady pace, and he was enjoying the thrill of running from his aunt. He glided across the sidewalk, dodging random strangers and people who simply shrugged at the boy.
"Come catch me Auntie!" Fernsong grinned, taking a sharp turn into a alleyway.
"FERNSONG! YOU COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" Hollyleaf roared.
Fernsong looked behind him for a split second. That was a second that changed his life.
He hit something and slammed to the ground. He thought he hit a wall, but when he looked up he saw a hulk of a man, with short brown hair. He was dressed in a soldier's uniform. Behind him was a beaten up young man with bruises and swollen skin everywhere.
"Well...lookie here," The man grinned, crossing his arms "S'up kid."
Fernsong looked up in horror "Are you a bully?"
The man chuckled and grinned "I guess so...you alone?"
"No he's not," Hollyleaf immediately came to view, standing between her nephew and the man "Please...we don't want any trouble..."
The Soldier eyed her up and down, staring in places he shouldn't have "I can letcha go...for a price you're more then able to pay."
Fernsong gasped as Hollyleaf immediately slapped the man, causing a huge red mark on his man grunted and staggered back, but he quickly grinned fiercer.
"Now that's not you treat a man..."
"You're not a man," Hollyleaf curled her lip "You're a pig."
The man outstrecthed his arm and punched Hollyleaf in the jaw, and Fernsong screamed in suprise. Hollyleaf's back slammed against the wall, as the man targeted her again, relaying a flurry and fast combo of punches. Blood spewed from Hollyleaf's mouth, as Fernsong was to shocked to do anything. The man showed no mercy, seemingly caring little for her safety or his reputation.
It eventually came to Fersnong knowledge much later on in life that the man was in fact a soldier, and not dressed as one. And the man he'd been beating before his aunt, had accused him of sleeping with his wife, which the soldier didn't deny, and seemed proud of it. Fernsong took it as a lesson that looks are decieveing. Anyone can be a villian, no matter how trustworthy they seem, or how holy their reputation is.
Fernsong cowered in fear as the man turned to him "Okay kid. Yeah I'm a bully. You ever been bullied? It's super painful...to you!"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Fernsong yelled, instinctively, throwing a punch.
The man flew back and crashed through the brick wall.
Poppyfrost smiled, looking at her old room. She used to share bunk beds with Honeyfern while Cinderheart got a queen sized bed. She rememered how every week they would trade off sleeping locations, because each of them thought the other one was better, no matter which bed they had.
Poppyfrost shut the door, and walked up the stairs out of the basement, now entering the kitchen where Honeyfern was waiting.
"You didn't change the room, it's just like when I left," Poppyfrost pointed out.
Honeyfern shrugged, and softly smiled "We knew you'd come back."
Poppyfrost lowered her head "I...I wasn't."
Honeyfern's smile fell and then she sighed, leaning on the table, folding her arms "Where were you?"
"Take a guess," Poppyfrost smirked.
Honeyfern took a long look at her and smirked "Alderheart's sister came with you, so I can assume that you were in Riven."
Poppyfrost nodded "Keep going."
"Judging by your stench, I'd say you'd been sewer for quite a while," Honeyfern deduced "But...since no one really wants to go into a sewer, and you hate defecation, I'd say you were in something other then a sewer. So...the Court of Miracles."
Poppyfrost nodded "Doing well...what else...?"
Honeyfern bit her lip, thinking hard "You look like you haven't had any sun, so you've been underground..."
"You're on fire, what else?" Poppyfrost smirked.
Honeyfern shook her head "That's all I got."
Poppyfrost clapped her hands "Good job Sherlock. You noticed everything of importance."
"Except why you left in the first place," Honeyfern replied.
Poppyfrost's eyes turned ice cold "I had my reasons."
"If you needed help, we-"
"No...it's...it's not that," Poppyfrost's mind briefly returned to Scourge before focusing "I just...needed to go. You wouldn't understand."
"I would if you'd tell me!" Honeyfern exclaimed "We're sisters! I'll always be there for you."
"Yeah, well what if I don't want you to?" Poppyfrost shot back "I...I don't you to go through that. Scourge has me marked...and as long as I'm gone...his sights are off you."
Honeyfern frowned, and then walked past her, opening the fridge for a soda "So...what's next? Will you come back after Scourge dies?"
"No," Poppyfrost answered firmly "I don't belong here. My loyalties lies to my people."
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Honeyfern scoffed, grabbing a can of orange soda, and shutting the door rather forcefully "You became the queen...of what? Rats and shit?"
"People who drew the short straw," Poppyfrost responded "They look up to me, and I've been coddled compared to their struggles. I help them...and they're loyal to me."
"So are we," Honeyfern muttered.
Poppyfrost sighed "Is my weapons cache still upstairs? I forgot it when I left."
Honeyfern nodded "Yeah. But we put the rifle in the garage."
Poppyfrost smiled "You wanna practice fencing?"
Honeyfern's eyes widened with memories of the past, and grinned "Sure."
"Don't forget to block!"
Fernsing grunted. He was older now, perhaps fifteen. His golden hair had now etched to his shoulders, like he hadn't cut it in a year or two. His green eyes were as bright as the Caribbean sea. His muscles were small, but that didn't mean he wasn't as strong as Samson.
He lifted his arm to block a swing from his instructor, a older man with natural gray hair and large biceps. His eyes were amber and they were focused on Fernsong.
Fernsong lifted his arm to block a wild swing, and delivered a counter strike to the man's chest, and continued with a flurry of punches in a windmill like fashion. He finished his combo with a clean shove to the man's chest.
Hollyleaf looked on in anticipation. Her raven hair now had outlines of age, and it green eyes shone with experience. She was overseeing Fernsong's training.
The Man grunted and attempted a roundhouse kick, that Fernsong ducked under. Fernsong sprang up and grabbed the man by his shoulders, headbutting him in the nose.
The man staggered back and clutched his bloody nose.
Fernsong tried to punch him again, but the man was quicker blocking and slamming his fist into the younger man's face in hard hitting haymaker. He finished it off by kicking the hot in the chest and launching him away.
As he stood up, Fernsong let out a roar of anger, his fist becoming coated on golden aura.
"NO!"
Too late.
Fernsong punched the man square in the chest, cracking all his ribs and squishing his stomach.
The man flew backwards and rolled across the floor, moaning and groaning in pain.
Hollyleaf was furious "You lost control."
"I have powers for a reason,' Fernsong smirked "Why not use them?"
Hollyleaf was in his face in a heart beat "Because overreliance on them is a weakness. They can fail you. Like they failed your father."
Fernsong flexed and tensed, regret filling his head "I'm sorry."
"You'd better be. Because of your arrogance, you've lost another training instructor."
"Life just went on you know? It was normal for me. Get up, train, eat, train some more, plan, repeat," Fernsong answered "I've been training ever since a child. I miss those days, when I saw the beauty in the world instead of the evil."
"Don't we all?" Cinderheart responded. She'd left the Foxcave and decided to get more familiar with her future son "So Hollyleaf raised you?"
"Yeah," Fernsong nodded "She was more of a mother to me then you. No offense."
"None taken?" Cinderheart shrugged "From what you've told me, I was barely there."
"This is the most I've ever heard you talk," Fernsong admitted.
Cinderheart sighed, remaining calm and professional "Do you hate me for not being there for you?"
"No," Came Fernsong's stern reply "I don't. When I was younger and more foolish yes, but now I realize that you tried, but not everyone can handle losing everything."
Cinderheart looked to the ground "How badly did we lose?"
Fernsong sighed "I think that's enough questions for today."
"One more! Please?" Cinderheart asked.
Fernsong nodded "Okay. One more..."
"You said earlier that Hollyleaf found a moonstone. And that she wasn't able to make the trip, so they sent you," Cinderheart reminded "Why? How'd she find the Moonstone?"
Hollyleaf fixed her eyes on her friend, using her magic to imbue the Moonstone to her nephew.
They were in Riven. Or what was left of it. It was barren, a ghost town. The sky was murky gray, and debris littered the roads.
Hollyleaf found the Moonstone a long time ago. She kept it, knowing that one day they'd need it. Jayfeather called her am idiot.
And now Jayfeather is dead.
Dovewing sighed "It's ready. I've imbued it to your body, you'll be able to summon it at will."
"Thank you," Fernsong replied. He was older now, his long golden hair cut into short wavy tufts like a lion's mane "I will save them."
Dovewing nodded "I know. My magic alone cant stop Sol. But all of us can."
"Why don't we just use the Moonstone and erase Sol?" Fernsong snapped his fingers "Just like that?"
"Because Sol has a weapon that can null its effects," Hollyleaf answered "Our only way of success is to beat them before they fight."
Fernsong nodded in understanding, removing his clothes. The Moonstone would burn them, and he didnt want to arrive in the past on fire. It was rather embarrassing, but he'd done worse things.
"Will it work?" Dovewing asked.
"Yes. It will," Fernsong said in certainty, removing the last of his clothes.
"You know that it's a one way trip. Once you use it, there's no way back to the future," Hollyleaf reminded.
Fernsong threw his arms up gesturing to the ruined city around them "Look around you! Does this look like a future WORTH coming back to?"
Hollyleaf nodded in understanding, as Fernsong summoned the Moonstone to his hands.
"Until we meet again," Hollyleaf said, tears forming.
Fernsong grinned "Then I will not say Goodbye."
He began to glow a bluish white, levitating into the sky, and disappearing.
Fernsong's mission had begun.
There you are! I hope this chapter was better then what I've been giving as of late!
This was a chapter more interested in Fernsong is anything. I hope it answers some questions.
Next chapter, Breezepelt's Bet, is coming up soon! You'll all love that chapter!
Adios.