Warriors: The New Era.
Chapter Forty Seven: Ready for War.
Before I start the siege of the mountain, we will watch the preparations first. Everyone and their thoughts on war.
Jayfeather laid in bed next to Half Moon, worn out, and exhausted from all the preparations and training.
But he couldn't sleep.
His mind racked and raced with uncertainty about tomorrow. Tomorrow, they take the mountain that has cast it's shadow over their lives for so long. Tomorrow, they rescue Jay's Wing and take down Rock.
Rock.
How could he have been one of the bad guys all along?
Where did he go wrong?
Was it because of the Time change, or was Rock always a secret evil mastermind?
Jayfeather scratched his shoulder, dejected. Rock was like a father to him in the old timeline. So what happened to have made Rock want nothing more then destroy their world? He remembered how the old man descended with lightning to save his family during Mapleshade's siege. What could have happened?
Jayfeather looked at the sleeping beauty beside him, Half Moon, her white as snow hair draping across her back.
How it came to this, no longer mattered.
He'd win this war.
For her.
After all, he did once before hadn't he?
Lionblaze set the dumbbell down, sweaty and worn out.
He couldn't sleep.
His muscles were expanding with every breath. His golden eyes tinted with glowing hues.
Tomorrow, he would face Rock.
He would LEAD the attack on him.
Lionblaze already had his crew set in place. Ivypool, Fang, Poppyfrost, Jack, Sparkpelt, Jaywhisker, Ashtooth, and Coalstrike. All of them were extraordinary fighters. This team stood the best chance on destroying Rock for good.
Everyone else was either trying to free Jay's Wing, capturing Bone, or attempting to catch the elusive ARS commanders Sky and Garrison. Lionblaze never understood why Foxleap thought it would be a good idea to bring in outside help like the Resistance cell. But they were capable fighters after all. Maybe outside help was what they needed.
Cinderheart would not be joining the battle, that much he made certain. He couldn't live with himself if his future wife would be injured or killed. Rock probably planned for that, but as long as she wasn't a threat, she wouldn't be in any danger right?
Even so, Lionblaze knew better.
He took apart the dumbbell, adding more weights to it, and started lifting. He never had a partner to spot him before, so why bother asking now? His son was probably out working on some trees.
It was surreal, being able to look at Fernsong and say truthfully that the kid was his son. His and Cinderheart's. It added more weight to what he was going to do.
He had a lot to lose now.
So he'd win this war for them.
"RRRGGGGHHHHH!" Fernsong roared, slamming his fist through the oak tree like it was paper. He pulled his fist out of the new hole he made, and grabbed the tree by it's trunk, uprooting it with god-like strength, throwing it into the forest ahead of him.
This was it.
This was the battle he had trained for.
The one his aunt had prepared him for.
The reason he was here.
He had traveled across time to reach this moment.
Fernsong was scared as all hell.
What if he made things worse?
What if he paved the way for a more oppressive factor?
He prayed to God that wasn't the case.
Fernsong had changed much in the months he had been with his family. He never knew his mother and father very well, but he had bonded with them during his time here. If they die on his hands, his whole mission had failed.
But that wasn't the only reason why he was scared.
Fernsong didn't belong here.
His whole existence was a threat to the fabric of destiny and fate. If he succeeded his mission...what would happen to him? Would he cease to function, and be nothing but a memory to all who knew him? Would he go to Heaven or Hell? Would he go there at all? There can't be two Fernsong's, Tigerstar proved that, so would Fernsong just erase himself from existence?
Fernsong looked at the sky, thinking of the future he left behind. The future that he vowed to change by any means necessary.
So what if he died?
Millions more would die if he hadn't intervened.
His aunt, the people he left behind, he'd win this war.
He'd finish his mission of them.
Ivypool browsed aimlessly through channels on the TV, hoping to find something that would put her to sleep. She was laying on the couch, head against the armrest.
"Can't sleep?"
Ivypool turned her head to see Jack sauntering down the stairs, crusty eyed and exhausted.
"Could you?"
"No. Icecloud is sleeping though. At least she seems to be making a recovery...somewhat."
Ivypool nodded, and watched as Jack sat down on the recliner, rubbing his eyes.
"Tomorrow we are taking a mountain. We're taking the battle to them," Jack bit his lip. "I'm sending Icecloud to Riven, in case things go wrong."
"Sending her back?"
"Is there any place safer?"
Ivypool sighed and shook her head, "I don't think I'm ready. Jayfeather and Lionblaze have trained with their powers by Rock himself. I just have been teaching myself through trial and error. I'm not as strong as them, a-"
Jack smirked, "You know damn well that is not true. Even without powers you are extremely wicked with knives and fisticuffs. Foxleap was a fool to let you slip away."
Ivypool lowered her head, "He didn't dump me...I dumped him."
Jack raised a brow in confusion, "But...you two were always so happy together..."
"Yeah...we were weren't we?" Ivypool muttered, "You wouldn't understand."
"No...no, I think I do," Jack started, "You love him, even now. But pretending you don't makes it easier when the inevitable comes. Our lives are shrouded in danger, so it'd be easier for me to love Icecloud from afar and keep her safe by making her hate me. But Foxleap isn't running to safety. He's running FOR you. All you've really done is push him away for no reason."
"If I die, or if he dies, it'd be easier to get over it," Ivypool argued.
"But do you really want to get over him? Do you think he wants to get over you?"
Ivypool pursed her lips and shut the TV off, now fully invested in the conversation.
Jack continued, "I still love Icecloud, and would be there to protect her. But even after all that has happened to her, I'm not going to force her to hate me so she can run from my lifehood and fights."
"What if she gets kidnapped again?" Ivypool asked.
"Hopefully, none of us will be kidnapped after tomorrow," Jack sighed, "Rock is the king on the board. We take him down, we take them all down."
"Except ARS."
Jack nodded, "But they aren't after her anymore. They were after me, and hoped she would be the perfect bait. At least that's what I think. But they underestimated how far I'd go for her."
Ivypool nodded, "I'll...maybe after tomorrow, I'll reach out to Foxleap again."
Jack smiled, "I hope you do. You both love each other."
Meanwhile, deep in the Foxcave's kitchen area, The resident drunkards of both the Warriors Family and Resistance Cell were busy drinking their sorrows away.
Poppyfrost guzzled down her tankard with no thought of tomorrow.
Jaywhisker sat beside her and grunted as beer passed down his gullet.
Coalstrike was passed out from all the vodka he's been breathing down to his stomach.
"Rgghhh, disgusting! Why doesn't Forrestlake have good shit?" Jaywhisker coughed.
"What's the matter, no alcohol tolerance?" Poppyfrost smirked.
Jaywhisker hissed, "I've drank since I had baby teeth."
"If you ask me, beer is no different from piss, it can't get you drunk. Real men take Rum," Poppyfrost smirked, offering Jaywhisker a tankard.
Jaywhisker lifted an eye brow before Poppyfrost cackled. "Relax kid. I don't expect you to."
Jaywhisker smirked, "So...what are your thoughts on tomorrow?"
Poppyfrost sighed, setting a tankard down, "I don't have any."
"No plans, no tricks?"
"No. It all comes down to this," Poppyfrost nodded, "We either win or we die. Either way doesn't seem so bad to me anymore."
"You're suicidal?" Jaywhisker asked in alarm.
Poppyfrost shook her head, "No...I'm too cowardly to do it myself. I'm just waiting for God to say 'Enough is enough' and cancel the TV show that is my life and send me down to the sinners and demons where I belong."
Jaywhisker felt himself unnerved, "Everything has value. Even you."
"Oh yeah...everything has value...and a price," Poppyfrost muttered, staring at her tankard in sadness and despair.
"That's not what I meant!" Jaywhisker protested, "I meant to say that everything is precious to someone..."
Poppyfrost grunted..."Oh...so that's what you think, huh? Well. Fine, let me enlighten you."
Poppyfrost grabbed her tankard and slipped the watch on her wrist off of her, "What are these two things?"
Jaywhisker sighed, "A tankard that you use for drinking, and a watch that you use to tell time."
"Wrong," Poppyfrost grunted, "Both of these are just things...as soon as you strip away their meanings, then that is all they ever are. All they will be. All they are good for..."
"So because you've been abused and psychologically broken, you refuse to give your life any sort of meaning?" Jaywhisker asked. "Since everyone sees you as a slutty thief, you just allow yourself to prove what they see to be true?"
Poppyfrost nodded, eyes boring into Jaywhisker's in depression. "Like I said, we are all just things. And when their meanings are washed away, the pain of knowing what you are gets easier. I live with the pain and insipid precious memories in my head because it makes me vow to never be weak again. No one has any say in what I do or don't do. I am my own person. I'll be damned before I have someone give me value. I don't need their sentimental crap on how much I mean to them. Because as soon as something with more value to them shows up, I'd be cast off like a leper."
"But you can change! You can be better then what people assume you are! Don't you have any pride left in you, some self confidence? Don't you want that?"
"NOT ANYMORE!" Poppyfrost snapped, "Here is a newsflash for you kid, NO ONE CARES for people like me! People who see the world as it really is. Back when I was just a kid, I crawling around this shithole of a country, God and Love were always sold out where I went shopping. Yeah, I believed in God, right up until the moment when Scourge stole me and made me his plaything, his stress toy, his whore. Now...I have two things that I have pride in. Guns, and my citizens."
"You know WHY I am Queen of the Court of Miracles? Because I understood their struggles. I understood what the ghetto rats and orphans went through. So I rallied them, and made their lives easier. I became the thing people across Forrestlake see. And I did it all without pride and titles. To them, this slutty thief has made their lives easier."
Jaywhisker nodded, "And what about your life? Is your life any easier?"
Silence.
"I told you," Poppyfrost said, leaning her head down on the counter, "Everything has a price. My happiness, or theirs. Forgive me for being selfless for once."
Jaywhisker felt sad and sighed, "I'm sorry."
"Fuck you."
Jaywhisker looked up to see Poppyfrost's eye peek out from her arm pillow, "I didn't tell you that story to get pity. If I wanted pity I'd go up to Jayfeather and have him give us all a speech on being who we are. Moral of the story? I'd rather be seen as a queen, then be seen as a filthy runaway with no parents to love me."
"And if you help fight Rock tomorrow, I guarantee you, NO ONE will see you as a whore or outcast again."
Poppyfrost looked at Jaywhisker in a mix of hope and anger, "I wish that would be true..."
Jaywhisker sighed, "I'm not drinking anymore. Goodnight."
And while Jaywhisker left, he left with new found knowledge on how broken Poppyfrost really was. Sure she may put on a brave face, but drunk people never lie. And none of what she said seemed like a lie.
One thing was for sure.
She fight that war.
Not for her family.
But for herself.
To prove she wasn't what people assumed she was.
And that is it.
Again, sorry for the late update, but again, I AM ON VACATION! I DESERVE A FUCKING RELAXATION AT THE BEACH!
So, review! Reviews are what keep this story going!
Adios.