Chapter 1 - Breaking the Cycle
The city seemed tospring up overnight. One day the sun shone on endless hills of mud and tire tracks, and the next day, on endless rivers of hot-top. Monsters came and went, their low rumbling growl never far away.
The days passed with an unsettling rhythm: sleeping fitfully in a gully by day, hunting by night. The only good thing about the Twolegs was that wherever they went, rats were sure to follow. The clans ate at least decently, but far worse were the drone of the monsters. It became a routine procedure, when the monsters came; the Clan would take the kits and the uneaten prey and flee, flee to yet another location, another muddy gully, and continue the same day-in-day-out rhythm.
Moons passed. Ferncloud had her kits in the stone hollow beneath the Thunderpath. They were born to dirt and grime and hunger and wetness, and there was no time to grieve for the circumstances of their birth.
Moons passed. Ferncloud grew thinner and thinner as she struggled to feed her kits. One died, then another and another, and Dustpelt's cries of anguish echoed against the sides of the twoleg's monsters.
Moons passed. Two kits remained, and Sandstorm herself was close to birthing. She was tough and wiry, but she feared her kits were suffering. Ferncloud was ill and weak and her kits slept restlessly, crying in the night.
Moons passed endlessly. Ferncloud died, leaving her two kits alone in the world. With her last breaths their mother had named them Lightkit and Bloomingkit, so their father would remember that there was good in the world.
Sandstorm kitted in the open, beneath stars that seemed blurred and distant.
Firestar had heard nothing from their ancestors since the destruction began.
Lightkit and Bloomingkit joined Sandstorm's litter, a tom and a she-cat: Forestkit and Kestrelkit. Dustpelt never let his kits from his sight, and they were all that kept him from leaping before a twoleg monster to end it all. He grew bitter, but he hunted and fought just as hard, for them.
And worse, Brightheart was slaughtered on the Thunderpath one night. She hadn't seen the monster coming and it slammed into her in a rush of color and sound. She hadn't seen the monster and Cloudtail screamed 'No Brightheart no!' but still her life ran out; it ran out in little red streams across the blacktop Thunderpath. It ran out and left Brightheart cold, and left Cloudtail cold, and left Thunderclan cold with shock and horror.
Time marched on.
It was Graystripe who broke the cycle. He and Firestar stood on a hilltop, feeling the cold midnight wind ripple their unkempt fur. Their eyes searched the city unfolding beneath them, swarming with twolegs, building, always building on itself. So many moons had passed since the destruction began that sometimes Firestar felt like an elder, weak and gasping, gray in the fur. Indeed, a streak of gray was already appearing on his muzzle, right above his nose. Stress gray, and it made him uneasy. Was he still strong enough to lead the Clan?
The city lights shone in his and Graystripe's fur. It was a moonless night, and the hills surrounding the city were as black as that space where the moon should be.
As black as Brightheart's eyes as she died.
The thought made Firestar shiver, and he tucked it away. He couldn't sleep, hadn't been able to properly sleep in moons. He knew the dark, shadowed look in Brightheart's eyes would follow him for moons more, maybe forever.
He looked away, thought about something else. The city was bright that night; brighter than yesterday, and growing brighter every night. Already it seemed monstrously large to the Clan cats. They had never seen anything so huge. And to think this was once all forest, Firestar mused sadly.
Thunderclan lived in the hills overlooking the city, near what had once been Windclan land. Prey was hard to come by, and leaving their makeshift 'camp' in the deep part of a dried river was dangerous. Brackenfur and Thornclaw had left a moon ago, and had never returned.
A shallow cave was laboriously dug into the sheer side of the riverbank, carefully, so as not to cause a landslide. It sheltered Sandstorm and her kits, along with blind Longtail. The rest of the clan slept in the riverbank itself, utterly exposed.
As Firestar thought about his makeshift camp, his eyes narrowed. A strange, bitter light shone in them. Surely the other clans, if they had lived, were not living like this? For Firestar had not encountered any of the Clans since the initial destruction, not even scents.
Of course, Firestar could not know the despair felt by the surviving Windclan cats as they huddled in the farm on the edge of their old territory, watching the new city fearfully; nor the confusion of the Riverclan cats, making sharp shadows by the crackling fires of the twoleg's campsites; nor even the rage of the helpless Shadowclan cats, struggling to live in the chill shadow of Mothermouth.
Thunderclan was starving, dying.
Graystripe's own eyes were unreadable. Firestar wondered if his friend was thinking of Silverstream, his lost love. Or maybe his kits, in Riverclan?
Quite suddenly, Graystripe spoke. "Firestar, I...I think we should go there."
Firestar stared at his friend, mouth open in surprise. "What?" he mewed in utter confusion.
Graystripe gestured to the bright city below. "You know-- there. The City. We should live there."
Firestar's fur bristled. "What?" he repeated, lashing his tail. "Live in a City? With twolegs? You must be out of your mind! They'd kill us for sure!"
Graystripe met Firestar's gaze, solemn. "Are you sure? And can it be any worse than how we live now?"
Firestar found that hard to answer. Twolegs were the enemy! It was wrong... But...what if there was more prey there? Firestar's responsibility as a leader delegated that he must to the best for his clan... "Why?" he said bluntly, still not quite grasping the concept.
Graystripe blinked, and meowed slowly, "Well, what if there's rats there? We could hunt 'em, I reckon, and maybe there's shelter. Certainly there's more space than those twolegs need."
Firestar gaped. "But so close to twolegs! It's wrong, and what about dogs and monsters?"
"We dealt with 'em here, we can learn to deal with 'em there," Graystripe replied stubbornly.
Firestar sighed, almost amused. He cuffed Graystripe lightly on the shoulder, meowing, "But there are more in the City,"
"I know."
Firestar stared down into the shining belly of the City. Maybe they could live there. Maybe Graystripe was right.
And that is how Graystripe broke the cycle.
Firestar spoke to Thunderclan the next morning. He leaped onto the tree-stump that served as a Highrock and yowled, "All cats old enough to catch their own prey, meet here beneath the Treestump for a Clan meeting!"
Slowly the Thunderclan cats gathered, grumbling to each other. Longtail was guided to the rock by Sandstorm, who was now comfortable enough to leave her kits in the den below her. The youngest cat present, Newly-apprenticed Sorrelpaw, gazed up at Firestar in awe. Her golden eyes sparked with interest; she seemed lively enough, despite the loss of her mentor, Mousefur.
Firestar surveyed his clan, unable to smother a prickling of pride. Thunderclan was strong. They would survive.
Firestar began. "Cats of Thunderclan, I have two things to take care of. First of all, Sorrelpaw is without a mentor. Since we are settled in, I shall assign her another cat to continue her training where Mousefur left off."
The Clan seemed to agree. They passed each other knowing looks, their eyes grave.
Firestar continued, "Graystripe, you will complete Sorrelpaw's training." His green eyes strayed to Graystripe. The tom seemed cheered as he stepped forward to greet his new apprentice. Firestar grinned inwardly. It's good for him, I think. He'll be a good mentor, he thought.
Firestar's voice grew grave as he called, "But there is another issue that I must discuss with you. I--I--" he spoke haltingly as he said this, unsure of how to put it. It would cause an uproar no matter how he said it. "...I think it would be a good idea to leave here and move to the city," he finished brusquely
The Clan grew silent. A few gasps were heard.
Firestar's fur prickled as the eyes of every cat fell upon him. Their expressions were accusing, confused, and, on some, angry.
Longtail's voice broke the silence. "But this is our home!"
"Not anymore!" Firestar countered. "The twolegs have destroyed our home. The forest is no more."
Another voice joined in. "Firestar, this is crazy! We'd never survive in the city, we can barely survive outside it!" Cloudtail cried.
"Exactly! That's why we must go; in the City there will be food to hunt and many places to rest," Firestar meowed.
"How do you know? For all we know rogues and dogs could have taken all the prey!" Cloudtail challenged, his eyes flashing furiously.
Firestar's tail lashed. Now he really was angry. "We will fight them! This is no life, living in a ditch with no dens and no prey! We are starving, we all know this!" He replied with equal passion. Stealing a quick glance at his Clan, he was relieved to see that a few cats were nodding, Longtail among them.
Cloudtail shook his head, muttering, "We must all be crazy!" But he had no further arguments.
However, Dustpelt did. "My kits!" he mewed, an agonized twinge in his voice. "They won't survive such a long move, and the City's dangerous!"
Firestar frowned, his green eyes thoughtful. "My kits survived the move here, and we'd all die to protect the kits..."
Dustpelt did not look convinced. "No!" he growled. "I refuse to let my kits go somewhere so dangerous!"
To Firestar's intense relief Sandstorm spoke. "Dustpelt, can it be any worse than here? We're starving, as Firestar already pointed out!"
Dustpelt threw Sandstorm a long, unreadable glance. After an eternity, he meowed in a voice weary and resigned, "Fine."
He turned and vanished into the shadows of the makeshift den, where his two kits whimpered in their sleep.
After the meeting, Firestar fled to the hills once more. Watching the city, Firestar became aware of how hard his heart was thudding. He was terrified--
A crunching sound made Firestar jump. He whirled, fur bristling.
It was only Sandstorm.
The she-cat sat beside him, smirking slightly as his reaction. Most days, she would have made a mocking comment, but today she was too tired. "Firestar, I don't think going to the city is a good idea at all," she meowed matter-of-factly.
Firestar's heart dropped into his paws. "You don't?" he mewed.
"No. But...I'll follow you wherever you choose to go. Firestar--"
Firestar, who had been busy dropping into a depression -his plan had almost no support, and his Clan was dying-, felt his thudding heart suddenly stop. In the silence, the stillness, he watched Sandstorm. His spirits soared. "I know," he breathed. I know, his mind echoed.
Sandstorm wrapped her tail neatly around her paws, meeting Firestar's gaze. She didn't move a muscle.
The pair stood that was for a long time, until the sun rose higher in the sky and both departed to complete their various businesses.