Thankfully, I was right about this chapter being much easier to write than the last one. Writing the Firestar chapters are harder due to a lack of interaction with others, so his chapters feel like nothing but filler. ;-; But hey, chapter 30 woooo
Wow, so it's the last day of summer- tomorrow I go back to classes(oh god why). I can't believe that I've written a chapter a day for pretty much 3 months straight. According to my A03 statistics, I've written over 150,000 words- that's almost an entire Warrior Cats book right there! I've written so much I could have written a novel in that time.
I'll be honest, I never expected to start writing fanfiction for a good majority of my summer vacation. Wow, I really caved didn't I?
Thanks to all the people out there reading and reviewing my stuff! Honestly, my first fic I've ever written is so cringe and I don't know why people like it so much :/
Here's to hoping that I'll continue writing throughout the semester!
Reviews are super appreciated!
Brambleclaw trudged up to the medicine den, exhausted. He had been running around doing both leader and deputy responsibilities, and it was getting tiring. There was a reason that the two roles were split, and he was finding out the hard way.
And yet, there were still cats clamoring for him to go to the Moonpool and receive nine lives. He told them he would go to the Moonpool when they got a sign of Firestar being dead. Considering the circumstances, it would be awhile until that happened.
He popped into the medicine den, to see Briarlight dozing off in her nest, and Jayfeather scrambling around in the back of the den, leaves and herbs being flung around everywhere.
"Jayfeather?" The blind tom gave a grunt of acknowledgment. "Is everything okay in here?" Brambleclaw asked.
"What do you think?" The medicine cat asked sourly.
Brambleclaw gave a look at the scattered mess. "I'm going to guess everything is not okay then?"
"Well you thought right," he replied crossly. He removed a bundle of what looked like burnt leaves from the store, and tossed them onto the pile of other burnt looking herbs on the ground. "Useless. Everything is useless. The blaze ate up a good chunk of my stores," Jayfeather said tersely.
Ah, that was bad.
"Especially bad because the Dark Forest is still coming to get us too," the medicine cat added.
That was worse- and he had totally forgotten about the Dark Forest with the other clans chasing out Firestar. A pit formed in his stomach at the thought- the one cat who could easily take down the Dark Forest and his father had been chased out! Why were the other clans so insistent on weakening themselves?
"Well in any case, I'm going to need you for something," Brambleclaw said seriously. The medicine cat turned his head and gave him a silent gesture to elaborate. "You know how some of the clan has been wanting me to go to the Moonpool?"
Jayfeather flicked an ear. "You're not seriously thinking of getting your nine lives now?" he asked incredulously.
Brambleclaw looked affronted, even though Jayfeather couldn't see it. "Absolutely not! I just want to go to the Moonpool and... have a little talk with Starclan. Mainly on why they didn't stop the other clans from driving Firestar away."
"You mean I get to come with to make this trip look important and I get to yell at Starclan cats and they won't be able to do anything about it because it's actually justified?"
"Uh... yes?"
Jayfeather's tail swished excitedly. "I'm in," he said plainly. Well, at least Brambleclaw had an ally in all this madness.
(When they left that night to trek up to the Moonpool, he tried his best to ignore Sandstorm's angry glare burning into the back of his head as he left camp. He was really hoping Starclan wouldn't turn things around and give him nine lives, or the sand-colored she-cat would never forgive him.)
He gazed around the Moonpool, admiring the beauty of the pool of water reflecting the moon and stars on its surface. He realized that he had never actually been to the Moonpool before, and he had to admit, it did certainly look beautiful.
"Are you going to stare all night, or are you going to share dreams with Starclan? It's cold and I'd rather not wait all night," Jayfeather meowed plainly.
"Ah, what do I do exactly?" Brambleclaw asked, not having been to the Moonpool before.
Jayfeather rolled his eyes. "Drink a few drops and sleep," he said, before crouching down to lap up a few drops of water and curling up to sleep. Brambleclaw followed his example, curling up next to the medicine cat for some extra warmth. His eyes snapped open and he found himself in a clearing filled with starlight. Jayfeather was next to him, eyes searching around for something.
"Where are they? Usually they're here whenever I come to the Moonpool..." Jayfeather murmured.
"Starclan doesn't have the exact answers you seek. Even we can't stop the living clans from doing what they want. Starclan didn't have the power to stop Firestar from being driven out," a voice spoke behind them. They spun around and found themselves looking at a black furred tom. Brambleclaw frowned, the cats appearance tugging something in his memories.
"Aren't you... Nightstar?" he inquired. The former Shadowclan leader nodded. Brambleclaw's gaze hardened. "I swear, if Starclan even thinks about giving me nine lives-"
"Trust me, you aren't here to get nine lives," Nightstar said.
"Thank the stars for small miracles," Jayfeather grumbled beside him.
Nightstar shook his head. "Do you both remember my story?" Brambleclaw blinked, confused. Nightstar's story?
"Didn't sickness take away all your lives?" the deputy questioned.
The former leader once again shook his head. Brambleclaw was confused- wasn't that how Nightstar died?
"It's true that sickness was what killed me. But what cats don't know is that I only died once before joining Starclan." Jayfeather and Brambleclaw flinched, wondering how that could be. Nightstar should have more lives, unless he was implying that he lost eight before he died of sickness.
"What are you saying?" Brambleclaw asked.
"I'm saying that I never received my nine lives."
"How can that be?" Jayfeather pressed.
"Simply put, you can't get nine lives or your leader name if the previous leader of the clan is still alive, or hasn't willingly stepped down. We chased out Brokenstar, but they refused to give me nine lives because Brokenstar hadn't stepped down. They would only give them to me when he died, and by the time we learned of his death, I was too sick to make the journey to the Moonstone," Nightstar explained.
The two living cats were silent, processing his story. Brokenstar had trained kits to be apprentices too early, and ended up killing many cats, kits, apprentices, and warriors alike. It was only right to drive such a cat off. But to drive Firestar away, when he had done nothing?
"Starclan still recognizes Firestar as Thunderclan's rightful leader," Brambleclaw said suddenly.
"Well that's great and all, but if you couldn't tell, we have no idea where Firestar is. It's not like we can drag him back," Jayfeather said.
Nightstar gave a grimace. "You need to bring him back. He won't listen to us at all. The stone..." he trailed off. Brambleclaw went rigid at the mention of the stone; what was it doing to Firestar now?
"I need you both to come with me," Nightstar said before bounding off. The two scrambled to follow him, racing through starry filled trees until the scents of an untold number of cats hit their noses. Nightstar slowed down once they drew near to a huge gathering of Starclan cats, muttering to themselves worriedly.
"How could he do this?"
"It wasn't his fault!"
"I knew he was nothing but trouble..."
"What's going on here?" Jayfeather exclaimed. A cat turned to meet their gazes. "Didn't you know? Bluestar's been injured!" Brambleclaw's and Jayfeather's mouths hung open; a Starclan cat getting injured was unheard of. Jayfeather shook himself out of his trance before shouldering his way through the throng of cats, some hissing at him as he forced his way through. Brambleclaw followed him, mumbling apologies on Jayfeather's behalf.
"Hey Yellowfang, what's going on here?!" Jayfeather yowled. The she-cat in question poked her head out of the den she and the other medicine cats were using, and made a face at the sight of the blind medicine cat.
"Of course you chose tonight of all nights to come here?" she grumbled.
"What's this about Bluestar being injured?" he demanded.
She stared at him for a few heartbeats, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine, get in here," she said before ducking back into the den. The two toms followed her to be met with the sight of many former Thunderclan medicine cats hovering around Bluestar. Brambleclaw blinked in shock; Bluestar's sides were covered in cobwebs, and some of the medicine cats were working to heal what looked like a burn mark on her face.
Oh no, he really hoped that Firestar wasn't the one who did that!
"What happened?" Brambleclaw murmured in shock.
"Firestar freaked out on us. We think it was more the stone that did it though; we all know he would never lash out at Bluestar, but he was writhing on the ground in pain because of that blasted stone, and Bluestar tried going up to him. Bad idea," Yellowfang grimaced.
Brambleclaw felt bad for Bluestar, but he felt even worse about Firestar. The stone was still influencing him, and there was the sickening realization that maybe Firestar's resistance to the stone had gone down because he wasn't there for him. Without Brambleclaw, Sandstorm, Squirrelflight, or Leafpool, Firestar was breaking down.
"Listen," Yellowfang began, "We need you to get Firestar back. He's still Thunderclan's leader, no matter what the other clans think. Without him, we're doomed to be destroyed by the Dark Forest. That stone won't let him listen to Starclan, but he'll definitely listen to either of you," she explained.
"We need Firestar back, got it," Brambleclaw said.
"Oh, and be quick about it. We have reason to believe that the Dark Forest is speeding up their plans," she said bluntly.
Brambleclaw's ears drooped, and Jayfeather hissed out a curse. Well, this was bad.
Remember when Starclan told Nightstar to screw off because they still recognized that kit-killer as Shadowclan's leader? Dang, that rule is actually helping Thunderclan at the moment.
Don't tell Firestar about what happened to Bluestar, or he'll never forgive himself. Considering his already damaged psyche...
Perfect opportunity for the Dark Forest to strike, considering the dragon that could easily kill them is gone. Bramble's gotta hurry up with that search party.
Tell me how I did.