I decided to go ahead with Bramblestar's Storm. But this is as far as I'll go, so I'm not reaaalllyyy going to go into AVoS. Hopefully my writing won't be so subpar like last chapter.
There won't be an update next week, cause I want to work on the next thing of the AU Dump and I'm still not entirely sure how I'm going to go about it. Also I've got things to do.
Sorry I took so long to update ;v;
̶T̶r̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶m̶e̶,̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶7̶0̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶p̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶n̶n̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶p̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶5̶0̶.̶ ̶o̶.̶O̶
Reviews are appreciated!
"Something on your mind, hatchling?" Firestar rumbled, looking down at his daughter's small form curled up against his massive frame. His exhaustion from leaf-bare had been completely erased, a new form of energy and motivation flowing through his body.
A new calmness had formed in him as well, with Leafpool visiting him in his dreams every once in a while. He was rightfully suspicious though; Starclan cats didn't just visit the living whenever they wanted. Usually there would be a prophecy or omen involved. He was always disheartened when his daughter always visited him with a sense of urgency, desperation, wariness. It made him feel as if she was never happy to see him.
A flash of anger went through him, briefly wondering if Starclan was forcing his hatchling into doing something she didn't want to do.
She always reassured him that she was happy to see him, her frown melting into a gentle smile.
This time, she had adopted a apprehensive look, face scrunched up and whiskers twitching as she clearly contemplated something.
"It's nothing," she sighed.
"Doesn't look like nothing to me," he snorted. She looked worried now, claws worrying the soft grass they were laying on.
"I don't know if I should be telling you this..." she murmured. "You're not leader anymore." His eyes narrowed; she inadvertently confirmed that she was thinking about a prophecy. Why else would she be worried about telling someone who wasn't a clan leader? He nudged her with his snout, staring her in the eyes, silently reminding her who she was speaking with. He knew prophecies.
She sighed, tail thumping against her body in defeat. "A tom came and visited me. A gray tom with white patches; he called himself Cloudstar," she started slowly, and a flash of recognition raced in Firestar's eyes. "You know of him?"
"That I do. But that's not important right now. Continue," he said, white edging along his field of vision.
"He said he had a message to bring to Bramblestar. He said When water meets blood, blood will rise," she meowed, a strange look creasing her face.
Firestar blinked, waiting for her to go on, but as a few heartbeats passed, he realized that she had nothing else to say. "That's it?" he asked her incredulously.
"That was it," she nodded.
"And I don't suppose Cloudstar knew what that meant?" he inquired, frustration lacing his voice. His hopes were dashed as she shook her head in negative, before bumping her forehead against his scales. The meadow they were sitting in was slowly disappearing, and he gave his hatchling one final lick on the head before she too faded away from his vision.
He drew in a deep breath as he woke, ignoring the prickle of heat that was currently stinging his chest. He needed to make sure that he was in control of his emotions, not the stone. The prophecy wasn't his problem, at least not anymore, but now it was his hatchling's problem. It wasn't just Bramblestar's problem, but all of his treasures had to bear the brunt of yet another prophecy that was threatening to hurt them. The slow realization that his hoard was in danger, so soon after the Great Battle sat in his stomach like a pile of rocks.
'Just stay calm. I have the power to help them. There's no force in this world that will stop me from helping my treasures.' Surely there was no force in the world that had the power to stop him, right? He was a dragon! There was nothing that could get past his scales, nothing that would get past him to harm what was his.
As he calmed himself, trying to bask in the sun's rays that shown through the treetops, he caught a distinct scent in the air.
'Why do I smell salt?' he pondered. For him, the sun-drown-place was a mere hop, skip, and a jump from the lake. For the clans, it was still a few days of travel. The sun-drown-place was too far away for any scents to drift down.
So why was he scenting salt now?
A shiver ran down his spine. The scent of salt had come right after Cloudstar's admittedly vague prophecy, but still... He looked up at the dark clouds forming overhead, gradually blocking out the sunlight. He had a bad feeling.
.
.
He missed having a den. The giant hole cutting through the canopy meant that he had easy access to his clearing coming in from a flight, and easy access to the sky whenever he felt like taking flight in turn. The giant hole also meant that he was exposed to the elements. Rain, snow, or shine, he would have to bear it even if he hated it.
He shifted slightly, bringing up a wing in an attempt to shield himself from the rain that was drenching his scales. The rain had also made sleeping in the grass unbearable, the ground making squelching sounds as he shifted. It was made worse by the howling wind, which was blowing all kinds of debris his way.
He finally groaned and opened his eyes, unable to fall asleep as water splashed at his face.
Firestar did a double-take, then scowled. His clearing was filled with water, covering the grass and undergrowth, twigs and leaves and rocks floating in the rough waves that the wind was making. He spread his wings, lifting himself from the ground and escaping the mess from the hole in the canopy. He was alarmed by the view.
The lake had expanded, encroaching onto the clan's territories. Half of Thunderclan's territory was already underwater.
'At this rate, it will reach camp in no time!' he thought in alarm.
.
.
The camp was flooding. There wasn't a single spot that was dry or uncovered by grayish-brown water, and all the dens were starting to flood from the outside. Thankfully, there was a steep, twisting path that led up the cliff from the bushes near the entrance to the medicine cats' den, and most of the clan had made it out, whether through climbing or by being hauled up by a thick ivy tendril.
There was just one, or rather multiple problems: Briarlight couldn't climb in her condition, Jayfeather couldn't see the path and needed help to climb, help no one could give given the cliff's narrow path, Purdy was too old to climb, Millie refused to leave Briarlight alone, and all four cats were too heavy to lift by the ivy tendril. Bramblestar had elected to stay with his clanmates until he or another cat could find another solution.
Bramblestar looked at the water flowing into the camp through the thorn barrier. Already it was high enough to reach his flanks, and Briarlight was having to strain to keep her head above the surface. "No cat will be left behind," he growled.
"Then what are we going to do?" Millie hissed, her eyes wild with fear.
The sound of flapping wings answered her question as Firestar's form appeared over the hollow, analyzing the flooded camp with his reptilian eyes. Noticing that the clan was on one side of the cliffs, he opted to land on the other side, claws digging dangerously into the wet stone. He cautiously leaned forward, reaching out with a claw.
Bramblestar let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding in as Firestar scooped the cats up with a claw, slowly lifting them up. His other claws dug into the ground and stone in an attempt to keep his balance. One slip up and could send them all falling back into the water.
Firestar carefully separated his claws, allowing the excess water to flow back down into camp like a waterfall. He leaned back as his claw ascended, legs moving backwards as he tried finding space to let his passengers off. The trees behind Firestar whipped at his back and wings, but the dragon took no notice of them as he lowered his claw to the ground, away from the hollow's edge.
"Thank Starclan Firestar was here, or who knows how we would have gotten out of that?" Jayfeather muttered, legs wobbling as he climbed down Firestar's claw and onto wet, but solid ground.
"How did you know to come here?" Bramblestar called up to the dragon, not missing the way Firestar's claws twitched as he was the last to climb down.
Firestar kept in a huff and reigned his instinct to keep his hatchling in his claws back in. "My clearing is flooded," he bluntly said.
With his fear of the rising water and in his haste to get his clan to safety, Bramblestar had completely forgotten that Firestar's clearing was somewhat closer to the lake than the camp was, so the clearing was bound to flood first.
"Are you all okay?!" Lionblaze yowled over the wind. Bramblestar turned his head around only to find that the rest of the clan had trekked around the edge of the hollow to get to the other side where they were.
"We're wet and exhausted, but otherwise fine," Bramblestar replied back. He looked back to the edge, where water was still steadily filling up the hollow. "We need to get moving; get to higher ground," he commanded. Exhaustion in their wake, Thunderclan headed up the nearby slopes at the back-end of their territory, with Firestar shielding them from the wind and snapping branches with his wings.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Squirrelflight asked her father.
"Not really. It's more annoying than anything," he replied. At the top of the slope Bramblestar saw that Sandstorm had gathered the rest of the cats under a beech tree. It didn't give much shelter, but although the branches lashed and groaned in the wind, they were sturdy enough not to snap. Soaked and scared, the cats huddled together in a mass of drenched fur.
Several pairs of eyes stared anxiously at Bramblestar as he reached them. "We'll stay here until the storm passes," he decided. "Try to get some rest if you can."
Firestar lowered himself to the ground, carefully curling around the beech tree and once again holding up a wing to shield the clan from the wind. Cats blinked gratefully at him, and Bramblestar couldn't resist trudging up to Firestar's head, his paws sinking into the ground as he lay against Firestar. He felt bad that Firestar was bearing the brunt of the storm in order to keep them all safe.
The dragon could have easily left to find a nice, dry cave to wait out to storm, but he didn't.
Dazed with tiredness, and eyes involuntarily closing in exhaustion, he was only half-aware of Squirrelflight and Sandstorm coming to lie next to them, taking in some warmth from Firestar's wet scales and warming him up with their own fur.
Firestar turned his head ever so slightly, tongue gently washing his treasures. He opted to ignore some of the clan that had decided to snuggle up against his warm scales, instead focusing on his treasures. His hatchling was exhausted from dealing with the flood, having to lead his clanmates to safety. As his mate and hatchlings fell asleep from his tongue's rhythmic motions, he felt a surge of pride burn through him.
Even without him around, he knew Bramblestar would have found a way to help his clan escape from the dirty lake water that was currently filling up their home.
It's easy to keep your resident dragon calm as long Starclan keeps allowing Leafpool to visit him every other night.
The worst part of being a guardian is that there's no one to guard you from wind and rain and snow. You're kind of expected to guard the smol cats from the elements instead. But Firestar has his treasures, so it's okay. It's kind of in his instincts to protect them anyway.
I'm debating whether to have Bramble and Squirrel get back together. I don't ship Bramble with Jessy, but I just don't know bout him and Squirrel. Especially cause in this book, Squirrelflight gets weirdly jealous of Jessy despite the fact that she and Bramble are not mates at this point in time. Things to think about.
Tell me how I did.