The curtains opened to reveal two cats, Ivy and Ashfur, who were both seated on their perspective bean bags.

Ivy: Hello everyone, and welcome back to Hollyleaf's promise at S.L.T.P!

Ashfur: Yes, hello everyone!

Ivy: I'd also like to thank everyone who are helping get a donut.

Ashfur: #GetIvyDonuts

Ivy: And thanks to everyone who supported us! Honestly I would like to give a little speech to honor everyone's support.

Ashfur: Oh, Starclan.

Ivy: Thanks to my mom and dad for raising me. My Crackhead sister who broke her leg falling of stage, a failed attempt to run this show. Thanks sis! Thanks to all my readers and thanks to my crew and staff. Thanks to all those people-

Ashfur: Ivy. Shut up.

Ivy: Fine, even though things were getting good.

Ashfur: This is Hollyleaf's promise, chapter 14; The Vote part 1

Hollyleaf gawked at the barn cats as they surrounded her. She turned her head to Alfie who had a tiny grin on his face.

"Did you plan this?" She asked, quietly.

He shrugged still grinning and pointed to the roof of the barn, barely noticeable among the dark sky. "In a way yes," He explained, "I didn't realize you were going of to meet Zack until I saw you at the clearing, then I just ran back close enough to the barn so that they could hear us arguing."

"Actually, I saw you two leaving the barn." Rose quipped, "Followed you, heard what you were saying, and rushed back to get the others."

Hollyleaf looked suspiciously at her. "I didn't smell, see, or hear you…"

Alfie, who had cooled off for a moment, nodded in agreement.

Rose snorted. "Maybe I'm just that good." She remarked, snootily.

Jasmine shook her head. "Enough of this," She interrupted her sadly, "Hollyleaf, how could you do this to us? I know we didn't tell you everything but you knew how much we hated them and how badly they had affected us, regardless that you didn't know what they had done –"

"She still betrayed us!" Rose growled, pushing her way through the cats, her tail lashing, "She probably told them mouse dung about us…Or maybe she's a spy! Remember how they said they led a group of cats! Perhaps she's working with them to kill the rest of us!"

We all gasped and Hollyleaf backed away, horrified. The barn cats exchanged glances, whispering quietly to each other. Then Rust burst forward and stood nose to nose with his littermate. "That's a stupid idea, Rose." He shot back, glaring at Rose. She only glared back harder, "Hollyleaf would never do that! We're jumping to assumptions here!"

"She associated with them!"

"Your right. She did but you of all cats should know what it's like to associate with them."

Rose drew back, hurt, but continued the stare down with her sibling. Before they could even begin to argue again Ivy jumped in between them. "Enough, Rust is right. We are making assumptions and it's best for Hollyleaf to explain to us what happened and then judge her fairly on that."

Hollyleaf sighed in relief but Alfie narrowed his eyes. "Can't we just chase her out of the barn right now," He snapped, impatiently scoring his claws through the mud, "We don't need her to get revenge on Yellow and Zack anyway -"

Jasmine squealed as Ivy shook her head. "You weren't supposed to say that! AND no, we cannot drive her out of the barn. She's our friend remember." Ivy reasoned with.

Hollyleaf looked on curiously and said, "Wait you were trying to use me?! I knew something was up but- Look, I'll tell you everything as long as you explain to me what you're talking about and what you needed me for."

The barn cats looked at each other. "We should tell her. It's only fair." Emerald spoke up softly, "I'm fine with it."

Jasmine took a deep breath. "You go first." She told Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf sat down and curled her tail around her paws.

The barn cats looked on in confusion as she told them why she had met up with Yellow and Zack. She told them she had been searching for this Clan, Darkclan, and had wanted to find out if they knew anything. She also told them how it was her both duty and destiny to battle against Darkclan. Their eyes widened as she told them of Clans who lived far, far away and how she had traveled from there and was destined to build her own clan to fight Darkclan. She told them how this Clan had already hurt many cats, including them, and how they would eventually destroy the Clans she had come from. She told them what a Clan was, how it worked, and how she had wanted them to come join her. However, she willingly left out the part about dying and coming back down from Starclan. Finally, she told them about Starclan and how their deceased ancestors go there when they die, taking pleasure at the shock and confusion on their faces.

"So I ask you," Hollyleaf ended, "Will you join me?"

They stared at her, jaws gaping, although Rose didn't seem relatively surprised. Finally, Jasmine stuttered, "Whaaaat?"

Hollyleaf sighed and rolled her eyes, "Perhaps I should start over. You see the reason I met up with Zack was because –"

"We get it." Emerald cut off, "It's just a lot to take in."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Alfie howled, "So you were never here 'looking for your sister'. You probably don't even have one. You lied to us all and now you just want us to follow through with whatever stupid plan you have. AFTER EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE!"

Jasmine shot him a sharp look. "Alfie," Jasmine barked, "Control yourself. I understand where you're coming from but I'm actually glad she told us the truth this time. In fact, I really do like this idea."

The other cats stared at her as though she had grown a second head.

"What?" Rose protested, "It's a crazy idea coming from an even crazier cat! She has been planning to use us for her own use for MOONS and you just let that slide?"

Hollyleaf shuffled around uncomfortably and once again the barn cats began to whisper.

"Yes Rose, she has been planning this idea for quite a while," Ivy defended glancing in Hollyleaf's direction, "But she never acted on any of it till now. Hollyleaf told us her plan and gave us the choice on whether or not we wanted to join. Besides, Darkclan could be the group of cats that Yellow leads!"

Hollyleaf's head instantly snapped back up. "You knew who Darkclan was and I'm just hearing about this now?"

"We should tell her our side of the story," Rust pipped up after he had been silently watching the conversation for a while.

Ivy sighed. "It's best if we just tell you…We met the two during a cold, rainy night. They were roaming around during the rain so we took pity upon them and let them take shelter in our barn. They stayed for a while and we became friends. Honestly, it grew to point where we considered them family. Then they gave us an offer almost exactly like yours. Join some group of cats they called Darkclan and defend the Clan with your life while trying to obtain as much territory and as many cats as possible. We didn't like how it sounded. It was different from the way you said it Hollyleaf, it was like it was an order not an option, not an offer but rather a demand. We declined and they got mad. Well Yellow did. Yes, we did ask them for a share of prey but that was because we had helped them. Then they declined that and things were tense after that. We knew they were mad just not as mad as we thought. I guess...they were mad enough to lure dogs into the barn and the rest is history…-"

Hollyleaf's eyes widened then narrowed. "You said you didn't know what they wanted from you?"

Both sisters glanced sheepishly at each other before shrugging. "We lied." Jasmine dismissed, casually.

Ivy cleared her throat and continued, "Anyway, Emerald actually did find out they were luring Dogs into the area but she didn't think much of it and they both convinced her not to tell any one," As she explained this part Emerald looked down sadly while Rust had his tail comfortingly draped over her shoulders, "Then the dogs attacked. I think you know what happened…but during the attack Yellow and Zack weren't in the barn. They came back when it started to get bloody though and well…stuff happened after that." Ivy left of, "The End, I guess."

Rose sniffled softly and looked down. Almost everyone had tears in their eyes, including Emerald, as they remembered the murder of cats they had loved so dearly. (I like a moment of silence for Bell, Willow, and Smoke. The kitty cats you will never meet.)

Hollyleaf looked between them suspiciously before her expression changed to one of sadness. "I'm so, so sorry. I had no idea…" She whispered.

Alfie shook his head, the fur under his eyes slightly wet. "We don't need your pity. We just need to figure out what to do with you."

Jasmine nodded, forcing the tears to disappear from her eyes. "I think you know where I stand. Yellow and Zack have already done bad things and…I want justice. And I think you can help me." She said to Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf gave a half smile at her and looked at the others.

"Thanks for your support Jasmine but you seemed to have forgotten one part of your story…" Hollyleaf began, "You never told me how you planned to use me."

Jasmine squirmed uncomfortably before she burst out, "We thought we could use you to hurt them like they hurt us. Get close, then stab em' in the back!"

"Oh, well as long as you remain loyal to your Clan I can do that."

The barn cats glanced at each other before Rose stepped up, "Why should we?" She mewed aggressively, "How do we know you're not exactly like them."

Now they stared at Hollyleaf. "You're just going to have to trust me," She replied, evenly.

By this time, it was barely a little past moon-high and they were still out, standing and arguing as the night carried on.

"Why do we still have her around. This idea of hers could destroy our family even worse than they had. We should drive her out now!" Rose cried.

Jasmine and Ivy jumped to Hollyleaf's defense almost immediately while Alfie agreed with Rose. However, Rust and Emerald remained almost silent. Instead taking the time to watch the two parties to collide.

Finally, Emerald got sick of it. "Enough!" She shouted, "We are getting nowhere by bickering like this! So can you all please calm down and just talk it out!"

The cats were silent and stared at Emerald. "She's right," Ivy answered calmly, "We'll have a vote. If you want to go through with this plan go to Hollyleaf if. Or go to Alfie if you wish to drive her out."

Hey guys! Honestly I'm not sure if I liked this chapter all that much…the reactions to Hollyleaf's explanation should have been better.

Also, Hollyleaf and Alfie's votes don't count since the rest of the barn cats are supposed to vote on whose decision to go along with. Plus, I wanted no possibility of a tie so I needed an odd number of cats. I know that with Hollyleaf and Alfie included there are an odd number of cats but I don't really consider Hollyleaf a full on 'barn cat'. This is just one of the many reasons why.

Anyway, Question of the day:

What do you think will happen next?

If you were a barn cat, who would you vote for?

Replies:

Darth Jay: Yah! :D #GetIvyDonuts

Sugar bell: Understandable. I like drama but as long as it's developed well. And I do have two plot twists regarding both those pairings… BTW did you mean EmeraldXRust because EmeraldXAlfie is not a thing. At all. Emerald is like 9 moons and Alfie is 35 moons old. Plus she's got a thing going on with Rust.

Guest: Why, thank you! Also, was this update soon enough?

Fala: Thanks for your suggestion. I actually do fix issues like Grammar, sentence structure, little hints I drop, punctuation ect but I do that because I want anyone else who reads that chapter for the first time does not get turned off by stupid mistakes. Trust me it's happened to me before.

As for the first part of the review I'm glad you noticed. I didn't forget the other characters or make any mistakes this was completely on purpose. You see the only characters who have a mean streak are Rose and Alfie (Rust doesn't count. He's just STUPIDLY oblivious) and I've revealed why Rose has one but I haven't told you why Alfie does. The barn cats don't usually tell him of for it because there used to it (They know why he's like that). I haven't really revealed most of the character's backstories and Alfie's protectiveness, aggression, and his reaction to Rose lying about Hollyleaf 'bullying' her are the cause of this backstory. The death of Bell, Willow and his father are not the reason why (They still affected him). Remember that Alfie was the one who brought Hollyleaf to the barn and the whole 'Rose bullying situation' was a set off to his aggression. Otherwise, he is the only reason Hollyleaf met the barn cats in the first place. What's his backstory you ask? Well you won't find that out till a little while later in the book. Anyway thanks for your time to read this long and tiring explanation! But just trust me with Alfie. He's one of my favorite characters for a reason ;) His backstory is also very personal to me

Anyway thanks for asking that question Fala! You were the first too notice! Or at least the first too comment on it! I purposely gave the entire explanation of Rose's anger but none of Alfie's. I left that a mystery although I don't mind speculation on his backstory!

Bye guys!

~Zaps

#GetIvyDonuts