History Rewritten: Brokenstar Chapter 5
"Then, Shadow, River, Thunder, Wind and Sky parted ways. They took the cats that were like them with them to territories that suited them. Shadow took this marshy and dark piece of the forest. Our clan has lived here ever since."
Brokenkit stared at Wingstrike wided eyed. He'd heard this story many times before when he was Dawnstar, but the story always thrilled him.
"What happened to SkyClan then," Brokenkit asked. "If they were a clan, wouldn't they still be here?"
Wingstrike chuckled. "Sharp little kit you are. SkyClan was driven out by all the clans once."
Brokenkit gasped, he knew about this already. He saw Skyclan warriors in StarClan as Dawnstar. But he wanted to make himself seem like he didn't.
"Why would any clan do such a thing?"
"That is a story for another time. Run along now and go do whatever it is kits do."
Brokenkit ducked out of the elder's den. Lizardstripe was just arriving back at camp, so he shot back to nursery as fast as he could. He didn't want to be scolded by his mother for being out too long again. Keeping his eyes on Lizardstripe, he didn't notice when exactly he got into the nursery, resulting in a thud as he stumbled right into Dawnkit.
"Watch it!" She squealed angrily.
"Sorry." Brokenkit apologized. His sister's wrath didn't bother him, but Lizardstripe's did. Unfortunately, his mother saw the incident just as she crawled into the nursery.
"What did you do to her?" Lizardstripe snarled. She swiped at his side with her claws, leaving an open wound in Brokenkit's side. He yowled, alerting the other queens in the nursery. A small statured black and white she cat still expecting kits named Poppyfoot rushed over to Brokenkit. Her blue eyes glowed with anger.
"How could you, Lizardstripe? He's your kit for Starclan's sake! You don't just go slicing them for no good reason." Poppyfoot growled at Lizardstripe. She didn't appear afraid of the ferocious, tabby queen.
"I had a perfectly good reason. Look what he did to Dawnkit." Lizardstripe wasn't going to back down without a fight.
"Never do that again! You were my mentor once, Lizardstripe. I looked up to you. Now all I see is a cold hearted cat who hurts kits! I'm taking Brokenkit. If you give him up without a word, I won't have to say anything to Raggedstar about this." This was enough to shut Lizardstripe up. All she did in her defense was hiss. With her paw, Lizardstripe pushed Brokenkit towards Poppyfoot. Poppyfoot eagerly scooped him up and plopped the kit down into her nest. She nuzzled Brokenkit lovingly. She's like Yellowfang!
"You won't ever be mistreated by her again, Brokenkit. Not as long as I'm here. Let's get you to Yellowfang for that scratch. We'll say you scraped yourself on a thorn. No one, especially your father is to hear of this. Understand?" The word "her" came out of Poppyfoot's mouth like a snarl.
Brokenkit nodded. Raggedstar would never hear about what happened.
Night fell hours later. The sky blackened and littered itself with stars. Brokenkit lay in Poppyfoot's nest. She wouldn't allow her new son to even look at Lizardstripe now the he officially belonged to Poppyfoot. The little brown, tabby kit fell into an uneasy sleep as he thought of what happened earlier.
"Wake up, Dawnstar."
A voice called. It sounded familiar, who was it?
"Get up you fish for brains!" Timberclaw! That's who it was. Dawnstar awoke. She felt different; she wondered what had happened to herself. She waved her bushy tail in front of her. It was grey. It was her tail. She was in her own body! The grey and white she cat looked around at where she stood. The trees and undergrowth glittered. It looked as if they were made of tiny, sparkling stars. Starclan's Territory! Dawnstar leapt up to her paws and turned to face Timberclaw's direction. She ran up to him, and touched noses. His purrs made her feel dizzy, memories with him flashed in her head. Fishing in the river, sharing a nest in the cold winter time, and watching kits scamper around the nursery, her kits. Hers and Timberclaw's.
"We need to reveal the truth." Timberclaw meowed simply. His voice reverberated around the dream world.
"What do you mean?" Dawnstar said, obviously puzzled.
"We're going to visit the kit you've been all the time. He needs to know the truth about himself."
Timberclaw started walking. Dawnstar mindlessly followed him. They hopped over crystal stones and hills. The trip seemed to take nine lifetimes to Dawnstar. Then, they finally approached a star filled lake, much clearer than the lakes and ponds Dawnstar had seen before in Starclan Territory.
"I don't think I've ever been to this part of the territory before, Timberclaw." Dawnstar mewed, her voiced laced with wonder.
"Heh, I haven't either. But this is the only way we can contact him." The brown, tabby tom reached a paw out to the water. He swiped it across, leaving shimmering ripples to dance along the surface. He looked down at the lake, his green eyes reflecting his spirit. Soon, an image of a kit with a dark, tabby pelt and a broken tail rested in the middle of the lake. Dawnstar could see his sides rise and fall rhythmically in his sleep. Soon, the image started to pop out. It became more and more realistic as second, even minutes flew by. Timberclaw broke the deafening silence.
"Brokenkit," He said. His meow loud and clear as it echoed off the water. The kit awoke with a start, opening his eyes franticly. Brokenkit's gaze was confused. He wouldn't know where he was. He was just a kit. Kits don't know much about StarClan.
"Brokenkit," Timberclaw said again, louder than the first time. "You have been called here to meet someone. Come here." Timberclaw beckoned him forward with his tail. The kit obeyed and sat right in front of Dawnstar.
"This is Dawnstar. She's traveled far to meet you, little one." Timberclaw stepped back, giving Dawnstar the Ok signal to go ahead and explain everything on her own. What do I say? I can't just mew: "Hey, I'm invading your body so I can totally rewrite history." Then, Dawnstar found the strength to speak.
"I'm Dawnstar. RiverClan's leader." Her voice shook a little, but she could tell that no one else detected it.
"Did something happen to Hailstar?" Brokenkit seemed worried. A new leader appearing in a clan was a big change for a little kit.
"No, Hailstar's fine. I'm not the current leader, and I won't be for a while," This confused Brokenkit. Dawnstar could see the confusion on his face. She continued. "You're destined to be a great warrior, and one day lead ShadowClan. But, you must stay on the right path, at first, well, that didn't happen. I'm going to show what will happen." Dawnstar gained more of her confidence. Brokenkit had to see this, and what his future was. She pressed her nose to the top of his head, images flashed from her mind, to his. Bloody battles and torture flowed to the kit, he backed away, fear setting into him.
"I-I-I, I'm going to do that?" Brokenkit whimpered, this was big destiny for one little cat. As an innocent kit, he would never dream of slaughtering hundreds of other cats. He would only dream of serving his clan. Dawnstar then answered him.
"No, that's why I'm here to help you. I'm going to help you become the greatest leader ShadowClan ever saw." Dawnstar made her eyes glitter, getting Brokenkit excited.
"Wow! You'd really do that for me?" Broken kit asked, his voice heightening in excitement. Dawnstar nodded.
"Yes. You've got a great destiny ahead of you. You'll serve your clan for many moons, and save lives instead of destroy them. But for now, go to sleep. You have another day ahead of you."
Instantly, the brown kit curled up and closed his eyes. The image of Brokenkit started to fade, the lake returned to normal. Timberclaw stepped beside Dawnstar.
"Well said. Now, you must return your place and time." His meow was a bit sad.
"I'll see you again, won't I?" Dawnstar said, the two nuzzled each other affectionately, like two lovers parting for the first time.
"Of course I will. But now you must wake up." Darkness covered Dawnstar's gaze, the dizziness dulled by the sweetness from a moment prior. Soon, she would wake up in ShadowClan's nursery, and Timberclaw would be gone.
