This chapter has a lot of interesting character/plot twists!
Mapleshade's POV
Mapleshade felt the pain leave her body. She felt light and airy, as she did in the Dark Forest.
I was alive again. Will I go back to the Place of No Stars? She wondered.
"Mapleshade!" a squeak came from near her.
Mapleshade turned around, to see a kit she thought she would never see again.
"Petalkit!" Mapleshade screeched. She had not seen her kit for so long, and rushed to her kit's side immediately.
Instead, a tortoiseshell she-cat blocked her way. Spottedleaf.
"Mapleshade."
"Spottedleaf." Mapleshade meowed.
"Has the Place of No Stars been good to you?" Spottedleaf asked.
"May I talk with my kit?" Mapleshade asked.
"You have a lot of time to talk with Petalkit later. We have some things to discuss first." Spottedleaf meowed.
"So.." Mapleshade meowed, prompting Spottedleaf to keep going.
"You were alive again." Spottedleaf meowed.
"I'm quite aware of so." Mapleshade meowed, attempting to not sound bitter and annoyed. In reality, she just wanted to reunite with Petalkit..
"Whenever a cat dies, they are evaluated to see if they are worthy of going into StarClan, or should instead be sent to the Place of No Stars. Because you were revived of the cat that died in your name, you hold that cat in you. The cat in you is Dovewing, I'm sure you know of that though.." Spottedleaf meowed, trailing off.
"And?" Mapleshade meowed.
"I'm sure you know this also; Dovewing's spirit is yet to be released from you. We thought her spirit would come to us upon your death, but it has yet to happen. So is Dovewing's spirit tied to you now? Or where is it, if not?" Spottedleaf asked.
"StarClan asking me for answers? That's a first." Mapleshade grunted.
"If you're not going to answer, I'll keep on going. Because of your death, you are re-evaluated. This time around, we see you're pure of heart. However, we can't just admit you to StarClan now. You remember your victims, right?" Spottedleaf meowed.
Mapleshade winced at this question.
"Yes. Ravenwing. Frecklewish. Appledusk." Mapleshade answered.
"As you know, all of those cats went to StarClan. We quickly talked before this, and we came to a conclusion. Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk agreed that it made sense that it drove you crazy after your kits died, especially the way that they did. There was so many different ways to prevent it, but no one could have known." Spottedleaf meowed.
"So, am I going to go to StarClan?" Mapleshade asked.
"Very straight to the point, Mapleshade. I can't quite answer that. There are a few conditions here for you. You have wreaked havoc along with your Dark Forest warriors in the clans. So close to your death, we cannot excuse it." Spottedleaf explained.
"You cannot say that I have no spot in StarClan. If my heart is more pure than evil, I belong in StarClan. Don't lie to me about how an action so close to my death would cause me to be unable to be eligible for StarClan. There are so many cases that you have yet to take into account. You aren't being very lenient or fair to me, as you have been to many other cats in other occasions, Spottedleaf." Mapleshade meowed, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Well, what if that is what I'm saying?" Spottedleaf meowed. It was more of a genuine question than a rhetorical one.
"Look at Hollyleaf and Ashfur. Ashfur tried to kill Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf through his anger. Hollyleaf ended up killing Ashfur in cold blood, for vengeance. Both of them are now in StarClan. Hollyleaf killed someone in cold blood, as did I. Ashfur attempted murder for no other reasons than his own anger. I do not see how any of these cases are different to mine. You are just unfair and biased towards me." Mapleshade meowed defiantly.
Spottedleaf dipped her head toward Mapleshade. "For that, you are correct. I see there is no way around this. The 22 spirits tied to the Dark Forest warriors- we don't know how to get them. Some belong in StarClan, of course others belonging to the Dark Forest. Us, as StarClan, want to know. And we know that you know about how the spirits work." Spottedleaf meowed.
So they were trying to trick me...
"StarClan, not as nice as they seem. You used my kit as leverage to try to make me do something. StarClan is quite manipulative, aren't they? You also tried to make me believe that I do not have a genuine spot in StarClan. So you tried to push me into betraying the Dark Forest?" Mapleshade asked.
Spottedleaf looked almost stricken. "Well- we couldn't be sure that you would help us. And the way you're acting, it doesn't look like so."she meowed.
"I'll help you. But put trust in me, since I can't put any in you after the stunt that you tried to pull. Believe me, I am no longer loyal to the Dark Forest. You saw my heart, I am pure." Mapleshade meowed.
"I really do apologize for what we tried to do, Mapleshade. But we're StarClan, who watches over the clans. Could we really just sit by and watch the clans suffer? No. So we tried our best to get you to work for us in a way that we would be sure that you would listen because of the leverage of your kits. You're smart. But thank you for agreeing to work with us Mapleshade." Spottedleaf meowed.
Mapleshade dipped her head. "I just would have thought that StarClan would be- well, more pure about their way of going about finding information from me."
"I know. But if you were still loyal to the Dark Forest and knew of our plans, that wouldn't end nicely for us as StarClan." Spottedleaf meowed.
"You answered to my comments 3 times in 3 different ways. I guess I respect your explanation now. So, what do you want to know?" Mapleshade asked.
"Everything." Spottedleaf meowed.
"Where should I start? Well, let's go back to the Great Battle. So, as you know, the clans lost the Great Battle, thus leading to the Dark Forest takeover. There, we decided to create The Preyless Games. A way to push everyone to respect us, more out of fear than of the way the clans respect StarClan. Our vision of The Preyless Games was to constantly remind the clans who was in control. No one was more than a minute away from death. We figured out a way to tie souls and spirits of the cats killed in our name to us. This action would then revive us. The process of tying the spirit of a cat to your own for revival is quite simple. It's simply the way that you tied Jay's Wing to reincarnate into Jayfeather. Unlike Jay's Wing and Jayfeather, I cannot access Dovewing. The only way I know so far to separate the spirit is to get the cat to willingly give up the cat's spirit. There is definitely another way. I heard Tigerstar talking about how there is multiple ways to separate the spirits, but he didn't go into detail. I'll separate Dovewing's spirit after I finish this. The cat's spirit is tied to us before the cat dies so that we can leech their life when they die."
I want to ensure that I am let into StarClan. StarClan didn't quite trust me, so I have no specific reason to trust them.
"Okay- before I started going about with the souls and spirits, I was talking about how we came up with the Preyless Games. So, we thought that loyalty to the Dark Forest would be rewarded. Disloyalty would- well, let's just say.. disloyalty wouldn't exist in our system. In a sense, the idea was to terrorize the clans into following us. Now that I look at it from this view, it's more messed up than it originally sounded." Mapleshade meowed.
"I mean, it pretty much is. You kill 24 cats each moon, just to remind the clans who they have to follow. Not to try to help you fix your plans, but 24 cats per moon is an overkill. The clans would be wiped out with that kind of stuff." Spottedleaf meowed.
"Not fully my plans, but anyways.. We decided to leave out expecting queens for that reason. The more kits there were to become tributes, the more games we get. And I think you know my target weakness now, so there's no use not mentioning it. Being one of the more influential and older members of the Dark Forest, I get a huge say in things. You know that my kits died, my only weakness. I couldn't bear for kits to die, especially at their young ages. I made a specific rule to omit them from possibly being tributes in the games. I don't believe many cats were happy with it because they thought it would be entertaining to watch the slaughter of kits, but no one dared speak against me. Apprentices, in my mind, are just as warriors are. Old enough to be in pain, as they are old enough to go into battles."
"Wait, so you don't really care about the families losing their kin? The mothers losing their kits- even as apprentices or warriors?" Spottedleaf asked.
"Well- I was bitter at the time. I wanted them to experience my pain. What I went through. But none of them would experience my pain. I got rejected from my clan. My kits died. I got rejected by my mate and his clan. I was cold. But I saw the anguish on a mother's face. I've felt the raw and hollow anger in me for so long, eating away at me. But when I saw the pain, it sparked an emotion I haven't felt in many moons. Guilt. And it's what brought me here. I'm still sorry for taking that mother's kit away from her. I'm sorry for the pain I caused her. But what's done is done. I can't undo what I've done, no matter how I try to change the past. I spent many nights thinking about it. Restless sleep, tossing and turning. The guilt was eating away at me instead of my anger. I couldn't breathe, I felt as if I was underwater. I just stayed hard and angry on the outside. It's easier that way, when no one knows what you're thinking. It hurts less. But with Willowshine's pregnancy, a moment of weakness overcame me. This lead to my second death, which turns out to be not necessarily a bad thing." Mapleshade continued.
"So you don't really know how to release the spirits, if not willingly?" Spottedleaf asked.
"I can't say that I do. But everyone in the Dark Forest has weaknesses, just as I do. Cats don't just become dark or evil for no reason. Some- their darkness or evil is greater than others. It will be quite the task to convince the Dark Forest warriors to release the spirits of the cats. The spirit essentially gives them two lives. If they die when they were 'alive', they still get to live again in the Dark Forest as a Dark Forest warrior. I understand the need to separate pure cats' spirits from Dark Forest warriors. But take into consideration that not all of the spirits will be pure. Some of the reaped cats were Dark Forest warriors, and their allegiance may not change." Mapleshade warned.
"Okay, I got it. So, welcome to StarClan?" Spottedleaf meowed.
Mapleshade felt a lift. She saw the outline of a gray she-cat with blue eyes next to her.
"Thank you, Mapleshade." Dovewing meowed.
Both cats dipped their heads at each other, as they all headed off to StarClan's hunting grounds.
Spottedleaf's POV
Spottedleaf walked quietly through StarClan's hunting grounds. She had a lot to think about. There was no known way to separate the pure spirits of cats from their Dark Forest holder. Would there be another way? Should StarClan spend their time and resources trying to figure out a second solution- when they didn't know if there was a second solution? What would she tell the rest of StarClan?
Spottedleaf sighed. It wasn't for her to decide anyways. She slowly walked towards Bluestar to explain the situation.
So if any of you are confused- here's another short summary. Mapleshade was given another life by tying Dovewing's soul to hers. Tigerstar killed her, leading her to become dead again. StarClan is required to evaluate every dead cat's purity or goodness of their heart and soul, and Mapleshade passed the test. StarClan then tried to get information from her about the Dark Forest, which ended somewhat successful because of how Mapleshade agreed to give them information. At the end, Spottedleaf is thinking about what StarClan should do with all the new acquired information.
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~Waterfall
