Hey guys! The new chapter is now up! Sorry for the wait, I wasn't able to finish it before the weekend ended. LOL! WeekEND ENDED!
Anyways...
Guest: Sorry about your kit idea not being used here, but I promise that it will be used if she ever has any other kits.
Bobbie1776: Yeeeessss! Iiiiiiitttttt'ssssss trrrrruuuuueeee! Shhhhhhheeeee haaaaatttteeeessss hiiiiimmm.
WhenCowsFly: Yes, I know. They are both going insane. It's terribly crazy. XD
Raeda2001: Thank you! I hope this chapter will be just as great as the previous one! Oh, and about Goldenkit not hating her namesake, if you were names after Hitler or some other diabolical person, would you not hate them just because of that? Just some food for thought. Personally, I would change my name if it were Hitler! It isn't exactly a feminine name! :)
Now, without further babbling from me, here's the chapter!
Chapter 23: Pinestar
It was all flooding back to him now, every horrible moment of it..
The lives he'd taken...
The blood he'd spilled...
The families he'd torn...
The instincts he'd learned...
The hatred he'd felt.
Everything the dark brown tom had ever tried to suppress was flooding back, the events of the past moon opening the gates. No matter how hard he tried, Pinestar couldn't outrun the shadow of his past. It had marked him as a killer, a murderer, a slanderer.
The things he'd done, they were unforgivable.
The way he'd been raised, was one of pure malice.
The pain he had felt, was nothing compared to that he had caused.
He was a monster.
He was a Bloodclan cat.
Pinestar reminisced upon his kithood: the long hours of work, the assignments, the training, his father.
The white-muzzled leader growled at the last thought. He desired never to speak of or see his father again.
That wish, at least, would be upheld.
Something was shoved down his throat, and he blacked out.
Pinestar awoke to an empty medicine den, and he scented the air. It appeared that Fernshadow had left a short time ago, most likely to gather herbs.
The tabby tom sighed. Why do I have to be so difficult?
He got up to look into a leaf that was holding water nearby, and was met with the ragged face of an outsider, a face that, although older, was familiar to him.
He snarled, swiping his paw at the leaf and sending it flying to the left, it's contents shimmering into the air. The familiar face was one he had never wanted to see again, as it bore the marks of terrible deeds.
Pinestar started to groom himself, licking a paw and running it over his face.
The amber-eyed tom signed yet again. He had just had another episode, the likes of which he hadn't encountered in moons.
These breakdowns were common in his early years with the clan, striking him during training sessions, in the middle of camp, and in the dead of night.
Each time it was the same: anger, hatred, bitterness, evil. These emotions would well up inside him, threatening to burst through the fragile walls he had built. Then, the memories would start. He would remember the events of his past, and then, Pinestar would snap.
Thankfully, he was fine now, but he didn't know how long it would be before another attack. Being with Greyleaf had soothed his mental illness greatly, even to the point where he had forgotten about it, but she was gone now, sick, possibly dying.
And there was nothing he could do to help her.
Chapter 23: Goldenfur
Goldenkit stepped away and quickly ran off to get Featherheart, who had left the camp earlier to gather some herbs with Volepaw.
Goldenfur felt utterly defeated. Any sense power and strength he had possessed earlier had deflated like a balloon at the icy glare that his daughter had given him, and a single tear escaped his eye.
There was nothing he could do, so he laid there, eyes closed, waiting for her return.
Soon, the sound of hurried pawsteps interrupted the stunned silence of the hollow, and the gasp of a she-cat sounded, followed by several brisk orders.
Goldenfur felt himself being lifted up, and he heard the same being done to Blackfur. The gentle rocking of the cat's walk beneath him lulled the golden tom into a half-sleep, and he entered into a hazy, muffled half-world where the events around him were slurred and dampened.
"...will need a splint...broken leg... minor head injury..." Featherheart's voice floated in and out of hearing range, her sentences cut off by the fluff of his mind.
The clouded, silent world was frustratingly ghastly, but worse than that was the pain.
The cramping, aching muscles of his legs screamed at him.
The pounding, pulsing tenderness of his head stabbed at him.
The jabbing, punching feeling in his gut raged at him.
But nothing compared to the absolute agony he felt at knowing, knowing that Goldenkit hated - truly, truly hated - him.
Goldenfur fought for his last conscious moments, before plummeting into a restless, poppy seed induced sleep.
When he awoke, it was nearly sundown, and the blue-eyed tom's muscles groaned as he got to his feet.
Looking to the side, he saw Blackfur's limp form stretched out in a soft, long nest, his chest rising and falling. Goldenfur smirked at the sight of the dark tom's leg held firmly together between two sticks before he stumbled out of the warm den.
Breathing in the cool, pre-dusk air, he winced his way over to the nursery to see if Greyleaf had woken from her endless slumber.
As usual, she was still trapped in some unknown oblivion.
Goldenfur crumpled with a sigh beside her, head rested over the grey she-cat's back. Why won't you just wake up?
A growl sounded from behind, interrupting his silent pleading. The tom whirled around to face his new assailant.
Cold amber eyes that glistened with barely concealed fire and hatred glowered back at him.
Goldenfur started. It seemed as if all of his kits were turning on him, and images of their revenge flashed across his plane of mind, each one worse and more gruesome than the last: drowned in the lake, thrown into a pit of fire, and skewer on a spire of rock.
"Get. Out." Nightkit snarled, lip curled in disgust.
The larger tom got to his feet, back to the comatose she-cat, shaking his head incredulously. No one was supposed to be here.
"Get. Away. From. My. Mother." The little dark grey-brown tom hissed, claws sliding from soft paws.
Goldenfur growled. No one was going to separate him from Greyleaf! He reared up on his hind legs, ready to crash his paws down upon the defiant kitten. A red haze misted across his vision, and Nightkit looked alien to him. He wasn't his kit, he was just another obstacle in the way.
Nightkit held his ground, stance set in the exact way Goldenfur had taught him.
The warrior let his weight fall.
Just before his blow struck, he remembered, and jolted out of his haze-world, barely able to shift his weight away so that the strike didn't land.
Breath labored, claws sunk into the soft ground, he closed his eyes and thought, I almost killed my son. I have to get out of here.
He ran.
Out of the den, he ran into the clear openness of the hollow, leaving behind the stuffy air of the nursery.
I almost killed my son!
He looked down at his paws, paws that had come a whisker's-width to murdering Nightkit.
Goldenfur sighed, aghast at the act he had very nearly committed. He knew he couldn't take much more of this: the sickness, the pain, the conflict. One more thing, and he knew he would break.
"Sunstar!"
He jerked his head up at the sound of the yowl. He felt his father appear at his side.
"What is it, Rosepaw?" Sunstar's worried voice called out to the ginger she-cat.
Heaving, the spotted, amber-eyed apprentice struggled to get to them, and she almost collapsed at their feet.
"I-it's Gr.. Grey...leaf," she gasped, sucking in air, "I... ran... fast... as I.. could."
"Is something wrong," Goldenfur asked, his voice cracking. She had been sent to find out if his love could be cured.
"Greh-" she tried to speak, still panting, "Greyleaf.."
"Oh, just spit it out already!" Goldenfur spat, fur standing on end, tired of her halting speech.
Rosepaw whimpered, cowering back away from the tabby tom.
Sunstar shot his son a reproachful look, before nodding to the frightened she-cat. "Go on," he soothed.
She looked thankfully at her leader, shooting Goldenfur a scared look.
"The other clans didn't know anything," she mewed quietly.
"You don't mean.."
"Yes," she looked into his brown eyes solemnly, "Greyleaf will die."
Dun. Dun. DUN!
BAM! HIT HIM RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES! TAKE THAT!
Well, to any Goldenfur lovers, I just had to do something to make him have some kind of flaw. He was getting to be a Mary Sue.
Anyways...
Question. Of The Chapter: Do you think Greyleaf will die, or do you think she'll somehow pull through? If so, why?