Bluestar chapter!
NONEYA: Thank you!
The Great Aussie Bogan: Oh, the only hater I know of is myself. Bluestar's the main villian, yes, but she isn't totally OOC. What she said in Chapter One was true. Rainpaw's personality… I'm still trying to nail her sociopath tendencies, I don't think she's wholly developed yet, but I'm glad you like her so far. The outbursts? Yes, that's where my writing goes awry, hopefully it'll get better over time. Also, I know the area where you live! I was there once. –stalker face-
MyrtleFalls: oh, how I love this review. StarClan, yes, it appears perfect. This story's meant to have gray morality, but Tigerpaw and other characters later on will represent a good side, don't worry. Thank you so much, but I'll never stop beating myself up.
WarriorCat99: Thank you so much! Yes, I'm fairly proud of the plot, I don't think it's been done before? I've never been able to stand how unchangeably GOOD StarClan are in most fanfics. Thank you infinitely much for the fave.
Thank you everyone for the fave. However, I also appreciate reviews. If you've fav'd this or watched it, please please review. Or I'll… be unhappy. Grrrrr, fear my unhappyness.
Please forgive my use of Suddenly to begin a sentence.
Bluestar skidded to a stop at the top of the slope. It swam unnervingly in front of her, but she shook the nauseous blurs aside and squinted through aged eyes at a single flash of ginger, cutting through the ferns.
No! Not that one! You cannot use him as prey!
Bluestar flung herself down the slope, the air whistling through and burning her throat. Ferns smashed into her face, making her eyes water, the trees shifting together and apart again.
It won't work, he's trying to kill himself, he's finally seen that my Clan is ruined gone destroyed, that it is no more that a cluster of traitors, and he watns ot ecapse
Bluestar flung herself at the dog, longing to feel teeth ripping through her pelt, rupturing her insides, leaving her still, gulping her down yes
There were the shards of teeth digging into her pelt- she twisted and gave a snarl of pleasure, she hadn't felt this alive in moons- but they began to slide away, leaving only the slightest suggestion of blood on her fur. No!Bluestar whipped around to see the dog begin to topple over the steep face of the gorge. Her instincts betrayed her, and she felt herself scrabble away.
She still had hope. The pack was thundering closer.
'Bluestar!' Fireheart tried to caution her, but she was frozen in the dog's gaze, filled with both hunger and fear. whydidn'tyoukillmecouldn'tyoujustkillmmegivemepainiwantpainyespain
She heard the thump of a dog's body against the ravine as it fell, heard the brittle snap of bones and a single splash as he plunged into the churning waters. Takemeakemewithyou
Bluestar stared challengingly at the dangling lead dog. 'You shouldn't have threatened us,' she said simply, trying to muster up feelings of revenge against her Clan. None came.
The dog's head ripped forward, a snarl breaking the panicked expression. The feeling of yellowed teeth snapping around her leg made her weak with pleasure- yeskillmekillmepleaseripmythroatoutyesShe almost came at the thought of it.
The dog was dragging her over the edge of the gorge. She bid a silent, final goodbye to the ground, touching it once with a limp paw, then felt herself twisting through the air, the sharp snarl of wind around her ruffling the dog's pelt and grip.
The dog released her, and she hit the water.
Water will destroy you.
She felt it billow around her, the pressure of the thick currents, relief surging through her as she let herself be tossed back and forth by the force. Finally.
Her head broke the foaming water, and she felt a familiar scent wrap around her.
'Oakheart!' she hissed, giving a hacking cough, water tumbling from her slimy throat. 'I don't want you here-'
It's like running through the forest. Let your paws do the work. Chin up.
'I don't want to run through the forest,' she said hoarsely, as invisible soft dry fur and broad paws began to churn her legs, making her splutter through the water. 'Let me go. I want to be gone, I want the last thing I see to be-'
those sprinklings of bubbles and the blooming clouds of my blood stinging my eyes and
'Let me go!'
That'stheway.He was steering her towards the bank.
She wailed briefly, and felt jaws clamp down hard on her scruff. Yes!Dragmeunderwater,doit,please,justgivemepainandmakeitend
She turned her head and saw ginger.
Makeitharderforthebastard.She forced herself to go limp and let him drag her through the foaming, choppy waters. Can'tyouseeijustwantto
Bluestar felt her waterlogged pelt brushing against the grass and dirt. savedme.fuckyou.
'Bluestar?'
The image of a head, tilted in confusion, swam in front of her. She focused her eyes and squinted at the cat. She zipped into clearness. Mistyfoot.
no i don't want
'Loyal,' she rasped quietly. 'Don't… forgive me. Don't forgive me.'
Mistyfoot's eyes filled with warmth. 'We forgive you, Bluestar.'
The leader cursed her croaky, unreliable voice as her daughter buried a wet nose in her fur. There was that milky smell from her kithood, now tinted with a scent of mint and something sharper and fresher that she didn't recognise.
Who were your kits, Mistyfoot? Who did you have them with? Did Graypool let you suck on the bones of the prey? When did you lose your virginity? Did you pass your assesments first time? Did you ever cheat? Ever pull pranks? What did you look like at your warrior ceremony? Did you rub dock on your pelt? I did. It made it shinier. I would have let you do it.. Not every mother would.
Didyouevercollectwetmossatdawnwithyourmate,andflingitateachotherbesidestheriver,whilethesoftgraylightmadeyourfurshine?Youwouldhavehadmorethanonenight,butthatwaswhatwedid,and… whatlittlegamesdidyouplaywithyourkits?Didyouletthemfindyouinhideandseek?Didyougetsick?Whathappened inyourlife?
So many questions, and she couldn't fight the sentimental flow. She stirred quietly, water dribbling from her mouth as she let it hang open. Firestar was murmuring something to Stonefur, and a moment later he bent his head and said reverently, 'We forgive you.'
Bluestar felt her mouth open, and she was whispering to Firestar- the prophecy. It felt a world away now. He would not save the Clans. Nothing would.
In her early life, every fourth day, Bluestar would go to her favourite tree. It was near the river, and she could watch the bubbling flow over smooth stones, and eat some early prey- a vole, she prefered. She would climb down with the fragments of bone in her mouth, and let them tumble into the flow of the river, imagined them clunking together amongst the cold silver currents, spiralling away and forever, as far as the river went.
Once she had set the tiny skull right beside the river, forcing the empty sockets to stare at all it had left of itself slip away with the water. When she came back, it was gone.
Bluestar blinked and watched the water. There was a brief bloom of blood, she was bubbling away with the river. She let herself sink into the grass and crumble of soil, imagining that she was soft and limp amongst the depths, oblivious to everything. The pain in her right leg was sweet.
….
'What?'
Bluestar leaped up frantically, circled once, and glanced down at her pelt. No jagged wounds marred the fluffy, soft fur. She felt young limbs flex, agile and quick. 'What?' she said again, and darted a glance around her surroundings.
The forest spanned out in all directions, branches arching elegantly overhead to cross against the sheer blackness of the sky. Bluestar shook herself and ran a claw along the grass. 'N-no… I won't be one of them…'
How could they do this to her? She didn't want to join them, she didn't want to decieve the Clans, look at this forest, what happened to the starry, glorious blaze of StarClan? There wasn't a lone rustle or whisper of leaves. Nobody was there. It smelt like nothingness. The forest had muted, gray colors. When she brushed against a tree and ferns, her pelt crawled- it wasn't the same to touch, it was wrong.
Bluestar felt her legs shake once and collapse; she curled up tightly on the ground, her eyes desperately scrunched shut. 'No I don't want to be here I don't want to have to go on why is this happenening why am I alone why isn't anyone here whyamIalone'
She lay on the ground for a long time.
….
'Bluestar.'
She didn't move.
'It's Firestar's ceremony.'
'Where were you?' Bluestar said it through gritted teeth, her eyes still closed. 'This can't be StarClan. StarClan… it's meant to be glorious, starry, the founders and miscarried kits eating honeycomb together… I'm alone here.'
She opened her eyes. Redtail was hesitating near a vast tree. 'StarClan's the afterlife, Bluestar. It's death.I understand you're disappointed, but death is different from life.'
Bluestar examined him with cool anger. 'I'd never have guessed,' she said coldly. When Redtail didn't reply, she went on, 'I'm giving him a life?'
Redtail nodded, uncertain of how she would react. 'It's… we have to go this way.'
'Nothing here makes sense,' Bluestar said, scrabbling to her feet and following him bitterly through the trees. 'How do we get into dreams? How am I supposed to give him a life? What-'
Redtail halted abruptly, and pressed his nose against hers. 'You can't talk to him,' he said firmly. 'You can't say anything apart from what the ceremony calls for.'
Bluestar gave a shaky nod. Redtail's eyes were boring into hers and when he drew away a thrill of life zipped through her. She bounded through the trees, the buzzing in her paws building until it was almost painful.
'So how do we get there?' she sang over her shoulder, oblivious of how kit-like she looked. 'Am I giving him his last- hnnnffff-'
Suddenly she felt like she was on fire. Every part of her was fizzing with otherpowering energy. 'It hurts,' she whimpered, sinking to the ground, her paws twitching and raring to go.
'Life,' Redtail said, looking unimpressed. 'It feels different if you've died.'
Bluestar squinched her eyes closed and tightly bent her head, the blood pounding through her feeling like it was going to burst out. 'I don't-' Every time her heart beat, she staggered in agony.
'Move,' Redtail ordered. 'It'll make you feel better, and you have to move to move.'
'Thank you, Obvioussuffix,' Bluestar snarled, jumping when her heart thumped again. She staggered up and followed him, the sensation of moving not enough to quench the electricity in her bones and muscle, the feeling of being too brittle to hold herself in. 'Am I going to give this to him?'
Redtail replied, but she didn't hear him. She writhed as she walked, sinking her paws hard into the ground, raking a claw down her leg in fury.
The forest around them was a vast expanse of interchangeable trees and still bracken and sprawling bushes. Bluestar drew back in alarm when it began to glow intensely, and the ground began to lower. She pressed herself against Redtail, hoping that the furious churning of her innards would hurt him too.
They were in darkness, only a few pinpoints of icy light around them. 'Stars?' Bluestar asked Redtail quietly, hating how much she was relying on him. Idespiseyou.Youknowwhatyou'vedonetome.
Below them, Fourtrees. They seemed more beautiful, larger, far grander than usual, and she wanted more than anything to dash towards it and curl up amongst the strong roots, the huge oaks that had never changed. Nevergo,she whispered. Mywholelifehasbeenmeasuredbyyou.
The stars swirled around them, and she felt a fiery but cold pressure on her pelt. Stars were arrayed in her fur, the intense burning sensation pressing on her. She sucked in a deep breath- her insides were pounding and churning as though they wanted to escape, and her fur was being shoved inwards by the frosty, unbearable sensation of the stars.
Redtail nudged her, and they stalked down the sky, curving slowly towards the one shivering cat who crouched among the huge trees. WhatdoIsay?she pondered. WhatwasitSnowfurdid?The… shegaveme…
Redtail was first, and the words he spoke echoed through her mind as they left his jaw. One by one, cats Firestar had known went forward, and she watched him jerk in pain with no sympathy. She stood still, the heavy stars sttrategically placed to prevent movement, until they began to push her feet forward. 'Don't trust,' she managed to get out in the tiniest of whispers.
The stars began to manipulate her tongue. She spoke the ceremonial words with ease, and when her nose touched to Firestar's the pain built up to an enraged cresecendo-
Snowfur's body red amongst the white limp and flattened on the side of the thunderpath
moonflower it isn't fair it's not fair is this real hawkheart on top of here where did he bite you it isn't fair it's not fair is this real
thrushpelt i'm sorry i should have oh lionclan i should have his face full of agony
thistleclaw i gave up everything why i could have i could have never known
goosefeather trusted
and left her. She had no movement inside her. It was anything but painless.
The pressure of the stars on her tongue worked blood up from her mouth, but she turned before Firestar could see the stream. 'Firestar,' Bluestar yowled in a monotone. No emotion was in her voice.
If she had free will, she would have called, 'Don't trust us.'
Bluestar,she heard in the back of her mind. Something'sabouttohappen,butdon'tfreakout,you'regoingtogiveaprophecy,pleasedon't-
Leavemealone,Oakheart,she thought, before the stars began burrowing into her mind. Prophecy,she thought.
…
Bluestar was lying in moss, the forest around her silent. Redtail was nowhere to be seen. 'What happened to the prophecy?' she murmured. 'I- the stars… can't remember,,.'
She had no memory of anything past the moment when her head began to freeze and hurt; something vague of a hill of bones, but no more. Thestarsdidit,she thought, and laughed at herself.
She laughed for a long time.
….
And now they wanted her to take over StarClan, be its leader.
Bluestar's eyes shone in slightly insane amusment. Ihateyou.Whywouldyouwantmetoleadyou.ihateyou.you'reallliars.
'Please, Bluestar,' Spottedleaf was meowing. 'Graywing, he's old, he's almost faded, StarClan's becoming… we're not supposed to be what we are. We're meant to be paradise.'
'I haven't seen anyone for moons,' Bluestar said. 'I've been alone. Those stars made me move.' Are we here to prey? She meant to speak, but her mouth moved emptily. My kit died when I was little. I've always loved voles. She laughed.
Spottedleaf stared at her. 'The stars? Graywing gives them to cats he think might speak against him. To prevent them from thinking freely. Why would you get them?'
Bluestar decided to not speak.
'You're a great leader,' Lionheart told her. 'You've never doubted StarClan, but we aren't what we used to be.'
'Haven't you been watching?' Bluestar said, puzzled.
'StarClan used to have seeing-pools everywhere,' a cat she didn't recognise replied. 'But something changed.'
'You've been hinting at it for ages,' Bluestar snapped, irritated. 'Tell me what happened.'
The four of them were sitting in an empty expanse of forest, Bluestar still curled up in her moss.
'StarClan… used to be a huge forest, that mirrored the Clan territory exactly,' Spottedleaf began. 'Everyone could go anywhere, though. There were stars everywhere, but it was as if they didn't exist. They didn't hurt back then. There was prey. Cats used to sometimes just fade in and out of visibility, and there was no way of telling if they would come back, but… in my limited experience, it was the same as it had been since it was founded by Star.'
…..
The legend of Star:
once there were six Clans. ThunderClan ruled the forest, pelts dappled by shafts of light, feeding on the juicy meat of squirrels. RiverClan lived amongst the reeds and shining waters, and were proud of their idiosyncracies. ShadowClan found a home in marsh and pine, and had the most integrity and intelligence of all. WindClan were buffeted by gales and weather in the sprawling moors, and they were honest and good. SkyClan reigned over the thickest part of the forest, and were fair and spiritual. StarClan lived in Highstones and the surrounding paddocks, and were the most tolerant and rebellious.
their leader was Star, a pale gray tom with green eyes and an eager, proud nature. His deputy, cousin and eventuallly, mate was Moon, a ginger tabby. There were many jokes about their names (they had in fact been named to match by their littermate mothers), but they ruled the Clan well.
however, it hadn't been many moons before they had problems. The paddocks were full of cows and horses who could crush a spine with their hooves, and the few mice that lived there weren't worth the danger. Highstones was hazardous and barren; their camp was well-protected, but the other Clans soon began to extend their borders into StarClan territory.
they died or fled, and Star was soon left alone. Stricken by the death of his friends and mate, he began to walk and never stopped or ate or drank, until he fell and never got up.
his spirit went to the sky, and he discovered an ethereal territory, populated already by the wandering souls of all deceased cats. He brought them together and finally ruled a Clan, and they watched the others below and knew all.
Star was forgotten by history, but his co-ruler was the namesake of the Moonstone. Neither of them ever faded, despite their names being long erased into nothingness.
….
'Soon after Spootedleaf arrived, Graywing started being strange. You go senile if you've never faded,' Lionheart continued. 'He eradicated the seeing-pools, and the forest became empty. StarClan started being unwelcoming and strange, and the prophecy just seemed to make it fall apart even more.'
'Seeing-pools?'
'The things we watch the Clans through.'
They don't know i hate htem, they i they said they hadn't approached anyone else about this the forest is so it's empty they haven't seen anyone to know what happened
'But my dreams…' she said.
'We're never in anybody's dreams, apart from when they go to the Moonstone,' the third cat said. 'It looks like us, but it's a façade. We never know what we're supposedly saying.'
'Since Graywing came, anyway,' Spottedleaf corrected him.
i could fixx Starcaamn I could
'I will,' she said.
….
Make StarClan silver. No, Spottedleaf, I don't care that we're having proble- Yes, but we need to look nicer! It'll reassure everyone- yes. Even the protesters, yes.
Lionheart? What do you- oh. Oh, I… see. Rotting. How could someone rot while they're still sentinent and moving? I thought we were insubstancial anyway. Look, just fade him. Yes- yes, no, of course you can do it! What do you think happened to Frostfur? And, uh, what was their name again? Mosskt? I-is that right? Okay. Sure. Yes, fade him anyway. He might alarm everyone else.
What do you think you were doing? Tellingeveryone what happened to your littermate? She was rotting. We saved her. We don't need scum like you trying to overthrow us. We're restoring StarClan. We don't need vermin scurrying around telling everyone we're making StarClan too real. That means nothing. The rotting means nothing. Do you know what I do that rats? I tear their throats out. But you won't cause me to lose a life, will you? You're pathetic. Go ahead and yowl… Spottedleaf. Take out that moss, it's wet. How come cats fading always leaves dampness?
The Dark Forest. The. Dark. Forest. Are you insane? Of course I want you to send cats! Send all the decaying ones. It'll scare them. No, they don't have to be willing.Just as long as they fight.
Well, send some more to guard the border. I-I just don't get how an uncrossable border can just vanish, anyway… and haven't they always been unable to communicate with each other? Just fend them off. Oh? How many? Only sixteen? That's easily replaced. Go and find some more.
Oh, Spottedleaf, you're so soft-hearted. She's Mistyfoot's daughter, Mistyfoot's a revolting traitor, I don't carethat she's my kin! It's a wonder she lasted this long in StarClan anyway. Hey, little kit. What's your name? Oh my, Petalkit? That's very pretty. What do you like to do? Yes, I like hunting too. You must be a great hunter. Oh! I'm sorry, I thought your ear was a little mouse. Yeah, silly me. You see what I can do with my claws? Ohh, what a big belly, you've been eating too many mice, I bet. Let me check. No, I'm not "gonna" stop! I'm having fun. Look at all those cheering cats, you're not going to ruin their fun, are you? Hee, you're funny. Am I funny? Do you like me? Oh! I'm offended! You know what happens when a lovely little kit offends me? I… huh. She didn't last long. Let's go. That was sort of disappointing.
All people interested in this story (all two of them), I'm doing a Halloween edition. I'd also love to do a musical episode, how awesome would it be if cats suddenly BURST INTO SONG! But I fail forever at rhyming.
Review, because Spottedleaf demands it. That, and the honeycomb. Also her life again. which you'd think would trump honeycomb.
