AN: Time to do a happy dance. =Dances excitedly= This is the last chapter. Up next is the epilogue, which will be most...unusual. I've already pointed out that there won't be a sequel, so don't get surprised when you don't see one. Anyways, please, please, please remember to leave a review. I don't care who you are, just review!
-Chapter 13-
She knew that she was not in control of her body. She could read the thoughts that went on in the Darkness's mind. He wanted power above all else. He wanted to make those that had trapped him suffer. She wanted the thoughts to go away. Yet each time she fought against the Darkness, it became stronger. He pushed her own thoughts back before she could escape.
One voice above all had caught her attention when she found herself looming over Mistystar. It was a voice that she'd grown to enjoy since this power hungry creature came. She tried to turn her head. The Darkness was growing stronger by the heartbeat.
Flametail. The single name sent a thrill of excitement through her.
The ginger tom was looking at her through a pair of gleaming amber eyes. She could see the shock within them. He didn't know what was happening. She didn't tell him about the Darkness. The only information she managed to give him was that something would happen.
Without hesitating Flametail leaped forward. The Darkness swung her head around to face Mistystar, who managed to escape. She spotted the RiverClan leader hiding in the reeds that surrounded the clearing. A deep sense of hatred suddenly filled her chest. It made her breathing heavy as the Darkness searched for Mistystar.
As the Darkness began to sniff her out, Willowshine felt the tail of a cat brush against her shoulders. She spun around to face Flametail.
"Willowshine, what happened to you?" he demanded.
"Willowshine isn't here any longer." Her heart began to thud against her chest when the Darkness spoke through her mouth. "I am the Darkness, brought back by the pathetic sap that wanted power."
She winced inwardly when she spotted shame cloud Hollowstorm's eyes. In a way she was thankful that he didn't have the Darkness controlling his movements. Her own mind was already made up when she met Flametail's gaze.
"Willowshine, I know that's you," he whispered slowly yet surely.
"Flametail." She surprised herself by speaking, despite the control the Darkness had over her movements. "You have to stop this...Darkness..." It was becoming more difficult to speak. "Kill...me."
Flametail's eyes widened in shock. He took a staggering step back when he looked at her. "I've never killed you," he gasped. "I can't!"
She forced herself to meet his gaze. There was nothing that could stop the Darkness from spreading, unless she herself was stopped. She could already feel the piercing anger the Darkness felt. It wanted to stop her from telling Flametail. She shook her head as the thoughts the Darkness had reached her own.
"Please, stop the Darkness!" Her voice became distant once more as the Darkness took over.
The ShadowClan medicine cat shook his head. He couldn't do it. She meant far more to him than she realized. It was bad enough to lose Littlecloud, but to lose her? He felt torn between what was right and what he longed for. A storm of emotions churned in his belly as Willowshine stepped forward towards Mistystar. He didn't know if this was going to work. If the Clan saw the rage of emotions that he felt, than they would begin to get suspicious. They might question his ability as a medicine cat.
Flametail tried to throw the thoughts away as he staggered towards his friend. Willowshine's fur was ruffled with pure rage. He had a feeling that it wasn't her own rage. The Darkness was controlling her. She'd told him stories about a creature known as the Darkness. Apparently it happened only when the seasons weren't right.
His tail lashed when he finally caught up with her. Mistystar had fled by the time she reached the bed of reeds. Her scent still lingered in the air, and Willowshine was trying to sniff her out.
Please forgive me, StarClan, he thought as he loomed in front of her like a lurking shadow. With a moment's hesitation, he bent down to snap his teeth around her neck. Willowshine shrieked in pain as it exploded through her body. He tried not to wince when a collective gasp gathered around the clearing. She writhed under his grasp as he waited until the life drained from her.
When her body stopped moving, Flametail could only drop it. He looked away, feeling a sense of disgust as he realized that she was dead. The Darkness had moved on as well. The dull light that once gleamed within her eyes as no longer present.
A pale gray she-cat stepped forward from the crowd. Her blue eyes, the same eyes that once belonged to Willowshine, were dark with horror. When she glared at Flametail, he winced at the piercing anger that she felt.
"You killed her!" she spat.
"I didn't have a choice!" He tried to make his voice sound convincing. This must have been her mother. That would explain the piercing rage she felt when she saw her daughter lying unmoving on the ground. "She wanted this."
"You don't know what she wanted." The pale gray she-cats eyes were dark with grief as she looked down at her paws.
"Enough, Dawnflower." Flametail's ears flattened when he heard Mistystar's soft voice. The RiverClan leader had emerged from the reeds after the Darkness left. "Willowshine left peacefully. The Darkness is gone." Despite what she thought of the Darkness, she felt strangely lost without Willowshine to help her.
Dawnflower gave the RiverClan leader a cold glare. "Why did she have to die?" she demanded coldly.
"She knew she was going to die," Flametail murmured. "That's why she refused to come..." Her broke off when cats looked at him in confusion. "That's why she didn't visit the Moonpool," he lied.
Mistystar shook her head. Bile began to form in Flametail's mouth as more cats emerged from their dens. They were shocked to find Willowshine's body laying in the clearing. A pool of blood had formed under her, staining her gray fur red. He looked away when some cats saw him standing beside her. They could already see the blood that stained his teeth.
One cat after another padded towards Willowshine's body. They looked like a group of cowards that fled from a battle. Flametail hid his disgust when their noses touched her flank. It was as if they were oblivious to the fact that she was gone.
"Flametail, thank you for saving us." Mistystar's next statement made him look at her in surprise. "You alone managed to stop the Darkness from spreading, and I thank you for this."
Why do I feel so empty than? the ShadowClan medicine cat wondered. It felt as though part of his heart had been torn when Willowshine died. He tried to remember the sole reason for coming into RiverClan. Than he spotted Pouncetail, who was shaking his head.
"Mistystar!" All cats turned their attention towards the camp entrance. Flametail's eyes widened when he saw Reedwhisker staggering into the clearing. His black pelt looked soaked to the skin.
"Reedwhisker, thank StarClan you're alive!" Mistystar had forgotten about Flametail for a moment. She bounded after her son and nuzzled him affectionately. "I thought you were gone."
"I thought I was too," the RiverClan deputy replied. "But than I heard a voice telling me to leave the lake. I couldn't tell who it was, but it was definitely a female speaking."
For a moment, Flametail felt as though his world had turned upside down. Could it have been Willowshine who saved Reedwhisker's life? A medicine cat doing what they did best? He shook his head at the thought as cats swarmed around Reedwhisker excitedly.
His time in the clearing was done. He'd fulfilled Willowshine's final wish. He leaned forward to rub his muzzle against her fur, which was already cold. Her death would never leave his memory. Nor would their time together leave.
I'll never forget you, he promised silently.
