~Summary~
Skyheart used to be a normal ShadowClan warrior. That was before she woke up on the other side of the lake on WindClan's territory, with no memory of the past six moons. Now she struggles to live a normal life, haunted by that black void that looms in her mind whenever she tries to think back, along with a best friend who is acting strange and unusually protective of her. And then there is that RiverClan warrior, the one who stares openly and acts much too friendly with her. Life has never been so complicated.
~Lost~
Chapter Three
Start with what you do know...
What do I know? That I'm missing six moons of my life? That I've never been more miserable in my life than I have these past few days? That's nothing to go on...
Stifling a growl - for it was quite dark out now, and Skyheart could hear the sleeping breaths of her Clanmates - the young she-cat buried her face in her paws. Of course it wasn't going to be easy. Nothing nowadays was.
Mouse-brain! Have you already forgotten your dream? That name you were able to recall? What Dream Sunpaw said? You have all you need right there in your head! All you have to do now is act!
Skyheart lifted her head, realizing her conscious had a point. She had a name, Stormfall. She had Sunblossom, who, regardless if she was Skyheart's best friend, obviously knew something about her past.
She just needed to stop shying away in fear and uncertainty and confront these things. She would never get anywhere if she didn't. The Voice was right; moping around about her situation wasn't going to do any good. She had to take things into her own paws, since no one else was going to do it for her.
It had nearly been a moon since she woke up on WindClan territory. She had done enough sitting around. It was time to take control of her life again and find out just what she had lost.
It turns out confronting her best friend about her past wasn't as easy as she had thought.
After the dawn patrol, she had immediately set to work. She would get answers today. Today would be the day some light would be shed on her dark memories. However...things weren't going so brilliantly.
Here she stood, a few fox-lengths away from Sunblossom. And she had no idea on how to go about her plan. She couldn't just walk up to the ginger she-cat and say, 'Look, I had a dream last night, and a crazy younger version of you went all berserk on me and then said something about a Stormfall and then tried to kill me.'
Yeah. Because that would go over well.
Okay, so just go up to her and start a conversation. It can't be that difficult. Just work your way up to your goal. Skyheart encouraged herself in her head. So, taking a deep breath, she padded up to her friend.
"Hey, Sunblossom," she meowed casually. Good start. Keep it up. She said to herself.
"Oh, Skyheart. How are you? Dawn patrol okay? Did you run into any enemy patrols?" Sunblossom was full of questions, like usual when Skyheart came back from a patrol or hunting expedition.
"No, it was actually pretty boring. I didn't even see a single frog out there..." Skyheart trailed off, and looked at her friend from her peripheral vision. She didn't look suspicious, so she must not have any idea of Skyheart's plan.
"Yeah, that does sound boring. I wish I could have come. Might have made it funner," Sunblossom shrugged, indicating her words were only half-hearted.
What do I say now? Ugh, I'm drawing a blank! Think, Skyheart, think! Anything! She's starting to give you a funny look! She was panicking on the inside. This was definitely not how this was supposed to go.
"...is everything okay, Skyheart? You're starting to-"
"I had a dream last night!"
Silence.
No! No, no, no, no, no! That was the one thing were were NOT supposed to mention! Mouse-brain! Skyheart thought, desperately wishing she could take her sudden outburst back.
"You...had a dream?" Sunblossom asked, blinking. She looked thoroughly confused.
"Yes," Skyheart replied solemnly, knowing she now had to go with the direct approach. As much as she didn't want to. "And there's something I want to tell you - no, wait. I mean ask you. There's something I really need to ask you about." Here goes nothing.
"What is it?" Was it just Skyheart, or did Sunblossom look almost wary?
"Sunblossom. I know you're my closest friend - no, actually, you're more like my sister. But not my real one, because I don't actually have a sister, but that doesn't make you any less-"
"Skyheart. You're rambling." Sunblossom pointed out, and Skyheart's pelt turned hot with embarrassment.
"Sorry," Skyheart apologized, "what I'm trying to ask is...what I wanted to know...I mean-"
"Just spit it out already!" The ginger she-cat exclaimed, obviously getting fed up with her friend's beating around the bush.
"Did you lie to me when you said you didn't know anything else about those six moons?" There. She said it, and now she couldn't take it back. It was direct, too, so Sunblossom had no choice but to give her an equally direct answer.
For a few moments, everything around the two cats was silent. Sunblossom's eyes were wide. Skyheart's were darting around rapidly looking anywhere but at her friend.
"Skyheart-"
"Rowanstar! Grayclaw!" A sudden, piercing yowl cut off whatever Sunblossom was about to say. Both cats turned to see a warrior - his name was Cedarfur - burst into camp with his fur fluffed out and eyes wild with terror.
Rowanstar and Grayclaw - ShadowClan's deputy - both appeared at the entrance to the leader's den, alerted by the urgent cry of the warrior. Rowanstar immediately bounded over to the ash-gray warrior, and demanded, "What is it, Cedarfur?"
"Dogs!" The warrior gasped, still panting from his run back to camp. "Fernblaze sent me to fetch warriors! She and Vinetail are in trouble!"
"Vinetail?" Sunblossom whispered, a horror-struck expression coming over her face. "He's in trouble?"
"Grayclaw, Cedarfur, Sunblossom and Larkwing," Rowanstar listed, "Go now. Help your Clanmates!"
Sunblossom cast a hesitant look at Skyheart, but the gray-and-white she-cat refused to meet her friend's gaze. With a long sigh, she turned and raced off with the other three warriors, vanishing from sight.
Skyheart glared at the ground in frustration. She finally voiced her question, but then Sunblossom just had to be called away by dogs of all things! Would she never catch a break?
Clawing at the earth, Skyheart hissed in annoyance and turned to stalk into the warriors' den. Her path was barred however, by a tail being thrust out in front of her. She followed the tail with her eyes, and saw Rowanstar looking at her with a expressionless gaze.
Having no idea what her leader wanted, she questioned, "Rowanstar?"
The ginger-furred leader stared at her for a moment longer before speaking. "Is everything alright? You haven't been acting like yourself lately." Though his voice was carefully void of any outward emotion, Skyheart saw a flicker of concern in her leader's blue eyes.
Skyheart blinked. Of course he'd be a bit worried, she thought to herself, he was my mentor for a few moons.
That was true. At first, Skyheart had been apprenticed to a cat named Snakefang, but the following leaf-bare after her apprentice ceremony, the tom had come down with a case of whitecough that had eventually developed into greencough. He never did get better, eventually being claimed by death. Skyheart had been sad, but she hadn't had enough time to actually get to know him, so she didn't grieve for too long.
And so after that, Skyheart's training was then transferred over to Rowanstar. The gray-and-white she-cat still didn't know why he chose himself to take over her training, but she didn't complain.
But, back to the present.
"I'm fine," Skyheart responded immediately, her default response to that question. You'd think that cats would stop asking that by now, since it was the only reply she ever gave when asked.
As fine as a cat can be when they're missing six moons of their life, she thought bitterly, but didn't let this thought show on her face or in her eyes.
Rowanstar still seemed to know what she was thinking either way. "I'd have to be mouse-brained to believe that lie," he meowed to her seriously, and Skyheart's pelt turned hot in embarrassment.
Nonetheless, she still insisted, "It's not a lie. I'm fine, really. There's nothing to worry about."
She knew her the ShadowClan leader didn't believe her words, but she wanted to drop the subject now. As much as she thought about her issues, she didn't like to talk about them.
So Rowanstar replied, "You're a good warrior," she felt her pelt heat up again at this comment, "and I don't want that to go to waste. I spent four moons training you to be a worthy warrior of ShadowClan, and I'm not disappointed by the results. Don't make me regret making you a warrior."
And with that, the ginger tom stalked off back to his den, leaving Skyheart stunned by his words.
Don't make me regret making you a warrior.
She blinked in disbelief. Was Rowanstar implying something? That she was slacking off in her warrior duties? Because she wasn't. She knew she wasn't. She only went on the dawn patrol just this morning!
She shook her head violently, trying to dislodge the thought. It was just a warning, she decided, a warning telling me not to do anything mouse-brained.
Firmly putting that thought to the back of her head, Skyheart continued to the warriors' den, where she would wait until Sunblossom and the others returned.
Skyheart was dozing in and out of consciousness when suddenly an ear-splitting yowl of shock and horror split the air. She immediately snapped to complete awareness and leaped to paws in alarm, fur bristling.
Leaping out of the warriors' den, she scanned the camp for any sign of danger, opting to look confused when she detected none.
That's when the scent of blood hit her nose.
Head snapping to the entrance of the camp, her eyes widened as she watched her Clanmates slowly emerge around the boulder, each bearing some sort of injury. Grayclaw was in the lead, breathing heavily and looking ragged. His pelt had a long gash along one side, the fur clumping with blood, both dry and fresh.
Next came Larkwing and Fernblaze. The brown tabby she-cat was supporting Fernblaze, who limped heavily and had chunks of fur torn off in various places. She also was bleeding profusely and looked like she was about to pass out on her paws at any given moment.
And last came Vinetail, Cedarfur, and Sunblossom. Skyheart nearly had a panic-attack when she saw the state of her best friend.
The ginger she-cat was supported by both Vinetail and Cedarfur on either side. She was completely limp, her paws nearly dragging in the dirt. Her pelt was stained red, and Skyheart swore that almost every inch if her body was covered with some sort of injury.
The only thing that assured Skyheart that her best friend wasn't dead was the fact that Sunblossom's eyes were slightly cracked open. If it wasn't for that, any cat would have assumed the ginger warrior had already left for StarClan.
The camp was eerily silent as the Clan stared at the returning warriors with horror-struck expressions. What in the name of StarClan had happened out there?
Frostwing, the Clan's medicine cat, shoved through the crowd of clustered cats, trying to reach the injured cats. "Move it! Out of the way, I'm trying to get through!"
Skyheart let herself get shoved aside by the snowy-white medicine cat, too shocked to move herself.
Sunblossom was seriously injured. Sunblossom looked half-dead. Sunblossom was barely breathing.
Right then and there, Skyheart decided that if StarClan claimed her friend tonight, she would never forgive them. Because this is not how Sunblossom was supposed to go. Not at the teeth and claws of a StarClan-forsaken dog.
Her claws dug hard into the ground under her paws and she stared hard at Sunblossom as she lay on the ground limply, with Frostwing at her side working diligently and snapping at any cat who stepped too close. Including Vinetail, who hovered around the cat he loved with a worried and anxious look in his blue eyes.
"Will she be okay? She's not going to die, is she? Can you save her?" The words flew out of the young ShadowClan tom's mouth faster than he had the time to think about asking them.
"I don't know yet, I'm doing the best that I can," Frostwing answered honestly, and then hardened her tone, "but if you don't stop getting in the way, I'll never be able to treat these cats properly!"
Vinetail backed off after that, but he still kept a worried eye on Sunblossom. Skyheart felt a pang of something deep in her chest, and she padded forward to stand near the young tom.
"She'll be fine," she muttered to him, "She has to be. She's tougher than this, she wouldn't let a dog be the one to do her in."
Vinetail spun his head around to give her a glare, and for a moment, Skyheart thought he was going to snap at her. But his eyes suddenly lost their angry spark, and became somber. He bowed his head, breaking eye-contact. He looked defeated, reflecting how Skyheart felt on the inside.
She never thought it would happen, but here she stood, beside the cat whom she'd always held a certain dislike for, watching as the cat who was very important to both of them in very different ways, clung to life.
And for once, she held no bitter feelings toward him. No anger, no envy. There were no taunting words or comments, just silence.
Right now, they were not enemies or rivals, but kindred spirits who prayed for the life of one very special individual.
It may not last, but for now, Skyheart was comforted by the fact that she wasn't the only one who was affected so deeply by this. And maybe, just maybe, after this was over and done with, the two of them might be friends.
...but probably not.
I don't like the ending of this chapter. I couldn't get it to come out the way I wanted it to.
But whatever. This is the longest chapter so far, by the way. But I'm still not too fond of it. Maybe you guys'll think differently. See ya!
~TheAzuraStar
