`` V I S I O N A R Y
&& there's ticks in the tansy
so i can't run through it
Russetstripe is handsome, mysterious, and ultimately perfect—he's also long dead. Despite all his qualities, he can do nothing to help his son and daughter against a treacherous plot against the WindClan leader. Can he find the key through the past which eventually met in his end?
I don't know why I have to say this so much lol.
RUSSETSTRIPE AND CHARACTERS ARE MINE
Warriors and Tallstar do not belong to me.
I stoleded him like the thiefy Simp I am.
BORROWED! I MEANT BORROWED!
All Russet's history is pure mine
All present events are shared equally with Streakz.
AND I LOVE PEOPLE FOR REVIEWING
Even the confusing ones that don't make sense, ha ha.
Orange: read and review, please.
PREFERABLY read BEFORE you review.
It helps. Seriously. XD
c h a p t e r f i v e – the calling.
"I never learn…"
It thrummed in Tallstar's ears like a booming heartbeat, a heart that had long stilled when the spirit had walked away from his mortal body. He longed suddenly to show Russetstripe his own tale, the vivid story of his life as he'd lived, WindClan leader—as he struggled to defeat the fierce and brutal Tigerstar who died by the paws of Scourge as all four Clans had banded together to fight the menace of BloodClan… but later.
They would have time for Tallstar's story later—because now, the only answer to the plot below might lie where Russetstripe had gone wrong. Somewhere, something had happened that had set this plot in motion—and probably killed Russetstripe as well, since he was far from old age when he'd entered Silverpelt. The black-and-white StarClanner glanced back at the pool, which had already resumed its images.
"Missed something…" the tall tomcat muttered as he quickly turned his attention on the scene. Having missed the entrance, he had no idea what was going on—there was no sign of Russetstripe or Demon. In fact—Tallstar realized with a jolt—it was back in WindClan, where the snow had coated the moorland. As details grew out, he recognized it finally as the camp—under a layer of a good few feet of snow.
The WindClan cats, being light, could walk on top of the icy crust—so this disadvantage of having no cover was not so much of a disadvantage. Still… Tallstar did not recall so much snow having fallen at any time in his own lifetime. "What's going on?" he asked, feeling annoyingly out of it.
Russetstripe hardly turned his head. "Northpaw heard what Icetail said, and it spread through the Clan like wildfire, especially when I ran away like the coward I was. They were glad I was gone." Even all these moons later, there was hurt in the gingery spirit's voice as he watched the scene below. Tallstar realized he couldn't have ever seen this before—how could he, when at this same time he'd been hunting for rats with Demon?
Nearby the warriors den a plump brown queen-to-be was grooming herself cheerfully. "Congrats, Keensight!" a tom meowed as he brushed against the tawny pelt of the glowing she-cat, "Who's the father?"
The brown fela was about to reply when a smirking warrior slid past. "Not Russetstripe, surely?" the other tomcat asked innocently. Keensight spun, spitting, and turned a livid glare on the speaker.
"How's it any of your business? And of course not Russetstripe—that coward never so much as glanced at me," the warrioress spat, "Missed his chance, didn't he? If he ever comes back no she-cat will be able to bear being around the likes of him." Her scornful laugh made the other cat chuckle as well.
An ice-white pelt squeezed past the three on her way out of the warriors den—Tallstar recognized Icetail almost immediately as her sharp green eyes flickered towards the conversation. At Russetstripe's name her ears flattened uncomfortably, and it looked like she was about to slip away when one of the cats turned and saw her.
"Hey Icetail!" the tom said brightly, lighting up and padding after her. "Wait up!"
"I don't want to talk to you," she said without even glancing back, "As I've told you before."
"But I really like you!" the cat objected, trying to keep up, "After what you said to Russetstripe…I'd always wanted to say it, you know, but never dared… and you got him out of all of our fur!"
Growling, the she-cat turned on him, that flicker in her yellow-green eyes the warning spark before she burst into flame. "Exactly," Icetail spat, "You liked me after I said what I did to Russetstripe. You didn't give a rat's tail about me before, and Russetstripe was never as much of a pain as you."
Obviously this took the cat rather aback, as he blinked his surprise and hurt. The cat faltered and broke through the upper later of snow, tripping into a hole and falling back against Icetail's furious pace as she whirled and continued on her way out of camp. Tallstar had thought insulting the dark ginger tomcat would have been an easy way to her heart, but it seemed Icetail had a problem with all toms. Strange…
"But…" the warrior said, almost to himself, then he shrugged and turned away. The glittering, alabaster pelt was gone.
Tallstar glanced over at Russetstripe, who extended one claw towards the pool and sent ripples cascading out from where his white paw touched the water. As the scene cleared it changed, focusing in on the dark ginger tomcat who lay in the haylot on a bale of molding straw, looking dreamy, eyes unfocused.
"Did you love Demon?" the former WindClan leader asked, watching the wave of sad longing wash over the young warrior's face.
Russetstripe glanced over, surprised, and a little guilty, before he sighed. "No. I cared about her—she'd saved my worthless life, after all—but I didn't love her. Nothing like how she felt about me. I had no idea…" His soft voice was musing, sad. Tallstar blinked at the vision in the pool and realized that it was no longer winter—this was a vision of spring, where the only snow was in small, scattered patches across the brilliant green plain.
He felt a pang of loneliness suddenly—the moor would look beautiful in this season. In Silverpelt the skies were ever-summer, ever bountiful—there'd been more than one time that the spirit had longed for the leaves to grow crimson and for snow to fall, for the silver ice to melt away into fresh newleaf all over again. Not in the afterlife.
It seemed Russetstripe was hit with this same nostalgia, for he too seemed quiet, sad. The younger version in the picture was staring out over the hills, looking torn, chewing on his lip. After a long moment the cat stood up, shaking out his pelt—and he looked determined. Noble, even.
He looked like a warrior.
Russetstripe stood up and leapt down from the higher beams, touching down nicely on the barn floor with a creak. A mouse scurried with surprise and Russetstripe killed it with a blow, leaving it on the ground for Demon as he padded towards the wide double-doors.
"Hey— where you going?" a voice meowed, and the inky rogue slipped out from behind one of the stalls. Her green eyes were curious, and Russetstripe turned towards her with a sigh.
"I'm going home, Demon," he said firmly, touching her with the tip of his tail. The black rogue sputtered with surprise, stepping back.
"You're what?" the she-cat asked, eyes stretching wide. "I thought you said your little tribe of kitties hated you now! That you had nowhere to go!"
Russetstripe's voice was gentle, and Tallstar admired him for that. "They do," he said. "But I am a warrior. And I do not fear the hatred of my Clanmates." Demon's eyes were almost pleading as he turned away. "You have been so kind to me, Demon," Russetstripe meowed. "And I will always remember you for making me who I am now. But I have to go back."
"I thought this was your home now!" the black she-cat said, voice small. "I thought… I thought you…"
"You have been a good friend, Demon—but you said yourself you could only support me through the winter. Perhaps we'll meet again someday—StarClan keep you well!" With a final wave of his plumy tail, the handsome tom padded out into the sunlight, leaving the night-cloaked she-cat crouching in the dark, ears flattened, a look of grief in her eyes as she watched the flamelike tom padding away.
Grief, betrayal, shock flooded through her eyes—and finally rage.
^^ : ^^
"And that--" the StarClan warrior told Tallstar in a quiet tone, turning his shaggy ginger head, "--was my big mistake."
Homesick for his Clan and his old life, Russetstripe had indeed failed to realize what would ultimately result in his end—that Demon was pregnant. Pregnant, and very, very angry.
In a cat like a rogue-- never a good combination.
w r i t e r c o m m e n t s –
-random- you can't make hearts on here.
It deletes the chevron that's the pointy part.
3 3 3 it just looks like a random three.
I also can't use brackets. Which upsets me.
-insert scowly face and heart-
I'm sorry my chapters all are short
I basically break it off in sections,
Rather than chapters. I'm also sorry
That I write in this weird, broken up
Format, like this, where all the line breaks
End in weird places. But I'm random like that.
3 - BY THE WAY, that was a heart. Once.
Please review, after you read… lol.