Alright well I've decided that I've gotten enough reviews so far soo I will update this last chapter for today. Hope you like!
"Hey Lightningblaze! You've been sleeping a long time!" a tiny voice mewed.
I opened my eyes and sat up to see Jetkit sitting at my paws.
"Oh hey Jetkit! Are you supposed to be out of the nursery?" I asked.
"Well Mom told us to go and play outside while the snow isn't too high so I decided to go and visit you!" he squeaked.
"Well you should go and play outside. The snow will get high again soon, and then you'll be stuck in the nursery until it goes down probably," I warned him.
"But I wanted you to teach me a battle move!" he wailed.
"Not until you are older little one. I don't want to get in trouble with your Mom now do I?" I replied.
"No…" he sighed.
"Now come on let's go outside," I said as I exited the den with the little kit at my heels.
I put my paws in the snow and instantly remembered the icy pain that every cat had endured for moons. I shivered at the thought of it.
"Weeee!" Jetkit squealed as he slid down the snowy slope.
I suddenly saw mud instead of snow and Brambleberry's dead body at the bottom of the slope. I blinked and shook my head, and it was Jetkit scrambling back up the snowy slope again.
Suddenly a pawful of snow hit the back of my head and I whizzed around to see Thrushpaw smiling darkly.
I took a large pawful of snow and threw it at her. I expected her to dodge, so I threw it to the right. Luckily she dodged in that direction so it hit her right in the face.
"Oh it's on!" she growled playfully.
We continued throwing pawfuls of snow at each other until we were too tired to continue. We fell to the ground panting and laughing.
"Lightningblaze! Thrushpaw! Quit acting like kits! We need to save our energy for searching for prey. Now hurry up and join Mumblefoot and I on the evening patrol," Maplewhisker snapped.
I nodded and Thrushpaw and I got to our paws and shook the snow out of our fur. Mumblefoot snorted at us disapprovingly as he walked by. Just because Mumblefoot had been a warrior for a season or two didn't mean he couldn't act like a kit and have some fun. Then again, Mumblefoot was my brother. His parents are Goosestar and Lilyfoot.
"Where are we headed to?" I asked.
"Thunderclan border," Maplewhisker replied.
"There shouldn't be any trespassers though. Stormtail and Redears trespassed just the other day, and we scared them off," I hissed.
"Then everything will be fine," Maplewhisker grunted.
Maplewhisker never seemed to like me too much. She doesn't seem to like Thrushpaw too much either, but she has to because Thrushpaw is her apprentice.
"Mumblefoot why do you look so worried?" Thrushpaw asked.
"I'm just worried about Cloudstorm. Birdsong and Sweetflower claim that he has just a mild case of whitecough but I'm not so sure," Mumblefoot muttered.
"Relax Mumblefoot, he'll be fine. Birdsong has never lied to us before, and it would be pretty mouse-brained of her to start lying now," Thrushpaw encouraged him.
"Thrushpaw has a point. Birdsong has been on our side forever. She'd never lie to us, or let a cat die at her paws. The only reason a cat would die in her den is if she had done everything she could for them, and it was in the paws of Starclan now," Maplewhisker added.
Mumblefoot nodded, though still looking unsure.
We all leaped across the stream, which was frozen around the edges.
"Mumblefoot and I will mark the border. You two keep watch for trespassers. And don't act like kits again," Maplewhisker ordered.
She and Mumblefoot disappeared into the trees and I drew in all the scents around me. The snow gave everything a fresh, clean scent, which I enjoyed, but it took away the scent of the moor and added more of the scent of the forest. I mean, the forest doesn't smell too bad. The bushes and trees and bracken and moss smell okay. Riverclan is worse. It's just the fishy smell though. Robinflight doesn't have the fishy smell though. She has her own beautiful smell, like lilies and fresh moss.
"Lightningblaze, come on," Thrushpaw snapped as she got ready to leap across the river.
I shook my head, dazed, and quickly followed her. Hopefully she hadn't remembered the emotions my eyes have when they change color.
"Who are you in love with now?" she hissed under her breath as we padded back to camp.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. Of course she would have remembered.
"Her name is Robinflight. She's Riverclan though," I murmured just loud enough so only Thrushpaw could hear me.
"Is she that reddish brown she-cat you hung out with at the Gathering?" Thrushpaw confirmed.
I nodded.
"But didn't you just meet her?" she asked.
I shook my head," No. We first met that one time I snuck out of camp when I was a kit. The day we were made apprentices."
"Ohhh," Thrushpaw nodded in realization.
We entered camp again and I heard Dawnstripe wailing loudly. Was Cloudstorm dead? Or did one of her kits have whitecough? I gasped at the terrible possibilities.
"Dawnstripe please go back to the nursery and relax. Breezefur and Cloudstorm are still recovering and we don't need them to have the extra stress," Birdsong pleaded with her.
Dawnstripe left the medicine cat den and dragged herself back to the nursery. Her eyes were filled with pain and her fur was frizzy and bristled with worry. I ran over to the medicine cat's den immediately.
"Lightningblaze please get out of here. We can't afford you getting sick," Birdsong said as she turned and blocked the entrance of the den with her body.
"I just wanted to know who else is sick, and if I can help in any way," I told her.
"Windflight has come down with whitecough. But it is not a minor case like Breezefur's and Cloudstorm's. It is much stronger, and is the type of whitecough that can easily turn into greencough, which can be fatal," Birdsong explained.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, not really knowing who I was apologizing too. "We all are," Birdsong murmured as she licked my ear comfortingly.
Birdsong and I had never had the best relationship, but she always gave off this sort of motherly vibe when Lilyfoot didn't. But Birdsong was a sweet and generous cat, while Lilyfoot was itching to become a warrior again 3 moons before our apprenticeship. Right now, I appreciated this comfort.
"Everything will turn out okay," she whispered comfortingly.
I nodded and then walked over to the sun rocks. Acorntail was busy talking to Flamepelt outside the warriors den, rather than basking in the sun rocks. The two cats must have been friends before Acorntail retired. I had always assumed that Acorntail had been kind of a young warrior, but his eyes got clawed out in battle, making him blind. Because of this he chose not to be a warrior anymore. But even now he seemed to be getting older. I spotted some silver hairs beginning to tinge his muzzle. It looked kind of odd against his brown fur.
I looked up at the sky, and saw the sun was slowly beginning to set. Tonight was the night I would go and visit Robinflight. I began to groom my fur. I attempted to smooth my coat (which is even longer and fluffier in leaf-bare) but I was mostly unsuccessful. It was still as fluffy as usual, but it did look softer and shinier. Feeling stubborn, I groomed it over and over again, until finally the rocks were cold enough that they could have been ice. I jumped off of them and picked a mouse off the fresh-kill pile and I began to eat it slowly as all of the cats retreated to their dens. Once I finished the mouse, I walked into the warriors den and curled up in my nest. After a little while, every cat was asleep, and I stepped out of the den again. Moonhigh was approaching. I slipped out the gorse bush and padded to the Riverclan border. No one was there yet, so I sat and waited patiently.
The moonlight suddenly spread on the ferns where Robinflight would come and of course, she appeared at that moment. The moonlight rippled off her silky fur and her green eyes shone happily. But the first thing she did was let out a tiny mrrow of laughter.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing. Your coat is just so funny how it doesn't stay flat," she laughed.
I felt hot with embarrassment under my pelt.
"So how are you and Lionfang?" I asked, trying to strike up a conversation.
"You're acting like we're mates or something!" Robinflight meowed.
"I was just being curious…" I whispered as I carefully slid my paw back and forth in the sand as I stared at it.
"I understand. But no, he's just a friend. I listened to your advice…and my heart told me he isn't the one for me," Robinflight explained.
"That's good. I mean, good for you. Bad for him," I stammered.
Robinflight laughed.
"Sorry I seem like such a mess tonight…" I murmured.
"It's fine. I'm glad I get to see you at all," she said.
"That's true. Sometimes this whole clan rivalry thing really bugs me," I remarked.
"Me too. Especially when I want to see you," she purred.
My stomach officially twisted into a giant, nervous knot.
"Yes same here," I replied.
Wow this is awkward. But I had to tell her. Tell her that I was in love with her. It was already awkward enough. The worst she could do is run off.
"Hey Robinflight?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
Come on just say it.
"I love you," I said.
After I said those words I wanted to go hide in a rabbit burrow. I forced my eyes to stay open, so I wouldn't look even more like a fool. I managed to look up to see Robinflight's expression.
Her green eyes were full of shock, but she made no move to back away or leave. Her tail twitched slightly across the marshy ground, and the tip was brown from trailing in the mud. Her paws blended in with the freshly fallen snow, almost as if they weren't there. I slowly peeked at her face. The shock was gone now, but another emotion I could not place had replaced it.
Then suddenly she rushed forward and began to nuzzle me fiercely. Shocked by her sudden behavior I nuzzled back.
"I love you too," she softly whispered in my ear.
My heart had one last beat and then exploded with joy.
She let out a growl of playfulness and tackled me. We went tumbling down the snowy slope. We landed with an "Oomph!" on our backs and began to laugh.
We both turned on our sides to face each other. She pawed at my ear until she got a clump of snow off of it. I snorted, and then sneezed and a piece of moss went flying. We broke out into fits of laughter like little kits. I then turned onto my back and looked up at Silverpelt. Robinflight did the same.
"Do you think Brambleberry is watching us?" Robinflight asked, a hint of pain in her voice.
"Of course she is. Starclan cats always watch over the cats they care about most," I replied.
"Oh! I forgot to tell you. Starclan sent us a sign this morning telling us that Archclaw killed Brambleberry and Blossomkit. Moonstar exiled him from Riverclan," Robinflight informed me.
I remembered that I had to act like I hadn't seen this.
"Really? Wow I'm sorry," I said.
"I thought you would be relieved," she murmured.
"If you aren't happy about it then I'm not," I meowed.
"I'm happy but I'm not at the same time. I mean, I'm glad that he's gone because that means his ambitions can't destroy Riverclan. But I'm kind of sad because he was the only littermate I had left," Robinflight explained.
"But he didn't care that Brambleberry was his sister, so he probably didn't care that you were his sister either. If you got in the way of his ambitious path, he would have killed you as well," I shivered at the last couple of words.
"That's true. But at least I know he's still out there," Robinflight sighed.
I yawned.
"Sleepy-head," she muttered quiet enough that I shouldn't have heard her.
"That's me," I laughed quietly.
We began to clear out a space on the grass to make it free of snow. Once we were done, Robinflight curled up in a ball, like you would in a nest. I curled up around her, trying to keep her warm. She nuzzled her head against my chest and we both purred. Then we both fell asleep together.
Awww this is most definitely my favorite chapter so far! I know all of you probably despise forbidden love, but this is kind of different. It's nothing like Leafpool and Crowfeather if you've read about them.
P.S HAPPY NEW YEAR ! :D 3