This chapter didn't turn out as well as I liked, but I'm going to deem it acceptable, because it ended in the right spot. It's the third straight chapter of this fic I've written today. Really - I finished Chapter 10 this morning (writing this 12/10). I'm posting them a day apart, though, because...reasons? I don't know.
Disclaimer: Don't own warriors.
Warning: Character death ahead. Official D&D warning. (Death & Destruction, not Dungeons & Dragons, thanks)
Chapter 12: Drowned in Fire
The hollow fell silent at the wrong moment, as all eyes turned when the medicine cats fled. Lionstar stood up, perching with the other leaders, his jaws hanging open slightly as if he meant to say something else. A shiver ran up Mountainstone's spine as he heard his sister scream. That was when the fire descended to earth in one fell swoop. Then there was panic, a wild panic that he had never seen.
Someone shoved him sideways, and Mountainstone rolled out of the way of a former queen screaming for her kit. He stood up and looked around, everything activating very suddenly in his head. His Clan-mates were in danger. He had to help them. He could hear their screams, and a flick of his ears isolated those nearest to him. Without hesitating a moment, Mountainstone leaped over a wall of flames, landing squarely next to two shivering apprentices. One screamed upon seeing him. The other staggered, coughing.
"It's okay," he said. "It will be okay." He scanned their space, but the two apprentices were closed in by walls of fire that he knew he could have jumped over, but they could not. He doubted he could carry them. A deep breath drew smoke into his nose, and he coughed, but he could see the Gathering island now, all mapped out. They could escape near the water, near the exit…there! Focusing, Mountainstone dug his claws into the ground and pushed a wall of rock up, through the flames. The hissing, spitting fire licked into the rockwall, but if they hurried, they could make it through.
"I'm going to need you to follow me," he said, turning to the two apprentices. "What are your names?"
"Sp-Splashpaw," said the one who had screamed. She looked at her Clan-mate, who was leaning on her shoulder now. "This is Sandpaw."
"Splashpaw, you'll go first," said Mountainstone. "Right up there."
"But there's fire!"
"It will be okay," said Mountainstone. "I'm right behind you. Can you walk onto this rock? I need you to be brave for me, like a warrior."
Splashpaw stuck her chin in the air and nodded. Mountainstone accepted Sandpaw's weight on his shoulders. The young apprentice was coughing lightly, but she looked up at Mountainstone with tired eyes.
"We're going this way," said Mountainstone, to which the young cat nodded. "Lean on me." He nodded at Splashpaw, who tentatively stepped onto the incline he had created. "Hurry now."
He pushed Sandpaw before him as they stepped up the rock, each pawstep becoming harder to support both the apprentice and the rock itself. Mountainstone could feel his powers waning, but he was determined to keep the incline up until they were across. Smoke billowed all around him, making it nearly impossible to see anything at all, but Mountainstone ushered Sandpaw forward, following in Splashpaw's tentative footsteps. Then the flames climbed higher, and Splashpaw screamed, moving backwards and nearly knocking into Sandpaw.
"It's okay!" said Mountainstone. He could see the other side. Once they got past this wall of flames, they would be at the riverside. These cats were RiverClan – he could smell that now. "I'm right behind you. I'll make sure you're okay."
They made the rest of the journey slowly, until Mountainstone pushed the apprentices through the last ring of trees, and Splashpaw tumbled down to the riverbank, breathing deeply. He ushered Sandpaw the rest of the way.
"Splashpaw!" Mosspelt of RiverClan came tumbling from nearby, coughing heavily. Though the flames stayed within the treeline, smoke waved over their heads, a heavy grey buffer. Splashpaw ran to Mosspelt, and the warrior observed her kit with a matter-of-fact glance.
"I'm okay, I'm okay, this warrior helped us." Splashpaw turned, her eyes wide, to Mountainstone. Mosspelt looked up, and suddenly her face became stern.
"I suspect I'm obliged to be grateful," said Mosspelt. Mountainstone shook his head.
"Don't betray your Clan on my sake," he said, flicking his tail. Splashpaw's eyes got wide, and Sandpaw moved away as quickly as she could, still coughing. Mountainstone glanced at Sandpaw. She needed a medicine cat.
Birdfeather. He called mentally, but there was no response. Birdfeather felt absent from his mind. She must be unconscious. He shook himself readily.
"I'll find a medicine cat," said Mountainstone, and before he could hesitate another moment, he dashed back towards the flames, embracing the smoke and coughing through it, his eyes watering. He nearly collided with Icecloud.
"Mountainstone! Thank Sta – " His mother broke off, coughing. Mountainstone supported her weight, pulling her back down the hill. Icecloud glanced up at him, blue eyes watery but alive. "Where are you going?"
"I need to make sure everyone is safe," said Mountainstone. "Have you seen Birdfeather? Or Littlefalcon?"
"You don't think…?" Icecloud's eyes went wide. Mountainstone swallowed hard, recognizing the accusation. Could Birdfeather have started a fire like this? He could think of no explanation, but this was not his sister…not Birdfeather…she would never do this.
"I'm going to find Jayfeather," he said, and he nudged Icecloud down the hill before turning back into the fire. It roared around his ears, but Mountainstone forced himself further in, moving through currents of flame and smoke, ducking under as much as possible. He could distantly locate the scents of his littermates. Where was Littlefalcon?
Littlefalcon, do something!His cry was desperate, but Littlefalcon's mind was not far away.
Working on it! His brother's mental state was more shaken than Mountainstone was used to it being. That was worrisome, but Mountainstone filed his thoughts away, launching into the flames again. No signs of life, but no signs of cats without it, either.
Then he heard a familiar scream, and Mountainstone stopped short before locating it. Bluemoon. He tore off through the flames, ripping through the fire and not stopping to realize that the smoke was in his eyes, and that the fire had scorched the tip of his tail. He imagined Bluemoon screaming at him, and Ivypool sitting catatonic in Lionstar's den, horrified. Ivypool! If Bluemoon was in trouble, Ivypool couldn't move on. Gritting his teeth, he followed the faint scent of Bluemoon he had left.
"Brackenheart! Brackenheart!" Bluemoon's cries took form, and Mountainstone could catch ear of sobbing and coughing between her screams. He burst through a curtain of smoke to see Bluemoon trying to get through a solid wall of fire. A tree had fallen, its leaves up in flames right before Bluemoon.
"Bluemoon!" Mountainstone charged, butting into her. "You have to go!"
"No!" Bluemoon screeched at him, moving into the tree again. "No! Brackenheart is on the other side!" She was crying, and her failure to maintain a composure scared him. Bluemoon broke off into coughing before moving for the tree again. Mountainstone had never seen her in hysterics, nor had he seen anyone in this state of mania. He would have to take her away.
"He'll have gotten away," he said. "Let's go."
Bluemoon spun on him, her claws unsheathed, her blue eyes wild and reflecting the dark fire.
"I won't leave him!"
Then I'll have to make you. Mountainstone glared at her, and then lunged, digging his teeth into the back of her neck, lightly. Bluemoon screamed and turned on him like a rabid squirrel, but Mountainstone ignored the hailstorm of her claws as he moved. She scored a pretty difficult hit on his nose, and he dropped her, astounded by the pain. Bluemoon screamed in his face and tried to run back.
"Bluemoon!" Mountainstone whirled after her.
Just then, a powerful current of water crashed down, and Mountainstone winced as cold river water soaked into his pelt. Bluemoon gasped, although for the moment, the spell had been broke on her. Billows of smoke rushed up from the ground, steaming, and Mountainstone sat down as the ashes settled, as it all came back down.
"Mountainstone!"
"Bluemoon!"
Mountainstone glanced sideways – Skysong and Greyheart were leaping over a discarded tree branch to reach them. Skysong pressed her nose into the side of his neck, and Greyheart hurried after his sister.
"What's going on?" said Mountainstone. "Have you seen…?"
"No," said Skysong. "I haven't."
"You don't think she did this?"
"I can't find another solution." Skysong's blue eyes were dull. She shook her head. "This doesn't make sense otherwise, unless you want to suggest divine punishment."
"No," said Mountainstone. "But that's a good excuse."
His heart broke when Skysong's jaw dropped slightly, and she looked at him in mild confusion, but in overwhelming fear and sadness. He shook his head. They both knew what would come after this: it would all be covered up again.
"NO!" Bluemoon's scream sounded like someone had jumped up and down on his broken heart, crushing it into dust. He looked forth, and then he and Skysong barreled over the still-smoking tree. Greyheart was standing a little bit away from the scene – Bluemoon standing over Brackenheart's body. No movement. And Mountainstone thought that, if he still had a heart, StarClan had dissolved the littlest spectrums of it.
"No…" said Skysong quietly. Her paws shook. Mountainstone couldn't move, even though he could feel Bluemoon needing someone, could see it very clearly. Greyheart hesitated, unable to move. Skysong flocked to him, and for a moment, Mountainstone stood alone by the tree, watching Bluemoon's body shake with silent sobs. He had ignored the relationship blossoming between Bluemoon and Brackenheart. He had discarded it in every sense. Now…now…
He didn't realize what he was doing until he had taken four steps, and then he was sitting beside Bluemoon, silent.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I would have saved him, had I been able to."
This never should have happened.
Bluemoon didn't reply. She couldn't. She sniffed a little bit, but then resumed her hunched position. She had fallen silent. Mountainstone sat there beside her for what seemed like an infinite, silent amount of time. Things happened around him, but it was as if he was stuck in a continuum with only Bluemoon beside him.
At some point, Squirrelflight and Dustfur found them, and Mountainstone saw Squirrelflight cry for the first time. At some point, Ivypool joined them. It was only when Littlefalcon dragged himself into Mountainstone's frame of sight and looked up very slowly, his amber-blue eyes swirling with the news that entered Mountainstone's mind half a second later.
Onestar is dead.
It was as if someone had clawed out the empty nest in his chest where his heart had once been. The blow was devastating. Silently, Mountainstone stood, and Bluemoon looked up at him for the first time. She held his eyes for three lonely seconds, and it was enough for an entire conversation.
This has something to do with you, and I hold you accountable for fixing this.
Mountainstone wasn't sure if he was telling him this, or if he was just making it up. After bowing his head to Brackenheart for a few more seconds, he moved away, meeting Littlefalcon. Skysong joined them within moments.
"What took you so long?" said Skysong. Littlefalcon shook his head, leading them into the ashy wasteland. They passed two more mourning parties, and Mountainstone tried not to look too hard. Littlefalcon led them out on the fringe of the destroyed island, and Mountainstone looked down at the scene ahead. The cats were flocking to the medicine cats. He could make out Flametail with Bearclaw, Kestrelflight with Jaystrike, Willowshine with Rushfire. Leafpool worked, not Jayfeather and not Birdfeather. That was not a good sign.
"Seven cats died tonight," he said. "Two RiverClan, two ShadowClan, two WindClan, one ThunderClan." Mountainstone caught the drifting of his amber-blue eyes. "One of those cats was WindClan's leader. And once again, ThunderClan is best off."
"Maybe they didn't have to die," said Mountainstone. "You could have been quicker."
"It was difficult tonight," said Littlefalcon, barely audible. He led them down the hill, through a wave of cats flocking towards someone, something. A wheezing ShadowClan apprentice looked up at them as they passed. Someone beside him hissed. Littlefalcon ignored them, but Mountainstone glanced back.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just going to look for my sister. I promise, I won't take your medicine cats' time."
"Mountainstone!"
He hurried after Littlefalcon and Skysong.
"Where's Birdfeather?" he asked. "Why aren't they doing anything to help?"
"Birdfeather lost control of her powers and passed out," said Littlefalcon. "Jayfeather was focusing on her."
They found them in a small alcove, hidden from view and safe from the worst of the smoke. Jayfeather hissed when they entered, but upon seeing them, relaxed.
"You sit with her," he said. "Tell this one I'll speak to her when we return to the camp." Then he brusquely disappeared back the way they had come.
Birdfeather was lying very still, but when Jayfeather disappeared, Mountainstone saw her stifle a sigh.
"Wake up," said Littlefalcon. "I know you're faking." Birdfeather opened a green eye, and Mountainstone hated her. He didn't know how he could figure out a gut feeling so quickly. But he hated his sister. He hated what she had done, and that she was here, pretending to sleep instead of fixing it. He hated that they were just going to blame this on StarClan being unhappy with their Clan. He hated that seven cats were dead because of her.
Birdfeather hadn't cried in a long time, but now she couldn't seem to stop herself. Skysong wouldn't touch her, but Littlefalcon sat beside her, a small shoulder for Birdfeather to sob into. Throughout a tirade of weeping, he could hear her trying to stammer words – apologies, they sounded like. To Mountainstone, they were nothing but foolish excuses for a matter she could never reverse.
"Brackenheart is dead," said Mountainstone. Birdfeather stopped sobbing, looked up, sniffed. "Onestar is dead. WindClan lost their leader because of you."
"You weren't even there to stop it," said Skysong. There was a prolonged sense of horror in her eyes. "And you, Littlefalcon? You were the only one who could stop this. What took you so long?"
"I told you, it was hard," said Littlefalcon. More excuses. Mountainstone felt a growl growing in the back of his throat.
"What is it with you lately?" he hissed. Littlefalcon looked up, eyes wide. "You have no conviction. You have nothing at all. You just sit around and mope – it's like you've entirely forgotten what we're here to do!"
"Don't push your entitled justice onto me," said Littlefalcon in an acerbic voice. His amber-blue eyes narrowed. "Cats are dead because you weren't quick enough, too."
Mountainstone unsheathed his claws, the barb catching him. He thought of Bramblestar, of the cats mourned in other Clans that he didn't know. He thought of watching Mouseclaw recover.
"Birdfeather is the one to blame here," said Skysong. Birdfeather looked up, despairing, at her sister. "What happened to you?"
"I lost control," said Birdfeather, shaking her head. She couldn't move, couldn't do anything but stare at Skysong as if Skysong was her mother about to leave her to die. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She continued in this fashion, and other than those two words, there was silence. Mountainstone let her continue until her useless apologies threatened to drive him insane.
"Sorry won't bring them back!" he said. "Those cats were helpless, drowning in fire, and – "
"Drown in water, drown in air, drown in ice," said Littlefalcon suddenly, his eyes going wide. "Drown in earth, drown in fire, then…then…"
"Then stars will be your truth…" Skysong nodded, suddenly knowing the words.
"What?" said Mountainstone. "Excuse me?"
"I don't know, the words just came to me," said Skysong. "When Littlefalcon said them, it was like I had heard them before…"
Mountainstone replayed the words in his head, and they sounded oddly familiar. They didn't quite reverberate a way a prophecy would, but they stuck in that way. Like a prophecy forgotten by all but a very select few.
Then he nodded, for the words were suddenly familiar to him as well. He had heard them before, in a dream. He remembered the dream – after Mouseclaw's injury. That was it. He hadn't remembered at first. He nodded slowly. Birdfeather looked around them, wide-eyed.
"Those words have been engrained into me before any others," said Littlefalcon. "Now I understand why."
"What?" said Birdfeather. "I don't understand."
"We're a walking time counter, all five of us," he said. "We've all lost control, all of us."
"I didn't kill a cat," said Mountainstone, glaring at Birdfeather. She had. She had killed them all. Her sister wavered, her ears going flat.
"No, but your element did," said Skysong flatly. "And you could have stopped Mouseclaw from dying, but you didn't. That's on you."
"DON'T turn on each other now," hissed Littlefalcon. His amber-blue eyes sparked, and Mountainstone wondered if this was the little brother he had thought would always linger behind him. In some ways, Littlefalcon was the most and least powerful of them. Just now, with his conviction fading, it was like he was falling from grace.
"We've all killed someone," he said. "Directly or not. But now it's the end."
"What do you mean?" said Skysong. "I don't see anything ending."
"Then stars will be your truth," said Littlefalcon. He shook his head. "That's all there is left of the poem, don't you see? We need to get ready, and quickly."
"Then we'll train." Skysong stuck her chin in the air. "We can't have anyone losing control, not when it matters. And we can't have anyone doubting themselves, or not being quick enough, or failing to have the conviction to follow through." Mountainstone tried not to look at Littlefalcon. Skysong lashed her tail. "We'll start right away. Tomorrow, sunrise. We'll start training."
"Training?" said Birdfeather quietly. "What are we, apprentices?"
"No," said Skysong. She got to her paws, and Mountainstone thought she looked the part. She could be a great leader, he thought. But even he knew that Skysong was never meant to have that destiny, although he didn't know how. Skysong being their leader was simply…not in the equation. "We're warriors. And warriors fight."
"Until the bitter end," said Littlefalcon quietly. Mountainstone glanced around his littermates. In some ways, he hated every single one of them. They were his littermates, but they were foolish, and shallow, and self-defeating. They didn't have what it took to defeat the darkness.
But nor did he. And Mountainstone knew how much he hated them, could measure it on a scale, and he knew that no matter if that level of hatred increased, he could never hate them so much as he hated himself.
For those of you saying WHAAAAT? SKYSONG DIDN'T KILL ANYONE! AND NOR DID LITTLEFALCON! Yes, yes, I know she didn't. It will come together in a few chapters. And by a few, I actually mean a lot. Oops?
Aaaand, we're down another OC. I'm sorry for anyone particularly attached to Brackenheart. I really liked him, too. He died because...I really liked him. He was the most major character I could feel comfortable killing off (at this point in the story). Bluemoon X Brackenheart, on the other hand...
The next chapter is Littlefalcon's. He'll be handling this training of Skysong's and the aftermath of Birdfeather's terrible loss of control. Because a LOT went down in the last three chapters. BirdXRush happened, Fountain announced the truth, Brackenheart died, ONESTAR DIED (RIP), Mouseclaw found out the truth...jeez. I think we need a breather. A short one, at least. See you all soon!
And I realized the other day that I had gone ahead and made Whitestar leader? Oops. She'll assume that position for real next chapter...
Review/Favorite/Follow to support! Thanks to everyone who has read this far, even though I'm the worst at consistency.
~Elsi