Today, I bring you an APUSH buzzword!

As promised, here's the new chapter of The Final Step! I'm planning to do another writing sprint sometime this week, and I want to focus it on Fidelity, but then I'll turn my attention back to Elemental. In other news, I finally got my hands on a copy on The Last Hope! Yeah...so I wrote this entire AU Final Battle without actually having read the real "Final Battle." I'll be getting on that soon. It should pressure me to give a move on. Anyways, enjoy!

And yeah, "factory default," I know, but it was too perfect.

Chapter 18: Balance of Power

"He said you have even more power?" Birdfeather shook her head, puzzled. Willowleaf nodded, shifting her paws. "Honestly I have no idea what else it could be."

"I'm really worried it means our powers are going to shift around again," said Willowleaf. The two of them had wandered into the trees on the wonderful break time Sorreltail had granted Willowleaf. After seeing how masterful Birdfeather was getting with her fire, Willowleaf felt the need to do something to make up for it, so here she was, explaining everything Fountain had said. That was her importance, right?

"I just can't figure out why they're switching in the first place," said Birdfeather. "Why not give us the right powers from the start?"

"I was worried it might have been my fault at first," said Willowleaf, moving her tail back and forth across the slightly scorched forest floor. "Because I can mimic you all. So I thought maybe it had been a side effect of that."

"I don't think so," said Birdfeather. "Willowleaf, have you been able to contact Littlefalcon mentally?" Her green eyes were concerned. As she mentioned it, Willowleaf realized with a pang why she had felt so off recently – there was no comforting back presence of her brother. She could distantly feel Skysong and Mountainstone, but they were too far to really contact. But Littlefalcon was at camp. He should have been easy to talk to, but he wasn't, not like Birdfeather was, not like he should have been.

"What happened?" Willowleaf frowned. "I remember he seemed a little down before we left. But he couldn't have just lost his ability to communicate with us."

"That's exactly it," said Birdfeather. "I have no idea what he's thinking. It seemed like he purposefully cut himself out of our link. When I talked to him about it, he seemed to know exactly what he did. He's…" She looked genuinely upset. "He won't talk to any of us."

"He's never been known for sharing how he feels," meowed Willowleaf. Birdfeather shifted. "But this is more than that?" She didn't like that Birdfeather nodded sheepishly. Willowleaf sat back on her haunches and looked up at the foliage above her head. She had been traveling for so long and had missed so much. Brackenheart. Dead at Birdfeather's paws. It was not her place to judge Birdfeather. She wouldn't blame Birdfeather because Willowleaf had carried that guilt, too. She knew how Birdfeather felt, and it wouldn't make anything better to go flinging the blame around. Honestly, Willowleaf wondered if Littlefalcon was purposefully acting distant and forlorn. Birdfeather couldn't resist trying to heal other cats. Maybe Littlefalcon was serving as the distraction Birdfeather needed.

"Willowleaf! Birdfeather!" They scented their brother coming before they saw him, and Willowleaf turned to see Littlefalcon crashing through the undergrowth without restraint. He tilted his head back and laughed, and his laugh was like it was when they were kits.

"What's going on?" said Birdfeather. Both she-cats got to their paws to intercept their giggling brother. Littlefalcon chased his tail in a circle four times, then sat in the middle of them, breathing heavily.

"I just realized something," he said. "What Wind said, it makes total sense now."

"To enjoy your life?" Willowleaf flicked her tail back and forth. Honestly, the warning still didn't make sense to her. Maybe if that warning had been given to her or something, but no, Littlefalcon had been told to enjoy his life, which presumably was not filled with the same level of guilt.

"Yes," said Littlefalcon. "I think I was looking at it all wrong."

"Are you alright?" Birdfeather asked tentatively. Littlefalcon nodded rapidly.

"I wanted to tell you right away, but I had to go hunting," he said. "But the point is, I love ThunderClan. I love you, and I love ThunderClan, and I need to tell you that I love you, because you're what I enjoy about my life."

"Littlefalcon…" said Willowleaf, but her insides were already turning warm. She didn't remember the last time Littlefalcon had tossed around those words so freely – or any words so freely.

"I want to tell you something," said Littlefalcon, suddenly turning skittish. He sat down, and Willowleaf let herself sit down, too. Her brother had flipped like a switch from jubilant to kit-nervous. Birdfeather and Willowleaf exchanged a glance.

"I mean, you'll both find out anyways, so I want you to hear from me, not…" Littlefalcon swallowed. "Um, anyways. I made a mistake, or, maybe not a mistake so much, but…yeah, probably a mistake. A good mistake."

"Littlefalcon, spit it out," said Birdfeather. Littlefalcon nodded three times rapidly, closed his eyes, took a long, deep breath, and did as she had asked.

"I fell in love with Ivychase of WindClan, and she's expecting my kits."

Willowleaf's mind went blank. She didn't have any thoughts for several seconds, just this ringing sound in between her ears that bounced back the words over and over again. Littlefalcon tentatively opened one eye to look at them. Willowleaf didn't know what her face looked like, as she had entirely lost control of it.

"You're a mouse-brain," said Birdfeather, but then she started giggling. Littlefalcon hadn't seen her reaction coming, and it was delightful to see the surprise on his face. Willowleaf soon found herself laughing, too, although she quickly found she had no idea what she was laughing about. Maybe just that Littlefalcon, tiny Littlefalcon with the very serious demeanor and the collected thoughts, had actually made a mistake for once in his life, and it wasn't a silly mistake, not at all, but it was still somehow comical.

"Why are you laughing?" said Littlefalcon, taking a step back. "Do you not believe me?"

"We believe you," said Birdfeather. Willowleaf stifled her laughter and nodded vigorously. She remembered Ivychase. She knew how close Littlefalcon and Ivychase had been as apprentices. But to be this close…she was shocked. She didn't know her tiny brother as well as she thought, apparently. That was funny, too. With everything that had happened, it almost seemed light-hearted as a problem.

"It's a serious problem, I know," added Birdfeather. "It's honestly just funny to me. That's what has been bothering you all this time. We've been dealing with the end of the world and killing cats, and you're worried because you have a WindClan mate."

Willowleaf's desire to smile suddenly vanished, because Birdfeather's giggling had turned cruel. Littlefalcon noticed, too, and the switch flipped a third direction: back to factory default – cold, collected, poised.

"Birdfeather, maybe don't," she said carefully, but Birdfeather's green eyes glinted with anger.

"I've been worried about you," said Birdfeather. "I thought you would lose control of your powers. I thought you would fail us when we really needed you. I thought something real had happened to you. Then I lost control of my powers and something real happened to me, and you told me I needed to not worry about it. And meanwhile you were worried about that."

"Birdfeather, stop it," said Willowleaf. She moved to Littlefalcon's side, but he flinched away from her. "Littlefalcon, you're going to be a father."

"Not a real one, of course," said Littlefalcon suddenly, logic hammering back over his kittish glee. "No one can know."

"Thank you for telling us," said Willowleaf, because it mattered to her. She wouldn't let Birdfeather push their brother back into himself. "I'm so happy you would trust us with this." She smiled to tell him she meant it. Birdfeather nodded slowly.

"I'm glad about that, too," she muttered. "I really wish you had said something sooner, though."

"I understand," said Littlefalcon, but it didn't look like he would be declaring his love for them and ThunderClan any time soon. "Maybe we should get back."

He turned before Willowleaf could ask any more questions, and Willowleaf gave Birdfeather a long, sad look.

"Now look what you've done," said Willowleaf before she could help herself.

"Sorry," said Birdfeather. "But you haven't been here to see him boss everyone around and tell me I wasn't allowed to feel guilty about killing all those cats." She shook her head. "He doesn't understand like you and I do."

Willowleaf knew that was true.

"You know, for a while, it was me, all alone," said Willowleaf. "None of you understood what I was going through. And I'm not saying that Littlefalcon's problem is as severe as ours, of course not." She shook her head. "But we don't understand what he's feeling."

She turned to follow Littlefalcon, and Birdfeather trudged a little ways behind her. None of the littermates spoke on the way back. Willowleaf wanted to sigh, but wouldn't let herself. Just when she thought they were starting to understand each other, really understand each other like they had in the old days, something had come up. Like they were surrounded by barriers between their souls that couldn't be crossed.

How ironic, that I now want the barriers to come down.

XXXXX

Willowleaf's eyes traced the mouse, and her heart beat in time with its. She could feel its warm life force nearby, its every movements so innocent. Licking her lips, Willowleaf focused on the mouse and decided it would make a very good meal.

A blink, and a carpet of ice whisked from the pads of her paws all the way to the mouse. It was frozen in an instant. It felt terribly, terribly good to feel its warmth fade away, know that its blood was as cold as hers.

"Way to go, Willowleaf!" Mouseclaw's warmth appeared in the back of her mind, and she identified him approaching from the left. He could be like this mouse, too, all his warmth sucked away in her encasement. All it would take would be –

Willowleaf gasped at her train of thought, and the casing around the mouse shattered. It flopped to the ground, a cold piece of fresh-kill. Mouseclaw approached it to poke it with a claw, unaware of the way Willowleaf was staring wide eyed at the melting ice in the grass.

"A little cold, but I guess that can't be helped," said Mouseclaw. He picked up the mouse and turned to Willowleaf, smiling. "Willowleaf?" The mouse dropped to his paws.

"Sorry," said Willowleaf. "It feels strange to use my powers to kill."

"Oh." Mouseclaw approached her slowly. "Are you okay?"

Willowleaf could feel the urge to kill creeping away like receding vines, so she nodded. Her own senses were coming back, too. She peered at the mouse at Mouseclaw's paws. It did look a little cold, but hopefully it would be edible.

"It's not fair," said Willowleaf. "Birdfeather's powers can light a clearing on fire, and mine kill a teeny mouse." She poked it with a claw.

"Woah, you're not getting power hungry, are you?"

"Of course not!" Willowleaf shook her head furiously, shame creeping up in her chest for even having such thoughts. "I'm happy being the least powerful littermate."

"Least powerful." Mouseclaw shook his head. "You think you can destroy the world, and you also think you're the least powerful?"

"Well, I can." Willowleaf turned to him. "Destroy the world. I can. But it's so hard for me to stop it. The others seem to be able to do more than just…destroy. Like Birdfeather, she's got a destructive element, but she can also put it out, and she's a healer. Meanwhile I'm here killing everything and not being able to melt ice very easily." She rubbed her paws over the frozen grass to make it shudder and melt.

"Maybe there's more to it you're not seeing," said Mouseclaw softly. "Fountain said you were more powerful than you thought."

"Maybe I just need to practice control is all," said Willowleaf. "You're probably right." She shook herself thoroughly. It wasn't smart of her to keep bringing herself down like this. And to continually hate something about herself. She had too much power. She didn't have enough power. Ugh.

"More powers or less," said Mouseclaw suddenly, and he appeared beside her, tail intertwining with hers. "I'd love you either way."

Willowleaf opened her mouth to reply, her chest growing tight and warm, but Mouseclaw bent to lick the top of her head.

"I feel like I know who you are again," he breathed. "I love this part of you, too. It's always been a part of you, and I can see that now. You're the same cat I thought you were all along."

"You've always thought me a lot better than I am," murmured Willowleaf.

"You've always thought badly of yourself," said Mouseclaw. "I think the Willowleaf I knew before, the one without powers, is the same cat as the one with powers. You were always insecure and guilty about something. Now I know what that something is, and it makes me respect you more." He blinked and tilted his head. "Yeah, your powers are dangerous. That scares me. But I also trust that when the time comes, you'll do the right thing."

"How do you know?" said Willowleaf, although she didn't know why she was challenging him. She pressed her face into his shoulder. "I don't know that."

"Because I know you," said Mouseclaw. "And I trust you to figure it out."

They were quiet for a long time, Willowleaf breathing in his dark, comforting scent and Mouseclaw staying her pillar. It was dangerous for him to stay by her side, but he was stubborn, and when she was with him, she felt like maybe she could do what was right. Maybe she wasn't out of control. It was like breathing his scent made her sure she could belong in this world properly.

"Thank you," she said into his shoulder. "Thank you."

She didn't cry this time. Instead she felt herself smiling. Because for once, she knew he wouldn't have any more reasons to hide. This was it. This was every side of her, the darkest and the lightest side by side. Somehow, Mouseclaw had found a way to love the dark side, too. That meant she couldn't scare him off.

Unless she destroyed the world, of course. That would stop him.

Eyyy, need to scare that boy off? Here's your solution: destroy the world! That'll do the trick.

This feels like a filler chapter, and it kind of is a filler chapter, but uh...it's kind of not at the same time?

~Elsi