Chapter Nine
POV: Lilacheart
Heh...er...um...I so owe you all an explanation right now, don't I?
Well...um...I guess I'll have to pick up from where I got knocked out in the park. I remember waking up in a lot of pain. My vision was clouded by bright light for a while, so I just laid down on my back until the pain began to ebb away and the light started to fade. That's when I finally opened my eyes and sat up.
The first thing I remembered was what I'd told Fai, that I'd only be out for ten minutes to an hour. I didn't know how long I'd been semi-conscious, so the first thing I did was look towards the sun, which was starting to set. My eyes narrowed. I had definitely been out for more than an hour. I wondered if they were all worried about me.
I glanced around to try and work out where I was. All I could see was a snow-covered floor stretched out in front of me, and the sky. I stood up, cringing. My neck hurt, but it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. I stepped carefully, a sinking feeling in my gut, as I walked forward. This feeling was confirmed when I stopped at the edge of the white terrace and I found myself looking down.
"...Oh God," I whispered, terrified. I took a quick step back. I was on the top of a building. What the heck was I doing on top of a stinking building? I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. When you're on top of a building, might as well take in the view before you run screaming like a ninny, right?
I stepped back onto the ledge and looked around. The roof I was on towered above all the others. Below that was a construction site. I knew it was dangerous to be here. Who had attacked me back at the park?
I gathered up my courage and looked down again. I wasn't usually altophobic, but this...looking down from here was like a nightmare come true. I couldn't see much, except a couple of specks running from the construction site waaayyy down there and a few more standing around below.
My head started to spin and I backed off. I was getting down from here.
As I turned around, I noticed that someone else was standing on the roof, sealing the exit. It looked a bit like...Syaoran?
I walked towards him, mainly to get away from the ledge. I saw the sword in his hand, the one crackling with flame, and instantly knew that I was in trouble. The sword was Hien. And that sword belonged to Shaoran.
First instinct: I swore and looked around for something, anything, to fight with. There was nothing here to use. "Were you the one who knocked me out at the park?" I asked, my voice quivering despite my desperate attempt not to sound afraid. Shaoran had destroyed dimensions to get what he wanted. Taking me out would be far too easy for him.
Speaking of that, why hadn't he just done it earlier...?
Unless, of course, he had needed me alive, and now he had no further use for me. And let me tell you, I had never been more terrified in my whole life than I was right then.
He gave a slight nod as he turned around. "Not like it matters," he said. He pointed his sword at me. "You no longer serve any purpose for me."
I backed away, frantically looking for an escape route. There was nowhere to run. He was faster then I was, and he had just used magic to seal the only exit. "Why?" I asked.
He remained completely silent. Of course I wasn't going to get a straight answer. That's nigh impossible to get these days. He slowly walked towards me, as if he wanted me to panic and try to run.
I had two options right now. Option one was I could die by his hands. I had nothing to protect myself, no Kudan, no weapon, no magic...
And then there was option two. I'm sure we all know what that is.
Tears started rolling down my face. There was no way to say goodbye to my friends, no matter what path I chose. Did they even know I was here?
Shaoran gave a small smile, one that frightened me to the core. I knew how pathetic this must be. But my life was probably about to end anyway.
"This sucks," I said, trying hard to calm my breathing. "Death by sword or death by impact. I'd rather have fun until I hit the ground." Not like I could actually have fun, but I figured the wording would irritate him.
He raised an eyebrow, then shot a large wave of fire at me. It was now or never. I spun around and took off as fast as I could towards the ledge. I closed my eyes as it loomed closer. I felt the heat of the flame behind me. I couldn't open my eyes as I reached the ledge and leapt.
The flame skimmed just over my head and I started to fall. My heart pounded in my chest, and I tried not to scream. I kept my eyes shut, trying to think of something other than, Good going, genius, you're about to die.
My breathing was abnormal; the panic was growing in me. My eyes opened slightly, just because I wanted to see the world one last time.
And then I saw a bird.
Yes. I jump off a building, I'm about to die, and then I see a bird. It's weird what you notice, huh?
Suddenly, something glowed powerfully on my palm.
At the same time, I heard a faint scream. Very faint. So faint I might've just been imagining it.
"LILAC!"
How far below down, or how far away, did it come from? I couldn't identify the voice through the wind rushing past my ears.
I felt some sort of silver-golden light swirling around my back. It seemed to be forming and building something. The light glowed on my palm, but at that exact moment I couldn't figure out what it was. My mind was kind of fogged up. Like Percy Jackson, as I fell, I wasn't having some sort of revelation. I was just trying to get past insulting, frightened thoughts and the word "AUUUUGH!" Kind of anti-climatic, I know.
But as the light glowed on my palm and swirled around my back, my mind seemed to clear up. And I had a thought that, I guess, fit the situation a lot more: I can't die yet.
The light on my back solidified into a lightweight, yet powerful and strong material. And that's when the thought struck me: +Anima! That bird...wings?
The thoughts, though incomplete, gave me a surge of hope, and I unfurled the long wings that had appeared on my back. I felt myself swerve upwards and arc upright. At the same time, I felt my foot knock against something and I shivered violently, opening my eyes and trying to see past the scared tears. What I saw was the snow-covered ground; I'd been less than a second away from death.
I flapped the wings up and down until I had gained enough altitude, then I shot out of the construction site until I finally landed on a lone hill not too far away. There I simply broke down, shivering and crying. That had been terrifying. I had thought for sure, I had known for sure, that I was going to die. But I hadn't...
I heard the sound of footsteps behind me, and I turned around. Syaoran.
"I'm sorry, but this is from the county," he said, then he slapped me across the face. I stared at him, wanting to thank him and yell at him for that at the same time. Then he knelt down in front of me and hugged me.
"Who's this from?" I asked, sounding like I was whimpering.
"Me. If they want to hug you, they can do it themselves."
And with that, my mind started to scream: Oh my GOD, he actually CARES about me! HE ACTUALLY CARES! But I was too shaken up, so I just hugged him back.
There was the sound of more footsteps, and Soundstorm suddenly barrelled me over. I sat upright to look at her. She was crying. So were Starsight, Rabbitfoot, and Cloudwind. Sheila looked distraught. Kurogane didn't seem to care, though I guessed better. Fai had a weary look on his face. Spirithunter looked terrified; Amaterasu was trying to comfort her. Sevenclaws and his Absol were just staring in amazement, and Sevenclaws also seemed a little frightened. Icestar was shivering. I don't think any of us had ever thought someone would nearly die because of this. I was shivering, terrified, distraught, and crying all at the same time.
"You idiot!" Soundstorm yelled, hugging me and crying into my shoulder. "You stupid idiot!" And I cried into her shoulder as well, glad to be alive.
The others caught me in a group hug. Usually, I would've complained about claustrophobia, but not this time. Amaterasu licked my face, and I put my hand in her fur.
"That light...that was +Anima, wasn't it?" Soundstorm whispered into my ear.
I bit my lip and nodded. "Yeah," I said shakily, lightly unfurling the wings from my back.
"Why in the world did you jump?" Sheila cried. "I never thought you were suicidal! If you were in that much distress, you could've called for us or something—"
"I didn't want to, I had no other choice!" I wailed. "It was by fire and sword or by impact!"
Everyone fell silent, and I had a feeling that they knew exactly what I was talking about.
"...I let the clone escape. You wouldn't have had to go through that if I had been paying more attention. I'm sorry, Lilacheart-san..."
I shook my head. "Don't say that," I murmured. "It's not your fault."
There was a long silence, then I shakily got to my feet. "Can...can we please go home?" I asked quietly.
Sheila nodded. "I'm sure the clone isn't on the roof anymore, and no one's going to go up and check. We don't need to go through that again."
Everyone nodded agreement.
"Everyone, go home with a partner. It's not safe to go anywhere on your own, with Erasers, the clone, and those aliens on the loose."
"Hork-Bajir," Starsight said. Everyone looked at her. "They're called Hork-Bajir. They're from Animorphs."
"Doesn't that m—" I began, but I cut myself off. I was about to mention the alien parasites that controlled them, the Yeerks, and bring up the possibility they might be here now too. But I couldn't. My mind was overloading, and the last thing I needed to do was suggest a new enemy. I had spoken too quietly to be heard, so no one pressed on the situation.
"Kurogane, you take the twins home, OK?" Fai said.
I didn't object. He was the best fighter, and if we ran into the clone again, then I would want him by my side. Technically because I knew the clone would be in every nightmare I had for the rest of my life. Him and tall buildings to fall off. If I hadn't had altophobia before, I did now.
Kurogane grunted carelessly and walked off. I slowly followed, shaking so violently that it made it hard to walk. Soundstorm didn't leave my side. "I'm never letting you go out on your own again," she whispered. "I'm serious, you're about as lucky as someone who comes down with cancer. Or...as lucky as you make Syaoran in roleplays. Or..."
"As lucky as someone who falls of a building," I said shakily, faking a smile.
"Oh, God, I'm so glad you're alive!" she cried, hugging me.
I couldn't bring myself to smile because I was still terrified.
"Look on the bright side," I said. "At least I don't need to change my underwear when I get home."
Soundstorm gave a light laugh. The wings on my back disappeared, and I saw Soundstorm staring at the bright orbs of light that floated into my palm. I glanced at it and saw the +Anima symbol.
"...I'll show you the wings later, okay?" I promised, and she nodded.
"...And so says the famous Arisato, 'I wanna sleep,'" I said as we finally returned home. I crashed into the door and fell backwards onto the front steps, exhausted. Semi-conscious isn't exactly sleeping, and being completely terrified does drain you. Kurogane had to carry me through the door. I promise you, he wasn't happy about that. He put me on my bed, where I murmured a soft, "Thank you."
As he walked out the door, he sighed and said, "If it makes you feel better, you've got guts. It takes a lot of courage to jump off a building, even if there's someone who plans to kill you on the other side." Then he shut the door.
"...Whoop de doo," I muttered, which unintentionally sounded sarcastic because I was just plain tired. I glanced at the time. It wasn't late, the sun had just fallen. It was only about...6:30? But I was so exhausted that I just fell asleep anyway.
—
"Aw, man! I missed Rabbitfoot's proposal?"
It was the next day at school. When I had woken up, Fai told me that I had been out for about a day. I had wanted to come to school so I could catch up with everything I had missed. After all, Cloudwind had gotten a keyblade, and I was curious about that, plus the clone had shown up without any of us knowing. Of course, we all knew now. Not the point, though.
"Yeah, the clone watched it in your place. Apparently, he took on your form and pretended to be you," Starsight said.
"That sucks," I muttered.
"Yeah, you should've seen the look on Rabbit's face!" Rubystripe laughed hysterically.
I laughed too, and even Rabbitfoot laughed at herself. Then I glanced at Cloudwind. "Where did you find that?" I asked, nodding to the keyblade.
"The back of my closet!" she said enthusiastically. "It's called the Oathbreaker. It's not the normal keyblade, you can probably tell. It first appeared when—"
"That's okay, I don't need all the details," I laughed. "Maybe Sora will appear sometime."
"Ooh, I hope so! Or Zexion, that'd be cool too! Or—"
"Cloudy, you're rambling again," I said.
"Well, it's a change from AFI," Soundstorm laughed.
"Maybe Davey Havok will fall through the roof," Rubystripe joked.
"But he's not fictional!" Thunder pointed out. She liked AFI too, so she would know.
"...Your +Anima. Can I see it?" Starsight asked tentatively. I guess she knew I was still a bit jumpy. I had refused to go anywhere near an even remotely high place today.
I held out my palm and showed her the symbol. It glowed and the wings shot out of my back. Everyone stared, just as we'd all stared at the keyblade when Cloudwind had brought it in.
"...That is so cool!" Starsight said.
"You have the Kudan, I have the wings, Cloudy has the keyblade, Ruby is being taught by the flame alchemist, and...Rabbit has the husband," I laughed. Everyone else joined in.
The end-of-lunch bell rang. Time to get back to fighting classes. I had asked Icestar to teach me archery before Starsight had told me about Rabbitfoot's proposal, and she had agreed.
As I headed into the gym, Silentstorm suddenly screeched to a stop in front of us. She was breathing heavily.
"Is something wrong?" I asked, cocking my head in worry.
"H-Have any of you seen Icetail and Dawnstripe?" she asked, sounding worried. "I can't find them anywhere!"
My eyes widened. Sheila, who was walking by at that moment, turned to look at us. "What's up?" she asked, noticing Silentstorm's face.
"I can't find Icetail and Dawnstripe. Please, can I go look for them!" she asked desperately.
Sheila nodded. "Take someone with you," she added.
Silentstorm gave a brisk nod and darted over to Quailfeather. She quickly explained the situation, and Quailfeather gave a short nod before running out of the school grounds.
"Was it just me, or did that seem a little...off?" Thunder asked.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. "I thought it was just me and my paranoia again," I admitted.
"I noticed nothing wrong...she was just worried, right?" Rubystripe asked.
Sheila shrugged. "After your whole situation, Lilac..." she began, and I shuddered lightly, flapping my wings experimentally.
"Anyway, let's just hope they're all okay and resume training. There's nothing else to do. Come on," she said, and we all made our way into the gym.
—
POV: Icetail
I stood by the creek that ran into the forest. Dawnstripe was pacing nervously back and forth, as if worried that maybe the clone that we'd heard about when we were at school today might appear.
"It wasn't a good idea to leave school without protection," Dawnstripe said nervously.
"We have each other. That and a sword," I assured her, though I was quite nervous myself. We had arranged to meet Quailfeather and Silentstorm here. I was beginning to wonder when they'd show up. I shifted from foot to foot when I spotted them running towards us.
"They're here!" I said, raising my arm and waving. The two of them saw me and sped up. When they finally stopped, they looked out of breath.
"We told Sheila you'd gone missing and we asked to look for you," Silentstorm said.
"I feel kinda guilty..." Quailfeather admitted. She had echoed my thoughts, but still...
"Sheila would never let us explore the forest," I rationed. "Think of it this way: what if we find the Warrior cats and surprise the entire county by bringing them to school? Surely they'll be able to understand we mean no harm. Lilac and Starry told me that Mokona could translate languages, so maybe we'll be able to speak cat, too!" The thought excited me. The Warrior cats!* We'd been talking about this for a while, the four of us. Perhaps we could actually find the Clans living in the county forest. I wanted to surprise everyone by finding them.
The others nodded, and Quailfeather stepped forward. "Let's get going, we don't have all day."
"We have two hours," Silentstorm reminded her. "It should be plenty of time."
We all walked into the forest, weaving around trees, crossing over rivers, and doing our best to find any sign of what might be the ThunderClan camp. I glanced over at a marshy area and put a hand over my nose. "ShadowClan might live over there," I suggested bluntly, signalling with my head.
"Well, ThunderClan did always say they smelt bad," Quailfeather agreed.
"If we went there, we'd be shredded to pieces," Dawnstripe said. "We should look for ThunderClan first."
"Or maybe WindClan," Silentstorm suggested. "Losty's favourite character is Onestar, after all."
"...Or maybe we're just looking around for nothing," I sighed dejectedly.
And with that, Dawnstripe slapped me.
"Thanks, I needed that. Come on, let's keep moving."
We finally stopped when we saw two cats walking down a path. One was a brown tabby, with a white chest and white paws. She had watchful amber eyes, and her steps were light. Beside her was a grey tabby, with sightless blue eyes.
Oh. My. God.
"Leafpool and Jayfeather...!" I breathed.
The two cats stopped in their tracks.
"Who said that?" Jayfeather asked curiously, but also sounding a bit suspicious.
"T-T-Twolegs...!" Leafpool sounded scared and amazed.
I could hear Quailfeather suppressing a fangirl scream from behind me. I was feeling about ready to squeal myself. Instead, I took a deep breath and got to my knees, so I was more their height.
"We won't hurt you," I assured them calmly.
"You speak cat...?" Leafpool gasped.
I shrugged and nodded lightly. "Yeah, you could say that. We don't want to hurt you. To be honest, we actually love your society. It's amazing."
The two cats stared at me in plain shock. The others behind me kneeled down to the cat's height, too.
"Leafpool, you're such an awesome medicine cat! You do such a great job for your clan!" Quailfeather said, a grin on her face. I wasn't sure if she'd hated Leafpool before. If she had, it had been quickly replaced by amazement that she was real.
"Jayfeather, you're grouchy and you're blind, and we like that about you!" Dawnstripe said cheerfully.
Jayfeather hissed, but by the look in his sightless eyes, her words seemed to have amused him somehow.
"How do you know about our society, Twolegs?" Leafpool asked quietly.
"You have stories written about you," I said.
She cocked her head curiously. "Like the ones of ancient StarClan?"
I nodded, since I couldn't say books. After all, the cats didn't know what books were, let alone read them.
"Twolegs have stories about the Clans..." Leafpool said in a wondrous tone.
"The Twolegs of this town admire the Clans. Some of us even would rather be cats," I laughed.
Leafpool smiled. Jayfeather swished his tail, still a bit untrusting. "So you're here. What do you want?" he asked irritably.
We all looked at each other, and in that one second silently agreed we should just tell the truth.
"We wanted to meet your Clan," Quailfeather said.
Leafpool's eyes widened. Jayfeather hissed, the fur along his back rising.
"We promise we'll do no damage," Dawnstripe assured them. "We just wanted to meet the Clan cats. We would talk to some other Clans, but they'd tear our eyes out."
"No kidding," Jayfeather muttered.
"Is it okay...?" Silentstorm asked softly.
There was a long silence. "I don't want Firestar to get angry," Leafpool admitted quietly.
We all nodded. "We can talk to him if he does," I laughed, and Leafpool purred slightly.
"When did you all learn to speak cat?" Jayfeather muttered. "Or is my mentor just pulling my tail?"
I slowly reached out my hand and lightly tapped Jayfeather's leg. He jumped, unsure of what to do. He shot me a irritated glare.
"Hold up your paw," I clarified. He reluctantly did so, and I lightly closed my fingers around his paw.
"Twoleg paws," Jayfeather confirmed in a monotone voice.
"Leafpool's not pulling your tail. We're just a bunch of Twoleg kits with a rabbit creature who translates our words."
"What?" Leafpool asked, dumbfounded.
"We'll have to explain that later!" Dawnstripe giggled.
Leafpool and Jayfeather exchanged a long glance. Finally, Leafpool sighed. "I see you mean no harm...come on, follow me." She turned around and walked off, bickering with her apprentice on the way through the trees.
All four of us stared wondrously at each other. We all wanted to scream in delight, but at the same time, we didn't want to scare any prey. We dropped our swords before racing after the cats. Taking those in would leave a bad impression.
When we stepped into the temporary camp, we received a lot of looks.
"What the—?" an old she-cat, who might've been Mousefur, rasped in surprise.
"Twolegs!" said another old tom, who had scratch marks around his eyes. I assumed it was Longtail.
"What is the meaning of this!" growled a senior gray tom.
"Graystripe!" I exclaimed without thinking.
His mouth dropped open. "How do you know my name?" he yelped.
"We Twolegs have stories about the Clans," I told him.
"Passed down from our ancient ancestors," added Quailfeather. Okay, so it was a lie, but it would be much less confusing if we put it in that light.
"That's just unheard of!" cried a ginger she-cat.
"Squirrelflight?" Dawnstripe asked.
"Wh—" Squirrelflight stopped. "...Great StarClan."
"Can we please speak to Firestar?" Silentstorm put in quietly.
"Who are all of you?" cried a gray she-cat as she emerged through a bramble thicket, three kits following her and staring at us with wide, curious eyes. With the way Graystripe looked at her, I guessed that she was Millie.
"We come from...WandClan," I suggested, starting to feel a little shy with all the glares we were receiving. Then I took a deep breath and tried to reassure them we didn't mean any harm. "We've heard so much about you. We wanted to see if we could find you ourselves. It's so amazing to actually meet all of you!"
"Twolegs speaking cat, huh?" growled another voice.
"Firestar!" Leafpool meowed as the flame-coloured cat stepped out of his den. We all stared, then Dawnstripe suddenly burst out, "It's an honour to meet you!"
Firestar seemed just as incredulous as all of the other Clan cats.
"Since when do Twolegs speak cat?" he asked doubtfully. "Who are all of you?"
"It's just the people of our county," Silentstorm said. "We...we all speak cat. Our ancestors have passed on stories about the Clans, and we came to the forest to see if we could find you."
"My name is Icetail," I said. "These are my friends, Dawnstripe, Quailfeather, and Silentstorm. We just go by Icey, Dawn, Quaily, and Silent, if it's easier for you."
There was a long silence. "You even have warrior names...?" said a dark brown tabby tom, his amber eyes widening.
"We gave ourselves names based on your society, Brambleclaw," Quailfeather explained.
"...You really know all of us, don't you?" Brambleclaw breathed in amazement.
"Out of the way!" a cat hissed as he made his way through the bushes.
"I bet you we're about to run into one of those cats that nobody likes," Quailfeather whispered to me.
"Like who?" I asked.
Moments later Berrynose came into sight.
"Oh, like him," I said.
"Stupid Twolegs. Just go home!" Berrynose snapped.
It took all my self control not to say "Get a life, Nerrynose," based off a typo from the Quotebook we had on our community website. Instead, I just said, "Wands and Worlds County, where we come from, likes ThunderClan, Berrynose. That should make you happy."
Berrynose suddenly leapt at me, obviously not believing what I had said. Suddenly a golden cat leapt out of the shadows and bowled him over, knocking him away.
"Lionblaze," I said, identifying him as he shot me a satisfied glance.
"That...was...SO COOL!" Quailfeather squeed.
There was a bit of scattered laughter.
"We aren't here to capture you, or take you to the Cutter, or anything like that," I reassured them. "Actually...we were hoping some of you might..." I fell silent. I couldn't say it. It felt wrong for some reason.
After a moment Silentstorm spoke up. "We wanted you to come and meet the rest of the County. Not all of you, but some of the cats here we've all grown to love hearing stories about."
There was some unsure muttering, and even a few hisses. Suddenly, light shimmered beside us.
"It's okay!"
We all stared at the cat who had appeared next to us. She was slender, silver, and had large, emotional eyes.
"S...StarClan...?" all four of us asked in awe.
The silver she-cat nodded before turning back to the Clan. "These humans are all okay. You can go with them without fear, for they'll protect you." Her voice was light, and she seemed to trust us.
"Which cat is this?" I quietly asked Quailfeather.
She shook her head. "I don't know this time."
Jayfeather stepped forward. "If she says it's fine, then I'll follow you," he announced. Firestar nodded and quickly rounded up a few more cats: Leafpool, Brambleclaw, Graystripe, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, Squirrelflight, Cinderheart, Cloudtail, and himself along with Jayfeather. The silver cat also insisted on coming along.
"Thanks, all of you," the four of us said at the same time.
The group nodded. The silver StarClan she-cat was smiling, ecstatic.
"Ready to surprise everyone?" I asked Dawnstripe with a nervous smile.
She nodded. "This has been a great day," she said, her voice filled with excitement. "I'm so happy, I don't even know where to begin."
I just nodded, completely understanding, and we all began to head back.
—
POV: Goldenslash
I pushed my way through the school gates with a glance around. I hadn't been to Wands and Worlds County for a long while. I lived right outside of it, and mainly just talked to my little sisters, Lilacheart and Soundstorm, over IM. Hooray for the Internet.
However, when I had received an Email from Soundstorm telling me Lilacheart had FALLEN OFF A BUILDING, I had to go see if she was okay. And everyone else for that matter. Besides, I needed to see what this whole "there are book characters in our town" thing was all about.
I walked into the school to find it strangely empty. There was only one guy walking around school campus, but that was it. I walked over to him. "Hey," I called.
He turned to look at me. He was tall, had black hair, and red eyes. Most people would find him scary. I just kind of found his attitude annoying. "What?" he snapped.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Why?"
I snorted, irritated, and rolled my eyes. "Because my sister fell off a building. I was told she was at school, so I wanted to see how she is."
The man narrowed his eyes. "Those two never told me they had a brother."
"...Did they have to?"
"...We've been having a hard time trusting others around here," the man admitted slowly.
"Okay," I responded. "Does it have something to do with 'falling book characters'?"
"Something like that."
A boy with brown hair walked over to the man. "Relax, Kurogane, Lilacheart-san and Soundstorm-san told me that their brother was coming. Goldenslash, right?" he asked.
I nodded in confirmation.
"My name's Syaoran," the boy said, smiling slightly.
"...Soundy said you were Lilac's boyfriend?"
Syaoran choked on air.
"WHAT?"
The man, Kurogane, started laughing behind his hand.
"I'M GONNA KICK YOUR—!" I heard Lilacheart yell from somewhere, but thankfully her final word was cut off by the sound of clashing metal. I also heard Soundstorm laughing and her footsteps fleeing for her life. And the sound of things falling off shelves and smashing to the floor.
Good times.
"I'm not, trust me," Syaoran said, sounding both a bit ticked and weary.
"Soundy just likes to make fun of Lilac, don't worry," I assured him, laughing quietly. "How is Lilac?"
"Have you heard of +Anima?" Syaoran asked.
I cocked my head. "Wasn't it a manga series? Um...if not, I've never heard of it."
"Me neither, but apparently, Lilacheart-san received one. Not to mention about thirty minutes before you got here, a boy named Cooro with a +Anima dropped through the roof. She's been showing him around."
What was +Anima? I guess I'd have to ask her myself.
Turns out, I didn't need to. When I found Lilacheart, she was talking to another kid, who I assumed was Cooro. Both of them had a set of wings on their backs, hers tawny and his black. They were both eating apples.
Most people would freak out, scream, or report themselves to the mental clinic. Me? I thought both "Holy crud!" and "Cool!" at the same time as I walked over to her.
"Hey," I called.
Lilacheart whipped around, quickly tucking in her wings.
"Heya! When did you get here?"
"Into town? Five minutes ago, or something. Um...when did you get wings?"
Lilacheart shrugged. "+Anima. It's an animal trait you get when you're usually about to die."
Subtle.
"Is the boy Cooro?" I asked.
"Yup!" Cooro said, standing up and holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you!"
I shook his hand, unsure of what else to do.
"Where's Soundy?" I asked.
"You'll have to talk to her later. I locked her in the closet," Lilacheart said, cackling quietly.
I gave her this really weird look, then remembered the whole 'Syaoran is Lilac's boyfriend' thing and said, "She probably knows she deserved that, huh?"
"Yup."
I nodded. "I thought Syaoran was a book character you really liked."
Lilacheart gave a slow nod. "He is."
"Then how is he—" I began, then stopped. "...So you weren't kidding then? There really are characters from Tsubasa, +Anima, and those books you like dropping into the county?"
Lilacheart nodded. "Yes. Cooro, Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai, Mokona, Amaterasu, Emily...and some more I'm too lazy to remember or name...they're here. I'm not sure how or why..."
Suddenly a loud cry of surprise echoed across the campus. Lilacheart and Cooro shot upright, both of them wearing identical looks of shock and puzzlement.
"I'll go unlock Soundy from the supply closet, you go and see what's up!" I said, turning and running into the school. I'd been here once or twice, so I knew where the only closet in the school was.
I found the door and swung it open. Soundstorm stumbled out, looking like she had just laughed so hard she had injured something. "I so deserved that," she giggled.
"Something's going on at the front of the schoo—" Before I could finish Soundstorm yelled, "Oh, not him again!" and darted off.
Maybe I didn't want to know who 'him' was. But I guess my curiosity got the better of me because I ran after her...and screeched to a halt in front of four girls and about 10 cats.
"Warriors!" I heard a girl I knew as Lakestorm whisper next to me.
"Oh my GOD, Jadey, it's Fie-Fie!" said a girl Soundstorm had told me was Squirrelflame, AKA 'Not a squirrel, THE squirrel.' The two squeed.
I noticed the cats looked a little bit out of their element. I remembered my sisters telling me about this series called "Warriors" once, but I'd never actually read it. So while everyone freaked out and cautiously approached their favourite cats, I sat down on a bench. I didn't know these cats. Though I did like cats in general.
I noticed a silver cat break away from the group and slowly walk over to me. "Is something wrong?" she asked me lightly.
I was surprised I understood her and nearly said, "Holy crud, a talking cat!" But fortunately I didn't.
"No, I just don't read the books you guys are in," I responded with a shrug.
"To the other cats, say that your ancestors told you stories. They'll understand it better than having to explain the publishing process," the silver she-cat purred with a laugh.
I smiled and nodded. "Who are you?" I asked.
I suddenly noticed that everyone had fallen silent and were staring at the silver cat. "We've all been wondering about that, actually," a girl I vaguely remembered as Quailfeather admitted.
"My name is Brightspirit," the cat said, cocking her head and swishing her tail.
"Emmy Grace Cherry!" a majority of the members cried in unison.
Brightspirit, or Emmy, stared in surprise, her eyes wide. "Y...You all know me...?" She suddenly smiled and purred happily. "I thought I'd been long forgotten."
"Definitely not!" a girl I thought was named Hazelleaf objected. "How are your parents?"
Brightspirit seemed overjoyed, though I noticed that the other cats just looked confused. "They're great," she said.
Everyone smiled. Soundstorm was talking to a gray cat with ice blue eyes and a ginger cat who seemed a bit hyper. Their friend, who I was constantly reminded she went by the name 'Cloudwind', was talking to a white cat. Squirrelflame, Jadepool, and an older member whose name, I think, was Coalfang, were talking to a flaming ginger cat, who seemed to be in charge. Sheila was talking about what sounded like 'the warrior code' to a black cat, who responded which much enthusiasm. A member whose name was something like "Thrushwing" (I really needed to get to know these guys better) was talking to a powerful looking golden-coloured cat about strength of some sort. I heard her call him "Lionblaze", and guessed that that was probably his name. A dark brown tabby was sitting next to a gray cat, both of whom were talking to the boy who called himself a six year old, flaming butted toad. I think his name had something to do with yogurt, but I couldn't remember. There was also a cat whose name was Cinderheart, as far as I heard, who at one point came over to take Brightspirit back into the crowd.
I sat around for about ten minutes before Brightspirit came back. She leapt onto the bench I was sitting on, curling her tail neatly over her paws. "Emmy...how come everyone here knows you?"
"About a year ago there was a meeting held in this town when my family and I were killed in a tornado," she explained. "We were accepted into StarClan when these guys all gave us warrior names. We're very thankful." **
I smiled. "I really do need to come here more."
"By the way, you might want to stand up and move," she suggested suddenly.
I cocked my head, confused. Brightspirit jumped off my lap, signalling for me to follow. I stood up and walked towards her.
That's when a gouge opened up in the sky and dropped a DRAGON onto the bench I had just been sitting on.
You can probably imagine I swore, completely startled.
Everyone started freaking out. I mean, duh, a dragon drops out of the sky. Not exactly normal. The cats all took a step back. "Does this happen a lot here?" the flame coloured cat asked tensely.
"...As a matter of fact, it's never happened until now," the governor, Sheila, admitted.
"I was worried you were going to say it happened all the time," the brown tabby she-cat admitted.
"What happened?" the gray tabby asked, confirming my guess that he might be blind.
"...Shardas!" Sheila and Soundstorm gasped.
—
POV: Lilacheart
"Shardas from Dragon Slippers...?" I asked.
"Oh my GOD, a dragon!" someone screamed, sounding completely ecstatic.
I glanced at Sheila, who gave me a nod. I walked slowly towards the dragon, noticing that she was coming too out of the corner of my eye. Of course, it was thanks to her I'd read Dragon Slippers, so of course she knew who Shardas was and wanted to see him.
Both of us stopped in front of him. "Sh—Shardas...?" Sheila whispered quietly.
He slowly opened an eye, narrowing it almost immediately. "Humans—!" He sounded worried as he tried to struggle upright. Which was rather hard since he was a huge dragon.
"Don't worry!" I assured him nervously, unfolding my wings. Maybe letting him know we were all weirdos around here would make him feel better. He noticed my wings, which I think Starsight had told me were osprey wings, and blinked. "We're all secret keeping with the scattered mutant or +Anima weirdo around here. Don't worry about it, or fly away, because if you do, you'll probably get in trouble," I said, backtracking quickly.
"...I wasn't going to word it like that, but that works too, Lilac," Sheila commented.
Everyone came over to look at Shardas. "You've got admirers," Sheila laughed.
"Who...are all of you?" he asked, managing to get upright to look at all of us.
"It would take a while for us all to name ourselves off. You'll slowly figure out who we are. Until then..." Sheila said, and she turned to look at us. We all knew the drill.
"Welcome to Wands and Worlds County, Shardas!" we all greeted happily.
"How many of you are mutants and...'plus animals'?"
"+Anima," I corrected.
Mokona popped its head out of Syaoran's sleeve. Kirby looked up and waved. Cooro was eating an apple while staring at Shardas's shiny scales. I shrugged.
Emily raised her hand. "I'm not a mutant, but I use magic," she said.
"Like alchemy?" Shardas asked.
"That's Roy," Rubystripe said, and Roy Mustang raised his hand.
"I heal," Emily clarified, and Shardas nodded.
"I use magic as well," Syaoran chipped in, raising his hand. Fai also raised his hand.
"I'm learning alchemy," Rubystripe added, raising her hand.
"Keyblade," Cloudwind stated, holding up her hand and the keyblade.
"We're all learning to become skilled fighters, because we all know something bad's going to happen some point soon," Forestpelt said with a laugh.
As if to confirm her words, I suddenly noticed a shadow of a woman appear around the corner. Everyone swung around, obviously catching this, too.
Without warning a large bolt of light smashed down on all of us. There were a couple of confused, startled yelps, and I felt myself hit the ground before blacking out.
It didn't feel like it took a long time for me to come around this time. I rolled over, flapping my wings lightly, making sure they were there, which they were. Then I turned around and looked up at Syaoran, who was staring at me with a look of shock and...something else on his face. Was it amusement?
I didn't get to my feet yet. I just looked up at him and slowly asked, "What happened...?"
He swallowed and muttered, "...Lilacheart-san?"
I cocked my head. "Who else?"
He covered his mouth, and it took me a moment to realize he was laughing. "What's so funny?" I snapped.
"...Lilac-chan...you need to see your reflection," Syaoran said.
"Lilac-chan...?" I asked, confused.
"Well, looking like that, you'll need a pet name," he laughed.
"A pet na—What...?" I asked, bewildered, as I looked down at my paws.
Wait, paws?
I shot upright and noticed that Syaoran was about five times taller than me. "Oh God..." I muttered, turning around to look at the other Wandies. Like me they were slowly getting upright, all in the exact same state as I was.
I looked at Leafpool, who was now my height. Who was now the same species as I was. All I could say was:
"This doesn't happen every day either."
—
* The events of Sunset have not yet happened to the Warriors characters who show up in R&F.
** The entire community of Wands & Worlds played a major role in the naming/creation of the characters of Brightspirit, Shiningheart, and Braveheart, which is referenced in this chapter. You can read more about it on the W&W website: [wandsandworlds,com/community] (check the left sidebar).