100 Tales 78
Breakdown
"The breakdown of her mind began slowly," Lisa began. Her cat, Princess, watched her with interest. She was hearing what had become of ThunderClan after they had left. For some reason, all of their adventures seemed to be in human books—not that Princess minded, of course, simply because she could still hear about her beloved son, Cloudtail! She had laughed and yowled and cried at different stories about Cloudtail, but now, she wanted to hear about his family. Or, at least, one of her family—Hollypaw, or, rather, Hollyleaf.
"First of all, she believed in the warrior code. It was her guide—much like God is to us humans, I suppose." Princess nodded. "Hollyleaf thought that the warrior code was stronger than anything. She didn't believe that she and her siblings could be stronger than her precious code—in fact; the code was her entire world." Lisa laughed. "After she found out about Squirrelflight's lie—Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw didn't turn out to be her parents, after all—she was in a constant state of pain. Pain, pain, pain, heartbreak—that's all her mind was."
Lisa took a deep breath, quickly flipped through the pages of her book, and went on.
"So, she made a pact to find out about who her parents were. First, of course, she needed to kill Ashfur—she couldn't let a cat who was about to give up their secret go; oh, no!"
Princess's eyes widened at this. My kin…. Hollyleaf…. Killed…. Ashfur?
"So, she killed him. She killed him on the WindClan border, with just a quick nip on the neck. Then, she tossed the dead body into the stream. The blood washed away.
"Her intent was for his body to be washed down the stream into the lake and never be seen again. Unfortunately, that didn't happen—I forget exactly what happened, but either it caught in some reeds or got stuck on a rock. Either way, ThunderClan found it—but they thought that WindClan had done it. The truth was, Hollyleaf did it, of course; but they didn't know that. But, soon, they would….
"Later on, the Three found out that their parents were actually Leafpool and Crowfeather. Jayfeather and Lionblaze weren't affected too much by this—Jayfeather was just excited at the new dreaming possibilities; and Lionblaze….? Well, Lionblaze hoped that some of his father's Clanmates' skills for fighting would rub off on him."
Princess stared up at Lisa with wide eyes. Wow! What turmoil ThunderClan was in!
But Lisa wasn't finished, just yet. "When the Gathering came, Hollyleaf made absolutely sure that she could go. She vowed that this was a Gathering that no cat would ever forget—never. She asked to speak in the middle of the Gathering—Firestar said no, but she said it was important, so the other Clans wanted to hear, and Firestar just had to let her say it—and, the truth was shocking. Cats were stunned, and Leafpool went after Crowfeather. Crowfeather rejected her. Same thing happened with Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw. Brambleclaw rejected her. They both were devastated.
"Hollyleaf rushed back home. She put deathberries in a mouse for Leafpool, but Leafpool simply asked her, 'I've lost everything. What do you think would be easier for me to do; die, or keep on living?' Or, at least, she said something along those lines." Lisa was babbling along excitedly. "She stepped aside to let Leafpool pass. Leafpool left. I'm guessing that maybe Squirrelflight left with her….? Well, anyways; I'm assuming that both of them just left." Lisa nodded. "Yes, that's it. Anyways, that's when her brothers found her. Or, at least, Jayfeather did. She ran away from him, and he got Lionblaze and they both chased after her. She raced into the old, abandoned tunnels, where they collapsed, and I guess she died."
Lisa sighed. "So, that's the story; I'm not really sorry for Hollyleaf, since she was such a freak, anyways, but, yeah, y'know."
Princess just nodded. She had learned a lot; and now, she just wanted some alone time to be able to take it all in.