A/N Well, I don't know if you've realized already or not, but you can expect more frequent updates on this story. But, unfortunately, I cannot give specific dates for the chapters to arrive.
Bluestar found herself suddenly awake with her eyes still closed. She had been sleeping, she realized; which was unlike her. She hadn't taken a nap since she was a kit; but still, she found it surprisingly refreshing.
For the first time she thought to ask a nurse about Tigerclaw. She addressed one nurse and asked, "Will this one live?" she gestured to Tigerclaw.
"Oh, yes, I do believe so. Only if we are very unlucky will we lose him," replied the nurse.
'Or maybe if we are very lucky' thought Bluestar. She glanced over at Fireheart, but didn't dare ask about his welfare.
"Sorry if I bothered you with my question," answered Bluestar, catching a hint of distaste in the nurse's eye.
But quickly the nurse answered, "Oh, no it was nothing," she attempted to persuade Bluestar that that statement was true. But in truth, she never liked to give info on how the patients were doing until she was absolutely positive that they would live, unless she knew that the patient would die. "Are you acquainted with him?" She decided to change the subject a bit.
"Yes, he is of my clan," Bluestar answered. 'But not for much longer,' she added in her mind.
Bluestar found the conversation lost and walked over to where the first nurse she had spoken to was. "I'm going to go and find something to eat, but then I am coming right back," she announced
The nurse nodded in reply, and Bluestar left the room. She left the city too, and found a pool of water underneath a tree, although she was in a desert-like area. She drank some of the water, as much as she needed. Then Bluestar heard a mouse. She turned toward it, but then decided against eating it. The small creature wouldn't even make a fit snack for her now, and she would have to find something bigger.
But then something else occurred to her. Her wings. They were just as big as she was, if not bigger. 'I'm going to have to learn to use these,' she thought.
Bluestar's first attempts to fly had failed, but after a while, she found herself gliding; and if she would flap her wings, she could ascend or accelerate. She had learned how to fly! Fly! Bluestar, leader of the ThunderClan cats could fly. She would be sure to teach the others when she got back.
During her practice of flight, she spotted a buffalo. She had never seen one before, but it was fit for her to eat she knew. But the buffalo was so large that she could not finish it completely. Suddenly she thought of the cats back home, in ThunderClan. She wondered how they were doing.
"StarClan, please answer to my call," Bluestar said.
A StarClan cat appeared before her. "What is it that troubles you?" asked the cat. Bluestar felt wisdom from the old cat.
"My Clan. I wish to know how they are doing, and if you could send the remainder of this creature to them," Bluestar answered. She had eaten three fourths, and the center was the final fourth. Bluestar took the bones that were cleaned off and buried them. She then looked back at the StarClan cat.
"Your clan has been better. There is sickness and a leader who has never been deputy."
Bluestar gasped in surprise. "StarClan is not the one who has bestowed this sickness upon the Clan, however, and all will survive, although some will be left weak." Bluestar was pleased with the StarClan cat's answer.
"Now as for the bison, I can send that to them. It will be a lot for them, because it is large and not what they're used to. But still, they will find it pleasing, I can tell. They will also be pleased to hear that you are well and unharmed. Should I tell them about Fireheart and Tigerclaw's fight? I can see that you have not."
Bluestar flushed red. "If you feel that it is necessary."
"But why is it that you have not?" asked the StarClan cat.
"I just didn't want them to panic, that's all," Bluestar answered.
The StarClan cat nodded, picked up the bison in her teeth, and then she disappeared with it.
Bluestar hoped that the 'bison' would reach her Clan and that what the StarClan cat had said was true. She had also hoped that Whitestorm would have quickly accustomed to being in charge. But she knew now that her hopes had been in vain. But still, she wanted it to happen. She then returned to the pool to have another drink of water.
Now that she had finished her business, she flew back to Warfang's gates and over them as well. A mole recognized her and knew that it was the nature of dragons to fly, so he didn't mind her, and neither did any of the others.
Bluestar, as she had said she would, returned to the hospital. But as she reached the room where Fireheart and Tigerclaw were, she realized that something was happening inside. She could slightly see what was going on inside the room, however, with a small window installed into the door. They didn't appear to be being attacked, but the door was locked and all the nurses were in a circle. Whenever Bluestar caught sight of any of the faces, she could see sheer worry and fear.
Bluestar felt frightened to no end. She felt the presence of darkness just like the one she had felt before. It must have come from the same source.
It felt like hours of waiting, sitting there in suspense while she waited for the door to open. Not to mention she felt the darkness attempting to probe her mind, and she was doing her best to keep it out.
At last, a nurse came outside the room, knowing fully that Bluestar was there. "I'm sorry miss-" she started, but was cut off when Bluestar rushed into the room.
Bluestar gasped when another nurse cut off her path. "Now miss, you can't just do that," she started. Bluestar was trying desperately to get to Fireheart's bed, but the nurse wouldn't let her by. She was about to start biting when the nurse continued and Bluestar held still at the words. "Fireheart didn't make it."
Bluestar didn't know what to say. She was petrified and frightened. What would she tell her Clan? What would she do without him? She was going to make him her deputy, but now all her hopes were vanished. He was dead, and there was nothing she could do about it. She felt a tear roll down her cheek. It had been years since she last cried.
She pushed the nurse aside and was, to her surprise, let through. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion as she walked hesitantly over to where Fireheart lay. "Fireheart?" she asked. But when there was no answer, her eyes filled with more tears. She didn't even notice when the star on her forehead began to glow.
Bluestar turned her head, eyes clenched shut, and she walked out of the room. She returned to where she had previously spoken with StarClan. She didn't even realize where she was going and she shouted out, "Why? Why did you have to do this to me?" she was still running, but nonetheless, a spirit appeared before her. This one was a leader. The star on his forehead was shining, just like Bluestar's own.
"We have done nothing to you," he said.
"Fireheart is dead! You killed him!"
"SILENCE!" he shouted at her, and immediately she stopped running.
"You have the right to know what really happened," came another voice. Bluestar recognized this one.
"Fireheart?" she asked hesitantly.
The first spirit disappeared to make way for Fireheart's ginger pelt.
"Yes," he said. "It's me."
"Wh-" Bluestar tried to ask, but she couldn't find the words.
"I was hanging on to the final strands of my life, I wanted to live and continue protecting you. But my mind was infiltrated by a dark power, it tried to take command of it, but I couldn't let that happen. I found an item nearby and struggled to grasp it. The darkness was already taking over. As soon as I grabbed this item, I parted my bandage and struck my own heart. With what little time I had left to live, I pulled it out and stuck it underneath my pillow. I placed my bandages properly again so that it would seem like I died naturally, for I didn't want to scare the nurses."
"Fireheart.. I.." Bluestar still couldn't find the words to say.
"I just wanted to protect you, Bluestar," Fireheart couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I'm going to miss you, Fireheart.." Bluestar admitted as she started to cry again.
"Just don't forget me, and keep me in here always," Fireheart gently prodded where Bluestar's heart was.
Bluestar nodded, and Fireheart disappeared just like the other spirits.
Bluestar wanted to break out crying, but she instead lifted her wings and flew back over the gate of Warfang and crashed near the steps of the Dragon Temple. She picked herself up and ran through the doors with just one more tear escaping from her eye. She suddenly felt weak from her long exercise; it was longer than what she was used to.
"Graystripe!" she called out in exasperation. "Sandstorm!" They had probably fallen asleep, for it was already night, and if they had fallen asleep she woke them up.
"Yes Bluestar?" they both asked in unison, both sending a wave of sadness over her with their pleased and expecting-good-news tones.
Bluestar looked up and crawled into the hallway. It seemed as though her back legs suddenly wouldn't work and she had to drag herself over to the dome shaped room. But quickly those went numb as well and she couldn't move forward anymore. She was so shocked from what Fireheart had told her, that soon her whole body was numb. Graystripe and Sandstorm supported their leader with their sides and walked her across the hall. The two suddenly called out to the Guardians.
When the other three dragons joined them, Terrador asked, "What happened?"
"Sandstorm shook her head and said, "I'm not sure."
Everything that Fireheart had said and done was just now sinking in, and she was so shocked and fatigued that she passed out at that moment, becoming suddenly heavier to the two dragons supporting her, and nearly crushed Sandstorm, who jumped out of the way just in time.
When Sandstorm looked into her leader's face, she couldn't quite make out an expression, and Bluestar's mouth hung open.
"She's very tired," remarked Terrador, when he looked at her. "It would appear that she has been running for a while."
"There was something that she wanted to tell us, I just don't know what it was," said Sandstorm.
"Ah, I suppose you'll have to wait until she wakes up for that news," commented Cyril
"My mistake, she has been flying for a while," Terrador corrected himself. "She crushed her wing on impact to the ground that could only happen if she fell from the sky. Although.. Perhaps she was doing both?"
"Flying?" asked Sandstorm incredulously. She was about to say that it was an impossible event when she remembered that they all had wings.
Terrador raised his brow at her, but didn't ask a question. Instead he remarked, "I'm sure that Bluestar will tell you what she meant to in the morning. You should get some sleep."
Sandstorm and Graystripe nodded and walked down the hall into their rooms.
In the morning, Bluestar woke and looked up to the faces of her warriors. They looked back at her, smiling. "Glad you're awake," Sandstorm commented.
"I have to tell you something, It's very important that you know," Bluestar started to get up but fell back down from the effort. She looked at herself and closed her eyes for a brief moment, gathering her strength. Bluestar managed to pick herself up this time, and walked to the center of the room. Sandstorm and Graystripe took a seat in front of her and the Guardians stood behind them.
Bluestar almost broke down from her mixed emotions and the innocent, expecting looks on the faces of her audience. "What is it that you wanted to tell us that would be to important Bluestar?" asked Graystripe.
Bluestar almost laughed, but showed no sign of the occurrence. It was almost funny to her, Fireheart's best friend and the she-cat next to Graystripe that had fallen in love with Fireheart. Bluestar knew that not even they would react so strongly as her. Her vision was blurry, and she didn't know what to think anymore.
"F-" She tried to start a sentence, but couldn't. And then she realized just then that there was no other way to tell them but to say it right out.
Sandstorm suddenly had a bad feeling about what she was about to be told. Apparently, Graystripe felt it too.
"Fireheart is dead."
Sandstorm thought maybe it was a joke at first, but one look at Bluestar's face told her that it was true. Sandstorm was about to cry, but Bluestar beat her to it.
She had her head down and her tears flowed down her muzzle and dropped onto the floor. Her body was shaking, she was sniffling and it seemed as though her tears had no end. Sandstorm had never seen her leader cry before, and Graystripe hadn't either. It made them want to comfort her, but they were at a loss, and cried their own silent tears, looking at her.
The guardians were stunned and had not an idea of what to think of this event.
That's when Sandstorm said, "He was a great warrior," but still her tears flowed. Graystripe nodded his head in agreement and his body shook with waves of sadness.
Still the Guardians didn't know what to say or do, and found themselves exiting the room to leave the three warriors in peace.
Cinderpelt was in her den, at last beginning to fall asleep in the night when a spirit visited her. The presence was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. She couldn't see it, but she could feel it.
"Who's there?" she whispered, a little frightened. She didn't know that it was a spirit.
"It's okay," said a voice that she knew she had heard before, but she couldn't quite say from where.
"Who are you?" she asked. The question sounded more threatening than she had intended.
"It's me," the same voice answered her again, and a very familiar form appeared before her.
"F-Fireheart?" she asked hesitantly. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm dead, Cinderpelt," he answered.
"No.." She started off hesitant, but then her voice grew stronger. "NO! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE!"
"I didn't have much of a choice! It was either succumb to the darkness and destroy the Clan or kill myself while I still even had a choice!" Fireheart shouted.
Their quarrel was beginning to rouse the Clan. Some cats were already awake before Cinderpelt could reply, but she took no notice in them.
"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST DRIVE IT OFF?" Cinderpelt screamed. All cats were wide awake now.
"BECAUSE I WAS TOO WEAK TO FACE IT! IF I DID, BLUESTAR WOULD PROBABLY BE DEAD RIGHT NOW!" Fireheart yelled.
"I'm sorry, Fireheart. I was just.. I don't even know what came over me," she said it so quietly that only Fireheart could hear.
Cinderpelt knew that she lost the fight, and she started to get back inside her den when she realized that she had ventured outside of it. But another voice called her back.
When she turned, she saw that it was Brambleclaw who had called out to her. "What was that all about?" he insisted.
A couple of tears escaped her eye before she threw back her head and yowled so that everyone could hear, "Fireheart is dead!"
The clan was completely in shock. It was like they had turned to stone they way they simply stood and stared at her.
Cinderpelt's face was sad as she turned to return to her den.
The Clan cats seemed to be unable to move for a while before they all shook their heads sadly and several dropped tears for the lost warrior as they all returned to their dens.
A/N Wahoo! Extra long chapter, just for you! I'm sorry about this, umm.. I didn't exactly plan this story out, but I do have a plotline to put it on. This is part of it. Anyway, I want to know how many of you cried during this chapter. I ALMOST did I must admit.
