This story is so... chaotic. I feel like it's dragging on forever and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Rest assured, the whole StarClan v. Dark Forest battle might not happen in this part of the story. Depends on how things with the story, yes? (I do not own Warriors. At all.)
The Outcats- Hollyleaf's Return and Ashfur's Common Sense
"Ruthen!" Fallen hissed to the drenched cat shivering in the alley.
"Don't hurt me!" The she-cat whimpered. "I haven't taken your food. I don't need it anyway."
"Yes, you do." Fallen snorted, eyes raking over her malnourished form. She opened her eyes to stare at him.
"Fallen? What are you doing here?"
"You need help. Tell Dalton and Demon where you are and come on."
Fallen led her back to his cave.
"I don't understand, why-"
"I can't leave her, Ruthen, I don't know why but-"
"You love her, silly! Now what are you-?"
"I'm giving you my den. It'll keep you safe from harm until you see Demon again. I bet he would be proud of you right now."
"Where are you going?"
"She lives with a Clan. I figured I could give that life a shot."
"Good luck with your she-cat, Fallen." Ruthen purred.
Fallen padded nervously to the thorn tunnel, his ears were flat against his head and caution punctuated evry step.
"Fallen!" Hollyleaf purred and crashed into him. He could definitely get used to this…
"Where'd you go?" She wondered.
"I had to help out a friend of mine."
"She's okay, right?"
"Her mate will find her soon enough."
"Good." She grinned. "Want a mouse?"
"I'm not hungry at the moment."
"Well I am." The black she-cat grumbled, stalking over to the fresh-kill pile and selecting a vole.
"Hollyleaf!" A dark brown tabby with amber eyes hurried over to her and licked her forehead.
"Your mother and I were worried sick when you didn't come back." He murmured. "Breezepelt seemed lonelier than ever and Heathertail thought you were dead. Crowfeather hasn't come out of his nest and as for Leafpool… let's just say Jayfeather's had it rough being the only active medicine cat."
"How are they now?"
"They'll be ecstatic when they find out you're back. Now, who's this tom Squirrelflight was talking about?"
"Hello." Fallen dipped his head. "My mother called me Fallen."
"That's quite a name, Fallen. Thank you for saving my daughter."
"I wouldn't have had to save her if I hadn't been there in the first place."
"Why? What happened?"
"She fought the dog that was chasing me. It's gone now, so you shouldn't have to worry about it. Fought like TigerClan she did. I figured you would be proud of her."
"You took on a dog by yourself?"
"Fallen helped."
"Only after it chased me to your borders." The grey tom scowled.
"Sure, whatever."
"You took on a DOG?!" Brambleclaw yowled in shock.
"Moving onto bigger prey, aren't you Hollyleaf?" A black tom snorted.
"You look terrible, Breezepelt. Go eat something yourself before you criticize my choice of prey."
"SHE TOOK ON A DOG!" The ThunderClan deputy yowled to the rest of the camp.
"Yes, Brambleclaw, I did. But I'm alive and I feel just fine."
Squirrelflight had padded over shortly after hearing her mate's announcement and led the deputy to Firestar's den, probably telling him that it would be okay.
"It's good to have you back, sister. Who's this?" Breezepelt demanded.
"This is Fallen. He healed me and I've been sharing his cave for the last week and he's been feeding me and checking my wounds and keeping me entertained. We swapped stories."
"Why'd he leave?"
"I gave my cave to a friend of mine because Hollyleaf begged me to join ThunderClan."
"Figures." Breezepelt snorted. "Welcome to the family, Fallen. If you break my sister's heart you won't live long enough to regret it."
With the warning fresh in mind, the black tom pranced back to his mate, leaving the two cats gaping in shock.
"He did not just say that." Hollyleaf whispered in horror.
"I agree with him there." Fallen admitted. He blinked at the strange look his new companion gave him and sighed, ducking his head a bit.
"I said that aloud, didn't I?" He muttered, his ears heating up in embarrassment.
"Yeah, but I'm okay with that. Brambleclaw might not be."
"Brambleclaw?" Fallen squeaked in horror.
"Brown tabby who was yowling earlier."
"I just hope he doesn't rip me to shreds." The grey tom muttered.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather around the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Firestar yowled.
When everyone was there, he spoke.
"Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight have related Hollyleaf's story to me and we agree that the Clan should know what happened."
The black she-cat's ears flattened against her skull as she felt the eyes of her Clanmates turn to her, obviously expecting answers. Fallen noticed her discomfort and placed his tail around her shoulders.
"Nothing bad happened, remember? They wouldn't judge you." He assured her.
She took a deep breath… and told them everything.
As it were, Fallen was welcomed into the Clan with open arms, even by the ones who normally opposed. He'd brought them back a Clanmate and that outshined everything else.
Ashfur was determined to sleep that night. Hollyleaf was back, Thornclaw was still his best friend (they'd been that way since they were kits and they saw no reason to change that, so no, they were not mates.) and Hawkfrost could go die in a badger's den for all he cared. He was tired.
"Welcome, Ashfur," Apparently StarClan hadn't heard him when he decided he needed real sleep because Tigerclaw's cold voice greeted him as he and his demonic son crept out of the dry, decrepit and completely devastated Forest of his nightmares. He groaned. He would have to hide his scars unless he wanted Thornclaw nagging him again.
"I'm sure whatever your mouse-brained plan is can wait until I've gotten some proper sleep can it?"
"Someone's touchy." Hawkfrost sneered.
"You try getting kicked around by a bunch of good-for-nothing thistle-brains who can't do something as simple as take over the Forest or kill a leader and see where that gets you?"
"Like you could do any better!" The light brown tabby snarled.
"Point in case: you failed! And now you're dragging me here to suffer with you because I was smart enough to go with the winning team?"
"We are the winning team!"
"StarClan will always defeat you." Ashfur sneered. "The sooner you get that through your thick skulls, the better! Now are you going to try and kill me or not?" He snapped.
"Oh I'll do a lot more than try!" Hawkfrost roared a battle cry and sent Ashfur sprawling to the tree-littered ground. Tigerclaw simply flicked his tail and Hawkfrost was prowling toward him. He didn't bother to move because with his luck, he would be dead before he could get away.
"Can we get this over with? I don't have all night y'know!"
"My pleasure." Hawkfrost purred.
He awoke to Thornclaw's muffled yowls and sighed.
"And here I was hoping I'd be dead this time." He snorted. "Stupid Dark Forest cats can't even kill right."
"What makes you say that?" Thornclaw wondered.
"What's the point of StarClan rejecting you if you can't even kill a cat?!" He sneered. "That's like all they do! And Hawkfrost just woke me up again. I mean honestly!"
"Ashfur…"
"What?!" He snarled.
"You're covered in blood and you're mad that Hawkfrost didn't kill you?"
"I can't seem to get a decent night's rest around here! Can't those pathetic Dark Forest cats cut me a break?! Or do they plan to torture me with sleepless nights until StarClan steps in for good?" He yowled.
"Calm down, will you? Cats are asleep this time of night and they don't have the problems we do. Do you want half the Clan on our tails because they didn't get enough beauty sleep?!" Thornclaw hissed.
"Half the Clan is already on my tail because of the Gathering. You just choose to stick around."
"I'm not leaving my best friend to fend for himself because they tell me to." He snorted.
"Don't see why. You could have a much better position if you did. You're too good to have your name tarnished because the Dark Forest don't know when to quit."
"It's not your fault and I'll stick with you until they see that. Get some rest, Ashfur, maybe StarClan with send you good dreams tonight."
Ashfur, try as he might, could not snap his body out of the shock he'd worked into when Hawkfrost had attacked him. There was no more sleep.
Thornclaw sighed and heaved himself to his paws after his friend rolled over for the fifth time that night. Clearly Ashfur was too shaken to even consider closing his eyes so they might as well use it.
"Come on."
"Where?"
"Nowhere special. I figured since you can't sleep we might as well do something good."
"Like…"
"Guard the camp."
"I can do that on my own, Thornclaw. No need to play Shadow all the time."
"The last time I wasn't there Hawkfrost tore you to pieces."
"I can take care of myself. You should go back to sleep."
"No use. Usually I can sleep through the night but I keep waking up at random points. I was already awake when you started fidgeting."
"That explains why I didn't wake the whole camp." Ashfur muttered.
"Okay, let's go." He grumbled. The two friends padded to the center of the camp and settled down for a long night.
The first thing Firestar noticed when he awoke was Sandstorm's peaceful form dozing beside him, obviously not disturbed by dreams as he was.
"Nightmare?" She murmured when he got to his paws.
"Yes." He admitted.
"You should talk to Ashfur. He seems to have lots of those. Or Breezepelt. Maybe they can tell you what you don't already know." She meowed cryptically.
He nodded.
"I think I will." He mused.
"Goodnight, Firestar."
"Sweet dreams, Sandstorm.
She nodded off again, leaving Firestar to square his shoulders and face the problem he had neglected for too long.
"To what do we humble toms owe this great pleasure?" Ashfur sneered. Thornclaw rolled his eyes and batted his friend's ears. "What? It's not every day we get visited by the leader of ThunderClan."
"Which is exactly why you can't say that. He's the leader. As in one word and we could be kicked out of the Clan."
"I would be kicked out of the Clan. You would stay here and hope desperately for some rogues to come along and join so you can live out the rest of your life with some sort of meaning. As it is,"
"I haven't and I won't. I wouldn't exile two of my best warriors. That's mouse-brained. There's nothing I can do to change Clan opinion because I can't take away any cat's will. You'd have to do something great, and I have a feeling that time will come sooner than you think."
"I know it will, if the dreams I've been having are anything to go by."
Firestar's ears pricked in interest.
"What kind of dreams could leave you so desperate?"
"The same kind that give you hope. The only difference is that those two are opposite sides in the coming war. StarClan wants whoever they contact to scout for them… see who could want to join the Dark Forest, who already has, and how their getting recruited. If you really want to know, ask Jayfeather or Breezepelt."
"Why Breezepelt?"
"He's been recruited by them so many times they stalk his dreams like they stalk mine. They're angry at the cats who decide to reject them because we know too much. Why do you think he sticks to Hollyleaf? She's the one cat who can keep him together. He's told her everything and now the Dark Forest is getting stronger, they're more prepared. Cats like us use our dreams to our advantage. We let them think we're interested or let them talk at us and then we get the crap beat out of us until we wake up. StarClan's been using Thornclaw to reach me because the Dark cats get in their way. If you ask Blackstar or Leopardstar then they can probably tell you that some of their warriors are acting strange but you'll set them on alert as well. Cats aren't stupid. Thornclaw isn't the only one who's noticed the scratches I wake up with. He's just the only one to approach me about them. I've seen the way certain cats look at me… like I'm some sort of stranger." Ashfur snorted. "Sandstorm probably came to you and asked you to do something about it, but as any leader knows, popular opinion can't be swayed when they've been living a lie for this long."
"What do I tell the Clan?"
"Absolutely nothing I just told you. If they get approached in their dreams by a stranger and there's nothing for them to be recognized as StarClan, they should get as far away as possible. StarClan will always find the lost, and no one is ever forgotten."
"It's good to see you haven't lost faith, Ashfur. What should I tell the leaders?"
"Take them aside and ask them what they know about the Dark Forest, then explain to them what I told you. They should be the judge of what they tell their cats, but the last thing we need is uproar on our paws."
"Thank you, Ashfur. May StarClan bless your dreams."
"I hope they do." He heard Ashfur mutter as he padded back to his den. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Any questions, comments? Confusion? Who's you favorite character and why? What do you want to happen next? What do you like so far?
REVIEW!
Cinderfire