Elsi: Oh, man, it's so late. I'm exhausted. The worst part is that it isn't even that late where I am. YES.
Elsi: Anyways, I was scrolling through some stuff to see if I could just add a little bit to this chapter, and I ended up finishing it. The ending might be crap, seeing as I can hardly see the words I'm typing on the screen. God, I'm tired. Anyways, this exists now, and it is all in order. It corresponds nicely with Chapter 10 of War of Shadows, so if you haven't read that, go take a look. It basically explains that Willowshine and Jayfeather have been sharing dreams for quite a while now...
Elsi: Things are starting to be clearer! Yay! Actually, I don't know if that's true, because everything certainly seems confused. I will say a few things, though:
1. Birdpaw DOES have another power. It's pretty neat. I need to work out the kinks, but it'll be cool.
2. Jayfeather and Willowshine are NOT a thing. Really. No. They share dreams because they need support that they can't find anywhere else. Book 1 talks about that some, too, which is nice.
Elsi: Okay, that's about it. I DON'T own Warriors, but these are some of my characters. Kind of. Happy reading!
Chapter 10: Dreams of Fire
"So, has Littlepaw done anything else with this new power of his?" Jayfeather asked Birdpaw the question as soon as they were out of range of ThunderClan camp.
"Not that I know of," she said quietly. It had been a week of watching both Littlepaw and Willowpaw closely, but no terrible things had happened, so Birdpaw assumed that Littlepaw had, for once, taken her advice. "Jayfeather?"
Her mentor gave her a look that made himself open to questions – a rare look indeed.
"Why are all of my siblings getting all of these powers?" asked Birdpaw. "All I can do is…fire. But they've got elements and something else."
That question took Jayfeather quite a long time to answer, but he eventually sighed and turned to look at her as they crossed the WindClan border.
"I don't think your powers are as rare, that's all," he said. "You're a better medicine cat than I was at your age by about six moons. That's not a coincidence."
"You're a good mentor…" supplied Birdpaw, but Jayfeather shook his head.
"I think there's a part of your powers that tells you what to do. Maybe it's just good memory, or an ability to stay calm, but I think it's more." He swished his tail. "I guess we'll test it out one day."
"What is that supposed to do?" Birdpaw said crossly. "I have a good memory? I don't panic?" She both forgot things and panicked, so that was bogus. "Jayfeather, you're going to have to explain what you mean."
"When I know what I mean, I'll let you know," said Jayfeather. Groaning, Birdpaw scampered after him. "You don't mean nothing, though, if that's what you're implying."
"Thanks," muttered Birdpaw, but she didn't feel any better or more special. Her littermates were all overshadowing her – she didn't like that one bit. Taking a deep sigh, Birdpaw bowed her head and followed Jayfeather onwards.
"I'm your mentor, not your support group," said Jayfeather. "I just want to make that clear. But, if you're still a cranky mouse-brain by the time we get back, we'll talk again."
"Thanks," said Birdpaw again, just as Kestrelflight appeared over the ridge and meowed a greeting. He came bounding down the hill, Jaypaw by his side.
"Good evening, Kestrelflight," said Jayfeather as he always did – courteous, but not friendly.
"Hello, Jayfeather and Birdpaw," said Kestrelflight. "How are things in ThunderClan?"
"The earth shakings sure are something, aren't they?" said Jaypaw, falling into step beside Birdpaw. "I hope you haven't had any more trouble."
"Luckily, nothing since Lionstar gained his nine lives," Birdpaw replied. She wasn't much in the mood for talking.
"StarClan is protecting you well, then," Jaypaw murmured. "We've only lost one or two cats. Our camp is well-protected from the earth shakings."
"That's good," Birdpaw meowed. "Better than it could be, anyways."
"Yes," said Jaypaw a touch sadly. "No matter. Oh, look! The other medicine cats are waiting for us!" As she said this, Jaypaw bounded up the final hill to the Moontree, her pelt going silver as she stepped up behind four other cats. Birdpaw looked at them all. Willowshine's pelt was as bright as the moonlight itself under the kiss of the stars, while Rushpaw…Rushpaw looked like a member of Silverpelt. Bearclaw and Flametail welcomed Jaypaw into their circle, and as they did so, Rushpaw turned his creamy head backwards and met Birdpaw's eyes tentatively.
She didn't know how to react, either. They'd worked together in secret behind their mentors backs, sure…but they had still saved the Clans from the sickness. At last, Rushpaw smiled – he looked happy to see her. Birdpaw breathed a sigh of relief and followed Jayfeather up the hill, completing the circle.
"Before we dream, I wanted to bring up the earth shakings," said Flametail quietly. His whiskers twitched in concern. "Have any of you received a sign from StarClan? Maybe they still don't want us to settle here."
"We've had nothing but trouble since we've settled," agreed Bearclaw in that deep voice of his. "ShadowClan is sick of losing cats."
Birdpaw wanted to fidget under the pressure, knowing that it was going to eventually come down to her, knowing that it wasn't the fault of their new home.
"I don't think that's it," Jayfeather said calmly. "If StarClan wanted us to leave, we would have had a more direct message. They brought us here. For now, we are safe."
"For now," agreed Willowshine with a sad glow in her eyes. She shook herself. "I hope my ancestors offer us some advice tonight."
"StarClan has been oddly quiet," Flametail said. He didn't seem too confident on receiving the advice Willowshine wanted – in fact, observed Birdpaw, none of them did. She took a deep breath – she was one of the Great Five! If anyone would get a sign, it was her!
"Maybe, then, this is a good time for me to speak," Kestrelflight said quietly. All eyes turned to the WindClan medicine cat, who smiled ruefully, but proudly. "You all knew that the latest earth shaking was deadly to many cats from all Clans. When it came time to get to work, Jaypaw was the Clan's hero. She saved many of our Clan-mates by thinking quickly. I think today, it is time for her to complete her training. In these dark times, we need such a celebration."
"Kestrelflight!" gasped Jaypaw, her green eyes wide. Birdpaw smiled for her friend, excited – but distantly so. The other medicine cats purred in agreement; Bearclaw even gave Jaypaw a respective dip of his head. Bristling with excitement, Jaypaw turned her full attention to her mentor, who turned his gaze to the sky.
"I, Kestrelflight, medicine cat of WindClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of a medicine cat, and with your guidance, she will serve her Clan for many moons." Now he turned to Jaypaw. "Jaypaw, do you promise to uphold the ways of a medicine cat, to stand apart from rivalry between Clan and Clan and to protect all cats equally, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do," said Jaypaw, shaking. Kestrelflight smiled proudly.
"Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your true name as a medicine cat. Jaypaw, from this moment you will be known as Jaystrike. StarClan honors your enthusiasm and dedication to helping others. We welcome you as a full medicine cat of WindClan."
Birdpaw called Jaystrike's name in approval, making the reddish medicine cat look around in embarrassment and pride. Then, they stood back, as Jaystrike approached the roots of the Moontree and fell asleep. To honor their friendship, Birdpaw approached the tree and curled up, her tail lightly brushing Jaystrike's side. She was proud of her friend, truly. She just wished that she could feel happy for her.
As Birdpaw fell through darkness, the voices began to come to her, slowly, cautiously. It was as if StarClan was far away and detached from her.
And what do you think, Willowshine? Can we really do anything at all?
Rushpaw, my poor Rushpaw. Days will come when you will understand.
I don't care how little you want to tell her, Jayfeather! Birdpaw is your responsibility now!
Those weren't her voices, either – they weren't calling to her. Why was she hearing voices from other dreams? And why was everything so dark?
Moonlight crashed around her, and when Birdpaw came back into focus, she sat in the stars themselves. Before her was only Runningpaw, her creamy pelt like snow in the starlight.
"It has taken a lot of strength for me to bring you here," Runningpaw said, sounding distant. "They will be here soon."
"Who?"
"Shhhh. Listen now. The earthquakes, they are spilling from the darkness. As he who is shadow grows stronger, everyone here does, too. And we lose power. We cannot help for…for…Birdpaw, they are here!"
"Who are here?" Runningpaw turned her bright eyes up, through another layer of stars that looked exactly identical to the ones all around her. "Runningpaw! What do you mean? Who grows in shadow?"
Runningpaw screamed, and the lights that composed her extinguished. Blue eyes lingered for a moment, and Birdpaw read that look. Run, Birdpaw!
She tried to move her paws, but she was hovering in space. Something huge shook the air around her, and when Birdpaw looked up, everything was altered.
The stars were on fire.
"Run, Birdpaw!" someone in her head screamed. Birdpaw whirled around, her paws flailing on nothingness, and then she saw the curtain of fire revealing the tiniest of black rips – a tear in this dream universe. Pulling her courage together, Birdpaw charged through the fire curtain into darkness. She stumbled on sturdy grass again.
"Birdpaw!" From out of nowhere, Rushpaw came running at her. He skidded to a stop before her, his eyes glowing. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"
"Why are you asking me?" asked Birdpaw. Rushpaw made to answer, but before he could, he gasped. Fire descended in an arc over Birdpaw's head, making her scream. She looked over her shoulder to see something made of darkness start to seep through the crack in the dream.
"What's going on?" roared Rushpaw, but Birdpaw just smacked his side with a paw and began to run. The RiverClan apprentice charged on after her, clueless. "Birdpaw!"
"I don't know!" cried Birdpaw. "What were you dreaming of?"
"My mother came to warn me of something…" Rushpaw called back. "Birdpaw, this way!" She turned, seeing another rip in the fabric of whatever was holding their dreams together. She didn't understand this dream nonsense at all. Something big was happening. Racing after Rushpaw, Birdpaw took a chance to glance back over her shoulder.
She saw, for the briefest of moments, Bluestar standing in the pool of darkness. The former ThunderClan leader held some dark emotion in her blue eyes. Birdpaw stopped, her throat going dry. She shouldn't run away, but she was afraid. Was it okay to be afraid of StarClan?
"Birdpaw!" Rushpaw grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and tossed her, amazing her at the strength he possessed. He looked back at the tear in the dream world, and then both apprentices glanced around at their surroundings. "Where are we?"
"I don't know," admitted Birdpaw. She got to her paws. "Thanks. Sorry about that. We have to keep moving."
"Why?" Rushpaw demanded. "What's coming for us?"
"I don't know," said Birdpaw. "But it's dangerous. I was warned, but…I don't know what StarClan is trying to tell me. Or why you're here." She looked into his deep blue eyes for a moment, and he frowned.
"Let's keep going," Rushpaw said. They began to walk. "What is that stuff?"
"Some sort of shadow…" Birdpaw said. "What did your mother say?" That could be important.
"That I will understand in the days to come," Rushpaw said. Birdpaw stiffened – that was the voice she had heard when she first started dreaming! She had listened in on his dream! "That there were certain forces at work that would eventually fall into place, but I had to do something to help." He gave her a skeptical glance. "Your turn."
"I saw my former den-mate, Runningpaw," Birdpaw told him quickly. "She told me that there was someone in darkness that was growing stronger…I don't know what it means." Why was she telling him this information? It could be important to the prophecy, and no one could know about that.
They were walking through a huge field, with grass that was blue under the light of a huge moon. When Birdpaw examined the sky, she saw with a saddened heart that she could see no stars. Just the moon. All of a sudden, something gigantic lit up the field in front of them, and Birdpaw picked up yelling.
"Great," Rushpaw said. "Now which way do we go?" He glanced over his shoulder, towards the crack through which they had come. Birdpaw twitched her ears – she recognized the yelling.
"This way," she said, bounding ahead. Rushpaw called after her and rushed to catch up. Just as she expected, Birdpaw caught sight of two silvery pelts in the distance.
"Willowshine!" shouted Rushpaw. The RiverClan medicine cat was charging towards them beside Jayfeather. Birdpaw skidded to a stop beside her mentor, who gave her a curt nod.
"Shadows chasing you, too?" Birdpaw asked.
"Something massive interrupted my dream," Willowshine said. "Jayfeather said that his dream split in two."
"Mine was lit on fire," Birdpaw said quietly. Jayfeather's head whipped around, and for a moment, he stared deep into her eyes, seeing her in total clarity.
"Where do we go now?" said Rushpaw. "If there's darkness chasing us from both directions…"
As soon as he finished, a ring of grass went up in fire around them. Someone screamed, and Birdpaw was pretty sure that it wasn't herself. Suddenly, Jayfeather was crouched beside her.
"Use your powers."
The words made Birdpaw cough on the smoke, and she never coughed in the face of fire. Jayfeather's blue eyes were clear and intense, but she shook her head.
"I can't!" she protested. "Not…" She glanced over to Rushpaw and Willowshine, who were back to back as they stared at the flames.
"Do you want to get out or don't you?"
"It's just a dream!"
Jayfeather laughed aloud, gaining the attention of the other medicine cats.
"It's never just a dream anymore," he said. "Now, Birdpaw, or will you wait until our pelts burn off? If you don't act now, we'll die."
Willowshine tried to shout something over the roar of the fire, but it was inaudible to Birdpaw. Sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to find some sort of peace within her heart. This was to save her fellow medicine cats. Willowshine and Rushpaw and Jayfeather. The fire around her crackled in a distinguishable pattern, and she identified every branch of heat and every coil of smoke. The fire was so easy to mold and use, so she reached out to it, sweeping it away with her mind, pulling it together in a ball and hoisting it into the air above them. Then the buzz of fire fell away, leaving them in a scorched circle.
Above them, the heavens burned, and Birdpaw couldn't help but watch. There was something fascinating about watching each star become engulfed in flames, how the inky sky was dusted with ember and spark. All under her control. And now it burned.
"We have to move!" yowled Jayfeather, nudging Birdpaw to attention. She nodded, hurrying after him and Willowshine, but Rushpaw hadn't moved.
"Rushpaw, come on," Willowshine called, dragging her apprentice forward by the scruff of his neck. Rushpaw's blue eyes were horrified and awestruck as he stared at Birdpaw, and in her desperation, Birdpaw could do nothing but sadly shake her head. How could she explain?
Then something horrible snaked down from the skies above them, some sort of inky claw, and it shoved Willowshine away. The RiverClan medicine cat fell in a heap against the blue-colored grass, and her apprentice cried out in some attempt to reach his mentor. But the possessed thing, a formation of darkness itself, was coming down at Rushpaw.
Birdpaw didn't think. She just acted. Using everything in her power, Birdpaw leaped forward, bringing fire with her as she shoved Rushpaw to the ground and met the oncoming sweep of inky claw.
A face – someone from StarClan, but it was gone too quickly for her to process – loomed at her through the darkness, and then Birdpaw felt something sharp enter her entire system. Her body went cold, and she was falling backwards, her vision blurring. Birdpaw felt herself collapse into the odd grass, and she gasped for air as darkness came for her. Someone far away was screaming her name – Jayfeather? Rushpaw?
Then someone stepped between her and the huge shadow cat forming out of her imagination, a cat of indescribable might. He or she – for Birdpaw really couldn't tell – stepped forward, emitting an aura of silver and gold and white and black and even fire-red all at once.
"Leave this place." That voice could have belonged to every cat in the world. Birdpaw watched as the cat began to surge with light. "Birdpaw, go!"
Then she was falling and falling through redness, until she suddenly woke with a brilliant gasp.
Before her, on a glistening starlit field, was Brightheart, and Birdpaw found that she was still in a dream. Jayfeather's own whimper beside her confirmed that someone else had joined her, and Birdpaw turned to her mentor curiously.
"I cannot tell you much, of course," Brightheart said, staring down at them with two beautiful blue eyes. "But I can answer one of your questions, little one. I'm sure you have many."
"What just happened?" demanded Birdpaw. "Where are we? What happened to the others? Are they alright? How were we all together? Why did our dreams fall apart?" All of her questions came spilling forth, and Birdpaw found herself incapable to stop them. She stopped, bowing her head and knowing that she probably had crossed a line. Brightheart's whiskers were twitching with amusement when Birdpaw looked up, but it was a sad amusement.
"Runningpaw tried to contact you, I am sure," she said. "Then they came, and their arrival split apart not only your dream, Birdpaw, but also that of Jayfeather and the cats from RiverClan."
"It had to be Willowshine, didn't it?" Jayfeather inquired. He stepped forward, and Birdpaw was glad to be with him. "Brightheart, please. This has happened before. It's always Willowshine and me – why?"
"Because you must help each other," said Brightheart quietly. "You have been helping each other since the great War of Shadows, and sharing dreams is how you help each other. But now…now that power is leaving you. Soon you and Willowshine will be restricted to the real world."
"Why us?" asked Jayfeather. Brightheart shrugged.
"Because Birdpaw and Rushpaw need each other, too," she said. "You and Willowshine are how that can be accomplished."
"I need Rushpaw?" asked Birdpaw, appalled. "But…why?"
"Your destinies are intertwined," said Brightheart. Her ears perked suddenly, as if something in her plane had been activated. "I must go. Once I could answer more of your questions, but our power is decreasing. They are coming, and I cannot let this dream fall apart."
"Who are you? Who are they?" asked Birdpaw. Brightheart shook her head hurriedly, already beginning to fade away. Jayfeather and Birdpaw looked at each other, and Birdpaw saw all the way into his eyes to his worries.
"Your answers lie in the War of Shadows," said Brightheart, her voice fading. "Think of it as a giant divide. Please, Birdpaw, help us…"
Then Brightheart was gone, and Birdpaw found herself sitting up straight on the roots of the Moontree. Beside her, Jayfeather woke up slowly, his eyes once again dark with cloudy blindness.
"We'll discuss this later," Jayfeather said in a warning voice. "For now, we must address the matter of Willowshine and Rushpaw."
Birdpaw swallowed, identifying the RiverClan medicine cats. They were hunched together, probably having woken up, and kept occasionally shooting glances in their direction. Birdpaw remembered the look on Rushpaw's face after he had seen her magic. He would never be able to look at her the same way, and that hurt inside.
"What do we say?"
"It's alright," Jayfeather promised. "Willowshine trusts me. That should make it easier to connect you and Rushpaw."
Birdpaw swallowed hard – she wasn't exactly sure that she wanted to connect with Rushpaw. The creamy tom had always frustrated her, despite the fact that they had worked together to save the Clans already. They were just too different to be compatible friends, and the friendship they were building was now shattered because of Birdpaw's stupid powers. She hung her head. All this time, she had wanted to stand out and be special. All this time, she had wanted to be above her littermates. Now Birdpaw was finding that being the most special one wasn't exactly what she wanted – in fact, staring up at Rushpaw's horrified face, Birdpaw wished that she could just be normal.
Elsi: Yeah, Birdpaw, we got it. We ALL want to be normal. At least, the other four do. Poor thing. Anyways, this is a nice Birdpaw chapter for you guys. We'll go back to ThunderClan camp next chapter for some Mountainpaw action! Yay! In that chapter, according to my outline, we're going to discuss what the War of Shadows really has to do with this current day plot arc. If you aren't reading War of Shadows right now, you might want to get on that. I mean, it's not SUPER important, as all should be explained here, but it may help.
Elsi: If you really liked this or if you hated it or if you kind of liked it or if you'd like to keep reading, drop me a review! It's really easy - only takes like thirty seconds, and reviews make me really excited inside. Thanks, guys! See you soon!