A.N: I know I promised like, a week ago or something to do this, but I've done it ^^ and I can't stop 0.0 I forced myself to make this chapter and halfway through, I got sucked in and now I'm making the next one XD
"Ivypool?" He called; down below, the Clan milled and eyes gleamed in the night. Fear was obvious among the throng of cats, who milled about in the grungy moonlight like a disturbed ant nest. "Ivypool?!" He cried out again, but there was no response.
"Bumblepelt," Hollyleaf greeted him quickly, surveying the cats as well. They both stood on a jagged tree stump, the bark flaked away and the wood corroded with holes. "We'll find her; she might have run off into the forest."
"No, I know her; she's too smart for that." The gray tabby mewed worriedly. He already saw Dovewing in the crowd below, her small frame still covered in fluffy grey fur and she showed little signs of injury. That released a little bit of the pressure mounting in his chest, but the thought his other missing Clanmates sent a jolt of panic through him.
"ThunderClan!" Hollyleaf called from the stump, shuffling to find a good place to stand. Bumblepelt prepared to leap down, realizing that the new leader was planning to use the stump to address her Clan. "Stay," The black she-cat amended, touching her tail to his shoulder. "I want to ask you something, I'll understand if you don't accept" her ears flattened nervously, "I mean, you haven't even had an apprentice yet, but… I think the Clan would accept you more than Birchfall… and Cloudtail is missing…"
"Hollyleaf, are you asking me to be deputy because everyone else is missing?" Bumblestripe didn't know whether to feel offended or proud that the cat wanted him to lead beside her.
"It won't be official, Bumblestripe; just until we can assemble the Clan again. I understand if you think that my decision doesn't make sense." Her green eyes flashed in the silver lighting "But our Clan needs us right now, and you are the son of a dear friend. You're a kind, strong warrior and you care for the safety of all the cats here. If I could have my way, you would be my deputy. But the Clan might want a senior warrior to lead beside me, and if that is the way they want it, who am I to argue?"
The pale gray tomcat studied the little black cat. She was older than him, yet so much more experienced. She was ready to lead the Clan through hard times and peace; it was obvious that Brambleclaw had recognized the worth of his adoptive daughter before the rest of the Clan had. "Okay," he agreed quietly, and assumed a position behind Hollyleaf's shoulder, looking over the frightened cats again.
"ThunderClan!" She called again, tail held high as the epitome of courage between the bloody scratches and the power that seem to excrete from the she-cat. "Gather here."
She waited patiently as the cats crept toward her through the shadows, their pelts covered with shadows and bloody mats. Fear glittered in their eyes as they stared up to their new leader. These cats had been driven from their home and needed strong leadership after the horrors they had seen.
"My friends… my family." Hollyleaf started, looking at the cats she had grown close to since her return. "Today has not, and will not be easy. But I think that we can all agree that this battle is not over; we will not be driven from our home like rats." Her gaze swept over the crowd. "I know this is hard, I hate to see you in pain," the words were raw with emotion, and the cats stood, transfixed. "But this threat will not pass until one of our sides is wiped out. Brambleclaw was right: we need to join the Clans together to face this threat. We'll take shelter at the Two-leg Den until we come up with a plan- it's easier to defend and take shelter in. In the meantime, I need you to look around. As much as it hurts, we need to know who is missing. They could be somewhere in the forest, but there will be no search parties until daylight. Senior warriors…" Some cats flinched at these words. Normally that council was composed of Sandstorm, Graystripe, Dustpelt, Cloudtail and Brambleclaw. Now that almost all those cats have passed, the new leader would need to establish the group herself. "… Sorreltail, Brightheart, Sandstorm, Bumblestripe, Lionblaze and Dovewing, please meet me here. Everyone else, stay close together, don't go off into the woods alone, or even in small groups. If you can't find someone, come tell us."
Without another word, she jumped down among the cats, the ones she had requested sliding through the crowd toward her and Bumblestripe was left alone. He looked down on the cats he had grown up with and silently swore to save them, no matter the cost.
When he jumped down to join Hollyleaf's council, she was in midsentence and shot him a glance as he approached, to which he responded with an abashed dip of his head.
"… As I was saying, Bumblestripe is going to stand in as a temporary deputy for right now. I trust that no one had issues with this?" There were only muted purrs of congratulations for the son of Graystripe, which quickly faded back to a tension- filled silence. "Brightheart declined my invitation to join us here, she wanted to go search for her kits." Sandstorm and Sorreltail nodded, both experienced mothers and understood what the multi-colored she-cat was going through. Sorreltail had found her kits after running into the forest herself, and had asked Ferncloud to care for them for now."
"The matter at hand I wanted to discuss was how we are going to contact the other Clans around the Lake. I am afraid to leave the Clan under-guarded, but the patrols need to be big enough to take on Dark Forest warriors if they meet any. I would have the whole Clan move- as a precaution, and the amount of warriors on paw. But because we have kits, elders… and we don't know who's missing, we can't leave." She looked at her assembled council carefully. "When the sun rises Lionblaze, I want you and Dovewing to go searching for anyone in the forest." Hollyleaf's eyes were guarded as she looked at Dovewing. She knew her brothers were gifted through the stars but, through her time in the Clan, she had come to realize that the younger gray she-cat was really the third they had been waiting for. She didn't feel entirely upset about it, they were still her brothers, though it seemed like every time they tried to talk to her it was always about Ashfur. But she loved them still.
"Hollyleaf…" Sorreltail started, and then exchanged a glance with Sandstorm. "Do you think that you should go to the Moonpool?"
"It's probably the safest place for you to be, I'm sure the Clan can handle for one night. If we keep our heads down, the Dark Forest cats shouldn't be able to find us." Sandstorm elaborated, her tone dark. "It's sad that we've been reduced to hiding in our own territory."
Hollyleaf looked doubtful, her green eyes warring for once. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught Bumblepelt's gaze, who seemed to be considering it himself.
"Hollyleaf, we need our leader to be strong, the Clan can't deal with too many changes; this battle is bad enough. You need the nine lives; for the battle." Lionblaze offered, quietly.
"Hey!" A voice called, obviously annoyed, and the entire Council turned to see a gray tabby stalking toward them. When it seemed that the whole Clan was in despair, it was a shock to see a tom so irritated in a harsh time, and a refreshing breeze to Hollyleaf. "Why wasn't I invited here?" Jayfeather's disgruntled face showed only a few slices, but otherwise the medicine cat was fine.
"Sorry Jayfeather, I didn't see you," Hollyleaf purred quietly, touching noses with her brother as an apology.
"Of course you didn't," he grumbled, blue eyes flicking around as if he could actually see the other cats in the circle. "What's going on? I can feel all your confusion, it's making me dizzy. So stop it."
Sandstorm looked taken aback by the tom's harshness, but Lionblaze could hardly hold in a chuckle. He explained the dilemma quietly to Jayfeather while Sorreltail began to lick her injuries, and advise Hollyleaf how to take care of her own.
"Well then," The blind cat exploded once he got all the information. "When do we set off? If we're going to rally the Clans, ThunderClan needs a leader, with all her lives, and this is the closest to the Moonpool that we've been. The Clan is safe for now. The best we can do is leave now and return soon." Jayfeather turned to face his sister. "I assume you haven't eaten?"
The black she-cat nodded, stunned, and Jayfeather glanced around again. "Call Thornclaw, and take Lionblaze to guard you. I know you'll think that the Clan will be weaker, but right now, they're pretty safe."
"So I'll go spread the news that we're moving to the abandoned Two-leg nest," Bumblestripe volunteered. "And organize them. I'll report back to tell you how many cats are missing," he dipped his head to Hollyleaf and padded off into the crowds, his almost-silver fur vanishing quickly.
"And… my kits…" Sorreltail had grown more and more nervous through the meeting and now Hollyleaf let her go with a flick of her tail. Sandstorm followed the younger queen to go find her kits, and to see if the other queens needed help as well. Only Lionblaze and Jayfeather stayed behind with their sister.
"Hollyleaf…" Lionblaze started, and then his muzzle curled in a smile. Jayfeather was a bit calmer, but it was obvious that the medicine cat was also excited for his sister. No one had bothered on congratulating the young black she-cat yet, because under the circumstances, it was more sad than happy. Both Brambleclaw and Firestar had perished so that Hollyleaf could gain this position.
"This is what you've wanted since we were kits." Lionblaze said quietly, but warmly. Both brothers brushed along her flank and the new leader purred carefully. Her Clan may be falling apart, but their warrior spirits would always prevail. She had hope that the Clans could make it through this.
The small happy moment in the midst of the war was shattered by Bumblepelt, who worked his way toward the siblings easily. It seemed that most cats understood his status by now, and parted easily around his large frame. "Hollyleaf," he greeted, and dipped his head. But it was obvious that the stand-in deputy had other things on his mind, as his amber eyes were troubled. "I alerted the warriors that we'll be going soon, they've collected the kits, and elders… and also realized who's missing." He took a deep breath in and glanced at Lionblaze and Jayfeather.
"They're my siblings, whatever can be said in front of me can be said in front of them." Hollyleaf braced herself silently, as Bumblstripe's eyes flicked back and forth between them and finally relaxed. "Between Jayfeather and Cloudtail, they've figured that they haven't seen Millie, Birchfall, Blossomfall, Briarlight, Cherrypaw… I'm so sorry Hollyleaf, so many cats…"
The black she-cat was shocked. There seemed to be so many cats in the clearing, there couldn't possibly be five of them missing… "We'll find them. Lionblaze… Um, thank you Bumblestripe, you can go. Gather all the cats that left the clearing and get them ready to move out." It was obvious that she dismissed the would-be deputy, and by his quizzical look. She waited until the tom was out of earshot before turning back to Lionblaze. "Firestar never told the Clan about your powers? Even now?" The golden cat nodded, Jayfeather staring off sightlessly into the woods. As Hollyleaf thought about it, she could see why though. The Clan would rely too heavily on the powers given to them by StarClan instead of their own teeth and claws, or it would cause some cats to become envious.
"Never mind that, you were talking to Lionblaze?" Jayfeather butted in, obviously a bit annoyed that his sister had been ignoring him again.
"I was going to be talking to both of you, stupid furball," Hollyleaf countered. "Anyway, I can tell that Dovewing was the third that the phrophecy was talking about…what is her power?" She was genuinely curious.
Jayfeather blinked. "She can hear things," he said vaguely
"The voices of StarClan?" Hollyleaf cocked her head
"No, very far away thinks. She could hear what is going on in RiverClan right now if she wanted; we've never tested how far she could hear…" he trailed off, gazing off into the shadows again. The new leader was slightly annoyed by her brother's fuzzy-headedness. "Jayfeather, what's wrong?"
"… there was another phrophecy while you were gone." He started slowly, tail quirking back and forth furiously. "The end of the stars draws near. Three must become four to battle the darkness that lasts forever… But Hollyleaf, Firestar was the fourth. What happens now?" The medicine cat spun around to face his siblings. "Even through my powers, all I see is darkness. I must speak with StarClan as well. We must hurry."
What happens now?" The medicine cat spun around to face his siblings. "Even through my powers, all I see is darkness. I must speak with StarClan as well. We must hurry."
A.N: Now this chapter actually made me go ask questions on Facebook to my friends XD Research! Sorry I didn't take your advice, Mean Mr. Snorlax, but you will have a chapter with Dovewing I think... and Jayfeather. ^^
I've been forgetting it before now, but I want to thank all my reviewers,
-Starrymists
-Cinderstar377
-eclareforever901
-Greenfeather of MoonClan
-blazelight790
-Mean Mr. Snorlax
And all my anonymous reviewers! You guys are all amazing 8)