A.N: Hello again, to all my friends :) I know I'm not the most "attentive" and "organized" author on Fanfiction but I do hope that you all enjoy this story at least. Summer is coming! Ya! That means more updates and hopefully some improved writing! (Taking AP English next year, let's get it on!)
By the way, do you support DoveXBumble or IvyXBumble? Your choice, I'm neutral on this, so it's up to you guys ;) Feel free to leave your opinion.
For the first time since Hollystar approached, the she-cat moved, fixing her with an intense gaze. "We need to go back and save them."
Dovewing waited with her breath caught in her throat. She could hear the hopeless screams of agony and fear from her Clanmates. Hollystar couldn't hear it, but it was driving the younger she-cat mad with the need to act. The pain that was being caused... because she couldn't use her powers right. Because StarClan had fallen to darkness and no one could have had more hope in their ancestors than she. But it seemed that even the starry cats could fail, and the mortals could be left to their own to fight.
"No." Hollystar stated after a heartbeat of silence. "Well, maybe." Bumblestripe looked at her, equally tense as Dovewing's rigid body. "I don't want to risk any more cats' lives." The black cat clarified doubtfully now, with the two sets of eyes on her.
"Come on Hollystar, we could get almost half the Clan back. We only need to distract the Dark Forest cats for long enough so they can get out." The deputy goaded, and Dovewing could see the need to act in his shoulders as the muscles clenched and relaxed. Just like her.
Sending her senses back down to the camp, Dovewing could see the sheer numbers of Dark Forest cats in the clearing. They crowded the shadows and brought the scent of death on all of them. Decapitated bodies of her Clanmates lined the clearing with sickening care, and she was happy that most were unrecognizable through the sheer amount of blood. It was sickening and she could feel her body shake with convulsions but she continued focusing on the scene in front of her. The tabby pelts of Bumblestripe's siblings stood in front, and Daisy's cream children huddled behind. the elders trembling in the center of the warriors, sheltering among themselves Molepaw. And on the pasty, black clearing floor, laid her sister, with her silver fur stained crimson and her body laced with multiple wounds. Ghostly cats surrounded her, digging their claws into her fur languidly, licking it off their dusky fur. She had never heard Ivypool scream, beg or cry like she was then; it was a relief that Dovewing could not be physically present to it.
"Please!" Please stop!" The she-cat's voice started as a murmur and rose to a screech before Bumblestripe could cover her mouth by throwing her muzzle into his shoulder. Dovewing's voice lowered to a quiet wail at the familiar scent of the gray tomcat. She nuzzled into it like a lost kit and cried quietly, before he slipped away and Hollystar allowed the traumatized she-cat to rest her head as well. Really, the scent of her cousin was somewhat just as calming. When she had come back to her senses, she stared up into the green eyes of her leader, pleading silently.
"Dovewing, where are they; what's going on?" Hollystar murmured quietly, stroking the younger cat's back with her tail.
"Please don't make me look, please," She implored, whiskers quivering with fear at the visions that she had experienced. "In the camp, where the ground is hard- hard as rock- with the blood of our kin. Elders and warriors and apprentices. Oh Hollystar, what is the Clan if we don't honor our weakest members?"
She looked at the downy soft cat, eyes dark with confusion as she attempted to make a decision. Bumblestripe looked on worriedly as well, waiting for the new leader. Dovewing closed her eyes, every hair on her pelt tingling as she waited for the words that would decide everything.
"StarClan... why do you test me," Hollystar groaned in agony, then blinked open her eyes, staring at Bumblestripe. "Gather the Warriors. We shall strike at midday, when their power is weakest." The gray cat gasped in a ragged breath and licked Hollystar's shoulder in gratitude, listening to her sister's mourning cries that already seemed to be weakening. "I want to go," She heaved, blue eyes wetting uncontrollably again.
Hollystar cynically glanced at the she-cat, seemingly already preparing for the battle to come. "Will you be okay, to face these cats and to fight? I know you didn't take much damage during the first fight, but this will be very different. The Clan needs all its members; if I tell you to retreat, will you?"
"Will you take my sister?" She hissed desperately, pupils enlarging as a product of her fear. "I will not leave without Ivypool."
The leader's ears lowered slightly- whether in agitation or disconsolation Dovewing was unsure- before answering. "We cannot lose you, no matter what. I need to know that you will follow my orders."
The gray she-cat whimpered as she understood the meaning in Hollystar's words. If it came to it, she would need to choose her Clan over her kin- and already she was having a hard time. "Tell me your answer when we head out," Hollystar conceded, sparing her a forlorn glance before heading after her deputy. Dovewing was left in the little patch of ferns alone, staring after the two cats with her shoulders hunched. Slowly her emotions calmed and she breathed deeply, blocking out the agonized sobs from her sister. She felt a wince of guilt at this, but she needed to help the Clan, so that there would be no chance of leaving any cat behind. No chance that she would need to choose between her family and her kin.
And so she sent out her senses among the woods that used to be her home, but were now crowded with shadows. Most of the woods were quiet as the sun was rising, almost too quiet- there was no birdsong in the air, no scampering of small creatures. Small saplings hung over like exhausted cats, and even some of the larger trees had dark veins scrambling upward, poisoning. The Dark Forest cats were literally sucking all the life of the forest, as if their dead spirits were invading the living world. 'There' She focused on a spot of haze in the middle of a familiar rabbit path. The air whirled and shimmered in a familiar pattern, like the heat rising off the Thunderpath and distorting all images slightly above it. Even from her place by the eastern side of the territory, almost at the ShadowClan border, she could hear a slight buzzing come off it; a high pitched whine that almost hurt her ears.
'What?' She thought, letting the picture- and it's nature- clarify in her mind as she closed her eyes. Whenever she had looked into the Dark Forest with her mind, she had experienced a dank and foul odor in the back of her throat, like taking a deep whiff of crow food. Now, when she delved into this odd illusion, she received the same flavor, the same darkness. 'Is this...' Her thoughts formed slowly, attempting to make sense of what was in front of it. But instead of continuing her thought, she sent her senses into the haze. Instantly she was assaulted by a disorienting amount of sickness in her mind, and had she not been sitting, she would've toppled over. But suddenly it was as if the sickness cleared and she saw a shadowy clearing, clouds obscuring the sky until there were no moon, stars or anything that made clear StarClan's presence. 'A... Passage? To the spectral world?' She had no word for what she saw, nor what she had just used to come into the world beyond life.
Quickly she pulled her senses back, snapping her eyes open to see the clearing. Blue eyes wide to the physical world around her again, she puzzled over her finding. Within another few seconds, she had spread her senses over the territory again, locating only a few of these spots. She had no clue what to do about them, but knew it was important that she tell Hollystar. Somehow it was important, but there was nothing the cats could do about these odd specter passages.
"Dovewing," Her mother called, and her white form appearing out of the early morning shadows that surrounded the clearing. "Hollystar has requested your presence as she plans for the attack." She revealed, approaching her fairly young daughter and touching noses with her. "There is no more need of secrets, what remains of the Clan know of the Three, and how StarClan..." She cleared her throat, whiskers twitching nervously as she discussed the religious matter, "… were wrong about the Clans, the prophecies... I do not want to believe that we are on our own, yet with the Dark Forest cats so close I can only wonder what our ancestors are doing to help."
The two she-cats ducked under a strand of bramble and passed by a clump of fragrant herbs.
"Mother, if you know of my powers, then you know that I can hear, and see much farther than other cats. In fact, I can see right into the Dark Forest." The gray cat revealed, watching her mother's startled glance.
"You truly have impressive power then, my daughter," Though Whitewing's voice was neutral, it was obvious that she was unnerved by the sheer amount her daughter possessed.
"I can see into StarClan too, though it is hard to go beyond this world, to go beyond the Lake even. It's a skill I need to train, just as hunting and stalking," The cat watched her paws and spoke quietly, though she stilled brushed up against her mother as they walked together. "I can assure you that our ancestors truly are helping; they too are under attack though, and must protect the skies." She looked up into the matching blue eyes of her kin "What are the Clans without our belief to bind us? They are right to keep themselves safe first." Whitewing nodded, and the conversation ended in an uneasy silence as they arrived at the broken Two-leg den.
"They're up there." Whitewing pointed with her tail toward a shadowy slope that had periodical indents in it. The wood it was made of was rotten and had a few holes in it, but it seemed stable enough.
Dovewing launched herself up before turning back to her mother, all too aware of the glowing eyes in the murkiness below. "Aren't you coming too?" she asked quietly, flinching as the sound echoed unnaturally in the closed space.
"She only wanted you and a few others. Someone needs to be on lookout while the other warriors are recovering their strength; I wasn't hurt that badly." Dovewing could see the hurt in her blue eyes, but the older she-cat shrugged off her emotion and walked away without another word. The gray she-cat was left, quite lonely and stunned on the odd Two-leg structure. In a few heartbeats, she slowly turned and leapt up the last amount of stairs, feeling the strength in her legs push her up almost soundlessly.
At the top of the slope, dust motes greeted her airily, swirling about her ears and sticking to the fringes of her coat, shimmering with the sunshine streaming through a gap in the ceiling. Other than the single bright ray of light, the level was dark and just as quiet as the lower one; because of this, it surprised the young cat when Hollstar appeared out of the shadows, eyes glowing an iridescent color as they took in as much light as they could. The effect was unnerving, but as the graceful she-cat walked past her, other cats rustled in the dark and followed the dark leader, Bumblestripe's gray coat equally camouflaged in the darkness. Then Sandstorm and Thornclaw along with Cinderheart, Jayfeather and Lionblaze. No wonder the lower level was so quiet, it seemed as if half of the surviving Clan was here.
Dovewing adjusted to the dingy area quickly, pupils widening as Hollystar's had as she took her place in a rapidly forming circle, Hollystar sitting in the center. The black cat had her back to Dovewing, but she felt no less important as the new leader began speaking quietly, though powerfully.
"I know that many of you have noticed that a lot of our Clanmates are missing. I plan to do something about that, don't worry. But for anyone who was missing earlier, Jayfeather had something to confess."
She nodded to her brother, who, though blind, still took the cue in step. "Yes, StarClan came to Firestar in a dream many moons ago, giving the prophecy, 'There will be three, kin of your kin that hold the power of the stars in their paws.' And then just recently, before the battle, I received a dream from them as well, 'The end of the stars draws near. Three must become Four to battle the darkness that lasts forever.' We-Lionblaze, Dovewing and I- are the three. We believed that Firestar was the fourth cat before he was... before he died. Lionblaze cannot be harmed in battle, I can see into the minds and dreams of other cats, and Dovewing can hear farther than anycat. All the way into the Dark Forest or StarClan, in fact." The light tabby nodded, blind eyes focused on Hollystar. The siblings seemed to communicate and suddenly Hollystar sighed, and nodded. "If you want this, Jayfeather. But some things are better left hidden.
When I visited StarClan, Firestar revealed a secret to me- StarClan could not see this future coming. They cannot help us now, and even their chosen cats- the Three- are not enough to stand against the Dark Forest. Though Dovewing's powers still work against these cats, Jayfeather cannot sense them, and Lionblaze can be slashed by their claws. It seems that not even the power of the stars is strong enough to fight against this darkness." The leader confessed, tail collecting dust to fling into the air, creating mesmerizing and minute patterns.
The cats in the circle seemed to digest the information slowly, and finally Sandstorm flicked her ears and Hollystar nodded to the elderly she-cat. "We have faced many threats on our own skill- the Great Journey, the Dog Pack back in the forest, even settling at the lake. These cats have proven that they can be killed, as any other. StarClan may be unable to give us their own power, but we have the code they instilled in us since the beginning- the Warrior code. As long as we all fight with honor and know in our hearts that we are defending our Clan, there is nothing we can't achieve."
Dovewing blinked proudly at her kin; though the sandy she-cat was old, and there was silver tinging the edges of the fur on her scruff and face, she continued to uphold the fighting spirit of a true warrior.
Hollstar seemed equally as pleased, and smiled slightly before the somber mood closed in again. "So with this knowledge, I'd like you to try and rescue the cats that Dovewing has claimed are being held in our camp." There were murmurs of surprise from the crowd, and some flashed anxious glances at each other. "I know that this is not a big patrol, but I'm not asking you to kill all of the warriors- just to rescue our own. I cannot risk more than a small force in order to keep ThunderClan alive. As we speak, I have sent Cloudtail to WindClan and Whitewing to ShadowClan to rally their forces."
Dovewing blinked in astonishment. Her mother had lied to her! She was going on a potentially deadly mission and had refused to tell her daughter. Was that why...? Dovewing pictured her mother's sad blue eyes before she had vanished outside the decaying nest. Had she thought that Dovewing couldn't handle a goodbye? That she would try to save her? The danger that was now apparent to the entirety of her family made her stomach drop with terror.
"We will be meeting them at the Gathering island as soon as our cats get back to us," Hollystar continued, now standing and pacing back and forth, turning to face each side of the circle. "This is our last resort." She calmly stared around at all the cats, meeting their eyes as she turned. "I will need to stay here, and for that I grieve deeply. But if the scouts get back before you have completed your assignment, I will come retrieve you to the best of my ability. We may need to leave without some of our Clanmates. I'm so sorry." Her green eyes obviously showed that fact, and Dovewing could only imagine the pain that was going through the cat in order to make that decision- protect the existence of her Clan or save their friends and family.
"One of you will lead this mission, one that Bumblestripe and I both agree should." With a apologetic nod to her deputy, the black she-cat turned straight to Dovewing. "You will lead the patrol to rescue our Clanmates, Dovewing. We have until Sunhigh."
A.N: So... Let's see... aw crap, actually nobody asked for a Dovewing- narrated chapter ^^' Sorry guys! Okay, I'll do Lionblaze next chapter, excuse me while I hop around inside everyone's heads to see who I'll stick with for the rest of the story.
So yea, DoveXTiger? DoveXBumble? DoveXThorn? (Never heard that one but..) You guys decide!
And, I feel like I haven't done enough of this but, oh my God, you are amazing. Yes, you. Staring at this computer/phone/iTouch screen, I am talking to you. Thank you for making this story so successful, because thanks to you this story had 116 visitors last month, 419 views and 36 reviews, all multi-cultural. :') Thank you so much.