CHAPTER TWELVE

We continued through the Dark Realm. Slaughter had described the place where Hunger lived as 'amongst the sickly trees, in the starless place'. It sounded suspiciously like the Dark Forest, and my suspicions were confirmed as we padded into a very familiar territory.

Dove's Wing had recovered from her confrontation with Slaughter and seemed very spooked by our new surroundings. I remembered that she had never visited the Dark Forest before. I had, once, a few moons after the War, when Bluestar and a few other respected StarClan cats were giving the leaders a tour of the place, reassuring us that no one remained there. Even without the threat of attack, the place was creepy.

The stars were gone, and the sickly phosphorescence that had covered the trees elsewhere in the Dark Realm flourished in the dimly lit forest. Well, there was a reason they called it the 'Dark Forest'.

As we walked, Jay's Wing struck up a quiet conversation with Dove's Wing, breaking the silence.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replied, sounding a little melancholy. "But... I was scared. I don't know where any of my words came from. I have no idea how I pulled that off."

I nodded with sympathy. I'd had times where I'd felt that way, like the aftermath of the Battle of Fourtrees, where I'd claimed leadership of ShadowClan.

As we walked along, I tuned out Jay's Wing and Dove's Wing's conversation. Wolf was walking at the head of the group, scowling and muttering to herself. I murmured a farewell to Lion's Roar beside me and padded forward to talk with her.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

She turned and glared at me with yellow eyes. "Yeah," she grunted. "Just fine. At least that idiot's letting me lead," she said with a jerk of the head towards Jay's Wing.

I sighed. She still hadn't forgiven Jay's Wing for his insult. Wolf had always had been proud, and rarely apologized. "It was just Slaughter making you two do that, you know," I pointed out. "Neither of you meant it."

Wolf looked away. I knew she knew that, but she still held onto her pride.

"If you're not going to apologize, fine," I said, a little exasperated. "But at least stop brooding about it."

"Brooding?" Wolf objected. "I am not brooding!"

I hid a smile. "Yes, you are."

She hit me playfully over the ears. "There!" she exclaimed, a smile on her face. "Is that brooding?"

I danced out of the way of her next play-swipe, but she pounced on me anyway. Lion's Roar and Dove's Wing half started to object before they realized we were just messing around. I laughed as I hit her on the shoulder, trying to wriggle free of her grip. Wolf was full of life again.

At last, chuckling, we got to our feet. Wolf was grinning now and, albeit a little reluctantly, she struck up a conversation with Jay's Wing.

I went back to Lion's Roar, smiling. Wolf was already grudgingly laughing at something Jay's Wing had said, and Dove's Wing padded up next to Lion's Roar and I. I felt something sticky touch my paw pads; when I lifted my foot, I realized I had stepped on a sickly glowing... thing. I wasn't sure what it was, and I definitely didn't want to know. I shook it off.

"So, do you think we'll all confront Hunger, or just one of us like with Slaughter?" I asked, trying to start a conversation.

Lion's Roar shrugged his big, golden shoulders. "I don't know."

"Who would it be if it was just one of us?" Dove's Wing wondered. A slight tremor crept into her voice as she asked, "Will it be me again?"

"No, I don't think so," I said, frowning slightly. "There are five spirits, and five of us. I think Star and Moon and the others chose us for a reason, and that each of us will confront a different spirit." I laughed hollowly. "I only hope I don't have to confront Despair. That would be terrible."

Lion's Roar nodded heartily in agreement, and Dove's Wing murmured her assent.

"I wish I could just be home," I sighed. I had wanted to be home for so long... I thought I would finally have some peace once I had married Ryan, but apparently not. If only the Originals and Rock hadn't bothered to mess with us in the first place, we'd all be happier.

But then I wouldn't have met Ryan... Oh, well. I only wanted to get out of here alive and never be bothered again.

"I want to rest," Dove's Wing said with an ache in her voice. "All I really wanted was to rest in the mountains and have another chance at life once I figured out what was going on. A life that wouldn't end tragically."

I remembered that she had lost many friends, along with everyone else, during the Dark Forest War, and also her mate, Foxleap, during a mass greencough epidemic. She had watched all her loved ones die off as she lived on, regretting her choice. I smiled at her in sympathy.

Up ahead, Jay's Wing and Wolf had overheard us. "I can understand that," Jay's Wing sighed, his gray ears twitching. "All my life at the Clans I wanted to see, and then I wanted to be with Half Moon. I never got any peace, not even after the War—I had to form SkyClan, which ended tragically anyway."

"I wanted to come back, actually," Wolf admitted. "Real life seemed so... bland after our little adventure. So it was hard. So I was betrayed a few times. So what? I loved every minute of it, no matter what happened. But now it looks like once this is over, I'll just have to go back..."

Everyone looked at Lion's Roar, who shrugged. "I don't know. I'm pretty happy with what I've got. I'm a cat again, which I always enjoy, and I'm with Snow, my mate, and we're having another adventure." He smiled down at me, and my insides warmed happily. Suddenly I realized how silly we all were being, moping about what we wanted, what we wished and hungered for... Lion's Roar had the right way of looking at it: live in the moment and enjoy life.

A wheezy chuckled sounded from behind us. We all whirled around.

In the clearing stood a cat-like spirit that I immediately recognized as Hunger. It was bone-thin with ragged, matted fur the color of nothing (which I thought of as a dull gray-brown hue). The scariest and creepiest thing about Hunger, though, was its eyes—or rather, lack of eyes. It still seemed to be able to see, though... which was more terrifying still, more so than just empty sockets.

I shrunk back slightly from this emaciated, sickly cat. He radiated an aura of fear much like Slaughter had, only the fear seemed to be coming from him.

"Hello, living," Hunger rasped. I shuddered at the sound: it was as if he had shards of metal in his vocal cords, causing him to croak so. "Slaughter warned me of your coming... But though I have affected you, I have not truly tested you." He laughed that horrible, wheezy, cracked laugh, and suddenly I felt like crying, if cats cried over emotion. I wanted to leave this place, I wanted to go home, I wanted to be happy, I wanted to...

Beside me, Lion's Roar made a small sound of disgust and stepped forward. "This isn't going to work, Hunger."

Suddenly my want and unhappiness lessened a little as Hunger started in surprise. "You are a strong one, I see. Are you... happy? Content?"

"Yes," my mate said firmly. "There's nothing you can make me want. I'm okay with everything that's going on right now; and everything I could want to change is in the past, unchangeable."

Hunger hissed and spat. "I can make your friends suffer!"

"Don't give in," Lion's Roar insisted, turning back to us. "It's making you want things—it's making you hunger for them. Because Hunger isn't just about starvation... it's about want and false need. People and cats, they hunger for things all the time—for love, for revenge, for happiness... But—" and here his voice grew stronger, and Hunger began to growl. "—but we've got everything we could want, or we will have it. There's nothing to hunger for. Don't you see?"

I did see, somewhat. The hunger, the want, the false need, went away for the most part. I saw the others around me taking strength in his words too... just as Hunger seemed to recoil and flinch.

"Fine, fine," it sniveled, nose dribbling slightly. "I'll give you what you want, fine, fine... just... stop being so content."

I laughed a little, more content than ever. Hunger flinched again. "Stop," it whined, fur bristling. "Stop!" It paused. "What is it you want again?"

"We have been sent by Star and Moon, the Cat Originals, to request permission to form spirit groups of cats," Lion's Roar said, at the moment the leader of our group, speaking for all of us.

"What?" Hunger said in dismay, swishing its tail. "That was not worth my humiliation! I don't care; that's not important. Fine, if they want that! Fine!" It sighed. "I suppose I must be formal? Fine, fine..."

I was disgusted, hard-pressed to believe that this sniveling, weak wretch of a cat had once forced me to crouch upon the ground and mewl like a kit. I saw a similar expression on Lion's Roar's face.

"I, Hunger, spirit of want, give permission for Star and Moon, Originals of the Cats, to organize their spirits," Hunger whined. A pale, sickly green ray of light filled the forest, then vanished.

"Now go away," it grumbled. "Oh, yes—Malady. You can find the spirit of disease—well, just keep walking. The dead animals will tell you," Hunger said. "Now go!"

Lion's Roar gave it one last, long look of pure disgust, then turned his back and led our group away, leaving behind everything but Hunger's complaining whines, which echoed in our ears for many minutes afterward.