A/N IMPORTANT! EVERYONE PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM!
Well, this is the end of Shadows, yep you read that right. This is the final chapter. This is also still technically chapter 21 but I decided to make it a whole different chapter. So read and enjoy!
"Hawkclaw?" her old mate turned to face her and a half smile appeared on his face, "Shadowblaze, how nice to see you." Shadow shifted around awkwardly on her paws and then replied, "It's nice to see you too. Uh, did you… did you make it into Starclan?" Hawkclaw bobbed his head, "Yeah, I did, thanks to-" "Hold up. How do you guys know each other? And who's Shadowblaze?" Shadow turned to look at her daughter and said, " I'm Shadowblaze, that was my name before I became a rogue." Viper now looked thoroughly confused and Shadow felt bad for the kit so she told her, "Why don't you go get Twig? I heard that Hawkclaw wanted to see him." Viper nodded, looked glad to have a reason to get out of the clearing.
Hawkclaw watched her go and then turned back to Shadow, "So, you changed your name." he stated, "Yeah, I figured that since I wasn't part of a clan anymore that I should become more of a rogue." Hawkclaw nodded but his gaze held a trace of annoyance at the fact that she'd reverted back to her old name, "How's Twig?" Shadow blinked, slightly surprised that Hawkclaw hadn't been watching Twig, "He's doing fine." "Have you told him his destiny yet?" Shadow snorted, "Of course I did! I wouldn't want him and Viper to go into this mess blind!" Hawkclaw glared at her, "You told Viper about it? Twig can't take anyone with him, it's his destiny and his alone." "Viper had every right to know about it! It's her destiny too!" "NO! Viper should go with her father and go far away! You have to train Twig to be a better fighter!" Shadow opened her mouth and then shut it, confused, "What? They're both the kits of the prophecy." Hawkclaw looked at her and snapped, "NO, Twig is but VIper isn't, the last time I checked the prophecy said one kit not two. They're not even littermates! They're half-littermates!" "What? How can you say that? They look nearly identical!" Hawkclaw stared at Shadow and then slowly shook his head, "It's really obvious, you should stop trying to pretend that they were born together. Viper was obviously born in a different litter."
Shadow blinked, the information was slowly being digested b her brain, "Wait, let me get this straight. You think that Viper and Twig are from different litters and that they're only half-siblings." Hawkclaw rolled his eyes, "It took you long enough." Shadow let out a loud snort, that soon turned into a full-fledged laugh attack. The whole time Hawkclaw watched her, his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out why she was laughing. "What? What's so funny?!" Hawkclaw demanded, Shadow looked at him and tried to compose herself, "Twig and Viper are actually littermates, Viper was born smaller, probably because it wasn't meant for her to survive." "What do you mean?" "When they were about half a moon old Viper got bloodcough and died." "Wha-" "Let me finish! But you sister, Finchpaw came from Starclan and somehow gave Viper a life and busted the prophecy."
Hawkclaw looked thoughtful as he nodded to Shadow, "It makes sense now." A twig snapped in the forest and the two looked up, glancing warily at the forest around them. "Hey, Hawkclaw." "Yeah?" "Just a random question… but when Starclan cats come down to Earth are they just a ghost thing or do they have a body?" Hawkclaw looked at her like she was an alien creature and Shadow flushed, "Sorry, I know that was a weird question, I just wanted to know." "It's fine Starclan casts are usually-" he was cut off as they heard voices. "Come on! We're almost there! Don't you wanna see Hawkclaw?" "Don't tell me to hurry up, Soot's going really slowly!" "Hurry up Soot!" "Kits, I don't think this is a good idea." "We'll be fine! Mom's already there! Look, we're here!"
Viper bounded into the clearing and darted to Shadow's side, "Hi! I brought Twig and Soot made me take him too." Shadow nodded, smiling down at her daughter, she noticed Twig standing awkwardly at the edge of the clearing and called, "Twig, come meet your father." Twig looked up, surprise clearly written in his eyes. At Shadow's side Viper looked up at her and questioned, "Is Hawkclaw actually our dad?" Shadow nodded and Viper scrambled over to Twig and began to tell her brother something. Shadow watched them, happiness rising from her pelt.
"Shadow." Shadow looked up and replied, "What?" Soot was standing in front of her, "Can we talk? Alone?" Shadow tipped her head in confusion but nodded, "Just let me introduce the kits to Hawkclaw, then we can leave them here with him." she padded over to where Twig and Viper were now wrestling and called, "Come here you two." they stopped wrestling and bounded to Shadow's side. She led them over to where Hawkclaw was standing and gently nudged Twig in front of her, "Twig, meet Hawkclaw, your father. Hawkclaw meet Twig."
As soon as Shadow was certain that they would be fine she walked away, back towards Soot, "Let's go." they padded a little bit away from the clearing and then Shadow sat down, "What did you want to talk about?" Soot sat down, facing Shadow, "Shadow, can I be truthful right now? Well, when I saved you I was just hoping for a place to live for a few days and then go back to my wandering, I didn't really expect to get involved in the kits and everything else. I can see that whatever prophecy that you're involved in is getting closer to coming true. I hope you'll forgive me and not think that I'm a coward, but I don't want to be a part of this. When we go back into that clearing I'm telling the kits that I'm leaving and then I'll be gone." Shadow looked up at Soot and then replied, "I respect your decision."
"Thank you." Hawkclaw murmured, they stood to leave and were padding back through the forest when they heard, "MOM! MOM HELP!" Shadow looked at Soot and hissed, "Well? Make your decision now. Involved or not?" Soot looked at her for a moment and then confidently said, "I'm in."
They raced through the forest as fast as they could, but they reached the clearing only to see Hawkclaw disappearing with Twig and Viper dangling from his jaws. "He went to the Gloomforest camp, I know it." Shadow left the clearing and began to run through the woods, towards her old home. She could hear Soot running alongside her and was silently glad that she had someone else here with her. The leaves crunched under her paws and adrenaline hummed through her veins as she passed the scent border and entered the territory. She followed her nose to the old Thunderclan camp and marched in, ready to demand for them to give her kits back. But when she burst through the entrance the camp was hauntingly empty. The barrier rustled as Soot pushed his way through and when he reached her side Shadow muttered, "They moved their camp, how did I not see that coming? Of course they'd move their camp, I know where this camp is." she shook her head in annoyance and called to Soot, "We have to search the territory, maybe they didn't go far."
Shadow padded into the old Riverclan camp, ignoring the muck and filth that clung to her paws as she searched the Riverclan territory. She and Soot had searched the whole Thunderclan territory and when they didn't find anything they'd moved on to searching the Riverclan territory. Which led to what Shadow was doing now, searching the muddy riverbank and the old camp. When she exited the Riverclan camp she saw a shadowy figure slip soundlessly from the back of the camp and she swiftly sped after the retreating figure.
She lunged at the shadowed cat and brought it to the ground. It flailed around and landed a few hits on Shadow before she managed to pin the cat and then she flared her invisibility and lit up the cat's face. She almost didn't recognize the cat but the sneering face was impossible to forget, "Hello Wrenwing, nice to see you here." Wrenwing writhed under Shadow's paws and furiously spat, "Shadowblaze." Shadow rolled her eyes, "That was my name but not anymore. Now where's your camp?" Wrenwing glared at her and snarled, "I'm not telling you!" Shadow smiled and dug her claws deeper into Wrenwing's pelt. Wrenwing winced but still didn't spill. Shadow kept digging her claws in but Wrenwing had apparently gotten stronger since Shadow had seen her last.
"Shadow!" Shadow looked up and and saw two figures approaching from the rest of the Riverclan territory. As the figures came closer she saw that one of them was Soot, the other was a familiar cat that Shadow couldn't quite put a name to. Beneath her Wrenwing let out a strangled sounding squeak, "Antpelt!" Shadow tilted her head, was this muscular actually the awkward, skinny tom that'd became a traitor? As soon as Antpelt saw Wrenwing he darted forward and tried to shove Shadow off Wrenwing but Shadow shoved him back and Soot pinned him. Shadow looked at the two and began to piece together the little signals and emotions, Wrenwing and Antpelt were mates. She looked over at Soot and waved her paw around in a series of motions that she'd taught Soot, "Hurt Antpelt in front of her and she'll eventually break." Soot nodded and them sank his claws into Antpelt, scoring long painful gashes in the tom's pelt. Wrenwing let out a gasp and tried to reach out to Antpelt but Shadow held her in place, knowing that this was a cruel method but right now Shadow was willing to do anything to get her kits.
After a few heartbeats later of Soot injuring Antpelt, Wrenwing broke, "Please stop…" she whispered, "Gore and Sandstar moved the camp to the Moon Crystal just let Antpelt go." Shadow sighed, apparently Wrenwing hadn't gotten mentally stronger. She silently motioned for Soot to knock Antpelt out, out loud she said, "Fine, let him go." Soot shoved a pawful of poppy seeds down Antpelt's throat and the tom's eyes glazed over as he fell into a heavy slumber. Soot let his limp body fall to the ground as Shadow took advantage of the distraction and dropped her clump of poppy seeds into Wrenwing's mouth. The Gloomforest would have no warning of their coming.
"Ready?" Shadow asked Soot as they crouched behind one of the hundreds of rocks near the Moon Crystal, "Always." came the reply from next to her, she could barely seen Soot's gray pelt, mainly because she'd convinced him to roll in a puddle of muck. "Ok," Shadow steadied her breathing, something inside of her was strangely anxious, "3, 2, 1, GO!" she yowled as she bolted down the sloped and jumped off a rock that was above the Gloomforest camp. She flew through the air, feeling like a bird for a few heartbeats before gravity took hold and she dropped like a stone. She landed in a roll and unsheathed her claws, ready for the fight of her life.
Immediately a crowd of snarling cats surrounded her, Shadow shut her eyes and let a sense of calm enter through her veins Shadow leapt forward with a snarl, every one of her powers was turned on. The faces of the cats in front of her blurred and faded until all she could see was glint of light on her blood covered claws. She felt no pain, only the hum of adrenaline. Her mind went on autopilot. She slashed, bite and ferociously attacked every cat that got in her way. When her senses finally returned Shadow looked around in horror, she stood in the center of a massacre.
Bodies lay dead all around her, the cat's eyes open and staring horrifiedly at empty air. Shadow looked at herself, blood covered her paws and muzzle. Her own blood dripped off her pelt from the multiple wounds she's acquired. Only one cat stood before her. Gore, the leader of the Gloomforest stared calmly at Shadow, as if she hadn't just killed everycat in the camp. He smiled, a strangely horrifying sight. Behind him something began to flash, Shadow looked past the tom and saw a dark portal flashing to life. Sandfire stood in front of it, two small shapes dangling from her jaw.
Shadow's vision tinted red, there was no way she'd let Sandfire take her kits. She ran at Gore, claws unsheathed, teeth bared in a snarl. Gore didn't back down, he ran and met her halfway. The two powerful cats clashed and the sky turned black. Shadow's power was running so high that it took Gore a few precious heartbeats to neutralize them and in that brief time Shadow darted in and delivered a powerful bite to Gore's exposed undersides. She darted away and waited for Gore to make the next lifted his head, a look of sadistic joy glinting in his eyes as he let out a fur-lifting cackle and charged at Shadow. What followed was a battle of pure skill, no powers whatsoever. Hundreds of strikes were exchanged, but each exchange only took a few seconds, each cat coming out with new injuries. The two wasted no time and went back for another exchange.
After another long set of exchanges Shadow and Gore drew away for a moment. As he nursed a nasty slash on his flank Gore let out a maniacal laugh, "I haven't had such a good battle since forever! I wish I didn't have to kill you." he snickered. By now Shadow had already come to the conclusion that Gore had lost his soul at some point in his life. Shadow felt her powers returning to her and she smiled grimly, time to give Gore what he deserved.
She bolted forward so fast she was sure that she'd heard a sonic boom behind her as she pushed her speed to the limit. She whizzed past Gore and slashed her claws into his face. Gore let out a guttural wail and whirled around faster than Shadow thought he could, "You have seen anything yet!" he snarled. Shadow ignored him and darted in, trying to land a few more hits. To her surprise this time Gore caught her and pinned her, it was as if he was expanding, growing bigger. With a start of surprise Shadow realized that Gore was growing bigger.
Within seconds Gore had become as big as a twoleg den. "I am not just the leader of the Gloomforest," he boomed, "I AM that Gloomforest!" he lowered his head down to look at Shadow, he smiled, "You are just an insignificant bug that I will crush, your powers are nothing." he lifted one of his paws, cupping Shadow on his pad, "You will die slowly, feeling the anguish of having your powers drained you." vine-like tentacles rose from Gore's pad and began to attach to Shadow.
A sharp pain formed inside of Shadow, it felt like someone was slowly extracting her internal organs from her body. Gore's giant face loomed in front of her, "Enjoying it little founderblood?" Shadow didn't respond. "I can get out of this." she thought furiously, then an idea hit her, how much power can he take? She wondered, a plan brewing in her mind. She took a deep breath and stopped trying to keep her power within her, she let if flow out of her freely. On top of that she forcefully pushed it out of herself, it hurt extremly but she pushed on.
At some point Shadow realized that Gore was the embodiment of anger, hate and fear, he'd been able to drain her because she'd felt anger, hate and fear. Gore loved those emotions, but what about happiness, love and joy? Shadow shut her eyes and concentrated, using pure willpower Shadow tapped into the power flowing out of her and began to slip her happiest memories into the stream of power, sending happiness, love and joy into Gore. as she sent out the feelings she relived the memories.
Shadow opened her eyes, a large face stared down at her, it smiled as she looked at it. Some part of Shadow felt safe and happy as she looked at this face, she turned her head and her eyes landed on the heaps of fur around her. Shadow let out a happy mewl and curled back up, content and happy.
Shadow smiled as she recalled her first memory, she still felt wrapped up in the comfort of the memory and the angered roar of Gore didn't reach her, instead she reached in and pulled out another memory.
"I did it!" a five day old Shadow squealed, the kit stood triumphantly on top of a rock. She'd finally made the climb and had joined her littermates at the top. She jumped in the air, squealing in joy. Storm and Birch surrounded her, both of them were grinning. "We're on top of the world!" Birch declared as the three of them stood on top of that rock, feeling the wind ruffle their fur.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Gore bellowed as Shadow emerged from the memory, she just smiled at Gore, "It's time for you to experience happiness, joy and love." Gore howled in pain, apparently those emotions physically hurt him. "NOOOOOO!" he screamed as Shadow went to retrieve the last memory.
Shadow looked down at the two little creatures lying beside her in the nest. She gently nuzzled the soft fur of the newborn kits and felt the pure unfiltered love pouring from within her as she looked at the beautiful kits that she'd brought into the world.
"No…" Shadow realized that Gore had shrank back down to normal size and was curled up on the ground. She looked around for Sandfire and found that she was still next to the portal. Only one thing had changed, the portal was almost open.
Shadow reached for the speed that she'd had since her birth and was shocked to find that it was gone. Gore had succeeded, her powers were gone. But that didn't stop Shadow, she bolted forward, claws outstretched. She reached Sandfire and her claws raked Sandfire's nose. She lifted a paw and prepared to strike that fatal blow but a force slammed into her side and knocked her away from Sandfire.
"No!" she snarled, she slammed her hind legs into the cat's underbelly and flipped them off of her. She made another break for Sandfire and her kits before the cat sank their claws into Shadow's hind leg and pulled her down. Shadow spun around and found that Gore was clinging to her leg, keeping her from reaching Sandfire, "Get off you piece of crowfood!" Shadow wrenched her paw out of his grasp and slashed his already slashed face with her claws.
"You won't get to them in time," Gore gasped, "I won't let you." Shadow lunged at Gore and flipped him over pinning him with her paws, "Then I'll just kill you." she snarled, she sank her teeth into Gore's throat and she kept closing her jaw until she felt warm, wet blood coating her muzzle. Gore let out a gurgling laugh, then a light of hate filled his eyes and he surged upwards, sinking his teeth into her throat before he died . Shadow let out a gasp of pain before her body fell, through her fading vision Shadow saw Sandfire step into the portal with Viper and Twig.
Shadow had failed.
A/N Hey guys, I just wanna say this, I never actually expected to finish this story, but it was an awesome journey. You guys are awesome, as of right now Shadows has 707 views, that's amazing. It's make me so happy to know that people are actually enjoying my story. ^u^
Shout out to FaeGhostReader, Whiteclaw69, boaflower664, and dorsle5 for following . Another shout out to FaeGhostReader, Whiteclaw69, and boaflower664 for favoriting the story too.
To anyone who left a review, thank you so much, it's nice to know that some people are enjoying the story.
Special shout out to all of my friends who encouraged me while I was writing this (I don't even know if you're gonna be reading this XD) I'm not gonna name names, but you know who you are. By the way, check out Silverstar's Wattpad, she has some good stories- user/Silverstar175
Also I've decided to make a sequel, it's gonna be called The Snake Mark (TSM). I'll probably publish the first chapter sometime next week (if I survive my exams *shudder*). I might also publish a preview sometime tomorrow.
-Viper
For Silverstar- ^u^ murp