"She had one fatal flaw in the end."
Hollykit is one moon old when she speaks to Firestar for the first time.
Every dawn, her grandfather leaves his den, stands on the Highrock, broad-shouldered and glowing in the sun, and commands his Clanmates with a soft mew. The soft tone carries anyhow, and Clanmates latch onto him with devotion. Under the shadow of Highledge, Clanmates approach with bows and greetings before requesting changes to the patrols. Firestar smiles throughout all of it.
On the sunrise that Firestar enters the nursery, his fur is extra warm, and his smile extra welcoming. The queens look at him with awe, eyes glimmering, making Hollykit feel small.
"Would you like to hear a story?"
She's between her brothers, Jaykit and Lionkit, when Lionkit asks for the story about the battle against Bloodclan. Uncharacteristically, her heart is in her throat, and she can't muster her own request.
"On that Sunrise, Shadowclan and Riverclan were cast aside in a shattered Tigerclan; Thunderclan and Windclan stood alone against the cat that had slayed Tigerstar the sunrise before." Firestar pulls himself to his full height, casting the nursery in a soft shadow. Hollykit can already imagine that she's there on the field. Some blood connection allows her to be in her grandfather's place, standing against an army of savages.
"Can you just get to the good part already?" snips Jaypaw, his uncanny eyes trained on their grandfather. "I'm going to leave if you don't get to the good part."
"When Thunderclan and Windclan first match blows, were outnumbered two to one—" Hollykit imagines that she is right there with him, living in her family's moment of history. She splits the brow of a Bloodclan rogue. She's there when Bone falls and sees Riverclan and Shadowclan pull themselves from the rivers and shadows - the Clans match Bloodclan three to one.
"It's still not enough," Firestar meows. "Darkstripe, Tigerstar's most loyal warrior, follows him even in death and nearly kills me." Lionkit gasps. "Whitestorm, my friend and deputy, is struck down. Blood slickens the earth, and our opponent's name becomes a dire prophecy."
There's a pause, and Firestar lets the tension build.
Hollykit is struck down by Scourge, the fastest cat she's ever seen with dog teeth for claws. There's chaos in the forest, and every cat expects her to die just like Tigerstar. But Bluestar is there, pulling her up, and then Hollystar rises. Scourge has no response, the power of the stars in her paws, not his, and this time, she delivers the killing blow.
"Lionclan rallies, holding ground while I'm dead, but when Scourge dies, there is no held ground," Firestar speaks. Hollykit is ripped back to reality. She's still just her. "Unlike the cats of Lionclan, Scourge's warriors do not serve any higher purpose. Their ranks break, and the battle goes from a frenzy to a hunt. Lionclan breaks them."
Firestar looks down at her, and Hollykit makes eye contact. This story is for her.
I'm going to be like you one sunrise.
"Your father was an apprentice back then," Firestar meows. "He could fill in some of the smaller details of that day I missed. His own start to an adventure-filled life of his own."
Her brothers take it as a sign to ask their father about the famous battle, but Hollykit knows better. It's a promise.
My mentor was a hero. In my youth, I was a hero. Your parents grew up into heroes. One day, you will be heroes too.
Hollykit doesn't know how yet, but one day, she and her brothers, cause it's always her and her brothers, never just her, will be legends.
Firestar visits them exactly six times throughout their kithood. Every time he tells them a story and when his job is done, he leaves. Hollykit's fate is sealed.
"Mom, please! Hahaha." Hollykit twists, paws curling inwards as she squeals and tries to escape Squirrelflight, muzzle in her kit's stomach. "I'm ticklish!"
"And she's down! The warrior of Thunderclan has been defeated by the badger! What will she do now?" Squirrelflight presses her weight down, and her weight does the rest. Hollykit is pinned.
She has to escape! Her paws lance out, and with all her strength, she swats the badger, pinning her down in the face. "A warrior of Thunderclan never surrenders!"
With a tug on her belly, Squirrelflight gives a light hiss and starts jostling her about on the hollow floor. Hollykit doesn't go down without a fight, and her forelegs latch onto the badger's ears. The badger shoves forward, its forelegs scooping Hollykit off the ground, and in a moment of terrible realization, Hollykit realizes she's about to be eaten. Defeat seems inevitable.
Foul play it is, then.
Hollykit bites the badger straight on the nose.
"Thunderclan forever!"
Squirrelflight tumbles dramatically from the divisive defeat, not her new nose injury. Hollykit leaps on top of her to cement her victory and buries her snout into her scuff. The laughter turns into meowing eventually.
"Mhmm. You'll be a great warrior one day. You've already got the warrior spirit," Squirrelflight murmurs. One of her forelegs reaches up and around; suddenly, Hollykit is wrapped in an enormous hug. She doesn't mind. The nursery is quiet today, and Mom rarely comes into the nursery. Her brothers are asleep, so she has Mom all to herself.
"Tell me more about the warrior code. I will know all about it one day," she mewls. Now that her excitement has faded, it's comforting laying in her mother's paws.
Unnoticed, Squirrelflight blinks, and her face wavers for a moment. "Well, first, you must always defend your clan with your life, though friendships with other clans are allowed." She smiles and pulls Hollykit closer. "You seem to have this one down already."
"I'll be the best warrior in Thunderclan one sunrise," Hollykit purrs to comfort Mom.
"I'm sure you will," she replies, her whiskers curling in enjoyment. "Next, you must not hunt or trespass on another Clan's territory. All Clans have shed blood and lives for their land; when you trespass or steal, you disrespect those living and those who came before."
Hollykit sucks in a deep gasp of air. "What are the other parts of the Warrior Code?"
Squirrelflight laughs and bops her kit in the head to keep her quiet. "Another one is that a cat cannot become the deputy, nevertheless the leader, until he has mentored at least one apprentice. You've got to have some experience you see in teaching before you lead."
"Mhmm." Hollykit decides that now is the time for her grand escape and begins to wiggle herself to freedom. Squirrelflight notices her futile attempt and rolls onto her belly, pinning the young warrior to the ground.
"You cannot escape from Shadowclan!" And the fight resumes. The Thunderclan warrior kicks upwards to try and dislodge her attacker, but the Shadowclan warrior is relentless with her assault. Hollykit gets one good kick in, but in the end, size overcomes nimbleness, and she receives an aggressive wet kiss on the head as her mom pins her into the dirt once again.
"Mom!" Hollykit whines, tail curling around the dirt agitatedly.
"Here are some other unofficial rules for my troublemaker. The clans must not unite to drive out another clan nor force another to share territory, and no eating before going to the moonpool. Medicine cats may not have mates or kits. Oh, annddddd… kits must stay in the hollow until they are apprenticed. Can't forget about that one."
"Those last two don't seem fair!" Hollykit screeches. Screeches mildly, she corrects. She can't wake everyone up.
She thinks Mom looks sad when Hollykit comments, and Hollykit wonders what she did wrong. But before she can voice her concerns, the moment passes, and her mom is smiling again with that stupid smile.
"Yeah, maybe they are a little bit unfair." Squrrielflight looks down at Hollykit seriously. She meows, "Look, Hollykit. I need you to promise never to break the rules I mentioned today, okay? If you're gonna be the best warrior in Thunderclan, then these rules are of the utmost importance!"
Hollykit looks up at her mom, considers if promising is worth escaping the Shadowclan warrior's grip, and says, "I promise! I will be the best warrior of Thunderclan one day with the Warrior Code."
Squirrelflight, in her foolishness, lets up, and Hollykit bolts in her grand escape. The ancient battle between Thunderclan and Shadowclan resumes, and they wake everyone up this time.
It turns out not to be her best promise.
"They'll find the camp!" Ferncloud gasps.
Hollykit scrambles out of the nursery when it all goes down. Ferncloud's wail is loud enough to penetrate the hollow's walls, and Lionkit and Jaykit bump into her on the way out, following the commotion. Lionkit is excited, but Jaykit is grumpy like usual.
What's got his tail in a twist now?
"We should guard the camp," Lionkit mews. "The fox cubs could sneak into the stone hollow."
"You're a beebrain if you think the fox cubs will get this far," mews her other brother. Jaykit looks ready to argue with both of them. "There must be warriors surrounding the entire hollow."
Fox cubs. Imagine if they could…
Jaykit makes a dour comment, and Hollykit jolts herself out of her daydream to automatically reply, "We'll be heroes like Firestar one sunrise. Until then, we should stay inside the nursery."
Lionkit looks at her and gasps, tail fluffing out, "We'll be heroes today!" he declares. "We will deal with the fox cubs ourselves!"
Bee-brain! "If we leave camp without permission, we'll have broken the warrior code!" The temptation to try and save Thunderclan strikes, but thinking of the consequences keeps her in check. Lionkit has never been able to think beyond his next meal or fight.
"It'll be for the good of the Clan," Lionkit shoots back, nudging her in the ribs with a wink. "How is that against the code?" Hollykit ignores his pokes, thinking about his comment.
Jaykit makes the crucial difference by meowing, "We're not warriors yet. Why listen to the Warrior Code?" It's a technicality, and Hollykit knows this.
If they did chase off the fox cubs, they would be heroes. She could imagine the recognition for chasing the foxes off the territory. Firestar would apprentice them early, the youngest apprentices ever. It would make them prodigies, the latest in a bloodline of heroes.
A deep purr rises from her throat, "If we chase off the fox cubs, Firestar will apprentice us early."
"Yes! Hollykit agrees!" Lionkit cheers, and just like that, it is settled. Hollykit takes the rearguard as they head toward the thorn barrier near the back of the camp. The small tunnel to dirtplace serves as an unsuspicious way out. Heart-pounding Hollykit makes not-too-subtle glances around to see if anyone is watching their escape. Luckily, the clearing is empty; the elders and queens do not stick their heads out from their homes, and she slips into the small tunnel unseen behind Jaykit. There's no time to waste.
"No one saw us," she whispers excitedly, and her brothers purr.
The slope banks upwards and away from the camp. Their next challenge is Ashfur. Fortunately, the thorn barrier blocks his view of the trio, and Hollykit releases a deep breath she isn't aware of. Jaykit also tenses up beside her, and Hollykit breathes into his coat.
"We need to stay off the main paths. Take the underbrush?" Lionkit meows.
"We don't even know where the main paths are!" Jaykit points out. The perpetual frown on his face turning into a sneer. Lionkit makes a snippy comment in return.
While her brothers argue, Hollykit sucks in the scents with her nose. Thunderclan smell is strong alongside the bottom of the slope, where it curves around out of sight. Still, everything else is a blur of smells and messages. Everything smells weird out of the camp; for a moment, she has trouble identifying the correct path. It's times like these when she wants Jaykit's nose.
She speaks. "We should avoid the areas where the Thunderclan scent is strongest, as those will be the main paths. Probably. Also, the fox cubs would avoid the warrior patrols." She thinks this makes sense. She's not entirely sure. Firestar always made these things sound so easy in his stories. "The slope ahead is steep and has no tracks through the bracken. That's our path out of here."
"Like Hollykit says," Lionkit meows.
"What do you think?" Hollykit asks Jaykit. Three heads are better than two, and her brother has a sharp mind. Jayflight preens from the attention, no longer skulking across the ground.
"Thornclaw said the fox was spotted lakeside of the camp, which is in the opposite direction of the slope," Jaykit explains. At Hollykit's head tilt, he adds, "I know where the lake is because I can smell the wind from the water."
"No slope then," she replies. "Let's go with Jaykit's plan."
Sorry, Mom. I'm breaking the warrior code for a good reason.
The thick forest is damp under her paws from the lack of sun, and Hollykit realizes how much undergrowth there is in Thunderclan territory. The area is not well-traveled, and it shows with the number of bushes that snag her fur and blot out the sky.
"Scared?" Hollykit meows, spotting Jaykit shivering, trying to get a rise out of her brother.
"Of course not," he mews back, flicking his tail beside her. "It's cold out of the sun."
He's definitely a little bit scared.
"Well, keep up," Hollykit meows. "Slowest cat is a dormouse." Her teasing causes her to miss the approaching Thunderclan path.
"Stop!" Jaykit warns, his nose catching something. Hollykit breathes deeply to follow his example. The Thunderclan path lies before her. Jaykit noticed the trail before she and Lionkit did. She pokes her head out of the underbrush to see the terrain.
The path stretches across them, marked by scent trails and flattened bushes. There's no one on their left or right. They need cover, and the area a bit across is filled with thick trees and brambles.
"We head over that way," she commands. Lionkit is too mouse-brained to direct them, and Jaykit doesn't have the confidence, so it's up to her. It's practice for when she gets an apprentice.
Lionkit breaks her daydream by purring, "Let's go!" He dashes across the scented trail. She and Jaykit have no choice but to give hot pursuit into the underbrush, where a bramble thicket awaits them.
The air clears up without Thunderclan scents, but Hollykit is too busy trying to avoid thorns in her fur to appreciate the clean air. Jaykit's sixth sense protects himself, and Lionkit's fur is thorn-proof, which means she gets the short stick. Stuck in the rear, she has no choice but to follow blindly.
The familiar rumble of Stormfur's yowl draws her attention. Still, Jaykit is the fastest on the mouse again. "Get down," he hisses. Hollykit and Lionkit drop into dirty foliage with a heavy thump. The sound feels like a thunderclap to her. For a moment, Hollykit can hear her heartbeat and wonders if this is where they get caught. All of their ambitions for nothing.
"They're coming this way!"
Hollykit notices the thick holly bush nearby just in time and, giving a quick thanks to her namesake, meows, "Under that holly bush now." Lionkit is already heading for it, and Hollykit boots her brother from behind to get him to start moving. The bush is low to the ground, and her brothers hiss and whine as they crawl under. Hollykit curls her whiskers, pushing through the rough leaves.
Stormfur is frighteningly close when he calls out to Brook, and Hollykit sees her apprenticeship flash before her eyes. She shushes her brothers, who can't keep still in the holly bush, and Hollykit thinks they're done for when Stormfur's pelt brushes against the holly bush they're hiding under. Jaykit closes his eyes, and Hollykit curses herself for being mouse-brained enough to go on this adventure.
"There's no fox here. Come on; let's be quick!" Stormfur urges Brook. "Then we can head back and patrol the top of the hollow." The warrior turns away, paw steps fading, and all three of them let go of a massive breath.
Great Starclan!
"Everyone get out. Lionkit's tail is in my whiskers," whispers Jaykit.
"Let's," Hollykit replies. Lionkit gives his confirmation.
They follow Jaykit's nose, which is particularly sensitive to the fresh wind from the lake and potential foxes. The undergrowth grows denser, and bracken becomes more common. The sensation becomes one of itchiness and twisted whiskers. She didn't imagine her first adventure going like this.
Her brothers boast about fitting underneath a tight clump of bracken when she sees potential. Their small size lets them access areas warriors can only dream of, and Hollykit urges them to slide on through.
The scent of Thornclaw's patrol stops them under the sycamore tree, where they take cover in a hole formed from roots. She knows that the dead fox must be nearby with the heavy patrols. "We're heading in the right direction," she whispers, getting a nod from Jaykit.
"The Sky Oak must be over there," Lionkit mews, pointing his head northward. Hollykit can't resist the temptation to take a peak in that direction.
"Focus! Any patrols?" hisses Jaykit.
Hollykit's ears pivot forward, and she meows a quick "listen." She can hear the thrashing of some creature and birdsong from above, and it feels hopeless. Her nose picks up something more useful. It's foul.
Jaykit and Lionkit wrinkle their own noses in disgust.
"Can you smell that?" whispers Jaykit, but Lionpaw only shakes his head in response, sticking his tongue out immaturely. Useful.
"It has to be the dead fox!" she guesses. "The trap is nearby."
"Can you see the fox?" Jaykit asks.
She wiggles her way a bit forward and peeks her head out from the sycamore. At first, it's hard to make out, but her eyes find purchases on the corpse. The dead fox lies under the Sky Oak, stench and all, and she makes out Thornclaw's patrol beyond that by recognizing their scents.
"We've found her. The fox mother is dead. Jaykit, you think Thornclaw's patrol has the right idea?" she meows, looking back at her brothers.
"Wrong direction," Jaykit hisses, nose and whiskers curling to take the smell, but he refers to Thornclaw's patrol. "I can smell the milk-scent, and the fox mother came past this tree heading in the opposite direction."
"We have the milk-scent then," whispers Lionkit.
"Let's follow it. It will lead us to the cubs," says Hollykit as she wiggles back into their hole.
They turn, excitement in their pelts, and follow the trail away from Thornclaw's patrol. Hollykit falls into an excited haze. This is what she is meant to do; her family's legacy is before her, and the moments begin to blur together in the search for the fox cubs. Jaykit leads them until they meet a dense clump of brambles. Jaykit suggests going around, but Lionkit mentions that they must maintain cover. Hollykit is the one to volunteer to dig a way through, and it's with great relief that Jaykit picks the milk-scent back up on the other side.
The path takes them on a trip through sparse trees and sunlight. Jaykit mentions that the milk scent is growing stronger, and he's right. Hollykit can now smell the milk scent if barely and quietly thanks her brother for joining them. Their journey is worth it when Hollykit spies the shielded bracken. She pushes her brothers down, as quietly as possible, and assesses.
"Wait here. I'll look down the hole to see if we've found the cubs," she whispers.
"Why?" Lionkit mews back.
Hollykit lightly hisses at him. "Bee-brain. Be quiet!"
Lionkit looks down bashfully.
At a low whisper, she adds, "Wait while I take a look inside the bracken! If all three of us barge in, the cubs will know something is up, and we'll lose the element of surprise."
"My gold pelt will blend better with the bracken than yours," Lionkit points out, once again forgetting to whisper. Hollykit shushes him with her tail and reprimands herself internally because he has a good point.
"What about me?" Jaykit mews, agitated again. He doesn't like being left out.
"We won't start the attack without you," she promises, looking at Jaykit. "But Lionkit needs to find a way in first."
For a moment, Hollykit thinks Jaykit might disagree and ruin their whole mission, but then he quiets down and sends his acknowledgment with a curl in the tail. Lionkit scuttles out from the bracken while Hollkit settles down while hiding. Everything is under control. Hollykit will be named Hollypaw by the end of the sunrise. Firestar will call them heroes.
It feels like ages, but Lionkit eventually returns with news.
"There's a smaller escape route on the far back end of the stump. It seems like an amazing place to attack," Lionkit whispers, shaking leaves from his fur. He almost skips across the forest floor in excitement.
"Are the cubs inside?" Jaykit asks, conjuring images of them heading inside only to be caught unaware as the cubs return to their den.
"They're crying for food in there."
"They're young then," Hollykit guesses. "If they haven't left the den yet."
"We should flush them out by entering the escape passage," Lionkit proposes, but he's impatient. "We'll have the element of surprise, and then we can chase them across the border. Any border."
"I'm not sure…" before Hollykit can finish her response, Lionkit's patience runs out, and he bolts into the bracken with a call for help. The mouse brain is going to get them killed. She and Jaykit have no choice but to follow. The slope bends upwards, and Hollykit sees the leaf-covered mound from here.
The escape route that Lionpaw shows off is no bigger than a rabbit hole. Hollykit gasps in surprise, but their conversation is cut short when Thornclaw's yowl sounds nearby. The warrior patrol has given up searching the bracken near the dead fox mother and is heading in their direction.
"Hurry!" Lionkit hisses. "Or Thornclaw will catch us!"
Hollykit's paws and legs are struck with sleeping needles, and her vision contracts. Lionkit enters the fox burrow, and his entrance washes away her lethargic limbs. With Kaykit behind her, they descend.
Small and tight, the tunnel steals her breath. The darkness and smell feel suffocating, but Hollykit's musings are cut short when Lionkit begins to spit ferociously, and she answers with a vicious growl from the bottom of her lungs. Lionkit spots the fox cubs, but when the fox cubs scramble to attention, all courage leaves them as she gets her first good look at a fox.
They're much, much bigger than she imagined. She's about to wail, but Lionkit beats her to it: "They're huge!" Like a routing patrol, panic takes all three of them.
"Let's get out of here!" Jaykit screeches from behind her.
The tunnels' tight turn is frantic, but they turn around and bolt up their escape path. Fox breath blasts her tail, and she realizes things have gone terribly wrong. One fox cub nips her tail as she bursts out of the hole, and there's a flash of pain. The tip of her tail feels hot and wet.
The three immediately split in different directions before Hollykit can decide it's a bad idea, and then the race is off. Two fox cubs choose her in hot pursuit, and she has no idea where the warrior patrol is now. Hollykit kicks up leaves and gets a satisfying hiss from her pursuers. She has long legs compared to her other nursery mates and gains ground.
She's going to be okay. She only hopes she can say the same for her brothers.
Then she accidentally shoulder-checks a tree. Her paws temporarily leave the ground, and throbbing pain fills her left shoulder. She skids across rotten leaves and pine cones and, momentarily, loses control of her balance as the fox cubs draw near.
Panic fills her. Things have gotten out of control.
"Help!" she screeches. Her throat feels raw, but she yowls again: "We need help!"
Something rustles in the nearby bushes, and Hollykit screams, thinking the foxes have snuck around her. She's going to die, and searing pain strikes her head.
Something changes inside her instead.
Thornclaw's patrol shoots out from the nearby bracken, yowling a war cry, and intercepts the fox cubs as they barrel toward her. Her eyes widen from their approach, and an invisible thread that Hollykit can feel and see shoots out. Her body hits the dirt and rolls.
"Protect Hollykit! Find Jaykit and Lionkit! Bury those fox cubs!" Thornclaw's patrol buries the fox cubs in a pile of seasoned warriors.
She's alive enough to watch.
The patrol strikes down on the fox cub like the wrath of Starclan, raining down devastating blows until the cubs go still. It's done with casual ease and warrior discipline that Hollykit will not be capable of for moons. In the aftermath, Thornclaw sends out a search party for Lionkit and Jaykit.
Hollykit realizes she should probably be more concerned about her brothers. Still, at that moment, she can only focus on the nigh-invisible thread of light that connects her to Thornclaw.
What have I done?
Cold anger flows through her, and she snorts. She buries it and focuses on other things - like their situation.
"What's got your tail in a twist?" Lionkit snaps out. She apparently fails to hide her anger successfully. Her reply is sharp and snappish.
"If Jaykit hadn't been such a flea-brain and decided to throw himself off a cliff, we wouldn't have been in half as much trouble," Hollykit retorts and immediately feels shame. Her brother is injured in Leafpool's den, and she's making snippy comments. "Sorry, it's been a long sunrise, and I'm agitated."
Thornclaw dumps them in front of the nursery when he returns to camp. Jaykit is unconscious and bleeding from the fall at the bottom of the stone hollow. Hollykit feels she has to do something, but Cloudtail escorts them away from Jaykit while Leafpool carries her limp, corpse-like brother to the medicine den. Her punishment for the adventure feels trite compared to Jaykit's lifeless form.
The thread of light, attaching her to Thornclaw, takes up her whole vision.
Between her forehead, a thread of light connects her to Thornclaw, latching onto his mind. It looks like something from Starclan, a great tree branch of light connecting to her Clanmate that could be confused for a spider's web. Seeing it, feeling it, makes her feel mouse-brained.
Can I use this?
Hollykit tugs on an unknown muscle, and she feels something shift. There's a visible pulse down the invisible thread, heading towards Thornclaw, and Hollykit feels something change. She holds her breath in suspense.
Thornclaw blinks.
Right, like I expected something to happen. When squirrels fly.
Something in her head, too, lurks in the back of her mind between her ears. The lightest feather, itching to be used, a pool of water needing to be drunk. It's unlike any sensation.
She needs to figure out what it does.
"We shouldn't have brought him with us. We had bees for brains," Lionkit meows from beside her. Jaykit helped find the fox cubs, and their chase led them to Thornclaw's patrol.
"Jaykit would have been a nightmare if we hadn't brought him along," she spits. Without Jaykit, they probably wouldn't have found the milk scent and would have gotten lost. She would've gotten nowhere. He had been excited to hunt down the fox cubs!
Jaykit is injured. She had to focus on that.
None of them should have gone.
"We shouldn't have gone. All we did was break the Warrior Code." The realization sweeps through her with the confession to Lionkit.
"I wish you had realized that earlier," rings out Firestar's voice. He approaches them from the front, flanked by an angry Brambleclaw and a disappointed Squirrelflight. Hollykit feels a scowl flood her face and a sense of indignity flush through her paws.
"We were just trying to help the Clan!" Hollykit meows up at her grandfather.
"Then do as you are told!" Firestar growls, temper already short. This is not the same cat who used to tell her stories in the nursery and Hollykit gulps. Firestar is always to be respected.
"We had it handled! Finding those fox cubs was easier than swatting a mouse," Lionkit retorts, tone brimming with confidence and slight humor. Hollykit takes comfort that she at least has Lionkit on her side.
"What would you have done if Jaykit had died? Would that have helped the Clan?" Firestar's tone rips Lionkit's grin off his whiskers. Lionkit bows his head, and Hollykit follows his example.
Firestar presses on. "You almost led the fox cubs straight into her camp and gave them a scent trail. If Thornclaws patrol had not intercepted them, we would have had dangerous foxes on our territory."
"I'm sorry," Hollykit whispers.
"We thought if we could find the foxes…." Lionkit began.
"If you thought at all, we wouldn't have an injured kit in our nursery, and warrior patrols would have dealt with the foxes conventionally." Firestar lashes his tail angrily, snorts air through his nose, and then sighs. "I suppose I am to blame for filling your heads-up stories. This situation would be entirely different if not for Thornclaw's patrol."
Squirrelflight, rubbing patterns into the dirt with her paws, opens her mouth to speak, glancing over to her father for permission. Firestar gestures at her, and then she says: "I'm so disappointed in you both!"
Hollykit's heart is raked over by claws.
"Hey! We didn't force Jaykit to come with us! What about him?" Lionkit objects.
"Jaykit will be spoken to when he's recovered from his injuries," Brambleclaw meows. "For the moment, you two are what concerns us. You have no more sense than hatchling chicks."
"Are you going to stop us from becoming apprentices?" Lionkit asks in a voice far too small for him.
Hollykit's breath catches in her throat, the unfairness of it all bubbling like hot acid in her lungs, and the well inside her mind answers. Threads of light pulse through the air, attaching themselves to her parents and Firestar, and the pincing pain in her head follows. She twitches, falling forward before quickly catching herself, though not quickly enough to stop Squirrelflight from noticing.
"Are you okay, Hollykit?" Squirrelflight whispers.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replies, delicately hiding her pain.
I am not fine.
"I feel as if you three deserve the benefit of the doubt," Brambleclaw meows. "But the decision is Firestars."
Thunderclan's leader nods, whisker's curling, before narrowing his eyes. "I will decide later," he meows. "Head back to the nursery. Ferncloud and Daisy will take care of you. I want you to be with them at all times. If you can't stay in one place, you are not ready to be an apprentice."
Lionkit paws his chest and raises his voice, "We promise we won't wander off again."
"Hollykit?"
"I won't do anything that would stop me from becoming an apprentice," she vows while tugging on her gift - the thread of light connecting her to Firestar glimmering. Power floods through them, pushing through into Firestar.
Firestar seemingly relaxes on her words. "I hope you have all learned something today. Despite your attempt at heroics, true warriors consider their Clan's safety before anything else." He turns, padding away to share tongues with Brackenfur and Sorreltail.
The Clan's safety is what they were trying to achieve! She angrily tugs on Firestar's thread and gets an ear flick from him.
"We're sorry," Lionkit meows.
"Hollykit?" Squirrelflight asks. Mom's and Dad's eyes peel over to her, shifting the strands of light in Hollykit's vision and making her machinations even more obvious to her. It's crazy to look at.
Hollykit blinks and mentally shakes off the distraction. "Yes, we're sorry."
Squirreflight sighs with her posture relaxing, but Dad narrows his eyes. "You don't seem sorry currently," Brambleclaw meows. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. And I am sorry," Hollykit meows, meaning every word. Cooled anger from their failure to help the Clan stands no chance against the worries about her injured brother and the scalding disappointment of her parents. "I guess I'm just worried about Jaykit."
"Jaykit will have to stay in the nursery too, right?" speaks Lionkit.
"He'll stay with Leafpool until he's recovered," Squirrelflight tells him. "He'll rejoin you then." Her unspoken comment being that there might not be a naming ceremony.
"Will he be recovered for the naming ceremony?" she mews.
"Badgers might fly before we get a naming ceremony," Lionkit snorts but then winces awkwardly toward Mom and Dad. It's not a wise comment, and he knows it.
Squirreflight's tail twitches violently, looking like her namesake. "You know your brother can't become a full apprentice," she purrs sadly but resolutely.
"What do you mean?" Hollykit asks in disbelief.
She can't possibly mean what she's implying.
"It's impossible to have a blind warrior…." Brambleclaw speaks up, but he doesn't get to finish as Hollykit turns on him, fury in her paws.
The thread between them pulses, the cord growing stronger. Hollykit pushes past the ensuing headache and speaks her mind. With her speech, the cord pulses, doing something.
"No, it wouldn't!" she spits. "Jaykit has a better nose and ears than any three of us. We wouldn't have found the milk scent if it wasn't for him!" She turns to Lionkit for support, and then he's beside her, staring upwards at Brambleclaw. "He can see the world just as well as us!"
Please agree with me.
Brambleclaw looks taken aback. Brambleclaw and Squirreflight exchange tense glances, and just when she thinks they're about to disagree, he speaks, "I suppose it is worth an attempt. I'll see about bringing it up with Firestar." Surprise covers Squirrelflight's whiskers, but she smiles after a moment's pause.
"Yes! We're gonna be apprentices together!" Hollykit cheers, unable to stop the jump in her paws. Lionkit's got a big goofy smile on, and her joy is infectious.
Brambleclaw rolls his eyes at them before deciding the conversation is over and joining one of the incoming patrols. Hollykit is too excited to care. With only her mother remaining, Hollykit meows, "We'll make it up to the Clan!"
"I know you will," Squirreflight assures, then she frowns. "Lionkit, why don't you go visit Jaykit while Hollykit gets some rest. Jaykit would enjoy company, and Hollykit looks dead on her paws."
Do I really look that terrible?
The adrenaline fades, and the headache hits her a moment later. Before she can contemplate what she's done, the dizziness hits. All of a sudden, the nursery sounds like a great idea. "Right, right. That sounds like a great idea. Maybe I am feeling a little off."
Lionkit gives her a quick hug, his already larger frame squishing her. "I'll tell Jaykit you said hi!" he meows excitedly, but Hollykit is too tired to care.
She reaches the nursery and dreams of darkness.
She comes to later with her oaf of a brother plumping beside her in a heap. She blinks eye gunk from her eyes, and when that fails, she rubs her face with sore paws. That effort alone feels almost impossible as if Starclan sucks all her energy from her body.
"What are you doing?" she groans. "I'm trying to get some shut-eye."
"Sorry, Jaykit and I got carried away. It's getting late now, and I've been stuck in Leafpool's stuffy den for a while. Not sure how Jaykit handles it," he meows. He kicks moss from the bed, and Hollykit curses him under her breath.
He's right about how late it is. The sunrise ends with the first signs of dusk cast over the camp. Everyone is winding down from the excitement of the sunrise, excluding the warriors tasked with the evening vigil. Hollykit groans and tucks herself tighter into her brother's coat. His lion-like mane, for which he has his namesake, is helpful for something. Any bit of warmth is helpful during the moonrise. The nursery beds are tiny, and for that reason, Hollykit can't wait to move into the apprentice den.
"Hmm hmmm hmm hmmm hm hm hm hmmmm.."Lionkit hums.
Why does he have to be such a pain in the tail?
"Can you stop! I'm trying to sleep," she hisses. She didn't need Lionkit's terrible singing disturbing her sleep.
Lionkit stops, pulling his ears back. "Sorry, I was just bored. I've got too much energy to sleep!"
Hollykit rolls her eyes, ignoring Lionkit's cough of indignation.
She isn't going to get any more sleep this moonrise. Her brother's energy is nearly limitless. Partly rolling and partly shuffling, she turns herself to face her brother in the shared nest. "You can be a bigger nuisance than a badger," she meows. "Beetle-brain."
Lionkit just stuck his tongue out in response.
"At least I'm not the one as clumsy as a fish out of water," he meows with a whiskered grin. "I overheard about your big old tumble earlier today from Thornclaw."
Hollykit tries unsuccessfully to stick her nose up in the air while lying down. "That's a load of badger-droppings. I did no such thing!" He was in for it now.
"Furball!"
"Flea-brain!"
"Foxbreath!"
"Mouse-brain!"
"Hare-brain!"
"Smart-ears!"
"Dungface!"
"Crowfood…"
"Can you two quiet down!" hisses Ferncloud, her nest nearby. Their friendly bickering disturbing her slumber.
Hollykit and Lionkit's eyes widen, shushing each other and quieting down. Ferncloud purrs her thanks, and they can only hear the dying rustling of the camp and their own breathing for a while. There's a hoot from an owl, and the two spot an antsy Spiderleg making his way to the Warriors' den not too inconspicuously with their peeking eyes.
Lionkit finally breaks the silence.
"Do you think she's back asleep?" he whispers, their noses almost touching.
"Probably." With Ferncloud silent, Hollykit takes the chance to shuffle in her moss nest to view the sleeping queen. Her second mother since Squirrelflight had left.
"Cool. Are you alright from earlier? I meant to ask, but you know? I got kinda distracted with everything, and then…." Lionkit meanders, rambling, his mew a soft whisper. Hollykit has to interrupt him.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just had a slight headache that's gone now and a sore shoulder. Tail's good," she whispers back. "I… I did something earlier, and I'm gonna sound like a bee-brain when explaining it." Someone had to know about her invisible strand powers. If only to confirm that she wasn't going to see hedgehogs flying.
Lionkit blinks, completely unfazed. "Okay? I promise on my whiskers that I won't tell anyone if you sound like you've got a fur-brain."
"I can connect invisible strands to cats. I'm the only one that can see them," Hollykit whispers, tucking her head closer to his. "I'm not sure if they even do anything, but if I use it too much, it hurts my head."
Lionkit's eyes widen, and he believes her immediately. He's a mouse-brain. "Do me! Connect one to me. I'll see if they do anything." A big, goofy smile appears on his whiskers and snout.
"Okay, okay," she whispers, glad her brother has her back. "Quiet down before you wake everyone up."
Lionkit sucks in air. Blowing up his face like a mad squirrel stuffing its face with nuts. Hollykit tries to ignore his antics, focusing instead on herself. The light feather touch in the back of her mind remains, and she dips into the refreshed pool. Had sleeping helped her recover? Did it make the pool larger?
With a now familiar mental tug, a strand shoots toward her brother. The invisible aether stretches and expands faster than any sprinting warrior. A senseless sixth sense, an intangible muscle, a sensation she couldn't possibly describe.
It hits Lionkit in the head and bounces. There's a flash of similar energy within her brother, reflecting her power and her own strands bounce back, disappearing in the air until the energy returns to her. Hollykit isn't sure what to make of it.
"It didn't work. It's like it bounced off of you," she meows.
"Bounced?" Lionkit responds, raising his whiskers.
"Yeah, it bounced. I guess it usually just attaches itself to the target. Maybe it just doesn't like you?" Hollykit replies jokingly, trying to hide her disappointment and relief.
Lionkit snorts and nods towards Foxkit nearby. "Try it on Foxkit."
Another mental tug and she has a strand on Foxkit. Ethereal light connects them together. "It's on Foxkit now," she whispers to Lionkit. "I don't know if it does anything. Do you see anything?"
Lionkit turns, and his eyeballs will pop out of his skull with how intently he stares into the space separating Hollykit from Foxkit. He narrows his eyes to glare at the air, and then when that fails, he opens his eyes as if that will help. He's not even looking at the right spot.
"Mouse-brain. You're not even looking at the right spot!" she whispers at him. "Stop it! You're going embarrass both of us!"
Lionkit nods, looking back at her. He whispers, "Yes, you might be crazy. I can conclude."
"I'm not crazy! It's like an invisible web, but I can see it. And it does stuff. I'll prove it to you!" she whispers back, her voice rising in agitation.
Lionkit looks back at her with the first hint of concern. "Wait, who knows what it could do if it is real? You could hurt yourself!"
She isn't listening. Hollykit pushes and pushes hard. The pool inside her mind drains, and the string strengthens; a thick energy pulse ripples down the thread.
Do something! Wake up, Foxkit, and tell my brother I'm not crazy!
Foxkit stirs, grumbling a sight for sore eyes as he smashes his face with his paws. "Hollykit isn't crazy, Lionkit," he laments in a half moan. "Let me sleep… please."
Foxkit tumbles back into a deep sleep, but Hollykit is too busy tasting victory to care. Jaykit has a great nose and ears, and Lionkit has his muscles, but she has mind-control. She can mind-control cats.
Imagine what I could do with this gift.
"That is so cool," whispers Lionkit.
Hollykit has to physically calm herself down. She feels jittery through her fur from the excitement. Lying down in bed side by side with her brother, all the troubles of the sunrise are washed away with her potential and gift. It's a sign.
"Yeah, it is pretty cool," she admits. If she says anything else, she might lose control of herself. She doesn't know why she was chosen for this gift and not her brothers, but she has a responsibility now. She can't just go around mind-controlling cats at will. The Warrior Code doesn't say anything about mind control, but she's sure it has to break some rule that she isn't aware of yet. Her gift will only be used as a last resort until she figures out what to do with it.
"It has to be a gift from Starclan, right?" Lionkit meows, "You should mind control Sandstorm into giving you more food from the fresh-kill pile or something."
"Of course, it has to be a gift from Starclan! Who else has that kind of power?" she replies hotly. "Sandstorm is our grandmother! I'm not gonna use my powers for food. That would be against the Warrior Code."
Lionkit huffs. He's silent momentarily, and then, "You figured out you had this gift today, right? During the whole fox thing?"
"Yeah."
Lionkit smirks to himself. She expects a joke, but she gets an earnest compliment instead. "I'm sure you'll do great things one sunrise, sis."
"Thanks," she replies. "Do you think…."
Lionkit closes his eyes and puts on a fake snore. The piece of crowfood.
"Are you serious?" she whispers. "You're going to bed now? There are still so many questions!"
"Duh. It's getting late, and I'm getting tired," he replies, still pretending to be asleep, "We'll figure everything out tomorrow. Your powers aren't going to disappear overnight. Probably. Starclan might be messing with us. You think they mess with the living?"
Hollykit doesn't give him a response. Her oaf of a brother is acting like a fox in a fit.
That thought draws a wince from her remembering the day's events, deciding that he's probably right, and she tries to follow her brother's example. She attempts to fix her nest, moss all tossed about from the events of the sundown, and when that fails, she settles in for a long night.
She hopes Jaykit is okay.
The world grows darker. Owls and other creatures hoot and caw in the distance, and the forest enters the dark hours. Hollykit looks up and realizes it is moonrise. Their discussion went on longer than she thought. Time passes, and Hollykit dreams of what she can do with her new discovery. She imagines herself on the high ledge with her brothers, three warriors, not apprentices. She is the deputy, and the Clan bows to her. Their heroes, exemplars of the Warrior Code, and their deeds become stories. Great battles won, lives saved, a life filled with honor.
The shadows come alive in her imagination. The air grows chillier. She can feel the dirt between her paws and fiddles with her claws as her eyes become increasingly droopy. The light fades.
There is a sharp snap like a twig being stepped on, and then she wakes up in an entirely different place.
"If my blood carries strong in you, you'll find your mentor's teachings lacking," speaks Tigerstar. "By the middle of my apprenticehood, I had surpassed all my Clanmates. I expect my grandkits to do the same."
"Are you offering to train me?" meows Hollykit. Tigerstar sits four rabbit-lengths ahead of her and breathes down her neck. Tigerstar casts his shadow full of bristling dark fur and serrated claws in the darkness. His teeth are fangs, longer than the stories. Tigerstar is Tigerstar, older and grander than she remembers; in comparison, the tabby next to him is a small thing.
Trees spaced in even intervals from each other, the forest is cloaked in the darkness, not of moonlight but of absence. There's thick tree cover, not a speck of rain in seasons, and still the soil is damp. Hollykit tries to push these thoughts away but can't.
"Better," speaks the other tabby. "We're offering you an advantage over your peers. Something beyond what other cats get."
"I don't even know who you are," Hollykit mews back. The other tabby cuts a softer figure, more roguish with a hint of typical Riverclan beauty.
The tabby pulls his ears back as if he is abashed. "My apologies. I'm Hawkfrost. I was your father's brother before my untimely death. Here at Starclan, we offer training to future warriors with the most potential. As my niece, I hope that we have the chance to bond properly." Hawkfrost meows, and Hollykit lets Hawkfrost pass through her mind like water through a stream. She has an uncle that her father had never told her about, and — Tigerstar shifts, muscles visibly shifting beneath his massive coat, and she swears she sees faint blood on his paws.
Tigerstar broke Thunderclan first. Then, when spit out, he crawled to Shadowclan, barely standing from Brokenstar, and broke them, too. Leopardstar came to him, thinking she could use him, but by the time Tigerstar was done with Riverclan, the rivers had been bloody for a long time.
Firestar had told her stories about Tigerstar. He had been the only one willing to do so. Everyone else had simply been too scared.
"I don't have bees for brains. You're both code breakers. Brambleclaw never mentioned a brother either," she meows back.
Hawkfrost is about to speak up when Tigerstar taps him over the back with this tail. Hawkfrost quiets down real quick. Tigerstar speaks, "My time upon the Clans is over. All that is left to nurture my legacy, which is quickly dying. You and your brothers are the last of my kind. I have no aspirations for destruction anymore. " A snarl flickers over his face that he can't conceal. "Know that Brambleclaw was always foolish and that your Grandfather could be short-sighted for all his qualities."
Tigerstar broke the Warrior Code on multiple occasions.
"I'm sorry," Hollykit meows, putting on a brave face. "I guess I'm just not convinced how you can help me."
Something passes over Tigerstar's face that she doesn't recognize. It's as if he measures her, like how one measures prey. Then he smiles, seeing something that she doesn't.
"Hawkfrost, please leave us. I will take it from here." Hawkfrost frowns but then concedes. He steps away from his father, and the forest swallows him up. His steps are long, unnaturally so, before he is gone from her sight. Tigerstar resumes his speech. "You need convincing. Motivation."
Hollykit hisses. "I have plenty! I will be a great warrior of Thunderclan one day. Without your help."
"Great warriors do not have their stories told to kits. No one remembers Lionheart or Redtail, great warriors of their own," Tigerstar meows; he turns, and with his tail, he beckons her. "A warrior requires more than victory. They require deeds. Triumphs beyond anything seen before. For that, I offer a gift."
For a heartbeat, Hollykit hesitates, but the choice is already made up for her. She will be stuck in this horrible place if he leaves without her. She has to follow. If only to figure out what he wants.
For a minute, there is mutual silence with the air so thick she could cut it with her claws. Her grandfather leads her deeper into the creepy forest. Unlike anything she has seen, the thickest fog rolls out beneath them, reaching the top of their forelegs. She could fall into a hole, and she would have no warning. It's hard to breathe with the rancid, choking air.
She decides to break the silence.
"What kinds of deeds?" she asks. Tigerstar might have been a code breaker, but she knew of him. The queens and elders never liked talking about him; too dark of a legend for even them, but a legend nevertheless to Hollykit.
"When the forest was young. Before Starclan. The honorable Clan founders carved great swathes of territory from the rogues and loners that infested the old forest territories. They founded the Clans on bloodshed and war, so we are called warriors and devote our lives to the art of war," he speaks.
There's a pull on the world around them that she can feel in her bones, done on Tigerstar's will. The forest around them shifts. It's barely noticeable with the landscape's similarity, but Hollykit knows they're somewhere else now.
Is this how they travel around?
Tigerstar doesn't mention it and only continues speaking. "Firestar united the Clans as the mythical Lionclan to defeat the invincible Bloodclan. Your grandfather changed the Clans forever. Ancient Moonfang led her Shadowclan patrol against five foxes and slew them all. In even older times, Hedgetail of Windclan fought and killed her first badger as an apprentice while stuck underground. Grey Wing the Wise, the greatest war mind the Clans have ever seen, who walked amongst the founders. And as much as I hate to admit it, your father and mother were responsible for finding the new lands that the Clans now rest on."
The fog pulls out from under her feet, and she can now see they're on a steep incline. The earth pulls upwards, and she has problems finding traction as the dirt is loose and crumbly. Her paws snag on a sharp rock, and Hollykit feels a slight cut on her right paw pad. She pushes through the pain - her heart is in her throat, and her mouth feels dry. She's on the precipice.
She feels the energy pool she knows represents her mind control power in the back of her head. Without her brothers beside her, it becomes a comforting presence.
"These are real deeds. Not the things medicine cats and elders dream of in their beds. You, my granddaughter—" him saying that somehow makes this more real, " —you will need to accomplish something of that magnitude if you wish to be a warrior worthy of your legacy."
The incline ends sharply on a cliff edge. They pull up on it in the last couple of rabbit lengths, and Hollykit feels like a little kit again. Standing under Firestar's shadow and realizing how deep it was despite his kindness. Learning all over again how important she would be in the future.
Tigerstar wants to show her something.
Tigerstar pulls to her left, his face stoic. Hollykit looks out across the cliff's edge and sees. The cliff drops at least three tree-lengths, and from this vantage point, she looks down past the trees to the ground below. Her eyes glance right and then left. The world stretches on and on until it goes beyond her sight. Things writhe on the ground - black shades the size of cats, and Hollykit loses count of their number as they meld into a blob.
Other cats like Tigerstar mill about among the shades. They work - on something that Hollykit doesn't have names for yet, words she may never have. She catches a whiff of her own fear scent. The shades howl as if smelling her fear, and the low reverberating hum stretches from horizon to horizon. The noise must be the deafening sound of the forest coming to an end.
Finally, Hollykit looks upward past the treeline and sees infinite blackness. The sun, moon, and stars are gone. She has no idea where she is, but she is beyond Starclan's light.
She looks down.
She doesn't know what she's looking at, but it is beyond her and anything she has ever known…
"This Hollykit is the beginning of an army. To retake what is rightfully ours from the Clans who have decided to settle for softness and kindness. Weak virtues unbefitting of a warrior," Tigerstar meows, all pretense of this being Starclan gone. "I offer this legacy. The remaking of the Clans into something glorious like our ancestors would have wanted if they had the skill and heart."
…But it has to be stopped.
"There is more in this world than you could ever imagine. Let us teach you, granddaughter," meows Tigerstar, who has turned to look her right in the eyes.
Her grandfather is beyond dangerous, but Starclan has just given her powers. He would seek to unravel the Clans and the Warrior Code and destroy everything Firestar had worked towards. Now, she is the only one who knows of this army. She may be the only one capable of doing anything. Is this what she was meant to do?
Did Starclan know of this?
With spittle on her lips, she gives her answer.
A/N: The Moments is a finished, pre-written story. It follows Hollyleaf from kithood to her time of death. It uses elements from canon while including alternate-universe (AU) additions. The Moments has graphic depictions of violence, death, gratuitous blood, off-screen sex, an unreliable narrator, and Hollykit's terrible decisions. Knowledge of the Power of Three books is expected, but the story will show all other AU changes. Chapters will be posted weekly with a mirror on Ao3 every Saturday at 8:00pm PDT, pending unexpected real-life interruptions.
Reviews and criticism are welcome. Reviews will not be responded to in chapter, but PMs will be answered, time permitting. Be warned, it's hard to stop me once you get me talking.