Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors. Erin Hunter does.
Once the pair reached the inside of the camp, Ravenflight was the first cat they saw. The younger warrior perked up when seeing Bluestar, but at the same time, his fur was bristling with unease and as he walked towards his leader his steps were jerky and hesitant.
"Bluestar. I need to speak with you, it's about journeying to find WindClan. I...I'm grateful that chose me, but...I don't want to go. I can't explain why, but I need to stay here. There's...there's something here that I need to keep watch over. Please, I hope you understand."
The silver-gray molly lifted one paw and placed it back down, narrowing her eyes and looking to Heartseeker who stood silent beside her. Getting no help there, Bluestar opened her mouth, ready to retort. But then she remembered the peace in ShadowClan and closed her eyes. "That is...unfortunate, but if you feel you are needed more in ThunderClan, then I will allow it. You can stay. Thank you for telling me, Ravenflight."
The black tom tilted his head, staying still as if waiting for more but when nothing more was said, he dipped hid head and backed away. He didn't think that Bluestar would allow him to back out just like that. "Thank you, Bluestar. I'll work extra hard to make up for this!"
He then raced off through the thorn barrier, either to hunt or to do a solo patrol, it was not known. Heartseeker let the moment go a little longer before turning to Bluestar. "You handled that well."
Bluestar let out a sigh and shook herself, trying to clear her head. "If...I want ThunderClan to regain its lost peace, then it has to start with me. I need to put in the effort as well. Let's just hope that Sandspirit still wishes to go. And you as well."
Heartseeker was about to say something, but then she caught the slight smirk on Bluestar's muzzle and she quickly realized the other was joking. She grinned as well and lightly nudged the leader before following her as she went the medicine den.
Yellowfang was bent over Morningflower, trying to get the emaciated demon to eat, but the molly refused, turning her head away. It was made worse by the fact that all three females could hear the former WindClan cat's belly rumble.
Yellowfang lowered her ears and bared her fangs, pushing a slab of meat closer to Morningflower, who continued to ignore it. Bluestar looked at the meat before noticing how her healer and now Heartseeker was trembling slightly. Yellowfang had even started to grind her teeth to which the WindClan molly still remained unaffected.
"Is that...?" Bluestar leaned in close to Heartseeker but purposefully trailed off, though the tabby only nodded.
Morningflower finally turned to the meat and after leaning in to sniff it, swiped out with her paw to fling it away from her, her hackles raising. "I'm not hungry!" she hissed, glaring as Yellowfang brought the food back and placed it again in front of her.
"Foxdung!" the grizzled healer snarled, stepping close to the younger molly. "I'm not having you die just because you're feeling sorry for yourself! I'll shove the meat down your throat if I have to! I went through too much trouble to get this for you and I won't have my time wasted on a foolish brat like you! Now, eat!" Yellowfang then lunged at Morningflower, taking the meat in her jaws and, true to her word, shoving it down the younger molly's throat.
Despite her sickness and exhaustion, Morningflower managed to rake her claws over Yellowfang's muzzle and toss her away. By now, she unintentionally swallowed the meat and with her sides heaving, she glared at the older molly. Yellowfang remained on her paws and returned the glare only to yowl in fury as the tortoiseshell made herself vomit the meat back up. It was pretty much useless now and forgetting herself, Yellowfang launched herself at the starving molly where they turned into a screeching, clawing knot of dark gray and calico fur.
Bluestar jumped in the fray a second later, but when she did both full demon and half demon turned on her. Each bit hard into the leader's shoulders before pulling away, while their claws dug in deep. Yowling in pain and fury, Bluestar tried to fight back but there was little she could do. Yellowfang was reasonably fed for a Clan demon and had both weight and height aiding her. Morningflower, even starving, was still bigger than Bluestar and doing all she do to tear the normal molly to pieces.
A heavy paw sent Yellowfang reeling and when the world stopped spinning, she found Heartseeker out of her mild trance and looming over her, only to have Bluestar's scream bring their attention away. Morningflower had Bluestar pinned down, her jaws buried in the leader's chest, shearing a piece of meat from her body. Her claws were embedded in Bluestar's belly, any moment move could rip who knows how many lives from the leader before StarClan could close the wounds up. Morningflower's eyes were also hollow, devoid of any light but Yellowfang knew better. Despite how the tortoiseshell acted, the healer could sense the deep hunger within, the demon within her had now taken over and was only interested in staying alive.
Just like before when the demons and half demons of WindClan was pushed to the brink and ate their Clanmates. Heartseeker seemed to understand this too and though she was angry, caution and patience was the only way to save Bluestar's life.
"Morningflower...Morningflower can you hear me?" Heartseeker's voice was soft was she walked over to the smaller female, who only looked at her and lowered her body over Bluestar, who groaned in pain as Morningflower yanked her fangs out of her to glare at Heartseeker, as if she was going to take her kill away.
"No, Morningflower, I'm not here to steal your...kill but you can't eat her! Please...don't make the same mistake twice!"
That seemed to break through to Morningflower and she slowly moved away from Bluestar to huddle in a corner of Yellowfang's den. The healer immediately rushed to the stricken molly's side and with the herbs nearby, began to work quickly. Heartseeker only watched for a moment before turning her attention to Morningflower, then a forced gentleness, she coaxed the smaller molly out of the den, out to where some cats were milling about. She happened to nearly bump right into Lionheart and Darkstripe.
The pair was talking quietly to each other but Lionheart looked up when he noticed the scent of blood and zeroed in on it, noticing Morningflower. Darkstripe noticed it too and together the two toms closed the small distance towards Heartseeker.
As they approached, Morningflower hissed quietly though she looked at Darkstripe the whole time, slowly going from hissing to snapping her jaws quietly. Lionheart narrowed his eyes and moved to stand in front of the smaller tom, looking down at Morningflower, the sliver of yellow covering the bottom half of left eye was unmistakably and seeing that, the half demon recoiled back, fear starting to shine in her eyes as her head whipped back and forth between the two full bloodied demons.
"She attacked Bluestar, tore a chuck out of her. We found her refusing to eat. Yellowfang must have been trying since she arrived here, you can smell how hungry she is. Yellowfang lost her patience and jumped on her, forcing the meat in her mouth. When Morningflower retched it back up, Yellowfang attacked her. Then Bluestar got involved and well, I believe that Morningflower's demon side took over and made her attack and start to eat Bluestar. As you can see, I managed to get her off but now..."
"Now we have a starving half-demon at our paws." Lionheart finished roughly, still glaring at the cringing molly. He stooped to touch his nose to her forehead and she flinched, not knowing what to expect.
"She needs food, now. When Yellowfang tried to feed her, was the meat fresh?" He didn't have to ask what the meat was, he was able to smell it on her breath, along with Bluestar's scent.
"From the smell, yes. But it was a small piece, I"m guessing Yellowfang wanted to feed her slowly but..."
Lionheart closed his eyes and looked away from Morningflower, towards the sky that had dark clouds starting to form. "She's needs something bigger. A whole cat, maybe two. Heartseeker, stay with her. I'll go and catch something for her. I'll take Tigerclaw too, we'll have to hurry."
"But Lionheart..." Darkstripe gently grabbed onto the leaving warrior's scruff, looking him in the eyes for as long as he could when the bigger male faced him. Lionheart turned back to him and pressed his forehead to Darkstripe's, purring in an effort to calm him.
"I'll be fine, be back before you know it. Just, stay safe while I'm gone."
Darkstripe nodded though looked uneasily at Morningflower. "It's not me I'm worried about,"
Lionheart spared a quick glance at the hungry molly before nodding. He then licked Darkstripe's forehead then started heading for the camp entrance, calling to Tigerclaw who was sitting by the elder's den.
The big warrior got up with no hesitation to join Lionheart who quickly filled him in as they left together. Darkstripe watched them go before looking over at Morningflower then Heartseeker. But he soon noticed that the tabby molly was looking back into the medicine den, where she could just make out Yellowfang crouching over Bluestar.
"She'll be okay, Bluestar is strong."
"No, this is the third time that he has been attacked by demons."
Darkstripe perked up at that yet before he could ask about it, Heartseeker went on.
"Sandspirit told me about their trip to the Moonstone. She was slowly starting to get better, but now...'m afraid that she turn her back completely and never give us another chance. There's only so many times one can be hurt by a group before they say enough is enough."
"I don't know what will happen. All we can do is...hope." Darkstripe replied, though he knew that that would be hollow given what just happened.
Heartseeker huffed and sat down, waiting for Lionheart and Tigerclaw to return, though she didn't have that long to wait. After about an hour, the two toms returned, both with cats hanging from their jaws. However, they stayed by the thorn barrier, perhaps to avoid creating a scene and getting that, Heartseeker bullied Morningflower to her feet and pushed her towards the males and the slain cats.
It didn't take long for the half-demon to jump on one of the offered cats, gulping it down frantically and reducing the first cat to a pile of bones before half consuming the other. After Morningflower was sated, she tottered away a few steps and curled up to sleep, not even bothering with washing the blood from her fur. Heartseeker sighed at that before looking to Lionheart who dipped his head to her.
"We'll keep an eye on her, go to Bluestar." The tabby molly needed no second bidding before she quickly turned and headed for Yellowfang's den, barging inside and settling close to the now unconsious leader and licking her fur.
Yellowfang snorted when this all happened but she was pretty much done treating Bluestar, so allowed it. She stepped outside to give the pair some peace before looking to the sky, wondering what would happen next.
XxXx
Heartseeker laid curled around Bluestar the whole time the leader was unconscious. She dozed and woke at least twice to see that the silver-gray molly remained inert. Heartseeker licked her forehead and tried muttering softly to her, hoping that that would wake her, but Bluestar never stirred.
When night fell and the moon came up, Heartseeker finally reached out to Yellowfang and asked her if Bluestar had died. The gray demon only shook her head, her eyes softening as she saw the clear worry coming from the younger female.
"No, Bluestar still lives. She just took a lot more damage than it looks. But I believe she will wake up soon."
As she spoke, Bluestar began to slowly open her eyes and stiffly picked up her head. Heartseeker chirped softly and gently coaxed the leader to settle back down, which she did with no protest.
"Heart...seeker...how long...?"
"Hush, later. For now save your strength, I'm just glad you're alive. Thank the Firstborn!"
"Morningflower...?"
"Taken care of, possibly guarded by Tigerclaw and Lionheart. Shall I kill her, for what she did to you?"
Bluestar immediately shook her head at that, though winced at the action. "No! She was suffering! While I'm not happy with almost becoming a demon's meal...again, I realize that she didn't do it to be cruel. I think I have an idea, I can see that it is time for you travelers to head out to Fourtrees. I can't make the journey with you, but I will be with you in spirit. Take Morningflower with you, I'm sure she would want to be there when you find her Clan. And I'm sure she would feel horrible about what she did the longer she stays here."
Heartseeker heaved a great sigh at Bluestar's words but saw the sense in it. They talked for a few more minutes before Heartseeker went to gather Sandspirit, having been told that Ravenflight wished to stay. When she came back with the younger molly, Yellowfang had already prepared traveling herbs for them. And for Morningflower as well.
"Take that molly as far away from her as you can go! She was one of the most agravating patients I've ever had to deal with!" the healer grumbled, shoving the WindClan cat's share of herbs towards them.
Swiping her tongue over her lips, Sandspirit looked at Heartseker and nodded to her. "Come on, let's go find WindClan!"
Together, they walked towards the entrance where Morningflower was waiting. And Firepaw was standing a small distance away. While Heartseeker rather roughly gave the WindClan molly her herbs and filled her in, Sandspirit and Firepaw touched noses, and looked deeply into each other's eyes.
"Be safe out there. Promise you'll come back to me." Firepaw muttered softly, pressing her fur against Sandspirit's, who purred and licked Firepaw's cheek. She then smiled at Firepaw, chuckling.
"By the Tails of the Firstborn, I will return to you, Firepaw, or my spirit will fly my dying body! One or the other!"
At Firepaw's surprised stare, Sandspirit grinned and motioned for Heartseeker. "Your sister told me that saying that is scared to you. To say those words means a great deal."
"Yes, it does. Now I know that you will come back. Good hunting, Sandspirit." They stayed together for a little more, heads bent close before Sandspirit had to leave. "Good luck, sister! Take care! Good journey!"
The walk to Fourtress was quiet and somewhat tense, Sandspirit had heard about what Morningflower did to Bluestar and while she felt angry, she couldn't help but feel pity for the other female as well. Still, with her here, they had to rely on one another and they wouldn't be able to do that if they stayed wary of one another. Yet before she could think of anything to say, they had reached Fourtrees.
Clawface and Nightpelt raised their tails in greeting as the trio, though quickly noticed that the third cat was a WindClan cat.
"I've come to see my Clan found and restored." Morningflower said softly, before anyone else could speak.
Nightpelt seemed like he was going to say something but thought better of it and simply turned to his brother. "I know you'll succeed in bringing WindClan back. In doing so, you will show them the honor and will to atone for what the tyrant had done. Stay safe, my brother."
Clawface nodded to Nightpelt, his earlier nervousness gone in the face of this undertaking. He touched his nose to Nightpelt's before turning to climb up Fourtrees, heading to WindClan's territory with the others following. Yet once they reached the plateau, Morningflower took the lead.
It was the first step to finding the lost Clan. The journey had began.
A/N: Annnd here's the newest chapter. Not too much to say expect it finally begins! Who's to say what will happen on the journey? Will they succeed or will the little group succumb to the elements and dangers outside the Clans? Find out next time and as always, enjoy!