This series is not dead! None of my fics are. I am merely atrocious with timing. Ask me what plans I have for other parts of the fic and I've got you covered, but this FOUGHT ME like nobody's business! Then I remembered time-skips are a thing! Huzzah! (Please ask me what I have planned for any of my stories that you like. I will happily share!
ThunderClan confining themselves to camp took a toll on every cat. The warriors split themselves up and posted guards at each entrance someone knew of every night. The cats who did so were to inform the rest of their fellows and be allowed to sleep during the day. It was never the same cat for more than one night.
Meanwhile, hunting patrols went out more frequently, creeping through the territory on silent paws. One cat on patrol stood watching the other's backs while they hunted. Anything that so much as flickered made a cat wary.
Cinderpelt was one of the guards on duty, close to half a moon since they started, the night two of the apprentices snuck out.
"What do you two think you're doing?" She sighed wearily. "You can't possibly both want to go to the dirtplace at the same time."
"Aw foxdung. Forgot about the extra guards. What do you want to do now?" Fernpaw asked Lightpaw.
"We're going on a scouting mission." Lightpaw informed Cinderpelt. "We'll be quick and come right back home, but we figure if we can get a sense of how the dogs move, we might have more reign of our own territory."
"That is… not a terrible idea. But it is for you two. I'll bring it up with the warriors who deal with patrols in the morning. Please go back to sleep."
"You can't stop us!" Fernpaw snapped.
"You're right. Not both of you. Let me get my siblings and we'll figure this out."
"Why should we-?"
Cinderpelt cut Lightpaw off.
"Either you let me get my siblings, or I wake this entire camp up right now and let the mentors deal with you."
The apprentices grumbled an agreement. Cinderpelt hared to the warriors' den, glad for the first time ever that she and her siblings slept by the entrance.
"Wake up!" She hissed, poking Bright, Thorn, and Bracken. "C'mon, we don't have much time! They're probably running away as we speak!"
"Who?" Bracken yawned, clambering to his paws.
Bright popped an eye open and moved when she saw her siblings awake.
"What's going on?" She asked.
"These stupid genius kits have the bright idea to go track the dogs at Snakerocks and see how they move. I can't stop them by myself and they're pretty determined."
"Aw foxdung!" Thorn growled, shaking himself out as he hopped to his paws. "Okay, let's go. We'll tell one of the other guards and hope we catch up to them before they get to the dogs."
Frostfur's kits bolted from their den and straight for the camp entrance.
"What're you doing?" Whitestorm asked his lineage-kit and her siblings. "And do you have to do it now?"
"Two apprentices are headed to Snakerocks to figure out how the dogs move. They say it's just a scouting mission, but even that's dangerous. I figure if we can get to them before they get to Snakerocks, the four of us can drag them home."
"Good job, kits. I'll wake the cats who handle patrols. Even with their good intentions, this could come back to bite us hard."
"Thanks Whitestorm, love you!" Brightstorm purred, pressing against him before scurrying after her siblings.
"Sure, kits, love you too. And be careful. Please. We don't know what we're up against."
"We'll try," She promised. "If we don't make it back… thank you for everything you've taught me. Please tell Sandstorm that. And this isn't her fault."
"Tell her yourself, kit… but I'll do it if you can't. Stars, I can't believe I'm letting this happen."
"You have to warn the Clan."
"Right." Whitestorm inhaled deeply and straightened up. "Be careful, kit. Trees are your friend. Dogs can't climb."
"Got it! Thanks, Whitestorm!"
The grey-tinted white tom exhaled roughly and got to his paws.
"Damn kits," He grumbled as he hurried to his den.
Firestar would have some idea of what to do from here. If not him, then Dustpelt or somebody else.
LINE BREAK
Morning found Snakerocks bathed in the blood of six cats and at least five dogs.
The cats, at the very least, were no longer there. They'd been dragged or carried or limped back home with the help of their Clanmates, with several others taking winding paths to throw the dogs off the scent. Two of the dogs were confirmed to be dead. There were at least five, counting the two that were dead.
When it was all over, Cinderpelt's back leg was mangled beyond repair, as if it had been used for a chew-toy. Brightstorm's face was so continuously red that Firestar, remembering the molly's injuries from his dreams, was afraid to see what lay underneath it. Thornclaw and Brackenheart both had deep gouges in various places on their bodies. Some would heal quickly, but others might never even regain fur. Fernpaw's neck and shoulders were covered in dog-bites, as if one of the massive creatures had picked her up by the scruff and shook her like a dog would a rabbit. Lightpaw's pelt was a darker brown than he'd ever been, blood mixed with his normally tanner fur. He did not wake when prompted.
Firestar waited at the camp entrance, bristling wildy and pacing the width of the camp from Highrock to the other side. As each cat returned, on the back of a Clanmate, on their own paws, in the mouth of their mentors, the ginger tom despaired more and more.
"I knew this would happen!" He choked out. "I thought we prepared! I know we did! We had a plan! Why didn't it work?! StarClan, what the actual fuck are we all doing?! What is the starsdamned point of all this when nothing fucking works?!"
"Took the words right outta my mouth, Flame," Nutleaf growled bitterly.
"Aw shit. I didn't think-. Come here," Firestar sighed.
Nutleaf padded over to her brother and pressed her pelt to his, closing her eyes and letting her previously quiet sobs get louder until both cats shook with the force of their grief.
"I just…" Nutleaf choked out. "Why would they do this? We told them to stay inside. We said why it was needed. We spent days stocking up the food stores and making sure everyone knew where to go in case we had to leave-. What were they thinking?!"
"And why drag-? Wait, I know why. Clever girl, Cinderpelt! She deserves at least three mice all to herself for that one."
"What?" Runningwind asked.
Firestar and Nutleaf whipped around to find him, Mousefur, Frostfur, Dustpelt, Sandstorm, Whitestorm, Darkstripe, and Brindleface, padding towards them, looking as miserable as they all must have felt.
"What'd she do?"
"Might have saved their lives, is what." Firestar said. "Getting her siblings was a great idea. She didn't know if she could handle them alone, so she didn't. And that might have been just enough for no other cats to be worse than they already are."
Nutleaf inhaled deeply but choked on her breath.
"He's breathing just fine," She mumbled. "He's still breathing. He's-still-breathing he's-still-breathing he's-still-breathing he's-still-." Runningwind padded up to her and pressed himself to her other side.
"StarClan won't want him for a good long while, with how much of a spitfire he is," the brown tabby tom mumbled encouragingly. "He's going to wake up."
"He better!" Nutleaf growled, fury overtaking her sadness. "What did those two idiots even think they were doing?!" She spat. "What, were they too bored? I'll show them fucking bored! I'll load them down with so many chores, they won't have time to think, much less be bored!"
"I don't think that was it this time," Firestar laughed waterily as Sand and Dust pressed themselves to his free flank and back.
"They're just so much more risky than any of us ever were. A scouting mission to look at dogs! How the shit did they think that would end?!"
"Better than it could have been if they were alone," Mousefur offered grimly. "StarClan, if you have any mercy at all, make sure those kits get through this. They'll have such a hard time, but they have too much to do to join you so soon. Even the warriors. Please…" Mousefur squeezed her eyes shut. "Starsdammit, this isn't fucking fair!"
"I know I'm a terrible mentor," Firestar mumbled. "but I thought she knew I would at least hear her out…"
"Read my mind, Flame," Runningwind grumbled.
"Oh sweetheart, no…" Brindleface whispered. "She thinks the world of you. Lightpaw won't stop chattering about how excited he is to learn everything he thinks you know, Run. This has absolutely nothing to do with anyone's mentorship or training." She assured the group. "Put that out of your heads, you both. They'll need you now more than ever."
"They wanted to help the Clan," Darkstripe mused. "They wanted to prove they could take on the same things we do. That they could help. We probably look like we need it, if this is what they thought of."
"I thought we'd prepared enough. We built up the stores, we have a plan, how did it still end up like this?!" Firestar snarled, leaping up to resume his frustrated pacing.
Sandstorm and Dustpelt sprang away, shocked by the sudden motion but not the action itself.
"It sounds like trying to get ahead of what you saw in your dreams made things turn out just the same, if not worse." Sandstorm offered thoughtfully, grief tinging her voice.
"So, what, do we stop trying? Is there nothing I can do about what's coming? We keep getting picked off entirely between the dogs and a bunch of assholes with a grudge against the forest just like we did the last time?! No! I refuse! There has to be something!"
"Most of the time, the preparation seems to work. You saved Snowkit. You helped ShadowClan stabilize and keep stable. They had a lot more trouble in your dreams than they do now." Dustpelt mused.
"They still lost cats to the sickness. Tigerclaw just found a different way to come back and wreck the Clans, with more time and a bigger force."
"Your brother's cats aren't all part of that force, though. There might be less cats to deal with even if they do try taking over ShadowClan."
"And RiverClan," Fireheart muttered bitterly. "Storm and Feather can't be reached here, thank StarClan, but I should warn Misty and Stone-."
"Tigerclaw isn't doing anything to RiverClan," Mousefur reminded him. "These things that happen in your dreams might help ShadowClan get out from under the city cats' claws, though. Why don't you get Oakp- branch. Oakbranch to see if Blackstar can meet with you and explain the dreams? He can pick out what might be helpful to his Clan and we have more useful information as well."
"What else do your dreams tell you?" Brindleface wondered. "They've been troubling you for so long… it's a wonder you get any sleep at night or even manage to lead!"
"What have they…? Good question," Firestar mused, stopping to stare at the small group before them. "In my dreams I was a housecat who joined the Clans, just like I did when I first got here. Those dreams showed me everything that happened to me in that life, from now until the day I join StarClan permanently."
"Holy shit!" Several cats chorused, his father, brother, and former leader among them.
Firestar blinked, confused, and recounted. There were way more cats outside than there were a few heartbeats ago.
"I'm sorry if we woke any of you up," the ginger tom sighed, defeated.
"Skies above, son, that's not-!" Tallstar choked out. "You just said you have nine lives' worth of memories stuck in your head!"
"Besides, we would've been up anyway," Nolan said. "Doesn't sit right with any of us, those kids getting messed up like that."
"Kin first, kits always." came a low rumble from several cats in the clearing. Ravenflight stared at his mate, stunned at the flat tone he used just then.
"How do you have nine lives?"
"It's something that StarClan gives you to lead your Clan. I wouldn't be surprised if the Twilight Fields allowed for something similar." Tallstar explained.
"The dreams come from them, too?" Blackie wondered.
"Nobody knows," Firestar said. "I managed to get StarClan's help with them, though. Now they only come up before something big is about to happen."
"Like what?"
"It's how I knew Tigerclaw would be trouble even when I first got here, let alone after he was exiled. It's how I knew Silverstream would be important, though I never imagined how good a friend she'd be. It's how I knew ShadowClan needed help after Brokenstar was exiled. The fire happened in my dreams too, but we got enough warning and were able to get everyone out. We also got a lot more time with Yellowfang."
The large group sat in mostly shock, some muttering as they tried to think through what they were being told.
"I hate to say it, Flame, but a lot of the things that happened in your dreams happened here, too." Runningwind said uneasily. "Storm and Feather's mother, Yellowfang, even what happened with Tigerclaw before we banished him. What if we can only change how things happen but not if or when they do?"
Firestar's head snapped up and he stared at his adopted brother, confused.
"My dreams are meant to warn us," He said. "I know they are. We managed to keep an eye on Tigerclaw and save more cats from the fire because of them. They're the whole reason Tigerclaw didn't get nine lives from StarClan and go on to wreck ShadowClan further."
"Why he what?!"
"Great StarClan, I would absolutely hate living through that!"
"Who would be stupid enough to-?"
"Desperate," Firestar corrected sharply. "They were on the verge of collapse in my dreams, They aren't here."
"Alright, desperate, then. The question remains!"
"ShadowClan was on the verge of collapse in a way they aren't now. There was literally no one else to lead them."
"That is such a load of foxdung, I don't even know what to do with it. Thank StarClan that never happened here!"
"It happened differently, apparently," Firestar deadpanned. "And so did the dog attack."
"Who'd they get to in your dreams?"
"Swiftclaw, Brightstorm, and eventually Brindleface and Bluestar. Which, let me tell you right now, none of you can so much as twitch a whisker without someone knowing where you are. Promise me you'll stay near camp."
"Of course!" Brindleface whispered, voice high with fear. "Stars, whatever happens, I hope it's fast."
"Where could I possibly go without Sparrowpelt trailing after me?" Bluestar drawled, glancing at the den she and her adopted uncle and aunt shared.
"That sounds like the dogs hurt way more cats this time," Someone said fearfully.
"They did, but no one has died yet. I'm begging whichever afterlife hears me for that not to change. I just… I hate that I failed two apprentices badly enough that they thought going off on their own would help things. I said I wouldn't do that this time around."
"We had ideas, we had a way to maneuver the dogs, we've expressed the need for caution personally several times over," Darkstripe said. "As much as I hate to say it, we can't account for every action a Clanmate takes. Especially not kits with more bravery than sense. In any life."
"They're going to wake up tomorrow or sometime soon. They're all alive. And we can thank Cinderpelt and her siblings when we get up properly." Brindleface insisted.
"When this is all over and we no longer need the extra food, we are throwing a giant feast at Fourtrees." Firestar announced. "Everyone who wants to come is invited. I'll pass on messages to Shadow and River once this is all over. But good Stars, we all need a break!"
Several cats laughed, including the ginger tom's mates and his former mentor.
"Do you know…?!" Brindleface cackled. "how many times we've looked at you and thought that very phrase?!"