~S.i.l.v.e.r.p.e.l.t.~

[frosty ♥]

A crystal clear pool shimmered in the moonlight. Ripples moved through the water, the stars of silverpelt glittered with beauty. A mournful yowl rose from the cat that sat at the edge of the pool. The ears of the animal were traced light gold. “Please no. Oh my daughter,” the tomcat whispered, his amber eyes focused on the water with such grief and sadness.

His pelt shown with stars resembling that he belonged to StarClan. He was lean and strong, a mighty warrior he had been. His whiskers twitched when the breath of another cat tickled his ear fur. “Goldenwhisker, you know you mustn’t grieve for so long” the other cat remarked gently. The starry tom blinked and turned his head hesitantly from the water. His eyes rested on a beautiful tortoiseshell, she had a glowing muzzle that was as white as frost. “But Berrybloom, how can I not grieve? I have left my daughter and mate! I thought I’d stay with them much longer” his voice faltered but he gave no sign to stop. “I know you’re a medicine cat but you don’t know how it feels to loose someone you’re so close too” he went on bitterly.

Berrybloom wound her slim body around his; she pressed her flank against him until Goldenwhisker could feel her heart beating. “That is not true. I lost my clan. They were all my kits but I know Ivorywing will care for them. I believe in her.” Her meow was silky with love and sadness but confidence was hinted in there too. Goldenwhisker stared at the pool, there he saw Silverpaw his beloved daughter. She was grooming her silver pelt with careful licks of her tongue.

With a ragged sigh he turned away from the pool “Can I at least visit her in dreams? Every night?” He asked hopefully as Berrybloom led him away deep into the hunting grounds of StarClan. She smiled and gave his cheek a lick “Every now and then. Silverpaw won’t find it amusing when she wakes up each morning feeling like she never slept at all” Berrybloom purred then began to run forward, her tail streaming out behind her.

Goldenwhisker stared for a moment sad thoughts still lingered in his mind then he shook his head and raced to catch her. Everything flicked by, Goldenwhisker felt as though he had sprouted wings. He thought back to his mate.

“Oh Goldenwhisker, do you really think I should leave the nursery? I’m so close to kitting” Willowsoul had meowed. He had asked her to come out into the forest for just one last time before moons in the nursery. “Of course!” he purred, his eyes gleaming with love. It was in the middle of the night, the moon was full. The gathering perhaps had just started. EarthClan’s camp was empty except a few warriors to guard it. “I know a secret way out, just behind the nursery. There is a stream that will be glowing silver! Oh please Willowsoul!” He begged.

The queen smiled then carefully came to her paws. “Lets go!” They had arrived later and as Goldenwhisker had said the stream was glowing silver. “I’m so glad you asked me to go” Willowsoul breathed, Goldenwhisker pressed close to her. A while had passed as the two sat by the stream, the air was cool.

Suddenly Willowsoul had taken in a sharp breath, her misty eyes widened and she stumbled. Goldenwhisker had leapt to his paws “Willowsoul? Willowsoul are you alright?” He meowed urgently. His mate made a loud yowl then collapsed onto her side. She groaned as spasm seized her body. “She’s kitting!” Goldenwhisker screeched in disbelief. He was frozen to the ground when a loud rumbling sounded behind him. Whipping around he came face to face with a snarling badger. It had smelt the stench of fresh blood. He glanced at his mate. He had to protect Willowsoul! With a massive effort he battled like all of StarClan to keep the badger away.

Two other must have heard the yowling and came for next thing Goldenwhisker knew, Ivorypaw, was working to help save Willowsoul and a warrior was battling the badger with him. He dodged the attack then his clanmates dove in. His sides heaved. Then he saw a huge black paw that batted him in the face and he flew back.

Everything became a blur and he heard someone shouting his name. “Goldenwhisker! Oh my Goldenwhisker!” His eyes opened slowly and he found himself lying beside Willowsoul, suckling her was a kit. His kit. His vision blurred again and flashed red and black. A sticky pool of blood whirled around his paws.

“Willowsoul" he murmured, he heard a reply but it was faint "I-I shall name her Silverkit after the glowing stream G-Goldenwhisker showed me." Willowsoul's voice was filled with grief and each word was choked out.

Goldenwhisker shook his head to dislodge the fatal memories. He couldn't turn back time, for now he would have to wait for Willowsoul and Silverpaw to join him in StarClan.

[Battooth]

A she-cat raced across the beautiful grasses of StarClan's hunting grounds, the long-ish fur on her legs and tail streaming out behind her. She purred contentedly as she went, loving the feeling of the wind in her face and in her fur.

The she-cat was very light gray, more of an off-white than a gray. She had green eyes that were filled with wisdom, more than you would expect to see in a cat as young as she. The light gray she-cat had longer fur than most of her Clanmates. It had kept her warm through a long leaf-bare, and she was thankful for it, despite the amount of time it took to groom. She was small, because she was only about 14 moons. She had almost become a warrior before she had died.

Yes, the she-cat was dead. She had been for a while, and had come to terms with it surprisingly quickly. She did not care that her life had been cut short. She was happy with what she had done, and had moved on.

She only had one regret. She hadn't gotten to spend more time with Onespot... Onespot, her mentor, her friend, and her crush. She had loved him, and suspected he loved her from the tender and gentle way he had acted towards her.

Her last moments had been with him, and she had fought with him, dying honorably and for the sake of the Clan. She had been in the middle of an assesment, when a huge badger had attacked her. Onespot and his sister Flamefoot had heard her desperate cries for help. Onespot had come charging in, viciously attacking the badger, and the apprentice knew the depth of his love by the way he fought. He didn't waste time, he fought furiously and using different tricks, most of which would not have been accepted in a true warrior's battle. His sister had fought just as valiantly, but it had been too late for the apprentice. A snap of the badgers jaws, a scream of horrible pain and agony on her part, cut off by the bubbling of blood, and she had been gone. A beautiful ginger-and-white she-cat had come spiraling down from the sky with stars in her eyes and paws just as the two warriors had driven away the badger with a newfound fury. The apprentice remembered how she had simply walked with the beautiful StarClan she-cat, with only a glance over her shoulder at the tom she loved as he wailed her name, vainly trying to get her to stand.

The she-cat slowed to a stop as she neared a pool of clear water. She scented others, their scent still fresh. Maybe she'd catch up with them later. For now, she looked down into the pool, the images of her old Clanmates shimmering on the surface. Then she saw him. Onespot. Sitting with his sister... The apprentice had watched him become more and more intraverted, and was getting worried. She'd ask if she could visit him one night and tell him to stop fretting and to go on with his life.

The apprentice looked up sharply as she heard her name. "Owlpaw, stop staring at him. You'll be able to see him soon enough." It was a gray tom with slightly fluffy fur, walking side by side with a pretty she-cat with black fur and a white belly. The tom's eyes were amber, the she-cat's green.

Owlpaw blinked, embarassed. She froze as the words sunk in. "Soon enough?" she repeated.

The tom rolled his eyes as the she-cat narrowed her own in amusement. "No dear one, nothing like that. Stoneheart is just trying to tell you not to worry about Onespot, in his grumpy way." The she-cat brushed her tail over the tom's nose lovingly. "Besides, our daughter will look out for him."

Owlpaw nodded. "Alright Nightwing," she meowed. Mistheart was a nice she-cat, and had been supportive and loyal to the Clan in the moons that Owlpaw had watched her.

"And my daughter will watch out for her brother." Another she-cat approached, a pretty ginger and white she-cat, the same one who had brought Owlpaw to the hunting grounds of their ancestors. "I didn't raise those two to hate each other, just like you weren't raised to hate your siblings. That's not how queens raise their kits, and I'm no exception."

Owlpaw nodded to the older she-cat. "Thank you Lilypelt," she meowed. "Thank you all of you."

"Now that you're not swooning like an apprentice-"

"I am an apprentice Stoneheart."

"-how about we find those other cats I can scent?" Without another word, Stoneheart turned and followed the scent of the other StarClan cats. Nightwing smiled to the other she-cats as she followed her mate. Owlpaw and Lilypelt exchanged amused glances, then followed Stoneheart and Nightwing.

((Okay, if you're confused, Lilypelt's Onespot and Flamefoot's mother, Stoneheart and Nightwing are Battooth and Mistheart's parents, and Owlpaw was Onespot's apprentice. Didn't know if I made that clear or not. Sorry that took so long by the way.))

[frosty ♥]

Berrybloom gave an amused purr as a butterfly fluttered past. Goldenwhisker blinked his amber eyes as he watched the medicine cat chase it playfully. If only he himself could act that way instead of his grief-stricken ways.

He smiled after a moment and brushed past Berrybloom when suddenly a scent reached him. He turned around to see in the grasses ahead Owlpaw, Lilypelt, Stoneheart, and Nightwing padding toward them. Berrybloom trotted up to greet them, Goldenwisker fallowed.

The starry tom swished his tail as he came up to them. He wished to speak about his daughter, it healed some of the pain that throbbed endlessly in his heart. Goldenwhisker dipped his head politely "Hello my friends" he meowed, trying hard to hide his superfluous emotions.

[Battooth]

"Hello Goldenwhisker, Berrybloom," Nightwing purred pleasantly. "How are you?" She dipped her own head to both cats, admittedly a bit deeper to Berrybloom. Even after all these moons, she still treated medicine cats with the reverence the Clans did.

The four cats sat down and Owlpaw began grooming herself, although she kept her eyes on the two others as best as she could.

[frosty ♥]

Goldenwhisker watched Berrybloom smile "I'm fine thank you," she gave her chest a few quick, gentle licks. "And you?" She asked after a few heartbeats. Her amber eyes warm, she was obviously happy to see the other clancats in the tom's eyes.

Goldenwhisker padded a little bit away from the other cats to sit beside Owlpaw "Hello my dearest, it is great to see you once again" He purred and gave her ear a swift lick. "Have you seen Silverpaw?" He asked, pride gleaming in his eyes as he thought about this daughter.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

I used to love him.
But he left me.
And took my heart with him.
He was a handsome tom cat; black stripes on a brown coat [brown tabby]. His eyes were the kindest and the most exotic I've seen in a long while; they were a mixture of blue and green and a faint tinge of yellow hinted in them as well. There was one day though, that terrible day, when I realized that there was an empty feeling of longing glimmering in his eyes. I asked him what it was, but he didn't respond. For many days it was like this, I'd ask him something but he wouldn't answer. My heart would be broken every single time I saw him, but that didn't stop me from continuing to try to speak to him. I would've done anything to get him to talk to me.
And then the most painful memory of it all-
The day he left me.
It had been a bitter cold leaf-bare day. Even the slightest breeze felt harsh and full of anger and fury that I felt on the inside, although I attempted to remain my patient and calm stature on the outside. That was the day, though, that he returned almost back to normal. The haunted look seemed to have decreased, but I noticed a while later that they were refilled with a look of sadness slightly tinted and mixed with happiness. Throughout the day, emotions tugged through me. I longed to ask him over and over again many questions - if he loved me, if he would return back to normal, if he would actually speak to me again. But I was too afraid that it would return to how it had been for so long. So I kept quiet.
I don't know, but that day had to have been the most emotional day of my life. Joyfulness danced through my sparkling bright blue eyes - all the cats said so during that day. They all knew the reason for my happiness, too. It was as if the tom cat I loved had come back from the living dead.
But that night, when we went to curl up next to each other in the warrior's den, I sensed something was wrong. Uneasiness had kept me awake for part of the night, but soon, the waves of sleep crashed over me and I wasn't able to keep my eyes open much longer. In the morning, he was gone. I cried out in desperation; perhaps he had only gone to hunt.
But I and the whole Clan knew that he wasn't coming back. Sometimes if I wrack my mind hard enough, I remember subconsciously about that night. A whisper of wind as he stood up and padded out of the nest, his muzzle touching mine lightly, and then he left the warriors den, so stealthily and quietly that no cat heard him.
I mourned the loss.
And as my sadness grew, my bitterness and harshness also flourished along with it. Sooner or later, I died out of loneliness.
And that's my story.

Dewstripe padded along StarClan's hunting grounds, still unaccustomed to the bright light surrounding her. She blinked, her tail whisking back and forth, unsure of what to do. Down below on earth, she saw the sun blazing in the sky. Well, it was pretty useless to walk in a cat's dreams when they were awake and wouldn't realize that a StarClan cat was speaking to her.

"I loved him. But he abandoned me," Dewstripe murmured softly under her breath, distress mounting within her yet again. "For a soft kittypet life," she added, disgust entwining in her attempted regal and refined voice. She tried to remain serene and peaceful by forcing her to feel sympathy for the other cats who were in StarClan. Surely they had suffered worse losses. But that sympathy soon turned to empathy - pity for them as well as pity for herself.

"Why?" she whispered, tears immediately springing to her eyes again. She closed her eyes and briefly, just briefly, she could nearly see and scent the tom cat she had loved so long ago. "Why, Raytail, why?" she mewed barely above her breath, hardly audible.

[Battooth]

Owlpaw nodded to Goldenwhisker's question. "I saw her just a little while ago," she meowed to the tom. "I was just watching Onesp- I was just watching the Clan I mean." She gave her chest a few quick licks to hide her embarassment. "Silverpaw seems to be getting along well."

"I'm tired," Stoneheart meowed moodily. "I've been tired for a long time but Nightwing keeps annoying me." He glared at his mate, but the she-cat purred, knowing his complaining was just his way of saying he loved how she looked after him. "We're fine thank you," the black she-cat told Berryblossom. Stoneheart snorted. "Fine and tired!" he meowed.

Lilypelt flicked the tom on the nose. "Oh shush you old fleabag," she joked. "I'm fine as well. Have you been keeping up with the Clan? Anything I should know about?" She had been the gossip loving cat in life, and hadn't changed in death. No cat really changed once they joined StarClan's ranks, but they seemed wiser and older.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Salty tears choked her up, threatening to pour down her face and onto the ground like a torrent, but Dewstripe closed her eyes for a brief moment, greatful for the silence in StarClan. After a while, she realized that she could hear quiet voices of other cats nearby.

Of course. She wasn't the only one in StarClan, right? Perhaps the other cats would help her forget about all her troubles and her love for Raytail - who had abandoned her. Either that, or they would just remind her all over again. Well, it was a worth a try, wasn't it?

Dewstripe padded about for a few moments. Soon, the ripe scent of other cats filled her nostrils. Turning and ambling in the direction of them, she slowly made her way to them. What was the rush? Being in StarClan, she had absolutely all the time in the world.

"Good day," she mewed quietly, half expecting them not to respond to her greeting.

[Battooth]

Owlpaw turned towards the newest cat- Dewstripe- and flicked her ears in greeting, but looked back at Goldenwhisker.

Nightwing purred when she saw Dewstripe. "Hello," she meowed pleasantly as Lilypelt dipped her head. Stoneheart remained quiet, sitting moodily next to his mate. When looking at the pair, there couldn't be two more different cats. Nightwing was gentle and kind, whereas Stoneheart was gruff and complained a lot. When they had been alive, many cats had wondered why Nightwing had chosen such an angry tom for a mate, and they were even more confused when Nightwing had been the one who had died fighting, and Stoneheart had been the one who had died of a broken heart. "How's the prey running for you Dewstripe?" Nightwing continued.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

"Perfectly fine and abundant," Dewstripe responded, attempting to keep her tone light despite the tears choking her. "And you?" she added, to be polite. That was a quality about her - politeness. She would always remain considerate, even when those weren't polite to her. She was patient and was kind, but could be deeply emotional and passionate - which was what was happening right now.

Her ears twitched in thought, trying to push Raytail out of her mind as well as thoughts of:
Do kittypets go to StarClan?
Will he ever join me?
And many more topics she wished she had the answers to.

[Agii♫]

He would be walking tonight.
But, with whom?
No one.

Releasing a silent sigh from his onyx lips, the obsidian-hued feline broke his multi-coloured gaze from the sky, awaiting the time when nightfall would come. He could only walk at nightfall, only become partially seen at moonhigh, only become partially alive again. It was difficult, however all the same much more pleasurable and easy. He watched over the other clans now, waiting and seeing all that happened, counting over and over again the scenes that had happened at twilight the night of his exile.

Exile from life.
Exile from love.
Exile from daylight.
Exile from everything.

Moon-tipped ears swivelled forwards as the tom blinked slowly, turning around to face the other cats that had gathered in a time of peace to hunt amongst one another--forgetting rivalry and deceit for the time of both given life and taken life in the harsh game of hunting.

Glancing over his shoulder, a smokey metallic eye skirted over the sleek form of all of the cats in the Hunting Grounds of StarClan. A light, beautiful sapphire eye also caught the foursome, cream-hued foretoes flexing placidly as the ghost feline listened intently on their conversation. Silently he waited, patiently he wanted the sky to sweep over with darkness, the trees become illuminated with the moonbeams of the star in the sky he was so famously and graciously named after.

Moonrun would wait.

[Battooth]

Nightwing shrugged. "I think we're all doing rather well," she meowed pleasantly. "Stoneheart's being a mouse-brain though and won't admit he is." Stoneheart glared at his mate, but his eyes sparkled with amusement and adoration for the black she-cat. "I guess I'm fine," he meowed, adding (fairly stubbornly), "But I still am tired!"

Lilypelt shook her head but purred. She knew that the two cats she had befriended in StarClan were from a different Clan in life, but she couldn't help liking them. She felt that now that they were in StarClan, they could live above Clan rivalries. She hadn't seen the point of keeping to that thought process. It wasn't as if they could die again, and it would be rather taxing to spend eternity hating a cat simply because they weren't from her birth Clan.

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Dewstripe gave a nod of acknowledgement to Nightwing's statement. She even managed a slight purr at the bickering between Nightwing and her mate, Stoneheart. "You have all the time in the world to rest here, Stoneheart, don't you?" she mewed to the tom cat, a flicker of amusement passing through her eyes - as if she hadn't been weeping and mourning over Raytail, her lost love.

"I've been watching that Sorrowsoul - the medicine cat of SkyClan. Something about him makes me uneasy, although I can't quite tell why," Dewstripe added, gazing down. "His name gives me the shivers. Surely a cat with that type of name is a bit odd of a choice for a medicine cat?" she asked, although she truly didn't like to think bad of other cats.

[Battooth]

Stoneheart glared at the she-cat, hating that she made sense. "Whatever," he mewed quietly, Nightwing placing her tail tip on his shoulder to quiet his grumblings.

Lilypelt shook her head to Dewstripe. "It may just be his name," she meowed sensibly. "He seems good enough from what I can tell. As long as he doesn't endanger anyone and keeps his head, Sorrowsoul has my support."

[>>BLACKiE! ]}]

Another purr of laughter rumbled in Dewstripe's throat as she heard Stoneheart's sharp reply to her comment. Well, it made sense nevertheless, even if he was annoyed at it.

"I'm still a bit uneasy," Dewstripe persisted, although to tell the truth, she couldn't really tell /why/ she felt so. It was just... a feeling she had about something that she couldn't shake off no matter how hard she tried. "I'll keep an eye on him for a couple of moons. If he doesn't do anything out of the ordinary and sticks to his duties of teaching Goldenpaw, then I'll trust him. But for now..." She trailed off, still attempting to grasp the reason why she felt that he couldn't be trusted.

After all, his pupil or apprentice, Goldenpaw, seemed innocent and willing to learn - highly unlike the way Dewstripe thought of Sorrowsoul.