Lightningfeather

Lightningfeather knew he could complain, as he was kind of the one who had let Emberpaw and her siblings that they were going to do something with or about the only father they'd only known, but Emberpaw's constant grumbling was annoying him to no end.

She was complaining about her paws hurting, how she was hungry, how she was tired, and frankly, it was driving him insane. He was annoyed at her for not shutting up, but also at her sisters for insisting she come with them. This, as much as he hated to say it, had a probability of failing. There was a possibility that Goldleaf wasn't going to leave with them tonight, and he didn't know what Sunpool would do if he didn't. She seemed so delicate, so fragile, when it came to him; like she had a hundred different feelings towards him, and herself, and herself and him, and wasn't sure how she felt about all those feelings. Lightningfeather knew that she had, in a way, caused his death; Cinderstorm had told him the day it has happened. He hadn't mentioned that he knew to Sunpool, but she had told him about the plan, and he had gone along with it, with full knowledge that it had a possibility to break him. He did it because Cinderstorm, who he loved, was going along with it, and he had the full knowledge that if his hopes got up too high and Goldleaf didn't come back, it would be like feeling the pain of his best friend's death all over again.

He didn't even know if this was possible. How come StarClan had only told them now, when they could have brought back cats who were, frankly, more important to the Clans than Goldleaf? Why were they bringing Goldleaf back? He wasn't even all that important in the big scope of things. He knew he would probably never knew, which bugged him to no end, because he was the type of cat that needed to know things otherwise they would drive him insane. He was already halfway there, just with all the running around and death and overall drama that was going on with the Clans and his sister. It was ridiculous.

So he entertained himself quietly with his thoughts until they reached the Starbrooke. The four apprentices, having never seen it before, looked on it with wide eyes. Rainpaw said, "Is that the Starbrooke?"

"Yep," Sunpool answered, almost shortly, as if she, too was being annoyed by Emberpaw, whose paws finally seemed to be soothed by the fresh, soft, green grass. Lightningfeather was actually hoping she was going to stop complaining, but of course, she started again, when Sunpool said to lie down in a position where their muzzles could touch the water, as they needed to drink it. Emberpaw wrinkled her nose at the ground around the Starbrooke, and announced that she couldn't sleep there, as there was no nest. Lightningfeather decided then and there that throwing himself into the Starbrooke and letting himself drown may have been a slightly extreme solution, but would be affective, all the same. Fernpaw hissed to Emberpaw that she needed to lie down and follow Sunpool's reactions, and Emberpaw rolled her eyes grumpily and plopped down. Lightningfeather's blood boiled.

"Okay, now lap up a little bit of the water and close your eyes, and you'll go to sleep. When you open your eyes, don't do anything. Wait for everyone to join you," Sunpool instructed. Cinderstorm and Lightningfeather, who hadn't been lying yet, did so hastily, and together, everyone leaned forward and touched their tongues to the water.

Lightningfeather's eyes slipped close as he swam into the dream.

-=-

He was standing in a clearing, surrounded by the StarClan cats: Lilycloud, Frost, Doveheart, and Goldleaf. Goldleaf looked tense, and his brow was furrowed. Lilycloud looked excited, Frost anxious, and Doveheart was staring off into space.

"This is it," Lilycloud said. Lightningfeather nodded and looked around. One by one, his friends (and not-so-friends) appeared; first Cinderstorm, then Rainpaw, then Fernpaw, Sunpool, Briarpaw, and finally, Emberpaw.

Lightningfeather looked with bated breath at the apprentices as they looked around, and watched their eyes change as they saw Goldleaf. Rainpaw stared, Briarpaw's mouth opened slightly, Fernpaw let out her breath in one rush, and Emberpaw-

Emberpaw was just looking, like Rainpaw, but so much emotion shined in her usually blank eyes that Lightningfeather thought he had mistaken her for some other cat. How was that- how was that Emberpaw? She took a step forward, hesitantly, moving only her paw, like she wasn't sure of what was happening. Her leg was trembling. A rush of air came out through her mouth.

"Goldleaf?" She asked.

The four apprentices, driven by the same emotions, maybe, suddenly made forward for their father, leaping onto them, a wave of emotions and fur. Lightningfeather's breath caught in his throat, so caught up was he in the moment, and he looked to his right and saw Cinderstorm's eyes shining. Sunpool's eyes were fixated on a point directly over Goldleaf's head. Lightningfeather looked that way, and realized suddenly that they weren't in the same place as they usually met.

They were in a forest, a forest made up entirely of towering spruce trees. The ground was springy with moss, and the air felt clear, cool. Brisk. The sound of rushing water sounded in the background, like there was some kind of waterfall nearby. Leaves dusted the ground next to the trunks of some trees. The sky was a dark blue, and tiny white pinpricks of light dotted it in a heavenly swirl; Lightningfeather realized, after a moment, that they were stars, whole and untouched by any Twolegs before. This place was clean. Pure. Beautiful.

"That's the resurrection site," Lilycloud said. She had come closer to him and pointed with her tail at a point to his left. "He'll stand on that rock, and we'll say the chant, and hopefully, he'll just fade. You'll wake, he'll be there. And you can go and kill Applestar, and save the Clans. Simple."

Lightningfeather couldn't do much except nod.

-=-

They made their way over to the rock. The moon, full in this place, rose high in the sky, shining like a beacon of light. Lightningfeather looked away, and back towards the rock.

The rock wasn't that big. It was flat, circular, and a light gray. Goldleaf looked dwarfed on the rock, as he stood there, looking down on the cats surrounding him. Emberpaw wasn't looking at anyone; she was staring off into the sky, her eyes unfocused. Lightningfeather wondered what had happened, if she was okay. How could she be okay, though? How could any of them be okay?

Lilycloud cast a glance up at the sky, and said, "alright, the moon is high. It's time-" she swallowed, "-it's time to start.

"Goldleaf, victim of the stars, face the moon."

Goldleaf turned until his body was facing the moon and tilted his nose up to it. His golden eyes slipped shut. Sunpool, next to him, tensed.

"As the stars did take away your life, so they shall replace it. Goldleaf of CloudClan, enough life force has been gathered to restore you to the land of the living. This is no easy feat," Lilycloud added. "This is not to be taken lightly. But if the balance is correct, life shall be returned to your body, and your paws will touch the living Earth once more. Doveheart, bring forth the sacrifices."

Doveheart grabbed an enormous clump of leaves and grasses; so big was it, it took her and Frost four trips to bring even half. Finally, though, the two she-cats spread the grasses in a line around the rock, curving along its face until Goldleaf was surrounded by weeds. Then, Doveheart added the carcasses of multiple mice, squirrels, and rabbits. As soon as she placed the final one, they began to glow with an unearthly, ghostly pale light.

Lightningfeather watched as the weeds and bodies rose into the air, transfixed and frankly, blown away. He had never, ever seen anything like this, or expected to see anything. Suddenly, everything seemed much more clearer, sharper, in focus. He looked at the sky, and saw a thousand lifetimes, mapped out in the stars above him. The moon seemed to hum with energy, and suddenly, a beam of light shot straight from the moon, and shocked into Goldleaf. His back arched, his fur standing on end. A soundless scream erupted from his gaping mouth; Sunpool made as if to start forward, but she stopped herself, with a visible effort.

The hum was louder now, and Lightningfeather looked to Lilycloud, and suddenly realized that something was wrong. Lilycloud was staring at Goldleaf, her eyes wide. "What-" she whispered, her voice soft and ragged.

"I knew it!" A voice said. Lightningfeather, Cinderstorm, Lilycloud, Frost, and Doveheart whipped around. Sunpool and the apprentices were still staring at what was happening in front of them.

"Reveal yourself!" Lilycloud called, her voice clear. A cat stepped out of the shadows, a pitch-black tom with crystal blue eyes. Lightningfeather didn't recognize him, but Doveheart and Frost's eyes went wide with recognition. "Lionscar," Frost whispered, her voice trembling.

The cat dipped his head. "Frost. I haven't seen you in ages, not alive, anyway. Not since I was alive, many, many moons ago. What happened to you, my dear?" His voice held all the traits of a tom who had once loved Frost, and who Frost had maybe once loved, but something had happened and now they were strangers. Frost looked like she had been clawed. "Don't call me that," she hissed, her eyes going dark, like Sunpool's did when she didn't want her emotions to show. "What are you doing here? This is a holy place; you are not welcome."

"Not going to ask how I came?" Lionscar prompted, apparently hurt. Lightningfeather was utterly confused. Goldleaf was still there, locked in the light, but the grass and the prey were slowly disappearing. That was good, right?

"Don't need to," Frost retorted. "I already knew cats from the Dark Forest could come into StarClan; that's how a bunch of your lot got him."

Dark Forest?! Lightningfeather thought, eyes automatically narrowing and claws unsheathing. It had become a reflex, by now.

"Yes, I suppose you know, don't you?" Lionscar said, calmly. "It won't be like that forever though, oh no. Applestar is keeping that open, you know. Quite a remarkable young cat, isn't she? So brave. One of my finest students, you know. She was another." He pointed his paw at Sunpool. She still didn't turn.

"What do you want?" Doveheart snarled. Lightningfeather looked over at her; her usually calm blue eyes were alight with an old anger, burning with hurt and rage.

Lionscar looked at her calmly. "Ah, my daughter. I killed you, didn't I? I find it hard to remember the smaller moments of my life; death is far much more achieving, don't you agree?"

"How could you possibly forget your own daughter?" Doveheart snapped, her eyes darkening.

Lionscar gave an elegant shrug. "To business, anyway. That won't work."

"What won't?" Lilycloud snapped. "The ritual? I wouldn't expect you to know anything about it."

"Oh, I know more than you think, my dear Lilycloud," Lionscar replied complacently, and Lilycloud stared at him. "And I'm telling you, this isn't going to work. Grass, mice, that's all fine and good- if you're working with something tiny. Something with hardly any essence at all. Now, a cat, that's when things get difficult. You see, you need something... more. Something that had the power to revive a cat, and especially one as important as Goldleaf here. He's going to need an extra kick. Something with a cat heart and a cat mind. Something... pure. And of his blood."

"No," Frost said, almost before Lionscar had finished speaking. "No, no cat will be sacrificed. That cannot happen. And one of his own blood? The only ones with his blood are the apprentices! We can't sacrifice them. We don't need to, right, Lilycloud?"

Lilycloud's face was ashen. "Everything I learned- it wasn't for a prophecy cat. I have no idea if the circumstances will change, but-"

"They do," Lionscar said calmly. "And you're going to need a sacrifice. I suggest you into over my former student and those little apprentices over there; they could be needed. In fact, they probably will be needed."

-=-

"No," Sunpool said. "No, we can't." She glared at Lionscar. "And you can't trust anything he says. He'll manipulate you, make your mind work. There's no reason why we should sacrifice the apprentices."

"Oh, just one. And are you sure?" Lionscar said, glancing meaningfully at the rock. "There's no more grass, no more prey. It's all gone, every last scrap, and he's still there. Not alive. You'll see, he's not going to come back. Never. Not unless you have one of oee four sacrificed."

"Wait." Rainpaw was speaking. Her voice was trembling. "I- I can't- we won't-"

"It's alright," Sunpool soothed her. "Nothing's going to happen."

"You need a sacrifice?" A voice said. A voice wavering with sadness, grief. "To bring back Goldleaf? Well... choose me."

Everyone whipped around. Trying to see who had spoken.

It was Emberpaw.

"NO!" Briarpaw shouted, the first one to react. "NO, EMBERPAW! YOU CAN'T-"

"I can," Emberpaw said, calmly, and so, so devastatingly sadly. "I can, and I will. There's no point on me living on. I'm honestly a waste of space; I'm slow and lazy and I complain too much. That's what everyone thinks, and it's true."

"No, Emberpaw," Fernpaw whispered. "Emberpaw, don't think of yourself like that. You're not like that; you're our sister. You- we won't let you-"

"Please," Emberpaw meowed. "I can see it. I'm not going to do anything to help the Clans in the future; I'll never be anything. The best I can do in this life is sacrifice myself to bring my father back."

"You can't," Rainpaw tried, sounding almost angry. "For StarClan's sake, Emberpaw, get your head on straight! You're not unneeded, you're not a waste of space- you're not- we need- you're our sister! Think of us, if you won't think of anyone else! Think of how we would feel if you died! How can you do that to us? Emberpaw, please-"

"My mind is made up," Emberpaw whispered, and her voice was so gentle, so soft, Lightningfeather wondered how this was the same cat that had complained about the lack of nests earlier that night. "Someone... someone kill me."

"NO!" All the other apprentices shouted, and Lightningfeather's insides froze.

"Emberpaw," Cinderstorm said, trying to sound calmly. "You can't- you can't want to die. You can't die! I wont- I won't let you!"

"Don't tell me what to do," Emberpaw frowned, and suddenly she was a kit again, all stubborn and anger and Lightningfeather ached. "I'll- this will bring my father back. So I can justify why I want to do it. And if nobody will kill me, I'll do it myself!"

And she whipped around and took off running through the forest, faster than the wind.

There was no time to do anything, nothing but shout at Doveheart, "Stay here!" And race off after Emberpaw. Lightningfeather's paws pounded against the ground, thumping as he pushed himself, made himself go faster, faster than he'd ever run in his life. He was barely aware of the cats around him, the trees, the landscape. All that mattered was that he had to catch Emberpaw. Had to, had to, had to.

It seemed like she was just running in a random direction, but as the dull roaring grew louder, Lightningfeather realized she was making her way towards the waterfall he had heard earlier. He pushed himself twice as hard, legs almost blurring as he struggled to coordinate the movements. He almost fell once, twice, thrice, and his chest was aching and he wasn't able to get enough air into his lungs and-

And they were there. Emberpaw skidded to a halt at the edge; Lightningfeather almost went tumbling over himself. He looked over: it was a sheer cliff and a drop off. The water connected to a river that thundered by, the current swift as a storm. He stepped back, chest heaving, and rejoined the ranks facing Emberpaw. Her breath was coming in short gasps. "Kill me. One of you, kill me, please."

When nobody stepped forward, she rested her eyes on each of her sisters. "I love you three." Then, to Cinderstorm and Sunpool. "You took care of us, when we were kits, for three moons. Thank you, for that."

She looked up at the stars. "I love you, dad," she said, and stepped back off the edge.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER AND THE SADDEST TOO HOLLY WHY ARE YOUR PLOT TWISTS SO HORRIBLY S A D

I'M SORRY

I REALLY AM

RIP EMBERPAW :((((((

~✨🐱✨ Rainfeather ✨🐱✨