A New Beginning: The Lost Hope

Chapter 6

One day afterwards, the shock had not worn down. No one had even prevented Squirrelstar from joining StarClan, and no one went to check on her corpse they knew was sitting in the leader's den anymore. Not even her own kin, who were too scared to check.

Snowtail ended up being crippled, and she would be for quite a long time, as Fruitleaf said. Though she was confident that the white she-cat would get better soon. When Ivyleaf asked Finchwing what the real truth behind Snowtail's injuries, she learned that the leg would never get better, and she would have to join the elders extremely early or become a medicine cat.

But the most horrible part was that later on in the clan's panic, they would have to have a gathering, where they'd have to tell the other clans that both Squirrelstar and Cloudfur died tragically.

Applebelly, Bramblebush, and Fluffytuft did come back from the patrol, but they each had to spend a long amount of time in the medicine cat den, and they weren't fit to move anymore until around one moon's worth of healing. Cloudfur and Foxface on the other paw, were long gone.

The next day, no cat talked about the fresh kill pile until Sunbird, Acornfur, and Adderstrike went to eat. When all they could find was a pitiful mouse, the trio of elders went hunting for the first time in countless moons since they had moved to the elder's den.

The rest of the moon was simply shocking.

The Shadowclan cats hunted and patrolled for the shocked Thunderclan warriors. After living with them for so long, they finally understood that they all had to be dependent on one another for survival. The elders usually joined the Shadowclan cats, as they weren't really bothered by the fact that Squirrelstar had committed suicide. Honestly, they were confused why she hadn't done it sooner.

But like every moon, there came deaths and new life.

Mistpaw, Badgerpaw, and Gingerpaw became Mistbreeze, Badgerstripe, and Gingerleaf which left no apprentices but Fruitleaf. Some of the Warriors had to pitch in themselves and help with apprentice duties. But they usually stood around all day crying or too shocked to do anything but clean up the mess other cats had been making whilst grieving.

Silvertail, even though she had only been a warrior for one moon, went to the nursery with Fluffytuft's kits, and Mossheart joined the elder's den a few days before the full moon even though she was still sick, and to Finchwing, it didn't look like she'd recover. Apparently, she only had a few days left to live.

But Ivyleaf knew none of this. No one saw her, but sometimes she would go missing for days on end. No cat followed her and left her alone to grieve.

Acornfur once found her staring out from the edge of the woods, onto the clearing. The clearing seemed endless. The Shadowclan forest had been cut down almost completely and the twoleg's treecutter monsters were now advancing towards Thunderclan, scaring away all the prey. There was no chance of survival.

Acornfur just left Ivyleaf to her moping and gazing at the clan's coming doom.

(534 words)