A New Beginning: The Lost Hope

Chapter 9

Soon after the mourning session, all the leaders came to an agreement. It was time they split up their clans.

It seemed that mostly the deputies and leaders were going to create their own clans, but Darkflower, the Shadowclan deputy, was confused why she wasn't chosen to have her own clan. That was when she realized that her path was probably meant for something else. She was never destined to be a leader, but she had once gotten a message from Starclan she had to give to the medicine cats a long time ago. She was destined to be a medicine cat.

With that, the clans gave up on their territories, and the leaders all announced how they would split up the cats.

The cats from the gathering would all go out and either bring back a strand of ivy, a leaf, a feather, a bunch of mud, a shell, a rock, or fresh-kill to decide which clan they were going to live in.

After all the choosing was done, it was decided that they would all gather at the moonpool and leave tomorrow as broken-up clans. After that, the deputies for each clan was chosen along with the medicine cats.

Once the four divided clans returned to their camps, one could imagine it wasn't easy explaining to the other cats in the clan what was happening. Obviously, the cats back at each camp could only chose between two clans (or one clan if they were in Shadowclan) to enter, but that seemed to sound okay to most of them.

There was only a couple more things to do.

Ivyleaf let herself mourn with Acornfur before getting up and telling the entire clan what was happening and to pick a clan. After that was done, Ivyleaf called out her medicine cat, Fruitleaf, to go and help her get her nine lives.

The two started the trek slowly but surely, neither talking until Fruitleaf opened her mouth to say, "I'm sorry."

Ivyleaf asked, "what for?"

Fruitleaf sighed, "everything."

Ivyleaf questioned with a confused glance at her medicine cat, "what do you mean by everything?"

Fruitleaf added, "I'm sorry for your family, your sisters, you having to be leader, you never getting to be a normal warrior, and everything else Squirrelstar laid down upon you. It all wasn't fair."

Ivyleaf almost immediately scowled, "nothing's fair, isn't it?"

Fruitleaf began, "I-"

"Squirrelstar did what she thought was right," Ivyleaf added, stopping for a second to glare at Fruitleaf. "Now come on," she said, turning around to continue the journey to the moonpool, "it's useless arguing, let's just do what we came here to do and then leave."

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