Sunrise

Part 2 - Chapter 1

 He was running through a forest. Rivers gurgled and rushed past him, far to wild for swimming. All around him he heard voices calling. Cherryblossom yowled form somewhere, and he turned around, seeing her hear disappear into a dark, deep, hole. He screeched in fury and despair, and his head swing around again. A small spot of light glowed on the chaos. Mudpaw was sitting there, next to a flower, "teach me how to hunt, I wanna know!"  He laughed. But as soon as the apprentice had finished his sentence, a tree groaned above, creaking down. He tried to yowl a warning, but no sound came out, and a shadow fell over the still smiling figure of his friend as branches swallowed him. He screamed, and he was jolted away from the dark woods and into a clearing. The sun was shining, the grass was green. But even through the cover of lies, a shadow lingered. Something was wrong. A small grey figure darted out of some bushes, and he realised he was a kit again. "Play with me!" Storm yowled. "I wanna play a game!" He couldn't laugh. His throat choked when he tried. "Play with me, play with me!" The call was getting more urgent, and he realised that wasn't what the kit was saying anymore. The cry had shifted, altered, and this time it was strung with fear. "Help me Brother, help me!" He wailed, and he turned his head to see Storm struggling in the river. Only now, it wasn't a small stream. It was a rushing rapid flood. Storm's cries grew louder and louder, and no matter how much ye tried to move, he remained frozen to his feet. His brother let out one more desperate yowl, before vanishing under the overflowing tide. 

Sunshatter woke up with sweat dripping down his face. His eyes were wide and shocked, and it took him a while to regain motor control. Cherryblossom. Mudpaw. Storm. Sunshatter remembered the time when he and his brother had no warrior name, when it was simply Storm and Sun. He shuddered as he remembered his dream. Stormwhisker, still a kit, drowning in the waterfall. Sunshatter shook himself uneasily. In reality, he had jumped in and pulled his brother out, both of them nearly drowning, but in his dreams, the nightmare repeated itself, over and over and over again... he shook his pelt out again, getting up. He was sitting in the medicine den, his brother sorting herbs. The grey medicine cat looked up. "So your awake." He said blankly, no emotion present. Sunshatter gaped, feeling like an idiot. He'd almost forgotten that day... 

"But- but why? I saved your life, Stormwhisker, why would you do this to me? Do you not believe I would be a good leader?" Stormwhisker turned away, his face hidden. "You became power hungry, brother. You're not like when we were kits. I had to." He added, his voice rich with emotion. Which emotion, no one could tell. 

"You should go now, you know. You're not welcome here." Stormwhisker spat. Sunshatter frowned. "So it's true? You... exiled me?" His brother nodded, and returned to his herbs. "Go." He growled. "Someone is waiting for you outside. A few someones, actually. I've kept them out until you woke up, you'd better go see them now." Sunshatter turned and walked out of the den, feeling the eyes of his former clanmates burning into his pelt. Two- no three shapes darted out to greet him. One was the dull murky colour of wet mud, one was a light creamy colour with swirles of white and brown. The last, though small, had a fierce look on his face, pelt the striped colour of fire and lightning. He looked through them all. 

"Sunshatter!" Cherryblossom was the first to speak. She didn't continue though, for what was there to say? Mudpaw shuffled his paws. "We- we missed you." He blurted out, looking embarrassed. "We didn't think it was fair you were exiled." Sunshatter shrugged, trying not to show he felt the same way. "Well, no helping that. I'll go now." He announced abruptly. "You stay here. All three of you." He added, seeing Mudpaw open his mouth to object. "No reason to drag other cats along." He didn't explain his whole plan, for the clan was listening, but only awkwardly shuffled away, darting out through the exit to the camp. The clan emerged in a flash, but none were quick enough to catch more than a glimpse of a dark red tail streaking out from behind a tree.