𝖋𝖆𝖜𝖓𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖕'𝖘 𝖋𝖆𝖎𝖙𝖍 | 𝙬𝙘 𝙛𝙖𝙣-𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧 𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣

ix

She felt like she never blinked as Chestnutspots passed. The tom was so bright, so loyal, and so sympathetic. Now he was gone.

"He's in a better place now." Halfleaf spoke, her wobbly voice breaking as she choked back salty tears. "I'm sure of it." Fawnleap attempted to console her. "Falconstrike was the father of Chestnutspots, and Yewberry is the mother." Her breath hitched.

"I'll be the one to tell them." She meowed softly, brushing past Fawnleap, but the she-cat didn't bother to move her gaze. Her stare was fixated on the dead tomcat. It felt like she stared, unblinkingly at him for moments; but a shrieking, broken-hearted wail screeched outside. Fawnleap quickly jerked her head backward, moving out of the way as she heard commotion outside the den. The deputy and his beloved mate stormed in through the den; their eyes widening as they peered at their son.

Yewberry's breath hitched as she slumped down on him, her black pelt meeting his hazel's. Tears pooled out of tight shut eyes, loud sobs arousing from the bottom of her throat. Falconstrike stood beside her. Something that absolutely broke Fawnleap's heart in two was how Chestnutspots was their only son.

It felt like she couldn't bare the sorrow anymore. Fawnleap was about to slither out of the den, hopefully unnoticed before Halfleaf stopped her. "You were in my den for a reason.. do you need something?" The medicine cat asked, causing Fawnleap to hesitate: Was now really the time to tell her?

"I- uh, I had a dream. From StarClan." As Fawnleap spoke, she expected for Halfleaf to have a shocked expression, but her face stayed the same, almost as if it looked like she expected it.

"Well.. I'm pretty sure I was in GorgeClan. In front of a tunnel that seemed to be i disturbed for quite some time— judging by all the overgrowth. But a StarClan cat said...," Fawnleap paused for a moment to remember the exact words the starry cat told her.

"Something like a wave I've never seen before is going to crash down on the wolves and wipe out everything in its way. As a pack, they must work together to guide the path. The buck will lead by the will of the Stars: a diamond in the rough that was once cursed with its democracy will be the savior." The she-cat paused to take a breath, "Do you know what that means?" she asked. Halfleaf thought for a moment, her gaze flashing throughout the medicine den. It was as if a lightbulb flicked over her head when a change of expression perched her face.

"A buck is a grown tom deer with antlers. However.. I assume buck is a metaphor."

"I'm named after a deer." Fawnleap meowed, trying to help Halfleaf connect the puzzles. "Do you think a wave is a metaphor, too? Like- Leaf-Bare?" Halfleaf suggested, causing Fawnleap to shake her head in response. "No. On the way to deliver the message to ForestClan with Pearlwhisker, I had another vision. It was a huge gush of muddy, brown water crashing over cats. This one.. was gigantic, though. It had trees in it that were swept away like nothing." Fawnleap told her.

"I assume we must escape it then."
"But where would we run?"
"The buck will guide us. I'm guessing we're the 'wolves'. Didn't you say you're named after a deer, Fawnleap?"
"Well, yeah. A fawn.. leaping."
"Then you'll guide us!" Halfleaf breathed, her brows raising. "What? Nonono, I'm a bad omen, remember?" Oh, wait.

"No. It was something Snailstar made up." "But why, Halfleaf? Why did she ruin my life?" Cried Fawnleap desperately.

The medicine cat softly closed her eyes. "I might regret telling you this.." she hesitantly began. "But Snailstar told me that when she gained her nine lives from the Moonstone, StarClan gave her a vision . . . but I assume that Snailstar wanted to be the only one to save the Clans.."

The more Halfleaf continued, Fawnleap couldn't help but feel a burning rage boil up inside her. "You've been hiding this secret all my life, and you never thought to tell me sooner?" Fawnleap wailed, her ears lying flat against her forehead. She really couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was all of this true? The way cats treated her was all because of a good-for-nothing lie?

"I was scared, Fawnleap. I didn't know what to do." Halfleaf protested, wincing under Fawnleap's loud howls. "But seeing you as such a bright cat with so much potential.. I couldn't bare it anymore. I should've kept my mouth shut."

"So you wouldn't have told me if I was some mediocre cat?" Fawnleap pointed out, clearly noticing that Halfleaf visibly regretted her choice of words. But despite all the anger she felt, Fawnleap, eventually, could feel her anger slowly began to disintegrate. Her fur began to lie flat against her flank again, but it still felt so wrong. Halfleaf was an amazing friend to her, despite the awkward age gap.

"No." She breathed. "No, that's not what I mean." After a brisk pause, she continued. "I'm so, so sorry, Fawnleap. Could you ever forgive me?"

"I- I don't know.. it's a lot to take in." Fawnleap said, stuttering as she spoke, her words lost in a jumble. Halfleaf blinked, the awkwardness forced Fawnleap to hold back a grimace.

"I get it." The medicine cat finally breathed, standing up, as she left to attend the grieving parents. Fawnleap winced as she slithered past them, guilt weighing her. But she couldn't succumb to it, she had to figure out what Snailstar was planning. It seemed like she was trying to make the Clans revolve around her by forcing cats to drag out some Clan, that's been there for centuries, all because of a theory that lacked most of its evidence.

Fawnleap silently prayed to StarClan that MeadowClan or GorgeClan would be the ones to say no, because ForestClan already seemed pretty eager. The fact that cats would be willing to do anything, just for a lick of some mouse, was crazy- according to Fawnleap. And the mudslide, it seemed like it was going to happen during the battle, right? So wouldn't that already mean that the other two Clans would say yes? The thought made a knot in Fawnleap'a stomach. She had to stop the war.