Two halves of a whole (Jay x Briar AU)

Chapter 10

Briarlight awoke to the coldness of an empty nest "I see he's already getting used to the life of a warrior" she said to herself "well it's definitely a task, that's not easy to do." a voice said "Leafpool!" said a startled Briarlight "Don't scare me like that! The young she-cat exclaimed "Ok, ok I wouldn't do that if I didn't know you weren't paying attention." Leafpool said "Let's go on a walk, just you and me, just to catch up." Briarlight said as she got up and walked out of the den with Leafpool following her. They made their way to a nearby hollow and began to talk. "I understand that you have now changed Jayfeather's life and I am grateful, but please, please never lose your personality, he has gained so much more positivity from you than any cat." Leafpool said, Briarlight nodded.

 "You know me Leafpool, he's a hard headed cat but I can melt him." He responded with a hint of laughter in her eyes and they then talked about the future "I think about this dream I had while I was sleeping, Jayfeather was beside me and I looked down and saw three kits, one gray like him, one brown like me, and one that was speckled brown and gray." She recalled as Leafpool looked with a smile "He always said he hated me for being his mother which is why he thought that's why StarClan punished him with his blindness, but he then realized that his blindness is a strength to him, it was apart of him, and so are you." Leafpool said, pointing her tail at Briarlight who was in awe, "Then what changed?" She asked with curiosity. The older she-cat chuckled, "You are what changed him, as soon as you were paralyzed, he became defensive of you because he understood what it was like to live with a Clan that pities you." She explained "I always knew that he was going to be difficult because of the way the Clan treats him, but after all of the time you two have been fighting for each other's sake." She paused.

 "it was worth it, you and him now have what you always dreamed of and I wouldn't ask for anything less." Briarlight looked at Leafpool and smiled "I'm proud that I get to be in a Clan that has you and your family in it, it makes me happy to know that I've made his mother proud." She said happily, then they got up and walked back to camp where they saw Jayfeather talking to a group of cats, mostly she-cats that were getting a bit too close to him as Briar could tell by his face "Give him some room, all of you" Leafpool said as the group looked at her and parted a path for Leafpool to walk down, she then grabbed Jayfeather and walked back out with his neck hugging her tail "Thank you!" He said with gratitude, and then saw Briarlight sitting right there and smiled with embarrassment running through his pelt "Crowfeather taught me how to get attention and it certainly worked, a bit too well" An embarrassed Jayfeather said.

 "Sorry you had to deal with that" he said with an apologetic tone "No harm done, but where is Crowfeather?" Leafpool asked looking around for her mate Jayfeather shrugged as he looked to Briarlight and smiled "How was your walk with Leafpool?" He asked her to tell him what was said and he chuckled "Like I could ever change your personality, it's more likely you'll change mine, which I don't mind," Jayfeather said to her with a laugh. She decided to go hunting with him, and to her surprise he was a very excellent hunter. 

"I wonder if he could do this when he was blind?" She thought to herself and to her surprise he answered her. "Yes I was able to do this with blindness, if you're wondering how I knew your question, it was by your face, your very cute face." he replied with a laugh "Looks like there are a few mice, I heard from a few Clanmates that's your specialty." He joked but to his surprise, she caught the mice with relative ease and precision. "They weren't wrong about that, I was taught by the best hunters in ThunderClan after all." She commented. He nodded "Looks like you're too hard to bring down into a bad mood." He said, she smiled softly and then asked him how the day was. "A bit difficult, we had a patrol see us and ask if it was me, I explained and they congratulated me on finally becoming a warrior, I also told them about you and they were even happier to learn that you were back on your paws." Jayfeather said. 

"Looks like you had friends in every Clan." He stated and Briarlight nodded in agreement. "I'm a funny cat what can I say." She joked.

"Are we going to get back to camp now?" Briarlight nodded, picking up the prey they'd collected, and they ran home. He watched as she placed the prey on the pile, then came over to him. They sat together in the clearing, and he looked around. Brightheart and Cloudtail were repairing a hole in the nursery wall, while Dovewing and Ivypool talked in a low voice, which reminded Jayfeather to ask her about the dark forest later.

For now, he could spend time with Briarlight. He turned to her, but then heard pawsteps and turned back. "Hey, Jayfeather. Where's Lionblaze? We need to talk. Alone." Dovewing gave Briarlight an apologetic glance. "She can come. She already knows."

"What?! You told her? Why?!" Ivypool hissed, her ears flattened. Jayfeather rolled his eyes. "Of course I didn't! The other day she followed us. Well, me." Ivypool calmed down a bit. "Well, she can come I guess."

"Lionblaze is out with Cinderheart. They're hunting together," Briarlight told her. "Hunting can wait. This is too serious to wait. Follow me." Ivypool led them out of camp. Jayfeather noticed how much swifter and confident she looked than when she'd first become an apprentice. They met Lionblaze halfway to the meeting place. Cinderheart was at his side. "Lionblaze. We need to talk. Sorry, Cinderheart, but you can't come," Dovewing meowed, her mew apologetic. Cinderheart nodded. "See you at camp, then," she said and walked off.

They continued to their meeting spot. "Well? What is it?" Lionblaze seemed irritated. "The same thing it always is, Mouse-brain," Ivypool hissed. "But it's worse. The battle is soon, very soon. We need to warn the leaders to get their Clans ready. I don't know when, but Mapleshade and Brokenstar were talking and they said it's soon." She turned her gaze to Jayfeather. "You're a medicine cat. Firestar will listen to you. And you can walk in dreams, right? Walk in Firestar's and tell him and show him everything. Then tell him to call a gathering of the leaders, the medicine cats, and the Three. Including me, of course. I'll tell them everything, except who else is training, because who knows what they'll do to them. They may not betray their Clans. But in the dream, tell Firestar the ThunderClan cats training there but tell him not to do anything but talk to them."

Jayfeather nodded. "Right. I can do that. Anything else?" When noone said anything, he continued. "Dovewing. You can see in the dark forest, right?" she nodded. "Good. Can you try to find Brokenstar, Mapleshade, Tigerstar, or Hawkfrost?"

"Sure." She closed her eyes, concentrating. Jayfeather let himself wander into her thoughts. He could see the decaying trees as her mind wandered through the horrible-smelling forest. She suddenly stopped, and he could see two cats. An almost fully transparent tortoiseshell who he recognized as Mapleshade with another cat: Brokenstar. They were talking in low voices but he could hear them. "...We'll attack all of them at once, right here." his paw pointed to the center of some marks in the ground. "We'll split into groups of 4 to 9 and attack all camps at once. If one patrol falls, another will immediately back it up."

Mapleshade nodded, her eyes bright with interest. "The Clans will pay for wronging us. Now, clear it up. We don't want everyone knowing, just the actual dark forest cats." She walked away, her tail twitching, then everything disappeared and Dovewing opened her eyes. "They're planning to attack from the center and send a patrol of 4-9 cats to each camp at once and they'll have a backup patrol," Dovewing reported.

"Then we need to put our plan into action right now," Jayfeather said with a thoughtful look on his face. "I know just how to do it."

***

Jayfeather watched as Firestar ate the prey. He had put a few poppy seeds in it to make him sleep faster. He lay down, curled up, and went into Firestar's dreams. It was darkness, and all he could hear was shrieks of pain, fury, excitement, and grief. Firestar was having a nightmare. "Jayfeather! You aren't–You're in my dreams. This isn't real," he realized. "But why are you here?"

"To tell you something." He changed the dream. They were hidden in the dark forest, but he could hear yowls and instructions. "What's happening here?" Firestar asked with worry. Quickly he explained everything about the Dark Forest and the plan to defeat the Dark Forest. In the end, Firestar nodded, then woke up. He did too and they exchanged a glance, then Firestar called Brambleclaw over to him and said something, then the deputy started assigning patrols of 2-3 to travel to each Clan and tell the leaders to bring their medicine cats and deputies to a small gathering. Briarlight was picked, but Jayfeahter wasn't. He was fine with that, though. He watched the 3 patrols leave, hoping everything would go according to plan.