The Looming Darkness (A WARRIOR CATS FANFICTION)

Prologue

Stars shone brightly on the StarClan cats. Prey squeaked around them in a frenzied symphony as they pounced on them one after another. The air was full of contentment and laughter. The breeze was as soft as silk.

Leafpool sat solemnly underneath the shade of a tree, staring into the distance with a wistful touch to her gaze. Oblivious to everyone and every thing around her, she didn't bother to glance at them.

A few fox-lengths away, Sandstorm and Firestar were playing with Juniperkit and Dandelionkit passing a round moss ball back and forth. Dandelionkit and Juniperkit argued who was the best warrior, while Sandstorm's whiskers twitched in amusement. Bed time was mentioned, but postponed in the bliss of the moment.

"I wish we never had to sleep!" Dandelionkit pounced forward for her turn.

"I want to check to see if I can gather more moss and make it bigger!" shouted Juniperkit.

In the middle of the paradise, Bluestar was as serious as ever, a thoughtful, expression on her face. Mothflight licked her paws nonchalantly, while Bluestar spoke. 

"The warrior code is being upheld, but I feel a strange darkness is approaching. I wish I could know what it was." Bluestar meowed.

"As long as the warrior code is followed," Here Mothflight shot Leafpool a meaningful glance, "nothing bad should come to the Clans. We should find reassurance in that."

Bluestar nodded her head. "True, but I cannot explain this sensation I have. I hope nothing bad will not come to pass." She looked around her in all directions warily. "We should keep close watch just in case."

***

The starlit sky glistened down upon the cats of StarClan in their dens. Their bellies were full of prey and warmth after a long day of enjoyment.

Yet in her nest, Leafpool twitched uncomfortably.

Something was wrong.

She didn't know what it was, but there was a dark, choking presence that did not belong in StarClan. It was too quiet for her. The air felt too still, yet the trees were shaking in anticipation.

Leafpool slowly got to her paws, her fluffy pelt bristled in alarm.

Outside, the stars were gone, and the trees shivered harder, more ominously than before. There was no light in StarClan. A darkness had swept over it leaving it pitch black. Leafpool heard other StarClan cats meows of dismay and confusion.

"What's happening?" She picked out Bluestar's mew that slowly became more curdled and muffled until silenced.

"Bluestar!" Mothflight exclaimed in alarm somewhere deep in the blackness of the forest, her voice vanishing suddenly.

Leafpool tilted her head, her ears pricked as she heard a sound that could only be described as the whole of StarClan exploding with a bellowing, angry wail.

"Run!" Sandstorm's pelt brushed past Leafpool. The she cat's  green eyes were wide with distress and worry.

"Save the kits!" Firestar yelled as he burst with speed next to her. 

"What about Bluestar and Mothflight?" Leafpool's voice trembled with panic, as her gaze tried to search in the darkness. All she could see was StarClan cats running on either sides like the wind, as if they were prey being hunted. A well of dark shadows crept out from the undergrowth and spread like a tongue twisting and extending to engulf every thing and every one near it.

"Run!" Sandstorm repeated to Leafpool. "There is no time! We must escape from here!"

Leafpool hurried alongside Sandstorm and Firestar as they carried Dandelionkit and Juniperkit separately in their jaws. 

Snowfur, Bluestar's sister, gripped Mosskit in her jaws as she padded with an extreme force of speed, her fluffy fur blown back in the storm.

Where is Bluestar? Why isn't she here with us? Leafpool panicked in her mind silently. 

Some cats joined to escape. But there were others that were missing. Aside from Bluestar and Mothflight, Leafpool realized many other cats were missing. It was hard to tell in the craze of the moment, but she could not see Rowanstar, Tallstar, Honeyfern, Berrynose, and Stemleaf.

For a heart-stopping moment, Leafpool's eyes darted everywhere frantically in search of Hollyleaf. 

No! she thought. I can't lose her again! Just as she wanted to turn and search, two ferns parted at the last minute to reveal Hollyleaf carrying Snowkit. Hollyleaf looked Leafpool in the eye and nodded in agreement silently. Both cats knew they had to leave, and do it fast without any questions.

"Everyone, run to the pool!" Firestar yowled to the remaining StarClan cats.

For once, Leopardstar didn't argue with him for commanding other cats. She nodded in solemn silence.

A gust of wind and darkness snapped at their tails and roared, deafening their ears and leaving them breathless, as they ran for their lives to the glowing water of the living cats. 

Leafpool knew that her sister, Squirrelstar, had once swam through the pool to the living world, and she could only hope that the same would be possible for the surviving cats.

The cats carrying the kits plunged into the pool first, and Leafpool felt a wave of relief when she saw Holllyleaf was safely through with Snowkit. Sandstorm carried Dandelionkit with her next with Firestar and Juniperkit following her close behind. 

It seemed the cats were successfully leaving StarClan territory. But the moment of calm ended abruptly, as Leafpool heard heard a screech. 

She tried to rush forward, but Runningnose was yanked backwards too quickly by long, dark claws. Then he was gone, vanished into a wall of heavy blackness.

"No!" Yellowfang yowled in pain, but Runningnose did not appear again. There was no trace of him.

"Go, go, go!", a voice yelled, pushing cats forward towards the Moonpool. "We can't look back!" Leafpool saw Sagewhisker nudge Yellowfang along with the other cats, as she earned a reproachful look from Yellowfang. The medicine cat's yellow eyes were filled with grief, but she remained speechless. A silent vigil repeated in her mind for her lost apprentice.

The silence was broken again. Sunstar let out a wail as he slipped on a gnarled branch reaching from the ground and then was swallowed by a wave of darkness. 

Someone pushed Leafpool from behind before she could see any more, and she fell into the pool.

She thrashed her starry paws, swimming to a beam of moonlight that she assumed was the Moonpool of the living world. 

She sucked in greedy gasps of air as she surfaced and pulled herself onto the ground.

The wet, silvery bodies of the StarClan cats lay panting beside her, and Leafpool saw Dandelionkit's fluffy, wet tail sticking high in the air.

"That was fun!" She squealed. "Can we do it again?"

There was no response, and only Juniperkit nodded in agreement.