the stars aligned | 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Chapter 6

They waited until sunhigh, until Echo had assured everyone she was fine, and Claire had stopped being grumpy and sorted out her emotions, before they left for the Clans.

Echo turned to look up at the abandoned Twoleg den as they padded out of the forest. It was darkened by the fire, and Sylvester was right that the Twolegs were pulling it down. They sat around the area with a big monster, eating and talking. Looking at the building, Echo had a sudden flashback of fire and burning heat, and she turned away quickly. She didn't want to go back there, even if it was her home. She couldn't.

They hurried away, careful not to let the Twolegs spot them. Eveything was bad enough without becoming kittypets — and besides, Echo was so close to seeing the Clans. She squinted in the distance, exitement making her paw steps quicken. She couldn't see any cats at the Clan territories, which didn't disappoint her like it usually did. She was going to be living with them soon.

They trudged along in silence, until Sylvester spun around to walk beside Claire.

"This is a big mistake," she snapped at him, but he just ignored her.

Echo didn't agree. It was her dream to visit the Clans. She wanted to learn their way of life. She wanted to live among them. This could not be a mistake.

"Tell us everything you know," he asked her. Claire paused and glared at him, but he held her gaze until she agreed with a huff.

"I don't know much," she stalled, and then gave up at Sylvester's frown. "There are four Clans, ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and RiverClan." She paused, but Sylvester nodded to tell her to keep going. "They each have their own territories and camps and different positions within the Clan."

"Do they have a leader?" Aquarius piped up from where he was walking beside Echo.

"How many cats in a Clan?" Cloudy asked from her other side, almost bouncing with curiosity.

Much unlike her, Echo was too exited to ask questions. Why bother when she was just going to see it all for herself anyways? It was strange to hear Claire talking about the Clans instead of just scowling and claiming they were bloodthirsty killers.

Maybe they are, her mind whispered, followed by an image of her vision. She felt slightly sick at all the blood but pushed the thought away, turning her attention eagerly to her mother's answers.

The grey tabby was shrugging. "They each have their own leader," she mumbled. "And I don't know how many cats...a lot. They won't be happy to see us."

Echo remembered last night's vision about the helpful Clan and doubted that was true.

"Which Clan are we going to?" she meowed, her exitement clear in her tone.

Claire's expression turned dark. "The closest one. RiverClan."

Echo couldn't tell why that bothered her so much. Was that the Clan Claire had visited? Had something happened there? Maybe they threw her out, and that's what she means by they won't want us there. She hoped not.

It took much longer than Echo would have liked to reach Clan territory. She chatted happily with Cloudy about what Clan life was like, until Claire snapped at them to shut up before any cats heard and came to attack them. They padded along in silence after that, listening to the birds in the trees and enjoying the breeze that ruffled their fur.

Echo was glad she'd taken the time to thoroughly wash her muddy pelt this morning. She didn't want to be dirty when she met the Clan cats — instead, her fur shone silver in the sunlight. It was such a nice day despite what happened the previous one. Echo shied away from the memories and instead tried to envision the Clans.

Happy cats, who helped their young grow and taught them how to survive. She imaged kind warriors taking the group in, teaching them their way of life. Echo knew it probably wouldn't happen, but she really hoped they would all stay and become Clan cats.

She was so invested in her daydreams that she didn't notice Claire and Sylvester stop, and almost smacked into the black tom. She jumped back and settled down beside Aquarius, forming a messy line. The brown tabby purred at her but thankfully didn't mention it.

"This is the border," Claire stated. Echo opened her mouth to taste the air. The scent here was different; it smelt like fish and water and the forest. It wasn't an unpleasant smell, like she thought scent markers would be.

"So we wait?" Aquarius asked her.

Claire nodded, kneading the ground nervously. "They won't take to kindly to strangers on their territory," she explained. "Especially since we're loners. They'll think we're hear to steal prey or something."

"So we have wait for the Clan cats to come get us?" Echo checked, curious. "Oh! Are we waiting for a patrol?"

"Yes," Claire answered.

Echo wrapped her tail around her paws and looked out onto RiverClan territory. It was a forest, but one with not much undergrowth and trees. She could see leaves moving as mice and voles scuttled around, unseen. Birds hopped from tree to tree, calling out to each other. It seemed like paradise. No bones or blood in sight. She knew her mother's stories couldn't have been true.

"How long will this take?" Cloudy piped up from the other end of their line.

"They send out patrols at sunhigh," Claire assured him. "It won't take long."

Echo was almost bursting with exitement. After all those years of watching from a distance, she was finally here. In a few moments she could be inside their camp, meeting the Clan cats...

The snap of a twig broke into her thoughts. She whipped her head around in the direction of the noise. A Clan cat? Or a fox? She tried to push away her exitement.

"Is that —" Cloudy started, but broke off as four cats suddenly stepped out of the trees.

Echo bit back a gasp. Clan cats! They were a little like Claire described them; strong and lean with narrowed eyes, hostility clear in their expressions and body language. They really didn't take kindly to strangers. She felt a little disappointed.

"What are you doing here?" a calico molly snarled, hackles raised.

She seemed to be the head of the patrol. The molly stood a little in front of the others, head held high. Was she the Clan leader? The rest of the patrol was made up a small white molly with a grey tail, whose water-coloured eyes were wide and a grey-brown tabby tom. Echo turned her eyes to the last cat and froze in place.

A dark blue-grey tom stared back at her, blue eyes flashing. Her mind went back to another vision, one she'd dreamt over and over again.

A blue-grey tom, his paws flying towards her...slitting her throat...blood pouring out onto the ground, staining her pelt...She felt like she couldn't breathe, couldn't move. She tore her eyes away from him and focuses on calming herself. It couldn't be him. He couldn't kill her.

But he looked exactly like the cat from her vision. She was going to die, all because she came to the Clans. We shouldn't have come here.

Claire was right — maybe coming to the Clans for help was a big mistake.

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A/N
Sorry the chapters are so short lmao. I'm working on expanding them without making the story seem long and dragged out and boring.

I hope y'all are enjoying the story so far! This chapter and after is where is gets interesting and the real story starts :)

- Poppy <3