Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Thirty

Goldleaf

Watching everything at the Seeing Pond - that was the pond in FlowerClan's StarClan that let cats see into the living world - was becoming something of an obsession for Goldleaf.

When he wasn't searching for random plants he could sacrifice to build up a sustainable amount of life to trade in for a return to CloudClan to defeat Applestar (that was their entire plan; they hadn't really worked out every single detail yet. Another thing Sunpool might have been good for, had she decided to show to the meeting.), he was at the Seeing Pond. He was completely up to date with everything that was happening, and he was watching Sunpool, Cinderstorm, and Lightningfeather, curled up together in a small den the elders had unwillingly sacrificed. It wasn't at all boring; he felt his eyes continuing to be pulled to Sunpool's sleeping form. He had watched her reaction when Cinderstorm had told her what she had missed in the meeting. He had watched her face especially closely afterwards, and he had seen, he had seen it, how upset she was that she had missed it.

How torn up she was over the fact that she had missed him.

And he was starting to feel his anger and sadness fade.

He didn't know what to feel anymore. Sunpool had made him so confused on so many different levels and in so many different was, he had considered, more than once, than just letting go all together. To just let his emotions lift him away, and then... not... feel....

But he couldn't. Something wouldn't let him pull away from Sunpool, from the beautiful silver tabby she-cat who had broken his heart over and over but yet he still couldn't help but fall in love with.

Her eyelids twitched, and suddenly, she had shimmered into StarClan beside him.

Sunpool stared at him, like she was wondering what she was doing there. Neither of them spoke for a moment, until she suddenly said, "G- Goldleaf... I'm so, so sorry, Goldleaf."

And hearing her voice, hearing her soft, sweet voice in person again, taught with sadness and regret, broke something in him.

"Sunpool," he whispered, and she was there, pushing herself into his pelt. But she was naught but mist, a ghost that didn't belong in his world.

But that didn't matter. She was murmuring apologies, and he was just standing there, soaking up the scent of her- the scent of river, of trees, of sky. Nothing was wrong anymore. She was here, and he couldn't be mad at her.

Everything was perfect.

-=-

"Listen, I'm sorry for missing the meeting," Sunpool said for the umpteenth time.

"I know." Goldleaf shifted closer to her, still unbreakably giddy. "I get it. There's... well, a lot's happened in the last, well, forever, I guess."

She nodded. "This plan is insane. I didn't know cats can come back to life. Why haven't cats ever tried it before?"

"Because," Goldleaf said, "it takes a lot of life force to get enough to trade in for yours. The longer you've been dead, the weaker you are, and usually, you're quite weak anyway- susceptible to sicknesses, taking longer to heal, getting injured more easily, losing sleep, that kind of thing. You usually need to kill about three or four cats to get your life back, and nobody's ever been able to convince cats to die so they can come back. Plus, a lot of cats just don't know about it. It's not something you talk about a lot."

"Oh." Sunpool nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense... although, what if you were a leader and you return to life?"

"You just go back to the point you were at before you became a leader," Goldleaf told her. "StarClan's not that stupid."

Sunpool laughed.

She glanced up at the sky, and saw the light of morning approaching. "This has probably been the most peaceful night I've had in moons," she sighed.

"I feel quite relaxed," Goldleaf commented.

"I really am so sorry, Goldleaf. For everything," Sunpool said earnestly. "I as good as killed you, then I didn't do anything to get you back from the Dark Forest, and I wasn't there when your father died. I missed the meeting. I haven't been the best... anything. I haven't been a friend. And I haven't shown you at all how much I love you. I didn't even realize it myself, until tonight. I guess I'd just suppressed it for so long that I'd forgotten it was there."

He interlocked his tail with hers. "I never forgot you." And he hadn't. He'd only tried his hardest to do that.

"I know." She sighed, leaning her shoulder against his. "I don't deserve you."

She looked at the sky again, and then down to her body, which Goldleaf noticed was fading as she woke up.

"I'll be watching you from here," Goldleaf promised as she stood. "Good bye, Sunpool."

"Good bye, Goldleaf," she mewed, and then she was gone.

-=-

Goldleaf was wondering how much sleep he really needed as he padded up the hill to the plant sacrifice collection area.

He wasn't all that tired, but maybe he was running on adrenaline. Sunpool touching him, ghost or not, all night, must have woken him.

He passed through the trees. It wasn't all that hard to remember what plants were good or sacrifice; the hard part was trying to find them. His eyes narrowed as he searched the forest for something Lilycloud had called "rhubarb".

Rhubarb seemed to grow near rivers. Goldleaf made his way down a river and tried to find enough rhubarb to sustain my life for a while. He just needed enough to live until Applestar was dead. And maybe a little longer.

Because now?

Now, he had Sunpool.

And Sunpool, Cinderstorm, and Lightningfeather were the cats that he loved.

And that meant that he was going to stay alive for them. No matter how hard it was.

I hope you know I updated real fast AND missed out reading Bitter of Tongue for you guys.

Yeah you're welcome

XD Jk jk

~Rainfeather