Warriors: What Is There To Say?

Chapter 5- Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

"Fogpaw! Fogpaw! Help us!"

Fogpaw looked around wildly for the source of the voice, but she saw nothing but black. She swung a paw out, bristling when she only felt air.

"Who's there?" Fogpaw called nervously.

There were heartbeats of silence when she suddenly felt a presence brush beside her.

"Find them."

At that moment, an image of a gorge filled with cats flickered so briefly in Fogpaw's mind she wondered if she'd imagined it.

Then everything fell and rose all at once.

Fogpaw cried out in fear as she was sucked into the gloom. She feebly clawed at the fantastical jaws gripping her fur, only to be whisked farther and farther down.

"No!" Fogpaw screamed as the dark substance reached for her throat, twisting and pulling, engulfing her small body.

"Find them or the Clans will be lost to the darkness!" The voice rang in her ears and it echoed louder and louder and louder until...

All was quiet.

Suddenly, Fogpaw found herself at the bottom of a ravine. The sky was grey and pelting rain, and her fur was plastered to her body. Mud squelched beneath her paws, caking her fur. A side of her face felt numb and one of her eyes were swollen shut. Blood trickled from her mouth.

Drip, drip, drip.

She was bigger then, maybe a warrior, or something more. It was as if it was and wasn't her all at once. She felt different... was this the future or the past?

For whatever reason, Fogpaw felt like she didn't have much time left.

Looking around, she spotted a motionless, silvery body a few fox-lengths away. It was broken and twisted. Surprisingly, she could have sworn she saw its tail twitch ever so slightly.

Then Fogpaw felt something move against her. Glancing down, she fixed her stare on to two withering bodies at her belly.

Kits.

Somehow over the rain, she managed to hear paw-steps heartbeats before a large, golden she-cat came into view. Fogpaw squinted with her one good eye before realizing that the she-cat must be a Riverclan cat. She tried to cringe away from the cat, only to find her body locked in place. What was this?

Fogpaw felt her mouth move involuntarily, "Dawnlight! Please take them!"

Dawnlight? Was this she-cat Dawnstar but as a warrior? So this was the past, maybe even a memory...

"Splitstar—!"

"Fogpaw! Wake up!"

Fogpaw jerked awake, met with Pinepaw's worried grey eyes. His face was crinkled in mixed irritation and anxiety.

"Great Starclan, finally!"

"Wha...?" Fogpaw mumbled, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

"You were thrashing around like a fish straight out of the river! You even nicked my nose! Look," Pinepaw exclaimed, shoving his scratched nose into Fogpaw's face. "It took me forever just to wake you! Were you having a nightmare?" He sat back, frowning at her.

Fogpaw rose to her haunches, only to realize her pelt was, in fact, a mess. Small twigs and scraps of moss littered her fur. To her astonishment, her nest was completely ruined, as she must've broken it while flailing about in her sleep.

"Fogpaw?" Pinepaw inquired.

Fogpaw shook her head. "Yeah, it was something like that," she muttered.

Yes, it was true. Fogpaw had been having recurring dreams for the past moon now. Sometimes they were dark and filled with voices or faces. Other times they were like memories, almost as if she had lived a past life. She didn't know what any of them meant, or if they even resembled anything. But somewhere in the back of her mind, she was pushed to believe that her dreams were important.

"Look, well, it's almost dawn and I'm on the first patrol, so I gotta get going." Pinepaw shot her an apologetic glance before ducking out of the den.

That's right! Moongaze wanted to show her the territories at dawn. Fogpaw felt a twinge of excitement and hopped to her paws before remembering that her pelt was still a mess. She embarrassedly licked her fur clean from the leaves and scraps of moss. Sighing, she hurried out of the apprentices den and was surprised to find the camp already full of hustle and bustle.

Across the clearing, near the nursery, Crystalfall was grooming Nettlekit. The she-cat had had a litter of kits before but they died from a late spout of green-cough in Newleaf. It was almost as if she was cursed when she had a second litter of only one kit. Fogpaw almost felt sorry for Crystalfall, though she never showed it around her. Knowing the she-cat, Crystalfall would probably think she was mocking her and would have a fit.

Turning, Fogpaw fixed her stare on the dawn patrol. Like Pinepaw said, he was waiting by the entrance with Bonerun, his mentor. Fogpaw was told that Bonerun had mentored Coldpaw and Splitstar had mentored Pinepaw. But when Coldpaw and Splitstar both died, Darkstar had decided to give Pinepaw as Bonerun's apprentice. It was only fair. Fogpaw watched as the two were joined by Lightfeather and Oakcloud; the light brown senior warrior dragged behind the patrol as they hurried out of the camp, and Fogpaw figured she would soon be joining the elders den.

Hearing paw-steps near her, Fogpaw turned to see Moongaze's friendly face.

"Good, you're up early! Have you eaten yet?"

Fogpaw shook her head and murmured apologetically, "No, not yet."

"Hurry and grab something. We're leaving soon," Moongaze mewed.

Fogpaw nodded and scampered to the fresh-kill pile. She sighed, looking at all the choices. Maybe squirrel... Nodding, she snatched up a squirrel and padded a few tail-lengths away before settling down to eat. She quickly gulped down the prey in a few clean bites and whisked a paw over her mouth, wiping the blood away.

Snowkit should be up soon, Fogpaw thought, glancing back to the nursery. She huffed, I'll have to tell him about the territory today, he'll want to know about it. Then she frowned, baffled. Snowkit already saw some of the territory since he snuck out of the camp. He's seen more than her and he was still a kit while she was an apprentice. Whatever, he'll still want to know.

Fogpaw rose to her paws before hurrying over to Moongaze who was waiting by the entrance.

"Right, let's go."