Broken Code

Chapter 25

The pale moon hung high in the still night as Ashpaw opened his jaws to sniff the air. If only he could smell his way back to Streamclan, then perhaps he would feel more at home. Ravenclan offered him protection yes, but deep down, his heart tugged and pulled him to find his sister and old family once more. He closed his bright blue eyes and told himself this was all a dream. To his disappointment, it was reality.

"It's a bit late to be out of camp isn't it?" A fluttery voice rang through Ashpaw's ears and he pricked them, not quite turning around to face his visitor.

"I could ask you the same." Ashpaw twitched his whiskers as a soft white she cat padded up next to him.

"Couldn't sleep. It's too cold." Winterpaw admitted, wrapping her cloudlike tail around her paws.

Ashpaw looked down at the ground, his muzzle hot. "Suppose it is."

Winterpaw tilted her head and gave him a look. "You alright Ashpaw?"

"Yeah I'm alright." He lifted up his head and put on smile, despite his heartache to be with his true home. He felt guilty however, his heart seemed to be racing at the fact that Winterpaw was so close to him, and so content. They were at peace together. He felt as his heart shredded into two between Winterpaw and Bluepaw. Who should he hold on to?

"You miss home don't you? I can tell. I've grown up in Ravenclan since I was a small kit. Living so close to the Twolegplace has brought us a pawful of visitors. They never stay in our clan though, they get homesick. They get a look in their eyes that I can see reflecting in yours this very moment. I can't ever fathom what it would be like to be in your situation Ashpaw, and I'm so so sorry for everything that happened to you. But I want you to know that I'm very happy that you ended up here in Ravenclan. Maybe it's all coincidental or maybe it's fate. Either way, I want you to know that even though you weren't born into this clan, I think you belong here. I can feel it." Winterpaw took a breath.

Ashpaw looked over into her eyes and gave her a small smile. "You might be right." His voice was lighter than a feather.

"I tend to be right a lot." She grinned and her eyes were full of mischief. "But in all seriousness, I don't want you to doubt our appreciation for you. You battle with such a unique style, you jump with different technique. Starclan, even your pawsteps are different than ours. It's crazy Ashpaw and Ravenclan wants to know you. We want to know your story and your life. I probably sound like I'm crazy-"

"No Winterpaw, you're definitely not crazy." He cut her off with a gentle wave of his tail.

"I try to not ramble too much..." She meowed softly with a small flicker of laughter reaching her jaws.

"Trust me, you don't talk too much. Even if you did, I enjoy listening." He admitted, tucking his paws underneath him.

"You enjoy listening? Alright, I'm going to tell you a story. This is the story of life and death." Her eyes twinkled with her own excitement and the reflection of the stars.

"Life and death. That escalated quickly." Ashpaw breathed a laugh.

"Shhh... there once were two..."

And from there, Winterpaw began to tell Ashpaw a story about two wolf pups growing up together and falling in love, destined to have their tails twined together in love. Their names were Moon and Frost. The wolves lived in complete forestation. It was Greenleaf all year long. The two were never apart until one day there was a flood throughout where they lived. The two were abandoned together in an old scary shack. Then the male wolf, Frost, was seized by Twolegs and taken away. The two star crossed lovers had been separated until the she wolf, Moon, found her true love once more. In the attempt to rescue her beloved, the she wolf was painfully killed and her life ebbed away before her mate's very eyes. The tom grieved but soon learned that Moon could be remembered by her name, so from then on, wolves began to howl at the moon to honor her memory. Frost grieved for a few moons, bringing the first winter to their home, thus giving the animals a snowy frost every year.

"I really enjoy that story. It shows how we got wolves to howl at the moon, how we got the seasons, how life and death can be honored, and it shows how powerful love is." Winterpaw breathed once she was done telling the story. "It has so many messages in one story. How could one not love that story?"

"Right... how could one not love it?" Ashpaw breathed, his voice hardly hanging in the thin night air. His words held a such deeper meaning than he admitted to himself.

Winterpaw gave him a small smile before standing up and gently shaking out her pelt. "Thanks for listening to me Ashpaw. I'll see you tomorrow morning." And without a second hesitation, she turned tail and padded back inside camp. She turned over her shoulder and gave Ashpaw another glance before climbing through the barrier and into her den.

"How could one not love it?" Ashpaw dared to repeat.

He was greeted with utter silence and for the first time in a while, it bothered him. He looked up at the stars glittering in the sky and exhaled, his frosty breath forming a small cloud puff in the darkness. "I don't know what my destiny is, but I sure hope you make it a good one. I'm talking to you Dad." Ashpaw whispered to the stars and stood up, shook out his pelt, and padded towards camp before changing his mind and heading the opposite direction. He headed towards the Ravenclan borders, trekking through the woods to get there. Ashpaw reached the edge of the territory and sat down on the border markers, looking out at the great world before him.

"I used to think the world was only the clans I came from. Streamclan was my home. How will ever find my way back?" Ashpaw whispered, his words being carried away in the midnight wind. "Do I even want to go home? Maybe I'm already there..."

Ashpaw didn't know how right he was.