Warriors: Blossomfall's Reign(Sequel to WBI)

Chapter Twelve: Is Death Real?

? POV

Foxleap wisely kept his mouth shut, but I could see in his eyes curiosity mingled with terror.

I glared at him. "Very well. You may speak to me, quietly."

"Aren't you dead?" he whispered.

I chuckled. "Perhaps, perhaps not. You see, perhaps death is an illusion...no that's not the right word at all, perhaps it's just a place, not a state of being. Life is one place, death is another, then, and perhaps the two are closer than you would think. Wouldn't it then be possible to cross back and forth between the two?"

Foxleap blinked in confusion. "But...they buried your body and death...I..."

"Or perhaps I didn't die. You'll never know," I said.

"I don't understand. Are you dead or are you not?" he hissed.

I rolled my eyes. "Perhaps, perhaps not. Perhaps death is only real if you want it to be."

I watched in amusement as his eyes narrowed as his tiny brain struggled to comprehend what I had just said. I loved to play with other cats' minds.

Foxleap struggled beneath my grasp, clearly wanting to get away from me. "Perhaps you're what's not real. I'm imagining you...wait, I'm dreaming, aren't I? Yes, that's it. I will wake up soon and you'll still be dead as a..."

"As a kit on a Thunderpath," I purred, interrupting him.

Foxleap looked appalled. "That was not was I was going to say at all...I was going to say dead as an injured squirrel!"

An image formed in my mind. I saw Foxleap, with the skin torn off his leg to where you could see the bone and blood oozing everywhere. A cat leapt out of the shadows and dragged him away by his scruff. His screams echoed through the forest as he was tortured and I stifled a laugh at the thought. To me, he was the injured squirrel I envisioned in my head.

I looked him right in the eyes. "You won't speak a word of this to any cat, or else you will be as dead as Blossomstar."

"Blossomstar isn't dead," he muttered.

I stepped back and allowed him to rise to his paws. "Not yet."

Blossomfall POV

It had been a half-moon since my kits were born. They had opened their eyes two days ago, and sure enough, they both had the same bright green eyes. Streamheart was kitting at that time, so I had sent the kits to the elders den to hear a story from Dustpelt, Sandstorm, and Purdy.

Foxleap padded up to me while I was nibbling on a thrush, looking a bit spooked. "Hey, we need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about," I spat.

"It's important! Your life is..."

I rose to my paws and headed towards the nursery, abandoning the fresh-kill. "Stay away from me. Hey, Jayfeather, is Streamheart done kitting now?"

"Yes, you can come in!" Jayfeather yowled from inside the nursery.

Foxleap chased after me and laughed nervously. "The kits look nothing like you at all."

I squeezed through the entrance and curled up in my nest. "Fortunately, they look nothing like you either!"

Foxleap left me alone, thankfully. Just when I was about to doze off, the kits came bouncing through the nursery and woke me with their squeals. The question was, which one was which?

"Mommy, Sandstorm told Nightkit and I a great story!" Okay, so that was Shadekit then.

I purred. "That's very nice, Shadekit, dear."

"Hey!" Nightkit yelped, looking hurt. "I'm Shadekit!"

Oops. Great, my own kits were trying to trick me.

The actual Nightkit laughed. "Haha, we fooled you!"

"Yes, yes, you did. What story did Sandstorm tell you?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.

Shadekit settled down close to me and I wrapped my tail around him. "She told us about the battle with the Dark Forest, and how brave Firestar was!"

"Yes, he was brave. He had the heart of a LionClan cat, and was ten times more of a warrior than any other cat in our Clan," I told him.

"Oh, and Mommy?" Shadekit looked up at me with wide, innocent eyes.

I felt my heart melt. "Yes, dear?"

Shadekit yawned and blinked sleepily. "Who's Bumblestar?"

My head snapped upwards and I felt sick. "What?! Who told you that name?"

"Nobody, Mommy." Shadekit whimpered, fear in his eyes. "We...we eavesdropped on some warriors talking a-and I heard Foxleap saying that even Bumblestar was a better leader than you."

"That arrogant piece of fox-dung better..." I trailed off as I saw how frightened my kits looked.

"But, who's Bumblestar, Mommy? Why does his name make you so angry?" I saw a glint of curiosity in Nightkit's eyes as he spoke up.

I sighed. "He's nobody, dear, nobody important."

A/N: What do you guys think about what ? said to Foxleap? Who do you think ? is now? There's a major clue in this chapter that ? said that should help.

Just don't get in ?'s way or you'll be "dead as a kit on a Thunderpath." XD