I'm part of a challenge on Instagram called Clan wars, where there's five groups of people who make up each Clan (the canon clans) and complete tasks related to warriors, like editing, writing, and art. The latest task was to write about how your leader got their nine lives. My oc is the leader is SkyClan, and I wrote this one shot for the challenge.
Sloefern stood in front of the moonpool, looking down at its bright surface. The moon illuminated the water, casting the area in a silver glow. Looking down at the water, Sloefern saw her face reflected back at her, distorted. Looking down at it, she could see her fears written all over her face, wide eyes, her pupils so dilated they swallowed the green of her eyes. She let out a breath. Countless cats had come here before her, their paws making the ancient prints her own feet slipped into. They'd come and received their lives, granted by StarClan. They weren't all pure, she was sure other leaders had made mistakes before. So her own past couldn't matter, could it?
"Are you ready?" Asked her medicine cat, his whisper stirring air by her ear.
Sloefern turned to him, staring into his eyes for a moment. They were warm, as if he knew everything would be alright. But Mintheart didn't know her past, what she'd done. He didn't know what was at stake.
"Okay." She nodded. Sloefern crouched down to the divine pool, stretching out her tongue. Frigid water encased her tongue as she dipped it into the pool. She fought the urge to jump back as she lapped the water in her mouth, tasting crystalline. It burned with cold, stripping her nerve endings. A sleepiness overtook her, creeping in behind her eyes. It was as if she was a kit again, seized by peacefulness as her mother groomed her ears as she drifted to sleep. That warmth, that comfort, something she'd never felt in a while. Sloefern leaned into it, closing her eyes as the blackness enveloped her.
For a few moments, Sloefern existed only in the moments between her breaths.
A gentle breeze rolled over her body, whispers licking at her fur. Sloefern opened her eyes, taking in the landscape. Moonlight cascaded over the field, highlighting the group of shapes that stood in front of her. Lush scents of prey and flora flooded into Sloefern's nostrils. A smile spread across her face, brighter than the moon itself. She was so sure StarClan wouldn't give her the nine lives she'd need to become leader, but here she was. Standing in StarClan's grounds, in front of the cats she missed most. Peering at the faces bathed in moonlight and shadow, her heart soared. Pollentuft, her old mentor.
Cricketleap, her first love. Wasppaw, her best friend as an apprentice. Breezeskip, her father. Sloefern staggered forward, overwhelmed. She wanted to run to them, but something in their grim expressions stopped her. She paused.
"Mintheart? What's going on?" She asked, her voice trembling.
He didn't say anything, walking a few paces forward to stand with her.
"I have come to receive my nine lives," Sloefern announced, staring at the cats lined up in front of her.
A cat she didn't recognise stepped forward, his grey and white pelt rippling as he did so.
"I'm Clear Sky, the founder of SkyClan. StarClan has been watching you from your journey from kit to deputy, and we're here for the next stage of your journey. But we cannot grant you your nine lives."
Sloefern gasped, gaze flicking from Clear Sky to Mintheart. "You can't do that! I was the deputy when Toadstar died. I'm supposed to be leader!"
Clear Sky shook his head. "There's no denying that, but we wonder if he would've made you deputy had he known about Cinderkit."
"Cinderkit?" Mintheart broke his silence.
