Warriors- Dawn of An Era: The Journey Begins {Book 1} (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Scarredbelly's eyes fluttered open as he realized he had fallen asleep next to Applefrost. He wasn't in the warrior's den with the rest of the warriors. Instead, he was outside the camp at the SkyClan border, on the hill where he and Applefrost had first met as apprentices. As he looked around, he spotted the familiar ginger tabby pelt of Waspthorn sitting at the edge of the rise, his head bowed.

Scarredbelly started to pad toward him, ears pricked as he picked up the tom muttering to himself. He could make out what he was saying from where he was, but he got closer to hear.

"I'm so sorry, Silentdream." The old cat was meowing, but not to himself. In front of him stood a silver and gray tabby she-cat with orange eyes. "I-I can't lie to Brackenstar."

The she-cat, Silentdream, looked angered and heart-broken and Scarredbelly tilted his head. "You have to do this, Waspthorn." She pleaded, tears staining her fur as two kits squealed at her paws. One of them was a dark ginger tabby tom, and the other a dilute calico tabby she-cat. "If you don't, Hazelkit and Pinekit will die!"

Waspthorn met her gaze with despair in his eyes. "I can't lie to my leader!" He wailed, tail waving behind him frantically. "Join ThunderClan, Silentdream. We'll be together as a family and we won't have to worry about keeping this a secret."

Silentdream's orange eyes pierced through Waspthorn, making Scarredbelly wince. "I-I can't just leave SkyClan, Waspthorn," she choked out, her tail curling around her two kits. "Brackenstar knows Cardinalstar would kill any disloyal cat in her Clan."

"Which is why you should join ThunderClan," pressed Waspthorn as he stepped toward his SkyClan mate. "Please, Silentdream, join my Clan. You can live a different life with me and our kits."

The SkyClan queen lowered her head sadly, her voice a low rasp. "I can't do that, Waspthorn. No matter how bad I want to." She whispered.

"Why?" Waspthorn's tone was angered now, eyes narrowed into slits as he gazed at his mate. "Why can't you?"

Silentdream was quiet for a moment before she answered. "Because Foreststrike thinks he's the father of Hazelkit and Pinekit." She meowed softly. "I can't leave the Clan with him thinking his kits disappeared."

Scarredbelly saw Waspthorn's eyes widen with shock and they quickly hardened to grief. "S-so you're staying with the kits?" He asked quietly.

Silentdream let out a muffled choke as she shook her head, nudging Hazelkit and Pinekit toward their father with her paw. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she faced her mate. "I-I'm going back without them," she meowed wretchedly. "Cardinalstar will never know who their real father is; neither will Foreststrike. They'll know that Hazelkit and Pinekit ran away and some other cat found them."

"Silentdream-" Waspthorn began but was cut off.

"Goodbye, Waspthorn." She whispered, holding his gaze for a second longer before looking down at the two kits. "Goodbye, my loves. Be good for your father and his Clan." Without another word to him or the kits, Silentdream whirled around and pelted away, leaving Waspthorn watching on in sorrow.

"Silentdream!" Wailed the warrior, reaching out with a paw, claws unsheathed as she sprinted away. "Come back!"

There was a hiss and the spirit of the cat in front of him lashed out with a paw, going through his previous self and making it go poof! Waspthorn's face was unreadable, his eyes shadowed as the cats faded and they were on the hill alone.

"Waspthorn, I-" Scarredbelly meowed, only for the spirit to raise a starry paw to silence him.

"Don't, Scarredbelly." He warned, his eyes flashing with an unknown emotion. "That was the entire reason I brought you here."

"For me to watch your mate run away while you called after her?" Scarredbelly meowed, confused. When the StarClan cat shook his head, he asked. "Then why am I here?"

"Because this is where it all began, Scarredbelly." He explained, his voice pained. Waspthorn waved a paw, gesturing to the landscape around them. "Those kits, Hazelkit and Pinekit, would grow up to become Hazelwish and Pinewing."

Scarredbelly gasped. "Really?"

The tom nodded, his eyes distant. "Silentdream resides in StarClan with them, along with Cloverfur." He said.

"Then why aren't you with them?" Scarredbelly meowed in confusion.

"Because I can't stand being with them while knowing what she did to them." He dug his claws into the ground. "What she did to me."

"She left you with the burden of raising her kits," Scarredbelly realized with a start. "How did Brackenstar react?"

Waspthorn's ears drooped and he looked away from Scarredbelly. "He didn't know the kits were mine and Silentdream's," he whispered, shame coating his voice. "When Brackenstar was killed by rogues a few seasons later, our deputy, Whitecloud, killed the rogue leader and got his name and lives from StarClan."

Scarredbelly listened intensely, eyes flicking to movement out of the corner of his eye. "Who did Whitecloud name as deputy?" He asked, returning his gaze to the StarClan warrior.

"Rainfall," Waspthorn turned to the tom, his eyes glinting. "Scarredblly, you must listen very closely to my words." He meowed, tail flicking as he began to disappear. The environment around them had started to blur and merge together, mixing colors. "Rushspring is going to strike once more, as he did to Shellclaw, Brightgaze, and Poppyfur." The tom held Scarredbelly's gaze with his own. "He's going to bring a horrible force to the Clans, with the leader the color of ripe barley. Her eyes are the color of marigold stems, but she will cause chaos."

Scarredbelly's eyes widened and he reached out a paw. "What's her name, Waspthorn?" He called.

"Her name is Azalea." Answered the lingering voice of the warrior as Scarredbelly gasped, eyes flying open as he breathed hard. He was back in the warrior's den with pale dawn light slicing through the den. Applefrost was by his side, sleeping soundly.

He wrapped his shaking tail around the she-cat, shifting closer to her. "Don't worry, my love," Scarredbelly whispered in her ear, making it twitch. "I won't let anything happen to you. That is a promise."