RED MOON ⬤ a warriors cat fan-fiction

PROLOGUE

It was dark. Unusually dark. Why was StarClan dark?

She did not know, but she continued forward, ears perked and eyes trained on the land ahead. The usual pale blue landscape was now a burnt red color, as if the territory of her ancestors was set on fire. The grass she padded on crunched and a knot of uneasiness filled her belly. 

Have we been cut off from StarClan again? Oh, she hoped not. Losing their connection to their loved ones have left the clans in shambles. Time and time again, she watched as her clanmates died, turned their backs and left their clans behind. She was convinced that their connection to StarClan was not only their savior, but their downfall as well.

The further she moved into the territory, the feeling that she was being watched suddenly weighed heavily on her. While the feeling wasn't malicious, she still felt the fear of the unknown crawl along her skin. 

As she moved along, the redder her surroundings became. Whatever happened, every StarClan cat was in hiding. However, lights above her caught her attention, As she looked, dread sunk in. 

One by one, the stars that she had looked upon her entire life were falling in such an awful way. She could not see where they were landing, but she heard the thuds in the distance.

The stars! They're dying! Horror flooded through her.

"Take a good look."

A booming voice came behind her, making the ginger she-cat scramble to see how it was. A white tom came padding beside her, his blue eyes trained on the falling stars. She knew this cat; the long scar from his ear to his belly clued her in on who he was. Panic flooded through her as she stared at him.

How did he get into StarClan? Why is he here? I should not talk to him. She had many questions and concerns. But she knew he had the answers. She put away the little pride she had and lowered her head.

"What is happening?" She asked.

He glanced at her. "The stars are falling."

Immediately, she became annoyed with the simple and obvious answer. 

"I can see that. Why?" She responded.

"Take a good look at this place," he meowed, "What do you see?"

While she was annoyed and concerned that this Dark Forest cat was in StarClan's territory, she looked around. The same burnt red grass laid around her, that wasn't anything new. As her gaze moved around the clearing, she could see StarClan and Dark Forest cats alike staring up at the falling stars, their faces red in color. This prompted her to look to the sky. A large, red moon hung in the sky. It was just hanging there, as if it was trying to defy everything she knew and believed in.

She looked back at the tom, eyes narrowed. He then looked at her. 

"The red moon is coming."

What does that even mean? She questioned herself.

"Squirrelstar, your son will be at the front of this."

"What?" Squirrelstar snapped her head at him. "Alderheart would never-"

His piercing gaze had her shouting her mouth. 

"Remember, the red moon is coming. The real threat is not what it may seem." As soon as he finished, he turned and began to pad away.

Squirrelstar watched him go, her mind wandering. Yes, this new warning was weighing heavily on her, but there was something else she needed to know.

"Snowtuft!" She blurted out without much thought.

When the tom looked back at her, she continued. "Why are you and the Dark Forest cats here?"

Snowtuft stared at her for a long moment, making her wonder if he was going to answer.

"Why indeed?" Snowtuft seemed to be genuinely questioning himself. "For now, that question will have to wait. We have much bigger problems to deal with, don't we?"

Squrrielstar blinked and watched as he proceeded to leave. 

What is happening?