Dreams of Light and Dark- a Warriors fanfic

Chapter Two

Specklepaw opened his eyes to see a forest- not the forest, where ThunderClan had made its home. No. This forest he didn’t recognise. The trees were pine, not oak and birch and alder and cedar. A shimmering mist swirled around him, making it difficult to see, and he realized that he couldn’t recognise half of the trees around him. Is this ShadowClan territory? What am I doing in ShadowClan territory? He lifted his muzzle and opened his mouth to draw in the scent. The air was crisp and cold, but there was no cat-scent. Weird. He padded onward, careful because he could hardly see his paws beneath the thick fog. He almost tripped over a root and a pebble by the time he stopped. He found himself standing in a clearing. The fog swirled around his paws, thinner now but still there. A cat was sitting there, waiting, by the looks of it, in the ghostly clearing.

“Greetings,”

It was a she-cat, he thought, but her pelt was so transparent it was impossible to tell what color her pelt was. Stars glimmered instead of spots, like dewdrops on leaves and petals and grass.

“StarClan…” he breathed. I must be dreaming. Or dead. Or just plain crazy.

The she-cat giggled. “Indeed. Come, the stars want me to show you something,” she abruty stood up and bounded into the grass ferns behind her. Specklepaw had little choice but to follow her. He pushed through the ferns after her, following  the scent; she smelled like the crisp wind of leaf-bare, yet at the same time fresh growth of newleaf. Strange, yet refreshing. As he entered another clearing, the she-cat was gone, as was the mist. He glanced around, confused. Where did she go? 

As he glanced around, he noticed that he recognised where he was now. This was in ThunderClan territory! He had patrolled here only yesterday… Yes, this wasn’t far from the Owl Tree!

A rustling sound made him duck behind a bush instinctively, and he saw a familiar black cat walk by him, ears flatten and tail drooping slightly, but still curled up at the end.

Wait, no- is that Nightshine? If I’m dreaming, what is she doing in my dream?

He decided to follow her, keeping a few tail-lengths back. He was surprised he didn’t get caught immediately- the deputy was possibly the most alert cat in ThunderClan, and he was only half-trained in stalking. But the blue-eyed she-cat kept walking, and Specklepaw kept dashing from bush to bush behind her, keeping her in sight. Nightshine stopped when she reached Owl Tree, and it was now that Specklepaw got a complete look at her.

Her fur was short but thick, and the sunlight gave her pelt a shiny gleam. Her legs and tail were long- in real life, she was taller than all of ThunderClan, even the biggest, heftiest toms- but they didn’t look that long. She looked younger too, her paws small and her body seemed almost disproportionate. In fact, she looked like an apprentice again. 

She was an apprentice again! 

He stood up to see that she was the same height as him, maybe slightly smaller, before quickly crouching back down. 

Okay this must be a dream.... His thoughts whirled as Nightshine tilted her head up, and he caught a glimpse of her deep, ocean blue eyes, darker than any other cat’s the brown tom had ever met. He watched as the cat he thought he knew sat down, fluffy tail curling over her paws. She looked down, and her shoulders sagged.

Oh. She’s sad… He realized.

He continued watching as she threw her head back in a wail, full of grief and pain. It almost broke Specklepaw’s heart to hear her pain so vividly.

She’s never this emotional in camp…

“Father! Please! Speak to me. I need your guidance.”