Chapter 23-

TW: vivid descriptions of a dead body!! it's okay to not read!

Sagepaw washes his paws in a stream, the water reflecting the pale-gray sky. Dawn colors sneak into the sky, rosy pink being the most prominent. Sagepaw watches red take over the water, spreading like disease through the ripples.

What has he done? Sagepaw blinks at the water, seeing only blood. His paws are no longer red, more a pinkish color, but still the white underneath hides. He killed a cat. Not just a cat. His father. But he deserved it. Unlike Tansypaw, he deserved it.

Sagepaw rinses his paws again, before lifting them out of the reddish water. The white color returns. White. The color of innocence, of purity. But tonight, his paws are the opposite.

Sagepaw needs to think. He needs to sleep. He needs the familiarity of his camp, because right now nothing makes total sense.

Sagepaw pulls himself from the shore, turning towards the dying trees. Only one sentence comes to mind as he surveys the dead-looking trees.

Each forest needs to burn before they can flourish.

                                                              ~~~

Sagepaw slips through the old, abandoned, Windclan camp in order to get to Thunderclan camp. His paw pads rejoice at the familiar dewy grass and squishy soil. The smell of Windclan, however, is disgusting, even if stale.

The sun rises from beneath the hill, sending the streaks of pink, purple, and orange, away. Now the sky looks darkish blue. Sagepaw connects the color to the cobalt blue of Smoothpaw's eyes.

The tom slips through the crack in the rock, the one he's now outgrown. His fur snags painfully on the jagged surface, but he squeezes through.

Thunderclan camp is alive with groggy cats, all hustling to one spot. Under the High Stone. Sagepaw is somewhat thankful for this, as the chaos of an early morning meeting is easy to join without being noticed. Sagepaw walks with the crowd, feigning a quick yawn and rapid blinking. It's not hard; he is actually tired, if not exhausted.

"Sagepaw, over here!"

Sagepaw veers around, turning towards the cat he knows the voice belongs to. Yewpaw's excited eyes lock with his as he bounds forward, tail fluff grabbed by wind. Maybe the rest of his tail is too, because it is shot up, curled at the tip.

Yewpaw reaches Sagepaw, his mouth curled into an up-turned arch. His tail whisks, before re-curling. "Morning!" his voice sounds like wind-chimes, "Today's the day! I'm so excited! Fallowpaw too, but you wouldn't know. Isn't that weird, that I'm twelve moons old? Wasn't I a kit just a few moons ago? But you wouldn't even imagine it, would you?"

Sagepaw is forced to smile and snicker, but each second he smiles makes him feel sick. "Yeah, I guess so. I wonder what your warrior name will be."

"Yeah, I know!" Yewpaw nods, pleased with Sagepaw's response, "Come on, I'm trying to hide from Cliffstoop." Oh, right. Cliffstoop is Yewpaw's mom.

"Yeah, she'll probably groom you until you look like a sleek river rat," Sagepaw agrees, nodding, "This way, at the edge of the territory."

Sagepaw numbly guides Yewpaw along the edges of the camp, careful to make sure his pelt doesn't brush the brambles. His paws thrum rhythmically on the grass, muffled by the soft soil.

Finally, the two toms merge into the crowd. It feels small, tiny, even. Sagepaw is glad to be camouflaged.

Aloestar sits on the stone ledge, the place where Snapstar usually loomed over the crowd empty. But Aloestar smiles despite the circumstances, looking genuinely happy.

"Today marks the day of my favorite ceremony to call," the she-cat begins, blinking down at the crowd, "A warrior's ceremony." Yewpaw bounces with impatience next to Sagepaw. Aloestar smiles once more. "Yewpaw, please step forward."

"Wish me luck on the name!" Yewpaw grins, watching as the cats all concurrently take a step back to make the place Yewpaw will step visible.

Yewpaw bounces to the front of the crowd, purrs vibrating his whole body. His whole pelt twitches in anticipation. Sagepaw can't help but smile despite himself.

"I, Aloestar, leader of Thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on Yewpaw. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in their turn," Aloestar purrs out the words, "Minnowrose, is Yewpaw ready to uphold his warrior duties." All heads turn to Minnowrose, who is a bit out of the crowd, smiling in pleasure.

"Very," she answers earnestly with a dip of her head. Yewpaw grins even wider than any kit could.

"Okay then," Aloestar laughs a little, "Yewpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Yewpaw grins and nods, "Of course!" A few laughs and chuckles sound from the crowd, making Yewpaw deflates and licks his shoulder fur down in embarrassment. "I mean, I do." More laughs, including a tiny giggle from Sagepaw. But tiny. Barely there.

"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. Yewpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Yewmist. StarClan honors your enthusiasm and eagerness, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan."

Cheers take over the camp, and every cat is swept up into the tidal wave of excitement. Sagepaw still feels sad, but just a little bit better. Clan life is good, familiar, and here no cat speaks about Voidflicker.

                                                                   ~~~

The ceremony is far from over, even when Fallowpaw is named Fallowshard. Since Sagepaw's abduction and the fire, ceremonies have been mostly forgotten about. There is a lot to catch up on. Patrols, pregnancies, and other things.

Most importantly, Ivykit, Whitekit, and Cleftkit are named Ivypaw, Whitepaw, and Cleftpaw. Aloestar says she regrets making them wait a full moon to be apprenticed, but Sagepaw doesn't. He has enjoyed the four full moons he'd had without having to deal with the three. When Sagepaw was apprenticed the three other kits had only been about two and a half moons old.

The clan cheers, all except Sagepaw. He doesn't bother. He isn't happy.

The clan ceremony goes by without any more exciting announcements. Fringestrike is apparently expecting kits, her belly not showing it yet. Orejump purrs proudly at the announcement, his mouth breaking into a grin of pure excitement. Ivypaw had been assigned to him. A mentor and a father. Lucky kits. They have a respectable father, a living father.

Sagepaw's good mood fades mostly as the excitement does too. His mind refocuses on the blood, both literal and physical, on his paws. Voidflicker's blood. His father's blood. And the body, just left to rot in the dust. Sagepaw checks himself briefly. There will be no fur in Voidflicker's claws. Only Thunderclan scent. And who'd guess an apprentice could do that to a full grown warrior?

And no apprentice could. Unless Voidflicker wasn't aiming to kill him back, and instead was trying to take him... but no cat should consider that.

Sagepaw will be okay, under the radar. For now, at least.

                                                               ~~~

                                             Flickerpaw's POV

Day bleeds into night, and night bleeds into the area between too late and too early. Flickerpaw curls into a ball in his nest which still doesn't quite feel his. He closes his eyes, his tail fitting perfectly over them. Sleep comes almost instantly, pinning him into the moss.

                                                                ~~~

Flickerpaw wakes, his muscled tense and exhausted. He's been running for so long, his breaths labored and shallow. But now he stops, with the scent of rabbits and moor heather clinging to his pelt.

The Windclan border.

Flickerpaw steps forward, over it, because he doesn't need to abide by the rules here. The spindly trees above bend, as if pointing forward. And that's Flickerpaw goes, another step. And then another. And then a turn. And then two more steps. And then a gasp and silence. Dead silence.

Voidflicker is there, cooling, in the soil, sprawling out in a large puddle of blood mostly around his head. Flickerpaw steps forward because he isn't scared, just surprised.

No, he didn't hit his head. His neck is torn open like a plump piece of prey. His eyes are wide open, but lifeless nonetheless. Flickerpaw brushes his paw against the tom's leg, but quickly recoils. It is cold. Like river rocks. Why is it cold? Is the river of blood cold too?

Flickerpaw doesn't have time to figure this out as he is torn from the dream with a few final words whispered into the tom's ears.

"Find him."

                                                             ~~~

Flickerpaw wakes in the early light of dawn. Tumblecry is curled up across from him, tail curled around her nose.

Flickerpaw rises from his nest, blinking away the chill the body had left him with. Find him. Voidflicker? At the border? Flickerpaw blinks again, gears turning. His head hurts. He wants to sleep.

But he can't.

Flickerpaw yawns, slipping out of the medicine cat's den. He narrows his eyes against the sun.

The whole camp is bathed in a soft, ethereal glow. The dewy grass bends with the slight wind, as if pointing like the trees. Forward, forward, urging him to move. The sun seemingly comes up just for Flickerpaw, encouraging him in the way it makes the world come to life.

Flickerpaw instantly speeds up, tearing across the camp and making the distance tinier and tinier... the tom bursts out of camp and keeps going.

After what feels like hours and hours of running, Flickerpaw's nose wrinkles and he stops. The smell of Windclan is strong, overpoweringly so, but not as strong as the smell of blood and death.

Was...Was the dream really right?

Flickerpaw had hoped it was just a nightmare derived from stress. After all, Sagepaw had been giving him a hard time and being a medicine cat apprentice is tough. Herb names, poultices, injuries. But at least Flickerpaw likes it.

But now...

Flickerpaw isn't sure he can push through the cloud of disgust and death. He doesn't want to see a dead cat. But he has to, doesn't he? Why would Starclan - or whatever had sent the terrifying and confusing dream - send a dream telling Flickerpaw to find something if they didn't want him to find it?

Flickerpaw takes a step over the border, but there are rules here, unlike in the dream. His paws feel like heavy stones. But he moves them, one step. Two steps. Turn. Two more steps. And then a gasp and dead silence.

It was real, it all was. The dream, the death... Flickerpaw gags at the sight of the dead, stiff, body. Blood settles at the black tom's head and neck, but Flickerpaw already knows where the wound is. Flickerpaw can only see the body, dry and still. And his dead, glass, eye.

Flickerpaw takes one step forward. Who had attacked him? Not a dog or badger, no, because it's scent would be everywhere. It must've been a cat. A sick, sick, cat. Who'd kill him?

Flickerpaw steps forward, his paws brushing the deceased tom's hind leg. Instantly the tom recoils with a hiss, nose wrinkling and a feeling of dread washing over him. He shouldn't be here. What if he is blamed? No, an apprentice couldn't kill a well-trained warrior. Windclan should know that.

Flickerpaw is more shocked by something else, however. The scent is tiny, like it's trying to hide. And it's doing well, as the scent of blood, death, and Windclan overpowering it by a landslide. But, beneath both of those scents, is the scent of Thunderclan.