Shadow Ascension

[Catgirl the Crazy]

Author’s Note: This a story I'm posting on fanfiction.net, and I decided to post it here. I was wondering about why ShadowClan has such a bad reputation, cuz I figured they can’t be that bad. So I decided to write this fic, which explores that to some extent. This fic is also AU. It starts just before the beginning of Midnight.

Dedication: I dedicate this story to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Let us never forget you, or the mistakes made by some that made things so bad for you.

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy

Prologue

Blackstar padded through marshes of his territory. He sniffed the night air. No sign of danger, and some signs of prey. Pinpointing a vole, he crouched, ready to spring, when he heard a noise behind him. The vole heard it as well, and scurried off.
The gigantic white tom whirled around, his claws unsheathed, determined to claw the face of whatever had scared of his prey. It might have been green-leaf, but ShadowClan needed all the freshkill it could get.
However, Blackstar immediately lowered his claws in shock. In front of him was a silvery-tabby tom. But this clearly was not a normal cat. He was slightly transparent, enough so that you just make out what was behind him, but not so much that you couldn’t see him at all. Even stranger were his eyes. His eyes were a yellow-green color, yet they seemed to burn with a faint, blood-red fire. But strangest of all was his scent. He bore no Clan scent that Blackstar could recognize. In fact, the silvery tabby only smelled a bit like a cat. Blackstar couldn’t find words to describe the cat’s strange, unearthly scent.
“Wh-who are you?” Blackstar asked, unable to hide his fear.
The cat let out a mirthless mro-owrr of laughter. “Scared are you? Don’t worry; you’ve a right to be. Everyone has a right to fear the Dark Shadows.”
“Dark Shadows… Dark Shadows…” Blackstar muttered, trying to remember where he’d heard that named before. Then it hit him. He remembered listening to elder’s tales as a kit. His eyes widened in shock and realization. “You-you can’t be!” Blackstar gasped, “Shadowstar defeated you!”
“He defeated us, certainly,” the tabby agreed, “But being defeated is very different from being destroyed, and destroyed we are not.”
“Well it doesn’t matter that you’re back,” Blackstar challenged, all traces of fear now gone from his voice. “We beat you before, we can do it again.”
“Don’t worry. The Dark Shadows will learn from our previous mistakes.” The silvery tabby-tom laughed again, and leaped at Blackstar.

[Catgirl the Crazy]

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy
Chapter 1: Coming Darkness

“Brambleclaw…” a familiar voice called. Brambleclaw looked around wildly. He was in a clearing near the Thunderpath. It was not long after sunhigh, in the middle of greenleaf. The scents of plentiful prey wafted into his nose, but right now he was trying to pinpoint the voice.
“Brambleclaw…” the voice called again. Now he knew who that voice belonged to. Perhaps he was dreaming of being on a patrol with her? He couldn’t remember ever going on a patrol with her here before, but it would have been a long time ago, so he could have forgotten.
“Bluestar?” he called back. “Where are you?”
“A terrible darkness is coming. Do not underestimate it…” Her voice faded into nothing. Before he could respond, shadows seemed to creep towards him across the Thunderpath. He tried to run, but they overtook him, engulfing him in darkness, filling him with a terror colder than ice…
“Brambleclaw!” a louder, sharper voice called. He felt a paw prodding him in the side.
“Wake up you lazy furball!” the voice of Graystripe said again.
“Wha-?” Brambleclaw muttered sleepily. “Wha’s happening?”
“You were yowling in your sleep,” Graystripe said. “Nightmare?”
“Er, yeah,” Brambleclaw yawned, getting up and stretching.
“Oh well,” Graystripe mewed. “Anyway, I want you on the dawn patrol with Dustpelt and Squirrelpaw.” Brambleclaw groaned inwardly. He just couldn’t stand Squirrelpaw. She might be Firestar’s daughter, but she was still the most annoying apprentice in ThunderClan.
As if he could read his mind, Graystripe added, “And you’re going to behave yourself, alright?”
“I will if Squirrelpaw does,” Brambleclaw mewed stubbornly.
“I mean it Brambleclaw,” growled Graystripe.
Brambleclaw sighed. “Very well,” he mewed resignedly. “I’ll go.”
“Good,” the deputy grunted, and padded out of the warriors den. Brambleclaw sighed again and went after him. He immediately spotted Squirrelpaw pacing next to her mentor, Dustpelt. She stopped pacing when she saw Brambleclaw.
“Finally!” she mewed exasperatedly. “He decides to wake up!”
“It’s not that late!” Brambleclaw retorted.
“Be quiet, both of you!” Dustpelt snapped. He looked at Squirrelpaw. “Squirrelpaw,” he mewed sternly. “You need to learn to keep some things to yourself.” The dark brown tabby turned to face Brambleclaw. “Brambleclaw, you’re a warrior. You should know better.” Brambleclaw bowed his head in shame. “Now we’re going to patrol on the RiverClan border,” Dustpelt continued, “and we’ll do it quietly.” Brambleclaw nodded and followed him towards the river. He had a feeling that it would be a long day.

[Catgirl the Crazy]

A/N: Chapter two folks! Longer this time.

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy
Chapter 2: Darkening Clouds

Fortunately for Brambleclaw, Squirrelpaw seemed too distracted to get on his nerves that day. Something seemed to be bothering her, but Brambleclaw was too distracted by his dream to really notice. Since Dustpelt was too busy trying to keep the ginger apprentice focused, neither of them noticed Brambleclaw’s own distractedness.
What did Bluestar mean, “A terrible darkness is coming”? Brambleclaw wondered. What kind of darkness? When was it coming? It could’ve been just a dream, and he’d had too much freshkill the night before. It was all so confusing. Brambleclaw mentally shook himself out of this reverie. He was on a patrol, and he needed to pay attention. He looked around. He was at Sunningrocks now, but there was no sign of Dustpelt or Squirrelpaw.
Mentally rebuking himself for not paying more attention, Brambleclaw sniffed the air. When he found their trail, he started to follow it, but stopped when he heard the sound of voices coming from the RiverClan side of the border. He stood there, uncertain as to whether he should investigate the voices or go find Dustpelt and Squirrelpaw. In the end, he decided to investigate, figuring he’d be able to catch up later.
Brambleclaw crept amongst the reeds towards the sound of the voices. If there’s one good thing my father did, Brambleclaw thought, it’s that he gave me a pelt that camouflages so easily. He stood still as soon as he was close enough to hear what was said.
“I don’t know!” came the voice of a frustrated tom. “Crookedstar could’ve meant a lot of things by a terrible darkness!”
“Still,” Brambleclaw heard another voice, a she-cat this time, sounding equally frustrated. “In my dream-“
“Wait!” the tom cut her off. “I smell a ThunderClan cat!” Brambleclaw froze. There was a pause, and Brambleclaw guessed that the two cats- whoever they were- were probably sniffing the air to pinpoint his location. He longed to run away, but that would only scare the cats off, and he hoped to hear something else important.
“Whoever it is, they’re on their own side of the river,” the she-cat said dismissively. “They’re not doing us any harm.”
“Still,” the tom growled. “They might hear us, and this is something we should keep private, for now at least. Let’s go somewhere else.”
As soon as the two cats were gone, Brambleclaw made his way back towards the patrol. The conversation he’d overheard had given him plenty to think about. For one thing, he knew it couldn’t have just been a dream if another cat had had it as well. Also, he realized, if StarClan was telling more than one Clan about this, he knew it must be serious danger. But he no idea what it could be or how he should stop it.
~*~
Leafpaw lay near the medicine cats den. She was deep in thought, thinking about something that had happened earlier that day. She’d been collecting some poppy seeds by the Thunderpath early that morning. She’d looked across it into ShadowClan territory, and felt a strange feeling of foreboding, like something awful was going to happen. She didn’t know what it meant, but she had a feeling it was a message from StarClan.
Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of someone calling her name. “Leafpaw!” Squirrelpaw called.
Leafpaw got up and stretched. “Hey Squirrelpaw,” she called back. “How was dawn patrol?”
“First, what happened with you this morning?” Squirrelpaw asked without answering Leafpaw’s question. “Something happened and we both know it.”
Leafpaw, willingly enough, told Squirrelpaw what had happened by the Thunderpath.
“Hmmm,” Squirrelpaw mewed thoughtfully, more to herself than anything. “Have you talked to Cinderpelt about this?”
Leafpaw shook her head. “I wanted to see if I could figure it out myself first. Besides, it wasn’t a dream or a vision or anything like that, just a feeling. Nothing big.”
Squirrelpaw shrugged and changed the subject. “Has Cinderpelt told you if you’re going to the Gathering tonight?”
Leafpaw shook her head, “Nope. What about you?”
“Like you, no one’s told me. Though I wouldn’t particularly mind if I didn’t go,” Squirrelpaw added. “I’d be able to get a good night’s sleep.”
“Hmmmmm,” Leafpaw replied, unsure of what to say. Finally, she asked “Oh well, we can only wait and see. Whaddaya say we go hunting?”

[Catgirl the Crazy]

To those of you who want me to finally write my next parody: I’m sorry! I’ve been having major inspirations for this fic. It’s hard to write two fics at once, so my next parody is on hold till A) I finish this or B) I lose inspiration for this and decide to write my parody until I’m reinspired.

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy
Chapter 3: The First Storm

Leafpaw felt her sister fidget impatiently beside her. It was later that night, and the Gathering should have started by now, but it hadn’t, because ShadowClan hadn’t shown up.
“Where could they be?” Squirrelpaw muttered. “They should be here by now.”
“Just be patient,” Leafpaw soothed her. “I’m sure they’ll come.”
“I wonder,” Squirrelpaw asked, “Do you think this could have anything to do with that-” she struggled to find the right word, “feeling, you had today?”
“I don’t know,” Leafpaw admitted. “It is little bit too odd to be a coincidence. Maybe I should talk to Cinderpelt.” She was about to head over towards the ThunderClan medicine cat when a yowl rang through the air. She looked up and saw Blackstar stride into the clearing, leading what seemed to be every ShadowClan cat in the forest.
“That’s odd, why’d he bring so many?” Squirrelpaw muttered, echoing Leafpaw’s thoughts. “Does he really think that he can leave his camp virtually unguarded? The only one’s missing seems to be the kits.”
Leafpaw surveyed the ShadowClan cats and realized that Squirrelpaw was right. She even saw a couple queens not too far from kitting. But then she noticed there were two ShadowClan cats missing, Tawnypelt and Littlecloud. Leafpaw was about to point this out to Squirrelpaw when Firestar spoke.
“Why is ShadowClan so late?” he demanded. “The Gathering was supposed to start a while ago.”
Before Blackstar could reply, Leopardstar added, “And why do you bring so many do think to attack us? To drive us out of the forest, perhaps? Even you should now that ShadowClan does not have enough warriors to drive out RiverClan, WindClan and ThunderClan all at once.”
Blackstar just laughed mirthlessly and spoke in a voice clearly not his own. “As a matter of fact, Leopardstar, that is exactly what I plan to do.” His eyes narrowed. “But it is not ShadowClan who would defeat you. No, ShadowClan is no more.”
“What do you, mean ‘no more’?” Tallstar demanded. He was making a gallant effort to sound brave and unperturbed, but Blackstar’s voice clearly disturbed the elderly WindClan leader.
“What do I mean?” Blackstar asked, amused. “Well, it would take far too long to explain, and right now I have other, more important things I’d rather be doing.” Leafpaw lay crouched, ready for Blackstar to give the order to attack. Instead, he signaled with his tail. Out of the shadows, seeming to appear from thin air, came hundreds of cats. But they couldn’t be cats, thought Leafpaw. They’re translucent!
But if they’re not cats, came a voice in her mind. Then what are they?
A/N: I think I’m becoming a cliffie-holic…

[Catgirl the Crazy]

A/N: This is it folks! No, it’s not the ending. That’s still a long way off. No, it’s the reason I was inspired to write this story. ShadowClan’s history! It’s also my longest chapter in the story so far! THREE PAGES!! Dundundun! Enjoy!

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy
Chapter 4: Littlecloud’s Story

Brambleclaw had a hard time falling asleep that night for two reasons. For one thing, he couldn’t stop thinking about his dream, or the mysterious RiverClan cat that had had the dream. He wished her companion had mentioned her name at least once. Also, he was worried about Firestar, and the other cats that had gone to the Gathering. They should’ve been back by now, but they weren’t. No cat knew why.
A few fox-lengths away, he heard Sorreltail mewing quietly with one of her brothers, Rainwhisker, and an apprentice, Spiderpaw.
“Do you think we should send a patrol, to see if something’s happened?” Spiderpaw mewed worriedly.
“I don’t know,” Rainwhisker replied uneasily. “We’re supposed to stay here and guard the camp.”
“I think we should send someone,” Sorreltail disagreed, “Just to make sure they’re not in trouble or anything.”
“I’m sure we could spare one or two warriors,” Spiderpaw added, “Just to check up on them.”
“What if they’re fine and Firestar punishes us for leaving too few warriors behind?” Rainwhisker asked.
“We’ll do it quietly, then,” Sorreltail replied steadily, “If they’re fine, Firestar never need know we left camp. If they’re in trouble, one of us can go back to get help.”
“Oh all right,” Rainwhisker mewed in defeat, “You two can go. But I’m not getting blamed for this if you’re wrong.” Sorreltail and Spiderpaw said nothing as they turned and stalked out of the camp towards Fourtrees.
Only a few moments after the two had left, Brambleclaw scented ShadowClan right outside the camp. He yowled out a warning, and the other warriors remaining (Rainwhisker, Cloudtail and Mousefur) all came to where Brambleclaw was standing. A heartbeat later, Littlecloud and Tawnypelt emerged from the gorse tunnel, panting like they had a whole pack of dogs on their trail. Both looked the worse for wear. Tawnypelt was limping on her front left foot and had several nasty looking scratches. Littlecloud had a large gash on his shoulder, a smaller one on his face, and, like Tawnypelt, several nasty looking scratches.
“Tawnypelt,” Brambleclaw asked, concerned, “What happened? What’re you doing here?”
“We-” Tawnypelt began, but Rainwhisker cut her off.
“They’re here to spy, no doubt,” he spat, “Or to get us off our guard while ShadowClan prepares to ambush us.”
“No,” Littlecloud shook his head. “We’re not here to do any of that. I swear it on StarClan,” he added, when he saw that Rainwhisker as well as others still looked doubtful.
“Then why are you here?” Goldenflower asked quietly. Brambleclaw looked behind him, seeing that Goldenflower, along with the elders, Frostfur, Longtail, Speckletail and Dappletail, had come out of their dens to see what the commotion was. Ferncloud sat just outside the nursery a few fox-lengths away with her tail wrapped protectively around her kits. The kits, Hollykit, Birchkit and Larchkit, were watching wide-eyed with fascination. It’s not that surprising, Brambleclaw thought. After all, they’ve never seen anyone who wasn’t a ThunderClan cat before. Not even Ravenpaw.
He turned his attention back to Littlecloud as he gave his answer. “You all had better sit down. It’ll take some telling.”
Brambleclaw stood there for a heartbeat, unsure of what to do. He looked at Tawnypelt who nodded slightly. He sat down and slowly, the others, somewhat reluctantly, followed suit.
Littlecloud took a deep breath and began. “It starts with an old elder’s tale, known by all ShadowClan cats. For a long time now, we-”
“Wait a minute,” Cloudtail cut him off. “What does some old elder’s tale have anything to do with this?” Brambleclaw had been wondering the same thing, but he’d figured Littlecloud would get that eventually.
“Everything,” the small tabby tom replied. “And I’ll to that. Be patient. Anyways, the tale starts goes like this: ShadowClan has not always lived in this forest. Hundreds of thousands of moons ago, we lived farther north. It was much colder, and the prey was scarcer. We had no name back then. We weren’t really even a Clan. We were a lot like BloodClan, but we had no leader. Then the Dark Shadows came.”
“The what?” Brambleclaw asked.
“The Dark Shadows. They’re made up of the spirits of dead cats who were rejected by StarClan, as well as dead rogues, loners, BloodClan warriors and even a few kittypets.”
“Kittypets?!” Longtail mewed incredulously. “They take kittypets?!”
“Not many,” Littlecloud replied. “Kittypet spirits tend to refuse offers to join the Dark Shadows, mainly because most of them are too soft for that sort of life-after-death. But it not just those kinds of cats. Legends tell of other cat Clans who have their own warrior ancestors and warrior code. It’s rumored the dead spirits of cats who were rejected by warrior ancestors other than StarClan also join the Dark Shadows.”
“Warrior ancestors other than StarClan?” Frostfur mewed disbelievingly. Littlecloud nodded. “I don’t believe it,” the she-cat mewed.
Littlecloud shrugged. That part could just be a myth,” he mewed. “We’ll probably never know.” He paused for a moment and then continued. “Anyway, The Dark Shadows attacked us. Some of them possessed our warriors and fought that way, while others just went ahead and attacked us. For many moons we fought, though we were losing badly.
“Then StarClan came to one of our warriors, Shadowfur, in a dream. They told him that if he could unite us and defeat the Dark Shadows, StarClan would lead us to a promised land with plentiful prey. Well, Shadowfur eventually convinced to unite, and, under his leadership, we defeated the Dark Shadows and managed to save some of the warriors who were possessed. When the battle was over, Shadowfur, with StarClan’s guidance, led us to that promised land- the territory we live in now. Your Clan, as well as RiverClan and WindClan, were not very welcoming of us. You’re Clan leaders at the time eventually gave us the territory we live on now, figuring we’d dislike it and go away. But it was far better than what we were coming from. We adopted you’re ways, appointing Shadowfur as leader, and weed the warrior code. Shadowfur went to Highstones and received his nine lives and his leader’s name, Shadowstar. We named our Clan ShadowClan, in honor of him. We have lived relatively happily - though not altogether peacefully- ever since,” Littlecloud finished.
For a moment no one spoke. Then, “What does this have to do with why you’re here?” Brambleclaw asked, though he thought he knew why.
“Because the Dark Shadows attacked us this morning,” Tawnypelt mewed grimly. “We were the only ones to escape. We came here because we hoped you’d be able to help us.” She glanced at Brambleclaw and he realized that she also figured, after ShadowClan, she’d be most welcome here, in the Clan of her birth.
Mousefur looked around at everyone. “Well?” she asked, “Should we believe them?”
“I say we let them stay until Firestar gets back from the Gathering,” Brambleclaw replied. “Then he can decide. He is ThunderClan leader after all.”
Rainwhisker looked doubtful. “For all we know,” he pointed out, “They could just be keeping us distracted while a party of ShadowClan warriors plans to raid our camp.”
Littlecloud and Tawnypelt visibly stiffened, but Brambleclaw replied “I doubt it. If there are ShadowClan warriors out there, they’d have attacked by now. Besides, Littlecloud swore on StarClan that that wasn’t what they’re here for.” Rainwhisker open his mouth to reply, but Brambleclaw quickly cut him off. “However, just to be on the safe side, you can go and check for any sign of ShadowClan in our territory.”
Rainwhisker considered this for a moment than nodded. Goldenflower sprang up. “I’ll go with you,” she offered immediately, but Ferncloud padded over and shook her head.
“No, Goldenflower,” the queen mewed, “You’re eyesight is getting to weak to be of much use on a patrol. I’ll go instead, and you can watch my kits while I’m gone.” Goldenflower looked like she’d refuse, but then she nodded her head in assent and padded over towards Ferncloud’s kits.
Rainwhisker and Ferncloud were about to leave when Spiderpaw burst into the camp. “You’ve got to come to Fourtrees, quickly! ShadowClan and a bunch of translucent cats are attacking the Gathering!”

A/N: Some might say I need to go to a CA meeting (cliffie-holics anonymous). Well :-P to that. Just read and review!

[Catgirl the Crazy]

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy
Chapter 5: First Victory

Brambleclaw sprang up. “What do you mean, translucent cats?” demanded Tawnypelt. Spiderpaw, apparently only just noticing Tawnypelt and Littlecloud, looked shocked and angry.
“You let two ShadowClan cats into our camp?!” he yowled furiously. “When they’re attacking everyone at the Gathering?!”
“They’ve told us why they’re here,” Cloudtail mewed grimly. “And what you’ve just told us makes me inclined to believe them.”
“Oh? And just what did they tell you?”
“There’s no time to explain,” Mousefur replied quickly. “We have to go help. Brambleclaw. Rainwhisker. Cloudtail. Spiderpaw. Littlecloud. Tawnypelt. You come with me. Ferncloud, you’re in charge of the camp.”
“You’re just going let Tawnypelt and Littlecloud come with us?” Spiderpaw mewed incredulously.
“They know most about who we’ll be fighting.”
“But-“
“No buts, Spiderpaw! Now let’s go!” The six of them, with Mousefur in the lead, ran as quickly as they could towards Fourtrees. As they drew closer, they began to hear the faint yowling of hundreds of fighting cats. Brambleclaw’s heart pounded in his chest. Please StarClan, he thought, get us through this alive.
~*~

“Dark Shadows, attack!” Blackstar yowled. Leafpaw had no idea no who the Dark Shadows were, but when ShadowClan and the strange new cats surged forward, she instantly knew that it must mean their attackers. A ShadowClan cat lunged at her. Leafpaw crouched and sprung up to meet him. She rammed into him head long. He fell to the ground, winded. Leafpaw slashed at his throat, and blood gurgled from his throat. He yowled, failed at her with his claws. And then he lay still. The cat was dead.
Leafpaw shivered. So this is what it feels like to kill a cat, she thought. She felt slightly sick. Snap out of it, she scolded herself¸ it was you or him. The sound of Squirrelpaw’s yowling brought her back to the real world. On her left, Leafpaw saw Squirrelpaw battling with one of the translucent cats, a small, black and white she cat. Without thinking, Leafpaw lunged at the she-cat, her claws outstretched. Instead of landing on the strange she-cat, as Leafpaw expected, she went through her. It was an odd feeling, a lot like going through mud. This unbalanced Leafpaw, causing her to awkwardly. This gave the she-cat the opportunity to slash at Leafpaw with her claws.
Leafpaw braced for the blow, but strangely enough, it left a much smaller wound than a blow like that should have done.
“What the-” she cried, bewildered, but stopped in mid-sentence. “Sorreltail!” she called out. Indeed, the tortoiseshell she-cat was fighting a massive, translucent ginger-tom. The tom leaped on Sorreltail and pinned her down. Leafpaw bounded towards her friend and leaped at the tom. Because he was so busy fighting Sorreltail, the tom never saw her coming. Leafpaw slashed at his face and the tom yowled in agony. Sorreltail wriggled out from underneath him and Leafpaw leaped again, and clamped her teeth on one of his hind legs. Sorreltail took the opportunity to slash at his throat, and after failing for a few heartbeats he lay still.
Leafpaw thought the tom was dead, but he let out a yowl, and a dark brown translucent tabby tom leaped out of the ginger cat. “Brambleclaw?” she mewed, shocked. What was Brambleclaw doing here? And how in StarClan’s name had he become translucent like that? She glanced Sorreltail and saw shock as well as horror and fear in her friend’s eyes. What could have scared her so much? Leafpaw wondered. She looked back at the tom and realized who he must be.
“Great StarClan,” she breathed. “It can’t be!”
The tom glared at them with utmost loathing. “You haven’t seen the last of me!” he spat, and bounded out of the clearing.
Leafpaw looked down at the ginger tom. He seemed to be looking at something up in the sky. “I’m free,” he murmured, and then died.
“What in StarClan’s name was that about?” Sorreltail, sounding as bewildered as Leafpaw was.
Before Leafpaw could reply, they heard a voice yowl, “Dark Shadows, retreat!” She looked across the clearing and saw Blackstar looking at Leopardstar, his eyes filled with hate. “You’ve defeated us today, but we will be back!” he yowled. He stood there for a heartbeat and then whirled a round and dashed back with his Clan mates towards ShadowClan territory.
She heard Sorreltail sigh with relief. “Finally,” her friend mewed quietly. “It’s over.” Sorreltail collapsed to the ground.
Leafpaw limped over to the tortoiseshell she-cat. “You okay?” she asked concernedly.
Sorreltail looked at her, trying to hide her pain and exhaustion. “Yeah I’m fine,” she mewed. “Just tired and a little beat up. Nothing I won’t survive.”
“I’ll go get some cobwebs and herbs for those scratches on your face. They look nasty.”
“Ok. Thanks.”
Leafpaw looked around the clearing as she started to head back to camp for her supplies. Injured and dead cats lay everywhere. Squirrelpaw padded over to her. Squirrelpaw didn’t ask if Leafpaw was alright. She already knew Leafpaw was injured from their special connection. “And where do you think you’re going?” Squirrelpaw demanded.
“Back to camp,” Leafpaw replied. “I need my supplies to treat the wounded.”
“Oh no you don’t, you stupid furball. You’re staying right here,” Squirrelpaw mewed sternly. Her resemblance to Sandstorm had never been more striking. “I’ll get your supplies. You rest. With that injury, you’d just collapse half way there, and then you’d be no use to anyone.”
Leafpaw opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. It would be useless to argue with Squirrelpaw. “Fine,” she mewed in defeat. “You, go I’ll see who needs help most.” Squirrelpaw nodded, turned and left.

[Catgirl the Crazy]

Shadow Ascension
By Catgirl the Crazy
Chapter 6: Aftermath

Brambleclaw, Rainwhisker, Cloudtail, Spiderpaw, Littlecloud, and Tawnypelt quickened their pace as they drew closer to Fourtrees. When they were nearly there, the yowling died out.
They quickened their pace. “Well, we know the battle’s ended.” Mousefur mewed grimly. “I just hope we won.”
There was nothing anyone could say to that so they just kept going. When they were right outside the clearing, they ran into Squirrelpaw.
“Squirrelpaw,” demanded Cloudtail, “What happened? Who won the battle?”
The ginger apprentice looked confused. “How did you know?” she asked.
“Never mind that, just tell us!” Cloudtail mewed impatiently.
“We won, but how did you know there was a battle?” Squirrelpaw asked. “You were at camp.”
“Sorreltail and I were worried about why it was taking you so long to get back, so we went to see if everything was ok.” Spiderpaw explained. “I guess we got here too late, though.”
Squirrelpaw shrugged. “We won so it doesn’t really matter. Besides,” she added. “You can help me carry Leafpaw’s supplies. She asked me to go get them for her.”
~*~

Leafpaw limped around the clearing, keeping a checking who in ThunderClan was seriously injured, who was dead, and who had injuries that could wait a little while. When she was done, she reviewed the mental list she’d formed in her mind. So far, only one ThunderClan warrior had died, and that was Sootfur. Leafpaw glanced over at Sorreltail, and her heart went out to the poor she-cat. Sorreltail was standing vigil over her dead brother’s body. Her father when she was a kit, her mother when she was an apprentice, and now Sootfur, thought Leafpaw. Poor Sorreltail.
Leafpaw turned and continued to review her mental list. There were two cats that’d been seriously injured, Thornclaw and Brightheart. Cinderpelt was still unsure about whether they’d pull through, but Leafpaw still had high hopes. Firestar had emerged from the battle with one less life than he’d entered it with, but other than that he would recover.
A mournful wailing interrupted her thoughts. “Tallstar is dead!” yowled a dark gray tabby tom Leafpaw didn’t know. “He goes to hunt with StarClan in Silverpelt.” She looked towards where the WindClan cats were gathered near Barkface. Amongst them, Leafpaw could make out the motionless black and white body of Tallstar.
She felt a pang of grief. Tallstar had stood with Firestar against Tigerstar and TigerClan shortly before the battle with BloodClan. She glanced at her father and saw his eyes were filled with grief. He had known Tallstar longer and better than she had, and was understandably grieving more than she was. It’s hard to be sad about someone you don’t know that well. Sandstorm padded over to him and gave him a comforting lick.
Leafpaw turned and saw Squirrelpaw pad into the clearing carrying a bundle of cobwebs. Following her were Brambleclaw, Cloudtail, Mousefur, Spiderpaw, Littlecloud and Tawnypelt, all of whom were carrying either a bundle of herbs or cobwebs.
Leafpaw limped over to them. “Good, you brought supplies,” she mewed happily. She gazed warily at Littlecloud and Tawnypelt. “Can we trust them?” she asked Squirrelpaw.
Squirrelpaw opened her mouth to reply, but Brambleclaw cut her off. “Yes, they’ve told us why they’re here, and we can trust them.”
“Why are they here?” Leafpaw asked curiously.
“We’ll explain it to the whole Gathering as soon as we’ve cared for the wounded,” Littlecloud mewed.
Leafpaw sensed a flash of annoyance from Squirrelpaw, and guessed she knew as much as Leafpaw did. “Very well,” Leafpaw sighed. “Go bring those to Cinderpelt. She by the Great Rock with Thornclaw and Brightheart,” she mewed, gesturing with her tail.
“Brightheart?!” Cloudtail mewed, alarmed, and he picked up his bundle of herbs and dashed over to the place Leafpaw had indicated. The other cats followed him.
~*~
Brambleclaw spent a good deal of time that night helping Cinderpelt. Tawnypelt and Squirrelpaw kept joking that if they helped out Littlecloud and Cinderpelt much more, they might as well become medicine cat apprentices.
It was well past midnight. The moon was beginning to set. “We should be able to get them back to camp now,” he heard Littlecloud telling Firestar. “Though we’ll have to be careful with Thornclaw. That wound could be reopened if he doesn’t take it easy.”
Good, thought Brambleclaw, I’ll be able to get some sleep. He yawned. Then he heard one of the voices he’d heard by river earlier that day.
“I’d bet my tail that this is what Crookedstar meant by ‘terrible darkness.’” Brambleclaw looked up to see who was talking. A couple fox-lengths away were the RiverClan warriors Stormfur and Feathertail. He saw Stormfur nod.
“Yes, StarClan must have sent you that dream to warn you about this!” Stormfur mewed angrily. “If they’d been more clear we’d have been able to prevent this!”
“You had a dream?” Brambleclaw couldn’t resist asking. The RiverClan cats froze.
“How much did you hear?” Stormfur demanded.
“It’s alright,” Brambleclaw replied instead, “I had a similar dream myself.”
They stared at him. “You did?” Feathertail mewed, surprised.
“Yes,” Brambleclaw nodded. “But it was Bluestar who came to me, not Crookedstar.”
Stormfur looked thoughtful. “If StarClan sent a warning dream to a RiverClan and a ThunderClan cat, it would make sense that they also sent it to a WindClan cat.”
“Yes,” agreed Brambleclaw. “We should ask around.”
Feathertail looked doubtful. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” she mewed. “They’d probably think we’re crazy or something. If they didn’t claw our ears off first.”
Brambleclaw realized she was right. Then he thought of something. “I wonder,” he mewed. “Perhaps a ShadowClan cat had a dream too.”
“Well, it’s not we can find out,” Stormfur mewed dryly. “The ShadowClan don’t seem to be in a mood to tell us anything.”
“Actually, it’s not the ShadowClan cat’s fault,” Brambleclaw replied. The two RiverClan warriors looked at him quizzically, and he gave them a shortened explanation of what had happened with Littlecloud and Tawnypelt. “So,” Brambleclaw continued, “We could ask Tawnypelt if anyone mentioned having a strange dream.”
“Alright,” Stormfur agreed reluctantly. “But you ask her. She might not react well to you being with two strange RiverClan cats.” Brambleclaw nodded and padded over to his sister.