Everlasting Love (Stormwind)

Silverwish sat down to watch the happy scene from a few tail-lengths away, a slight smile on her face as she curled her tail around her paws.

Oakfoot's green eyes shot wide open as he saw something flying at him out of the corner of his eye. Before he knew it, the tom was pinned beneath a she-cat who smelled of rogue, the tan tabby hissing beneath her as he tried to guard his vulnerable belly.

Rabbit crouched down, eyeing the tom from her hiding place. From sight and smell, he didn't seem to be much older or more experienced than the silver tabby. I should be able to take him. Amber eyes narrowed and she leaped.

Willowheart bounced into the camp, pausing for a moment to look around before practically skipping towards her mother, who was standing near the fresh-kill pile speaking to Mossflower.

Silverwish gave Willowheart a happy, congratulatory lick between the ears, gesturing for the newly minted medicine cat to lead the way to Rainstar.

Oakfoot sighed, losing the pinecone among a tangle of roots. The Tom's fur seemed to stand on end, but he ignored his instincts, sighing softly and glancing out over the rogue territory. Heh. They don't even patrol their borders, what are we all so afraid of?

Willowheart momentarily forgot the terrifying vision as she beamed at her aunt, still a bit giddy over her new name.

Rabbit slink through the undergrowth, ears pricked and mouth slightly open to taste the air.

Silverwish lead the way back to camp, stopping just outside of it. "We'll go see your mother first, so you can report to her on our vision... and let her know the good news." The medicine cat's face lightened up a bit as she glanced over at her former apprentice.

Oakfoot kicked around a pinecone. The tom was upset with his inability to find mates in the clan that could both love him and each other. Heck, he was a warrior and he had yet to mate, when he'd heard stories about Sterlingflight and Silverwish and even Brackenspots getting it on as apprentices!

Willowheart nodded, hurrying out of the hollow with a shudder.

Rabbit narrowed her amber eyes at the scent of the Clan cat, following it.

"I don't know, but unless we figure it out it's going to be bad news." Replied Silverwish, shuddering for a moment as she remembered being trapped in the pile of bodies. "Let's head home."


Unfortunately for the trespassing Oakfoot, the tom was upwind from the nearest rogue, his scent being carried to the other cat on the breeze as he strolled around in the other cat's territory.

Willowheart practically fell down the tree in her haste to get down, slipping and sliding. "What was that?"

Rabbit padded alongside the border, tail flicking.

Silverwish slunk down the tree on wobbly legs once she was sure Willowheart had escaped that terrible vision as well, still shaking slightly from nervous excitement as she waited at the bottom for her apprentice.

(Maybe one of your rogues could catch Oakfoot? :3 )

Willowheart jerkedvawake, nearly falling off the branch from the suddenness of her movement and having to scramble desperately for a moment.

With a startled noise, Silverwish found herself awake in the tree again, quickly standing up and leaping to Willowheart's branch to make sure the same had happened to her.

Oakfoot felt something pulling him towards the other side of the border, some forbidden thrill awaiting him on the other side. The tom bit down on his own tongue and shuffled his paws uneasily, having heard all kinds of stories about the rogues, some true and others not. Finally, the tom stood up, and, after a quickly glance around to ensure he wasn't already being watched, stepped over the border, a simple move that left his heart racing nonetheless.

Willowheart shut her eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to block out the sounds, just like when she blocked out her siblings' more annoying moments.

Lightning sullenly wandered back to her den.

Oakfoot paced along the border with the rogues, sighing softly to himself. The tom sat and curled his tail around his paws, glancing out at the land and the wilderness that stretched all around him.

Silverwish grimaced as one of the bodies closer to her face gasped for breath, seemingly still alive but only barely. "Maybe if we close our eyes, we can get out." The she-cat murmured. The only reason the medicine cat wasn't more panicked was that the vision she'd had in front of Rainstar had been very similar to this one. Taking a deep breath and letting it out as a sigh to calm herself, she closed her eyes, trying to mentally block out the screeches and pitiful dying moans surrounding them.

Lightning ruffled her fur indignantly. Of course she wasn't!

Willowheart looked around with wide eyes, a little pale underneath her fur. The poor she-cat had never seen much of violence in her life, and had certainly never had such an ominous message from StarClan before.

Silverwish opened her mouth to reply, but her jaws quickly snapped shut again as some sort of ominous whispering from dozens of voices became audible.

Beware the wind that whips through the trees, and the death that flies in on his wings.


Everything around them suddenly turned blood red, and limp outlines of cats began to pile around them on all four sides, dozens and dozens of wispy bodies, until there was no way for them to get out, the pair surrounded on all four sides by fallen feline forms.

"Don't tell me you've been meeting with some of them," growled Sun, angrily stalking off for now.

The silvery-grey she-cat's eyes widened in alarm at the battle going on around them. Why would StarClan show us this?

Lightning whined softly, looking away.

"And how do you know that, exactly?" The tom growled softly, his ears pinning back.

Silverwish was startled as, finally, the ghostly form of a cat flew overhead, leaping through the air to come crashing into another wispy feline that had launched itself from their other side. This began to happen all over the clearing. While the forms were clearly cats engaged in battle, they were not Starclan cats, looking more like a white outline of a feline than the spirits of their ancestors. And, as several of them fell to the earth around Silverwish and Willowheart's paws, choking or yowling in pain, none was identifiable by their appearance or voice.

"I'm not a kit either!" Lightning protested. "And they do too! Clan cats get to start leaving the camp at six moons!"

Willowheart's fur bristled and she pressed against her mentor, ears pinning back and wary blue eyes darting around.

"This is strange," Silverwish mewed, a feeling of unease pricking the fur on her back as she glanced around them. She had never dreamt with Willowheart in the past. Suddenly, something began to rustle the tall grass surrounding them, first on one side, and then on the other, the noise growing closer and closer to the pair to the point where it was deafening. Silverwish bristled and pressed close to Willowheart, waiting anxiously to see what would appear.

Finally, the patrol returned to camp, Sterlingflight trotting up to Rainstar's den to report what had transpired as the others were left to do as they pleased.

"That's not true. Even those clan cats don't let their kits out of their sight at nine moons." Sun growled. Though he wasn't entirely sure if it was true, he knew she wouldn't know any better either.

Meanwhile, Oakfoot began to walk out of camp, his mind wandering as his paws took him anywhere.

Willowheart swiftly fell asleep, and was soon blinking in bewilderment as she appeared beside Silverwish. They'd never dreamed together before.

"I'm not fragile, Dad!" Lightning cried. "I'm nine moons old now, I can go into the territory if I want!"

Silverwish smiled an encouraging smile over at Willowheart before closing her eyes, laying her head down and letting the sounds of a gentle breeze through the leaves on the tree soothe her to sleep.

~~~~~~

Silverwish awoke not in a tree, but in tall grass in a wide plain, the stars themselves seeming to cling to every blade of grass. Smiling, she knew where she was: a familiar and comforting part of the territory of Starclan. What she was not expecting was for Willowheart to be next to her.



"Alone!? With the clan and foxes and eagles and who knows what else out there?" Sun buried his muzzle into Lightning's neck before pulling away again. "I don't know what you thought you were doing, but that's not OK. What if you were attacked by those clan cats? They killed Bear!"

Willowheart followed her mentor up into the tree, laying down on one of the branches.

"I was just exploring," Lightning sighed, irritated by how they kept acting like she was fragile.

(*checks back* Whoops, it's been a long time )

"You've earned it!" Silverwish purred, her eyes warm with pride and affection as she looked at Willowheart. Finally, the feline turned towards the solemn oak tree and sighed, sizing up the tall trunk before scrubbing up it into the lowest branches.

Sun purred loudly when he caught sight of his daughter, rubbing his face and body all over Lightning. "Where were you!?"

(Ripple is dead and Sun is the leader :3)

"Thank you!" Willowheart said happily.

Lightning ruffled her fur uncomfortably.

"Congratulations," Silverwish purred softly as thevpajr touched noses. She was the first to withdraw, ending the ceremony and looking upon Willowheart proudly. For a moment she'd been able to forget about her troubles and enjoy herself, and that was important.

Cloud continued to lead the way back to camp, until finally they arrived, presenting Lightning to her parents. "She says she was confronted by a Loveclan patrol," the leader snarled, suddenly seeming way more angry about the fact now that he had an audience.