The Journey to StarClan

Chapter 2: Darkstripe

"Come on, mouse-brain! You can do better than that!" The large brown tabby meowed.

Darkstripe stood looking at him, breathing heavy and blood dripping from the new slash over his eye. No moon shone in the sky and green fog drifted around the clearing. Dark, deep green trees surround them, and darkness was everywhere. In the center of the clearing was a large rock, cracked and caked with dried blood. Piles of bones surrounded the rock, and atop it was Tigerstar, the ancient evil leader of TigerClan, and the cat scolding Darkstripe.

The large tom leapt off the rock and landed in front of Darkstripe. He smiled evilly, narrowing his amber eyes at the black warrior. Darkstripe held his head high, hissing at Tigerstar.

"I expected better from you, Darkstripe. After all, you learned a lot from your mate, Goldenstar, did you not?" Tigerstar asked, circling him.

"W-who?" Darkstripe asked, blinking at him.

"Oh? You don't remember?" Tigerstar asked, blinking a bit in surprise.

"I...I...the last thing I remember is being killed by Greystripe in the battle with Scourge..." Darkstripe meowed, confused.

Tigerstar stopped in front of Darkstripe once again. He grinned.

"Perfect." He meowed, then lunged at Darkstripe again.

~~~~~

Darkstripe sat next to a small puddle outside of his make-shift tree den. He licked his paw and drew it over the gash above his eye. He hissed as the burning flooded his entire body. Pain here seemed to be stronger than it used to.

Darkstripe sighed. He was plagued with questions of what Tigerstar had mentioned. Who was Goldenstar? It seemed that he should remember it...it was like an itch at the very back of his mind....but it was almost as if that part of him was guarded...as though he wasn't supposed to remember.

He sighed in frustration, slapping the puddle with his paw and sending a few drops of dark water into the air. The puddle, though, did not ripple. Nor did you see the reflection of anything on it's surface. There was no light here, not even from a cat's eyes. It was a sad, dark place full of dark colors and no sound.

Darkstripe returned to his tree den, laying down in the prickly, dried-out moss from which he had made his nest. Laying his head on his paws, he sighed once again. A single year fell from his eye, landing on the ground in front of him. A feeling of emptiness filled him as he stared at the drop, as though he was missing something. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out what.

"Goldenstar...who are you?" He whispered sadly.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But, sleep seemed impossible in this place. He tossed and turned, and tossed and turned. No matter what he tried, he couldn't get comfortable.

He shook his head yawned. He knew he was dead, but he hasn't expected his after-life to be like this. He felt...wrong here. Like he didn't belong despite all he had done.

"What is wrong with me?!" Darkstripe yowled.

So much seemed to be missing from him, so much seemed unknown. What he did know, though, was that there was no way he was going to be able to live here with all this plaguing his mind.

At that moment, Darkstipe decided to let it all go. He gave up on trying to break the wall in his mind, on trying to figure out why he was here, and on trying to remember who this Goldenstar was.

And at that moment something in him broke, and his heart finally became stone.