"The earlier attack went badly, but I'm willing to try again," Stonestar declared boldly. "Who's with me?"
There was a soft murmuring from the surrounding cats, and most of them were shaking their heads at his bold announcement. None of them wanted war and their so-called smart Clan leader was practically forcing it upon them.
"I don't think anyone wants it," Hawkfeather informed Stonestar coldly. "Perhaps you should drop the idea. Your deputy almost died. Maybe you should think about that. And we're still not sure if Ashspots is going to make it. Do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused? We've also just found out Brightflame is expecting kits. We don't want their father to die, and Dewfrost is one of the few remaining cats left."
Stonestar glared down at his medicine cat but seemed to be unable to find anything to say. Frostwind sighed in relief. Battles were where she shone, but that didn't mean she liked them. The way she'd just murdered everyone the previous night scared her, and she didn't want to do it again, although the way things were, she'd be forced into it one way or another. She ignored her apprentice, who was running in circles around her. Seriously, she thought she'd exhausted that pesky kit. But turned out after two hours of napping she was up and ready to go again. Frostwind still had energy but she wasn't going to waste it on her dumb apprentice. She wanted to rest a little. The previous night's events had been tiring and she'd been woken up at dawn right away. She stifled a yawn, not wanting to seem disrespectful to her Clan leader before stopping and wondering whether she cared at all.
"I think someone should have a say in this," Honeyleaf argued. "Someone who will undoubtedly be doing most of the fighting. Frostwind?"
Frostwind looked up, blinking the tiredness out of her eyes. Shimmerpelt shooed Hickorypaw away, giving Frostwind some space to think.
"I don't think there's a need to," Frostwind said finally. "They trashed our battle party but they're all dead except for Mousestar and maybe Turtleleaf. I don't think there's a point wasting our efforts right now, they're hardly a problem at the moment."
Stonestar narrowed his eyes. "If you say so. Honeyleaf, it seems you are itching to say something else."
"I want Cloudbeam to become a medicine cat," Honeyleaf stated matter-of-factly.
Cloudbeam immediately moved protectively over his mate and his three kits. Twilightmoon looked at Honeyleaf with a horrified expression, and their three kits, Redkit, Talonkit and Flamekit, all stared at Honeyleaf through narrowed slits for eyes. They weren't pleased with the prospect of their father not being allowed to care for them, and their mother clearly felt the same.
"He doesn't want to be one," Twilightmoon protested. "We've gone over this, Honeyleaf! He wants to be a father to them. He's waited so long to have a real family." She twined tails with her mate, but these words struck something in Frostwind.
Cloudbeam had been waiting for a very long time to have a real family?
That meant he didn't count Windecho as his real brother or real family either, like her. Which meant that all that time she'd avoided him so he could spend time with his brother had been wasted. He'd been on the lookout for real, caring family, and she'd basically turned him down time and time again. She didn't have anything to say at that point, though, so she remained silent, crossing her paws in front of her and letting Twilightmoon yammer away.
"I had a prophecy about him!" Honeyleaf protested furiously. "White cat with blue eyes! Okay? You think I'm lying, do you? NO! I genuinely want him to have a nice family but maybe THAT'S NOT HIS DESTINY! MAYBE HIS DESTINY IS TO BE A MEDICINE CAT!"
Frostwind cut in. "You've been wrong before, and you could be wrong again. Let cats choose their own destinies."
Honeyleaf turned her smoking eyes on Frostwind but said nothing, her mouth trembling. "If that's so," she snarled. "Don't you have anything to say about this, Stonestar?"
Stonestar eyed her casually for a few moments before asking, "Have you ever considered retiring, Honeyleaf?"
Frostwind couldn't stall the gasp that came from her, and she was not the only one. Stonestar had basically suggested that Honeyleaf was going gaga with her prophecies and should retire, letting Hawkfeather take over! She wasn't the nicest cat, but who said that to anybody? It was a flat-out insult and he'd said it anyway! The tiniest sliver of respect she'd held for him, which was mainly because of his boldness, evaporated on the spot, and Frostwind glared at him with steely eyes. She wasn't fond of Honeyleaf but she didn't hate her either, and Honeyleaf did what she felt was right for the Clan. She'd never had any bad intentions.
Honeyleaf was trembling from head to claws. "If you think I'm speaking mumbo jumbo, go ahead and think that way!" the golden-furred medicine cat fumed. "Other cats know to appreciate skill and talent!" She whipped around, turning to glare at Frostwind and opened her mouth to speak but Frostwind cut her off.
"I do not think you are speaking nonsense," Frostwind declared openly. "I just don't want you flaunting destiny in their faces. Not in my face, not in my brother's, not in anybody's. You had this prophecy of a white cat with blue eyes after his birth, so it probably isn't him. Please don't bother Cloudbeam anymore," she pleaded.
Honeyleaf considered this for a few moments before finally nodding. "Fine," she growled. "But I hold no more respect for you," she shot at her Clan leader. "I regret the day I helped Lightpelt kit you."
Lightpelt gave a soft gasp from in the crowd, and her other surviving kit, Shimmerpelt, moved over to support her mother. She narrowed her eyes at Honeyleaf, but she knew the insult wasn't targeted at Lightpelt.
"Frostwind," Stonestar hissed softly, "Kill."
***
Did he say kill? Frostwind wondered. Cats were yowling indignantly from all around her and she stared petrified at her Clan leader, her entire body shaking. Kill? Her Clan leader, who was supposed to protect and help his Clanmates, had ordered her to kill their loyal medicine cat? She stared at the golden-furred she-cat and noticed she was shaking. Honeyleaf was afraid of her.
Frostwind stared him in the eye. "I refuse!" she shouted.
The surrounding cats gasped, but she was also given looks of approval. Many had thought of her as Stonestar's pawn, and she was finally proving them wrong. A look of pride spread across her face as she faced her Clan leader with defiance in her eyes. He stared down at her with disappointment.
"I knew you were turning into this," he said, shaking his head. "You're a monster. You have no life, and now you can't even follow orders."
Frostwind froze.
"I-I'm not," she choked, but the words had no meaning and she stared up at him, not daring to say a word.
"Your words are so weak. You can't even deny it," he sneered. "Can you?"
"I... I..."
***
"Hey, Frostkit! Come play with me!"
"Sure thing, Stormkit!"
Frostkit hopped along the grassy patch to meet her best friend, her eyes lighting up with pleasure.
"Have you ever thought of your future?" the older kit asked her in a very matured voice. Frostkit grinned and she saw Stormkit do the same.
"Getting old, are you?" the white she-kit sniggered. Stormkit cuffed her ear playfully.
"No, I'm not! I'm thinking about my future. I'm being insightful," Stormkit promised. "So, what do you want to be? A warrior or a medicine cat?"
"A warrior of course! Medicine cats are boring. Important, but boring," Frostkit grumbled.
Stormkit laughed, the sound like the tinkling of tiny bells. "You and I think alike! Ha!"
Frostkit grinned at Stormkit, feeling all worry evaporate on the spot. Stormkit was leaving soon to become an apprentice. Did it ever have to end? She stared at her best friend, wanting nothing more to play with her forever and never grow up.
"So, why do you want to be a warrior?" Stormkit asked curiously.
Frostkit frowned. Why was Stormkit being so nosy? Of course, she couldn't keep anything from her best friend. "I don't know. I mean, medicine cats are important too but I don't want to be stuck in the medicine den all day. I want to help the Clan, you know? Hunt for them, feed the kits and elders, and protect them!"
"You know you may have to kill sometimes to protect, right?" Stormkit asked softly.
"Nah. I'll avoid killing. It isn't in the warrior code! I'll let them surrender. I'll be the great... um..."
"Frostmouse?" Stormkit suggested with a grin.
Frostkit gave her a flat look. "Not that again. I'll be the great Froststorm, and everyone will fear me! They'll run at the very sight of me, then I won't have to kill anybody."
"But to get that kind of reputation, you need to be scary," Stormkit pressed. "Maybe it's best to become a medicine cat. You avoid the battles, and-"
"You're just trying to keep me safe," Frostkit accused. Stormkit giggled.
"Okay, I am. But promise me, you aren't going to kill anybody."
Frostkit grinned. "I promise. Why would I kill anybody, anyway?"
***
It all flashed back in that moment, that day from when she was a kit, where she'd promised her sworn sister she wouldn't kill anybody. She'd forgotten that promise. It was layered underneath many other shattered promises. She'd made a similar promise to her mate, and she'd failed to uphold it. Now she was the monster she'd become, and she had to put up with it.
"Fine." Her voice collapsed. "I'm a monster like you say. But I don't want to be one."
"If you don't want to be one," Stonestar said, his voice softening, "you have to start by following orders, and mending the bonds you broke. I'm willing to trust you again and let you stay my bodyguard, but you have to complete the task for me. Kill her."
So I didn't hear him wrong! Frostwind thought furiously. "No," she said. "The way to mend bonds is not to kill more cats. I don't want to kill anybody else but I'll do it if it's inevitable." She gave Stonestar a glare. "And if that necessary cat to kill is you, be reminded that I will show no mercy."
"Haven't I only given you kindness and graciousness, Frostwind?" Stonestar asked. "I gave you a position when nobody dared to trust you. Aren't you a little grateful at all?"
"No." Skyfeather stepped up. "That's untrue. I trusted her. I never stopped."
All around him, Frostwind's Clanmates stood up. "We didn't trust her before," Shimmerpelt announced. "I didn't think I could after all she'd done. I thought she couldn't make the right decisions anymore and she was just your dangerous pawn. But I was wrong. She can make the right choices at the right times, and she's done it here. I trust her more than ever."
"You saw what she did to your daughter!" Stonestar choked, unable to stand being roasted by his sister. "Hickorypaw fainted!"
"She did not, she was merely exhausted is all," Shimmerpelt stated coldly. "She was fine after a few hours of sleep. You, I put up with. I thought you'd change back to my lovely brother, the perfect candidate for Clan leader. But you haven't changed. You need to be that Stoneclaw that Sunstar wanted for her deputy, but you can't be him anymore. Too much has changed. Is it the responsibility that changed you? I don't know. Maybe it's the stress. Maybe you could never handle the leadership at all."
"I can handle the leadership! I am a great leader!" Stonestar shouted.
"... Stoneclaw?" Hawkfeather asked gingerly. "I think it's time for you to tell everyone what happened at the Moonstone."
***
"I was given only one extra life, and I lost it in the AutumnClan battle. StarClan said I wasn't ready, but I had to last for a little while, because the Clan would break apart without a leader. The rightful leader was Silverlight and she went berserk when it didn't become her. That's when our ancestors realized that Silverlight was the wrong choice and Sunshine had always been fit for it. Sunstar became leader earlier on than that but she died during the civil war, a victim to Silverlight. Then, StarClan crowned me Clan leader with bitterness in their hearts.
"They didn't want me to be Clan leader, but they made it so. They said the right cat was Amberfrost. They told me that, told me flat-out because they didn't want me to bring destruction to the Clan. But here I went and almost got her killed. They never told me a second choice if Amberfrost died, and I got carried away with the prospect of being leader. I never told anyone, and I had the medicine cats keep the secret.
"Tonight... oh, StarClan save me. Honeyleaf spoke against me, so I had to quieten her before she told everyone the truth. She's been threatening to. And I didn't know what else to do."
"Oh, Stonestar," Frostwind sighed, and that was all she could say.
Word count: 2166
I don't know if that was boring. I may need a few filler chapters because the action MAYYYY be coming up soon. The real action. Hehe. I have big plans. It's drawing to an end... kind of.