Luna awoke in the middle of the night to a strange feeling pooling in her stomach. Not wanting to wake up her charge, the small black cat began to look around the room for any signs of danger. But there was nothing. Her ruby-red eyes froze on the form of another black cat. Luna's breath hitched and her tail began to twitch back and forth nervously as she continued to stare at the other cat.
Taking a deep breath the young cat slowly reached out with a shaking paw and carefully touched one of the cats ears. The cats ears twitched at the movement and her eyes slowly opened. Red eyes met blue and Luna did the only thing she could. She fainted.
"Luna? Luna?" Serena kept calling out her guardian's name as she poked her tentatively. But the cat was still knocked out cold. Her communicator was buzzing but she didn't dare answer it. For one thing she was a cat so she would be utterly useless in the battle. Secondly for some reason Luna, her tougher than life, ruthless guardian was unconscious. And nothing fazed her! So she was worried. So she just ignored the shrilling noise her communicator was making.
"Luna! Wake up!"
Finally, after what felt like forever, Luna's eyes slowly opened and what she saw was a pair of worried blue eyes staring down at her. After a few moments of staring, Luna looked up to get a better look at the cat sitting in front of her. And what Luna saw made her jaw drop open in shock. The cat had fur as black as night with a crescent moon on her head just like Luna, the only difference was that the other cat had sapphire blue eyes instead of the ruby red.
"Finally you are awake, what on earth happened?" she asked her guardian.
"What? Oh nothing, I just imagined the craziest thing..." she trailed off but then Luna looked at her once again and then she banged her head on the bed.
Feeling like she was just having a bad dream, Luna began shaking her head back and forth, not knowing if what she was seeing right now was real or not. However, after getting a cuff on the head by the other cat, Luna soon realized that she wasn't dreaming and that this was in fact reality.
"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Luna asked, looking up at the other cat and tilting her head to the side in confusion. The other cat blinked and shook her head. "No, you're not dreaming, Luna."
"Oh god it's true, it's true. How could I have not seen this? How blind am I?" she muttered under her breath worriedly as she paced back and forth on the bed. Serena raised her eyebrows and tilted her head. She quietly wondered if her cat had gone insane.
"Umm Luna-"
"I can't believe it. We met on the first day and I didn't sense this! What am I like! How blind am I! What the heck is going on here? What kind of guardian am I if I can't even protect my charge!" Luna carried on ranting as she ran up and down her bed. Serena couldn't take it anymore, she really needed her guardian to be composed especially with her secret now somehow being exposed.
"Luna!" she shouted, her patience snapping. That finally seemed to do the trick as Luna stopped and then looked at her. Her eyes fell on her and then she looked down.
"Oh my god! Serena! How the hell did this happen? Did a youma put a curse on you? How irresponsible am I! I should've been protecting you, not throwing you into danger mouth on a platter, oh my god! Lord please have mercy on me! Artemis is going to yank all my fur off if he hears about this!" Luna went even more hysterical and started pacing again.
Her mouth opened and then closed, not sure how to react to her cat breaking down. She was reacting too ridiculously.
"Ok that's it! What's going on! Why are you freaking out like this?" she couldn't help but whine, too many things were being thrown at her all at once and she couldn't take it.
Luna finally stopped pacing and looked at her, her eyes trained on the mysterious crescent moon on the other cat's forehead. The one which started this all. Her gaze then fell back on her face, which was full of questions. Luna then took a big sigh and shook out her fur.
"How did this happen?" Luna asked her charge, her eyes still as wide as dinner plates as she stared up at the cat who was apparently Serena. This cat is really Serena? But-But how? I don't understand this at all! Luna's mind kept racing with questions as she continued to study the sable-furred molly sitting right in front of her.
Serena sighed softly and flattened her ears, then meowed quietly, "I have no idea how this happened, but there's no need to worry, Luna, I have a feeling that StarClan knows the answers to both of our questions."
Luna sighed and patted over to sit beside Serena on the windowsill. The former human girl was gazing up at the stars, her blue eyes shimmering like sapphires in the light of the full moon.
It was silent for a while as the two cats stared up at the moon. It was so quiet that you could hear crickets chirping outside and the occasional hoot of an owl. After a few more moments of silence, it was Luna who attempted to break it.
"Soooo, what did you mean earlier when you said that you have a feeling that StarClan knows the answers? Who or what is this 'StarClan?'"
Serena sighed and turned away from the window to face Luna. "Well you see..." Serena began, sighing softly and staring down at her paws. "There's something else about me that I haven't told anyone about, it was a secret that my mentor warned me could never be told to anyone once I was given another chance."
Luna's jaw dropped open in shock. "You what?!" Serena didn't want to repeat herself, so instead she just looked at her paws. "Serena, why didn't you-" Luna stopped herself in mid sentence, remembering that Serena had already given her the answer.
"So, let me get this straight... your secret is that your a cat?" Luna still didn't fully understand what the heck was going on but she wanted to find out what exactly it was that her friend was hiding.
"Well yes, but that's not the whole story... there's more to it than that... but I'm not sure if I should tell you. What if Cinderpelt finds out that I told you? What would she think? Ugh! Am I overthinking this Luna?"
Luna laughed and playfully nipped at one of her friend's ears. "A little bit," she responded with an amused gleam in her eyes. Serena sighed and tried to calm herself down. "Sorry, Luna. I just panicked after mentioning Cinderpelt."
"Cinderpelt? Who's Cinderpelt?"
"Cinderpelt's my mentor," Serena replied after a few moments of silence. "She's the one who trained me to become a medicine cat." Serena continued, smiling sadly at the thought of her mentor.
"Is she still alive?" Luna asked. She soon regretted asking the question when she saw Serena's eyes dim with sadness and her ears flattened against her head.
"No." The medicine cat apprentice meowed sadly. "She was killed by a badger while defending one of her clanmates." Luna's eyes widened in horror and her tail drooped low to the floor. "I'm sorry Serena, I shouldn't have asked."
Serena smiled sadly and twitched an ear. "No No, it's fine." She told Luna with a flick of her tail. "I should probably tell you the full story anyway. But let me worn you, it's not a a pretty one." Luna nodded her head in understanding and Serena took a deep breath to prepare herself to tell her guardian the story of the Clans and how they were formed. And once that was done, she told Luna about how Cinderpelt fought hard against a badger but ended up dying in the end.
"Badgers had broken through the camp entrance and Cinderpelt fought off one that was trying to attack a queen named Sorreltail, who had just had her kits. She dod as best as she could fighting the badger off with a damaged left hind-leg that never fully healed."
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Hold on for a second! You're telling me that she had an injered leg and she fought off a badger?!" Luna asked, shocked at what Serena had just told her. Serena nodded her head and began to tell Luna the story of a fire-pelted tom destined to save his Clan, she told her about his first apprentice, a young she-cat who was very hyper and hard to control, and finally, she told Luna about the accident that crushed both Cinderpelt's leg and her dreams of becoming a warrior of ThunderClan. And because the damage to the bone in her leg would never fully heal like it should, Cinderpelt (Cinderpaw at the time) had no choice but to train with Yellowfang to become a medicine cat.
Luna was just about to open her mouth to say something when the two cats heard Serena's mom call out for her from downstairs. "Serena! You better get up and start getting ready for school or you'll be late!" Serena and Luna both glanced to one another with equal looks of horror.
"Holy StarClan, my Mom's gonna flip if she sees me like this! Luna, what the heck do I do?!" Serena started to pace. Luna sighed and put her tail over her friends shoulder. "Serena, calm down," she ordered, putting a paw over Serena's mouth to stop her panicked rambling.
"Oh StarCla, please help me! What do I do! What do I do! What do I do!" Serena cried as she stared up at the sky. She dug her claws into the floorboards nervously and her tail fluffed up in anxiety as she continued to pace.
"Serena please, please just calm down! You need to stop for a moment and take a deep breath," Luna's own ears flattened against her head as she continued to watch Serena. It took a while but Serena slowly calmed down and she stared at Luna with fearful sapphire blue eyes.
"I can't calm down, Luna, I have no idea what to do!" Serena replied in a full-blown panic as she began running up and down her bed."My mom's gonna kill me fur sure! Luna, what the heck am I going to do?" she looked at Luna expectantly.
Luna reached a paw out and flicked one of Serena's ears. "Well, first of all," Luna began in a motherly tone. "You need to calm down and take a deep breath, you're not thinking things through clearly and that's what's making you stress." Luna told her, looking over at Serena as she spoke.
Serena sighed and flattened her ears, then meowed quietly, "Ok ok I'm calm now, but what do I do? How am I going to explain this to my parents? Should I even tell them? Or should I let them figure it out on their own?" she mewed while staring up at Luna with fearful sapphire blue eyes.