Fallen Leaves

Fallen Leaves is a supporting character in the Power of Three and Omen of the Stars arcs of the Warriors series, as well as the deuteragonist of the novella Hollyleaf's Story. He was an Ancient who lived at the lake many decades ago, and had drowned in the underground tunnels while trying to escape, trapping his spirit inside. In the present, he befriends the ThunderClan medicine cat Jayfeather, and later befriends and takes care of Jayfeather's sister Hollyleaf as well after she exiles herself to the tunnels. Eventually he escapes and aids in the battle against the Dark Forest, before finally ascending to the Tribe of Endless Hunting, where he reunites with his family.
==Appearance==
Fallen Leaves is a scrawny tom with sleek white fur and ginger patches. He has small paws, a white muzzle, and green eyes.
==Biography==
===The Power of Three===
====Dark River====
In the past, a group of cats living around the lake their Clan descendants now live around, known as the Ancients, have a system in which Softpaws must navigate their way through the underground tunnels to become Sharpclaws - the past equivalent to apprentices and warriors, respectively.
One Softpaw named Fallen Leaves prepares to enter the tunnels, with his parents Broken Shadow and Stone Song expressing great pride in him. He goes underground, where he meets a nearly hairless cat named Rock, who holds a stick with several carvings in it to represent Softpaws who entered the tunnels; one mark for those who go in, and two for those who come out. Rock asks him if it will rain, and despite there being a good possibility it will, Fallen Leaves claims that the sky is clear, fearing his task will be postponed if he told the truth.
Rock marks his stick, and Fallen Leaves begins wandering the tunnels, appearing to be heading in the right direction. However, it begins to rain heavily, and the tunnels start to flood right as the young tom reaches a dead end. Starting to panic, he begins running down tunnel after tunnel, with all of them being dead ends as well, causing his panic to increase. Jaypaw, a ThunderClan medicine cat from the present, then astral projects next to him. He begs Jaypaw for help, but is then swallowed by a giant wave and disappears under the water, drowning. His spirit then becomes lost in the tunnels rather than passing on.
====Long Shadows====
When Jaypaw exits the tunnels after a brief visit, he ends up in the past as Jay's Wing, where the Ancients congratulate him for becoming a Sharpclaw. Broken Shadow says it's good that he made it out, even if her son hasn't. Unaware that Fallen Leaves is dead, the Ancients tell Jay's Wing that they've been waiting over a moon for the orange-and-white tom to return to the surface, with everyone missing him, Broken Shadow and Stone Song most of all.
===Omen of the Stars===
====Sign of the Moon====
After Jay's Wing had convinced the Ancients to move to the mountains and found the Tribe of Rushing Water, Broken Shadow expresses guilt for leaving her son behind in the tunnels, believing he's still alive. Somberly, she says that if Fallen Leaves ever comes out, there won't be anyone there waiting for him.
===The Power of Three (cont.)===
====Dark River (cont.)====
Several decades later, Jaypaw and his siblings Hollypaw and Lionpaw get lost in the tunnels, alongside two apprentices named Breezepaw and Heatherpaw and three kits named Sedgekit, Thistlekit and Swallowkit from WindClan. Fallen Leaves appears and offers to guide them out, though Jaypaw is the only one who can see or hear him. He feels confident in where he's going at first, but soon realizes that he doesn't know the way out and disappears sadly.
====Outcast====
While studying Rock's stick, Jaypaw notices that there's one marking that hasn't been crossed a second time, and realizes it must represent Fallen Leaves. When neither Rock nor Fallen Leaves answer his calls, the apprentice worries if he's done something wrong. Later, Jaypaw tells Hollypaw about Rock's stick and the Ancients, as well as explaining who Fallen Leaves is and what happened to him. He also reveals that it was the wandering spirit who had tried to guide them out of the tunnels.
====Long Shadows (cont.)====
When Jaypaw visits the tunnels, Fallen Leaves begs him to stay longer, saying that he's been so alone. Jaypaw declines, saying he doesn't have the time, and then exits the tunnels to find himself in the past as Jay's Wing.
===Hollyleaf's Story===
After Hollyleaf reveals that she and her brothers were born from a forbidden relationship between Leafpool and Crowfeather, and admits to murdering Ashfur to try and keep this secret, she exiles herself from ThunderClan and runs into the tunnels just as the start to collapse. She's badly wounded from the cave-in and fails to dig herself out, passing out when she tries to look for another exit. Fallen Leaves finds her and tends to her wounds with comfrey and poppy seeds, and when she wakes up, he gives her a tiny minnow from on of the tunnels' streams to eat. He then tells the black she-cat that she recognizes her from when she, her brothers and the WindClan kits and apprentices got lost underground. After formally introducing himself, he explains that he used to live at the lake in the world above, but now resides in the tunnels.
Fallen Leaves gives Hollyleaf some more comfrey to help treat her injuries, and she asks if he's a medicine cat, but he replies that he doesn't know what that is, explaining that he and his peers were taught about herbs so everyone could help each other. His guest then asks what his old life was like, but he tells her not to ask any more questions. He then assures her that he leg isn't broken and will heal soon enough, guessing that she's want to get back home as soon as possible, but she replies that she can't go back. He tells her it's her choice, and suggests she lay down and stop wiggling around.
Later, Hollyleaf tries asking again what Fallen Leaves' life was like before he resided in the tunnels, but he dodges the question again, repeatedly stating that the tunnels were his home now. A few days later, when Hollyleaf remarks that her leg doesn't hurt anymore, the orange-and white tom says that it must be all healed now. She then asks him to show her around the tunnels, and he complies, first showing off the area Lionblaze and Heathertail once played in when they were apprentices, and then the river she, her brothers, and the WindClan kits and apprentices swam through to escape.
He then starts leading her down a dark tunnel, and upon telling her there' light up ahead, Hollyleaf runs ahead of him. When trying to pick up his scent so she doesn't run into him though, she realizes that all she can smell is the damp caverns, wondering how long he's been living there to have his scent blend in with his surrounding completely. The two then race down the tunnel, which leads to the other side of the hills on the outskirts of the lake. Fallen Leaves then runs down another tunnel to the side, and Hollyleaf gets lost when she tries to follow, after which he leads her back to her nest. he gives the black she-cat some poppy seeds to help her sleep, and she asks if he can stay with her for the night, since she doesn't want to be alone in the dark, which he agrees to do, but only for one night. While the two are curled up together, Hollyleaf notices that her friend isn't giving off any body heat.
The following morning, Fallen Leaves wakes Hollyleaf up and announces that it's time for patrol. As he walks away, he tells her that he's going to the tunnels underneath the moorlands, and she should check the ones underneath the forest. Hollyleaf then reflects on how Fallen Leaves has been trying to make her feel at him by going on patrols like she used to, though never going to the tunnels underneath ThunderClan, and has been teaching her how to fish in the caverns' streams. She also notes how he never eats any of the prey they catch together, and how she never grows tired of his company because he always leaves her alone at night. Fallen leaves tells her to hurry, standing remarking that the river is flowing quickly because it rained last night. She asks if it's going to flood, but he says it won't yet, putting a flat stone into the water to check how much it's rising, explaining that it's what the Sharpclaws told him to do before he went into the tunnels. The black she-cat says that if he went back to the surface, he'd be the greatest Sharpclaw ever due to how well he knows the tunnels, but he hisses that it's too late to go back, running off towards the tunnels under the moorlands.
After Hollyleaf finds a helpless fox cub lost in the tunnels, Fallen Leaves comes back. That night, Hollyleaf is unable to sleep because of the fox cub's loud whimpering, and when she considers going to check on it, he tells her that it'll find its way out on its own eventually. The two then get into an argument over whether or not they should check on the fox, with Hollyleaf going to look for it on her own, and the orange-and-white tom agreeing to come find her if she doesn't come back before dawn.
Some time after the fox cub reunites with its mother, Fallen Leaves spots Hollyleaf sitting near the exit to the tunnels, staring out into the leaffall forest. He asks if she's thinking about going out to look for the fox, and in turn she asks how long he'd been there, to which he says it was long enough to see how much she wants to leave. He then asks if she's hoping the fox will return, and she tells him that she knows it belongs in the forest. He then asks if she belongs in the forest too, and she defensively asks him where his family is if there's not trace of them on the surface. He sadly replies that they left, and she offers to help find them. He responds that he can't leave, because if he does, his mother won't know where to find him, believing she'll come looking for him one day. Hollyleaf reasons that they could go looking and find her first, but he hisses that he just needs to wait, and doesn't need the black she-cat looking after him, walking away. She wonders where his mother must be, and why he refuses to tell her anything about his past.
Hollyleaf finds Fallen Leaves laying down near the cave's river, telling him that she's thankful for all his help, but she must return to the surface. He solemnly tells her to just go, saying that no one ever said she had to stay underground with him, to which she replies that she just wanted him to know where she's gone. He just shrugs and flicks his tail in response, and as she heads towards the exit, she wonders for a moment if he'll follow her, but he never does. She returns soon after though, when the fox she had helped attacks her, Fallen Leaves is happy that she's returned and gives her some fish and herbs, the latter for a cough she's developed. He then informs her that he's added more feathers to her nest while she was gone in hopes that she'd come back, curling up with her as the two fall asleep. When she wakes, she finds that he isn't there, but soon after he walks up to her with a minnow, urging her to eat it.
The two then lay together, and Hollyleaf tells him that she found the fox cub she had helped moons ago. He asks if she's sure it was the same one and if it recognized her, to which she shakes her head, and he comforts her by saying that some animals have no sense of gratitude. He then asks her what she thought would happen, and she says it might've taken her to its den to meet its mother. She adds that she feels lonely, and he assures her that she has a friend in him, and that he's been getting lazy with patrolling the tunnels while she was gone, suggesting they search the tunnels in case the fox followed her and asking if she remembers how to fish.
Later, upon being asked what she's thinking about, Hollyleaf tells Fallen Leaves that she's glad she came back to the tunnels, and he responds that he's glad as well. The black she-cat wonders if he misses his family, and he admits that it's been so long since he's seen them that he doesn't remember much about them, adding that he's spent too many years underground to count, and can't do anything about it now. He then tells Hollyleaf about how his mother is named Broken Shadow, and she was very kind and pretty, but never wanted him to go into the tunnels, wondering if she knew something would happen to him down there. He continues that she couldn't have stopped him from going in anyways if it meant becoming a Sharpclaw, which he wanted more than anything, but that was long ago.
When Hollyleaf reveals to him that she didn't tell her own mother that she left, he becomes concerned for her and asks about her family. She tells him that she was born from a forbidden relationship between the ThunderClan medicine cat Leafpool and the WindClan warrior Crowfeather, and that she was raised by Leafpool's sister Squirrelflight and her mate Brambleclaw, with nobody in the Clan including her knowing about the secret until recently. Fallen Leaves remarks that it sounds like both Leafpool and Squirrelflight love her very much, and having two mothers is better than none. He adds that they must have covered up the secret because they thought it was the right thing for her and her littermates, and that she can't blame them for loving her.
A little bit later, Fallen Leaves notices that Hollyleaf is missing the surface world again and encourages her to go visit her old Clan, suggesting she do it in secret when she tells him her Clanmates believe her to be dead, saying she can't just spend the rest of her life staring at the moon and wondering how they're doing. She leaves to watch her Clanmates for a bit, and tells the orange-and-white tom what she'd seen when she returns, including that one of her Clanmates, Briarlight, is now a warrior, but her back legs are now permanently paralyzed after a tree had fallen on her. He assures her that she couldn't have stopped the tree if she stayed in the Clan, and that she chose to leave. Hollyleaf then admits that she killed a ThunderClan warrior named Ashfur moons ago after he learned the secret of her parentage and threatened to expose it. He asks if her Clan sent her away for it, but she explains that she exiled herself. Fallen Leaves then encourages her to go back anyways, confident that her family will help keep her secret of killing Ashfur, but she wails that he can't be sure. He responds that he's sure, and says she's very important to her kin and Clan, no matter what she did in the past.
Hollyleaf visits ThunderClan in secret again, and when telling Fallen Leaves what happened, asks if he can help her find the catmint her Clan is short on. He doubts that catmint grows in the tunnels, and says that he never looked because he doesn't need to use any. The green-eyed she-cat points out that he found poppy seeds and comfrey to treat her with when she was injured, but he says that was different because she was right in front of him, and he couldn't leave her to suffer. He then says that the warrior code isn't his code, and as such he doesn't need to help look for herbs for ThunderClan, walking off into the darkness.
Later, Fallen Leaves wakes Hollyleaf up in the middle of the night, unhappily informing her that two warriors of ThunderClan are lost in the tunnels. He's irritated when she asks who they are, and tells her that he tried guiding them out himself, but was unsuccessful, and she needs to go help now. After she guides the two warriors; Ivypool and Blossomfall, she notes that the orange-and-white tom is upset about her leaving to check on ThunderClan so often, deciding not to visit for a while. She eventually does visit again, and upon retuning to the tunnels, finds Fallen Leaves standing by the underground river. She apologizes and thanks him for all he's done, and he responds that he hoped she would stay, as he never had anyone to share his home with. He then concedes that her Clan needs her more than he does, adding that she'll know when the time comes to return to the Clan before disappearing.
A moon later, Fallen Leaves finds Hollyleaf while she's fishing and tells her that there are cats in the tunnels again. He leads her to an area where several WindClan cats are conspiring with a rogue named Sol to ambush ThunderClan through the tunnels. The two then run into Ivypool again, who is now accompanied by her sister Dovewing rather than Blossomfall, as the two eavesdrop on Sol's and the WindClan cats' plans as well. Fallen Leaves urges Hollyleaf to go back to ThunderClan with Ivypool and Dovewing so that she may help defend it from the upcoming attack, which she agrees to. The two say their goodbyes, promising they'll see each other again, and Fallen Leaves tells Hollyleaf that he'll never forget her.
===Omen of the Stars (cont.)===
====Sign of the Moon (cont.)====
In the present, as Jayfeather walks though the tunnels, he hears voices calling out to him, and wonders if one of them is Fallen Leaves'. He later sees the white-and-orange tom in his dreams, who mistakes him for Jay's Wing. Jayfeather tries leading him back to the surface, but he refuses, stating that they both know he can't leave. He then sees the night sky, and understands that Jayfeather's destiny lies with the stars, assuring the medicine cat that he'll always be there for him if he ever needs him.
Later, when Blossomfall and Ivypool get lost in the tunnels, Fallen Leaves gives them directions to the exit, but refuses to show them himself. The two get lost despite his directions, so he tells Hollyleaf, who guides them out instead.
====The Last Hope====
When StarClan, the Ancients, and the Tribe of Endless Hunting all come to the Clans' aid during the battle against the Dark Forest, Fallen Leaves at last escapes the tunnels and joins in the fight as well. When he arrives, he explains that he heard Hollyleaf was killed by Hawkfrost, and wanted to see her body and pay his respects. Distressed, he tells Broken Shadow that she wasn't supposed to die here, as he had promised they would see each other again. His mother tells him that there's no time to grieve now, and that she died honorably by protecting the Clans, so he can honor her memory by helping win the battle. Fallen Leaves then helps fight, and soon, what's left of the Dark Forest retreats. Afterwards, he ascends to the Tribe of Endless Hunting, finally at peace.
===Trivia===
*Strangely, Fallen Leaves and Hollyleaf are listed as mates on the official family tree, even though they only ever remained friends in the books themselves.
**Author Victoria Holmes has said that she isn't sure the two became mates as spirits, as cats usually don't get together in the afterlife.
*He is mistakenly listed as a member of StarClan rather than the Tribe of Endless Hunting on the aforementioned family tree.
==External links==
Fallen Leaves on the Warriors Wiki
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