A Whisper in the Willows

A short Halloween story by **✧****Feathercloud****✧** No edits without permission.

Enjoy!

## Blurb

WillowClan. Peaceful. Quiet. Nestled in a forest, between two raging rivers, north of a lake.

Yet, every night, one cat disappears.

No one knows how, or where to.

It makes every day, every night, every minute and moment,

Survival.

## Allegiances

**WillowClan**

Leader: None

Deputy: Goldenstorm - glossy golden tabby tom

Medicine Cat: Mintwhisker - small black-and-white she-cat

Warriors:

Smokedusk - black tom with yellow eyes

Applestorm - cream-colored tom

Lilacheart - calico she-cat

Woodbird - brown tabby tom

Leafblaze - mottled brown and ginger tom

Violetmoss - dark russet she-cat with black paws, tail, and face

Flowerblossom - ginger tabby she-cat with white paws

Hawkeye - pale brown tom

Blueheart - blue-gray she-cat (Apprentice: Branchpaw)

Apprentice:

Branchpaw - ginger tom

Queens:

Ashmist - thin, weary gray she-cat with ungroomed fur

Elders:

Twigfur - old pale gray tom

## Chapter One

WillowClan. My home.

And yet the one place I despise.

There’s nothing wrong with it, really. Unless, unless you count the nights. Where cats vanish without a trace.

“Flowerblossom!” I call, lifting my head. “Want to go hunting?”

I am sitting in the middle of our camp, a clearing sheltered by bramble and juniper bushes. Flowerblossom is eating with Lilacheart by the fresh-kill pile.

She looks at me, her amber eyes sparkling. Flowerblossom. My one true love.

“Sure!” She answers, her cheery voice ringing around the camp. Lilacheart gives her loom as if to say, why do you seem so happy? But she says nothing.

I smile at Flowerblossom as she pads closer to me. “Hello,” I mew

“Hi!” She mews back.

“Ready?” I ask her, and she nods.

“Lead the way,”

I turn around and head for the camp entrance.As we head out, I see Applestorm is lying on his back, starin at the sky. “We’re going hunting!” I tell him, and he nods, rolling over.

As we head out of the camp, I immediately open my mouth to breathe in all the scent around me. Mouse. Lilies. Damp air. Shrew. Branchpaw and Blueheart. Roses.

“C’mon!” Flowerblossom mews, and runs past me, her tail waving in the air.

“Wait up!” I purr, and chase after her, my paws skittering on the damp ground, kicking up fallen leaves behind me. “Flowerblossom!”

Flowerblossom is fast, but so am I. I narrow my eyes in determination and pick up speed. She’s right ahead of me, turning around to catch my eye and give me a smile.

“I’m gonna win!” She laughs playfully.

So it's a race.

And I know how to win.

I skirt away from the trail I am following, towards the right. Over a log, around a birch tree, weaving in between holly and juniper bushes

I see what I am headed for.. A rock, suspended on another one so that’s it pointing up, but flat and not too high up. Exactly what I need.

I skirt away from the trail I am following and head for it. Before I know it, instead of soft grass, it is hard rock I feel under my paws.

I am at the tip now, I see, and I spring off, jumping far. I spot Flowerblossom sitting down, looking confused and staring at the trail where I was supposed to be. She calls my name, just as I land down.

She gives out a small shriek and jumps away, then relaxes and nuzzles my cheek.

“You scared me,” She whispers.

“Did I win?” I ask.

“No,” She purrs. “But nice try,”

I stare into her sparking eyes, and I think of how much we have suffered. Why are we even happy? We lost so much. When the usually calm, peaceful streams, turned into dangerous rapids, they swarmed the land and reduced our territory to little. The willow trees, which our Clan was named after, died without soil as the water flooded. There is only one left.

And when that started, so did the disappearances.

First my father, Liontooth. No scent, no marks that showed he was dragged, no pawprints, even though the ground had been muddy outside. Not a trace.

He was the first.

Then the rest came.

My sisters, Stemwhisper and Lichenfur, had disappeared soon after Flowerblossom’s parents and younger brother, Thrushpaw. My mother had died before the floods, in greencough. My best friend, Deerspring, had lost his life a few days before.

Flowerblossom was the only cat left to care for.

“Lets hunt,” She mews, and we turn away, breathing in the musty, damp air to try and find any prey. We scent a squirrel, and Flowerblossom finds and catches it with an amazing jump.

“Nice,” I say, and she nods.

We head back.

I look up at the sky, as the sun is shrinking down. Who next? I wonder, but there is no way of knowing. I twine my tail with Flowerblossom, and we slip into camp.

As we are heading inside, we past Ashmist and Woodbird on their way out. I think about them, wonder if they will be lost tonight.

Woodbird was one of the few who had lost his entire family, and yet have the strength to go on. His mate, Kinktail, and kits, Breezepaw and Gorsepaw, were all gone. Even Breezepaw’s thick coat left no remains of any fur. And yet, he is still standing I admire him for that.

Ashmist, on the other hand, is a complete wreck. Shaggy, ungroomed, fur that seems to hang off of her. Dull eyes, and dark circles under them. She lost her four kits, mate, and brother, and never recovered from it.

Flowerblossom and I place the squirrel on the fresh-kill pile, and settle down to share a staring. Goldenstorm mews words, a wish that no one will disappear tonight, praying to StarClan. StarClan. They left us.

And then before we know it, it is time. Dusk. Almost nighttime.

We cannot stay up tonight. Or any night. It is one of the ‘rules’. A cat named Hollowpelt tried it, and he was torn into shreds. And two cats disappeared that night.

We all have separate dens, although I don’t know why. Flowerblossom’s and I are across the camp.

“Flowerblossom,” i whisper to her.

She looks into my eyes. “Yes?” She asks softly.

“Stay alive,” I say. “Please?”

She stands there, regarding me for so long I think that perhaps it is night already, but it has been so long since I last saw night that I don’t know.

“I can’t promise that,” She responds. “No one can,”

With that, she turns away and bounds to her den.

I turn to mine, and head inside towards my mossy nest, settling inside.

“Please stay alive,” I whisper, but to whom I don’t say.

I will know who is gone tonight.

For now, I curl into sleep.

## Chapter Two

I open my eyes, and blint them, once, then twice, before glancing up. Immediately I see the dawn light streaming through the entrance and gaps, which means it is morning.

I spring up from my nest. Flowerblossom! I think, and dash outside. Where is she? Is she ok?

“Flowerblossom!” I call, and spot her outside. “Flowerblossom!” She looks up, and I skid to stop by her.

“What is it?” I ask.

“It’s-its Goldenstorm,” She mews. “He’s not here,”

Goldenstorm? No, Goldenstorm! Stupid, arrogant, Goldenstorm who only kept wondering and thinking about StarClan, but honestly he is not why I fel devastated.

“Who shall be the new leader?” A raspy voice says from behind me.

That is why.

I spin around. Hawkeye is there, tail lashing, staring me down with narrowed eyes.

Hawkeye.

Also known as the one cat who has never lost anyone special.

Because he never cared for anyone. An old rogue kit, taken in without foster parents or siblings. The only kit. And the only apprentice. He never got along with his mentor, who had been Goldenstorm, and had no friends by the time he got his warrior name.

“It should be me,” He mews.

“No!” I respond, arching my back.

“Why is that?” Another voice asks. Twigfur stalks up to us. Twigfur was our only elder, and before the disaster he had been popular with all the apprentices. Except for Hawkeye, but yet he still tried to be his friend, which was most likely why he was doing this.

“Because you don’t feel our pain,” Lilacheart says, and I nearly jump in surprise. I had forgotten she was there.

“I agree,” Branchpaw mews, shuffling his paws. Where are all these cats coming from?

“I should be a leader!” the apprentice mews, eyes sparkling, before Blueheart cuffs his ear gently.

“No,” She says sternly, then faces Hawkeye. “Not Branchpaw, not Hawkeye,”

“Then who?” Smokedusk asks. “Violetmoss?”

“Of course not,” I hiss. Violetmoss….was…mentally unstable. Like Ashmist, but worse. She had shut herself off from the world, and hid in her den all day and night. She had a large, joyful family, lots of friends, and within a moon they were all gone.

“Silence!” A voice yowls, and he all turn around. Mintwhisker, our medicine cat, is standing on the log where Goldenstorm, and before her, Petalstar, used to address us.

“I will,” She says in a small quavering voice. Hawkeye barks a laugh, and Flowerblossom gently tells him to stop.

“I am the medicine cat,” She reminds us. “It-it should be me. StarClan would want it to bee, if they were here,”

“StarClan abandoned us!” Blueheart shouts, and Applestorm yowls his agreement.

“She is the leader!” I yowl. “Better than us arguing!”

Flowerblossom looks at me, and gives me a nod. I smile at her. My fur turning red.

“Thank you,” Mintwhisker mews, and jumps off the log, heading towards her den.

Poor Mintwhisker.

## Chapter Three

The rest of the day passed quickly. I patrolled the borders with Lilacheart and Woodbird, but nothing to report. I hunted with Smokedusk, but really we spent the time arguing about Hawkeye. Then we went back, and I talked to Flowerblossom. And then, now, it was night.

I drift into sleep, closing my eyes. Goldenstorm last night. Who now?

I fall asleep.

Not knowing I will wake up into a massacre.

✧❀✧❀✧

A yowl wakes me up. A low, mourningful yowl. Before thinking, I jump up and run out of my den.

My eyes catch the cream pelt, lying their in the middle of the camp. But no, it is not. It is…torn.

Blood stains the ground, scattering around the camp. I am focused on the body, sliced and torn and shredded.

“Applestorm,” I whisper, and my eyes fill up with tears. He is dead. He stayed up. Why?

“Um…” I look up to see Woodbird glancing at me. “There’s something you need to know,”

“What?” I ask, my voice hollow.

“We know who…left,” he says.

“Who I ask?” and scan my surroundings, counting the cats.

No.

I know who, now.

My heart seems to stop.

“Its…” Woodbird begins, then stops. And he resumes.

No.

“Lilacheart….and…….Flowerblossom,”

I don’t remember much after that.

Oh, wait, I do.

Woodbird had walked away. Mintwhisker had given a speech. We left the camp, and made a large bramble den in the forest. No one had wanted to see Applestorm’s remains every day.

Ashmist came up close to me, as I stood outside the new den, staring ahead at me. At nothing in particular. I can still hear her. Flowerblossom. Her laugh echoes in my brain. Her twinkling eyes occupy my thoughts. Her sweet scent drifts around in the air, although it does not.

“Come,” the she-cat mews shakily, as if she hadn’t used her voice in a moon. I remember she hadn’t, not since she lost her kin.

I follow her without question, and she leads me away. Towards- the river. She spots there, and I sit down next to her.

“I’m sorry,” She rasps, curling her tail around me as if I were a kit. “For your loss,”

I nod. “I’m sorry too,”

A question strikes my brain as she looks at me with hollow eyes. Will I end up like her? A wreck? Unable to continue on? Most likely. Flowerblossom was the only one who kept me together. And she is completely gone.

I am reminded of something. Not completely. I spring up. “Thank you,” I tell Ashmist, and dash away. Where is it? Oh, there! That’s the path! I run and run, heading towards it. And then I see it.

A willow tree. The very last one.

I run until I reach its roots, and my paws start digging immediately.

I remember why as I dig.

“We won’t need this,” I tell Flowerblossom.

“Please,” She begs. “If one of us dies, the other will have a piece to hang onto,”

How could I say no to her? As I find it, I am grateful I agreed.

A piece of fur. My fur. But- where is hers? We stashed their tufts in case one of us died.

I dig more, but I find nothing. It’s gone.

She truly is gone.

## Chapter Four

I head back to the den, head low. Twigfur is there as I enter. “I’m sorry,” He mews.

I do not pay attention to him and head inside.

I do not eat. I do not groom myself. I do not drink water. I don’t speak, or listen to anyone until I catch Mintwhisker reporting that Violetmoss died of hunger.

That might be me, I think, but do nothing else but curl into sleep.

It is all too much.

✧❀✧❀✧

I wake up.

No light outside tells me it is night.

I have not seen night in a long time.

It is a cloudy night, however, and the moon and stars are not visible through gaps in the roof.

My forehead feels strange, it notice. As if i was clawed, as if a shape was clawed, but I ignore it.

I look over, sweeping my gaze on who remains. Ashmist….Woodbird….Mintwhisker….Branchpaw…..Blueheart….Twigfur….Hawkeye….Smoke- no, Smokedusk had left to try and escape, but according to Blueheart he drowned.

I sigh, and get up. Crawl outside of the den. I want to see night. Someone will, two cats, will pay, but somehow I do not care.

I look down as I exit, and stop.

I look up, and down again at my paws.

Where my paws should be,

Because they are not there.

“What!” I exclaim, loud enough to wake some cat. I look back, but see no one gets up. What is happening?

“Hello,” A voice says. A strange voice. A voice sounding of many..many cats…sounding so familiar.

I spin around, but see no one. Wait, I do! Just barely. A cat. Standing far across from me. Staring at me with blank eyes, it’s pelt transparent. A spirit.

“I’m dead, aren’t I?” I ask.

“Yes,” The spirit hisses in it’s strange voice.. “Dead, and mine,”

I open my mouth to ask it, what does it mean, but it lunges for me, clearing the space between us with an enormous leap.

I do not move.

And it passes right through me.

Yes, through me.

I am a spirit, dead, now, so that does not seem odd.

But to the other cat, it does.

“What!” it hisses, and narrows its blank eyes. It leaps again, and passes through me. “Impossible!” it howls.

I stand thee, not moving. This cat clearly is an enemy.

“Oh well,” it hisses. “I’ll just take another.”

I get that. Another. Another cat.

“No!” I yowl, and run towards it, and it runs away, past me, into the den.

“Stop!” I yowl, and dash into the den.

I see that cat, standing over Mintwhisker. Scratching a star-shaped symbol into her forehead. I put my paw on mine, but feel nothing. However, I know it is there.

I see Mintwhisker….fade. Her black-and-white pelt becomes more transparent by the second, and I take a step closer. However, I am too late. Mintwhisker, our medicine cat, is almost invisible.

She opens her eyes, the pale blue all seeped from them, and follows the other cat into the night, away.

Without question, I follow.

Because this is the cat who steals one Clanmate a night.

And they have Flowerblossom.

## Chapter Five

I am in a forest now, after following Mintwhisker and the Spirit. I decide to call the cat Spirit.

However, this forest I am in, is no real forest at all.

It is black. The air, sky, trees, leaves, everything. All black, and yet I can see the difference between them all. Ghost powers, I decide.

I had followed Spirit here, and lost it upon arrival.

I intend to find them again.

I wander, far away from my starting place, weaving through endless tall trees, my paws thumming against solid ground. Not grass, moss, rock, or anything. Just…solid.

And then I see her.

Barely.

Her ginger pelt, paler than ever, as if it was white. Illuminating against the dark forest.

“Flowerblossom!” I yowl.

She turns around, and i freeze.

I should have been prepared, but…. Seeing her blank eyes bore into mine, it is too much.

I squeeze mine shut, and when I open it, I see her tail disappear out of my view.

“Wait!” I call, and sprint after her. “No!”

She is fast. She always was, but not this fast, surely. In a few heartbeats she is gone, speeding ahead of me. How?

I continue in a straight line. Where is she?

Eventually, I skid into a clearing.

I found her.

Found her in a trap.

✧❀✧❀✧

They’re all there.

Every cat who went missing.

Pale, paler than the moon, if I remember the moon correctly.

Blank eyes staring at me.

And a star-like symbol etched into their foreheads.

The cats surround me now. I look around, taking them all in.

Lichenfur and Stemwhisper, my sisters. Last time I saw them, they had looked scared, scared if they would be the next. And they were.

Now they look furious.

My father is standing between them, tail lashing fast as a snake.

Goldenstorm is there.

So are Petalstar and Mintwhisker.

Even Ashmist’s four kits are standing, looking tiny amongst the other cats.

I do not remember their names.

Only one of them has Ashmist’s gray fur. I remember how they all had her golden-yellow eyes, and suddenly I wish Ashmist was here.

The kit’s father, Vole….Voleclaw, is standing next to them.

And many more are crowding around me.

I find her in the crowd.

Flowerblossom.

And…Spirit

Standing next to Flowerblossom, looking at me with a smirk on it’s face.

“Why!” I yowl. “Why!”

It says nothing. But Mintwhisker does.

“After the five original Clans fell,” She begins. “There was a she-cat named Willow,”

“She was sent on a mission by StarClan,” My sister Lichenfur adds.

“To repair what was lost.” Stemwhisker finished.

“Willow made a Clan,” All of Ashmist’s kits are speaking, their tiny voices sounding like they weren't kits at all.

These cats aren’t themselves. I remind myself.

“It wasn’t small, it wasn’t weak,” Lilacheart says. “It was like the originals,”

It was WillowClan

“It was WillowClan,” Petalstar, our last leader, says.

“Willowstar was a great leader,” Goldenstorm says. “She was strong and ambitious,”

“She aimed to take land from a rogue group,” Gorsepaw, Branchpaw’s brother, says.

“Her sister, Shadowfern, advised against it,” Volefang says.

“She didn’t listen,” Thrushpaw mews. “She attacked anyways,”

“And payed the price,” Flowerblossom finishes. “Willowstar took over the rogue group, but lost many of her warriors, including her deputy Ambertalon. She had little cats left. So she took in a pair of kits, Meadow and Saffron, as her own. However, while Meadow remained loyal to WillowClan, Saffron didn’t. He ambushed Willowstar, and killed her, taking all of her nine lives.”

“Willowstar,” the Spirit finishes. “Was angry. Vengeful. Her adopted son had killed her. She promised he would pay. Not Saffron, however. His kin. Saffron, foolish as he was, did not listen. He took on a mate and kits. Watched them grow. Believed they were safe. But he was wrong. When Saffron had everything, a loving mate, two healthy litters, one cat who had kits themselves, Meadow, Meadow’s kits and mate, and two apprentices, one a warrior, one still learning, he thought he would be happy. He was a fool.” Spirit sneers. “Willowstar killed them, one night when the moon shone orange. All of them died. However, it comes at a cost.”

“A cost for the living,” Spirit adds.

The cost.

“Willowstar was a ghost who took a life. It was against StarClan’s rules. They banished her, cursed her to fade in the living world. But she was not ready to leave. She took them over, although how, she does not know herself. And created the place we stand now, the Black Woods.”

The Black Woods.

“Willowstar killed Saffron after that.” Spirit continued. “With her creation guiding her. But this forest, it consumed her. Took what good was left in her and destroyed it. When Saffron was murdered, that was all it needed. Willowstar had had a taste of blood, in her spirit form, and the Black Forest took advantage of that. She grew hungrier. Hungrier. And then we she could no longer stand it, she went to the living world and killed a cat.”

Willowstar killed my father.

“Liontooth became hers. Blank-eye, pale-pelted, his mind faded into nothing, and his body became hers. And the next night, she took Petalstar. And over and over, because with every life she grew more hungry. It gnawed at her mind and pierced her chest and turned her numb. She could not stand the pain. And it grew bigger and bigger with every kill. Worse and worse, but no way to stop it unless she killed more. You know who Willowstar is, right?”

I stared into the cat’s blank eyes. Now I could see. One was pale green, the other a pale blue. Both staring at me, with regret and grief sparkling in those depths. Yes, I could see her now. Soft, silver tabby fur. A slender body. A long tail. Not a blank ghost, but the husk of a leader.

Willowstar stared at me for a long time. Regarded me in those bicolored eyes. Finally, she spoke. “I can hold it of no longer!” She yowls. “We must take all of WillowClan!”

Ashmist. Woodbird. Blueheart. Branchpaw. Even Hawkeye.

“No!” I yowled.

Willowstar, who was getting ready to lead her cats away, turned back.

“I’m sorry, Leafblaze,” She murmured.

Leafblaze. Me. So strange, said in that voice- no, I could distinguish one clearly from all the others. One I have never heard before. Must be hers.

“I cannot let you do this!” I yowl. “You killed my family. You killed Flowerblossom. You tore my Clan’s heart in half. But I will not let you destroy them!”

“Oh, Leafblaze.” Willowstar mews “I know what’s wrong with you know.”

Before I have time to ask, to even think about what that means, she jumps for me. Pins me down and keeps me on the ground with impressive strength.

“Forgive me,” She whispers.

“Forgive you? How!” I hiss. I think of Ashmist. How she never recovered from losing her family. I recall an image, an image of a happy WillowClan. It fills my mind real quick. Petalstar standing on the Highrock; my father ordering patrols; Twigfur entertaining Breezepaw and Gorsepaw with stories; Stemwhisper and Lichenfur padding into camp with prey in their jaws, they both were always excellent hunters; Ashmist playing with her four kits, I remember their names now. Splashkit, Thornkit, Silverkit, and Eaglekit.

“There may be no way,” Willowstar says. “I know after I kill my Clan, the hunger and pain will get worse. I will suffer for many long moments and minutes and hours, fading slowly. And I will leave this world in eternal pain. If you break free, remember to be satisfied with what you had in life. Never seek revenge when your time is up.”

With that, she raises a claw above me. Sketches a mark on my forehead. Finish the star symbol. I get it now. It is how she kills, takes our minds and souls.

Willowstar gets up and starts to leave the clearing, leave the forest. Her army, her victims, follow her.

Suddenly I feel myself getting up. What is going on? I follow the spirit cats, and I am behind my father as we trail along, all together. No, no! This should not be the end for me! I wish to yowl, will myself to stop this movement. But I cannot. I am in my body, but my movements are not mine. Soon my mind will vanish too.

Before I slip away, I think one thought.

I never told Flowerblossom I loved her.

## Epilouge

I sigh. What has become of my now? I feel the pain coursing through my body- it feelings like jagged lightning bolts shooting from one vain to another. My pelt feels heavy, to heavy to carry, as if I was just drenched in water.

I wonder. Wonder what would have happened to WillowClan if I never wanted revenge. No- if Saffron hadn’t been foolish enough to kill me.

It’s too late for remorse now.

I think of the advice I gave to that cat Leafblaze just a few moments before. Had it really been a few moments? Time seems to stretch on longer here.

If you break free, remember to be satisfied with what you had in life. Never seek revenge when your time is up.

I wish i had known that before.

I head towards my old home now. WillowClan. We showed such promise, and had such a will to survive and live that if it were not for me, we could have been forever.

After this night the pain will get worse. But I cannot control it, and I know it will consume mee. It is excruciating already. How I not show it, keep it in, I do not know. But all barreled up inside seems to double it.

I see them now. WillowClan.

I lead the spirits into the living land. My spirits- I am a leader again. But of mindless husks. They would kill me if I set them free. And claws only worsen the pain inside of me. I must fade forever, not go by tooth. And if they kill me, they will end up like me. But with no WillowClan to reduce the pain.

I am sorry.

Truly, truly, sorry.