A New Dawn 1

[This is a super old unfinished part of a warriors fan fiction I used to work on writing]

Ebonylight ran. Her paw steps made imprints on the dusty ground and left clouds swirling behind her. The dust glittered in the air and the air was crisp and frosty. Thunder rolled overhead, and strangely sounded somewhat like coughing. She looked up to see the dark indigo sky swirling with stars as she hunted for coltsfoot. *Rosepaw needs my help. I can't let her down!*

Ebonylight saw a patch of green foliage with bright yellow flowers and leapt towards it. With a sinking heart, she felt herself dropping, the cool air swiftly rushing through her pelt as she missed the leap and her paws touched empty air. She saw stars rush past her as she descended, faster and faster.

Ebonylight let out a terrified yowl, but the wind whisked it away. The farther she fell, the darker it became, and the more stars showed. Ebonylight heard a soft voice, no many voices it sounded like. It came all around her and inside her head and spoke, "As the code withers, a new dawn shall rise. The fawn shall be its savior or its demise." The words began to fade as everything turned to black. Ebonylight looked up and saw-

She blinked her eyes open and jerked away to find herself in the medicine cat den. A coughing sound arose her and she lifted her head and looked up to find Rosepaw coughing again in her makeshift nest.

Ebonylight yawned, unable to shake the feeling that her dream had meant something. Her heart was racing and she had no idea why. *What was my dream about? Come on! You can't forget!* Ebonylight got up and willed herself to remember what she had dreamt about, knowing it was important.

Rosepaw coughed again and Ebonlylight sighed and said, "I'm coming." She stepped out of her nest, which was scattered all over her side of the den. She assumed she had thrashed about in her sleep. *Either that or a cat broke in and destroyed it themselves,* she mused.

Ebonylight padded over to where Rosepaw was and turned to wake her apprentice, Fogpaw. She prodded Fogpaw on the shoulder and called his name.

Fogpaw groaned and shifted in his sleep. "Just one more minute-I like newts, not fish..." Fogpaw said, still half asleep.

"Fogpaw!" Ebonylight said sternly, but not too loudly to disturb the other cats.

Fogpaw groaned and then opened his eyes. "What is it?" He asked. Fogpaw got up and stretched, kneading his claws into the dirt next to his nest.

"I need you to get Rosepaw some fresh moss soaked in clean water. Her last one ran dry last night." Ebonylight said.

Fogpaw stood up and said, "Ok, ok." He turned to leave towards the entrance, and asked, "Is there anything else I can get while I'm out?"

"If you could get some more coltsfoot, it would be nice," Ebonylight responded.

Fogpaw frowned. "But we have plenty of coltsfoot stacked up in the back of the den. Are you sure you aren't getting sick? You aren't feverish?"

"Yes I'm fine," Ebonylight said. "I...I just have a feeling that we'll need more."

"Alright," Fogpaw conceded. He looked at Ebonylight with some concern before bounding off to fetch the two items.

Ebonylight turned to the back of the medicine cat den and rummaged through her various herbs to get some coltsfoot. She grabbed it with her mouth and brought it over to Rosepaw, who sat in her nest. Ebonylight crushed the herbs into a paste and offered it to the apprentice. Rosepaw took it gratefully, gagging at the taste. Ebonylight sat next to her to make sure she would actually swallow it and not spit it out like some of the other sick or wounded cats she had had before.

Rosepaw finished chewing and swallowed it. When she was done, Ebonylight dipped her head and asked, "Would you like something to eat? I'm sure there are still some leftovers on the fresh-kill pile from last night."

Rosepaw shrugged and said, "I'll leave it for the elders."

Ebonylight said, "It's okay for you to take from the fresh-kill pile before other cats, you know. First of all, the warrior code isn't being used right now, and second of all, you are sick and we care about your health. You getting a good meal is just as important as making sure the elders are well fed."

Rosepaw caved in with a sigh and mewed, "Fine fine, but I'll get it for myself. I may have a cough but my legs are still working." She got up and stretched, coughing again.

Ebonylight stood in the way. "No. You're sick and I don't want you coughing all over the clan's source of food and making everyone else sick. I'll go an-"

Ebonylight stopped talking as Fogpaw pushed past her carrying fresh moss. He dropped it in front of Rosepaw, mumbling, "Sorry," to Ebonylight for running into her.

Rosepaw sat back down onto her nest with a huff. She coughed again, but not as bad as before, and knelt down to drink from the wet moss, thanking Fogpaw with a twitch of her tail.

Ebonylight, seeing that Rosepaw and Fogpaw were alright on their own, turned to go outside of the medicine cat den. She was greeted with the nostalgic scent of pine needles and sap and she looked towards the sky, which was a soft light pink hue of dawn. Ebonylight repressed a yawn as she saw some of the warriors leave their dens, waking up and strolling around camp.

Shadepelt was walking around, gathering cats together for a hunting patrol. Ebonylight flicked her tail and turned to pad towards the entrance to go fetch some more herbs to prepare for leafbare, which was coming closer as Greenleaf was starting to come to an end.

"All cats experienced enough to fight in battle, gather around shade rock for a clan meeting!"

Ebonylight looked behind her, ears twitching towards the voice to find Witherstar standing upon the rock, gazing over the growing crowd of cats. Not all of them were ShadowClan, she noticed, seeing a couple of cats from RiverClan, SkyClan and WindClan. She herself went over and sat next to a she-cat who smelled of, well, SkyClan. Ebonylight looked up at her leader as he swished his tail too and fro, waiting.

Witherstar finally dipped his head and began, standing on top of the rock which jutted from the ground. "All the clans but ThunderClan have decided to a-disregard the warrior code up until the next quarter moon. We know that us cats shall not be held back by the flimsy rules set down by our ancestors who hardly know what life for us is like now. We are a new generation, who have changed, and we desire different rules to accompany a way that would best help us. And to keep the clans in order, I figured there should be one cat to rule us all to handle disputes-"

"And who exactly do you think that cat should be?" a not so kind yowl broke out from amongst the crowd.

Witherstar's gaze shot up and he glared around, clearly not knowing who had spoken the words any more than Ebonylight. His gaze cooled and he shrugged, giving off a cool air about him. "Well, I don't know. It doesn't have to be just one cat," he added, noticing the unfriendly looks coming from the cats gathered, most of them from clans other than ShadowClan. The SkyClan cat Ebonylight sat next to let out a low hiss, so quiet only the cats sitting next to the she-cat could hear it.

"But," Witherstar continued, which the growls subsided, "I do believe a cat with experience of leading should be in charge. Possibly a leader who is in charge of the greatest clan and-"

The she-cat stood up. "And what clan is the greatest? Let me guess-ShadowClan?" She mocked, her eyes furious.

Cicadatooth, who was sitting next to the SkyClan cat, hissed quietly, "Junefeather, what are you doing? He's the leader!"

Ebonylight raised an eye ridge. *Wait-are they in love? Is that why that she-cat-Junefeather-came to ShadowClan camp, to be with Cicadatooth? How many other forbidden relationships were there that would come into the light now that the code is being forsaken?*

Junefeather, ignoring Cicadatooth, growled and called out, "Why not a warrior with no experience at being a leader? I thought the purpose of not using the warrior code was to change up clan ways, so why should we listen to you like old times? Or maybe a medicine cat? They are the ones that get messages from StarClan-why not they lead us?"

Ebonylight stiffened as she heard the last part and glanced at Junefeather. Witherstar shook his head. "There needs to be a cat to lead who has experience."

"Who says?" Junefeather asked. "Was it StarClan? If they sent a message to any of our precious medicine cats, oh please tell us!"

Witherstar stiffened and looked at Ebonylight. She ducked as the gazes of every cat in the clearing settled on her. Ebonylight hated all the attention. "Well?" The leader asked. "Have you gotten any visions from StarClan?"

Ebonylight could tell that Witherstar wanted her to say, *why yes, StarClan* did *send me a message that Witherstar should be leader of all the clans,* from the at his voice sounded. She gaped and shook her head, nervous under the pressure of all the stares. "I-um...I had a strange dream last night that felt like it meant something but I just can't remember it. Other than that-"

She saw Witherstar narrow her eyes at her, laden with warning. Ebonylight didn't know what to do. Either to lie or to disobey her leader...she shook her head and looked up. "Other than that I haven't had any visions from StarClan and they have not spoken to me. Maybe another medicine cat got a vision, it could've been even Fogpaw." She didn't want to make her leader mad but she also didn't want to spread false news through out the clans.

"Well, perhaps StarClan told you who should be leader in the dream you had last night and you just have to remember," Witherstar said, almost in a threatening manner. "Or if it's too hard for you then maybe they could be ever so helpful and send it to Fogpaw."

Ebonylight glanced towards the medicine cat den, where there was Fogpaw standing with Rosepaw beside him as he watched the meeting. He looked just as worried as she felt.

Witherstar, dropping the subject momentarily, turned to the group of cats and signaled that they could go. "Don't worry, I'm sure StarClan has something to say on this matter. I'll just have to help my medicine cats remember what that was and then we can join back again later. We can't just ignore StarClan's messages, can we?"

There were meows of agreement as the crowd began to dissipate. Ebonylight turned to walk over to Fogpaw and Rosepaw. She heard paw steps and saw two cats passing by behind her, spotting in the corner of her eye as she turned her head Witherstar jumping off of the rock. She sighed as he padded towards them with a meaningful look in his gaze.

Fogpaw groaned and mumbled, "Great. Can't *wait* to see where this is going. Witherstar always just can't take it when -"

Ebonylight jabbed Fogpaw in the shoulder when Witherstar came into earshot, not wanting to get on his bad side. She suspected that Witherstar wouldn't let morals get in the way of getting what he wanted or needed. She secretly agreed with Fogpaw, knowing of how Witherstar wasn't afraid bend the truth a little to make himself look good.