Fated

Fated

Today is my warrior’s ceremony, and I’m pacing in circles in the forest, worrying over the endless scenarios that flash through my head.

“What if it’s canceled? What if I mess something up?” I fret. “What if something goes wrong during the Fating?”

I stop and take a deep breath. “Calm down,” I order myself. “It’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to be fi-“

“Hey, Myrtlepaw!” I spin around to see Sunpaw poke out from the bushes. My heart flutters, and I think, *Stop. Stopstopstopstopstop.*

“Hey,” I say shyly. Sunpaw grins at me, and I smile back, feeling my pelt growing warm.

Shaking out my fur, I say, “So. The Warriors’ Ceremony.”

“I know, right! I can’t wait to get my warrior name! What do you think it’ll be?”

I shrug. “I’m not sure.”

“Well, I think my name should be Sunamazing.” Sunpaw puffs out his chest slightly, and I giggle.

“I think Sunfurball would suit you better.”

“Oh, is that a challenge?” He growls playfully, getting into a hunting position. I leap on top of him, and we engage in a heated fight, until I hear a voice call out, “Myrtlepaw! Sunpaw!”

*Whitefern.* I scramble off Sunpaw, saying, “My mentor’s looking for us.”

He nods, then shouts, “Race you to him!” He dashes off, with me in pursuit.

“Sunpaw, do you promise to be a true and loyal warrior, and to uphold the warrior code, even at the cost of your life?” Bristletstar stares at Sunpaw, waiting for an answer. I shuffle my paws, nervous for my turn.

“I do.”

“Then, from now on, you shall be known as Sunheart. Starclan honors your strength and courage, and welcomes you as a full warrior of Dawnclan.”

“Sunheart! Sunheart! Sunheart!” The clan chants. I join in, shouting his name as loud as possible. I see him beam proudly.

“Myrtlepaw, do you promise to be a true and loyal warrior, and to uphold the warrior code, even at the cost of your life?” Bristlestar has turned to me, and for a second I forget everything.

Then I take a deep breath and say, “I do.”

“Then, from now on, you shall be known as Myrtlewish. Starclan honors your courage and tactical thinking, and welcomes you as a full warrior of Dawnclan.”

I breathe a sigh of relief that it’s over, and pride and happiness washes over me as I gaze washes over me. Then I remember there’s still the Fating. A pit drops in my stomach, and I start to feel queasy.

As the noise dies down, Bristlestar announces, “As you all know, Starclan knows all fates. Now these two young cats will through the Fating, where they will learn a fraction of your future. Wish them well.”

The clan murmurs incoherent things, though I’m sure their all good. I notice that one cat isn’t saying anything, and that is a silver she-cat sulking the background.

*Oh well. It’s not like anything I can do will be able to make Featherpaw become a warrior along with us.* I sigh, and almost miss Bristlestar say, “Come now, you two. It’s time to go to the Moonfalls.”

The roar of the waterfalls almost deafens me as we step inside the cave. I flatten my ears to try and block out the noise. I glance over an see Sunheart and Cherryfall are completely fine with the noise. *Well, of course they are. Cherryfall has been here hundreds of times, and Sunheart is per- nope, stop it.*

“Lie down and touch your noses to the pool.” Cherryfall flicks her tail to the center of the cave, and I realize there’s a large pool in the center of it, with a small stream leading who-knows-where. I look to Sunheart, who smiles and goes up to the pool. I follow.

We both lie down and look back to Cherryfall.

“Let the Fating begin.”

We touch our noses to the clear, freezing surface, and begin.

I wake up somewhere. It’s hard to tell. My surroundings are a blurred blue-white-clear color, and I can’t even tell what I’m standing on. I immediately lose sense of direction and reflexively fall to the ground.

Slowly, I get up, and promptly leap back and stifle a scream when I realize there’s a blue-gray cat in front of me, with chilling white eyes that seem to be staring straight into my soul. The cat- if you can even *call* it a cat- tilts its head, as if studying me.

“Welcome, young Myrtlewish.” Its voice echoes loudly through the plane, as if many loud cats are talking at once. It makes my ears sting, and I think, *Just suffer through it, Myrtlewish.*

“We are Starclan.” *We?* “We have come to give you a glimpse into your future.”

My stomach twists into a knot, dreading to hear my fate. I don’t know why; I just feel like something bad is going to happen.

“Your fate is not an easy one to tell.” *Great. That makes me feel a whole lot better.* I feel like curling into a ball and lying on the ground.

The cat- er, Starclan pauses, then says the sentence that will change my life forever.

“On the next claw-moon, you will perish.”

I don’t feel like moving from my nest. I don’t feel like eating the mouse lain in front of me. I don’t feel like doing *anything*.

My clanmates tried to cheer me up at first, but now they just stay away from me. Bristlestar and Cherryfall are always discussing things in private, stopping whenever I draw near.

At least Sunheart still tries.

“They must’ve been wrong,” he mutters desperately. “Starclan must’ve been wrong. You can’t just die!”

I sigh and tell him politely he can leave.

Dawnclan and Duskclan are still locked in a ferocious war, with Dayclan and Nightclan staying neutral. The next claw moon is drawing nearer, with me becoming more depressed by the second. Why should I try, anyway? I’m going to die anyhow, no matter what anyone tells me.

The next day, Bristlestar visits me. She sighs, saying, “Look, I don’t want to see any of my clanmates die. Especially one so young. So, I’ve been talking with Cherryfall, and we’ve been trying to come up with a way to well… *postpone* your death.

My ears perk up, and I gaze, eyes widened, and Bristlestar. There was no preventing my death, that’s for sure, but maybe, like Bristlestar said, we could postpone it.

My spirits rise slightly, and the next day I start to move around camp. I’m walking over to the fresh-kill pile to grab a thrush when Sunheart appears behind me.

“Hey Myrtlewish,” he says, with what seems like a combination of cheerfulness and shyness. That’s weird. I’ve never known him to be shy.

“Hi.” I reply, though it sounds a bit muffled with the thrush in my mouth. I set it down and repeat a bit embarrassedly, “Hi Sunheart.”

“Hey, uh, would you want to go on a walk? Just the two of us?”

Without a second thought, I reply, “Sure!” And we start off into the woods.

For a while, it’s just silence, until we reach a cliff overlooking a giant Twolegplace. Sunheart then turns to me and stutters, “U-Um, Myrtlewish? I’ve h-had a crush on you for a l-long time, and I was wondering if-“ He pauses, seems to try to swallow something, and continues, “I was wondering if you w-would want to b-b-be me mate? It’s okay if you say no.”

I freeze, trying to process this, then nuzzle him and whisper, “Yes.” We sit there for a long time, watching as the sun dips below the sunfall-line, and naming the stars that pop out in the blue-purple sky.

It’s the happiest I’ve been in a while.

“Clan meeting!” I race to the Dawnrock in a hurry, with Sunheart by my side.

Bristlestar is staring at us, eyes blazing. “Tomorrow we will fight Duskclan and end this war once and for all. I will be selecting a patrol of cats to fight, and one cat to help Cherryfall heal injured cats.”

I knew immediately who that would be, seeing as tomorrow’s the claw-moon. My claws dig into the dirt. I hope this works.

It *must* work.

I hardly pay attention to the names called out, until Bristlestar says, “Sunheart.”

Without thinking, I say, “No!”

Sunheart nuzzles me, and says, “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. I’ll be okay.” He stops and stares at me. “What we should be worrying about is *you*. Will you be okay without me?”

“Of course. I’ll have cats to protect me.”

Sunheart grins his goofy grin, and soon night falls, with me tossing and turning, worrying about tomorrow.

“Come on, patrol! Let’s go!” Bristlestar flicks her tail, and the cats selected start to pad out of camp. I fight the urge not to call out as my ginger-furred mate disappears into the forest.

“Come on.” Cherryfall rests her tail on my shoulder and leads us back to her den, where she orders me to check that we have good supplies of herbs.

“Marigold?”

“Yes.”

“Oak Leaves?”

“Yes.”

“Poppy Seeds?”

“Uh… no.”

I hear Cherryfall curse under her breath. She turns to me and orders, “Get some Poppy Seeds for me. There’s a patch by the oak Twolegnest. You can’t miss it.”

I nod, the race out of camp, stopping as I see the oak nest come into view. I grab a nearby leaf and start collecting all the Poppy Seeds I can when I hear voices. I drop the leaf and prick my ears.

“Oh, I can’t wait to surprise Dawnclan!”

“Shh! Be quiet! Someone might be listenin!”

“Don’t worry. There’s no Dawnclanners around. They’re all at the battle, where Duskclan said to surprise attack them from behind!”

“Well the whole forest doesn’t have to know that Dayclan is helpin Duskclan!”

I freeze. Dayclan’s planning to attack Duskclan! Bristlestar’s has no chance. I race back to camp, frightened.

“You can’t go into the battle, Mrytlewish! Remember the Fating?” Cherryfall protests as I round up the remaining warriors in camp. Remember the Fating makes me feel sick, but I push it aside as I say, “I’d rather risk being killed than have my clanmates be slaughtered.”

Cherryfall sighs. “Then may Starclan light your path.” She then retreated to the medicine den, leaving me to leap onto the Dawnrock.

“Cats of Dawnclan!” I call. “Dayclan has unexpectedly joined the war on Duskclan’s side and is planning to surprise attack Bristlestar and everyone else fighting. Will you join me and help them?”

Cheers erupt from my clanmates, and pride bursts within me. I jump down and lead the patrol to the fight.

The battle has long since been started, and it’s happening on the Duskclan border. There is chaos all around me, and I’m afraid I’ll get lost, when I spot a familiar brown pelt. I race over to where Bristlestar is fending off a white Duskclan warrior.

“Dayclan is planning to surprise attack us!” I shout. Birstlestar looks at me. “They *WHAT*?!” She screeches, hooking the white cat in the cheek and sending them tumbling. “I need to go get reinforcements-” I stop her, telling her the story.

She relaxes, but only slightly. “You need to get back to camp,” She orders.

“No!” I protest. “I am not about to sit on the side and watch my clanmates get killed! I will help fight!”

Bristlestar gives me a look of sadness, then says, “Then fight. Help Dawnclan be victorious.” And with that, she disappeared in the chao, leaving me by myself.

No sooner had I turned around when I saw Sunheart, battered and dripping with blood, exhaustedly fighting a senior, stronger tom, who will most definitely kill him. I scream, and charge into the tom’s side, making him collapse to the ground. He looks at me confusedly for a second, then shoves me off, standing up to face me, snarling.

I try to snarl back, but I think it comes off as more of a squeak.

In the corner of my eye, I see Sunheart staggering, but alive. I breath a sigh of relief that end shortly when a paw catches my underbelly and sends me flying. I lie on the ground trying to catch my breath, then stand up, making a weak attempt at swiping my opponent’s nose.

He snorts and slashes me in the cheek. I can taste blood in my mouth as I shake my fur out and leap onto his back, scratching and swiping. He lets out a painful yowl and shakes me off. I land on my belly, frantically trying to get up as he swiftly spins around and bites my tail. I screech and in turn bit his shoulder. He staggers back a few paces, before advancing one final time, and raking his claws down my stomach. This time, my jaw opens, and no sound comes out, the pain too unbearable to do anything else.

The tom races away, and I see Sunheart stand over me. He grabs my scruff, and I can feel him drag me out of the battle, I can hear Cherryfall talking.

“Hold on, Myrtlewish.” She orders, yet her voice is shaking. “I’ll heal you.”

“Please, Myrtlewish.” Sunheart pleads. “*Please*.”

But I know I’m dying. I’m already starting to lose conscious. So, with what little breath I have left, I say, “Please don’t ruin this by worrying. I know I’m dying. It would’ve happened either way. I’m just glad I died saving you and everyone else.”

Sunheart lays down beside me and says, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Then I close my eyes and die, content and happy.