xx. the weeping

[Shattered]

Return. In the old days, she would have been greeted by her friends and family, the cats of her Clan, and all would have been happy to see her. She would have seen Hauntedstar and Morninglight, her parents, smiling happily at her with tails intertwined, their love for one another so strong. She would have seen Plaugestrike too, her brother, her only brother. Yet as she came to the land of the weeping, where the trees hung sadly among the gray skies, she was greeted by no one. The land was dead, and in her heart, so was she.

She couldn't remember the last time she had seen any of them. She figured her parents were dead, but she only hoped and prayed that Plaugestrike was alive and well. She pictured him doing well, perhaps with a mate and some kits of his own, and doing much better that she was. She paused at one of the willows and drew in the air; she remembered this place, this certain tree. They had used to play here as kits, in those days not so long ago.

She sat by the willow and thought silently. These were the lands of her ancestors, her grandfathers Shatteredstar and Twistingstar. Her eyes gazed up at the sky, where StarClan should have been. Perhaps they were still there, perhaps they were still looking down on her. Or perhaps they were still gone, and she was all alone. Like always. Forever.

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[//The/Pendulum/Swings//]

Arrowstrike crept from branch to branch, surveying the empty desolate lands below him. Empty. Always so empty. Why no one was here he couldn't quite comprehend. Yet he saw the land and he knew. Marshclan was forever gone as far as he could tell, never to rise from the depths of sleep once more. The cats dead, the land deserted.

The tom yawned, still searching for that hint of movement he knew he wouldn't find. These places of old would never he thought be returned to their old glory. They are now only for loners now. He thought, Only for us to roam. Never a home for any cat. Of course he could never fathom any cat ever rebuilding here, ever giving the clans back their long lost glory.

Seeming a shadow, lost and forgotten, he drifted in these trees now, watching as the world turned around him. Sadly he shook his head, finally making his way down to that ground, jumping from branch to branch always reaching lower. Finally he felt the dull grasses beneath his feet and he started to walk, seeming to pay little to no attention to his surroundings.

A breeze washed over his senses then, carrying with it a scent. A cat scent. Having been here alone for so long, he followed, the scent finally carrying him to a great willow, one of only a few trees in this place. Under it sat a cat. A female by her smell. Ussually wary of others, Arrowstrike approached carefully, not wanting to scare her off.

Hello? He asked as he approached, his voice calm and level, inviting her to speak.

[Shattered]

Her emerald eyes shot up at him, a tom with a kindness about him. . . but a stranger. She rose to her paws and lashed her tail, and said nothing at first. She knew all too well but toms needed, even ones with kind and gentle eyes. Her mother, Morninglight, had been raped by a tom, and Shatteredsky would not suffer that same defeat.

"Hello," she called back to him smoothly. He had no one scent about him, and seemed to be with no one else. He was alone, like her. It had been a while since she had spoken to another; why, it had been Plaugestrike whom she had made conversation last, and she didn't want to think about how long ago that was.

[/size]

[//The/Pendulum/Swings//]

Hello She seemed on guard, obviously wary of him. Talking came not too easily to him, living alone for moons did that to him. So, uh, may I ask your name? He called over to her, stopping a little ways away so as to not seem threatening. She seemed scared and confused. He would need to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of with him. My name is Arrowstrike. He tried again, hoping she would stay and not abandon him here, to be once again alone.

[Shattered]

Arrowstrike. She had never heard this name before, and he didn't seem to know her. How couldn't they know her, daughter and granddaughter of two of the greatest leaders of MarshClan? Her resemblence to Shatteredstar was so close that many had thought she was him. But this tom was young, perhaps he had never been told the stories of the old forest. She raised her tail high, and held his gaze casually.

"I am Shatteredsky," she told him, "Daughter of Hauntedstar and Morninglight, granddaughter of Shatteredstar. These are my ancestors' lands, the lands of MarshClan. I was born here."

She sat once more, wrapped her tail tightly around her thin frame, casually licking a paw and washing her ears. She didn't invite the tom to come any closer, but she had a feeling he would anyway. These might have been the lands of her ancestors, but they were free lands, open to all. When her gaze met his again, she spoke once more:

"And what about you?" she asked, "What of your lineage?"

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[//The/Pendulum/Swings//]

My dam's name was Rushingbrook. My father deserted us before I was born. Don't even know his name. It seems though that you have a rather large lineage that I couldn't compare to, am I right? Shatterstar? Hauntedstar? Why you seem almost royalty. I, far from being royal Marshclan blood, am common blood of Mountain Clan. Though that matters little to me now that the clans have dispersed. It seemed strange to again think of his parentage, somthing he had thought little about since coming to the deserted Marsh Clan lands. Who cared, really, about lineage right now, with no Starclan and no real alliances to any cat.

It seemed he had been dragged once again into this world of clans, and by who? By a small she cat. It's strange really, living alone for this amount of time seems to have softened me. Oh well, she's another cat, and it's been forever since I've talked to a real one in this place.

Sorry for sounding harsh there. I guess I'm not real used to talking to another cat much. Arrowstrike said, trying to make amends for his previously sharp words.

[Shattered]

She narrowed her eyes at him. It had been a simple question, and yet he had answered it so disrespectfully. Royal blood of MarshClan! She could've lashed out at his face right then and there, but she knew better. She kept her claws sheathed, and her attitude cool.

"So you don't care at all?" she asked him, ignoring his apology, "You would rather forget the old days of the Clans, and be stuck here, alone and forgotten? Well, I for one want to remember. I want to remember my father and his father before that. My family." She arose now and padded away, as to turn and leave him.

But she turned back, her white chest ruffled in the wind. "One day, StarClan will return. The Clans will come back and peace will be restored. Until then, all we can do is remember our families and the Clans. That, and hope that it comes soon."

[/size]

[//The/Pendulum/Swings//]

Wait! He didn't know why he said it, but he did. He felt all of a sudden very lonely and didn't want to be left alone in that harsh place. Running to catch up to where she stood, Arrowstrike regretted his harsh words. They always seemed to get him into these situations. Maybe that was why he had been alone for so long. Well not anymore. Skidding to a halt in front of Shatteredsky, he tried to make himself look apolegetic. I'm sorry. I really didn't mean that. I mean, ya, you have a better lineage than me, for sure. But I didn't mean to drive you away. I guess I just wasn't really used to talking to another, see? Esspecially about my past. It's hard for me to go there I guess. It seems to me though that all I can handle right now is the future, and in some ways I have lost hope that the clans will ever reunite and come back as strong as they were before the Fall. That's all. I'm sorry if I offended you. I speak without thinking sometimes. Please stay He ended his explaination with a look at her. He really was apolegetic, and he wished she could see that.

[[don't]fear[the]reaper]

[[This needs Plaguey; may I bring him in?]]

[//The/Pendulum/Swings//]

ooc//Fine with me...Shattered?

[Shattered]

[Yup, that would be awesome actually. I'll wait until you post, Iceth.]

[[don't]fear[the]reaper]

[[Dangit. Note to self: don't volunteer]

"I certainly want to forget my father." Came a quiet meow from behind the two felines. A large creme-and-dark brown tabby smiled benevolently at them, blue eyes drifting towards Shatteredsky. For a moment, Plaguestrike was silent, not knowing what to say to the stranger and to his sister, the she-cat he hadn't seen in moons upon moons.
Finally, he spoke again.
"I...It's been a while, hasn't it, sis?"

[Shattered]

She looked at him as if he were a ghost. She had been wanting to see him all along, yet now she felt as though he wasn't even there at all. All she could do was stare, her emerald eyes wide and unblinking. She forgot the tom, Arrowstrike, who was behind her still and drew in Plaguestrike's scent. She moved forward and touched his nose, only lightly and only to see if it was truly him, and not a ghost that she had first thought.

He had changed so much. He was larger now, and had grown handsome. He still had the same blue eyes, Morninglight's eyes, and the pelt that had haunted him for so long, the pelt of a tom other than Hauntedstar. But she didn't care what he looked like, for he was here now, and she would never lose sight of him again.

"It's been too long, Plaguestrike," she agreed with a purr, but frowned slightly about what he said about Hauntedstar. Plaguestrike had never liked her father, and Shatteredsky could never really understand why. She assumed it was because he wasn't his true father, but she could never be really sure.

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[j a y d e . &]

Sun stirred groggily, the sunlight weaving patches onto his already-intricate mottled golden fur. The warmth yet his pelt aglow and seeped deep into his skin. Sun disinterestedly shook some scattered leaves off of his pelt and blinked his gray eyes sleepily. He wasn't used to the sound of other voices. They sounded strange in his ears. Sun hadn't heard another voice since his mother died. He winced slightly at the thought, golden-spattered paw scraping across the ground as he did. Sun looked around. Buds hung off of the trees, alive, and the breeze beckoned to him like it always did. Something hung on the edges of his conciousness, though, a lingering sense of importance.

Shrugging it off, Sun studied the cats in the clearing. There was a gray tabby-and-white, and his scent seemed to linger the longest. He had been here for awhile, completely and blissfully unaware of Sun, who had been sleeping under the leaves. Then there was the pretty black-and-white female. She seemed to have arrived next, Sun concluded with one dry sniff of the air. Last, there was the cream-and-brown tabby tomcat. His scent was freshest. Sun took a few tentative steps forward, and offered softly, to break the silence. I don't have a father. Of course, this was not true, but it was what he believed.

[/size]

[[don't]fear[the]reaper]

Plaguestrike's expression changed to one of contemplative misery. He couldn't expect anyone, not even Shatteredsky, the half-sister he loved so much, to understand what he felt inside. Killing Abyssfang, his father, had helped him to better understand life for what it was, but the young tom still felt miserable, more so now than ever.
Still, all he said to Shatteredsky was a simple, "Yes. I've missed you, Shatteredsky." It was impossible to expect more than that.

[[great plot idea I got from Mists of Avalon.]]