Rise Again [CLOSED]

Reedstar stood in front of the Moonstone, bathed in the moonlight that flooded in through the opening in the cavern ceiling. I'm here, finally. It had been a long journey, and the ShadowClan apprentice he'd run into would surely set a patrol on his tail, but he had reached Highstones and that was all that mattered at the moment. He breathed in the scent of heather and fresh air before slowly settling down by the mysterious rock. StarClan, give me guidance. he prayed, staring into its crystal depths. StarClan, give me strength. With one final deep breath, he closed his eyes and pressed his nose against the cold surface. StarClan, tell me what I have to do.

His eyes flashed open, and he was back at Fourtrees. A tom sat in front of him with his tail curled around his paws.

"Reedstar." Rushstream mewed simply, with a curt nod in greeting. "You've come back to us."
"You know why I'm here." Reedstar said as he lashed his tail in frustration. He had no time for these formalities. Every second he spent curled up in a dusty cave asleep, his Clan suffered under the rule of a murderer and traitor.
Rushstream looked unamused at his son's irritation and responded only with blank indifference. "I do. But what do you want us to do? StarClan does not interfere with the lives and tribulations of the living. You've wasted your time with this trip. You should have headed straight to RiverClan once you washed up on the shore."
"I'd have been killed if I just strolled into camp." Reedstar hissed.
"Then you are soft." The bluntness of that statement made him flinch. "Your mother called you a lion, didn't she?"
"It was a pet name." he growled lowly under his breath. I am not soft. "I was a kit."
"You are still a kit." Rushstream snapped. "And you will be until you prove yourself a warrior."
"Have I not proved myself a hundred times over?!" he retorted, jumping to his paws and unsheathing his claws. "I've carried more burdens so far than you did in your entire life. I've bled and killed for this Clan, and I'll--"
"You have lost your Clan. You are nothing more than an exile. You have already lost three lives from just your fall. You value your existence too much if you would take the long way around instead of saving your Clan immediately."
"Three?"
"One from impact, two from drowning. It was a mess. You should not have been so foolish to trust her in the first place."

Reedstar hissed and turned around to leave. To leave where, he didn't know, but anywhere that wasn't this clearing with his father. I am not soft, and I will show the whole forest that. "I will not sit here any longer only to be berated."

Rushstream's eyes glinted dangerously. "Then go." he mewed. "But remember the life I gave you when you first came here."

"Justice."

"Justice." the StarClan warrior repeated. "So go on and deal justice. Kill the pretender."

Reedstar's gaze lingered on his father for a moment longer before he nodded and bounded off into the darkness and past the Great Oaks. Kill the pretender.