Delve Into Our Minds

Silvery, starry grass swayed in the cool wind of StarClan's territory. In the endlessly starry night, fireflies flickered in and out of vision. In the center of the field, a large brown apprentice lay, snoring his head off. The snores rumbled out of his chest, sounding somewhat between a growl and the snore it was meant to be. His closed eyes twitched with annoyance, discomfort or StarClan knows what. His paws covered his nose, and his muscles bunched into tight knots. His tail flickered back and fourth over the ground, and his snoring turned into a snarl. His paws shifted and the black pads rested against the chilled grass, his claws flexing. Grass snagged between his claws as he scraped at the earth, and his lips curled back in a snarl. With a jolt, his amber eyes opened. Lifting his head drowsily towards the sky, he blinked. As far as he knew, he was still at camp and had just waken up from a bad dream. A chill ran down his spine, and he looked around. The heat of his denmates wasn't pulsating around him-- instead the cold emptiness of the stars circled him. He almost choked on the airy, dream-like smell and his own fear. Getting to his paws, he gazed around at the expanse of trees-- oaks, firs, pines.. --that surrounded the field he was in. Straining his ears, he could hear the pit-pat of pawsteps around him occasionally, and if he really strained... water? Yes, he certainly could hear the faint trickle of water. Opening his jaws, he let the smells of the starry forest bathe his tongue. The first thing he smelled was the dank yet welcoming smell of the stars, then the smell of the trees. After the trees came the mice, the voles, the squirrels and the birds, even the frogs. Then came all the mingled smells of all four Clans. The smell of SkyClan gently tickled the tip of his tongue, and he flicked it back. I haven't smelled them in a long while-- maybe before I was apprenticed. Those squirrel-chasers didn't do anything good except steal our prey and mooch our land! How'd they get in here? he thought, closing his jaws. Padding for the trees, his dark brown tail flickered over the grass. A calm breeze came and stirred his fir, bringing with it the smells of home-- darkness, marsh, frogs.. darkness. Lifting his head, his silvery whiskers twitched in curiosity as he started towards there. On his way, thoughts were pounding in his head.
How did I get in StarClan anyway? Am I... am I dead?
Of course not, you fool! What would've killed you in the middle of the night, a firefly?
It's possible-- it could've flown in my nose and suffocated me.
Use some sense, mouse-brain! Of course you're not dead, you're dreaming. Use that to your advantage.
And how exactly would I do that? I'm dreaming, not reading mi--
I don't have a clue! Listen to the dead cats, see what they have to say.
What's the point of that? I don't want to waste my time listening to a bunch of old, dead cats talk about their kithood.
How come you're such an idiot?! Secrets, fool, secrets! They could hold Clan secrets in their ancient, starry wisdom.
I guess that makes sense. Yeah, I'm sure if I waltz over and say, "Oh, please share your Clan secrets with me," they'll be excited to spill.
Never said the old coots would be excited-- and I never told you to say that.
Oh, what am I supposed to say then? "Oh, hi there. Mind sharing some stories?" And give them a stupid smile?
That would probably work the best.
You think I'd do that? Huh!
His paws came to a stop in the marshy ground, mist floating in front of him. He squinted to see past that, and amber eyes the shade of his own flashed in the whiteness. Straightening up, he bared his teeth and flexed his claws.
"You wouldn't fight your own self, would you?" A voice chided, and a cat his size strutted over. Staring the mist-cat over, he realized every feature about him was the same. From the nick in his left ear to the last detail of his pelt. Letting a deep growl out of his throat, the original cat crouched low to the ground.
"I could beat my own self with one claw."
"Stand up, Eaglepaw. You truly are a sight to see. Ready to lay your life down for no reason at all."
"No reason at all?! No reason at all! Ha! I have plenty of reasons to die-- but I'll die honorably by claw or tooth. I will not go any other way."
"Have it your way then, child. There's a third of us, by the way. He's pretty awful-- he should be-- oh, there he is!"
Lumbering out of the shadows, a third identical cat stood next to the cheerier of the previous two. Rising from his crouch, the living Eaglepaw glared at his third self.
"I suggest you wake up before I shred you." the third one said, a rather calm tone to his voice. A growl rumbled in his chest. Taking a step forward, the true Eaglepaw returned the growl and flexed his claws. Rearing up, he sent claws slashing across the shadowy cats face. Parting like ribbons, shadows blacker than blacked swarmed around where the face had been. Then they morphed into one and the face reappeared, a smug smirk crawling across it's lips.
"Try. Me." the large tom growled. Stepping over, the second embodiment of Eaglepaw's consciousnesses shook his head, then looked back to the living Eaglepaw.
"You can plainly see the glitter of stars in my pelt, right?"
"And the darkness in mine."
Eaglepaw nodded.
"Then choose your fate."
"StarClan, or The Place of No Stars?"
"Overtime, one of us will fade. We can't do a thing to make you choose which path you take, and yet we can." The third appearance rumbled, then turned with a slight growl. Shadows clouded around him, and then he was gone.
"Eaglepaw, your heart is heart beyond repair, I-- we --know. But find it in your heart-- the good, find it, hold it, love it, grow it." the second arrival whispered, then turned. Stars shook in his fur, then he, too, faded. Eaglepaw was left alone, angry, confused and a little scared as he headed back for the clearing.

"Hello?"

The call was quite, but you could feel the fear that was woven into it. A lone brown she-cat stumbled though the forest, her gaze flickering from side to side. A river could be heard in the distance and the soft sound of prey in the trees, but it didn't matter to Mapleclaw. Even thought she knew where she was, she felt completely alone. She suddenly stumbled backwards as she felt a cold breeze rush past her, causing the branches to howl in surprise. The RiverClan warrior snapped her eyes shut, begging to wake up in the comfort of the Warrior Den with her Clanmates around her...

The wind howled in her ears, growing louder until the warrior opened up her eyes with a flash and took off, pelting though the trees. It was a blind race, not caring about the branches that tore at her fur. Why was she alone when she was here? Was StarClan not with her? Did they not approve of something? Suddenly, the soft sound of talking reached her ears, causing her to slid to a stop. Her head spun in the direction, her eyes wide as she attempted to make it out. She knew that voice...Barely, but she knew it. Her paws pushed off of the ground as she pelted toward the lone voice in the breeze. Even when it stopped, she quietly begged it to come back; that the speaker would still be there and she wouldn't be alone.

Finally she saw the brown pelt of Eaglepaw, her gaze lighting up...Until she saw who it was. She slide to a stop, not far from the apprentice. "You!" she said with a hush tone, but loud enough for him to hear. The memories of the night at Fourtrees came flashing back; how they spoke of their wants for powers. She had tried to forget about it, but the idea of taking the power for herself...It just wouldn't go away. She cleared her throat as she stood tall, trying to remove all signs of her fear that she had held moments ago. "Eaglepaw, was it?"

Turning his head in surprise, the brown tom flickered his ears. His white head-fur gave an eerie glow in the starry light of the moon and area around them. "Never thought I'd be seeing you until you came begging for my alliance again." he replied calmly, lifting his head as well. He waited for her response, his tail twitching and stirring stars upward.

A snort came from Mapleclaw, who had finally pulled herself together. She strutted over to to the smaller tom, glaring at him. "Never thought I would see you again until I was leader of RiverClan while you would still be an apprentice." Her whiskers twitched with amusements, but her gaze held a bit of interest as she thought about that alliance offer. She had thought about it many times over the moon or two it had been since that fateful meaning at the Fourtrees. Her gaze flickered toward the sleek trees that had just been her prison. It was clear that she didn't want to be alone and having somebody to the same goal would be very helpful...She was sure they would be able to work something out if they made such an alliance. "However...That alliance idea, is it still up for grabs?" she said in a calm voice, glaring at Eaglepaw. "I am not very happy with the idea of teaming up with a ShadowClan cat, but I do believe that an alliance would serve us well in the end on getting us both to where we need to be."

"I'm not that excited about working with a fish-breathed cat like you, either." the ShadowClanner replied, then thought for a moment. "If we can compromise to reach our goals, it's still up for grab. If I can't get a word in, I might as well kill you in your sleep." the young cat stated after a moment.

There was a moment of silence from Mapleclaw, but she nodded after a few moments, sitting down and wrapping her tail around her paws. "A compromise, eh? I don't think that is so hard. We both want to become leaders of our Clans, correct? Or maybe the whole forest in your case but...We can support each other. You want to take it by force, and one of the easier ways to do that will be with cats ready to fight for your cause. Now...I want to get my title by earning it, which shouldn't be that hard." Mostly with the deputy spot open with the death of Froststar. Mapleclaw added silently to herself. It was clear she was one of the best choices, and she wasn't going to let Reedheart, or soon to be Reedstar, down if she was picked.  "Now, if you were to take over the whole forest, I still think we would be at a good spot. I doubt you would want our water-filled territory, so if we were to take over the rest of the Clans..." she drifted off at this bit, frowning. Taking over the rest of the Clans? That didn't seen like a smart idea at all. But...Yet the idea of being leader of all of the cats did hold a nice ring to it...Blah, she was getting distracted! "If we were to take over the rest of the Clans, I would be just happy with keeping my territory while you would get your picks of the rest of them. How does that sound? Of course, I might be willing to change a few details if it fit both of our needs." Once again she drifted off, but this time it was because she was waiting for an response. As she sat in silence, she started to think about this whole alliance thing...Was it such a good idea? Making peace with her rival? Of course, he wasn't a rival for her spot as leader but he was from a different Clan...After a few moments, she shook her head. No. This was for the best. Even if they didn't make an alliance, she was sure that Eaglepaw would find some way to climb to power and if he was going to take the forest down, she wanted to keep RiverClan safe. Not only would this help her get to power, but it would do just that! Keep RiverClan out of Eaglepaw's claws and safe in his rise of power.