Every Ending Is a New Beginning

The pattering of rain on the Thunderpath woke an old grief in Reedstar's heart. Every step sent stabs of pain up his paws and every tail-length felt like a mile. His bones ached, his pads were bleeding and scabbed, and his body screamed at him with every stride, yet he forced himself to keep walking. Raindrops ran in rivulets down his fur, soaking him to the skin and plastering his fur to his body. It made him look skinny and frail. Had he always been like that?

Reedstar paused beside a puddle, looking into his reflection. A stranger stared back up at him. His eyes were a murky green, sad and tired, his whiskers drooped, and the white in his fur had turned to gray. Did I always look so solemn? The stranger's face was gaunt and weathered by age and war. It was a face for scowls and growls and snarls. Reedstar's face. Not Reedheart anymore. Not for a long time... Reedheart had known how to purr and laugh and joke. He'd had bright eyes the color of moss and a glossy pelt. Sometimes it felt like he'd died with Froststar on this Thunderpath.

Ripples broke up the reflection, and Reedstar shook his head and carried on. Out in the distance, through a thin gray haze, he could make out the jagged towers of rock that gave Highstones its name. This is what happens when you live too long. You stop bothering to live in the present. He had to live in the present now, for RiverClan, but the past seemed so much brighter. Damn me. I really have grown old.

He'd never slept well at night, not even as an apprentice, but it felt like he got even less rest nowadays. The forest was at peace and RiverClan was only growing, so why did he feel so worried and weary? Why was he starting to doubt now, when he'd never doubted himself all these moons? StarClan. I have to speak to StarClan. I have to see... Sunfur would be leading the Clan in his place, while he was away. The thought should have been reassuring, but those same cursed doubts kept creeping into the back of his mind.

The rain brought back bittersweet memories. He remembered nestling with Cinderfur in an old fox den after getting caught in a downpour. He remembered the excitement of his first border patrol before it had turned sour. He remembered Froststar's broken and twisted body on the Thunderpath, and he remembered the mewling of her kits in the rain. There you go again. Reedstar shook the memories away and pushed himself on, ignoring his body's protests. What's past is past... You have a duty. The old tom grit his teeth. "Old fool..."

"Reedstar."

The silky voice froze him in his tracks, like prey in headlights.

He turned. Raindrops collected in her snowy white fur like dew, and her fiery eyes blazed all the brighter in the rain. "You." What in StarClan's name was she doing out here, in this weather? Had she been following him? "Why are you here?"

Elea's whiskers twitched in something that might have been amusement. Reedstar curled his lips back in distaste. They'd been allies, but everything about her repulsed him. "To meet you, of course."

A vague answer, begging another question. The rogue had some kind of aversion to straightforwardness and honesty, it seemed to him. The more you asked her, the more she talked, and Elea loved nothing half so well as the sound of her own voice. And the more you asked her, the more it seemed she gained power over you, and the more she cemented herself in your mind as a mystic or prophet with some kind of forbidden knowledge. It was all tricks and lies and deceit, and Reedstar had never had patience for that. "How'd you know I was out here?"

"I know a great many things, Reedstar." She padded forward and brushed a fluffy white tail over his shoulder. Her voice was almost disarming in its playfulness. "You ought to have figured out that much by now."

Reedstar resisted the urge to shiver. Whether that was from the cold or her touch, he couldn't say. "I don't have time for this," he said, temper flashing. "I have to keep walking if I want to reach the Moonstone by nightfall. So what is it you want to say?"

Elea purred and took another step forward. "Night's already fallen, Reedstar. For you and the Clans. Can't you see it?"

A chill ran down his spine, and Reedstar took a step back, one paw on the hard black stone that Twolegs had laid out for the Thunderpath. It was glistening with water. "You really are mad." Contempt was laced with every word. "It's the middle of the day. I told you I have no time for prattle."

"A cat who rushes through life rushes to their grave." Elea flicked her tail and purred again. "Why don't you retire?"

The sudden shift in subject left him off balance. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously down at her. "I have a duty to my Clan. StarClan gave me nine lives for leadership. I don't intend to waste the extras I have left." His aching legs were tormenting him. All he wanted to do was lie down, but he couldn't. He couldn't lie down until he'd given up his last breath. Sunfur won't have to wait long to pick up my burden, in any case... Some cats left to the elder's den at Reedstar's age, but not him. Never him.

"But it'd be so easy to rest for once, wouldn't it? None of your Clanmates would blame you. You've served your Clan long and faithfully, you've earned a place in the elder's den."

Reedstar saw a certain glimmer in those amber eyes of hers. Did she realize how much she insulted his pride? She must. The RiverClan leader showed his fangs as a cold drop of rain landed on the tip of his nose. "Did you stop me out here in the rain to make small talk?"

She let out a feigned sigh, a sly and kittenish look in her eyes. "If my conversation isn't enough for you, Reedstar, then I suppose I should be direct. Make Fishpelt your deputy and retire immediately, or drag your Clan into darkness."

He nearly choked on the absurdity. A growl rumbled in his throat, and Reedstar unsheathed thorn-sharp claws, letting them dig into the soft damp earth. "Are you giving me a command?" Fishpelt was an able warrior, but still... Where was this coming from? "I am leader. Sunfur is deputy. Nothing can change that."

"Your death can change that," Elea said. Her eyes flashed like fire. "A dream can change that. War can change that. She is one of the gods' chosen. She must be leader when stars fall."

"I won't be threatened by the likes of you," he spat, fury welling up inside of him. "Do you think you can scare me? Everyone in RiverClan knows Sunfur as my deputy. Do you think that'll change, even if I died out here? Do you think they'd trust your word?"

"Not mine. But some might trust StarClan's."

"And you claim to speak for StarClan now?" He flattened his ears.

"A dream will be all it takes. One vision that tells Fishpelt that she must become leader. Of course, to some, that'll seem self-serving... but some will be eager to obey StarClan's will. Do you remember Mapleclaw?" She bared her teeth in a feral smile. "Do you think she was the only one who wanted to kill you? The only one who wanted to please StarClan? RiverClan is rife with cats like her. Lichenface, your dear medicine cat who admired you so much, was one. Briarheart, your apprentice, was one. If Fishpelt swears she received a vision, and then news comes back later that you've been murdered near Fourtrees... she will have her supporters." Elea took another step forward. "Sunfur might even step down himself. But if he doesn't, it will be civil war. RiverClan against RiverClan, Clanmate against Clanmate. Your deputy might even prevail in the end, but then RiverClan will be swallowed by the darkness. Resign and none of this has to happen."

"No."

"You will want your Clan strong. You haven't seen the last of war."

"Never."

"Old fool," she hissed under her breath. "You've seen what I can do with your own eyes. You know what I am. Don't make me kill you."

Reedstar's paws were sending stabs of pain up his legs. "Try, then," he said. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the rumble of thunder, and the far away growl of a monster. His eyes burned defiant. "Do you think my life is more precious to me than my Clan?"

Elea's paw flashed out as fight as lightning, her claws glinting with a gray light. Reedstar backstepped, avoiding the slash. She sliced out again, missing him by inches. He bared his teeth, dropping into a crouch, ready to pounce... when he realized Elea hadn't followed him out onto the Thunderpath.

"The night is dark and cruel, Reedstar. But dawn will wash it all away."

There was a roar, a roar louder than any noise he'd ever heard. He turned his head just in time to see the monster and its two glowing eyes, as bright as suns. Then everything went dark.

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A sharp shiver went down her spine in that moment, freezing her in her tracks and raising the hairs on her pelt. She'd heard that sound before; the roaring, the screeching, the sickening thump from the Thunderpath. She doubted it was the last time in her life that she'd hear it, but that didn't make it sound any less terrible to her. Common sense told her it was more than likely a squirrel or some other wasted prey, as it was so often - only prey could be caught by a monster in the daylight, but for whatever reason, curiosity nagged at her to go see what exactly happened.

"Wait." The queen called over to the rest of the patrol. The two others that were there had a tired look in their eyes as they stopped. Mid-day patrols. For the safety of the clan, of course, but that didn't make them any less tiring. She'd volunteered to leave the nursery to stretch her legs and spare some other sleepy warrior the duty.

"What is it?" Tigerclaw asked. The large brown tabby seemed confused. She glanced from the young warrior to her brother, catching the nod of his dark gray head, amber eyes glinting. He'd heard it too.

Mistflower took a step towards the Thunderpath. "I think I heard something." The light gray she-cat stepped away from them, walking up the slight hill to the Thunderpath, the other two following shortly.

The scent hit her before she saw it, but the sight was infinitely worse. The once proud old tom, twisted and wrangled on the Thunderpath, red streaked against the black stone. Mistflower felt her stomach twist up in knots, bile rising up in her throat. Her distaste of the self-rightous leader was no secret, but it was hard to wish a death like this on any cat.

"Reedstar?" She heard Cloudbillow inquire blandly behind her.

Tigerclaw frowned, "What was he doing over here?"

Mistflower held back a scoff. Going on an evening stroll for all she could guess. Not like the borders of other clans mattered much to him. The thought was bitter and almost regretted thinking of it at all.

Her brother's observation was far more logical. "He's alone and near fourtrees. Maybe he headed to Highstones?"

"Why cross the Thunderpath so soon to our side then? Its still a walk until you reach WindClan."

Cloudbillow shrugged.

The stench of death was giving Mistflower a headache at this point, and as tempting as it was to leave him there to rot, or throw his body over into the water to wash away, she knew the best thing to do would to take his body home to RiverClan. She sighed, "Come on, then... We have some work to do." The she-cat looked for any incoming cars before stepping unto the Thunderpath.

"... Erm, won't they get the wrong idea if we mess with him?" Tigerclaw flicked an ear. The queen shot him strange look. Seeing such a large, fearsome tom so wary was always a bit off-putting. Big muscles and fearsome looking, but all and all he had a gentle heart. She supposed that was what her daughter saw in him.

Mistflower shook her head. "It'll be better if they heard our words first. No warrior could do this much harm, especially to a leader. Ebonyroot should be there already anyways with her apprentice, so they'll listen." Hopefully. They could tell Thrushstar of everything that happened once they got back. Mistflower ignored her uneasiness as she moved to carry Reedstar's body off the road. Tigerclaw and Cloudbillow began to help not a few moments later, taking the leader back to RiverClan.

None of them noticed the snowy white she-cat lurking nearby.