The Smoke that Enveloped A Wandering Goat [closed for Icu~]

She was still as beautiful as ever. She had kept her name, for it was all she had ever known. Her name? Goatpaw.

She adored the title, for several reasons. But the main one... it reminded her of Smokepelt. He was her best friend, her best friend in the whole world. She wouldn't forget him, but recently, the memories had grown bleary. Now, the she-cat ventured through the thick snow, beneath her equally pale, free from being pigmented, white paws. Her eyes were a pinkish-gold, certainly an odd color for the apprentice. But it was normal for her breed. Now, she searched hungrily for any sort of pelt. Any but her own. Goatpaw often had nightmares of being attacked by only herself; but it didn't matter. An embryo hatched inside of her mind - a terrifying thought, that she would forever be alone. Wandering as a rogue... or a loner?

Goatpaw knew one thing; she was herself, and nothing else mattered. The same Goatpaw that was mentored by the ashen-furred leader, Ashstar. She was her friend's mother, and she was Goatpaw's own idol. She blinked once, analyzing her surroundings... like normal. Like every single time she was here, longing for company. That was, until she heard pawsteps.

It scared Goatpaw out of her wits. "Hello?" she called. "Hello...?" Goatpaw crept forwards, her ears flattened against her head; not like there was any difference in her stumpy appearance. Her mind chattered inwardly, but her eyes showed silence. Unreadable, devoid of words. She whimpered as she saw the silhouette in the distance. Who was this? Was this StarClan? Goatpaw's mind raced with questions. She was older than an apprentice by now, but she would get back... somehow.

For the first time in moons, Smokepelt hadn't woken up from that dreadful nightmare, yet.

Fishstar's eyes filled with fire bore into his soul, her paws smashed onto his jaws, it was what he'd usually dreamt about. Eat night when she crushed the bone in his jaw he would wake with a jolt, his heart racing and ears hot from fear and no matter how hard he tried, nothing stopped the dream from coming back. Now, it was almost like a routine. A dreaded, horrifying, routine, one in which he prayed every night that he would be lucky enough to not have any dreams at all.

But tonight was different.

Instead of being swept away by darkness and the scent of blood and death, he was awoke in a patch of soft, fluffy green grass. Lifting his head, the tom was baffled by what he saw. Green grass ruffled by a cool breeze as far as the eye could see, the sounds of birds chirping from somewhere, and turning his head he looked up to see a large oak tree surrounded by colorful flowers of all kinds. Where in the world was he?

Standing up, the grass was abnormally soft underneath his paws and if he looked close enough, it almost shimmered. Weird. Clueless and confused, Smokepelt looked around, wondering where to go first. Was this a trick? Was Fishstar going to leap out from somewhere and attack him? Being in a place this amazing, it was too good to be true and he wasn't able to fully wrap his head around any of it, seeing how he'd never had a dream like this since the battle.

Walking towards the tree, the grey and white tom kept his ears perked for anything suspicious and after a few moments of silence, a cats meow made him practically jump out of his fur. Turning his head, he was a bit surprised to see another cat in his dream. Cautiously walking closer, she was oddly familiar yet he couldn't put a paw on where they might have met before.

"Hello," the tom meowed softly, standing a few foxlengths from the other cat.

"Oh.." Goatpaw mewed shyly, lifting a paw off of the ground, as if she were deciding whether to go back, or forth. She finally affirmed to herself that she would simply stay put, and dropped the fluffy white paw to the soft, lush grass. "Hi... I'm Goatpaw... w-who..." Goatpaw gazed up at Smokepelt, with wide, gold-ticked rosy eyes. She looked like an infant goat with her fur, it was true. Her mouth gaped.

"Are... you... you look like a cloud of smoke." Goatpaw thought out loud. She gave a small laugh. "And, I do look like a goat." She looked down at her body, eyes brimming with gratitude that there was someone else meeting her. Her pelt was like a snowy slope. She glanced back up at Smokepelt.

Her tail shook, and a bird swooped down. "Do you know the way back home?" Goatpaw asked. "I've asked everyone else." She brought up a hind leg, scratching vigorously behind her folded ear. A wind chilled her, past her white coat. Brr, she thought uncomfortably, although Smokepelt was a source of warmth.

"Wind... place. Wind something?" Goatpaw listed, looking up at Smokepelt, as if she expected him to know the name of her home - where the moors were her home, and she was accepted by all. She winced mentally at her guesses. How could she have forgotten... this Windplace? The last part sounded painfully foreign, but she didn't know what else it could be. She hesitated a bit in front of the WindClan deputy.

Smokepelt tilted his head as he looked at the white she-cat standing in front of him, wondering where she'd come from. If this was his dream, how did she get here? Wait, was it even a dream? Everything felt so real and authentic that he could decide if he was dead or dreaming. Either way, this place was pretty amazing and he wouldn't have minded dying and spending the rest of eternity in this place. But that wasn't something he needed to focus on right now.

When the smaller cat gave him her name, something nagged at the back of his mind, something telling him that he somehow knew this cat. Trying to search through memories to figure out who she was ended up failing, his thoughts being foggy from not actually being in his physical body to be able to thoroughly think about it.

Telling him he looked like a cloud of smoke, the tom nodded his head in agreement but stayed quiet as she continued to talk more. A cloud of smoke... well, I suppose that's why I was given this name, Smokepelt thought to himself, listening to the she cat.

"Wind something?" the words clung to the air around them and he looked to the she-cat so that their gazes met. "WindClan, yes, that's my clan," he mewed, his curiosity at its peak. What did she want to know about WindClan? Something about needing to get home? Wait, she was from his home? He vaguely remembered a snow white cat but with his thoughts still hazy, it left the tom even more confused. "The way back home, are you from WindClan?" the grey and white tom mewed, his tail flicking back and forth as he waited for a response, a soft breeze ruffling his fur.

"Yes, yes!" Goatpaw chirruped. "I'm from WindClan! Goatpaw of WindClan, yep, that's me!" She wondered if the tom was from WindClan too. She stared at him, splatters of white and grey throughout his body. His muscles flexed beneath his pelt, and he looked so omnipotent that it made Goatpaw want to flinch, and cower. He kept searching his amber eyes, which seemed to bestow a diadem upon Smokepelt's broad head. She sniffed the air, and a familiar pheromone entered her scent glands.

Smokepelt?

"Hey, you..." she began, quivering. She hated to get names wrong.

"Are you Smokepelt?"


ooc;; ahhhh completely forgot please feel free to yell at me ;n;

The white she-cat looked as if she'd descended from StarClan with her snow-white pelt and sparkling eyes. Her peppy spirit brought back memories from long ago, although they were pretty much hazy blurs. Goatpaw... hm, Smokepelt was almost positive that he'd heard that name from somewhere.

Watching as Goatpaw started stumbling for words, the nagging at the back of his mind intensified. Goatpaw... he knew her from somewhere, but where had they met? Somewhat becoming angry from the fact that he couldn't remember, he lifted his gaze when she said his name. "Yes, I'm Smokepelt," the tom started, titling his head to the side, curious as to how she knew it name. Then it hit him.

"Goatpaw, you used to be in WindClan, right?" the deputy exclaimed, a smile growing on his usually stoic face. She'd been an apprentice from WindClan, that's where he knew her from!

OOC: Haha, it's alright.

"Yes! The leader was my mentor, but I can't remember her name. Something star." Goatpaw explained, her memory wracked. She blinked at him. "You were the deputy!" exclaimed the she-cat, who was as big as a warrior by now. Her perky personality had endured her perilous travels. Her eyes were alight with a gaiety excitement. "What happened while I was gone?" Goatpaw asked, shimmying around as the memories flooded back to her.

Goatpaw stared at Smokepelt in awe. He had grown slightly whilst she was gone, but she had always liked him. He was lenient and kind, that it had made her purr. She flicked her twinkly white tail behind her, and it looked like a streak of snow.

Nodding at her comment about him being deputy, Smokepelt kept listening, relieved that he finally remembered who she was, to some extent. They were friends in WindClan, not very long ago, but then... she left or something? He couldn't quite recall what had happened to the she-cat, but even so, he remembered having some sort of feelings towards her, feelings that he still held onto this day. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to dwell on his emotions at the moment, for her next question caught him a bit off guard.

What happened while she was gone? Just simply trying to recall all the recent crazy, and unnecessary events overwhelmed him and he didn't know where to start, although if he did, it would've taken ages to explain. "A lot has happened, some things for the better, others for the worse," Smokepelt meowed softly, deciding to keep it simple. Whiskers twitching back and forth, he didn't want to seem like he wanted to change the subject, but he there was something that he had to ask her, something that he needed to know.

"Goatpaw," the tom started, emotions making his throat close up so it felt like he was starting to suffocate. "Why did you leave?"

Ohh, this was going to sting.

Goatpaw swallowed back hard. "I-I was looking for... Icestorm and Lightfoot... I didn't find them. I then realized that they were... I don't want to talk about what I found out. But I left to find them because I was mousebrained and I didn't see the obvious." Goatpaw said coldly. It was true that she had many ties to the two elders, for her mentor was the leader, and mate, of one of the toms, and she always checked on Lightfoot when she was a kit. Her paw scuffed the ground. "I should've just stayed, of course they weren't captured." she meowed, a hiss edging into her tone, but it was directed towards her.

"I'm almost a warrior," she commented, trying to change the subject from a dreary circumstance to something brighter. "But I don't think Ashstar will make me one." Goatpaw blinked. After all, I left. If I wasn't such a mousebrain, and Icestorm and Lightfoot were actually captured, then I would be. I was just ambitious and didn't stay around for the news. Goatpaw thought.

Listening to Goatpaw, sadness took hold of his heart when she mentioned his father and Lightfoot and part of him wished that they had been captured instead of crippled like they had. Trying to hold back the tears at the thought of Icestorm who'd left the world of the living far to soon, he gave his pelt a shake, trying to get rid of all the emotions. Him and his best friend were gone and there was nothing he could do about it, so no need to get all soppy over it, right?

"You had a decent reason to leave, I bet she'll make you a warrior," he mewed with a soft smile, glad that she'd changed the subject. "Goatpaw... you need to come back. If not for the clan, then do it for me," he added, all of the emotions that he'd previously tried to shake away returning. Goatpaw, he'd had feelings for her and now that memories were becoming more clear, he quickly realized how much he'd missed the white she-cat's presence.

"Yes! Yes, I'll come back, I just... I'll just go where my heart takes me." Goatpaw said lovingly. To you, she internally added. Her bushy tail waved, and she smiled up at Smokepelt, and the brumal white patches that littered his smokey fur. She nuzzled the WindClan deputy, thinking of Ashstar. I left her! She was training me! Goatpaw thought guiltily. She gazed with her rose-gold eyes into Smokepelt's own, amber orbs.

She was so excited. She knew that her path would lead her to WindClan once more. It'd lead her all the way down the winding, perilous path that she had left, back to her home.

Her home.

Looking into her eyes, he was overjoyed to hear that she was returning to her rightful home. Although he hated to admit it, for the longest while, part of him had forgotten about the she-cat, but now that they'd been able to meet in this odd dream, everything was coming back. He'd loved her and she'd left, but now she was coming back, and for the first time in forever, all seemed well in the world.

"I love you, Goatpaw," the tom meowed softly, embarrassing her sweet scent and nuzzling her on the cheek with his grey and white muzzle. She was coming back and he wanted nothing more than to see her again. Unfortunately, before he was able to say anything else, the white she-cat and the land around him started to disappear into thin air, their forms growing transparent and shimmering like the stars above. Apparently this was their goodbye.

"Until we meet again," Smokepelt added softly, giving a nod to Goatpaw as the world around him grew dark.

Opening his eyes, the deputy laid in the warm darkness of the warrior's den, his breathing soft and his muscles relaxed. A fluttery filled his chest as he laid in his nest and letting out a content sigh, he shifted his weight and closed his eyes, hoping to get a little more sleep before the busy day started.

Goatpaw pressed up against Smokepelt's fur, looking into his amber eyes, dripping with sweetness. He wanted to embrace him for all eternity, but there was unfortunately a long, taxing journey ahead of her. She felt herself rock on her paws as the deputy returned the gesture, and a purr seemed to spout out of her throat. She apperceived joy and shock when Smokepelt's cherished words swam into her ears—I love you, Goatpaw. Her eyes lit up, and she smiled sheepishly.

"I love you, too, Smokepelt." said Goatpaw adoringly.

The white apprentice then soon saw light snoop in through the leafy canopies, and the starry plains begin to fracture. She looked up with desperation at Smokepelt, her pelt prickling. It was a virgin day, and Goatpaw cowered. Looking into Smokepelt's warm eyes brought her hope, as she enfolded the grey-and-white tom. She heard his words hazily—and a metamorphosed into a smile. "Until then," she promised.

Goatpaw woke up to a new light. She was in that same, sunny pasture. She got up on her legs, and looked out into the horizon longingly. Smokepelt, I'm coming back, she thought.

I promise.