Long-Awaited Conversations [Closed]

With a start, Torrentstar opened his eyes. Instead of the darkness that he knew filled the Leader's Den, what greeted him was StarClan's sparkling brilliance. The cool glow of stars filled his vision to its edges, and for a moment, they overwhelmed him so that he could see little else. The large tabby instinctively squeezed his eyes shut again, even raising a paw in an attempt to partially block out the light. What was going on? Where was he? It took him a moment to recall his last memories, clearing the haze of unconsciousness from his mind. What seemed like mere instances ago, he had half-tumbled into his nest and curled up within the grasp of the comforting moss. It had been another long, weary day, seemingly composed of nothing but managing the various territory issues, mediating in the quarrels of his clanmates, and filling the empty hole Dappleshine had left behind. Could he never get a break? Eventually, his eyelids had grown heavier and heavier, and then... He had woken up here. Slowly and warily, he opened his eyes again. This time, his vision was able to adjust to the brightness; he could see. Details sharpened into focus about him―the soft, almost moss-like grass beneath his paws, the vast expanse of night sky around and above him, and the stars twinkling everywhere he looked. In the distance, he could see the faint silhouettes of an equally starry forest. By no stretch of imagination was this place RiverClan camp, unless the fish he had eaten earlier that evening had been spiked with some hallucination-inducing substance. If that was the case, he was probably going to die from food poisoning. Then again, maybe he already was dead, and the ancestors had simply summoned him to fling the cold, hard facts in his face. A low, irritable growl rumbled in his chest. Getting to his paws, the leader flung a harsh gaze about him. There was no one present, as far as he could tell. Great. Were they watching him from somewhere, hidden behind the mist of their supernatural abilities? Were they chuckling among themselves as they waited for him to panic at this sudden summons? "Hey!" He bellowed, getting to his paws. His dark-tipped tail drew a furious arc through the starry air. He had no patience for this game. Recent depressing events in the mortal world, taking place one after another, had worn him out; the only place he had truly been able to find peace of late had been in the realm of sleep. He would much rather be peacefully lost in that void, in comparison to being brought up here to entertain these whimsical old furballs. Was his patience to be tried even in his rest? "Show yourself! I know you're there! What do you want with me?"

"You're just as impatient as ever, aren't you, my friend?"

It had taken a lot of conversing and convincing to allow her fellow warrior ancestors to grant her the permission to meet with RiverClan's new leader. Having still been feeling utterly ashamed of her behaviors before her passing, she had passed up on the chance to attend Torrentstar's leader ceremony and grant him a life. While she had very much wanted to, she feared her presence wouldn't be very welcome. Much like poor Sweet, Torrentstar's former mentor, a cat she could see a lot of herself in. If the large tabby tom couldn't find it in his heart yet to forget Sweet, how could he ever forgive her? It was a pain she had not been ready to face.

But now she didn't care about how he saw her as. Watching over him as she promised herself she would, as well as Dewshine's and Gingerstripe's living kits, she had seen just how utterly miserable Torrentstar had become. He hadn't even been leader of RiverClan for a season, and already he's beginning to lose so much. Dacepaw, Dappleshine's daughter, had chosen to follow ThunderClan home after the Gathering a few moons ago, while Dappleshine herself, Dewshine's daughter, had chosen to follow her heart and leave RiverClan to pursue her true love. They both had betrayed him, just as Sweet had so long ago. It was no wonder he was feeling so hurt, having another cat turn her back on him and his Clan once before already.

She had been so utterly useless and driven to insanity due to grief during the flood after Dewshine's passing, but now that she had been reunited with her family and closest friends again, she once again had a clear head. In fact, she could even feel her old self begin to reignite within her. So now, knowing that she was finally in the right position and state of mind to approach Torrentstar and offer him closure, that was just what she was going to do tonight.

Flurryshine padded up to the RiverClan leader -- her friend -- from the light of the stars up above, her pristine white fur shimmering and sparkling with stars. She offered him a kind smile, and a slight tilt of her head that expressed the entitlement she had always had about her during her earlier moons of life as an apprentice and young warrior -- except more teasing and less sincerely snooty. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Torrentstar? I'm hoping you didn't have any other queens experience mental breakdowns under your care as of late?" Her beautiful green eyes sparkled with laughter at her own self. She was in that stage of acceptance over her own behavior where she could finally laugh at herself again.

At the first notes of that familiar voice, Torrentstar froze. It was a voice that he had thought he would not be hearing again for a while. In fact, the last time he had heard it, the owner had told him that she could no longer go on living. That conversation compromised some of his worst memories, and it had also been followed by the one of the darkest times in his life. The anger that had seemed be emanating from him just a second ago fizzled out. He turned―slowly, hesitantly. There was no fire in his green eyes now, only a tangle of emotions that showed more vulnerably than ever before. Confusion, disbelief, pain, and even something akin to fear seemed to fill his gaze. There she stood, so close that if he only stepped forward he could touch her. The stars in her long white pelt did little to hide its original beauty; if anything, they only enhanced it. Bright green eyes peered back at him, shimmering with a glow that could only be caused by true, sincere joy. The corners of her smile were curled up in a smile that he had believed was lost forever. For a moment, he merely stared at her―not speaking, not even breathing. His breath seemed to have caught in his throat.

"Flurryshine." Torrentstar forced out at last. The simple utterance of her name was like a trigger that brought all the memories of that time rushing back out from that dark corner he had stuffed them in. He remembered everything that had happened in those miserable days much better than he would have liked. The memories overlapped with the sight of the beautiful Flurryshine standing before him; and for a moment, he saw in place of her an exhausted, despairing she-cat crouched on the ground. Her ragged, formerly white pelt was more dirt than actual fur. The green eyes that peered up at him were empty and dark, no longer containing any will of emotion. Flies buzzed incessantly to and fro. They would land anywhere on a cat; it did not matter how one tried to shake them off, they would always come back. Worst of all, however, were the two decaying bodies that his clanmate leaned up against. Having been exposed to the elements for weeks, they were literally beginning to fall apart. The odor was something that he would never forget. It was utterly revolting, enough to make a cat gag. It crawled under one's pelt and down one's throat, sealing its permanence in the deepest depths of the mind.

"How... have you been?" The words found their hesitant way out. Torrentstar watched Flurryshine warily, not certain how to react to a cat who had changed so much. Looking her now, she was almost like the Flurryshine of the old days. Perhaps she really was. But his last memories of the white warrior contrasted so strongly with her current state that he could not just accept such an occurrence without questioning it.