The Rebirth of Oasis [Plot Ending for Asylum NPCs]

Roe padded into the clearing, a clump of fur in his mouth as he glanced around at the few cats that lingered. He could feel eyes staring at him - he hadn't been seen since he had been dragged out of the camp countless sunrises ago by Alois and Lexine. Now...He was the sole survivor of his pack. He dropped the clump of fur, raising his head to meet the staring gazes. "I come with news - Eris is dead. The Clans killed her and others - Asylum has no leadership - I have Eris' fur to prove it. We are no more, but I offer you a new chance. I've seen what we can become, something better. I beg of you to at least hear me out - but I will not force you to join me if you do not agree with my new vision of ourselves. But first...We ought to wait for the others to arrive so I may address all of us at once," he meowed as he stepped away from the fur clump so the others could go and sniff it, taking a seat in the other side of the clearing. There was something new about Roe - his vison, as strange as it was, had changed him. A determination flared in his eyes as he waited in silence for the cats of Asylum to hear the message and filter in, already working up the words to describe their new future together.

Faizah was in utter shock as she heard what Roe had said. Eris? Dead? When had this happened? She sniffed at the clump of fur Roe had put down and, sure enough, he was telling the truth. She looked at the Nightstriker tom now, confusion in her gaze. Was this really the same cowardly tom she had seen before? He looked so sure of himself, and that honestly scared her. But she could not worry about that. There were more pressing matters.

Tavora.

She made a beeline for the exit, thinking only of her mother. She needed to know Tavora was okay. If there was a battle, her mother must have been wounded. After all, a brave cat like her would surely stick things out to the end.

OOC: If noone stops her, Faizah is going to ShadowClan camp.

He couldn't bear to stare at the still frames of cats littered about the clearing where the battle had occurred. Before leaving, however, Casper had solemnly pressed his nose into each one of cats there. Admittedly, the tom had lingered longer over Eris than the rest. A tightness had clutched his lungs the entire way to Asylum's camp at the outskirts of the forest. This place, or rather organization, had been his home for so long. They'd taught him to protect himself and protect others, fight to bring about the best for every cat, and yet it had all been crushed over night. Another shuddering breath curled into the cool morning air. Roe, one of the Nightstrikers, stood before them calling for a new future. Casper had no desire for a new era. All he wanted was to wander the vast world at large, taking in new cats and homing the strays - giving them a purpose as he'd already done for so many moons. As he settled back onto his haunches, the little white tom shrank underneath the raccoon pelt. Somewhere out there, clan cats were celebrating death and loss. Surely, Asylum had its flaws but already he mourned the next cold season for these cats. A frown worried itself onto his maw and the normal joy that possessed him had melted away. Whatever the other tom had to say, he found himself unconvinced it would bring about any comforts.

Hoosier lifted his head at Roe's annoucement. Eris was dead? "Good." His thoughts about now came to light, with one word. His thoughts, which were filled with hatred, for Eris, and the loyal Asylum cats. Hatred, for those who had destroyed his home when his young, and forced him into a life, he never dreamed of wanting. And now he was free. He wondered what would happen next. But for now, he must wait for Roe's words.

When the battle was well and truly over, Thalia was left standing amidst the ashes of her life. Everything she was - everything they told her she was - had crumbled around her, piece by piece, since coming to Clan land. Roe's final order, that they were to return to their assignments to tell the rest of Asylum - what was left of Asylum - to meet in their camp, was one she couldn't fulfill.

She had, eventually, trailed away from the battlefield and toward the camp, the only place she'd ever really called home - maybe there was another, once, but for all their talk of belonging to the forest clans, it wasn't something she knew. A warrior of ThunderClan had recognized her, or someone she once was, but she didn't know him at all; she had no memory of the place they told her she belonged. It was a shadow of herself that had been ThunderClan, that had been Laurelkit-

But it was a shadow of herself that was left now, in the wake of Asylum's disgrace.

(Who was she, then, when her place and her purpose had been nothing more than a lie?)

Roe stood tall as the cats started to gather - some flooding in. He wanted to wait for more, but he knew the curiosity of those who did not know the events that had taken place would only grow. No, he had to speak now - cats would arrive to hear the most important part and word of mouth would do the rest. It was time for all of Asylum - for as much as it remained - to know the truth. "As of tonight...Asylum is no more. A group of Clan cats stepped up and took them by surprise - killing Eris, Theron and Lexine with other cats fleeing and a few who were there stand among us. Our leadership is gone," he admitted with a sigh, although he did not reveal his own part to give the Mousehunt what knowledge they needed to pull this off. His part hardly had mattered, and his stance on things were clear. "We are without direction, our time on these territories are at an end. But, I was given a glimpse of the past - and of the future. Some of you may know the name Oasis - it was where Asylum was born, once they had torn it down. It was a place of knowledge, truth-seekers, protectors, healers, turned to ash by the short-sighted greed of bringing cats to heel beneath a single mighty paw. This is our future. To rebuild Oasis. To remake what was destroyed."

He paused, letting that simple fact - his new mission for them all (at least those who would follow him to this noble goal.) Finally, after a few heartbeats to allow whispers to be shared, he spoke up again. "Many of us brought into the lies that this was for the good of the Clans, but I witnessed the truth...That it was not. Our leadership was bloodthirsty, they didn't care for the cats beneath them - and we within Asylum were not equals and never would be." He shook his head, a slight growl of annoyance within his words. For everything that they had preached, he now saw how hypnotical it was. How they claimed every cat had a use, a part - yet there was the Pelt Wards, the lower cats...The ones who were deemed with no worth, no future. "The Oasis I see for us is one where there are no fractions, no lesser cats. Where we work together to collect knowledge so that we can protect, instead of destroy. This will not be an easy task, having to dismantle what Asylum has done - free the territories that we have already claimed. But on this bloody night, there comes a new dawn. I ask of you who truly believed in the good of our campaign here, who through we were truly helping to join me - so that we can do what we sought out to do the right way. Where every idea and thought will be listened to, where cats may choose the path they want and not be deemed pelt wards. To live up to their own standards, and not the one forced upon them by scars announcing their placement and rank. Where cats are free to leave, mingle with other groups and return with the knowledge that they learned - all for the making of a better tomorrow."

There was a long pause, a part of his planned speech he was dreading. He didn't want to say these words, to give these...No, they were not orders. It was a plea, but the words struck at his heart before they ever had the chance to leave his mouth...But yet, he took in a deep breath and continued on. "...There is one more thing. One of our sins, that we cannot forgive. Eris had taken kits from the Clans when we had first arrived, raised them to be our tools. Those who are here...While deep in your heart, you may wish to follow me - I beg of you...Do not," he breathed, shaking his head as he found at least one familiar gaze from the crowd - Thalia. It...Hurt, to say this. He had been there from the start with them, and while he had regrettably partaken in the lie...He had truly meant every word he had said to them - but it didn't change the fact that what he had partook in -allowed to happen - was wrong. "We cannot return what was stolen from you, the time away from your family. So I ask - beg - that you remain here. Seek a new place within the Clans, try the lifestyle that we so coldly stole from you. Try to right our wrong, just a little. I am sure some of the Clans will take pity on you, allowing you to find a new place within once they know who you are. I am not asking you to try to be the kit you were when you were stolen that night - or even return to the Clan we stole you from if you can learn that information - but to try to find a place within the Clans as who you are. See if you can find a new place to belong in what should have always been our home before our ill-fated arrival.”

With that, he finished speaking and let his gaze scan over the cats - ears perked as he waited for them to talk among themselves, to decide for themselves if they would walk with him, seek a new dawn out of the dark shadow that they had cast along this land. He...He hoped some, at least, would join him. That there were plenty of others that knew, deep down, that every action that they had made here was wrong and they had to find a way to make it right.

Somewhere along the road to Asylum’s camp, reality sank its fangs into Pyrik’s euphoria, leaving punctures for common sense to creep in. He’d go to ShadowClan, get his answers, and then… And then. Maybe they’d let him stay until he got his bearings, maybe they’d let him stay forever, maybe they’d realize he carried too much Asylum inside him to be worth the cost. The strength they’d spent on Emberkit didn’t mean they’d lift a claw for Pyrik. And even if they were willing to have him instead of their lost kit, he’d still be leaving something behind.

Just once, he wanted things to be simple.

Trusting Roe’s speech to distract most of the gathered cats, Pyrik skirted the edge of the clearing. Of course he wanted to know if the other trainees (yes, even Raisha) had survived, but theirs weren’t the only faces that mattered. Eosphoros hadn’t come back. Casper had; Pyrik’s gaze flitted away as soon as he realized who he was looking at. At last, he found Thalia, and peeled himself away from the dried foliage to sit beside her. His real tail curled around his paws; the fox’s hung behind. As Roe continued, Pyrik lifted the tail and began to groom the worst of the mud out of it, purely for the sake of having something else to focus on. His twitching ears remained angled toward Roe.

Asylum. Oasis. No matter what name they took, they were tied up in lies. Even Roe had kept quiet for seasons too long. It would be good to see them putting their knowledge and strength toward something other than cruelty; Pyrik couldn’t make himself be part of it.

Rama felt the same way she did when she had first joined the Asylum. Surrounded by pestilence and death, she had been scrounging for any semblance of a normal and fulfilling life. The life she was offered in this group was more than she ever could have received in her homeland. It was there that she fell so willingly into their paws. And now, she was falling again.

Her eyes were finally open. If she wanted to, she could stop her own cascade, and resist standing back in the ranks of yet another kingdom that offered empty promises with no backing proof. Rama could walk off from this place, into the vast unknown, to forge her own trail... or she could return to her old ways, and promise tooth and claw to the Oasis. Though Roe had promised very much, he had nothing to show for his words. For all she knew, he would be just as inept. Just as spineless. Just as cruel.

For a moment, she stood up to leave, but watching the grasses sway at the entrance to the Asylum encampment, her paws would not budge from their place. Though her fear was strong, her duty was stronger. If she left now, what example did that set? Where would all these wayward spirits go, without guidance, law, or justice? Where would she go? Rama knew she was not the most strong-willed of felines... and there were so many that were younger and more naive than even herself. Turning back to Roe, Rama took a deep breath, approached him, and bowed her head. She gave him only a small grunt of approval, but it was enough. She rolled her shoulders and allowed her pelt to fall unceremoniously to the ground. She kicked it away.

If they had to leave everything behind, they should do it together.

Katana had trailed behind Thalia back to Ex-Asylum's camp, eyes unfocused and mind completely elsewhere. She had so much to think about that it made her head want to sleep for moons. She concrete idea of what she was to do after the last of this was over. It was making her nervous. The only thing that she did know was that she wanted to be wherever Thalia was. After all, Thalia was her home. Life without her other half would be absolute misery.

As she sat down next to Thal, she willed her mind to push any thoughts to the back recesses of her messed up mind for later so she could somewhat concentrate on what Roe wanted to tell them all. She didn't really know how to feel about the tom. She was still feeling a twinge of anger toward him for maintaining the lies but it was waaay less than she felt for all the others who weren't the kits she grew up with. She supposed it was because of him and Thalia that the truth had been revealed to them. The missing kits. The ones who had been wronged on so many levels and for so long. They were family and no matter what they decided to do with their lives, they will never stop being family. They were all she knew and her heart had special places reserved for them all. It ached that they may have to live apart from one another from now on but she knew they'd see each other at least a few times each moon.

As Katana soaked in each word that came from Roe's mouth, she didn't notice Pyrik settling down on Thal's other side. She only noticed when she turned to speak to Thalia. The words died in her throat and she quickly snapped her mouth shut. She didn't know why but out of all the missing kits, she liked Thalia and Pyrik the best. Thalia was obvious but Pyrik... She hadn't really interacted with the tom much but she just seemed to like him automatically. Maybe he was just a likable tom? Maybe... Who knows? Wherever he went to live, she'd probably miss him dearly.

The last of Roe's words worried Katana. She bit the inside of her cheek as her mind once again wandered away. She didn't even know where she had first come from. Even if she figured it out, would they even recognize her? Would they even forgive the cat she had become? Will she even forgive herself? Thalia already knew where she had come from and perhaps Pyrik knew too. Katana felt like the odd one out. Will she ever know? She was desperate to find out. She couldn't just give up. Not after everything. She will be wherever Thalia went but she needed to do something first. She needed to find her past to help her move forward. Without it, she would never be truly whole.