the call [closed]

A long day of training Falconpaw had seen Smokestep to bed early. As the sun sank, casting dappled shadows up and down the walls of the warriors' den, she tucked into her nest and curled into a tight ball. Sleep found her easily - the kind of deep, dreamless sleep that made the time pass quickly.

When she opened her eyes, it was still dark. Or, rather... gray, like all the color had been drained from the world. Alarmed, Smokestep blinked several times, shaking her head, but the overlay persisted, and after a moment, she found she didn't mind it at all. As she cautiously climbed out of her nest, the young molly finally realized something else... she was alone. The warriors' den was completely empty, save for her. This combination of oddities had her on edge as she crept to the entrance of the den and peered outside, into camp. Except camp was empty, too. The trees didn't move with the wind, the sun was stationary in the sky... not a thing moved except for Smokestep as she slinked out of the den, in an attempt to keep a low profile. Where was everyone? What was going on? Smokestep's heart hammered in her chest. She swallowed, and it was like rocks. She was alone and she was frightened, and-

-suddenly, movement, in the medicine den. Smokestep's head snapped up, and she lurched towards the shape of a cat. As she neared the medicine den, her nostrils flared, and brought in a scent she'd hardly ever known in life. The charred stumps in SkyClan's territory still smelled of smoke sometimes, when the wind was right, but that was nothing compared to what she smelled now. The warrior stopped in her tracks, her ragged breathing bringing in the scent of smoke as thick, dark clouds of it rolled from the medicine den. She opened her mouth to shout, "Fire!" but was it a warning, or a summons? She didn't know. The cat within the medicine den was still maneuvering around inside... Smokestep could see their silhouette through the barrier of smog. She had to get them out - what if they were trapped?

Ignoring her own fear for what probably was the first time in her life, Smokestep pushed forward, closing her stinging eyes against the assault. She burst through the entrance of the den, lifting her head up to call out again, to warn the cat... but as she opened her eyes, and they adjusted rapidly to the change inside the den, she was surprised to find... nothing. The den was clear, and the cat who had been here seconds earlier, she'd sworn, was gone... There was no fire in the medicine den, only smoke.

Smokestep's eyes opened with a small, tiny whimper of alarm. She was in her nest again, curled against Firepool in the warriors' den, but the scent of smoke still clung to her nostrils, and she still took in deep, ragged breaths, the panic from her dream not having yet dissipated. The she-cat stumbled to her paws, mumbling a sorry to anyone she stepped on on her way out of the den. She needed air, she needed fresh, clean air. Head down, tail firmly between her legs, she headed through the gloom of pre-dawn, towards the tunnel that led out of camp. In her haste, however, she failed to notice the form of another cat as they stepped into her path, and Smokestep crashed unceremoniously into them, bringing her to a full halt. She took her tearful eyes upwards, and they landed on the face of the deputy, who was probably rightfully as confused as she was.

"Oh, Wolfblossom," Smokestep whispered, abandoning any pretense of bravado or courage and leaning into the fluffy chest of her mentor for comfort. "I'm sorry, I... I'm so confused... I had this dream, and... I... I..." She trailed off, shaking her head. In Wolfblossom's presence, she found it easier to calm down, to bring her breathing back to normal, and eventually, she was of sound enough mind to feel incredibly foolish. Smokestep slicked her ears back, looking up at the other she-cat. "I... nevermind, I'm sorry. It was just a dream, I'm sure."

Wolfblossom had peeked into the apprentice den, found Falconpaw out cold, and had quickly decided to leave him to the rare moment of peaceful sleep he seemed to be having. She padded across camp, intending to speak with Plumleaf if the medicine cat was awake and not overwhelmingly busy, when another cat practically crashed into her. So focused on her own task, the deputy didn't have the time to move out of the way quickly enough. "Hey-" Wolfblossom stumbled back in surprise, gaze landing on that of her former apprentice. "Smokestep? What's wrong, are you alright?" Any irritation she might have had was quickly replaced by concern over the clearly distressed warrior. A dream... There seemed to be no shortage of those plaguing the cats Wolfblossom cared about. Whatever it had been, Smokestep seemed rattled by it, and confused as well.

"Care to talk about it?" Wolfblossom asked, "Come, sit." She mewed, beckoning Smokestep toward the edge of the clearing.

Thankfully, Wolfblossom didn't immediately shut her down, a relief she didn't realize she'd been hoping for. While her original thought had been to leave camp, and get some space to think, the more she thought about it, the worse of an idea it seemed. Who knew what sort of dangerous creatures were out there at night? And if she was alone, she didn't stand a chance. Wolfblossom beckoned her over, and Smokestep was quick to follow, settling down at the edge of camp, where no one would bother them.

"I... I thought I'd woken up," she explained, seeing the scene there in her mind's eye as she described it to her former mentor. "But it was odd, there were... it was gray, everything was gray, and hazy, and I was alone... in- in the warriors' den, and then when I went outside, in- into camp... there was no one." Smokestep curled her tail around herself for comfort as she breathed in the scent of smoke again. She shivered, looking up at the deputy.

"Then I saw a fire!" she yelped, flattening her ears. "In the medicine den, and, I... I went inside because there was someone, and they couldn't hear me and they were just in there. But..." her voice lowered, finally taking on a twinge of utter confusion. "When I got in there, there wasn't a fire. Only smoke. And it didn't hurt, like I expected it to, it was just there. I... I just... I don't know. I've never had a dream like that before."

Smokestep followed her, and Wolfblossom sat, tail curling over her paws as the young warrior spoke about the dream she had had. Thinking she had woken up, only to find nobody around and a world gray with smoke... And why the medicine den, specifically? Smokestep's description was almost enough to make Wolfblossom shiver, and she gently pressed against the silver tabby's pelt.

"That's... Vivid. For a dream." She murmured thoughtfully. She didn't usually remember her own dreams in such detail. Most cats didn't seem to. The only cats she had ever known to discuss a dream in such detail before were her own parents and Plumleaf, all three of which were or had been medicine cats. "And the medicine den... It's strange, isn't it?" Wolfblossom stared at the rocky overhang for a moment, trying to envision what had frightened Smokestep. The medicine den engulfed in smoke, and her own first thought went to her sister. It was Plumleaf's den alone, now, and she couldn't imagine her sister and medicine cat ever being caught in something like that. But there hadn't been a fire, only smoke...? Wolfblossom wished she could make sense of it.

"I wonder... Starclan wouldn't send a warning to anyone but a medicine cat... right?" It was the deputy's turn for her ears to flatten, and she was just as confused as her former apprentice had been. "I think... I think you should talk to Plumleaf about it. If you're comfortable with that. Maybe it's just a bad dream and nothing more but..." There was no hiding the uncertainty in her tone as Wolfblossom wished she could. "Maybe it's not a warning either and I'm reading too much into it. I... Don't know, Smokestep."