Falling With the Rain

~ Vague Messages ~

Message 1

Brambleclaw Third Person POV

Leaves rustled as the young tabby cat slid through a gap between two bushes, his jaws wide open to drink in the scent of prey. On this warm night in late greenleaf, the forest was full of the scuffles of tiny creatures. Movements twitched endlessly at the edge of his vision, but when he turned his head he could see nothing but thick clumps of fern and bramble, dappled with moonlight.

Suddenly he stepped out into a wide clearing and gazed around in confusion. He could not remember being in this part of the forest before. Smooth-cropped grass, glowing silver in a cold wash of moonlight, stretched in front of him as far as a softly rounded rock where two other cats were sitting. Starlight sparkled in both their furs. One was a blue-gray she-cat. While the other was a pale tortoiseshell and white she-cat the size of an apprentice. The young tabby's bewilderment increased as he recognized both she-cats.

"Bluestar? Rainsong?" he meowed, his voice shrill with disbelief.

He had been an apprentice when both the great leader of ThunderClan and its most loyal warrior had died, four seasons ago. Bluestar had leaped into the gorge with a pack of blood-hungry dogs after her and Rainsong had died killing one of the dogs in battle. Like all of ThunderClan, he had grieved for both she-cats and honoured Bluestar for the way she had given up her life to save them and Rainsong for the way she gave up her dignity and life to be able to serve her Clan. He had never thought to see both she-cats again, and he realised for the first time that he must be dreaming.

"Come closer, young warrior," Bluestar meowed. "We have a message for you."

Shivering with awe, the tabby tom crept across the shining stretch of turf until he crouched below the rock and could look up into both Bluestar's eyes and Rainsong's sharp pale blue ones.

"I'm listening, Bluestar." he mewed.

"A time of trouble is coming to the forest." she told him.

Rainsong opened her muzzle to speak. "A new prophecy must be fulfilled if the Clans are to survive. You have been chosen to meet with three other cats at the new moon, and you must listen to what midnight tells you."

"What do you mean?" The young cat felt a prickle of dread, cold as snowmelt, creep down his spine. "What kind of trouble? And how can midnight tell us anything?"

"All will be made clear to you," Bluestar replied. Her voice faded, echoing strangely as if she were speaking from a cavern far beneath the earth. The moonlight also began to grow dim, leaving thick black shadows to creep out of the trees around them.

"No, wait!" the tabby cat cried out. "Don't go!"

"We will not leave you, Brambleclaw." Rainsong's soft mew assured him, her voice echoing around him as it faded. "We are watching over you, always."

Message 2

Leafpaw Third Person POV

Tonight something seemed to be blocking her thoughts. The silence was broken by the sound of rushing water, loud as thunder, and then the darkness shifted to show her a waterfall, crashing endlessly down into a pool below. Before Leafpaw could properly understand what she was seeing, clouds swirled over it. Out of them came a terrible snarling, and she caught a glimpse of sharp fangs. She sensed the presence of warrior ancestors and reached out for the comforting presence of StarClan. But she caught only a flickering vision of lean, prowling cats, their fur streaked with mud and blood. Their eyes glared with desperation, as if they stared at some terrible sight that was hidden from Leafpaw. She thought she cried out to them, but they did not answer, and she was not even sure that they were aware of her.