Is Anybody Listening? (open)

[lakeripple]

OOC: Just so everybody knows, this thread was inspired by a song that Adam Lambert sang in a musical version of the Ten Commandments in 2006. Look it up on youtube, it is fantastic!!

As far as Lakeripple could see, she had done nothing to deserve this. She was the second in command of a Clan practically forced to help FireClan with a threat hanging over their heads. How could she help lead them? She could barely drag her frostbitten tail out of her nest in the morning.

As she sat now in the starlight of a freezing night, all she could see was the cold twinkle of the lights of her ancestors. And were they really even her ancestors? Lakeripple had come from a tribe near the place where the sun sleeps. Did her birth tribe have the same roots? Yes. She was sure that her tribe was looking down on her and her brother, and on her kits, and on her brother's kits. They were all that was left of the tribe. Of course they were there.

But that led Lakeripple to a deeper question. Was anybody out there listening? She prayed every second of every day and every night. Did they hear? Did they even want to hear? Foxcloud had tried to make sure that WaterClan had no hope left, had almost told them that they had no right to hope and that she was better than them all. All they had was the right to die someday, and preferably in the dust at her feet.

"StarClan, are you listening?" Lakeripple's whisper stood out in the silence. "Do you see us drowning in our own tears? Do you see who makes the tears? If you're listening, let us know. Save us." She bent over her blue-gray paws, tears staining her paws. "There is nothing more I can do. I can't fight for my Clan's freedom on my own. We've all given up."

A slight purr curled around Lakeripple's ears. "No cat can chain another to the ground and keep them there, wallowing in self pity. Your mind is your own and your spirit is free. Believe, young Raincatcher. Hope is still there. It cannot shrivel up and die in the sun. You will wash away the evil. Think of the wave and use it to help you. We are listening. We are watching. We will always be here for you Raincatcher... Lakeripple."

"Father?" Lakeripple murmured, looking up at the sky. She quickly stood up, her voice suddenly loud. "Wait! If you're listening, send us help! Send us someone!"

We already have. She has always been there. Find her... find her..."

Then the voice was gone and the WaterClan deputy crouched in on herself, once again struggling with her fear.

[Glyph]

A sudden, violent shiver ran through the sleeping cat, startling her into groggy awareness.

And into the cold. The she-cat frowned, teeth beginning to chatter as her tense body began to realize where it was--StarClan blast it, at least her nightmares were warm!

The icy blast that had woke her stole the energy from her bones and sent tears streaming down her muzzle as she squinted into the night. The stars seemed especially bright tonight--bright and cold. Everything was cold now, wasn't it? The weather, the water, and especially those twinkling chips of ice studding the sky, the thousands of them, all just glittering down at her, threatening to crush her under the weight of their indifference.

StarClan's giving us the cold shoulder, Came the thought, which would have amused her any other time but was now devoid of any emotion but dread and weariness. When was the last time she'd had a dream that didn't include inky blackness and reaching claws?

A voice suddenly drove away her bleak thoughts and drew her attention back to reality. Her ears pricked, sluggishly slow. Who could be up at this hour? Dawnflight had a feeling she already knew. Biting back an aggrieved whimper at the pins and needles that danced through her paws, she heaved herself from her nest.

Her fur wavered on end as she padded across the clearing, backlit by the stars and moon into a ghostly paleness that seemed to circle her like an aura.

"--if you're listening, send us help! Send us someone!"

The wind sliced her clean-through, and Dawnflight's heart shattered, piercing her with shards of ice when she recognized the she-cat huddled across the camp.

Her voice was quite, tremulous. "... Lakeripple?"

[lakeripple]

Lakeripple's head whipped around at the scent of a cat. Her blue-gray fur stood on end till she forced it to flatten. Dawnflight... had she seen that? Lakeripple knew of the medicine cat's past, she wasn't Clan born either, but she still knew that no one could know of her heritage. For now it wasn't safe.

"Dawnflight! How long have you been there?" The deputy's blue-green eyes twinkled in the starlight. She had become good friends with Dawnflight, they both had some of the same fears and both seemed to prefer the night. "Surely no one is sick!"

She glanced briefly back up at the sky. Was it true? Was her father really in StarClan? It would seem to good to possibly be true... "We can't afford sickness now. And anyway, everyone is sleeping." Lakeripple never slept anymore. It was nearly impossible. She winced thinking of that empty spot in her nest, the cold ruffling her mate's fur. Oh Eagletalon, remember our apprenticeship? Everything was so carefree...

[Glyph]

Dawnflight hesitated, troubled by the way her friend's fur stood on end. Finally, though, she relented. Lakeripple deserved her dignity, at least. If she didn't want to be seen talking to StarClan, then Dawnflight wouldn't be the one to betray that.

"Not long," she rasped, her voice sapped by the chill. She winced, swallowed painfully to wet her mouth, the shook her head. "No, no, all's..." She'd been about to say well, but caught herself. All was obviously not well. "... There's no sign of sickness spreading."

Her fur deflated with a sigh, nearly the same color as her friend's in the shadows and moonlight; her crystal blue eyes dulled as if skimmed by ice. Tired, she was so tired. Lakeripple looked exhausted too. Another piece of ice burrowed its way through her belly as she glanced over the condition of the she-cat. What had happened to them?

What have they done to us?

A sudden surge of hot shame and anger at FireClan brushed away the cold for a moment, cracking the ice. FireClan had changed, horribly beyond anything Dawnflight could ever imagine, and now they were ruining the home she'd adopted and the cats she loved as her own family...

Was that why StarClan refused to speak to her? As punishment? The spark that had flared in her eyes died; she only managed a weak smile at Lakeripple. "All asleep except us. Seems like we're always taking the midnight shift, huh?"

[~*Pikeru]

OOC: Want me to join? I have a temp. Starclanner...who happens to be Foxcloud's daddy xD I won't do much for a little bit if you two wanna talk for a while. ^^

[lakeripple]

OOC: Go right ahead Pik!

Anger at how the medicine cat could not say that all was well flashed across Lakeripple's face. They both looked so tired... What a burden it was, helping to lead a Clan. She could only guess was Froststar was feeling. Of course everything had to go wrong when it was so cold...

"Yes, we seem to be doing that a lot lately." It was true, both cats had often been awake at this time, leaving their nests cold and hard. She blinked at Dawnflight. "Have you seen my oldest daughter? She's your apprentice, so she should be around..." Lakeripple winced. "It's not like Cherrypaw to not help."

[Glyph]

OOC: Yeah, jump in whenever you like.

IC: Dawnflight's ears twitched, her eyes clouding as she shook her head softly.

"I'm sorry." The white cat said quietly, apologetically. She wished she didn't have to add more to Lakeripple's sadness, but the truth of the matter was that she didn't know where her apprentice had gone. "I haven't seen Cherrypaw in quite a while." The Medicine Cat's whole frame seemed to droop; perhaps it was her fault. Maybe she should have kept a better eye on her friend's daughter...

"I'm sure she's fine." Dawnflight added quickly, internally cringing even as she spoke. What was she saying? Those words were empty--anything, anything at all could happen in present days. What good did she think such meaningless talk would do to soothe a mother's worries?

[lakeripple]

Lakeripple sighed, her whole frame shaking. No one had been eating well recently and she preferred to place the Clan above her own needs. It didn't help that she had five kits to worry about. Not that they were kits anymore...

Staring stubbornly at the ground, Lakeripple thought about what the StarClan cat had said. She was so sure that it was her father, but who was she to know? Was there anyway to know if the cats of her tribe now hunted with StarClan? Moonrise had assured her that they were watching over her and Skywalker, but how could she know? Nothing seemed certain anymore...

"Dawnflight, what happened that made you come to WaterClan? I remember finding you that day. You asked if we needed a medicine cat. It seemed strangely ironic, we had just lost Nightmoon. If you tell me why you came here... maybe I'll feel safe enough to talk about my own story. StarClan knows I need to." Lakeripple glanced up at her friend, curiousity in her eyes.

[Glyph]

Dawnflight's gaze faltered, surprise flickering in her eyes only to be doused by weariness. Why should that question bother her? It wasn't like she hadn't seen it coming--it had been in sight ever since she'd set paw in WaterClan, moons ago. If anything, the Medicine Cat was surprised that it hadn't come sooner.

The white she-cat blinked, slowly, biting back a shiver she couldn't entirely blame on the cold. Lakeripple was one of her closest friends. She was the cat who'd given Dawnflight back her purpose; she deserved the truth, as reluctant as it would come.
But what would she do when she found out she'd opened her home to the kin of the ones that were causing her so much pain?

"I came to WaterClan for one reason," Dawnflight finally opened her eyes, steeling herself to look at Lakeripple. All of the sudden, the she-cat looked exhausted, nothing like her normal self. "I had nowhere else to go..." She swallowed painfully, "My family thought me long gone, probably dead... They'd moved on with their lives, and I couldn't just reappear and have things go back to the way they were..."

She stopped abruptly, and laughed, hollowly. "Sorry. I'm not making much sense, am I?"

OOC: Sorry for the wait! >.>

[lakeripple]

Lakeripple shook her head slightly. "No, not really. But what you are saying... sounds familiar. In a way that's deeply sentimental. You really don't have to tell me if you don't want to but, out of my family, you are one of the only cats I actually trust. Nothing's going to change that Dawnflower." Blinking reassuringly at her friend, Lakeripple thought of her own story. Her mate knew, her kits knew, her leader knew some of it... Her brother knew, his mate knew, their kits and relatives knew... But a friend? That was knew territory. As an apprentice Eagletalon had been her best friend, and he was now family. Things were complicated sometimes.

[Glyph]

Lakeripple's words gave Dawnflight great pause, and she stared at her friend in plain surprise. Did Lakeripple truly hold her in such high regard? And not just because she was the Medicine Cat, but a friend? What could she have possibly done to earn that honor?
And she did feel honored. There were so many cats they couldn't trust, and so much pain and bleakness had hardened them all, she knew... Dawnflight's heart positively ached.

"You're my closest friend, Lakeripple." The she-cat began after a ponderous silence. Her whiskers trembled, but she managed a small smile when she looked at the WaterClan deputy. "You gave me a home and a family... a new life... The least you deserve is to know the truth about who you've put your trust in..." Blue eyes grew glassy and distant, her gaze averted, lost in memory.

"Lakeripple," Pain and shame stretched her voice thin, so that her words were barely above a whisper, "before I showed up on your doorstep, I was from FireClan."

[lakeripple]

Lakeripple stared at Dawnflight for a moment. This was her big secret? In truth? She couldn't believe that the medicine cat would consider her a prejudiced stereotypical cat, could she? No, she knew that Dawnflight did not think that. But she could understand why her friend was so full of shame after all that was happening right now.

She smiled slightly. "I don't blame FireClan for this Dawnflight. Only one cat. You know who it is... I won't ask why you were cast out by your family as I feel that might be to close to home, but I just want you to know that I don't care where you come from. At least you have always known your past."

Looking back up at the sky, Lakeripple thought sadly upon how ignorant she had used to be. Ignorant and... happy. Fully, completely, blissfully happy. It made her heart ache to think of it. "I'm not from the Clans Dawnflight. I thought I was. I thought I was the daughter of a WaterClan she-cat and a LightningClan tom. But I'm not. I'm from a tribe near the sea that died after a huge flood."

[Glyph]

Dawnflight bowed her head. Of course Lakeripple wouldn't condemn her for her past. But others? Her arrival in WaterClan hadn't been welcomed by all, and the knowledge that she'd been born to the Clan that had instigated this trouble wouldn't be received by all with sheathed claws.

"It disgusts me, Lakeripple," the white cat murmured softly, eyes hardening, "The idea that I might share kin with that monster makes me so ashamed." The normally placid Medicine Cat stared into the distance so fiercely that for a moment her vision blurred. Her amber-flecked back burned in the moonlight, as if studded with glowing embers. "It's unforgivable, even if I've been forgotten."

For a long moment, the she-cat seemed frozen. Then, as Lakeripple continued, the anger in her eyes was slowly replaced by deep, liquid blue. Her ears perked, whiskers twitching in surprise. "The sea?" Her voice was hardly a whisper, and she followed her friend's gaze toward the sky. Had it been StarClan the deputy had been calling to earlier? Or something else?
When she next spoke, her words were even quieter than before, hesitant, "If... if it's painful, then, please, don't answer, but... When did you realize...?"

[lakeripple]

That day? Lakeripple hadn't expected Dawnflight to ask about THAT day first. But of course, it would be a normal thing. She had said that she hadn't known, wouldn't somebody ask when she found out? Yes, of course. Naturally.

"I was a young warrior with three kits and a mate. I wasn't deputy yet but the old deputy was sick with the greencough that would kill him and Froststar was sick as well. I was filling in at the gathering. There was a cat, a black cat with only the slightest hint of white on his chest. He was staring at me and Eagletalon was getting really angry... After the gathering, this cat stopped me. 'Raincatcher?' he said, and it just came back." Smiling slightly, Lakeripple looked down. "My brother, Skywalker. His mate is the leader of a band out in the High Hills. His son got stolen by Foxcloud and they are going to be fighting with EarthClan and SkyClan. Just another worry."

[Glyph]

Dawnflight listened, and as Lakeripple spoke, the she-cat's eyes widened, first in surprise, then horror. "Then that means... Lakeripple..."

The white she-cat gazed at the deputy despairingly. If her brother was fighting alongside EarthClan and SkyClan, then there was little chance they wouldn't meet if a battle broke out. In fact, Lakeripple might end up facing him herself... Doubtless, the she-cat had thought of this already.

"I'm so sorry." Was all she could think of to say, voice mournful, filled with regret. Her chin tucked, her expression saddening. A deep remorse was building in her chest, clenching her heart. What if she'd stayed? What if she'd returned home and took her place as Medicine Cat when she'd had the chance? Would things have turned out differently? Could they have turned out differently?

"No one should be put through that." Dawnflight said softly. Stars twinkled above her, making her fur prickle, but she did not look up.

[lakeripple]

Lakeripple smiled slightly. "Don't be. If he is there I would not fight him. I could never bring myself to fight him. I will stay clear of the entire HHB. They are like my second family. And this is how I repay them!"

Taking in a shuddering breath, Lakeripple stared at the ground. Yes, yes, yes... She was a terrible sister to be sure. Her brother had a much worse childhood than she did and here she was, feeling sorry for herself. What a terrible sister.

[Glyph]

Dawnflight watched her tortured friend with admiration in her eyes. She touched her tail gently to Lakeripple's flank, tilted her head sadly. "I wish I had as much resolve... as much strength as you do."

The sky drew her gaze again; she watched the stars soberly. What she'd really wanted to say was that she wished she felt as strongly about her kin as Lakeripple did about hers... Enough to break Warrior Code for them, if the need arose. But she didn't. FireClan was not as it used to be. Perhaps it was only one cat, but one cat had managed to change her birthclan into something the former FireClan she-cat couldn't recognize anymore. Maybe it was one cat, but one cat was all it took... And of course, being the deputy with the leader's blessing--stupidity?--the rest of the Clan would naturally follow suit.

"Do you think," she asked suddenly, voice quiet, "that if I'd stayed, I could've done something about this? Or would I have gone along with it blindly, like the rest of them?"

[lakeripple]

Looking back up at the sky, the deputy sighed. Everything was so different from when she was a kit. But that's what happens. Things change, and not always for the better. Her job was to get it back on track, and what was she doing? Keeping it going down the wrong path! It was so Lakeripple, to afraid for herself to do what was right. It was just so typical. She didn't deserve the deputyship anymore than Foxcloud did.

"I don't know Dawnflight. I'm sure that there are cats that have been trying to stop this. But how long could you go against your leader and deputy before you just give up?" Lakeripple glanced at Dawnflight, her blue-green eyes sparkling with the question. It was one she could answer in a heartbeat. She wouldn't be able to go against her leader for long. Lakeripple just wasn't strong enough.

"Those cats still in FireClan have a hard road ahead of them. WaterClan has a hard road ahead of us. But we just gotta keep going and hope for a miracle." She looked back up at the stars, and thought about what StarClan had told her. "StarClan says that they have sent a cat to help us. They told me to find her. And that's what we'll do, hmm?" Lakeripple looked at her friend affectionately, hoping that what she said made more sense to the medicine cat then it did to herself.

[Glyph]

Dawnflight sighed. She knew how she wanted to answer, but the truth was, she had no idea how long she'd have been able to stand up to either. Her ears had started to droop, but they perked suddenly.

"A she-cat will help us?" Dawnflight echoed thoughtfully, gazing up at her ancestors. A renewed light shone in her eyes; she smiled, muzzle quirking. She met Lakeripple with a tentative grin, turning over this new information in her head. "Of course."

[lakeripple]

Worried, Lakeripple watched as Dawnflight started to look sad. She knew what her friend was thinking: that she wouldn't be able to stand up against her leader or deputy even if what they were doing was wrong. But then Dawnflight perked up again, and Lakeripple smiled. Yes, they would find the cat who would help them.

"StarClan will guide us." Lakeripple looked up at the stars, searching for a familiar light, for a glimpse of a well known muzzle, but as usual, the stars revealed nothing. She wasn't a medicine cat, it wasn't her place to see her ancestors. Just hearing them was a miracle in itself. "They will help us make WaterClan great again." She took a deep breath, steadying herself. "We'll pull through Dawnflight."