Warriors: A Changed Fate

Chapter 9

Sagepaw opens her eyes to find herself in a beautiful, starry forest. She is confused about where she is, until she hears an unfamiliar voice speak to her from behind.

"Welcome to StarClan, Sagepaw." The voice meows. Sagepaw turns around to find a StarClan cat. She does not recognize the cat at all.

"Wait... am I dead?" Sagepaw asks the cat out of confusion. The StarClan cat purrs from amusement.

"No, silly. You're dreaming." The cat replies. "I have a message for you." He meows.

"Who are you and what is it?" Sagepaw then asks the mysterious StarClan cat.

"I'm Acornfall. I was the medicine cat before Cloudheart." The cat replies. "Sagepaw, you are not destined to be a warrior. It may be what you want, but it's not what you're meant to be." He meows.

"What am I supposed to be then?" Sagepaw asks curiously.

"You're destined to become a medicine cat." Acornfall tells her. Sagepaw's eyes widen in shock.

"Me..? A medicine cat?" Sagepaw replies. Acornfall nods in response.

"So.. I have to stop being a warrior apprentice..?" Sagepaw then asks.

"I think that's obvious, Sagepaw." Acornfall replies with an amused purr. "You ask too many questions." He adds. Sagepaw makes sure she isn't seeing things as she looks behind Acornfall and spots Mousetuft, Marshshade, and Fernpool.

What are they doing here? Sagepaw thinks. Suddenly, Sagepaw jolts awake as she hears loud yowls and wails coming from the warriors' den. She looks around the apprentices' den with wide eyes. She notices that the sound woke up all of the other apprentices as well.

"What was that?" Sagepaw hears as Toadpaw is the first to speak up. Then, the sounds are heard again. They seem to be of pain, sadness, and terror, which leaves Sagepaw very worried.

"I don't know, but it seems terrible. Should we go see what's going on?" Mistypaw asks the other apprentices.

"Yes." Frostpaw replies, getting up out of his nest. "We need to make sure our clanmates are okay." He meows. 

"You're right, Frostpaw." Bearpaw meows, getting up as well. "It sounds like they're in trouble." He says. Then, all of the other apprentices, including Sagepaw, get up out of their nests and peeks out of the apprentices' den together. Sagepaw is filled with complete terror as she spots the warriors gathered outside of the warriors' den, watching as Daisybloom drags Mousetuft's bloody and lifeless body out of the warriors' den. It is still dark outside.

Mousetuft... my mentor... someone killed her. Sagepaw thinks out of fear. She then looks back at her dream. So that's why Mousetuft was in StarClan... but Marshshade and Fernpool were there too. Are they okay? She thinks. Then, right on time, she watches as Ivyleaf drags her own littermate's dead and bloody body out of the warriors' den. Sagepaw looks over at the other apprentices out of fear. She notices that the others are terrified as well. However, Nettlepaw is nowhere to be found.

"Where's Nettlepaw?" Sagepaw asks the others. Then, as if on cue, she hears Nettlepaw wail from inside of the apprentices' den.

Poor Nettlepaw. She lost her mentor as well. However, she seems to be taking it a lot worse than me. Sagepaw thinks.

"Oh, she's in the den." Sagepaw then meows. "Forget my question." She adds.

"I can't watch.." Sagepaw then hears Frostpaw whine, looking over at him as he walks back into the apprentices' den. Then, Sagepaw continues to watch fearfully as Icewhisker drags Fernpool's bloody and lifeless body out of the warriors' den. Sagepaw continues to watch, fearful that there could be more deceased cats, but there are no more. More grieving wails are heard from the cats.

"Whoever did this... will have to face my wrath!" Sagepaw hears Bearpaw meow angrily.

I wonder who did it then.. it seems like it was a cat. Sagepaw thinks. Then, as she continues to look over at the crowd of cats, she notices that Blacktail has a little bit of blood on the back of one of his front paws.

Blacktail... I should've known. Sagepaw thinks. She has always been terrified by the black tom, but now she definitely has a reason to. He must've missed a bit of blood as he cleaned his paw after killing three of his own clanmates. She thinks. Now I have two things to report to Ashstar. She thinks. As she continues to watch the warriors, she notices that some of the warriors are giving Blacktail looks of anger and terror. Looks like I'm not the only one who noticed either. Sagepaw thinks. I will have to chat with Ashstar before any possible exile or vigil though. I need to tell her about my dream before I forget.