Warriors: Sun and Moon - Into the Town

Prologue

  The dark brown tabby tom coughed and coughed, the exhales rattling his now thin body, his once broad shoulders slumped over as he heaved. His amber eyes barely flickered with life.

"Bramblestar," the tortoiseshell meowed, "Would you like me to fetch Jayfeather or his apprentice?"

The son of Tigerstar, long out of the evil's shadow, shook his head. He inhaled deeply and let out a faint purr.  

"There is nothing he can do now, Frogspeckle."  

The she-cat blinked at her leader. She closed her golden eyes a moment and then exhaled slowly.  

"Would you like me to fetch anyone, dear Bramblestar?"  

But the only response was a subtle sigh.  

Her ears pricked. What did that mean? But as she nosed closer, she understood.  

He had joined StarClan.

Frogspeckle stood before StarClan. Cats had been giving her lives, cats she knew and those she had only heard of, and some she had no idea existed.  

"My name is Leopardnose," a chocolate tortoiseshell-tabby with golden eyes meowed, "And I am your grandmother. I was close to my father, Tigerstar, and brother Hawkfrost. But I learned what was right." She glanced over her shoulder at a dark grey tom with blue eyes filled with love for her. Turning back to Frogspeckle, her granddaughter, she meowed, "With this life I give you the ability to tell right from wrong, good from evil."

Their noses touched and a shiver was sent down Frogspeckle's spine, but with it came a confidence and a joy that filled her heart even while knowing what evil lurked.

The loving grey tom took her place, they exchanged a head-butt as they passed, "I am her mate, Rainwhisker and with this life I give you the courage to do whatever you must for your clan, even give your life." 

 Ah yes, Rainwhisker had died saving his son from a falling tree, Frogspeckle recalled the story of her grandfather's heroism. The life was stronger than the former, this one shaking her bones.

Next, a golden brown tabby tom approached her. She recognized him as the deputy before her, Brackenfur. "I give you the gift of wisdom with this life," he meowed. Her head spun with thoughts and her heart beat in time with each passing thought, as though for once they were aligned.  

And finally, Bramblestar approached. She noticed he looked so much younger, so much more prime. He was strong and large, his shoulders did not look frail but swayed and bulged as they should. "And now, with your last life, I give you the ability to see truth. Beyond good and evil, to recognize what is to come and so best prepare and plan and choose decisions."

It was not the roughest life. It was an empowering one, a good one to end one. Better than being on the ground, panting before her ancestors. What a way for a new leader to present herself!

Only, there came an odd shine from somewhere, almost surrounding them. Bramblestar looked over his shoulder and a ginger she-cat with white paw and fluffy tail approached.  

"Ashfur misses you everyday," Frogspeckle meowed dumbly, it was the first thing she could think to say about the elder to his mate.  

Squirrelflight chuckled, "Yes, yes but he won't miss me much longer." She blinked her green eyes and then said, "But do know, that one day a tom of our descent will see the sun and moon rise in unison, only to collide and forever change the clans."

Frogspeckle gasped and shook her head, "But that's impossible, what could that even mean?" But the ancestors did not answer. StarClan was fading.

Frogstar awoke and realized she had not yet even heard her new name.