Chapter 32

The first thing Fang became aware of was the warm grass underneath his paws. He relished the gentle blades which flicked against his fur in the breeze. He inhaled, scenting the warm, sweet smell of lavender and marigold.

Above him, he could hear the gentle rustling of trees. The sun made his pelt feel pleasantly hot and warm. After days of the bleak, desolate snowy landscape, Fang was glad to be-

Where am I?

With a jolt of unease, Fang wrenched open his eyes. He was sitting in a field of grass, with pine trees rustling above him. It was newleaf, and the tantalising scent of prey wreathed around him.

"This is where you lived, huh?"

Fang still felt too groggy to turn towards the voice which had just sounded behind him. At once, he felt an overwhelming wave of grief. His paws shook as he tried to get up.

"Thornshade... is that you?"

He felt warm breath ruffle the fur along his spine. Turning, Fang came face to face with a brown tabby. Unlike how Thornshade had appeared in his final moments, his pelt was thick and sleek. His wings were majestic and shining, though nothing glowed more than his glistening amber eyes.

"You shouldn't have-" Fang's voice cut off with a choking gasp.

Thornshade whisked his tail across Fang's shoulder. There was nothing but warmth in the gesture.

"It's okay," he meowed reassuringly. "I never needed to be some famous hero anyway," he laughed lightly, but pain showed in his eyes. "I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Being with you, those moments made me happier than ever. I would have rathered a moon together than a lifetime in the shadows of CoalClan."

"But you died."

Thornshade didn't respond for a long time. Fang glanced at his friend's pelt, admiring Thornshade's determination, courage and selflessness. Without him, Fang would never have gotten as far as he had in his journey.

"It wasn't bad," Thornshade said at last. "My journey here, I mean. The hardest part was leaving the rest of you guys behind... knowing what could have been."

Fang leaned against him. "I'm going to miss them too," he whispered. "But I'm glad Thistleheart is gone."

Fang glanced down at his pelt, expecting to see stars. His heart seemed to leap in his throat when he saw none. His pelt looked half-faded, with some parts barely within view. Thornshade meowed something about Thistleheart being gone for good, but Fang could only feel fear.

"I'm fading... It's my connection with Thistleheart isn't it?" Thornshade opened his jaws, but Fang could see that the brown tabby was nodding. "I'm going to the Dark Forest, aren't I?"

A new voice, coarse and gravelly like ancient stone, broke into the conversation.

"Your connection was undeniable, but the Dark Forest? StarClan, no."

Fang turned to see a wizened old she-cat padding towards him. She was hardly visible, as though she could be carried away in the breeze. Behind her was a vast sea of starry warriors, far more cats than Thistleheart had ever commanded.

He felt his jaw open and close in pure astonishment as he realised that all the StarClan cats' gazes were on him. But why? I'm just some little, weird rogue...

"You still doubt yourself," the she-cat murmured.

It wasn't a question, yet Fang couldn't help but answer it.

"Yes! Thistleheart was my problem, yet I hardly managed to stop her. She nearly had control of all the cats. I would never have made it this far if it weren't for my friends-"

"That is why you should not," the she-cat interrupted, voice faint yet somehow immensely powerful. "You have many friends, young one. You have inspired countless cats, warriors and rogues alike. You may never be the strongest fighter, or have the fiercest tongue, but your compassion and loyalty have carried you this far. That is why you are here."

Fang paused. He stared into the she-cat's eyes, and in that moment, his entire life seemed to fly before his eyes.

He was sitting in a tiny, dank cave, shivering with cold. He was curled up beside Claw and Haze. It was the night after Claw's mother had died.

"Nightshade and Robin may be the fierce cats who hunt the bestest," Claw whispered. "But you are what truly hold our unit together, Fang."

He hadn't believed her then, nor when Claw and Haze had said similar things as the moons passed. He had simply been himself, and offered his whole heart in everything he did. He had had a family, and it had never occurred to him that he had bound those cats together in any way.

The memory shifted.

He was staring into the round eyes of a large, fluffy ginger tabby. She looked scared, and gently he had asked her, "are you okay?"

He remembered how terrified Aspenpaw had been when they first met. He had been petrified too, and it had taken all of his courage to offer, "you could stay here for the night, if you like..."

He had thought that no cat, not even this DawnClan apprentice, should be as alone and afraid as he was. He had understood what it felt like to be an outsider. It had helped him to understand how best to support his friends when they felt alone too.

The memories seemed to shift and flow around him. The gathering, where he had first met his father, and made a lifelong friend in Aspenpaw, while losing one in Claw.... His guilt and anger at not being strong enough... Learning more about Thistleheart and DawnClan when he was captured... Losing Nightshade... Meeting a cat unlike any other named Thornshade... The harrowing journey in the mountains... Finally standing up to Thistleheart...

The last memory in the ancient warrior's eyes was not entirely his own.

Fang was suddenly in the minds of other cats, his friends and all the cats he had ever known. He was staring back at himself, listening to what they thought of him.

There were definitely several who called him weak. A few thought he was undersized, or sensitive, or weird. But the ones of the cats he cared about made him forget about what the Midnights, who had scarcely known him, thought of him.

Brackenflight looked at him and saw someone she could trust. Haze looked at him and saw a protector. Aspenpaw looked at him, and saw a good friend.

The last one came from Thornshade, and it meant more to Fang than any other word or phrase that a cat had said to him in his life...

Because Thornshade looked at him, with all his flaws and shortcomings, and saw a cat that he loved.

When the memories were finished, Fang found himself back in the starlit glade. The she-cat was still staring at him, with ancient, piercing yet gentle eyes, who had seen countless lifetimes fly by.

"Do you still doubt?" she asked. "Whether you are good enough to be among us?"

Fang didn't respond, but felt lighter than air itself. He felt as though he was rising beyond the stars. He realised that his tail was entwined with Thornshade's. He leaned against the brown tabby, inhaling his familiar scent.

"I love you too," he whispered, and he realised that he meant it.

He would have loved to spend his entire life with Thornshade at his side, growing old in comfort and peace. His heart seemed to break in two as he wondered whether they would be pulled apart, never getting the chance to learn enough about one another to consider becoming mates.

"Really?" Thornshade asked.

Fang nodded. "I just wish things had been different... Thistheart hadn't..."

He turned to the fading she-cat, suddenly feeling ill at ease.

"She is gone, right?"

"Yes," the ancient warrior confirmed. "Thistleheart has gone to a place where she will never be able to harm anycat ever again." Her ears suddenly perked up. "Look at that, our final visitor has arrived."

Fang turned just in time to see Aspenpaw stagger towards him. Her pelt was pale and ghostly similar to his own, and it looked like she had only just arrived in StarClan's grounds. Relief swamped her vision, and she raced up to him.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Where are we?"

"StarClan," Fang whispered.

Shock and awe penetrated Aspenpaw's fatigued gaze. She turned towards the vast crowd of StarClan cats. Fang noticed how her features seemed to light up with excitement. Then, a similar unease to what he had been feeling made her tail droop.

"Are we..."

"Dead?" The cat prompted. "Not quite."

Aspenpaw seemed to jump out of her pelt, as though she had not realised that the spirit cat was there. She turned to face Fang, who gave her a slight shrug.

"Who are you?" Aspenpaw demanded.

The spirit cat seemed to consider her answer. "My true name has been lost to the dust of time," she replied. "Some call me the First Cat, others StarClan itself, but the name that I have most come to be known as is Great Mother, the founder of the mountain clans."

Awe shimmered in Aspenpaw's green gaze, and she tentatively dipped her head towards Great Mother. Fang felt himself doing the same. This cat has seen so much... She must know so much...

"What is happening, then?" Aspenpaw asked tentatively.

Great Mother looked between Aspenpaw and Fang with a compassionate gaze. "A part of each of you has indeed died," she meowed. Now addressing Aspenpaw, she said, "for you, it is your power. Your connection to the shadows is no longer a part of you." Then, she turned to Fang. "You, young one, perhaps would be dead right now, if not for your former connection to Thistleheart. When you fell, you became so close to complete death that your connection was broken..."

She hesitated. "Alongside other, more physical things."

Fang felt relief at the news that Aspenpaw was still alive. He had been astonished to see her in StarClan, and was grateful it was only temporary. He had scarcely processed Great Mother's second remark such that he was confused when Aspenpaw piped up.

"Great Mother... what do you mean by something physical being broken in Fang?"

"When Fang fell, he landed partly on his side. It seemed his left hind leg will never be able to move again, as well as his tail. There are other technicalities too. It will require great strength for him to return to the living..."

What? Fang glanced down at his back foreleg in astonishment. They had always... been there. He had worried about many things in his life, but losing them had never been in his mind at all. Yet, he knew that if he returned, the loss of Thornshade would cut even deeper than a physical wound.

"It's fine..." he managed out. "Does that really mean we have the chance to go back?"

Great Mother nodded solemnly, and the cats around StarClan seemed to shift and move in excitement. There was something else going on, something that Fang didn't quite yet understand.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to hide his growing worry.

Great Mother turned to him, but when she spoke, it was not only her own ancient, weathered voice, but that of the whole of StarClan. "If you choose to go back, you will undertake a great mission. You are to build a new clan, one that rests at the centre of the rest of the clans."

Aspenpaw's eyes widened. "Make a clan?!" she whispered. "That's possible?"

Great Mother's wizened face crinkled faintly into a smile as she stared at Aspenpaw. "Indeed it is. Seasons ago, that is what I did myself..."

Fang exchanged an astonished glance with Aspenpaw. He had never thought much about his life after Thistleheart, but this was an immense undertaking. The StarClan fields seemed to call out to him, urging him to join their ranks rather than fight his way back to the living.

And I'd be with Thornshade...

"How would we do it?" Aspenpaw asked. "Where would it be? Why us? Who would join it? Who would be leader?!"

"You will find out," Great Mother meowed. "Follow your heart, young warrior."

Great Mother and the rest of StarClan seemed to be growing dim. Their pelts began to grow hazy, until all that was left of them was stars, even those seemed to fade. Then, all of StarClan disappeared before Fang's eyes, and he was consumed by light.

"Fang!"

Fang whirled about, nearly knocking into Thornshade's brown tabby pelt. All three of them were settled on a ridge. As Fang looked down, he could see a vast landscape. It was as though he was a bird, rising above all of the world. The mountains looked like little dots.

As Fang narrowed his eyes, he found that he could focus on the mountains. Little shapes which were likely cats, were visible in the distance. Further on, he could see a land dotted with leafy green trees, vast bodies of water, and yellow sandy beaches. There were many cats there too. Fang knew at once that it was the clans Wolfshade and his journeying cats had come from.

Further on, Fang saw his own home, where DawnClan, CreekClan and ValleyClan rested.

"It's so... big," Aspenpaw murmured.

Fang nodded in agreement. He couldn't help but stare in awe at the sight of all the territories, stretching far off into the distance.

"Great Mother said the answers would be found in our hearts," Aspenpaw meowed softly. "And I think I understand."

"But who will be your leader?" Thornshade asked. "You'd need a cat who would be logical, willing to make hard decisions, and strong enough to fight off trouble, yet also capable of travelling vast distances to commune with the other clans."

Aspenpaw whisked her tail.

"And one cat among us is certainly very good at those things."

Fang turned to Thornshade. The brown tabby was looking around with a quizzical expression. At last, he meowed.

"Alright, Aspenpaw, you've lost me. What legendary cat, a living version of Great Mother, can you see?"

Aspenpaw rolled her eyes. "Okay, listen," she said. "This new clan isn't going to be like the rest of the clans. If Great Mother wants Fang and I to create it, then she evidently isn't looking for a new DawnClan. The leader of the clan doesn't exactly have to be a natural leader, if you know what I mean."

Thornshade stared at her in complete bewilderment. "Me?" he repeated. "I am dead, Aspenpaw."

"Half-dead according to Thistleheart," Fang said quietly.

"Almost in StarClan," Thornshade repeated. He turned to Aspenpaw. "Look at me," he murmured. "What leadership qualities do you see? I am young, a former member of CoalClan, a killer, and an outcast in every way imaginable. If you want a leader who can lead this clan to success, why not look at Fang, or yourself?"

"You led us into the mountains," Aspenpaw said defiantly, lifting her chin. "You've traveled all over, and know how to survive. Even Duskwood, former leader of ShadowClan, followed your judgement. And maybe you're right that you're not a leader yet, but Great Mother told me to follow your heart, and I see potential in you, Thornshade."

Fang stared at Aspenpaw. Part of him had expected her to want to take charge of this clan.

"We can find a deputy," Fang meowed gently. "One that will guide you and help you take the final steps in becoming a leader." He gazed at Thornshade beseechingly. "Please, we need you." I need you.

Thornshade ruffled his wings slightly.

"There is a cat," he meowed at last. "That I think would make a good deputy. She's a ginger tabby, and was one of the cats who almost managed to fight off Thistleheart's control. She taked to me when her head was clear, and her words never ceased to inspire me. Her name is Lightsong."

Lightsong! Fang turned to Aspenpaw, and saw astonishment reflected in her own green eyes.

"I never realised she was still alive..."

Fang flicked his tail across her pelt. "We saw a lot of cats," he meowed. "It would have been easy to miss one of them."

An idea was forming in his head, and quickly, he added.

"We could take in all the cats without a clan. I'm sure Frost and Haze would like to join, Frost might even be a healer cat."

Fang remembered that Thornshade had remained largely silent throughout their conversation. All of this, Fang realised, hinged on what the brown tabby wanted. If Thornshade desired peace for once in his life, Fang wouldn't blame him. But he knew that Thornshade was a special cat, one that could lead this new clan to success.

"What about you, Thornshade? Will you learn to become a clan leader?"

Fang realiesd that nine cats were making their way towards them, coming from the spirit world's bright blue glowing lands. There were four he didn't know, but the rest of them... Guilt ran through him when he saw all the cats he had lost.

Duskstar, Sparrowtalon, Robin, Nightshade, Blazestar.

"I am ready," Thornshade meowed. "If they will have me."

Blazestar padded forward first. He nodded to Thornshade.

"We accept you." Then, he added, in typical Blazestar fashion, "Though you have a lot of work if you want to be among the legends of clan leaders, like Duskstar and me. These lives will help."

Fang watched as his father touched noses with Thornshade. "With this life... I give you compassion..."

Each life flowed seamlessly into the next. Fang watched Thornshade take all the agonising lives with a quiet sort of confidence. Finally, the last warrior padded forward, an ancient winged tom, who called himself Falconstar, founder of FalconClan, gave him a life for love, and turned away.

"We hail you by your new name," Blazestar lifted his voice to a yowl. "THORNSTAR!"

Sudden joy flowed through Fang's pelt as he stared at the new clan leader. Thornstar looked strong and determined as he stared at the crowd of StarClan and spirit cats alive, now all yowling his new name.

Fang knew that it wasn't going to be perfect right away, and that Thornstar would need time to learn how to be a true clan leader, but in that moment, he felt nothing at joy.

"Thornstar!" Aspenpaw cheered. "Thornstar!"

Fang lifted his voice beside hers, and let out a tremendous yowl. "Thornstar!"

We defeated Thistleheart, he thought. We fought, and won, against all odds. Everything is going to be alright.

Fang watched as the crowd of StarClan cats began to fade once more. A few moments later, it was just the three of them once more, standing above all the clan territories. Fang pressed his muzzle into Thornstar.

"Congratulations," he murmured.

Aspenpaw wound around them, tail held high.

"We did it, Fang. We really did it. Thistleheart is gone, and the four of us managed to live. Now, we can fight to bring unity to all the clans.."

She was right, Fang realised. They truly had done it. He knew that it would be a long journey ahead, but he knew now that nothing was impossible so long as he had all his friends- no, my family- at his side.

With them at his side, Fang knew that nothing was impossible. He had never had to become a fierce warrior to do it. All he had had to do was be himself, and open his whole heart to his friends.

Fang stared down at his paws, and realised that they were fading. Aspenpaw's pelt and Thornstar's were also fading from view. He leaned into the three of them, and they did the same. The warmth of their fur brushing against his own made Fang feel loved.

I never needed to be a battler to save the clans. All I needed was to fight with my friends at my side.

That is what it truly means to be a warrior.