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[Broadwaykat]

Despite the stress of the past few days, Shadowfall felt comfort in the fact that he could always recede into sleep to rest his aching bones. His dreams would take him away from the smell of burnt flesh, and the stink of rat bile. He could shake off the sticky feeling of cobwebs that clung to his fur, and relax in a world of his own making.

More often than not, those dreams included his old life - his familiar territory. Now, especially that they had been however momentarily driven from their new camp, he pictured the stony outcroppings of home. And there, to welcome him home, was Vine.

His dream-body closed his eyes in bliss as his mate lapped her tongue between his eyes and down between his shoulder blades - that truth be told were aching a bit more than lately. It was one thing taking care of one clan - but seeing as Rootclan, Mistclan and Mothclan were all sharing the same area, his work was tripled. Even with the help of the other Medicine Cats, and their respective apprentices, it was stressful. He grunted in delight, as he leaned up against his former mate's side.

"Shadow...My Shadow, I need you to open your eyes...I need you to listen to me now..."

There was an urgent tone to Vine's voice that caused him to open his eyes, taking in a difference about her appearance that he failed to put his paw on at first. Her golden pelt seemed to almost glow from within. It had always been sleek and shimmery. But it seemed as if light came from within her now. Small points around her body, collecting at the corners of her body, alighting on her tail, her eyes, her ears - alighting like fireflies. She was so beautiful, but for the first time, she was more insubstantial than he remember. This wasn't a memory of his mate; she was standing before him, reaching across the heavens.

"Shadow...Shadowfall how I wish we could lift then burden from your shoulders. To bring you the peace all the clans in this camp so desperately deserve." Her voice had taken on an echoy quality as the rest of their former camp faded away, to be replaced with a simulacra of Mistclan's camp - where his own body rested at his own paws. It was...disconcerting. 

"We'll...We'll get through it eventually." He said his voice gruff and dripping with the exhaustion that had permeated his working hours for the last few days. "The fires in Mothclan are being watched - it'll rain soon, and what's smoldering is put out. And perhaps a good shower'll drive out the rest of the rats, and -"

"It is not only those problems you must face within the coming moons, My Shadow." She interrupted her, a sad, worried expression crossing her muzzle. "It was only the beginning of a flood that will overtake the clans who rest beneath the same roof. I'm afraid that...that Mistclan's kindness will not be repaid in kind just yet..."

 "Flood?!" Shadowfall's voice rose in panic at that moment, as his eyes darted towards the waterfall, as if he suddenly expected the torrent of water to reroute itself by some massive ungodly force and wash them all away. But the water pounded downwards as always. 

"The clans have faced a flood of fire. A flood of fur. But both combined have brought about a flood of death." Vine whispered in the quietest of voices. Shadowfall felt the fur along his back rise slightly as for the first time, he could make out...something. 

It wasn't quite as substantial as fog, or smoke - it was thinner, oilier - with no particular color to it. Here and there, it was a sickly green, a shimmering purple, inky black like bits of the night sky made manifest on the ground. And a deep, blood red. It settled across the camp, touching across the backs of other sleeping cats, touching here and there. On some, it settled, and to his horror, he saw wounds he had worked to heal reopen - fur parting, sores and scabs erupting from previously pristine skin. And from some, the shadowy forms of cats - not glittering like his mate's body, nor half-substantial as his own - parting from their solid counterparts.

Or trying too.

In front of his eyes, those cat's spirits seemed to be stuck by the blanket of not-fog - they began flailing against it, desperate to get free - writhing while the solid bodies beneath them remained eerily, painfully still. His ears buzzed with a swell of noise - a keening, screeching death knoll - until it blocked out all other sound from his ears. 

"The clans are in danger, Shadow. Though most importantly, to those that find shelter beyond the thundering waters. And if you fail to put aside your pride, to combine as one for the sake of four; then none will survive to see the snows of leaf-bare."

---

Shadowfall woke with a gasp - his claws out and accidentally shredding the bedding of his unfamiliar nest. He kicked out, sitting up too quickly and nearly cracking his head against a solid wall that wasn't there in his own den. But he wasn't in his own den; he was shoved into the highly cramped space that was Daisypetal's Den. He couldn't catch his breath for several, painful moments. Before he could settle his pounding heart, and noticed - he wasn't the only one awake.

He turned his haunted gaze towards Mistclan's own Medicine cat, trying to discover if he had a hint of clue to what he had just seen, but not trusting himself to actually put it into words just yet. 


gingersnapsdacat

[gingersnapsdacat]

    Daisypetals nodded, confirming Shadowfall's suspicions. He received the prophecy too. He had seen some of the dream...but it was like a fog had been covering it. No...it was not a fog between him and Shadowfall..the fog had been everywhere! And all around him, cats had been struggling to escape. And there was a voice that cut through the chaos, speaking directly to him and Shadowfall. 
    "The clans are in danger, Shadow. Though most importantly, to those that find shelter beyond the thundering waters. And if you fail to put aside your pride, to combine as one for the sake of four; then none will survive to see the snows of leaf-bare."
    Daisypetals did not know what it had meant, but he could only guess it was something bad. Those that find shelter beyond the thundering waters could be speaking about MistClan. Their home was in the cave beyond a thundering waterfall. But then again, RootClan and MothClan were taking shelter here too... So did it mean all three clans were in danger? Or, on second thought, it could mean beyond the waterfall as in IvyClan, as they were the ones who were not in the cave right now...There was just too much to make sense of. 
    "So...what was that all about?" he asked, hoping that Shadowfall had more insight than he did. 

[Broadwaykat]

Frankly, Shadowfall was shaken. To have gone from a dream about his former mate - something not exactly rare for him - to what was a warning of death and destruction. Not just a horrible nightmare, but an apparent promise of things to come. It shook him to the core, and he felt as if it was rising to his heart and ready consume every little bit of common sense that he could. 

And apparently he had not been the only one. Daisypetals was awake too; and apparently he had seen something similar. While of course, he had been focused on his own vision, apparently he had the same outlook. Now, what was worrisome as the message was, well...had he seen what he had? What was his interpretation of it?

"It...it means trouble." He finally said, unable to meet Daisypetals' face at the moment, chest still heaving as he tried to catch his breath. "Whatever it is - surely you see that too. That's the only thing it could mean."

Part of him was also embarrassed - had he seen Vine? Had he recognized what she meant to him - or was there even special meaning that a cat who had not lived to see the formation of Rootclan. 

"But what are we supposed to do with it is the next question. We have three clans, not one, right now, in here - does it mean something for all of us, or just...." He shook his head, squinting his eyes against a steady pain that was beginning to rise between his brows. 

"We need to figure out what it is, what it really means - before we bring it anywhere else, don't we? Before that we're just...needlessly panicking cats who've already been through so much."

[gingersnapsdacat]

    The MistClan medicine cat tried to study Shadowfall's face, hoping to catch some glimpse of understanding in his downcast features. The cat had been speaking mostly to him, so surely he would get more of the meaning. 
    "It...it means trouble."
    Daisypetals offered a small nod of agreement. Yes, any cat could have seen that the prophecy was not one of good tidings. But what sort of trouble was it? Daisypetals suspected that Shadowfall was asking himself the very same questions. 
    "But what are we supposed to do with it is the next question. We have three clans, not one, right now, in here - does it mean something for all of us, or just...."
    Even though Daisypetals's mind was focused on the prophecy, his healers instincts told him that Shadowfall needed something to calm his nerves. It would probably do both of them a world of good. Daisypetals slowly stood, turning to pick up a small sprig of chamomile. Tearing of a small flower for himself, the tom gently pawed the remaining herb over towards Shadowfall. 
    "There must be a reason that the two of us received it. Well, maybe Lilydawn or Finchtuft did too...we can ask them at the next gathering. But it seemed like it was for us."
    Really, the cat in his dream seemed to speak more to Shadowfall than to anyone else. But for some reason, Daisypetals had been allowed to see the dream as well, so surely that meant something. 
    "We need to figure out what it is, what it really means - before we bring it anywhere else, don't we? Before that we're just...needlessly panicking cats who've already been through so much."
    The fluffy tom gave a small nod, confirming what Shadowfall had said. There was no point in making the rest of the clan...clans?...cats...nervous. At least, not until they knew what they were nervous about. He knew very well that being nervous of something you did not know was the worst feeling. But as for the two of them, it was time for some serious thinking. 
    "The cats you saw, were they...important in any way? Were they your old clanmates?"
    It was a shaky start, but it was better than nothing. 

[Broadwaykat]

For all the use he had gotten to being a Medicine Cat, Shadowfall still missed on some of the finer things. The little hints of emotional distress. He rarely recognized it in himself, so why could he diagnose it in others. Unlike Daisypetals, who seemed to realize his frazzled nerves and slightly heaving chest might be symptoms that could be treated, and wordlessly passed over a bit of herb from their own stores, allowing him to take a good wiff of the plant that immediately eased a knot of tension clogging his chest.



"One of them was - is - was..." He stumbled over his words as if he didn't know exactly how to form them on his tongue, truth being he didn't exactly feel like sharing what his connection was with a cat who - while he seemed like a good sport and by far the firmest - if you could call it friend - he had amongst the clan cats and Medicine Cats regardless. "I wasn't...it doesn't matter; only that they've been gone a long time." And yet sometimes it felt like yesterday, and sometimes it felt like his coat was still warmed by hers, that he could still smell her scent on the wind, still taste her blood on his tongue, drying sticky on his paws.



"Let's just say that the solitary life of a Heal- Medicine Cat was not one that I thought I'd be walking in my youth and leave it at that." He finally admitted, not meeting the other tom's eyes and the tone hinting at a firmness that clearly showed his desire to drop the line of questioning as to whom the starry she-cat of his dreams was. He had no idea that Daisypetals - a rounded, softer personable fellow, especially in comparison to his gaunt, battle-scarred physique - may have understood exactly what it was like to have a barrier placed between duty and family.



"Besides which, it's the message that's important, not the barer - I'm not sure about you but I could practically smell the suffering in that dream - whatever brings it about we can't just sit her and let it start to come to pass."

[gingersnapsdacat]

    Daisypetals listened closely to his fellow medicine cat, sensing that whomever this cat was to him, it was not just another clanmate. Even just the way they looked at one another, what little Daisypetals had been able to see, spoke of some sort of deep history.
    "Let's just say that the solitary life of a Heal- Medicine Cat was not one that I thought I'd be walking in my youth and leave it at that."
    Shadowfall may not have known, but Daisypetals was the one medicine cat who could perfectly understand what he meant. He too had never imagined that his life would lead him here. Of course, in his youth he had been a pampered housecat, so he had not really imagined much more than what sort of things he would see in his garden, or what his future kits would look like. But even more than that, Daisypetals could understand what Shadowfall felt about the solitude of being a medicine cat. He knew all too well what sort of barrier there was between a medicine cat and his family. He often wished that his mate, Silvermist, and the kits they had together could have been more prominent in his life.
    But even if Daisypetals could perfectly understand Shadowfall's words, he was not going to force the RootClan medicine cat to talk when he was not ready.
    "Besides which, it's the message that's important, not the barer - I'm not sure about you but I could practically smell the suffering in that dream - whatever brings it about we can't just sit her and let it start to come to pass."
    The soft-furred medicine cat nodded gently. He supposed that Shadowfall was right, that the message was far more important than the one who told it. But now, Daisypetals had to think back of everything he had heard in the dream. Much of it had been fuzzy, as the she-cat had been speaking to Shadowfall before Daisypetals had managed to understand what was happening. He closed his eyes, seeing the horrible wounds of his clanmates.
    "The clans are in danger, Shadow. Though most importantly, to those that find shelter beyond the thundering waters. And if you fail to put aside your pride, to combine as one for the sake of four; then none will survive to see the snows of leaf-bare."
    Daisypetals shivered, recalling the chilling words of Shadowfall’s clanmate. Something was coming, and all of the clans had to stop it together.
    “What if this danger is coming from outside of our world?” He suggested, looking at his fellow medicine cat. “A flood of flame...a flood of fur...a flood of death…. My clan has faced a flood of water. Could it be...connected?”

[Broadwaykat]

The idea of the threat coming from within their very camp rose Shadowfall's fur ever so slightly. There were already triple the amount of casualties there - what could be a disaster for one clan could certainly mark the end of them all if it were to strike at that very moment. But at the same time, he knew what he saw - so he did his best to swallow down the panic that threatened to engulf him as they worked to puzzle out the problem.

"No...I don't think that's quite it. Or that it's that simple. " He rose to his paws and began to pace uneasily, his large frame cramped in smaller quarters to the point it looked much like he was chasing his own tail. "You saw the same as I did - that looked like nothing that I've seen within Rootclan before. Besides - not to be callous, but how could a flood in Mistclan truly affect the cats of Ivyclan? Unless something were to drive them to shelter with us as well."

That would be a disaster within itself - they hardly had enough hunters to feed themselves right now. Another clan may have sent them over the edge.

"No; if it specifically tells us that the clans are to unite or fall, then surely it can't be a premonition that the disaster would be the type to strike us all together. It's something that would pick apart at the individual clans; force us against one another, not bring us apart."