Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hollyleaf erratically zipped through the trees in a blind panic, escaping further into the depths of the Place of No Stars. She was certain that she was being chased, but she hadn’t paused to confirm the identity of who was pursuing her. She had a terrible feeling that it was Thistleclaw, since he had been the one to discover her presence.

Her ears pricked as she heard the sound of light footfalls and the gross squelching of mud. She tried to run faster, but the initial surge of adrenaline she had was wearing down, replaced by heavy dread. What was she supposed to do now? Should she stop running and instead meet her stalker head on?

No! The voice in her heard cried out. Don’t stop running!

With nothing but fear guiding her, Hollyleaf heeded the advice and steeled her resolve, forcing her limbs to move faster. She needed to lose this guy, but how could she possibly outrun him? They would both tire out before long! 

A loud crunching of leaves sounded off from behind her, startling her enough that she snuck a peek over her shoulder. 

Wide, yellow, predatory eyes locked onto hers. 

Hollyleaf let out a gasp and leapt over a protruding tree root in her path. Yes, it was him- Thistleclaw! He was closer than she thought- it wouldn’t be long before he’d be close enough to strike at her. She needed to act soon! Perhaps fighting him was her best option, but with a suffix like -claw she wasn’t sure how great her chances would be one on one.

At the thought of a battle with Thistleclaw, the voice inside her head protested frantically. You don’t want to meet him head on! He’s too dangerous!

I’m dangerous too. She thought back vehemently, but did not deny the major risk involved with facing this bloodthirsty cat alone in battle.

All the while feeling like a cornered prey animal, Hollyleaf spontaneously changed direction, hoping that Thistleclaw wasn’t as deft with his movements as she was. It seemed to work: the distance between them grew a smidgeon. Behind her, she could hear pants of exertion, which gave her a twinge of hope. Maybe he would tire out before she did.

Aside from the sound of ragged breath, Hollyleaf’s ears also picked up on another strange noise. It was low and steady rumble that seemed to slowly increase in volume as she ran along. Hollyleaf made a mighty leap over some thick foliage. As she landed, the sight of a long, snaking stretch of brown water greeted her. It burbled noisily at them from a distance away, it’s water rushing along with haste. 

A river! Maybe this was her way to lose Thistleclaw! She wasn’t a Riverclan cat, but she’d cross that murky water if it meant escaping from her pursuer. 

Hollyleaf locked her sights on the stretch of water as she ran ahead, searching up and down the length of it for the best place to cross. Right as she narrowed her sights on a spot in the river with a tree branch lodged in the middle, a heavy weight descended upon her, knocking her off of her feet and onto the increasingly saturated ground. Due to the speed at which they were traveling, they slid for a moment in the thick mud. As they slowed, her pursuer used his size to grapple with her until he had a paw pressed up against her throat. 

Hot, acidic breath wafted over Hollyleaf’s face as Thistleclaw’s voracious maw drew close, inspecting her with those frightful eyes.

Hollyleaf bared her teeth and let out a deep hiss, struggling under his large form. He responded with a low growl and she felt sharp claws scrape threateningly against her jugular. Her breath caught fearfully in her throat and she froze, unsure of what to do.

“My, my,” Thistleclaw’s rank soil stench was absolutely suffocating, “Thought you could escape from me, hm?”

Hollyleaf kept her lips sealed, waiting to see what his next move would be. Would he try and kill her? She needed to wriggle free, but with his claws pressed against her throat she was afraid to move.

“I can’t say I expected to find you there, trying to spy on me. How cute.” His face didn’t seem the least bit amused, though. It was stoic, but in spite of that Hollyleaf could detect a victorious glint in his eyes, shining as if he had just won some sort of sick game. “Why do you look so scared? I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I don’t believe you!” She bit out, searching his face for some sort of indication of what his true intentions were.

“As long as you do exactly as I say,” His rank breath puffed over her face again, “- then I’ll have no reason to hurt you.”

Hollyleaf scowled at him, not convinced in the slightest. “What do you want with me?”

He was quiet for a moment, as if mulling over how to respond to her. She waited apprehensively, all the while assessing how she might be able to get herself out of this situation.

“There’s a lot of things I want with you.” He said at last, “First, I want you to tell me: where is the other Starclan cat?”

“I don’t know!” She spat, “I wasn’t even aware that there was another Starclan cat here.”

At that, Thistleclaw let out a low chuckle, his eyes glinting keenly off of the light of her stars. “You expect me to believe that?” He pushed his paw down a little harder on her jugular. “You take me for a fool!”

Hollyleaf wrinkled her nose at him. “I’m not lying! I don’t know where the other Starclan cat is.” She paused, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. “If I had known that another Starclan cat came in after me, I would have tried to find it.”

Thistleclaw closed his mouth at that, his eyes narrowing calculatively. “I’ll choose to believe you this time, only because you seem to be mistaken about a key detail.”

“What detail?” Hollyleaf furrowed her brow. 

“No one came in after you.”

“What?”

He smiled at her in a smug fashion. “My Starclan cat escaped from me sometime after you arrived. Unfortunately, my group has been rather busy searching for it- otherwise I’m sure one of us would have noticed your presence sooner.”

Hollyleaf openly gaped at him. The other Starclan cat had been hiding in the same forest with her the entire time? She thought that it had wandered in sometime after her! “Who’s the other Starclan cat, then?”

“None of your business!” He bared his teeth at her. “Though I suppose you’ll find out soon enough, after it’s been retrieved. Now, answer me this: how have you gotten away with hiding from me for so long?”

Hollyleaf opened her mouth to give a nasty retort, but closed it again, suddenly unsure of what to say. Wasn’t he already aware that she had been hiding with Mapleshade?

As if reading her mind, he narrowed his eyes and said, “Wait just a minute. Don’t tell me- you weren’t actually hiding with that old fool, were you?”

Hollyleaf said nothing, too perplexed by his question and afraid of accidentally giving something away. 

“Wow!” Thistleclaw breathed out, his yellow eyes wide, “And to think, I was only bluffing.”

“What,” Hollyleaf growled, glowering at him balefully, “- are you talking about?”

The grey and white cat grinned at her maliciously. “I didn’t actually believe that Mapleshade was hiding one of my Starclan cats,” He leaned a little closer, “I was lying.” 

“Why?” Hollyleaf asked, eyeing her captor warily.

“A lot of reasons, really. I wanted to make her look bad in front of everyone, just in case everything went south and I needed someone to blame. I also wanted to draw her out of hiding, to figure out what she’s been up to,” He smiled in an unpleasant way. “- and lastly, I wanted to put a little bit of fear in her.” 

Hollyleaf scowled at him, “Mapleshade isn’t afraid of you.” 

Truthfully, she wasn’t sure why she was defending the roguish molly. Mapleshade was just as skeevy as the rest of the former Dark Forest cats, maybe even more so. Circumstances had brought them together in a very fragile alliance. One which could very well break at a moment’s notice.

“Well she should be!” Thistleclaw snapped suddenly, his teeth flashing dangerously close to Hollyleaf’s face. “She’s been a thorn in my side for far too long. I’m going to make her wish she’d never been born!”

From the little that Hollyleaf had picked up on, it was abundantly clear that Thistleclaw and Mapleshade hated one another. The roguish molly had stolen apprentices from Thistleclaw, all the while passive aggressively one-upping him. Additionally, there was that strange thing Mapleshade had said at Black Rock- that she had killed Thistleclaw’s ‘pretty little tortie’. Hollyleaf wasn’t entirely sure what that was about, but it had definitely riled Thistleclaw up.

On the flipside, Mapleshade seemed to detest Thistleclaw just as much as he hated her. She complained about Thistleclaw often, from his ‘debased tendencies’ to the ‘rot’ in his soul. Clearly there was something about Thistleclaw’s personality that turned Mapleshade off completely. 

Since Hollyleaf hadn’t yet responded to Thistleclaw, he went ahead and kept talking, “She’ll regret crossing me, after she finds out exactly what my plans are.”

Hollyleaf eyed him cautiously, “You’re going to take the fight to Starclan.”

Thistleclaw smiled smugly, his hungry leaffall eyes staring straight into the depths of her soul. “Something like that.”

“What does any of that have to do with me, then?” She twitched uncomfortably, not liking the way he was looking at her. 

He was silent for a long moment. “I need you for my plans.” 

“Why?”

“You hold the power of the stars in your paws.”

“What?"  She burst out, scarcely believing her ears. Was Thistleclaw quoting the old prophecy to her? A sudden burst of anger ignited in her chest, spilling out through her lips. “I don’t hold the power of the stars in my paws- that would be my brothers!"

Thistleclaw laughed at that, low and hearty, as if she had just recited a funny joke. “You don’t honestly believe that, do you?”

Hollyleaf let out a fierce growl, letting the disdain she felt inside flow out through the threatening rumble she produced. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you’re wrong. I was never part of the prophecy! You’re wasting your time!”

How embarrassing! Was she truly being targeted by Thistleclaw because he mistakenly believed her to be a part of an already fulfilled prophecy? Her jaw clenched bitterly at the reminder of how she had been excluded from being a part of The Three. Why had fate chosen both of her siblings, but not her? 

“You poor little thing,” Thistleclaw crooned in a way that was more condescending than comforting, “- growing up being the odd one out. Never understanding your place in this world. Having no one to believe in what you truly are.”

What does he know about us? The voice inside Hollyleaf's head roiled about with rage. She bared her teeth in a snarl, feeling the itch to rip his pelt apart.

“I know what you are, though.” He went on, “Even if the others don’t see it. You’re special! Those starry eyed fools were too obsessed with the prophecy to see what was right under their noses.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hollyleaf snapped, uncomfortable and disgusted with the way this interaction was going. “I’m not special! I’m not one of The Three!”

“No,” Thistleclaw responded, digging his claws in a little bit past the fur of her neck, “You’re not one of The Three, are you? But you have the power of the stars in your paws, no doubt.”

She let out an angry, aggravated sigh, “Why in Starclan’s name do you believe that? No one else does- not even I do. There’s nothing special about me.”

“Nothing special? You’re one of the Changed.” He deadpanned.

“I’m what?”

“Has no one told you?” He demanded, sounding affronted, “When you were a kitten, a spirit from Starclan came down and blessed you. Not everyone can survive that, but you did. Your brothers did too. Haven’t you wondered why they had powers?”

“Well… they’re part of a prophecy.” She replied uncertainty, perplexed by the way this conversation was going.

“They were only part of the prophecy because Spottedleaf made them a part of it. Just like she tried to make you!” 

Hollyleaf felt a chill run along her spine. She openly gaped at him, at a loss for words.

Thistleclaw went on, “The gift of the stars remained dormant and hidden throughout your life. Everyone turned a blind eye to you, not realizing what you truly were. They were fools.”

Hollyleaf stared at him for a long moment. What in Starclan’s name was he talking about? How did he know about all of this?

Maybe he’s lying to you.

“You’re mad.” She said finally, repeating the sentiments Mapleshade expressed earlier. “There’s no way that any of this is true.”

Thistleclaw scoffed, rolling his eyes. “It’s quite sad how little you seem to know about your own history. Starclan should be ashamed of themselves for leaving you in the dark.” 

She scowled at his double entendre, but then froze a bit as she picked up on the sound of a twig cracking. Thistleclaw stilled as well, but before he could move to survey his surroundings, a fast shape catapulted in and knocked him over onto the ground. 

Hollyleaf gasped as the weight was lifted off of her, then scrambled to her feet. On the ground ahead of her, a smaller shape began grappling with Thistleclaw. Hollyleaf squinted her eyes, making out the telltale color of torbie fur.

Sparrowfeather!

Without thinking twice about it, Hollyleaf unsheathed her claws and leapt into the fray. Thistleclaw was currently battering at Sparrowfeather with his large paws. The smaller torbie tom was holding his own as best as he could, but he was at a size disadvantage. Thistleclaw was just as big as Mapleshade was, which was quite frankly very large. It was a common trait of Thunderclan cats, one of which that Hollyleaf did not share due to her mixed heritage.

Hollyleaf dashed to Sparrowfeather’s side, letting out a snarl as she lashed out at Thistleclaw. He jumped back and ceased his assault, eyeing the both of them with calculative contempt. 

For a moment, both sides circled one another, sizing each other up. Would Thistleclaw attempt to attack both of them at the same time? Hollyleaf growled lowly and Sparrowfeather arched his back and let out a fearsome hiss.

The large grey and white tom scowled, his claws tapping against the ground in agitation. He seemed to have thought over whether or not to make a move, because a moment later he charged at them, intending on bowling both of them over. Hollyleaf was able to leap out of the away in time, but Sparrowfeather did not move quick enough. Thistleclaw slammed the tomcat to the ground, then lashed out and smacked his paw against the side of Sparrowfeather’s head. 

With the torbie dazed, Thistleclaw turned to Hollyleaf. She snarled and lashed out with her claws unsheathed, managing to strike him. Unfortunately, as she went to pull back, her paw became hooked in the thick, matted fur that surrounded Thistleclaw’s neck. She sheathed her claws in order to get free, but it was too late. The malicious spirit leapt at her, knocking her to the ground just as he did with Sparrowfeather.

She yowled in outrage, smacking at his underbelly with her back paws. He moved out of the way of her assault and once more pressed a clawed paw down on her throat. She narrowed her eyes at him, half tempted to try and free herself regardless of his claws. He needed her for his plans, so why would he risk making her fade away?

Right before she was able to make up her mind, a voice distracted the both of them.

“Let go of her!” Sparrowfeather hissed, pure rage decorating his scarred face.

Thistleclaw let out a low chuckle, pushing down hard on Hollyleaf’s throat. She wheezed and swiped at his face, but he avoided the attempt. “Are you trying to save her, Sparrowfeather?” The foul spirit asked, his voice condescending, “You couldn’t even save yourself.”

Sparrowfeather’s nostrils flared, “Before this is all over, I’m going to rip your soul to shreds, Thistleclaw. That’s a promise.”

The grey and white spirit laughed again. 

Hollyleaf shuddered at the sound. His laugh was so unlike Mapleshade’s. The roguish molly’s cackle was loud and shrill, meant to shock and terrorize an audience. Thistleclaw’s, on the other hand, wasn’t at all for show. His chuckle was deep, guttural and cruel. 

Hollyleaf mentally shook herself from her thoughts. She needed to act! Now was likely one of her only opportunities, since Thistleclaw was distracted. With all the force she could muster, Hollyleaf rolled out of his grasp, then kicked herself off of him with her back legs. The grey and white tom snarled at her, but was tackled from above by Sparrowfeather, whom he had turned his back on. 

Hollyleaf rose to her feet and leapt back into the fight, sinking her teeth into the malicious spirit’s shoulder. He let out an angry screech, trying to shake both of them off. She refused to let go, clinging on despite the blows he managed to land on her. 

Suddenly, Thistleclaw let himself go limp, falling over onto his side where Hollyleaf was. She struggled under the weight of him, and Sparrowfeather went tumbling down into the mud. 

As soon as he was free from both of them, Thistleclaw backed up a bit, eyeing them with rage in his eyes. He looked as if he intended on striking again, but a new voice echoed through the clearing, making them all still.

“Take one more step and I’ll turn you into mouse meat.”

Hollyleaf gasped, turning to the sound. 

Mapleshade emerged from the brush Hollyleaf ran through earlier. The roguish molly looked a little worse for wear, with her black and orange fur sticking out at strange angles. Had she been in a fight?

Thistleclaw frowned deeply. It seemed that his odds in battle were greatly reduced. Taking on two smaller cats was one thing, but three cats? There was no way he could come out of that alive. 

"You’ve gone soft, Mapleshade. Taking in strays!” Thistleclaw spat, anger lacing his voice, “It’s because she’s half-clan, isn’t it? I bet you can’t resist.”

Mapleshade’s cold amber eyes regarded him with pure malice. She looked as if she was a moment away from ripping him apart.  

“I’m going to give you a choice, Thistleclaw. Either run off like a coward, or stay here and die by our claws.”

The grey and white tom’s eyes narrowed, flickering from Mapleshade, Hollyleaf, and then to Sparrowfeather. The roguish molly took a threatening step forward, a yellow, toothy smile slithering onto her face, “- or I can make the choice for you.”

“This isn’t over. I’ll be back.” He warned, flitting his gaze over to Hollyleaf, “Think about what I told you. There’s more at stake here than you understand.”

Hollyleaf didn’t respond, instead choosing to bare her teeth at him.

The grey and white tom took one last look at her, then darted off into the underbrush from whence he came.