Rise of the Truth

 RISE OF THE TRUTH

Episode One, Season Six, of Rise.

Enjoy <3

Rise of the Truth
With the Blood Army defeated, there is little for us to do. Amberstar and Whitestar have been busy scouting and planning our move against the Vipers. It’s been two weeks now but we haven’t done anything.

Terran is still asleep next to me. “Wake up,” I mutter, shaking his pelt, “we should go hunting.”

“Others can hunt,” he mumbles.

“All you do is sleep now,” I huff, “Come on, we should help them. We live here too!”

“Exactly,” Terran keeps his eyes firmly shut, “can’t we go hunting later? Why do we have to wake up so early?”

“It’s sunhigh, Terran. We’ve slept the entire morning away.”

“Perfect,” Terran yawns, “Let’s wait until sunset before we get out of our nest. I’m too tired to move.”

I reach over and violently shake him awake. “Stars, Bryce, if you wanted me to get out of bed that badly then just tell me next time!” Terran’s eyes are wide from shock. I giggle a little before walking out of the den.

Terran grumbles and follows me.

We walk. This time I don’t fear an attack so much, as we’ve defeated the Blood Army. We do hunt, but I spend a lot of the time lounging around with Terran, smiling and being generally happy.

“I love you,” Terran nuzzles my neck with his muzzle. “I don’t think I can tell you enough.”

“I love you more,” I murmur, breathing in his warm scent. Maybe I should have taken up his offer of staying in our nest all day. We’ve barely caught anything. Only a mouse sits between us and I desperately want to eat it.

As if Terran is reading my mind, he leans away from my touch and taps me in the nose with his tail. “Getting hungry?” His eyes twinkle.

I involuntarily glance at the mouse and try to hide my blush. “No, of course not,” I try to say, but my stomach rebels against me and grumbles loudly.

Terran roars with laughter and I turn scarlet. “Come on,” he drags me down and prods the mouse with one paw.

“We shouldn’t,” I protest.

“Nobody’s going to miss it,” Terran smiles at me, “and if you’re feeling guilty, we could just hunt for more.”

He’s right though. There’s plenty of prey back home and this one, measly mouse, will barely fill our mouths. I don’t want to give in to the urge but Terran promptly takes a bite from the mouse and pushes the prey closer to me.

I roll my eyes playfully but I take a bite anyway.

After the meal, we sprawl on the grass and I gaze up lazily at the sky. “It feels so unnatural,” I finally say, “to not really have to worry about anything.”

“The Vipers are still there,” Terran reminds me.

“Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Sunshine.”

Terran rolls over to face me. I do the same to face him. His sky-blue eyes are soft. “We should enjoy these moments,” he murmurs, “it won’t be long before the Vipers make their move.”

“I know,” I give a sigh, feeling the mood drop. “But I’m grateful for this moment of peace, even if it’s a strange feeling.”

“We’ll get it soon,” Terran promises, “after we kick the Vipers’ tails.”

I grin foolishly at that. Terran laughs and I tuck my head close to him so that I’m leaning against his chest. I’m a perfect fit with Terran. “They won’t even know what hit them,” I breathe out.

“Well maybe not with you,” Terran wheedles and I smack him with a paw.

“Ow! Okay, okay! They’ll definitely know what hit them.” Terran gives me a playful shove while he rubs the spot where I smacked him.

I giggle at that and curl up at his side again. I’m glad he’s here next to me, despite the dangers that still loom in the horizon.

~

Nightshadow desperately wanted Applepaw to leave him and Feathershine alone. The apprentice had been nagging him about a training session, and he told her again and again this day was reserved for Feathershine.

“You’re always with her!” Applepaw whined, “What about me and Emerald? We need training! The Vipers are coming soon.”

“Not soon as in tomorrow,” Nightshadow hushed her, “we can train tomorrow. I’ll even ask Feathershine if we can do a joint session.”

“No!” Applepaw shook her head so vigorously that Nightshadow thought her head was going to fall off. “If we do a joint session, then you and Feathershine will just moon over one another! Don’t make me tackle you guys again like yesterday!”

Nightshadow let out an exasperated sigh. “If you don’t want a joint session, then don’t expect any session today.”

“Then let’s do that joint session!”

The black tom shoved his apprentice out towards the entrance. “No training sessions today,” he reminded her, “we can do something tomorrow.”

“What am I going to do today?” Applepaw let herself fall to the floor dramatically.

“Go play with Sunpaw,” Nightshadow was careful not to mention Firepaw. Applepaw seemed to have gotten over her brother’s death after the whole Blood Army incident. She even seemed to tolerate Aleric nowadays.

“Sunpaw’s training!” Applepaw batted her eyelashes at him. “Can we please go train too?”

“No,” Nightshadow walked over to her, dragging her back up. “No means no. Go bug someone else.”

“Can I go bug Feathershine?”

Nightshadow growled at the orange she-cat and she dashed away, laughing. After a moment, Feathershine entered, her eyes full of light and amusement.

“Was that Applepaw I just saw?”

“Yeah,” Nightshadow gave a long sigh, “She was bugging me about training.”

Feathershine gave him one of her smiles. It melted Nightshadow’s insides and he found that he was losing himself to her beauty. “Emerald was giving me a hard time too because she couldn’t even hang out with Bryce.”

“What is Bryce doing?”

“She was out cold earlier with Terran but afterwards they went out for a hunt.”

Nightshadow gave a snort. A hunt in their terms meant they weren’t coming back until the sun set.

“Maybe we should go for a hunt too.” Nightshadow suggested.

“No way,” Feathershine grinned at him, “Now that we have the whole den to ourselves, why should we give it away? Even Karina and Aleric are out for a walk. We don’t have to worry about anyone.”

At that moment, Applepaw popped her head back in. “Oh good, you guys haven’t started anything yet! I was afraid I would have to see some pretty gross stuff.”

Nightshadow launched himself at his own apprentice, chasing her out. She howled with laughter, dodging his maneuvers.

“That sneaky apprentice,” Nightshadow grumbled, moving back to where Feathershine was trying to smother her own laugh. “We’re never going to get any privacy with Applepaw snooping around.”

Feathershine’s eyes twinkled and she touched her nose to his. “We’ll just have to get around that, won’t we?”

Even with Applepaw’s pretend squeal of disgust from the entrance, nothing could stop Nightshadow from curling his tail around his mate and losing himself to the moment.

~

Karina found herself enjoying the walk with Aleric. They were deep into the forest when Karina finally found the courage to turn and face Aleric. “Aleric,” she said softly, “I have something to confess to you.”

The brown tom stiffened immediately and drew away from Karina. The dark gray she-cat looked hurt and Aleric looked away. “If you’re going to tell me you love me, Karina, I suggest you hold it in.”

“How did you--?” Karina’s eyes widened.

“Because I know the feeling,” Aleric’s eyes softened, “please, let me speak first. I don’t think you’ll want to say those words after you hear me out.”

Karina blinked but she let him keep going. “I’ve been lying to you this entire time, Karina.”

Aleric didn’t pace. He didn’t move. He stayed rooted to the ground, his eyes staring at the ground. “I’ve been working for the Blood Army this whole time,” he continued, “in fact, I don’t think I stopped being loyal to them until we defeated them. Until I realized that the feelings I had for…you…were real. But I know that I wasn’t fully supportive of the Blood Army after I first met you. I had doubts, but I still followed through with my orders.

“Calypso was my first target but since Presidia turned out to be a traitor, I was ordered to kill her too. I was lucky that Presidia thought if she killed Bryce, she wouldn’t have anyone tailing her to the Coalition and I was there to stop her. But I was the one who murdered them.”

Karina inhaled sharply. She didn’t move either, but her eyes stayed pinned on Aleric, who didn’t glance up to look at her.

“Firepaw…”

“Firepaw?” She interrupted him, “What did the Blood Army want from Firepaw?” All Karina could think about was Applepaw’s distraught look when Firepaw had been announced dead.

“Nothing,” Aleric finally looked up, his green eyes meeting her golden ones. He looked distressed and very sorrowful. “Firepaw’s death was completely my fault. Bryce was snooping around too much and I was trying to get close to you.”

“Why me?”

“Because I couldn’t forget you since I threatened Terran. Because I think I fell in love with you since then, Karina.”

Karina felt so weak, so ready to collapse. She wanted to tell Aleric to stop and just swallow those words so they could go on having their happy moments. She loved him. She didn’t want to hate him.

“I poisoned Firepaw because I needed Bryce to backtrack so she wouldn’t discover my new position as a double agent. I didn’t intend for him to die, Karina.”

The dark gray she-cat shook her head. “You could have just broken off all your ties with the Blood Army,” she whispered, “you didn’t have to do any of that!”

“I know,” Aleric stared at her with those same green eyes. Over the time he had stayed here, Karina saw more and more emotion, but she wish she couldn’t. The sorrow in Aleric’s eyes broke her heart. “I know, and that’s why I’m telling you right now. I don’t deserve your love. I don’t deserve to live happily with you in a place that is supposed to be my enemy.”

“Is the Coalition still your enemy?”

“No,” Aleric admitted, “but I don’t deserve to be here.”

“Why are you still here then?” Karina found that she was crying, “Why don’t you just take off now? Why are you waiting for my reaction?”

“I want you to take me to camp, Karina.”

“And then what?”

“I want you to turn me in.”

Karina was already shaking her head. “No. I can’t do that to you, Aleric. You can go. Just go somewhere and never come back. Or even better, come back to camp with me but don’t tell anyone else. I can’t bear to think about losing you.”

“If you don’t turn me in,” Aleric’s eyes darkened, “I’ll turn myself in. Or I’ll tell Bryce and I know she’ll turn me in.”

“Why didn’t you just turn yourself in?” Karina was confused, “Why tell me first?”

“Because the consequences will be harsher if I’m turned in like a criminal. Like the traitor I am. If I turn myself in, Amberstar and Whitestar might look over it, because they believe I can change. I refuse to get off with a lighter sentence, Karina. I want to be punished like any murderer.”

Karina flinched. I can’t, she wanted to tell him. But at that moment, Bryce and Terran stepped out of the bushes. “Karina?” Bryce frowned at her tears, “Is everything all right?”

“No,” she found herself hiccupping. She stared at Aleric, who gazed back with those sad eyes. He nodded to her, encouraging her.

“Do it,” he said softly, “please.”

Karina didn’t want to, but she found herself blurting out, “Aleric is a traitor. He killed Calypso and Presidia, and he poisoned Firepaw.”

Bryce’s eyes turned dark and furious and she rounded on Aleric, who didn’t fight her. Terran crossed over to his sister, wrapping his tail around her.

“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” Terran murmured.

“No,” Karina was crying again, “no, he protected me.”

Terran didn’t say anything against that and Karina was grateful. “He wouldn’t let me tell him I loved him,” she sobbed as Bryce took Aleric back to camp, “he practically told me that he loved me. But yet he confessed all that to me just to stop me. Why?”

“Some cats want to deserve love, Karina,” Terran held her close, “some cats want to repent their sins.”

The End.