Dark and Light

Summary: When a prophecy comes to all the medicine cats of the clans telling of a lightness and darkness coming, the clans start to split and bicker about what it means. These high tensions may tear the clans apart, especially as odd disasters keep leaving cats injured or killed and everyone is terrified. Amidst all this, two loners seek shelter with the clans. However, these two loners may have more to do with this chaos than even they know.

Author: Cutekaboo

Prologue
"Nightflower!" there was a gasp below that the large black she-cat almost didn't hear. There was a pounding in her ears as her heart raced and she was frozen with shock. She tried to force herself to move, or respond to the voice, but none of her muscles were listening to her. Her mind seemed to have shut off and she was somewhere else, recognizing what was happening but not properly processing it.

"Nightflower, what happened?" the voice spoke again, closer now. The speaker must have climbed. The black she-cat couldn't move her head. She just stared down at her paws. Her claws were still out and her fur was sticky with blood.

This wasn't supposed to happen. She thought. I never meant... She realized she had started to shiver.

"What have you done?" Nightflower finally dragged her eyes up from her paws and instantly regretted it. She felt sick when her eyes landed on the unmoving mound of bloody fur in front of her. She finally snapped out of her frozen state and leaped up, walking backwards away from the body so fast she nearly fell off the ledge behind her. The voice belonged to a pure white she-cat who was standing next to the unmoving fur, golden eyes giving away that she was in nearly as much shock as Nightflower was.

"I d-didn't... Dawnbreak, I swear I- is he dead?" Nightflower stuttered. She now sat at the very edge of the rock, the long fall behind her unnoticed.

"He's dead, Nightflower." Dawnbreak's eyes flickered back and forth between the black she-cat and the dead cat before her. "What happened?" she repeated.

"He... I needed to be deputy... Dawnbreak, please understand." Nightflower pleaded. "Sandstar is dying! Foxspots couldn't lead the clan!"

Dawnbreak tensed and her gaze fixed on Nightflower. Her eyes were filled with horror and betrayal. "You killed Foxspots for his position? You- you killed him to become deputy?"

"That's not- I didn't mean to!" Nightflower desperately searched for the right words. "I... I met him here to ask him to retire! I didn't mean to, Dawnbreak, I didn't mean to!"

"How do you just accidentally kill someone?" Dawnbreak stepped forward now, accusing and angry. "You knew what you were doing! You told your claws to cut him!" Her fur bristled and she kept stepping closer and closer.

"Please, no, I... Dawnbreak, you're my best friend, you have to believe me." Nightflower begged. "This was a big accident, but we can still recover from this. We can just push him into the gorge and let someone else find him."

"And then what, a murderer becomes our new leader?" Dawnbreak hissed. She was standing less than a tail-length away now. "You've changed, Nightflower. I didn't want to believe it, but this proves it. You can't lead our clan, and I can't let you." Suddenly, she leapt forward and shoved with her forepaws, sending the surprised Nightflower tumbling backwards and into the gorge.

Nearly a day later, Nightflower woke up. She was injured, barely alive, and stuck at the bottom of a gorge. By now, Dawnbreak had probably told the whole clan that she was Foxspots were dead. Her return would raise many questions, most likely leading to her clan figuring out she'd killed and exiling her.

Nightflower had nothing left, and cats with nothing left are the most dangerous.