hollyleaf's story: part two

Hollyleaf longs to be outside. Fallen Leaves catches her watching the woods from the tunnels. She wants him to leave the tunnels with her but he refuses. They argue and Fallen Leaves tells her to go if she wishes to. She says she will, feeling upset that he doesn't ask her to stay with him. On her own she makes a nest and hunts. She tries not to think about her clan but it is all she can think of. She comes across the fox kit she rescued and approaches him, thinking he will remember her. But he only sees prey and attacks. She escapes to a tree and sleeps. When she wakes, injured, she returns to the tunnels looking for Fallen Leaves.

Fallen Leaves cares for her again. When she is better she tells him about finding the fox and it attacking her. Fallen Leaves is both amused and upset with her story. She tells him she was just so lonely and wanted a friend. Fallen Leaves tells her that he is her friend. Later she asks him if he misses his family and he says yes, but he can barely remember them. Hollyleaf is shocked as she has forgotten nothing. Fallen Leaves tells her about his mother and Hollyleaf finds herself confessing that she has two mothers. She stops short of confessing to Ashfur's murder. Fallen Leaves realizes she misses her clan and tells her she should check on them.

Hollyleaf spies on her clan and leaves when she realizes Brambleclaw suspects someone is spying on the camp. She rushes back to Fallen Leaves and tells him everything she saw and heard. She ends up confessing to Fallen Leaves that she killed Ashfur. Fallen Leaves hints that maybe she should return, but Hollyleaf insists she cannot. Time passes and she spies again, hearing that the clan is running out of yarrow and Cherrykit needs it. Hollyleaf remembered where some yarrow is growing, not on any clan territory. She gathers it and leaves it by the camp entrance and runs away. 

Hollyleaf excitedly tells Fallen Leaves all about how Cherrykit is now cured, but he doesn't care about the news. Hollyleaf realizes he is probably jealous. She goes hunting for special prey to share with him, wondering if why he never eats is because he doesn't like any of the prey she tries to share. After eating half of a squirrel she leaves half of it for him (he will never eat it) and sleeps. He wakes her because two of her clanmates (Ivypool and Blossomfall) are trapped in the tunnels and he wants them gone. She finds them, and keeping to the shadows leads them about by an incredibly complicated route that doubles back on itself. She hopes by doing this they will never come into the tunnels again. Time passes and Hollyleaf tries to keep away from her clan. She knows her constant visits to watch her clanmates upsets Fallen Leaves. But she cannot keep away. She rescues some marigold from a hungry rabbit and saves Cherrypaw and Molepaw from a fox.

She confesses to Fallen Leaves that she wants to return home. He tells her that he wished she would stay but understands she cannot. She does not leave right away, unsure when the right time is. One day Fallen Leaves finds WindClan cats in the tunnels and realizes something bad is happening. Ivypool and Dovewing are also in the tunnel and Fallen Leaves tells her she must get her clanmates out and warn her clan. She approaches Ivypool and Dovewing, offering to lead them out so ThunderClan can be warned. But the two cats do not trust her and suspect her to be with the WindClan cats. Hollyleaf reveals herself to be Hollyleaf so she can gain their trust.

Poor Fallen Leaves. I wish he would find peace. At least Hollyleaf finds it in the end. She will return to her clan, fight against the Dark Forest, and die having made peace with Leafpool. I wonder if she goes to StarClan? Or back to the tunnels to wander them with Fallen Leaves? I imagine StarClan is the answer. I just wish Fallen Leaves would not be so alone.