Welcome to Gaia! ::

(( no one's been on the guild for a lllooooooong time. *sigh* oh, well... ))

Greystar moaned, a long, drawn, miserable sound. She was ceaselessly moving, writhing and squirming in her designated nest in the Medicine Cat's den. Would this sickness never end? She had been confined to Darkfoot's den for weeks now. Her pain was constant; she had trouble thinking. It was torture.

Suddenly, the intensity of Greystar's movements increased. She began to shake violently. Within moments, she had gone into spasms. Was this a seizure? What was happening to her? It was...a terrible feeling. A horrible self-consciousness she couldn't escape. She could feel every inch of her body, and every nerve was in pain. She knew this feeling. It was death.

Greystar was being, very forcefully, ripped from her body. Her pain hit its peak, and a ghastly yowl ripped itself from Greystar's lips. Finally, and very gradually, the pain ebbed. Greystar's vision clouded, and she sank into unconsciousness.

When the Phoenix woke, she was in a clearing she had seen only a few times before, lined with a group of cats both familiar and unfamiliar. Starlight shone in their eyes and gathered at their paws. They stepped to the side, revealing two cats that Greystar imediately recognized. They were both...Greystar. She was looking at her past lives.

The first of the two was hardly recognizable. Her fur was crusted with blood; scratches and bite marks covered her entire body. One eye was sealed shut, and chunks of fur were missing in many places. The second was who the living Greystar must have been only seconds ago. She was wildly diminished, her ribs sticking out dramatically against her flank. Her grey eyes were sunken and lifeless. She reeked of sickness.

All of StarClan had their eyes on her, and they began to speak simultaneously. It was impossible to distinguish one voice from another; they spoke as one entity. "Greystar; you have lost a life. Your body is now overcoming its sickness, and you will wait here for the duration of your recovery. You now have seven remaining lives; use them well to lead your Clan. Farewell, and remember that StarClan is always with you."

Greystar dipped her head, and StarClan retreated backwards a few steps. Greystar waited patiently, and soon she could feel an invisible force pulling her back towards her body. She began to fade from the clearing. But, just before she had, a small kit padded up to her, treading carefully. His pelt burned amber. He spoke in a tiny, soft voice; a kit's voice. "Greystar...StarClan will visit your Clan again. Sooner than you may think." And, with that, Greystar sunk into blackness.

* * *

Greystar blinked her eyes open, stretching and hearing each of her limbs cracking. The pain had dissappeared, and she could feel her renewed strength flowing into her body. She stood up, striding quickly out of Darkfoot's den and to the tip of Highrock. Gathering all of her strength, she gave a yowl that put all of her previous yowls to shame. It rang across the camp, reverberating off its walls and hanging in the air.

She called the traditional summons and waited for her Clan to gather, staring down at them. Her powerful grey eyes shone down with a brilliance that surpassed all her former glory. She was the Phoenix, reborn from the ashes and stronger than ever.

Cottenpaw concentrated as hard as she could, but no scentcame to her.
"I don't think there's prey around here." she mewed.

Wildpelt nodded. Of course they had to feed the clan first, how could she forget!
"Ummm...right." she said awkwardly and walked over to a pile of dead leaves. She dropped her prey in it and said, "Where should we go next?"

Cottonpa nodded and followed Rocktalon silently. She opened her mouth and a few moments later the smell of crow filled her lungs.
"Rocktalon!" she called in excitment. "A crow is-" she was cut off when the crow was startled by her voice and flew away.
"Oh..." she murrmered. "Right...sorry about that..."

Wildpelt silently agreed and followed Spottedpath. This hadn't gone the way she had planned. The whole time they had been talking had been awkward and she still felt he didn't like her. She sighed and shrugged.
At least you tried. she told herself.

Cottonpaw started to object but in teh middle of her sentence gave an enormous yawn.
"Okay, Rocktalon. she agreed. "I could use some sleep." Cottonpaw dragged her paws back to camp and when she got there Greystar was on the Highrock.
"What's going on?" she asked her mentor quietly.

Wildpelt tossed her prey on the fresh-kill pile and followed Spottedpath. Because she was new to the clan, she had not been aware that Greystar was so ill.
"What's happening?" she asked Spottedpath.

Batfur yawned lazily and turned his attention to the leader. He had been waiting to her from her, hoping she would recover quickly.

When Wolffang heard the usual summons from Greystar he looked up from his lizard. "Is it true?" he asked himself. Just as he got done asking himself his eyes saw the familiar shape of ShadowClan's leader, Greystar. Without hesitating he returned to his lizard, gobbled the rest down then looked back to Shadowstep. "This has been quite a good leaf-bare, indeed" he said, enforcing his earlier statement. He decided that where he stood by the fresh-kill pile was close enough to Highrock that he could hear what Greystar had to say. So, he simply stood up and sat down, however, the way he sat was a bit awkward due to his injured leg but it did not cause him any pain. As he faced his leader he noticed that behind her all of StarClan seemed to be shining brightly. Surely this miraculous turn of events must mean something. He sent a silent thanks to StarClan for restoring Greystar to her former glory.

Shadowstep nodded to Wolffang, her eyes fixed on Greystar. She seemed to be much better. Realizing that their leader had probably lost a life, Shadowstep bowed her head. It was never a good thing when leaders lost a life.

"I hope that nothing is wrong, that would be a shame. We have lived in peace for a while now," Shadowstep meowed to Wolffang. Sure they were in Shadowclan, but that was no reason to be attacking for no reason. "Hopefully this is just a meeting to let us know how Greystar is feeling."