Chapter Text
Crickets sang in the night air and the river that flowed a bit of a ways away made for a good background noise while Moon walked towards what should be the direction of her’s and Skylar’s usual meeting spot. They didn’t have to meet there, Moon could simply go all the way to what was the Rogue’s camp and simply discuss things there, but going to the place where they had first reunited felt better for both of them. It gave them the chance to actually talk on the way there, as much as she knew Skylar doubted her identity, but it was nice, at least.
The forest soon started merging into a sandy riverbed and, not too far, opened up into a clearing where the river thinned into a small creek that made the spot perfect for meeting between the two territories.
She looked around for a bit, ears perked and mouth open trying to catch the scent of the cat she was meeting or any intruders, and after deciding she was the first to arrive and all alone, sat down heavily and groaned.
A cold presence stopped behind her, and Moon recognized it as her poltergeist companion, if she could even be called that. She was definitely a lot quieter and dimmer than what she started out as, a lot more faded. But alas, it was company, and what better way to pass the time than some one-sided bantering with an unnatural presence?
“You’ve been very quiet lately,” She started casually, sensing the tired discomfort from the other, even with her back turned to her. “What, no screaming today? No crying? Nothing?” The presence shifted. “I have to admit, it's quite a lot nicer not having to constantly tune you out, you know? Did you finally get tired of trying? Finally realize it's useless?” Moon turned her head towards the spirit with a smile, but the ghost wasn't looking at her. She had a far off look in her eyes, slightly glazed over, but she knew she was listening.
Moon stood up and turned around to face her, opening her mouth to begin with her bantering, when the spirit started talking.
“One of these days, you ought to get caught talking to yourself, you know?” The ghost murmured in a soft and so, so tired voice, yet there was something teasing about her tone. Something that didn’t sit right with her. Her eyes widened a fraction at the poltergeist and left her mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish, until she managed to get out a simple quiet “What?”
That got what would’ve been a huff of laughter from the spirit, who then had the audacity to look at her and say, “Cat got your tongue?”
The formerly white she-cat shook her head, giving her chest a couple of embarrassed licks before clearing her throat.
“Been a while since I’ve heard you, is all,” She muttered under her breath before continuing on. “And it’s not gonna happen. I’m careful, okay? I’m not getting caught talking to you anytime soon, thank you very much.”
The small smile that formed on the fading cat’s face absolutely did not help her point, because she knew something Moon didn’t.
Her smirk falling, she narrowed her eyes at the spirit before spinning around in a circle, ears perking at the smallest sounds and mouth wide open to catch even the slightest trace of a cat’s scent. Not long after, a blue shine caught her eye and she abruptly turned towards it, staring dead in the eyes of another cat, who immediately tensed, if the shift of the undergrowth around them was anything to go by.
Moon fixed her posture to be relaxed and her fur to lay flat, knowing it was better to act calm and strike when least expected.
“Well, come out then” She announced with a tilt of her head, before the hiding figure sighed.
“It’s just me,” The black and white cat said tiredly, creeping out from her hiding spot. “No need to get so hostile”
“Skylar” Moon acknowledged with a dip of her head, releasing the rest of the tension caught on her shoulders.
“Moon” The other mirrored, and glanced around the small clearing before stepping over the creek to join her. “Who were you talking to just now?” She asked with a tilt of her head, moving to sit across from her.
“Oh, nobody you should worry about,” She said sweetly, feeling Feathertuft’s gaze burning the back of her head. “Shall we?”
She fully expected Skylar to give her an unconvinced glare, but say nothing and bring it up sometime later, and so she started walking, only to stumble and turn at the sound of her voice.
“Who were you talking to, Moon ?” It wasn’t so much of a question as it was a demand, and she stared at her with a look that let her know she wouldn’t budge.
With a barely repressed sigh, she sat down and motioned for her to do the same, who did so only after a moment of hesitation and a questioning glance.
“Remember how I told you I had to… borrow this body in order to make my return?” She started slowly, earning a would-be huff from the spirit hovering besides Skylar, who raised an eyebrow skeptically.
“How could I forget?” She drawled with a roll of her eyes. Before Moon had a chance to continue though, she spoke again. “You know, I’m only half trusting you because you seem to know what you speak of, and have shown no hesitation on killing the clan cats, but that still doesn’t mean I beli—”
“ Skylar ” The clearing went quiet, save for the rushing water of the creek and the forest sounds around them. “ As I was saying, after I did that , her spirit stayed, and so she’s just been sulking around me the whole time.”
Skylar seemed to pause at that. “So you’re saying… that you were talking to the ghost … of the cat who’s body... you’re using…” She struggled through the sentence with narrowed eyes, looking at Moon like she could see the truth if she looked hard enough.
“That’s pretty much it, yes” Moon nodded, contemplating. Skylar burst out laughing.
“O-okay Moon- Okay” She got out between gasps. Really, was it that hard to believe? Okay, maybe—
“If I show you, will you shut up about it” She half snapped at the still giggling she-cat.
“Su- sure, sure. Show me this spectral cat, why don't you” The white She cleared her throat with a cough before settling again, with a mildly curious expression. Feathertuft seemed to be mostly zoned out, not having reacted to the idea.
Moon sat straight in her spot, and started focusing in on Feathertuft, on the dim silhouette she was and exactly where she hovered just barely above the grass. The weird chill that seemed to radiate from her. Focused on the spectral figure, she flicked her now very short tail, with the motion of swiping away, something she regularly used to not have to see or hear her, except this time making her real , bringing her to what she could only think of as the real world.
Barely a moment had passed before Skylar let out a choked gasp and desperately scrambled away from the spot, tripping over her own paws and ending up rolling on the ground until her back hit one of the surrounding trees. Moon failed to contain a loud snort and even Feathertuft looked ever so slightly amused with the action, though her expression was mostly tired confusion. The ghostly she got over it pretty quickly though, and as she turned around to look at the source of Skylar’s panic, her gaze flickered with confusion, going through the forest in front of her quickly. With furrowed eyebrows, she turned back to give Skylar a skeptical glance, tilting her head enough for it to be out of the way completely, and Moon watched with interest as the white she-cat’s blue eyes followed.
Now this was going to be fun.
what.
Skylar didn’t particularly believe in an afterlife, when you died, you were dead and that was that. And even if that reasoning had failed to explain a thing or two, she could stick by her belief and make it work one way or another. Whether cats lied or were barely conscious enough to create a single coherent thought, she could excuse it.
But this.
what.
It was enough that this strange, cream tabby, clan she-cat claimed to be her late sister, who mind you, looked and sounded nothing like her (yet somehow had her attitude and sass spot on—) , one that she only allowed in because she genuinely did not seem to care about her supposed clanmates and was, as much as she hated to admit it, a good help with plotting to overtake the clans.
But two ?
what.
She was snapped out of her internal panic however, by movement from the second (why were there two— why were there two of them ) she-cat who ( was she floating? She was definitely not touching the ground, that was for certain ) looked as if something just clicked in her mind and was slowly hovering ( ???? ) away from Skylar with something akin to panic on her face.
She was stuck to the ground however, paralyzed by fear, and found herself looking the spirit ( WHAT- ) right in the eyes. It 's— her? The figure looked very faint after a closer look, she could see that her paws were fading at the ends, her front paws much more than her back ones, and one of them almost halfway invisible. Her eyes were dim and looked to be a solid light gray-green, contrasting with her (alive??) counterpart who had bright lime eyes.
She felt like the ghost was looking right through her, her insecurities and doubts and all of the feelings she buried deep where not even she could find them, and by her expression she guessed the spirit felt the exact same way.
What she didn’t expect was for the ghost to suddenly have recognition flicker in her eyes, and for her expression to completely crumble in a heartbeat. The ghost then curled up into herself and completely vanished.
what.
Skylar jerked her head around, eyes flicking from place to place lightning fast as she pressed herself further against the ground, ears pinned to her head in distress. She glanced questioningly at Moon, who was staring at the place where the phantom ( WH— ) had just been with bored disappointment on her face. “There she goes” Drawled Moon with exaggerated tiredness. “Really, it’s been, what, 6 moons now? I would have thought she’d be over it.” A sigh. “Oh, well. Shall we get going then?” Moon hummed, sounding too— way too bored for what just happened. She couldn’t find it in herself to reply however, so she nodded mutely from her place on the ground and shakily rose to her paws.
The walk back to the rogue's camp was quiet.
At some point, the ghost returned, which decidedly did not help ease Skylar’s nerves in trying to unravel the situation. About halfway there, Moon —oh, she wasn’t lying, was she? oh she actually was her— started talking, discussing something or other about the clan’s strategies to take back the camp. They had already gone through the important bits of their actual plan someday earlier —when Skylar didn’t know the cat she was working with had, oh, you know, a ghost following her around— so now she was going over the specific battle strategies, which if she was honest, she should probably be paying more attention to, but she was currently a little too preoccupied with being aware of the literal spirit whose eyes were currently burning holes into the back of Skylar’s head.
Some time later, they arrived at the rogue camp, and before entering she and Moon said their goodbyes and started to go on their own ways, figuring it was better to get some sleep after getting back. The spirit hovered in place looking at Skylar with hesitation for a heartbeat too long, before moving with impossible speed, to which she failed to repress a flinch, and appearing at Moon's side, floating somewhere behind her and following out of sight.
Skylar slumped in place and resisted the urge to shriek into the skies with a wince, breathing in a mouthful of air, and went inside where she made her den and tried to sleep.
Keyword: tried .
There were far too many thoughts going around in her head for that to happen though, so she settled for going to sit around camp doing nothing until she was tired enough to fall asleep.
So she stretched in her nest, stood up, and went to leave the small space she settled in, only to be met with the semi-transparent face of a cream tabby she-cat with green eyes who was hovering outside her den, and let out a high-pitched yelp.
Out of everything that could have happened during Moon’s and Skylar’s meeting, be it murdering some poor clan cat that stumbled across them, murdering each other, setting the forest on fire, out of anything , this was not what Feathertuft expected.
The feeling of someone’s eyes on her that weren’t Moon’s broke her more than she had expected, and she’d been isolated for a long time now. She had to get out of sight to (metaphorically) scream into the void —something that she found herself doing more and more often, even if it was pain, it was better than being completely numb— before coming back, thoughts racing too much to do anything to stare at a very uncomfortable and possibly scared out of her mind Skylar.
All of this- All of this time , and it was that easy? Just a FLICK of her tail, that was all it took. 6 mo- 6 MOONS, AND IT TOOK THAT—
No. She was not letting herself spiral right now, she could do that later, she had to get information now. She was finally able to talk to someone who wasn’t her —even though her sister wasn’t all that much better, still something— and she’d be cursed if she wasn’t going to make the most she could out of it (The same quiet part of her brain told her that she already was, and she couldn’t help but agree).
So she waited, and as they were splitting up, she went back with Moon after a short moment of hesitation, just to make sure nothing happened,and when she was asleep back in Shadeclan camp, she went straight back to the rogues.
Only to be met by a startled Skylar who was apparently leaving her den. It took a second to process that she was scared of Feathertuft , and she backed away with conflicted feelings.
Skylar had curled into herself where she stood, before taking a shuddering breath and speeding away muttering under her breath.
“Not dealing with this , not now, not ever” was all she could catch from where she sat next to the entrance to what once was the Mountainclan’s leader’s den, before all but teleporting next to Skylar again, who tensed up immediately and stopped in her tracks, her mouth left half open taking in breath after shaky, stuttering breath, her eyes unfocused.
“Leave me alone” She hissed out after one too many moments. “Don’t you have anything better to do? ”
‘Do I look like I have anything better to do? I’m practically dead’ She wanted to snap back, but instead she settled on silently raising an eyebrow.
“Just leave me alone ” Skylar practically begged, and Feathertuft was suddenly aware that the white-and-black she was shaking .
“I don’t know if I want to do that” She murmured back, a soft voice that she knew should have been raspy and hoarse from de-use echoing slightly before fading into the forest sounds.
Skylar tensed the moment sound started coming from seemingly everywhere, and nowhere at the same time, and she whirred around to face the would-be cream she-cat.
“What do you mean?” She spat out through gritted teeth. The feeling of eyes on her came back to unsettle her again, and for a bit the two she-cats stared at each other in tense silence, both irrationally afraid. One, of the other, and one of the implications of their staring contest.
After she got past the metaphorical knot in her throat, she whispered again. “Because this is the first time I’ve spoken to anyone that isn't her in about six moons, and I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I didn’t.” The admission had a tear falling down her cheek, fading into nothing as soon as it fell from her face, and she watched as Skylar froze in place, seemingly caught off guard.
They stayed in silence for a long time after that, both refusing to stare at each other.
“So” Skylar rasped out after the moon was noticeably lower than it was before, and it took a few tense moments for Feathertuft to flinch in turn to being addressed, her brain still not catching up completely that she was being spoken to.
Skylar floundered for a few more, her mouth opening before closing abruptly, opening hesitantly once more, only to slowly shut again.
“So ” Feathertuft mew back.They both had questions they had no idea how to even begin asking, but at least Skylar’s had an answer. And if she was really the only cat she could speak to right now, as long as she didn’t ask for something that could compromise her the clan, she wouldn’t mind answering all that much. So she waited.
“How-” Skylar spoke before cutting herself off again, before apparently deciding she had enough and settling on asking, “Who are you?”
It was a dumb question, they both knew, but there wasn’t really a better way of asking everything that was obviously on both their minds.
“My name is Feathertuft, and I’m— was a clan cat, but you already knew that” She paused, trying hard to control herself from spilling all of her pain and sadness to pretty much the first stranger she talked to. She furrowed her brows before continuing, “I don’t know if I can answer all of your questions about… all of the ghost stuff, because I would also like answers to most of them, but... I can try.”
Needless to say, Skylar didn’t end up getting much sleep that night, but the silence between them was no longer filled with fear, even if there were still many questions left unanswered.