The Blossoming Rose~Roseblossom's Story~PART TWO Starting with chapter 30~Chapters 31-33 are here!

"Roseblossom!" Birdpaw raced into my den. "There's a ceremony!"
I smiled. I've always loved ceremonies, and I knew Birdpaw did too. She was super excited the last time there was a ceremony a half moon ago, when Whitepaw became Whitefeather. "Well, I guess we shouldn't miss it." I said, padding out to the clearing.
I knew it must have been hard for Silverrose to train Glimmerpaw to be a warrior, and at the same time deal with interpreting prophecies and healing her Clanmates. So I actually wasn't suprised there was a medicine cat apprentice ceremony. Twilightkit, a tortoiseshell she-cat, became Twilightpaw, medicine cat apprentice. "Along with Silverrose, I shall be Twilightpaw's mentor." Echostar said. "I was a medicine cat myself before I decided to become a warrior. And I trust that StarClan will help her too." Then everybody chanted.
"There's one more ceremony to perform!" Echostar said. "Come forward, Darkpaw."
I knew what this was. He was becoming a warrior!
"I call on our warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has been trained in the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Darkpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do." he said.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I grant you your warrior name. Darkpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Darkfoot. StarClan honors your loyalty and enthusiasm, and we welcome you as a full warrior of RainClan." Everybody chanted again for Darkfoot.
"Wait, Roseblossom." Silverrose said as we went back to our dens. "I had a vision from StarClan yesterday. It was you, a gray she-cat, and a pink and green kit at a shining waterfall."
"Okay, thanks." I said. Was it something to do with the Moonfalls?
I went over to Darkfoot to congratulate him. "Looks like you get to sleep in the warriors den with your awesome sister now!" I said.
"Yeah." he smiled.
Although I called him my brother, I knew that he wasn't really related to me. Rubyfoot had told me that when the Twolegs brought him into the family, she only acted as a mother. But to me, he was still my brother. But little did I know that there was more to my family than that.

Icepelt padded up to me. She muttered something, kind of like a prophecy. "Storm and rain have perished, and you shall rise into the clouds."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
But before I could get an answer...
"Roseblossom!" I awoke with a jolt as Echostar hissed into my ear.
"What?" I grumbled.
"It's a flood!"
I raced out of the den. There was tons of water toppling down the waterfall. Rain was pelting down. The melted snow had made the ground damp for a while, and it had been raining for days and days, but I never imagined this would happen. I thought about my dream. Rain certainly had NOT perished. But then I realized that since StarClan is far up, there is no rain there. And "rise into the clouds"? Did Icepelt mean I was going to die in the flood?
"Head for high ground!" Sunfeather called.
I leapt, almost like flying, to the first tree limb I saw. But I saw something below. Cherrykit! She was dangling on a small twig. The twig went under, but in seconds Cherrykit's head popped up again. I dived into the water, looking for the kit. I found the twig, but the yellow she-kit wasn't there. I swam deeper into the water. I wasn't that experienced in swimming. The only time I'd swim was when I was fishing, and the water wasn't normally this deep. Besides, I've tried to avoid swimming in deep water as much as possible because of the whole starfish thing. I sank my teeth into Cherrykit's scruff and pulled her up. I pulled myself up the tree and placed Cherrykit down.
Suddenly a branch snapped off of a tree and Sunfeather and Rubyfoot fell off. Instantly I jumped in after them. Once I got into the water, I noticed Ashwind taking Sunfeather to shore. I went after Rubyfoot. She sank slowly, unable to get up. I almost got her, when suddenly, a starfish floated by. I ignored it and tried to push it out of my way so I could get to her. But it acted as a barrier that stung when I put my paw near it. I swam to surface and gasped for breath. I called for the first cat I could see. "Whitefeather!"
She looked up.
"Help me get Rubyfoot!" 
We swam back down after her. Whitefeather grabbed hold of her, completely ignoring the starfish. What is it about starfish that hurts me but not everyone else?
"I'll take it from here." I said once we got to surface. I dragged Rubyfoot to the first sturdy branch I could see.
"What do we do?" I heard Birdpaw yowl.
"We can't stay here!" Ashwind added.
"If Echostar lets us, maybe we can go into someone else's territory for now? Since this place is unlivable until this flood's over." Darkpaw suggested meekly. I noticed Creekkit and Cherrykit by his side.
"Where is Echostar?" I asked.
Then I noticed a limp, soaked gray tabby body on a tree limb. Oh no! Was Echostar dying?
After about a few minutes, Echostar got up. 
"Did you lose another life?" Silverrose asked.
"I'm on my last life." she said.
"Maybe CloudClan will let us rest in their territory until all this water's gone." Darkpaw told Echostar his idea.
"Okay." Echostar said at last.
We leapt from the trees. I noticed Ashwind still carrying Sunfeather, and Rubyfoot was still unconscious. I carried her along. Surely she and Sunfeather couldn't have died already!
After what seemed like forever, we made it to CloudClan camp. "Please, Swirlstar." Echostar meowed. "Our camp has been flooded, and two of our cats are near death. Can we please rest here until the water clears out?"
Swirlstar looked at us. "Okay."
~~~
"Roseblossom!" Creekkit ran toward me. "Have you seen Mustardblossom's den? It's so cool, and she has a ton of herbs! She's been talking to me about what some of them do. It's amazing! Maybe I'll be a medicine cat when I grow up!"
I laughed. "You sure seem interested in herbs. You know, maybe I should go see her, to check on Rubyfoot."
I padded into the yellow she-cat's den. "Is Sunfeather okay?" I asked.
She had a grieved look on her face. "She died." she said.
"What about Rubyfoot?"
She wore the same look, and I knew what it meant. Rubyfoot isn't going to make it either.
I ran to Rubyfoot. "Rubyfoot, are you okay?"
She responded by spitting up some water.
"Please don't die!" I cried. "I've lost so much already. I can't lose my mother, too!"
Rubyfoot looked worried and confused, as if she were choosing whether to say something of not.
Somehow, I sensed a StarClan spirit nearby. "Tell her..." it seemed to whisper.
"Roseblossom," Rubyfoot coughed. "I'm... not... your mother...!"

I flinched as if she had hit me. "What?!"
But it was too late. Rubyfoot was dead.
That night was the night of the Gathering, and I went along. I sat by Jewelpaw and Shimmerflight. There was something about Shimmerflight that seemed familiar, although I had only just met her a few moons ago. Her scent seemed like one I had known long ago. Maybe it was because I might have seen her before at another Gathering. I decided not to think about it.
"Hey, Jewelpaw." I said.
"Actually, I'm Jewelsky now." She grinned.
"Oh, nice, I guess." I sighed. It wasn't that I wasn't happy for her; I really was. But I was just so shaken up about what had happened earlier.
"Roseblossom," Jewelsky said. "You don't seem like yourself today. What's been going on?"
"My... mother... died." I told her, thinking about whether I should say "mother" or not. 
"I'm so sorry." She wrapped her tail around one of my paws.
"I was an orphan." Shimmerflight said.
"My mother was killed when I was just a kit." Jewelsky added. Yeah, but was she really your mother?
I decided not to tell them about what Rubyfoot had said to me. But Jewelsky still seemed shocked and grieved, as if she could look into my mind and see what had happened.
Then the meeting started. Echostar and Swirlstar talked about what had happened earlier. "Our camp was in a flood." Echostar said. "We lost two cats, one of them was our deputy."
"We agreed on having them stay with me until the water clears out." Swirlstar added.
Suddenly two of the trees fell; RainClan's and StormClan's. Suprisingly nobody was hurt. "I know what it means." Twilightpaw suddenly said. "StormClan and RainClan should merge with the other Clans!" I was suprised she was able to interpret it, as she hadn't been a medicine cat apprentice for long.
"Very well," Cheetahstar said. "So we shall use the rest of our time choosing which Clan to go to."
"I'll go with CloudClan!" Shimmerflight said. 
"Me too." Blossomberry said.
I suddenly remembered the drawings on the trees. I raced to them. The RainClan tree that had fallen no longer had the rose carving on it. I looked at the CloudClan tree. The carving on that one seemed bigger and shined in the moonlight. "Me too." I decided.
From RainClan, Echostar, Silverrose, Glimmerpaw, and Twilightpaw, among others, joined LightningClan. The rest joined CloudClan. Echostar said that she would change her name back to her warrior name, Echospirit.
Although in the midst of all the excitement, I had one goal to accomplish tonight: Confront Rubyfoot and force her to tell me who my real mother was.

Once everybody left the Gathering, I trudged on my way to the Moonfalls. Suprisingly, Shimmerflight followed me. "Did StarClan summon you, too?" she said.
"...Yeah." I remembered what Silverrose had told me after Twilightpaw's apprentice ceremony. So it was probably not even a lie.
Then, from LightningClan territory, a small pink kit with strange green and blue spots ran up. The poor thing looked like it was had been running for a moon.
"I'm... Cometkit. StarClan said... for me to... go... to the Moonfalls." she gasped between breaths.
I picked up the tired kit with barely any effort. "Does your mother know?"
"I don't have a real mother. But I'm being raised by a really nice queen. Rowanshade the medicine cat told me I had to go." she squeaked.
"Well, let's get going." Shimmerflight said.
So off we went.
~~~
When we finally made it to the Moonfalls, we drank from it and fell asleep.
One of the cats that we saw was, of course, Rubyfoot.
Rubyfoot looked at me. "Yes, it's true that I'm not your real mother. But now is the time for all three of you to meet your real mother." 
She backed up, and a red she-cat stepped closer. "I am Petalflower. I was a StarClan cat for as long as I can remember. One day, I met a living cat called Stormfur. You are my kits, and you three are sisters."
"Sisters?!" the three of us gasped. At the Gathering, Shimmerflight told me she was an orphan, but I'm sure she never thought that her mother was dead before she even had kits.
"Yes." Petalflower continued. "Around the time you, Shimmerflight and Roseblossom, were born, the Dark Forest was threatening to attack. I couldn't risk losing you. So Stormfur and I sent you Shimmerflight, to StormClan, and you Roseblossom, to my kittypet sister, Ruby."
I looked at Rubyfoot. "You're her sister?"
"Yes."
"So," Cometkit mewled. "Does that mean the three of us are dead?"
"Only partially." Petalflower said. "You are one-ninth StarClan cats, and your descendants shall be one-tenth StarClan. Being of StarClan heritage, you have the ability to visit your warrior ancestors in your dreams whenever you wish."
"Awesome!" Shimmerflight meowed.
"Now you may wake up and go back to your Clans." Rubyfoot said. "See you soon."
We woke up. On the way back to CloudClan, I was talking to Shimmerflight. "It'll probably be kind of weird being in a different Clan camp than normal." I said. "But at least the falls are still part of our territory now."
"Yeah." she agreed. "I'll kind of miss being a StormClan cat, but StormClan has perished now, I guess."
Suddenly I realized what Icepelt's prophecy meant. Not that I was going to be killed in the flood, but that I'd move to CloudClan!