Oh, beautiful poison tree
Let your power grow in me

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈•ﾟ｡

Snowfall had came early this year, setting the lands in a picturesque blanket, leaving the trees bare and daunting. Almost symbolically, WinterClan had taken home within FallClan to prepare for the deadliest war known to the clans.

Though it was an alliance, Dawnstar was aware of her superiority over everyone, even Viperstar. They all looked to her. They knew she would lead them to victory.

It was strange, almost.

As if it was too good to be true. Her own clan had never had faith in her, so why did they now?

As Dawnstar closed her eyes and allowed for sleep to greet her, she felt a tug within the very core of her being, as if something was pulling her with an immense force. It was a power she had never felt before, not even by the paws of StarClan.

Her eyes opened to something she wished to be perpetual.

A beautiful clearing with an open meadow, delicate monarchs fluttering above her head as the sun began to rise from the distant horizon, coloring the sky in a collection of light, dreamlike colors.

It was beautiful, and with the sight came a rush of warmth, embracing her in a feeling she hadn't felt in many moons.

"Mom." Dawnstar lulled, the emotion tucked in her voice coating the very edges, a type of emotional vulnerability she had been sheltering for so long.

Swanflutter slowly padded towards her daughter from the meadow, the sunlight making her gray fur shine a near silver, her laurel green eyes full of the compassion Dawnstar had missed so much.

Dawnstar was starstruck, her heart beating so incredibly fast. She kept reminding herself that this was a dream, but yet it felt like more than that, as if she was in a preternatural state that she'd never fully understand.

Something otherworldly.

However Dawnstar felt the ground beneath her shake, sending vibrations all throughout her body. Suddenly the alluring sky above her bled into something much more sinister, shifting into a black void that appeared everlasting.

Suddenly the monarchs were dead, sitting by Dawnstar's dainty paws, their little wings twitching for a brief second until they were completely still.

Dawnstar looked at them in horror before she glanced up once more, expecting to look up and see Swanflutter gone, however her mother was still there.

Though something about her was different.

So terrifyingly different.

"Mom," Dawnstar started with a formidable hesitance, "what is this place?"

Swanflutter didn't respond at first, her green eyes unwavering. She didn't blink once, Dawnstar almost thought she had been sculpted in place.

"Mom, are you real?"

"Yes." She responded this time, hastily. Her words were sharp, yet unnerving and quiet. Whoever this cat was, she held a type of nefarious aura about her, one that made Dawnstar believe someone was toying around with her, however in the body of her mother.

However Swanflutter continued speaking, and though her apathetic tone was completely unfamiliar to Dawnstar, the words she spoke were sagacious and spoken with a type of wisdom only her mother adorned.

"When StarClan deems a cat too corrupt for their ranks, they believe they send them off into a void, where their soul no longer exists." Swanflutter began, the edge in her voice making Dawnstar's skin crawl.

"Some believe that they disintegrate into nonexistence, others believe they're doomed to an eternity of nothing but consciousness, as if they're trapped in a perpetual dream state," Swanflutter paused as she began to walk closer to her daughter, "however both of those theories are wrong."

Dawnstar just stared at her, the words getting completely tangled in her throat. Swanflutter must've noticed her daughter's confusion, so she continued speaking.

"A separate afterlife, Dawnstar." Swanflutter spoke, her tail wrapping around her paws steadily. "Just like StarClan, though this place is fueled by hatred because they were denied salvation."

Dawnstar continued to just stare at her, trying so hard to find remnants of the mother she remembered in the cat before her, though to no avail. She may look like her mother, but something about her was terrifyingly different.

"Mom," Dawnstar began shakily, trying to steady her own breathing as her blue gaze continued to burn into her mother's narrowed viridescent eyes, "why are you here?"

As the inquiry left her mouth, a smile slowly crossed her mother's face, though it was blood-curling. The apathy in her mother's gaze shifted into something entirely malevolent.

"Oh Dawnstar, it was a game and he played you good, but the thing is, I played him."

"What are you talking about?" Dawnstar questioned, trying to piece it all together in her head.

"I had Tigertaunt wrapped around my claw since the moment I met him. His ego would always be his downfall, but I got his use before that ever happened." Swanflutter explained, a newfound power beginning to radiate off of her as she continued speaking. "You see Dawnstar, I fed you all these little philosophies your whole life, and you clung to them dearly. I made you believe I was an angel sent from above, but don't worry love, I had everyone fooled."

"What?" Dawnstar gasped under her breath, the confusion in her gaze shifting into something much more pained, a mere yearn for understanding.

"Everything I ever told you was a lie but yet, it was you who defended my words with such ferocity, and it was you who still managed to disappoint the mother you had grown to admire so much," Swanflutter paused once more as she stepped on one of the dead butterflies, "let me tell you this, she doesn't exist."

"Mom you're scaring me," Dawnstar paused in a breathy panic, "I don't get what you're saying."

"She was a front; a facade I put on as I pretended to be the sweet, nurturing she-cat who was oblivious to the treachery of her mate— but don't get it twisted— your father's treachery is nothing but child's play to me. Your poor old dad was neglected by his parents and wanted so desperately to prove he could be something great that it tipped him over the edge." Swanflutter explained, a vile smirk crossing her face before she continued speaking, completely disregarding the betrayal which painted her daughter's face.

"Me however, I don't have a sob story. It was always a game to me, to see how much destruction I could cause. It was thrilling. The chaos I caused and no one ever would've believed it was me."

Wake up, Dawnstar. You have to wake up. This isn't real.

It can't be.

It was.

It was so incredibly real.

"You were the perfect candidate, Dawnstar, you always have been. A high achiever with extreme control issues? I always knew you would be grand, and with a father like you had, I knew exactly how it would play out," her words were growing more aggressive, through the next thing she said was much quieter, "you grew up with the intelligence of an adult and yet the emotions of a child."

"Despite this all, I'm still your mother and no one knows you better than me. I would watch the way you grew jealous of your father's approval over your brother and I always knew you craved that same validation. It's almost sad; you could have been extraordinary on your own, but your desperation ruined everything you ever had."

"You knew all along that dad's treatment was cruel, and you just," Dawnstar felt like she was going to burst into tears, "did nothing?"

"Oh don't worry, I think this helped you in the long run. Love only weakens you and now that you've singlehandedly ruined anything remotely good in your life, you have no one to impress so therefore nothing is holding you back."

Dawnstar couldn't believe what she was hearing, she didn't want to. Her whole life had been a lie and the cat who had made her feel the most safe turned out to be the most dangerous cat she had known.

Her own mother.

"If you want to feel bad for yourself, don't bother. Sure, your dad hurt you, he placed a wedge between you and your brother and you've lost those who you've loved. News flash, you're not special, and in the real world, the actions you made were the actions you consciously decided to pursue. There is no one to blame but yourself." Swanflutter explained, however she continued speaking before Dawnstar could even open her mouth.

"You've even managed to start an entire war between every clan, it's ridiculous! I've loved every moment of it." Her mother lulled. "Watching you betray Bluegaze, someone you had grown to deeply care for, just to satisfy your dad. Honestly Dawnstar, you've grown to be quite the mastermind. I would be lying if I didn't say I was impressed you managed to get WinterClan on your side, but what can I say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Let's not forget Luca. You messed around and got pregnant with his kits, forced your friend to play daddy, killed Luca yet in the end the truth still got out. Remember when you forced your medicine cat to kill Blossomfall or else you'd murder her sister? Or being so destructively absent in your kits life during such a monumental time of their development? How about framing Hawkhowl for murders he didn't commit just to clear daddy's name."

"Enough!" Dawnstar screamed, her chest heaving as she felt tears begin to stream down her face and stain her fur. This reaction caused a sick smile to lace her mother's face, as if her daughter's pain offered her joy.

"You were the pawn to my game, my own personal toy of destruction, and you played your part brilliantly." Swanflutter spoke, nearly whispered.

"What does that even mean?" Dawnstar cried back, trying to compose herself, however every word that left her mother's mouth left her a little more broken.

"Before I was dead, I already had a hold on this place. I guess the cats which resided here thought I'd be an easy target; they couldn't have been more wrong. I was able to draw them in as well." Swanflutter explained as she began to circle her daughter, tail lashing slowly behind her. "Divine intervention, my love. You don't really think Tealpool's murder sprees were random? I had a role in that, and I made sure it was me who was his first victim. Poor Swanflutter, murdered in cold blood. Next was Flowerbee, and what a shame it was. She had her whole life ahead of her and she would have made quite the leader one day."

"No." Dawnstar breathed out.

"Then Doveflutter, I made him kill his own sister! How genius is that?"

As her mother brought up her dead mate, Dawnstar felt her tears come to an immediate stop, and the saddened look on her face turned into something much more enraged.

"I believe I hit a nerve. What a shame your mate had to die at the paws of her own brother who wasn't even himself. Unfortunate, and I take full pride knowing that it all stemmed from me." Swanflutter cooed and Dawnstar just wanted to claw the smug look off of her mother's face.

"The x markings were my idea as well, you know I'm a sucker for symbolism. Perceive it however you like; the x signifying the end of something, or the end of an entity. I liked the idea of it symbolizing this place as a whole new dimension of itself, one which promised transcendence to something predominant. So poetic, isn't it?"

Then it clicked. Dawnstar just looked at her mother with reddened eyes, remembering her previous dream and the whispers she heard but couldn't quite make out.

That was it.

Transcendence to something predominant.

That's what the whispers in her dream were chanting.

However now, Dawnstar just felt empty. She had never felt so lost in her life, and it was a feeling she wasn't sure she could live with. She wasn't even sure she wanted to live anymore.

At some point, it had all just became too much, too insufferable. It was constant, a feeling of hopelessness that hung above her head like a rain cloud.

As Dawnstar finally looked at her mother again, she had only one question for her.

"Why?"

Swanflutter just smiled.

"Because it was fun."

The words seemed to shatter any remaining stability within Dawnstar and she struggled to stay on her paws, her voice giving in and out every time she spoke.

"Fun?" She exhaled. "You destroyed so many lives."

"It's almost like that was the whole point. Like I said, it was a game and you played it perfectly." She explained, as if she had no care to the damage she had caused. "To put it simply Dawnstar, some people just want to watch the world burn."

"You're sick."

"And you're not?" Swanflutter hummed, almost too innocently. "I may have pointed you in the direction, but it was you who decided to follow the path."

"I-"

"Enough small talk though. You see, I want to see this war through and the only way that can happen is if you don't remember this conversation." Swanflutter interrupted, her face shifting into a faked smile, one that the mother she thought she knew would wear.

"But don't worry, you'll remember soon enough."