Yet Another Power of Three AU
Okay so a couple of important things to know before I get into the actual AU
If we look at StarClan in the canon books, the way they're portrayed is incredibly inconsistently. Sometimes they're this all powerful force, other times they can't stop tragedies from happening. Sometimes they help the Clans, other times their prophecies do more harm than good. Sometimes the reasoning behind their actions is good, other times... not so much. All of this can largely be explained by lack of communication between authors, no series bible and a general lack of effort in keeping things consistent - but that's boring. Instead, I believe that every action StarClan takes can be explained if you look at them as manipulative and power hungry, using the Clans to not only sustain themselves but to further their own power. The best part is, this theory is (vaguely) rooted in canon.
It's heavily implied that StarClan gains power the more cats worship them (cats fade as they are forgotten - aka they are no longer worshipped (it could be argued that everytime a cat mentions StarClan they would probably be thinking of dead cats they know up there - therefore indirectly praying to them. Is this a stretch? Yes, definitely. Do I care? No.) so the opposite could be seen as true - more worship = more power.).
The results of this can be seen even in the canon books. In The Prophecies Begin, StarClan can only cover the moon and appear in dreams. However, in Omen of The Stars, StarClan cats are able to grant cats powers and manifest in the real world (and the Dark Forest grows more powerful - but I'll get back to that later.). What was the two biggest changes between TPB and OoTS? Clan sizes increasing, and the amount of disasters that occur, forcing the Clans to turn to StarClan/thank StarClan after the disaster is averted. Coincidence? Probably. But if we ignore the real world causes for these events (Clan sizes increasing due to more characters and more books, and more disasters because the new arc needs to one up the previous arcs) we see a direct correlation - especially in The New Prophecy and Power of Three. The main plot of The New Prophecy involves the Clans homes being destroyed, and them being forced to relocate. A strong emphasis is placed on StarClan being crucial to Clan life (eg cats worry they won't find a way to communicate with StarClan, they thank StarClan multiple times, ect). What happens in the very next arc? StarClan gives cats superpowers.
If we can assume that StarClan gains power the more they are worshipped, wouldn't it make sense for them to manipulate the Clans to gain more power? Purposefully sending vague signs and prophecies so the Clans are forced to turn to them, putting the Clans in danger time and time again only for them to be saved at the last minute and thank StarClan for helping them, routinely giving literal children the responsibility of saving the Clans, even rigging the Great Battle?
If the Great Battle was truly meant to happen (which I'm pretty sure it was? Rock mentions the Three reincarnating triggered the Great Battle or smth) wouldn't it make sense for StarClan to rig it in their favour? It would explain why they would ignore the Dark Forest training living cats to fight on their side, even though StarClans territory is right next to the Dark Forest and I'm pretty sure a StarClan warrior went into the DF and saw living cats training there? There's more cats in StarClan then there is in the Dark Forest (since the bar for entering StarClan seems to be incredibly low - Ashfur and Rainflower are proof of that), and StarClan cats are in way better condition than the starving, injured Dark Forest cats. And yet StarClan does nothing until the final battle.
Since the Great Battle has to happen, StarClan would likely work with the Dark Forest to ensure the best outcome for both of them. If the Dark Forest is defeated too easily, they aren't seen as a threat, and StarClan doesn't seem as powerful. At the same time, if StarClan barely defeats the Dark Forest, they seem weak. However, if they strike the right balance between the two, the Dark Forest is seen as a threat, while
StarClan is seen as powerful and the Clans saviours, which would give both groups more power. And the best way to strike that balance would be allowing the Dark Forest to train living cats.
"But Nintendont, why would the Dark Forest ever help StarClan?" I hear you cry. It's simple - more power for both of them, with minimal losses from both sides. It's a win-win scenario. Both groups are alike in a way - filled with manipulative cats who will stop at nothing to gain more power. Not to say that all StarClan cats are manipulative. The ones at the bottom of the hierarchy (normal, background characters who will fade in a few generations) experience StarClan the way the Clans believe it is - a peaceful afterlife. It's only as you climb the ranks and become more well known that the corruption really exposes itself - the very top of StarClan (the cats spoken of in prophecies) who control everything are known to threaten or outright punish those just below them to ensure their loyalty - or their silence.
This section is a little less rooted in canon, although some elements are.
The Spirits are a group of nameless, faceless cat spirits from before even the Ancient Tribe. Many, many years has worn away all memories until they are nothing more than a conduit, receiving prophecies from stars know where and passing them down to StarClan, who in turn passes them to the Clans. (This is implied in one of the Super Editions - someone receives a prophecy in StarClan and passes it onto the living cats.)
The Spirits have control over StarClan, but in a limited sense. StarClan is forced to pass the prophecies given to them on to the Clans, but they are free to deliver them as vaguely as they wish (which explains the vague prophecies the Clans have received over the years eg the Fire and Tiger prophecy - these are just prophecies StarClan doesn't want the Clans to receive as they may solve the issue without StarClan if the prophecy is delivered clearly.)
The Judge is a notable Spirit, as it is the only Spirit to remain distinct from the others. The Judges role is just that - to Judge. When a cat dies, the Judge will take their spirit to a sort of limbo between the living world, StarClan, and the Dark Forest and will then decide where they belong.
The only control StarClan has over the Judge is delaying their judgement of a cat indefinitely. This is often done to perform something called binding - aka binding a cats spirit to something in the living world, leaving them trapped there until StarClan decides to release them and allow the Judge to take them onwards.
Some of the more notable bound cats include Rock, who was bound to the tunnels by StarClans ancestors after protesting the sharpclaw trials that took place there (the trials were effective for the ancestors at the time - dead cats (particularly children) means family mourning and praying to the ancestors)). Fallen Leaves was a similarly bound spirit, trapped in the same tunnels due to the amount of time he spent with Rock's ghost - the ancestors feared he was picking up some of Rock's disdain towards the ancestors.
Midnight was also bound, but was an interesting case as she marked the first, and only time the Spirits made a new rule regarding the ancestors/StarClan. Back in the tribe days, Midnight was a cat whose name has faded from memory. Her thirst for knowledge lead her to being the first and only living cat to enter the ancestors territory uninvited. The ancestors, outraged, killed her instantly, but this angered the Spirits, who forced the ancestors to give her new life, and made a new rule forbidding the ancestors from ever directly harming a living cat. The ancestors, angered at the Spirits order, bound the cat to the body of a badger and cursed her with immortality and knowledge of everything.
From this point onwards, this goes from just headcanon and speculation of events that could have happened in canon to me taking canon and throwing it out of the window. You have been warned.
In this universe, Hollyleaf was actually given a power - the ability to sense absolute truth and the morally correct choice. The Three's abilities were intended by the Spirits to be used before (Jay), during (Lion), and after (Holly) the Great Battle to lead the Clans. Jayfeathers dream walking and emotion sensing would have been used to detect potential traitors among the Clans before the battle even happened, Lionblazes invulnerability would have been used to aid the Clans in battle, and Hollyleaf's ability to sense the truth and the morally correct choice would have been used to rebuild the Clans with loyal cats, and help the Clans recover from the aftermath of the Great Battle.
However, the Spirits could never have foretold the corruption in StarClan, and how that would impact the Power of Three prophecy and the Great Battle. Instead of Hollyleaf using her power to find loyal cats, StarClan (correctly) feared her power exposing them for the manipulative cats they were.
As Hollykit, her powers only exposed cats lies if they knew they were lying. This lead to a divide between her and Squirrelflight from the beginning, as she knew her 'mother' was lying. Hollykit instead grew closer to Brambleclaw, her only parent who wasn't lying about being her parent. However, as she grew and her power began manifesting more, StarClan grew nervous. They knew if Hollyleaf was allowed to mature and reach the peak of her power, she would turn the Clans on StarClan - and the stars couldn't allow that.
StarClans plan was simple. They began slowly increasing the strength of Hollypaw's power, while at the same time sending her strange dreams of being attacked by crows or drowning in countless leaves. As her power increased, Hollypaw began sensing more and more lies, even if the cat themselves thought they were telling the truth. This ever increasing amount of lies left Hollypaw feeling isolated and paranoid, believing everyone in the Clan had turned against her - particularly her mother, who had been lying from the start. It all came to a point on the night of her and Lionpaws warrior ceremony. Lionblaze and Jaypaw confronted the newly named Hollyleaf for her behaviour during the latter half of their apprenticeship, especially her behaviour towards Squirrelflight. After all, their mother was trying her best. This left Hollyleaf on the edge, one push away from falling. And this push came when Brambleclaw - the one person Hollyleaf felt she could trust - congratulated her, saying how proud he was to be her father. This lie from the one cat Hollyleaf felt she could trust was too much.
Overwhelmed with grief, anger and fear, Hollyleaf ran blindly out of camp and towards the tunnels where she, Jaypaw and Lionpaw had rescued the lost kits - the last time she had felt truly connected to her siblings. As she ran into the tunnels, a 'coincidental' rockfall crushed her, killing her instantly. To ensure that Hollyleaf wouldn't interfere with their plans further, StarClan bound her to the tunnels alongside Fallen Leaves.
After the loss of a third of the Three, the Spirits were forced to take the Fourth Cat - Dovewing - and make her into one of the Three. Her power was unsuited to Hollyleaf's original purpose (Dovewing was originally intended to work alongside Jayfeather as both a medicine cat and seer, searching the physical world while Jayfeather searched the minds of cats - both looking for possible traitors) - and the Spirits knew it. They were desperate.
StarClan was displeased at the reformation of the Three. They had hoped that by removing Hollyleaf, the prophecy would fail - their fear had spread to the Three as a whole - after all if Hollyleaf could turn against them, couldn't the other Three? The last thing they wanted was an invincible cat or someone who could read their true intentions suspecting them. But they knew they couldn't influence the Three again without the Spirits suspecting something and stopping them.
Instead of influencing the Three, StarClan turned to the next best option - influencing another cat in the Clans. If they chose a cat that wasn't important to the Spirits, they were free to do anything they wanted - and Ashfur was the perfect cat. His deep seated resentment towards Squirrelflight and the Three made him especially receptive to StarClans influence, as they slowly built up his rage towards Jayfeather, Lionblaze and Squirrelflight.
This rage met its peak at the night of the fire. Lionblaze and Squirrelflight had stayed in the burning camp to help Jayfeather, and Dovepaw (Lionblazes apprentice instead of Jayfeathers as the Spirits had planned) refused to leave her mentor. However the fire grew out of control, trapping them in the camp and leading to Squirrelflight taking them up the secret exit.
From here, the events are similar to the iconic fire scene - Ashfur blocking the only safe path as the flames close in, screaming his incel rant at Squirrelflight. Until - Squirrelflight yells at Ashfur that this has nothing to do with the other cats here - especially Dovepaw, who is only an apprentice. Ashfur's usual whining, petulant mew deepens into a rasp, and he hisses "Dovepaw has more to do with this than you could ever know," his manic energy gone and replaced with a deep, pure rage as he glares at the Three - completely ignoring Squirrelflight. His usually icy blue eyes seem to be reflecting the colour of the fire aroud them - a deep, burning orange.
The flames grow even closer as Ashfur stands, unmoving. Lionblaze attacks him with everything he has, but Ashfur doesn't seem to notice. As the fire begins singeing their fur, Squirrelflight screams at at Ashfur that she'll do anything, just please let them go. Ashfur simply watches coldly as the fire consumes the five of them, until the very end, where his flaming body collapses and for a moment it seems that his eyes are full of pain and fear - and have returned to their usual blue.
After the fire dies down, Ivypaw rushes into the camp to find her sister, followed by Whitewing, Birchfall, Brambleclaw and Firestar, all searching for their missing kin. Ivypaw is the first to find their scent trail leading up the secret exit - and the first to find their bodies - Squirrelflight in front of her kits, acting as a shield, with Dovepaw in the very middle, and Ashfur collapsed at the edge of the burnt remains of the log that would have lead them to safety.
Firestar quickly figures out what may have happened, remembering the tension between Squirrelflight and Ashfur, but he holds out hope that that wasnt the case. Surely Ashfur wouldn't be that cruel, to allow himself and four other cats to burn to death just to punish Squirrelflight? Regardless, he doesn't say a word of it to the other cats, not wanting to add to their grief.
Ashfur is laid alongside Squirrelflight, Lionblaze, Jayfeather and Dovepaw at the vigil, and the usual prayers are said, wishing the five of them swift travels to StarClan. Among the five of them, Ashfur and Squirrelflight are the only ones to travel to StarClan, while the rest are bound to the ThunderClan territory, forced to wander aimlessly.
When the Judge cannot decide where Ashfur should rest for his crimes, a jury of StarClan cats is assembled, which includes Yellowfang. She argues that Ashfur's only crime was 'loving too much', and the rest of the jury - made of much weaker StarClan cats - all agree instantly, not wanting to risk incurring her wrath. She was correct in a way - Ashfur's greatest crime was not his, but Yellowfang's.
Squirrelflight spends most of her time in StarClan alone, or with partially faded cats, trying to find the Three and Dovepaw. After trying to ask what had happened with Ashfur, and why he was in StarClan, she was met with a strangely hostile response from many of the cats she had looked up to her whole life - Bluestar, Tallstar, and especially Yellowfang, who seems almost prepared to attack Squirrelflight. She quickly realises that something strange is happening in StarClan, but after seeing the haunted looks in other starry warriors, decides the best thing to do is to stay out of it and search for her kits.
After the death of Dovepaw, Ivypw becomes more withdrawn and distant from the Clan. Although she misses her sister, some part of her resents the fact that Dovepaw will forever be remembered as the perfect apprentice, while Ivypaw will never be able to live up to her. Her resentment and grief makes her especially susceptible to the Dark Forest's influence, and due to the lack of outside support she becomes deeply involved in the Dark Forest's training, becoming one of their most loyal warriors. She earns her warrior name - Ivywing, the name Firestar was planning on giving to Dovepaw if she had made it to her warrior ceremony. Firestar meant it as a tribute, an acknowledgement that while Dovepaw was dead, Ivypaw would still carry her in her heart. Ivypaw doesn't see it this way - instead, she sees it as a reminder that she isn't her sister and will never live up to her. She rejects the name and instead chooses Ivyfrost, a tribute to the cat she believes earnt her her warrior name. Firestar accepts, believing the best thing he can do is support this struggling, clearly grieving cat, and tries to ignore the cat the name reminds him of.
Meanwhile, Brambleclaw has stepped down from the position of deputy, finding it too hard to handle while still trying to process the grief of losing his family. Greystripe steps in to take the role 'until a more suitable warrior can fill it', as no other cat is willing to assume the responsiblity of rebuilding the Clan after the fire and the loss of five of their members.
After recovering from the horrors of what had happened, and taking a few days to adjust to their new existence (bound cats are in the exact state they were in when they died, meaning the Three are covered in painful burns (with the exception of Lionblaze, who only had his fur burnt and instead died of smoke inhalation and now finds it hard to breathe)), the Three began searching for answers. They first tried the ThunderClan camp, hoping some cat would be able to see them. When that failed, they began testing the limits of their existence and soon found that if they got too far from ThunderClan territory they began to fade. They remain trapped in the territory, surrounded by cats they care about and unable to speak to them.
Leafpool has found herself having weird dreams ever since the deaths of her family - forest burning to ash around her while a distant voice calls her name, and thousands of eyes watch from the flames. It isn't until she sees a familiar figure that she realises - something is incredibly wrong, and Squirrelflight is trying - and failing - to reach her. She goes to the Moonpool, searching for answers, and finds nothing. StarClan is refusing to speak to her, although the other medicine cats are experiencing nothing out of the usual. This silence worries Leafpool, and makes her suspicious. Something is happening, something bad, and she's going to find out what.
Ivyfrost isn't surprised to see a scarred, black cat lurking in the shadows of ThunderClan territory - with the Great Battle fast approaching, more and more lesser Dark Forest cats are appearing in the living world, testing their newfound strength. What does surprise her is how shocked the molly is when Ivyfrost talks to her, and how she knows nothing about the battle soon approaching. What shocks her even more is when the cat tells her what happened to her. What shocks her most of all is when the cat asks to speak to Leafpool - her mother.
Even with the death of the Three, the Great Battle is steadily approaching. The Dark Forest's strength grows, while the Clans continue unaware and StarClan watches silently. Will the shattered remains of the Three - one dead, cursed to walk among her family and yet remain forever apart, one torn between her devotion to her ancestors and her Clan, and one being drawn further into the depths of the wrong side - be able to save the Clans? Or will the fate the stars laid out claim them all?
