Owlstar's POV

I lay curled up in my den, my head throbbing with a pain that felt like it was splitting me in two. The voices, oh the voices! They wouldn't cease. They were like a relentless storm, an unending barrage that seemed to come from every direction all at once.

I was so tired, but I knew that sleep would only make the torture worse. Especially if he was there. He had been gone for a few moons, the best moons of my life. I thought he was gone forever, but it was too good to be true. He reappeared in my dreams, and I wouldn't comply. So he sent... these... these horrible voices to ring in my ears day and night.

Nothing stopped them, nothing made them better, nothing did anything. All I could do was be miserable, trapped in a never-ending nightmare.

I tried to block them out, but they were too loud, too overwhelming. I felt like I was going to go crazy; like the voices were going to drive me to do something terrible. I just wanted it to stop.

"Owlstar?" Ivyleg called out, her voice laced with concern. 

"I'm fine," I said, trying my best to sound confident. "What do you need?"

Ivyleg's gaze lingered on me for a moment longer before she finally spoke. "Antfur wishes to speak with you," she said, her voice tinged with suspicion.

I felt a twinge of anxiety in my chest.

"Oh," I said after a moment. "Bring him in..."

The screaming in my head grew louder and louder.

"Stop," I whispered, my voice coming out almost like a whimper.

"What was that?" Ivyleg said, pausing just as she was about to walk away.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" I snapped.

Ivyleg shot me a look of annoyance before sauntering away. I buried my head in the soft moss beneath me, praying for the strength to get this horrible day.

"Owlstar?"

"Hello," I muttered.

"Are you okay? You look like a strangled rabbit."

"Yes! For StarClan's sake, I'm fine!"

"Well, I just wanted to ask who you're taking to the gathering."

"Oh," I said quietly. I hadn't thought about it at all.

"Not you, obviously."

It was Swifttail.

I wanted to tell him off, but honestly, I didn't even want to go. All those voices, all those eyes...

"So?" Antfur persisted.

"Um," I spluttered. "You... Leopardstream... um... you can choose the rest."

"Leopardstream? That little-"

Swifttail glared at Antfur then turned to Owlstar, narrowing his eyes. "You're really not well, Owlstar. Get some rest."

I finally nodded, curling up.

I had to give in. If this kept on for any longer, I'd go insane.

"So I see you've finally chosen to obey me?"

I gritted my teeth as my ears rang and rang with the voices.

I gasped as it finally stopped.

It was amazing. The silence.

"I-I-"

"I can already see the resolution in your head..." the tortoiseshell murmured, looking at me with an evil glint in his eyes.

I looked away. 

"You are wise," the tom continued. "I would've given you- what- two moons before you went completely insane?"

"And what use would I have been then?" I growled.

"Oh, nothing, but I don't need you. I could've gotten anybody, honestly. I just wanted to give you agony before that happened."

I winced at the thought of having someone else go through that horrifying ordeal. 

"What do you want from me?" I demanded.

"I've told you!" the tom said like he was talking to a kit. "Start a war with OakClan!"

"But-"

"No buts!"

I rolled my eyes, my claws slowly sliding out of their sheath.

"Want to fight?" the tortoiseshell cooed. "Go ahead! Let's see what happens..."

I snarled, sliding my claws back in. I knew it was hopeless. 

"The voices shall cease as long as you obey me, Owlstar. Keep that in mind."

I slowly opened my eyes, the warmth of the morning sun on my face. But as I sat up, I was struck by the deafening silence that surrounded me. It was beautiful, overwhelming, and at the same time, eerie. For a moment, I just sat there, taking it all in, grateful for the peace.

But that moment was short-lived. As I padded out of my den, the realization hit me like a tree falling. 

I was about to start a war, a brutal and bloody war, all because I couldn't deal with some voices. 

I shuddered at the thought of how many cats were going to die, how many were going to suffer, how many kits would lose their fathers, and how many mothers would lose their apprentices. 

"You're awake!" Ivyleg mewed from the entrance of my den.

"Yes, yes," I said. 

"Do you feel better?" she asked.

Physically, yes.

"Yeah," I nodded.

"Great! Do we bring Pebblestream in?"

Since when did Pebblestream want to see me?

"Yes, go get her," I said.

I waited in my den until I heard paw steps approaching it. I got up to greet Pebblepaw.

"Hello, Owlstar," she said.

She looked... not angry... but... I don't know... angrily concerned?

"Ivyleg, you may go," I said.

She bowed her head and left the den.

"I wish to speak to you about something," Pebblestream said through gritted teeth.

"What is it?" I asked, starting to get worried for her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said. "It's just... um... I've been- uh- going weird places for my dreams if you know what I mean..."

"Weird... places?" I said, twitching my whiskers. "What counts as a 'weird place'?"

"Well, there's this cat, um, talking to me. He is- uh- a tortoiseshell-"

"A what?" I interrupted, my eyes widening.

"A tortoiseshell."

Oh, StarClan.

Calm down. It might not be him.

"He's a tom, too."

It is him.

"Oh," I said. "Well... what about him?"

Don't pretend... his voice hissed in my ear.

"Okay, okay," I growled. "I know who you're talking about. He comes in my dreams too."

"He does?" Pebblestream exclaimed. "Is he the same dude who keeps torturing you and stuff?"

"Yes, torture is correct," I muttered darkly.

"Oh, StarClan, this isn't good," she said, looking up at the top of my den. "Okay, so, I'm like, supposed to make you start a war with OakClan, so, uh-"

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. "And there's no way out of it."

I closed my eyes, the agony of doing this weighing upon me. There's no way to explain how hard it is for a sane leader to drive his clan into a meaningless battle.

Meaningless!

I sighed again, my voice shaky.

"No way out of it."

That's SO SAD!!!!!!!!!!

I know I wouldn't last very long if there was constant screaming in my ears...

Also this is a teensy teensy bit over 1000 words so I'm now SATISFIED!

"𝓦𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓼 𝓶𝓮 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽, 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾'𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓭𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓽, 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓯𝓲𝓬 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓾𝓹 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓮𝓵𝓽 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓲𝓽. 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓭𝓸𝓮𝓼𝓷'𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱, 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱."

―𝓙.𝓓. 𝓢𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻, 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓪𝓽𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝔂𝓮