Rewriting “The Power of Three”-Long Shadows (text version)
These are my notes and script for rewriting Long Shadows! (Which in this Rewrite, is Book 3 of Power of Three!) As always, you can listen to the full rewrite here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0G_40Q4A_o
Long Shadows-
So in this book we’ll need the reveal, Ashfur, and Firestar dying from the fire
Holly*- After spending most of the last book apart from her siblings, the three are going to be spending most of this one together. After Firestar tells them about the prophecy, most of the book is going to be scenes with siblings together and/or chatting with Firestar. It’s going to be fairly clear that Firestar trusts Hollyleaf out of all of them the most. Through subtle favoritism, little gestures. Firestar and Hollyleaf have the most in common, similar personalities, morals/ethics, and Firestar is going to inadvertently spur on Hollyleaf’s ambitions.
Jay- Jay will be madpants about Firestar’s meddling at first, get a few nice moments with Firestar but then kinda come to the conclusion that Firestar is kind of clueless. (“Maybe heros/adults don’t know everything” kind of theme) Jay’s high empathy but apathy will make for an interesting dynamic between Fire and Jay because Firestar is the opposite. I don’t think these two will see eye to eye on much, but come to a respectful enough understanding as Mentor/student.
Lion- Lion still holds the most secrets, and even though it’s treading old ground, I think Firestar and Lionblaze will have the most hurdles to overcome in their relationship. Much like Firestar’s relationship with Brambleclaw. Lion is also the least *into* the prophecy. He hates his powers and holds a lot of regrets. Firestar’s console will be words of encouragement that Lionblaze isn’t ready to hear, but after Firestar dies, it’s Firestar’s words that help Lionblaze accept his role and bring him comfort.
Start right where we left off. Firestar tells Jaypaw about the prophecy, and that he’s been watching Jay, Holly, and Lion and he thinks they are the cats the prophecy is talking about. At first Jaypaw is relieved by this news, it means he really does belong here, in TC, as a Medicine Cat and not only that, but he’s special. Jaypaw is bitter towards Firestar though for keeping this from him and his siblings.
After Jaypaw gets some time to cool off, Firestar talks to him again and apologizes, vowing to try to help Jay, Holly, and Lion the best he can. Jaypaw reluctantly agrees and they fetch Hollyleaf and Lionblaze to tell them the truth. Firestar decides to start personally mentoring the 3 in order to help them, though it has to remain a secret.
With Firestar’s mentorship, the three become closer again. Things really seem to be looking up for them. A few more months go by, Hollyleaf gets an apprentice, Lionblaze is sure his power is only good for hurting cats, so he stays away from conflict as much as possible, and Jaypaw gets his Medicine Cat name, Jayfeather. Firestar talks to Hollyleaf alone and expresses concern for her brothers, telling her to do her best to keep them on the straight and narrow.
Then the infamous fire scene happens. It’s basically the same but now we’re gonna do some good old Mentor death, cause Firestar is gonna get mortally wounded here trying to help his clanmates escape. Jay, Holly, and Lion stay back with Firestar, but Firestar eventually convinces them to escape. They get caught in the fire and Squirrelflight jumps in to try to help and Ashfur intervenes. Ashfur tries to get the three killed to hurt Squirrelflight, so she reveals the truth. Ashfur says he doesn’t care, this will still hurt Squirrelflight, when Jayfeather blurts out that Firestar is dead. This shocks both Ashfur and Squirrelflight and the fight stops. Ashfur backs down, saying losing Firestar is only the beginning of his revenge on Squirrelflight.
-end of notes-
Script:
We start right where we left off. Firestar tells Jaypaw about the prophecy, and that he’s been watching Jay, Holly, and Lion and he thinks they are the cats the prophecy is talking about. At first Jaypaw is relieved by this news, it means he really does belong here, in ThunderClan, as a Medicine Cat and not only that, but he’s special. Jaypaw is bitter towards Firestar though for keeping this from him and his siblings.
After Jaypaw gets some time to cool off, Firestar talks to him again and apologizes, vowing to try to help Jay, Holly, and Lion the best he can. Jaypaw reluctantly agrees and they fetch Hollyleaf and Lionblaze to tell them the truth as well. Firestar decides to start personally mentoring the 3 in order to help them, though it has to remain a secret.
With Firestar’s mentorship, the three become closer again. Jaypaw comes clean about his power to feel clanmates' emotions, and Lionblaze realizes that his power must have to do with his fighting abilities, though he has doubts about this because he feels a lot of those abilities came from training in the Dark Forest. Hollyleaf concludes that her power must have to do leadership. Firestar doesn’t know what to make of these abilities, but tells them to keep an eye out for messages from StarClan. Overall things really seem to be looking up for them.
A few more months go by, Hollyleaf gets an apprentice, Rosepaw, and takes to her position as a mentor quickly. It’s still pretty common to see Hollyleaf thinking about satisfying those ambitions she had in book 1. She still wants glory and recognition and so far, despite her inner thoughts being a bit selfish and her compassion a bit questionable, especially after Hollyleaf catches Rosepaw breaking some minor Warrior Code rules, Hollyleaf seems like a good person overall who’s heart is in the right place at least.
Lionblaze is sure his power is only good for hurting cats, so he stays away from conflict as much as possible, he begins reforming his relationships with the apprentices he had grown up with. Honeyfern, Mousewhisker and Hazeltail all forgive Lionblaze pretty quickly, but Cinderheart and Poppyfrost take a little longer to come around, though they do eventually. Berrynose and Lionblaze never become real friends, so to speak, but they do form a healthy rivalry with each other that sort of doubles as a bit of an estranged bromance.
Jaypaw gets his Medicine Cat name, Jayfeather, from Leafpool and starts getting dreams from StarClan filled with smoke and he can’t see in the dreams. He calls out to his family but can never find them. Jayfeather tells Leafpool about these dreams but she’s not sure that they aren’t just nightmares. Jayfeather is convinced it’s a warning from StarClan about something, but doesn't know what it could be.
After mentoring Jay, Lion, and Holly again, Firestar talks to Hollyleaf alone and expresses concern for her brothers, telling her to do her best to keep them on the straight and narrow. Firestar trusts Hollyleaf’s power more than Lionblaze and Jayfeather’s, to do good for ThunderClan, and overall feels a kinship with Hollyleaf due to their similar interests in helping clanmates and leading. Hollyleaf gives Rosepaw her warrior assessment and Firestar is proud of Hollyleaf’s skill at mentoring.
Then the infamous fire scene happens. It’s basically the same but now we’re gonna do some good old fashioned Mentor death, cause Firestar is gonna get mortally wounded here trying to help his clanmates escape. Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze stay back with Firestar, but Firestar eventually convinces them to escape before he dies. As a fun little bonus here for people paying attention and a little foreshadowing: Hollyleaf nearly dies multiple times during this scene, but ends up narrowly escaping due to Lionblaze and Jayfeather’s help. They get caught in the fire and Squirrelflight jumps in to try to help and Ashfur intervenes. Ashfur tries to get the three killed to hurt Squirrelflight, so she reveals the truth that Jay, Holly, and Lion aren’t actually her kits. Ashfur says he doesn’t care, this will still hurt Squirrelflight, and that’s when Jayfeather blurts out that Firestar is dead. This shocks both Ashfur and Squirrelflight and the fight stops. Ashfur backs down, saying losing Firestar is only the beginning of his revenge on Squirrelflight.
The book ends in much the same way, with the three freaking out over not knowing their biological parents, wondering how that affects the prophecy, and then Ashfur turning up dead by the end of the book. Firestar is also dead, so yeah, now we get Bramblestar.
At the end of this book, we get an epilogue with Leafpool, very similar to the prologue that begins Sunset, with her finding the fur in Ashfur’s claws and from that knowing who the true killer might be.
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