#forever REALLY wants to get to know the leader of windclan..................

[celluzu]

QSMP as Warrior Cats

Thunderclan: Roier, Quackity, Vegetta, Baghera, Slime, Mariana, Etoiles, Leonarda, Juanaflippa, Tilin, Pomme.

Shadowclan: Badboyhalo, Cellbit, Jaiden, FitMC, Foolish, Dapper, Ramon.

Riverclan: Forever, Pac, Mike, Maxo, Aypierre, Trump, Richarlyson.

Windclan: Philza, Missa, Felps, Antoine, Tallulah, Chayanne.

Loner/Rouge: Wilbur, Spreen, Kameto.

Starclan: Luzu, DanTDM, Rubius, Tilin, Bobby, Trump, Juanaflippa.

Dark Forest: Cucurucho, Elquackity.

- All "eggs" were found at fourtrees on the same night, the clans believe the kits to be a sign from Starclan for more peaceful, united times. The kits were taken back to clan camps, and continue to aid in bringing them together. They'll soon have more dangerous forces to deal with than border disputes.

- Unfortunately for the clans, these kits only seem to draw those dangers closer to their home. They quickly find that something is targeting the "eggs" and are devastated and enraged when they lose three of them to the mysterious monsters.

- Felps, believing to be following a starclan cat was led into the old Windclan tunnels. If he didn't know any better, he might just think that the "starclan" cat was the one who made the only exit collapse.

- Quackity vanished on the way home from a gathering, returning the next moon to the clans suspicion.

- Elquackity possesses Quackity's body similarly to how Ashfur possesses Bramblestar in the recent arc

- Wilbur is a loner, who found Tallulah at the edge of the Windclan border, knowing he couldn't take care of her alone he brought her to Windclan. He visits frequently, and is seen as a friend of the clans.

- Spreen is considered a hostile rouge by Thunderclan after attacking their Warrior Roier.

- Jaiden was once a thunderclan cat, after being plagued with nightmares of the dark forest she sought refuge with Shadowclan. Thunderclan believes her to be dead.

- Pac was separated from his patrol while examining suspicious paw prints after the disappearance of a friendly kitty pet. He found himself at the river, where he was dragged into the water by a mysterious force.

- Mike refuses sleep after his disappearance, fearful that Pac may visit his dreams from Starclan and confirm his fears that his friend might truly be dead

- Richarlyson can often be found crossing the river onto Sunningrocks to play with with Bobby. Forever can often be found dragging him back.

[bonefall]

mmm would it be possible for Mistystar and Leopardstar to fight/met during the BOTTE? or was Leopard already fed up with Tigerstar, his batshit insane plans and her status reduced to 'Tiger's another lackey' (like Darkstripe and many others) to really care about revenge? if she ever thought about it, that is.. im assuming she would be pretty pissed about being killed (there was a post about Mistyfoot first trying to poison her and Leopard realized it and instead decided to take her on a solo patrol to.. deal with a rogue i think? and then Misty gave her a rock appointment) and might had thought about making Mistystar pay, but it's been soooo long before BOTTE that she might had.. moved on? or just decided she had better things to do, not sure.

I have a BIG rule for the BOTTE, an unmoveable object, which I will abide by like a solemn vow;

NO spirit will be killed by the same cat twice.

I already changed it so Yellowfang doesn't get Brokenstar (he's not even present) and Brambleclaw doesn't get Hawkfrost, so I certainly wouldn't have Mistystar do it to Leopardstar!

I have some ideas but first; context.

The Killing of Leopardstar

Mistyfoot was sloppy.

Leopardstar recognized the way that Mistyfoot had poisoned her food, because she'd done the same thing to Crookedstar before her. Not enough to make it quick, just enough to weaken.

The emotion that licks at her is frustration.

Is this what her life has come to? Dramatic irony? Is this some kind of cosmic joke? To die just like her predecessor, wasting away for a few seasons in the darkness of this musty den, before solemn mourning and empty platitudes from her underhanded murderer.

What should she even do about this? Reveal Mistyfoot in front of everyone, exile her, she plots against her from the safety of another Clan, some kind of rebellion, rah rah rah we just dealt with this.

It's boring. It's so boring it's offensive. This will be the state of RiverClan forever, deputies poisoning leaders and taking power quietly until the end of days. No honor, no nobility, just treachery until the sky dries up and its rich blue becomes a crackled pale-brown.

If she is to die, she will not go out in the slow and painful way she killed crookedstar without a fight.

So she smacks the limp fish aside and brushes past Mistyfoot with a snarl, not even caring enough to drink in the way her traitorous deputy's ears flushed pale, knowing she'd been caught.

Leopardstar calls for a rushed meeting, telling them all that there's actually 40 - 50 feral rogues on the border right now and she saw them all last night or something, so she's taking Mistyfoot to go confront them right now. Don't follow us.

(Something that the more astute members of the Clan immediately recognize as Leopardstar setting up cover for a death match, including Misty's brother Swansong. She snaps at him when he runs to stop her, Don't Follow.)

Once they're a fair distance away, at the southern delta that divides WindClan and RiverClan, where the cliffs will hide them and the wet stones will not catch the scent (and where Reedwhisker will die, someday), Leopardstar lays it out.

No more tricks. No more schemes. If one of them is to die, it will be with honor.

"You want my lives?"

(Boss music fades in. Misty sees the health bar appear lmao)

"Come and take them."

After she came and took them

Leopardstar is kind of obsessed with the final battle of her life. That fight was everything she hoped for, except that she didn't win.

She wants it again, and she will triumph this time.

Hawkfrost is easily able to twist it into, "You lost only because StarClan shone upon her with that stone. It wasn't real skill. Join our cause and we can get you that rematch, we will defeat Mistystar, win back RiverClan, and dethrone the Stars!" But at the end of the day, it's an excuse.

Same sort of excuse Leopardstar came up with when she believed she wanted an honorable battle, rejecting the guilt and fear that clawed at her to think about dying the way Crookedstar did.

She does this a lot. Dodging feelings of remorse or regret by substituting power fantasies, avoiding any hard lessons. She says she wants revenge, but what she's actually doing is avoiding taking an L. Shame is a vagrant in Leopardstar's heart; she will never let it stay for long.

But...

That's really hard to do when Tigerstar is actively using her and speaking over her in every interaction. Being here, in the Dark Forest, taking the SAME advice she once groomed into Hawkfrost to only look at the positives of Tigerstar's legacy and ignore atrocities, is embarassing.

It's HUMILIATING.

She had her starshine BASHED out of her with a rock and went to the hell she'd been downplaying since she "regrettably" tore down the Bonehill. Being Tigerstar's stooge. Reducing the proud, ferocious leader of RiverClan into a goon.

Towards the end, she will have a scene with Hawkfrost, proud warriors that they are as mentor and apprentice, and vaguely address this. As far as Leopardstar's ego will allow, of course... the shame of it.

It's an important moment, because it's as much about Leopardstar and Hawkfrost as it is about Hawkfrost and Ivypool.

Leopard is too set in her ways to change, even if she is capable of brief glimpses of self-reflection, of which this is one. Hawkfrost, however, is seeing his mentor and himself in a different light. How she'll let herself be humiliated over and over as long as she can cling to her ego... and how by doing Tigerstar's diplomacy work, Hawkfrost is doing the same.

And he's dragged his OWN apprentice into it, too. She accidentally double-killed her friend, Antpelt, but he killed him more by bringing all of these trainees here to begin with. How Ivypool gets pitted against Tigerheart because TigerSTAR is playing mind games, how it's destroying her bond with her sister, how much fun and joy in the Dark Forest he's missing out on by not giving the afterLIFE a chance...

How much he's thrown away for this, before and after his death.

I'm not sure yet if it's the LAST stop before the BOTTE, but it's close to the end of Hawkfrost's redemption arc. Recognition of self through the other. He is part of a cycle he has a choice to break.

But anyway... back to Leopardstar.

She wants to fight Mistystar, but I don't think I'll let her have that satisfaction. She has already gotten nearly everything she ever asked for and can't even acknowledge that she did.

I think it's most fitting for SWANSONG to finally get what he craves; a chance to take a burden off his sister.

Leopardstar allowed TigerClan to STRIP his brotherhood from her because they don't share blood. Forced him to pretend like Rippleclaw meant anything to him, as if Oakheart hadn't been his proud baba as long as he could remember. Stonefur, Mistyfoot, and Swansong are the kits of Graypool; and he's not gonna let this golden FART ignore that ever again.

So my idea is that when Leopardstar meets Mistyfoot in the Second Wave of the BOTTE, she pounces onto her for her rematch, but Swansong BURSTS out of the crowd in response and rips her off, allowing Mistystar to go back to defending their Clanmates

"I don't want YOU," Leopardstar spits, "My battle is with Mistystar!"

"Tough titfeathers! It's MY turn to get a hit in for Stonefur!" He bristles with equal parts fury and excitement, lunging towards a fight he's dreamed of for years.

Still subject to change, though! And I'm not sure if Swansong dies here, or in the 3rd Wave, or if maybe he succumbs to injuries after the BOTTE is over.

It would also be fitting if he got a whack on Mapleshade though... since Maple doesn't even consider him Applekin and won't curse him. It would be neat for him to get angry about that lmao. "What do you MEAN my siblings are haunted by a demon? But NOT ME?? What ELSE am I getting left out of???"

EDIT: I'm currently planning to kill him in the 2nd Wave

[sophswritingthings]

Longstar AU — Chapter Eleven

It was one night from the battle with BloodClan, the kits had been trained to fight as much as possible, as well as Cinderpath. Their hope was that BloodClan wouldn’t breach their camp with kits and elders inside, but they had no reason to believe they wouldn’t.

   He was terrified.

   What if he died? What if kits and elders were hurt in this battle, Cinderpath, Swiftflame..

   Could they really take that chance?

   He was snapped out of his thoughts as Blizzardspots approached him, a soft expression across her face. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t look upset, either.

   “Hey,” She mewed gently. “Firestar asked me to do a little hunting for the elders and kits.. did you want to come with?” A glint of fear sparkled in her yellow eyes. She didn’t want to go out alone.

   “Sure,” Longtail rose to his paws. He followed the white bouncy she-cat out of the camp, the sun bouncing off her white fur beautifully. Maybe.. this was his chance to tell her what exactly was on his mind. “Hey, uh.. Blizzardspots?”

   The she-cat popped out of the tall grass, gazing at him with a puzzled expression, “What’s up?”

   “I.. uh..” The words were on the tip of his tongue, but as his ears flattened, he recoiled. “Nevermind. It’s nothing.” He turned away with a flick of his tail, padding farther into the forest. 

   He approached a squirrel, digging around in the dirt. He dropped into a hunters crouch, slowly creeping toward the creature. He soon leapt at the squirrel, digging his sharp claws into its sides.

   “Nice!” Blizzardspots smiled, holding a small gray mouse in her jaws, “Did you want to talk to me about something? Like, seriously, you can. Anything, Longtail, your my friend.”

   “No, it’s okay,” He said through gritted teeth. “Let’s get a bit more prey and take this to the elders and queens.”

   Longtail nestled into his mossy nest, his long tail curled over his muzzle. He closed his eyes in the dim light, though he felt a pelt brush against his.

   It was already late into the night, though they were just getting to sleep, himself and Blizzardspots. They'd stayed out hunting most of the day, collecting what prey they could.

   Blizzardspots slid into her nest, curling up into a tight ball. She looked to be shaking a little bit, and it wasn’t from the night cold.

   “Blizzardspots?” Longtail said in a low voice, doing his best not to wake the other warriors around them. “Is everything okay?..”

   “N-no,” The she-cat quivered. “I’m so, so scared. W-what if.. what if you die tomorrow? I don’t know what I’d do around here without you.. and, w-what if I die, Longtail? What happens to me? Would StarClan accept me?..”

   He paused, “Of course they would,” He scooted a bit closer to the she-cat, resting his paw atop of hers. “You're a warrior of ThunderClan no matter where you came from. Look at Firestar, he was once a kittypet, now he’s been accepted as a leader by StarClan. And if I die.. I’d be waiting for you in StarClan.”

   “Y-you would?” Blizzardspots sniffled, brushing her falling tears away with a paw.

   “I would,” A soft smile crossed his face.

   “Thank you, Longtail.” Blizzardspots gave a gentle smile, curling back up in her nest. He did the same, falling into a deep sleep.

   “ThunderClan,” Firestar's voice echoed through the camp. “Today is the day we take on BloodClan. RiverClan and ShadowClan have agreed to fight alongside us, as well as WindClan. No matter what happens today, we will forever be cats protected by StarClan. We fight as one, and we fight with the power of StarClan beside us.” He gazed down at his clanmates with determination in his green eyes.

   Longtail knew all that was true. And he would fight for his clan til the very end. A loyalty unwavering.

   Firestar leapt down from the High Rock, padding out of the camp with his clan behind him. Darkears and Mousefur padded on his sides, as well as Blizzardspots and Runningwind. The group rushed after the rest of the clan.

   Longtail narrowed his eyes as fourtrees came into view, the other clans, along with BloodClan settled inside. The clan cats and BloodClan cats alike bared their teeth and showed their claws, ready to fight for their home.

   “Last chance to back out,” Scourge growled.

   “Never,” Firestar growled back, launching himself at the small tom. The rest of LionClan followed after his lead, taking on one or two BloodClan cats at a time.

   Longtail hurled himself at a brown tabby she-cat, her pelt already torn up with scars. He barreled her over, digging his claws into her sides. Though, she wasn’t helpless, kicking him off with her hind legs, dragging those claws down his stomach.

   He slashed his claws at the she-cats muzzle, blood dripping down her muzzle. She flattened her ears, scampering out of the hollow. He turned his attention on a black and white tom, looking similar to that of the deputy, Bone. Longtail almost jumped at him, but saw that Bone had Firestar pinned to the ground. His eyes narrowed once more, leaping at the BloodClan deputy and knocking him off the ThunderClan leader.

   “Thank you,” Firestar murmured, out of breath from fighting. All Longtail gave was a simple nod, engaging back in battle with another BloodClan tom.

   “Firestar!” Graystripe yowled, rushing toward his mate. Soon enough Sandstorm joined him, her ears flattened tight to her skull.

   Longtail rose to his paws, gazing at the ThunderClan leader. He’s a leader, Longtail thought, though his ears flattened. But.. last time Scourge killed someone.. He thought back to Tigerstar, who had lost all nine lives at once from the BloodClan leader.

   But he was soon proven wrong, Firestar rising to his paws.

   “What..? But, how—I-I killed you!” Scourge stumbled backwards, “You should be dead!”

   “I am a leader blessed by StarClan,” Firestar hissed, eyes narrowed to slits. “And therefore I am given nine lives. That is where you are weak,” He growled. “But I understand where you're coming from, Scourge.”

   “What?” Graystripe hissed, “He tried to take the forest, Firestar!”

   “I understand that,” Firestar glanced around at the BloodClan cats in the hollow. “But they are cats, just like us. And Scourge is their leader. He was only looking out for their well-being, much like us with our cats,” He flicked his tail. “I'd like to offer you a place in ThunderClan, for your cats, if you'd take it.”

   “.. I—“ Scourge stammered, staring at his paws, “That would nice, Firestar.” He whispered, looking back up at the ThunderClan leader.

   “I’m not joining some mouse-hearted clan,” A black and white spotted tom growled, earning a nod from another tom that looked similar. “I'll take over BloodClan to replace our mouse-hearted leader.” He hissed, earning approval from plenty of other cats. The cats who wanted to leave followed these two cats, padding back to twoleg place.

   “I'll come,” The black and white tom they'd come to know as Bone padded up behind Scourge, nuzzling the tom.

   “Me as well,” A black tabby tom padded up behind them. “I’m Midnight, by the way.” He flicked his tail in greeting.

   “Than come along,” Firestar dipped his head. “We have warrior ceremonies to conduct. And.. I must name a new deputy,” He took a deep breath. “Come.”

   They all trotted back to camp, the three new cats settling beneath the High Rock.

   “These cats are joining our clan not as outsiders, or enemies, but as new friends and clanmates.” He smiled down at the three tom's, “From now on, Scourge you will be known as Tinyfrost.” He mewed, “And Bone as Bonespot. Midnight will be known as Blacksight. We welcome them as warriors of ThunderClan.”

   “Tinyfrost! Bonespot! Blacksight!”

   “And one more thing,” Firestar continued, silencing the crowd. “Whitestorm has passed to StarClan.” He mewed solemnly, hanging his head. “So I must name a new deputy. And I could think of no better cat, one of my strongest and most trusted warriors.”

   Graystripe, probably. They’ve been best friends since they were apprentices, Longtail thought with a flick of his tail.

   “Longtail,” Firestar called his name, beckoning him forward. His green eyes stretched wide, padding forward into the clearing. “We have had our ups and downs. When I first joined the clan you had opposed so, though, you have learned to trust me as a warrior and a leader. And I have learned to trust you, as well.” He smiled, “Under the eyes of StarClan, do you accept this position as deputy, and protect and defend your clan with your life?”

   “I would be honored to, Firestar.”

   “Than under the watchful eyes of StarClan I name Longtail as the new deputy of ThunderClan.” Firestar meowed.

   “Longtail! Longtail!” The clan cheered his name loud as can be. Finally, he felt he was a trusted and respected warrior, and like he was part of his clan once more.

[number-one-breezepelt-hater]

Forgot to post him here. Eventually I’m gonna go back and add one more thing to his ref.

(Edit: I changed him a bit again.)

I’ve decided Hawkfrost is his mate and he was mentored by Tigerstar. He now looks way more like Blackstar at least white wise. I’ve decided he’s still half-Windclan and shadowclan AND rogue. Which makes his eventual kits with Hawkfrost half-Riverclan, Shadowclan, Thunderclan, Windclan and rogue (LOL).

Also for anyone who is wondering how him and Hawkfrost have kits, because they’ve never heard of my sona before, he’s trans. (Anyone who has a problem with that can kick rocks. I’m trans so my sona is trans.)

I think I’m gonna lean into the bitter angry aspect of his personality. Sure he got out of everything alive but the trauma leaves him all his anger and sadness he doesn’t know what to do with. He holds grudges and doesn’t know how forgive fully. He’s outwardly a kind and good cat but his clan mates know he’s a mess. Comes off as being very nice and patient but really he’s just bottling all his negative emotions most of the time.

Also it makes more sense for when he gets together with Hawkfrost and then Sol later on.

Finished his backstory so here it is.

Yarrow is Blackstar's trans (half) nephew whose mother is a rogue named Frost who while came to shadowclan, during when Tigerstar was leader, because her mother told her she had family in Shadowclan and because she didn't want to raise kits by herself so she went there. Yarrow's father is an average Windclan warrior named Haresnout who had no interest in raising kits and was scared of the idea of his clan finding out that he took a mate outside of the clan. Frost lies and says the kits father was a rogue. 

Yarrow is the runt of the litter and has two siblings, Violetkit and Thistlekit. He has trouble walking, talking, keeping his balance, and is often sick during leaf bare. He is bullied because of this. 

Tigerstar makes himself Yarrow's mentor and is a cruel and manipulative mentor, making Yarrow believe he's the only who believes in Yarrow while simultaneously tearing down Yarrow's self esteem every chance he gets. Yarrow through Tigerstar guidance becomes incredibly aggressive and a bully to the other apprentices except for his siblings. (Through he's not particularly nice to them either.) He's so distant from his family and none of them know how to help him. 

One day Yarrow disappoints Tigerstar by losing a fight with a another apprentice and is sent to go hunting alone. While doing so he spots a fox and thinking it's the perfect way to impress Tigerstar, he attempts to chase it off. He however loses the fight and gets badly injured, losing half of right ear, bitten on the neck, and a large scar on his shoulder. He climbs up a tree to escape and passes out of fear and blood loss. 

Eventually he's found by Frost and Blackstar, who are led to him by Thistlepaw, who was secretly following him so he wouldn't be hunting alone, when she saw him trying to fight the fox and immediately decided to get help. He is immediately to taken to the med den and treated. Some moons later all his wounds have healed except his shoulder scar, which becomes infected. Tigerstar is angry about how long it's taking and decides to give Yarrow his warrior name early. He gives him the name Yarrowscar to forever remind him of his scars and foolish actions. Yarrowscar at this point refuses to leave the medicine den and develops a huge fear of foxes. 

when Yarrowscar has healed Blackfoot decides to  take over training him even though Yarrow is technically a warrior now. Yarrow for the first time has a positive mentor relationship and starts thriving. For the first time Blackfoot starts doubting Tigerstar. Tigerstar has Darkstripe secretly following Blackfoot to keep an eye on him because he doubts now Blackfoot's loyalty. 

Frost while alone with Yarrow and Blackfoot reveals who Yarrow's father actually is. Unfortunately Darkstripe overhears this and tells Tigerstar. Tigerstar tricks Yarrow and his siblings to come with hunting with him and has Darkstripe lead Frost and Blackfoot to him. Once there, he has Darkstripe hold down Thistlepaw while he holds down Yarrow. He reveals that he's going to kill Yarrow and his siblings for being half clan while his mother and uncle watch. Thistlepaw manages to get free from Darkstripe’s paws and scratch Tigerstar across the face. Tigerstar almost immediately kills her but it gives Yarrow, and the rest of his family enough time to get away. Yarrow gains two scars near his right eye from this event.

They go to Thunderclan for help and Firestar agrees to let them stay. They all are devastated but Yarrow blames himself and shuts down. The very next day he witnesses Tigerstar horrifying death at the hands of Scourge. Yarrow has conflicted feelings about Tigerstar's death. When the clans win the battle against bloodclan, Yarrow and his family go back to Shadowclan. Then when the clans leave the forest territories Frost instead decides to stay. Her and Yarrow have a private moment where Yarrow apologizes for everything and they have a bittersweet goodbye. Yarrow blames himself for his sibling's death for the rest of his life.

During a gathering in the new lake territories Yarrowscar meets Hawkfrost when meeting up with his Riverclan friend, Froststrike. He is charmed by Hawk, they start meeting in secret and some time later become mates. Yarrow gets pregnant and later gives birth to five kits however Hawkfrost is killed by Brambleclaw before they're born. He is bitter and filled with hatred towards Brambleclaw even though he now knows Hawkfrost wasn't the best cat and killed the Riverclan leader Leopardstar before he died. 

(Side by side comparison.)

[exocynraku]

*shakes u like in blemder* tell me more about the gorsepaw au.

ahh!!! im being blended!!! LOL anyways YES i was hoping someone would ask about this au

OK SO its after the tigerclan/windclan battle; gorsepaw originally survives but is VERY injured, and while the med cat (not sure who it is at the time, barkface i think?) is busy tending to other cats, tigerstar & a few of his warriors sneak in and steal gorsepaw away while hes still asleep

gorsepaw then wakes up in shadowclan’s med cat den, being healed by runningnose….. except, gorsepaw cant remember what happened a few days ago. he remembers windclan and morningflower and firestar, but he doesnt remember the battle. he cant remember because tigerstar forced runningnose to drug him up real bad, so bad it messed with his head.

gorsepaw is immediately lied to by shadowclan, who says windclan was wiped out in a battle between some rouges, but tigerclan was there to rescue him. gorsepaw doesnt fully believe this, but is too afraid to encounter the “”””rouges”””” again that he stays in shadowclan. gorsepaw is apprenticed to tigerstar himself, who swiftly teaches him what shadowclan is like. gorsepaw struggles at first with his training, but slowly gets the hang of it

tigerstar has also been training gorsepaw another type of fighting; killing attacks. at first gorsepaw refuses, which causes tigerstar to punish him by clawing his muzzle, giving him a very similar scar to the one tigerstar has himself. next training session, gorsepaw learns all the killing moves tigerstar wants him to, because he fears getting hurt again.

over time, he gets stronger and stronger, more distant to his clanmates and gains many new scars. he kills and hurts many cats, but does not seem to show any remorse. tigerstar then announces his warrior name; gorsehowl. tigerstar takes gorsehowl & boulder to meet a cat he’s heard so much about; scourge. they plan the tigerclan vs lionclan battle, and wait.

when the battle comes around, scourge still kills tigerstar, gorsehowl tries to defend him, but fails. gorsehowl is very quiet for the next day, until scourge leads tigerclan over to clan territory again, to fight firestar. during the battle, gorsehowl is conflicted; does he defend scourge, or help get revenge on tigerstar. he chooses the defend scourge option.

bone is killed, but scourge survives, fleeing after seeing firestar come back to life, and gorsehowl saving his life. bloodclan flees with him, and hide away in the twolegplace. gorsehowl knows he cannot go back to the clans, so he chooses to stay with bloodclan; forever.

he is never seen again for many moons, until he’s found by greystripe with another cat; gremlin. apparently, gremlin is pregnant, WITH gorsehowls kits, and they want out of bloodclan. it’s become so much worse than when scourge was leader, and theyre afraid for their kits. they betray bloodclan, help greystripe, and plan to leave; but before they can, greystripe informs gorsehowl of what really happened to windclan, and gorsehowl asks greystripe if he can take him to windclan for a quick visit, which he agrees to

gorsehowl is so happy to see windclan again, ESPECIALLY because he gets to see onewhisker (his mentor) and morningflower again!!! tallstar offers him and gremlin a place in windclan, but they refuse, not wanting to fight any longer. instead, windclan informs them of a barn near windclan territory, where two cats named barley and ravenpaw are living.

gremlin and gorsehowl travel to the barn, and are quickly accepted by barley & ravenpaw, who allow them to stay for as long as necessary. gorsehowl, happy he’s still somewhat near windclan, and gremlin, who is happy she has a safe space to raise her kits, decide to stay at the barn. 

they stay at the barn until they are elders, and in gremlins last moments of life; greystripe appears at the barn. they have a quick reunion, but gremlin dies shortly after. fang is there too, who is very upset over his mothers death. gorsehowl hangs onto life for a bit longer, hanging out with warriorclan and chatting with fang, until he passes, and gorsehowl and gremlin meet once again in starclan, finally at peace.

this got long sorry 👍👍 hope ya like it tho

[away-from-anthills]

chapter eight-

“You really think we can take on ThunderClan?”

Antstar could practically see Russetfoot’s hesitancy as the two toms sat on the rim of the hollow. “We’ll be taking them on with RiverClan.”

“Yes, but ThunderClan will have SkyClan with them, too.” Russetfoot, Antstar noted, had grown much more nervous now that he had his kits. There was still that trademark confidence of his, of course, but concern had balanced it. It had been a few days, now, and here they were- the night before the battle.

“I know we have to fight to keep RiverClan as an ally.” Russetfoot’s voice was careful, delicate; a butterfly landing upon a leaf. “And I have faith you know what you’re doing, Antstar. You’re my best friend besides my brother, anyway.”

Antstar felt uneasy as the tom carefully picked out his words.

“But I think- I think you should have handled this another way. We’re fighting for something we have no stake in, and- well, I don’t worry -that- much about our warriors, but I can’t say we’re the most formidable.” He clenched his teeth. “Especially against anything Tatteredstar is leading.”

“We’ll be fine, Russetfoot.”

Russetfoot, however, wasn’t convinced. “It’s already a stressful time, Antstar. Leaf-fall will soon begin, and with that will come cold and hunger. And with my seven kits, and Cherrycloud’s five…”

“I know. We’re all stressed.”

The last blue hues of dusk slipped away beneath the horizon.

“I pray to StarClan, you’ve made the right choice.”

Perhaps a walk could clear Antstar’s mind from impending battle.

The night was crisp, as the end of summer was. The cricket songs had slowly begun to quiet down, day by day, and already the grasses were turning yellow and the leaves a bold ginger. He remembered Shalestar had always liked this time of year the most. The old tom had told him, when he was an apprentice, that this kind of weather during this season gave him the energy to travel the length of the forest, and promised him something was always around the corner.

How he wished he felt that way…

The gorge made his belly churn, now, so he headed the other way, through the territories. He saw Stoatslink in the distance, hunting with his daughters. Antstar recalled their conversation from a few nights prior: Stoatslink was certain a non-Clan cat was threatening WindClan, and had been the one to kill Sparkthistle. Antstar and Stoatslink had never quite seen eye-to-eye, and something about the white tom had always been unnerving to him… but he had to hand it to him. Stoatslink was the only one who was right about it.

Antstar hoped he would abandon his case, however…

He continued to wander out of WindClan territory and up north. He could see Mothermouth on the other side of the Thunderpath, the flowers around it beginning to curl up and brown with the change of seasons. It was pitch-black, without a trace of the bright, glittering quartz that its path led to.

It looked, Antstar thought, like a predator’s maw, waiting to strike and snap shut.

He looked down the path of the Thunderpath before him. He could see a Twolegplace on the horizon, and the path seemed to stretch out forever and ever. What worlds lay beyond White Hart Woods? What would greet him, if he ran?

He was scared by just how much he felt his mind wander to the idea. Running away, never looking back. Leaving the world behind him. Russetfoot would be a good leader in his stead. They’d never find out about Sparkthistle- and if they did, it would be of no consequence to him. Perhaps some would miss him, especially Spiderfoot; but the world would spin without him, just as it always had, and he’d be dismissed as little more than a fluke who walked upon WindClan and was gone.

No- he couldn’t do that. He had his obligations. And, moreover, he was scared of what lay beyond all he could ever remember. He knew he had been there once, before they found him in the fields when he was a kit. But he couldn’t remember it well. On one hand- perhaps his birth family was out there, or other kindly cats; perhaps a nice Twoleg would take him in. But on the other hand, there might be none of the stability that the Clan provided. No medicine, no organization, no kindness in his fellow Clanmates. There might be pain, torment.

The thought that scared Antstar the most, however, was the idea that he’d escape, run free- and find that there was absolutely nothing out there. Not good, not bad. Just… nothing at all. And it would turn out the Clans were all that ever was…

He was pried out of his thoughts, however, when he saw a red tabby sprint by.

Russetfoot? He thought initially, but upon closer inspection he realized the cat couldn’t be him. While they were both dark red tabbies with emerald eyes, this tom had a more smudged pelt and a boxy shape, while Russetfoot was a slim, compact cat with clear-cut stripes the shape of fishbones.

No, realized Antstar- this was Currantstar!

He followed the tom throughout WindClan territory, steady and silent. He looked like he was in a hurry, and a bit nervous about whatever he was doing. Antstar had never seen him this way, sprinting through the dark, like a deer afraid that- at any moment- the dusty path below him might turn into pavement and he may be greeted with his downfall.

But as soon as Antstar could ask any questions, the tom took a sharp left turn into RiverClan territory, past the gorge and over the bridge. The tom’s figure grew darker as he ran, as dark as the shadows of the trees and stones, and soon Antstar could not tell which shadow was which.

Strange.

But Antstar didn’t want to ask further- two Clans against him were already enough.

The next morning came too soon and yet it felt like it had taken forever.

Russetfoot was busy gathering the warriors and apprentices. The elders and queens, of course, were staying behind to defend the camp in case anything wicked arose. The dawn was perfect- a tad too perfect, perhaps, with clouds running like honey towards the sun, nearly viscous, their milky haze yellowing the light. The grass was so soaked with dew that it clung to the dawn patrol’s coats.

“Are you sure you want to come with us, and not stay here with the elders, Sandwhisker?” Antstar overheard Russetfoot ask. The pale, thin molly was making her way into the crowd of warriors alongside more formidable warriors like Toadpool and Coalclaw.

“Of course,” she said, almost too defensively. “You’re concerned I’m going to hurt myself or die somehow, aren’t ya, youngin’?”

Russetfoot nodded. “You’re the same age as the elders. You should-“

“Don’t tell me what to do. If I die out there- which won’t happen- at least I’ll die in an important way.” The dawn’s light seemed to take away some of her age with its softness, but even then Antstar could tell the molly was too old for fighting. Her eyes were rheumy with fluid to the point she had grown two brown tear streaks, and her flank had long lost its sheen. She looked like a ragged lion pelt- thin, worn; yet still reeking of greatness.

But if Russetfoot could not change her mind, there was no way in Hell Antstar was going to.

A dark gray tabby slipped past him. It was Spiderfoot, making her way to the front of the crowd of warriors. She looked back at Antstar for a moment, her eyes filled with trust and admiration.

“Are you sure this whole fight is a good idea?” asked her brother. Coalclaw, despite being one of the largest cats in WindClan, was fidgeting in place, his eyes cast to the dusty ground below them.

“Antstar wouldn’t have made it so if it wasn’t a good idea,” responded Spiderfoot triumphantly. Her voice had a trumpeting quality in it. Antstar took faith in her- perhaps she could see the chiseled truths in Antstar’s decisions that he could not.

The elders, however, weren’t as certain about it.

“I know you said that this would be a good place to be, Audrey,” said Shrike, one of the two loners Antstar had accepted into the Clan, “but we haven’t been here a month and he’s already sending them away to battle against cats they don’t even know well.” “It’s fine, Shrike. It’s a border dispute. We had to deal with those when we were out traveling around.”

“I know. But something about the guy rubs me the wrong way.” The scarred black-and-white molly narrowed her dark brown eyes.

“Oh, Antstar’s doing his best.” Silverbelly got up and sat next to Shrike, punctuating his sentence with a sleepy yawn. “All leaders are a bit jittery like this at the start. They grow into their stride.” He smiled mischievously- he was old and had grown plump with age now, but the young, wild warrior that once was showed through. “And personally, I’ll support anything that’ll give that lump of rat-crap Pigeonstar a piece of mind.” He laughed, stifling his chuckles so as to not wake up Crowflower, who was dozing behind him.

Talonscar, the old brown tabby with ragged ears in the back, made no conversation despite being very much awake. But there was something about their olive-eyed glare that made Antstar immediately know they didn’t approve of his plan.

But it was nothing Antstar had the space to think about now. Russetfoot was already through the gorse-flower tunnel, and Spiderfoot, Coalclaw, and Juniperfang were just behind him. Even Whitetooth and Marblepaw had joined the crowd, Marblepaw carrying a little sack made from woven leaves that held all sorts of wound-tending herbs. What was done was done.

They got there at about the same time RiverClan did.

“I’m glad to see you here,” said Tulipstar, her tail gently flowing from side to side. The RiverClan cats, freshly joined by their WindClan allies, sat at the edge of the river, as close as they possibly could be to the prized territory. Redfeather’s snout jutted out as she leaned in to get a good look, just nearly keeping herself balanced so she didn’t slip and fall. Smokebark was steely-eyed as ever as he got a drink from the riverbank, his weary yellow gaze focused solely on the ThunderClan cats who lay on the pale, smooth stones ahead.

Something bumped into Antstar, and he wheeled around to see a small fawn tabby; an unusually meek-looking RiverClan specimen. “Oh,” said the tabby, “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s fine,” assured Antstar.

“Oh, that’s just Oatwhisker,” said Tulipstar. “This is his first battle as a warrior. He’s quite nervous about it. Always worrying about something…”

“Oh, it’s my apprentice’s first battle as a warrior too.” Antstar stepped back proudly before realizing he had to correct himself. “Former apprentice, I mean.”

“Spiderfoot, right?”

Antstar nodded.

“I’ve seen her on the border when I go on walks. She’s a wily one.”

“I’m certainly aware of it.” Antstar had almost forgotten there was a battle to be held that day when the air grew deathly still.

Tatteredstar, sitting at the top of the tallest of Sunningrocks, had arrived.

She stared down at Tulipstar from across the river. There was a certain pity in those cold yellow eyes- as if she was giving Tulipstar an exit, knowing that she would never take it.

Tulipstar, unfettered as ever, stared back.

Tulipstar gave the nod to Antstar, and she slipped into the river. One by one, RiverClan warriors jumped in. There was none of the usual raucous splashing- only serious silence as each cat waded through the waters.

Then, WindClan jumped in, more noisily- first Rockscratch and Russetfoot, then Spiderfoot, then Toadpool, then Whitetooth and an especially hesitant Marblepaw… Antstar gathered in him the courage and jumped in, trying to keep his body streamlined with the water’s crisp surface to mimic the silent dives of the RiverClan cats.

He looked ahead, trying to keep his head up and even. He could see a small brown-and-white molly with a hairless, black, shriveled back leg leap up beside Tatteredstar. Tatteredstar uttered a command into the patched molly’s ear, and she limped away, onto ThunderClan’s side of the riverbank and into the fronds.

Hopscratch, Antstar realized- that was Hopscratch, Pigeonstar’s deputy. She must have gone to retrieve them.

What else could he see, from here? It was hard to make out any of the cats low on the rocks, given the angle he was at and the cats in front of him. There were two identical black toms, a tabby with a scar that stretched across the right side of his face down to his belly, a dark gray tabby molly with stripes that swirled around her like river currents, a white tom with ginger markings on his face and legs that reminded Antstar of his own… All of them massive, muscly, and far larger than he.

What had he gotten his Clan into?

He had no time to answer this, however, as a wicked screech erupted from the shore. The first clash of the battle. He could make out a tortoiseshell molly attacking a massive, blue-and-white tom.

He couldn’t quite place the name of the blue-and-white ThunderClan cat, but he knew the tortoiseshell was Mossfang. She moved like a firework, dazzling him as she ran about him, before she suddenly grabbed as his throat and pulled him to the earth in one ragged motion. The tom snarled with anger and slashed her across the face, ripping open a scab on her lip, but after a moment of pain-induced hesitation she bit down on his neck hard.

More cats joined in. Now WindClan was getting onto the surface.

Chaos soon erupted throughout the rocks. Antstar had tried to give his Clan orders, but they had for the most part devolved into cacophonic violence. Russetfoot leapt up and over him as he chased down a cream-colored molly, who wheeled around suddenly and slammed the russet tom into one of the rocks. Lilystone and Juniperfang, behind him, were tag-team attacking a black-and-white molly.

Something collided into Antstar. He looked up to see the white flame-pointed tom from earlier pinning him down, who had 3 scraggly scars across his left eye. There was a moment where the two said nothing and did nothing, and then Antstar felt fear yank his left paw as he slashed the tom’s nose open.

The tom moved with the blow as Antstar’s claws raked across him. Then, as soon as it was over, he gave a shrieky hiss, revealing to Antstar his drooling maw and sharp teeth- of which he had way more than Antstar felt comfortable with.

The ton clamped down on Antstar’s chest and began to pull, trying to rip Antstar’s skin off of his body. Antstar fought back the urge to jolt and instead grabbed the back of the tom’s head, yanking him in to bite down on his nose. The tom let go, and Antstar wriggled himself free, running to the shore to outrun his attacker.

But the flame-pointed tom was vigilant. His nose was now shredded open and red as a robin’s breast from Antstar’s claws and teeth, and his ice-blue eyes held a shark-like fury. The tom rushed over and used his body weight to slam Antstar into the water. Antstar leapt back up to rip and tear at the tom’s shoulder, back and forth, and soon the two fought further and further into the water, becoming a mess of claw swipes and thrashes and white crashing water, and Antstar lost himself in the mixture of terror and fury only close combat can bring.

And then- suddenly- a thin, triangular blue figure leapt out and slammed the flame-point ThunderClan cat into the water, grabbing on like a burr. Another figure- a thin, scrappy black tom- arrived, and the two held the pale ThunderClan cat under until he rose to the surface, gasped for air, and ran off. The water was red where he had been held under- his nose was now shredded completely open, the bridge of it nearly gone.

“Anything for our leader,” said the blue-gray-and-white tom as he lifted himself out of the water. The black tom behind him nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, Toadpool and Molethroat,” said Antstar, gasping for air- not because water had entered his lungs, but because it felt like adrenaline was gripping his throat. He could feel deep gashes in his flank, but the reality of it had not struck him yet because of the rush of fighting hormones that flowed in him. He ran to shore, clambering up one of the Sunningrocks to get a good vantage point.

He could see SkyClan had joined the battle, now- Pigeonstar was going at it with Willownose, a RiverClan warrior. Twigpaw was tussling with a tortoiseshell SkyClan apprentice. He heard a squeak behind him- a small ginger apprentice, who had to be the tortoiseshell’s brother, approached him.

“Don’t fight leaders until you can handle it,” said Antstar, trying to push him aside. But the ginger apprentice only spat in his ear.

“I can take on anyone I want!” Antstar picked up the tom and pushed him off the rocks, where he fell in the waters below. The little ginger apprentice, mostly unharmed except for a bruised shoulder and an even more bruised ego, ran off, muttering curses to himself.

Now that that was taken care of, he looked closer. There she was. Tatteredstar was in the middle of a fight with a lynx-pointed RiverClan tom. He clearly thought highly of himself, from the way his coat was excessively groomed to the way he held himself. He had to think highly of himself if he thought he could take the ThunderClan leader on. But she was no match for him. She picked up the tom and threw him, leaping after him as she did so she followed him through the air. Turning herself around, she latched onto the RiverClan tom and slammed him into the ground. Her body weight alone was enough- the RiverClan tom got up, shakily, almost as if he’d been punctured inward. It had all happened in the blink of an eye, in one smooth motion.

He had never seen Tatteredstar up close like this. And this was when he realized- war was not only what defined Tatteredstar. She had made it- whether she liked it or not- into art.

A yowl caught his attention, and he turned to see Oatwhisker, the tabby from before, confronted by two much larger black ThunderClan toms. Antstar headed down- the RiverClan cat was practically shaking in his paws.

“You think you can take Sunningrocks?” one of the black toms, who had a broader head and amber eyes, boasted. “Dumbass RiverClan cats and their dumbass ideas!” laughed the other, who was more square-jawed with lime green eyes. “This little clown really thought he could take us on, now, didn’t he?” “You were- you were-“ Oatwhisker stuttered. “You were going after the leader.”

“’Oh, you were going after the leader!’” mocked the amber-eyed tom in a cartoonishly whiny voice.

“She has nine lives!” The two pushed the smaller RiverClan tom into the ground, cackling. Oatwhisker simply whimpered with pain as the two slammed into him over and over.

“Hey!” Said Antstar, running in and trying to push one of the toms off of the RiverClan cat.

“Oh, here comes another leader now,” giggled the green-eyed tom with delight. The two black toms abandoned their prey and circled Antstar.

“I’m Weevilclaw,” introduced the amber-eyed one.

“And I’m Beetleclaw.”

“We’re the best battlers in the forest! ‘Cept for Tatteredstar.”

“Come on, rabbit-breath. Give it a try.”

Antstar leaned in to attack Weevilclaw, but Weevilclaw leapt forward and pushed him. Beetleclaw grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and soon Weevilclaw was pushing Antstar around on the floor. Antstar tried to get up, but Beetleclaw body-slammed him. He felt something in his rib crack, and a sharp pain erupted from the spot.

Again he tried to get up, again one of the two black cats pushed him down. The brothers were nearly identical, save for their facial shapes and eyes- two big toms built like bricks with wooly black fur and frankly annoying laughs.

“Hey!” yelled a sharp baritone. The two toms stood to their feet. Antstar got up slowly, now that the two were distracted. Oatwhisker was nowhere- he had to have run off when the two were initially distracted by Antstar.

Antstar turned to see who had saved him. It was the gray-and-white ThunderClan tom from earlier, the same one who had initiated the battle with Mossfang.

“You two idiots get off of the WindClan leader and listen to me. We have something important to do.” A cream-colored ThunderClan molly slunk up beside them, and the four cats began to whisper among themselves. Antstar ran off, bent over as his ribs continued to throb with pain.

He stepped in something wet and looked to see a pool of blood at his feet. He followed the trail of blood to see a broken, crumpled silver tabby figure- angular and muscular, like any good SkyClan cat, but warped beyond repair by battle. It was clear he had been dead for some time.

A pang of sadness hit Antstar, although he had never known the tom. It was Bumbleshade- the very same cat who had just been made a warrior a little more than a moon ago. All that promise, all that hope, gone in an instant…

Another cat slammed into him from behind, and he started clawing back, yowling at the attacker- this time a spotted calico SkyClan cat. He could hear the battle around him slowly turn from the yowls of anger and passion into yowls of desperation and horror. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stoatslink, Webwhisker, Smokebark, and Goldenpaw take on a horde of SkyClanners. Suddenly, one of them leapt out and slammed Goldenpaw into a nearby stone, and he heard Stoatslink cry out in panic before his attention was redirected to the calico before him. She was quick, but he was faster. He punched her under the jaw, sending her back, and ran off, darting this way and that through the crowd to avoid her.

He stumbled upon a dead black figure- another ThunderClan cat, but not either of the two he had seen earlier. No, this one had a sleeker, squirrel-like look to him, with tufted ears. A little ginger tom- perhaps the smallest ThunderClan apprentice- sat next to the tom’s bloodied breast, whimpering and crying, folding into himself.

Antstar wanted to do something. But he couldn’t. For ThunderClan was an enemy…

“Move it, will you?” It was the grey and white tom from before and the others he had recruited. The grey tom kicked at the ginger apprentice’s side, and the little apprentice- who had a deep cut across his eyebrow that was bleeding down his face- looked up at him with fear. “Sorry, Cloudclaw,” he mumbled apologetically, as if he had forgotten to speak.

But Cloudclaw was unmoved, simply waiting for the ginger tom to pick himself up before continuing on his path. The ginger apprentice, swaying side to side like he was about to vomit, followed wordlessly.

“Antstar! On your left!” He saw Russetfoot gesture to something behind him. He turned to see the speckled calico from before, and again the two whirled into combat. Faster and faster the two thought, on top of and over and around each other.

“TRUFFLEPELT!” he heard someone scream. He looked above to the tallest stone in Sunningrocks, where a flame-pointed tom with a shredded nose- the same one that had attacked him- was barreling towards the RiverClan deputy. Trufflepelt tried to get out of the way, but it was too late. The flame-pointed tom extended his claws, and then, and then-

His head was pushed into the earth by the calico molly before he could see what happened, but the sickening ripping sound and the spine-curling shriek that went with it told him all he needed to know.

There was a ripple of fury- enough to distract the SkyClan calico. He evaded her grasp and pinned her down, grabbing at her throat to keep her still. She worked harder and harder to escape him. A flurry of RiverClan cats- nearly all the ones he could recognize- swarmed the flame-point tom, who had leapt into the waters below.

The calico suddenly grabbed at his throat and bit. He pulled back, and felt her tear open a wound in his neck. She pulled back, her mouth lined with his fur and blood, coughing, but as soon as she had she leapt back in for more. He bit down on her neck and pried himself up, holding her in place- she responded by flipping him over. Left swipe, right swipe, uppercut-back. Left swipe, right swipe, uppercut-back. She leapt at him; he ran underneath her and watched her barrel to the side. He tried to run, but she was too quick. Back and forth the two went- left swipe, right swipe, left swipe, right swipe. He managed to rake open a gash on her cheek, and she jumped away in pain.

He looked to where the RiverClan cats had swarmed. They were pulling away, now. What remained of the flame-pointed tom could barely be identified as a cat.

He ran, knowing the calico was still after him. He nearly tripped on something, and turned over to see what it was. He recognized the pale figure on the ground below him immediately. His heart began to twist in place and turn black with grief.

Sandwhisker.

But before he could focus on her body for too long, he heard commotion behind him, and turned to see Cloudclaw and his group circling Pebblesky, the RiverClan medicine cat. Only now that the two were close could Antstar see that Cloudclaw resembled a short-furred, more muscular Pebblesky.

“You traitor,” snarled Cloudclaw.

Her herbs were already tossed about and rendered useless- clearly the ThunderClan cats had attacked those already. She looked around, trying to escape, but there was no sign of urgency- only pain as she gazed at Cloudclaw and the cream-colored molly, who were both bristling at the sight of her.

“Please let me leave,” she urged them. “You’ve done enough leaving already,” snapped the cream molly, her tongue spitting out the words as if they were venom. “I’m ashamed that I have to live with the knowledge my mother left me to prance about in RiverClan!”

Cloudclaw roared with anger and leapt at her. She did not fight back, letting him kick her around. The cream molly was about to join in when suddenly a red-and-white molly- Emberblaze, ThunderClan’s medicine cat- barged through.

“You don’t treat our mother this way!”

More figures slid in to fight off the group- this time being Whitetooth and Honeyfur, with Marblepaw close behind. Together, the medicine cats fought off the two. Beetleclaw and Weevilclaw, who had initially been on the two ThunderClan siblings’ side, slipped away as soon as they recognized the towering ThunderClan molly over them.

“Cloudclaw.”

Cloudclaw looked like a terrified kit as he turned to see Tatteredstar standing there. The cream molly tried to get up and leave, but before she could Tatteredstar called her name as well:

“Daffodilfur.”

The two stood pathetically in front of her. The medicine cats had all left, save for Emberblaze, who stood at her leader’s flank.

“You don’t attack a medicine cat. I thought I made this clear to you two.” She snarled with fury. “Expect punishment when the battle is over with.” The two cats, still shaking with fear, ran off in different directions, tails between legs.

Antstar heard a yowl and turned. It was the SkyClan calico- now with several other SkyClan cats. The group barreled after him, and Antstar began to attack- but he felt light-headed and woozy. Was it the fear of battle? Or had his wounds gotten to him?

Left swipe, right swipe, uppercut back. Left swipe, right swipe, uppercut…

He began to black out. Something harsh ripped at his belly.

Left swipe, right swipe….

Everything began to dissolve into syrup, it felt. He felt something attacking him, but he could not tell what SkyClan cat it was….

Left swipe… left…

He awoke with a jolt.

The StarClan cat- someone he did not know, someone that smelled of harshness and cold and not the warm WindClan scent he had felt from old friends at his nine lives ceremony- had told him that that was his first life spent.

The SkyClan cats had all dispersed. He could tell the battle was winding down.

“You alright?” asked Toadpool, who walked up behind him.

“…Yeah.”

“Alright.” Toadpool cantered off, hearing a cry of a RiverClan cat.

Antstar looked ahead. There stood a terrified-looking blue SkyClan tabby, with wide yellow eyes… and a chest coated in Antstar’s blood.

Suddenly, Antstar felt white-hot anger bubble up into his throat. This cat couldn’t be very old. And yet- and yet, they had the audacity to take away a WindClan leader’s life? Even though their clan had nothing to do with WindClan at the moment? Despite everything? Despite all the war waged, all the cats who it would make sense to attack…

“Coalclaw!” Antstar snarled, sighting the charcoal-colored tabby. He nudged his nose at the SkyClan cat. “Get him! NOW!”

The blue-gray tabby tried to run, but Coalclaw caught him in one leap. He grabbed onto the cat’s neck, and then looked at his leader for orders.

“Should I keep him here, or-“ “He took my life. He’s a danger. I don’t care what it takes, get him out of my sight!”

Antstar regretted the words as soon as they had flung out of his mouth. He almost tried to take them back, but he didn’t have the courage to. Coalclaw’s teeth were deeply embedded into the blue-gray tabby’s neck, and they clamped down harder and harder for what felt like hours. Coalclaw looked as though he were in great terror doing it, as if he was clamping down onto his own throat. A horrible, dark crimson pool erupted from the blue-gray cat’s throat and mouth.

Coalclaw let go, nearly stumbling on himself. The blue-gray tom stumbled, and the blood didn’t stop pouring, only getting faster and faster as it slunk down the sloped ground…

At last, the tom gave out at his ankles, and fell to the ground. There was a crowd gathering, now. Antstar felt more nauseous than ever, almost wanting to slip into the river and escape from it all.

The battle was at standstill as a horrible scream- worse than even Trufflepelt’s dying caterwaul- echoed throughout the air. Antstar had never heard anything like it. The sound was pain personified.

He turned to see what it was.

And there stood Pigeonstar.

Pigeonstar was covered in scratches from the battle, but it seemed like all his physical pain left him as he ran to the tom’s body. He was in shock, prodding at the body and trying desperately to find a sign of life.

And then it hit Antstar like a boulder from the sky. The same blue-gray pelt. The same angular figure. The same diamond-shaped face, the same pale underbelly.

Pigeonstar’s son.

At once, the SkyClan leader looked like he lost all the tension in his body. He collaped on top of his son, sobbing with grief, quieter than any cat ever knew him to be.

Then, after eternity and a day, he stood up slowly and shakily. The body before him remained still.

“I think he’s waking up,” he said deliriously, wild grief turning to wild, desperate hope. “He has to be! See, the chest is moving! He’ll wake up any moment now. He has to be! Someone!” His face flickered through a thousand emotions. “Someone get a medicine cat! Please! They’ll show you! They’ll show you all!” He lay on the body, rocking back and forth, his eyes blank. “StarClan wouldn’t let him die, you know. They have to know my children are my greatest joy. They have to!...”

He looked right at Antstar. He had been robbed away by grief. All that was left was desperate madness, desperate denial.

“He has to be asleep. He’d sleep like this when he was a kit. Just him and I. He was always the one that was closest to me, my little runt of the litter.”

Honeyfur entered the little clearing in the crowd where Pigeonstar and the body lay, gently, his face wracked with horror as he already knew what he had to tell his leader. He went over to check the body, laying a paw on the tom’s crushed throat.

“See?” said Pigeonstar, still feverish from denial. “He’s just asleep, right?”

“Stoneclaw is dead,” said Honeyfur matter-of-factly.

Pigeonstar jumped up, convulsing, eyes wide.

“His neck was crushed. The wound is very deep; I doubt we could have saved him. He died from a mixture of blood loss and suffocation.”

He was cut off by a wild scream of agony from Pigeonstar, who buried his face into the body.

There was dead silence.

After another eternity, however, Pigeonstar slowly got up, shaking. His back was turned to Antstar, and Antstar suddenly felt something horrible stick to the back of his throat.

“YOU!” Pigeonstar turned around, staring Antstar dead on. Antstar realized, then, that he had been a fool when he had thought about Pigeonstar. Pigeonstar wasn’t always angry. Annoyed? Mean? Yes. But only now- only now as he stared on this wild apparition, this thing that was no longer a cat but a parent’s grief possessing flesh- only now, he realized, was he dealing with a truly furious Pigeonstar.

“YOU KILLED HIM!”

In a flash, Pigeonstar leapt towards Antstar. But Honeyfur and a brown SkyClan warrior caught him before he could make contact, pulling him away, away from the clearing.

“HE KILLED MY BABY! HE KILLED MY BABY!” he sobbed wildly.

As they pulled him away, he tried to push back, his paws reaching out- but nobody could tell if he was after Antstar, or after his dead son.

“I- I didn’t mean…” Coalclaw had stood in place the entire time, his eyes wide and his knees buckling from guilt. “I- I never meant to kill…”

“Battle’s over,” said Tatteredstar, interrupting. Antstar looked around. The dead- Bumbleshade, Sandwhisker, Trufflepelt, what remained of the flame-point tom, the black ThunderClan cat, Stoneclaw, and a red RiverClan molly Antstar only now realized had been killed with a pang of grief- Redfeather- were all being inspected by their respective medicine cats, already being prepared to be taken back to their camps and buried.

Tatteredstar flicked her tail and turned towards ThunderClan territory.

“Sunningrocks is theirs, now. Battle’s over.”

[rusty-shadowclan-au]

ShadowClan AU Into the Wild Part 2!

Firepaw hasn't exactly forgotten that Ashpaw and Ryepaw are WindClan born, but he's got a lot of other stuff on his mind. It's been two days, and Leafpaw is still in shock. She hasn't spoken a word to anyone and is refusing food, so he's out of his mind with worry about her and isn't really thinking about much else

Darkclaw drags him out of camp on a patrol of ShadowClan's newly "won" territory, because sitting in camp and driving himself mad with worry certainly isn't going to help anyone.

While they're patrolling the edges of former WindClan territory, Morningpaw appears (WindClan is still near their territory, not yet living under the road) and demands proof that her siblings are alive

Firepaw is like "This is going to be fun to explain to Darkclaw" but Darkclaw doesn't seem surprised. Hes like "Yeah ShadowClan has been stealing kits for moons now. I was one of the first." Which takes Firepaw completely by surprise. Darkclaw agrees to help Firepaw sneak Ashpaw and Ryepaw out of camp to meet Morningpaw the following night.

On the way back to camp, Firepaw asks which other cats in ShadowClan were kidnapped as kits. Darkclaw names a few names, including Ravenpaw and Dustpaw born to ThunderClan, but leaves out the fact that Firepaw and his siblings aren't Clanborn.

This isn't out of malice, Darkclaw just figures that Firepaw is dealing with enough right now and doesn't need to know that his birth mother was murdered in cold blood.

The next night, Firepaw convinces Ashpaw and Ryepaw to follow him out of camp. Darkclaw took camp guard duty tonight which makes it easier. Once they're in former WindClan territory, Firepaw tells them that they're WindClan born, and says that they're going to meet their sister.

Ashpaw and Ryepaw are suspicious but agree to follow him. Can't do any harm right?

Once they reach the meeting spot, Morningpaw is nowhere to be found and her scent is stale. (WindClan had to move to the tunnel under the road due to twolegs)

Ryepaw and Ashpaw think Firepaw is lying, and tell him that it was a cruel prank to play on them before storming off back to camp.

The WindClan siblings are giving Firepaw the cold shoulder and his usual hunting buddy Leafpaw is still recovering, so Firepaw starts spending more time with Mistpaw and Ravenpaw.

After about a week, Leafpaw is starting to recover from her shock, and Firepaw invites her to hunt with him, Ravenpaw, and their mentors. Unfortunately Brokenstar decides to invite himself to this excursion, saying itll be a good chance to assess the progress of these three apprentices.

Everything starts off fine, but when Leafpaw makes her first kill it triggers the memory of her killing the WindClan warrior and she breaks down.

Brokenstar is watching all of this and publicly shames Leafpaw for being weak, saying that she's useless and might as well go live with the elders if she can't be a real warrior.

Ravenpaw and Firepaw stand up for her, saying that Brokenstar can't treat cats from his own Clan like that. Brokenstar attacks them in fury for defying him, and manages to claw Ravenpaw's eyes before Darkclaw can pull him off of him.

Brokenstar goes "Great. Now we have two useless apprentices instead of one." And stalks off.

Firepaw assures Ravenpaw and Leafpaw that they are not useless and that Brokenstar won't be leader forever.

Darkclaw and Firepaw rush Ravenpaw back to camp so that Yellowfang can treat his injuries. They then escort Leafpaw to the elders, because being in the toxic environment of ShadowClan camp with Brokenstar constantly belittling her won't help her recover from her trauma.

After, Darkclaw tells Firepaw that the time has come for him to choose. After seeing Brokenstar's cruelty, will he continue to do nothing, or will he help Darkclaw and a number of other ShadowClan warriors take Brokenstar down?

Firepaw, of course, agrees to help overthrow Brokenstar.

A few nights later, Firepaw meets some if the other rebels to strategize how to take down Brokenstar.

The rebels include: Fernshade, Flintfang, Russetfur, and Nightpelt.

Cats that are for sure on Brokenstar's side include: Blackfoot, Clawface, Stumpytail, and Tangleburr

Blizzardwing and Boulder might side with Brokenstar but I haven't decided yet

The rebels agree that they can't take down Brokenstar alone, they need to ally with another Clan to take him out. ThunderClan is their only viable option, and Darkclaw thinks that they are likely to help if they can be convinced that ShadowClan has Ravenpaw and Dustpaw. However, it will be tricky to convince them that they aren't being led into a trap.

Firepaw puts forth that he should be the one to try to convince them: he's an apprentice, and only five moons old at that. They won't view him as a threat, but as a victim of Brokenstar's crimes.

Nobody likes the idea of putting Firepaw in such a dangerous position, but they honestly can't think of a better idea so they agree.

Now the only thing left to do is to figure out how to get Firepaw to ThunderClan without tipping off Brokenstar's supporters to their plan.

The rebels agree to meet again on another night to figure this out

Within a couple days, the perfect opportunity presents itself. Brokenstar is looking for volunteers to go on a "special mission" into ThunderClan territory (Stealing kits). Firepaw, Blackfoot and Clawface volunteer. Brokenstar is surprised that Firepaw would volunteer, but Firepaw gives some speech about wanting to prove himself worthy of being a ShadowClan warrior and convinces Brokenstar.

Firepaw is trying to figure out a way to shake off Blackfoot and Clawface while they're stealing the kits (and preferably save the kits too) when Spottedleaf catches them. Blackfoot grabs the kits and runs, Clawface pins Spottedleaf and is about to kill her when Firepaw calls for help, alerting the rest of ThunderClan to the situation and saving Spottedleaf's life.

Clawface tells Firepaw that he's a traitor and a coward and will never be allowed back into ShadowClan.

Clawface gets away, Blackfoot doesn't manage to get the kits back to ShadowClan but also escapes, and ThunderClan takes Firepaw prisoner.

Bluestar holds a trial to decide what to do with him, Firepaw pleads innocent and tries to explain that ShadowClan is training kit warriors and, as they've seen, is stealing kits from other Clans. He asks for help in overthrowing Brokenstar

ThunderClan believes him but is skeptical that this isn't a trap, and Bluestar asks why ThunderClan should help ShadowClan after such a clear and obvious attack on ThunderClan camp.

Firepaw assures her that there are rebels in ShadowClan who want to see Brokenstar go down, and reveals that two of ShadowClan's apprentices, Ravenpaw and Dustpaw, are ThunderClan kits presumed dead.

Tigerclaw calls him a liar

Sandpaw and Spottedleaf vouch for Firepaw, Sandpaw says she caught a familiar scent on his pelt at a gathering that could have been Ravenpaw or Dustpaw

ThunderClan votes as to whether they should assist with the coup or simply rescue their apprentices and leave ShadowClan to figure out their own problems.

ThunderClan narrowly votes to help with the coup, effective immediately.

Firepaw is allowed to join the battle patrol because he knows ShadowClan territory.

ThunderClan launches an attack on ShadowClan immediately, and the rebels turn on Brokenstar as soon as they catch wind as to what is happening.

During the battle, Firepaw sees a totally different side of his mentor Darkclaw for the first time when Darkclaw brutally kills Clawface, and is extremely disturbed.

At the end of the battle, Darkclaw has Brokenstar pinned and has killed him once, and is planning to kill him over and over until he loses all his lives. Firepaw begs Darkclaw to stop, saying that Darkclaw was the one who taught him that Warriors could be honorable and didn't need to kill to win.

Darkclaw is like "Really?!? After all he's done, you want me to show mercy? Firepaw, you're not a ShadowClan born cat. This monster killed your kittypet mother and ripped you and your littermates from her belly so that he could use you as expendable fighters! And you're defending him?"

Firepaw is completely shocked and is unable to respond, but Lionheart of ThunderClan (recently appointed deputy, the Sunningrocks battle just happened so chronologically we're at about the start of the original series) steps in and says that Firepaw is right, and asks if ShadowClan wants to prove that they're a Clan of killers like Brokenstar wanted them to be.

Darkclaw reluctantly let's Brokenstar go, and the rebels drive Brokenstar and his supporters out of camp.

With the battle over and no leader or deputy appointed, Yellowfang is asked to choose ShadowClan's next leader. She chooses Flintfang, saying that he has shown himself to be an honorable warrior willing to stand up to Brokenstar.

Flintfang humbly accepts leadership, and chooses Nightpelt as his deputy.

Flintfang calls a Clan meeting and tells all of the young cats their true origins, admitting to Brokenstar's crimes and ShadowClan's complacency in them. He promises to help them all return to their original homes as quickly as possible.

Ravenpaw speaks up and says that he would prefer to stay in ShadowClan, despite everything. He wants to be a warrior, and his whole life is here. He's been half blinded by Brokenstar and says that he'd rather not learn to navigate a new territory.

Flintfang agrees to let him stay, provided ThunderClan allows it

Lionheart allows it, Dustpaw is furious at his brother for choosing to stay with this Clan of killers.

Flintfang and Yellowfang leave for Moonstone

A patrol escorts Firepaw, Leafpaw, Mistpaw, and Darkclaw back to twolegplace.

At the edge of the territory, Firepaw says that he wants to stay, to help rebuild ShadowClan and experience the good parts of Clan life that they've been deprived of so far.

Darkclaw tells him that he's a naive fool, and storms off into Twoleg place.

Mistpaw says that she understands why Firepaw chose to stay, but she doesn't want that life for herself, and leaves for twolegplace as well

Leafpaw, to everyone's surprise, decides to stay. She has a big speech like "I'm not sure I'll ever forgive Brokenstar for what he did, or the rest of ShadowClan for being complacent. Honestly, I hold no love for ShadowClan. But I do care about you, Firepaw. You stood by me in my darkest moments, so now it's my turn to stand by you. If you're going to stay, you're not doing it alone."

And Firepaw is like "That's really sweet of you Leafpaw, I appreciate that, but you've been through so much... would you... even be comfortable being a warrior after everything?"

Leafpaw responds "I will NEVER use my claws to hurt another living being ever again. I killed another cat once and it broke me. ShadowClan did that to me and part of me will always hate them for it. But helping the innocent? Being there to heal both the emotional and physical wounds of cats who were hurt like me? That I can do, and that is what I choose. When Yellowfang returns, I will ask to train as her apprentice so that I can prevent pain and suffering instead of causing it."

The book ends with Leafpaw and Firepaw returning to ShadowClan camp, and for the first time in their lives it actually feels like they're going home.

So yeah those are my ideas for book one, would anyone be interested in hearing how the AU would evolve after this?

[goatpaste]

WC design/headcannon/ect masterlist- Part A

just a list of ALL my designs for headcanons, maybe some design updates, any other comments or AU ideas i have. on main characters and characters with no plot!

These are all the cats who name starts with ‘A’, posting these in alphabetical order to not overload just one list lol

all under the cut >:3

Acorn Fur

my Acorn Fur design changed slightly as she used to be more red saturated and i wanted her to not so much like my Red Claw Design

My biggest Headcanon for her is she absolutely didn’t listen to Moth Flight and ended up giving birth to two kit’s with Red claw as the father. they names are Rain Stone and Oak Stump 

Acornpaw

Acornpaw, ancient skyclan warrior

i like the idea of Acornpaw is a decedent of Acorn Fur and one of the last generations of her family that would remember her name

A warrior name i think would be nice for him is Acorndrop

Acorntail

Acorntail, ancient windclan deputy.

i can imagine he was named the way he was being smallest in his litter, losing his tail to a rabbit trap when he’s older

acorntail stick with being deputy for awhile but i can see either he even after training an apprentice can’t keep up with the duties and once again insist that Morningcloud is made deputy. oR acorntail becoming leader as Acornstar and morningcloud or her apprentice Quickpaw being made his deputy 

Adderkit

Adderkit, starclan kit who used to live in windclan and died by adder bite, named for it and was avanged by tallstar 

I imagine Adderkit was originally named Burrowkit born to Ashfoot and Deadfoot in their first litter with Eaglekit. Adderkit died on Windclans Journey to find a home after shadowclan chased them out.

Adderkit was very young when they died i picture their memory of their living life being EXTREMELY blurry, they know their windclan and they died by an adder. its why they renamed themself, and they barely remember who their mom and dad were.

Adderpaw

Adderpaw, ancient windclan apprentice who was around to the apprentice age limit code

Adderpaw was name for what a good few other ‘adder’ and snake named kits are named for, their tail wiggling around with its patterns look like that of a skinny snake.

Adderpaw Warrior name ideas, Addergrace or Addersnag

Algernon

not much to say beyond i think my design for him looks very funny lol

but my design for him is that he is leucistic

Applefrost

Applefrost, kid of appledusk and reedshine

Named after her piece of shit dad, and raised on one sided stories of him she loved her dad and wanted to be like him as she got older.

She was the first victim of Mapleshade’s hauntings, picking her because she was named after the man who hurt her family and she looks a bit like him. 

(applefrost isn’t normally greying on the bottom naturally, this is a side effect on spending so many years training one on one with mapleshade in the dark forest. My crookedstar design also has this) Applefrost knows the name mapleshade and was skeptic to talk to her at first, but opened up and tries to just take what advice she can get from the spirit. Even coming to sympathies with her through learning the truth of her father. 

Then one day Mapleshade stopped visiting her, thought Applefrost would never know what happened, there is a reason.

Applefrost was full grown, and so kind even in the face of the warrior who killed her father. And she looked so much like him, yes he ruined her life but maybe this was the price she payed for what she did, to forever feel pain over the lose of someone who didn’t love her. 

It was part that, and part..something about the way she looked at mapleshade, and something she said sent her memories flying back to her little petalkit who looked so much like her. 

Mapleshade would stop visiting applefrost and move on to another generation of their family. 

Applefrost would never tell her siblngs of mapleshade, but would come to disown her own father in starclan. even being friends with petalkit.

Applepaw

daughter of breezepelt and heathertail

mostly in here because i needed to up date her design

she hasn’t received her warrior name yet but should be close in the books

but a name like Applebite or Appleleaf

Ashfoot

Ashfoot,  windclan warrior, deputy and mother of crowfeather

i absOLUTLY love ashfoot

i picture her to be a very like ‘badass warrior mom’ she give tough love and you can’t help but totally admire her. She loves her son crowfeather, though if she is honest he tends to disappoint her with how he kinda doesn’t know how to behave

she gets followed around by herds of kits who want to be like her, and her past apprentice’s (which she has many of) call her sheriff (or mom, which is embarrassing but common and crow HATES it) 

Her and Deadfoot are VERY lovey dovey, she loves her sweet husband dearly and was distraught when he died. They were best friends growing up as apprentices together and were both name ‘foot’ in sign they always walked paw and paw, being well synced in battle and in life, they were just perfect for each other. so its easy to imagine when Deadfoot died it was like she lost half of herself

Ashfoot has a very long tail, just oh so slightly shorter than talltail, her family is known for their long tail (a trait passed down through being descended of windstar) Long tails are often called a symbol of power or royality in windclan. its very diserable and only tallstar’s tail was longer than hers. Her son crowfeather, and grandson jayfeather both take after thing ten fold with tails you could trip 10 cats with. breezepelt has a longer tail than average but no were near as long as theirs and it dOES kinda make him mad.

Ashfoot also loVES nightcloud, at first when crowfeather told his mom that nightcloud was having his kit’s she was super skeptical, not of nightcloud but of their relationship. she just saw right through it for what it really was. so she mostly didn’t talk to nightcloud for the two month’s she was pregnant, as to avoid getting involved.

but when Nightcloud gives birth and all of her kits but breezepelt die and she is DISTRAUGHT. Crowfeather isn’t helping and doesn’t seem to find any words that comfort her or not make her more upset, so like a big ol man child he turns to his mom and begs her to calm down nightcloud.

and its this moment that Ashfoot find’s herself completely bonded to Nightclouds side, looking at the dark she-cat crying over her lost kittens with her single son mewling for her. Ashfoot herself has had two litters both that only had one survivor, Eaglekit’s litter (eaglekit only made it to paw before he died) and now all she has is crowfeather. Ashfoot stay’s by the queens side and comforts her new daughter in law. 

Ashfoot and Nightcloud are close, even when her and crowfeather ultimately don’t work out. 

Ashfur

dont have much for him i guess

i hate him lol

i like him more than most other boy cats that i hate lol

he’s just a lil piss baby

iv updated his design a good bit, i thought his old design was really bleh but i havent been able to touch it up till now

i defiantly think him and brambleclaw shoulda been gay

i dont like him with squirrel, BUT if they’de been closer in age i think he and squirrel before ashfur became a fuckin crazy person they would have been better togeather than her and bramble that i don’t understand why she went back to bramble even if she didn’t get with ashfur

alsO i think the only ‘au’ i can like get into is like

Dustpelt mysteriously disappeared, presumed dead by thunderclan and never to be known what happened. Except between him and Ferncloud. id loVe a narrative of Ashfur kills dustpelt after watching the full grown warrior and mentor reefer to Ferncloud as beautiful, finding the behavior absolutely repulsive. Maybe ashfur ends up killing a few other cats who are like this and Ferncloud knows he killed dustpelt but maybe not the others. and it all ends up coming spilling out in the fire, this moment of the three and squirrel learn what he did but now he knows what they did, so their at a stale mate. but ashfur is becoming loser and more erratic in his behavior and hollyleaf kills him before he does something dangerous. 

[leporellian]

warrior cats rewrite part 2: fire and ice

more of This apparently! this is a continuation of this post so go over there to get the gist of this. 

with the last book i was focused on establishing characters and dynamics within thunderclan, so this one is more focused on establishing the other groups outside of thunderclan (windclan, riverclan, the rogues in shadowclan, kittypets) and the exact mechanics of the world. also assume that anything i mention little of stays the same- bluestar, yellowfang, etc 

-so like in the original we open on a prologue of windclan. the prologue is from the perspective of a young apprentice, gorsepaw. he and his brother mudpaw are trying to comprehend What Is Going On while morningflower soothes them and tallstar attempts to lead. they are helped by members of the blood brothers (the city cats who try to keep things safe in the city and suburbs). little is mentioned about the blood brothers but it is mentioned they’re not as good as they once were and could use a fresh young leader to give them real direction again

- anyway back in thunderclan we hear about darkstripe’s pov of redtail’s death

- redtail was a risk taker and very fiery and passionate- much like fireheart himself. bluestar chose him because his eagerness balanced out her pragmatism. however, redtail’s impulsivity and tendency to be a bleeding-heart became more and more loathed by others- especially the elders and tigerclaw.

- tigerclaw values conservatism, duty, and tradition. he’s a man of stability. and he realized that redtail’s ways could get thunderclan in trouble- he had a point, of course, but he took it too far.

- the entire sunningrocks battle was suggested by thistleclaw, tigerclaw’s father, and quickly approved by the elders (elders are often the ones who start battles), although none of the other elders knew of the plan.  thistleclaw also suggested the time- in the dark of night, where no cat could see who was fighting who too well. thistleclaw was helping tigerclaw the entire time.

- redtail was killed by not oakheart, although it was often claimed they had killed each other (and who had no voice to speak up- oakheart was dead and was an impulsive type like redtail who would have totally killed him in defense if they had fought), but tigerclaw, who figured it was the only way to become deputy and lead thunderclan with the stability he had desired it to be led with.

- fireheart shares his findings with the others, in secret. raven, gray, and cinderpaw all believe him, although it takes them a while to come to terms with the idea of tigerclaw being a murderer, but sand and long are unconvinced- neither wants to even entertain the idea their father was murdered.

- anyway thunderclan sends a few cats to retrieve windclan now that Brokenstar Is Gone(TM), gray and fire being two of them. windclan doesn’t like how little thunderclan seems to care about them because none of the high ranking warriors were sent- especially the angry mudpaw, who is still rather traumatized from being chased down with the rest of windclan by shadowclan. meanwhile, fireheart meets onewhisker and they become fast friends. onewhisker is kind of a Cool Older Brother type but he’s also sycophantic and a little bit of a coward.

- meanwhile there’s barkface, the quiet medicine cat of windclan. on the way back starclan sends him an omen: the moon will bring unnecessary death on its back.

- on their way back they find riverclan dicking around on windclan territory and so there’s a Fight- right by the gorge. it plays out like in canon and whiteclaw dies, fire figures ‘oh that’s the death’ and moves on

- once they get back a few days pass and then The Gang Become Mentors to lionheart and frostfur’s litter: brackenkit, thornkit, brightkit, and swiftkit. (cinder meanwhile was goldenflower’s kid.) fire gets bracken, gray gets thorn, sand gets bright, and long gets swift

- while this goes down, gray falls in love with silverstream like he does in canon- further propelled by his own half-clan heritage and desire to know outsiders beyond thunderclan. fire spies on him as he does in canon, etc etc. also it’s here that fire sees princess, and he recognizes her immediately.

- also thorn doesn’t like that graystripe isn’t really paying attention to him, which makes him kind of a try-hard prick that Just Wants To Be Noticed. Patrol Guy: Origins

- meanwhile tigerclaw keeps asking bluestar to see some unusual activity at the thunderpath. he looks worried about it.

- this comes to a head when tigerclaw rushes into camp with a few other thunderclan warriors. “there was a rogue attack at the thunderpath!” everyone follows him and finds two cats being carried out, both unconscious- darkstripe and cinderpaw. cinder’s leg has been shredded by a car (the rogues pushed her out in front of one) and darkstripe’s face is clawed up to hell and back.

- fireheart immediately Suspects Shit because this is tigerclaw. nobody else does except for ravenpaw, who notes that while cinderpaw’s injury is plausible, whoever clawed darkstripe did it in a very deliberate manner and not in defense as usually is done in the midst of dispute. fire figures out that tiger probably did the same trick he did with redtail, but targeting darkstripe instead.

- (”why are you relying so hard on mystery here?” mystery is really good for setting up worldbuilding, which is the main intent of the first three books.)

- meanwhile, cinderpaw is told that even though she can be a warrior, with the loss of her leg working properly she will likely need extra time and dedication to become one, and that it won’t be an easy road. cinder however refuses to give up, even though she’s initially left shaken and hopeless

- fireheart goes to see princess, who’s much more of a homebody than he is and comfortable in her life. however, she’s so relaxed because she doesn’t leave her home into the outside kittypet world, and is concerned about smudge and her mate- who both leave and get in fights with other cats pretty often. did you ever find smudge? she asks. what do you mean? replies fireheart. oh, this moon he decided to come with you, into the forest. i haven’t seen him since...

- anyway since princess doesn’t want her first child to enter the chaotic disputes of Kittypet Borders (and the other calamities of having little established government) she hands fireheart cloudkit

- like in canon nobody initially likes cloudkit but brindleface takes him in. their main worry is that he’s a white cat with blue eyes, which could mean that he’s deaf- not that this would hurt thunderclan, but that this could leave cloudkit to have a harder time being a warrior. cinderpaw however makes the connection and tells everyone that she wants to mentor cloudkit as soon as he becomes an apprentice.

- fireheart asks darkstripe to tell him more about tigerclaw killing redtail, hoping to get the details he needs to properly accuse him. but darkstripe is... different, this time. what do you mean!?! he screeches. tigerclaw is a loyal thunderclan warrior! you would never accuse lionheart or spottedleaf of this. how dare you even think- 

- fireheart realizes that barkface’s ‘the moon will bring unnecessary death on its back’ omen was not referring to only whiteclaw, but also, perhaps, darkstripe in a way. whatever tigerclaw did to darkstripe, whatever he told him, it changed the tabby tom forever. as fireheart continues to think about the omen, his mind flickers to smudge for a moment, and then it returns to thunderclan.

- the gathering goes down like it does in canon. thunderclan slowly realizes that the rogues nightstar mentions are the same ones that tigerclaw had to fight at the border. ohhh shittt, they collectively go

- they get back to see rogues everywhere in thunderclan camp. the usually-bellicose thistleclaw isn’t fighting them, and darkstripe is half-hearting it. those who are There however are doing an okay job of fending them off, and their asses are collectively kicked when the ThunderClan Gang gets to them. they also manage to capture brokenstar after yellowfang blinds him (and fire hears that she was his mother- honestly i’m not changing a lot abt yellowfang)

- in the midst of this, fireheart accidentally kills clawface. he’s wracked with horror at it, and wonders if this is how graystripe felt when he killed whiteclaw.

- anyway there’s like 2 days of peace and then mudpaw rushes into gathering like ‘HOLY SHIT GUYS WE ARE BEING FUCKING ATTACKED BY THOSE SHADOWCLAN RIVERCLAN MFS’ and everyone is like ‘god DAMMIT we JUST PUT you guys back there’ and they all go in, ally with windclan, and have a Big Ass Fight like in canon. we get a good idea of everyone’s loyalties to who- graystripe is only fighting shadowclan, darkstripe only attacks whoever is around tigerclaw, sandstorm and longtail tagteam fight against river and shadow, onewhisker is just running around doing nothing but Look Cool,

- barkface dies in the battle, leaving windclan to wonder if he had predicted his own death in the omen from about a moon before. fireheart doesn’t have the heart to tell them that it meant much more than they could know. spottedleaf joins windclan in barkface’s stead as he left behind no apprentice. ‘wait you can just Leave Clans like that?’ says graystripe. he is Thinkin

- the book’s end is uncertain as fireheart is still reeling from clawface’s death and the big battle between all the clans. he wonders if this is how the rest of his life will be- and then, as he falls asleep, he gets a nightmarish vision of hell and heaven, life and death, and an odd peace afterwards, all narrated by a voice he swears he knows but not from where. it almost becomes... oddly soothing, like a long-forgotten childhood memory.

- lion and tiger will meet in battle, and fire alone will herald it. there will be three, kin of his kin, and they will hold the power of starlight in their paws; yet peace will only arrive on the gentle wings of the fourth. out of the darkness of blood-spilling-blood will come a new dawn, and the four oaks will live beyond the memories of its memories. nothing is as it was, yet this is how it always has been, and this is how it always will be...

[sunnymoon-sunshine]

Brambleheart noticed for the first time, as the clans moved from their ancestral home to a new promised land, that he and Squirrelpaw had two striking similarities.

Mind, it was only two. He and Squirrelpaw were about as opposite as one could get - he thought himself more reserved, a quiet thinker, someone who looks before he leaps. Squirrelpaw, on the other paw, was prone to letting everyone know exactly what she thought, as loudly as she possibly could, with a penchant for charging forward with reckless abandon. To her, thought might have been important, but action doubly so. Brambleheart spoke when he needed, Squirrelpaw filled the air with noisy chatter. They were as different as two ThunderClan cats could be.

But he noticed, upon reuniting with their clan, that they both tended to be judged against the legacies of their fathers.

Not that any ThunderClan cat could ever call him a shadow of his father. He had made his choice in front of all the clans, denouncing his murderous, power hungry father before every cat, refusing to ever join his side, because how could he? How could he ruin his beloved clan in a conquest that only ended in pain and so, so much blood to be spilled. The thought of Tigerstar sickened him, and everyone that knew Brambleheart even marginally well knew that.

Instead, they often bent over backwards to make sure he knew that he was nothing like his father. He didn’t care for fighting, never aspired for leadership (at least, as far as they knew) and he certainly didn’t hate half-clan cats. He was so used to hearing himself compared to Tigerstar, not in similarities, but by contrast.

And the fascinating thing was that Squirrelpaw was, too. He heard it from her mentor, when Dustpelt scolded her for her recklessness, stating, “Firestar wouldn’t have done that.”

Or when she spoke out of turn, met with, “I can’t believe Firestar’s kit would be such a loud-mouth.”

Or when she stood up, her eyes blazing, and told everyone exactly what she thought. Though, that could more be attributed to her mother, Sandstorm, than Firestar.

But the point still stood. Whenever she messed up, or ruffled someone’s fur, Firestar’s name was quick on their tongues, eager to set him on a pedestal far higher than she could ever reach, and force her to look up at an unobtainable idol. “Why aren’t you like Firestar?” is spoken almost as much as, “You’re nothing like your father.”

Which personally, he found hilarious. Not just amusing, or funny, but downright hilarious. Because he knew Firestar all his life, from deeply anxious deputy to stable leader, and his recollection seemed to be a lot different from everyone else’s. He might not have had the loudmouth fury of Squirrelpaw, but the Fireheart went on all sorts of stupid, reckless adventures to bring a murderer to justice, to save his leader and his clan on multiple occasions.  His hunt to bring Tigerstar to justice alone shown that father and daughter had more in common than they seemed. He knew Fireheart fed RiverClan, helped WindClan, and had been known to blurt out exactly what he thought - that’s what made him a ‘heart above all else. And that was something that shone bright and true in his little ball of spitting fury he called a daughter.

And that was something he felt he could share with her. Because for all the clan tried to bury Tigerstar’s past in ThunderClan, to simplify it to “bad ambitious cat was terrible”, he knew the traits that made his father a good warrior, a popular cat. His mother was sure to stubbornly tell them, not to explain away Tigerstar’s horrible deeds, but to explain what she saw in him that made her love him, and what they all had seen in him. His quiet intimidation, his keen sense to watch, wait, listen, and strike when the moment was right. It made him such a horribly clever killer, and yet those traits were the ones that he passed to his son.

And he found it odd, really, that cats were so eager to pick and choose what they remember - from both the living and the dead. To strip someone down to their barest, and lay them out as if that were a whole. Brambleheart would never, not in a thousand moons would he ever walk the same path as his father, but he never wanted to be touted as the warrior Tigerstar never was. The shadow of his kin’s dark legacy would haunt him forever, it seemed.

And yet the same, but opposite was true of Squirrelpaw. She would always be overpowered by the brightness of her father, criticized not as a frustrating apprentice but almost like a failure of a daughter, compared to a cat touted as a martyr he never wanted to be.

And with that in mind, he stayed close beside her, traveled with her, even as the clans seemed to merge as one. There was a fire in her soul that wasn’t the warmth of Firestar’s, but more an blazing spirit that made him want to push himself forward, constantly reaching towards new heights. If nothing else, he would try and appreciate her snap and wit, because over the great journey they took together, he realized their other greatest similarity:

They both spoke from the heart when they needed to.

Just one a little more often than the other.

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

mudfur being halfclan -> leopardstar becomes a quarter windclan and makes for some interesting stuff regarding future actions. maybe she learned of her heritage really really late? oh and mudfur would probably be sweating in a corner during the whole thing with tigerclan and halfclan cats being bad because uh oh

HOO

also this would make leopardstar silverstream’s COUSIN which would make like a whole new layer of why she was close to her and why she hated graystripe and was pissed at their relationship and having half-clan kits

and ALSO like that whole having trouble kitting thing where either most of the kits die and/or the mother dies would run so much deeper like

fallowtail having mudfur was probably difficult so mudfur’s littermates died

mudfur and brightsky have kits and all the kits except leopardkit die and brightsky dies as well

graypool, mudfur’s half sister, has trouble with her kits and all of them die

willowbreeze, mudfur’s other half sister, has trouble with her kitting and all her kits except silverkit die and willowbreeze dies as well

silverstream then also having trouble with her kitting and she dies

and that’s why either A. leopardstar never had kits because she didn’t want to continue that family cycle B. she and mistyfoot were/are mates and mistyfoot bares the kits for them, blackclaw, leopardstar’s foster brother, surrogating for them or C. aka the TRUTH leopardstar is trans and her and mistyfoot have their kits but leopardstar is TERRIFIED because of her family’s history, one of their kits gets sick, leopardstar is petrified and allows tigerstar to come in, she loses control of her clan to tigerstar, her kit dies anyway, and then later two MORE of her kits die when they’re apprentices, before they can become warriors, obviously none of those are problems from kitting but it still FEELS like the curse

and that’s also why she hated graystripe and his relationship with silverstream, it wasn’t even because it was a half-clan relationship, it wasn’t even because of graystripe, though his personality definitely would clash with her’s and even if she doesn’t know about her father being half windclan (which i kind of like mudfur having no idea hawkheart’s his father, like just imagine him going to the moonstone with his father and having no idea and even them talking about how they were both warriors before they were medicine cats, but they just don’t even REALIZE) she DOES know about willowbreeze and graypool, and top that off with the “curse”

she KNOWS that if silverstream has kits something bad is going to happen to either her or the kits, and then silverstream dies giving birth, she blames graystripe for silverstream’s death

and then feathertail dies

saving a WINDCLAN cat that she loves

it’s all connected

i love this headcanon i’m keeping it forever

may i also remind you that canonically, beechfur, the riverclan tom, and gorsetail, the windclan she-cat, had kits together (sedgewhisker, thistleheart, and swallowtail)

while leopardstar was leader

i wanna see how she reacted to that

or if she was just totally jaded at that point

[gerardway-is-my-babygirl]

Bluestar slowly going Insane AU? I think so

So I was just listening to some songs vibing then thought about what If Bluestar never fell Into the gorge and turned completely against Starclan forever and loses her sanity.

Fireheart, Whitestorm and Cinderpelt are the only cats allowed In her den, no other cats In Thunderclan know shes like this, they all just assume her leg Is still healing from when a dog ripped It off, that all changes when Bluestar leaves her den for the first time In moons.

Goldenflower Is the first cat to greet her and when she sees Bramblekit she lunges for him, thinking hes Tigerclaw and trying to kill him, Fireheart and Whitestorm drag her away and she claws at them before getting tired, they carry her back to her den and the clan Is horrified. 

Fireheart announces to them that Bluestar Isn’t feeling well and they all start to argue, they get silenced when Bluestar leaves her den again and Is helped up onto the great rock by Whitestorm, she exiles Goldenflower and her kits, along with any other cats who want to leave, when they’re gone, Bluestar announces that Starclan Is not real and they should not be trusted. 

Cinderpelt tries to convince her that Isn’t true and gets silenced by Bluestar growling at her, nobody else dares to speak and the clan starts dividing Into small groups, some cats still support Bluestar, while others have turned against her. 

When she learns that Tigerclaw Is the leader of Shadowclan, she bans all cats from leaving the territory and the clan Is now trapped, Bluestar exiles Greystripe and he goes to Riverclan to join his kits.

Fireheart and Sandstorm have Squirrelkit and Leafkit a few moons later, hoping Bluestar might calm down, but It doesn’t work, she hates them as they remind her of her kits and banishes Sandstorm and the kits from the clan, not letting Fireheart leave as she needs him there with her, Sandstorm says goodbye and Fireheart promises he will make a plan.

Sandstorm hunts down Goldenflower and they agree to head to Shadowclan together, just so they have somewhere to stay, Tigerstar allows them to join and mentors Bramblepaw.

When him and Tawnypaw become warriors, they are sent a prophecy by Snowfur, who tells them they must work with two other cats to “destroy the fire that was never quenched” when they wake up they tell Tigerstar, who says that prophecy was about Bluestar, who was destroying the clans one by one, she had already started working with Leopardstar to kick Windclan out.

Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt decide to hunt for the two other cats, with the permission of their father, they find Squirrelpaw and Crowpaw fighting over a rabbit near the border and ask If Crowpaw has had a strange dream recently, Crowpaw nods and describes how he was told to “destroy the fire”

Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt explain how they need to get rid of Bluestar, and Squirrelpaw joins them, they check the Riverclan border and ask the patrols that pass by If they’ve had any weird dreams, after a while of just hearing no they start to give up.

Then one day, Feathertail finds them and asks them If they had the same dream as her and they finally all meet up together, along with Stormfur, they get him to talk to Fireheart and bring him to a meeting, they start making plans and even though hes hesitant, Fireheart knows he doesn’t have a choice but to help kill Bluestar.

Fireheart and Feathertail bring Bluestar to the gorge, she doesn’t trust them that much, but knows Fireheart wouldn’t betray her, right?

Stormfur, Brambleclaw, Crowpaw, and Squirrelpaw suddenly emerge from the bushes, they charge at her and begin to attack, Stormfur and Fireheart holding her down while the others claw at her and bite her, eventually Brambleclaw delivers the killing bite and they bury her outside of Thunderclan’s forest. 

Fireheart thanks them all and offers for Brambleclaw to join Thunderclan, he accepts and goes to tell Tigerstar and bring Sandstorm along with him, Leafpaw stays In Shadowclan and trains as a medicine cat while Squirrelpaw goes with her mother.

Fireheart gets his nine lives and the clans go back to normal again.

---

THERE WE GO SORRY ITS SO LONG I JUST REALLY WANNA WRITE THIS SHIT ALL DOWN BEFORE I FORGET I HOPE SOMEONE ENJOYS THISGFHJN IF THERES ANY MISTAKES THEN I DON’T CARE I CANT BE BOTHERED TO GO AND FIX IT ALL 

Anyways basically Bluestar goes Insane and tries to murder a child then her clan falls apart

[doritopaw101]

Arc1, book 2: Chapter 2

For the second night in a row, Icebelly dreamed.

-Dream-

He was standing in the dark. The roar and stench of a Thunderpath was very close by. Icebelly felt himself buffeted and blinded by the cars that roared up and down with glaring eyes. Suddenly, through the din, Icebelly heard the pitiful cry of a young cat. The desperate wail sliced through the thundering of the monsters.

A sickening crunch of bone made his fur spike and blood began to flow all around him.

-Dream ends-

Icebelly awoke with a start. For a moment he thought that the cry had woken him. But the only noise was the muffled snores of warriors sleeping beside him. A growl came from somewhere near the middle of the den. It sounded like Tiger-roar. Icebelly was a little too unsettled to try to go back to sleep, so he crept silently out of the den.

It was dark outside, and the stars dotting the black sky told him dawn was still far off. With the wail of the young cat echoing in his mind, Icebelly padded over to the nursery. He could see Frostbite holding onto Thornkit and Brightkit like her life depended on it. Brindleface curled their tail around Willowpelt. Redtail laying on his back with Lightkit and Amberkit on his belly and Pouncekit nestled in Redtail's tail. Embereyes and Nettlemist were hugging each other with their kits in between them, Robinwing was in the far corner near Redtail and Goldenflower was...awake.

She held a sweet smile and her amber eyes were soft and kind "What are you doing up Icebelly?"

He nearly fell over "I...couldn't sleep"

Goldenflower motioned for him to come forward and he did. Swiftkit and Lynxkit were huddling on her tail.

"Come here" her paws open

Icebelly was shocked but accepted the offer. He snuggled close to the golden molly, feeling more relaxed then before.

"Bad dream?" she asked

Icebelly only hummed in response and Goldenflower groomed his ears.

"About Shadowclan?" she asked softly

'More like the clan they drove out' Icebelly thought but she didn't need to worry about that "Yeah, it smelled horrible"

Goldenflower chuckled "I bet"

"Ma?" Swiftkit yawned

"Icy" Lynxkit mewed, climbing over nuzzling into his belly fur. Swiftkit quickly followed his sister's lead.

Icebelly purred as he let sleep overwhelm him.

/

"Do you know any place Windclan would go?" Icebelly asked as he gave Whitetail the last of her borage leaves. He and Sandstorm had been told not to do anything they didn't want to which obviously made the two cats more annoyed than grateful.

Neither felt good about being useless to the clan.

Sandstorm stuck to hunting while Icebelly took care of the nursery.

He did plenty with help from Nettlemist and Embereyes. They suggested he join the nursery full time, wasn't a bad idea. He was the one to make sure Marigoldkit and Seaweedkit spent time together as well as Stonefur.

As well as let Doekit, Adderkit, and Volekit some connection to their father.

Since Rosetail died, Oakjaw let Thunderclan keep his kits.

Though it had been somewhat difficult to do separate things when both Icebelly and Sandstorm had gotten the habit of being stuck to each other.

They had their nests close together at first until Icebelly just slept in Sandstorm's nest, the molly complained but didn't push him away.

That got stares that Icebelly didn't understand. He did this with Flamepaw and Scourge back in Bloodclan, it wasn't weird then.

At least he was getting to know Graypaw and Cranepaw a little better, though unlike Miststrike, Lionheart was still a piece of shit and can't let things go.

Dustpaw and Sandstorm still hung out, Dustpaw saying "they've adopted a shadow" when he followed close to them. He dealt with it, at least Dustpaw tolerated his presence.

He avoided Chestnutclaw like the plague.

Whitetail shook her head "No, we lived in a moor we never thought we'd be driven out"

He finished plugging the last noticeable hole in the nursery wall "Did you have family?"

Whitetail beamed "Yes. My fathers are Aspenfall and Cloudrunner and my littermate is Webfoot"

"Were there...any deaths?"

Whitetail lowered her head "Larkfoot, Plumclaw, and...Stoneclaw"

"Is that the sire of your kits?" Icebelly asked

Whitetail nodded sadly "We weren't really in love" she touched the necklace around her neck "We were arranged at kithood, his mother Larkfoot's idea, but we were at least excited to be parents" she looked away "I wish they could be born in the moor"

Icebelly was about to speak when he heard Bluestar's yowl, he didn't move however.

"You should go" Whitetail mewed "It could be important and you haven't really been around most of the clan since your warrior ceremony"

'A ceremony I even didn't deserve' Icebelly thought bitterly 'Pity, they felt sorry for me and Sandstorm, she either hasn't realized yet or ignores it'

"You can't be a shut in Icebelly" she continued "A clan is family"

'I'd rather not be reminded of being watched by Shadowclan' he wanted to hiss but he knew Whitetail was just trying to help and she didn't know about the rape he endured and it was better she didn't "Okay, eat the borage and rest. Yellowfang said you're due very soon"

He padded out of the milk scented den and headed over to a spot near Cherrycloud and Ravenpaw "Do you two know what's happening?"

Cherrycloud shrugged "Not a drop, she just called a meeting"

"I only heard something about territory and clan roles" Ravenpaw admitted "But that's it, are you okay by the way?"

Icebelly nodded, forcing a smile "Yeah, I'm just glad to be back"

"Thunderclan, I have two announcement. First off, after discussion. The role of over-seer shall return to the clans and Miststrike and Leopardstorm have volunteered for this role and any warrior wanting may be trained"

"What's an over-seer?" Gingerblaze asked, Icebelly caught the scent of metal and ash on his pelt but also a faint scent of blood. He must've moved up in rank already.

"A cat that looks over whole mentoring process, they're the cats who'll have priority for apprentices as well" Leopardstorm explained

"May I train as an over-seer?" Cherrycloud called

"Yes" Miststrike purred "We'd be happy to have you"

"Now that that's out of the way" Bluestar stated "Thunderclan, Brokenstar thinks he can intimidate us"

"He's a fool" Sandstorm hissed "Thunderclan isn't scared of anything or anyone"

"Indeed. We will never share hunting grounds with the likes of him" Bluestar declared "However, he makes point. The nursery is growing. Leafbare is nearly upon us which is why I, and the other two leaders agreed to hunt in the moor until Windclan returns"

"If they return" Darkstripe drawled

The clan cheered in agreement.

Icebelly's jaw dropped in shock, he glanced at Cherrycloud "Is wint- er..leafbare that bad?"

Cherrycloud nodded "It takes and takes and leaves only death and misery"

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't hunt on Windclan land" Ravenpaw grumbled

Icebelly felt very uneasy about this. He looked up and saw Fogtail eyeing him, eyes narrowed. Like he was testing him or something, the grudge between them still there.

Icebelly felt a lump in his belly, he knew Whitetail wouldn't be happy that her clan's land was being hunted on by Thunderclan, Riverclan and especially Shadowclan.

/

The dreams kept coming and coming never stopping and getting more and more intense as the days went on.

He started sleeping outside of camp since he kept waking up the Sandstorm and the other warriors and while Bluestar let him stay in her den, she didn't deserve having her sleep ruined.

Sometimes it was hard to tell what was a dream and what was reality. He heard screeching and nearly sounded the alarm if Gingerblaze didn't tackle him which made him remember he wasn't asleep.

Didn't help when he nearly clawed Dustpaw up when he got a flashback of Brokenstar.

Yellowfang seemed to have an idea but never asked him to tell her, he was grateful for that. Thymepaw just kept giving him poppy seeds and lavender to help.

At least the clan was feeding well thanks to the extra prey.

Littlekit, Sleetkit, and Smokeykit were growing stronger than before and with the nursery filled up Bluestar made them honorary apprentices but they couldn't leave camp or receive mentors just yet through they were kept busy by helping Featherears and Gingerblaze with gem shaping and help bring prey for Fuzzypelt to use.

They all thought it was nightmares of Shadowclan and he went along with it, better than the other option.

Goosefeather however showed him more and more visions, the scent of Windclan was forever burned into his nose and mind.

Goosefeather asked him if he knew what he needed to do or was he going to spell it out for him. He shut the old tom up saying he knew dream's purpose: Bring back Windclan. Even if it went against his clan's wishes.

He told only Whitetail and Thymepaw his plan, they were both for it. Thymepaw was always open-minded and Whitetail was being very spiteful at the current situation.

He took the route straight to fourtrees. The great trees looked as strong as they always did.

He expected silence, him alone with his thoughts. He had to do this, had to bring Windclan back.

"Glad to see a familiar face" Icebelly whipped his head to see Silverstream, the silver tabby padded over and purred rubbing his cheek against his.

"What are you doing here?" he asked

"To bring Windclan back, I'm guessing you kept having dreams too?"

Icebelly couldn't help but nod "Kept waking my clan"

"Same. Otterstrike nearly tossed me in a river one time. Glad Greenflower stopped him"

"Were you caught?"

"Nope" the tabby replied "Anyone know you're out here?"

"Only a Windclan molly and Thymepaw"

"Wait what?" Silverstream mewed in shock "I thought all of Windclan was gone"

"I'll explain later but we have to move, we have a lot of ground to cover"

Silverstream nodded "I'll hold you to that"

/

They had come up and stopped at the top of the steep slope on the far side of the oak-shaded clearing, their sides heaving from the climb.

"Is it always windy up here?" Silverstream grumbled, fluffing out his thick fur against the blast of cold air that swept across the uplands.

"There aren't any trees to block the wind, it's what made this territory prefect for Windclan" Icebelly pointed out, her blue eyes scanning the area

"Let's look for the Windclan camp" Silverstream mewed "It'll be the best place to pick up their scent-"

"Or what's left of it" Icebelly interjected "It's been moons let's not get our hopes up to much"

"A patrol did say it was faint, but then again they might have been too busy stuffing their faces with rabbits" he turned his head "It could be washed away by now"

They moved through the heather, keeping their mouths slightly open to pick up the scent. They stopped at the foot of a large flat rock that sloped up steeply, past the tops of the gorse bushes.

"I'll climb up and have a look around" Silverstream offered

"Good idea" Icebelly mewed "But keep your head down"

Icebelly watched his friend creep up the rock. Silverstream crouched at the top and gazed around the plateau, then skidded back down. "There's a hollow over there, I think" Silverstream puffed, signaling with his tail "I can see a gap on the heather"

"Let's check it out" Icebelly replied "It could be the camp"

"That's what I thought" Silverstream nodded "It's probably the only place up here that's sheltered from the wind"

As they neared the hollow, Icebelly raced ahead and gazed over the edge. It looked as if a Starclan warrior had reached down from sky, scooped a pawful of peat from the plateau, and replaced it with a thick tangle of gorse that grew almost to the level of the ground on either side.

Icebelly sniffed. He could smell many scents, all Windclan, old and young, tom and molly, and, in the background, the faint odor of fresh-kill that had long since become crowfood.

Silverstream bounded down the slope and plunged into the bushes, he quickly followed after him. The gorse tugged at his fur and scratched his nose, making his eyes. He could hear the others behind him, he heard Silverstream cursing as thorns sagged his ears. They pushed through into a sheltered clearing. The sandy ground had been trodden hard by generations of paws. At one end of the clearing stood a rock, worn smooth by many windblown moons.

"This is their camp all right" Silverstream murmured "I can't believe Brokenstar managed to drive Windclan out of such a well-protected place!"

Icebelly stepped forward "Let's find the scent trail out of here"

He began to sniff the air carefully and moved forward, following the strongest scent. They followed after her. The scent trail was quite clear now-definitely Windclan, but mixed and pungent, as if made by many frightened cats, Icebelly looked down. Drops of dried blood dotted the ground.

"We're heading the right way" he mewed darkly. Two moons of rain and wind had failed to wash away the signs of suffering.

The trail led them to the far edge of the uplands, where they stopped to catch their breath. In front of them the ground sloped away to the farmland. Far in the distance, where the sun was beginning to set, loomed the towering shapes of Highstones.

The pair started down the slope, carefully sniffing each clump of grass to make sure they stayed on the Windclan trail. "It doesn't look as if they were heading for Highstones" Silverstream remarked. The trail took them sideways into a wide grassy field. They skirted the edge, staying near the hedgerow as Windclan had done. The scent led them out of the field and onto a Twoleg path through a small copse of trees.

"Look!" Silverstream mewed. Sun-bleached piles of prey bones lay scattered in the undergrowth. Mossy bedding had been gathered beneath the thicket patches of brambles.

"Windclan must have tried to settle here" Sliverstream mewed in surprise

"I wonder what made them leave?" Icebelly asked, sniffing the air. "The scent is old"

It only took a few moments before they were both drenched in icy water.

"Starclan why?" Silverstream hissed

"Follow me" he called

He hurriedly raced along as the rain continued to fall. A familiar barn rose up and Icebelly's recognized it as Barley's barn.

"This way" he yowled

"In that?"

"You have a better idea?" he asked "I'd love to hear it, if not let's go"

Silverstream followed him stride by stride. They neared the entrance and to Icebelly's glee the door cracked open and sitting there at the entrance was Barley.

"Howdy" Barley greeted "Looks like ya'll could some shelter for the night"

"P-please" Icebelly pleaded, he felt Silverstream press against him

Barley stepped aside and the two clan cats gratefully entered, shaking the excess water from their pelts.

"Barley who's there?" a voice called

"Just a Thunderclan cat and a Riverclan cat Violet" the black and white tom replied

"No trouble I hope, I don't want my kits hurt" the ginger tabby mewed, shaking hay from her fur. "Name's Mary"

"No Trouble" Silverstream mewed "We just need to do something important"

"What you clan cats need to do now?" Violet called "I've heard of a Thunderclan leader that went on a killing spree of housecats"

"It's complicated but we need to do this whether this is for the good of our clans or not" Icebelly replied

"They won't be happy, I know my clan won't"

"There's some hay beds for ya'll to rest on" Violet mewed "Some blankets if you want"

"Thank you" Icebelly mewed

"Have you two eaten?" Mary asked

They both shook their heads. Icebelly had been so focused on finding Windclan that they forgot to ask Thymepaw for herbs.

Barley stood up "I'll be back in a sec"

Watching the kind loner vanish, Icebelly started grooming himself but then Silverstream started doing it for him.

"How is your fur so knotted?" Silverstream asked in shock "I need a broken shell or something to fix this"

Icebelly chuckled "I'll keep that in mind"

"Are you two from the forest?" a small golden kitten asked, two more kittens close behind him

"Yes we are" Silverstream replied "I live by the river while this fluffball lives in the dense forest, how you mange to hunt with this white fur is beyond me"

"I cover it with mud and other things, Frostbite and Leopardstorm taught me how"

"Jacky, Rose, Joey come back here" Mary called "Time for a nap"

The kittens whined as they obeyed their mother making Silverstream and Icebelly chuckle.

"Now explain the Windclan molly"

"Whitetail came to my clan for her and her kits own safety from Brokenstar and Bluestar allowed her to stay"

Barley returned, two voles so plump it looked like they'd burst open. He set them down "May I share with you two?"

"Sure" Silverstream purred

The taste was heave to Icebelly's mouth, it felt like it melted in their mouth.

"Thank you Barley" they mewed

"Yeah thanks" Silverstream added

Barley dipped his own head "It's no problem at all" he angles his head to the door "Howdy!"

Icebelly and Silverstream turned their heads to see a very pissed Fogtail standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here!?" Icebelly hissed

"Could ask you the same thing?" Fogtail sneered "Clan life too much for-" his gaze drifted to Silverstream "or having a night with a River cat?!"

Barley placed a massive paw infront of Fogtail and Icebelly remembered that Fogtail was a lot more skinny than the average Thunderclan cat and that Barley was Bone's son.

"I don't want fighting in here" Barley said firmly "If you're here to shed blood you should turn back now"

Fogtail seemed to take a breath and think "Alright we'll...talk"

Barely glanced back at Icebelly and Silverstream "I'll be over there" and with that he padded over to a side of the barn.

Fogtail snorted "Talking, what in the name of Thunderstar's cry are you doing here? and with a Riverclan cat no less?"

"None of your business" Icebelly hissed, their tail lashing "Why are you even here?"

"Saw you snuck out" Fogtail growled "and I made it my business so spill" Fogtail retorted "or is the only reason you're out here was for a lovely romp with a River"

Silverstream snorted "Oh yes, we love being soaked wet before we get it on and-"

Icebelly knocked Silverstream over "Hush"

They glanced back at Fogtail who narrowed his eyes.

"I'm waiting" the older tom drawled

Icebelly rolled his eyes "You'll be waiting a while"

"That's fine" Fogtail made himself comfortable on the hay "You two have all night for your 'romance' before I bring you to Bluestar tomorrow'

Both Icebelly and Silverstream shot up in panic

"No we haven't-" Iceblly bit his tongue

"Haven't screwed yet or something else?" Fogtail sneered

"We can't tell you" Silverstream mewed

"Why not?"

Icebelly ignored the thunder that boomed outside "Tell the clan whatever you want but me and Silverstream need to do something"

"I'm not going anywhere til you tell me why you're both out here"

Another voice came from the entrance of the barn

"We'd like to know as well"

They all turned to see a soaked Silverpaw and Graypaw.

"Why does everyone have to follow us?" Silverstream groaned

"Just get in" Icebelly hissed

As Silverpaw and Graypaw shook themselves off, Icebelly pulled Silverstream over.

"What do we do?"

"Let's tell them, they'll find out eventually"

Icebelly glanced back at the three cats then back at Silverstream "I suppose you're right"

Silverstream rubbed his cheek against theirs "You know I am"

/

It was easier to tell them when Silverstream kept Fogtail's mouth shut when he began to yell.

They were surprised of course but seemed to deal with it but that was because they were sleep-deprived.

Once they were all rested up, they had more thoughts well Fogtail had more thoughts but Icebelly and Silverstream were not going to be swayed.

After they thanks the barn cats for the night, Icebelly lead the group down the trail onward to a thick hedge.

"Do we have to go through that?" Graypaw complained as Silverpaw and Fogtail wiggled through.

"Yes, it will take too long to find a way around" Icebelly stated "I want to cover as much ground as we can"

"Just suck it in," Silverstream groaned as he made his way through with a bit of struggle. Graypaw had the pleasure of being shoved through by Icebelly while Silverstream and Silverpaw pulled him. Beyond a narrow ditch lay a wide earth track.

They continued on the path. Icebelly and Silverstream in the lead, Fogtail in the middle, and Silverpaw and Graypaw in the back.

The cold breeze carried another odor to Icebelly's nose, there was a road nearby. From the other disgusted faces they smelled it too. They pushed on despite the horrid odor. The stench grew stronger and stronger until they could hear the roar of the Thunderpath monsters in the distance. By the time they reached the hedge that ran alongside the wide gray path, it was hard to make out the Windclan trail at all.

"I can't smell it!" Silverstream said in a panicked tone looking from side to side

"We'll find it, everyone spread out and yowl if you find something" Icebelly mewed

Icebelly took Silverpaw, Silverstream went on his own and Fogtail and Graypaw paired up.

"Hey look at this" Silverpaw called

Icebelly looked to where the apprentice was looking. He crept over until he reached a place where the hedge was less thick.

"They must've sheltered here" Icebelly mewed

"The Thunderpath must've scared them off" Silverpaw replied

"With them having had open and wild territory this must've been a nightmare for them" Icebelly commented, Silverpaw nodded in agreement. Icebelly caught the scent of Windclan. He flicked his tail for Silverpaw to follow.

"The trail seems to be leading under here" he mewed "Silverpaw go find the others"

"On it" Silverpaw quickly dashed off

Icebelly squeezed onto the grass verge that lay along the Thunderpath. But on the other side of the hedge the scent trail stopped abruptly.

Damn it!

They regrouped and followed along the scent trail Icebelly found.

"I think I found a marker" Silverstream mewed

"They must have settled somewhere near here" Graypaw murmured in disbelief

"Why would Windclan come to a place like this?" Silverpaw asked

"Not even Brokenstar would want to follow them here" Icebelly answered grimly

"We should rest and hunt for now" Silverpaw advised

"Why would we do that?" Graypaw asked in a shocked tone

"It's really early, Windclan would probably listen to us more if look well-rested and not ragged and crazed" Silverpaw replied

"It's settled then, we rest until the sun is high" Fogtail mewed "I saw a burrow around here we can sleep in there"

/

They all were settling for the moment, they pressed close together, talking about small things.

Icebelly was pacing back and forth. He wanted to go to Windclan now. He had his own curiosity for the clan but to also see Duskstar again. He wondered if he was even still alive.

"In my day I would have ignored them and went over there already"

"Shut up Goosefeather"

Goosefeather honestly was an interesting cat to be around.

"You never told my about your past" Icebelly mewed staring at the gray speckled tom "Only about your family"

"My past isn't pretty, you'll get no happy ending from me"

Icebelly shrugged "The most interesting cats have the worst stories about them to tell" Scourge, Bone, and Brick's pasts were evidence of that.

Goosefeather let out a horse chuckle "Very well"

"As you know, I was born alongside my sister Moonflower to my parents Daisytoe and Rooktail, as a kit you could say I was normal but that didn't last long. One day an apprentice Swiftpaw went missing and a tom. Beetail told me she was in the reeds by Sunningrocks. I told some warriors but they were hesitant to believe me. One warrior didn't believe me but the other two did, soon after Swiftpaw was found"

"I'm guessing there's a but"

"Right you are. But when they explained that I knew where Swiftpaw was, they questioned if I had been out of camp on my own. The Thunderclan medicine cat at the time, Cloudberry took me aside and said I had a 'gift', she told me not to tell anyone"

"Why?"

"It's why Bluestar, Leopardstorm and even you don't tell others you can see ghosts, why don't you tell?"

"Cats in the clan already judge me for my 'outsider' roots, me seeing ghosts would make them more wary of me than they are already"

"Exactly, cats don't like things they don't understand, things outside the warrior code. I became Cloudberry's apprentice at 4 moons old. Many cats judged that, they judged me more when I was made a full seer at 7 moons."

"Really?"

Goosefeather nodded "I got my name by saving some of my clanmates from a kittypet attack, I've always had visions, could see ghosts and could see the future, but I couldn't change it, in some cases causing them to come true"

"The gift wasn't a gift at all was it?"

"It was curse" Goosefeather spat "There was one vision that was always in my crazed mind, A badger and Stormtail bringing it to me"

Icebelly nodded along

"Stormtail was a cat who picked on me, he was also Moonflower's mate was Bluestar's father, by blood anyway, he's also Featherears, Cricketsong, and Fogtail's sire"

"Bluestar told me Stormtail did a lot to her"

Goosefeather laughed so hard he nearly fell over "She'd call that an understatement, she tried to maim him when she was only an apprentice and nearly succeeded if not for Sunstar pulling her off"

Icebelly smirked he could very much believe that. Bluestar is a violent cat, makes sense.

"Icebelly, where are you?" Silverstream called

"I need to go" Goosefeather nodded

Icebelly grabbed the three voles he killed and padded over to the group.

"Was wondering where you were" Graypaw mewed

"Was hunting got a little sidetracked" he replied

"Can I have one of those voles?" Graypaw asked eyeing the rodent

"You just had a squirrel" Silverpaw mewed

"Who didn't eat?"

"Me and Silverstream" Fogtail answered

Icebelly passed over two of the rodents and then began chowing down on the last one.

"I can't wait to see Windclan" Graypaw mewed in excitement

"Yes yes but let's rest up before we go over there" Silverstream replied with a smile

They all could only nod in agreement as they curled up and let sleep wash over them.

[maplewind-au]

Retrospective Author’s Notes

I just crossposted this note to the Wattpad and AO3 copies of Maplestar’s Light, but I’m going to post it here, too.

Hi there! My name is Razeru. First of all, thank you very much for reading my story!

I think, if you've read my story, you can surmise that I love Mapleshade. She's grown to be one of my favourite characters in Warrior Cats; her story, narratively, is written the best - in my opinion - out of most of the super editions and novellas.

Keep in mind, these words are coming from someone who grew up with these books, and also gets big mad about the things the Erins have pulled on other characters, like Squirrelflight (specifically Squilf, actually. They keep doing my girl dirty, and I'm so angry).

I took a read through my story again recently, and passed through the comments both on this Wattpad copy of the story, and the AO3 mirror. I really and truly appreciate all the love, but some people did seem to misunderstand the intention behind some things in my story, so I feel like I owe a bit of an explanation to you, my readers.

I offer this explanation because I've chosen to abandon the MapleWind AU entirely. There's too much in retrospect that I'm unhappy with, too many story ideas that don't connect narratively - it just makes a poor story. So, this is basically a big spoiler chapter for what would have happened, if I continued.

The remainder of this letter is just going to be me giving a word vomit about this story, so feel free to skip down to the bottom if you're only curious about closing remarks or projects surrounding other upcoming warriors works.

Alright. First and foremost, I want to address something specific. Mapleshade's story, as it was in canon, is a multidimensional story that a lot of people see as black-and-white. I, personally, see it as a fantastic narrative where not a single character is in the right, at least not in the context of the Clans - or morally, in some cases. This being said, a lot of the arguments about Mapleshade are usually "she's absolutely terrible and deserved what she got" / "she did absolutely nothing wrong and everyone else should be suffering" - both of which are... Very, very dangerous views to take on any person or character. When I wrote Maplestar's Light, my intention was to explore the idea where a few cats stepped out of the norm that seemed to affect this specific generation of the Clans and offered sanctuary.

WindClan has always felt like the most lax Clan out of the four, to me. With their history of welcoming in strangers and making kindly bargains with the other Clans in their times of need, it made sense to me that if a wandering cat passed out on their territory, they would reach out and help them. I chose Heatherstar specifically for this story because she was such a revolutionary, and wasn't afraid to shoot down any cat's words if she felt someone was going to get hurt.

Moreover, this AU explores the idea that instead of sleeping in Myler's barn and then going on her rampage, Mapleshade simply collapsed into grief - so Ravenwing, Frecklewish, and Appledusk all survive. Temporarily.

While Mapleshade is taken into WindClan, Mapleshade's kits are restless, and it's their turn to be angry - assuming StarClan spirits know everything (and it's heavily implied, in the first series, that they do), they pull strings just like the canonical iteration of their mother would. Ravenwing, Frecklewish, Appledusk, and - moreover - Oakstar, all suffer painful deaths as a result of the angry StarClan kits. To add insult to injury, all four lose their lives to the river while patrolling it - or are tricked into falling in. The kits drag them down until they drown.

Ravenwing and Oakstar are the only two who are able to make it to StarClan themselves, if only because of the good acts they've done to balance out the karma. The kits, however, are able to swing judgement on Frecklewish, who attacked their mother, insulted them, and was fine to watch them die, and Appledusk, who was willing to have them to begin with, who failed to save them.

This is unhealthy point of view, but they died as kits. All they know is the anger and betrayal.

On to the future.

Maplestar and Palebird have the three kits; Finchkit, Larkkit, and Firekit. Some people didn't seem to get it, and I thought I wrote it to be obvious, but Firekit is supposed to be THE Firestar in the future. With Maplestar at the helm of WindClan, ShadowClan is unable to drive them out. ThunderClan, however, is much weaker after their constant battles with RiverClan and the loss of not only Redtail, but many other great warriors. ThunderClan is driven out instead; WindClan, in their graciousness, would allow them to share the territory until something can be done about ShadowClan's terrible leader, and three Clans would unite against the one to protect their way of life.

During their time in WindClan's camp, Firepaw would grow close to the ThunderClan apprentices Ravenpaw, Graypaw and Sandpaw. Following the battle against Brokenstar, not only do Firepaw and his siblings get their warrior names, but so do the ThunderClan apprentices who participated (Sandstorm and Dustpelt included). Fireheart realizes during the night of his vigil that he doesn't want to lose his ThunderClan friends, and while meeting his family on the battlefield would be painful, he would feel worse fighting Graystripe or Ravenflight - the latter tom being the only cat Fireheart has met that makes his heart flutter.

The following day, as ThunderClan returns home, Fireheart goes with them. Yellowfang, in turn, has joined ThunderClan, having been a crucial asset to getting them in and out of ShadowClan. In return for the WindClan warrior, Spottedleaf stays; Spottedleaf had been attacked by a ShadowClan warrior the day before the battle, but Hawkheart protected her with his life. Feeling indebted, she swore to finish training Barkwing and serve WindClan just as she did ThunderClan.

The rest of the story would have gone similarly to canon, with a few minor changes; for one, WindClan and ThunderClan would forever have a close bond, not only through the blood of their Clanmates, but also through Bluestar and Maplestar, who exchanged each other's stories and bonded over how similar they were. Cinderpelt would have still gotten disabled, but through saving the ShadowClan apprentice Littlepaw from a monster; while she picks up healing from Yellowfang, she remains a warrior in spite of her leg. Swiftpaw narrowly survives, and Brightpaw lives with her scarring still, taking inspiration from Cinderpelt. Fireheart and Ravenflight become mates and have kits - Squirrelflight and Gingerpool.

I had further plans for TNP and PO3, but they're sort of lost to time at this point. The general ideas surrounded Brambleclaw - renamed Brambleflower - taking after his mother instead of his father, and being close friends with Squilf, but not mates. Gingerpool and Crowfeather do have kits, and Squilf does take them, but claims they were loner kits that she chose to raise. Bramble was their nursery parent, having chosen to be a queen instead of a warrior, and took care of them while Squilf went about being a warrior, only tuning in to feed them and sleep with them. Jay would have become a warrior named Jayclaw and Holly, an albino in this AU, would go on to be Gingerpool's apprentice and become Hollysnow. Jay is blind, and Holly is a selective mute. Lion would still have his powers of strength, but use them unwisely, and he would be the one to wind up having a crisis and revealing the secrets of his origin before disappearing into the caves.

The general idea for the OOTS arc of this AU was to give Ivy powers and still have her train in the Dark Forest, under Lionblaze - who is very much still alive, but misaligned. Dovewing would be given the opportunity as well, and only take it when she learns Tigerheart is also training there. Their struggles would surround a constant sibling rivalry, one that would deepen once Jay and Holly figure out Ivy is the third cat. I also threw around the idea of a deaf Ivypool, either from birth or caused by something much later - just to complete the "See/Speak/Hear No Evil".

The underlying, long plot to the AU was that Petalkit, Larchkit, and Patchkit effectively replaced Canon Mapleshade. Maplestar recovered, then seemingly forgot about her previous kits and replaced them with Fire, Finch and Lark. Petal, Larch and Patch want stupid, special Firestar and his bloodline to suffer for being their replacements. Technically, they were still spirits of StarClan, but pulled the strings in the Dark Forest.

Oh, boy. Those sure were a lot of words, huh.

I hope I'm not disappointing anyone by discontinuing this story. Again, looking back on it, I'm very unhappy with the way I was handling certain subjects and aspects of the story - and I'd rather kill it before I get carried away again. I've always held the belief that taking time and writing a more consise and well-placed narrative is much better than writing it quickly and breaking characters and morals. Mapleshade is a character I do want to do justice by, and Warrior Cats is a great sandbox to play in!

All that being said, I am still writing Warriors works. On AO3, I've published a couple smaller one-off stories that explore the idea of Tigerclaw not getting twisted up by Thistleclaw, and getting Scourge to join ThunderClan instead. You're welcome to read them if you haven't yet!

And I'm not done with Mapleshade, either. I'm currently working on a new, seperate Warriors rewrite based on the same time (with better allegiances); the working title for it, right now, is Falling Petals. I don't want to give too much away, but if there's enough interest, I might post a teaser excerpt to this story! There's no telling when I'll be finished with it, but I would much rather publish a finished work in full than post it by chapter and run the risk of losing interest or being unhappy with what I've put out.

A final project I'm working on is a personal Warrior Cats story called Rising Storm - it'll surround some OC Clans and Characters instead of rewriting canon material, and I'm looking for a main platform to post it on when I crack into it! If you're interested, I could use some beta readers when I start working on it, so please get in touch if you want to help out! If you know any non-Wattpad or AO3 websites I could publish the story on, please do let me know. I'll likely crosspost here, but I don't actively post on here too often, so I'd rather it not be the primary host.

I think that's everything I wanted to say! Again, thank you so much for your continued interest in my work. If you'd like to see more of what I do, look for the user 'ghastimafrix' on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, deviantART, AO3, and toyhou.se! I do a lot more than just write Warriors, and I'm always happy to chat.

Stay frosty, y'all!!

[warriorsfireandwater]

Chapter Five

“Before the Clans, but after the time of the Great cats, we were scattered throughout the territories,” Beechpaw began. “Many cats were loners, but there were some that traveled in groups. They were small, though, nothing like the Clans we have now. They didn't know the first thing about loyalty, and most groups that actually stuck together tended to be family.”

“What are ‘great cats’?” Firepaw asked, as Beechpaw paused.

“Shh,” Graypool shushed him quietly. “Another story for another day.”

“Yeah, well, there was one cat that was a newcomer to the territory,” Beechpaw went on. “She was said to have come from beyond the mountains. She kept to herself for a while, watching the ways of the other cats. In winter, when prey was scarce, cats would fight over every scrap of prey, and many would die. There were no laws, and there was no Code to guide them. They weren't above killing if it meant their kits could eat.”

“You forgot her name,” Shadepaw cut in.

“Oh—sorry.” Beechpaw licked his chest, embarrassed. “I don't get to tell stories that often. Her real name has been forgotten to time. But we call her Wind, because she was the first leader of WindClan, and the first real leader of any Clan. It's believed that WindClan was the first of all Clans, and that others came together shortly after. Anyway, Wind hated to watch the senseless fighting. She was said to be incredibly wise, and she believed that if only the rogue cats could work together, they could all survive prey-starved seasons. So she set about the moorland first, trying to speak to any cat that would listen to her. Most turned their noses up and went back to their dens.”

“But there were some that joined her. They were mostly cats with no family groups. They were the most vulnerable, and the most easily chased off from their catches. Even though Wind could rarely get cats who stuck with their family to join her, she based her plan on them—those cats, though they had more mouths to feed, usually were able to hold on to their dens, hold onto their catches, and even chase cats away from their own prey. She believed that this could be expanded to include more than just one’s mate and kits, that if a large group of cats banded together with a common goal of companionship and survival, they would do just as well, if not better. Over time, Wind was able to gather a large number of cats as her followers. They truly believed in her wisdom, and readily stuck together. As they grew in size, they grew in strength, and began to establish a territory where only they could hunt. Anyone who would not join them was chased off to ensure that the prey in the moor remained theirs. Of course, this didn't bode well with other cats who had lived there. Though they recognized the strength that came with numbers, they were too furious to just fall in line with Wind and live on the moorland with her.”

“The second Clan is said to be ShadowClan. They were chased across the Thunderpath, towards the barren land they now live in. They found a common interest in their hatred for Wind, and ironically, it drove them to form a large group of their own and establish a rigid territory as well. They had even greater need to stick together in that place. ShadowClan territory has always been scarce of prey, even in the summer. Because they didn't have to kill one another to keep from starving, they were able to hunt together and share their meager findings.”

“As the marshland group grew, they began to invade Wind’s territory. Their confidence grew with their numbers, and they realized they could beat Wind at her own game, and chase her cats off of the choice parts of their territory in return. The fighting was always vicious, and lives were constantly being lost. This began to take a toll on cats on both sides. Many just wanted peace, not senseless fighting, and some cats began to abandon their groups and head south. Some came here, to the river, and found like-minded cats who had been otherwise loners.”

“This was the start of RiverClan, the third Clan. The few loners that lived along the stretch of the river lived relaxed lives, plump and beautiful from the bountiful fish. The former group cats that found themselves at the river loved the promise of a calm life, and they settled down here. Even those from opposing sides eventually began to stick together—while they’d hated the constant fighting, they'd learned that there was sense to having a group.”

“Don't think that it means RiverClan can't fight,” Shadepaw added, her claws unsheathing for a moment.

Beechpaw rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We’re tough.”

“RiverClan is like the river we’re named for,” Graypool said. “Always flowing, often calm, but ever strong. ThunderClan looks down on us because we know how to relax, but they underestimate our strength.”

Firepaw pricked his ears. Someday I'll be strong like the rest of RiverClan, he thought.

“Anyway, back to the story,” Beechpaw meowed. “The group that became RiverClan stuck together on the shore of the river, protected on all sides by the river. Because of this, they were able to contently avoid most of the conflict. For a long time, they didn't actually mark their borders, believing the river to be enough of one to keep out cats that didn't want to be there. The first medicine cats were said to come from RiverClan, because of the lasting peace, but that's a whole other story too.”

“So then there was the group that later became ThunderClan. They came last, but they'll all tell you that their Clan was the first or that we all became Clans at the same time because they're too embarrassed to admit it. Anyway, most rogues and loners, even those in once-safe family groups, had been chased all over the territories as real, strong groups began to spring up around them. Those in the forest really had no choice but to join together, or risk being overrun by a different group. Plus, the forest is teeming with badgers and foxes—which is deadly for a lone cat with no friends. They joined forces, and the few cats left that still didn't want a life as part of a loyalty-bound group fled for good. Many became kittypets or roamed at the edge of the territories, forever bitter over the loss of their homes, but never brave enough to take us on.”

Badgers? Foxes? Firepaw still had questions, but he didn't interrupt.

Beechpaw cleared his throat before he continued. “So life continued like this for a while. Wind was proud of the group she had amassed, but in doing so, she’d only strengthened those who wanted her land and prey. Because there was still no code in place to bind them to honor, fighting went on and cats kept dying. Wind came to the conclusion that the groups must all unite, or they would risk falling apart and returning to their old ways. She called for a meeting with all of the group cats, and to her surprise and relief, the three other groups agreed. As with her group, the others had all naturally found someone capable of taking charge, and they had decided they liked the taste of power. When all four groups gathered at Fourtrees, Wind came forward from her cats to speak to all cats.”

“‘Thank you for agreeing to meet me”, she told them. “I will try to be to the point. I gathered my followers because I saw that our land was rife with fighting and suffering. Those who were alone starved or died to defend their scraps of prey, while even cats who stuck with their family hardly got by. In the time that my group and I have joined together, I have watched us flourish. Our kits do not starve, and we do not have to fight each other for the prey on the moor. But still, we fight all of you, and I know you fight with each other.’”

“‘We know this, rabbit-breath,” hissed the leader of the forest cats. He was a massive tom, with a handsome brown tabby pelt. Even Wind herself stiffened at his voice. “It was you who first chased cats from the moor and caused the same to happen across these territories. Get to the point.’”

“I heard he had a ginger pelt,” Shadepaw interrupted with a flick of her tail. “That's what Sandpaw told me.”

“Oh, who cares about what his fur looked like?” Beechpaw groaned. “Are you telling this story, or am I?”

“Sorry,” Shadepaw muttered. “Go on.”

“Thanks,” Beechpaw muttered. “So Wind says, “I want to put an end to our rivalry. I think that all of our groups should join forces as one. This will allow us to stop the fighting and focus on surviving together.”

“‘That's ridiculous!” protested a cat from the river group. She was the one that her group looked to for guidance, as she was the first one to teach herself to swim. “There are so many of us and so much land. Who would lead all these cats?’”

“The marshland group’s leader stepped forward. He was a skinny thing, but he had a dangerous, cunning look in his eye. “I don't see why I couldn't step up,” he hissed. “My cats may have the worst choice of land, but we’re by far more resourceful than the rest of you.” Of course, this didn't sit well with cats from outside his group. There were protests from the three other groups, and each began to shout for their own leader to challenge him. It isn't known who struck the first blow, but first it was two cats who leaped for each other, and within moments, chaos broke out among the groups. Cats turned on each other as they fought ruthlessly, still thinking of nothing but their own survival and dominance.”

Beechpaw stretched out his legs and cleared his throat. “The battle raged until nightfall. There were so many cats and so much blood—it was impossible to tell friend from foe. Cats fell like leaves in the winter, and their friends and family kept fighting to avenge them. It seemed that they would keep fighting until every last cat was dead in the clearing. The only light illuminating the clearing in the darkness was the moon—but out of nowhere, the clearing was suddenly plunged into total darkness. Clouds, as though appearing from thin air, had covered it fully, blocking out every ray of light. Cats ceased fighting and began to cry out in fear and confusion.”

“Suddenly, dim light began to shine from around them. The spirits of their fallen allies had risen from their bodies like wraiths, and all fell quiet as they gazed upon them in awe. The spirit-cats weaved around the living, finding their loved ones among those that remained. “You must stop this violence,” the spirits told them. “But not like this. You have found your own ways, in your own homes. But without change, there can only be more death. You must find honor in your life, and stick to your own borders. You cannot be rogue groups any longer—you must become noble Clans, or you will fall apart and kill each other like you have tonight.’”

“‘But I thought this was the way,” an exhausted Wind said. “I didn't want a fight, I just wanted us to join together!’”

“One of the spirit-cats shook their head. “You had good intentions, but this isn't the solution. There are too many differences between you and too many old grudges to create an alliance. You must all build honor within your groups, but you must keep to your own places. Defend your territory, but do not needlessly trespass on another. You must find a way to create structure, or you will all fall to battles like these.’”

“And then, like mist, the spirits dissolved and rose to the sky. The living watched as they went up, and after they had vanished, the first stars appeared in the sky. The stars are the spirits of our ancestors, and they watch over us with Silverpelt. Our souls will all pass on one day and go to be with Silverpelt, and we will make the night sky a little brighter as we watch over our Clanmates for all time to come.”

“Silverpelt?” Firepaw echoed.

“The sky, the mother of cats,” Shadepaw explained. “But she's part of a different story, too. All you need to know for now is that she created us, and she watches over us with the moon and the sun. She keeps the souls of departed warriors close to her, providing them a comfortable afterlife as they join her in the sky.”

“Silverpelt is an important figure in our Clans, too,” Graypool explained. “But you've got moons to learn about her, and more about StarClan.”

Firepaw thought on this for a moment. The stars are the spirits of warriors… He wasn't sure he entirely believed it, not yet, but the idea did sound nice.

“I'm sure it's quite a lot to hear,” Graypool went on. “But StarClan is very important to us. They watch over us and guide us in times of need. You'll see, though—perhaps your trip to the Moonstone will convince you more.”

“What's that?” Firepaw asked. I swear, if someone says ‘another different story’ again…

“Silverpelt dropped it into the mountains when she gave life to us,” Shadepaw explained. “It allows us to see StarClan, in rare times. Mostly just medicine cats, though.”

“Warriors don't speak to StarClan,” Snowfang muttered. “Foolish apprentice.”

“Snowfang is just old and bitter,” Graypool sighed. “He didn't dream when he got to visit the Moonstone.”

“We don't talk about whether or not we dreamt, Graypool,” growled Snowfang.

“What apprentice doesn't?” Graypool chuckled. “Now, go on with you three. I think Snowfang needs his space and I'm quite tired myself.”

“Yes, Graypool,” Shadepaw meowed. “Have a good rest.” She was the first to stand and leave.

Beechpaw stood, but hesitated. “Did I do a good job?” he asked. “With the story?”

Graypool laid down and tucked her paws under her chest. “Oh, of course you did,” she said, smiling. “You're getting much better at storytelling.”

Beechpaw puffed out his chest proudly and grinned. “Thanks!” He turned towards the mouth of the den. “Come on, Firepaw. You eaten yet?”

Firepaw quickly rose. “Not yet,” he replied. “Not since yesterday.”

“Great StarClan!” Beechpaw exclaimed. “I can't go even a half a day without eating something. Come on, then. We eat well in RiverClan.”

Firepaw purred gratefully as he followed Beechpaw out of the elder’s den. I'm not sure what to make of Shadepaw, but Beechpaw sure is nice!

[away-from-anthills]

chapter seven- 

A couple of weeks later, the sky felt wet with heat, despite the beautiful, almost green tinge that hung above White Hart Woods.

Russetfoot was uncharacteristically panicky, Antstar had to note, but the red tom was trying his best not to look the part. How could he not be, really? Stripedwing was due with their kits for that very night- and by Whitetooth’s estimations, given the size her abdomen had swelled to and peculiar instinct only medicine cats and queens could pick up, it would be a large litter. However, when Antstar had offered Russetfoot a break from assigning patrols, Russetfoot shook his head- this was his duty, he said, and his alone.

“Nightblossom, Juniperfang, Emberheart, Webwhisker, would you all go on the night patrol?” he asked. Nightblossom and Juniperfang were once part of the misshapen band of loners that Antstar had recruited; they had received proper warrior names- along with Birchshine and Lilystone- at a ceremony a few days prior. Antstar had given them purposely fancy warrior names, both to ease them into the Clan easier and to set himself apart. Good names make for good publicity in leader-speak, he had heard.

“I was already on the patrol in the morning,” said Juniperfang flatly.

“Oh- well- that’s okay! Would anyone like to be on the patrol?...”

He looked around, almost sort of aimlessly, until his eyes met with Sandwhisker’s. “I’ll join,” said the old pale molly.

“You don’t have to-“

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” She laughed a bit- her voice was tangy but slightly crisp, like an orange beginning to dry in the sun. “You and Antstar act so funny about me. You know, he was trying to get me to join the elders’ den just a week ago. I don’t think he understands. I don’t know how much life I got left-“ she shot a glance at the elders’ den- “-but I don’t intend spending the rest of it rotting around in camp.”

“It’s better than whatever the hell you’re doing,” joked back Talonscar, who was in an unusually light mood. “You’re gonna dry up like leather eventually if you keep runnin’ around, thinking you’re still a spring hen!”

“I’m surprised you haven’t turned into a bat with all the sleeping and lounging in caves you do,”

she shot back to them before walking off with the other cats who had been selected.

“You mad hare of a molly!”

“Lots of talk, coming from old ragged-ears!”

Why was Talonscar so cheerful? Antstar thought. Usually, they’re just sort of bitter and quiet. …Right! The Gathering! It’s tonight!

Besides the glimpses of ShadowClan and RiverClan on the borders- and, of course, the time RiverClan had helped them, although Antstar was trying his best to forget it- Antstar had not heard much of what the other Clans had been doing. It worried him, at times. ThunderClan could take on anyone in the forest and win if they wanted to, and SkyClan was too volatile to be left to their own devices. They shared no borders with his Clan, but Antstar sensed that if something were to happen, conflict could spread to WindClan quicker than the crow flies.

When the patrol returned, he decided, he’d round up the Clan to go.

Stripedwing’s cry cut through the air like a slightly-dulled knife. Antstar could not see much beyond the yellow grasses that lined the nursery, but he heard whispers of “They’re coming!” as the permanent queens huddled around. Cherrycloud left the nursery, bringing her kits with her, just as a panicking Russetfoot rushed inward.

“Why do we have to leave?” protested Amberkit.

“I was comfortable, and I forgot my moss ball!” added Brindlekit, with crumpled frustration only a kit could muster.

“Let Stripedwing have her privacy,” she said simply. “And I don’t want any of you getting in the way.”

Whitetooth leapt out of their medicine den, practically flying over their Clanmates. Within mere seconds they had slid into the den between Sparrowpetal and Houndnose’s flanks, and Antstar could hear them take authority: “Here, madam, lie down on your side. Marblepaw-“ they flicked their head out of the nursery entrance, towards where Marblepaw stood near a camp wall. “Bring me a stick of good size.” Then, they nudged Russetfoot out of the den. “With the queens and I, it is already crowded enough. Stay out here until I give you permission.” Russetfoot began to protest, but stopped mid-word and sat down. Rockscratch joined him, and the two brothers began to share tongues in order to keep Russetfoot’s mind off of the birth unfolding behind him.

Wait, realized Antstar. If Russetfoot will be with his mate, and Whitetooth will be busy with the birth…

The commotion felt as if it would continue forever, and Antstar- trying not to look overly nosy- kept trying to shoot glances into the den from where he was sitting. Then, after what must have felt like eons, Antstar heard a kit’s cry, and saw the faintest moment of Whitetooth holding a small, dark red bundle.

He felt the patrol arrive beyond him. For a second, he inched towards Russetfoot, but the expression on Russetfoot’s face gave him all he needed to know.

For a second, his mind wandered to Marblepaw.

But he could not let her escape her mentor.

 He felt lonelier than ever, walking to Fourtrees that night, despite half his Clan being behind him.

Russetfoot, his best friend and the cat he wished he was, was in camp, and Whitetooth was bringing his offspring into the world. How strange it was, Antstar thought, that the very same cat who had watched emotionless as Sparkthistle’s throat closed and her heart gave out was now prying out and beholding life. An end to one story, the beginning to another.

Then Antstar remembered. Whitetooth had no attachment to life or to death, to good or to evil. Their sole allegiance, it seemed, was their role as a medicine cat- no matter what that had entailed.

No sooner than he had arrived did he see Fourtrees open itself in front of him, like a pop-up book. The trees seemed taller than ever, looming over him; for a moment Antstar thought he saw pairs of eyes meet his gaze from the dark leafy branches. SkyClan was already here, as was ThunderClan; he could see the silhouettes of RiverClan cats on the horizon.

“I’ve heard Twolegs call this place Druid’s Hollow,” said Nightblossom to Lilystone, her yellow eyes pried wide with the new sights and sounds around her.

“What’s a Druid?”

“No clue. Some Twoleg nonsense, I bet.”

Antstar leapt up onto the Great Rock. He could see the medicine cats that had already gathered looking around with confusion.

“I hope they’re alright,” said Honeyfur, SkyClan’s medicine cat. He was large and rather oafish, but quite docile- a far cry from the other SkyClanners Antstar had interacted with, who shared Pigeonstar’s white-hot temper.

“They’re fine,” Emberblaze assured. “They’re probably busy. Russetfoot is gone too, so something must just be happening. Like how Rosettepelt wasn’t at the gathering a few moons ago because she was monitoring a sick apprentice. Things happen.”

“I do worry about Marblepaw, though,” Honeyfur added. “Poor little thing. Whitetooth treats her well, but she looks so lonely. Every time she looks at her mother it’s like she’s been abandoned all over again…”

Antstar had never pried into Adderthorn’s private life, but it was no secret her kits were unplanned. And Antstar had a working theory as to why- any time she was at a Gathering, her eyes were glued to a ShadowClan tabby who bore striking resemblance to Marblepaw and Twigpaw. He never said much about it- it was none of his business, and besides, one secret could spill another.

“Hello, Antstar.” He fell out of his thoughts to see Pigeonstar and Tatteredstar staring towards him. Antstar noted they were physically quite close to each other. Unusual- Pigeonstar almost always liked to keep a distance, as did Tatteredstar.

“Hi.”

“We heard about Sparkthistle’s passing from a RiverClan patrol,” said Tatteredstar, bowing her head. “Deepest apologies.”

“I- thank you.” He wanted to think about Sparkthistle as little as possible. Part of him worried: What if he told everyone about it on accident? What if-

Then, a calming, river-like scent flowed through the Fourtrees air, and Antstar turned to see RiverClan. From the Gathering rock, he noted, their numbers looked quite small, compared to ThunderClan and SkyClan’s. Tulipstar lead them, although she was hard to spot among them because of her size. She leapt up onto the Gathering rock and bowed her head, before turning to Antstar. “Did you-“

“- Yes, we buried her. Near the farm.”

“I’m so sorry about it.”

“Thank you.” He knew Tulipstar was trying to be nice, but the constant mentions of the cat he had in part killed made him feel dizzier.

“Now we wait for ShadowClan,” Pigeonstar huffed. “Always late...”

“Don’t complain,” said Tatteredstar, nudging him. There was a peculiar closeness to the two leaders this particular Gathering- not one of fondness, but definitely some sort of bond. Were they working together? And why?

After a few more minutes of small talk, ShadowClan finally entered the clearing. Antstar had to admit he looked forward to seeing Currantstar most of all. The tom was something of a reminder to him that there was hope for him. Currantstar was a paragon- not even Pigeonstar could find complaints with him, besides how he tended to be late at Gatherings. The ruddy-colored tom leapt up onto the Gathering rock, his eyes almost permanently in a calm, nearly half-lidded expression. He and Russetfoot were the cats Antstar wished he could be, instead of the reflection that greeted him every time he got himself a drink. Chatter continued to ripple through the clearing until Pigeonstar gave a yowl.

There was a long silence, until Tulipstar tapped Antstar’s side with her plumy orange tail. “You go first, Antstar.”

Right.

“Well- uhm- WindClan has been doing mostly well. My- uh…“ He looked around to see Pigeonstar and Tatteredstar, who were reacting to him with what was at best an expression of secondhand embarrassment. “My deputy Russetfoot and his mate Stripedwing are having their kits tonight, and that’s why my deputy and the medicine cats aren’t here. Also, we found a group of loners on the edge of territory and took them in; two elders and four warriors: Juniperfang, Nightblossom, Lilystone, and Birchshine.”

“Of course, the loner cat lets in more loners,” snickered a cat from below with a sharp SkyClan accent. Antstar pretended not to hear them.

“We have three new warriors; Spiderfoot, Coalclaw, and Sparrowpetal. Finally, you may have heard already- I know RiverClan has- but one of…” His breath was shaky. He took a moment to capture it again before continuing. “One of our warriors, Sparkthistle, tripped over the gorge and drowned in the waters below. RiverClan helped us locate her body, and we are thankful for their help.”

There was a murmur of condolences- but a rather half-hearted one. Sparkthistle was not a popular cat in other clans, either.

“It has been an eventful moon, but- but not one we can’t handle. I have nothing else to report.” He stepped back, catching his breath. Someday, he thought, he’d try to get used to this.

“RiverClan has been doing alright, but not as well as we hoped,” added Tulipstar. “There has been less fish in the water than usual, and it has been taking a toll on us. In addition, we worry about Greencough rippling through our clan. While all those infected are currently on the mend, it worries us greatly, as it is a stubborn illness to deal with. However, I have optimism that things will be on the mend. Owlpaw has become an apprentice; he is Squirrelface’s first.”

There was a cheer for the little dark brownish-gray tom, who sat next to his mentor near the front of the crowd. Antstar looked at Squirrelface, who he had recalled as the son of Redfeather, the cat who had helped WindClan find Sparkthistle’s body. He was her spitting image, albeit visibly younger, and his eyes glowed with the pride and the daunting experience of one’s first apprentice. There was something slightly haunted and hunted, however, behind that pristine red-furred expression- and given what Antstar recalled having been told about his youth, he figured there was something more to what Squirrelface saw in his apprentice.

Currantstar stepped forward. “We in ShadowClan have been doing pleasantly. The charred remains of the fire from a couple of moons ago have given way to new life, and prey is returning to normal levels. Besides that, however, we have no news to report.”

Antstar shot a glance into the ShadowClan crowd to see their reactions to their leader- something he had neglected to get a good look at before. But what he saw shocked him. Despite how flawless he had thought Currantstar to be, ShadowClan’s denizens were looking at him with scorn. A calico and a golden tabby in the first row were trading whispers of insults about their leader with each other, and a white molly with pale gray patches seemed too hurt to even look at him. Even Whitestone, Currantstar’s deputy, seemed to regard his leader like he was the aftertaste of a rotten piece of meat. But why? From what Antstar saw, everything Currantstar did was perfect…

But he had no time to ruminate on it, as ThunderClan and SkyClan stepped up to the plate.

“ThunderClan,” Tatteredstar announced, “is having an unprecedented number of kits. In addition to Sootyspots and Sleetwhisker’s litters, Foxbriar had her own litter of three just a quarter-moon ago: Spanglekit, Turtlekit, and Maplekit. We also found a stray abandoned litter on the border, which Sleetwhisker has taken in as her own to raise: Seedkit, Yarrowkit, and Ryekit.”

Antstar soon realized why she might have taken in the abandoned kit litter: Sure, it would be against Code otherwise. But she was also using them to boost population numbers for whatever point she was going to make here. Thirteen kits had more persuasion power than ten.

And then it began to hit Antstar. If Tatteredstar was using them for that… back when he had been taken in as a kit… Did Shalestar-

“Thirteen kits is a massive number- not one I myself have seen since I was young. But if we are to raise them, especially in the upcoming fall… we are going to need plenty of territory.”

Antstar began to see where this was going.

“That’s why,” Pigeonstar stepped in, “I and Tatteredstar have struck a deal. We will share more territory than usual for the upcoming six moons. SkyClan will provide more territory for ThunderClan to hunt upon, and ThunderClan will be our allies in battle in exchange.”

Tatteredstar, however, seemed unpleased that Pigeonstar had interrupted her. “However, even with our alliance we are uncertain of if we will have enough.”

Their gaze turned to Tulipstar, who suddenly looked like a flower between stones, trying her best to blossom.

“And you will recall, Tulipstar,” Tatteredstar continued, “that our deal has run out, now that we are on the brink of leaf-fall.”

“I- yes.”

“So we will be asking if we can have Sunningrocks. From you.”

Antstar watched as Tulipstar suddenly struggled in place. She stammered, looking for something to say; she struck a glance into the crowd of RiverClan cats behind her. “I am aware, Tatteredstar, our deal has run out. But is SkyClan’s grounds not enough for you?”

No reply. The clearing was so silent that one could practically hear a shrew think.

“You have asked for Sunningrocks. But with my Clan already on the brink, with illness and hunger mingling among us and with Sunningrocks being our current best hunting spot… I can’t in good conscience grant you it.”

“Well, well,” said Pigeonstar. Tatteredstar however only flicked her ears in response.

“If you will not let us have Sunningrocks, I am afraid we will have to resort to more extreme measures. I would not want this for us- your Clan is outnumbered.”

Tulipstar turned to Antstar and Currantstar, a flash of desperation peppering her jade green eyes. For a moment, Currantstar stepped forward, only for sharp cries of anger to ring out from his Clan.

“What has RiverClan ever done for us?”

“Don’t sacrifice us to them to make peace, you son of a bitch!”

“Oh, now the fickle coward’s going to tell us about how important loyalty and unity is!”

Antstar still couldn’t wrap his head around why ShadowClan seemed to detest Currantstar so much. For a second, he opened his mouth to defend him, but he realized it would only make matters worse. The damage was done, and Currantstar stepped back, bent over as if he were about to fold into himself and be gone. Antstar turned to see Pigeonstar’s teal eyes and Tatteredstar’s wearier yellow ones burn into him like comets upon the Earth.

And yet…

He had to make a decision here. Tulipstar’s guidance was invaluable to him. He couldn’t let that go.

“I’ll fight with RiverClan,” Antstar butted in. “Or rather, we will. They have been a close ally for many moons.”

He looked to WindClan, who seemed hesitant but open about the idea. He caught Molethroat hesitantly eyeing the bulky ThunderClan warriors. Even Toadpool, stalwart as ever, looked slightly uncertain. But the younger warriors, like Spiderfoot and Juniperfang, burned with ambition; the courage only a cat under two years old could truly have.

“Thank you, Antstar,” said Tulipstar, the tenseness leaving her body like a slowly-draining water spring. Pigeonstar seemed insulted, but Tatteredstar remained absolutely still, analytical as always, her eyes flicking back and forth between the two leaders against her like a clock pendulum.

“Fine, then. We shall battle at noon a week from now. If RiverClan and WindClan win, we will let you keep Sunningrocks. And if we don’t…” She narrowed her gaze- she did not need to finish the sentence.

 Antstar made no conversation on the way back, his ears pinned flat against his head. Would WindClan hate him for what he had chosen? He hoped not. Most WindClan cats seemed to like RiverClan, after all. Was he overthinking?

The gorse flowers that marked home were a welcome sight. Antstar wanted nothing more than to rest in his den and sleep- it was like the other leaders had drained his energy.

But he would not get rest, as Rockscratch greeted him immediately straight to his face. “There’s seven of them!”

“Seven of-?” Antstar attempted to ask, but he was cut off.

“Seven kits! I’ve never seen a litter so large! Oh, Russetfoot’s going to have his paws so full…”

Seven? Antstar tried his best not to look nervous. That meant seven warriors, yes, but also- seven mouths to feed, seven apprentices to track and train… With Cherrycloud’s litter, that meant WindClan nearly had enough kits to rival ThunderClan’s supposedly massive amount.

Whitetooth greeted Antstar, smelling of kit fluid and freshly-nursed milk. “There’s seven of them, yes. Most of them are strong and healthy, exception being the runt of the litter, but that’s usually the case. The parents are very tired, they’ll show you them tomorrow.”

“How will we manage seven kits?”

“Same way we always do, my friend,” Whitetooth reassured. “They have excellent name choices, too. There’s Rustkit and Aphidkit, the dark red tabbies; Runningkit and Dewkit, the gray tabbies; Wheatkit, the fawn tabby…”

Antstar already felt his head spin with all these new names.

“-And Mousekit and Thistlekit, the brown tabbies. Thistlekit is the runt and the weakest of the litter, but I assure you he is not as weak as he may seem.”

“That’s…”

“It is a lot, yes. An unusual amount. We are very glad fortune has smiled on Stripedwing, as she seems well. We have enough queens to care for the lot of them.”

Antstar nodded along, making a mental note to himself to reassign Goldenpaw’s mentorship to Webwhisker. She had originally been Shadeflower’s apprentice, but she had drifted away from queenhood and Shadeflower clearly had her paws full.

“Do you have any concerns, Whitetooth?”

Whitetooth thought for a moment, but simply shook their head. “No- not that I know of.” Their eyes narrowed. “But if you ever need anything, you know who to ask.”

Away they slunk to the medicine den, Marblepaw greeting them at the entrance. Even from the other side of camp, Antstar could see a glint of fear in her sunset-colored eyes.

Part of him wanted to do something.

But a larger part of him was wise.

Antstar barely has turned around, however, before another Clanmate of his greeted him with bright yellow eyes. It was Stoatslink, looking unusually alert even for how alert he was. He was a rather stiff, sinewy fellow, with a snout that was round and exaggerated like a bull terrier’s. His fur was short and white but very coarse to the touch, always flattened against his body to the point you could often see his muscles peek out beneath them. His eyes were small and often at a squint, yet they still were the yellow of gorse in full bloom.

“I have to talk to you about something, Antstar. It’s beginning to worry me…”

Antstar nodded, and Stoatslink motioned for them to leave camp together. Something terrible and black and cowardly began to bubble in Antstar’s belly as he remembered who he had often once seen Stoatslink with…

 It was a peaceful night, now that the clamor of the birth had died down and cats were falling asleep one by one. He could hear Birchshine and Emberheart chattering in the distance as the two cats took up the night watch, and, faintly, the soft hoots of the first owls to awaken.

“I know RiverClan said Sparkthistle drowned.”

Immediately, Antstar felt nauseous.

“But I can’t help but think something else happened. I mean, hunting out on her own? In the dark of night, just before a storm?” He shook his head.

“I think something else had to have gotten her… and they used the gorge as a cover-up.”

Antstar felt as if his heart was pulling itself apart, into smaller and smaller pieces. He wanted to crawl into himself like a snail into its shell. Part of him wondered- should he already give himself up? Should he tell? Should he also say Whitetooth-

“Now, I don’t think it was anyone in the Clan.”

Relief sprang across Antstar, although it felt fleeting.

“I trust Whitetooth. I think they’re telling the truth. Besides, Sparkthistle had her enemies outside the Clans. She’d go over and pick on the barn cats when she was feeling restless. She’d get into spats with them. I tried to warn her not to, but she was on a path to self-destruction. Not even the will of StarClan could stop her.”

“So…” Antstar tried not to fidget in place. “What do you think happened?”

“I could see her going out on her own.” He looked off into the distance sagely, and Antstar could see the gears of his mind turn like a polished watch. “I think a loner cat- one she would have been enemies with- came across her and had enough of her. They probably strangled her, given the lack of blood, and then threw her into the river to cover their tracks.” He clicked his tongue. “And the storm would act as a perfect curtain, washing away the scent.”

Antstar wasn’t sure if he should have felt hidden, safe, just escaped from his own doom; or exposed, just an inch away from his downfall.

“I think that’s a bit of a reach.”

“It might be, Antstar. But I worry. Sparkthistle was on her way to Hell, no matter what anyone- including myself- said otherwise. But there’s the off-chance that this stranger had a vendetta against our very Clan.” He looked back to camp, where his daughters, Milkpaw and Goldenpaw, were falling asleep trading gossip and sly insults about the other Clans with Twigpaw. “I worry about my kits, I guess, that’s all. I wouldn’t want them to suffer that fate. Or lose me to whoever this stranger might be. I was Sparkthistle’s closest thing to a friend, after all. They already lost their mother… I can’t bear the idea of them having a warrior ceremony after all.”

There was a long silence between them, punctured only by whispers from beyond.

“I dunno. Maybe I’m wrong and she really did fall over into the gorge like that. But if I see anything suspicious… I’ll tell you about it.”

Away the wiry white tom went into camp to sleep, and Antstar found himself alone once again, surrounded by his own Clan.