#Screepaw

[cliffsideclangen]

Was Clayfissure deputy before the tragedy or did that happen after?

Good question, I’m glad you asked!

The avalanche killed three cats; Frigidcry, Loudstep, and Screepaw.

Frigidcry was the deputy, although he was very close to retiring and died at 124 moons. He was Rootstar’s first Deputy as well as Clayfissure’s mentor when he was younger.

Loudstep was the clans only fully trained medicine cat, Dawnleap was his apprentice and was given his full name by Rootstar after Loudstep died

Screepaw was Rootstar’s apprentice and close friends with Dawnleap. She died shortly before she would have received her full name

[orkestrations]

Shattersky, Chapter Eight

Warnings: character death (three of them, a mentioned fourth), the aftermath of domestic abuse

Pairings: Gen

Summary:  The Clans have lived in peace for many moons. Now they creep closer and closer to the edge of war, with one nudge being all that’s needed to drown the Forest in battle. The rogues will be that nudge. The Clans will shatter. In the end, it will be the responsibility of the cats who make up the Clans to carve their own destiny.If the Clans are to survive, what was lost must become found, what once was honored must be restored and recreated, and only one under the moon can drive out the poisons that plague the land.

Word Count: 2090

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Read under the cut, or, read on AO3

Fic Masterlist

RiverClan already had an apprentice named Willowpaw, so the former rogue named Willow had decided upon Leaf as her new name. So Leafpaw, Whisperpaw, and Screepaw joined the RiverClan-born apprentices in training.

“I’m Stonepaw,” he introduced himself. “I’m Ripplepaw’s littermate. Lilypaw, the medicine cat apprentice, is our other littermate. She’s really sweet so don’t be afraid to go talk to her if you need help or I don’t know, something.”

“Very eloquent,” Ripplepaw remarked, her tone dry. “Lilypaw is a sweetheart, don’t worry, she’ll like you.”

“What about the other ones?” Whisperpaw asked, her head ducked.

“Pebblepaw is a dog’s worth of spite wrapped into a small apprentice’s size, but she’s nice underneath all the prickliness,” Ripplepaw replied, flicking her tail.

“Don’t let Oakpaw’s posturing scare you,” Stonepaw continued. “He’s a softie at heart.”

“Minnowpaw and Duskpaw are nice,” Ripplepaw said.

“And Willowpaw doesn’t talk, but that doesn’t mean he’s not kind,” Stonepaw finished.

“Don’t worry, you’ll fit in fine,” Ripplepaw said, brushing against Whisperpaw’s side. “Just give yourself some time to adjust!”

Willowpaw was actually the first of the other five apprentices to approach the three new cats. He padded up to Screepaw and touched noses with her, and then Leafpaw and Whisperpaw. Having seen their brother give his approval, Minnowpaw and Duskpaw followed soon after.

“Hi!” Duskpaw said, her tail up in the air. “I’m Duskpaw, these are Minnowpaw and Willowpaw!” The two gold-eyed toms flicked their tails in greeting: Minnowpaw from his spot next to Duskpaw, and Willowpaw from his spot next to Stonepaw.

“Hello,” Screepaw said, her voice quiet.

Over the next few days, the three new apprentices started getting used to being around so many other cats.

“It’s hard to sleep, with so many other cats,” Screepaw whispered to Lilypaw, who watched her with compassionate green eyes.

“If you need to, you can come sleep in the medicine den while you adjust,” she offered. “Dawnheart won’t mind.”

“Sometimes the toms just scare me,” Whisperpaw confessed to Ripplepaw, her head ducked and her heart burning in shame. “I’ve seen that they’re not like that… but they still scare me.”

“I still blame myself for my sister’s death,” Ripplepaw replied, leaning in close and letting Whisperpaw cuddle up next to her. “Everyone tells me it’s not, and I believe them, but it’s hard to change a thought that’s so ingrained in you.”

Leafpaw spent most of her free time playing with Songkit, Scorchkit, Heronkit, and Mintkit. She would occasionally join the other apprentices, and when she did, she was withdrawn. The three sisters still spent as much time together as they could.

“It took me a long time to adjust, too,” Thorneye said. Screepaw leaned into her side, the older cat a comforting, solid presence. “I’ve never regretted joining the Clan, though. Even when we have disagreements, I know that no one will tolerate anyone hurting each other. It might as well be part of the Code: you don’t hurt your Clanmates.”

“You’ll need to be patient,” Thorneye later told Stonepaw, Willowpaw, Minnowpaw, and Oakpaw. “They’ve been hurt. A lot. Over a long time. They’ll warm up to you as they have time to heal.”

:::

Brackentail of SkyClan was a young warrior. His striped pelt blended well with his surroundings as he stalked through the forest, with the trees towering over his head. The thaw was coming soon, within the next moon, and for the moment there were still occasional patches of snow where it had built up underneath the bare branches.

A finch was hopping around the base of a tree a few tail-lengths ahead of him. His copper eyes were sharp as he focused on it. It wasn’t the most impressive of prey, but it was barely newleaf.

A few steps forward-

A scream cut through the quiet forest, startling the finch and other birds into flight.

Panic pounded in his chest. He knew that voice.

“Brightwater!” He yowled, launching into motion as he sprinted towards her scream. It only took a short bit to get to her. He was just in time to watch a grey tabby and a dilute calico run off.

“Brightwater,” he panted, skidding to a stop next to her. She was sprawled out, struggling to breathe, her throat a mess of torn skin and blood and shredded fur. The dark red gashes on her side from where she had been held down were stark against her grey pelt. Pain clouded yellow eyes.

Brackentail didn’t know what to do. His heart pounded, and he leaned in. The smell of her blood was strong in his nose.

“Brightwater,” he said again, his voice breaking.

She made some pained noises, like she was struggling to speak while drowning on her own blood.

Brackentail watched the cat he was courting die, bleeding out and drowning on her own blood.

There was nothing he could do.

:::

Ripplepaw walked alongside Stonepaw, Minnowpaw, and Duskpaw. The two younger apprentices had attended the Gathering last moon, too, only a couple nights after their apprentice ceremony. Stormstar had spoken with Whisperpaw, Leafpaw, and Screepaw’s mentors and decided not to bring them to the Gathering. They just weren’t quite ready to be around so many other, new, potentially hostile cats while they were still adjusting to Clan life.

The four apprentices followed Sunfall and Rainhaze, who here walking closely together, their pelts brushing.

SkyClan was already at Fourtrees when RiverClan arrived. Silverstar was sat on Greatrock, her blue fur shining in the moonlight and her form hunched as though she was finally bowing to time and showing her great age. Ripplepaw could read the concern in the movements of her Clanmates- Silverstar, despite her age, had never showed it even though if she was a regular warrior she would have retired to the elders’ den many moons ago.

The three SkyClan apprentices were withdrawn and quiet when the four RiverClan apprentices approached.

“Are you okay?” Minnowpaw asked, sitting down next to the black-and-white Crouchpaw.

Crouchpaw sighed.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. Rogues murdered one of our warriors a day or two ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Minnowpaw said, pressing briefly against Crouchpaw’s side.

Meadowpaw and Bloompaw were pressed against each other, and accepted Ripplepaw and Stonepaw’s presence next to them. Duskpaw joined Minnowpaw and Crouchpaw.

WindClan was the next Clan to arrive. Heatherpaw, Slatepaw, and Morningpaw joined the apprentices. All three, despite the hard leaf-bare, were in good spirits.

“Cloudwhisker and Breezefang are warriors!” Heatherpaw announced, sitting next to Duskpaw with a chirrup. “Why are you all so solemn?”

“Just- one of our warriors was murdered by rogues recently,” Meadowpaw replied. “We’ll be okay, we’re just sad.”

“Oh no!” Heatherpaw said.

“I hope you find the rogues who did it and shred them,” Morningpaw added while Slatepaw vocalized his agreement with her sentiment.

“We will,” Bloompaw vowed.

Ripplepaw was surprised when Wolflight padded over and greeted her.

“Stop being friendly with my archenemy!” Heatherpaw declared, hitting Wolflight with a paw.

“You were being friendly with her first,” he replied, his whiskers twitching in amusement. Heatherpaw harrumphed and sat back down next to Morningpaw. He turned back to Ripplepaw. “So, how’s leaf-bare treated you?”

“Better than it’s treated some cats,” Ripplepaw replied, her thoughts briefly turning to Mistpaw and ShadowClan, and Screepaw and her sisters.

“Well, that’s not a lie,” Wolflight mused, sitting down next to her. Her tail twitched with laughter.

“How have you been?” she asked.

“Well, it’s been kinda boring,” he replied, huffing. “We haven’t had a tragedy since we attacked your Clan. No one’s starved, no one’s gotten sick, no one’s attacked.”

Ripplepaw flicked an ear. “I think I’d rather take boring.”

“Ah, but where’s the fun in that?” Wolflight asked, his tone light.

“Not dying is fun,” Ripplepaw replied, her tone also light.

“Are they flirting?” Heatherpaw whispered to Morningpaw.

“I might shred him if he breaks the code and falls in love with your archenemy,” she replied.

“I’ll help you shred him,” Heatherpaw whispered back.

ShadowClan arrived with a skeleton crew- Frogstar joined Pebblestar, Silverstar, and Stormstar, Heatherwhisp joined the other deputies and Smokespiral joined the other medicine cats. Badgerpaw joined the apprentices and the three warriors they brought mingled with the other Clans.

Crouchpaw, Bloompaw, and Meadowpaw recognized something in Badgerpaw when she joined them.

“Who did you lose?” Meadowpaw asked.

“My brother, Batpaw,” Badgerpaw replied, sitting down next to the other she-cat.

“I’m sorry,” Meadowpaw’s voice was soft and sad as the two of them leaned into each other.

When Finchpaw, Poppypaw, Maplepaw, and Owlpaw from ThunderClan joined them, they kept themselves apart from the other apprentices and Wolflight. The space between them yawned open.

“Hey, we’re not going to bite,” Heatherpaw said, watching them with one questioning turquoise eye.

“Maybe we just don’t feel very friendly,” Owlpaw snapped, her grey ears pinned back. Heatherpaw flinched away.

“There’s no need to be rude,” Morningpaw growled. “What crawled into your nest and died?”

“It’s none of your concern,” Finchpaw replied, his voice stiff.

“Fine, be like that,” Morningpaw sniffed. “We don’t like you anyways.”

“Morningpaw, be nice,” Wolflight said, frowning at the younger cat. She glared back at him with baleful hazel eyes.

“Let the Gathering begin!” Frogstar yowled, her voice echoing around the hollow. She watched with solemn amber eyes while she waited for the Gathered cats to settle. “ShadowClan has recovered from greencough. Unfortunately, it took Batpaw from us before he could fight it off.”

Frogstar stepped back to allow Spottedstar to speak.

“ThunderClan thrives,” she said, and stepped back to let Silverstar step forward

“A couple days ago, our warrior Brackentail was murdered by rogues. We will not allow him to go unavenged.” Her voice was serious and dark as she made her vow, her yellow eyes dark.

Stormstar stepped forward. “We have been flourishing. Our apprentices progress rapidly and the River has provided well for us.”

It was Pebblestar’s turn as Stormstar stepped back.

“We are joined tonight by new warriors Cloudwhisker and Breezefang.” He stopped to allow the Gathered cats to chant their names for a few moments. “Our Clan is strong and we thank StarClan for another leaf-bare survived.”

The cats in the clearing murmured their agreement and thanks. Frogstar called the Gathering to a close, and Wolflight’s green gaze was warm as he turned it on Ripplepaw.

“I’ll see you around,” he said before walking off with Heatherpaw, Morningpaw, and Slatepaw.

“See you,” Ripplepaw replied, watching him for a moment before turning and leaving with Stonepaw, Minnowpaw, and Duskpaw.

“I think he likes you,” Stonepaw murmured, his voice cautious.

“He’s nice,” Ripplepaw said, keeping her voice pleasant and untelling.

The Clan walked back to their camp, occasional soft voices making remarks about the events of the Gathering.

When it happened, it lasted for only a few moments. Strange cats launched themselves into the Clan’s patrol, striking. Ripplepaw was tackled by a cinnamon tabby tom with cruel amber eyes. She screamed and writhed, digging claws into his face. He yowled and tried to pull away. She didn’t let him. Hot blood welled up underneath her claws as she gripped him. Her hind legs churned and battered at his belly, tearing soft fur and catching on skin. He bucked, trying to get away from her.

She let him go. She didn’t need to kill to win.

Her ears throbbed in time with the pounding of her heart as she watched him vanish. She hadn’t noticed him biting her ear, but there was definitely blood there.

At the front of what had been an orderly patrol, Stormstar’s form lay still. Dawnheart and Lilypaw were frantically trying to find a way to stem the blood flowing from the gashes on his stomach.

“Dawnheart!” Sunfall cried from where she was crouched next to Kinktail’s form. The angle of her neck was wrong.

Dawnheart only took a moment to glance at the grey-furred body. “Her neck’s broken; she’s dead.”

:::

Screepaw flinched away from Ripplepaw.

“You smell- you, you smell like m-my brother,” she gasped out, her orange eyes wide and glassy. “Did- he hurt you, he hurt you.” Her voice was too small.

“I hurt him back,” Ripplepaw replied, and Screepaw’s eyes hardened.

“Good,” she said. “Next time you shouldn’t let him live.”

Dewfern, her form exhausted, approached Ripplepaw and Stonepaw.

“I’ve already spoken with your mentors,” she said. Her voice was flat, like she couldn’t summon the energy. “Rest up. You leave with me for Highstones at dawn.”

A couple days later, Ripplemist and Stonefire met each other’s eyes. Something unquantifiable passed unsaid between them.