#she gets white so that snowkit also gets to be white

[sprout-battlecats]

speckletail

[redux-iterum]

Ooohhhh so much happening-

Thornkit has an issue with speech? Was it something that resulted in birth or did he picked up from his brother Snowkit? The only reason i think it could be the latter is because I had the same issue cause my brother couldn’t hear the greatest when we were kids.

Also loving this Cloudtail. First of all flame point is giga brained, but also he’s cute? Just stares and goes “You’re tall/short” what a cutie. Though him being a flame-point is also a sad thing because Fireheart pointed out he wouldve passed as a ThunderClan cat otherwise. Is that why Darkstripe and Halftail keep looking at him suspiciously.

Forever marked by something pointing to his origin </3. At least Halftail seemed to have warmed up a tad by the end since it said warmth filled the elders eyes. I’m gonna guess the elders haven’t seen a pointed cat in the Clans tho since they seemed surprised by his appearance.

Also Swift and Cinder! They had their pilgrimage! Who were they blessed by? And since Cinderpaw was blessed, I’m going to guess Seer Apprentices are typically blessed by the Three?

Thornkit's just got a speech impediment! He actually has a harder time communicating to Snowkit for that reason. Snowkit's kind of able to read lips, and Thornkit's mumbling and slurring definitely makes that hard.

As for Cloudkit's pointing, that was Lynx's idea, and I very much like it myself! It helps set him apart from the other white cats in the Clan(s) as well as, like you said, ensuring everyone knows he's got kittypet blood in him. Good narrative stuff.

Finally, Swiftpaw was blessed by Horoa, and Cinderpaw by Suriin! Seer apprentices most often get blessed by Rokhar, traditionally, but Yellowfang is anything but traditional and felt her little dolt of an apprentice was going to need as much wisdom as she could get. Honestly, I kind of agree with her.

[ails-of-ardor-au]

You know what would be interesting? If Snowkit survived and later became the leader after Goldenstar. His mother instead taking the hit by the hawk and unfortunately getting a injury she couldn't heal from. Snowkit would have no other family as, from the wiki, his sister is dead, his father died properly after going to the elder den? His mother would've died. However, it is mentioned Goldenflower as his sister too.

So! Maybe Snowkit was a kitten found and let to stay in Thunderclan. No one claiming him, due to one reason or another. Perhaps Speckletail wanted to, but grief over losing Mistlekit made her unfortunately not ready to take in a kit so soon. So Snowkit was simply left alone. (It's not mentioned he was young enough to still need milk, so probably just at apprentice age before dying.) Therefore, no family ties, and would face challenges due to his disability, but in the end succeed.

That’s so valid though…

Snowkit could have been found, as it’s pretty clear when a kitten is deaf as soon as they’re up and about, and his dame could have thought he wouldn’t last long and abandoned him near Clan territory to at least give him a fighting chance, as the Clans have built up a reputation for “taking in the unwanted”.

A kitten’s hearing develops around two weeks, and the average nursing time for a kit is roughly 3-to-4 weeks. Snowkit could be around one moon old exactly: young enough for his lack of hearing not to be immediately clocked by ThunderClan while still needing milk, but old enough to reasonably survive on his own for at least a day or so until he’s found by a patrol.

Speckletail lost her litter of Mistlekit (and maybe others) due to complications caused by her old age; it’s a miracle she, herself, wasn’t lost. The Clan, although guiltily, breathes a sigh of relief; if those kittens had lived, they would have ruled out their only hope of leadership, i.e. Goldenflower. But when Snowkit is brought to ThunderClan, Speckletail agrees to nurse him as a way to get over some of her grief plus out of necessity; she doesn’t adopt him, but I think it would be cute if she stuck around out of the elder’s den long enough to even train him personally. Stubborn Speckletail teaching Snowkit not only how to sign, but to stick up for himself? Sign me up!!

For pride month as well lol, we could also state that Snowkit grows up and comes out as aro-ace, which automatically wins him massive favor in the “Goldenstar’s successor race”. He becomes a fierce warrior, a bold advocate for other disabled cats, and he brings a new language to the Clans; they’d need to learn for talks with ThunderClan’s pure white leader, after all!

LOVE THIS!!

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I'm never really satisfied with the discussions of ableism in this fandom, and I think its because not enough people akcnowledge the very foundation of the series, "a cult developed around choosing to live a harsher life they find more satisfying to live to the point of arrogance", is inherently ableist. The clans don't live in a vaccuum, they live in a world where they could go off and find a twoleg within a few weeks who would take care of them entirely, and the series, especially the first arc, entirely opperates under the premise that if a cat can't cut it as a warrior then they should go live a oft kittypet life.

At its core its a neutral fact, their lifestyle is harsh and not suitable for every cat, and more levelheaded cats in the series treat it as such, but their society as a whole puts itself on a pedestal and looks down upon amyone who isn't up to snuff. I think too many people act liek this is an unintentional problematic aspect when it is portrayed as being part of their flawed and problematic society. Especially firestar's story was about admiring the positives of this society and yet willign to step back and view it form an outside perspective to see where things could do better and this society could evolve instead of remaining in its current stagnant and insular state. That's why clan cats look at Cinderpelt and Snowkit and Brightheart and completely accept the terrible fates they were going to be given for being "weak" and why firestar stepped to at least try to change that. He creates a society thats better about it but still has many a flaw, in which sometimes they fumble backwards and sometimes they take steps forwards, and they learn to be a more complex and compassionate society. Its not so black and white or linear either, as before the prequels scrambled to justify them there was the implication that because of how they glorify warriors and defending their clan they also wear scars and wound slike badges of honour, being renamed in honour of them, and it was only through brighthearts case and firestars alternative perspective that they began to see how it wasnt so great.

This is a weird ramble and probably incoherent, sorry. Warriors has a lot of ableism problems, and I just would like to see it discussed more not in just the meta context, but in story as well. Its a very interesting thing to view the warriors society as the dynamic every changing society it is in the same way we examine character slike hollyleaf who change- maybe not always as the authors intended, but still making something worth examining and expanding on. I think if we think about it that way it is very interesting to see the push and pull of their society, and how it affects the characters that are most inherent marginalized and also glorified. I think looking at it in story more could add more to the meta discussion.

Yeah I think I get where you’re coming from

One detail I find a lot of people forget is that ThunderClan never pressured Jayfeather into the medicine den, StarClan did. Firestar was very open to the idea of Jaypaw training as a warrior and never tried to put a barrier in place for him. And Briarlight was going to move back into the warriors den and presumably try and take on more responsibilities as she felt more ready to but that was just something that got completely forgotten once Vicky left, who knows what Briarlight’s fate could have been if that plot thread wasn’t literally just forgotten.

I think the main issue people have is that we yet haven’t many prominent characters who have managed to escape from the box that the clans’ integrated ableism wants to keep them in. Particularly cats who have disabilities related to loss of limb function, hearing impairment, and sight impairment in both eyes. Sure we have Deadfoot and Volewhisper but this was almost all done offscreen. And while we do have characters with missing tails, apart from Halftail, these characters just aren’t treated as disabled by the narrative, half the time the books forget they’re not supposed to have tails!

I feel at this point like you say if we were to have a significantly disabled main character warrior, they probably would have to face in-universe ableism to some degree (as horrible as it is) because it just would be odd not to considering the ableism that has just continuously existed within the clans. If a deaf cat decided to become a warrior, there would definitely be those in-universe who wouldn’t approve because there hasn’t been a deaf cat born in the clans (that we know of) since Snowkit. Several characters probably just wouldn’t be able to comprehend the idea of someone functioning perfectly fine without hearing because it’s a concept almost completely new to them. It would be a very satisfying story I think to see this deaf character just ultimately prove them wrong, obviously they would face challenges and need to adapt differently to their clanmates, but in the end once they get the hang of things their own way, it could be a very satisfying conclusion. I think this or a similar concept would be something interesting to see tackled and challenged in-universe. But given the track record for author ableism with these books, I wouldn’t hold my breath about it being non-offensive and actually good representation.

[sophswritingthings]

Longstar AU — Chapter Twelve

Longtail padded through the ThunderClan territory. It had been a few moons since he had become deputy, having to run the clan when Firestar and Sandstorm went off on a quest sent by StarClan. The clan seemed to trust him, and so did Firestar.

   He'd also gained an apprentice in Squirrelpaw, one of Firestar's daughters. The she-cat was a ball of energy, but he didn’t mind too much. Swiftflame was like that sometimes, too. The only real problem was her rivalry with the warrior, Brambleclaw.

   He dropped into a hunting crouch at the sight of a rabbit, softly creeping forward toward the fluffy creature. He leapt toward the rabbit, but before he could dig his claws into it, it reared up on its hind legs, scratching at his green eyes.

   Longtail stumbled backwards, his eyes burning like fire. He let out a hiss.

   “I can’t see! I can’t see!” He yelped, digging his claws into the ground.

   “Longtail? Longtail!” From the scent flooding over him, he knew it was Blizzardspots. The she-cat leaned herself on his side, “He’s been injured! C'mon, help me get him back to camp!”

   Seemingly the rest of her patrol padded up behind her, herding him back towards the ThunderClan camp. He was herded into the dark cave that was the medicine cat den, Leafpaw and Cinderpath rushing toward him.

   “The rest of you out,” Cinderpath hissed, “You can stay, Blizzardspots. Tell me what happened.”

   The rest of the patrol padded out of the den, Blizzardspots settling down beside Cinderpath. Leafpaw crowded Longtail into a nest, grabbing herbs and beginning to turn them into poultice.

   “When I found him he was yowling he couldn’t see,” Blizzardspots mewed. “I have no clue what attacked him.”

   “A rabbit,” Longtail mewed, “I-I was trying to hunt it, and it scratched my eyes.. and it began to burn.”

   “The rabbits claws were most likely dirty,” Cinderpath mumbled. “It’s probably infected. But, there’s a chance you can regain your sight.”

   Longtail took a sharp breath, “Really?”

   “Even if you don’t I doubt it'll stop you,” Cinderpath twitched her whiskers. “I almost became a warrior, even if I chose to stay in the den with Yellowfang. Swiftflame and Brightheart became warriors. And Snowkit will, too. Even if a little late,” She smiled softly. “You'll stay a warrior and stay deputy, if Firestar has anything to say about it. And he does.”

   “She’s exactly right,” Firestar padded in. “I heard what happened, Longtail. Once you’ve been cleared by Cinderpath, you'll resume your duties.”

   “.. Thank you, Firestar.” Longtail murmured.

   “A disability shouldn’t stop you from being a warrior, or my deputy,” Firestar flicked his tail.

   “Correct,” Cinderpath mewed. “And I doubt you'll be completely blind, as of now. It'll most likely fade over time, but for now you should still be able to see relatively well.”

   “Alright,” Firestar dipped his head. “And I’ll get someone to take over Squirrelpaw's training for now. Thank you, Cinderpath.”

   The ThunderClan leader turned out of the den with a flick of his tail.

   “Leafpaw,” Cinderpath beckoned her apprentice. “Have you made sure you cleaned Longtail's eyes, and bandaged them accordingly?”

   “Yup,” Leafpaw gave a small smile.

   “Well done, Leafpaw,” Cinderpath inspected the wounds quickly, turning back to her apprentice and Blizzardspots. “Leafpaw and I are going to look for herbs. Mind staying here to make sure nothing happens to him?”

   “Of course not,” Blizzardspots dipped her head.

   “Thank you.” Cinderpath dipped her head back, padding out of the den with Leafpaw in toe.

   Blizzardspots padded over to Longtail, settling down beside him, pressed up against his side.

   “How does it feel?” Blizzardspots murmured.

   “A bit better,” Longtail curled his tail around the white she-cats. “Thank you for staying with me.”

   “Of course, Longtail.” She rested her paw atop of his, “You're my mate. And I love you.”

   He rested his chin atop of her head, “I love you too,” He murmured.

   “Now.. seems like a better time than any to tell you,” Blizzardspots muttered, gazing at her mate. “I’m.. im expecting kits, Longtail. Your kits.”

   “Oh, I—“ Longtail stammered, than he rasped his tongue across her cheek, “Than I suppose we’re going to have kits. Have a family.” A small smile crossed his face.

   A purr rumbled from her chest, “I’m excited to meet them, you know,” She glanced at her slightly swollen belly. “I’ve always wanted to have a family. And now.. I’m having a family with a cat I truly love.”

   He purred softly, resting his head on his paws, “Me too.”

   She rested her head on his side, closing her eyes.

(hi! author here! last chapter for today because I’ve posted so many today lol. we’ve finished the sort of arc 1 type thingy and are moving into two. [as well as series two] I’m also gonna open my ask box feel free to send me some asks!)

[greekstar]

Songs that fit Warrior cat characters in my opinion! Feel free to use this for MAPS maybe and it would be a great deal if

Firestar: Never too Late. By Three Days Grace and Remember When. By Bad Wolves

Bramblestar’s ghost: Locked out of heaven. By Bruno mars

Mapleshade: Bury a Friend. By Billie Eilish. And. I will Survive. By Gloria Gaynor

Bluestar: Survivor. By Destiny’s child

Jayfeather: Stressed out. By Twenty one pilots and Gone away. By Five Finger Death Punch

Snowfur: Criminal. By Britney Spears.

Thrushpelt: She wants me to be loved. By The Happy fits. and Blinding Lights. By The Weekend

Leopardstar: Fire to the rain. By Adele

Oakheart: wait for it. By Hamilton

Leafpool: Hello. By Adele

Jake: Life is a Highway. By rascal Flatts (Fits way to damn well)

Tallstar: See you Again. By Wiz Khalifa

Mistystar: Immortals. By Fall out boys (It’s true. That’s all I’m saying.)

Squirrelflight: Stronger. By Kelly Clarkson. And You Should be Sad. Bay Halsey

Spottedleaf: Diamonds. By Rihanna

Bramblestar: Ready as I’ll ever be. By Tangled: The series. And. Here I Am. By Bryan Adams

Lionheart: Walk on Water. By Thirty seconds on Mars

Hawkfrost: ‘till I collapse. By Eminem

Tigerstar/claw: No lives matter: Tom Mcdonald

Swiftpaw: Who let the dogs out. By Baha Men (🙃😉 Yes. I’m sorry it was to good to pass up lol)not being funny, Cats, dogs & rats. By Rare Americans

Stormfur: Home. By Phillip Phillips

Willowbreeze: If I die young. By The Band Perry😊❤️‍🩹

SilverStream: sit still, look pretty: By Daya

Whiteclaw: Free fallen: Tom perry (I’m so sorry guys I had to 🤣)

Goldenflower: Thousand years. By Christina Perri

Crowfeather: Fairytail: by Alexander Rybak. And. Rewrite the Stars. From the Greatest showman

Sandstorm: Confident. By Demi Lovato

Yellowfang: See you again. By Wiz Kwalifa

Sol: Teeth. 5 minutes of Summer

Snowkit: I believe I can Fly~~~. By R. Kelly (I’m so sorry🤣😅)

Nightcloud: Me and my broken heart. By Rixton. And Frankenstein. By Claire Rosinkranz

Ravenpaw: Good life. By One republic and. Numb. By LINKIN PARK

Lionblaze: Feel Invincible. By Skillet. Or. Warriors. By Imagine Dragons

Ivypool: Control. By Halsey. And. Just like Fire. By Pink

Leafstar: Team. By Lorde. And In the name of Love. By Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha

Crookedstar: Demons. By Imagine Dragons. And. In my Blood. By Shawn Mendes

Goosefeather: Human. By Rag’n’Bone Man

Heathertail: Heather. By Conan Grey (Lol)

Thistleclaw: Darkside. By Neoni

Sandgorse: Underground. By Cody Fry. (If you don’t get it, you clearing havent read Tallstar’s journey)

Graystripe: Count on me. By Bruno Mars.

Brokenstar/tail: Centuries. By Fall Out Boys.

Brightheart: Scars To Your Beautiful. By Alessia Cara

Dustpelt: Counting Stars. By One republic

Breezepelt: Seven Nation Army. By The White Stripes

Scourge: Whatever it takes. By Imagine dragons(why these all fit so well lol?!)

Alderheart: Panic Room. By Au/Ra

Tigerclaw/star and Firestar: For the Glory (feat. Hollywood Undead). By All good Things

Darktail: The Blooom. By Nirvana

Nightheart: I hate everything about you. By Three days Grace

Tigerheart: Crossfire. By Stephan.

Dovewing: Young and Beautiful. By Young and Beautiful

Sparkpelt: Mr. Percocet. By Noah Cyrus - Kinda talking about Kinda the imposter and Bramblestar himself.

—

I might do more if this blows up.

Also all the songs I did can be used in MAPS so it would be appreciated if you mention where you get the inspiration for. Though some do have cussing and some are Rap cause that’s how I am so you have been warned.

[theanoninyourinbox]

Hello Internet, I’m Still Alive! Welcome back to Hypokits! First-time Hypokit peruser @quaelgeist333 asked for Survivor!Leader!Snowkit/Disabled!Sol and Transmasc!Nonbinary!Ivypool/Former Loner!Fernsong, and Frequent Flier @fernstarsblog asked for Golden!Evil!Firestar/Ginger Calico!Sandstorm/Older!Trans!Cinderpelt! (Fireslash IS Golden, I swear, the picture just makes him Golden-Brown because I don’t have Enough Problems apparently)

In the first AU, Snowkit feels the vibrations of everyone running to save him from the hawk, looks up, and yoinks out of the way. He is mentored by Brackenfur, and becomes Snowspeckle, to honor the mother who never gave up on him, and helped develop CSL - Cat Sign Language - which Thunderclan uses to strategize and gossip at Gatherings. Snowspeckle later becomes deputy under Firestar, and is well beloved. Sol’s story is also different - he was abandoned by his mother for not being sleek and tall - he’s short and scruffy and boys aren’t torties you must be the ugliest baby ever! He grows up angry and lashes out, but had always wanted a loving family. He meets Midnight and plans to vent his rage at the Clans, but sees The 3 being Good Happy Siblings and Y E A R N S. He also panics when Hollyleaf almost gets hit by a Monster and shoves her out of the way without thinking. He wakes in Thunderclan with a twisted hind leg, and finds they care So Much about this Scruffy Man, and this one white tom keeps wiggling at him? What? Thankfully Leafpool fills him in and oh he thinks I’m cute!?! OH SNAP HERE COME THE SELF WORTH ISSUES! It works out eventually, with many applications of Love, Self-Confidence, and Flowers!

In the second AU, which will be part of the first as a treat, Ivypool has Issues which she(?) can’t figure out, and everyone is Looking At Her(?), and she bolts in a panic. She(?) quite literally runs face first into Fern the loner, who was a son of the Sisters - his power, though he doesn’t know it yet, is knowing Gender, which doesn’t sound like much, but is Very Helpful sometimes. He asks this skinny new friend if they’re okay? Is someone misgendering y’all? You’re obviously Nyanbinary to some degree wait are you crying? Have a Warm Hug I’m really good at those! Is someone being Mean to you did they hurt your ears? Don’t worry I’m not a good fighter but I’ll uhhh lecture them? Yeah sit on them and oh her where are we going? Ivypool drags h-their(!) new confused and very supportive friend back to camp, Firestar can I keep him please?!?

In the last AU, a newborn Cinderkit is found abandoned by a Thunderclan patrol, and 4 moons old Sandkit touches the baby curiously. Some time later, Tigerclaw brings Rusty to camp, saying the kittypet has been following him and wants to join up. Secretly, Tigerclaw has been training the ambitious little sadist to kill Bluestar. Bluestar agrees as long as Tigerclaw trains him, and Sandpaw and her Tomfriend Cinderpaw watch in curiosity and confusion. Both are wary, neither like the giant brown tabby much, until Fireslash takes Tigerclaw down when he attacks Bluestar and her wives Yellowfang and Rosetail. Tigerclaw’s ghost disapproves of this betrayal heartily. The couple approach Fireslash to father some kits, and he agrees as long as he gets to train one when they’re old enough. Some time later, both Sandstorm and Cinderpelt have had litters about a moon previously, and the two leave to find Fireslash, mysteriously absent. They find him luring dogs to the woods, and try to sneak back to camp. However, Fireslash smells them and tries to just outright kill them, nearly killing their defender Lionheart in the process. He stalks towards the nursery, begins to leap - and trips over a Very Angry Redkit grabbing his legs, landing his Neck and Eye on Very Pointy Sticks dislodged during the fight, and meeting his mentor much sooner than anticipated. Lionheart recovers, and when the Dark Forest comes for The Clans much earlier, five brave siblings lead the charge!

Aaand that’s it for now! I have 4 anon requests currently, and a plan for when I hit 100 subscribers, so…see you then! -fingerguns at y’all, spins around, falls directly into bed-

[shreksstepfather]

Okay so I got an ask about Dustpelt and Ferncloud and it made me think of an AU!

I call this: the kittypet queen AU!

A few moons after Bluefur takes her kits to RiverClan, ThunderClan is desperate for new young cats. They accept two curious kittypet sisters into the Clan. These sisters are named Lily and Blizzard, and they are renamed to Lilypaw (Brindleface) and Blizzardpaw (Frostfur) because I guess we’re SkyClan now.

Blizzardpaw gets Bluestar as a mentor and Lilypaw gets Stormtail, just like in canon. However, Stormtail detests Lilypaw because she’s a former kittypet. This causes Lilypaw to begin to feel like an outcast in her new Clan.

Due to her bright white pelt and kittypet heritage, Blizzardpaw is mocked by the others in the same way Cloudtail was. She becomes close with Whitepaw because of this and they have their warrior ceremony together, becoming Whitestorm and Blizzardcloud. 

Lilypaw’s warrior ceremony is delayed because Stormtail never thinks she’s good enough. Resentment builds inside her and she seeks out cats beyond the borders.

Meanwhile, Blizzardcloud proves to the Clan that you can be great no matter what your origin is. This results in Tiny being accepted into the Clan and Blizzardcloud taking him under her wing, later becoming Shadestrike.

Lilypaw eventually becomes a warrior, but only after a lot of persuading on Bluestar’s part. She gets her warrior name Lilydapple and becomes the first warrior that Bluestar ever named :)

Timeskip many moons. Blizzardcloud and Whitestorm have a litter of kits (Cinderkit, Brightkit, and Snowkit, named after Snowfur). The kits view Shadestrike as a cool big brother and he views them as his little sisters.

Around this time, Cloudkit is brought to the Clan. Blizzardcloud takes him in without question, knowing how the others might harass him for being a kittypet.

Cinderpaw gets Fireheart as a mentor, Brightpaw gets Runningwind, Cloudpaw gets Mousefur, and Snowpaw gets big brother Shadestrike to help her out of her shell.

They later earn the names Cinderblaze (after Fireheart), Brightdapple (after Lilydapple), Cloudstorm (after Whitestorm), and Snowstrike (after Shadestrike).

A few moons later:

Oops! Looks like Lilydapple’s in a half-clan relationship! With none other than Stonefur from RiverClan as well! Bluestar is shocked to hear this, (after all, Stonefur is still her son) but promises not to tell the Clan. Lilydapple later has Fernkit, Ashkit, and Stonekit, who is named after nobody in particular (wink wink).

Fernpaw gets Darkstripe as a mentor, Ashpaw gets cousin Cloudstorm, and Stonepaw gets none other than Bluestar herself (she specifically requested it).

Their warrior names are Ferncloud (after Blizzardcloud), Ashfur (after Stonefur), and Stonemoss (after Mosskit).

Boom!

There is also an added bonus! Now Dustpelt and Ferncloud:

- Aren’t related

- Aren’t mentor and apprentice

- Have a pretty normal age gap

I hope you like the AU!!

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Snowkit Becomes Snowstar AU

So after a small break and focusing on an event, I'll slowly get back to these. I may close asks every now and then because

wow

i have a lot of em fsdkj

but

I will get through

now

onto my favorite lad

Snowkit

Or should I say Snowstar?

Snowkit is rescued in time by Fireheart

Speckletail is relieved and cries over the fact that her son is alive and well

There's still a debate about Snowkit becoming an apprentice, but when Cinderpaw stands up, she demands to be allowed to help mentor Snowkit Before any complaints about the medicine cat apprentice can be made, Speckletail also steps forward to help, followed by Brackenfur

Eventually Bluestar gives up and Brackenfur becomes Snowpaw's mentor - with aid from Cinderpaw and Speckletail

Everything goes about normal and before the battle with BloodClan, Snowpaw becomes Snowlight - a name personally picked by Speckletail for overcoming his struggles He's also revealed to be close friends with Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw [who are his niece and nephew canonly] as well as Cinderpelt [who is also his niece]

TNP comes and Snowlight is trusted by Brambleclaw to be told where he's going and the white tom is also the mentor of Squirrelpaw, whom he struggles with at times, but he does his best to remain kind towards his spirited apprentice

When Graystripe is taken, Snowlight quickly steps up to help his Clan, not hesitating for a moment to be there for ThunderClan, as he knows his Clanmates need someone

During the journey there is another hawk scare, but he is saved by his apprentice, Squirrelpaw, and Brambleclaw He personally talks to Firestar about her becoming a warrior, stating how proud she is of her - even if she did run off to join the prophecy cats for a bit

As the Clans settle, there's whispers of a new deputy being needed and all eyes are on Snowlight Brambleclaw is a little jealous of this and Tigerstar tries to convince his son that Snowlight is in the way - Brambleclaw rejects this as Snowlight is still his friend

Hawkfrost, however, hears what his father's saying and tries to lay a trap for the white tom

Brambleclaw manages to come across Hawkfrost and Snowlight before the trap is set and he attacks his half-brother Hawkfrost is outraged, screeching that he could make Brambleclaw the next leader of ThunderClan Brambleclaw states that he doesn't want that Not if it means killing someone close to him

Brambleclaw ends up killing Hawkfrost in front of a confused and shocked Snowlight Thankfully the deaf tom understands after what happened is explained to him and he swears the secret will die with him Brambleclaw makes an off-handed remark not to bring up death at the moment

Snowlight is made the deputy of ThunderClan - no dream omen needed

TPoT and Snowlight has been doing well as deputy. He is a noble and kind cat - and after Cinderpelt's death, the deaf tom makes it clear right away he wants no cat to go through what she had to

He becomes Jaypaw's mentor, not allowing him to be put in the medicine cat den just because he's blind There's some concerns on communication, but the two manage to find a way with a Morse-code-like language that consists of steady and hard thumps to the ground with the front paw There is some help from Leafpool to translate at first, but eventually the two are an unstoppable apprentice-mentor force

When Cinderpaw is hurt, Snowlight joins in helping Leafpool, providing aid when he can and personally making sure she has the time to heal Jaypaw is confused on why his mentor and Leafpool are so concerned, but is thankful that his mentor doesn't want to give up on him Hollypaw still becomes a warrior apprentice with her brothers, too, after trying to train under Leafpool

When Sol comes to the Clans, Snowlight is confused by the suave tom, and is intrigued by him

He ends up meeting with the tortoiseshell in secret, teaching him kitty sign language Eventually Sol tricks him, using his charm to blind the snowy tom to his plans When Snowlight realizes this, he is visibly hurt and ashamed of himself to the point of talking to Firestar, wondering if he's really the right choice for deputy Firestar assures him he is and comforts the deaf tom

When Ashfur dies there is hesitance from Snowlight, as he wants to believe it's Sol because he's angry at the charming loner, but he struggles to accept that someone like the tom could actually be a killer He is proven right when they learn it wasn't Sol He is strangely relieved

Sol is gone again and Snowlight finds himself missing the loner, but pushes these feelings away in order to focus on his Clan The Three become Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jayfrost Brambleclaw is a little unsure of the suffix -frost, but Snowlight assures his friend that there's no ill will towards the blind warrior The two later talk about cats who were gone and Snowlight reveals he had been thinking of Frostfur when he and Firestar were considering names for the three

Eventually it is revealed that Jay, Lion, and Holly are the kits of Crowfeather and Leafpool Snowlight is confused why his apprentice didn't trust him, but when she explains that it wasn't her secret to tell, he is understanding, though admittedly frustrated with Leafpool for putting her sister in that position When Brambleclaw even yells at Squirrelflight, Snowlight is quick to defend her

OotS comes around and Snowlight is working hard with Firestar to keep the Clan in order. Briarpaw is revealed to be being trained by Leafpool, who is being punished [not by becoming a warrior, but by aiding in apprentice tasks every now and then and being temporarily banned from gatherings as well as having to have an escort with her wherever she goes]

Snowlight's not much of a focus here, other than being moral support to Squirrelflight and Jayfrost as well as just generally being a strong-willed and progressive deputy

Briarpaw becomes Briarberry and she's extremely proud of herself and even more so that she managed to earn her name along-side Bumblestripe and Blossomfall, as she a bright and fast learner

Jayfrost and Cinderheart are implied to be close, though Cinderheart seems to be the only one with any romantic feelings between the two Jayfrost becomes Dovepaw/wing's mentor and Ivypaw/pool is given to Cinderheart

Lionblaze and Foxleap, meanwhile, are mates and very proud of the fact they are together

When Sol reappears, Snowlight confronts the tom He admits he had romantic feelings towards Sol and how he wanted things to go better Sol, bitter, asks why Snowlight could be a warrior and not himself Snowlight somberly replies that someone gave up on the tortoiseshell and that he had deserved better and how he would have done anything to help Sol become a warrior Sol is taken aback and cannot look the deaf tom in the eye "maybe in another life things would be better"

Jayfrost does come to Snowlight about his growing feelings for Cinderheart, but he's unsure what to say or do and it stresses him out more and more as he doesn't want to ruin his friendship with her Snowlight helps Jayfrost and eventually he and Cinderheart are mates

Everything goes somewhat has per canon [with what changes there are, of course] and Firestar dies, making Snowlight the new leader - now Snowstar Snowstar makes his deputy Cinderheart

my brain is too empty for AVoS and TBC, but

some notes

Jayfrost and Cinderheart later have two kits - twins Rainpelt and Flurrynose

Lionblaze and Foxleap become the adopted dads of Lilykit/paw/heart and Seedkit/paw/spot [whom Lionblaze stops from drowning]

Briarberry becomes a strong medicine cat and carries the same beliefs as Snowstar - that any cat can be a warrior, no matter what, and defends Alderpaw when his dad, Brambleclaw, tries to suggest he becomes a medicine cat

Snowstar is the first to welcome SkyClan and personally helps work out a proper plan so that the Clans can have proper territory without having to chase SkyClan away

There are also times where Snowstar goes off on his own Only Jayfrost knows that it's to try to find Sol

[canon-notcanon-warriorcats]

Decatssi: A Warrior Cats Re-write Arc I

-dustpaw is mentored by tigerclaw and ravenpaw is mentored by redtail, both apprentices witness redtail being killed by tigerclaw, though ravenpaw wasn’t supposed to

-redtail and runningwind are sandpaw’s dads and she has a breakdown over her dad’s death

-sandpaw is still mentored by whitestorm, graypaw is mentored by mousefur, and ravenpaw is given to lionheart to finish his training, firepaw is juggled between all of them for a couple days but runningwind and bluestar end up dual mentoring him

-bluestar makes lionheart deputy as usual, ravenpaw is still scared of tigerclaw, but since he doesn’t have to be constantly around him and has the protection of lionheart and his friends, he doesn’t leave thunderclan and fake his death

-sandpaw gets close to firepaw before she’s a warrior because she realizes that dustpaw is a big jerk wad and firepaw isn’t even that bad and her dad is his mentor and he likes him and she knows that redtail would’ve liked him as well, so dustpaw, tigerclaw, darkstripe, and longtail are probably the wrong ones

-brokenstar was already the leader when firepaw joins and has been for like a year and now he’s ran out windclan and yellowfang

-firepaw finds yellowfang and instead of everyone being like “we should kill her” they actually have brain cells and are like “something’s not right, also yellowfang you can chill here, but firepaw you still have to take care of her because you brought her here” tigerclaw, darkstripe, and dustpaw are the only ones pissed at yellowfang existing in thunderclan

-brokenstar attacks thunderclan while most of the warriors are out on patrol (hmmm tigerclaw, lionheart, firepaw, ravenpaw, and runngingwind are the only cats trained and healthy enough to properly fight while this attack is going on, interesting) because they want more babies to make into murder machines, spottedleaf, who doesn’t have any weird feelings for firepaw and instead is sandpaw’s cool and wise aunt who she loves, is killed, rosetail is killed, thrushpelt is killed (he was an elder, he didn’t die yet before firepaw came to the forest) and lionheart are killed

-bluestar losing her girlfriend, boyfriend, medicine cat, AND deputy gets hit very hard and refuses to name a new deputy because she’s lost two in like a month and a half “if starclan keeps taking my deputies, then they can be the one to choose them!”

-she goes to the moonstone with all the apprentices, whitestorm, mousefur, and runningwind and gets killed by a rat but she’s better now and still has two lives so she’s fine

-ashkit and fernkit are now born to brindleface and their dad is darkstripe, but he wants nothing to do with them and is an asshole to brindleface for no reason, also it should be mentioned that darkstripe’s dad is thistleclaw who was killed by redtail and whitestorm when he was an apprentice and his mom is willowpelt, and now willowpelt and whitestorm are mates so now he has a grudge against both of them and is angry because his family is weird now (no one besides whitestorm and willowpelt know it was him and redtail who killed thistleclaw)

-snowkit is born to speckletail and unknown tom, she won’t say and no one cares, also oh no snowkit is deaf but speckletail’s sister, one-eye, who is going deaf, helps them learn a kind of sign language, and a bunch of thunderclan, including the kits, wanna learn too

-firepaw decides that windclan being chased out for almost 3 moons is too long so him, ravenpaw, graypaw, and sandpaw go save them, not dustpaw though because dustpaw said it was stupid and windclan should stay gone

-they succeed! and bluestar is so impressed she makes them into warriors: fireheart, graystripe, ravenpelt, and sandstorm, dustpaw gets pissed off that he isn’t made a warrior too, he’s older than graystripe and fireheart and his brother got made a warrior, but bluestar tells him to shut up, cats become warriors when they act like warriors, not when they become a certain age

-brokenstar attacks thunderclan again, but this time bluestar captures him and kills him once and also blinds him, everyone takes a moment to remember exactly why she was made leader

-everyone’s nervous that bluestar still hasn’t chosen a deputy yet, they all know it’s between whitestorm or tigerclaw, but bluestar’s still scared they’ll just die as soon as she makes one of them deputy, redtail had only been deputy fro a few moons (one-eye was her deputy before she retired) and lionheart had been deputy for like what, a month and a half before he was killed? also bramblekit and tawnykit are born to goldenflower and tigerclaw

-tigerclaw is weirdly close to brokenstar “theywere friends when they were apprentices and warriors together” everyone says, but is that really what’s happening

-shadowclan is glad to be rid of brokenstar and his followers and they choose nightpelt as their new leader, who actually does get eight lives and becomes nightstar, but they’re pissed that thunderclan is keeping brokenstar because if they had just killed him one last time by now nightstar could’ve had 9 lives

-bluestar makes brightpaw, cinderpaw, brackenpaw, and thornpaw apprentices and give them to sandstorm, fireheart, graystripe, and ravenpelt respectively, it’s been like a moon and dustpaw is still an apprentice because he’s a little turd head

-except graystripe has been going off on his own a lot lately and is like barely mentor, turns out he’s dating silverstream who saved his life while coming back from saving windclan, sandstorm gets angry because she’s had a crush on her for moons but i guess she didn’t like her back

-brokenstar’s rogues attack to free him, but they’re actually being led by tigerclaw now and in the flurry of battle, tigerclaw kills bluestar onces, but she beats him out of her den with the help of whitestorm and fireheart before he can take another one

-yellowfang feeds brokenstar deathberries as she tells him she’s his mom in the midst of battle so the rogues attacking only comes to his death

-what a surprise, tigerclaw had been conspiring with brokenstar and took over his rogues, bluestar banishes him and he’s chased out, but dustpaw follows him because he’s more loyal to tigerclaw than thunderclan and he’s pissed that bluestar didn’t make him a warrior, darkstripe stays to everyone’s surprised because he was tigerclaw’s first apprentice and they were super close, longtail is shocked and angry at tigerclaw and revokes any and all respect and loyalty he had towards him

-bluestar finally names whitestorm as her deputy and orders to keep a watch out for tigerclaw and dustpaw

approximate amount of time that passes during all of this: 5 moons

-graystripe is whitestorm and willowpelt’s son (kiiind of) and so darkstripe also has a super grudge against him, also graystripe gloats that his dad is the thunderclan deputy a LOT now, he also sometimes calls bluestar grandma

-it’s the beginning of leaf-bare now

-while out on a patrol-date, fireheart and sandstorm find old tigerclaw scent by twolegplace so they try to track where he’s been, but when they find a brown trabby it’s actually fireheart’s long lost sister princess!

-fireheart has vague memories of her, but she recognizes him immediately and is so excited and tries to get him to follow her to visit their mom, nutmeg, fireheart declines saying that thunderclan is his home now, sandstorm leaves them to catch up and hunt, tigerclaw’s sent was too old anyway

-they talk for quite a bit and princess tells fireheart that she’s afraid her twolegs will take away her 5 kits who are a moon old now and after fireheart has told her about the clans she wants one of them to come live with him

-fireheart is hesitant, but princess doesn’t really take no for an answer and brings out a white fluff ball she named cloud and really how can you say no to that

-fireheart brings fluffy back to camp and everyone’s kind pissed, but bluestar’s just like “you really like bringing cats outside of the clan to us don’t you” but she has a soft spot for white cats because her sister was white, her first apprentice, frostfur, was white, and her nephew-son-deputy is white, she also has a soft spot for fireheart so how can she say no, “okay, but you have to be his dad now”, brindleface offers to take him because her kits, ashkit and fernkit, are the closest in age to cloudkit, darkstripe gets extremely pissed off that his “mate” is nursing a kittypet and his son and daughter are now being raised with a kittypet, but brindleface puts him in his place and basically officially breaks up with him, if they were ever considered a couple in the first place

-a few days later a patrol of whitestorm, runningwind, fireheart, and cinderpaw are patroling the shadowclan border, suddenly there’s some rustling and it’s not until then that runningwind catches tigerclaw’s scent (he’s one of the best trackers in the clan, no one else could scent it yet over the stench of the thunderpath) tigerclaw jumps at whitestorm, but runningwind zooms between them, saving whitestorm and getting killed by tigerclaw instead, who runs across the thunderpath into shadowclan territory, his two rogues following behind him (they were fighting fireheart, whitestorm, and cinderpaw)

-cinderpaw goes after them even with her mentor and deputy yelling at her to not and she gets hit by a car, her left back leg being almost cleanly torn off from below the knee, whitestorm carries runningwind and fireheart carries his apprentice back to camp

-sandstorm has another breakdown because now both of her parents are dead and tigerclaw is the one that killed them both, runningwind’s parents halftail and one-eye, his sister, mousefur, his former mentor, bluestar, and his former apprentice, fireheart, all grieve immensely for him as well and sit vigil

-frostfur, thornpaw, brightpaw, and brackenpaw are all also terrified for cinderpaw, fireheart is caught between grief for both runningwind and his apprentice, but yellowfang removes cinderpaw’s barely hanging on leg and she miraculously survives, yellowfang thinks this is the first time in clan history a cat has lost a leg and survived

-a week later cinderpaw is back on her paws, or trying to be, she asks yellowfang if she’ll have to be a medicine cat, but yellowfang tells her that she’s too much of a fighter to be a medicine cat, she has to become a warrior, fireheart vows to train cinderpaw to be the best warrior she can be and so she can become a warrior alongside her littermates, all while also basically training brackenpaw because graystripe keeps sneaking away, and helping to raise cloudkit, this is when sandstorm falls in love with him, they had been friends kind of crushing before, but now it was evident that they were falling madly in love with each other

-a terrible sickness starts in shadowclan, it’s so bad nightstar has already lost two lives to it

-fireheart visits windclan with cinderpaw to get tips from the deputy, deadfoot, on hos to become a warrior with only three fully functioning legs

-at some point both yellowfang and tallstar call fireheart their son

-a rare thunderstorm happens during leaf-bare about a moon after cinderpaw’s accident and a fire starts close to thunderclan’s camp, they flee over the river and stay the night in the riverclan camp until the fire has stopped after being put out by the falling snow

-yellowfang and fireheart save bramblekit, but speckletail sadly dies from smoke inhalation while saving her son, snowkit, smallear reveals that he was snowkit’s father, goldenflower asks if he was also her’s and lionheart’s father, but he says no, their father had been sunstar, thunderclan’s leader before bluestar “why didn’t speckletail tell anyone” “because she was honorary and didn’t like other cats knowing her business, neither sunstar or me had ever actually been her loves anyway”

-bluestar talks to mistyfoot and stonefure a /lot/ and seems to take an interest in mistyfoots new kits, primrosekit, pikekit, perchkit, and reedkit

-graystripe does a terrible job at hiding him and silverstream being mates a secret and hangs out with her and mosspelt, who’s pregnant, a lot, silverstream reveals to everyone that she is ALSO PREGNANT but she refuses to tell who the father is

-thunderclan returns to their territory the next morning, the camp needs rebuilding, but luckily the fire didn’t damage an especially large amount of territory, darkstripe is fidgety

-also this is around the time littlecloud decides to become a medicine cat, him and cinderpaw become good friends at the first gathering she’s back and he gets inspired to take a path of healing, a path that brokenstar had refused him, he also has his boyfriend, whitethroat with him

-a couple nights later, goldenflower screams that her kits are missing and soon darkstripe comes back with them, saying they had tried escaping the camp and he had found them on his way back from getting some fresh air, he’s also weirdly taken interest in his own kits, like he wants to become an actual father to them

-willowpelt is pregnant with whitestorm’s second litter of kits!

-there’s dog scent by snakerocks, and also dead rabbits, what could be happening, better go to windclan and interrogate them

-tallstar denies any windclan activity in thunderclan territory, but they still haven’t SEEN any dogs at snakerocks and it might be too dangerous to check it out, even though it’s leaf-bare, adders could still come out of their dens

-brackenpaw is anxious that graystripe has hardly been around for his training and thinks that maybe graystripe doesn’t think he’s good enough to be a warrior, so he asks his littermates to help him fight off the dogs at snakerocks, if he does that graystripe will HAVE to recognize him as good enough, but only brightpaw agrees to come with him, and only because it’s a stupid idea and he shouldn’t go alone

-the next night they go to get rid of the dogs and brackenpaw and brutally murdered and brightpaw is found staying alive by a thread, without an eye and a torn ear

-frostfur is devistated, just after her one daughter was healing, her other daughter was barely alive and one of her sons was dead

-thornpaw tells fireheart, sandstorm, and ravenpelt why they went to drive out the dogs and they get justifiably angry at graystripe, who walks back into camp only after brackenpaw’s body was laying in the middle of the clearing

-sandstorm is so angry at him she swipes at his muzzle, cause droplets of blood to appear and graystripe, in fear, anger, and grief runs out of the camp again, fireheart and ravenpelt run after him, knowing exactly where he’s going, and when they reach sunningrocks they find silverstream giving birth far too early to her’s and graystripe’s kits

-yellowfang is too far away and will still be busy trying to save brightpaw, so, defying silverstream’s and graystripe’s wants, retrieves riverclan’s medicine cat, mudfur, but it’s sadly not enough as silverstream dies shortly after both of the kits are born and she barely utters names for them, featherkit and stormkit

-crookedstar, being by his daughter’s side as she died just as her own mother had died giving birth to her and her siblings, is extremely angered and upset at graystripe, but when graystripe asks to live in riverclan with his kits, crookedstar hesitantly allows him, ravenpelt and fireheart object, but graystripe tells them he’d do better with his kits in their mother’s clan than he’s been doing in thunderclan as a warrior, leaving with crookedstar and mudstar, mosspelt, who had just given birth to two kits, dawnkit and shinekit, two days earlier, turned out to have also been silverstreams mate, and those two kits had been surrogated by a tom for her and silverstream to raise together, graystripe knew this was happening and gladly agreed to mosspelt nursing his kits

approximate time that has passed between part 1 and now: 4 months

-with the news that graystripe has moved to riverclan to be with his kits bluestar and whitestorm just kind of quietly accept that their family can’t have a normal relationship ever

-frostfur is pissed because it seems like graystripe is running away from his actions causing his apprentice’s death, but she doesn’t want to be and tries to hold it in, hoping that the bigger reason why he left was because he wanted to be with his kits and if so she can respect that and makes her very slightly less angry

-with everything going on, bramblekit and tawnykit “sneak out” again and darkstripe “finds them” outside of camp /again/

-it takes brightpaw over a day to regain consciousness, but the bleeding has finally calmed down and she’s going to be okay

-bluestar wants to make thornpaw, cinderpaw, and brightpaw warriors now because thornpaw’s ready, cinderpaw has gracefully caught up and is doing really well adapting, and brightpaw will need help adapting to hunt and fight with only one eye but before this she was basically ready to become a warrior, but thornpaw and cinderpaw want to wait for their sister to be healed

-bluestar agrees, though she didn’t want almost as many apprentices as there are warriors, but it’s close to when ashkit, fernkit, snowkit, and cloudkit should be apprenticed

-bluestar wanted to give snowpaw to willowpelt but she’s gonna have kits any day now, so she gives him to frostfur instead, gives ashpaw to whitestorm, decides to finally trust longtail and gives him his first apprentice in fernpaw, and even though he’s technically still mentoring cinderpaw, bluestar gives cloudpaw to fireheart because who else could mentor this fluffy idiot

-darkstripe is overly mad that his son is being mentored by whitestorm

-willowpelt gives birth to sorrelkit, rainkit, and sootkit hooray

-a few days after silverstream gives birth, crookedstar loses his last life to greencough and leopardfur takes his place as leader and is now leopardstar and she names stonefur as her deputy, graystripe is afraid she’ll kick him out, but luckily she tells him that as long as he’s loyal, he may stay

-meanwhile, dead rabbits keep appearing closer and closer to the thunderclan camp, seriously, in THIS leaf-bare

-patchpelt just keels over and dies because of “stomach pain”

-in the midst of mourning and darkstripe going “at least we’ll get more food” because fuck you darkstripe, brindleface is found murdered close to camp, her scent is covered in rabbit scent and wet moss, everyone correctly guesses that tigerclaw must have killed her and is probably the one killing the rabbits and slowly training and leading the dogs to the camp, but he’s been hiding his scent so no one can tell it’s him, darkstripe says that that’s reach it couldn’t possibly be tigerclaw, but no one believes him and why isn’t he angry that the mother of his children has been brutally murdered and almost made into dog food

-”hey at least it wasn’t willowpelt” he says ominously

-everyone agrees that the dogs need to get out of their territory because they’ll know where their camp is now, so they make a plan to trick them into jumping off of the cliff over the riverclan waterfall

-ashpaw, fernpaw, and cloudpaw want to be in on it but since they’ve only been apprentices for like half a moon bluestar obviously says no, whitestorm also tells bluestar to not be a part of it because he doesn’t want her to die for the final time

-before they go bluestar names frostfur’s children warriors, naming cinderpaw cinderpelt, thornpaw thornclaw, and brightpaw, who’s been starting to leave the medicine cat den, brightheart, she also gives a naming ceremony for the dead brackenpaw, saying that she would have named him brackenfur after his mother

-a patrol of thornclaw, fireheart, sandstorm, whitestorm, and longtail take turns having the pack of dogs chase them through thunderclan territory until they reach the waterfall, but instead of slipping in they manage to stop

-bluestar had been hiding there the whole time and attacks the leader dog, both her and the dogs falling into the waterfall

-thornclaw and longtail run back to tell everyone else what happened while sandstorm, fireheart, and whitestorm run to help bluestar

-the dogs are dead, but they soon find stonefur and mistyfoot pulling bluestar onto sunningrocks

-mistyfoot presses onto bluestar’s chest and she coughs up water, looking up she’s extremely happy at how brave and talented her children are and she’s so glad they’re such great and respected warriors

-”wait you’re our real mom???” “wait they’re bluestar’s kits that disappeared???” whitestorm nods

-bluestar tells them that she wished she could’ve raised them, but she’s so glad they have a happy life in riverclan and she’s so thankful to graypool and oakheart for raising them and loving them, and she is glad that all her living kits, including whitestorm and fireheart, are all finally together with her, she whispers that she wished that they could’ve raised them all, together, before passing away for the final time,

-whitestorm elaborates through grief that bluestar had given up her kits so she could become leader instead of his father, thistleclaw, who was an evil and bloodthirsty cat who would’ve had thunderclan dive into an era of nothing but war and death, and that mosskit died on the journey to riverclan, bluestar had never fully forgiven herself, and that she wished that her, graypool, oakheart, and thrushpelt could have all raised them happily together

-mistyfoot and stonefur nod and are understanding, mistyfoot saying she had sometimes thought they were born in thunderclan because she had vague memories of the thunderclan camp even though she had thought she had never been there, and her and stonefur both felt like they had met mousefur and runningwind before they were apprentices, as it turns out they had once been den mates in the nursery

-they decline sitting vigil for bluestar though, as mistyfoot has to get back to her kits and see how her son, perchkit, is doing as he is very sick, along with many riverclan cats, crookedstar dying of greencough was only the beginning. and stonefur must get back to his duties as deputy

-everyone mourns greatly for bluestar and whitestorm realizes this means he is now leader of thunderclan, but he takes a full day to mourn for his adopted mom and aunt before leaving for the moonstone with yellowfang

-after him and yellowfang leave, sorrelkit secretly follows darkstripe as he sneaks bramblekit and tawnykit out of camp, she wants to go too “hey where are you going?” she squeaks, darkstripe tells her to come with him and roughly grabs her by the scruff, but bramblekit and tawnykit, being almost 6 moons old now yell at him to stop and goldenflower and willowpelt run to find their kits, darkstripe drops sorrelkit, dazing her and willowpelt scoops her up to get her away, goldenflower demands to know what was happening, fireheart, longtail, and sandstorm come to see what’s happening and everyone goes back into camp, darkstripe tells everyone that bramblekit and tawnykit were trying to go see their father because they want to see him again and they want to look up to him and be like him and they were trying to take sorrelkit with them, tawnykit calls his bullshit as well as goldenflower, saying that they’d never be anything like their father no matter what anyone says

-tawnykit and bramblekit tell everyone that darkstripe has taken them to see tigerclaw multiple times, always meeting in shadowclan territory, but they were told not to tell anyone, and darkstripe had been telling tigerclaw everything that was happening in thunderclan, sorrelkit mews that she had just wanted to see what they were doing and followed them

-everyone agrees to put a guard on darkstripe until whitestorm and yellowfang got back, mousefur and longtail offer to be the first guards and darkstripe is made to stay in the old elders den that got charred in the fire

-whitestorm, now whitestar, and yellowfang get back the next day, with bad news, they came across a patrol lead by deadfoot while in windclan and he said that shadowclan had been acting very weird for a long time, and many cats have apparently gotten sick and they believe nightstar might have recently died, and they don’t know who his new deputy was because the former deputy had died of the illness, and now they keep finding shadowclan scent on their territory, whitestar tells everyone they need to be on extra guard since shadowclan had been so secretive and barely attending gatherings since nightstar had been so sick

-goldenflower is the one to inform whitestar about what darkstripe did- and has been doing, whitestar is infuriated at his half brother and his first act as thunderclan’s leader is to banish him, he tells him that if he is still so loyal to tigerclaw that he can go join him, darkstripe is chased out, sandstorm and longtail chasing him off into twoleglace, surprisingly, but before he goes darkstripe admits that it was him and tigerclaw who set the camp on fire and that all of thunderclan will die as soon as tigerclaw gets his way

-after darkstripe is chased off, whitestar decides that before he names his deputy he must make bramblekit and tawnykit apprentices, he gives tawnykit to cinderpelt and is about to give bramblekit to thornclaw when bramblekit speaks up, he doesn’t want to become a warrior, he wants to become yellowfang’s apprentice and become a medicine cat, he’d wanted it ever since she and fireheart saved him from the fire, and he wanted there to be no way that he could follow in his father’s pawsteps and instead make up for what he’s done by healing

-yellowfang gruffly agrees that perhaps he will make a good medicine cat and comments that she needs an apprentice because she’s not getting any younger

-whitestar then names goldenflower as his deputy, everyone is shocked, including goldenflower, because they expected fireheart or sandstorm to be chosen, but goldenflower humbly accepts her new role, tawnypaw and bramblepaw are ecstatic that their mother is now deputy of their clan

-two nights later is the gathering, shadowclan and riverclan were the first to be there, because they came together, cats from both clans intertwined under the four great oaks, with tigerclaw, now tigerstar, sitting on top of the great rock, leopardstar and blackfoot sitting underneath where deputies usually sit, and darkstripe and dustpaw not too far away, along with brokenstar’s/tigerstar’s group of rogues, which had even more members now than ever before

-Thunderclan is immediately angry and windclan is very very confused, Whitestar refuses to jump onto the Great Rock because he will not share it with Tigerstar and what the heck did he do with RiverClan? Tallstar, seeing the tension and realizing something’s gone down jumps off as well, trying to get answers from Whitestar, who announces that Tigerstar killed Redtail, tried to kill Bluestar, killed two other ThunderClan warriors directly, set ThunderClan on fire, and tried to lead dogs to ThunderClan’s camp

-ShadowClan goes “nooo he was with US, he brought our warriors back and helped us get rid of the illness, he’s been making us strong again” they won’t believe tigerstar could do all that

-tigerstar continues to go on that he is now also strengthening riverclan by ridding them of their illness and joining them with shadowclan to make TIGERCLAN, the riverclan cats seem to shrink and be embarrassed, especially leopardstar, it is then that whitestar notices that riverclan’s deputy, stonefur, was not at the gathering,  nor was mistyfoot or graystripe or any of their kits, who would be new apprentices by now and should be attending their first gathering

-tigerstar continues that leopardstar’s and mistyfoot’s son, perchkit, died of the illness but since then the sickness had cleared after he isolated the half-clan cats in riverclan, including mistyfoot and her kits, stonefur, and the unloyal graystripe and his half-clan kits, the sickness had also killed graypool, who had tried to defend mistyfoot and stonefur from being imprisoned because she had raised them as her own when they were brought to riverclan (tigerstar actually killed her/had her killed and said it was the sickness that took her)

-tigerstar explains that it was the half-clan cats that had died from this illness because they were inherently weaker then pure blooded clan cats because their loyalty, and therefore their strength, was split no matter what they said or did, tigerstar says that the only way to get rid of this weakness in the clans is to become one clan, under him, to become as strong as they can be, riverclan already did it, and now he was proposing for windclan and thunderclan to join, even with their “difficult” past

-thunderclan and windclan obviously object and refuse, which tigerstar angrily retorts that then whoever doesn’t join tigerclan in the next three days will be killed by his clan and that windclan and thunderclan would be destroyed either way

-the gathering ends with windclan and thunderclan leaving first, when thunderclan gets back to camp they’re greeted by a half starved graystripe, who says that with less of tigerstar’s followers in camp he managed to escape, he trembles in fear, agony, and embarrasment as he begs for forgiveness and for help to save his kits and mosspelt, as well as mistyfoot and her kits and stonefur

-fireheart and ravenpelt immediately agree, as well as willowpelt who covers graystripe in licks and gives him a mouse to eat; sandstorm, taken aback by her cousin’s state, agrees that it would be wrong to not try to rescue his kits

-whitestar pretends to think on it for a moment, but then fully agrees that thunderclan will help in any way they can, and will take in graystripe’s kits, mosspelt, mistyfoot and her kits, and stonefur as refugees,  it would be wrong to not try to help any cat, especially since most of these cats were thunderclan’s kin (he pretended to think, but we all know he would have killed tigerclan himself to save his grandkits and his cousin-siblings and niece and nephew-cousins)

-a rescue party of graystripe, ravenpelt, fireheart, and sandstorm is sent to rescue the cats: graystripe to guide where they’re being held, ravenpelt because he’s small and sleek so he can hide easily and be sneaky, and fireheart and sandstorm because they’re fast and can hopefully fend anyone off just enough to escape. They roll in river mud to hide their scents and pelts, especially fireheart’s

-they hide in the bushes bordering the riverclan camp by the nursery where the cats are being held hostage and they’re met with the horrifying sight of blackclaw and dustclaw shoving graystripe’s kits, stormpaw and featherpaw, into the middle of the half-wrecked camp and mosspelt yowling in distress as two black and white toms (snake and ice) block her way of escaping through the nursery entance, stonefur is being held guard by darkstripe and blackfoot on the other side of camp as tigerstar growls that the new apprentices’ father cowarded away like the thunderclan cat he is to leave his kits to die without him and that they must pay for their father’s disloyalty and cowardice, while stonefur must prove his own loyalty to tigerclan by being the one to kill them, especially his own apprentice, stormfur, yowls of objection can be heard through the nursery by mistyfoot and her kits even though they can’t be seen

-leopardstar, looking miserable and defeated, looks up to tigerstar and asks him why stonefur must be so cruel, he’s already proven clan loyalty, he was her deputy, he was a brave, strong, and loyal cat even if he was half-clan, he shouldn’t have to murder to prove his strength, and the apprentices hadn’t had a chance to prove themselves yet, but they were crookedstar’s grandkits of course they would be strong and loyal to riverclan-

-tigerstar interrupts her there, hissing that their riverclan loyalty didn’t matter, that riverclan no longer existed, only tigerclan, and she had allowed graystripe  to stay even though she knew he was a disloyal thunderclan cat, and therefore she had no say and no power in this decision, which made her bristle and a glint of her old stubbornness returned to her gaze, but she said no more ase she glanced around at the glares of tigerstar’s cats and even a pawful of her own cats, who supposedly her own cats, like blackclaw who she had once seen as her brother since they were nursed and raised together

-ravenpelt presses graystripe to the ground as he almost let’s out a full growl in the bushes of the camp and sandstorm and fireheart start thinking of a plan, perhaps making a distraction and getting as many cats out as possible, graystripe and fireheart start vigorously digging a hole behind the nursery that maybe mistyfoot, her kits, mosspelt, and her own birth kit, dawnpaw who wouldn’t leave her foster littermates or her mother, could squeeze out of while ravenpelt slinked away to make some sort of distraction, sandstorm whispers into the nursery that they’re there to save them, mistyfoot says that she will not leave her brother, and mosspelt says that she will not leave stormpaw and feather, sandstorm says that once ravenpelt makes the distraction that she needs to call to stormpaw, featherpaw, and stonefur to run to the nursery as fast as possible

-blackfoot shoves stonefur forward to be in front of the young apprentices who look half starved like graystripe and trembling, stonefur bends down and quickly whispers something into stormpaw’s and featherpaw’s ears and touches his nose to stormpaw’s head and gives him a knowing nod before turning to tigerstar who’s hissing to “prove your loyalty already, no more soft heartedness” stonefur raises his head up high and proudly states that he would never kill an apprentice, especially not innocent ones who are also his clanmates and kin

-tigerstar growls “of course” and flicks his tail to darkstripe and blackfoot who immediately run toward the apprentices only to be blocked by stormfur’s body, still strong with being half starved, there’s no more time, the hole has to be big enough and ravenpelt’s yowl can be heard from the opposite side of the camp where he lays hidden several fox lengths away, mosspelt yells out to stormpaw and featherpaw to run back, and with cats running to go see what the howl was, the fight bloody fight between stonefur, darkstripe, and blackfoot, and mosspelt’s howl, ice and snake are confused enough to be pushed through by the apprentices, who even though are young and starved still have the bulk of their father to push through and daze their guards, dawnpaw slithers through the hole first, then featherpaw, stormpaw, and mosspelt after them. Mistyfoot shoves her kits toward the hole and is about to run through the entrance to help her brother until snake and ice crash through the entrance instead with growls and hisses “THE HALF CLAN CATS ARE GETTING AWAY” ice yells, but two of mistyfoot’s kits have already gotten out of the nursery and reedpaw is almost through, snake smacks mistyfoot down with giant paws, but as reedpaw escape sandstorm slips through and pounces on the black and white tom, knocking him over into his brother and she pushes mistyfoot towards the hole, yelling at her to leave now, but she leaves through the nursery entrance instead, where she’s met with blackfoot’s jaws snapped shut around stonefur’s neck, his blood covered body gone limp and his eyes glazed over with death as blackfoot drops his body like a piece of rotten prey

-tigerstar order his cats to catch the escapees, but there are only a few left that didn’t go after ravenpelt’s yowl and weren’t on patrol, leopardstar yells, begs, mistyfoot to run, which snaps her out of her daze and she turns around and dashes away, pushing through the walls of the camp, sandstorm slashes and kicks at the cats that try to get in her way and mistyfoot leaps into the river, where the rest of the escapees are farther ahead, because most of the cats following tigerstar can’t swim like riverclan cats, the only way they can follow them is one by one across the stepping stones, where whitestar planted a patrol of longtail, mousefur, thornclaw, and himself as back up, and trapping the tigerclan cats so they can only head back to riverclan or get clawed at with no where to escape

-blackclaw; however, was still raised riverclan and also now follows tigerstar, along with beetlenose, voleclaw, and sunfish and they swim after the escapees, sandstorm, graystripe, and fireheart reach sunningrocks and continue to run to meet them, dawnpaw, featherpaw, and stormpaw are the first to make it to shore where graystripe immediately warms them with licks, mosspelt and mistyfoot’s kits make it soon after, but blackclaw is almost caught up to mistyfoot and as she gets onto shore he hooks her back leg with a claw, but fireheart and sandstorm bat him away, and whitestar’s patrol joins them, fighting the former riverclan cats who flee, being outnumbered

-the 8 riverclan refugees are quickly taken to thunderclan camp and made nests, fed, and made warm, featherpaw, stormpaw, and dawnpaw sleep in the apprentices den, and with graystripe insisting that he stays with his kits it’s quite cramped but warm, reedpaw, primrosepaw, and pikepaw stay with their mother and mosspelt in the nursery

-that night the cats of both riverclan and thunderclan sit vigil for stonefur, graystripe, mistyfoot, mosspelt, whitestar, mousefur, and one-eye stay up all night to mourn him, graystripe and mosspelt thanking him for protecting and saving stormpaw and featherpaw, stormpaw stays up as long as he can to sit vigil with them, but is pressed by his sisters to come to sleep

-whitestar spends the whole night thinking about his lost cousin, hoping that him, mosskit, oakheart, and bluestar can finally be a family in starclan, and asks them to watch over and protect their kin and clans closely in the coming days

-Whitestar wakes up the next morning only being able to think about what the future of the clans was, what the future of his kits were, and also there was barely enough warriors in thunderclan to mentor all of these new apprentices, not to mention his own kits would be apprentices in just over a moon

-Goldenflower knocks sense into him saying that it’s more important to stop tigerstar and hopefully the riverclan cats would be able to go home soon enough, whitestar agrees and yellowfang mentions the prophecy that she and whitestar got at his leader ceremony “Fire alone will save the clan, but there needs to be proud wind and honorable thunder to summon the storms that will clear the shadows.”  and that means that thunderclan and windclan need to stand together to be able to defeat tigerstar and his “clan”

-whitestar agrees, but the only way to get to windclan would be through fourtrees and tigerstar definitely has patrols patrolling at all times, so it would be hard to get through without being noticed, and perhaps that was part of tigerstar’s plan, either way he decides that he’ll go to windclan and talk to tallstar and decide what to do, thornclaw asks what will happen if tallstar decided to join tigerstar but whitestar retorts that tallstar would never, mistyfoot approaches and says that she will go with him, and yellowfang says she will go as well, perhaps if they come with cats who were raised in all of the other clans then it will be easier to persuade windclan to fight together, whitestar chooses longtail and thornclaw to come with them as back up in case they ran into a tigerclan patrol

-once the patrol makes it to fourtrees, tense and nervous even in their own territory, dustclaw suddenly appears on top of the Great Rock from behind it, snidely welcoming them and ask them what they’re planning on doing there, blackclaw, sunfish, clawface, and jaggedtooth come out from behind the great rock

-yellowfang snarls at the two former shadowclan cats, telling them that she watched them grow up and she thought they’d be good shadowclan warriors and here they are now, jaggedtooth spits at her, saying that they were better warriors then she ever was and ever could be, and twice as loyal than she was to anything

-mistyfoot hisses at blackclaw and sunfish, blackclaw replies that even her hiss is weaker since she’s a half-clan cat and he threatens to claw her until she begs for mercy, mistyfoot retorts that he’d be dead before he could even touch her

-longtail tries to appeal to dustclaw, asking him what their parents, robinwing and fuzzypelt would think of him, and what would their four dead siblings would think of him, and if he came back now maybe he could be an honorable thunderclan warrior again

-dustclaw snarls at him saying that longtail’s become kittypet soft just like the rest of thunderclan and would never recognize his greatness or tigerstar’s and that’s why thunderclan must be destroyed, whitestar growls and tells dustclaw that he wouldn’t let him back into thunderclan anyway, and that thunderclan’s business was none of his own, clawface snears that they both have 5 cats, but one of the thunderclan patrol was an old medicine cat and another was a weakened and frail queen, yellowfang and mistyfoot hiss and sunfish and jaggedtooth visibly flinch

-just as the patrols were about to clash, a hiss is heard from windclan’s side of fourtrees and tallstar and a patrol of onewhisker, whitetail, and tornear appear and they run down to fourtrees and meet the thunderclan patrol, the tigerclan patrol have a moment of worry until dustclaw shakes it off and asks tallstar “oh, are you looking for a couple of your warriors tallstar? icetail, eaglefoot, and hedgepaw?” “no, i’m pretty positive of where they are, dustpaw, i know they joined tigerstar’s group of rogues!” dustclaw’s fur bushes up and he gets defensive “i am dustCLAW now, tigerstar named me a warrior as soon as he became leader because at least appreciates me as a warrior!” tallstar sniffs and replies “he’s using you like he uses all of his other rogues” dustclaw snarls and seems to be about to pounce until he realizes again that the two patrols together almost doubled his patrol, even with an old medicine cat and worn out warrior, and claims that they’ll have the chance to tear them apart in time, until then they had to go report to tigerstar. The warriors are about to attack as dustclaw leaps down from the great walk and strides off towards shadowclan territory with his patrol, but whitestar tells them to halt, they needed to conserve their fighting energy and couldn’t risk anyone getting hurt right now

-tallstar asks if the patrol was coming to visit thunderclan and whitestar nods, tallstar says that barkface received a prophecy from starclan and yellowfang says it’s the same one that she and whitestar received, whitestar asks if this means that thunderclan and windclan will fight side by side then, and tallstar says that of course they would. The leaders decide that the two clans will meet the next morning at fourtrees just after sun has peaked over the horizon so tigerclan won’t have time to attack individually, but two clans being at fourtrees will definitely grab their attention and they would take on tigerclan from there

-once the patrol gets back to thunderclan whitestar starts explaining the plan to everyone, he offers goldenflower to stay in camp to protect his kits and the elders (mostly because he knows it must be hard for her knowing they would be fighting her ex-mate), but goldenflower refuses saying that she must battle alongside her clanmates

-whitestar asks willowpelt if she wants to fight, to avenge redtail and brindleface, but willowpelt says she wants to stay and protect the camp, to protect their kits, frostfur steps forward and says that she will fight as well, for lionheart, for her sister brindleface and her son brackenpaw, as well as the injuries tigerstar had caused her daughters

-rainkit and sorrelkit star calling saying that they want to go fight too, they don’t need to be protected they’re NEARLY apprentices, whitestar adors his little kits but tells them that they need to stay in camp and maybe willowpelt will teach them some fighting moves, mosspelt steps up and says that she’ll stay in camp as well, featherpaw says that she wants to fight in the battle and stormpaw says that if she fights he wants to fight as well, but whitestar refuses them as they had just become apprentices the day before tigerstar took over riverclan and hadn’t gotten enough battle training, primrosepaw says that they had been apprentices for a quarter moon longer than them, so they had gotten some battle training, whitestar thinks and then tells them that they need to guard the kits and elders, dappletail then retorts that she and the rest of the elders would rather die protecting the clan than die needing to be protected, so if anything were to happen the elders would fight till the end, halftail, one-eye, and smallear all heartily agree. Whitestar thinks about how the last time the elders had to battle to protect their clan that rosetail and thrushpelt had been killed, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stop them, and if it came to it they wouldn’t have a choice anyway.

-Whitestar is about to tell tawnypaw to stay behind too, but she insists on fighting, she won’t sit in camp while her father tries to destroy the clans and featherpaw insists again and her fighting as well, whitestar decides that tawnypaw can join, but stormpaw and featherpaw will not fight, he gives them to responsibility of being runners, fetching injured cats and bringing them to yellowfang and bramblepaw who will be just outside of fourtrees to attend the injured and they will assist the medicine cats as needed, ravenpelt offers to help them and make sure they don’t get hurt

-whitestar starts worrying about how brightheart or cinderpelt would do in battle, as well as snowpaw, he asks brightheart first, telling her he’s unsure if she’s ready to fight when she had just recovered for about a moon, cloudpaw interrupts and says that brightheart could fight anyone and beat them and she’s been working will hard to train, cinderpelt, sandstorm, and fireheart agree, saying they’ve all been training very hard together and brightheart or cinderpelt could fight just as well as anyone, whitestar asks cloudpaw to fetch snowpaw and he comes back with both snowpaw and fernpaw, whitestar, using sign language, asks snowpaw if he felt comfortable fighting or if he’d rath stay and protect camp, snowpaw shakes his head and signs for “fight” and points towards fourtrees and then signs for “speckle” and “tail”, meaning he wants to fight for his mother, who died saving him from the fire that tigerstar and darkstripe started in thunderclan, fernpaw agrees that snowpaw can and will fight, and she’ll be with him and they’ll protect each other, cloudpaw agrees that he won’t let anyone hurt his clanmates, ashpaw chimes in that he will fight to avenge their mother and whitestar says that he had no doubt his apprentice was ready to battle

-whitestar realizes just how wide tigerstar’s wrath had spread, everyone in the clan had been personally effected, and decides that willowpelt, mosspelt, mistyfoot’s kits, and the elders staying behind to protect the camp will have to be enough, he leads a hunting patrol of longtail, mousefur, cinderpelt, and tawnypaw, and besides that patrol they take the rest of the day to rest and prepare, though most of the clan was too restless to truly rest, yellowfang was teaching bramblepaw the different healing herbs and making leaf bundles that they and stormpaw and featherpaw would carry to the battle, the warrior apprentices trained together with thornclaw and brightheart, whitestar gives ashpaw some last minute battle tips

-before the sun had risen the clan silently pelts to fourtrees, the wind is sadly against their back and when they arrive they see two pelts slink into the bushes, one towards riverclan and one towards shadowclan, whitestar signals for his clan to fan out and they line out in front of the thunderclan border so it would be harder for anyone to try to run into thunderclan and attack the camp, whitestar is suddenly very relieved to have goldenflower standing beside him, strong, proud, and ready to fight, frostfur, mousefur, mistyfoot, and longtail stood beside her, on whitestar’s right flank was sandstorm, fireheart, graystripe, and ravenpelt beside her, thornclaw, brightheart, cinderpelt, and the apprentices created a second line of defense behind them, the apprentices close behind their mentors. Whitestar checked behind him for ashpaw, he could see fear in his eyes and his scent, but his stance was strong and confident

-pink started lining the horizon and whitestar was starting to fear that windclan wouldn’t get there in time, or maybe not at all, he knew tigerstar would be aware of thunderclan being at fourtrees by now, he must be preparing and even on his way, but as soon as he thought that the bushes on windclan’s side of fourtrees started rustling and tallstar sped down the slope into the clear, a stream of windclan cats followed him and lined up in front of their border like thunderclan. Tallstar walked forward to the middle of the clearing and whitestar joined him, they both bowed their heads respectfully to each other. “I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you as a leader for the first time in a better situation, Whitestar. I know your leadership has already been hard, but I am positive Bluestar chose the right cat, and I am sure she is very proud of you and her clan and will be protecting you all, just as the rest of StarClan will watch over us.”

-Whitestar suddenly felt on the spot and guilty that he didn’t know tallstar as well as he should, “I know your leadership has not been easy at all, especially the past few seasons, I’m honored to be a leader with, and to fight alongside you and your warriors. Do you have warriors staying in camp to protect your camp?”

-Deadfoot steps forward and goldenflower suddenly pelts forward to be besides whitestar again, they both nod to each other respectively and then bow to the other leader, “Ashfoot is with our kit, crowkit in the nursery, Webfoot is also heavily pregnant with his own kits, and Robinwing just gave birth to Tornear’s and her daughter, Nightkit, yesterday. They’re all in camp with the elders, Morningflower has also stayed behind to protect them. Tigerstar’s rogues killed her son, Gorsepaw a moon ago in a border scuffle, but she’d rather be there to defend the kits and queens just in case. Whitestar apologizes and asks where their other apprentices were, he only saw warriors in their battle formation and tallstar says that as they had learned yesterday, hedgepaw and two warriors had joined tigerstar and tigerclan, and their other two apprentices were staying back outside of fourtrees with barkface to assist him and to fetch injured cats. Whitestar nods saying that they had two apprentices to help Yellowfang and Bramblepaw as well as to assist injured cats. In big battles like this it was a standard practice, but Whitestar was still glad that the two leaders had made the same strategies.

-Whitestar dips his head to his fellow leader and raises his voice so the rest of the cats could hear him, “May our clans fight alongside each other and lookout for each other. And may StarClan guide us well.”

-As soon as he finishes speaking the wind suddenly changes and a rush of ShadowClan and RiverClan scent swamps the clearing and soon countless pawsteps can be heard and then bushes on RiverClan’s side of the border start to rustle and Blackfoot steps through, Leopardstar close behind him, with many cats, most riverclan but with several shadowclan cats and rogues, following them. Then the bushes on ShadowClan’s side start rustles, shadowclan, riverclan, and rogues streaming forward into the clearing, and then finally, Tigertstar strides out from within his group of cats, darkstripe and dustclaw close behind. The large dark tabby stares down the leaders, not even looking at his former mate, who’s green eyes are now narrowed and her fur bristling, her claws already unsheathed and she’s obviously keeping in a snarl. “So,” Tigerstar oddly purrs, “Have the great leaders of ThunderClan and WindClan made their decision on joining my clan?”

Finale

“We already told you our answer, Tigerstar, our answer is no,” Tallstar responded cooly. Whitestar quickly glanced over all sides of the clearing, almost all the cats of every clan were there, including all of Tigerstar’s rogues and even ShadowClan elders; ThunderClan and WindClan were greatly outnumbered. Whitestar realized that Tigerstar had fixed his gaze onto him.

“And you? Great ThunderClan leader, Whitestar, the one I considered to be like a brother,” his eyes widened to look innocent.

Whitestar’s pelt bristled, “You are no brother of mine! ThunderClan would never join you. WindClan and ThunderClan will defend ourselves until the last breath!”

Tigerstar’s amber eyes narrowed and his claws unsheathed as he growled, “Then die.”

Before Tigerstar could wave his tail to signal his warriors to attack, a yowl came from RiverClan’s side of Fourtrees.

“No!” It was Leopardstar, her eyes filled with anger, her pelt bristled, and claws unsheathed. Tigerstar paused to look over to her, his eyes like fire and his teeth bared.

“Leopardfur!”

“No!” she repeated, her teeth now bared as well, “I am Leopardstar, and I am the leader of RiverClan. We will no longer be a part of TigerClan, I never should have agreed to it in the first place. We will night fight with you Tigerstar! You killed my deputy and dear friend, you held my mate, kits, and clanmates hostage! You brought rogues into my camp! You’ve disrespected and harmed my clan. We will night fight with you, but we will fight against you!”

Shock flooded through the RiverClan cats, as well as several hisses from the rogues and a few warriors, but most of the RiverClan warriors seemed to stand taller and confidently behind their leader. Relief flooded over Whitestar even as snarls, hissing, and yowls erupted from Tigerstar’s followers and rogues, but to his surprise many ShadowClan cats were looking confused or disheartened.

Whitestar had to do something, “ShadowClan! You don’t have to fight with Tigerstar. You can fight for what you know is right and you will be even more of a loyal ShadowClan warrior for it!”

Tigerstar’s lips drew back in a snarl, “You do not tell my clan what to do! They follow my orders and my orders alone, that is the warrior code!”

“You don’t care what the warrior code is!” Sandstorm hissed. Agreement rang across the clearing.

“Enough!” Tigerstar yowled, “I will no longer be merciful, you will all die for your betrayal to StarClan’s wishes and to destiny! TigerClan, attack!”

In an uproar cats from ShadowClan and RiverClan’s sides erupted into the clearing, clashing into WindClan and ThunderClan. Whitestar tried to keep track of where Tigerstar was, but in the flurry of battle, he could no longer spot his dark pelt.

I’ve been in plenty of battles before, but none like this.

Suddenly Whitestar’s breath was struck out of his body as a dark gray body slammed into him and claws sank into his fur. While Whitestar was trying to assess the battle, Darkstripe had taken the opportunity to attack.

“Finally,” Darkstripe’s breath was hot on Whitestar’s muzzle as he struggled to turn towards the striped tom, “I get to do what I’ve been wanting to do for moons!” Darkstripe’s claws raked down Whitestar’s side and he hissed in pain. Whitestar was a pretty decent fighter, but the surprise attack and the fact that Darkstripe was his kin and a former clanmate was making Whitestar struggle to fight back as hard as he could. He swiped at Darkstripe’s muzzle and beads of blood appeared, but Darkstripe was ruthless bit down into Whitestar’s shoulder, but barely missing his neck as Whitestar dodged. Darkstripe sunk his teeth deeper into Whitestar’s shoulder, blood running down his white pelt. Darkstripe wasn’t letting go and instead started thrashing his head. Whitestar yowled in pain, hardly able to combat the tom’s dirty attack.

Suddenly Darkstripe’s teeth were relieved from Whitestar’s shoulder and another thick gray pelt was beside him, a single thick darker gray stripe running down the back. Graystripe had tackled Darkstripe away from Whitestar and was now battering him with heavy blows. Graystripe, being bigger and heavier than Darkstripe easily overwhelmed him with blows.

“Get away from my father!” he yowled. Darkstripe hissed and lunged for Graystripe’s throat, but instead Graystripe’s unsheathed claws landed on Darkstripe’s and in one heavy slash, Darkstripe’s throat was sliced open and he fell to the ground. With his yellow eyes wide, he desperately tried to push himself to his paws, but before he could stand he fumbled back to the ground, soaked in blood. His eyes glazed over, empty with death. Whitestar tensed as he recognized his father’s dying eyes in the gray tom. They were exactly the same.

Though Whitestar was relieved, he couldn’t help but grieve for his half brother. If only you could have been better than our father. Graystripe stood over Darkstripe’s body, blood and scratches on his pelt. Whitestar realized he had never seen his son so injured, no battle in his life had been this hard and suddenly his grief moved to his son, who had never killed another cat in his life and had already lost so much, to now have killed his own kin, his own half brother.

To save my life. He saved my life.

Whitestar flicked his tail down his son’s pelt, “You didn’t have to do that, I have more lives than you, you could’ve been hurt,” Whitestar hesitated, suddenly feeling warm pride in his son, “But you saved my life anyway. You were so brave, my son you are a great warrior.”

Graystripe let out a loud purr, “I could never stand by and watch someone kill you!”

“And I would give all my nine lives for you,” Whitestar purred back.

Graystripe’s whiskers twitched in gratitude, and maybe a little embarrassment, then turned around and rushed back into battle.

I need to find Tigerstar. Whitestar thought, refocusing back to the battle surrounding him. Featherpaw and Stormpaw were rushing a RiverClan cat to Yellowfang and Bramblepaw. Mistyfoot slashed and grappled with Blackfoot across the clearing. She raked Blackfoot’s ears with her claws then grabbed him by the throat and slammed him to the ground, mercilessly finishing him by ripping open his throat.

And as he deserves. Why should she show mercy when he didn’t when he killed her brother.

Leopardstar fought Blackclaw a few fox lengths away, slamming his shoulders into the ground. Suddenly Deadfoot was thrown a few tail lengths away from Whitestar; the ShadowClan warrior, Jaggedtooth, jumping to pin the older tom to the ground. Both cats were covered in blood, but Deadfoot was in much worse condition. Whitestar immediately threw himself at the ginger warrior, his search for Tigerstar would have to wait. Jaggedtooth stumbled away from the black tom as Whitestar’s weight knocked him aside. Whitestar hooked his claws into the tom’s shoulders, there were already wounds there and the ginger tom yowled in pain and tried to tear himself away. Whitestar slashed at his muzzle, Jaggedtooth went low to attack his underbelly, but Whitestar quickly spun around and kicked the tom directly in the skull. Dazed, heavily bleeding, and his jaw possibly broken, Jaggedtooth turned tail and fled from Whitestar and the battle.

Whitestar quickly turned his attention to the WindClan deputy, still heavily bleeding. He crouched down, trying to evaluate his wounds, “Don’t worry, old friend, the medicine cats will get you patched up,” Whitestar tried to gently purr and grazed his muzzle across Deadfoot’s. His one twisted paw seemed to be even more twisted than usual.

Deadfoot twitched his ears, “I know, I trust our medicine cats with my life. As well as StarClan,” he breathed heavily. Suddenly another black pelt, Ravenpelt, ran to Whitestar’s and Deadfoot’s side.

“Deadfoot!” Ravenpelt yelped and immediately started to move Deadfoot onto his back, “All the runners are already busy, I’ll take him to Barkface,” and with determination in his eyes, Ravenpelt dragged Deadfoot to the edge of the clearing. Whitestar felt such deeply imbedded pride in the young warrior who had once been the most timid kit he’d ever seen. Even though he still might not be in love with fighting, Ravenpelt was a truly courageous warrior of ThunderClan and Whitestar was extremely grateful to have him as his clanmate. He kept a watch to make sure no one attacked the two black cats before plunging back into the heat of battle.

Though things were simmering down; many bodies lay limp and lifeless on the floor of Fourtrees and very few of Tigerstar’s followers remained. A dark brown tabby pelt appeared at the top of the Great Rock. His amber eyes fiery and bright in the bright morning sun.

“Tigerstar!” Whitestar hissed, fury heated his pelt as he charged forward. No one got in his way as he halted in front of the Great Rock, “Tigerstar! Come down he and face the consequences of your war like a warrior!”

Tigerstar crouched down, almost as if he were bowing to his enemy, “As you wish, Whitestar,” and with a glisten in his eye he leapt off of the Great Rock and before Whitestar could realize-

The large tabby landed directly on Whitestar’s neck.

~~~

Whitestar awoke in a grassy field and immediately pushed himself to his paws. He anxiously looked around, expecting to see Fourtrees and countless cats fighting, but instead he was met with the starry figures of his late loved one: Bluestar and Snowfur stood in front of him, and Lionheart, Redtail, and Spottedleaf stood beside him.

Of course, he was in StarClan. Tigerstar had killed him, but Whitestar had a sudden rush of emotion and love seeing his mother, aunt, and friends once again.

“Mother! Bluestar!” Whitestar stepped forward and both of his mothers lovingly nuzzled him. He turned and Lionheart and Redtail both touched their noses to his, Spottedleaf licked his ear. Though he was overwhelmed with joy of seeing his loved ones, the feeling was soon washed away with anxiety, “I’m happy to see you again, but I need to go back. I still have eight lives, correct? Please, send me back, who knows what Tigerstar could be doing right now!”

“Please, Whitestar,” Snowfur mewed, “Your neck was just broken, please stay for just a few heartbeats as your body heals. I promise it will be okay, my love,” she began to lap at his ears as any mother would do to calm her kit.

His mother’s words calmed him a bit, as well as hit him with a wave of grief that he hadn’t been able to grow up with her to teach him and comfort him.

Bluestar nodded, “I know that it may feel like you’re here for a long time, but that’s only because you’re anxious, you know that when a leader loses a life they come back to life in just a few moments. No matter how long it feels here, in the living world you’ll only have been dead for a few heartbeats,” she purred.

Redtail twitched his whiskers, “You’re always patient for every cat except yourself!” he flicked his tail tip over Whitestar’s face, just as he’d done when they were warriors together and Redtail would tease him.

Whitestar jokingly cuffed his old friend’s ear, “But Redtail, you know better than anyone else how dangerous Tigerstar is!”

“Yes,” Lionheart answered, “but most of his followers are dead or have ran away, it is only him against all of the clan now,” he shared a playful and proud glance with Redtail, “You should know better than anyone else that your clanmates, and the other clans cats, are very capable and defending themselves.”

Redtail raised his head high, purring as Spottedleaf nodded and returned her gaze back to Whitestar, “You should be proud, Whitestar. You should be proud of everything you’ve accomplished, and everyone you’ve touched the hearts of,” she mewed.

“And not to mention you picked a great deputy!” Lionheart added triumphantly. Whitestar purred at Lionheart’s obvious affection and pride for his sister.

Redtail stepped closer to Whitestar again and touched his nose to his, his green gaze, which looked exactly like Sandstorm’s, now calmer and serious, but still full of affection, “Thank you, Whitestar,” he purred, “for everything you’ve done for me and my kin.”

As Redtail stepped away, Bluestar stepped forward and pressed her forehead to Whitestar’s, and Whitestar drew in her warm scent, just as it was when she was alive, “It’s time for you to go back Whitestar. Remember to trust your choices, to trust yourself and your clanmates. And remember that I named Sandstorm after you for a reason.”

~~~

When Whitestar opened his eyes his head and body pulsed with aches. He immediately stood and quickly took in the scene. What had he missed, how long was he in StarClan before he continued on his next life? Where was Tigerstar? But before he could get a clear focus his legs started to give. Goldenflower was quickly by his side and steadied him before returning a cold gaze down at her former mate.

Before Whitestar could give his deputy thanks, his vision finally cleared and he followed Goldenflower’s gaze. A few fox lengths away was Tigerstar. Fireheart’s claws were dug deep in his back and shoulders; the ginger tom’s green eyes were filled with more ferocity and anger than Whitestar had ever seen in them before. In front of Tigerstar was Sandstorm, fur risen, tail lashing, and her eyes full of hatred, spitting at Tigerstar. For a moment Tigerstar struggled to get out from Fireheart’s grip before seeming to give in, even though his expression still showed nothing but unwavering brutality. Howls, hissing, and growls filled the clearing. Cats closed in around the the fighting cats in a circle to get closer, some trying to get in their own swipe, but there wasn’t enough room.

“Kill him!”

“Slash his throat!”

“He’s a traitor among the clans!”

“And the warrior code!”

“Disgusting,” Tigerstar spat, “To be pinned by a kittypet and be guarded by a cat I once thought could be a fierce warrior. Allying yourself with the kittypet made you soft, Sandstorm. You can’t even kill me like a warrior can you? You’re just like your fathers! Weak, fragile, and too soft-hearted to be true warriors!”

Sandstorm bared her teeth, and with a yowl, reared onto her hind legs and slashed her unsheathed claws down Tigerstar’s eyes. Blood sprayed from his face as he let out a howl. Fireheart struggled to keep Tigerstar pinned down as he lurched upwards in pain.

“Don’t you ever talk about my fathers like that! They were better warriors than you could ever be in all your nine lives!” Sandstorm hissed.

Tigerstar snarled in her direction as he attempted to open his eyes, but there was nothing but blood, streaming down his eyes and face. He suddenly lurched to the side, tearing Fireheart’s claws off him and knocking him over with a roar. Sandstorm lunged for Tigerstar and snapped her jaws down directly on his throat. Tigerstar gagged as blood spilled onto the ground and down Sandstorm’s chin. Then she let go. Tigerstar’s body thumped onto the ground. Sandstorm stared down at his body. Her ferocity and hatred quickly faded into horror as she realized what she had just done.

Whitestar felt a wave of grief and sorrow. Not for the death of Tigerstar, but for his former apprentice. Sandstorm… You didn’t deserve any of this. This shouldn’t have been your burden to bear.

Whitestar glanced next to him at Goldenflower. He was steadier now so he took his weight off of her, but she didn’t move away. Her gaze was somber, but steady as she stared down at the ground in front of her paws. Whitestar knew that she didn’t want to look at her former mate’s dead body. And he also knew that she knew that it wasn’t over yet.

Fireheart rushed to Sandstorm’s side and Ravenpelt paced behind them. Sandstorm’s gaze cleared as she caught her breath and raised her head high.

“He’s dead!”

“StarClan couldn’t have possibly given someone like Tigerstar 9 lives, right?”

Leopardstar stepped forward from the crowd, her fur battered and bloody, matted onto her neck. She must have lost a life at some point during the battle.

“No. He was definitely given lives,” she addressed above the murmurs of the crowd, “I know because I killed him once. I took one of his lives trying to reclaim my clan,” She paused and gritted her, “His followers then took one of my own lives in revenge. And then when both Tigerstar and I came back he killed me again for his own personal revenge.”

Leopardstar stood strong against the eyes of the clans, but Whitestar heard the cracks in her voice. Some cats narrowed their eyes in suspicion, some murmured pity, and a couple growled or hissed in anger.

“How could StarClan give him lives!?” Bramblepaw’s yowl echoed across the clearing.

“Maybe he lost his last one, he hasn’t come back to life yet.”

“Yeah, Whitestar got back up almost instantly!” Ashpaw blurted, running up beside his mentor.

Runningnose pressed through the crowd. He looked older and sicker than usual. He stood beside Leopardstar and he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Tigerstar’s pelt rippled. Cats gasped and Fireheart pressed himself in front of Sandstorm and snarled, his claws unsheathed and ready to defend his mate.

Tigerstar let out a cough and blood spat out of his mouth. He rose to his paws, some wounds healed, at least enough, but blood still dripped from his face and mouth. He gritted his teeth and snarled, snapping his head from side to side. He kept his torn up eyes closed. He was blind. Cats yowled and hissed, some trying to move forward to get to Tigerstar, but before anyone reached him Tigerstar turned to face Whitestar and opened his eyes.

“Whitestar!” Tigerstar charged and then leapt for the ThunderClan leader, giant, unsheathed claws outreached. Whitestar was taken by surprise, but instinctively met his former close friend with his own outstretched claws. As Tigerstar’s claws sank into Whitestar’s shoulders, Whitestar’s forepaw slammed into Tigerstar’s still-wounded neck. Whitestar felt the strength of the entire forest rush through his legs and paws as his claws sank into Tigerstar’s throat and he slammed his body onto the ground. He felt and heard a crack as Tigerstar choked. Then his amber eyes went dull and blank as Whitestar stood on top of him.

The cats stayed quiet as Whitestar caught his breath and stepped away from Tigerstar’s body. He looked to Goldenflower, her lips drawn back in a snarl and claws unsheathed. Her face showed nothing but anger looking down at Tigerstar. Tawnypaw ran up from the crowd to press herself against her mother; Bramblepaw followed behind her more cautiously.

“I’m sorry,” Runningnose sniffed shyly, “I should have spoken sooner…” The cats around murmured, some even twitching their whiskers in amusement at the old medicine cat. “But I have an explanation. And I know I should have told ShadowClan sooner, I should have told anyone sooner. But I don’t think Tigerstar received his lives from StarClan.”

“What!?”

“How does he have lives then?”

“Who gave him lives?”

Runningnose cleared his throat and tried to speak above the chatter while also repeatedly glancing over to Tigerstar’s body nervously, “We never made it to the Moonstone. Tigerstar said that the entrance to Mothermouth was far enough for him, I tried to persuade him, but he just got angry. He fell asleep, but I couldn’t sense the presence of StarClan at all! But he kept twitching and grunting in his sleep, sometimes hissing and snarling. I was hoping that he was just having a bad dream instead of getting lives, but he apparently did, and they definitely aren’t from StarClan.”

“He would have been almost completely healed if they were from StarClan!”

“And he was dead way longer!”

“Why wouldn’t you tell us immediately!”

“Why would you keep a secret like that from your clan!”

“Wasn’t Runningnose raised with Brokenstar? How can we trust him!”

“What kind of medicine cat would do that?”

Runningnose shrank back in guilt and shame and was about to slink back into the crowd when Littlecloud ran up and Flintfang stepped forward.

“Runningnose is a great medicine cat!” Littlecloud defended his mentor, “No one would’ve been able to do anything! If he had said something Tigerstar would have banished him or even had him killed!”

“Littlecloud is right,” Flintfang growled, “Nothing like this has happened in anyone’s memory. Runningnose has done as much as he can just to keep ShadowClan alive! No one one would’ve been able to do better than he has!”

The cats all started murmuring and chattering again as Yellowfang walked through the crowd to stand beside Whitestar and her former apprentice, “I’ve only heard stories of this when I was a kit and my old mentor had mentioned it maybe twice in passing. But there may be something other than StarClan; a place where the worst cats go where they die instead of StarClan. A place of no stars, where light can barely filter into the forest. I believe the elders called it the Dark Forest. It could be entirely possible that they have the power to give lives just like StarClan,” she looked down at Tigerstar, “but perhaps are not as good at healing.”

“I remember that name!”

“I’ve heard some stories about that, but isn’t it just a nursery tale?”

“That’s why he didn’t want to go to the Moonstone!”

In the din Tigerstar’s pelt rippled once again. His wounds were crusted over with dried blood as he struggled to return to his paws. He couldn’t open his eyes. Whitestar took a step back. How many more times do we have to do this? Six? Do we have to just keep killing him over and over? What if he has more than nine lives from the Dark Forest?

“I’m not afraid to die! I’ll come back again and again. I’ll outlast you, I’ll outlast your kits and your kits kits! The clans will never be rid of my claws!” Tigerstar roared.

Goldenflower nudged her kits backwards into the crowd and then stepped forward. She stood in front of Tigerstar, her expression unreadable. Whitestar wanted to tell her to get back, but he had never seen Goldenflower like this and the words seemed to get stuck in his throat.

Tigerstar faced his former mate; his ears and whiskers twitched, “Goldenflower,” he purred, “Have you decided to join me? To choose your mate over your clan? I saw Bramblepaw and Tawnypaw before too. I’m glad you’ve all come to your senses.”

Goldenflower stayed quiet, her green gaze burning into the dark tabby. The rest of the clans had fallen silent, no one was sure what was going on or what to do.

“I’d die before I joined you,” Goldenflower murmured, “I’d die before I let my kits be influenced by you,” her lips pulled back in a snarl, “And I’d die before I let you, my former mate, the one I used to love and respect so much, hurt my clan, or any clan again!” She lunged forward, tucking her head under Tigerstar’s chest and shoving him backwards. Before he fell onto his back, Goldenflower aimed her strike, hooking her claws into Tigerstar’s throat and slamming him to the ground with full force. Tigerstar’s scabbed eyes shot open in shock as he choked in pain, blood gurgling out of his throat. Goldenflower then swiftly raked her claws from his throat down his chest and exposed belly. She stumbled backwards, bloody fur stuck in her claws as blood spurted from Tigerstar’s belly. His eyes had already gone blank as blood continued to spill from his body.

No one spoke. The entirety of Fourtrees was frozen except for the pool of Tigerstar’s blood. Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw stared in shock from the crowd. Ashpaw coward behind Whitestar. Leopardstar, Littlecloud, and Runningnose stood shocked, but Leopardstar looked vaguely impressed. Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Ravenpelt pressed against one another. Whitestar could only glance at Goldenflower before staring at Tigerstar’s corpse. His amber eyes flashing back to life, his pelt rippling and mouth gasping and choking before growing dull and lifeless again. Over and over again. Until he finally lay still forever.

Epilogue: After The Battle

Death Count:

A bunch of Tigerstar’s rogue and former kittypet followers

ThunderClan:

-Tigerstar: killed by Sandstorm and Fireheart, Whitestar, and Goldenflower

-Darkstripe: killed by Graystripe

-Whitestar lost a life

WindClan:

-Hedgepaw: Killed by one of Tigerstar’s allies when he tried to run away

-Icetail: Killed by his sister, Whitetail, and Onewhisker

-Deadfoot: he made it back to WindClan’s camp but died shortly after

-Tallstar lost a life

RiverClan

-Blackclaw (Tigerstar’s ally): Killed by Leopardstar

-Sunfish (Tigerstar’s ally)

-Beetlenose (Tigerstar’s ally)

-Leopardstar lost a life

ShadowClan

-Blackfoot (Tigerstar’s ally): Killed by Mistyfoot

-Clawface (Tigerstar’s ally)

-Nightwhisper (Tigerstar’s ally)

-probably a couple elders since Tigerstar made them fight

-couple of other warriors i don’t feel like finding names for

~~~

-It’s not even sunhigh when the battle is over, Whitestar sees Onewhisker carrying Hedgepaw’s body to the group of WindClan cats and prays to StarClan that unless he truly had darkness in his heart to allow him to hunt with them in their hunting grounds because he was too young.

-Tallstar approaches Whitestar and tells him that WindClan will be returning to their territory now, he wants to see how Deadfoot is doing and that he wants to make sure any injured can be treated by Barkface, and that they were glad to have help, Whitestar apologizes to the WindClan leader for his clan’s loses today, but Tallstar replies by saying that it was an honor to fight for the sake of the clans and to be allies with him and ThunderClan, he turns around, gathers his warriors, and leaves.

-Whitestar sees Graystripe leave Darkstripe’s body and ask Leopardstar if he can take Darkstripe’s body back to ThunderClan, he wanted to tell Willowpelt himself what happened. Leopardstar agrees as long as Whitestar is okay with it, she glances over to him “But I don’t think there’s any doubt he’ll let you.” Graystripe bounds over to Whitestar and before he even asks, Whitestar says yes, he may, and offers to help him carry their half-brother’s body, which Graystripe answers with a nod.

-Goldenflower, Tawnypaw, and Bramblepaw are gathered around Tigerstar’s corpse. Whitestar is about to go to them when his apprentice, Ashpaw, speaks up “Who’s going to take his body?”  Whitestar says that ThunderClan will take Tigerstar’s body, as he was born and raised in ThunderClan, but he will be buried outside ThunderClan’s border. Flintfang steps forward and says that ShadowClan will take the bodies and bury them outside of their territory by Twoleg Place. Russetfur objects saying that he doesn’t have the right to make that decision for the clan and that there are almost as many dead rogues as there are ShadowClan cats. Flintfang says that they were technically ShadowClan cats at one point, so they will be taken away by ShadowClan. No one else objects

-Tawnypaw stands up from her father’s corpse and says that she wants to help ShadowClan bury the bodies, that she has decided that she wants to join them. Goldenflower is shocked and objects and Bramblepaw cries saying that he thought she wasn’t actually going to join ShadowClan like she once said she would in private. Tawnypaw looks to her mother and then to ShadowClan and she says that she felt like it was her duty as the daughter of Tigerstar to help heal ShadowClan and put her strength into them, helping them to be strong and become stronger.

-Russetfur and several others spit that they don’t want some ThunderClan brat joining them, that they don’t need ThunderClan’s help, ShadowClan was strong on its own. Littlecloud runs up and stands by Tawnypaw though, saying that any apprentice of Cinderpelt’s would be a strong and honorable warrior. Whitethroat agrees and Rowanpaw, from the back of the crowd, yells that if she joined that they could beat her up whenever they wanted to. Cinderpelt meets with Tawnypaw and Littlecloud and asks if this is really what she wanted to do and with grief in her eyes, Tawnypaw says yes. They all look to Whitestar and he says that she would basically have to start her training all over again, which Tawnypaw says that she knows and understands. Whitestar then says that if it’s truly what she wants then she doesn’t need his permission, it’s ShadowClan she needs to get the permission from.

-Flintfang hesitates, but then nods and agrees to take her in, and makes a remark, “And Russetfur, you can be her mentor; you know what it’s like being an outsider of ShadowClan coming in.” Whitestar thinks to himself that Flintfang would make a good and noble leader for ShadowClan. Several cats flinch, no one usually dares mention that Russetfur was once a kittypet that joined ShadowClan, but after a hiss at the gray tom, Russetfur only motions to Tawnypaw, “Fine, then earn your keep now and start helping to carry one of these bodies.” But before she runs off, Tawnypaw turns around and nuzzles her mother, brother, and now former mentor. She promises that they’ll see each other on patrols and at gatherings, and that maybe she’ll see Bramblepaw when he’s out gathering herbs by the ShadowClan border.

-Cinderpelt leans over to Littlecloud and asks him to please watch over Tawnypaw and thanks him, touching the tip of his ear with her nose and Littlecloud says of course, touching his nose to CInderpelt’s. ShadowClan, with all the bodies gathered, leaves for their own territory, the last thing that can be seen is Tawnypaw’s fluffed up, golden and brown tabby tail.

-Mistyfoot approaches Leopardstar, a wary awkwardness between them. Leopardstar’s eyes soften for a moment, a rare sight to see. Mistyfoot says that she’s going to fetch their kits and Mosspelt. Leopardstar’s eyes harden again, as if she’s suddenly aware that she had let herself soften and responds, “No. I want to fetch them,” them softens her tone, realizing that she started to harshly, “Mistyfoot, please take RiverClan back to camp for me.”

-Mistyfoot is shocked as well as the cats who were in earshot, but she nods and agrees, but then whispers to Leopardstar, “Only if they want to come back, Leopardstar.” Leopardstar shifts her paws and says of course.

-Stormpaw and Featherpaw say they want to come get them as well and Leopardstar hesitates and then agrees. Mistyfoot collects the RiverClan cats and they begin to leave as Leopardstar walks to Whitestars, slightly nods and tells him to take the lead. Whitestar says that Goldenflower can lead with Bramblepaw as they carry Tigerstar’s body and he and Graystripe will follow behind with Darkstripe’s. Leopardstar walks in step with him, Stormpaw and Featherpaw trotting behind their father. “Come, ThunderClan, we’re going home,” Whitestar says, he notices that Fireheart, Sandstorm, and Ravenpelt take the back, just behind Ashpaw, Fernpaw, Cloudpaw, and Snowpaw. Whitestar takes not on how brave all four of them had to be today, and notices with sadness that they all have blood on their pelts.

-On the way to camp, Leopardstar admits to Whitestar that she saw the cat, Sasha, running towards RiverClan territory, and that she expects she will be in their camp when she gets back. She says that she was Tigerstar’s mate and one of his closest cats, which Goldenflower, overhearing, visibly twitches her tail at. Bramblepaw’s fur raises. Whitestar asks her what she’ll do with Sasha if she is and Leopardstar replies that Sasha is a good cat and i snothing like Tigerstar, and that she believe she is expecting his kits, she would never turn away an expectant queen. Goldenflower is heard swallowing a growl and her ears are pinned back, while Bramble seems to shrink in his own fur.

-They reach camp and lay the two bodies in the clearing, the cats who stay behind swarm around the group of cats, Primrosepaw quickly asks where Mistyfoot is, fearfully. Leopardstar consoles them that their mother is fine and took RiverClan home and that everything should be back to normal soon. Or as normal as it can be. Pikepaw says he wants to go home right away, his siblings and Dawnpaw agreeing.

-Graystripe tells Willowpelt what happened with Darkstripe and then steps away to let her grieve over her older son. Whitestar can tell that he feels worried about something when Graystripe cautiously approaches him. They go under the Highrock and Graystripe asks Whitestar if he can rejoin ThunderClan. His kits are apprentices now and he trusts Mistyfoot, Mosspelt, and whoever will train Stormpaw next to take care of them. He says that he has never felt like a RiverClan cat and that every moment he’s in RiverClan he misses ThunderClan. It doesn’t feel like a home, he can’t be a good warrior there.

-Whitestar feels both pity, joy, and worry. He would take his son back in a heartbeat, but he looks over to Frostfur and her kits, then Sandstorm, and then back to Graystripe. Would they ever be able to forgive him for neglecting Brackenpaw and that leading to his death? If I show that I trust him, they will.

-Whitestar nods, but warns that he’ll have to work twice as hard to gain the rest of his clanmates’ trust back, but Graystripe gleefully says of course and then bounds over to Willowpelt and his younger brothers and sister to tell them, then, more solemnly heads towards the RiverClan cats.

-Stormpaw and Featherpaw are absolutely dejected. Mosspelt’s face turns hurt and sad and says that she had a feeling he would decide this. Leopardstar says that she knew he would decide this for moons now. There is hesitancy and side eyes from a few ThunderClan cats. Graystripe confronts his kits and tells them that they don’t need him anymore, they’re apprentices and are RiverClan through and through, if he were to stay in RiverClan he would just be a reminder that they’re half ThunderClan to their entire clan and he felt like they wouldn’t get the respect they deserve. He says that he’ll always be there for them if they need him though and that he’ll always be their father and that he loves them so much and he knows that so does their mother who will always watch over them in StarClan. Mosspelt rubs her muzzle to his and whisper to him that he’s a good cat and a good father, giving him a look with a glow of love in her eyes. Graystripe says thank you and then presses his muzzle against both of his kits and licks them both between the ears before turning back to Mosspelt and asks her to take care of them. They both say of course.

-The apprentices all say goodbye, Stormpaw and Featherpaw especially take a moment to say goodbye to Willowpelt and her kits. Leopardstar walks over to Whitestar and whispers her thanks for taking care of them all and tells him that he’s a good leader. Whitestar nods and says of course, and that she’s a good leader as well. Mosspelt says her thanks as well and then the RiverClan cats leave to return to their home.

-Fireheart and Ravenpelt pounce onto Graystripe in a welcome back. Sandstorm staying more to the side, but affection for the gray tom can be seen in her eyes and she nods to him. Rainkit and Sorrelkit jump onto Graystripe’s back for a badger ride. Graystripe can hardly stand up with both of the kits on his back.

-The elders, Willowpelt, Goldenflower, and Bramblepaw all take Tigerstar and Darkstripe to be buried just outside of ThunderClan’s border and Whitestar sends a patrol of Longtail, Mousefur, Thornclaw, and all four of the warrior apprentices to go hunting. After the burial patrol returns, the hunting patrol returns with jaws full of prey. Newleaf is surely almost here.

-After everyone eats their fill and Yellowfang and Bramblepaw were able to treat everyone’s injuries, Whitestar calls for a clan meeting. He tells everyone that he’s so proud of ThunderClan and all of the clans for their victory over Tigerstar and that he hopes that after this their can be peace in newleaf. He says that in celebration, their warrior apprentices are ready to become warriors. He calls on Ashpaw, Fernpaw, Snowpaw, and Cloudpaw. He says that they were all so brave during the battle and then to come home and almost immediately go out and bring back fresh-kill for their clan. They were true warriors. He turns to Ashpaw first and says that he was so proud to be his mentor, and names him Ashfur. Then asks Longtail if Fernpaw was ready to be a warrior and when he says yes, says that Fernpaw is graceful and compassionate and names her Ferncloud. Then he asks Frostfur if Snowpaw is ready to be a warrior and when she says he is Whitestar says, while also signing to Snowpaw, that he is patient and intelligent and from this moment forward he will be named Snowears. And then finally Whitestar asks Fireheart if Cloudpaw is ready to be a warrior and after Fireheart says yes Whitestar says that Cloudpaw is passionate and confident and from this moment forward he will be named Cloudtail.

-ThunderClan chants the new warriors’ names, and some even sign the names for Snowears.

-Whitestar apologized to Bramblepaw since he’ll be the only apprentice now, but then Sorrelkit announces that she and her brother can be apprentices with him, but Whitestar refuses, saying that they still have to wait about another moon.

-The sun sets on the clans. They are rid of the evil that was Tigerstar, and are full of promise for a happy future.

[cryptidclaw]

So cryptid, who mentored Downnose and Cricketstep?

Ooooo good question!!!!

I think Downnose's mentor was either be Speckletail because I think that would be sweet since Down would eventually train and help her son Snowkit! Orrr One-eye/ White-eye bec she could relate and understand Down on a certain level bec she too was born with a disability!

Aaaand Cricketstep's mentor was Rosetail! I just love Rosetail and she deserves to get an apprentice!

Its truly a crime that NONE of these cats have had any apprentices in canon! and I have a STRONG feeling it has something to do with them being female 🙄

This is also reminding me that I want to change One-Eye's name , its just so wrong >:( the first arc was so bad about naming cats after their disabilities

[hinterland-clans]

I chose Icewhisper! Please rant lol

ooo a personal favorite >:3

Icekit was born to Bristletail and Rushbreeze alongside three siblings, Lightkit, Snowkit, and Dovekit. The four were incredibly close, but as they grew up, Icekit quickly realized that she would take a very different path from her siblings. Not only did Icekit want to become a healer, she also had a powerful and strange ability: unlike most, she could see spirits from StarClan lingering around the other cats in her Clan. There weren’t ever many at a time, and the ones that she did see came and went, but she could almost always see the starry silhouettes of those who were once living. Occasionally, they would even talk to her, telling her secrets and stories of things that may happen in the future. She took them in with wide eyes and open ears.

As she moved into her healer training, Halfskip sought to hone her skills of communicating with the dead. This wasn’t easy, mostly because there was rarely ever a cat like her alive at any given time, but also because StarClan cats among the living were simply not that common. The dead usually stay in StarClan with their friends and family where they belong, and while the option of going to the Starpool realm thing to watch the living and occasionally speak to those who were visiting the physical Starpool was there, it was a whole other thing to actually visit the living world. It took energy, lots of it, and would cause a cat to fade to reincarnation faster. Icewhisper tried her best to improve her skills, and the things the spirits would show and tell her slowly became clearer and clearer, allowing her to predict things that would happen to her clanmates, both good and bad. Her clanmates, despite being a little put off by her chilly and naturally introverted nature, saw her and her connection to StarClan as a blessing.

A few years later, Icewhisper is doing her thing in the healer den when Dovesky comes up to her and asks to speak privately. She reveals that she is pregnant with the kits of Hickorystar, the GlenClan leader. They had decided to plan to sneak Dovesky’s kits to GlenClan. While GlenClan is very loose on policies about half-clan relationships, RiftClan is very strict in that regard, and there had been tensions between the two Clans for years at this point. Icewhisper agreed to help Dovesky. They announced that Dovesky was pregnant, then later enlisted Halfskip’s help so they could hide Dovesky in the medicine den under the guise of being unwell. When she was close to kitting, they took her just outside of GlenClan territory to meet with Hickorystar. She gave birth to her kits, and Hickorystar took Icekit and Snowykit back to GlenClan with him a few days later. Icewhisper and Dovesky returned to RiftClan, with the body of Dovesky’s one stillborn kit, Cliffkit. (think of this as a way more convoluted version of Squirrel and Leaf’s whole reverse parent trap thing)

Suddenly, the spirits that had once been so helpful to Icewhisper turned on her. She had betrayed her loyalty to her Clan in their eyes and showed her visions of the worst things that would happen to those around her. Halfskip losing an eye to a hawk that would also kill Snapleaf; Yellowfoot, Peachpad and Bristletail dying of greencough; Smallkit getting killed in a border skirmish after becoming an apprentice; and worst of all, Dovesky dying while kitting she and her new mate Kestreltail’s two kits. Icewhisper became frantic, trying everything she could to prevent the foretold events or even block out the visions. She stopped sleeping and eating and almost scratched out one of her eyes in a panic. The one thing that put an end to her madness was leaving the Clan. Icewhisper left to live by herself on the other side of the mountain, far away from any cat she would care to see the fate of.

And for a long time, she was alone.

Years later, a much older Icewhisper was out hunting when she heard a shuffling noise near a flat stone. Looking down into the overhang it created, she found a slender, blue-patched cat curled in a state of pure misery, surrounded by tattered lilac petals. She was about to leave him, when she saw the spirit of a cat she almost recognized standing over him. That cat had been barely an apprentice when she left, but she knew it was Breezefeather. And he was silently pleading for her help. She woke Fernsplash up, and took him in until Larkslip, Lilystream, Puddlepelt and Brightnose came to retrieve him. Fernsplash convinced Icewhisper to return with them, if only for a day or two. When they arrived at the GlenClan camp, there were few there who recognized her, but she certainly recognized her sister in the faces of the two white cats named Icegaze and Snowyfeather. Icewhisper got all the closure she needed, and soon left.

After she died a few moons later, Icewhisper stayed in the Inbetween. She did nothing to deserve the Dark Forest, but no longer held faith in the goodness of StarClan and wanted nothing to do with them. When her last two siblings died, it was her who led them to StarClan.

[doritopaw101]

Arc1, book 3: Chapter 2

Silverstream sighed as the water lapped at his paws and belly. He felt the soft paws of Featherkit and Gillkit nudge his belly, their small whimpers made him smile. He moved his body a little making it easier for his kits to latch.

'Graystripe says Featherkit looks just like me. I wish I could see that for myself' Silverstream thought with sorrow. Mudfur did his best to save his eyesight, even trying some herb mixtures that he was taught by WindClan's old medicine cat Hawkheart, but nothing worked. Silverstream didn't care too much; there were worse fates.

"Um… Silverstream?" Silverstream turned his head to the sound. Although he couldn't see that well anymore, he recognized the voice as Dogpaw's, and could also smell Vixentail, Blackclaw, and Bluepaw with them.

"Yes, Dogpaw?"

"I brought you some carp," Dogpaw mewed. "I know it's your favorite."

"I made sure that it's not poisoned this time," Vixentail growled, while Dogpaw let out a little whimper of guilt. Personally, Silverstream didn't blame Dogpaw or Bluepaw for the fish, no matter what others thought. He knew the apprentices already had enough struggles, and he knew it was the Twolegs fault.

"Thanks, Dogpaw," Silverstream mewed, pawing at the ground to find where Dogpaw had put the fish. Feeling its wet, slimy form beneath his paws, he bent down and began to chew on it.

Blackclaw must've been watching him struggle to find the fish, because she murmured, "We don't need any more blind cats," under her breath. Vixentail murmured a quiet agreement, but Silverstream still heard them both. He was used to the blind comments by now. He knew the only reason they didn't say it to his face was because he was Stormstar's kin. At least my father still treats me the same.

Silverstream had always tried not to be too offended by Blackclaw's smart remarks. After all, she had always thought he was above everyone else. Being the son of Shimmerpelt and Piketooth, two very respected fisher and fighter respectively.

And as for Vixentail, she liked to follow the black tom's lead a little too much, in Silverstream's opinion.

He was glad Stonefur dumped Blackclaw in favor of Skyeyes. He didn't deserve to be Stonefur's mate.

"How's Featherkit and Gillkit?" Bluepaw asked, the kits in question mewling loudly as they still laid pressing against Silverstream's stomach.

"Loud as ever," Silverstream chuckled. "Hungry too, I think my milk is fine for now though Bluepaw"

"What's it like being blind?" Dogpaw

"Dogpaw!" Vixentail hissed, and the loud thwack of someone's paw hitting the back of the Dogpaw's head followed.

"Ow!"

"It's fine," Silverstream said plainly. "Imagine not being able to see, but your other senses increased tenfold."

"That's cool!" Dogpaw mewed.

"No, it's not," Vixentail muttered.

"What's going on here?" Silverstream almost jumped at the sound of Voleclaw's voice. He hadn't even noticed the tom creep up on them. "Silverstream, are they bothering you?"

"Only Vixentail and Blackclaw."

"We need to take your kits," Blackclaw said. "Featherkit in fact"

Vixentail made a shocked sound but Silverstream couldn't tell if that was genuine or not.

Silverstream could recognize irritation in Voleclaw's voice now. "Why would you ever?"

"We need to make sure it healthy."

"That's Mudfur and Bluepaw's job, not yours, fish-face," Silverstream growled. "This is my kit, and you will not refer to her as it, you will refer to her as her name and that alone, Blackpaw."

Blackclaw hissed.

"Leave," Voleclaw snapped at the pair. "Don't you have patrols to do? I know Willowheart and I gave you somewhere more important to be, Blackclaw."

Blackclaw released another defiant hiss, but he was still obliged by Voleclaw's orders. Silverstream could hear him mutter angrily to himself as he stalked away with Vixentail following after him. Before the two disappeared, Vixentail called, "Come on, Dogpaw!"

"Dogpaw can stay. You two can swim away," Silverstream replied, curling his tail around Featherkit, Gillkit, Dogpaw, and Bluepaw.

/

Silverstream growled in frustration, water splashing everywhere. He missed another fish.

"Silver, I know you love fishing, but maybe-"

"Don't, Minnow. Just don't," he replied shortly. He knew what his sister would say, and that was sending him back to camp. But Silverstream didn't want to go back there again, not after what had happened with Blackclaw and Vixentail. He thought that by coming out here, he could prove herself to them again by relearning how to fish as a blind warrior, but it seemed impossible.

They felt like a dead weight in the clan, but he didn't want to feel this way anymore. Bluepaw encouraged him to help Mudfur gather herbs, but Silverstream wasn't sure if he should offer to be the old medicine cat's apprentice when his heart still yearned to be a warrior.

"You know that I'm not trying to be rude, but…" she trailed off.

Silverstream sighed. "You know I'm not really useful being blind now."

"I love you, Silver. You're my littermate."

"I know, and I love you too, Minnowpool. That's why I know you wouldn't say what you know is the truth."

Minnowpool's pelt brushed comfortingly against Silverstream's side, and he sighed. Would he ever get to be a warrior again, or was he doomed to be useless to the clan from now on?

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Icefire flicked his tail back and forth, watching the clan as they moved around the camp. He had Mistlekit nuzzled in his tail while Snowkit was playing with Waspkit and Hornetkit. He had managed to assign patrols, with some of Leopardstorm's help. The pointed white tom had been helping him adjust and even helped watch the kits with him before he led a patrol to Sunningrocks.

Taking care of kits was still something he enjoyed doing, even with his deputy duties keeping him on his toes. He'd been taking a lot of care for Milk-kit, Snowkit, and Mistlekit. Mostly to give Nettlemist a break and honestly he didn't mind bonding with the kits and wanted to look out for Milk-kit and Snowkit because they don't exactly fit clan norms.

He saw Shrikepaw bring over a sparrow, her fur just as frazzled and spiky as his Fuzzypelt's had been. "Been hunting?"

"Yep, caught this one easily," Shrikepaw purred. "I caught two squirrels, too."

"Can you take it to the elders?"

"Yep," Shrikepaw mewed. "That was okay, right?"

"Of course, sweetie," Icefire replied, licking his kit's forehead. He chuckled when he felt Milk-kit try to latch, he was so telling her this when she was older. He felt Goldenflower lay beside him. "I'll watch them, go stretch your legs," she mewed. "Shrikepaw, you can help, if you want."

"Cool."

Icefire slowly got up and made his way around camp, deciding to pay a visit to the elders. As he approached the fallen oak where the elders made their den, voices drifted up from behind its bare branches.

"Darkstripe's kits will be born soon, and Cherrycloud and Thymeroot have finally named their kits," Speckletail mewed.

"New kits are always a good omen, sister," White-eye purred. "What are they called?"

"Badgerkit and Stork-kit"

"Starclan knows we could do with a good omen," Smallear muttered darkly.

"You're not still fretting about the ritual, are you?" Patchpelt croaked. Icefure could imagine the old black-and-white tom flicking his ears impatiently at Smallear.

"The what?" White-eye mewed loudly.

"The naming ceremony for the new clan deputy," Patchpelt exclaimed loudly. "You know, when Tiger-roar and Nightshade left a quarter moon ago."

Smallear snorted, and Icefire imagined him nodding at Patchpelt. "A young cat can't be trusted to make wise decisions on the clan's behalf."

Icefure could hear Speckletail tear at her moss bedding with her claws, trying to fluff it to her liking. "A young cat with kittypet heritage, at that," she pointed out hoarsely. Icefire's heart stung at her comment, but it hurt even more when he heard Smallear's next comment.

"I'd trust an experienced traitor over Icefire, especially when his ceremony didn't follow the proper ritual. ThunderClan is as good as dead, with Icefire as our deputy."

His tail drooped as he heard the elders murmur their mutual agreement. His spirit feeling hurt beyond repair, Icefire took a few paces backwards and headed for the fresh-kill pile, wanting nothing more than to sulk and release his hurt on a mouse or two.

Maybe the elders are right, Icefire thought sadly. What if I really am a bad deputy?

/

"We should attack Shadowclan," Seedspots growled. "They're getting too pushy lately."

Icefire struggled to contain his frustration as the meeting progressed. He had been in charge for the meeting of the elite warriors as Bluestar was still sulking in her den, but it was difficult to assert his authority as a leader without his leader here. Once again, he reminded himself of the elders' conversation a night before, and he couldn't help but feel a stab of despair yet again. He wished Bluestar was here.

"They haven't done anything to warrant an attack," Raveneye mewed, the strong wafts of lavender and marigold spreading throughout the room as they spoke.

"So? They are just biding their time and getting ready to strike in the night," the tortie replied. She pointed to the map of attack that she had drawn in the dirt a while ago. "We could attack here."

"We will not attack if they haven't done anything," Icefire mewed before releasing a sigh. "Why start a fight for no reason?" There was already a border scuffle this past moon, and it had been during the last patrol that Darkstripe was allowed to lead before Icefire had the nursery cats confine him to camp. He had been a little relieved at Darkstripe's confinement, because it meant less worrying about whether Darkstripe would slip out of camp and betray ThunderClan's secrets to Tiger-roar and Nightshade somehow. He still didn't know where they were and he knows they would try to kill him, mostly Nightshade. Didn't help that he remembered that they had Brokentail and Dewflare with them.

Icefire had been part of the reinforcements to the scuffle, and he ended up ripping into Whitethroat as the black tom nearly killed Cinderfreeze. Icefire felt enraged during that fight. Whitethroat wouldn't meet with him anymore like he used to, and it was making Icefire constantly worry, and it was getting in the way of his duties. With the new pressure of being the clan's deputy, and admittedly his own insecurities, he realized that he didn't need the added stress of Whitethroat on his mind. Whitethroat would keep shutting him out no matter what he tried, so he decided it was time to be rid of Whitethroat for good.

He was snapped out of his thoughts as Seedspots countered, "You don't want to show ThunderClan's strength? I know plenty of cats who want to slash some ShadowClan hide."

"What's wrong with peace?" Embereyes asked. "At least for the moment."

"If we don't show strength then the other clans will think-"

"Who cares what the other clans think?" Icefire scoffed. "I don't. They can mind their own business." Rising to his paws, he fanned the map away with a quick flick of his tail. "This meeting is over."

"Seriously?" Seedspots snapped. "Don't you have an ounce of bravery in you?"

Icefire ignored her, and decided that was the end of it.

If only it had been that simple, but then, nothing was simple anymore.

He was on a solo hunt at the Owl Tree when he heard the awful news. He was stalking a dove that was pecking at some seeds that Icefire left for it as bait to lure it from the tree. The bird was fat, looking very well-fed this season. It'd be enough to fill two warriors' bellies.

Licking his lips, he began to creep up on his prey, careful not to disturb the leaves with his tail. As he closed in on his kill, he bunched his muscles, preparing to leap and deal the final blow. However, the bird quickly took to the skies when it was startled by a rustle in the bushes not far from his hunting place. Hissing with frustration, Icebelly turned to curse whatever had scared away his catch, only to be cut off short when Brightpaw shot into the clearing, barreling into Icefire.

He wanted to snap at the apprentice for making him miss his catch, but there was a sense of urgency around the younger cat that kept Icefire silent. Brightpaw, out of breath, took a few moments to gain their breath back before quickly mewing, "Icefire, you have to come quick. Seedspots is taking a patrol to the ShadowClan border to fight!"

Icefire felt like he should feel a ripple of shock course through him, but there was nothing. It was just like Seedspots to do something so arrogant, even against his own deputy's orders. Anger engulfed Icefire, but it was mostly directed at himself. If he had been a better deputy he would have done more to prevent Seedspots from leading such a rash attack. "Show me the way, Brightpaw. We have to stop this!"

Brightpaw, though still out of breath, managed to find enough energy to quickly lead him towards the border where Seedspots' patrol had gone. He knew it had been too late when he heard the hissing and screeching of wrestling cats at the Thunderpath. He watched the chaos unfold around him, while Brightpaw stood rigid with fear beside him.

Seedspots' patrol was even bigger than he had imagined. It seemed like half of the clan was present at the fight. He could make out Dustpelt's brown and ginger tabby fur in the cluster, the tom delivering a deep bite wound on Wetfoot's shoulder. Only a mere fox-length away from him, Robinwing and Thornpaw were both tag-teaming on Hollyflower, who looked absolutely terrified by how outnumbered the ShadowClan patrol was.

Icefire charged into the clearing, trying to find Seedspots in the fray. He noticed that Sandstorm had been a part of the fight too, and she was struggling beneath Sharpfang, who had pinned her roughly into the dirt. Icefire launched himself at Sharpfang, throwing her away from his clanmate with sheathed claws.

Sandstorm sat up quickly, her sandy fur now dotted with brown specks of dirt, and her pelt was riddled with fresh wounds. "I could have handled myself, Icefire!" she snapped.

"That doesn't matter. You shouldn't be here!" Icefire snarled at her. "Nobody from ThunderClan should. Where is Seedspots?"

Sandstorm flicked her tail vaguely towards the direction of the Burnt Sycamore. Icefire's gaze turned towards it, spotting the cat in question. Seedspots seemed to be fighting with the leader of the ShadowClan patrol, Russetfur. The she-cat's russet-coloured fur was stained scarlet as Seedspots tore her apart.

"Seedspots! Stop this at once!" Icefire yowled with fury.

If Seedspots heard him, she didn't listen. She dug her teeth deep into Russetfur's fore-leg, bowling them over and exposing her belly. Too wounded from the battle, Russetfur seemed to be hunching over in submission. She looked more vulnerable and weak than a piece of fresh-kill; an easy kill.

Seedspots must've noticed it too, because her muscles bunched beneath her fur, and she pounced at Russetfur again with her claws extended. Seeing an opportunity to end this, Icefire dove into the quarrel on winged paws, nearly dodging Oakfur as Fogtail tripped him over with his long tail. Leaping into the air, Icefire's claws met Seedspots mid-leap, and he slammed his clanmate hard on the ground.

"What the fuck?" he snarled.

"What?" Seedspots said, her fury stopping in confusion at the word 'fuck'.

"What in the name of Starclan is wrong with you?" he snapped.

"What's wrong with you, kittypet?" Seedspots sneered.

"You piece of-" he began, but he cut off as he was shoved away from Seedspots by a blur of black fur. He was too pissed when he saw Seedspots avoid his orders yet again by rolling onto his paws and pouncing on Blazefang now, who was trying to help the injured Russetfur away from the battlefield.

Not giving a damn anymore about stopping the fight, Icefire wrestled his opponent. He had his attacker locked in his claws, and the both of them were standing on their hind-legs, throwing punches and raking each other's faces with unsheathed claws. He realized it was Whitethroat that he was fighting with, but he didn't care. He shoved forward, hissing, trying to go for Whitethroat's neck.

He recognized that it was Whitethroat that he was fighting with, but blinded by fury, he didn't care. He shoved forward, hissing, aiming for Whitethroat's neck. The black tom tried to trip him up with his tail, but Icefire had been trained by the best warriors in ThunderClan. He wasn't falling for that old trick.

Icefire latched onto Whitethroat's tail with his teeth, biting down hard. Whitethroat hissed with pain, and Icefire expected him to retreat back into his territory, but Whitethroat was stronger than he thought. His strength overpowered Icefire's own, and he quickly threw Icefire on his back, forcing him into a pin. The black tom bared his teeth in a snarl.

"Do it," Icefire growled. "Finish me already or get off and run."

"I could never kill you."

"You can't fool me," Icefire retorted, recalling how Whitethroat told him about the times he shredded fought with Badgerfang, his clanmates, and even his own kits. "I know for a fact that you have no problem spilling blood."

Hurt flashed in his eyes at Icefire's jibe, but it quickly turned to anger again. "You don't know anything about me," Whitethroat snapped.

"You didn't let me!" Icefire retorted. "You never let me in. You always shut me out, just like you do with everyone else. I don't know how your clan or your kin can tolerate you."

Whitethroat slammed a paw on Icefire's lower stomach, and in response, Icefire slashed the black tom's belly with his hind-paws. Icefire was about to kick Whitethroat away from him, but he felt the ground shake beneath him, and dread crept up on him.

"Monster!" Icefire yowled.

Every cat began diving for cover, all except Icefire. He scanned the clearing to make sure that every ThunderClan warrior had made it to cover before him, and he felt frozen with fear as he spotted Swiftpaw lying on the Thunderpath, not moving. The monster was barrelling towards him at a rapid speed.

Icefire wouldn't let the apprentice become roadkill. Thinking quickly, he leaped forwards as Fogtail tried to rush to Swiftpaw's aid at the same time, the car nearing closer with every second. Seeing the monster encroach on the apprentice made Icefire panic, and he made a regretful decision.

He kicked Fogtail away as they, too, rushed to Swiftpaw's aid. He launched himself onto the smelly path and grabbed Swiftpaw by the scruff, tossing him towards his mentor on ThunderClan's side of the path before Icefire quickly dove for cover along with him, but he had leaped for safety too late. The car had hit him, and everything went black.

/

Starclan, why!

Thymeroot was frustrated and worried beyond belief. She didn't think things could get more hectic, but of course she had to be wrong. She admired her work on the unconscious Icefire's leg and tail. It hadn't been in the way too much, she managed to pop in back in and stop the bleeding. He'd keep his tail, the fur just needed to grow back and he'd need help lifting it and walking. He already had a limp, it would be worse now.

"Good job, kid," Yellowfang rasped. "The foolish cat will need it."

"He did save Swiftpaw from being killed," Thymeroot pointed out.

"That he did," Yellowfang replied. She gazed at Icefire like a queen gazes at their own kit. "Trying to be a hero."

"Better than being the villain like Seedspots," Thymeroot growled.

"She's already having the tongue lashing she deserves."

"Was it you, Goldenflower, Raveneye, Frostbite or Bluestar?"

Yellowfang chuckled. "All of the above. Raveneye and Frostbite especially tore her down."

Thymeroot couldn't share her mentor's good-nature at the moment. "What's her punishment?"

"Two day exile, and when she returns, apprentice duties until further notice."

Thymeroot sighed. Seedspots definitely deserved more than what she received. This was no time for the clan to be starting petty battles with other clans. Thanks to her, they would not only have to worry about the cryptic imprint that Tiger-roar and Nightshade's exile left on the clan, and now had to watch out for ShadowClan's retaliation.

Worry wormed within her as she cast a side-long look towards Icefire's unconscious form. The clan seemed more vulnerable than ever before. With Bluestar still sulking in her den, Icefire had been the only leader that most of the clan would obey. This attack would leave him out of commission for a long while, far longer than Seedspots' exile would last, and who knew what she'd try to encourage the clan to do next when she returned?

If they return, Thymeroot thought grimly. Seedspots obviously did not respect Icefire's authority, just like Tiger-roar and Nightshade had. Could Seedspots be another traitor in their midst and inform Tiger-roar and Nightshade of ThunderClan's weaknesses? And who would be the first to retaliate on their clan; the newly-aggravated ShadowClan, their traitorous ex-clanmates, or both of them teamed up together?

[warriors-swappedfates-au]

The Hawk

It was a sunny day despite leaf-fall’s usually cloudy skies. Mistlekit was playing with her brother, Snowkit. Bramblekit and Tawnykit, who were the two’s denmates, had stated that Snowkit was hard to play with due to his deafness, and ended up gravitating towards their older half-siblings, Lynxpaw and Swiftpaw, instead. 

While she wouldn’t admit it, it annoyed her to no end; it wasn’t Snowkit’s fault he was deaf! Plus, Speckletail, Fireheart and Cinderpelt were all three working on making sign-speak and making it mandatory to learn, which made the she-kit excited.

The two’s mother exited the nursery, Fireheart and Cinderpelt not far behind. Tawnykit and Bramblekit were busy talking to Dappletail, their grandmother, in the elders’ den, who was likely telling them a story of some sort, meaning that she and Snowkit currently had the nursery to themselves; they much preferred playing outside, though.

Just then, an ear-splitting caw came from the skies. Mistlekit’s whiskers turned back and her ears were far to the side, the pupils in her hazel eyes dilating. She turned to the nursery, where Speckletail and the others clearly heard the cry.

“Bramblekit, Tawnykit!” Goldenflower yowled from across the camp. The kits peeked out of the elders’ den just before the caw came again; Mistlekit overcame her fear just enough to look up and see the hawk flying through the skies above, closer and closer to the camp.

“Mistlekit, Snowkit, get inside!” Speckletail exclaimed. The she-kit obeyed her mother’s command, but Snowkit was playing naively, looking confused as to why his sister had left.

Everything seemed to slow down as Bramblekit and Tanwykit entered the nursery. The hawk swooped down…

And grabbed Snowkit with its talons.

The tom looked shocked into silence, otherwise Mistlekit knew he’d have striked or something of the sort. Some warriors had peeked out of their den moments prior, and while the hawk was still close to the ground, Brackenfur raced out of the den and attempted to attack the large bird before being shook off onto the ground.

“Snowkit!” their mother cried, tears in her eyes as the hawk flew away, Snowkit in its grasp.

“I’m going after it,” Brackenfur’s mew was angry, though the she-kit knew it wasn’t directed towards anyone in particular.

“Me and Lynxie are going too,” Swiftpaw’s voice came, as he and his sister approached.

“Me too!” Brightpaw exclaimed, bounding toward her brother. “I know how much he means to you and Cinderpelt, and I want to make sure he’s safe as much as anyone else in the Clan!”

The tom gave a nod, kinking his tail over back in a motion Mistlekit - and Snowkit too, she hoped - knew meant follow me.

The commotion in the Clan was great, and despite her immense worry, Speckletail was distracted by making sure everyone was alright as much as Cinderpelt and everyone else. The hawk hadn’t harmed anyone, it seemed, but it still caused a shock, and Mistlekit assumed the medicine cat was just giving poppy seeds or whatever other herbs were needed to calm shock were given.

In the chaos, Mistlekit knew that she had to find her brother, alongside the small patrol; yes, Speckletail would be mad at her, but Lynxpaw and Swiftpaw would surely honor her bravery.

Opening her jaws to get a whiff of the territory, she smelled Brackenfur’s familiar, bland scent and Brightpaw’s sweet honey scent. Giving a look back at the camp to make sure no one would notice her disappearance, she slipped away, following the patrol’s path intently.

                                                        *     *     *

Mistlekit came to a stop when she heard Brackenfur and the others discussing amongst themselves.

“What do hawks smell like?” Swiftpaw, I think…

“Well normally they eat mice, voles, squirrels, that sort of stuff, and their pelts end up smelling like a mesh of the blood and their fresh-kill,” Brackenfur’s voice was clear to her as he added, “one of the few things Graystripe taught me, he said he learned it from Lionheart.”

“Well I don’t smell hawk, but I think I smell a ThunderClan cat,” Lynxpaw’s mew was clear as well, “I can’t tell who…”

“Where’s it coming from?” came Brightpaw’s voice in a question. Mistlekit couldn’t see out of the bushes, but she guessed that the tortoiseshell pointed in her direction, because the group’s pawsteps approached her hiding spot.

“Mistlekit?” Brackenfur asked, pushing the bushes to the side. “What are you doing out of camp?”

“Snowkit is my brother,” she growled, sounding more hostile than intended, “even if I’m not an apprentice, I’m helping to find him if it's the last thing I do!”

The warrior gave her a look that was stern, amused and prideful all at the same time before Lynxpaw walked over to their friend.

“You okay Mistle?” he asked, worry in her amber eyes, which made Mistlekit feel odd, in a way.

“Yeah!” she squeaked. “Have you found Snowkit’s trail yet?”

“No,” Brightpaw said with a sigh, before gasping and whirling around to face Mistlekit, “Mistlekit, if you found us, surely you’re a good tracker, right?”

“Cloudpaw’s probably still better,” the gray tabby muttered. In all honesty, it was true. Cloudpaw was the best tracker in the Clan, perhaps due to his time spent in Twolegplace or something of the sort making him used to the abundance of scents and picking them out. To Mistlekit, it all came to her at once, though she was still able to pick them out… sometimes, at least.

“Cloudpaw is a good tracker, but he’s gotten training and you, well, haven’t,” Swiftpaw pointed out, flicking his tail a bit, “plus you know Snowkit’s scent better than any of us.”

“I guess you are right,” Mistlekit mewed, thinking. I do know Snowy’s scent well, but we’re cats, for StarClan’s sake! Our whiskers mean we have more enhanced senses or something along those lines. We’re good at identifying scents! But now I wonder why Twolegs and birds don’t have whiskers… she shook herself out of her distracted thoughts, looking up at Swiftpaw, “yeah, you’re right!”

She took a sniff and opened her jaws in order to internalize it, before kinking her tail over back and hopping along, following her brother’s scent, which was, in this case, meshed with that of the prey on the fresh-kill pile.

The trail began to smell less and less like fresh-kill as they continued, and Mistlekit felt her tail prick up and bend at the end in excitement as she quietly chirruped to herself. Snowkit was close, she was sure!

The scent got more and more clear until it was as close as the patrol following her.

“Snowkit?” she called before mentally berating herself. Dummy, he’s deaf! … well surely that just means his sense of smell and eyesight are better, right-

“Mistlekit?”

The way it sounded stranger then how a normal cat spoke made it clear to Mistlekit that it was her brother as the white tom in question peeked around the corner, blue eyes shining as he saw his sister.

“Snowy!” she exclaimed, bounding over and tackling him, tail up in excitement. Knowing that Snowkit could at least somewhat tell what cats were saying, she added, speaking slowly, “How did you get away?”

Snowkit paused a second before beginning to speak, Mistlekit having to assist a bit. “When I was grabbed by the big bird I was shocked for a bit-”

“A heartbeat?” Mistlekit asked. Snowkit nodded before he continued.

“But then I bit him and he flew away. I managed to land on my paws and was just wandering, trying to find ThunderClan,” he finished.

“You’re better at talking then I thought,” Swiftpaw mewed, getting headbutted by his sibling, “hey!”

“He’s improved,” Mistlekit smiled, “plus Mommy, Fireheart and Cinderpelt are all three working on making a sign-speak!”

“Sign-speak?” Brightpaw asked, curious.

“It uses tail signals and that sorta stuff so cats can communicate with deaf cats and so mute cats can communicate with others,” she explained, “that’s what Mommy told me at least. She also said that StarClan tries to keep cats from being mute and deaf and blind and that kinda stuff but isn’t that successful all the time.”

“Can we get back to camp now?” Snowkit asked. “I’m tired and wanna sleep.”

“We’re becoming apprentices soon, remember?” his sister asked, to which he nodded, smiling.

“I hope you’ll be my mentor!” he exclaimed, flicking his tail at Brackenfur, who chuckled.

“Come on, you two,” he smiled, “let’s get back to camp. Your mom’s probably worried sick.”

With that, the two made their way back to camp with the patrol. Mistlekit felt a strange feeling, ominous in a way…

As if it wasn’t intended to be like this.

But she paid it no mind.

[leafpool-loves-ashfur]

Snowkit > Snowpaw > Snowshard

Kit > Apprentice > Warrior <> Queen

She-cat - ThunderClan

Mother: Smokeface

Sister: Spotstorm

Mate: Boulderstar

Children: Rockblaze, Frostflake

Mentor: Sweetcloud

Apprentice: Sheeptail

Dark Forest Apprentice: Snowmoon

Snowkit was born to Smokeface alongside her sister, Spotkit. The two sisters were very close, even if Snowkit liked to play very rough, not afraid or guilty to draw blood. Snowkit and her sister, the eldest in the nursery, quickly became apprentices, Snowpaw’s mentor being Sweetcloud, a kind she-cat who wouldn’t harm a fly but was a bit of a pushover. Snowpaw often got away with much more than she should, like eating prey while on patrol, harming others- however lightly- during battle training, stealing others’ catches, and many, many other minor but repeated offenses. She was very much a ‘rebel teen’ type, a stark contrast to her lawful, rule-following sister.

Needless to say, this ‘rebel girl’ found her ‘bad boy’ in the form of Boulderpaw, orphaned tom who wasn’t afraid to push around those he needed to get to the top. The two were a mischievous duo, often in trouble, yet never strictly punished. As childhood sweethearts, the clan often swooned over their ‘cute’ relationship. The relationship was more than cute, it was toxic, the two desperate just to show how ‘rebellious’ and ‘bad’ they were to impress the other. Boulderpaw showed Snowpaw his mother and let her in on all their schemes for him to become leader of ThunderClan while his brothers became leaders of WindClan and ShadowClan. Snowpaw, not one to back down, eagerly supported him in this goal.

When Thistlesong, Boulderpaw’s- now Boulderclaw- mother, died, Boulderclaw and Snowshard were quick to train in the Dark Forest to stay in touch with her. To their surprise, the moment Snowshard entered the Dark Forest, it appeared every night after that she awoke in the Place of No Stars. This baffled her and other comrades, as it wasn’t like a Dark Forest cat was bringing her their every night. Then, Boulderclaw revealed to Snowshard a secret he had learned about her mother, Smokeface. She had nine lives, and the ability to walk in StarClan and the Dark Forest when she wanted. He believed Snowshard had inherited a version of her ability. Snowshard felt proud to be so special, and eagerly suggested she and Boulderclaw have kits so they could have that ability too. They had already planned on having kits anyway. So while Boulderclaw killed Furzestep, deputy, and then Poppystar, leader, and became Boulderstar, she gave birth to his kits, Rockkit and Frostkit. Even though they were kits, she brought them to the Dark Forest. To her disappointment, it seemed neither had her ability in any form. Still, she trained them in the Dark Forest relentlessly.

While all seemed to be going well, their plans started to unravel, and Boulderstar was murdered by ShadowClan while ThunderClan stood compliantly by. Snowshard’s life seem to shatter before her as her beloved mate was killed and her clanmated and kits did nothing. As all their evil plans came to an abrupt halt. Still, she persisted, despite her rapidly decreasing mental state. She was going to get away with more before her clan turned on her too. 

When Cloudyhawk and Snowshard are on patrol and BoneClan rogues attack Cloudyhawk, Snowshard stands by and watches as he’s murdered. Her clanmates yell at her for this, but she defends herself by saying they stood by and let her wonderful mate get killed. While she tries to stir up conflict between clans, she can’t do anything, as the clans regard her as that ‘crazy she-cat who’s lost her mind’.

Angry and hopeless, one night while dreaming in the Dark Forest, she asks Boulderstar to murder her so she can be with him. She will be more useful, hidden in the shadows of the Dark Forest and haunting the dreams of cats she wants to manipulate. And anyway, she was already in the Dark Forest most of the time, since every time she slept, she dreamed of the Dark Forest. And so she was murdered by her mate, her body left in scratches for her clanmates to discover in the morning.

In the Dark Forest, she quickly got to work. Her son, Rockblaze, named a kit after her, and she visited young Snowkit in her dreams, feeding her lies and teaching her how to fight at such a young age. She also visited the apprentice she had when she was alive, Sheeptail, training and manipulating her as well.

The chaos that erupted from those two was great, from Snowmoon and Tuftfrost’s tactfully planned blackmailing and murders, to Sheeptail and Volefang’s brutal and cold-blooded revenge on Sheeptail’s ex-mate’s family. Snowshard became a prominent and well-known Dark Forest terror by the time of her fading.

“Curly-furred, sleek white she-cat with pinkish red eyes.”

Wiki Page.

[talonkit]

I decided to do my part on the @10leftau!

So!

ThunderClan Survivors:

Cloudtail, Spiderleg, Mousewhisker, Brightheart, Lilykit(heart)

ShadowClan Survivors:

Rowanclaw, Pinenose, Spikekit

WindClan Survivors:

Tornear, Leaftail

RiverClan Survivors:

Grasspelt, Havenkit, Dapplenose

The 10% form a new Clan, CloudClan.

Cloudtail and Brightheart, having being the only mates that survived, are heartbroken by the death of Snowkit, Amberkit, and Dewkit. Having there being no surviving medicine cats, Brightheart becomes the new medicine cat, while Cloudtail becomes CloudClan's founder, Cloudstar.

Brightheart, being unable to care for Lilykit, lends her to Pinenose.

Spiderleg and Mousewhisker end up getting along, being stepson and stepfather. Spiderleg admires Mousewhisker's love for squirrels and becomes brave enough to speak his own opinion about his family.

Rowanclaw, knowing he isn't fit to be a deputy, decides to help care for the kits, although still remains a warrior. He makes sure Pinenose is alright taking care of Lilykit and Spikekit and acts as a father towards them, but knows deep inside that Pinenose will never forget Weaselkit.

Because of Pinenose taking care of Spikefur, they never become mates, but instead think of each other as family. Spikekit, highly conscious of his true parent's origins, still grieves for quite some time, but ends of growing a small kit-crush on his adopted littermate, Lilykit.

Tornear and Leaftail are the only surviving WindClan members. Leaftail has to deal with grouchy old Tornear for some time before his wounds heal and complains about it a lot, but they secretly form a little friendship.

Grasspelt, Dapplenose, and Havenkit are the only RiverClan survivors. Grasspelt also gives Pinenose Havenkit, while Grasspelt becomes in charge of deputy duties. He gets along with Leaftail really well, to the point where they feel like brothers. Dapplenose gets along with Tornear quite well, and manages to get to his soft spot a lot.

Allegiances FOLLOWING the Great Battle:

CloudClan

Leader, Cloudstar, long-haired white tom with blue eyes

Deputy, Grasspelt, light brown tom

Medicine Cat, Brightheart, white she-cat with ginger patches

Warriors

Spiderleg, long-limbed black tom with brown underbelly and amber eyes

Mousewhisker, gray-and-white tom

Rowanclaw, ginger tom

Leaftail, dark tabby tom, amber eyes

Queens

Pinenose, black she-cat (fostering Spikekit, dark brown tom with tufty fur on his head, Lilykit, small, dark tabby she-cat with white patches, and blue eyes, and Havenkit, black-and-white she-cat)

Elders

Tornear, tabby tom

Dapplenose, mottled gray she-cat