Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors! I hope you enjoy this series of one-shots about alternate happenings in the Warriors series...

Sunstar stood, tall and proud, on the Highrock. His amber eyes gleamed in the sunlight that was tinged with the chilly breeze and icy frost. "I am deeply saddened to announce that Tawnyspots will no longer be able to serve as deputy," he announced solemnly, though Bluefur could sense that tears were lingering behind his guarded gaze. The ginger tom quickly puffed back up after one last mournful glance at the gray tom, who was struggling to breathe from his formal place below the large rock. "But now is the time for me to announce the new deputy of the Clan." He took a deep breath and fixed his eyes on Bluefur for a heartbeat.

She shuddered, and glanced down at her three kits, all of whom were playing happily at her paws, completely unaware of the life-changing decision Sunstar was clearly about to make. I'm sorry, Sunstar. But I cannot be deputy. I have kits to look after, and right now they mean more than anything else to me.

The leader ripped his faintly anxious look away from her and returned to raking it over the cats of ThunderClan, all gathered expectantly a few fox-lengths under his flexing claws. One clear choice for second-in-command, however, stood out profusely from the others. His pelt was thick, gray, and mottled, with fur that faded into a pale creamy white at the face. Amber eyes gleamed, sharp and ruthless with ambition. With a swift lash of the tail, the tom stood up with a short-lived snicker as he heard his name.

"Thistleclaw," Sunstar called with a half-gulp that Bluefur barely noticed herself. "Thistleclaw, you are the new deputy of ThunderClan."

Cheers arose from the crowd, some uncertain, some innocently happy, and others flat-out terrified of what was to come of their Clan.

"Thank you, thank you," Thistleclaw purred. He turned and smirked at Bluefur by the nursery before padding to the front, plopping down a bit too close to Tawnyspots for comfort. The sick tom wrinkled his nose and shuffled away.

Bluefur's breath caught in her throat as she waited for Thistleclaw's next action.

"May, uh, may Tawnyspots rest peacefully in the elders' den," Thistleclaw growled awkwardly. "And, trust me, your Clan is in good paws with me as your deputy!" He stood abruptly and shuffled over to his son, Whitestorm. After murmuring something in the white warrior's ear, he moved over by the exit to the camp and proudly yowled, "Who would like to be on the first patrol led by me, as deputy?"

After that, the meeting broke up, and Bluefur relaxed slightly. Now she wouldn't have to face Sunstar staring at her again like that, now that there was no turning back.

-o3o-

"Mother?" A small paw tugged on Bluefur's leg fur, and the queen glanced down.

It was Mosskit, her adorable daughter. Mistykit and Stonekit sat beside their sister, blue eyes wide and round.

"Mother, I'm hungry," Mosskit whined, already starting to crawl to Bluefur's belly in a search for milk.

Bluefur purred and guided her kits into the nursery where she then allowed them to nurse. It's better that I stay with my kits. Imagine if I had taken them to Oakheart in that massive blizzard last night! Surely one of them would have died. This way, in case things get gory with Thistleclaw as leader, I can take my kits and flee to RiverClan, for the better safety for them.

She then thought about her sister, Snowfur, who had died when she was hit by a monster on the Thunderpath when Whitestorm was just a small kit. Have I made the right decision, sister? Bluefur wondered as Mistykit pulled away from the warm heap of her plump siblings to gaze up at her mother. The queen purred, rubbing off the flecks of milk around her older daughter's muzzle. You will grow up to be a strong and brave cat, and I know it.

-o3o-

"I have some grave news, cats," Thistleclaw announced the next morning. Bluefur was sitting outside the den she shared with White-eye and her kits, head cocked as Stonekit, Mistykit, and Mosskit scuffled at her paws. "I'm afraid Sunstar died in the night." The deputy didn't sound so unhappy however, and Bluefur stiffened. Sunstar had at least four lives left, and he was perfectly healthy last night!

Gasps of shock rippled over the crowd. Bluefur realized with a jolt that this meant Thistleclaw was going to be leader of ThunderClan after just one day of being deputy. She shook her head, blue eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"I shall leave for the Moonstone today with Featherwhisker to earn my nine lives," Thistleclaw went on rather blandly as he gestured to the medicine cat.

"Shouldn't we mourn Sunstar first?" Rosetail called out. Bluefur glanced at her with gratitude.

Thistleclaw appeared to be taken by surprise, as though his littermate couldn't possibly think of something more reasonable than him. "Well, yes, I suppose," he mumbled. "All of you can. But Featherwhisker and I must go now if I, I mean we, are to return before dark."

He climbed down from the Highrock and trotted into the leader's den, quickly returning with a dull ginger body. Bluefur squinted at Sunstar as he was dragged across the way to rest in the center of the clearing. His fur was totally smooth, not patchy and thin like a sick cat's would be. He had no wounds, so he wasn't fought to death. She ushered her kits into the nursery with a stern order to remain there and then padded over to Sunstar just as Thistleclaw dropped him onto the ground. Cats pushed forward to get a good look at the deceased leader, noses wrinkling at the strong death smell wafting in the air.

Swiftbreeze reached forward to rasp her tongue over Sunstar's cheek but was swatted away by Thistleclaw. The tabby-and-white warrior glared at him, and he muttered, "Don't touch him. He must be fit for burial." His gaze flashed to the elders, who were walking tiredly over, talking quietly amongst themselves. "Right?"

"Um, right," Stonepelt replied with a shrug, clearly having missed what Thistleclaw had said before.

For a few heartbeats the deputy turned away as he confronted the clueless elders, and Bluefur used this time to examine the area around Sunstar's neck, which had been covered over with tuft of loose golden fur. Her eyes widened as she nosed the chunks of hair away. A few cats around her recognized what she was doing and leaned in closer to protect her from being seen in case Thistleclaw turned back around at that moment.

As she got closer to the loose skin at the leader's neck, specks of dried blood started appearing. She gulped and went deeper, picking out the blanket of fur until she came upon a deep wound encrusted with dark red.

Sunstar had been murdered.

Her gaze flashed to Thistleclaw, and she opened her mouth to speak as she backed away, kicking the fur back onto Sunstar's damaged neck in a hurry. But by the time the deputy had verified that he was leaving with Featherwhisker, no cat had the courage to speak up.

-o3o-

"What can we do?" Bluefur cried. She, Adderfang, Thrushpelt, and a few of the other warriors who had been around to see the fatal lacerations on Sunstar's neck were curled in a huddle later that afternoon during the warmest part of the day.

"There's no doubt Thistleclaw killed Sunstar so that he could be leader sooner," Adderfang meowed the obvious, voice lowered significantly.

"No cat has the guts to confront him, either," Thrushpelt pointed out. "Anybody who does would be risking their life." Bluefur glanced at him, deep into his handsome green eyes. If not for Oakheart, he would have been a perfect mate. Then again, every other cat besides him thinks he is my mate. She forced herself to inch a little closer to him, and a faint purr rumbled from his throat that didn't sound fake.

Leopardfoot's eyes were practically bulging out of her head. "We can't let this killer become leader of our Clan!"

Adderfang tilted his head, curiosity and wonder lighting his gaze. "Will StarClan give him his lives? They may not since he is evil."

"Oh, come on," Bluefur protested. "We kill animals on a daily basis- prey. We all have fur, eyes, and claws-"

"Killing Sunstar is a difference, though," Stormtail cut in mildly as though Bluefur weren't his daughter. "Sunstar is a cat. A cat is not a mouse, squirrel, or vole." He narrowed his river-blue eyes that perfectly matched Bluefur's. "How dare you accuse him of not being as important!"

Bluefur sighed and forced herself to not glare at her ignorant father. Why did he have to be the only cat she had left out of her, him, her sister, and her mother?

"We have no choice," Bluefur murmured. "We have to allow him to be our leader. Only StarClan knows who he'll choose as his deputy; it probably won't be a smart choice, I'll tell you that. Sunstar will be missed just as much as Pinestar, was even more." Leopardfoot flinched at hearing the name of her former mate. "We'll just have to live through it."

-o3o-

"My first duty as leader is to, of course, appoint my deputy," Thistleclaw, now Thistlestar, yowled from his place atop the Highrock. "And that cat will be none other than Tigerclaw, my talented former apprentice who has been through too much to name. Now I believe that he deserves a chance to prove his full potential as the second-in-command of ThunderClan."

Bluefur shuddered in disbelief. How was this possible? How could StarClan let this happen? She curled her tail tighter around her three kits and exchanged a worried gander with Thrushpelt. She then searched for Whitestorm in the crowd. Her nephew looked severely disappointed.

The handsome dark tabby tom stepped forward, murmuring thanks, and took his new place below the Highrock, Thistleclaw's place for just one day.

Thistlestar's sharp amber gaze flicked from cat to cat, until it landed on White-eye and her two little ones. The gray tom asked suddenly, "White-eye, how old are your kits?"

White-eye blinked, looking from Runningkit and Mousekit to the new leader. "What do you me-"

"White-eye," Thistlestar said again, more testily this time, "I said, how old are your kits?"

The half-blind queen lowered her head and meowed, "They'll be exactly four moons tomorrow."

"Perfect," Thistlestar muttered loud enough for the Clan to hear. He reapplied his attention to the ThunderClan cats below and declared, "Runningkit, please step forward."

Oh no. Please, StarClan, no. He can't be making White-eye's kits apprentices already! Bluefur shivered, watching as White-eye, too scared to object to Thistlestar's command, groomed her son and then released the small brown tom, allowing him to slowly walk forward until he was gazing up at Thistlestar from below the Highrock.

"Running, you have-"

"Wait! Stop!" Sparrowpelt, Runningkit and Mousekit's father, burst forward next to his son. "Thistlestar, you can't be serious. My kits are not old enough to be made apprentices yet!"

Thistlestar glared down at the dark tabby. "Nonsense, Sparrowpelt. I'm not making them apprentices. I'm making them trainees."

Sparrowpelt tilted his head, confused. "Isn't that the same thing?"

The huge gray tom shook his head. "Trainees are pre-apprentices. You become a trainee at four moons, and learn fighting skills a little early, to prepare you for apprenticeship."

Runningkit jumped up and down, clearly excited.

Without giving Sparrowpelt another chance to speak, Thistlestar went on, eventually naming Runningkit Runningclaw.

"But that's a warrior name!" some cat protested, and to that Thistlestar replied, "Not anymore, at least not in this Clan. From now on, kits go from -kit to -claw to -paw to whatever their warrior name is."

Bluefur couldn't believe it.

-o3o-

Many moons passed. No cat could go against Thistlestar's new trainee method or any of his new ways; and if you did go against it, you were slaughtered by either him, Tigerclaw, or another cat forced to do it for pure entertainment of the cruel leader and deputy.

Bluefur watched as Sparrowpelt, Stormtail, Thrushpelt, Rosetail, and countless other cats were killed for having their own opinion. And worst of all, some of the cats once against Thistlestar became his ally, and they guarded the camp day and night to prevent escape. Bluefur was locked in, and was made to watch as the newly-named Mossclaw, Mistyclaw, and Stoneclaw fought against Runningclaw and Mouseclaw, with claws out. Each day, Bluefur watched as her kits earned new scratches and bruises. One day, she couldn't find Mistyclaw. She found her oldest daughter bleeding to death in the sandy hollow. Heart broken and knowing there was no hope for Mistyclaw, Bluefur decided to fix this, even if it cost her her life.

She waited until the day after her remaining two kits were given their warrior names: Mossblood and Stonefang, when she knew cats would still be in a celebratory mood for the new warriors. She learned about the guards' schedules, and was able to dart out of camp between the guards' shifts. She sped all the way to ThunderClan's best ally at the time, WindClan, and told Tallstar about the mess they were in. It took some convincing, but eventually the black-and-white tom traveled back to ThunderClan with several of his warriors and Bluefur. WindClan tried to stop Thistlestar and his growing army, but all of Tallstar's cats that he brought were killed except for one or two. Tallstar lost two lives and Thistlestar lost one. Bluefur survived the battle, but was slaughtered the next day. Thistlestar forced Mossblood and Stonefang to kill their own mother, and she watched their emotionless eyes before the world turned black.

-o3o-

After Bluefur's death, things went from worse to more worse. Any good-hearted cat left in ThunderClan was killed, and all kits were taught bloodshed from birth. Eventually, all three of the other Clans teamed up and took down ThunderClan, eradicating it from the forest.

So basically, had Bluestar not become leader, ThunderClan would've been demolished and forgotten like SkyClan. Rusty the kittypet would have wandered to another Clan, or have stayed a kittypet.

Bluestar saved many lives, even though she sacrificed her kits to RiverClan, even losing Mosskit in the process.

Thanks to her, ThunderClan is still here today.

What did you think? Too upsetting? I can tone it down a bit for my next one-shot. Please review and tell me what you thought of it!