AN: This is a FrostClan writing challenge. The theme was 'Love triangle disaster', so with my terrible skill with romance, I'm gonna give it a go!
Mistflower padded through the camp entrance, a squirrel in her mouth. She had hunted all morning, but Leafbare was being even harder on the Clans than usual. She dropped her fresh-kill on the small pile and turned to the Warrior's Den.
"Mistflower!" Came a cat's voice and she turned to see her mate run through the camp toward her.
"Oh, hi, Brackentail." Mistflower meowed, trying to make her voice sound as excited as possible. Although Brackentail was her mate, she loved another tom called Nightstorm. He was sitting at the other end of the camp, staring at Mistflower expectantly.
"Are you on your way to the Warrior's Den?" Asked Brackentail, "It's a bit cold in there you know." He winked at her, "Do you want a certain tom to keep you warm?"
Mistflower tore her eyes away from Nightstorm, "Um, I was actually going to go out hunting." She meowed. Brackentail glanced at the fresh-kill pile and Mistflower took the opportunity to mouth Meet me outside! To Nightstorm.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Asked Brackentail.
"Oh no, I'll be fine."
Well, alright." Brackentail meowed, licking Mistflower on the cheek, "Don't do anything stupid like fall into a rabbit hole."
Mistflower rolled her eyes, "Of curse I won't!" She meowed. She turned and hurried out of the camp without looking behind her. She was burning with guilt, but today, she planned to put everything right again.
Nightstorm was waiting for her at the camp's entrance, "Hello, Mistflower." He meowed, licking her face. He was a quiet black tom with blue eyes. Mistflower had been attracted to him since they were apprentices, the only reason they weren't already mates was because Brackentail had confessed his love for Mistflower before Nightstorm did. Not wanting to stomp on his heart, Mistflower became Brackentail's mate, but she still had a deep affection to Nightstorm and Nightstorm still had a deep affection for her.
Mistflower drew away, "Nightstorm, I need to tell you something." She meowed, "And not in front of the camp's entrance, we might be seen together."
Nightstorm shrugged, "Alright." He meowed, flicking his tail, "Follow me." He led her a few tree-lengths away from camp, into a hollow tree that's bark was stiff with frost. The tree was cramped, but Mistflower was sure that no cat would be able to hear them. Nightstorm shifted slightly to give her some more room, "What is it you wanted to tell me?" He asked.
Mistflower took a deep breath, it was going to hurt her to say this, but then, it hurt her every day when she pretended to love Brackentail. "We can't be together." She meowed.
Nightstorm looked astonished, "Why not?" He asked.
"Because I already have a mate! I mean, I love you more than him, but Brackentail and I are further into a relationship than we are, and I don't want to hurt him after all we've been through!" Mistflower meowed helplessly.
Nightstorm's gaze hardened, "If you love me more, why do you choose him?" He asked softly.
"Nights, please don't make this any harder than it already is." Mistflower pleaded, "It's taken me ages to make this decision."
Nightstorm was silent for a few heartbeats before meowing, "Alright, I understand."
Relief washed over Mistflower, "You do?"
Nightstorm shrugged as best he could in the small space, "Sure." He meowed, "One more time?"
Mistflower didn't respond. She buried her face in his thick black fur and breathed in his warm scent as her licked her ears. Suddenly, Nightstorm stopped and Mistflower drew away.
Brackentail was standing at the entrance, his golden fur bristling and his green eyes wide. His mouth was hanging open, he tried to speak, but no words came out.
"Brackentail!" Mistflower exclaimed, "It's not what it looks like!"
If he had heard her, Brackentail made no sign of it. Finally, he shook his head slowly, "I thought you loved me." He meowed quietly, "All those days together, promises we made, purrs we exchanged... Were they all just fake?" He turned and bounded through the snow.
"Brackentail!" Mistflower yowled, squeezing out of the hollow tree and chasing her mate, "Wait, let me explain!"
Brackentail stopped and glared at her, "What I saw seemed to explain everything." He growled, turning and stalking away, leaving Mistflower alone in the snow.
[Page Break]
Moons later, Mistflower still felt the guilt that had appeared when Brackentail had seen her and Nightstorm nuzzling in that hollow tree. She had tried everything to make up for it, but ever since that day, Brackentail hadn't looked at her once. He'd gotten cats to pass her messages when he really had to. He never brought up that snowy day. He didn't have to, it was imprinted in Mistflower's memory forever.
The first thing Brackentail did was tell the whole Clan everything. There was nothing in the warrior code against cheating on your mate, so Mistflower and Nightstorm went unpunished by their leader, but the coldness their Clanmates still gave to them was enough. Nightstorm didn't have much to lose, his parents were dead and his brother had left the Clan season's ago. He kept on doing what he always did, what the leader told him to do.
Mistflower was a different story. Her mother and father always glared at her whenever she was near and her sister, Amberheart became Brackentail's mate, having three kits named Clearkit, Sunnykit and Lightkit.
"Like their names?" Amberheart asked Mistflower when they were born, "We chose them because they have nothing to do with mist."
Mistflower hoped that Nightstorm and her would become mates, but even he didn't want anything to do with her, saying that she had ruined whatever reputation he had to begin with.
The seasons went by, but nothing changed much. According to her Clan, cheating on your mate was now the worst thing possible. Her Clanmates had taught their kits that Mistflower was an outcast, so every kit feared her and every apprentice hated her. Mistflower had no idea how much time had passed, but eventually, she had had enough.
She was out hunting alone when a group of five apprentices led by Mistflower's nephew, Lightpaw came crashing through the undergrowth.
"Look, there she is!" Lightpaw meowed, "That's the outcast no cat likes."
"I heard even the other Clans hate her." Mistflower's niece, Sunnypaw added.
"I can't believe we're related to her." Clearpaw snorted.
"I have ears, you know." Mistflower growled.
The two new apprentices, Barkpaw and Graypaw looked at the warrior warily, "Are you sure we should be doing this?" Barkpaw murmured, "Can we just go back to camp?"
Lightpaw snickered, "No way, it's not like she's going to do anything to us." He meowed, "Clearpaw, Sunnypaw and I are all nearly warriors, you're gonna be safe. We're outnumbering her and I don't think she'll fight back, anyway." His eyes narrowed, "She must have learned not to break the code after all these moons."
He didn't see Mistflower's claws slide out and he reacted way too slowly. His throat was ripped out the heartbeat his eyes widened with shock.
"That's it." Mistflower growled, her nephew's blood staining her white paws, "I'm tired of this." She leaped forward and bowled Sunnypaw over, tearing out her throat with her jaws.
"Run!" Clearpaw gasped, stumbling backwards, but the two young apprentices were too petrified to move. Mistflower grabbed Graypaw's neck in her mouth and snapped it, which seemed to jerk Barkpaw back into reality. The young apprentice began to run, but Mistflower reared up and slammed her paws down onto the brown apprentice, braking his neck like how she killed his brother.
Clearpaw turned and darted away, Mistflower hot on her heels, "You're... Not... Getting away!" Mistflower growled, pouncing on her niece and slashing her throat.
Mistflower gathered the five apprentice's bodies and threw them into the river. She washed her bloodstained paws and pelt and hunted for a while. Then she went back to camp and padded straight toward the nursery.
"Brackentail, Amberheart." She meowed calmly, "I would like to talk to you."
[Page Break]
When patrols found the five apprentices in the river and Amberheart and Brackentail's dead bodies in the forest, the murderer was obvious. The leader drove Mistflower out of the Clan at once, but before she left, the white she-cat swore she wasn't done yet.
No cat knew entirely what she meant until a few moons later, when the Clan leader's body was found by the border, Nightstorm dieing beside him. Nightstorm's last words were, "It's too late to stop her. She won't stop until every cat who treated her badly is dead."
Sure enough, Mistflower's parents were murdered a few sunrises later. The Clan feared that they would be wiped out until Mistflower was finally caught by a patrol. She was immediately killed and her body was taken out of the Clan's territory to lie there forever.
Everything went back to normal after that. Several generations passed and they were all perfect and successful.
Until cats started dieing in their sleep. The cause was unknown until a warrior woke up, badly scratched and heavily bleeding, but alive.
When asked what he saw, he told them, "A white she-cat in a dark forest."