A/N: Every once in a while I get the urge to write Warriors fanfiction. At the moment that desire is pretty constant so I decided to make one giant fiction dump of drabbles. I'll add to it when the inspiration strikes. Also, heads up I'm really fucking gay lmao.

Chapter 1. Desire

Darkstripe marveled at the coiling snakes of mist wrapping themselves amongst the trees. Shadows flickered and flamed along the corners of his vision, just out of reach of his claws. If he tried to glance directly at them, they breathed into darkness and left an empty space. His face was twitching with unfamiliar scents and confusing sounds. Everything was so mingled and chaotic; he couldn't manage to wrap his senses around a single occurance from head to tail-tip. He glanced at the sky and felt fear raking at his haunches. The once gorgeous celestial bounty was a large blank strip of coal. No silverpelt, no moon, nothing to light the strange objects around him.

He wandered.

And wandered.

The particular problem that Darkstripe was facing, other than the fact he had no idea where he was, is that he was lost on how this all came to be. His memories were swiveling and swirling into a thick mixture of confusion. If what he recalled was correct, then perhaps he should be dead. But, if that were true, where were his starry ancestors to greet him and leap with him into green hills of neverending prey. Where were the scents of ice moons and beautiful silver pelts? Everything here was black. He could just make out a few trees in thick dark air. But besides that, this place was barren.

Darkstripe continued to walk until his paw pads ached. He had scented several cats, but once he turned to meet them, they vanished. He had not a taste of prey scent or water. Where in starclan's name could he be? What brought him here? He felt his legs beneath him begin to buckle as he pulled himself into the colorless grass. No perception of time told him how long he had walked. But it felt as if he had been traveling in this neverending nightmare for moons.

The dark tabby came to a dimly lit clearing where the trees thinned and opened hungrily. He sat, crouched into his frail body, and began licking his chest. His muscles, once large and proud, were scrawny and withered. His pelt had feeling ragged and torn under his tongue. He was terrified, shaking with fear from the forest around him.

At once he heard a rustling among the ferns and stopped to taste the air. A familiar scent warmed and he felt all his troubles ebbing into relief. He was dead, he knew that much. His friend whom he slaughtered for was here, and Darkstripe ran as fast as he could.

"Tigerstar!" Darkstripe felt his terror pouring out his gaze and his ears flattened. He gasped at the tom and fell cowering on the ground. "Where did you come from? I thought I was alone here."

"Get up, Darkstripe." Tigerstar's voice was cold like a hawk's talon. "Stop cringing like a terrified kit." When Darkstripe rose to meet Tigerstar's eyes, the great tabby's amber stare was the brightest thing he'd ever seen in the dark surrounding him. Tigerstar's scent fell into his taste and he felt his pelt prickle with the safety.

Yet, Tigerstar's gaze was icy and mean. A gaze Darkstripe felt helpless under, yet deliciously drawn to. He gave his fur a couple of quick, embarrassed, licks.

"I'm so glad you're here. I dont understand this place." He meowed. "Where are we? Where's Starclan?"

"Starclan does not walk here." Tigerstar retorted.

Darkstripe felt fear bite into his shoulder, and his eyes widened. "Why not? And why is it always dark here? Where is the moon." He felt the realization shiver through his pelt. "I thought we would be hunting across the sky with our warrior ancestors, and watching over our clanmates." He heard Tigerstar hiss. "That was is not for us. But I don't need starlight to follow my path. If Starclan thinks they can forget about us, they're wrong." Tigertsar turned around without checking to see if Darkstripe was following. Perhaps any cat would be offended by this passive rejection, but Darkstripe only felt the same wave of tantalizing desire to persue his leader. The skin under his fur would rush with admiration, and the urge for affection would tug at his core, for this same scene happened many times over.

"Wait," Darkstripe began panting as he chased after Tigerstar. "Tell me what you mean." His eyes pleaded. They begged, hungrily, for the great tabby to give him more. Tigerstar's gaze glanced back towards him, giving away nothing but frosty annoyance. Darkstripe felt his fur melt. "Firestar thought he won when Scourge took my nine lives. He is a fool. What lies between us is not over yet."

"But what can you do to Firestar now? You can't leave this forest. Believe me, I've tried. But no matter how far I walk there's only trees, and there's no light anywhere" And Darkstripe thought about how, together, they were alone. Free from any clan tradition, warrior code, or taboo. The idea daunted him with unbelievable amounts of unknown. What was life without the code? Without a clan? Without friends or battles or mates or kits-

Darkstripe looked at the looming tabby infront of him. The idea seemed to melt into the pleasant warm blood of fresh kill. Together, with Tigerstar, alone with no judging eyes to peep from dens or ferns.

Tigerstar did not reply to his contradiction. The two padded along the forest, Darkstripe stopping every few steps to flinch at a rustle. He opened his jaws to taste the air.

"I can scent Brokenstar! Is he here? Brokenstar, where are you?" Tigerstar lashed his tail for silence.

"Save your breath. Brokenstar won't answer you. You will scent traces of many cats here, but seldom will you meet one face-to-face. We may be trapped in the same place but we are trapped alone." Darkstripe felt the earth turn beneath his paws. Yet, he walked on beside his friend.

"Then how do you expect to deal with Firestar? He doesn't even walk this forest."

"I won't deal with him." He growled a quiet, menacing, rumble. "My sons will, Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost. Together, they will show Firestar that the battle is far from won."

"But how can you make them do what you want?"

"I have learned to walk in the path of their dreams. And I have time. All the time in the world. When they have destroyed that mangy kittypet I'll make them leaders of their clans, and show them what true power is."

Darkstripe flinched back into a pile of bracken. He felt the same tug of admiration and longing slither down his spine.

"They couldn't have a better teacher."

Tigerstar went on as if he had not heard him. He marveled in Hawkfrost's fearless nature and unstoppable ambition.

"Yes, he's truly your son." There was an edge in Darkstripe's voice. An edge that displayed his jealousy and indignation.

Tigerstar continued regardless. "As for Brambleclaw..." he complained of Brambleclaw's divided loyalties and hesitancy to power. Darkstripe had bowed his head in agreement to each snap of Tigerstar's growl. "His reputation alone should make it easy for him to take control." Tigerstar straightened up his glossy shoulders. "I will show him how."

Darkstripe's ears pricked. "I could help you." Tigerstar turned with cold contempt swirling through the amber.

"I need no help. Did you not hear me say that every cat walks this dark forest alone?" Darkstripe felt his world spinning around him. Alone in this dark hell to rot with only his urges. Without Tigerstar, what is there of him? He felt his body rack with shivers.

"But...its so empty and silent. I need you by my side...please, Tigerstar. Let me come with you."

"No." Darkstripe noticed the hint of regret in Tigerstar's voice and held very still. "Don't try to follow me. Cats have no friends or allies here. They must walk their path of shadows alone."

Darkstripe sat up and tried to hide the sadness in his mew. "Where are you going now?"

"To meet my sons."

And then he watched. He watched as Tigerstar slipped through the ferns. He watched as thd cat he deceived and killed, and clawed his way to hell for, walked away. He had left his clan. He had rejected his way of life, friends and mates, and watched the blood seep out his throat all for the cat walking away from him.

He'd be dammed if this was how it would end.

Darkstripe bounded towards where Tigerstar walked. He refused to let the tabby fade into mist, and stopped infront of his broad figure, panting.

"Wait,"

Tigerstar's eyes burned into his skull and there was anger smoldering under his calm mew. "I said no. Move."

Darkstripe wanted to crouch into the dirt below him. He wanted to move. But he didn't.

"Tigerstar...after all I've done for you? After everything we've done?"

Tigerstar's teeth clacked in a hiss and his eyes blazed.

"What lies in the waking world is no concern to us now! It is time for change."

"But the eyes of our peers are gone! Tigerstar, you know as well as I do your sons were only born from need, not love."

"How dare you speak so disrespectful! Sasha was an admirable cat no matter her kittypet stench!" Tigerstar's tail was lashing in fire and Darkstripe wanted nothing more than to give into its flames.

"But you did not love her. You did not love any she-cat." His voice trembled.

Tigerstar's fur lie flat and he blinked himself calm, though the anger kept itself present. "No."

"There is nothing now keeping us from our desires." Darkstripe muttered silently. He had never discussed these feelings, but he saw the way Tigerstar looked at him at night. He had remembered the time of experiment, or the edge of his flank too close for comfort. Darkstripe touched his tail to Tigerstar's shoulder. Tigerstar's eyes softened some, but his words were still a hiss.

"Desires?" He swatted Darkstripe's tail. "My only desires are to see Firestar's neck in a knot."

Darkstripe knew he was stupid. He knew he was wrong. But the way Tigerstar's eyes clawed at his stomach was so tempting, so very tastefully wanting, he bent forward and licked the top of his friend's head. Tigerstar closed his eyes and lowered his shoulders, but immediately sprung up in distaste.

"What do you expect from me!? I have clans to rule! I have power to take and teach! I'm not going to mate with your dingy pelt. If that's what you want then expect no further progress." He expected Darkstripe to flinch in pain, or wither in tears.

But Darkstripe's eyes remained thoughtful. "You and I both know that's not true. If you were truly speaking your mind you wouldn't be sound so unusually cautious. Tigerstar, do you not remember those night's by the owl tree? Those lazy days in your Shadowclan den? I looked up to you on your thrown with nothing but admiration and support. I died fighting for you and I would do so a thousand times over." He bowed his head, his intimidation turning to courage. "You cannot tell me none of that matters."

Tigerstar's voice was distant "Those nights by the owl tree..." He remembered the nights of cautious experimentation, away from the clans, away from the kits, away from starclan themselves. It was only the two of them. Together, they entwined their tails and scents to become one. Something greater than a king and his servant. He remembered when he died, Darkstripe had clawed himself close to him, wrapping his bleeding body around Tigerstar's cold paws.

As Tigerstar spoke, Darkstripe smelled his fear scent. "Goldenflower was very dear to me...Sasha even dearer, yet. But you are right when you say I did not love them. They were not mine to love." Though the fear chewed at his words, his eyes remained defiant and proud. "Do you really think we can find ourselves mates among these shadows?"

"Yes."

"Do you really feel what should only be for a she-cat?"

"...Yes."

At this point Tigerstar's voice was curious, no longer cracked with anger.

"Why?" He tilted his head to the side.

"Because you look at me and I feel my heart swell. I've stayed by your side all the way to this forest so I could continue drinking in your gaze. Your friendship has served me moons of something to wake up for. The warrior code pales in comparison to the way I care for you. The rules I break for you. Seeing you on your thrown of bones brought me nothing but pride for you."

Darkstripe looked up and expected to see malice,

But Tigerstar's expression was unreadable as he studied his friend.

"Okay."

"What?"

"You can help me."

"Really?!"

"Do not make me change my mind." Tigerstar growled. Yet, his words were low and throaty. The closest the large tabby every came to a purr.

Darkstripe felt light as air as he curled his body around Tigerstar's figure, his scent elevated him to comfort and home. He licked his face and Tigerstar did not object, only did he sink into Darkstripe's touch, letting his friend fulfill their lifelong anxieties.

/\_/\

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Brambleclaw walked into the shaded clearing to see Hawkfrost conversing with a dark grey tabby he didn't recognize. His father peered into the ferns.

"Brambleclaw." Tigerstar smoothly beckoned him, his eyes cold and knowing. He flicked his tail towards the cat sitting next to him. "This is Darkstripe. " Darkstripe bowed his head at Brambleclaw and Brambleclaw gave a confused look to his father.

"Why is he here?"

"He's going to help us." Hawkfrost turned to meet Brambleclaw.

"Yes. He's an old friend of mine," Tigerstar growled. "And I trust in his loyalties. He has wise words to teach you." Tigerstar stared at Darkstripe who was sitting with his tail wrapped over his paws, no indication that the scene they shared ever happened. "He has wise words to teach me."