It took time, but Sunstar waited patiently while his clanmates dragged themselves from their dens and into the clearing, it was clear everyone was still not fully recovered.
Hearing the call, all cats came out to listen to the meeting, even Longtail had to attend and was helped by Greypaw and Rosepaw out of the medicine cat den.
Sunstar stood at the edge of the rock, waiting for the clan to settle down. Once they had, the cats looked up to their leader, waiting for him to speak. Sunstar remained silent for a few moments as his dark eyes darted around the clearing.
'Seven cats...' Sunstar muttered, and Longtail couldn't even fight. He scoffed quietly and faced the clan once more.
"Once again, TreeClan has decided that they have the right to meddle in our lives," Sunstar growled.
"But we must prove to them, and to the other clans, that DarkClan is a clan that shouldn't be meddled with!" His claws scraped against the stone as the rage inside him flowed freely.
The apprentices in the clearing watched Sunstar in concern as the leader smiled mockingly at the crowd.
"Congratulations," he meowed sarcastically. "You are all warriors." 'Seeing as we don't have any.'
Greypaw's breath hitched from where she sat with Longtail and Rosepaw.
' A warrior...'
This was it, the moment she had been waiting for since she was a kit.
Longtail frowned as she watched Sunstar's eyes; she could tell something in them had changed. Longtail looked at the cats around her sadly, they were still relatively young to be warriors.
Sunstar's green eyes snapped to where Brownpaw sat with his brother, making the silver apprentice jump lightly.
"Brownpaw, from now on you will be known as Browneyes," Sunstar boomed. The tom nodded lightly at the sound of his new name.
Sunstar then fixed his gaze on his own apprentice sitting by Browneyes's side. Darkpaw's blue eyes watched in anticipation as Sunstar turned to him.
"Darkpaw, your new name will be Darkpelt. I trust that you will carry on the talents of your family to serve this clan."
Darkpelt stood up proudly and bowed his head respectively at Sunstar. The golden tom said nothing and turned his gaze toward Greypaw, jumping rapidly from apprentice to apprentice in an unorthodox, informal way of performing a warrior ceremony. He never thought he would see the day that the blind kit would become an apprentice, but her fighting skills were phenomenal.
"Greypaw."
Greypaw's heart pounded in her chest and she stood up watching Sunstar in a sort of passive excitement. From beside her, Longtail smiled fondly at her daughter, she knew this was a big moment for her.
'You finally did it.'
"Greypaw, you have fought valiantly for DarkClan and it is now time for you to join the ranks of the warriors. From this day forward you will be known as Greysight, DarkClan honors your courage."
Greysight smiled from where she stood,.
'Greysight huh?' she smirked inwardly. 'I like it.'
Although the ceremony wasn't very official and Sunstar couldn't seem to care less, Greysight decided that this was still one of the highest points of her life. She had proven them wrong, and she had become a warrior of DarkClan, a strong one at that, and she would let nothing stand in her way.
Sunstar's eyes narrowed as they fell on the last apprentice sitting quietly near the back of the crowd.
"Lostpaw."
The black she-cat stood to her paws and padded up to spot within the crowd of cats. The cats all blinked and looked at her as their eyes fell on the scar that now donned her face.
Lostpaw looked up to where Sunstar was staring impatiently down at her. She blinked in confusion when she realized he was waiting for her response, he was waiting for her to tell him her name; he was refusing to give her a warrior name himself.
The cats were quiet as they watched the strange apprentice sit silently in the crowd, appearing to be deep in thought.
Lostpaw's eyes opened and she met the hard green gaze of Sunstar.
"Lostheart."
Sunstar's eyes narrowed at the black she-cat, but he said nothing as he once again turned to face the entire crowd.
Sunstar looked up into the sky at the sun now rising above the trees, they had already missed appointing a new deputy when the moon was in the sky.
Not that it mattered anyway.
"The new deputy of DarkClan will be..." the leader paused.
"Lostheart."
The cats in the crowd looked towards their leader in shock and surprise. Darkpelt's eyes flashed and narrowed as he laid eyes on the black she-cat sitting in the center of the cats.
Greysight was also surprised by Sunstar's words; she wouldn't lie, a part of her had been hoping to be made deputy, but she was sure Sunstar would have chosen Darkpelt.
The cats in the clearing seemed to be sharing in Greysight's thoughts. Longtail shakily rose to her paws.
"But Sunstar!" she protested. "Only cats who have mentored at least one apprentice can become deputy!"
Sunstar's hard gaze met Longtail's worried eyes. "Well, Longtail. In case you hadn't noticed, there aren't any cats here who have had an apprentice!" he snapped. "And you can no longer function!"
Longtail flinched and lowered her gaze.
"Yes, Sunstar," she meowed quietly.
This whole time, Lostheart sat unmoving in the clearing and although she appeared to be unfazed on the outside, inside her heart thudded loudly.
'I can't be deputy! I don't want to be a leader!'
Lostheart hated attention and being deputy would mean a lot of interaction with other cats, besides she didn't want to order people around. The very idea made her feel uncomfortable.
Why would Sunstar choose her?
He hated her.
No cat seemed to notice Lostheart's internal struggle and they watched Sunstar as he dismissed the clan with a lash of his tail, disappearing behind his den.
'This clan is doomed anyways,' he muttered.
Sunstar's eyes were tired and heavy as he gently laid Ivyfoot's body inside the grave he'd dug. The grey warrior's body was worn and stained with blood.
'I'm sorry, Ivyfoot.'
Sunstar smiled sadly to himself when he remembered the day he and Ivyfoot became apprentices. They were both so excited that day, they had made a promise to always be there for each other.
'I wasn't there to save you,' Sunstar thought grimly. The golden tom slowly began to cover his friend's body and stepped back to observe his work. Once he was done he rolled a large stone over the dirt.
Sunstar stepped back and observed the burial place; it was filled with numerous stones marking the graves of their ancestors.
'If only they could see us now.'
Sunstar unsheathed his claws and dug them into the earth, gritting his teeth and holding back the weak tears that threatened to fall.
In a fit of rage, he whirled around and slashed at a large tree, leaving claw marks embedded in its trunk.
Mosspelt had warned him, but had he listened? No, he ignored her words, his vision clouded by Silentshadow's happiness.
Silent tears rolled down his face and he shook furiously. Mosspelt had told him something was coming, but he would have never expected what had happened.
The birth of Lostkit was more than enough proof for Mosspelt, the demonic red eye was an omen of evil. Mosspelt warned him to get rid of the kit, but he didn't listen to her.
He was blinded by Silentshadow's happiness; as long as she was happy, nothing else had mattered. The fire, flood, and prey shortage were all just unfortunate coincidences to him.
Either way, Mosspelt's prophecy deeply disturbed the clan and they avoided the young she-cat. Sunstar himself wasn't close to the kit, but it didn't matter, it was all for Silentshadow.
He dug his claws deeper into the ground. Mosspelt had warned him! She told him something horrible would happen, but he ignored her words...
And then she died.
It was all his fault. If he had just listened to Mosspelt, Silentshadow might be alive right now.
Sunstar collapsed at the foot of Ivyfoot's grave.
Now his closest friend was gone too.
He knew Ivyfoot would have wanted to be buried with Cherrynose, but no matter how hard he searched, he knew it would be impossible to recover the tunnel and find her body.
Cherrynose knew what she was doing.
At first, Sunstar refused to allow her to make such a sacrifice, but the she-cat was stubborn and told him it was the only way to save her clanmates.
So he had let her go...
Sunstar slowly regained his composure and stood onto his paws, observing the graves grimly, knowing that DarkClan was coming to its end.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
To answer some questions and clear up some confusion:
Fourtrees is sort of a universal thing in the series, and I wanted something familiar to the original series. Sort of like a warrior custom despite living in different areas of the world and so on and so forth. As for the "Moonpool", originally Moonstool was a stupid joke I came up with with a friend, but it ended up sticking. So that was that, now it's a bit of an inside joke.
As for my favorite Warriors character, I can honestly say I don't really have one. It's hard to pick... Whitestorm, FireHEART, Rainwhisker, Scourge, and Blackstar were always pretty rad though.
