Hello hello hello!

This is a fairly short chapter apologies :(

Review Replies:

SomeStormLeaf:

Greetings, Sheepskip. Foxstar is an old lady now lmao. Thank you! She is! And hehe they will get together soon i promise. Not going to say anything ….

Thank you! I'm happy to hear that :D

ReadingEevee:

Foxstar just didn't realise lol. Yeah! That was the idea behind it, to symbolise moving on i guess? And yeh! Finchpaw! And thank you so so much :)

SilentsongOvO:

Aww thank you! I just wanted to sigifiy that Sheepskip's fully moved on i think :) and yeah! It's so annoying. Thank you for reviewing :)

Dragonbreathjr:

We stan character development.

Mintflight0245:

Heh it's fine. And yeah! She is a Old lady.

Redleaf5:

Thank you :)

I would just like to shout out a good friend of mine; 'Ember grieves for aspen' ! He's rewriting a old fic, and we came up with the original idea for driven apart together, so if you like this fic, you'll probably like 'Emberpaw's kin.'

Also, I've set up a forum called 'Fallenclan', the link is in my profile!

Thank you, and as always… don't forget to review and pm me!

It was Finchpaw's first gathering today, and Moonscar didn't think she'd seen a more excitable cat.

It reminded her of her and Emberlight's first gathering, in a way. The small brown she-cat was racing ahead of the patrol, before sprinting back to her littermates. The moment she'd spotted the island though the trees, she squealed excitedly, and jumped in the air.

Finchpaw was an excellent apprentice, Moonscar was learning. She was stealthy as anything, and had managed to catch a sparrow on her first hunting trip. She always managed to best Sunpaw and Dawnpaw in the few sparring practices they'd had. Indeed, Dovefoot and Nightlark seemed jealous of her apprentice, and her clear skill. Moonscar was quite smug about that.

Still, it had only been a half moon. There was no point in getting too cocky. And Finchpaw didn't need the extra praise going to her head; she already thought she was 'it' because she was the deputies' apprentice. Still, she seemed to be fairly humble. She trained endlessly with Sunpaw and Dawnpaw when she could, and she visited Bramblepaw in the medicine cat's den often.

Moonscar didn't have the same luxuries. She was finding it hard to juggle her duties as a mentor, with her duties as the clan deputy. Even if she was becoming better as a deputy every day, she still struggled. Ever since she'd taken the offer of a truce with Sparrowthorn, he'd helped her with some of the trickier duties. Moonscar wasn't stupid, she knew that he wanted her to choose him as her deputy when Foxstar died. (Which seemed to be getting closer and closer, to Moonscar's horror. As much as she disliked and distrusted the old leader, she didn't know how she'd manage the clan without her watching over her.)

Still, it was nice getting the help. She managed to sneak a bit of time to herself, where she'd usually go and seek out Sheepskip. He seemed slightly lonely nowadays; Berryfoot spent almost all of her time with Heatherskip. Moonscar allowed herself a small smile at the thought of her two friends. It was like they'd become mates without even noticing it: they'd wake up every morning in the same nest, entangled with each other, they'd share tongues every night, they'd pick flowers for eachother - but the moment you mentioned the 'm' word, they'd both get flustered and back off. Moonscar had decided to leave them to it. They'd work it out on their own, she thought.

Speaking of which… they were walking just in front of her. Sheepskip was with them, but he was floating awkwardly just behind them. Berryfoot and Heatherskip seemed to be in a deep discussion about something, and their tails were brushing slightly.

Moonscar was pulled out of her thoughts about her friends by Foxstar's coughs next to her. She slowed down, and turned to her leader. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Foxtsar didn't look alright. She looked vulnerable, with wet eyes, and a rasping cough. She still nodded, sharply, before strutting forward, pushing in between Berryfoot and Heatherskip. Moonscar ran after her, apologising to her friends on the way.

Foxstar stopped suddenly in front of the tree bridge, and waited for the patrol to gather with her. Moonscar hurried to stand next to her, and puffed her chest out, trying to look important. It just earned her a weird look from Sheepskip, which made her bite back a laugh.

"Swanstar might start something this gathering." Foxstar informed her clan, which just made Moonscar roll her eyes. Foxstar always said this. With that, Foxstar strutted across the tree bridge.

"Finchpaw!" Moonscar called out. The tiny apprentice spun around, and ran to Moonscar. "I want you to cross the tree bridge in front of me. Practice your balance." She mewed.

Finchpaw nodded. "What if I fall off? She questioned.

"I'll get you." Moonscar said simply. Finchpaw seemed to accept that, because she jumped onto the tree bridge and started to inch across it, after her brothers. She made it to the other side, and grinned triumphantly at Moonscar.

"I did it!" She yowled. Moonscar smiled back at her, and made her own way across. However many times she did it, she'd always feel unbalanced, and like she was about to sink into the lake at any moment. Still, she made it across.

Once she was on the other side, she padded up to Finchpaw and nudged her playfully. "Go say hello to the other apprentices. I need to sit with the deputies." Finchpaw dipped her head, and ran off, presumably to the other apprentices.

Moonscar wandered over to the foot of the tree, and took her place among the other deputies. The leaders were already seated in the tree, clearly ready to start. Moonscar mewed a quiet welcome to the deputies, and sat down.

"How are Sheepfur and Berryfoot getting along?" Asked the Windclan deputy, Emberpelt. She'd asked her the exact same thing last moon, Moonscar remembered with a smile.

"Sheepskip, now. They're fully Thunderclan." Purred Moonscar happily. Emberpelt smiled at her.

"I'm glad to hear that." She lowered her voice. "Neither of them ever seemed to fit in. I'm pleased to hear they are with you."

Moonscar didn't really know how to respond to that, so she just nodded.

The other deputies didn't seem nearly as friendly. Riverclan's deputy, Blacknose, was just staring dead ahead of him, his claws unsheathed. Moonscar was worried for a heart-beat, before realising that he was just gripping the wood in front of him. Cherrycloud, Skyclan's deputy, was glaring at Moonscar. Moonscar flinched, and turned to look at Shadowclan's elderly deputy, Hawkshade. She fixed her gaze on him, and didn't move.

"Can we start?" Asked Swanstar snootily. Moonscar could practically hear Foxstar's eye-roll.

To her surprise, Swanstar didn't launch into whatever his grievance was straight away. He offered to let Nettlestar speak, who announced that Shadowclan had a new apprentice called Hawkpaw. Moonscar called out his name along with her fellow deputies, and tried to look for the apprentice in the crowd. She could just about see a bulky grey tom, sitting near the Thunderclan apprentices. She shivered. She wouldn't want to meet him in a battle any time soon.

Shadowclan moved on quickly, and let Riverclan speak next. Riverclan had two new warriors, Snowpool and Cricketsong. Moonscar raised her voice in celebration for the two warriors, who looked star-struck. Windclan didn't really have much news to pass on, just one or two routine mentions about foxes on their territory.

"Thunderclan has two new Warriors." Foxstar announced, and Moonscar watched Sheepskip lift his chin. Berryfoot torn her eyes away from Heatherskip to take in the crowd. "Sheepskip and Berryfoot are now Thunderclan warriors." She announced, and Moonscar called out their names as loud as she could.

Once the gathering had quieted down, Foxstar continued. "We also have four new apprentices. Sunpaw, Dawnpaw and Finchpaw are training to be warriors, and Bramblepaw will be Thunderclan's next medicine cat." Bramblepaw's name was called extra loud, Moonscar noticed. Being a medicine cat was an honour.

Foxstar also briefly mentioned Maplethroat's litter, before dipping her head to Swanstar to indicate that he should talk. The Skyclan leader smiled, his eyes shining as sharp as flint.

"Thunderclan has been hunting in our territory!" He roared, and Moonscar flinched. So that was why he'd waited till the end.

Foxstar rose to her feet, bristling. "We have been doing no such thing!" She snarled, and Moonscar ducked her head in shame. Why couldn't Foxstar just apologise? Swanstar was clearly right, Foxstar had even known that he'd bring it up at the beginning of the gathering.

"My warriors have seen you!" Swanstar hissed. "They've watched you hunt, and yet you still deny it?"

Foxstar smirked, and Moonscar felt her stomach sink. "So what if we did?" She asked, and the gathering gasped. Moonscar did too, a small outtake of air. You couldn't just admit to that! She screamed inwardly to her leader. You had to apologise, not be smug!

"Starclan is angry! The gathering is over!" Yowled the Shadowclan medicine cat Hollyflank suddenly. Foxstar leapt down from the tree, and stalked off, her clan falling in behind her.

"What were you thinking?" Hissed Moonscar to her leader, forgetting all the false pretences she usually put in place. Foxstar looked taken aback, before shrugging.

"I did what I should have done seasons ago." Foxstar mewed.

Monscar frantically shook her head. "Foxstar, this is going to start a war." She exclaimed.

And it was. Moonscar could feel it deep in her bones. War was coming, and she didn't know who would win, or who'd she'd lose.

here we go boys we're coming to the end.

anyways, hoped u enjoyed also the qotd is down here:

qotd: did you get the obab references?

my answer: hehe there are ALOT in this lol