hey hey hey! Uh we're back, hiya lmao (my update schedule still being intact? A miracle, especially with finals last week) but yeah! I'm averaging for twice a month, which seems doable unless a giant bout of writer's block comes to kick my ass (Which hopefully won't happen? We never know tho)

Succulentsofa (hi)- who is harry hill im a clueless american- but tysm! Leafpaw is very fun to write, i like her thought process a lot? like it's very fun to write out, and yeah she's a confused lesbian (They're lesbians so it will take fucking forever obviously) (the slowest of all slow burns) but yeah! and yes one-liners are my favorite, like honestly i love throwing them in there it's so much fun

and yes Fog/Flash are very gayyyy they are my bois i love them and yes Shadowclan? what are they doing? but yeah they're sussy (imposter from amogus) But yeah Tansystar got deaded by someone... guess you'll just have to see... and BRUH SPARRING SCENES KILL ME A LITTLE BIT INSIDE SO THANKS? I tried very hard lmAO, but i'm glad to know it paid off! will definitely help me with writing those in the future. yep goodbye succulentlucysofa (I can't believe you temporarily changed your nickname jesus christ)

Ravennose- Hello! and ah, alright (I shall try to check it out, can't promise due to my busy life) but oh, fun! Lichenpaw is a pretty fun name lmao- And nope, names don't really matter copyright-wise? Okay, 1: Lichenpaw is a super-background character, so you using the name does not bother me at all because i don't even like... have ownership of any characters with that name. 2: yeah, it came out a while ago, i went through a year of writer's block with this story tho so that's why we're still here honestly

but thank you! I hope you enjoy the future chapters! I am having a lot of fun brainstorming for/writing them!

okayyyy sorry for the review rambles i'm very rambly it's not great

on with the chapter!

tw/ Misgendering

The sun shone in Shadowclan camp, but the air had been somber ever since Tansystar's abrupt death. Pebbleblaze had brought the news from a Riverclan patrol a few days ago. They claimed they had nothing to do with it, but Blossompaw thought otherwise.

Despite the fact that she didn't actually hate Riverclan, it was hard to deny the evidence that was against them. There was just… too much of it.

Sighing, she rose from her nest, arching her back in a large stretch as she stumbled towards the entrance, accidentally tripping on Honeypaw in her struggle to regain her footing.

"Hey!" The golden apprentice exclaimed sleepily, voice laced with irritation. "Do you fucking mind? I'm trying to…"

She never finished her sentence, however, falling back asleep with a snore. Blossompaw rolled her eyes, but stepped more gingerly this time, making it outside with no more casualties.

The morning sun hit her full in the face, and she winced, squinting against the bright light for a moment. When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she saw Pebbleblaze sending out a border patrol, while other cats milled around him, obviously waiting for their assignments.

The Shadowclan deputy had been under more pressure lately, both due to the whole mess with Riverclan and due to the fact that Tansystar had started slacking off even more as leader. Pebbleblaze practically ran the Clan at this point, while Tansystar slept in his den and occasionally popped out to perform a ceremony or two.

Blossompaw didn't mind, however. She had been missing the old leader's absence less and less, and honestly, it felt like Pebbleblaze was leader instead. However, from the way he had been more antsy than ever and the fear that constantly lurked in his usually steady gaze, she could tell that the stress of all of it was starting to get to him.

"Blossompaw!" Palepaw's voice broke her from her thoughts, and she glanced over sharply, breaking into a small smile when she saw her friend.

"What?" She called back, traipsing towards him slowly.

"Patrol!" The gray cat gestured next to him, and Blossompaw realized that Rainfern was glancing at her expectantly, irritation coming off of him in waves. She swallowed nervously, ducking her head slightly. Every cat was on edge right now, and being late for patrols wasn't helping that.

"Sorry." She murmured meekly. "I forgot."

"I can see that." Her mentor replied coldly, and Blossompaw wondered with a flash of exasperation why his moods had been swinging so dramatically the last few days. It was starting to get to her. Everything wasn't her fault.

However, she didn't say any of that, only exchanging a glance with Palepaw before following Rainfern and Riverthorn out of camp. Her father had been even colder than before, but she had stopped trying to break the ice in between them. After what she had found out from Forrest, the only thing she wanted to do was hit him across the face with an unsheathed paw. However, she had already gotten in trouble before, and she didn't want her assessment postponed.

Plus, she'd rather not make a huge enemy out of Riverthorn. Even if he was downright awful at times, he was also a highly respected warrior, and starting family drama wasn't going to look good for him, or her.

"So," She started quietly, glancing at Palepaw with a hint of a grin. "How are things going with Birchpaw?"

Her friend blushed scarlet, and Blossompaw smirked, swallowing back a laugh. Birchpaw probably got a real kick out of that too.

"Oh, y'know, he's…" The other apprentice shrugged, as if that was supposed to convey his point.

"He's what?" Blossompaw cut him off. "You're not really explaining your point very well."

"Maybe you should ask him." Palepaw responded primly, but his cheeks were still flushed with embarrassment. Blossompaw only snorted in return before turning her gaze to the sun-dappled path ahead.

Shadowclan was alive today, with prey rustling in the bushes and in the trees. However, Rainfern didn't stop to hunt, heading towards the Riverclan border at a quick trot that made Blossompaw nearly run to keep up. She panted, wishing that he'd slow down. It wasn't like the border was going to move while they weren't looking.

Blossompaw knew why her mentor was in such a hurry, however. Tensions with Riverclan had been high, and she wouldn't be surprised if they had pulled something when Shadowclan had their backs turned. If she was going to be honest, it seemed more characteristic for Shadowclan to do that, but she dismissed that thought quickly.

She shot a glance at Palepaw, who was also breathing heavily, obviously struggling to keep up as well. Luckily, Rainfern slowed to a halt, and Blossompaw spotted the familiar clearing ahead where Riverclan had reset the border.

She craned her neck around her mentor, but she couldn't spot any Riverclan cats. Still, she refused to let her guard down. They could've covered themselves in mud and stuck reeds in their ears in order to blend in. Riverclan was weird that way.

Riverthorn stepped forwards cautiously, sharp blue eyes scanning the sparse grass and bushes that spanned the clearing. At last, he deemed it safe, flicking his pale gray tail as a signal to come forwards. Blossompaw forced her paws to move, even though she shuddered as she left the shade and comfort of the pines.

Rainfern had already begun marking the border, nervous yellow eyes suggesting that he wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. Blossompaw didn't blame him; in fact, she rather agreed. Swishing her tail nervously, she stepped closer to Palepaw, meeting her friend's eyes for a moment. He seemed to be the only one who wasn't nervous here.

Suddenly, the bushes rustled ominously on the other side of the border, and she whipped around, her claws digging into the dirt almost on instinct. Rainfern froze, his tail puffing up in fear. Next to him, Riverthorn squared his broad shoulders, his cold eyes gleaming in the sunlight.

It was as if the entire clearing held its breath for a moment, its occupants included. At last, a small figure entered from a small path near the border, which was so overgrown by bushes that it seemed to be nearly impossible to get through.

A small gray she-cat slipped out, obviously deep in thought, before glancing at them, skidding to a halt.

"You waiting for something?" She asked almost mockingly, and that's when Blossompaw recognized the Riverclan medicine cat Hollysong, who seemed to be alone and rather unconcerned about it. Riverthorn's claws dug into the dirt, and she swallowed nervously, tensing up.

Hollysong looked between a furious Riverthorn and a frozen Rainfern, then only let out a heavy sigh, practically blowing a raspberry through her mouth. "Alright then. I guess y'all are trying a new hunting tactic? Like, you stand there for so long that the mice come to you?" She raised an eyebrow at them. "Honestly, I knew Shadowclan cats were dull after the whole murder thing, but this is a new level of stupidity."

Blossompaw nearly winced, wondering why she was bringing up Tansystar's death of all things. Didn't she realize how close she was to death? Palepaw was staring at her, wide-eyed, and Blossompaw shoved him, glaring at him.

Keep your mouth shut. You look like a fish.

Palepaw snapped his jaw shut, but he didn't relax his rigid posture, which both made him look slightly confused and a tad constipated.

"Isn't it strange for a medicine cat to be out alone?" Riverthorn asked cautiously at last, tilting his head in a form of fake innocence. "So close to enemy territory as well."

His words were soft, but Blossompaw could hear the malice that laced her father's words. She frowned, trying not to growl in anger. Her careful admiration of the gray cat had flipped to full rage after learning about her half-brother. He had no right strutting around a Clan after what he had done.

"You think I'm stupid?" Hollysong retorted, forcing out a raspy laugh. "No, of course I brought cats. They're just trying to make their way through the bushes."

At that moment, a brown apprentice shouldered her way through the undergrowth, flicking a leaf off her pelt as she popped out next to Hollysong. She was a light cinnamon brown, with darker brown stripes crossing her pelt like tree branches. She glanced at them with cautious amber eyes.

"Oh boy." She rolled her eyes, taking her place besides the older medicine cat. "Seems that we've got company." She turned to Hollysong. "By the way, Fogpaw isn't dead. He got distracted grabbing a patch of dock, and I abandoned Redwhisker with him."

"Of course he did." The gray tabby rolled her eyes, but there was a fond tone in her voice. "And hopefully that's something Redwhisker can handle. That ditzy idiot trips over his paws every other day."

It was strange to see Riverclan talking like this so casually while their enemies sat mere fox-lengths away. However, Blossompaw just assumed that it was typical Riverclan. They probably hadn't had to be on guard in seasons.

The brown apprentice turned her head towards them, tilting it inquisitively. "Y'all here for a special reason other than almost murdering our medicine cat?" Riverthorn took a miniscule step back at that, obviously not expecting for them to have noticed. Blossompaw tried to keep a smile off her face.

"Just the border." Rainfern replied quietly, and Blossompaw could hear the slight shake in his voice. It was ironic, how he could plan possible rebellions by himself, but didn't have the public speaking skills to talk to an apprentice half his age.

"Cool." The apprentice shrugged, stepping back, and Blossompaw wondered how they could be so calm about this situation. Maybe it'll be easier to invade them than Pebbleblaze thought. She thought darkly, then frowned. It couldn't be that easy, though. Riverclan had tricks up their sleeve, she was sure of it.

"Timberpaw, I would go find Redwhisker if I were you." Hollysong piped up, taking a step back towards the shadowed pathway. "Your mentors probably fallen into a ditch again, and Fogpaw might need the extra paws to haul him up."

The brown-striped she-cat nodded promptly, and turned to leave, and Riverthorn seemed to find that time to address the patrol as well.

"Just mark the border already." He barked at Rainfern, who seemed affronted at being cast aside on his own patrol, but only dipped his head in a small nod.

"Glad to see nothing's out of the ordinary here." Blossompaw's father said sharply to Hollysong, who's mouth only quirked in the edges of a smile. However, she only shrugged, and flicked her tail dismissively.

"Not planning to murder your leaders, don't worry." The medicine cat drawled. She paused. "Not that we did in the first place, of course."

There was something oddly condescending about her tone, and Blossompaw wanted to object, because they had, the body had stank of Riverclan, but she kept her mouth clamped firmly shut, opting to shoot a blue-eyed glare at the old medicine cat instead.

"Keep telling yourself that." Riverthorn said cooly, but rage simmered in his voice. "After all, there's probably murderers in your Clan. Not that you or any of your Clanmates care about that, though." Blossompaw wanted to claw him, to tell him to stop, but only shifted closer to Palepaw, who looked very much like he wanted to get out of here, now. She shared that sentiment heavily.

"After all, that apprentice seemed indifferent to it." Her father finished, flattening an ear to prove his point. "She's just like the rest of your apprentices, though. Probably lazy, which is easy training for Riverclan warriors. It's practically the only thing you have to do anyways."

Hollysong's expression was carefully neutral, but the cold glint of her green gaze made Blossompaw slightly nervous. However, it wasn't like she could do much. She looked so old that Blossompaw feared she might keel over at any moment.

"Timberpaw's not a she-cat, for your information." She said at last, tilting her head. Her gaze met Riverthorn's, and they locked gazes as she continued. "And I wonder if your words will come back to kick you in the ass. After all, us lazy Riverclan cats probably aren't dangerous at all."

She shot the patrol a wink that was somehow unnerving. "Or at least, that's what I thought." She leaned slightly on her front paws, a small smile playing on her lips. "But after all, your leader did lose a life to one, right?"

"I would tread carefully, Shadowclan." Hollysong practically vanished into the bushes, her lilting voice being the only thing that they could hear now. "You never know when someone's watching."

Blossompaw watched her gray tabby tail slip into the undergrowth, unease churning in her stomach.

On the way back to camp, Palepaw tried his best to laugh it off, claiming that Hollysong was senile and was on her way out anyways. Blossompaw smiled and agreed with him, even though the silky tone of the medicine cat's voice sent a shiver up her spine.

For a moment, she doubted Pebbleblaze's certainty in Riverclan's weaknesses. They obviously had stopped playing around, or Hollysong was just a really good liar. Blossompaw swallowed nervously, and forced herself to put one paw in front of the other, keeping her eyes on the ground in front of her. Surely Pebbleblaze and Tansystar would come up with a plan.

The camp seemed oblivious to the news of the patrol, the noonday sun illuminating the shallow hollow where Shadowclan's camp rested. Cats were milling about, and Blossompaw spotted Honeypaw crowding the fresh-kill pile with her brother, who stretched his jaws in a wide yawn.

Palepaw's gaze followed hers, and his pale ears flushed pink, while his mouth quirked up in a smile. Blossompaw let out a rather girlish giggle, bumping his side jokingly.

"Are you ever not going to blush?" She asked, glancing at him curiously.

"Probably not." Palepaw admitted, slouching his shoulders in embarrassment. "He's just… gorgeous."

Blossompaw frowned at Birchpaw curiously, wondering how one could summon feelings like that. She had decided from a young age that she wasn't into toms, but now that she thought about it, she-cats didn't really catch her eye either. It was… strange, how she never had that certain pull toward anyone.

She dismissed those thoughts from her mind, however. That wasn't a problem worth worrying about right now, not when Shadowclan was on the brink of possible war with a Clan that they might've dramatically underestimated.

"What's the matter?" Honeypaw's voice shook her from her stupor, and Blossompaw glanced over at her friend, only summoning an uncertain smile and a shrug in return.

"Oh, just…" She chose her next words carefully. "I went on an interesting patrol."

"How so?" Honeypaw's eyes were alight with curiosity, but Blossompaw knew that this wasn't the news that she was hoping to hear.

"Well… we saw Riverclan at the border." Blossompaw burst out, pacing back and forth nervously. "Or, well, their old medicine cat." She amended after a moment.

"That doesn't sound like much of a problem." Honeypaw wrinkled her nose, evidently confused. "She's about to die anyways. We just have to wait a few more moons."

"I just… I think that Riverclan is gearing up for an attack." Blossompaw stated, shifting her paws to prove her point and scuffing up clouds of dirt. "It was just… so eerie at the border today."

She glanced around cautiously before continuing, making sure that the cat in question wasn't nearby before she spoke. "And well, Riverthorn might've pissed them off too. He was acting like a total idiot this morning!"

"That seems to have been inherited." Honeypaw joked, but Blossompaw could see the worry shining in her green gaze. "But… what did he do this time?"

Blossompaw heaved out a sigh before speaking, not sure how she quite wanted to go about this. "He just… I feel like he provoked Riverclan more." She admitted, looking around nervously again. "Like… maybe they thought we were joking before, but now… they might actually do something."

Honeypaw frowned, her expression signifying that this either troubled or intrigued her. At this point, Blossompaw wasn't completely sure which one it was. "Well… that's definitely not great." The golden cat said at last, flicking her tail. "However, let's just hope that Pebbleblaze isn't stupid enough to attack Riverclan."

At that moment, Birchpaw skidded to a stop next to them, significantly more out of breath and in a rush than he usually was.

"Pebbleblaze is planning to attack Riverclan." He breathed, blue eyes wide. "In two days."

Blossompaw shot a pointed glance at Honeypaw, who seemed to be in disbelief.

"Why?" She gasped at last. "I mean, I know that Riverclan killed Tansystar, but… this seems excessive."

"Pebbleblaze is paranoid." Birchpaw pointed out quietly, seeming to have recovered some of his usual calmness. "Riverclan and Thunderclan are allied, and they could easily turn on Shadowclan just as easily as they turned on Windclan. That's scary."

"But we're pretty much helping Windclan, if you think about it!" Blossompaw burst out angrily, not caring who overheard. She was sick of her Clan being idiots and her being powerless to stop it. "Why would we do anything to benefit our enemies?"

"Because they're not our enemies." Birchpaw continued, ignoring Blossompaw's furious retorts to his sentence. "Look, I hate them too, but their main quarrel is with Thunderclan. Why in Starclan's name would we mess with that? It's not our fight."

"How can it not be our fight?" Blossompaw exclaimed hotly, springing to her paws. "If we don't do something now, we'll be the next Thunderclan!" She glanced at Birchpaw and Honeypaw, the former's mouth pressed into a thin line, obviously holding back his own argument. Honeypaw was just staring at her with a mixture of fear and disbelief, clearly unsure of what to say.

"Which one of us will be the next Amberpaw?" She continued boldly, narrowing her blue eyes. "We have to take action! We have to-"

"And what do you suggest we do?" Birchpaw growled, staring back at her with cold blue eyes. Sometimes Blossompaw forgot that despite his quiet kindness and easy smiles, he was rather unsympathetic to those outside his own Clan, and it was showing. "We're across the lake from Windclan. Thunderclan is indifferent to our presence, and we're not on good terms with Riverclan by any means. It would be better to stay out of it."

"Then why are we attacking Riverclan in two days?" Blossompaw challenged, stepping closer to him. "What happened to neutrality and watching from the sidelines?"

"You're acting like I ordered the attack." Birchpaw pointed out softly. "I, for one, am not about to argue with Pebbleblaze's verdict. If you want to go fight the deputy over this, it's your funeral."

"But Pebbleblaze is wrong!" Bossompaw exclaimed, her voice laced with desperation. She couldn't understand how none of them saw this.

"Then you tell him that." Birchpaw called over his shoulder, already heading off to find Palepaw. "But I'm going to do what Shadowcland does best, according to you."

"I'm going to stay out of it."

welp- okay but hollysong is just ancient why is she still even around (Oh wait that's literally because of me :))) oops)

Okay but yeah! This is stuff! Shadowclan is sussy (amogus) as usual! Chaos is going to erupt soon!

Don't forget to leave a review (Seriously, they are writer fuel okay-) and have a fun day! Hopefully y'all are enjoying your november (idk how you can enjoy november, it's november. It sucks.)

But yeah, be crime do gay or whatever, go vibe in life! see you in like 2/3 weeks

-Minty