Streamripple

It was the middle of the night. I was shaken awake and dragged outside. Every cat's eyes were on me. Glaring at me. All the anger, sadness, frustration and confusion was hard to look at. I looked at the ground until I was ushered to the front.

Briarstar leaned down. "Streamripple. I expected so much from you. I trusted you. Everyone trusted you. But you didn't come clean when you should have. But now that Tangleheart has exposed the truth, everything makes sense now. Wildbramble and Harepaw are both victims of your rampage, and I have to stop you from inflicting any more harm on this Clan."

Tangleheart? She was the cat from WindClan that Leopardscar promised leadership to. But why would she expose me? If I was kicked out of the Clan, she could only use me remotely.

"What… what did Tangleheart tell you?"

"She told me what I needed to know. She provided me with an explanation for the two unexplained occurrences, and told me that she overheard you talking about everything. How you and four others were sent special abilities from a cat called Leopardscar in the Dark Forest to take over the Clans. Normally, I wouldn't have believed her if you hadn't slipped up those two times, but since you did, it was enough proof to support her claim. I sent four runners to all the other Clans, warning them of the traitor in their midst."

Gasps emerged from the audience. I looked at Harepaw and Wildbramble, who looked angrier than I had ever seen them before. Harepaw even snarled, "I can't believe you would control me."

So everyone knew about us, but they didn't know that she was behind it all. I didn't waste my energy trying to convince everyone that Tangleheart was in on the conspiracy, because I knew I'd fail.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this, Streamripple, but you leave me no choice. To protect the Clan, I not only strip you of your title of temporary deputy, but I banish you from this Clan forever."

My heart sank. Jeers emerged from the audience. I stared at the ground intently, unable to meet anyone's eyes.

"Which brings up the question, who should replace her? Well, I think no one other than our hero, Tangleheart, should take her place until Olivebranch returns from the nursery. Tangleheart, would you escort Streamripple out of the territory?"

As cheers filled the air, everything clicked. She did it for the glory. And now Tangleheart was one step closer to fulfilling the plan she thought Leopardscar created for her.

"With pleasure," she responded. I gulped as she smirked, and I reluctantly walked out of camp. Once we were far enough away, she snapped, "You're going to stay near the territory in case I need you. Don't get caught, and don't run away. Leopardscar will kill you."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because. Both you and Mistyclaw were in prime position to ascend, and the plan obviously was not for you two to take over. So the five of us came up with some ideas, like Leopardscar told us to, and it was put into action. Now, you all are out of the way."

Mistyclaw

Alderstar's eyes burned into my pelt. Slatefang was too livid to even face me. Hollywing's knowing eyes filled with sadness. Lizardcloud and Sunfoot were triumphant.

"Mistyclaw, I feel like I can only blame myself. I let you get close to me. I let us become friends. I even let myself…" Alderstar trailed off andshook his head. "And I handed you the deputy position. But everything you did was all a part of your twisted plan to kill me off and take over. I'm angry at myself for letting you into my life."

Trying to keep some of my composure, I asked, "How did you find out about this?"

"The first time yesterday, Sunfoot told me. I didn't believe her, out of my stupid loyalty to you, until Sparrowflight of WindClan offered the same information, and I couldn't ignore that."

"How did Sparrowflight find out?"

Alderstar opened his mouth, but Sunfoot interrupted, "We don't have time to ask twenty questions. What matters at the moment is that we get you out of the Clan, now!"

"Monster!"

"Freak!"

"Piece of fox dung!"

As the swear words flew, someone slammed into me. It took me a second to realize that there were claws in my side, but soon enough, everything faded to black.

Mistyclaw

I started to stir. How much time had passed, I didn't know. But as I blinked and looked around, I recognized the walls of the ThunderClan medicine den. I was situated on my side in Badgerbranch's nest.

Badgerbranch stood over me. "You're awake! I thought you wouldn't make it. That tom really shredded you. You're lucky to be alive."

Weren't those the words from the vision I had in the forest? "Wha… What tom?"

He sighed, "Slatefang. He felt betrayed. Not as much as Alderstar, but enough to attack you amidst all the insults. And what's worse, everyone cheered for him after he did it."

My heart sank. "Oh. I can't believe they would do that."

"I'm sorry that had to happen to you. Alderstar even wanted to, um, finish the job, but I suggested that you were going to die soon anyways, and it would be merciful to end the pain."

"What?"

Badgerbranch laughed, "I didn't mean it, of course. But Alderstar liked that idea and asked me to move you out of the middle of camp while you suffered. I dragged you here and patched you up."

"Cool. Thanks. But I have to go, Alderstar really will kill me if I stay here." I tried to get up, but Badgerbranch pushed me back down.

"Absolutely not. You're in no condition to move at all, let alone out of the territory. And besides," he continued, "you're safe here for the time being. If anyone comes in here, I'll keep them in the main room. Once you recover enough, I'll move you to the hollow log I use to quarantine patients with terrible diseases. It's been a while since I used it, but I'm the only one who knows its location."

I sighed. "Okay."

"Don't worry," Badgerbranch reassured. "This wound won't take too long to heal."

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm more concerned about when I feel okay again, and what I'm going to do then."

Adderpaw

Strangely enough, my life wasn't high on my list of concerns after I was exposed.

More than anything, it was my pride. It felt weird to be shunned by everyone in camp, even Sagepetal. I didn't like all of the embarrassment, worse than anything I'd experienced before.

Sandstar had the heart to give me a last meal and some travelling herbs, but it was another blow to my dignity. It was like he was still treating me like a kit. And even though it would help a little, I still didn't think I could fare very well on my own.

Anyway, as I ate the lizard Sandstar gave me, Smoky walked up to me cautiously.

"You heard Sandstar, right? My ability can't do anything to you."

"I'm aware. He also told me to escort you out of the territory, but I told him I'm coming with you because he's a mouse brain to kick an apprentice who has a lot of potential out of the Clan."

"Thank you?"

"And also, Sandstar is the only one who even has a hint of knowledge about this but…" Lowering his voice to just barely above a whisper, the former rogue leaned into my personal space. "I have powers too."

Before I could ask what they were, Smoky straightened up and motioned for the two of us to leave.

Mosspaw

"Leopardscar had to come and ruin another life. I'm deeply sorry you had to go through that."

As soon as the WindClan warrior went into Branchstar's den and discussed my situation in hushed voices, he invited me to come and speak with him. But he wasn't as mad as I thought he would be.

"Another life? What are you talking about?"

He sighed deeply, his eyes full of regret. "Leopardscar was an interesting individual, very smooth with his words. We both fell in love with the same she-cat, Birchflower. Being very quiet and less outgoing, he was the one to win the battle for her heart, but after she birthed their first litter, he killed Birchflower and all of his kits but one, Whiteflower, before I came in and stopped him. I had no choice but to kill him, but I'm afraid that only gave him more power.

"Whiteflower? Does that mean Leopardscar and I are related?"

"Unfortunately, it does. But don't worry, you're definitely not going to be anything like him. However, you do resemble Birchflower very much."

"Oh?" I frowned. "And what was she like?"

"Kind. Beautiful. Forgiving. Every so often, she let out a hint of sass. Whiteflower was the only part of her I had left, until you were born."

That's when the guilty feeling from the pit of my stomach rose up again. "It's my fault Whiteflower died."

"What? How is that possible?" Branchstar demanded, raising his voice.

"You were told what my power was, right? Since I can control the outcome of a battle, I killed her by worrying about whether she would die, so that ensured she would. I'm so sorry."

Branchstar stared at me for a while. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry you had to suffer through the guilt, but please, let it go. You shouldn't have to deal with something like that at your age."

"Yes, she should!" Daisypaw marched into the den, livid. Cloudpaw and Graypaw trailed behind her. "I can't believe you would kill our mother, Mosspaw. I thought you cared about her, but you don't care about anyone! All you do is harm cats left and right. First Whiteflower, then Shellpaw… It's time for you to stop."

"Daisypaw, don't be ridiculous. I haven't harmed anyone on purpose." I tried to act confident, but I really was scared of the wrath of my siblings.

Branchstar interrupted, "Excuse me, but Daisypaw, if you were given the ability, she would still be dead. Any kit would be worried about their mother going into battle after a long stretch of time in the nursery."

"Not us."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you didn't love Whiteflower?"

"Don't twist my words around, Mosspaw. I had faith that she would assist RiverClan into a victory against ShadowClan. All you had was doubt or disbelief. Either that, or you wanted her dead."

"I'm going to have to stop you right there, Daisypaw." Branchstar stepped in front of me, growling, "Continue with this nonsense and the three of you will spend a moon cleaning the nursery and the elders' den every day."

Cloudpaw scoffed. "I don't care about that. What matters is that we serve justice for Whiteflower. Branchstar, as the leader of RiverClan, it kind of is your job to punish her for everything she's done."

"She hasn't done anything wrong. You three, on the other hand, are being absolutely horrible to her with your accusations when you know she's done nothing wrong."

"Stop," I mewled. "Everyone stop. If it will make you three happy, I'll leave RiverClan."

"Mosspaw, you don't have to-" Branchstar started, but I shook my head and ran off.

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