Disclaimer: I don't own the Warriors series!
Title: Deep Dive
Summary: In a world where ThunderClan absorbed ShadowClan seasons ago, young warrior Weaselface is tasked to rebuild the fourth Clan and take her place as leader. But how can she betray all she's ever known and loved, all on the word of one ghost with a grudge?
...
By the time Weaselface returned to ThunderClan, she had mostly pushed the incident out of her mind. It was no easy feat; The Shadows seemed to be following her, whispering congratulations in her ear as she snatched up a vole and a crow. Her mind swirled with indecision as she met the morning hunting patrol with a sheepish flick of the tail, showing off the fresh-kill.
Was Brackenstar pulling a prank on me? She wondered, following them back to camp. It wasn't like she knew the ghostly tom very well. Maybe he was making a mockery of her wish to flee. Stalling for time, until the inevitable happened. Rebuilding ShadowClan didn't even make sense- ThunderClan benefitted greatly from the larger territory; and, as a ThunderClan warrior, how could she want anything less for her Clanmates? Where would I even start?
Weaselface's stomach spasmed, and she forgot all about her strange dreams, gasping for air.
"All right?" asked Ratpaw, who had been tasked to walk alongside her with the vole.
She swallowed and nodded. Not right now. You can do this later, you hear me? Stars, not even here yet and you're already ignoring me. "Just a bit worried."
The black tom shifted closer, brushing their pelts. "Aww, don't worry about that. Spiderstar isn't that harsh with the night ban anymore. He's caught me and Bumblepaw night hunting loads of times."
"Night roaming is why he did this to me, you'll remember." She gave her throat a pointed lick.
"Yeah, but that's why he stopped."
Spiderstar, for all his bravado, had honestly been shaken the night he'd attacked a kit, regardless of his actual intentions. "I guess."
There was another spasm, not as intense as the last, but Ratpaw flinched and stared at her. "Wait, are you-"
Weaselface cut him off. "Go tell Adderpelt for me, please. I need to talk to Spiderstar."
He reluctantly dipped his head and hared away. It took a bit of effort to haul herself and the prey into the leader's den, enough so to catch the tom's attention before she'd even slipped inside. Spiderstar watched intently as she set the bird in front of him, having clearly stopped mid-sentence with Beetooth.
"Got your crow, sir."
Spiderstar set a paw on top of it. "Where did you go?"
Weaselface grimaced with pain. "I feel asleep."
He blinked at her. "What?"
"I was up all night, sir, with Sweetshine. I got sluggish while I was hunting, and fell asleep under a bush. I slept the whole night through." She gave her chest a few embarrassed licks for good measure. It was mostly true. "I'm really sorry, Spiderstar."
"Mudcloud snuck out," he said tightly. "The night he died."
"I know, sir."
"I don't want to think betrayal runs in your veins, Weaselface, but how can I believe it when you pull a stunt like this?"
Weaselface shuffled her paws. Somehow, she didn't think telling him she'd fallen into the Moonpool and dreamed of nameless spirits would be a good defense. "I got a big head, sir. I thought I could do it all. I'm sorry."
Spiderstar glared at her a long moment, then twitched his ear. "What do you think, Beetooth?"
She tensed. Beetooth was notoriously harsher about the night rule.
"I think it says a lot that she came back," he replied calmly. "Weaselface could be far, far away by now, but she isn't. She came back, and she's not ignoring her mistake. Most cats aren't brave enough to do that."
Brave, my tail. Where else would I go?
"So you think she shouldn't be punished?" Spiderstar pressed.
Beetooth shook his head. "Never said that. But I think that it can wait until she's finished with her labor."
Spiderstar's head almost snapped off his shoulders. His eyes bugged out of their sockets. "You're in labor?" he squeaked. "Why didn't you say something?"
Weaselface smiled ruefully. "I didn't want to make excuses, sir."
"Dung, dung, dung!" He began to pace. "Oh man, oh man. What should we do?"
"I'd suggest letting her lay down," Beetooth meowed, sounding remarkably indulgent. "I'll go get Mintfern."
She hesitated. "Can't I just have-"
Spiderstar interrupted her, fire in his eyes. "No. No Dew. You're going to have a proper medicine cat delivery. My grandkits deserve better than that old hag."
"That old hag is my mother, sir."
He wasn't paying her any mind now, shoving her out the door with his muzzle. Spiderstar practically drug her to the nursery, spitting mild curses under his breath as he felt her stomach twitch against his. Sweetshine and Adderpelt were waiting inside, heads bent close together. Larkkit and Honeykit had yet to open their eyes, but she could sense confusion in their little wiggles as Weaselface settled onto the nest beside the calico.
Adderpelt licked her cheek. "What do you want me to do?"
"Leave," she meowed. "I'd really rather not have a bunch of cats staring at me while I pop out kittens."
He immediately backed away. "I'll go get you some moss. Lots of moss! More moss than you've ever seen!"
Sweetshine inched a little closer, pointedly putting her tail around Larkkit and Honeykit so they couldn't 'see' anything. "I can't really leave the den, but I can go to the other side if you want."
"No, no, that's okay." Weaselface curled her muzzle in Sweetshine's scruff. It was comforting. "I- I need to talk to you. About Antpaw."
Her eyes grew dim and somber. "Oh, Weasel, you don't have to say it. I know."
"He never told me," she admitted. "That you were mates."
"He didn't? Stars, he was a mouse-brain." Sweetshine carefully wrapped a paw around one of her own, firm. "I'm sorry he wasn't honest to you. He should've been. I thought you knew, and we were all in this together. " She scoffed at herself. "I guess I should've realized when you started avoiding me."
"I was a mouse-heart. I should've-"
"No. You weren't. If anyone was, it was Antpaw. He was dishonest, and it caused you a lot of pain. I'm really sorry about that, Weasel."
Weaselface look at Sweetshine with a lopsided grin. "Can we? Still be in it together, I mean?" She winced as a whole new spasm hit her. "I'd really like having as many friends helping me raise these kits as possible."
"Of course!" she exclaimed, bumping noses with her. "They'll be just as much mine as Larkkit and Honeykit will be yours," Sweetshine promised, and a heavy weight in Weaselface's chest began to unravel.
"Aww, come'on, just a single poppy seed? You've already had two of them."
Weaselface hissed at Mintfern. "Don't you dare feed them poppy! It could kill them!"
"Maybe," she agreed, whiskers twitching. "But think of how great it'd be, to know for certain how much a kit could or couldn't take? It'd help a lot of future patients."
"No!"
"Fine. A juniper berry, then? It won't even have any affect on them."
Sweetshine glared daggers at the molly. "Maybe you should leave, Mintfern. I think I've got this under control."
The black and white medicine cat sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ya'll are too sensitive, I swear. Think of the data!"
"Mintfern," she insisted.
"Ugh, fine." Mintfern nipped the last sack. "Here. Three daughters. No new information. I hope you're happy."
Happy is an odd way of describing 'feeling like fox-food under a monster's paw'.
Weaselface waited until Mintfern had left to sluggishly lift her head and blink at the bundles against her stomach. It hadn't been an overly long labor- actually, it'd been rather short- but she was exhausted nonetheless. Suckling against her were three babies, none of which bore Antpaw's pelt. The one on the far left was all black, the one in the middle was a brown and white tabby, and the one on the right was black with white paws and a little white spot on her chest.
In the time it took for her to focus on the trio, Adderpelt was cautiously laying down beside her, leaning against her back. There was a bright gleam in his eyes as he leaned in close. "Little paws," he whispered, amazed. She could just barely make out Sweetshine giggling in the background.
"Little paws," Weaselface echoed, wincing. "Big shoulders."
Adderpelt stared at them a couple heartbeats longer, as if making absolutely certain they were real, then nervously met her eye. "Can I name one?"
She gestured to them with her paw. "I'm not gonna name them all myself."
"I always liked Feather for a name," he explained, then hesitantly nosed the all black molly. "Can she be Featherkit? Is- is that okay?"
"Featherkit is a nice name." Weaselface considered the remaining two. Well, I always liked tree names. She tapped the tip of her tail onto the top of the brown and white tabby. "How does Elmkit sound?"
"Beautiful. Perfect. Outstanding."
She snorted, then finally looked to the last one. Elmkit was the most creative she got when she was tired. "How about Spottedkit?"
Adderpelt nodded along. "It's surprisingly underused."
Weaselface's jaws split into a yawn. She let the exhaustion sink into her bones, tongue peeking out just a second, then laid her head down beside Featherkit. "I'm going to take a nap now."
"What about dad?"
"Spiderstar can wait. Or he can be quiet and come in while I'm sleeping. That's up to him."
Adderpelt looked out into the clearing a moment, then shrugged and settled in as well, gently intertwining their tails. For that alone, Weaselface knew she could never leave this behind. She could never leave her friends, or this nest, or this Clan, and that would just have to be enough for StarClan, prank or not.
Author's Note: Me? Writing serious characters blepping? It's more likely than you think.
Weasel: I really don't wanna think about that trippy dream I had
Weasel's stomach: oh hey I can totally help with that dude
-Mandaree1
