Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors!

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?

Chapter Title: Before sunrise, they're YOUR 'paws.

...

SedatedDreams- It's up to the reader, right now, but I like to imagine Weasel and Adder are in a QPR! As for Sweetshine and Adderpelt... well, she likes a gentlecat, and she's also hella bi and likes Weasel. But that's just one way to read it, and I don't intend (as of right now) to confirm anything!

...

"Come on, you guys!" snipped the freshly-named Hootpaw. She sank her teeth into Weaselstar's ear and tugged. Hard. "It's almost time for the dawn patrol! You promised we'd go see the borders today!"

Weaselstar moaned into her arm fur. "Adderpelt, your apprentice is trying to kill me."

"Better you than me," he murmured, rolling over.

Hootpaw puffed her cheeks out, tail lashing. "You can't lay around all day! Mom, tell them!"

Squirrelwhisker reached out and gave Weaselstar a solid kick. "Go."

"Why am I the one getting hurt?"

"You're closest. Get outta my den."

Oh, so it's her den now, Weaselstar thought, sitting up with a grumble. Beyond Hootpaw was Ashpaw, awkwardly half-squished out of the den, his yellow eyes glowing with nerves. She got the feeling he didn't like how Hootpaw was talking to their mentors.

"Up," she meowed, whapping Adderpelt's muzzle with her tail. "I won't be suffering alone."

Adderpelt, thankfully, got up without more fuss. Hootpaw ran eager circles around the tom as he hobbled out into the clearing, not awake enough to have his full footing yet. Weaselstar waited for Squirrelwhisker, but the ginger molly simply rolled over. I guess she's fine with us going on patrols without her. It wasn't like anything was going to happen. ShadowClan wasn't ready to fight for scent lines.

The chill of morning seeped into her fur as she padded into the open camp, finding it abysmally empty. The elders' den was looking better by the day, and from it she caught the mildest of snores. The warriors den sagged from a haphazardly patched hole, leaving it open to the base elements. The medicine den was squished flat; Dew had begun the painstaking process of bringing random plants into her home, most of which she wasn't even entirely certain were herbs, and tended to sleep curled up beside them, scraps everywhere. For all her complaining about Clan life, she really is trying.

The fresh-kill pile lay almost entirely empty. Fogfur sullenly batted a mouse between her paws as Weaselstar approached. Does she miss Nutstripe? The thought of the gentle tom made her heart ache. The gray tabby perked up as Hootpaw bounded closer, passing her the prey with a half-smile, half-grimace.

"I've been thinking," she announced, sitting up. "Leaf-bare isn't going to be easy, right? We're gonna have to hunt all day long."

"Don't remind me," Adderpelt grumbled, munching on a stringy shrew.

"What if we split the work up? Some warriors can go on dawn patrol, sleep, then go hunting at night- and the rest can do day-hunting and evening patrol! That way, we're always looking for food. We'll have to find something."

Weaselstar hesitated. It wasn't a bad idea, but she didn't think it'd be easy. How are cats going to sleep through the day? We'd have to make the den really dark somehow. And won't they feel left out? "It could work. It'd have to be a volunteer thing, though."

"I volunteer!"

"No, you don't." Fogfur lightly cuffed Hootpaw behind the ear. "You gotta focus on apprentice stuff, fluffy-brain!"

Hootpaw pouted. "No fair! We're ShadowClan. Night stuff is what we do!"

I'm glad she's excited to be here, Weaselstar thought, fixing a concerned look at her own apprentice. Ashpaw had willingly crouched beside her to eat, but had refused eye contact all together, chewing on a bone like it was the tastiest fresh-kill he'd ever had. "You alright?"

Her ears flickered uncertainly. Ashpaw had wide, deer-like eyes whenever she spoke to him. "Is it... is it going to be a long walk?"

"It'll feel like it at first. We can stay in camp, if you're not up to it."

"What if we run into predators?"

"We'll run."

"Rogues?"

"We'll run."

"Other Clan cats?"

"We'll probably run."

"We are making a great first impression today," Fogfur meowed. "Relax, kiddo. No one's expecting you to fight a badger on your first day."

Ashpaw breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Something clicked into place in Weaselstar's mind. Oh, right. These are Squirrelwhisker's kits. Squirrelwhisker wasn't the type to not talk crap about warriors she didn't like, regardless of who was close by. What have these kits heard about me?

She gently nudged him and stood, determined to prove she wasn't what they assumed. "Let's check some borders."


Greenleaf was slowly paving way for Leaf-fall. Above, the trees began to change colors, fire and gold and even a few stink bug browns. It would be time yet until they fell, and time still before Leaf-bare began to wreck its usual havoc. The leaves felt like ticking timers; reminders of what was to come. By Leaf-bare, the kits would be 'paws. The thought terrified and excited Weaselstar all at once. I haven't even thought up names for them.

Hootpaw and Ashpaw took the lead, just barely keeping in sight. Weaselstar was thankful that Ashpaw had begun to loosen up outside of camp, immersing himself in the smells of the forest he'd only seen from camp. Hootpaw's feet barely touched the ground as she hopped and spun and tackled, excitedly kneading the ground, Ashpaw's fur, anything she could get ahold of.

"Careful," Fogfur called. "We're getting close to the border!"

Hootpaw ducked through a bush, then came back out. "I found a huge flat rock!"

Weaselstar reluctantly sped up her pace. "That's probably the Thunderpath. Does it smell yucky?"

"It smells terrible," Ashpaw reported.

"Yup. Thunderpath."

Adderpelt carefully nudged his way between the stone and Hootpaw, flashing her a serious look. "Be careful. Monsters hunt here."

"I will be," she promised. "But I'll know when they're coming. They'll smell even worse!"

Weaselstar set a paw on the stone, ignoring the horrid stench that sunk into her fur. Gross. "Don't forget to touch the Thunderpath before crossing. Even If you can't smell the monster, you'll be able to feel it."

"Um, Weaselstar?" Fogfur sniffed warily at a clump of weeds. "I think we have bigger problems than monsters. Take a whiff."

She slowly opened her maw. A myriad of smells washed over her tongue. Bitter stone, muddy paws, and the faded hint of Ratpaw and Bumblepaw's marks. ThunderClan, weaker than the former but stronger than the latter. Spiderstar's warriors had been here recently. Irritation surged in her veins, clawing fruitlessly at the grass.

Hootpaw's shoulders grew solid as she glared across the border, scruff rising. "Are we gonna beat 'em up?"

"What? No. We'd lose."

"But they stepped on our territory!"

Adderpelt touched her side with his nose. "If Spiderstar wants to waste cats by having them run across the road to spite us, that's his problem."

"But we're ShadowClan!"

"We're a pawful of warriors in a trenchcoat," Weaselstar meowed. "I'm just as frustrated as you are, kiddo, but getting ourselves killed won't make ThunderClan realize they're wrong. Getting stronger will."

The brown and white tabby huffed, but her fur began to lie flat. Hootpaw stuck her tongue out. "Jerks."

Ashpaw crept along Weaselstar's side, ears low and anxious. "Why don't they treat us like a real Clan?"

"To them, we're not."

"But why not? We've got a leader and a medicine cat. We have dens and elders."

Fogfur shrugged. "You know what Spiderstar is like."

"Not really?"

"Oh, right. I forget you were never in ThunderClan."

Hootpaw perked up, nudging Ashpaw eagerly. "That makes us, like, the first full-time ShadowClan cats!"

"Huh," said Ashpaw, the tiniest of smiles coming across his muzzle. "I... guess it does."


They went more slowly towards RiverClan. Winding trees shielded them from the rays of Sunhigh as the warriors showed the 'paws the Greenleaf Twolegplace; it positively swarmed with Twolegs, nestling in their tents and monsters to rest. The faint scent of fire scorched Weaselstar's nose, making her eyes water. No doubt any viable prey had long left the area. Kits ran amok, batting their strange paws at bouncy stones. ThunderClan smell was here too.

Fogfur recoiled when one such stone got too close, hackles raised. "Spiderstar can keep this place for all I care. It's not right."

"They're camping," Weaselstar meowed, distantly remembering Dew explaining it to her. "I think they do it for fun? The fire is for burning up their prey."

Hootpaw's eyes sparkled curiously. "Why would they burn prey?"

"They eat it that way."

"Weird."

By the time they got to the older, quieter nest in the center of the territory, Hootpaw and Ashpaw were beginning to show their exhaustion. Hootpaw hardly even second-glanced the strange rocks shielding the den, and Ashpaw didn't even look concerned when something fluttered in one of its eyes. Weaselstar imagined they had gotten up fairly early to wake their mentors- and that was if they'd slept at all. Not much further and we'll all get to go back to bed.

Weaselstar pushed into a clearing just in time to watch, gobsmacked, as Ice Cube's familiar pelt hared after a shrew. She wasn't certain if she was impressed or angry. He's even further into Clan territory this time!

Fogfur didn't hold any such trepidation, jaws splitting in an earsplitting howl. "Trespasser!"

Ice Cube flinched and straightened, shrew in his jaws. He had the decency to look a little embarrassed. "Uhhhh... oops?"

"Should we chase him off? I feel like we should chase him off." Adderpelt seemed more confused than upset. "What's our protocol here, anyway?"

Ashpaw dived behind Weaselstar, fur standing on end. "You promised no fighting!"

She carefully wound her tail around his trembling shoulders. "No fighting. Our new friend is just going to put the fresh-kill down and leave. Isn't he?"

"Am I?" he meowed, but set the shrew down. Ice Cube trotted over to them with a surprisingly chipper attitude, considering he'd just lost lunch. "Are forest cats supposed to be this scrawny? It's summer. Food's everywhere."

Fogfur snorted derisively. "Unlike some cats, we don't live off of scraps."

"Food's food." The gray-and-white tom tilted his head slightly to look at Ashpaw and Hootpaw. Ashpaw managed a feeble hiss. Hootpaw said nothing, simply snarling at him. "Man, I know a bunch of cats who'd wanna know about you guys. You're all so shhhh."

Thinking quickly, Weaselstar took a pointed step towards him. "And I'd be more than happy to answer them, but only if they consider joining us."

"What?" Fogfur squeaked, jaw dropping. "Weasel, this is a rogue. They're all gonna be rogues and kittypets and-"

"We need more warriors."

"We'll give birth to more."

"Relying on blood just leads to inbreeding," she shot back. Ice Cube was blinking at her like she had a second head. "I seem to recall you owing me a dinner. I'll wait here tomorrow night."

Ice Cube's pelt bushed out with excitement. "Yes! Yes, this'll be so cool!" The loner turned and sprinted back from whence he came, calling over his shoulder; "See you then, forest cat!"

"This is a stupid idea," Fogfur chipped in, scowling. "It's a stupid idea and when it fails I'm going to rub your nose in it."

Adderpelt came up on her side and gave her a pointed look. "I know we just had this whole talk on boundaries, but..."

"I honestly forgot about it. I didn't think he'd come back or anything."

"Well, he did."

"I know. He's got guts. Maybe his friends will too."

Author's Note: I've been lazy about my kitties recently, so here's some new stuff! Next time is gonna be all about friends who friend out together. Also Bumblepaw has a knife.

-Mandaree1