Chapter Two: Tonight is Young and the Rest is Up To You

Days passed since the Apprentice Ceremony, but there was a shift within the Clan that was almost tangible; it felt more alive. Cats walked a little faster, laughed a little louder. Even the air tasted different.

Harrykit's death left a heavy cloud hanging over the Clan, but it was impossible to continue dwelling on the terrible accident now that his sisters were apprentices. And oh, it had been such a long time since there were apprentices again!

The only cats who seemed unaffected by the renewed enthusiasm were Rabbitleap and Nettlesplash, but that was fine by Creekfeather. Rabbitleap would get over his "defeat" to Mintfur eventually, and Nettlesplash… well, if he had perked up too, then Creekfeather would have been concerned.

Leafstar smiled easier; Sharpclaw's bark had less bite; Tangle complained marginally less; Plumwillow seemed to relax around him.

And that was exactly what Creekfeather was waiting for.

He found his friends lounging across the Sunningstones.

Swiftleap and Honeyflower were sharing tongues, lost in their own blissful world. Tinycloud was grooming her own pelt whilst Frecklewish plucked a robin.

"Pretty day," Creekfeather remarked, as he hopped onto the stone. "Seems a shame to waste is just laying around."

"I don't mind," Honeyflower purred, as Swiftleap licked her stomach.

Creekfeather suppressed a grimace, but looked to Tinycloud and Frecklewish. "What about you two?"

Frecklewish blinked apologetically. "Sorry Creekfeather, but I've spent all morning sorting herbs; my paw pads ache."

"I've already led a dawn patrol today," Tinycloud added.

"See, that's our problem," Creekfeather exclaimed. His friends lifted their heads to look at him. "We haven't done much as a group since..." Since Swiftleap and Honeyflower became exclusive, and Plumwillow split from the group. "Well, it's been a while."

They knew it too, by the way none of them could meet his eye, all of a sudden.

"I suppose we've all been busy," Honeyflower admitted. "Frecklewish has more responsibilities now that she's a full time medicine cat; Tinycloud picked up a lot of the slack when there weren't any apprentices; and Swiftleap and I have been spending a lot of time together…"

Creekfeather shook his head, sadly. "You all forgot about poor, lonely Creekfeather."

"You have littermates," Frecklewish pointed out. "Don't they want to spend time with you?"

Oh sure. Between Rabbitleap's dream to become deputy, Nettlesplash's dream to never leave his nest, and the awkwardness with Plumwillow, I'm sure we could all have so much fun together

The frustration must have spilled onto his face. Swiftleap stared at him for a long moment before speaking up. "Creekfeather is right, it would do us good to spend some time together. What did you have planned?"

For that, Creekfeather was thankful. Even if he was worried that they were walking down different paths of life, Swiftleap still had his back.

Creekfeather grinned and said, "I thought it would be fun to visit some old friends."

"No," Plumwillow said, flatly.

"Please," Creekfeather asked again. "What could it hurt to give our friends a second chance?"

"They lied to me, Creekfeather!" Plumwillow snapped. "Why- why does nobody understand why that's such a big deal?"

Creekfeather swallowed. "I do understand, Plum. I just hate to see you by yourself all the time… or with Rabbitleap, which is just as lame."

But Plumwillow shook her head. "I- no. No, I think it's a bad idea in the first place, and I want no part in it. What if somebody gets hurt?"

"Then it's a good thing we'll have a medicine cat with us!"

He waited for even the ghost of a smile to appear on Plumwillow's face, but her expression remained stoney.

Creekfeather sighed. "Alright, fine. Stay in camp by yourself I guess. You won't tell anyone where we're going, will you?"

Plumwillow hesitated, then slowly shook her head. "Just be careful, Creekfeather. I really don't like this idea."

He moved to lay his head on her back. "Then you should come with us to make sure we're careful."

Plumwillow pulled away from him. "Say 'hi' to Harveymoon for me." Then she turned around and headed into the Warriors' Den, tail low. Creekfeather watched her disappear, feeling torn in half.

"I hate it when she says we all lied to her."

Creekfeather spun around. Tinycloud stood against the dusk, looking about as frustrated as he felt.

"She's not wrong, technically," Creekfeather defended her. "You knew before she knew."

"By a few days!" Tinycloud hissed. "For StarClan's sake, I was her mentor! Plumwillow is like a sister to me, and yet she thinks I would intentionally hurt her!"

Creekfeather's stomach churned. "Give her time, Tinycloud. Her pride is just wounded."

Tinycloud looked at Creekfeather for a long moment, and then she huffed. "I'm surprised Leafstar didn't give you one of the apprentices, with all the patience you have for her. But whatever; this ruins your plan. Now there are only five of us."

"Oh ye of little faith," Creekfeather childed. He grinned. "I always have a back-up plan, Tinycloud."

Creekfeather's back-up plan was named Birdflight.

The black she-cat loped alongside him. "Thanks again for inviting me," she chirped. "I love exploring the Twolegplace!"

"We know," Swiftleap mumbled. "If Mintfur catches you again, she's going to skin you alive in front of Firepaw."

"If she catches us," Birdflight replied, unaffected. "But don't worry, I checked on Mintfur before we left; she volunteered to bring Tangle his fresh-kill tonight, so she's in camp."

She must have beat Rabbitleap to it tonight. What a suck-up.

The white Twoleg fence came into view; the same one that Birdflight had crossed a few days ago. The fence must have reminded Birdflight of something.

"Hey," she murmured. "Did Nettlesplash get in trouble for leaving his border patrol early? It was a few days ago, I think at dusk-"

"You don't have to jog my memory, Nettlesplash never patrols," Creekfeather snorted. "No, Sharpclaw didn't seem to notice."

"Did Rabbitleap give him a hard time over it? I know they don't get along very well these days."

"These days? Rabbitleap and Nettlesplash have never gotten along."

"So Rabbitleap did mention it to him?" She pressed.

"Why do you care so much?" Honeyflower asked, falling back to walk beside her sister. There was a coy smile on her face. "Worried about Nettlesplash, are you?"

"No," Birdflight said, suddenly defensive. "But he left the patrol early because I showed up, and I just-"

Nettlesplash gossip. Borrring. Swiftleap and Tinycloud stopped in front of the fence. Creekfeather quickened his steps to catch up with them. "Scared?" He teased.

"Concerned," Tinycloud corrected him. "I think this is a bad idea."

"Funny, Plumwillow said the same thing."

Tinycloud sniffed. "Of course she did. I trained her to have some good sense."

Before Creekfeather could reply, Tinycloud leapt over the fence with incredible ease. Birdflight was next, and then Honeyflower, a little slower. Creekfeather was left alone with Swiftleap for the first time in a long time.

Swiftleap offered him a smile. "I've got your back."

That smile made Creekfeather hesitate. What if Tinycloud and Plumwillow are right? What if this is a bad idea? He didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"What's taking so long?" Honeyflower called from over the fence. "Do you need help?"

They answered by leaping gracefully over the fence, first Creekfeather and then Swiftleap. "How embarrassing would it be if a SkyClan cat needed help jumping over a fence?" Creekfeather asked.

"Not as embarrassing as a SkyClan cat afraid of heights," Birdflight laughed.

Frecklewish sighed. "Poor Rabbitleap. Nobody will ever let him live that down."

"That's fine; he prefers to be down, anyway! Hah!"

"Hush," Tinycloud scolded her. "Rabbitleap didn't have an easy apprenticeship. I remember Sharpclaw was worried that he would train himself to death."

And Rabbitleap thinks that everybody pities Nettlesplash, Creekfeather thought. But everyone loves the runt. Creekfeather did vaguely remember how the mentors would look at each other when Rabbitleap insisted they have just one more spar; just one more hunt before the sun set.

Swiftleap brushed against Creekfeather, jolting him. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I think I should ask you that. You've left Honeyflower's side twice tonight; is the honey moon over?"

Swiftleap's concern faded to knowing. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it, Creekfeather, but I know you're having trouble with your littermates."

"No more than usual."

"You don't spend as much time with Plumwillow as you used to."

"Well to be fair, she and I spent time together in a group setting. She hates all of you now."

"And I'm sorry about that," Swiftleap admitted. "I miss her. I wish we could have ended things differently. But it wasn't fair to ask Honeyflower and I to keep our relationship a secret forever."

Not forever. Just long enough for her to move on from you.

"No. I guess not."

Tension crept between the toms. Creekfeather was so, so sick of tension.

The she-cats overtook them; Frecklewish was in the lead, seeing how she used to live in this neighborhood and knew the paths like muscle memory. Tinycloud walked alongside her; Honeyflower and Birdflight giggled about something or another.

Creekfeather didn't understand why Nettlesplash detested Birdflight; she was a lot of fun, always down for anything. But she still isn't Plumwillow. Watching her with Honeyflower now, Creekfeather was reminded of how things used to be.

"Honeyflower is excited to have kits."

Creekfeather turned to face Swiftleap; Swiftleap stared at the group ahead of them.

"Sure. I mean, she was really good with Stormpaw and Firepaw when they were kits. It makes sense that she would want her own someday."

"Someday… soon."

Something stirred in his chest; a mixture of fear and anger and betrayal. Did none of his friends remember how things used to be? Did they not miss the days when they could spend time together as a whole group and it was the easiest thing in the world?

"How soon?"

Rabbitleap thought that the one bright side of Mintfur receiving an apprentice would be that she had less time to try and compete with him. But when he carried a squirrel all the way to the Elders' Den and Tangle told him that Mintfur had already brought him a sparrow, Rabbitleap could have thrown his squirrel over the cliff.

Instead he took it to the Nursery and offered it to Cherrytail and Clovertail. The queens accepted it graciously, but it did little to lift Rabbitleap's spirits.

I'll bring Tangle his prey before the dusk patrols tomorrow, Rabbitleap promised himself, as he made his way to the Warriors' Den. The moon was rising to meet Silverpelt, but Rabbitleap's gaze stumbled across a figure sitting on the Rockpile.

Curious, Rabbitleap padded towards the figure. "Plumwillow?"

Plumwillow turned to face him, eyes wide. "Rabbitleap," she breathed, her voice unsteady. "I have a bad feeling about Creekfeather…"

"Wow," Creekfeather finally said. His voice sounded wooden. "You're going to be a father. That's… that's really something, Swiftleap."

Swiftleap purred. "I'm excited about it, and of course Honeyflower is thrilled to death."

"Yeah. I bet."

Swiftleap glanced at him. "We only found out yesterday. I wasn't trying to keep it a secret from you."

"Of course not. You're terrible at keeping secrets anyway."

Swiftleap stopped walking. "Creekfeather, don't start with that. Honeyflower and I were outside of camp; Plumwillow found us. I can't help that!"

"You can't help that Honeyflower is expecting your kits, either, can you?"

"Do you really expect us to put our lives on hold because Plumwillow is in love with me?" Swiftleap snapped. "Do you hear how selfish you sound right now?"

"I'm selfish?" Creekfeather retorted. "You were courting Plumwillow when you asked her best friend to be your mate."

Honeyflower materialized beside Swiftleap. "What are you two talking about?" she demanded. Birdflight and Tinycloud were right behind her.

Creekfeather ignored her. "You don't even like kits," he told Swiftleap. "The only way you would ever visit the Nursery was when Sharpclaw would order you to get the dirty bedding."

"It's different when they're my kits, Creekfeather," Swiftleap snapped.

"Kits?" Birdflight echoed, looking at Honeyflower.

Honeyflower stepped between Creekfeather and her mate, uncharastically angry. "Stop," she snarled. "Stop making everything about you, Creekfeather!"

"Wait a moment, you're pregnant?" Tinycloud exclaimed.

"And you didn't tell us!" Birdflight cried, hurt.

"We just found out," Swiftleap huffed. "We haven't even told Clovertail and Patchfoot yet!"

"Guys!" Frecklewish called, further down the path. "I think we should go back to camp. There are more dogs than I remember."

Creekfeather shook off his friends. "No! We came to visit the daylight warriors, so that's what we're going to do. Besides, the dogs are in fences, aren't they?"

Frecklewish flattened her ears. "For now," she replied. "But some of them are really big, and I don't-"

"You said Macgyver's home is in this neighborhood," Creekfeather interrupted. "Let's just say 'hello' to him and then we'll return to camp.

"If Honeyflower is expecting, then she doesn't need to be here," Tinycloud cut in. "It's too much stress on the kits, and if the dogs get loose-"

"The dogs won't get loose," Creekfeather retorted.

Almost on cue, a frenzy of barking. Creekfeather's entire body stiffened; his friends flattened their ears, eyes wide.

"We need to get you back to camp," Tinycloud told Honeyflower, already pulling her away.

"Frecklewish!" Swiftleap called. "Let's go!"

But Frecklewish was frozen in fear, transfixed by something they couldn't see. Creekfeather didn't understand until a shadow fell across her; more frenzied barking. The dogs are loose, he thought, horrified, and then he screamed it.

Everything happened at a snail's pace: the dogs, two of them, exploded from around the corner; Frecklewish finally got her wits about her and started towards her friends, but the dogs were gaining quickly; Creekfeather closed his eyes and asked StarClan for a miracle.

"Move, Creekfeather!"

The miracle shot past him, in the form of Rabbitleap and Sparrowpelt.

Creekfeather watched as the two warriors lunged at the dogs, distracting them long enough for Frecklewish to escape their grasp. Tinycloud breezed past Creekfeather and joined the tussle; that was when he remembered, Oh, right. I'm a warrior.

Creekfeather charged at one of the dogs and raked his claws down its flank; the dog threw his head back and howled, before spinning around and snapping at Creekfeather. Heart beating like a hummingbird, he dropped to the ground just in time.

Creekfeather tried to keep up with his Clanmates, but there was only darkness and chaos. He thought he heard Birdflight call somebody a mange-face, and he hoped that Swiftleap, Honeyflower, and Frecklewish made it to safety.

One of the dogs finally decided it had had enough, shook itself free, and ran away with its' tail between its' legs. Creekfeather felt confident that the five of them could handle the other dog-

Until five became three. Sparrowpelt had disappeared, and Birdflight sailed over Creekfeather's head into a tree. That just left himself, Tinycloud, and Rabbitleap, and they were sore.

Another miracle, StarClan? Creekfeather asked.

"Daylight warriors, attack!"

Creekfeather spun around and watched as an entire patrol of cats burst from the shadows, snarling and scratching. Caught off guard, Creekfeather was kicked into the same tree as Birdflight.

"Stars, are you okay?" Birdflight wheezed.

"Leave me here to die," Creekfeather groaned.

Certainly he was far from death, but the black spots that danced across his vision warned him to lay still. For a long while all Creekfeather could do was lay next to Birdflight and hope that his friends were safe. Time crawled by as Creekfeather listened to snarling and hissing and ripping.

Finally, finally, somebody hollered, "Take that, Stinky-tail!"

Creekfeather closed his eyes. Rabbitleap. Sharpclaw cursed so profusely that at one point he'd been banned from the Nursery, and yet, Rabbitleap had never picked up a good insult. He's alive, though.

Creekfeather staggered to his legs, then helped Birdflight do the same. He looked at the group still standing, then did a double take. "Tinycloud?" he asked.

"I'm alright," the she-cat groaned. She had been tossed into a bush, but managed to stand up on her own. "What happened to Sparrowpelt?"

There was no answer. The daylight warriors - Harveymoon, Snookthorn, and another cat Creekfeather didn't recognize - exchanged looks. "I never saw Sparrowpelt," Snookthorn said.

"He was right beside me," Tinycloud said, defensively. "We were-"

"Over here," a voice called, weakly. Creekfeather didn't even have time to pinpoint where the voice came from before Tinycloud streaked towards it. By the time he and the others made their way over, Tinycloud was helping Sparrowpelt stand on his legs.

Sparrowpelt hissed as soon as he was up. "One of the dogs clamped down on my leg before he tossed me," he said. "I think- I think it's out of place."

"Where's Frecklewish?" Birdflight asked.

"Helping your Clanmates back to camp," Harveymoon answered. "We passed them on the way over… Swiftleap and Honeyflower?"

Creekfeather nodded, numb with relief that they hadn't got thrown around in the dog fight. Frecklewish would do a good job of keeping Honeyflower calm, too.

"Then we'll have to wait until we get back to camp to look at your leg, Sparrowpelt," Rabbitleap said. Sparrowpelt's face was grim, but he didn't respond.

Rabbitleap stepped towards Harveymoon. "Harveymoon, you said 'daylight warriors, attack'. But Leafstar ended the daylight warriors."

"We brought them back!" Snookthorn exclaimed, beating Harveymoon. "There's been a lot of trouble around this neighborhood, but we've helped clean it up!"

The other cat, the one Creekfeather didn't recognize, puffed out her chest. "This isn't even our first dog fight."

Harveymoon met his eye. "Even kittypets need help. I know we aren't welcomed in your camp anymore, but we can help you as far as the fence, if you'd like."

"I think we'll be alright-"

"That would be great," Tinycloud cut Creekfeather off. "Sparrowpelt could use some more support on his other side, and Birdflight, I see that you're limping too."

Harveymoon nodded to the strange she-cat. "Mollyheart, you take Sparrowpelt's other side. Snookthorn can help Birdflight."

The cats swiftly took their places. Harveymoon claimed to know of a short-cut that led to the fence, and he assumed the head of the patrol. Creekfeather fell into step beside Rabbitleap.

"It's nice to see Harveymoon and Snookthorn again," he said, conversationally.

Rabbitleap ignored him.

Creekfeather sighed. "Alright, I'll bite: how did you and Sparrowpelt know where to find us?"

He could tell that Rabbitleap wanted to continue giving him the silent treatment, but Rabbitleap could always be baited into playing the hero. "Plumwillow told me, and I told Leafstar. We weren't expecting to run into any dogs, which is why she only sent Sparrowpelt with me."

Plumwillow. It was shallow, but Creekfeather couldn't help but think, Traitor.

"Well, thanks for the help."

Rabbitleap wasn't going to forgive him that easily. "Creekfeather, I hope you understand what sort of trouble you're going to be in when we get back to camp."

"Oh, I'm sure Leafstar and Sharpclaw will think of something especially cruel this time."

"Good," Rabbitleap snapped, and Creekfeather stiffened. "You deserve it."

"I usually do," Creekfeather replied easily, acutely aware of the tension that came to walk in between them. "I usually do."

True to their word, the daylight warriors helped the Clan cats over the fence and went no further than that. Goodbyes were short and awkward, and all Creekfeather could think was, This isn't how I wanted tonight to go.

Rabbitleap took Snookthorn's position beside Birdflight; Creekfeather silently filled in for Mollyheart. He got along well enough with Sparrowpelt, but he figured that the injured warrior wasn't in a very talkative mood.

"How are you doing?" Tinycloud murmured to him.

"It feels like a dog bit my leg in half, Tinycloud," Sparrowpelt hissed through gritted teeth. "How do you think I'm doing?"

Tinycloud fell silent. Creekfeather felt sorry for her; Tinycloud had been head-over-paws for Sparrowpelt back when she was still Plumwillow mentor. When they finally confessed their feelings for each other, everyone assumed it would be a quick courtship. By the way Sparrowpelt refused to look at her now, Creekfeather thought this might be a setback for the couple.

And that's my fault, too.

Creekfeather stayed silent the rest of the walk back to camp.

alternate title: in which Creekfeather makes another bad decision

This went up on AO3 on Tuesday, but reformatting everything gives me a headache! Anyway, big thanks to everyone who left a review last chapter! I noticed some framilair usernames and I can't express how excited I am to see you again, but I'm also tickled to see new readers! I hope you'll all love what I have planned!

Find me on Tumblr under the same user for chapter trivia and other content! Cross posted to AO3 if you prefer the format.