Foxstar was torn between her love for ThunderClan and her duty to her missing ancestors, SkyClan. She could practically hear the whispers of the deceased calling for her to take the long journey downriver to the gorge.
I can't, she thought tiredly. I have a responsibility to them. At the very least, we need a medicine cat first.
Night had long since fallen over the whole forest, chilling the air, as dark clouds rolled in and covered what remained of the moon. Foxstar sat on a barkwall overlooking the border between ThunderClan territory and treecutplace, absorbing the lingering scent of her mate and youngest kit.
A fine drizzle started to fall, creating a thin fog. Foxstar flicked her ears, glancing upwards in the hopes of catching a glimpse of starlight, but the dark clouds prevented any cat from seeing the night sky. She started back towards treecutplace, her current home, a simple cabin in the middle of a dying forest. A large puddle of light out front kept her Clan in the shadows, away from the prying eyes of humans.
Her small fledgling Clan was filled with former BloodClan cats, and some had temporarily been TigerClan. It had only been a few moons since she had felt compelled to leave ThunderClan to start SkyClan. After she stole Firestar's thunder over and over again while she was in ThunderClan, Foxstar believed it was best to leave ThunderClan so Firestar could grow into the cat from canon he was always meant to be.
A few months was long enough for her tiny kittens to grow into four moon old teens. She hadn't realized until she had kits how fast they grew up. Her mate, Dustpelt, brought them to visit every day. His scent still lingered on the air. But overtime the kits stopped coming and now she only saw Forestkit, her youngest. Eventually, he'd be an apprentice and then he would have to stop seeing her as anything other than an enemy warrior.
With a soft sigh, she turned away from the forest, landed silently on the dusty side, and padded towards the cabin, the place that her new Clan called home. A yowl greeted her as she approached the porch.
"Foxstar! I was looking for you!" A white, spike-furred tom emerged out from under the wood, looking ruffled.
Foxstar blinked at him. "Freezepelt? What's wrong?"
"Visitors," he mewed, rising cautiously with a timid look at the bright puddle of light beaming off the porch. "From twolegplace. They say they come from SkyClan."
Foxstar's eyes widened, a stray thought flashing through her mind. Had Cloudstar sent them? She fought to stay calm. "Lead the way."
Freezepelt hurried away, darting across the pale yellow light. The white tom went straight for a small clearing close to the twolegplace border and halted. Foxstar padded up beside him and stared at the newcomers in surprise. Her senior most warriors were already there, keeping a close suspicious eye on the cats, especially the young black and white she-cat.
"Mountainfrost, Wolfclaw," she mewed to the former BloodClan soldiers, "report."
Wolfclaw gestured to the group, nose wrinkled in disbelief. "They claim to be Clan cats. Said their names were Snapwhisker, Hollowfrost, Shadowfall, Thunderbird, and Littlefang."
"They say they come from SkyClan," Mountainfrost mewed nervously, glancing sideways at her.
Foxstar could almost see it. The oldest tom and black and white she-cat definitely had the long legs of a SkyClan cat, but the others looked like normal housecats. One was a black Maine Coon she-cat, the other a tortoiseshell-and-white tabby tom, and the last a cream tabby tom. Foxstar hummed thoughtfully and dipped her head towards their leader. "I am Foxstar, leader of this Clan." Foxstar really wished she had settled on a Clan name before now. "Why are you here?"
"Don't you recognize us?" the stranger asked. "It's us, Barkpaw. We're your family."
Foxstar stared. The she-cat looked like herself, but she was thinner and smaller. Her hair wasn't long enough to develop the reddish tint caused by having too much sun.
Foxstar glanced at Freezepelt, who flicked an ear and pointedly glanced over her backside.
"It's me, Hollowfrost." The blue-eyed she-cat blinked at her. "Your sister. We were trying to rebuild SkyClan together."
She had never used the name "Barkpaw" for herself, only "Bark." It was a name she had given one of her original characters, a brown she-cat. At the time, she had thought she was just a normal brown she-cat so chose the name for herself. ThunderClan had renamed her Foxpaw both because of her fox-like appearance and the foxes she had chased out of ThunderClan territory.
My OCs...
It had been three years since she thought about them. She had created them after reading Firestar's Quest, when she was unhappy that SkyClan had basically completely disbanded instead of the struggling survivors coming to seek Firestar's aid. She wanted there to be at least a few warriors left, warriors who still believed that SkyClan could be reborn, and created four cats to represent the original Clans: Windbreeze, Riverstream, Thunderbird, and Shadowfall.
Eventually, she wrote Shadowfall as a former rogue who fell for Thunderbird and had two kits, Barkpaw and Hollowfrost. Barkpaw had left them to become the rogue, Bark, after rejecting her SkyClan ancestry, while Hollowfrost became the last medicine cat before leaving for her mate, Snapwhisker.
"You do remember!" Hollowfrost glanced at the cream tabby tom beside her, looking pleased. "I told you she would!"
Foxstar felt her head start to spin. It was becoming harder to breathe, and she forced herself to look away until her breathing became steady.
"We'll have to catch up later, sister," she mewed, the word 'sister' sounding more forced than intended. "Let me speak with my Clanmates. We'll find a place for you for the night."
Hollowfrost looked shocked. "But Bark… we need to talk."
"My name is Foxstar," she growled before she shook herself and added more softly, "Later." She shifted her focus to one of her senior warrior, a dark gray and white tom. "Wolfclaw, find them a nest for the night, and then meet me in my den."
"Yes, Foxstar," mewed Wolfclaw with a short respectful nod. He padded towards the newcomers, tail bushed and fur bristling. "This way. Don't try anything."
The five cats glanced at each other worriedly before slowly following after the gray warrior. Hollowfrost glanced back at her, confusion clear on her face.
"Mountainfrost," Foxstar continued, already feeling better after distance had been placed between her and them, "bring Flamefoot and Antlerfang to my den."
The massive brown and white tom nodded. "Do we need to recall the training patrol?"
Should we? Foxstar frowned. Flamefoot and Antlerfang had taken out the apprentices and three other cats for BloodClan style battle training, but right now she needed all her fighters at home.
"No," she mewed, "that won't be necessary. Scarstripe and Flowerheart can train the apprentices in hunting techniques instead. Just keep them away from camp until dawn. They won't meet our 'guests' until I know they're telling the truth."
Mountainfrost blinked. "But didn't you recognize them?"
"I did, yes," she confessed, quietly. "But… I'll explain later."
Still unsure, he dipped his head. "Yes, Foxstar."
Freezepelt waited until the massive tom had vanished into the forest before lightly and awkwardly touching her cheek with his nose. "Are you okay?"
"Dizzy, but it will pass," Foxstar mewed, frowning. "This is a huge shock for me. I… I thought they were dead." Dead didn't seem like the right word to use, but she felt it was the only way to get Freezepelt to understand just how big this was.
Freezepelt tried to look sympathetic, but his scraggly whiskers and spikey matted fur didn't help. He looked grumpy and confused.
She almost smiled.
"Do you think we should tell Firestar?"
"No," she mewed firmly, lifting her head. "We're not part of their Clan and they aren't ours."
Why would my deputy ask me this question? she thought, frustrated. Even former BloodClan cats understood demonstrations of loyalty.
Freezepelt shifted, frowning. "But this is their territory."
"True," Foxstar conceded, "and I fully intend to return it. Eventually. For now, it's ours. We have full reign here. Any potential new members are ours to keep to ourselves."
Freezepelt looked like he might voice his disagreement. A long time ago, Foxstar had understood his longing for ThunderClan. They both considered Cloudtail their kin, but the difference was Foxstar had raised Cloudtail and Freezepelt hadn't. In fact, Cloudtail didn't consider him his real father. Honestly, neither did Foxstar. It was hard to see that longing on his face now, when all it did was make her wonder if Mountainfrost or Wolfclaw would be ready to take over from him soon.
"Yes, Foxstar," he mewed at last, belatedly dipping his head.
Relieved, she padded back to the cabin. A few shapes and shadows were making their way around the front, wearily keeping their distance from the human. They disappeared into a black sliver under the porch. Foxstar followed, blinking at the pale stripes of yellow light which made her Clanmates barely visible in the dark. The four waiting former soldiers straightened when she arrived.
"What's going on?" demanded Flamefoot. "Why are we allowing strangers to nest near our den?"
"Quiet, Flamefoot," growled Antlerfang. "You're not the leader here."
The red tabby, a near perfect clone of his brother Firestar except for the single white forepaw, bristled and wrapped his tail around himself, a prince offended.
"They," mewed Foxstar, with a sigh, "are my kin."
"Hollowfrost does look a lot like you," mewed Mountainfrost, before a look from Wolfclaw silenced him.
Foxstar's whiskers twitched, amused. "Indeed. She is my sister. The big black cat is my mother, and the brown and white tom is my father. They were a part of the original SkyClan before they were forced to leave the gorge."
"SkyClan?" echoed Flamefoot. "I thought there were only four Clans in the forest."
"There used to be five. A long time ago, they were chased out of the forest after the twolegs started to expand twolegplace. They had nowhere else to go. The land we are on now is all that remains of their ancient hunting grounds before they settled at a gorge downstream." Foxstar sighed. "I honestly never expected to see them here."
Wolfclaw narrowed his eyes. "Why are they here?"
Foxstar's ear twitched. "A good question. No doubt they will want to stay here with me."
Antlerfang hissed. "Can we even support that many cats?"
"It would be a huge adjustment," mewed Foxstar.
"They might not want to stay," mewed Freezepelt.
Foxstar blinked at him. "Maybe, but for now they will. They're here for a reason. If we can figure out what that reason is…" She shook her head. "We need to keep an eye on them and make sure none of the other Clans know they are here. If their stay is temporary, it won't even matter."
"If it's permanent?" hissed Antlerfang, bristling.
"Maybe we should talk to them first," mewed Freezepelt, sharing a look with Mountainfrost. "If you don't want to, we can."
Foxstar shook her head. "No, I'll speak with them. They are family after all."
Flamefoot snorted and licked his chest. Antlerfang bared her fangs. Wolfclaw frowned harder. Freezepelt and Mountainfrost shared a concerned look.
"I know," Foxstar mewed with a sigh. "You don't have to say it. I know I don't have the best track record when it comes to family."
"If you don't want to…" mewed Mountainfrost.
"Oh, quit it," growled Antlerfang, shoving her tail in Mountainfrost's open mouth. "Just go out there and talk to them. One of them is your sister! You should have done that before you called this meeting!"
"Why didn't you?" asked Flamefoot, his eyes growing sharp, as if seeking out a weakness.
"Because," mewed Foxstar, "they're all supposed to be dead. Swept down the river and drowned, buried under rockslides – you name it. They're not even supposed to be here."
The five cats looked at each other, various looks of confusion on their faces.
Mountainfrost shifted uncomfortably. "You survived."
Foxstar's tail lashed in frustration. "I was granted extra lives by StarClan. They were not. They are all normal cats." Her eyes narrowed. "Just like all the warriors in ThunderClan are normal cats. Only leaders blessed by StarClan have extra lives."
She could tell from their expressions that they were not entirely convinced. Well, almost everyone. Antlerfang just looked annoyed. She hadn't seen Foxstar die and come back to life.
"So," Antlerfang mewed, "what are you going to do?"
Fighting back a sigh, Foxstar slowly rose to her paws. "Freezepelt and Wolfclaw, you'll be with me when we interrogate them. Mountainfrost, you're in charge of protecting the camp. Antlerfang, I want those apprentices given extra battle training. If they do decide to stay and ThunderClan does find out, we need to be ready for a fight. And just to make sure everyone understands, this is none of Firestar's business."
A/N: Updated 12.16.2021.