Chapter 19

"Learning The Truth."

8/12/16

Stealthfire could only assume that it's early into October. The Gathering was tonight.

She pulls herself from her nest and stretched. Stoatfrost was still recovering the fight with RiverClan. Stealthfire never felt better, knowing that he lived.

Stealthfire could now turn her attention to Sweetflower.

Foxflame mentioned his concerns about her (and possibly crushing on but never admitting it) and Stealthfire was beginning to see why.

Sweetflower was always getting sick in the morning, and was snapping at cats, which was unlike the she cat.

She found Sweetflower coming from the medicine cat den and caught up with her.

"Sweetflower!"

The tortoiseshell and white she cat looked at her with apprehension.

"Oh… Hi, Stealthfire."

"I saw you come out of Palewhisker's den, are you okay?"

Sweetflower hesitated before saying, "Actually, I need to tell you something."

Stealthfire follows Sweetflower behind the nursery. She can hear Leopardstrike's kits and Jaystripe's kit playing. They're probably three moons old by now.

Sweetflower said, "Palewhisker told me that I'm expecting kits."

"Really? Congratulations! Who's the Dad?"

Sweetflower bowed her head.

"It's… Ashcloud."

Stealthfire pricks her ears up.

"Wait… Isn't he from-?"

Sweetflower shushed her and nods.

"Yes, he is. And I need you to tell him at the Gathering tonight."

"Why not Duckheart?"

"She wouldn't understand!" Sweetflower replied. "Please, Stealthfire!"

The golden she cat grimaced inwardly, but she nods.

"Okay, I'll tell him."


The full moon was as bright as ever. Stoatfrost brushed his muzzle on Stealthfire's head and watched her leave. Stealthfire pads next to Flameclaw.

"Stealthfire," he said. "Have you talked to Duckheart? Does she talk about me?"

Stealthfire smiles.

"Not in a while. Why don't you ask her?"

Flameclaw coughed and stared ahead to hide his embarrassment.

"I would, but I need to-."

"Make an excuse?" Stealthfire said. "I'm slow, but even I know you like her."

Flameclaw huffed and quickly pads away. Ironically, Duckheart made it next to Stealthfire and glanced at her.

"What's gotten under his pelt?" She whispered. Stealthfire chuckled, and Duckheart continued to become more confused.

The ThunderClan cats cross the bridge to the island. Stealthfire saw the RiverClan cats, and were greeted with glared and hisses.

It wasn't long before a RiverClan she cat pushed her down.

"Oops! Sorry!" She said with false sympathy. Suddenly Rainstorm purposely trips and rams into the she cat, knocking her over.

"Oops, sorry!" He said mockingly while padding away triumphantly.

Before the RiverClan she cat could reply, a yowl scared the fur off of her.

"Daisypelt, get back with the others!"

Darkwater… Stealthfire flattened her ears when she saw the jet black tom stride towards her while Daisypelt sulked away.

"Greetings-."

"Leave."

Darkwater chuckles and tries to press his muzzle against hers, but Stealthfire jerks back and lashed her tail.

"I already have a mate! Why don't you bother some other she cat?"

"Because… I find you intriguing." Darkwater purred. Stealthfire unsheathes her claws and narrowed her yellow eyes.

"I said no. Either you leave or I'll give you another scar."

Darkwater snorted.

"When you're bored of the scrawny white rat, just yowl my name."

Darkwater turned and left with his tail high in the air.

Stupid poser!

Stealthfire heard paw steps and saw WindClan arrive with ShadowClan.

Stealthfire, look through the crowd of WindClan. Do you see a white she cat?

Stealthfire searches the sea of fur and spots a small, white she cat talking to Frogpelt, Silverlight and Mooneye.

Yes, her. That's Willowtail, she was Branchstar's mate and our mother… She was the one who found my body. You'll have to talk to her, although I must warn you that she's not easy to get along with, so you must be patient with her.

Stealthfire nods and pads toward Willowtail as she parts from the ThunderClan elders.

"Uh, excuse me?"

"What?" Willowtail growled. "I need to get back to my Clan!"

Stealthfire cringed at her harsh tone.

Told you so ~.

"I… I was wondering… How are you?"

Willowtail stared at her as if she suddenly became a blue hedgehog with supersonic speed.

"Achy. Tired. The usual problems."

Stealthfire flicked her ear. "I sometimes get that too."

"You shouldn't be able to, as young as you are. What's your name?"

"Stealthfire."

Willowtail nods in understanding.

"There's a name I haven't heard since I was a kit… I'm Willowtail."

Stealthfire dips her head.

"I wanted to ask you a question, if that's okay."

"Spill it."

"I heard you were the one who found Deerheart's body."

Willowtail stiffened at the mention of Deerheart. Stealthfire cursed herself for being so blunt.

"I'm sorry for your loss…"

"It's fine." Willowtail said, shaking her fur. "Yes, I did find her."

"C-Could you tell me?"

Willowtail glared at her, and Stealthfire wished she would literally put her paw into her mouth.

"It's never pleasant when you find your kit's dead body." She said.

"Deerheart was always the strong type. Even when she suffered a fatal wound from an enemy Clan cat she was still able to walk around with pride. So when I found her, I refused to believe that she went down so easily."

"Mistyleaf believed it too. She even came to tell me that she found tufts of fur between Deerheart's claws, but when I went with her to check, the fur was gone."

Stealthfire blinks.

"How does fur get in between claws?"

"When you're fighting hard enough, you can actually pull a cat's fur out without even realizing it." Willowtail replied.

"So… You don't know who killed Deerheart?"

"No one in WindClan knows." Willowtail suddenly became suspicious.

"Why are you so curious?"

Stealthfire wondered. Should she tell her?

"... Deerheart came to me in a dream when I was at Moonpool."

Willowtail nods slowly.

"Did she say who killed her?"

"... The dream went so quickly, she couldn't get the words out."

Stealthfire and Willowtail heard Ivystar yowl.

"You should go now." Willowtail told her as she pads to the knot of WindClan cats, who were, strangely, mixed with ShadowClan cats.

Stealthfire took her place with ThunderClan and notices that Lionstar was staring at Willowtail with intense fury.

You better be thinking what I think you are.

She focuses her attention on Ivystar.

"RiverClan has reasons to believe that ThunderClan is hunting our prey!"

She glared at Thornstar. "And they still insists on lying about it!"

RiverClan cats yowl in approval while the ThunderClan cats just growled and some roll their eyes.

"Other than that, RiverClan is thriving."

Thornstar took her place and gazed calmly down below.

"Despite Ivystar's accusations, we didn't steal any prey. And we fought RiverClan."

"Who won?"

"What mouse brain said that?" Duckheart whispered to Rainstorm.

"Probably some new apprentice."

Thornstar narrowed his eyes.

"As far as I'm concerned, there was no winner. Also, Seabreeze is expecting my kits."

Only WindClan and ShadowClan gave their approval. Stealthfire didn't miss the look of scorn on Crowstar's face when Thornstar looked at him, with a small hint of smug.

Don't get mad, Crowstar. You had something good and treated her like dirt!

Crowstar and Lionstar both share the spot as cats began to whisper with curiosity.

"Cats of the forest," Lionstar said. "ShadowClan and WindClan have decided to combine our Clans to become LionClan."

"What did he just say?!"

"LionClan? How dare he use the ancient Clans name?!"

Lionstar waved his tail.

"We only hope that this will bring glory to our Clans, and strengthen our chances of survival in Leaf Bare."

"He's insane!" Rainstorm hissed. "There has to be four Clans!"

"Also," Lionstar continued. "We are missing a queen. My mate Thrushwing is a small, creamy brown she cat, and her kits are due in the beginning of Leaf Bare."

"We have her." Palewhisker called. "She's still too weak to travel, so it's best if she stays until she has her kits."

Stealthfire expected Lionstar to protest, but he just simply nodded.

"Yes, I'll hold you to it, Palewhisker."

Stealthfire watched the cats leave, but she suddenly sees Ashcloud preparing to leave too.

"Wait! Ashcloud!" Several RiverClan cats hissed at her, but Ashcloud said, "I'll be fine, she just wants to talk."

Ashcloud waited until they left before looking at Stealthfire.

"What is it?"

"Sweetflower wanted me to tell you that she's expecting kits, yours." She whispered. Ashcloud's jaw dropped.

"Really...? I'm gonna be a father?" Stealthfire nods.

"Ashcloud!" She jumped hearing Ivystar's voice. Ashcloud dips his head. "Thank you for telling me."


ThunderClan goes back home, and Stealthfire sees white fur bending over her nest.

"Stoatfrost!" Her husband - er, mate was smiling at her with his usual goofy grin.

"Surprised?" He said. "Palewhisker said I was good yesterday, I wanted to surprise you."

Stealthfire noticed that her nest was a little bigger when she last saw it. And it was lined with feathers.

"What happened to it?"

Stoatfrost puffed his chest with pride.

"Your dashing mate has made it bigger. I just thought since we're mates and all, we can share the same nest."

Stealthfire's ears warmed up as she purred.

"That's so nice of you-." She noticed that Duckheart's nest was missing.

"Uh, what happened to…?"

Stoatfrost chuckles.

"Oh yeah. I took her nest apart and fixed it with Flameclaw's. It's all for the good of ThunderClan, trust me."

Stealthfire nudged him and laid down in the nest. Stoatfrost curled up next to her and entwined his tail with hers. Stealthfire should be disturbed by being touched, but Stoatfrost's was so inviting, she moved closer until she feels his breath on her ear.

Stoatfrost suddenly giggled, and Stealthfire looked at the entrance and sees Duckheart looking around the den as warriors went inside.

"That is just weird…" She murmured when Flameclaw stood next to her. He noticed the shortage of nests and narrowed his eyes.

"Flameclaw," Duckheart asks shyly. "Would you…?"

Flameclaw immediately glared in Stoatfrost's direction, and Stealthfire quickly looks away.

"No, it's not a problem." She heard Flameclaw say, but he was seething.

Stealthfire bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing as she slowly fall asleep, next to her husband - er, mate.


In WindClan territory, Willowtail was sitting a vigil near Deerheart's grave, which was underneath heather five fox lengths away from the WindClan territory.

She hears paws approaching her from behind, but she doesn't turn around.

She knew who it was.

"Well, this is a first." She said. "I've been trying to get you to visit your sister's grave for moons. But I think I have a guess as to why."

Lionstar sneered, "Enlighten me, then."

"... You killed her." Willowtail said. "I don't understand. She supported you from the beginning, more than me and Branchstar ever did."

Willowtail glared at him with green eyes.

"So why did you do it?"

"That's none of your business, 'mother'." Lionstar stood nose to nose as he slowly unsheathes his claws.

"I saw you talking to that ThunderClan she cat. What did you tell her?"

Willowtail refused to give in to fear, especially to her own son.

"Only the truth."

Lionstar swiftly lashed his claws across her throat. Blood flew from the wound as Willowtail instantly fell limp, bathed in a pool of her own blood.

Lionstar bends down and whispers in her ear,

"You should have lied."


Holy biscuits! These fingers just typed on their own when I wrote this down, I wanted her to live another chapter, but they were like "Nope!"

Oh, and by the way, I can finally afford my own stunt doubles!

So if you wanna fire your shots, go ahead. You'll never tell me apart.

Also… This might fly over people's heads, but I left a little reference to a certain video game character, and it's not Mario ~.

But who am I kidding? Everyone knows that guy, but if you don't… You need to leave, not because I'm gonna be pissed, but the internet people will be pissed.