Thank you all for voting. The new ThunderClan deputy is: LIONBLAZE! Ha ha I bet you all sort of expected that. However the current deputy is Birchfall. Why? Read the rest of the story and you will find out.
"Tigerheart! You're okay!" mewed Dovesong and hurried over to her mate.
Lionblaze just stared at the couple. "Okay… This is… odd," meowed Jayfeather.
Lionblaze snapped out of his current activity of gawking at his former apprentice and her forbidden love.
"When did you two start meeting each other?" he asked partly angrily and partly curiously.
"Umm… before the battle," mewed Dovesong meekly. Tigerheart nodded. The two looked like kits that were being scolded.
"That's before you were even a warrior!" exclaimed Lionblaze. "I know. But Lionblaze I love him!" meowed Dovesong.
"But Dovesong you know this is wrong!" argued Lionblaze. His former apprentice glared at him which surprised him because he expected her to keep on acting all small and quiet.
"So my relationship with Tigerheart is wrong and your relationship with that WindClan warrior, Heathertail, is okay?" she spat as she bristled.
Lionblaze blinked. How did she know about Heathertail?
"W-what are you meowing about?" he stammered. Dovesong gave him another glare.
"Don't play dumb! You think that I wouldn't know? I saw you in those tunnels with that brown tabby she-cat using my powers!" she hissed.
"Why were you spying on him?" growled Jayfeather. Lionblaze was startled but glad to see that his brother was on his side of this argument.
"You think that I wouldn't notice him sneaking out almost every night and-," "Stop Dovesong!" ordered Tigerheart suddenly, cutting Dovesong off.
"What? Don't tell me that you're on their side now!" hissed Dovesong. Tigerheart quickly shook his head.
"No! I was just going to say that you and I did the same thing too. And we still are," mewed Tigerheart.
Lionblaze saw Dovesong relax and her green eyes fill with emotion. "I-I never really thought of that," she mewed quietly.
"I'm sorry I lied to you okay?" meowed Lionblaze. Dovesong dipped her head in acknowledgement.
"I'm sorry too for not telling you about Tigerheart any sooner," she mewed.
Tigerheart nudged Dovesong gently on her shoulder and whispered something Lionblaze couldn't hear into her ear.
Dovesong nodded and turned towards Lionblaze and Jayfeather.
"There's something we want to ask you. Me and Tigerheart that is," she started carefully. She glanced behind her and Lionblaze saw Tigerheart nod.
"When I was umm… spying, as Jayfeather put it, on you and Heathertail, I heard something… rather interesting," Dovesong continued.
Lionblaze wondered what she could have heard that was interesting enough to call him here to reveal her secret. "Go on," he meowed.
"Something called DarkClan," Dovesong mewed. Lionblaze's blood turned to ice. He stood up with anger.
"Dovesong if you told any cat I swear I'll-," "I didn't!" Dovesong mewed quickly. "Well, except for Tigerheart but you can trust him," added Dovesong.
"Lionblaze sit down!" hissed Jayfeather. Lionblaze sat down, still bristling, and turned towards Dovesong and Tigerheart.
There was a long silence between the two groups of cats.
"Could we join?" asked Tigerheart suddenly, breaking the silence. Lionblaze was taken back with surprise.
"What?" he asked. "You want to join DarkClan?"
Tigerheart nodded. "Dovesong and I discussed this a couple times and we have an idea that we'd like to share with you," he meowed.
"What is it?" asked Jayfeather. Interest sparked in his eyes.
"We were thinking since it's hard to meet every night or so… why don't we all run away and create DarkClan somewhere else?" suggested Tigerheart.
There was more silence. "What?" repeated Lionblaze. "That's completely mousebrained!"
"I know it is but it could work. You know your parents ran away once," pointed out Tigerheart. "Yeah but they came back," growled Lionblaze.
"What about ThunderClan? Or ShadowClan?" asked Jayfeather. "We can't just leave our Clans!"
"Both Clans are strong right now. It could work out," Dovesong mewed hopefully while looking at Lionblaze.
All three cats were looking at Lionblaze now asking for his idea.
"Well…. What about WindClan?" Lionblaze asked. "What about it?" meowed Tigerheart.
Jayfeather beat Lionblaze to answering Tigerheart. "Lionblaze's mate is in WindClan you mousebrain," Jayfeather hissed.
Tigerheart looked down at his paws. "Oh yeah. I knew that."
"You could ask about WindClan, right? To Heathertail?" asked Dovesong gazing up at Lionblaze.
Lionblaze realized that Dovesong wanted to go away from the Clans quickly. He wondered why. She was always a supporter of the warrior code. Well, that's what he thought.
"Why do you want to go away so badly, Dovesong?" he asked. "You always liked ThunderClan and your family is there too. Ivypool, Whitewing, Birchfall. Your father even became the deputy!"
Dovesong also suddenly found her paws interesting. "I know… But I'm not the only cat with a forbidden mate other than you…" she whispered.
Lionblaze's ears perked up. Another secret? Great StarClan how many secrets were embedded into ThunderClan?
"Who is it? Great StarClan, ThunderClan is even less pure than I thought!" exclaimed Tigerheart.
This statement gave him dirty looks from all three ThunderClan cats and a severe screeching from Dovesong.
"Heathertail told me that me that were having a DarkClan meeting at midnight. Would you like to come so we can discuss it as a whole Clan?" meowed Lionblaze, changing the subject, although he enjoyed watching Dovesong yell at Tigerheart.
Tigerheart and Dovesong exchanged a glance. "I guess that would be okay," mewed Dovesong slowly.
"It's okay Heathertail doesn't bite," assured Lionblaze. "Usually," added the ever so helpful Jayfeather.
"Midnight would be fine with me. It's just that-," A loud screech ripped through the air, cutting off whatever Tigerheart was going to say.
"What was that?" whispered Dovesong loudly. "I don't know but it sounds like it's coming from over there," replied Lionblaze pointing towards a certain direction in the forest.
"I'll see you tonight Dovesong at the place you mentioned," mewed Tigerheart. He licked her cheek and then ran into the pines of ShadowClan territory.
He went away just in time. Lionblaze could hear a patrol thundering through the woods coming towards them.
The patrol consisted of Rosepetal, Mousewhisker, and Spiderleg. "Where were you Jayfeather?" screeched Rosepetal.
"Looking for herbs," lied Jayfeather. Rosepetal glared at him.
"Well I don't see any!" she spat. Spiderleg pushed Rosepetal away from Jayfeather.
"This isn't helping Birchfall!" he thundered. "Birchfall?" echoed Lionblaze.
"What about him? What happened to him?" shrieked Dovesong. Spiderleg glanced at Dovesong. "Come on. You should see him," he mewed and whisked away with the rest of the patrol following him.
"Hurry Jayfeather! Flowerpetal isn't a full medicine cat yet even though she got her name!" called Rosepetal.
"Come on!" yowled Dovesong and ran after the patrol with the two toms behind her.
As Lionblaze ran, he wondered what could have happened to the ThunderClan deputy.
"Jayfeather! You're here!" yowled Flowerpetal with relief as the patrol reached the apprentice and Birchfall.
Lionblaze gasped as he saw Birchfall. One of the deputy's front paw was twisted into a grotesque shape and there were multiple wounds on his flank. But the most chilling sight of all was his ripped throat with blood gushing out of it.
"No! What happened?" wailed Dovesong. She hurried over to her father but Jayfeather and Flowerpetal blocked her way.
"Wait! You have to give him some room!" meowed Jayfeather. "Flowerpetal find me some marigold. Lionblaze get me some cobwebs," the medicine cat ordered.
Lionblaze nodded and ran off to find some. He quickly found a huge clump on a holly bush. His heart ached as he saw the leaves.
They were green. Just like Hollyleaf's eyes. Pushing away the thought of his deceased sister, he grabbed the cobwebs and ran back to his brother.
"Here I got the cobwebs," he mewed breathlessly. Jayfeather grabbed some of the cobweb and pressed it against Birchfall's neck wound.
Lionblaze watched as Jayfeather chewed the marigold that Flowerpetal brought and apply them into all of Birchfall's wounds.
"Can you save him?" asked Dovesong desperately. Jayfeather didn't answer. Lionblaze didn't have to be a medicine cat to know the answer to Dovesong's question.
"Black! It was black!" Birchfall suddenly screeched. Lionblaze jumped at the sound of Birchfall's voice.
"What was black? Who did this to you?" wailed Dovesong. Birchfall fixed his eyes on his daughter.
Then Birchfall opened his jaws. "H-h-h…." Birchfall's shoulders began to relax. He exhaled but didn't inhale again.
"Birchfall! No!" screeched Dovesong and buried her nose into her father's fur.
Lionblaze watched with sorrow. He padded over to Dovesong and nudged her gently. She didn't look up.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. Dovesong continued to ignore him.
"You should get Bramblestar. Tell him what happened," mewed Jayfeather softly.
Lionblaze nodded in agreement. He started running in the direction of the ThunderClan camp.
As he ran, his sorrow was replaced with wonder. Who had killed Birchfall?
Okaay, that was a pretty long chapter… It's really sad about Birchfall. I actually liked his character. Once again let's have a moment of silence for Birchfall and a gigantic party for people against Birchfall. So I think you all understand how Lionblaze is going to become deputy.
Lionblaze: Of course they do.
Rabbit: I would really appreciate it if you didn't interrupt.
Lionblaze: Whatever.
Dovesong: WAHHHH!
Rabbit: Umm… Dovesong, you know this is just a fan fiction right?
Dovesong: WAHHHHH!
Rabbit: Okay I guess you don't.
Dovesong: WAHHHH!
Rabbit: Well, you people/cats review while I teach Dovesong the laws of fan fiction. Press that little blue button and review!