Sorry for taking so long! (Warning: Deals with heavy grief and brief, slightly suicidal thoughts. Luckily, no one ever dies in this story because I don't like killing off my characters.) I hope I didn't ruin the story!
Disclaimer: Wait, I can be four people at once?! AWESOME!
"In case Redtail didn't tell you, the point of a prophecy is to decode it. StarClan can't interfere with the living too much, so they give us these messages and allow us to make choices on our own. Based off of what you learned, do you have any idea to what Redtail could be trying to say?"
Brambleclaw's words buried themselves in her mind as the group roamed ThunderClan territory.
"Are you going to be in trouble soon? He mentioned darkness, so that must mean that something bad is going to happen, and he mentioned ashes of Thunder rising with darkness."
"I'm not going back to the Dark Froest." The grey tom spat. "At least, not willingly."
"I didn't say you would," Ruthen offered. "Maybe you're the reason they get defeated."
"But then what does the rest of the prophecy mean?" Breezepelt wondered. "Why would Hollyleaf, Fallen and Thornclaw need to do anything if Ashfur is bringing them down?"
"He'll need help, won't he?" Hollyleaf shot back. Fallen turned to Ashfur.
"Is this Dark Forest… are they the ones haunting your nightmares? Maybe that's what we free you from."
"Release them to the wind, though. Why would I go to WindClan?"
"Who knows? Maybe we'll find out when everything is over."
The group of cats started up again, only to stop when Ruthen froze.
"I smell prey!" She whispered excitedly.
"Can you hunt?" Hollyleaf asked.
"A bit," She mumbled, ducking her head embarrassedly.
"Watch Fallen," She offered, having noticed that the grey tom crouched a few fox-lengths away from the squirrel his sister pointed out. A few heartbeats later, he lunged for the oblivious animal and snapped its neck with a killing bite.
"Well done, Fallen." Brambleclaw dipped his head to the light grey tom. "You're almost as good as Sandstorm. She's the best hunter in the Clan."
"I try my best," The rogue offered, dropping the squirrel in front of his sister and his mate. Ruthen shook her head.
"Someone else needs this more, remember?" The tortoiseshell picked up the squirrel and padded over to a nearby tree and proceeded to bury it at the base of the trunk.
"It's good that you've picked up on our morals so quickly, Ruthen. You'll fit right in."
Fallen's ears flattened against his skull and he unsheathed his claws, only to put them away again and let his fur lie flat.
"She's too thin," He hissed to Brambleclaw.
"We make sure everyone is fed properly, Fallen. Besides, it's Greenleaf so there's bound to be plenty of prey. I'll tell you what. If leaf-bare comes around and she's not as healthy as she should be then I'll talk to Firestar and the queens and see if they'd mind sharing with her. It shouldn't be a problem."
"Thank you." Fallen dipped his head.
"We look after our own, Fallen. It's an important part of the Warrior Code."
They soon approached the WindClan border, where Brambleclaw stopped short again.
"Ashfur, why don't you show Fallen and Ruthen how we mark our borders?"
The grey tom nodded and padded forward about five mouse-lengths. He then started pacing back and forth a few times before loping back over to Thornclaw.
"Our border with WindClan is rather obvious, so there's no real reason to mark the border, but WindClan, that's another one of the four Clans, has been rather hostile lately, so we just want to make sure we're clear." Hollyleaf explained, flicking her tail toward the river.
"That makes sense," Fallen mused. "So even if there's nothing physical there you'll always have the scent markers."
"That's right." Thornclaw nodded.
"Greetings, ThunderClanners!" Ashfoot's yowl made Ruthen's head whip toward the sound, and she padded back over to the river.
"Who are you?" She wondered.
"My name is Ashfoot, and I'm the deputy of WindClan."
"So you're like Brambleclaw?"
"Exactly," The older grey she-cat nodded in approval. "Might I ask who you are?"
She sounded more curious than anything, Fallen noted. She seemed rather wise.
"My name is Ruthen, and that's my brother next to Hollyleaf. His name is Fallen. ThunderClan is nice enough to let us stay for a while."
"So the kittypet Clan takes in two more of their own, do they?"
"Kittypet?!" Ruthen snapped at the ginger tom who dared to insult her!
"Kittypets belong to humans who mistreat and use them as playthings! I never have been nor will I ever be anything like those housecats!"
"Well then what are you?" A light brown tom sneered.
"A cat, you wretched brute! I have four paws and fur and a tail and a brain just like you do, so whatever misplaced sense of hierarchy there is around here, you best knock it off, cat! I bet you haven't been through half of what I have so don't you even dare think to judge!" Here, Ruthen's voice lowered to a more motherly tone, the one she often took when her kits had wandered off without her.
"Are we understood, young toms?"
"Who do you think-."
"As I said before, my name is Ruthen, and if you wish to act like a kit, then I will treat you like one. Are we understood, young toms?"
The light brown one submitted first.
"Yes, Ruthen." He mumbled before slinking out of sight.
"Go on, Ginger. I suspect you won't be much good at following your friend's example."
The orange-ish tom spat in her direction and raced off. Ruthen snorted.
"I hope that not all of your warriors are like that."
"Certainly not," Ashfoot purred. "You speak like a mother scolding young kits."
"I once had two of my own." The tortoiseshell admitted sadly.
"I figured… they grow up far too fast for my liking." Ashfoot snorted.
"Indeed, they do." Ruthen chuckled. "Good day, Ashfoot, and good luck with those kits."
Ashfoot flicked her tail in a wave and the patrol sauntered back to camp. Fallen noticed the gleam in her eyes and the spring in her step that hadn't been there for so long he would have missed it.
"Heathertail!" Breezepelt all but skipped over to his mate, eyes filled with laughter.
"What's got you so happy today?"
"Besides the fact that you finally agreed to be my mate? Ruthen put Owlwhisker and Weaselfur in their places!" He crowed.
"What happened?"
"Weaselfur made some offpaw remark about ThunderClan being kittypets anf Ruthen took offense to it. Chewed him out better than his mother would, if you ask me! It was so funny, you should have seen the poor rabbit-heart's face!" Breezepelt snickered.
"Word around camp is that you dressed down a couple of WindClan cats acting like stuck-up apprentices." A grey tabby with blue eyes called out, and when Ruthen approached them, another grey she-cat with green eyes laughed.
"I simply treated them how they wished to be treated."
"They must have been terrible! I'm Ferncloud, by the way," The green-eyed she-cat grinned. "And this is Millie," The blue-eyed she-cat nodded to her name.
"I'm Ruthen, and I think you've met my brother already. As for the WindClan warriors, I donn't like cats who think it's right to hurt other cats because they're noth from the same place. My mate, Demon, once told me that you can never judge a cat until you've retraced their pawsteps."
"Your mate sounded very wise."
"He was," Ruthen purred sadly. "I saw him in my dreams once, with a cat called Redtail. He said I could see him again in dreams, so that's something to look forward to. I know I can't walk with him yet. I still have things to do here according to Redtail."
"I'm glad I have Dustpelt," Ferncloud murmured softly. "I don't know what I'd do without him."
"Would you like some fresh-kill?" Millie offered, hoping to get their minds off the terrible subject.
"If I may, then yes." Ruthen was hesitant until she saw Brambleclaw take something off the pile and eat it himself.
Things were looking up so far; perhaps she's found something she's good at. Being a Clan cat wasn't so bad after all.
Did you like it? Who loved Ruthen's scolding the WindClan cats? Review?!