Welcome back to another update of A New Destiny! Aren't you proud of me? I didn't take three months to update this time!

Prepare for a lot of Dovewing hate! Ha ha haaaa!

"We can't be mates anymore." She said it as simply as if she was discussing the weather. This only made Morningpaw's blood boil more. Nevertheless, the silver apprentice forced a smile, nearly positive Dovewing had to be kidding.

The look on Bumblestripe's face made it seem like Dovewing had just slapped him clear across the face. "What?" he croaked.

Dovewing crouched down, closing her eyes tight and flattening her ears. Morningpaw curled her lip. A selfish badger with a heart filled with cowardice, that's what she is. "We can't. I—" The pale gray she-cat was interrupted by an explosion of noise from outside.

The heathery scent of WindClan drifted into the den, so Morningpaw didn't even bother leaping forward to look like Beepaw did.

"WindClan's here!" Leafpool announced, looking a bit anxious herself. Morningpaw resisted rolling her eyes. Probably hoping she'll see her long-lost love Crowfeather.

Nobody else in the den appeared to care, besides Beepaw, who watched the activity outside for a moment longer before returning to her sister's side.

"You were saying, D- Dovewing?" Bumblestripe muttered. He was barely able to get out the name of the she-cat he loved, and Morningpaw registered several stabs of sympathy for him and anger towards her.

Dovewing was still curled in a fluffy ball. "Bumblestripe, you need to understand."

He shifted roughly in his nest. "Funny thing is, I don't understand." His voice cracked. "I thought our love was real."

"And it was," she murmured. "Was." As if you need to say it again. We all get it. "I realized that I'm still in love with another tom, a foolish romance from long ago. There's no way I can return to him now, both he and his… mate have made that clear." She shuddered and began to tremble. "There's also no way I can return to you, after all that's happened."

"All this secret stuff that's been going on?" Bumblestripe snapped. "Yeah, I was wondering what you were doing, being sly as a ShadowClan cat, skirting around the den I've been held hostage in for moons. Only our daughters have had the liberty of visiting me while I'm immobile. But, who knows? Are they even mine?" Fiercely, he gestured to Beepaw and Morningpaw with one paw.

Morningpaw sat frozen, horror filling her from nose to tail-tip. What if we aren't Bumblestripe's?

But Dovewing was quick to correct him. "No, dear StarClan, no. Beepaw and M- Morningpaw… they are yours. Ours. Don't you see how Beepaw has your handsome blue eyes and how Morningpaw has your shining silver fur?"

Bumblestripe's curled lip trembled. "If my eyes are so 'handsome' and my fur is 'shining', then how come you're ditching me while I'm injured?"

Dovewing didn't seem to have heard him. She was muttering, "They don't have his tabby fur or deep amber eyes."

"I knew it!" Bumblestripe yelled. In one staggering motion, he heaved himself to his paws and kept his paws rooted to the ground as he leaned toward Dovewing to yowl in her face, "You love Tigerheart! All these moons watching you drool over him since he joined ThunderClan! And even before that, at Gatherings." Morningpaw glimpsed his claws digging into the earth. "You became mates and had kits with me just to prove you were still loyal. And now look: you're discarding me because I'm a cripple, then kicking our kits aside like they're pieces of old dirt."

Now Dovewing was listening. However, the words didn't seem to penetrate past her fur. They just floated around her, meaningless and harmless to her. She really doesn't care.

Morningpaw couldn't take it anymore. She leapt forward so that she was towering over her mother, ears pinned back and tail lashing. "How could you?" She tried to yowl this, but she was too hurt and emotional to do anything besides mutter shakily. "My life has been a lie. And now, thanks to your stupid crush from when you were an apprentice or StarClan knows, you've torn this family apart." The silver she-cat swung her head down so that her forehead nearly touched Dovewing's, and livid yellow eyes stared into distant blue. "I'm never speaking to you again."

She whirled around, smacking her tail in Dovewing's face. She hardly registered movement behind her before Beepaw stood in front of the gray warrior as well. The normally bouncy and rambunctious she-cat could now only rasp, "I hate you."

Morningpaw knew Beepaw could follow her. So she pushed past Leafpool and led her sister outside, without thinking of any stray fangs or claws.

But when they got out there, they found FoxClan was just leaving, with a few bodies— dead or alive, Morningpaw did not know nor care— on their backs. WindClan was gathered by the thorny exit, apparently waiting for ThunderClan's gratitude.

Verbally beating up her mother had felt unnaturally satisfactory. Morningpaw knew that Dovewing deserved it for being so immature and stupid. If it hadn't been for her lies, Beepaw and I wouldn't even be here. Morningpaw wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The two sisters quietly helped injured cats to the medicine den, but they didn't dare go back in. Dovewing's probably sitting in there, eyes wide as an owl's, "helpless".

Meanwhile, Bramblestar was thanking WindClan. After quickly being treated, even though he graciously insisted for others to be tended to first, the dark tabby was brought over to Ashstar and her cats with the help of Squirrelflight.

"Thank you," Bramblestar meowed, gasping as he tried to add weight to a wounded forepaw. He leaned more heavily on Squirrelflight's shoulder. "I will never be able to thank you all enough for your help. If it weren't for you, ThunderClan would not be here to tell the tale of our victory."

Crowfeather, Ashstar's son and deputy, frowned solemnly from his place beside his skin-and-bones mother's flank. "Was it really a victory?" he challenged quietly. "From the sound of it, the foxes are still going to be staying in your territory."

Bramblestar exhaled painfully. "And probably they are still going to be there. We'll fight through it; ThunderClan had no deaths."

"Neither did WindClan," put in Whiskernose.

"Thank StarClan," Squirrelflight breathed. She glanced fearfully at Bramblestar, then added, "How did you know we were being attacked?"

Ashstar blinked forlornly back at them, her milky cornflower-blue eyes gleaming with exhaustion. "They have now officially moved their border with us across the stream. They're slowly eating up our territory with their putrid scent." Her entire body rattled as she shuddered. "A patrol noticed that the portion of their land that they're always occupying was totally deserted. We risked entering their territory, and found nothing. We knew they couldn't possibly have moved out that fast, and that's when I knew they must be trying to kill ThunderClan off for more land."

"Well, they failed," Bramblestar replied curtly, dipping his head low to the gray she-cat, even though the action made him cringe in pain. "All because of your help. Thank you, thank you, thank you."

WindClan left soon after that, able to travel since their cats had few injuries. Once the camp contained only ThunderClan cats again, Morningpaw cast a glance around the red-stained clearing.

Lilyfern, slathered in various herb poultices, was sitting with Seedspeck and Brackenfur by Sorreltail's body, which was just outside the elders' den. Their heads were bowed low, and Morningpaw could still see Brackenfur's shoulders shaking as he sobbed.

Bloodpaw and his siblings were moving from den to den, scraping together some chunks that had fallen out during close-quarters struggles in the battle. Bloodpaw's pinkish eyes were gleaming now in the increasing moonlight, and Oakpaw's scratches stood out puffy and red against her matted tabby pelt.

Brightheart and Cloudtail were furiously licking all of their kits, even the much older Whitewing, who was also being fussed over by her mate Birchfall. Fury pulsed in Morningpaw's heart and throbbed hotly on her face like a blow. Dovewing's parents.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Whitewing mewed, her tiredness palpable in her sagging limbs. "There's no need to lick me until it looks like I've taken a dip in the lake."

"Just want to get that beautiful white pelt clean again," her mother muttered.

Birchfall stopped rasping his tongue behind Whitewing's ears for a moment and pawed at the ground. "Well, there'll be no more fighting for Whitewing anyway," he said casually.

Intrigued, Morningpaw paused for a moment to listen to her kin.

Cloudtail narrowed his eyes at the brown tabby. "What are you getting at, lad? Spit it out."

Birchfall and Whitewing exchanged joyous glances before Whitewing burst out, "I'm expecting kits!"

Ivypool, who had just emerged from the medicine den with the scratch under her eye treated, bounded over to her parents with wide dark blue eyes. "You can't be serious!" she gasped.

Whitewing beamed at her older daughter. "Nope, no lies. Jayfeather confirmed it a quarter-moon ago."

Brightheart was practically jumping up and down from her enthusiasm. "This is wonderful news! This Clan needed some sunshine after that horrific ambush."

Cloudtail nudged Birchfall's shoulder. "Congratulations, you two. I was missing having a lot of kits running around camp and tripping the grumpy senior warriors."

Morningpaw didn't know what to think. It was strange that her mother would be having siblings younger than her daughters. Oh well. I don't have a mother anyway.

And all Whitewing and Birchfall will be having are more Dovewings.

They'll name their kits Dovekit the Second, Wingkit, and Dovewingkit.