Title: Traitor
Word count: 469
Fandom: Warriors
Summary: Tawnypaw knew she couldn't be at home in ThunderClan, but would leaving be traitorous?
Notes: I was rereading The Darkest Hour and this just came to me.
Tawnypaw knew she couldn't be at home in ThunderClan. No matter what her mother and Firestar said, she would never be accepted. While she resembled her mother Goldenflower much more than her father Tigerstar, the Clan whispered behind her back about their heritage, about a father they could barely remember. It wasn't her fault that her father was a traitor! It didn't mean that she was a traitor, too!
Bramblepaw was determined that he would show the Clan how good and loyal a warrior he could be. Tawnypaw didn't say anything—she didn't want to crush her brother's dreams—but she knew that they would never be accepted. Bramblepaw was doomed to fail. He looked so much like their father that no one could ever glance at him without shuddering at the resemblance.
Tawnypaw didn't fit in. She had no friends other than her brother and her mother (well, and possibly her mentor Brackenfur). She was temperamental and short with her elders and betters, and they always reminded her of it. She often went hunting alone, just to get away from everyone who hated her back at camp.
But still, Tawnypaw loved the forest, and she loved her family. She couldn't leave ThunderClan, and besides, if she did, where would she go? No one would take her in, and the idea of joining TigerClan was repellent. Tawnypaw had no desire to become a traitor. She wanted to prove everyone wrong, and show them how loyal she could be.
But when Smallear made the ridiculous accusation that she was "just as bad as her father" because she was a little bit late to change the moss in the elder's den, Tawnypaw snapped.
She was sick of everything. She was sick of the sneers and jeers, she was sick of the taunts. She had often daydreamed of being in a place where she belonged... and secretly, in her heart of hearts, Tawnypaw wondered whether Tigerstar really had done all of those awful, terrible things Firestar said he had. She knew she wasn't supposed to doubt the word of her Clan leader, and the rest of the Clan seemed convinced of her father's guilt, too, but maybe... maybe Tawnypaw was a traitor at heart.
Maybe she was just like her father... but she didn't even know her father! Maybe ThunderClan were the evil ones, and TigerClan was the place to be.
It wouldn't be treasonous to leave ThunderClan, would it, not if she was pledging her loyalty to another Clan? Surely Tigerstar would understand?
Whatever happened, Tawnypaw couldn't stay in ThunderClan. She wanted to belong. She wanted to be happy. And though she would miss Bramblepaw, Goldenflower, and Brackenfur, ThunderClan was not her home.
TigerClan was.
She only hoped that StarClan wouldn't see her as a traitor, like her father before her...