Chapter 20

"Broken Acorns."

3/31/17 - 4/1/17- 4/2/17

For the past two weeks of June, the Prophesied Five train under the Tribe cats, the prey-hunters Nightpaw and Snowpaw quickly became accustomed to their specialized hunting techniques, and Spiderpaw and Beechpaw's line of sight is hardly affected by the sun, as they search the sky for birds of prey.

However, Owlpaw stays behind and learns healing herbs from Stoneteller, much to the lake apprentices curiosity. The five apprentices were sharing a hawk, when Owlpaw calls for their attention.

"I decided that I want to be a medicine cat apprentice."

"Seriously?" Beechpaw asks.

"Seriously."

"Nice." Spiderpaw said, plucking the feathers from his muzzle. "I can expect Softpaw to see you during the next half moon."

Owlpaw nods. "Pretty much. My mother and Patchflower won't like it, though…"

"Isn't your mother the one that hit you?"

Owlpaw looks at Spiderpaw in shock. "Yes."

"Then who cares?" Spiderpaw scoffs. "She can't control what you do! I annoy Duskcloud every day as a kit, but she's never put a paw on me or claw me."

"Ivyheart cuffed me, but no claws." Nightpaw agreed.

"Rosefoot trapped my paws in dirt and threaten to bury me."

Owlpaw looks at Snowpaw and sees no sense of humor in her eyes.

Wait… She's telling the truth. So her mother can control the earth!

Beechpaw says, "Owlpaw. I'm sure that Heatherstar would let you become a medicine cat no matter what your Clanmates think."

"Yeah, it's a free forest after all." Snowpaw puts in.

Owlpaw smiles. "I hope so…"

Acornpaw

Two light brown paws crushes a magpie in the dirt. Acornpaw looks at her magpie and picks it up as Goldflame approaches her.

"Nice catch. This nice, fat one should be good for Sweetflower." She said.

Sweetflower had her kits near the end of of last week. Three toms and a she-cat. Ripplekit, Drizzlekit, Seedkit and Creekkit. And soon Sweetflower won't be the only queen. Spottedberry is attracting gossip when her belly starts to swell, and is eating her weight in prey.

Acornpaw picks up her magpie and strolls into camp and goes straight to Littlefalcon who is talking to Darkstar.

"I just ran into Brackenfall on patrol. He said his apprentice is gone, too…"

Acornpaw drops her magpie and pokes Littlefalcon's flank.

"Dad, I caught a magpie!"

"Really?" Darkstar questions him, blocking out Acornpaw.

"Yes. Spiderpaw is his name, and he left the same time Nightpaw and Snowpaw have." Littlefalcon told him.

Acornpaw frowns at the mention of her sister, and pokes Littlefalcon's flank a bit harder, but is still unable to get his attention.

"Are you suggesting that there's a pattern?" Darkstar asks him.

"Da-a-ad!"

Littlefalcon sighs with annoyance and sees Acornpaw. The brown she-cat nudges her magpie and puffs her chest.

"... That's a nice looking magpie. Give it to Sweetflower."

Littlefalcon looks at Darkstar, but Acornpaw isn't willing to let his attention turn to anyone else.

"Goldflame said my hunting is as good as Eaglecry and Ravenwing! Can you watch the next hunt-?"

"Acornpaw." Littlefalcon says, exasperated. "I will watch over your hunting one day, but can you please let me talk with Darkstar?"

Acornpaw narrows her eyes when Littlefalcon turns around without waiting for an answer. She growls and runs out of the gorge in an angry fit, lashing her tail around.

This is all her fault! Acornpaw seethed, thinking of Nightpaw. Ever since she left, everyone's been fretting while I get ignored! It's just not fair!

Acornpaw slows her pace and pants heavily and tries to get back to camp.

"Stop right there, ThunderClan cat!"

Acornpaw is suddenly pushed down. "Ouch!"

"Shut up, or I'll claw your spine!"

Acornpaw looks up at her attacker and sees a dark tortoiseshell and a few other cats who were watching her intently, except for one.

"Patchflower, get off of her! She's an apprentice!"

"Then she should have known to stay off of our territory, Ploverfoot!"

Claws dig into her back and the top of her head, Acornpaw bites her lip to muffle her screams.

"Patchflower, stop!"

Claws continue to rip into Acornpaw's skin until she feels the Patchflower's weight pulled off of her.

"What have you done to her?"

Acornpaw struggles to get up, and falls over when she begins to feel her paws become weak.

"Let's go!"

"What - how dare you?!"

Pawsteps retreat from Acornpaw. The ThunderClan apprentice growls at her weakness.

I'm going to die, and nobody will notice…

Acornpaw feels teeth grasping in her scruff and carry her back to her territory before falling unconscious.

Ploverfoot prayed to StarClan not to take this apprentice. She enters ThunderClan's camp and is met with startled hisses and questionable stares.

Ploverfoot places Acornpaw down. "Please, tell your medicine cat that she's hurt."

"What happened to her?"

"That ShadowClan cat attacked Acornpaw! Isn't it obvious?"

Duskshade and Hailstone left their den and look over Acornpaw as Darkstar pads to Ploverfoot.

"What happened to her?" He demands Ploverfoot.

The ShadowClan she-cat flattens her ears. "My Clanmate attacked her for trespassing, but she went way too far and harmed her."

"How do we know you didn't do it yourself?"

"I pulled Patchflower off of her!" Ploverfoot snaps.

Hailstone brushes his paw on Acornpaw's head. "She's running a fever. Duskshade, help me move her inside."

Darkstar narrows his eyes on Ploverfoot. "I'll walk you back to your Clan. I need to discuss this with Heatherstar."

Swiftpaw

Swiftpaw relaxes his fur when he and Rabbitstep leave the Greenleaf Twolegplace without trouble. The tension between them and RiverClan have made Swiftpaw nervous as heck, checking over his shoulder to make sure no RiverClan cat was sneaking out from behind.

Maybe this is how Owlpaw feels. Swiftpaw's heart twinges with grief remembering his brother.

It just feels empty in the den without him.

Swiftpaw and Rabbitstep return to camp and see Darkstar sitting in the middle of camp with Ploverfoot next to him, and a circle of ShadowClan cats glaring at the ThunderClan leader.

Heatherstar pads out of her den with Kestrelwing by her side, and pads to Darkstar with a curious face.

"Darkstar. What brings you here?"

The jet black tom nods to Ploverfoot. "Your warrior told me that one of her Clanmates attacked my apprentice for trespassing on your territory."

Heatherstar frowns. "If your apprentice trespassed first then it was her fault for doing so."

"Still, I find it extreme to claw an apprentice to the brink of unconsciousness. Plus she's suffering from a fever as we speak."

Heatherstar looks at Ploverfoot. "Is this true?"

The pale grey and white she-cat nods. "Patchflower went too far. I could tell that Acornpaw was trying to leave…"

"How can you know?" Patchflower demands in the back. "She could have been stealing prey from us!"

"Even if she was, you never gave her a chance to say anything!"

Heatherstar looks absolutely frustrated with her warriors, and tired. Swiftpaw now realizes why his Clanmates were stressing over Heatherstar's health.

"Darkstar, I'm sincerely sorry for Acornpaw's condition. I will deal with my warriors and see that this will never happen again."

"I trust you." Darkstar sweeps his gaze on the ShadowClan cats before padding out the camp.

"Are you cats or kits?!" Heatherstar yowled at Patchflower and Ploverfoot.

"But-!"

"Silence!"

Both she-cats recoil and bend their heads like scolded apprentices.

"I know we're under a lot of stress right now because of RiverClan, but it does not excuse us to act out on ThunderClan! The last thing we need is to have two neighboring Clans attacking us in the state we are in now!"

Heatherstar glares at Patchflower. "Since you have no sense of control, I'm stripping you of your warrior status and making you an apprentice and giving you to Frostpool."

The dark tortoiseshell looks at Heatherstar in shock.

"I thought giving Owlpaw to you would show you a sense of responsibility," Heatherstar says. "But I was terribly wrong. You still have some growing up before I could trust you to train as a warrior and mentor. As for you, Ploverfoot."

Ploverfoot braces herself.

"I could make you an apprentice, but seeing as Mosspaw is still training under you, I will restrict you from attending the next Gathering. ShadowClan, get back to work."

Everyone returns to their duties, while Patchflower is seething with anger. Heatherstar returns in her den with Kestrelwing following her like a shadow. Mosspaw pads to Swiftpaw with her tail lashing.

"That is so not fair!" She hissed. "Ploverfoot helped that apprentice from dying and she has to stay behind?"

"Those ThunderClan cats are probably going to blame her for Acornpaw's fever." Swiftpaw said.

"And now we're stuck with Patchflower as a denmate!" Mosspaw adds.

"Don't you mean, Patch-paw?" Swiftpaw says slyly. Mosspaw giggles as Splashpelt approaches them.

"Hello."

Mosspaw stiffens hearing Splashpelt's voice, and Swiftpaw ignores it to look at their mother.

"I just want to tell you before I let anyone know." She whispers softly. "I'm expecting kits. Your siblings."

Mosspaw looks at Splashpelt. "You mean half-siblings?"

Splashpelt narrows her eyes on her daughter. "I can assure you they are your full-blooded siblings."

Swiftpaw frowns at the comment. "Wait. So you met with our father and had kits with him?"

Splashpelt suddenly turns around and walks away like she never spoke to them. Mosspaw blinks.

"What is her problem?" Swiftpaw asks her.

"... I don't know."

"You actually believe that these kits she's having are sharing the same father as us?"

Mosspaw looks at her brother. "Yes, I do."

"She's not close with the toms here. Who could be our father?"

"... I believe he's somewhere outside of the Clan. That's the only way I could think of."

Heatherstar groans as her stomach growls. Kestrelwing massages her stomach.

"I just want this to end…" Heatherstar whispers.

"Heatherstar, as your medicine cat I want you to move into the nursery before you do serious harm to your kits."

The light brown tabby she cat shakes her head. "I can't let my Clanmates know."

Kestrelwing snorts. "They are going to find out when you're bleeding and giving birth to kits! I understand that you don't want them to know about their father, but these kits deserve to be healthy."

"You saw how vile they were towards Owlpaw." Heatherstar told him. "The rumors spread about his heritage, how would my kits fair if it was known that their father was a kittypet?"

Kestrelwing sighs. "I don't know. But these kits will be the kits of ShadowClan's leader. They will have strong blood no matter who the father is."

Heatherstar falls silent, and Kestrelwing watches her intently.

"What will you do?"

The ShadowClan leader rests her chin on her nest. "I have no choice but to tell them. Hopefully they will accept the kits with open paws."

This should have been posted yesterday but it wouldn't be much of an April Fools chapter when there's not much...foolishness.

Although, I know that April is Autism Awareness month! :)

On the news in this chapter, Splashpelt and Heatherstar are expecting kits! We know who Splashpelt's mate is, but Heatherstar never showed signs of sneaking off at night and now she's having kits with a kittypet.

Looks like ShadowClan is getting bigger, and Mosspaw and Swiftpaw are suspicious of Splashpelt now that she's expecting. She's said too much and now they're wondering who their father is, and Owlpaw is the only one who knows.

Hopefully this won't blow up in Splashpelt's face before the kits come… ;) ~ Kyubi