Chapter 29

"Family Dysfunction, Part 1."

4/14/17 - 4/15/17 - 4/16/17

Mosscloud waits for Heatherstar to finish picking the cats chosen for the Gathering. Of course, this would mean the new warriors would be going. Swiftstrike, Poolheart… and Dewpelt.

Dewpelt became relentless with pursuing Mosscloud, and every cat sees it and looks away in amusement of the courtship. Mosscloud doesn't see it as courtship, it is harassment. Swiftstrike caught on to Dewpelt and threatened his tail if he continues to bother her, and he eventually learned of what Splashpelt promised Dewpelt.

Swiftstrike doesn't have to do much to make sure his threat sticks when Dewpelt tries to follow Mosscloud, the dark grey tom backed off for a while.

Mosscloud tells her brother what Owlpaw told her, about their father, and now they wait for their Clan to travel. Splashpelt appears from the nursery and joins with the other warriors. Ploverfoot volunteered to stay behind with the kits while their mothers were gone.

Following Heatherstar's lead, Swiftstrike falls in beside Mosscloud.

"So Owlpaw thinks our father is in WindClan?"

"That's right. He wouldn't lie."

Swiftstrike glances at her. "I didn't say he lied. I just didn't think we'd care about who he is until now."

Mosscloud says, "Whoever our father is, it was a big enough deal for Splashpelt to hit Owlpaw. He knows who he is, he's still afraid of Splashpelt to not say anything."

Swiftstrike snorts. "I wonder if that's why Splashpelt is here, to look out for our Dad."

Nightsong crosses the tree bridge and sees the ShadowClan cats, and tries to find Owlpaw and Kestrelwing. Marshfoot catches her watching.

"Looking for Owlpaw?" He sneers.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" Lichenfall growls. Nightsong scoffs and continues to search for Owlpaw.

Nightsong suddenly sees Poolheart charge and push her to the ground.

"Get lost, ThunderClan! You're not corrupting our Clanmate!"

The other ShadowClan cats jeer at Nightsong as she stands back up. Then Marshfoot shoves her away, and Lichenfall and Poolheart advance toward her when Lionfang and Finchblaze take Nightsong back to the ThunderClan group.

"Just stay here. Nobody is going to allow you to speak to the others." Finchblaze told her.

Nightsong sees her Clanmates glaring at ShadowClan from an obvious distance. She looks at the tree bridge and sees RiverClan and WindClan arrive. They, too, keep distance from each other. She can make out Spiderpaw and Beechpaw before they were promptly removed from each other and forced to sit with their respective Clan.

They're separating us on purpose. Nightsong unsheathes her claws and flattens her ears with frustration.

Is ShadowClan doing the same to Owlpaw? He's a medicine cat apprentice now, it would be stupid for them to try.

Snowpelt notices Creekstar's absence and Brackenfall waiting near the leader's tree. Thistlefang pads beside her.

"I guess Creekstar died."

Snowpelt is surprised to hear little remorse in Thistlefang's voice. The dark brown tabby looks at her.

"You remember the WindClan raid?"

Snowpelt nods.

"They stole Maplecloud and wouldn't give her back, and Creekstar orchestrated the whole thing. So I'm sorry for not being sympathetic with the old cat's passing."

Snowpelt brushes her tail on Thistlefang's spine. Thistlefang leans on her shoulder and entwined his tail with hers. Snowpelt tenses up with surprise, from her peripheral vision, Petalbreeze twitches her whiskers in teasing amusement.

Don't you dare! Snowpelt glared at her sister warningly. But she also couldn't ignore Thistlefang's muscular frame against hers, and Snowpelt, growing self conscious, sees a few of her Clanmates looking at them.

Gingershine and Timberclaw were smirking at them. Mistpool and Graystream were amused. Windstorm looks disgruntled with his daughter being next to a tom.

Snowpelt doesn't move her tail from Thistlefang's, though. And she knows that they won't let her live it down. Word travels fast in a Clan, after all.

"Swiftstrike."

The long haired black tom looks at Owlpaw padding to him.

"Why is everyone hostile? This is supposed to be a time of peace."

"They might be retaliating for you leaving. They would rather not socialize with each other if it meant risking you guys meeting up."

Owlpaw frowns and glares over to the WindClan cats, then looks at Swiftstrike.

"I'm speaking to Spiderpaw. I don't care what they do, they can't touch me."

Swiftstrike watches Owlpaw pad toward the WindClan cats, who notice him and immediately became defensive. Swiftstrike stiffens.

They won't attack him, will they?

"Get lost." Lizardtail hissed at Owlpaw.

"Spiderdusk has nothing to say to you." Sleetfrost adds.

Spiderdusk? He earned his name already?

Owlpaw waves his tail. "I'm a medicine cat apprentice now. I just want to greet an old friend."

"We said get lost!" Lizardtail swipes his claws on Owlpaw's nose. A bulking black tom pushes through the crowd and glares at Lizardtail.

"Would you relax? He's a medicine cat now!" Spiderdusk growls.

"What kind of WindClan cat are you?" Lizardtail demands.

"He's half-ThunderClan, remember?"

Violetbloom strolls near Sleetfrost. "Lizardtail, Brackenstar wants you to stay away from the front crowd so you don't start fights."

"But-!"

"Don't argue. If Spiderdusk wants to risk being thrown out, let him."

Spiderdusk snorts and allows Owlpaw to lead him away. Owlpaw risks looking over his shoulder and seeing Violetbloom leading Sleetfrost away with her tail under his chin.

"What was that about?"

Spiderdusk rolls his eyes. "They're all rabbit brains, especially Violetbloom since she's messing around with Sleetfrost."

"Isn't he Falconwing's mate and Cheetahpaw's father? Also, didn't Violetbloom give birth a few moons ago?"

Spiderdusk snorts again. "Cheetahpaw's family is messed up in the head."

Nightsong sneaks past her Clanmates to reach the two toms.

"Hey, we got a problem." She said.

"What do you mean?" Asks Owlpaw.

Nightsong leans toward them. "Alpha and her pack followed us to the lake."

Spiderdusk narrows his eyes and Owlpaw's fur bristles.

"Are you sure?" Owlpaw asks her. "What makes you say that?"

"Snowpelt and I found Cloudwind and Whitefur's bodies outside of our camp. They had wounds that were too savage for a cat or a dog to do."

"Seriously? They killed two of your own?"

Nightsong nods sadly to Owlpaw. "The smell is so bad, Darkstar doesn't even know what it is."

"I'll never forget the stench of wolves." Spiderdusk shudders.

"I think we should try and talk about this. Together, tomorrow tonight."

"We can, but our Clanmates are already trying to stop us from meeting each other tonight. I couldn't even try and talk to Spiderdusk, I don't want to think about what RiverClan would do to me."

"We'll have to try." Spiderdusk says. "Once we find proof that wolves are here we can tell our leaders and deal with the consequences later."

"What about Beechpaw?" Nightsong points out.

"Let all cats approach the leader's tree. The Gathering is about to start!"

Owlpaw stands up. "I could talk to Sootdust about it and she can tell him."

Mosscloud and Swiftstrike watch Olivestar go first.

"RiverClan continues to grow strong. One of our apprentices, Beechpaw, recently earned his warrior name and is now Beechclaw."

"Beechclaw! Beechclaw! Beechclaw!"

Mosscloud sees a black, brown eared tom looking downcast.

"What does he have to be sad about?" Swiftstrike asks her. Mosscloud shrugs her shoulders.

"That is all RiverClan has to report."

Olivestar turns around and allows Darkstar to take her place.

"ThunderClan is met with tragedy. Earlier this moon, we lost Cloudwind and Whitefur in a vicious attack by an unknown assailant."

The island echoes with murmurs of shock and grief. Mosscloud heard little about Cloudwind and Whitefur, but supposedly Cloudwind is Rosefoot's father while he was a medicine cat, and Whitefur used to be a loner by the name of Ezra, who was Goldflame's mate. They were obviously popular with the other Clans.

"What do you mean by 'unknown assailant'?" Brackenfall asks him.

"Are you accusing one of us of being involved?" Demands Olivestar.

"If I did I would have said 'cat', wouldn't I?" Darkstar retorts. "The scent is drastically different from a cat, and not even close to a dog's. I'm just letting you know so you can stay alert for anything suspicious.

"That is all ThunderClan has to report."

Brackenfall takes Darkstar's place on the branch.

"WindClan has suffered a loss as well. Creekstar died from being attacked, and I have become leader of WindClan with Grassclaw as my deputy."

"Brackenstar! Brackenstar! Brackenstar!"

"We also have a new warrior with us. My apprentice, Spiderpaw, is now Spiderdusk."

"Spiderdusk! Spiderdusk! Spiderdusk!"

Mosscloud sees Spiderdusk puffing his chest with pride. In the knot of ThunderClan warriors is Pricklefrost, who is cheering the loudest for Spiderdusk.

"That is all WindClan has to report."

Brackenstar steps down, and Heatherstar takes his place.

"ShadowClan has two reports. We have four new warriors in Dewpelt, Poolheart, Swiftstrike and Mosscloud."

Mosscloud begins to feel eyes staring into her back. She glances over to the deputies, and a dark grey tom is staring at her and Swiftstrike intensely.

Isn't that Grassclaw? She recalls Ploverfoot pointing him out one time.

"One of our apprentices, Owlpaw, has decided to take the path of a medicine cat and is training under Kestrelwing."

Grassclaw blinks and turns his attention to Owlpaw, who is sitting next to Kestrelwing, as if he is confused. Mosscloud finds it strange that Grassclaw even cares about Owlpaw's change in apprenticeship.

When the Gathering was over, Grassclaw immediately jumps from the branch and pads to Kestrelwing and Owlpaw before they go to their Clanmates.

Mosscloud leaves Swiftstrike's side and follows them behind a bush, and sees Grassclaw and Owlpaw with Kestrelwing next to him.

"You could have been a strong warrior if you bothered to put in the effort. Why would you throw it all away?"

"The life of a warrior wasn't suited for me, Grassclaw. It never was."

Grassclaw bristles his dark grey fur. "And Splashpelt allowed you to turn your back on becoming a warrior?!"

"Splashpelt already resigned from being my mother when she lied to protect you. If you want to fight with someone, fight her! I'm done with being the blame for every little thing that doesn't go your way!"

Owlpaw turns tail and pads away from Grassclaw and Kestrelwing following him. Grassclaw growls and stalks away without seeing Mosscloud. The brown and white she-cat leaves the bushes and goes back to her Clanmates. However, she sees Grassclaw glare at Splashpelt as they part ways to their Clan.

"Mosscloud, where did you go?"

She looks at Swiftstrike. "I know who our father is."

Swiftstrike blinks. "You do?"

"Yes. I think it's time we had a talk with Mom."

The next morning, Snowpelt wakes up and sees Rosefoot curled into a ball in her nest. Snowpelt touches Rosefoot's back, and the pinkish she-cat refuses to respond. Windstorm nudges Snowpelt's shoulder.

"Go on ahead. I'll talk to her."

Snowpelt nods and pads out of the den. Darkstar hasn't revealed himself to the Clan since last night, so Littlefalcon works on his paws to keep every cat busy. She meets Littlefalcon near the thorn barrier.

"I'm going hunting."

The ThunderClan deputy nods. Snowpelt climbs out of the gorge and pads toward the ShadowClan territory in order to reach RiverClan when she hears faint paw steps.

She turns around and sees Thistlefang padding out from the trees.

"Where are you going?" He demands. Snowpelt could lie, but with everyone still suspicious she needs someone to stand by her besides Nightsong.

"I'm getting Beechclaw to meet with me and Nightsong tonight. We just need to talk…"

"Okay, but, why do you specifically need to see Beechclaw? Nightsong should be able to do that on her own."

"Like you haven't heard warriors like Sneezeclaw making comparisons between her and Lionstar, she can't do anything without having them breathing down her neck."

Thistlefang lashes his tail, and pads next to her. "Fine, but I'm going with you."

"You don't-."

"Yes I do! You're too naïve, Snowpelt, and I don't trust Beechclaw not to take advantage of you."

Snowpelt glares at him. "So you're saying I'm stupid?! Thanks for the suggestion, but I can walk myself to RiverClan, thank you very much."

Snowpelt pushes past Thistlefang without responding to him calling her name. She pads across the rim of ShadowClan and stands on the wooden ground of the Greenleaf Twolegplace.

She sees a black tom pulling out a big trout. "Beechclaw!"

The RiverClan tom looks up and straightens out as Snowpelt pads toward him.

"S-Snowpelt, what can I do for you?"

Snowpelt thought something stirred in Beechclaw's amber eyes, she dismisses the idea.

"Nightsong wants us to meet at our usual place on the island. It regards to what happened to Cloudwind and Whitefur."

Beechclaw blinks. "Oh. Sure, I'll be there."

Snowpelt nods and turns around.

"Actually, Snowpelt…"

The white-silver flecked she-cat looks at him. Beechclaw feels his throat dry up.

Just say it. Ask her to meet you afterwards.

Beechclaw sees a dark brown tabby glaring at him, three fox lengths away.

What's his name? Thistlefang? Is he her mate?

"Beechclaw, if there's nothing more to say then I'll see you tonight."

The RiverClan tom broke his thoughts and dips his head.

"Okay. I'll see you."

Thistlefang looks satisfied and quickly pads away before Snowpelt notices.

"Oh. Here." Beechclaw pushes the tuna to Snowpelt. The white-silver flecked she-cat looks at him weirdly.

"How can I explain why I have tuna?"

Beechclaw shrugs. "It jumped out of the lake."

Snowpelt rolls her eyes before picking up the tuna, and leaves the RiverClan territory without another word and disappears. Beechclaw sighs.

"Bad move."

Daisypelt is bending down, looking at the water when he looks at her.

"Didn't anyone tell you the tragic story of Graystripe and Silverstream? Pretty sad, pretty depressing."

"You don't know if it'll be like that." Beechclaw is already fed up with Daisypelt haunting over his every move.

"Oh, it will, in your mind that is."

Daisypelt's paw hits the water and sends a salmon flying into the air. She catches it in her jaws and crushes it with her teeth. She places the salmon on the ground.

"Take from Graystripe and Silverstream, forbidden love is extremely overrated. And if you truly care for that ThunderClan she-cat, you'd stop mooning over her and let her go have a normal life. You'll both get into even more trouble and any kits you have will suffer the consequences."

Daisypelt grabs the salmon and goes back to camp. Beechclaw listens to the small crashing water and shakes his head before following her trail.

"Mom, can we speak with you for a spell?"

Splashpelt looks up from her younger kits to Swiftstrike. Shrewkit is the first to speak up.

"Are you Swiftstrike?"

Swiftstrike purrs. "Yes, I am."

"Fernkit was telling the truth after all!"

Fernkit cuffs Shrewkit's ears. "Of course I was, frog brain!"

Splashpelt shushes her kits and looks at her oldest son.

"Very well. Just give me a moment."

Swiftstrike backs up for Splashpelt to leave the nursery. Swiftstrike and Splashpelt pad by Heatherstar and her kits, who were bidding farewell to Coal.

The black furred kittypet started visiting two days ago, and is making his visits more frequent. Nobody is used to Coal's visits, but Heatherstar allows him to return and spend time with his two daughters and son.

Swiftstrike and Splashpelt stop near the boulder where Mosscloud is, and she looks at her two older kits suspiciously.

"What is the meaning of this?" She asks them.

"We just wanted to talk about our father." Swiftstrike said gruffly.

Splashpelt narrows her eyes. "As do I. Your father died shortly after the kits were born."

"Splashpelt, we know that's not true."

Splashpelt looks at Mosscloud. "What do you…?"

"We know about you and Grassclaw." Mosscloud said. "We knew he's our father as well as Fernkit, Shrewkit and Smokekit-."

"Shhh!" Splashpelt looks back to make sure nobody is listening and glares at the two.

"Did Owlpaw tell you?"

"No." Swiftstrike growls. "I wasn't aware that he knew."

"I should've known, though." Mosscloud puts in. "He wasn't the same before he left, and I wondered why you would hit your own kit?"

"What did you plan to do?" Swiftstrike asks Splashpelt. "Did you plan to keep having kits with him and expect no one to find out? Mom, Smokekit is almost exactly identical to Grassclaw save for his eyes, the third or fourth litter you might not be so lucky!"

"How dare you tell me to live my life?" Splashpelt growls. "You're all just kits as far as I'm concerned."

"At least we won't hit our kits." Swiftstrike snarls.

"Or force them into anything they don't want." Mosscloud sneers, remembering the nuisance known as Dewpelt.

"Mind your own business. I'll keep seeing Grassclaw for as long as I can and you can't tell me-."

"Excuse me."

Swiftstrike and Mosscloud stiffen to hear the deep voice. They turn around and see Grassclaw, the WindClan deputy.

"I would like to talk to Heatherstar."

"WindClan is here!"

"WindClan's deputy is trespassing!"

Fernkit and her brothers look up with curiosity and excitement. However, Mallowkit, Juniperkit and Chestnutkit were blocking the entrance.

"Move!" Smokekit told them. Juniperkit wrinkles her pink nose.

"What's the magic word ~?"

"Move, now!"

Fernkit pushes past Mallowkit and Chestnutkit, and sees her mother, brother and sister looking at a dark grey tom she's never seen before.

Heatherstar stares at Grassclaw warily as the ShadowClan cats gather around, throwing silent glares at the WindClan deputy.

"Grassclaw." Heatherstar says, coolly. "What brings you here?"

"I understand that you have kits that were recently born to Splashpelt?"

The brown, white splashed she-cat bristles her fur, sinks her claws into the ground and hisses quietly for Grassclaw to shut up. Swiftstrike, Mosscloud and Owlpaw can see the fear radiating off her pelt.

"What do Splashpelt's kits have anything to do with WindClan?"

Grassclaw smirks confidently. "Funny. It should matter, considering they're my kits as well."

Gasps of shock ripple through ShadowClan, and some turn to the humiliated Splashpelt as she bares her teeth with anger.

"What are you here for?" Heatherstar asks.

"I want my kits raised in WindClan."

"No!" Splashpelt stomps to her WindClan mate and glares at him. "How dare you do this to me?! These kits are ShadowClan cats and you have no right to take them from me!"

Grassclaw snorts. "From what I've witnessed you are a lousy mother at best. Allowing Owlpaw to turn his back on being a warrior… My father would kill me before I could say anything to Creekstar, and you think I'm going to let you ruin these kits?"

"Oh, and you and WindClan have such a good track record for taking in kits! Look at your Clanmate Frogskip!"

"That's enough!" Rabbitstep snaps. Splashpelt and Grassclaw stop arguing and look at Rabbitstep, who nods to Heatherstar.

"You cannot have these kits. They were born in ShadowClan and will stay here."

Grassclaw curls his lip. "Would you feel the same for your mate if he took them to become fat, lazy kittypets? Yes, everyone knows about it. I also saw that black tom leave - and his shiny collar, too. If you give him the right to see his kits, I deserve to have my kits."

Heatherstar narrows her light blue eyes. Rabbitstep stalks toward Grassclaw with a glare.

"You're overstepping your boundaries, and I suggest you leave before we escort you back and explain why you trespassed."

Grassclaw waves his tail nonchalantly. "Brackenstar already knows about my kits. I can assure you that history won't repeat itself and we will get the kits."

The dark grey tom turns around and lets himself out. Heatherstar looks at Splashpelt.

"How could you?"

Splashpelt looks at her leader with empty eyes. Owlpaw feels the resentment boil over.

"Oh, now you have nothing to say?! After all the threats you made against me to keep quiet, you have nothing?!"

Heatherstar gives Owlpaw a warning glance before she looks at Splashpelt.

"Splashpelt, at least say something so we can fight for your kits."

"Why should we fight for the half-breeds at all?!" Dewpelt yowls.

"Splashpelt betrayed her Clan - twice!" Lichenfall cries out.

Splashpelt suddenly turned on her Clanmates.

"Shut up! You don't know what I did to protect you or my kits! I exposed Daisyleaf's affair with Frogskip and got her exiled! I did everything I did to protect my family!"

"No." Owlpaw growls. "You did it for you. Everything you did was to protect yourself."

The brown and white splashed she-cat gives Owlpaw a hollow stare before going inside the nursery.

Heatherstar addresses the Clan.

"Despite what has happened so far, Splashpelt's kits are still part of ShadowClan. Her fate in this Clan, however, is yet to be determined. I will think about what to do with her and the kits, but give me time. We are all tired."

Fernkit looks at Splashpelt as she lies in her nest.

"Mom? Was that WindClan cat our father?"

"Go to sleep."

"But, mom-."

"Go. To. Sleep."

Smokekit whimpers and quickly tries to fall asleep. Fernkit rests next to Shrewkit and sleeps, replaying the events of today.

Owlpaw's ears twitch to hear paw steps, waking him up the same night. He looks up from his nest and sees a tail vanishing, and looks at the herb supplies and finds a few dark berries short.

The deathberries.

Owlpaw hears horrific gagging and rushes outside to see a cat fall on its flank while foaming in the mouth. Blinking, Owlpaw realizes it was Splashpelt.

Owlpaw quickly rushes inside and grabs yew and goes back to Splashpelt to make her eat it. Splashpelt smacks the yew from his paws and gives a final shudder before falling still.

The racket wakes up the ShadowClan cats and see Splashpelt's body in the clearing. Owlpaw slowly moved away from the body as Kestrelwing steps out.

"Oh, StarClan no…"

Owlpaw looks away from the sight and sees Fernkit, Smokekit and Shrewkit staring at him and Splashpelt's body.

"Owlpaw. What happened to Mom?" Shrewkit asks him.

The last act of a narcissist. May StarClan have mercy on you, Splashpelt.

With her gone, what's the fate of her kits? Will Grassclaw have a chance to take them? The Prophesied Five meet tonight to discuss the wolves, and Owlpaw already has enough problems without worrying about the wolves attacking them at any moment.

Will ShadowClan lose the kits? Or will this fail like Frogskip's attempt to get his kits back?

Snowpelt gets into a little spat with Thistlefang, but he's sticking to her side so long as Beechclaw shows interest in her. Is he right about her being naïve?

When will the wolves strike again? ~ Kyubi