Disclaimer: I don't own the warriors series!

Title: Deep Dive

Summary: In a world where ThunderClan absorbed ShadowClan seasons ago, young warrior Weaselface is tasked to rebuild the fourth Clan and take her place as leader. But how can she betray all she's ever known and loved, all on the word of one ghost with a grudge?

...

Flintpoppy brushed noses with Spiderstar as he took his place at the front of the camp, tail curling pleasantly. "Don't scare them too badly, dear."

"We'll see," he purred, sparing her a quick lick. "Take good care of the camp while we're away. Don't hesitate to rip some eyeballs out if the munchkins get out of line."

She examined her claws. "I never do."

Adderpelt stuck his tongue out at their shenanigans, making Weaselface chuckle awkwardly as he sat next to her. Gatherings are hard enough without being part of the announcements, she thought, but there was no escaping it- ThunderClan had a fresh batch of new warriors, one of whom was pregnant with what he assumed was his son's litter. Spiderstar must be over the moon with all the bragging he's gonna get to do.

Because of the awkward balance between new warriors and older warriors, the camp was filled with graying muzzles as she took her place in the crowd. Even Dovefrost, who was one of the most respected warriors, stayed behind with little fuss. Bumblepaw and Ratpaw watched jealously from their den; Spiderstar had refused them entry due to Ratpaw's 'unfounded' actions towards Smokescar, which Bumblepaw had supported. Weaselface knew she should probably keep a stiff lip about it, if only to avoid causing any ruckus, but it was nice to see how close and caring the 'paws were, and she couldn't help it if she happened to ask Smokescar on the odd solo-hunt to ease their workload.

There's technically two ways to get to the island, and both require stepping into enemy territory. Spiderstar led them counterclockwise, slipping from ThunderClan and into ShadowClan territory to pick up the elders along the way. Weaselface found herself looking up at the pine trees with new eyes. Knowing the land had housed a different Clan was very different compared to meeting someone who'd lived there.

It doesn't matter, she told herself, shaking her head. It's ThunderClan land now. She'd played in the elders' camp as a tot, and she'd spent more than a few nights guarding it as an apprentice. That makes it ThunderClan. Because I'm ThunderClan, and nothing will ever change that.

Plumpetal and Brackenpelt were guarding the elders' camp as they arrived, individually perking up as Spiderstar approached and dipped his head. Beetooth went inside to see who all he could wrangle; and Weaselface, already tired, flopped down on her haunches with a sigh.

"Quarter-moon left?" Plumpetal meowed, wincing in sympathy.

"Closer to a full moon," she admitted. Weaselface attempted a cheery wave of her tail. "Halfway there, amiright?"

Brackenpelt clucked her tongue. "Sweetshine's not looking much better. I'd say she's maybe a half-moon bigger?"

Ice flooded Weaselface's veins. She hadn't seen Sweetshine since their warrior ceremony, but had chalked that up to her grieving. She'd been sitting weird when I talked to her that morning, she realized. I just assumed she was tired! "Is she... pregnant?"

The two mollies exchanged a look, like she was a kit who'd asked a dumb question, before Brackenpelt replied, "Aye, I'd reckon so, unless she's stealing a lot of prey from the pile."

"Poor dear," added Plumpetal. "Losing Antpaw like that. It's hard to raise a litter alone."

Weaselface could barely hear them. Blood pounded in her ears as she gathered herself enough to stand up and stumble through the small group. She almost collided with Nutstripe along the way, mumbling a hasty apology under her breath. Her mind was racing. She was pregnant before I was! And Antpaw- did he know? Of course he did- how could he not?

She'd known, in a distant sort of way, that Sweetshine was padding after Antpaw. Everyone knew that. But that night... he said I was the only one. That bastard. That fucking bastard.

Weaselface bumped her head against Adderpelt's shoulder. She was shaking. "Sweetshine's pregnant," she whispered, mouth dry.

"Is she?" Adderpelt asked, sounding equally surprised. "Good for her."

"With Antpaw's kits!"

The black and white tom paused. Her intertwined their tails. "She's strong. I know she'll be okay."

Good for her! Furious, she hissed at him. "I'm pregnant with his kits too, fluff-for-brains! He cheated on her! With me! I'm the other molly!"

Adderpelt cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, but she doesn't know that. She thinks they're mine."

"That's not the point." Stars, he could be thick-headed sometimes. "How can I just- I can't not tell Sweetshine about this. This is serious!"

"Okay," he answered, just as calm as ever. "Do you want me there?"

Most of Weaselface wanted to say yes. She dug her claws into the dirt and reluctantly shook her head. "That would feel like ganging up on her."

Adderpelt dipped his head. "Alright."

Beetooth returned before Weaselface could respond. With him was Pinethroat, Mossytooth, and Sweetshine. Sure enough, the calico's stomach bulged about as large as her's- she had a smaller litter, if Weaselface had to guess, but judging by the way she waddled she had become accustomed to the size. Sweetshine looked around nervously, caught sight of her, and instantly lit up.

Oh, no, Weaselface thought. No, no, no.

"Weasel! Adderpelt!" she cheerfully greeted, bumping foreheads with the tom. "Dew asked me to tell you that she couldn't make it this time. Squirrelwhisker's labor took a lot out of her."

"Everything a-okay?" Adderpelt asked.

Sweetshine hesitated. "It wasn't great. She had four, but two of them were stillborn. She thinks it's 'cause of all the stress." The calico snuck a look at Weaselface, face pinched. "Makes me kind of nervous, you know?"

"Yeah," said Weaselface, disassociating from the entire situation. "I know."

Weaselface didn't know many cats from other Clans. She'd been embarrassed to approach them as a 'paw, wary they would look at her mangled throat and think ThunderClan fed kits to monsters, and by the time she grew up it was too late to start. She only vaguely recognized the leaders; Briarstar of RiverClan, with her sleek brown and white tabby coat, and Rainstar of WindClan, a dark gray tabby tom. The two leaders always sat on the same exact branch, and usually had very little to say.

Spiderstar hopped on the branch opposite of them, making him the only leader on that half of the tree. "Evening, you two."

"Evening," Rainstar meowed. Briarstar grunted and turned her head away. "All well in ThunderClan?"

"You'll see soon enough."

"So stuffy," Sweetshine commented. Weaselface, having not noticed her coming up beside her, flinched. "You know, I don't know the first thing about those two? I don't even know what their warrior names were."

"It's not like they have a lot of wiggle room," she said, then immediately regretted it. What am I doing? I'm a warrior. That's none of my business.

She cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

Weaselface hesitated. "I mean... they have a lot of reason to be close to each other, but not with us. We have double the land they do."

"Yeah, but it's underutilized. We could have a booming herd of cats, but our numbers are comparatively small. If anything, Briarstar and Rainstar ought to find us laughably weak and take the advantage." Weaselface's jaw dropped. Sweetshine had always been on the quieter side, but she'd just assumed she was shy. The calico caught her look and giggled. "You're not the only one out here who thinks this is uneven, Weasel. Most of us just don't yell about it."

"Oh," she said, feeling a bit foolish. It was comforting to know that she wasn't the only one, at least. Every young warrior probably has thoughts like these. That means they go away, right?

"I suppose we'll start," Rainstar called, and they lapsed into silence. "Rabbits are coming back slowly but surely. A couple of warriors have spotted a new burrow, and a couple have even crawled inside and found decently dry moss." He tilted his chin upwards. "WindClan will thrive again."

"Sounds lovely," Spiderstar meowed, but didn't sound even slightly sincere. "Briarstar?"

"You can go."

"Oh, but I insist."

The brown and white tabby hissed a sigh out from her teeth and sat up straight. "The ice is melting. Now that it's warming up, we've been seeing more land prey like squirrels and voles, which has drawn in a stray fox. And, because of that, I'm afraid Raggedpaw has gone to StarClan."

Below her, Webflower hung her head. Raggedpaw had been her apprentice.

Rainstar blinked at her sympathetically. "Why would the fox attack a medicine cat?"

"Why do foxes do anything?" Briarstar retorted. "It was hungry. Raggedpaw was alone."

Sweetshine shuddered and brushed her pelt against Weaselface's. She knew exactly what she was thinking. That could've been any apprentice. That could've just as easily been her's or mine.

"We lost an apprentice too," Spiderstar butted in, tail flicking. "Antpaw died in an attack your warriors carried out."

Briarstar tensed up, but her voice didn't waver. "I sent that attack, Spiderstar. My warriors only did as they were told."

"Told to kill?"

She ignored that. "ThunderClan scent has been almost halfway through our territory. If I had to guess, I'd think your elders were branching out. It's not like you feed them properly, after all."

"ThunderClan doesn't have to deal with the same sentimentalities you lot do," the black tom snapped. "Our elders can take care of themselves. If they felt they needed something from RiverClan, I can only guess they were missing out on prey. Maybe that fox chased it off."

"The fox is dead." Briarstar flexed her claws, digging them into the wood. "RiverClan takes care of its own, unlike some of us."

Spiderstar brushed that off with a snort. "Some good came out of it, at least. ThunderClan is proud to introduce its new warriors; Adderpelt, Fogfur, Nutstripe, Sweetshine, and Weaselface! Sweetshine and Weaselface are carrying as we speak, and Squirrelwhisker gave birth to two healthy kits- Ashkit and Hootkit."

A weary chorus started up. It was hard to excitedly yell that many names. "Adderpelt! Fogfur! Nutstripe! Sweetshine! Weaselface!"

He smiled smugly at the two leaders, where were bent close to each other, muttering. "ThunderClan is as strong as ever," Spiderstar proclaimed. "And don't you forget it."

Author's Note: Hey, some new characters! Briarstar and Rainstar aren't main characters, but they ARE sick of Spiderstar's shit, which makes them decent allies. For anyone curious as to why Dew never told Weaselface about Sweetshine- she just didn't want to deal with her daughter's inevitably meltdown. Dew is many things, but sympathetic has never been one of them.

I don't normally get chapters out this fast, but I actually had part of this done and in a word doc before the last chapter! I got a little mixed up at first as to which I wanted to get out first. I originally planned on having Weaselface be farther along than Sweetshine, but realized that made literally no sense in context to a timeline. Also, cats are apparently only pregnant for 2 to 2 and a half months? Jesus that's quick.

Sweetshine is a sweetie, really (ba dum tss), and I picture her voice being pink pearl from steven universe.

-Mandaree1