Despite its much smaller weight, the tuft of Firestar's fur weighed down on Mossthorn almost as much as Brambleclaw's body had as he carried it to the lake due to the even darker moral grayness on his part that surrounded its acquisition like an oppressive fog. His adrenaline had… mostly worn off during the this time much more drawn out process of ensuring that no traces of the late leader were visible or smellable… the almost karmatically long process… and he had to fight to keep his eyes open and not crash into trees he could barely see too many times. Eventually, he reached the lake, watching his pawsteps with as much carefulness as he could manage with his blurred vision and consciousness to avoid meeting the same fate as Brambleclaw… as well as the fate that Squirrelflight and the Clan would hopefully believe that Firestar had succumbed to. It had been a believable enough lie for the admittedly crafty former deputy of RiverClan to come up with it, after all, so it would hopefully hold up to even Squirrelflight's scrutiny. Mossthorn reached the fox trap, running the tuft of fur around it to spread Firestar's scent there and displace Brambleclaw's before adjusting it so that it held it.
As satisfied as he could be in this horrific situation and with most of his conscious processing power lost to fear and exhaustion, Mossthorn turned around, barely managing to stop himself from backing up right into the fox trap as he saw Leafpool, Squirrelflight's sister, tending to a group of… some kind of herb probably… on the ground near the bushes that lined the shore. The wind shifted as if influenced by the cruel whims of StarClan, bringing his scent to her and causing her to look up and at him. After a moment, a look of confusion crossed her face, and she padded towards him. "Hello… Mossthorn… is Firestar with you?" Mossthorn opened his mouth stupidly, struggling to figure out how to answer such a question, and closed it as he realized that he wouldn't have to; she had seen the fox trap. "...Oh StarClan… d-did he… did you see what happened?!" She looked back at him, the grief in her eyes staggering him and preventing him from answering her for several seconds. "...N-No, I just… found it like this… the twolegs who set the trap must've taken him out of it when they… found him…" She slowly looked away from him, blankly staring out at the lake for what felt like an eternity. "...I guess I'll tell Brambleclaw…" He forced himself to move slightly closer to her, hoping that the news that that foxer they both hated the guts of wouldn't be taking her father's place as the leader of ThunderClan after all would cheer her up at least a little bit.
"I saw him, uh… leave ThunderClan territory for good… said he couldn't handle living down Tigerstar's legacy anymore…" Leafpool whipped around to face him, nodding contemplatively as a definite glimmer of triumph sparkled in her eyes among the sea of sorrow. "I guess I'll tell Squirrelflight." With that, she was bounding towards the forest, with a shocked Mossthorn hot on her tail his customary distance away from her a few moments later. It wasn't that he was surprised she had chosen Squirrelflight to be the next leader of ThunderClan; she was objectively the best choice by a mile even if she wasn't her sister, with her strength and compassion and resilience and solid sense of what's right… it was just that, in all the time he had spent carrying pieces of the Clan's previous leadership around, it had never occurred to him that it would have to be replaced; he had had far too much to worry about and be horrified by besides that… he still did… but his love's potential choice of deputy was a much more pleasant topic to contemplate than the anguished screams of her father or the reaction she would have upon learning of the cause of them, so why not try to think about that instead?
She had been close to her former mentor, Dustpelt, and her friend Ashfur, before Brambleclaw had… no… no, this wasn't working, he couldn't stop thinking about the blood on his paws… it would stay with him forever, never to be washed off… not even that of his pretty justified first murder, but especially not that of the second… Firestar hadn't done anything wrong besides perhaps being a bit too enthusiastic about the potential of using Squirrel as a weapon and failing to put Brambleclaw in his place after he had started abusing Squirrelflight… that last thing was absolutely abhorrent, he just didn't deserve to die over it… probably… Leafpool quietly called her sister's name, dragging Mossthorn out of his nerve-wracking, sleep-deprived contemplations and causing her to jolt up from her nest in the warriors' den. She yawned and blinked hard a few times to remove the sleep from her eyes, something that threatened to stop Mossthorn's heart completely while it was already skipping multiple beats due to the horrificness of the situation, and stood up, gingerly stepping around her sleeping clanmates in an effort to not disturb them and doing so much more successfully than he would have before padding out of the den and facing them. Squirrelflight's warm gaze moved from her sister to Mossthorn, overwhelming him further. "Hi, Mossthorn. I was wondering when you'd get back to the den."
Leafpool looked back and forth between them suspiciously for a long moment before suddenly jabbing a front paw with unsheathed claws against Mossthorn's chest, freaking him out even as they didn't hurt him at all. "You're not gonna treat her like Brambleclaw did, are you?!" Mossthorn violently shook his head, flinching as her claws penetrated him slightly. "NO! StarClan, no…" She nodded slightly, removing her claws from him after a long moment. "Good… good… the lake remains free of bodies for another day…" Squirrelflight, who had been watching them concernedly, ran her side along Leafpool's comfortingly. "It's okay, Leafpool, he's not like him. He's… pretty great, actually…" She moved to press against his side, sending overwhelming love and guilt shooting through him, before turning around to face Leafpool. "You know about… what happened with Brambleclaw?" Leafpool sighed, most of the anger and passion in her expression replaced with grief. "...Yes… he told me about him, and… Firestar…" Squirrelflight tilted her head confusedly, looking up at him briefly and hopefully not sensing any of the panic that was now flaring up within him before turning back to her sister. "What do you mean?"
After a pause, Leafpool padded towards them, burying her now teary eyes into Squirrelflight's neck. "...Firestar… Firestar is dead… Mossthorn found a tuft of his fur in a twoleg fox trap near the lake… they must've taken him out of it when they… found him… I would suspect that Brambleclaw had done it to become leader of the Clan if he hadn't run off…" Mossthorn couldn't help but turn away as Squirrelflight's eyes filled with tears as well, staring guiltily at the ground as they, from the sound of what little he could hear over the ringing in his ears, tried to process their father's death with each other's support. "...I'm… I'm sorry…" After a pause, he felt Squirrelflight's head pressed up against his throat. "It's not your fault, Mossthorn." Mossthorn eventually managed to gather the courage necessary to wrap his tail around her comfortingly, feeling her melt further into him, despite the fact that it… was his fault… and she would hate him if she knew… she would want nothing to do with him if she knew how apt his name really was, how he had betrayed her after luring her into a false sense of security like a thorn in what was supposed to be a water-bearing mossball… Eventually, Leafpool's somber voice broke through the silence. She was looking up at the moon thoughtfully, as if looking for an extra star in the sky.
"I should probably pick a new leader before moonhigh, and it's getting there…" She turned to Squirrelflight, padding closer to her and dipping her head to her in respect. "I say these words before StarClan, so that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The new leader of ThunderClan is Squirrelstar." She looked up at her, her eyes brimming with pride and grief. "Congratulations, Squirrelstar." Squirrelstar stared at her in shock, looking up at Mossthorn affectionately after he managed to give her a supportive and congratulatory head nuzzle and responding to it with a lick on his chest that completely stunned him before turning back to Leafpool. "Y-You want… me to be leader?" Leafpool stood up straighter, lashing her tail enthusiastically. "Of course! We've dreamed of being a kicktail leader and medicine cat team since we were kits, and we never would've made it to our new home without you. You'll make an amazing leader."
After a long moment, Squirrelstar dipped her head to her. "If I can be half the leader Firestar was that'll be true…" After a moment, she looked up at Mossthorn affectionately. "At least I'll have my amazing sister and deputy by my side." Mossthorn blinked at her, stunned. "Y-You're making… me deputy?!" Squirrelstar pressed her head up against his throat. "Of course… you've been so great, and you know the territory better than anyone. I believe in you… Swiftheart." After a pause, she looked up at him. "It's high time you got a better name, one that suits you better. Do you like it?" Swiftheart managed to nod slightly as he practically felt Firestar's much less positive judgment of him pressing him into the ground from above, suffocating him… although Squirrelstar's excited smile at his acceptance of his new name certainly helped…