Triumphant Return [OPEN]

It had been an odd coincidence that Bloodstrike and Crowkit had been adopted by neighboring twolegs. Odd, but convenient. Bloodstrike had been marked for euthanasia at the shelter, having been too feral and too stubborn to save his own life, whereas Crowkit was adopted shortly after being brought into the shelter. Alas, a pair of bleeding heart twolegs actually wanted the giant, scarred tom, believing him to be a victim of some horrible abuse case. Bloodstrike of course had only ever been a victim of his own pride and sometimes stupidity. The twolegs had worked tirelessly to "rehabilitate" the large tom. After some time... they made progress. Bloodstrike didn't necessarily love the attention or the constant twoleg paws, but he learned to tolerate it. Right as he made the decision to leave, Crowkit from the neighbors in tow, he felt a pang of guilt. The twolegs had been kind, and far more forgiving than he deserved.

"This just isn't my life." He'd mewed over his shoulder as he landed onto the forest floor from the fence top. Crowkit, now an adult sized tom, landed beside him.

"It wasn't so bad." Crowkit had disagreed, earning a look from his grandfather. Bloodstrike sighed and lead Crowkit back toward Skyclan territory.

"Let's get you home, then I will go back to the old nests and look for your mother."

"Briarstar should let you both come back. I'm going to ask." Crowkit mewed defiantly. Bloodstrike shook his head.

"I left of my own accord. I will return of my own accord too, should I see fit." He doubted that he would, but there was always a chance. As they breached the border of Skyclan territory, Bloodstrike sat and waited for a patrol with Crowkit beside him.

"You smell nice." Crowkit absently commented, uncomfortable with the silence. Bloodstrike blinked, then airplaned his ears out on either side of his head, embarrassed.

"I got a bath before I left..."

"...Lavender?" Crowkit asked, not picking up on the social queues that Bloodstrike would rather not acknowledge how nice he smelled.

"I guess... now hush." Bloodstrike didn't mean to sound as gruff as he did, but it was enough to get Crowkit to be quiet. Now all they had to do was wait for a Skyclan patrol.

Wolfblossom had been eager to get out of camp and patrol, if only to get away from the currently very-crowded camp. Pawsteps nearing the border at last, the tabby and white she-cat slowed her pace, pointedly marking the border as she went. Some cats could've said she was taking her sweet time, but Wolfblossom selfishly hoped she might catch sight of her mother lingering around the border.

An unfamiliar scent did reach her nose however, and it was very much not her mother's more-than-a-little-off scent. Ears pricked, Wolfblossom scrambled inelegantly up the nearest tree, making her way towards where the wind was blowing the scent from above. If these intruders weren't Skyclan, she doubted they would be smart enough to look up, and she could surprise them from above and show them why lingering around their borders wasn't a good idea. If they were one of the lost Shadowclanners, well, they'd be reunited with their clanmates that were unfortunately staying with Skyclan.

Turned out, the two dark-furred toms were neither. Well, her grandfather was technically a rogue now, but he wasn't the cat that her eyes focused on, hesitation and surprised recognition flickering across her face and quickly giving way to excitement. That was a pelt she had grown up in the nursery with, even if they were both grown cats now. "Crowkit!?" Caution thrown aside, Wolfblossom cheerfully leapt off the branch... And aimed squarely for her brother if he didn't move. If he was bowled over, well, it wasn't her fault. And he'd deserve it.

"Where have you been? We looked for you, you stupid furball!" She stepped back with a huff, bright blue eyes shifting reluctantly towards Bloodstar... Bloodstrike? If the self-imposed exile still went by his clan name she didn't know. Truthfully she didn't really care one way or the other. "And you, grandpa?" To her he'd always just been a tired face, and she had been out on patrol when he and her mother had left Skyclan. She'd heard what had happened secondpaw, and while she was wary, at least mom hadn't left alone.

When Birdchaser had lead her patrol out of camp, she expected things to be smooth, routine. They were going to check the borders, make sure markers were still strong and in place; make sure no more stray ShadowClanners had turned up, or bodies. Maybe there would be time to catch some prey on the return back to camp, or just to share tongues and enjoy the warm air before the seasons turned bitter.

Simple. Smooth. Routine.

Instead, as they drew nearer their border with Twolegplace, she caught the scent of herbs on the air. She wasn't so well-versed to know which ones, but they were rich, and sweet– sickeningly so. Something about it left a sour taste on her tongue, despite the pleasant smell, and she found herself recoiling a bit against it. With a flick of her tail, Birdchaser lowered herself and signaled to her patrolmates to be quiet as they proceeded. Stray kittypets were no concern to her, and she hoped that's all it was. It would be easy enough to turn them back to their nest, especially with a swath of warriors accompanying her.

As the scent grew stronger and the brush thinned, Birdchaser realized she could hear voices. Her ears strained to listen in, and what she heard intrigued her; left of my own in particular made her whiskers twitch. Apparently, her sister lacked the same naïve interest; Birdchaser turned to look over the cats with her just as Wolfblossom went clambering into a tree. Shaking her head, she let curiosity win and rose back to height to step carefully through the brush.

Bloodstrike, of course, was a sight to behold in and of himself. It made her feel cold for a second, seeing the imposing tom just waiting on their land. The way she'd heard it, he'd sworn himself an executioner in Beechfang's names. So... who was he here to kill? Birdchaser's head quirked to the side, brow lowering into a harder expression. He'd brought someone else with him, too; hopefully she wasn't about to watch an execution. Pale eyes slid over to the smaller of the pair, and her attention lingered on him longer than it had the former leader. That cat... he was her brother. "Crowkit," she breathed hesitantly, though he hardly looked like a kit now. Though her brother had long grown past the ball of fluff she remembered from the nursery, it would be impossible to forget family. His heavy, dark coat and blazing eyes were recognizable even if the memory was delayed. Before she could express her enthusiasm, Wolfblossom– graceful as ever –leaped out of the tree she'd crawled into. "Welcome home," Birdchaser mewed, a soft escaping her before her attention resettled on Bloodstrike.

She... wasn't sure what to say to him, honestly. Her ears flickered as she thought, and the sneer her expression twisted into more than betrayed her distaste. After a thoughtful moment, she cleared her throat and, as evenly as she could, mewed, "You're more of a surprise, Bloodstrike. I thought you banished yourself from SkyClan? What brings you home?" Home– she doubted it would ever be home to him again. Despite their relation, she certainly hoped not. Briarstar had the sense to keep him out of their walls.

Crowkit hadn't been expecting... anything really. He'd been taken by twolegs fairly young. His nose and his ears weren't greatly attuned to living a feral life. He'd expected something more... formal to happen. What he did not expect was his sister (and it took him a moment to realize who she was) to tackle him. It had happened so fast... He was on the forest floor in an instant and he let out a surprised mew before wiggling meekly under his far more fit sibling.

"Uh... hello Wolf... uh... I don't know your name anymore. I'm assuming you're a warrior now? I got caught by twolegs. They're not so bad really... " He didn't dare look at Bloodstrike again. He knew how his grandfather felt about that. He eventually got to his feet and tried to hide the fact that his sister had winded him a bit. She felt so solid.

"I'm back home now! I'm ready to be a Skyclan cat!" He fluffed up and sat proudly when his eyes landed on Bird.... whatever. "Hello! Thanks! I'm happy to be back." This was... awkward, truth be told.


Bloodstrike watched with obvious disapproval as Wolfblossom tackled Crowkit so easily. Poor tom... he had a lot of catching up to do. He'd had plenty of time to dodge that and yet he didn't. Bloodstrike did not envy the school of hard knocks that was about to come his way.

"Oh I'm doing great." He hoped he didn't sound too sarcastic. Birdchaser came into view, and while he was not aware that his grand daughter was the deputy, he nodded once in greeting. He did notice her caution, and he managed to keep the amused smirk off of his face that threatened to show itself. Ah yes, fear me and my lavender-scented butt hole... He managed to keep that comment to himself.

"I'm still in my self-imposed time-out corner, yes. I was just dropping off Crowkit, since he was so young when the twolegs took him. I didn't think he'd find his way back on his own. So... here you go." He nodded once at the far too happy ball of smoky gray fluff. "I intend to go find Beechfang and let her know that I am still alive... and murder anyone who may have threatened her in my absence." His lip twitched in amusement. Clearly by the way the two Skyclan cats had reacted to his presence, his reputation was still in tact. He wasn't about to let anything happen to it.

"Oh right... You've been gone a while." Wolfblossom muttered sheepishly, "It's Wolfblossom, now. And Birdchaser-" Her fluffy, pale gray-striped tail waved in their sister's direction, "-is deputy now." And he would find out about Fogpaw and Plumpaw being medicine cats soon enough. Somehow, Wolfblossom didn't think he would have quite the reaction that Beechfang had had. Purring, the warrior nudged her brother's shoulder, rather more gently than she'd tackled him. "Welcome home, I missed you." Part of her attention had remained on Bloodstrike, and as he spoke she listened quietly, blinking.

"Sorry, old man." She rolled her eyes at the sarcasm, as irreverent as her mother might've been. Her nose did wrinkle at the mention of twolegs, and maybe from the strong scent that she'd been trying to ignore. It sort of reminded her of Fogpaw's den, though she couldn't place a name to why. Either way, it seemed that grandfather had no intention of breaking his self-imposed exile, and it certainly wasn't Wolfblossom's place to convince him otherwise. She wasn't sure that would've been a good thing, for him or the clan. As a kit, she hadn't quite understood the definition of 'worn-down' until she'd spotted him across camp. Perhaps staying away was a good thing. Though she wasn't sure she could say the same for Beechfang. The entire situation still bothered Wolfblossom, even if a punishment had been deserved. She wasn't sure what to make of Bloodstrike, but at least his presence meant mom was completely alone out there. Especially after...

Wolfblossom forced the thought away. Bloodstrike had brought her brother back and was going to find Beechfang. That was enough. "Tell mom I miss her." Was all she said.

Ravenclaw had taken the rear of the patrol, doing her usual bit of padding sullenly outside of camp. It was bad enough that Briarstar was the leader, but now they were housing ShadowClan cats. This was an outrage of the highest caliber, but there was only so much a senior warrior like her could do. So she just followed the patrol, not expecting that they were going to get some unexpected visitors.

Her hackles raised when she smelled the unknown cats, but... were they really unknown? Something about their scent seemed strangely similar. It wasn't until they showed their faces that she realized who they were. "Bloodstar! You're back!" she meowed happily, the first sign of happiness from her since he and Beechfang had been exiled. She bounded over to him and Crowkit, for however much a 'kit' a fully grown cat could be. She didn't even care that she'd called him by his former leader name. To her, he should've still been the leader.

"Do you have to go?" She looked him over. He looked... surprisingly well, for a cat that had been out in the wilds for all this time.