May's Gathering 2016

Viperfang heard Webtail's response and was infuriated. "You betrayed our honorable ancestors and the warrior code by which we live! With the powers of Starclan, you were given your warrior name! We thank Starclan each piece of prey we eat! Not these insane fox-hearts!" she yowled loud enough for everyone to hear. "Am I the only sane one in this place?!" she exclaimed, looking around the clearing.

Blizzardpaw looked at the cats arguing around her and lowered her ears, this didn’t look well. At this rate what was supposed to be a peaceful gathering was going to turn into a fight where words would turn into claws.

She didn’t want to fight anyone, but she knew where her loyalty was, it was with her clan, with Darkstar, and if she gave the order she knew she would’ve to fight even if she didn’t want to harm anybody and just wished to be able to defend herself, she only had practiced fighting once and was still unsure of her abilities. Her greatest fear at the moment wasn’t to die…but having to fight someone that she considered her friend.

For a moment, Fishstar's entire world froze. The overload of information being tossed about was almost too much for her to handle. Hundreds of voices snarled and spat in opposition to each other, and in the distance, lightning tore through the dark blanket of the sky like a giant white claw. Threats, lies, and hatred were cast around from every direction. Clanmates were turning on Clanmates. Leaders were saying the unthinkable. The wind howled furiously through Fourtrees, ripping though branches and leaves and buffeting the gathered Clans with its ferocity. At the behest of all the chaos and discord stood Morningstar. Fishstar couldn't tear her eyes away from him. A certain enigma flowed from his tongue as he spoke, but it wasn't a good sort of enigma. It make Fishstar's stomach turn and her fur prickle with an emotion that he couldn't even adequately describe with her own words.

The Dark Forest. So that was why she'd been feeling so uneasy for the last few sunrises. Some part of her had knew that something terrible had been about to happen, but she had not been expecting something of this magnitude. An agent of the shadows, an enemy of her ancestors, was standing on the Great Rock, breaking the sacred peace of the Gathering, and preaching his poisonous words over the Clans.

Finally, after not being able to make so much as a squeak for so long, the RiverClan leader found her voice. "Get off this rock," she snarled at Morningstar. "Get out of this forest. You're not welcome here. You were condemned to a life of suffering in the Dark forest for all the wrongdoings you committed while you were still here. Go back and rot there, scum. You will do nothing but make us suffer. That's what you did during your lifetimes - Made others suffer. StarClan are our guides, not you. Even if what you say is true, and they have been driven from the skies, I will not bow to the likes of you. You are filth. I--"

The RiverClan leader's words faltered on their tongue as quickly as they'd come when Crowstar spoke up. The more he revealed about himself, the more Fishstar felt herself crumble where she stood. No. No. She would not believe this. She had not betrayed her vows to StarClan, her Clanmates, and Sunstar and fallen for this tom for this, however brief their affair had been. Crowstar had been at her side when they'd driven ThunderClan off. He'd understood her hatred for Spottedstar and her Clan. He'd fought alongside her when it mattered most. As wrong and against the code as it sounded, Fishstar had liked to think of him as a friend. He'd never done anything to wrong her, and in her eyes, was as worthy a successor to Breezestar as any cat could ever be.

Now this all meant nothing. Here Crowstar was, claiming loyalty to the antithesis of his warrior ancestors. "Crowstar.. I.." Her voice shook with a mixture of varying emotions. Hurt. Rage. Disbelief. Fury. The full package. She couldn't decide which one she felt the most. ".. After StarClan adopted your Clan, a gaggle of rogues and loners, into the forest, this is how you thank them?" Her voice rose in her anger. "This is how you're repaying them for their benevolence? By betraying them?" The she-cat's claws unsheathed. "What is wrong with you? I should claw your face off for this!"

---

Ravenpaw found herself slinking backwards inadvertently. She couldn't believe this. She wouldn't believe this. Her own father was fllowing this.. This Dark Forest cat? No. He has to be lying. There's no way.

Crowstar had been her biggest inspiration for as long as the little black she-cat could remember. During her days in the nursery, she recalled dreaming of being like him -- Being a strong warrior and rising up to become Breezestar's most trusted advisor and friend. Fighting for what was right. Fighting all those who opposed SkyClan, no matter the odds. Fighting for honour, and for StarClan, their gracious ancestors that had allowed them to become a Clan even after being condemned by the forest time and time again. Now, it felt like all of her hopes and dreams were being crushed to smithereens and stacked on top of her shoulders. Everything felt as if it was collapsing around her. The hatred, the noise, her father declaring for the enemy..

She was shaking. This was too much. Her eyes darted wildly around the filled clearing, searching desperately for someone to go to, someone to cower behind, but all she saw was chaos. There was nowhere to run. Nothing she could do.

---

Meanwhile, as stability rapidly began to deteriorate, four cats watched from the trees above, relishing in the disarray. One was a slender she-cat with fur the colour of the night sky, a wicked grin plastered to her face. She had lost her family to this world, and she would thoroughly enjoy tearing it down to the ground under the reign of Morningstar.

In another tree sat a hefty grey tom, his long, sweeping tail lashing behind him. Only one of his eyes twinkled. In place of the other was a black, unseeing hole. Despite the lack of a second eye, he radiated with spite nonetheless.

In the uppermost of the tree sat an eerily white she-cat. Her pale, moon-coloured fur and iridescent blue eyes twinkled brightly. She was beautiful and graceful as she leapt from branch-to-branch, but behind her flawless appearance, deep within her, lay a bitter hatred of StarClan. She was rotten to the very core, like a half-eaten apple left out in the sun to fester and collect insects.

And finally, in the darkest recesses of the tree hunched a black tom. His fur stuck out at all angles and a snarl sat on his face. His eyes swept maliciously across the Clan cats. All of them would get what was coming to them for following behind the starry fools. All of them would get what was coming to them for casting him out of his Clan and condemning him to death. And they would not even see it coming.

Cinnamonpaw stood in glory and pride in the precense of a high rank of the darkforest. She unsheathed her claws, imaging the blood under her paws made her cringe with excitement.

"Starclan adopted our clan? Really now? As far as I was told my clan was chased out, forced to leave this forest. We were finally brought back by another cat who didn't even believe in Starclan, we made our claim in this forest because of this cat." The leader said looking at Fishstar. He had heard stories from the elders, and even stories from Breezestar himself about what happened in the past, how no one in the forest accepted Skyclan in the forest except for Riverclan. Shadowclan assisted once in the past but it wasn't enough. "Starclan sat by, as we were attacked in our camp. Our leader and deputy killed in that battle. Breezestar had to step up because of that. Oh and then Starclan continued to watch an do nothing as we were attacked by Thunderclan for supplies when they could have just asked! But I guess they still had malice for a clan that should be here I guess. Oh and then Starclan did nothing once again as a few days later we were driven out of our home once again by Windclan." The leader said.

His yellow eyes narrowed at the other leaders. "Oh and then they just sat by as again as my leader, the cat I looked up to the most was murdered by a clan cat, not to mention on the way to speak to them." Yes he was still on that, he would never leave it until his leader's murderer was found. "Starclan did nothing. They are supposed to be fair and just right? Well where is Skyclan's justice? Where was Skyclan's fairness when we were attacked multiple times? It wasn't there because Starclan was too weak to do anything, they would rather sit by instead of risking themselves by getting involved! Finally Skyclan has it's justice, and it's right here. No longer will we be attacked, for we will be strong with the dark forest by our side." His eyes went to Morningstar for a second, then returned to the other leaders. "And as far as I'm concerned you four are blinded by Starclan's weakness to see it. And the proof of their weakness is standing right in front of us. If Starclan was strong these cats wouldn't be here with us." Crowstar was growing tired of this. He was tired of justifying himself, he knew what he was doing.

He turned to address the cats that were on his side. "Do you hear that?" He called. "These leaders are afraid of our strength! Afraid to accept the truth when it's right before them! Well if you leader doesn't accept your choice for strength, or your choice for a better life, then come with me to Skyclan, you are welcome there! As for my clan, if you don't approve of my choice then you are free to leave, but if you wish to stay then you can." He turned back to the other leaders. "We are strong, stronger than you are, and if you dare attack us, then you will learn a painful lesson." The black fluffy leader looked at the big leader before him. "Morningstar, are we done here?"

Goosestorm was beginning to slowly believe Crowstar's words. If StarClan truly wanted what was best for the forest, they would've showed up by now! But, even still, he couldn't risk Fishstar's disapproval. He stayed quiet, eyes narrow and clouded. He was beginning to doubt the holds either side held on the forest. 

Ferretshine was huffing, hackles raised. Tears were streaming down her tabby cheeks. She looked around, at her former mentor, Mudfoot, at her leader, Thrushstar, at her brother, Lightningpaw. Her brother, her dearest brother... She couldn't bear to look, but she had to. She stared at the two toms, Webtail and Lightningpaw, and she wasn't sure if she meant the words that came out of her mouth or not. It was too late to stop herself. "You've turned against Mom, Thrushstar, and everything ShadowClan stands for... so you've turned against me! I don't care what blood we share, my clan and StarClan will always be before all else!" Her tail lashed. "I hate you!"

Scorchfrost looked at Crowstar in disbelief. "Is this any better?" he asked, "A band of murderers, liars, and thieves ruling over us? I've watched my father walk among these cats, my siblings, my friends! The more they corrupt, the easier it will be to enslave us! I watched it almost happen to me!" 

Vixenpaw almost did a double-take when Crowstar welcomed the evil cats to SkyClan. She couldn't just let a bunch of cold-hearted cats live with her! She flattened her ears against her head. Everything in her life had been normal...peaceful, perfect...until her own Clan leader decided to take sides with these cats. She was younger than Crowstar by many moons, but somehow her faith in her good warrior ancestors remained strong and true. She couldn't just leave SkyClan...she loved her Clan! They used to be a Clan that Vixenpaw could feel proud to be apart of, but now, she didn't know who to trust, who to count on, or who to speak to. She padded up to her mentor silently, "Antdrop...what are we going to do? We can't just let these horrible cats into SkyClan!" She said, warily. She still didn't know if her mentor was on the side of the Dark Forest or not. If Crowstar was willing to let in the evil cats, then hopefully another leader would be willing to let in the cats that still had their hopes and hearts set on StarClan. If so, Vixenpaw would leave her own Clan in a snap...she wouldn't like it, but she would. If no other leader would, then what else would Vixenpaw do? She was a Clan cat. Some other life wasn't suited for her...

Cinnamonpaw looked at her brother in disbelief. "You want to help the clans?" She yowled at her brother. "But why?!?".

"Enslave us? Corrupt us? Shouldn't you be begging for all the power you can get, Scorchfrost? The last time I checked, ThunderClan couldn't fall any lower if you lot tried. Digging for scraps in the Abandoned Barn." Saltpelt snorted at the warrior's bold statement. After all that they'd been through, it was amazing that ThunderClan still retained their pride and righteousness.

"Let them. SkyClan will be stronger for it." Birchpaw said to Vixenpaw, personally, he approved of Crowstar's decision. In his eyes, Crowstar had proven himself the superior leader, a visionary who wasn't blinded by StarClan fanaticism.

"This is going to tear the clan apart by the second!" Wildfang cried out in desperation. The Shadowclan warrior hadn't felt fear in a while now, and it was an odd sense to him. The dark forest had no right to be here!

A white gray-patched she-cat appeared, she looked around seeing other deceased Dark Forest cats around her, her eyes lit, looking for a target to speak with. She looked around for a apprentice, seeing a she-cat, she knew her name already, Wishpaw. The ThunderClan apprentice truly did seem interesting, she didn't want to let Morningstar down.

She smiled as she looked in front of her, Wishpaw "You seem very interesting to me, you seem strong" she purred with a gleam in her dark gaze. Her pelt shone, though there was no light really. If the Dark Forest were to make others join she would make them join, they would rule and StarClan would be banished and soon, every cat in the Clans would be in the Dark Forest, becoming the most powerful. Maybe not all of them, only the 'special' ones. And to Ivyshine Wishpaw seemed like a special kind of cat, stronger than most of her clan mates. Blizzardpaw was interesting too, but she already was in a dark family, same with Sedgepaw, though he didn't quite act like that. The she-cat waited for the young apprentices reply.

Jayflight slightly nodded to Sunwhisker, he knew he could, Morningstar was probably one of the most loyal cats to the Dark Forest. His family might have a chance, right? Well, right now he needed to worry and think about other things. He saw another cat enter the gathering, it was a Dark Forest cat most likely, which is mostly what he thought. The she-cat was talking to a ThunderClan apprentice, he was pretty sure it was Wishpaw, no where close to Blizzardpaw and Sedgepaw.

Sedgepaw watched as his sister was talked to by a Dark Forest she-cat, but he didn't quite know her name, for StarClan sake how would he? He wondered why his father was also met by the she-cat, but that mostly wasn't his business, maybe, unless his father was related to the she-cat which is probably not very likely.

Toadpaw watched in alert, he saw Oakpaw freaking out because of the cats, were they from the Dark Forest? Probably. He didn't think much about it a few minutes later. He just minded himself, but what if he was visited by one of the cats - hopefully not.

Stay strong. Stay strong. Stay strong. The thought kept running through the Shadowclan leader's mind as he glanced from this cat that called himself Morninstar to the other leaders before his eyes landed on Crowstar who spoke of joining Morningstar in his takeover of the clans. What was he saying? At first Thrushstar couldn't believe his ears. Not because the Skyclan leader was going against Starclan. Honestly, the tom couldn't care less about that. He had his own reason for being mad at Starclan for what they haven't done, but he wasn't going to go against them. He knew what the Dark Forest was about. Shatteredsoul had given him a great idea of what they stood for. They wanted darkness. They wanted to take over and uproot the system that had been in place for generations. They wanted to completely destroy the cats' way of life. They had no morals or rules. They did whatever they wanted to do. What made Thrushstar nervous about Crowstar's turning was how this was going to affect their clans' standings. Sure, Skyclan and Shadowclan didn't have a great relationship, but they had one of understanding and neutral ground. Now he had no clue.

Thrushstar couldn't bring himself to say much else. Instead, he looked around at the commotion that was brought about underneath him. Cats crying in terror while others looked prideful and confident. The ones who had already joined Morningstar. He saw some in every clan. There were those in Thunderclan, Riverclan... and with a sharp gasp, Thrushstar looked to his own clan. In the midst of most of them protesting, there were several who stood and joined the other cats that intruded on the gathering. He pinpointed each of them, seeing just how many traitors were in his clan. The numbers he came to were infuriating. Webtail, Cinnamonpaw, Lightningpaw... Briarheart was one of the first voices of glee that he had heard among the Dark Forest cats. Immediately, his heart dropped. How could they do this to him? He tried so hard to make sure they all had it good in Shadowclan. He was going to make them strong! He had done that right?

He could be a good leader, right?

Right?

Suddenly there was too much going on. Part of him felt like he was going to be sick. He was left speechless. They had known. They knew about everything. No one had jumped in to help him with Shatteredsoul because they were on his side. They wanted Shatteredsoul to kill him. They all wanted to get rid of him! Did he even have a clan left at this point? No, he didn't have a clan. He wouldn't call them his own any longer. They all wanted to do what they wanted so bad? They could have it.

Anger raged inside of the tom. A rather loud growl escaped his ragged throat as his claws furiously dug into the rock underneath. There was nothing left for him here, but he stood, not wanting to look like a fool. Turning his head away from his clan, he refused to acknowledge them and instead, looked again back at the other leaders on the rock.

Cinnamonpaw slited her eyes and looked at Shadowclan's Leader. She just looked at him with a death glare, disappointment rushed through her. She smiled with a dark, decieving smile, she was stronger than him. That gave her a boost of adrenaline and she kept her claws unsheathed and scraped the ground, letting out a low growl/hiss thing.

With two Dark Forest cats confronting her, Wishpaw had been horrified, but after hearing the words of both Eveningsong and Ivyshine, curiosity began to replace her fear.
"I-I seem strong? But my Clanmates-" She froze, remembering what Eveningsong had said about her Clanmates never doing what they've been doing to her again. Another emotion began to replace her curiosity. Was that...ambition? Ambition to put her Clanmates to shame for their doubts towards her? She blinked, staring at Ivyshine. Then, an imagine popped up in her head. Cloverpool's familiar scent and appearance was in her vision, and Wishpaw could remember the day she was adopted as if it was yesterday.
Wishpaw...because I've been wishing for a kit for a while... She remembered her mother saying. This time, she felt no more fear, no more curiosity, but just more ambition. Ambition for good, this time. She would defend her Clan with her life. The Clan that took her in on that snowy night where her mother left her. The Clan that provided her with food, the Clan that protected her even though she wasn't Clanborn like them.
"I will never join you..." She hissed darkly. That didn't sound like the bright and happy Wishpaw at all, it sounded as if she was replaced with even more confidence than she had had before, "I will stay on StarClan's side until the day I die..."

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥

She could not believe what she had just heard. The black and gold she-cat made a mock shocked look, "Wishpaw...Ivyshine and I only came to you and you alone because we know your smarter than this! Think! Think of a future where power prevails! A future where there are no weak to look after. A future where you will never be looked at as Half-Clan ever again!" Eveningsong told Wishpaw, tilting her head to the side.

~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥~♥

Vixenpaw stared at Birchpaw with shock, "You believe what Crowstar is saying? Then your just as stupid as everyone else who believes him!" She said with rage. The fur on the back of her neck stood up tall, and she narrowed her eyes. Vixenpaw wished she was back at camp, not having to worry about any of the commotion going on at Fourtrees. Better yet, she wanted to be a kit again, safe and sound asleep in the nursery, curled up with her mother. She wanted to be shielded from the darkness and lies of the world like she was for 6 whole moons. She didn't want to be here...yet if she wasn't here, she still would've been an introvert, hiding in the shade and barely speaking. She still would've been a silent, indecisive, frightened puddle of nerves like she was before. But being here, defending the name of StarClan, and trying to defend herself and her Clan's former dignity, unlocked some sort of confidence in Vixenpaw that she never knew she had. Then she realized that actions spoke louder than words, and claws were bound to start slashing at any moment. A flash of her former self sparkled in her amber eyes, but then she blinked, shaking her head. She'd fight to the death if she had to for StarClan.

Elkheart was terrified that his own leader, the cat who he had pledged his allegiance to, had betrayed their ancestors. "If those evil cats are going to be in my camp, then I am not..." he mewed to himself.