After Effect [After the Gathering Topic]

A thin Crowstar walked steadily back to Skyclan camp. His body was weak and thin despite all of his fluff. During his time in the cave he refused to take the food, letting the others eat instead of him unless he absolutely needed it. It was a shock to find the other leader's and Rippedsky had joined him last night, but as soon as they had shortly after the mist barrier that kept them trapped disappeared.

What ever the remaining cats did at the gathering must have worked. He was going home, and taking his missing clan mates with him. He missed so much, and he was very tired.. He just wanted to take back his clan. If the tribe had an issue with that then they could leave. The black fluff leader shoved through the entrance of his camp finding some familiar faces in the camp.

Using what energy he could muster he called to his clan. "Skyclan! We have returned home!" He wasn't going to be jumping up to the tall branch anytime soon, nor shouting like that again. He didn't have the energy for it.

Storm that Lights the Cloud was curled tightly into a ball on the other side of the SkyClan camp from the warrior's den - having once more found himself wanting to be apart from the SkyClan cats but this...This time it was out of shame for what his Tribemate had done. His muzzle was buried under his tail, making it look like he was asleep while he had no true comforts of that. That was however, until a voice interrupted him. His eyes snapped open as his head shot up, staring in surprise at the SkyClan leader. "Crowstar," he whispered softly but made no movement to approach the tom. Instead his gaze simply lowered to his paws, fearful of what would be done to the Tribe now that Swoop's treacherous was now known to all...Would they care that nobody else was aware of what had done? Would Crowstar order them back to the mountain despite it being no doubt death-sentence? Storm was terrified of the answer to those questions.

Dandeliondapple was sleeping in the medicine cat's den when she heard Crowstar's voice. She hadn't heard him for a while, so she thought she was dreaming. But she wasn't. She jerked her head painfully to see him enter.

Oceanlight laid in her den until she heard a voice. She walked outside and widened her eyes as she saw a familiar scent and shape. "Crowstar, you're safe!" she said with a relieved sigh.

Echo that Strides Through spotted Crowstar from the corner eye. She gasped and ran over to the fresh-kill pile. She grabbed one of the plumpest birds on the pile and walked over to the thin and exhausted Crowstar, head dipped in respect. She placed the bird at his paws. "Crowstar, please eat. You look like you haven't eaten anything in moons." she insisted softly, backing away and sitting down.

It didn’t took long for Moonlight to poke her head out from the medicine cat’s den. Her, between many of her clanmates, were between the ones waiting for treatment. She, however, was between the ones that were too adamant about apprentices and younger, less experienced warriors receiving any kind of treatment before them. True, she was attacked directly by Smokefang during the fight, the rather ugly and big wound on her right shoulder being proof of the power the Dark Forest leader held before being defeated, but she could endure the pain.

As soon as her eyes landed on Crowstar and Rippedsky her eyes teared up as she ran towards them, tripping and almost falling at least three times in the short distance as the wound on her shoulder wouldn’t let her use her front limb as she usually would and gave in under her weight more often than not. She couldn’t care less though “Crowstar! Rippedsky! Oh, thank StarClan you are okay!” Words were not enough to express her emotions, that went from relief to a joy way too great to be described. However, what her words couldn’t tell, her eyes and voice tone were more than enough to let them figure it out.

“Crowstar, what happened to you?” She was careful to move out of Echo’s path so she could deliver the piece of fresh-kill to the black leader. Even with how fluffy he was, she could tell immediately that he needed to eat and immediately. She never had seen him so thin before.


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Hawkstrike was inside the warrior’s den, in the darkest and furthest nest of them all. Since Smokefang had been defeated he had been especially grumpy and lashed out at any cat that tried to force him to do anything at all, including engage in a small talk to know what was wrong with him. For a short time he started to feel hopes that he thought long gone, and dreams that he had given up on had started to revive deep within him. But all of it was crushed yet again as soon as the stupid tom from ShadowClan attacked Swoop, allowing Smokefang to be defeated.

News of the arrival of the leader and deputy spread like wildfire across the camp, causing him to raise his head and, at least, stand up and walk out of the warrior’s den. In all honesty, while he respected Rippedsky as a deputy he really couldn’t say he had any kind of bond with him that made him feel happy for his return. Crowstar, on the other paw was a completely different story.

His paws approached him a couple steps, but as the crowd started to gather around him, hatred and anger mixed with the joy of see him back, of see the only one he had left in this world back. All of those cats had fought against Smokefang, and in one way or another were also responsible for her defeat, what caused him to move back and forth in short steps as he fought with himself, fight between the repulsion of being between all these cats that had crushed once more those hopes he had, or move forward to greet his friend and leader.

A weak yowl rang out across camp, but it was heard everywhere all the same. It was a voice that Halfpaw had not heard before, at least in her memory; many cats were stirring though, as if this voice held the key to their souls. She padded out, just to the edge of the crowd, her eyes widening in awe as she moved. Injured and hurting cats stumbled foreward with an energy she hadn't seen in them for days. They were running to a fluffy, yet terribly thin tom. She still could not find a time or place, in her memory, where she had met him before. He looked deathly tired, yet he carried himself proudly but lovingly. Next to that tom (who was deemed "Crowstar" by the growing crowd's cries of joy) was another. This one she recognised; it was Rippedsky, her grandfather, the one who had given her her apprentice name. She cried out happily, her voice joining the other cats', "Rippedsky!" He was the real leader in her mind. She had nothing against this "Crowstar", but it was just that Rippedsky had had the most authority her entire life. She waited with the others, wondering, wishing for an explanation.

The whole gathering had been chaotic; that was for sure. When the mist appeared, and everyone started yowling at each other for answers, Rippedsky and the leaders had disappeared soon after. He had no idea what had happened after their disappearance. But, then, after missing the leader for so long, Crowstar was there. He had been taken by the mist. The black and white tom had been overwhelmed with joy at the sight of his former mentor and lost leader. Crowstar had not died or abandoned them after all. It did not seem like long at all, but all of the cats held by the mist were soon released. Rippedsky and the other Skyclan cats followed at the fluffy, black tom's heels as they returned to camp.

A purr rumbled in his chest as Moonlight exclaimed their names, and Halfpaw's yowl rose up soon after. His eyes darted all over camp to see his kin. He noted for a brief second that Cherrymist was not with them, but pushed away any thoughts of her death. There was no reason to dwell on the dead, she rested with Starclan now. Without a word, Rippedsky silently walked to the freshkill pile. Some cat's recommendation for Crowstar to eat had reached his ears. That was task number one. Dragging a plump squirrel over to the leader, he dropped it at the older tom's paws. With a weak smile, the deputy backed away. He was still not sure quite where they stood from before. Regardless of how he felt, the leader had not made his own position quite clear yet. Rippedsky hoped not to overstep his bounds now that the rightful head of Skyclan was back.

Crowstar looked between his deputy and the apprentice that were both encouraging him to eat. The black fluffy leader let out a small sigh before taking the two pieces of prey and sitting to eat. He sat down in front of his den, which was only a short distance away, taking a bite out of the bird and regaining his energy a little. It had been so long since he properly ate that he didn't know if he could finish one let alone both.

"Well.. if you are talking about my current state then there were more important cats to feed than me. If you are asking what happened those moons ago, then the mist came and it took me. No matter how hard I tried to fight it, it overpowered me and well you know the rest." The leader said simply.

After eating on the bird a little more the leader looked up and scanned the crowd, noting that some of the tribe were still here. He wasn't too clear on the details, but there had to be a reason why they were still here so he would wait on the explanation. It seemed everyone including them had a hard time. Then his eyes spotted a familiar pelt of Hawkstrike. The leader straightened up a bit, despite his weak form authority was radiating from the tom.

"Hawkstrike get over here."

Rosepaw was in the apprentice den with not much else to do and she didn't want to talk to anybody. But when she heard commotion outside her eyes widened, normally that is never good news when the whole clan is up. As she stepped outside out of curiosity her blue tired sunken eyes scanned the camp. When her eyes saw Rippedsky they brightened up, she was beyond scared that she lost another parent. After Cherrymist's death she has never been the same if Rippedsky was torn from her to she didn't know what she would do. She wanted to rush over there but at seeing how everyone was clustered around Rippedsky and she thinks Crowstar she decided to stay back. So she watched silently with a smile on her face as Rippedsky padded through camp, thanking Starclan they didn't take somebody else close to her.

Moonlight nodded at Crowstar’s words. She had a hundred if not a thousand more questions buzzing in her head that she really wanted to ask him, but he had returned not long ago and decided to let him rest even if just for a bit. The leader really seemed like he needed it and she wasn’t the only one wanting to talk with him, so she took a step back and sat to not make him feel too overwhelmed by all the cats greeting him while he ate.

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Hawkstrike was surprised when he heard his name being called. From all the cats that Crowstar could’ve wanted to approach was he really picking him? Well, maybe it was because he wasn’t of the ones that approached right away, but still, it made him feel somewhat comforted and even happy. Then again, it was hard for him to tell right away thanks to the millions of not-so-positive emotions that were raging inside his chest.

Taking a deep breath he got up and stepped forward, past the crowd, to reach the black leader. More than once he felt the fur on his neck raise with anger when he brushed past a cat that had fought against Smokefang during the gathering, but he shook it off the best he could each time.

"Rippedsky!  Crowstar! You're back!"  Pansyface bolted out of the warrior's den, her face alight with wild excitement.  Brushing past most of the crowd - and running into a few of them - she jumped first towards her friend Rippedsky, touching his nose in an affectionate greeting.  "I thought I would never see you - both of you - again!  Welcome home!"  She smiled towards her grandfather's direction, but he seemed busy talking to another cat, or calling them towards him.  Stealing a tentative glace at Hawkstrike, she couldn't help but smile before she turned back to Rippedsky, her eyes shining with pure joy.  There were so many cats that she had lost in her life; she was happier than words could express that two of them had been returned to her.

Firpaw's head lifted from her nest in the apprentice's den. She hadn't gone to the Gathering the past night, and from the looks on her Clanmate's faces, she was glad she hadn't. Something terrifying had happened at Fourtrees, and yet, today, everything seemed to be alright. Cats she barely recognized - if at all - were filing into camp, much to the joy of the cats around her. She emerged into the daylight, an uncharacteristically serious look on her face. The young she-cat was scanning the faces of the returning cats. 'Is that it?' Was her brother...? 'Basilkit?' She called out to him in her mind, knowing full well that he wouldn't be there to answer her.

Oceanlight walked over towards Crowstar and stopped at a respectful distance. "Do you need anything?" she asked. "If so, I'll get something that'll help you recover your energy." she added.

"It's nice to see you too Pansyface." Crowstar said choosing to get to Hawkstrike later for now. He attention turned to Oceanlight who was offering him something. "It would be nice to have something for energy. I think I will need it." The black leader said. "If you don't mind." The leader added.

Finally he could talk to Hawkstirke. "You better not have been causing trouble while I was gone." Crowstar said, his tone falling flat. He knew of Hawkstrike's history with the dark forest, and to hear the rumor of the dark forest being at this gathering was troubling. He still had yet to hear the full story, but it was only a matter of time.

"Dad! Dad!" Dandeliondapple called out to Rippedsky, still recovering in the medicine cat's den. Her eyes were welling with tears. She was so afraid that he would never return.