You can't be caught unaware [Open for TC to Join]

Scarletpaw tore up the ground in anxiety. The strange smell told her this was RiverClan. Apprehension clawed at her belly as she stared at the enemy cats with their accusing glares. Trying to act brave, she bristled her fur and glared back at the RiverClanners

Flickerpaw shook her head fearfully. "No, no, that can't be all I can do... If she demands me I'll come... Oh, Starclan, Dappledpaw, she'll murder me right here in camp or take me to hers and let all of Riverclan tear me apart! Oh... Oh, Dappledpaw, I'm scared!" It wasn't something she admitted often.

"Then you admit your guilt freely, good, this will speed up things." Ivystar meowed tersely, her tail still swishing from side to side with barely restrained anger. Having Leopardclaw admit it rather than futilely hide it staved off the worst of her temper, but her need to revenge wasn't going to calm down for a long while. "Two RiverClan cats lay victims to your clan's code breaking ways. My dearest Fawnsong and Rowanpaw were both killed by your cats, murdered without justification. We were not at war, and your cats were the trespassers. This is plain murder. I demand the murderers to show their faces and face their punishment at my paws. If not, I swear by all that is holy, I will make ThunderClan suffer threefold for this."

Dustcloud ran back into camp, her short legs taking her from all the way across the territories as fast as they could. She'd smelled RiverClan right in the middle of her hunt, and she knew that was nothing but good. Because of all her time spent out of camp, she didn't even know that Flickerpaw had murdered another RiverClan cat.By the time she finally reached camp, she was huffing and puffing, out of breath and without a doubt, she was no WindClan cat. She was behind Ivystar's RiverClan patrol, and that was definitely not a good place to be. She dropped her scrawny pieces of prey at the pile and ran over to face the other side of the patrol, skidding to a stop in front of them. She saw the cat who had a broken leg thanks to her- Duckpuddle- and she was automatically even more anxious. For sure, she'd want revenge. She shook her head, taking a spot next to Emberheart. "W-w-what's going... o-on?" She whispered, panting at the same time. The warrior was a lot younger than her, but from her understanding, she was fairly laid back and easy to talk to. She was nervous and shaking, but if this ended in a fight, she'd fight with all her might.

Dappledpaw trembled as Ivystar spoke, he could hear her clearly from the den. No. She wouldn’t have Flickerpaw. Not today. Was he crazy? Absolutely. But he had to save his sister. He took a deep breath and licked his sister’s cheek, before kicking her gently back against the wall of the den with his hind leg and walking out to face Ivystar. He walked until he was facing the mighty leader. No way was he letting her have his family. ”It was me.” No, his voice was too quiet. ”I did it!” He said again, slightly louder. He was prepared to take the blame entirely, if it meant it would save his family.

But the leader was so much bigger than him! What was he thinking? He was tempted to run back into the den now, but he had said it. What was done was done. He couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t fix anything, and now he was going to be killed by Ivystar. Oh, why did he do that? That was so mouse-brained! No way was a puny apprentice going to be a match for a leader!

Tigerspark watched, tilting his head and glancing at Tatteredleaf. Was this normal?

Dustcloud's question tugged Emberheart out of focusing completely, though her stare remained fixed on the RiverClan leader. "RiverClan," she whispered. "Dead. Ivystar. Revenge." Her thoughts were jumbled, the words that left her mouth unfocused and vague, and she struggled to phrase them into a cohorent sentence for her Clanmate. "Two RiverClan cats were killed. Ivystar wants vengeance." Yes, that was what she wanted to say - well, no, not what she wanted to say, not at all. But it was the answer to Dustcloud's question. "Do you think we'll have to fight? You fought her at the battle, didn't you?" Emberheart thought that was right, anyway - she couldn't be entirely certain. Names and faces from the Sunningrocks battle blurred together in her mind, unable to place all but a few. Even as she spoke, however, she was careful to keep her voice to a whisper only Dustcloud could hear without taking her eyes off of Ivystar.

Heatherpetal's eyes widened in horror at her apprentice's confession. She hadn't wanted to hear anything about the RiverClan murders from before, so she didn't know who were responsible. Could her own apprentice really have done something so awful? How could he?

...What a hypocrite she was! She killed her own mother for StarClan's sake!

Regardless, she couldn't just leave Dappledpaw out there all by himself. Ivystar would tear him to shreds. Instinctively she rushed over to his side and stood next to him, struggling hard to keep her fur flat along her spine. If need be, she would fight to keep her apprentice safe from the RiverClan leader's fury.

Blizzardstar lowered her ears as she listened to the commotion from inside her den. She had been pretending to sleep that day, hoping the clan would leave her alone to think, to process what she knew. Flickerpaw’s confession had caused so many feelings to run wild inside her mind, she still regretted the harsh words she had directed to the younger cat in the heat of the moment, but for the first time, even if guilt was eating her alive, she wasn’t planning to apologize nor take her words back. She was too kind, too soft-hearted, she saw the clan as her family and it pained her to scold any of them, she was aware of this…but she was their leader and this was the kind of thing she was supposed to be doing. She just couldn’t let a murder slide, not now, not ever, and if she hadn’t forced a punishment upon the apprentice by now it was because she knew that Ivystar would come.

And she deserved the right to demand justice just as much if not even more than herself.

With a long sigh and shaky legs, she got back on her paws. Her whole being screamed at her to not get out from her safe spot, to let Leopardclaw deal with this. She didn’t want to punish one of her clanmates, and she knew the punishment was most probably going to be something that would forever change the life of young Flickerpaw in a way that would never be able to be fixed.

Oh dear StarClan, she didn’t want to…she really didn’t want to…

…but she had to.

Blinking so tears wouldn’t reach her eyes she turned towards the entrance of her den and, after putting herself back together and putting on the most neutral expression she could, she walked out to confront the enraged leader of the clan they had just fought against not too long ago.

She obviously wasn’t expecting the sudden embarrassment, worry and fear that immediately exploded inside her as her eyes landed on those of the rival leader “Greetings” Her voice was neutral for the most part, as she tried to not show many emotions to avoid causing a scene infront of Ivystar, her clan and her very own clan “I know why you are here, Ivystar, and let me tell you th-” It was when the leader last furious words left her mouth that she felt her heart stop and all the wild emotions inside her go into a sudden stop as she froze in her place, her neutral expression immediately being replaced by one of utter shock and even disbelief.

“Fawnsong and…Rowanpaw?” She knew about the warrior, Flickerpaw had told them the story, but…there was a second murderer in her clan? Did someone in her clan hid this from her? “An apprentice as well? A-are you sure it was one of...of m-my cats?”.

“Are you sure it w-wasn’t only F-Fawnsong?” Her tail, previously held high with whatever pride she still had left, dropped to the ground, but even if she reflected surprise, denial and disappointment, the fur on the back of her neck slowly started to rise. Anyone that knew Blizzardstar even just a tiny bit, would immediately know that it was a sign that under the evident emotions, rage was starting to show and expand across her whole being like the flames that engulfed the territory some moons ago.

Birdflight stood beside her father. She stood tall and emotionless. She wasn't going to cower beneath Ivystar. The she-cat knew who killed Fawnsong because they confessed but Rowanpaw? Who killed them? She looked at the Riverclan cats with a frown.

wisteriapaw ♪

Wisteriapaw poked her head out of the apprentices' den after the fresh scent of RiverClan flooded her nostrils. Why were they here? Was this a battle patrol invading their camp? With a slight and quiet squeak of fear, the ginger-and-white apprentice shrunk back into the den a bit. Flickerpaw was going to be in so much trouble, and she would hate to see her sister take whatever punishment Ivystar was going to give her. While the she-cat still couldn't believe that her sister had killed a cat, it had happened anyway. Of course, she wasn't going to say anything in the midst of the intimidating presence of RiverClan. That's when Dappledpaw decided to rush out.
Huh? She thought, silently, tilting her head, Dappledpaw, what are you doing?
If her brother had to suffer through punishment that he didn't deserve, then Wisteriapaw wouldn't be able to handle just sitting their and watching. She glanced over at Flickerpaw with a silent look of fear being looking back over at Dappledpaw.
This wasn't going to end well.

duckpuddle ❖

Duckpuddle's sharp green eyes stayed wide open as she watched the ThunderClan cats begin to pad over. Of course, the warrior's mindset was to let Ivystar do the majority of the talking, and her leader sounded far more than furious. Feeling the gazes of the rival Clan cats on her, Ivystar, and the other cats with them made the she-cat want to shrivel up on the spot, but she managed to hold a neutral expression. The cat that rushed up to confess made the fur on the back of Duckpuddle's neck rise. She hadn't expected any of the murderers to openly confess so easily...
That's when the brown cat turned her eyes to look directly at Dustcloud. It was the cat who had broken her leg again... at the last Gathering, she had felt no anger towards the she-cat. Now, she couldn't help but narrow her green eyes as she stared silently at the ThunderClan warrior. Her splint was off, and her leg was no longer broken, but the weakness in her hind leg still haunted her daily. It was something that no cat should have to face, but it had happened to her anyways. She knew better than to call out Dustcloud in front of everyone else, but she could still make her thoughts apparent by her expression.

The yowl of a stranger woke Featherpaw from his sleep. The strange scent of Riverclan sent chills down his fur and he glanced around for his siblings to make sure they were alright, but Flickerpaw looked terrified. She should be, his heart lurched for her but he knew Dappledpaw would comfort her. Right now, he needed to protect her. He stood and stepped out of the apprentice den with a glare towards the Riverclan cats. When Dappledpaw spoke up, he turned a warning glare towards his brother, before he turned his attention back to the matter at paw and moved forward. He stalked a couple steps away from the entrance and let Wisteriapaw fill in space behind him as he watched where the main cluster of cats was. His pelt felt itchy and bristled in fear at being so close to the confrontation... but he needed to defend his siblings. They were his family. The mention of a second cat gave him pause, however. Who was Rowanpaw? His attention turned back to Ivystar and Blizzardstar. This was worse. It was bad that his sister accidentally killed one warrior, but a warrior and an apprentice? His claws sank into the ground, it was going to be difficult to defend them against two accusations when one of them was true.

Subtly, he moved his body closer to Wisteriapaw and helped to completely block the den from view. His green eyes daring a single cat to try and get past him.
"It'll be alright, Wisteriapaw." He murmured comfortingly to her, not daring to glance back at Flickerpaw and Dappledpaw, but he called out to them as well. "It'll be alright, I won't let those fish breaths have you. Either of you." He forced himself to sound more confident than he felt. He shoved down his fear at the image of her being hurt... or worse killed by Ivystar. Even though the Warrior code forbade it... he swallowed back his fear and growled softly in the direction of the Riverclan cats. The mere thought of his sister wounded or dying giving him the strength to stand his ground, no matter what cat dared come close.

Tatteredleaf looked at Tigerspark unsure if this was normal or not. This didn't normally happen in the tribe. She just sighed ad shook her head at the tom before standing and moving to speak. The scarred warrior standing up to talk to Ivystar calmly. She wasn't going to allow the clan to be murdered over some apprentice. "I will admit one of our apprentices killed Fawnsong. If that apprentice doesn't come before you now then they are a coward and only want to see their clan suffer." The warrior said before glaring back at the apprentices' den. "However I haven't heard anything about Rowanpaw's death from among my clan members. If I had information on this I would say it, since I would do anything to protect my clan, like you would Ivystar." Tatteredleaf said to the Riverclan Leader.

The fur along Scorchpaw's back began to raise slightly as the ThunderClan cats began to approach. None of his clanmates apart from Ivystar were saying anything, and he had decided to follow their example. Brushing off the stares of the enemy cats around him, he continued to maintain his emotionless expression. At the sight of the apprentice who claimed to have been the murderer, the fluffy tabby narrowed his eyes. It was rather surprising for the murderer to own up so quickly... he did not know what to think of it. Even a blind cat could tell that Ivystar was irate; the fate of whoever had murdered Fawnsong and Rowanpaw was definitely not going to be a good one. The ThunderClan leader's emergence soon caught his attention, however, and he shifted his gaze from Dappledpaw to Blizzardstar. So this was ThunderClan's leader. Different from the snarling, furious Ivystar, Blizzardstar seemed to be calm. Scorchpaw knew that it was probably nothing but a front, however. Although he did not show it, he was surprised by Blizzardstar's shocked expression upon hearing about Rowanpaw's death. Blizzardstar was a good actor, but not good enough. Did she really think that such an act could deceive Ivystar? Surely the white leader knew that saying such a thing would only serve to further anger Ivystar. At that moment, a scarred gray and white warrior came forward and began to speak. Upon hearing her words, Scorchpaw looked to his leader, wondering how she would react to the news.

Flickerpaw gasped in shock and lifted herself up and, despite herself, walked towards Dappledpaw. "Dappledpaw, no... No, you can't take the blame for what I did." She said softly. She stood next to Dappledpaw. It was all she could to not burst into tears and beg mercy. "No! Dappledpaw, you can't! I won't let you! I killed Fawnsong, so I'll pay for it, not my brother! Not you..." She turned out to look at Riverclan's raged faces and Thunderclan's fear, hostility, surprise, sadness, everything that could go wrong was going wrong. She folded her ears back, not finding any of her siblings' faces. "I did it. And now they'll tear me to shreds, but I probably deserve it anyway."