The Threatening Darkness

Coalkit blinked, confusion swimming in his yellow eyes and he glanced to the apprentices nearby for reassurance, but saw Cedarpaw huddled between Icepaw and Smudgepaw, fear in her eyes and rolling off her in waves. The prophecy seemed bad, but would their ancestors really punish the Clans like so? And who needed to be punished? The black kit's features pulled into a deep frown as he looked at Mossbloom then back up to Oakstar, hoping they would have more answers as he wrapped his tails around his paws tightly to help his trembling.

Puddlekit listened from just inside of the nursery. But what she heard didn't sound right. Why would they be punishing anyone?

Cherrykit's fur stood on end at the words that fell like stones into the cold air, and she bit back a yowl of dismay. She looked around for Dacedream, hoping to find her as to seek out her comfort.
That's not right... They can't do this!

As the meeting was called, Dacedream pulled herself away from the nursery where she'd been resting. In the clearing she spotted Cherrykit already waiting, and the tortoiseshell queen quickly joined her little tabby daughter. The look of fear, discomfort, anxiety on both Oakstar and Mossbloom's faces wasn't lost on Dacedream, and once the announcement was made she understood why. Her stomach dropped. I'm... one of the blood traitors. Did... Did ThunderClan not want her? After everything? They must not, or else why would they reveal this information. Dacedream wrapped her tail absently around Cherrykit. She had no words of comfort, only a sickeningly familiar hazy cloud of numb sorrow.

Oakstar waited for several moments as Mossbloom repeated her message. His gaze lifted to the sky, as though he expected to see the faces of starclan cats looking down on them. It felt… wrong. He looked back down, to the faces of his clanmates. To the fear and concerns… his heart ached for the cats who weren’t lucky enough to be born into ThunderClan… this prophecy seemed to threaten them all directly. His black ears flattened for a long moment as Mossbloom finished, he let silence dwell for a moment, before he stepped forward.

"Cats of ThunderClan. This message… is ominous for certain. I understand, that some of you might feel upset or worried." He looked pointedly at Dacedream, then at Mossbloom, before he sighed softly. The clan had changed over the moons. Many new faces were before him now… and even some of the older warriors weren’t even aware of it anymore. A bitter feeling sank into his chest.

"I will not condemn any cat who was not lucky enough to be born into clan life, nor will I turn away a cat who needs a home, as long as they abide and embrace the warrior code." He lifted his head. The warmth of the sun splashed onto his dark tabby pelt. "It would dishonour the legacy of Leopardstar to do so… for he and I were both not born in ThunderClan. No… I was born in Shadowclan." He paused, his heart stuttered as he spoke this truth before the entire clan. It wasn’t like when he told the night patrol… This was every cat in his clan that heard it now.

"I was born in Shadowclan as Marshkit, by Hazeflight. When I was a small apprentice, I was trapped by twolegs, and taken far from the clans." He sat down, pelt ruffled slightly as he spoke. "I was gone for many moons. On my way home, I ran into my sister’s son, Coyotefang. He guided me back to ShadowClan… only for me to find out that none of my own kin were left except for him. He, was ThunderClan." He paused in thought. "I do not know how Coyotefang ended up in ThunderClan, but I wanted to stay near the last link of my family. I spent many moons as an apprentice here, far more time than the usual apprenticeship. Throughout that time… I made a realisation that I was no longer staying for Coyotefang, who died within a couple moons." He pressed forward, refusing to let the grief of the loss choke him even now.

"ThunderClan taught me that there is more to a clan than just living to hunt and fight. We are a family…" He smiled at Dustcloud with love, and Stormpaw with pride. "Our origins do not define us here. The warrior code guides us, but I do not believe it is all that there is. StarClan may disagree, but if they did… if they had any doubts about my ability to lead, I would never have received my lives."

"StarClan trusted me then, and I hope they will trust me now. ThunderClan, don’t forget the prophecy Mossbloom has told you… but do not forget too, that most cats within the clan were not born here. They came here, either as kits… or with family, or even lost loners in the past. ThunderClan is strong not simply because of our territory, but it is our hearts and love, that make us the strongest clan in the forest."

Icepaw looked up at her mentor, with even more admiration then before. He risked it all to be honest with the clan, and she wanted to one day do that to. She purred and her eyes sparkled.

She fought it off long enough for Oakstar to step forward himself to share his own thoughts. She felt a pinprick of guilt for doubting him almost the moment that his gentle, reassuring voice rang out over the clearing; the leader sought her gaze pointedly, and Dacedream wrapped her tail more tightly around Cherrykit. She tightened her lips as a sudden realization struck her hard: she had not yet told her little ones where there mother came from. Dacedream hadn't told her kits that she had been born and made an apprentice in RiverClan. Nearly all of the Clan knew. It was no secret, as many of the warriors had been present the day her father Sparkfrost had lead her into ThunderClan's camp, and she had never intended for it to be a secret, but did they know?

She thought of Puddlekit, the beautiful tortoiseshell, a spitting image of her grandfather. She thought of Jaykit, with his dark mask and patches on a pale pelt: he shared the name of the RiverClan leader under whose Dacedream had been born, Jaystar, though Houndheart had likely chosen the name for alotgether different reasons. She thought of Vixenkit, beautifully thick-furred like any RiverClan cat would be. She looked down at Cherrykit and gently nuzzled the top of her head. They need to know; I won't lie to them, especially not with StarClan's warning. They deserve to know who their mother is, she decided solemnly.

Meanwhile, Oakstar had made a similar choice: not only did he refuse to condemn those who had come from elsewhere, but he chose to reveal that he was one of them! Dacedream was pulled slightly from her own thoughts as she listened. Oakstar... came from ShadowClan. So that's why he was so understanding, she realized, letting out a small murmur of surprise. Oakstar was certain in his decision: he would not turn away the cats who had helped to make ThunderClan strong even if StarClan demanded it. He would continue to have faith as they must have had faith in him to give him his lives in the first place. Dacedream nodded, his logic seeming reasonable and sound to her. Still, as his voice grew silent again, the final words murmured in Dacedream's head.

"If the leaders of the earthen ground will not punish your treason, you will face the wrath of the stars." "Oakstar - Mossbloom," Dacedream ventured nervously, her tufted ears flicking back, "The Gathering - was that the wrath of the stars? Is that what they mean about.... about punishment?" She didn't want to risk saying more and frightening her kits more than they probably already would be. They were strong, brave little souls, but there was so much about this they might not understand; they would need guidance, and they would need more information. They needed the truth.

Jaykit slinked out of the nursery at the sound of a meeting being called, making a beeline for where he saw his mother and sister were settled. He stood on his hind legs, stretching up so he could rub the top of his head against Dacedream's chin. And then he sat between her forepaws, giving his chest a few swift licks as he listened to what the leader had to say. But as Oakstar spoke, the kit's brow furrowed. What did he mean? Jaykit looked up at his mother, a question on the tip of his tongue, but her own words, spoken to the leader and the medicine cat, halted his. Instead, he arched his back into her throat, narrowed blue eyes sweeping the clearing for any signs of hostility pointed at his own heritage. His tiny, needle claws sank into the ground defiantly. If any cat wanted to fight because his mama wasn't born in ThunderClan, he was ready.

Throughout the entirety of the speech, Rainstrike was silent.

The whispers and mumblings she'd been hearing since the last gathering had piqued her interest, and so she'd sought out more information, until she got the rundown. StarClan was angry, and rightfully so, about the current mixed blood state of the clans. And then he, their leader, her grandfather... he admitted, to everyone... that he wasn't ThunderClan blood either. Which meant that Mistwalker was half-clan. And SHE wasn't pure ThunderClan, either...

Rainstrike knew that ThunderClan had a reputation for being the most outsider friendly clan in the forest, and now she knew why. At their very core, they were impure. The pointed tabby warrior couldn't bring herself to be... well, anything. Not smug. Not angry. Not even sad. Just numb. Did Mistwalker even know, before..? Rainstrike bit her tongue so hard she tasted blood, her icy stare boring into her grandfather's form atop the rock.

She'd learned all she needed to, now. And she knew what she had to do. Rising to all fours, she stood, staring, and pointedly turned her back to the Highrock. And then Rainstrike left the camp, pushing her way through the crowd and out the gorse tunnel into the forest. She needed some air.

Cedarpaw watched in confusion as her mentor left the camp. What’s so wrong with being half clan? She wondered. Oakstar was a good leader, and he didn’t deserve punishment. None of Thunderclan did.

Stepping back as Oakstar stepped forward, Mossbloom nodded as he delivered his speech. Surely they would have to trust the leaders they had entrusted the clans to ensure that they were taken care of. As the clan murmured with the news that Oakstar had not been born of ThunderClan, a voice rose above the quiet mumblings. Dacedream, she registered as she met the queen's eyes, hesitating only a heartbeat before stepping forward to stand at Oakstar's side. "I don't know. I don't think that was their punishment, I feel that was a show of their anger and their way of drawing everyone's attention. I don't know right now what their punishment means, or what they have in store."

Swallowing hard, her head raised to look to the stars before turning to Oakstar and looking back to the clan. It was time. "I was not born in ThunderClan either. In fact, I wasn't born in the forest at all. Falconwing was my adopted mother, and Flintfang my adopted father. My mother abandoned me to my father and twolegs, which abandoned me in the snow last leaf-bare. I was lucky enough for Falconwing to find me, and for ThunderClan to welcome me. StarClan entrusted me with the knowledge of herbs and prophecies, and I have not been perfect, but I know I will do anything for this clan, for all of the clans. What I do know, is going forward we will all have each other. Each and every one of us truly belong in ThunderClan, of that I'm sure. We all have our place, and I could not be more thankful, grateful, and honored to stand here among all of you, regardless of where you may have come from." The fur along her back started to raise subconsciously, as the ever-present fear of StarClan's wrath heightened. ThunderClan would stand strong, they had nothing wrong. They had to be strong.

Harefoot shifted uncomfortably as Mossbloom listed off her prophecy and Oakstar entrusted the clan with his own heritage. He himself had been born of pure parents, or so he was told. He never knew them, but none ever loked at him like he was anything but ThunderClan. Clan switching had always made him feel a little nervous. It wasn't that he doubted his adopted clanmates... or perhaps he did. It just seemed wrong to defy their ancestors like that. And now they were mad at the clans. The devout tom glanced around the clearing to find his kits. They would be alright, most likely, but what would happen? What was StarClan willing to do to them?

Dawngaze averted her eyes. Her own blood was sinful. Like Oakstar, she hailed from ShadowClan; and yet, like Dacedream, she also walked on RiverClan-bred webbed paws. She was a half-blood, and not even from the clan she lived in. She was a murderer's kin and StarClan had always hated her. It was mutual. She hardened at Oakstar's admission of his past, feeling betrayed even though he hadn't lied to her. How could someone from another clan lead ThunderClan? She wasn't even sure she belonged here. She served because she owed her life to the fatherly tom and because she had nowhere else to go. Dacedream was her former apprentice, and she was perhaps more tolerant of the former RiverClanner because of it, but no one else deserved that special privelege of unquestioned acceptance. It just wasn't right. Dawngaze stewed in the back of the crowd. On the one paw, she hated StarClan and was glad all of ThunderClan was able to pesonally offend them. On the other, her respect for their Code ran deep and Oakstar's blatant disregard for social standards had likely doomed them all to some unspeakable fate.

Coalkit looked up at Mossbloom and Oakstar, a bitterness rising up in him. If StarClan was going to punish cats, would that mean ThunderClan would lose their leader and their medicine cat? And anyone who was like them? He looked around to see the mixed emotions on the cats around him. Icepaw looked at her leader with admiration, but Coalit couldn't match those emotions as he looked back up at the two cats standing before the Clan. "So what is going to happen now?" The black tom mewed as his yellow gaze looked around him again. "Is everyone who isn't truly ThunderClan going to be punished?" He was mostly thinking out loud, his mixed emotions making it hard for him to hold his tongue as he narrowed his eyes. He had been raised on the Warrior Code and that it was sacred and what kept the Clans together, to disregard it as Oakstar had and anyone else who had done so went against everything the young kit knew, and it confused the young tom as distrust and confusion welled up in his chest.

Stormpaw couldn't believe her ears. She... She was half-Clan? How...? She... Salty tears burned her eyes and she didn't bother to blink them away. "N-no... I... It can't be..." She whispered weakly. She'd taken pride in StarClan. She'd done everything she could to please them. But.. It would never be enough now. She'd never be enough. She'd yelled at Thornstar and Torrentstar for betraying the Warrior Code and StarClan. But... She wasn't any better. She was half ShadowClan! What would StarClan think of her? She was a disgrace! She shouldn't be alive! She was all an awful code-breaking mistake!

Earlier that morning had been fine. She'd spent all day with Dacedream, her closest friend. She'd watched her friend's kits play around. Vixenkit, Jaykit, Cherrykit, Puddlekit. No. They weren't mistakes. Dacedream had no other choice. She'd followed her father. She was too young to have understood. But Oakstar-- her father-- had been old enough to know his code-breaking ways. "I-i'll see you later, Dacedream.. I-I feel sick.." She whispered, giving her friend a nudge before she padded away to the apprentices den. Maybe this was all just a twisted nightmare.

Daisypaw was in shock. Her father...from Shadowclan? Does that mean..... I’m going to get punished? Her eyes felt damp and she felt like a scared little kit,hiding in the nursery. It wasn’t her fault that her father was not true Thunderclan. As she watched her sister leave, she decided she had to too. She padded back to the apprentice’s den, curling up, still in shock. “Stormpaw?” She mewed softly. She knew her sister well enough to know that she was thinking the same thing. ”It’s alright.” She said, although she didn’t mean it herself. She let out a despairing cry, knowing that StarClan would never accept her, the half-clan, scaredy cat apprentice.