The phantom returns! (closed)

Straw clung to Silverwing's pelt as she stared groggily at a limp but oddly fat mouse. This was by far the best part about living in a barn, the free meals that she sometimes never had to work for, and on a day like today this was very much appreciated. Well, that and the free bedding, but the straw was a bit too prickly for her taste. It would have to do until she could find something more permanent, and she really did hope that there was a better home for her out there somewhere, though her excursions thus far had proved useless. Maybe it was time to start looking past the clans? No! You have friends here, even if you can't see them anymore you still have gatherings. "Fantastic." The she-cat grumbled to herself before taking a bite from the mouse. She was aware of snow crunching just outside, but in this moment Silverwing didn't care much about the noise. All she cared about was her morning meal.

Brackenwing had, simply put, not been pleased by most any of the news that Shrikestar had greeted her with upon her and Whisperear's return to Windclan. She had taken to prowling Windclan's borders with a determined intent. Shadowclan would not sneak onto Windclan's land, and sooner or later she would find Silverwing. Silverwing, who had gotten herself exiled. Brackenwing couldn't believe it still, and Shrikestar's blame had rubbed at her fur in precisely the wrong way. She had given the leader a piece of her mind, and now she was going to find that idiot warrior and get the rest of the story. When Brackenwing had come across Silverwing's not-quite-fresh scent near the border, she hadn't hesitated, She hardly felt the snow, fury warming her from within.

It had led her to the barn that wasn't far outside of Windclan territory, and after a brief moment sniffing around, checking for other cats and only finding Silverwing's trail, Brackenwing stalked toward the barn's entrance, tail whipping back and forth behind her. Snow crunched, but she ignored it. Silverwing's scent was much too recent for her to be anywhere else but here.

Narrowed green eyes landed on the silver warrior picking on a mouse, her fur bristling as Brackenwing arrowed straight toward her. "Three. Weeks." Brackenwing growled, "I'm gone for three. Foxing. Weeks." Her words were punctuated with a lash of her tail once more as she stalked toward the silver warrior. "What were you thinking, Silverwing?"

Silverwing's gaze shifted from her meal to the figure that had appeared at the barn's entrance. Is that? No, that couldn't be her, she was gone! The more she stared at the cat that was approaching her the more she was sure of it. Silverwing's eyes grew wide, and a pile of half chewed mouse fell from her open maw as the silver she-cat practically leapt from her position and ran up to the cat. "Is it really you? They captured you, the twolegs took you away! A-are you a ghost?" A tentative paw reached out, and instead of flying through the air it landed softly on something solid! "It is you, Brackenwing!" Too many emotions swirled in her head, but chief among them was utter happiness, Brackenwing was here! Silverwing could see the tears slowly starting to fill her vision, but she didn't care if she cried right now! "Brackenwing, you don't know how much I missed you, why did you leave me like that? There's so much I need to tell you and I-" Wait wait wait, she was walking? "What happened to your leg, you're walking again?!" Letting out a short laugh, Silverwing pushed herself into her friend's pelt. "Stars, I've missed you so much Brackenwing!!"

Stars above, it was like Silverwing heard nothing she said. She seemed to be in disbelief that she was even standing here. If Brackenwing hadn't been wanting to strangle her (or Coyotegrin, or Shrikestar, or Nightstar) she would have been amused. She was glad to see Silverwing, but... "Yes, it's me, mousebrain!" Brackenwing huffed at Silverwing. "The twolegs healed my leg, they captured Whisperear too and we escaped. We got back a few days ago." She bit out, reaching up a paw a giving Silverwing a sharp prod in the chest. "And we were immediately told of the alliance broken. And that you trespassed. Then attempted murder, apparently. And got exiled." Her blood was boiling, "Tell me that Shrikestar and Coyotegrin are wrong." She hissed suddenly, tail lashing.

Whisperear too? They were both back?! Before Silverwing could respond, she was silenced by the paw jabbing her chest, prompting her to take a step back. Each accusation felt like a blow, making her shrink back slightly. "That... That sounds about right. Please don't be mad at me, I promise I didn't do it just for fun!" Perhaps the trespassing had been for some type of fun, but if she had the chance Silverwing would go back in time and stop herself. That had been an incredibly stupid thing to do, but the attempted murder? The only change she would make regarding that was the attempted part. "I wasn't the reason the alliance fell apart, at least not entirely. The trespassing was my fault, but Shrikestar didn't learn about that until the alliance was already broken. It was stupid, really stupid of me, but when we were all living in Fourtrees I tried apologizing to the cat I hit- slapped! Very lightly! I didn't even use claws!" Remembering Harechaser and her random outburst, that apology probably hadn't ever meant much to the Shadowclanner. "And that attempted murder? He deserved it!" Silverwing's fur bristled in rage as she continued, a low growl rumbling in her throat. "Nightstar and a warrior brought Russetrye and Amberstone back to Highstones after they allegedly trespassed on Shadowclan land. Amberstone looked like she was barely breathing, and that warrior-" Claws scratched at the wood beneath her, barely keeping Silverwing from flying across the moors and the marshes to finish what she had started. "he dragged Russetrye back, crying and bloodied! When I saw her it just became so hard not to attack him, and if the cat that did that to her was Nightstar? Their deputy wouldn't have been able to drag me off of him! I swear if that mongrel even tries to touch her again I'll finish him off! He got off way too easily for what he did to Russetrye! Shrikestar didn't even do anything! He just watched as his warriors were dragged back to camp!" A terrible heat burned through her veins, stars just talking about it made her want to leave for Shadowclan immediately. What would happen at this point, would she be exiled twice? Any hints of joy or tears had long since vanished from the spotted she-cat. Deep breaths, Silverwing forced herself to take deep calming breaths until her fur finally started to lay flat once more. Part of her had forgotten that she had company, but as her vision cleared Silverwing found herself looking up at Brackenwing intently. She wouldn't be mad, right?

"You trespassed? And attacked one of their warriors? Silverwing, why!" Brackenwing couldn't believe it, "What dose Shadowclan territory possibly have that Windclan does not? Filthy marshes? A stinking thunderpath on our border?" And apparently she had attacked someone. Without claws... Right. Brackenwing was sure that would have gone over well with Shadowclan. "A trespass is a trespass. And slapping a Shadowclanner... Were you trying to get torn apart? Foxdung Silverwing, what have I told you about Nightstar and the other clans that made you think that was a good idea? You know they wouldn't take that lightly, nor would Nightstar let go of it! The alliance was a poor idea that should have never happened in the first place, but you didn't have to help it along if it meant putting the rest of the clan in danger." She snapped.

And that wasn't even what shocked her the most. Brackenwing sat as Silverwing continued, eyes widening slightly as she mentioned what had happened with Russetrye and Amberstone. "...Shrikestar didn't mentioned Amberstone or Russetrye were attacked. I told him I didn't believe you would attempt something like murder without being provoked." Brackenwing spat. "He didn't mention them at all, actually." Her tail whipped back and forth, anger flashing in her eyes. "Attacking was stupid of you. Really stupid, if their warriors did as much damage to our clanmates as you say. I understand why... But it was beyond stupid. But if they did that, our alliance was already broken before you attacked. Not that you helped matters before that." She growled. "Maybe Shrikestar would have known you were trouble if he didn't spend all day hiding behind Coyotegrin. I have very little respect for him at the moment but you... I can't believe you."

Nothing, not a darn thing. Brackenwing was right about that, Nightstar hadn't let her trespassing go even with the moons that had passed since the incident. If he had brought that to Shrikestar's attention before would her outcome have changed? Silverwing would have liked to think so, but maybe things would have ended like this no matter what. The alliance was doomed to fail since its inception, she had known this, but Brackenwing was right about that too. Silverwing had accelerated the alliance's deterioration.

"He... He didn't?" She really shouldn't have been surprised, but he was a leader! Instead of telling Brackenwing the full story Shrikestar had set out to assassinate her character, but why? Shrikestar had exiled her, showed her no mercy or understanding, and watched as the events at Highstones unfolded! She should hate him for it all, but knowing that he had left out such a crucial detail felt like a betrayal. He never cared about you. Neither did her former deputy, but she had known that... Even so, Smallbean not even trying to defend her had hurt too. My own deputy didn't even defend me. Silverwing was slowly realizing that there was no one that had truly been on her side besides Adderdawn, a cat that she hadn't even interacted with. Her friends... None of them had come to her aid...

Brackenwing continued, calling her stupid over and over, calling her trouble. This wasn't the same Brackenwing she had remembered, this Brackenwing wasn't sympathetic to her cause, she didn't care that her clanmates had been dragged into camp bloodied and battered. Silverwing could feel something excruciatingly hot building in her chest. "Me? You can't believe me?" She could feel her eyes growing watery again, but as she spoke her voice rose steadily. "I defend my apprentice while my leader watches in wonder as they get dragged back into our 'camp', the first time I get disciplined it ends in exile, and my own deputy can't set his feelings for me aside long enough to tell Shrikestar that his punishment might be too hasty, but you can't believe me?" Something wet started to run down the sides of her face, but the anger that blazed on her tongue kept her distracted long enough to finish her tantrum. "Stars, I lost everything Brackenwing! I lost my friends, the few that I had actually started to consider family, I lost my home! But you know what? I'd do it again in a heartbeat. If I see that muck covered fox-heart again I'm not letting him leave with his life, and yes, all because he attacked Russetrye. I'm glad I did it, obviously no one else in Windclan had the guts to do anything other than watch. Wanna know something else? I'm glad I got exiled! I lose my best friend, I lose Whisperear, and the cat that I loved leaves me for a tom, what kind of life could I even live trapped in that hole you call a camp? I defended the last of my loved ones, and I won't feel ashamed over something like that." More deep breaths, but this time they did nothing to quell her anger. Stars, it felt like she was suffocating, it was so hard to breathe, but she wanted to say so much more! Even with all the thoughts she wanted to let loose, there was only one sentence that truly mattered to her. "You left me. Silverwing had no more strength left in her voice, all that was left was a quivering mess. Another stunning example of how mature she was, apparently.

Turning away from Brackenwing, Silverwing padded back to her mouse and plopped down on the hard barn floor. "Trespassers aren't welcome, you know the way out." Silverwing flicked her tail dismissively. This hurt more than anything else, and she knew what kind of hole she was digging for herself. Hunching over, Silverwing pretended to take bites of her meal, which she hoped was covering her silent sobbing, but even if it didn't who cared? There was no one that would notice, she was free to act however she wanted from this point on.

"No, he and Coyotegrin didn't tell us that. Any of that." Foxdung, Brackenwing thought, closing her eyes for a moment. "So Shrikestar just... leaped to exile immediately then? And had no intention of telling his warriors who have only just returned what actually happened? I thought Windclan had better leadership than this." Clearly not. "He could have jumped to any other punishment first but chose exile. Is that how he'll act in the future, Silverwing? With Coyotegrin defending his every action like they are the only ones who can do no wrong?" She turned, spat. "And he wonders why nobody respects him, why cats continue to break the code?" She shook her head.

"At least Windclan might finally see Shadowclan for what they always were. And hey... You're exiled, right? What code do you have to follow? If something were to happen to the Shadowclanners that did it I wouldn't lose sleep over it." She spoke, tone low and venomous.

The marbled tabby flinched at Silverwing' sudden hostility, staring at her for a moment as her words processed. "No I- Silverwing." A huff of frustration escaped Brackenwing. She'd fumbled it, again. Her jaw clenched hard enough to hurt, and Brackenwing's voice was a low growl when she finally did speak. "I can't believe one of my best friends wound up exiled. I can't believe Windclan's leadership is so rotten that they would lie about why. If you're not fit to be a Windclan warrior neither are they." Her vision blurred and she blinked away the tears angrily. Bile coated the back of her throat. "Fine, I'll go. I should've known better than to go looking anyways." She muttered, turning to do as Silverwing asked. She... Had been her friend, she could do that much.

Huh? Just moments before Brackenwing had been upset with her, she had been disappointed, why was she saying these things now? Her friend was being thoroughly confusing right now. If you're not fit to be a Windclan warrior, neither are they. Whatever anger she had been holding onto petered out entirely, and Silverwing was forced to realize that she had just been rude and nasty to her friend for nothing. Stars... Stars, you're such a foxing idiot, Silverwing. Staying silent was impossible now. The spotted molly's sobs stayed low, but they were now joined by a fit of hiccups. Her tantrum was fully over, now she just had to deal with being a terrible friend. "Brackenwiiing." Came a pitiful mew. "I'm so-" Hiccup "sorry. I-I'm an awful friend." Wait, why was she apologizing? Brackenwing had earned that little speech, she had been the one that had been rude first despite this being the first time they had seen each other in what felt like moons. Silverwing was... justified in being mean back, right? Silverwing's head ached with the sudden surge of thoughts, but there was one thing that she was sure of. Brackenwing was her friend, and even if they couldn't be in the same clan anymore she didn't want things to end like this. It was all so dizzying, and having an empty stomach for it all definitely wasn't helping. Between that and the constant hiccups shaking her train of though every two seconds, Silverwing couldn't think of much else to say other than "I'm sorry." You stupid crybaby, you're gonna fill the barn with tears at this rate. She had expected to be yelled at or something before Brackenwing left, but never did she think that her friend would say anything good about her after she had been screaming like a kit.