Honey, I'm Home! [Open Return Topic]

Elmstorm's paws felt like they were about to fall off as he ran. The closer he got to RiverClan's camp, the more he had picked up speed. There was just so much he had missed.

And yet, the closer he got, the more questions that ran through his mind. It had been a few moons since he had gone through that entrance. And he was far from the same cat he left as. He was skinnier, and his face was a lot more gaunt. When was the last time he had a meal that wasn't rats? His fur was also a lot more ragged, and that was saying something considering how unkempt it always was before he had been captured. He was sure he didn't even have RiverClan's scent on him, anymore, either.

What if he wasn't recognized, being only a shell of the cat he was? Or what if they thought he had abandoned them, and turned him away?

What if the Clan had moved on without him? Would he still have a home here?

And the worst thought of all: what if when he entered that camp, his family wasn't there? What if something happened to the cats he loved? What if when he came back, he was met with the faces of strangers?

It was a foolish thought, and he knew that. He hadn't been gone for that long. And he knew that whatever happened, he at least had to try to go back home. After all he had worked for to get back here, he couldn't turn away now.

Still, when he walked through that entrance, anxiety clenched his heart, ducking his head as so many faces turned his way.

He felt frozen to the spot, kneading the ground, unsure of what he was supposed to do now. So he just waited. He didn't know what he was waiting for, what he was expecting. He just stayed rooted to the spot, hoping for the best.

Poppystar heard Kitespring’s yell and momentarily, she feared that it was an attack. Wolves, maybe, come back for their revenge. But Kitespring continued and Poppystar gasped. If Elmstorm was back, did that mean that Sprucebark and Scorchlight returned too?

She hurried out of camp and towards Kitespring’s call. There was indeed Elmstorm. He looked worse for wear, with a dirty pelt and ribs poking through his fluff. He looked so thin, and it made Poppystar’s stomach turn. She didn’t see Sprucebark or Scorchlight anywhere…Had they really left on this journey to find Elmstorm only to just miss him returning home?

For now, she pushed that from her mind. She arrived and smiled at her missing clanmate. “Elmstorm,” she greeted warmly. “It is wonderful to have you home…Please, come with me. You look starving. Have a meal and you can tell me what happened to you.” She turned to lead him and Kitespring both back into camp, and straight to the fresh kill pile. “Was anyone with you? …Sprucebark and Scorchlight, maybe? They had left to go searching for you.”

The first cat to greet Elmstorm was Kitespring, immediately alerting the rest of the Clan he was there. If there weren't a lot of eyes on him before, their attention would surely be grabbed now.

It was what Kitespring said next that had his fur standing on end.

"They...left?" The only way to describe what he was feeling in that moment was pure panic. How long had they been gone? Where would they even go? What if the twolegs found them? What if they couldn't escape, because they didn't have ThunderClan giants helping them?

What if they never came home?

For a moment, the world seemed to spin around him, his heart feeling as though it would burst from his chest. He was so stupid! He should have ran the moment he saw that stupid twoleg thing! Now his parents were out there looking for a cat they would never find, because he was right here!

Poppystar's voice broke through his panic, and he turned his glassy gaze to her. For a moment, his eyes cast downward, towards a new scar on his grandmother's chest, before going back up to meet her eyes. Those eyes that were nothing but kind, even now, even with her own son gone because of him.

Following behind his leader towards the fresh-kill pile, Elmstorm tried to calm his racing mind. Although even still, even with his gnawing hunger, he never did reach for a meal. He still was not fully present in the moment, his mind still a whirlwind of thoughts. But Poppystar asked him a question. He could at least answer that.

"There was a twoleg trap. At Fourtrees. There were five of us there. A SkyClan apprentice got stuck in the trap, and then there was so many more twolegs. We couldn't get away. They stuck us in the belly of a monster. It... there were so many cats there. Both cats and dogs, I think. It was hard to see. Some of the others, they were able to open the mesh we were stuck in. And then we ran. I-..."

For a moment, Elmstorm stopped,  not sure if he could admit to this next part. [color=#1c1c70]"There were two apprentices. A ShadowClan apprentice and a ThunderClan apprentice. They.... they got separated... from us... We couldn't find them. Only three of us ever made it home. Other than the other four, this is the first time seeing another Clan cat since we got caught. I don't know where Sprucebark and Scorchlight are."[color] There was a meaning behind his words that Elmstorm couldn't dare to say out loud. They never found the apprentices, he wasn't sure they could find his parents, either.

Just the idea of losing them tore him apart.