~Warnings: Talk of death/murder, arguing, tearing apart of prey, :) ~ ‘Wake’ Snowpelt rose from her nest. It was chilly today, the beginning of leafbare. Four full seasons since her family was killed. Something about today felt different as Snowpelt left the warriors den, looking up at the grey skies. No sun to be seen. Snowpelt walked over to her usual rock and sat down, cleaning herself. She’d arranged the dawn patrol this morning, and she watched them leave. Snowpelt gazed around the camp. With leafbare, there were things to do. The next grouping of cats that got up should be sent hunting. Others needed to be assigned to help finish getting the dens insulated. The apprentice and warriors den were still only half done. Snowpelt would help with that for a while today. She should ask Skylight how Flowersong’s stores were doing, and perhaps send them out to collect any herbs that were still around. As for Whitestar… she usually didn’t wake up until sun high nowadays. Since Snowpelt had poisoned her, she’d become even more closed off and secluded, except for her ramblings to Snowpelt. Whitestar was still convinced there was a traitor in the clan, working for another clan. Snowpelt had said she was investigating. Whitestar had accused everyone at this point, and Snowpelt spent far too much time trying to keep her from doing anything rash. Whitestar had also taken to ripping all prey she could get her paws on open and inspecting it before taking a single bite, sometimes leaving parts inedible. Snowpelt was lucky she was too scared to come out to the fresh-kill pile, so the clan still had food, and Snowpelt could eat without having her food attacked. Whitestar never left her den now, and the clan had noticed. The gathering was tomorrow night, and Whitestar had been refusing to go. Snowpelt dreaded how that would go if she had to go without her leader there. It would be a disaster, Grassstar would absolutely target, and it welcomed an attack. All the clans had dwindled in number and everyone was tense. Thunderclan needed to show strength, and Whitestar was the opposite of that. ‘We can fix that. Today.’ What? She could hear Shadow chuckle ‘She’s on her last life, remember? You’ve done well, and it’s time for this to end. We take her final life. Today.’ Snowpelt sat up. Today? That was… ‘She deserves it. She took everything from you. She’s also a terrible leader, the clan needs her gone.’ Shadow was right. ‘I always am’ Shadow chimed with a dark chuckle. She- Snowpelt’s thoughts were interrupted by cats coming out of the warrior’s den. Snowpelt set aside her thoughts of revenge and walked over, talking to them briefly about a hunting patrol. Some of them left, and she set the others on continuing work on the dens after they ate. Speaking of eating… Snowpelt went to the fresh-kill pile and grabbed herself some food. She had made the mistake of not eating till Whitestar had woken up, and that had cost her several pieces of food before. Snowpelt grabbed a shrew and scarfed it down. As she finished, she caught sight of Skylight and walked over, asking “Skylight, how are Flowersong’s stores doing?” Skylight gave her a look and asked “Why can’t you ask her yourself?” Snowpelt replied “Because she’s still asleep, you’re awake, and I know you likely know.” Skylight sighed and said “She’s low on a few things, but we should be alright through leaf-bare.” Snowpelt asked “Anything that might still be able to be collected? How are we on catmint?” Skylight’s eyes softened a bit and she said “We’re just fine on catmint. We could treat the whole clan with how much Flowersong’s been hoarding it. She’s been nervous too.” Snowpelt let out a breath of relief, then asked “What about other things? Anything that can be collected?” Skylight paused, then said “A couple of things.” Snowpelt asked “Can you get them yourself?” Skylight nodded and said “Yeah, I’ll go now. I can go alone, Flower’s sleeping and I can see you’ve got everyone else working.” Snowpelt nodded and Skylight walked off. Snowpelt turned to the working cats and joined them, helping with the dens. After a while, Flowersong suddenly burst out of the medicine den, breathing heavily and looking around. Snowpelt motioned for her clanmates to keep working and stepped away, what was wrong? Maybe she should get Sky- Flowersong’s eyes found Snowpelt’s and she quickly motioned for her to come in the medicine den. Why- ‘You don’t need to do that. She can’t tell you what to do.’ Snowpelt’s paws started to move back towards the dens, but she stopped herself. Flowersong seemed scared… She turned back to Flowersong and she let out a sigh of relief. She walked over and Flowersong signed ‘We need to talk’ Snowpelt asked “About what?”
Flowersong ducked into the medicine den, and Snowpelt followed, pushing away Shadow’s protests. The second they were inside the main part of the den, Flowersong whirled around and signed ‘You can’t do this!’ Snowpelt tensed and asked “Do what?” Flowersong gave her a look and signed ‘You know what I mean.’ Snowpelt narrowed her eyes and said “I have no idea.” Flowersong sighed and signed ‘I had a dream…’ She paused and Snowpelt shook her head, closing her eyes as she said “Likely just a dream, I remember you saying starclan’s never visited unless you were at the moonpool” She started to turn away, but Flowersong suddenly pushed her. Snowpelt looked back at her and Flowersong quickly signed ‘No! It was Starclan! They were warning me!’ Snowpelt paused, then asked “A prophecy?” Flowersong shook her head. ‘Then what is the point of talking to her? It was a bad dream. That’s all. Ignore her.’ Shadow snapped. Snowpelt started to turn away, but then she caught one sign. ‘Your mother’ Snowpelt stopped and turned back, ignoring Shadow as she asked “What?” Flowersong signed ‘Your mother visited me, Darklight. She told me I needed to stop you.’ Snowpelt tensed and asked “Stop me from doing what?” Flowersong looked at her and signed ‘From doing something you would regret. Don’t kill her. Please.’ Snowpelt froze. Flowersong signed ‘I know what you’ve been doing. Skylight told me.’ Of course she did. Flowersong continued ‘I haven’t done anything, because I hoped you would stop on your own, and I didn’t want to get you hurt.’ Flowersong sighed, then signed ‘Please don’t do this. You can still stop now.’ ‘No. You can’t.’ Shadow whispered ‘You’re already this far. It would be a betrayal to stop now. It would be a betrayal to Stormcloud, to your kits.’ Shadow was right. Shadow was always right. Flowersong pushed her again to get her attention, looking scared as she signed ‘Listen to me! Something is wrong with you-’ Snowpelt took a step back, snapping “What?!” Flowersong cringed and signed ‘That came out wrong.’ Snowpelt glared and asked “And how was it supposed to come out?” Flowersong sighed and signed ‘Not like that. What I meant was that I can tell that something is… off. Darklight muttered something about another cat, but she couldn’t be clear about anything. She apparently wasn’t supposed to visit me’ ‘You don’t even know my- your mother. Why should you even trust her? Starclan cats are nowhere near perfect. That’s where your father is, and your mother loved you father.’ Shadow was right. Snowpelt snapped “And why should we trust her? We don’t know her! She’s just some dead starclan cat!” Flowersong looked taken aback and started ‘But starclan-’ ‘Is flawed.’ Shadow whispered. Snowpelt snapped “Why should we even trust them? They’re just cats!” Snowpelt sighed and a few long heartbeats passed before Flowersong signed ‘Please don’t do this, my friend. Please.’ Snowpelt went to respond, when a voice carried through camp from the leader’s den. “Snowpelt?” Snowpelt looked back over her shoulder. Whitestar was awake. She looked back at Flowersong. ‘She can’t stop you.’ Shadow whispered. Snowpelt lifted her head and spoke coldly “You can’t stop me.” Fear lit in Flowersong’s eyes, and she went to sign something, but Snowpelt turned away, walking towards the leader’s den. She picked up a large piece of prey on the way, then walked into Whitestar’s den. Whitestar’s amber eyes gleamed as he jumped up and said “Snowpelt! You worried me! I woke up and you weren’t there! Oh! Put that down, let me check it!” The prey had barely touched the ground before Whitestar grabbed it and tore it apart. Snowpelt watched silently. Whitestar finished, then said “It’s safe! Share it with me!” Snowpelt nodded and the two of them ate the mangled prey quietly. Snowpelt took a breath, then said “I need to talk to you about something.” Whitestar tilted her head and asked “What?” Snowpelt shook her head and said “Not in camp. The dawn patrol and a hunting patrol have returned, everyone's here.” Whitestar shifted, looking at the exit and asking “Are you sure?” Snowpelt nodded. Whitestar paused for a long moment, then nodded and said “Ok, I trust you.” Snowpelt nodded and the two of them got up. They walked out of camp, and Snowpelt blocked Whitestar's view of Flowersong's terrified gaze from the medicine den. ‘You won't regret this. She deserves it.’ Snowpelt silently walked into the woods with Whitestar. ~First~ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1066586971/ ~Previous~ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1305580158 ~Next~ https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1314980679/