Vineripple heaved herself to her paws, smirking as her eyes darted around. Cats turned away from her, the fur on their shoulders standing up. The tabby chuckled as Honeypool stepped up to escort her from camp. They began to make their way across camp when a tiny head poked out of the Nursery, his green eyes blinking in the bright light. Crushkit saw his mother and his eyes widened, making her heart warm. “Mama?” Vineripple purred, winking at her son. “Mama loves you, Crushkit.” /And she’ll be back very soon./ The tiny kit was watching her with his mouth hanging open , eyes wide as she was escorted from camp. When she got to the entrance, Vineripple stopped, turning back around. Amber eyes met green, and her eyes softened as Thornstar stared at her. She gave a tiny jerk of her head as if asking him to follow her before padding from camp, Honeypool at her side. ————————— Vineripple waited impatiently at the border, her tail tip twitching. Did Thornstar not understand her? No, impossible! They could practically read each other’s minds, of course he knew she wanted to talk with him. The only question now was whether or not he’d show up. The tabby she-cat was just getting ready to leave when the bushes in front of her rustled, and a moment later the gray and russet pelt of Thornstar emerged. His eyes were cold and nervous at the same time. He looked away as Vineripple got to her paws with a purr. She made not sure to cross the border back into ThunderClan territory. “Thank you for meeting me, Thornstar. I knew Nightshade wouldn’t let us talk back in camp-even though it should’ve been your call-so this was the next best.” She purred. Thornstar only sent her a sharp glare, making Vineripple laugh lightly. “What do you want?” “I want you to know some things.” Thornstar’s eyes widened and his ears flattened, eyes begging her to stop talking, to not put him in this position... Because deep down, he already knew what she was going to say. Vineripple only smiled at him, her heart warm with love. “Thornstar, I still love you.” Thornstar flinched, but still Vineripple pushed on. He had to know, even if he didn’t want to. “I still love you so, so much. I still want to make you laugh and smile and blush. I still never want to see you cry or yell, and when you do I still want to be the cat by your side to comfort you.” Vineripple could almost see Thornstar’s heart cracking as he stared at her, ears down and eyes shining. “And, I know I have no right to those claims. I know that I’ve betrayed you and this Clan, but no matter what I do I can’t change my feelings for you. I don’t want to see you hurt, Thornstar. Because I love you. And no matter how many times you hurt me, no matter how many times you break my heart and tear me up from the inside out,” He flinched at that. “I still somehow manage to pick up the pieces. I still somehow manage to pick up every single broken, mangled piece of my heart and give it back to you. Even now.” Tears, hurt, and guilt shone in Thornstar’s eyes, his ears flattened. “V-V-Vineripple..” The tabby she-cat shook her head, already knowing what he was going to say. “I know you don’t mean to hurt me, Thornstar. You would never mean to hurt /anyone/. But, you have your flaws,” She smirked at him. It was the same smirk that used to drive Thornstar wild. Now it just made his heart ache. “And I have mine. But do you know what I was going to tell you that day? That day when Nightshade was about to kill me? That day she told you about the attack?” Thornstar couldn’t look away, begging her with his eyes to not go on. “I was going to tell you that I was calling the attack off. Because at the time, I was. I had found a new life. A life with you and the kits and ThunderClan. You all were my whole world. My everything. You and our kits are /still/ my everything. You own every single shattered, broken, messed up piece of my heart.”
“Then /why/!?” Thornstar’s voice broke. “Why tear this Clan apart, Vineripple? Why tear me apart? Why tear /us/ apart!? I-... I miss us.” “I miss us, too.” Vineripple smiled sadly at him. “/Why/?” Thornstar repeated. “Because enough is enough, Thornstar. I wasn’t going to live second best to Nightshade whenever /I/ was your mate. Whenever /I/ was the one bearing your kits. I told you how she makes me feel.” Thornstar’s eyes saddened, remembering that conversation. “I told you that she makes me feel small. Insignificant. How she makes me feel like dirt, whether she means to or not. You always take her word over mine. The Clan that I’m apart of hates me and loves her-they did even before this mess. The only cat in this Clan who hasn’t truly done me wrong or hates me.. is Heronfeather.” “You’re a monster, Vineripple.” Thornstar spat at her, tears beginning to leak down his face. “What about the kits? What-What about me?” Vineripple saw longing and pain in her ex-lover’s eyes, and her heart cracked a bit. “Sometimes I wonder if things could’ve turned out differently if I had asked that same question. Would you have listened then?” “VINERIPPLE!” He screamed, paws trembling. “I-I-I can’t... Vineripple. I-I-... I just... I know I shouldn’t but... Y-You’re a monster, but... V-Vineripple.” He whimpered and Vineripple stepped towards him, pulling the tom into her fur. “I-I-I s-still..” “I know Thornstar. I know.” She murmured, licking his head like she would to a kit. To one of their kits, really. “You don’t have to tell me, I know. You don’t have to tell me anything.” Thornstar sniffled, remembering when she had told him that for the first time. “You’re a monster, Vineripple.” He growled into her chest. “You betrayed this Clan and everything in it.” “I know, I know.” She murmured, pulling away and stepping back over the border. “But,” A spark came back into her eyes, giving them life again and turning her back into the cat that Thornstar used to give the world for. She smirked, setting his heart aflame and breaking it at the same time as he realized that he’d never get her back. “Even monsters have hearts. And mine belongs to you.” —————————— Vineripple burst into ShadowClan camp, her eyes gleaming and claws unsheathed. Cats eyes widened and they immediately made their way over to her. Firefly was the first to reach her. “Sheepstep said they caught you! Did you escape?” Vineripple grinned fiercely, her amber eyes dancing. “They let me go!” She snickered. “They had a vote on whether to kill me or exile me, and they actually /let me go/.” A brown tom by the name of Eagledash padded over, his blue eyes wide. “/Kill/ you? But that’s against the Warrior Code! You’re only allowed to kill in self defense! If they had killed you there, you wouldn’t have stood a /chance/ against them all. They don’t even know about the next attack, so they can’t blame it on that! What they were gonna do can’t even remotely relate to ‘self defense’, we barely even hurt them! We didn’t kill any of them, why were they about to break the warrior code? That’s stupid! That’s just stupid, you can’t break the warrior code. That’s unjust and-“ “Yes!” Vineripple finally interrupted, tired of his rambling. “It’s unjust and unfair and cruel and freaking idiotic, we know. But, it wouldn’t have been the first time they’ve done it.” Eagledash bristled. “Even more of a reason to take them down. Cats who don’t follow the code are scums of the earth.” “Well, you can probably rake that up to Nightshade being a kittypet.” Vineripple snorted. “Wait, Vineripple, are you sure no one followed you?” Firefly cut in, glancing suspiciously at the camp entrance. Vineripple nodded in confirmation. “I was scared of that too, but I circled back twice on my way here and didn’t find anyone, so we’re safe.” Firefly’s eyes widened, the sides of her mouth beginning to tilt up into a smile. “So let me get this straight. They had the leader of the cats trying to take down their Clan as a /prisoner in their camp/, and instead of keeping her in camp where they could keep an eye on her, they /let you go/.” Vineripple snickered. “Sure seems like it. I don’t know who got the smart genes in the Clan, but it definitely wasn’t Nightshade.” The black and white she-cat snorted. “No kidding. So, when’s the /real/ attack?” Written by @Stormstar1515 ;P Vineripple~ @Stormstar1515 Nightshade~ @FnafMangleTime Thornpad~ @Blacklist_Rogue Creekfrost~ @Endercat-uwu Skyfall~ @DJDoritoCO Honeypool~ @WarriorsSilverstream Chapter 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/383248637/ Next Chapter: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/413358308/
