Warrior Cat Clans 2 (WCC2 aka Classic) is a roleplay site inspired by the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. Whether you are a fan of the books or new to the Warrior cats world, WCC2 offers a diverse environment with over a decade’s worth of lore for you - and your characters - to explore. Join us today and become a part of our ongoing story!
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Enough of cats playing her for the fool, enough of being second fiddle, enough of life's cruel tricks. She simply was not going to put up with it anymore. Phantomfox was gone on whatever mission his little girlfriend had sent him on, and Rosethorn was leaving. And she was taking her son with her.
"Ready for our walk, Foxpaw?" Rosethorn asked her son as she stopped beside him, outside the apprentice's den. He was older now, so she didn't lick his forehead like she used to, cognizant that that might embarrass him. They took a walk at least twice a week, so this wouldn't raise any suspicion. And they'd be off the territory and halfway to Summerclan before anyone realized they were gone.
He could sense that something was wrong by the look in her eyes. He had grown keen to noticing the ways those around them looked when they were upset; moons in and out of the medicine cat's den had taught the young tom to be strong with his empathy. Foxpaw didn't say anything yet, though, figuring if something was wrong and he wasn't just making it up, it would be better to tell him once they were away from listening ears, right? His brow furrowed at his internal dialogue, before he blinked back into focus.
"Yeah, I'm ready, Mama!" The other apprentices made heckled him for still calling Rosethorn that, but that didn't stop the young tom. Rather, there was a part of him that was actually encouraged by their jokes of him being a mama's boy; at least it gave them a reason to pickon him that wasn't that he looked like he was on the verge of a sneeze at all times. "Where are we goin' today?"
"Just down to the bridge at the base of the waterfalls," she told him, licking him on the forehead as soon as they were out of sight of the other cats. He was entirely too perceptive, quite like his mother. But better to see things for what they were than be deceived by lies, right? She chattered about inconsequential things like training and hunting, keeping her mouth moving so she wouldn't have a nervous breakdown, until they had arrived at their supposed destination.
"I have a fun surprise," she said, the cheerfulness in her voice overly bright. "We're actually going to visit Summerclan for a few days! With your dad away, we both have a few days off of serious training, so there's no better time. You'll get to meet the cousins I told you about, and your aunt Orchiddrop and uncle Devotedcrow. You know, he's deputy now." Rosethorn kept her tone light as she headed straight for the border, nudging her son's shoulder.
If he hadn't been positive that there was something wrong, he was as soon as she spoke in such a bright tone. She was over-compensating for something, but what? He didn't have the chance to ask her as she took off. The small tom followed her, his head tipping slightly. "We get to meet Aunt Orchiddrop! You've said such cool things about her, that's going to be so fun!" he purred, although there was a slight confusion in his voice. It was clear he wanted to ask, but he wasn't really sure what to ask. "Maybe seeing family will make you feel better!" he then chirped, before realizing that that gave away the fact that he had sensed she was upset. "I mean, not that I think that you're sad... unless you are.... in which case, I love you, Mama and I want you to be not sad." Well, this wasn't going very well for him. Any impulse he had to keep quiet had been squashed by the fact that sometimes, he didn't know how to stop talking. Instead, he gave a sheepish smile, turning his attention to the path ahead of them.
"What's your favorite part of SummerClan? We should do that first!" he then tried to recover, albeit not smoothly at all.
Rosethorn gave the forest in front of them a wry smile, her tail flicking behind her. Of course Foxpaw knew she was upset. It was useless to try to hide it. But to own up to the reason would be to disparage his father, whom he also adored. So she kept quiet on the reason, for now, and simply nudged his shoulder gently.
"You're growing up too fast. You're up to my neck now," she said with a faint smile. "Thank you, love. I know it'll get better. That's why we're taking the trip." She took a moment to consider his question before responding. "My favorite part of Summerclan is the sea. It stretches out beyond the horizon, and it smells like salt and seaweed. I don't like swimming much, but wading is fun and you can find the prettiest shells. We can also walk in the flower gardens, and make more crowns, and explore the meadows and sleep in the sun." She was already imagining it, a quiet and peaceful life with her son, away from the confusing mess that Nightclan had become for her.
He smiled at her gently as she offered the short diversion, nudging her shoulder with his own. He flicked his ear, before blinking. "I was listenin' into some older cats conversations the other day," he meowed with a blink, "and one of them said, 'Thing'sll be alright in the end. If they're not alright, it's not the end.'" The tom blinked. Berrypaw had said it moments before he watched her die in the medicine cat's den. But, his mama didn't need to know that. Even though things weren't alright for Berrypaw, they had to be for his mama. With a steely resolve, the tom decided to do whatever it took to make things alright in the end.
Suddenly, the seriousness was gone from his gaze and it was again replaced with his boyish charm as he envisioned the scene his mother was describing. "It sounds beautiful!" he purred, excitement now in his step. "We don't get to sit in the sun often here," he meowed with a nod, as if he was saying something more profound than the fact that NightClan was nocturnal. "I can't wait to lay on it with you, mama! It's gonna be so fun. I've been waitin' so long to learn how to make those crowns like you said!"
Rosethorn smiled again, glancing one last look over her shoulder as they crossed the Nightclan border, looking into the starlight-washed trees and giving a silent goodbye to those she had started to befriend but hadn't been able to say goodbye to- and most of all to Sagepaw, who was being left behind, in a way, once again.
There was more chatter as they walked through the night, stopping to rest every once in a while. By the time they reached Summerclan's border, the sun was rising, and Rosethorn had perked up considerably despite her exhaustion. The smells flooded her nose, late greenleaf flowers and the faint smell of the sea, and her ears and eyes swiveled to and fro, searching for a familiar face to bring them the rest of the way home.
Perhaps fate intervened, because a snowy Red Guard member had been assigned to the morning patrol. She lifted her nose, sniffed, and paused as a familiar scent washed over her. When her sapphire eyes met Rosethorn's amber ones, both were filled with tears. There was an incoherent sob from each of them as they collided, their forms tumbling to the ground.
"Is that little Foxkit?" Orchiddrop asked hoarsely, after they'd pulled apart, a wild laugh escaping her mouth. "He's so big!"
"Foxpaw, now," Rosethorn responded, beaming. "Foxpaw, this is your aunt Orchiddrop."
"It's good to see you again, Foxpaw," Orchiddrop purred. "When I last saw you, you were a newborn kit, and no bigger than a large mouse!"
Foxpaw didn't know that that would be goodbye. If he had, there were a few cats he would have liked to say goodbye to, namely Rosypaw. The young she-cat was his best friend, his training partner, and she was being left with no answer. He wouldn't know that until later, wouldn't feel that dull ache of loss until much further down the line. Of course, there was his father, too. The tom didn't know that Phantomfox was the reason they were running from the clan that he had called home; how could he possibly know? One day, a little part of him would break when he realized he would have no closure. Luckily for him, today was not that day.
Foxpaw lit up when he saw his aunt. "Wow, Aunt Orchiddrop!" the tom purred as he raced over to her, bucking his head against her shoulder fondly. "Mama has told me so much about you and about SummerClan! I've been waitin' so long to be able to visit you. Mama told me I had to get big and strong enough to make the trip, and I did!" he chattered on with a delighted purr.
Ever the dutiful husband, Orchiddrop's shadow wasn't far behind, though Crow did hang back a little to give the sisters their space to reunite. Though things here in SummerClan were peaceful, their lives melding together into quiet domesticity and pure love, he knew his mate well enough to know that there had always been a void left behind in Rosethorn's absence. Watching them together again, despite how there was some residual bitterness in the shadow of his heart for how things had unfolded between himself and his sister-in-law all those moons ago, he couldn't help but smile.
But he couldn't keep himself apart much longer, noticing little Foxpaw beside his mother, and the deputy was limping towards the group. "Sorry, I thought I heard someone say Foxpaw? Last I heard, he was this tall," he made a gesture with his paw, holding it as close to the ground as he could without touching it, "and his name was Foxkit. You wouldn't have seen him anywhere, would you?" He asked the younger tom, grinning goofily down at him.
Rosethorn smiled widely at Crow, one of her last statements to him not forgotten. If you ever want to be friends again, I'll be here. Well she could certainly use a friend right now, couldn't she? And in the joy of seeing her sister once more, there was little she wasn't happy about. This time, Summerclan was the fresh start, the place to return to in order to seek healing.
"Crow, I think this tall, handsome tom in front of us is Foxpaw, or Foxkit, as unbelievable as it is," Orchiddrop said in playful glee, returning the nuzzle Foxpaw gave her shoulder. "What brings you two back to Summerclan?"
"We're coming home. For a visit," she added, for Foxpaw's benefit, but her gaze told Orchiddrop and Crow that they'd talk later, out of his earshot.
"Well you're certainly welcome here," Orchiddrop purred, masking her growing concern for her sister swiftly. "Though your cousin Cinderpaw will be disappointed to learn you aren't a baby anymore."
"Yeah! I am Foxpaw!" he meowed to his uncle, puffing out his chest. He still wasn't that big, but he was basking in the others' surprise at how much he'd grown. He was a big grown apprentice now, after all!
He then grinned at the mention of his cousin, his eyes shining. "Well, she'll just have to get over it!" he purred with a grin.
"Cinderpaw's gonna be mad at what now?" meowed a she-cat who had been in the area looking for bugs when she heard her parents' voices and decided to come investigate. It was then that she saw her aunt, and the strange young cat came racing over. "Aunt Rosethorn!" she purred. "No one told me that you were coming, or I would have got you a welcome home present!" she meowed as she pressed into her aunt's side. She then looked at Foxpaw. "And you brought... let me guess, Foxpaw, is it now?" she meowed with a kind smile. "I would have brought you the coolest bug I could find if I knew we were expecting you! I'm Eveningpaw, 'member me?"
"Really?" Crow gasped emphatically, appearing to look at his nephew with new eyes. "No one told me you were so big now. You'll be taller than me soon if you keep growing like this, especially once we get you all fattened up, eh, Eveningpaw? Why don't you go find Cinderpaw and the two of you can give Foxpaw a tour around SummerClan?" He leaned in to give his daughter a soft nudge, wondering if she could sense the veiled the grown-ups need to talk without drawing too much attention to it. "You can introduce him to Frank."
"You're so big, Eveningk-paw," Rosethorn corrected herself with a smile, pressing her nose to her niece's head. "I can't believe you're almost an adult! Yes, you two should go and find Cinderpaw!" She turned to Foxpaw, nudging his shoulder enthusiastically as she latched onto the idea. As excited as she was to walk the territory, to find her nieces and nephews and see how they'd grown, she knew that the grown-ups did, in fact, need to talk.
Before Foxpaw could respond to Crow, Eveningpaw was already excited, which meant no one would get in a word edgewise. "Frank!" The excitement was clear in the she-cat's gaze as she turned to Foxpaw. "You're gonna love him! He's my best friend, and dad's over there, but dad doesn't wanna admit that he and Frank and I are a best friend trio," she meowed with a grin, before smiling at Rosethorn. With Foxpaw's mother's permission, she pulled the apprentice away with a grin. "Oh Cinderpaw!" she yowled loudly; if her sister was anywhere near her, she'd be summoned by how obnoxious she was sometimes. "Let's go find her!" she mewed to the other apprentice, before the duo took off.
why did i read that last line in an animal planet narrator voice
"Well," Crow rubbed his ear, aching in the aftermath of Eveningpaw's scream. "I guess we can talk now. C'mon, I had some prey laying out nearby." It was supposed to be for a date - which was what he was guiding Orchiddrop to when she scented someone familiar on the breeze - but it would do for a family reunion instead.
He led the sisters to a grove not far from the border. Here, they would be veiled from sight of anyone passing by, protected by dew-dappled trees and gentle ridges. Two nests sat across from each other, a couple of pieces of prey deposited between them, and he settled down into one of them, suspecting the sisters would crowd into the other one even if there had been three. "As thrilled as we are to have you home," he started, glancing between them, "I can't imagine this sudden of a trip is for any good reason. What's wrong, Rose?"
Orchiddrop and Rosethorn seemed like a conjoined twin at this point in time, pressed into each others side as they sat in the nest amidst the grove. Crow asked the question Orchid was thinking, so she remained quiet, watching her sister with concern.
Rosethorn sighed, taking a piece of prey and taking a bite to prolong the time she had to think before she spoke. She didn't really want to talk about this, but her sister and brother (in-law, but the line was becoming blurred) deserved to know.
"Phantom cheated on me with Aspenstar," she said plainly, amber eyes focused on the ground. "And I imagine, now that I dumped him, they'll be together."
"Oh," Orchiddrop said, too stunned by the revelation to say anything else for a long time. "I thought... He always seemed so different with you, Rose. I'm sorry. I can't imagine what you're going through."
"The casual betrayal by the tom who claimed he loved me? Yeah, it's not the greatest feeling in the world." Rosethorn pressed into her sister's side despite the wrathful humor in her tone. "It sucks, actually. More than I can put into words."
Heat crept up beneath Crow's dark fur. There were a million things he wanted to say in response - 'that piece of fox dung,' 'they sound like they deserve each other,' 'I'll kill the bastard next time I see him' - but he knew, just by sharing a look with Rosethorn, the sentiment passing between them wordlessly as if they were siblings that next each other's thoughts, that she already thought those same things. Instead, in the silence that followed, he asked, "What have you told Foxpaw? Do you plan on going back?"
"I'm not going back. I can't." Rosethorn said, pushing the vole back and forth between her paws. "I'm worth more than someone who sits around raising a cheater's son while he goes off and canoodles with his new girlfriend. I'm coming back here to start my Garden Keeper duties again and make a life for myself away from all of that. Foxpaw doesn't know, yet. He thinks it's a vacation. I'll tell him eventually."
Orchiddrop nosed her shoulder again. "We're glad to have you back. I'm sure Ratstar will be excited to see you too. It hasn't been the same without you here, Rose."
"What about you two?" Rosethorn asked, nodding at them. "When I left you were coparenting. Now you look... cozier. Do I sense a happy ending for at least some of us?"
Suddenly, Crow looked aurprised, wistful even. "It really has been that long since we last saw you, huh?" The time passed by so quickly, he hadn't noticed; but yes, the last time he saw Rosethorn, their circumstances were largely different. He and Orchiddrop were new parents, fawning over their little ones but still fractured by the damage left behind irrevocably by Goldenshadow's abuse, and she was freshly branded by her own loss. "Orchiddrop and I have been back together for...a few moons now."
"Good." Rosethorn's smile was genuine, breaking through some of the heaviness on her features. "Thank Starclan you stopped being so silly," she said to her sister, who was flushed as she returned the grin. "I'm glad to hear it."
"We're expecting again," Orchiddrop said quickly, flicking an ear back. Better to find out now than later, right? It felt rude, rubbing their happiness and their coming kits in the face of her sister who'd lost most of her children and her own relationship.
Rosethorn would've been bitter about that once upon a time, back when she had constantly played that comparison game. As she saw it now, these were only good things. Her sister's marriage and more children were only blessings. Rosethorn smiled wider, giving her sister's ear a gentle bat with her paw. "Stop acting so maiden-ish about it. You're a mother of six already." They exchanged glances, grins, and Rosethorn stood up, shaking out her fur.
"I'm so honestly, genuinely happy for the both of you," she said, crossing to Crow and pressing her cheek to his for a brief second. As she pulled away, she cleared her throat, watching his features closely. "Am I forgiven?" She whispered after a moment, her mind flashing back to that winter.
