Run Away Bravely (Stormwind)

“She can take care of herself,” Came Lionblaze’s response, the tom taking his all-powerful face and burying it vulnerably into Heathertail’s shoulder. “We need to go somewhere else… Maybe the Darkclan camp?” There was no way the undead would find their way into those tunnels when nothing worth their while lived inside them.

(*pats* There there )

Heathertail stepped forward to affectionately brush muzzles with the tom, letting out a soft purr. “Hello, Lionblaze. How was your day?” Her head tilted to the side. “Also, your sister fled the island in the direction of the old ThunderClan territory and I don’t think she’s come back yet.”

(That’s cool! It sucks that there’s no Rey stuff available but Leia’s cool too. If I had the money I’d go to a thrift shop and put a cool costume together but I am next to broke at the moment )

Finally, Lionblaze realized it was time, and eagerly he tiptoed around other sleeping warriors and then slid out of camp to go meet up with his secret mate. He saw that she had arrived first and quickly padded up to the She-cat, a soft purr rumbling from his chest.

(Imma be Princess Leia for Halloween I would’ve been Rey but they only had child costumes for her *pouts*)

Heathertail busied herself with helping around the WindClan camp doing such things as helping Kestrelpaw and entertaining Swallowtail’s kits that were a half-moon old until everyone started to go to their nests and the time came for her to meet Lionblaze. Quietly excusing herself from Swallowtail and the kits, she slipped out of the camp and slunk towards their meeting spot.

Lionblaze felt his weary heart give a weak flutter at the sight of Heathertail returning from her patrol unscathed, watching her walk across the log until she left his field of view. Sighing, the tom set his head down again, left to do nothing for now but to glumly pick over his own thoughts.

(*realizes that Jayfeather’s second visit to the Ancients and Half Moon wasn’t until Sign of the Moon* *eye twitches*)

Hollyleaf didn’t care about anything but getting as far away as she could at that moment, in her distraught state not even noticing how much noise she made as she ran. It was a minor miracle that no infected appeared as she fled her way to the old ThunderClan territory, seeking the familiar.

Jayfeather flopped himself down in his nest, laying sprawled out as his thoughts ran in circles. Our life is a lie. Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw aren’t our parents. We shouldn’t have been born. Our life is a lie. On and on it went, until with a groan he pushed himself to his paws to distract himself with mixing the herbs as he had been doing earlier, not wanting to continue to torture himself with his thoughts.

Leafpool stared mournfully after her kits as all three of them fled. I made a mistake. It seems like fixing it didn’t go so well either. She breathed in, a slightly trembling breath, and let it out as a sigh.

Heathertail reached the bridge with the rest of her patrol just as Hollyleaf fled across it. Making a small sound of surprise at the black blur than ran across her vision, she watched the slightly younger she-cat for a few seconds with a confused frown before she leaped up onto the bridge and made her careful way across to the island, a scrawny mouse hanging from her jaws. She’d ask Lionblaze later, when they met.

“Firestar,” Lionblaze mewed, bursting into the leader’s den, “Where is Brambleclaw?”

Firestar was confused and a little startled by his grandson’s sudden entrance, and could detect the anger blazing in his kin’s eyes. “I think he went out on patrol. Why, are the two of you fighting over something?”

“No,” Replied Lionblaze, realizing there was little he could do besides go out into the territories solo on a wild goose chase for Brambleclaw, which was stupid. He knew that much even in his current state. Sighing, he turned tail and left the den without explaining himself, leaving Firestar to watch the other tom, befuddled.

Lionblaze laid flat out on his side, thumping into his nest. Glancing up at the sun through the very temporary looking woven bramble, the tom growled quietly to himself, seeing there was still time to go before his rendezvous with Heathertail. He needed her company right now.

Leafpool looked away, her ears flattening. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, feeling sorrow and regret for the pain she had caused them. She loved them so much it hurt.

Hollyleaf let out a small, pained sound before turning and fleeing. I- I can’t. I just can’t, she thought desperately, fleeing across the island to cross the bridge out into the dangerous territory.

Jayfeather stared blankly in the direction of his mother and her sister for several long moments before turning on around and making his way back towards the medicine cat den. He couldn’t deal with this right now. He felt he might say something he would later regret if he didn’t leave and sort out his emotions right then.

Squirrelflight looked down at her paws, having to bite her tongue in an attempt to keep from crying. She could tell that, despite Leafpool’s appeal, the three cats before them, the cats that she had raised as her own spawn, now felt unwanted and betrayed, the same way they would have felt if they had known the truth from the beginning. Squirrelflight looked to Leafpool, heeding to meet her sister’s eyes for a moment.

Lionblaze glanced between the sisters in disbelief. I… I can’t deal with this. I need to tell Dad- Brambleclaw. The tom wheeled away wordlessly, seeking out the Thunderclan deputy.

(I could just edit the original Clan list that I posted before we started RPing? Unless there is a limit to how many times we can edit a post... Because I’ve already edited it twice. If there is a limit, I could edit the posts until the limit is reached then put it in a new post?)

“This is exactly why he didn’t want to tell you,” Leafpool said fiercely, but not angrily, more passionately and firmly, like she wanted them to believe her. “I didn’t want you to feel the anguish of not feeling like you belong, of having to choose, even if it meant I could never be your mother.” She smiled a little bitterly. “It didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. And when I came back to the Clan to help with the badger attack, I chose the Clan over Crowfeather, and when you came along… well. But never, ever doubt my love.”

Jayfeather couldn’t doubt Leafpool’s love for them and regret she had to leave them and Crowfeather and that she felt she had done the best for them, not when it could literally feel it practically pouring off of her in waves. He gave his littermates a tiny nod to tell them that every word Leafpool was speaking was the truth, though it didn’t soothe either his or Hollyleaf’s feelings of hurt and betrayal.

(Uh, not sure. I don’t really have text documents for stuff like that so I don’t know the best places to keep them.)

Lionblaze was ready to turn to Hollyleaf and rebuke her for acting as if half-clan cats were inferior, but bit his tongue and instead turned his smoldering gaze on his mother and her sister. “I can’t believe you’ve lied to us for so long.” The proud Tom’s claws were curling in and out, tearing up the wet earth beneath his paws.

Leafpool watched the three with soft, infinitely sad eyes. “That doesn’t mean either of us loved you any less,” she said softly.

“Then why didn’t you tell us?!” Hollyleaf burst out. “You let us live our lives in a lie! Our birth broke the Warrior Code so badly, and worse, we’re half-Clan!” She looked distraught.

(*frowns at the Family Tree site I use for keeping track of the Clans* Until I figure out how to allow you to view it without being allowed to edit it (it’s been done before, I just need to figure out how my friend did it), where should I put the updated Clan lists so that you can see them too?)

“Is Brambleclaw in on this?” Lionblaze asked his next question pointedly, and he wasn’t sure which answer from the two sisters would anger him more.

“No. He doesn’t know.” Came Squirrelflight’s reply. “But you are right. I took you to raise as my own, because Leafpool couldn’t do the same.”

Leafpool stared quietly at the three, her gaze flickering between them. She didn’t show any outward reaction to his words. She gave a weary sigh and sat down, her tail wrapping around her white paws. “I think I can guess as to why you’re speaking to me, then,” she gave a sad smile.

Lionblaze followed the rest of the group, settling right in the same spot he had just been sitting, and glanced expectantly at Leafpool. “Hollyleaf found out about you and Crowfeather.” He stayed simply, his voice a low growl.

Despite knowing this had been coming for a long time, Squirrelflight winced.

Leafpool swallowed at the look in her sister’s eyes and something undefinable flickered through her eyes before she hid it, rising to her paws with a nod and following Squirrelflight out of the den to her three kits.

Jayfeather spun around and led the way back to the three littermates’ previous spot so that they could talk in private as soon as the sisters reached them, Hollyleaf falling in beside him.

(I know! I was already taking Squirrelflight, and just highlighted her there because Lionblaze found her right away from eating with her earlier.)

Squirrelflight seemed a little overwhelmed at first. From her laid-back position her three kin towered over her, and each seemed to be experiencing an emotion somewhere between gloweringly angry and just sad, with three different parts of the spectrum represented between the three cats. Sighing sadly herself, Squirrelflight stood up and nodded. “Very well. I’ll fetch Leafpool.” The female stood and padded solemnly into the entrance of the medicine den, summoning her sister with a look in her eyes that said it all.

(*raises hands in a ‘don’t look at me’ gesture* I’m not gonna be Squirrelflight, I’ve already got three of the cats that’ll be talking)

“We need to talk,” Jayfeather told the flame-colored she-cat firmly. “All four of us, and Leafpool too.” Hollyleaf hovered behind her brothers, looking lost and a little broken.

Lionblaze nodded, silently agreeing with his siblings. He had to know. The tom quickly fell in step behind Jayfeather. His eyes did not wander over to the other side of the border this time. His gaze was focused entirely on Squirrelflight, the first of the two daughters of Firestar to come into view.

Hollyleaf cringed a little at the reminder that their birth had so broken the Code she so revered. The she-cat appeared ready to break down into pieces and was holding herself together only by sheer will-power. “I want confirmation,” she said quietly. “I want to know.” Unspoken was that to do this they would need to speak to Leafpool and Squirrelflight.

Jayfeather nodded his head in agreement and turned around, marching off determinedly to collect the two sisters, expecting his littermates to follow.

Jayfeather’s reasoning gave Lionblaze a bit more hope, the tom leveling his gaze at his siblings. “Maybe you’re right, Hollyleaf,” The warrior mewed to his sister, “But Starclan must have a plan for you all the same. If you’re right, our birth goes against everything in the code, but we’re still here, all three of us. It must be for a reason.” As much as Lionblaze was feeling a bit better now, He was still glad that he’d be meeting up with Heathertail again a little later. That would certainly help him take his mind off of things.

Jayfeather twitched at the thought that ran through Lionblaze’s mind and turned towards the larger tom. “We’re still part of the prophecy,” he said fiercely. “‘Kin of your kin.’ Leafpool is Firestar’s daughter, too.”

“I don’t think I’m part of the prophecy,” Hollyleaf said quietly. “I’m nothing special; I’ve got no powers and I’m not better than average in anything.” She gave a shuddering sigh. “Whitewing is Cloudtail’s daughter, therefore her newborn kits are also ‘kin of your kin.’ I’m sure one of them is the third.”

Lionblaze pinned his ears back, feeling an intense anger rise to the surface, and beneath that, hurt. How could they lie to us for so long? The golden-brown tabby glanced over his shoulder at the Thunderclan camp. Turning to Jayfeather, his next thought was And how can we be two of the three in the prophecy if we never should have been born at all!?

“No,” Jayfeather said flatly, “it makes perfect sense. Squirrelflight and Leafpool were both out of the camp for at least a half-moon and then came back, with us. Squirrelflight never had milk come. Leafpool and Crowfeather ran off at the perfect time for us to be conceived. And Hollyleaf said she looks exactly like him; I’m sure if you two looked closer you would see other indicators among us toms that showed us being related to him. As to why we didn’t notice, we fully believed that Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw were our parents.”

Lionblaze blinked, shocked by this revelation. “I don’t believe it,” He mewed flatly, despite the evidence seemingly being there. “We would have noticed before now surely!” He strained to keep his voice to a low enough volume to avoid being heard out.