Fallen Holly Leaves (Storm)

Fallen Leaves’ face changed to a concerned scowl. “Holly Leaves, what are you talking about?”

“So did I,” Holly Leaves breathed, green gaze focused on her mate. “Generations upon generations upon generations from now. But this group never stayed here. We were always going to leave, Fallen Leaves, it was just a matter of when.” She’d not meant to reveal even a hint of the fact that was from the future for a while, if ever, but she didn’t want to lose him.

Fallen Leaves shook his head. “The lake was a perfect place! I grew up there, as did generations and generations of kits.”

Holly Leaves pinned her ears back. “Why would leaving mean we can’t have kits anymore?” She asked earnestly. “It just means we won’t be raising kits at the lake.”

“I’m sorry for avoiding you,” Mewed Fallen Leaves softly, acknowledging that at least that last was definitely his fault. “But, Holly Leaves, I don’t understand why you voted the way you did. Didn’t you say you wanted to raise a family with me?”

Dawn River quietly left to give them some privacy. Holly Leaves hardly noticed, staring at her mate warily. “Hello.”

“Hey,” Mewed The tom as he Came a bit closer to his mate, pinning his ears back at her reaction to seeing him, a nervous half-smile on his muzzle.

Holly Leaves finished her share of the mouse and finally looked up, tensing slightly as she saw Fallen Leaves watching her.

Fallen Leaves wondered if he should wait for Holly Leaves to finish eating, shuffling his paws a few foxkengths from his mate as he watched her eat. If this escalated into an argument, after all, he’d really prefer if no other cat heard it.

Holly Leaves seemed to be sharing a mouse with Dawn River.

Fallen Leaves stood and shook his pelt out, keeping his head lowered from embarrassment even as he glanced around the throng of traveling cats to pick out his mate.

“Then go speak to her!” Broken Shadow snapped. “Honestly,” she said in exasperation.

“I haven’t spoken to her yet,” Replied The tom after a moment, lowering his head slightly as Broken Shadow spoke sternly to him.

Broken Shadow frowned at him. “Did it ever occur to you to maybe ask her for her reasons? Or are you too busy wallowing in self-pity?”

Fallen Leaves dipped his head at the mention of his two littermates, saddened as he thought of what could have been with them. “Our old home was just fine,” The tom Replied with a scowl. “And now, now that I’ve finally become a sharpclaw, and found a She-cat I love to raise a family with-“ The tom whipped around to face his mother- “-And now the group decides to wander off into the middle of nowhere, based on a stupid dream my crazy friend had, and my mate goes along with it like a freezing mountain top is the ideal place for kits!”

She arched a kittybrow. “And lost your two littermates. What does that have to do with this, anyway?”

(It’s actually canon that Fallen Leaves has siblings, even if they’re only mentioned one time and never shown or named)

“You raised me just fine by the lake,” retorted the dappled tom tiredly, still upset by the whole situation they found themselves in.

Broken Shadow cuffed him over the ears. “Mousebrain. Just because she chose to leave doesn’t mean she doesn’t want kits with you anymore. It might just mean she doesn’t want to raise them by the lake, or she thinks we have a better chance of survival somewhere else.”

Fallen Leaves pinned his ears back at the mention of his mate. Clearly he wasn’t enjoying the separation either, as it did pain him to not talk to her. But still, he had his reasons.

“I thought she wanted to raise a family with me by the lake. Then she chose to uproot us all.” Replied the tom in a murmur, staring at the ground between his paws as he spoke. “Now I don’t know if she wants to anymore.”

Broken Shadow frowned at him. “Why are you and Holly Leaves avoiding each other?”

Fallen Leaves actually growled softly when he was first tapped, but shut up when Broken shadow spoke and made him realize it was her. He stood up and stretched out, yawning widely.

Broken Shadow eventually came over and prodded her son with a paw. “Stop moping and get up.”

Fallen Leaves was unwilling to wake up, curling up more tightly when his ears picked up o the sounds of more and more cats standing up and getting ready to start the day.

Holly Leaves sighed and pushed herself into a sitting position.

Fallen Leaves Groaned, rolling onto his other side and covering his eyes with his forepaw in protest when the morning light streamed into them.