Longstar AU — Chapter Fourteen
Longtail was settled into his next, a gentle breeze filtering in through his thinner fur. He was sound asleep, comfortable and quiet. Though, his ears twitched at a rustle at the entrance.
He rasied his head to see a fluffy brown tail wading out of the den. His green eyes narrowed, his eyesight much fuzzier than it was when he would usually wake up—but he could see enough. He blinked a few times, clearing it so he could see better.
Longtail slowly got to his paws, padding out of the den with gentle paws. Though as he slipped out, so did this other cat. He lent over, picking up the scent trail of ThunderClan warrior Brambleclaw.
He swiftly trotted out of the camp, Brambleclaw’s scent fading a bit, but strong enough where he could follow it. And soon enough, he realized where it was leading.
“Tawnyfang!” Brambleclaw mewed, nuzzling his sister. Sure, the warrior had a harsh temper with an apprentice, but he was a well shaped warrior and loved his family. And, he was much better than his father, Longtail could give him that. “So, do you think the others will come?”
“I’m not sure.” Tawnyfang flicked her tail, “Lets hope they do, though.”
“.. Brambleclaw! Tawnyfang!” A sweet, soft voice filled his ears. “It’s good to see you! I’m happy It’s cats we know.” Feathertail flicked her bushy tail, her brother, Stormfur, padding in behind her.
“Was he chosen, too? They said one cat per clan.” Brambleclaw mewed, flattening his ears. Chosen? Chosen for what? Longtail thought with narrowed eyes. And whose gathering them here? StarClan..?
“No, he wasn’t. But he insisted on coming when I told him about my dream,” Feathertail smiled. “He didn’t want me meeting with random cats. But its only you two!”
“And me,” A raspy voice came from behind them, a small black cat with large ears and river blue eyes. “Crowpaw. WindClan.”
Thats Deadfoot’s kit, Longtail thought.
“Than thats all of us?” Tawnyfang prompted.
“Nope!” A more high-pitched voice came from behind Brambleclaw, a small red and white she-cat appearing out of the bushes. “Squirrelpaw!”
Squirrelpaw! Longtail let out a hiss. Sneaking out of camp! What was she thinking?! He leapt out of the bushes, hissing at the small she-cat.
“L-longtail!” Squirrelpaw recoiled, flattening her ears tight to her skull. “What.. what are you..”
“I saw a warrior sneaking out of camp in the middle of the night,” He shot daggers at Brambleclaw, who recoiled as well, “I didn’t think one of my warriors would do this, without talking his leader. But my apprentice?” Longtail growled, “You’re all going to explain this. Now.”
“You’re not my deputy, or leader,” Crowpaw growled. “I dont have to listen to you.”
“I’m a deputy nonetheless,” Longtail hissed, glaring at the young apprentice. “And I happen to know your father quite well, Crowpaw. He wouldn’t be so happy if he heard about any of this.”
“Give him a little respect, Crowpaw.” Tawnyfang mewed, gazing at Longtail. “It’s nice to see you healed and still the same cat I knew while in ThunderClan.”
“.. Same to you, Tawnyfang. And a warrior, too.” Longtail mewed, curling his long tail around his paws. “So, explain.”
“We’ve.. each been getting these dreams, well, beside Stormfur.” The gray striped tom flicked his tail with a nervous smile. Brambleclaw mewed, “From StarClan. Telling us we had to meet here on the full moon, at midnight. That there would be others, and we’d be told what we have to do, or why we were getting these dreams in the first place.”
“You should have spoken to Firestar, or me, at the least.” Longtail sighed, “I have to tell him, you understand that.”
“I know,” Brambleclaw murmured. “But.. I thought that you wouldn’t understand it. That he wouldn’t let us go.”
“Of course he would understand!” Longtail hissed, “Firestar had dreams of StarClan when he was a warrior. And now he’s a leader guided by StarClan themselves. There’s no one who would understand more.”
“.. I-I suppose that’s right,” Brambleclaw mumbled, flattening his ears.
“Let’s go,” Longtail took a sharp breath, “And this isn’t the end of this for you, Squirrelpaw. You weren’t even chosen.. for whatever this is. I suggest the rest of you go back to your camps and talk to your leaders.” He narrowed his eyes, turning back toward camp with his clanmates in toe.
“.. Longtail?” Squirrelpaw mewed softly, her ears flattened, her tail tucked between her legs. “I-I’m sorry. I thought.. well, I-I don’t know what I thought. But—I’m sorry.”
Longtail sighed. “Maybe you had good intentions. Maybe you weren’t thinking.” He replied, glancing at her. “Either way, you shouldn’t have snuck out of camp. It’s dangerous out there at night for a barley trained apprentice, okay? I'll have to tell Firestar, and you'll receive punishment.”
“.. I.. understand.” She murmured, making a beeline for the apprentice den as they entered camp.
“.. What about me?” Brambleclaw murmured.
“I have to talk to Firestar about that.” Longtail replied, “I saw your intention, Brambleclaw. You were only following the will of StarClan; but there are people here who can help and rationalize these situations. Get some rest and we'll talk in the morning.”
Brambleclaw dipped his head, padding over to the warriors den. He slipped inside, beyond the bushes, a few warriors hissing and grumbling as he did so.
“Longtail?” A gruff, sleepy voice came from the entrance. He turned around, claws unsheathed, only to see Darkears standing there. “Relax. It’s me. What are you doing up?”
“I could say the same for you,” He replied, settling down in the soft sand beneath his paws.
“I went to the dirt place.” Darkears padded farther into camp. “And what about you, what’s your excuse?”
I can’t say anything til I talk to Firestar, Longtail thought, “I couldn’t sleep. I went for a stroll is all.”
“And why’s that?” Darkears raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know,” Longtail mumbled. It wasn’t exactly a lie; the reason he'd woken up in the first place was because he was sleeping rather light. He was having trouble getting good sleep, ever since the rabbit attack and loosing his eyesight. Not being able to see as well put him.. on edge, half the time. “Ever since loosing my good eyesight I’ve been on edge.”
“You have no need to be, Longtail.” Darkears flicked his ear with his tail, “You have a clan behind you that would protect you if you came into trouble. If your eyesight was holding you back.” Darkears mewed softly, “But I think you're still that strong apprentice I trained all those moons ago.”
“I’m.. I-I’m not so sure,” Longtail flattened his ears. “I feel like I’m less of a warrior because of my eyesight. I don’t want others to have to protect me, I’m their deputy, I should protect them.”
“Don’t think like that.” Darkears gently lifted the tom's chin with his paw. “You're no less of a warrior. You're no less of a deputy, Longtail. Just because you need protecting sometimes doesn’t make you weak.” He smiled softly, “Now get some sleep, mouse-brain.” He gently nudged his shoulder, padding into the warriors den. Longtail let out a scoff, following the dark tabby tom into the den.
He watched as Darkears curled up beside Blacksight, the two toms snuggled up and comfortable in a nest. Darkears had reintegrated into the clan; he'd healed from Tigerclaw, he'd made his amends. He'd gotten a new mate, a happy, loving life once more. He was happy for him; he was apart of the clan again. And so was Longtail, deputy, a mate—expecting kits—it seemed like everything was so perfect.
But he knew it wasn’t.
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Bone, I don’t know if you’ve mentioned this before or not but will there be any changes to Daisy’s story? I really love her and I want to absorb information about her and your takes on her
Not too many! I think Daisy's really good the way she is. She's going to be an ally of Squirrelflight, someone who helps her during Bramblestar's worst moments. She's a very level-headed and rational cat so I plan to use Clanwide arguments against her as a bit of a 'shorthand' for "The Clan is in emotional override and is not acting rationally."
She has THREE surviving children past TBC. Hazeltail, Mousewhisker, and Rosepetal.
Mousewhisker, however, will be joining RiverClan to be with Minnowtail at some point. Hazeltail will be taking his roles past this point (still undecided WHEN Mouse leaves ThunderClan though.)
(Hazeltail, btw, is transfemme. They are identical twins.)
And Rosepetal's death is being swapped with Cherryfall. Cherryfall dies in the Imposter Skirmish and enrages Berrynose.
(Lately though I've been considering killing Molewhisker instead)
She is also just... straightup not getting that, "I've denied Smoky his chance to be a father :(" thing. If it still happens, she will be recognizing patterns in the toxic relationship she had with Smoky to the patterns that Squilf and Jessy experienced with Bramble. I hate that.
Canon was REAL quick to blame the woman who took her children somewhere they would be safe for how her MATE felt left out. He could have visited at any point and didn't, and they sure don't bring up the fact that Floss had TWO litters who "the twolegs took when they didn't even have their eyes open." But somehow this is all Daisy's fault.
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