Warriors AU: Blackfoot's Reckoning

Chapter 5

A warm breeze ran through Blackfoot's pelt as she opened her eyes to find herself once again surrounded by Starclan. Blackfoot tried to catch her breath. Seeing Badgerfang and remembering her death made her grief for the kit feel as sharp as it had that day on the battlefield. Her chest ached with sorrow.

"Should I have tried to convince Brokenstar not to train such young kits?" she asked in a low voice. Badgerfang hadn't been the first kit to suffer because of early apprenticeship. Maybe Blackfoot should have known as soon as Mosspaw died that the kits were too young to train. Maybe she should have known as soon as Brokenstar named the first three moon old kit an apprentice. They belonged in the nursery. But Brokenstar had been so sure that a Clan cat's only purpose was battle. "I had to listen to my leader." Blackfoot told the gathered Starclan cats. "That's what makes us different from rogues."

Badgerfang watched Blackfoot solemnly. "You can stop anytime, you know," she reminded her. "I don't have to give you this life."

Blackfoot took in a breath. It hurts more and more. But I can keep going. "I don't want to stop," she said. "Please, Badgerfang, give me the life you intended."

Badgerfang nodded and stepped forward. "With this life, I give you perspective," she meowed. "Always seek as many points of view as you can, while knowing that a leader must in the end think for herself."

Blackfoot's muscles tense painfully as the new life took hold. Memories that weren't her own flashed before her—Oakfur watched approvingly as Rowanpaw leaped for a vole; Russetfur and Pebble murmured quietly to each other as they patrolled the border; Runningnose inspected Tallpoppy's healing wound, her paws gentle on his side—and she knew she was seeing through the eyes of her Clanmates. She was dizzy for a heartbeat as the different viewpoints shifted, and then her eyes cleared.

Badgerfang brushed her tail affectionately against Blackfoot's side as she turned and headed back toward the gathered Starclan cats. A pang shot through Blackfoot as her sister's kit got farther away. Don't go.

Could I have stopped Badgerfang from dying? Should I have tried to save her?

Blackfoot shook her pelt, trying to drive away the thoughts. I didn't have a choice.

The starry warriors all around her were silent. Blackfoot imagined that they were all wrestling with her past actions, just as she was. Some of them seemed accusing in their silence, others sympathetic.

Starclan had chosen Brokenstar. Starclan was choosing Blackfoot. Can Starclan ever be wrong?

A sleek, dark gray tom stepped forward.

"I don't know you," Blackfoot meowed warily.

The tom's amber eyes were warm with compassion as she came closer. Something unknotted in Blackfoot's chest. This cat believed that Blackfoot could lead Shadowclan. "I am Slate Fur," the dark gray tom told her. "I was one of the first Clan cats in the forest. We created the Clans to be separate, but we also understood that the Clans must work together to stay safe and strong."

Blackfoot closed her eyes, steeling herself as she felt the past returning...

"She's late," Blackfoot grumbled, glancing up and down the sides of the Thunderpath that marked the border between Windclan and Shadowclan.

"Tallstar will come," Brokenstar meowed confidently. "She doesn't have a choice."

All through newleaf, Shadowclan had increased their attacks on Windclan's territory. It was rare for a Windclan hunting or border patrol to not find themselves driven to retreat toward their camp by furious Shadowclan cats. The Shadowclan warriors were stronger and fiercer than any cat in Windclan, and Blackfoot knew that the Windclan cats were scared.