Tragedy {A Warrior Cats Fanfiction}

» Chapter Twelve «

"Where exactly have you been all day?" asked Kestrelfur, slightly curling her lip. Using the distraction, Rainfoot quickly swiped the squirrel away from under her paws. "It's mine," he said stubbornly.

      Waspfang was grinning like crazy. "I was just making sure that the MarshClan cats went back to their territory." There was something off with the look in his eyes, like dishonesty.

      "Well, you should have been here," said Kestrelfur. "You shouldn't have gone off."

      Waspfang tilted his head. "So I heard the deputy died."

      "Yeah. The whole clan is mourning now," said Kestrelfur.

      Waspfang grinned and had a strange maniac-look in his eyes. "When I'm leader the clan won't mourn like this. We'd be attacking MarshClan right back."

      Rainfoot crouched down low and quickly chewed on his squirrel, avoiding Waspfang's gaze.

      "I can't wait for Beetlestar to choose the new deputy," Waspfang went on. "And I know you'll be right there cheering me on when he announces my name."

      Kestrelfur frowned. "What makes you think you'll be deputy? Two days ago you were an apprentice! Plus, the warrior code says you must have been a mentor to be deputy, and you haven't been one."

      Waspfang smiled coldly. "We'll see."

--

The next morning the clan was no better than how it was the day before. Nobody knew what to do without a deputy appointing patrols.

     Out of the chaos of fighting over patrols, Beetlestar magically appeared on Grand Rock and called for a clan meeting. He looked tired and weary but still seemed to be in a bright mood.

      "As you all know Briarwing courageously died in battle yesterday," he began. A hush settled over the clan. "And she will always be honored in our memory and will be welcomed as a brave cat in StarClan. But this does happen and we must move on and appoint a new deputy."

      "It should be Duskleap," an apprentice, Sparrowpaw, called out. Several cats murmured an agreement, and Duskleap hunched down as though embarrassed.

     "Yes," said Amberheart warmly. "He's kind, helpful, brave, and he was an excellent mentor to Morningleaf."

      Kestrelfur blinked in surprise. Duskleap mentored my mother? Her mother never mentioned who her mentor was during training, and Kestrelfur never really thought about it.

      Beetlestar nodded. "Well then. I'd like to appoint—"

      "Wait!" Cherrynose called out, interrupting Beetlestar. She started shoving her way through the crowd and slowly made her way up to Beetlestar. She had something in her mouth, though Kestrelfur couldn't make out what it was.

     "What is it, Cherrynose?" asked Beetlestar curiously.

      Cherrynose scrambled up Grand Rock and stood next to Beetlestar, dropping whatever she had in her mouth by his paws. The two started talking amongst themselves, too quietly for anyone else to hear.

      "StarClan has sent an omen," Beetlestar finally announced to the clan. "And it could be related to the new deputy."

      Whispering and shouts broke out. "Duskleap should be the deputy," someone screamed passionately. "He is the new deputy!"

      Clearly Duskleap was very popular.

      Beetlestar raised his tail for silence, and it took several seconds before it finally came. "We can't just ignore the sign StarClan has sent us. We must at least try to understand what it means." He looked over at Cherrynose. "Please explain."

     Cherrynose looked surprised for a second, but quickly recovered. "This morning I walked out of my den and I stepped on something that felt very... odd. I looked to see what it was, of course. I discovered that it was a cat-fang with a dead wasp pinned on it somehow. The wasp, strangely enough, won't come off. There is no explanation for it, so I think it must be from StarClan."

      Several cats looked over at Waspfang, realizing the omen was for him. Waspfang puffed his chest out and had his shoulders back proudly, though his face was emotionless. He was clearly trying to hide his pride and excitement.

      "How do you know it's about the deputy and not something else? Or just plainly a coincidence?" shouted a cat. Kestrelfur realized she knew that voice and quickly recognized Cindertooth.

      "Oh!" said Cherrynose. "There's a detail I left out. In my head, as I was walking out, my mind was wrapped around the deputy. I was wondering who StarClan really wanted and I just had the thought that they might send an omen when I stepped on the fang. If that's a coincidence, it's a really big one."

      The clan went silent. No one knew what to say to that.

      "Very well," announced Beetlestar. "I will wait and see if StarClan will send any more signs by moonhigh tonight. If they don't, I will go ahead and appoint Duskleap deputy."

      The clan sunk this in. Would StarClan really be able to send another omen before then? wondered Kestrelfur. She really hoped Waspfang would become deputy. It was his dream and his destiny, as well as hers. Once he was leader, she would be his deputy.

      Hopefully StarClan would come through and send another omen—another sign. Hopefully this time tomorrow Waspfang would be the deputy.

A/N::

This chapter was pretty short, only 847 words (not including this). Anyway, do you think Waspfang will become deputy? If so, what do you think will happen once he becomes deputy?

Also, I just wanted to say, thanks for reading!

//Edited