sage | a warrior cats fanfiction

chapter twenty nine

Everything after that day had sort of been a blur.

A couple days had passed, and each one was a mix of lies and rogues. They were stealing prey at the borders more and more often, and blood was often found spattered across the borders. It wasn't a pleasant sight, though Adderheart hadn't seen any of it. He'd only gotten bits and pieces of gossip from Pantherleap, and surprisingly, Willowdapple.

He and the she-cat talked more frequently now. Because he woke so early on most days, he went to her and brought her some prey along with some conversation starters. Nobody else really visited her, and he could easily see how she got lonely. She never asked about the kits, and she never asked about what happened to them. She seemed to have forgotten completely.

Which, really, he took as a good thing. The first morning he'd gone to her hadn't been great; the worry before it had been strong. He'd not been sure of what he was going to say if she asked about it, and eventually, he just settled on a lie. It hadn't been one he'd needed to say, of course, but it had still felt wrong.

He'd not yet spoken to Finchpaw yet, but he really wanted to. He'd been thinking of it for the past couple quarter moons, yet hadn't spoken to her at all. He had to talk to her after the whole situation with him in the healers' den, and he had to talk to her after the mid-assessments. He hadn't even figured out what had happened with those yet. And all the while, he was kind of trying to avoid Pantherleap.

There weren't many ways that he could be around him and not feel extremely guilty or horrible. It was like a storm, one that hadn't yet arrived, but was clearly there and hanging precariously over a world of pleasantness. Though, he knew that the storm had already come, and there was no need to worry over it. But he did have to be careful around Pantherleap. Very careful.

They had yet to be assigned a patrol together with another cat, but Adderheart could tell that the day was coming soon. It was simply within the air, clear and fresh like words upon a newly printed page. Nobody had figured it out, yet, though, which was definitely a good sign. He had to tell himself near daily that he and his mate wouldn't end up like the elders.

The patrol that he'd been assigned yesterday had been awful. Poppyfur and Galewind were both on it — two of three siblings to Brindlebreeze — and the latter was miserable the entire time. Because it had been a border patrol, Marigoldcry, who'd lead the patrol, had lead them right toward where the battle had been. Adderheart'd been furious at her, though there wasn't much he could do.

Galewind had essentially gone quiet. He spoke no words, and if he did, they were minimal, perhaps two or three words if one got lucky. He looked at his paws pretty much all the time, and he never spoke of his sister. It seemed as though he was trying to ignore the fact that she had ever existed, though Poppyfur wasn't quite the same.

She was trying to ignore it, too, but it was a different kind of ignoring. She just pretended that they'd never had a sister in the first place. She was still as bouncy as ever, maybe even more so, trying to ignore her and pretend she'd never existed. Adderheart hadn't seen Birdwish, the final sibling of the now broken four, around so far, but he figured she was dealing with it normally.

He felt bad. He knew exactly how Brindlebreeze had died, and so did Pantherleap, yet neither could tell in fear of death falling upon them. Pantherleap had yet to spill many secrets about Cougarstar's leadership, though Adderheart could see them in his gaze and in his movements around the tom. The arguments of the high-ranks had grown more frequent once more.

Every single time that he passed by the leader's den and there were cats inside, it was essentially a guarantee that they'd be arguing. Loud hisses came from within the den, and although the words they carried were ones he didn't hear, he didn't need to hear the words. The action was venomous as it was, rude and sharp.