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destinyclan · 3 months

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Before Moon 0 (8/8)

"Hey, check it out!" Cranepaw called out to the rest of the group that was just starting to wake up. Oriolespeckle emerged from the cave all of them shared the last night, stretching himself snd yawning, before replying: "Yeah, wow, grass! I've never seen that before!" with tired sarcasm. It wasn't long until he'd noticed what Cranepaw had actually taken such an interest in, and soon he was joining her and pawing at the ground too. "Hey Bouncerise, you gotta check this out!"

The cat in question left the cave soon therafter, as did the rest of the group. They all stared with wonder and confusion at the sight ahead: The grassy field with sandy patches resembled much more a twoleg's nest now. No matter how late in the night it was when the cats arrived here, they all recalled tall grass passing them by as they looked for a place to sleep. But now it looked like someone had used their claws to cut down every single blade of grass, a task impossible for any cat alone. The field of short grass extended pretty far too, forming an almost circular outline, if you count in the patches of sand.

All the cats marveled at this impossible event, safe for Shortgrass, who seemed more busy cleaning her fur and basking in the sun, though not without shooting an occasional glance at the scene too. The apprentices and the two adults, Bouncerise and Oriolespeckle, alike were play-figthing and rolling around in the grass, the noises of which eventually lured Sunnyfeather outside, to ask what all of this was about. She needed no answer though, seeing it for herself. After a moment of being nothing but baffled, she turned back around to the cave, and began gently leading Aphidkit and Mudkit outside to the rest of the clan, keeping them close but letting them play too.

Grousestar found herself more to the backend of this spectacle, retreating to speak instead to Tempesthaze. "It's a sign..." Grousestar muttered, though half to herself really. "Obviously." Tempesthaze replied in a rather monotone manner. It seemed as though she wanted to continue, but Grousestar already bypassed her and approached a formation of rocks, situated next to a hollow tree. Without a second thought, she climbed atop and watched over the cats. Her cats. Her gaze fell onto Oriolespeckle and Bouncerise, who had stopped playing with the apprentices, instead getting up and shaking their pelts, obviously uncomfortable at the sudden presence of Shortgrass. She had approached the grassy field, after taking notice of Grousestar, whom she now viewed with a curious look from her ever so cunning eyes. Tempestpaw seemed to soon therafter join the warriors, leaving behind Cranepaw, who was now talking to the two kittens instead, teaching them what looked like hunting crouches.

Seeing this from up there... it was an undescribable feeling for Grousestar. "Pride" didn't quite cut it, neither did "Love"... but nonetheless her heart felt so full. She looked at these cats and she knew that whatever destiny had in store for them next, this was the right way. And they would all be ready for it. She pondered her own words for a moment, then deciding to gather the group's attention.

"Cats of the group! Gather close by for a meeting!" she called out and sooner or later, the cats complied. Some hesitating for a bit longer, like Oriolespeckle, after Shortgrass passed him by and touched him with her tail, as she picked a more secluded spot. Ears perked and eyes focused, they all looked up at her. Even Tempesthaze, despite sitting right at the foot of the boulder.

"StarClan has spoken! We have reached the end of our journey, and they have marked the borders of our new camp!" Excited whispers emerged from the apprentices, the other cats turned their heads to see for themselves.

"The realization of our new Clan's territorial borders will soon follow suit, I will make sure of that!" Grousestar continued. "But before we begin with making this our new home, there are ceremonies to be held..."

All the heads that had turned prior were now laser focused on Cranepaw and Tempestpaw, who looked confused and excited respectfully. Grousestar decided not to let this bring her off track. "Clearly, StarClan did more than pave the grounds for our new home last night. They also foretold me the answer to something that I had wondered since receiving my nine lives."

Her gaze wandered over to Shortgrass. The black she-cat didnt allow herself a change in expression, Grousestar couldn't know how she felt about what she assumed would come next. Perhaps she didn't know yet? Grousestar put aside her worries soon enough, this was a sign from StarClan, a decision of theirs, so she had no say in this regardless.

"Shortgrass, please step up."

She complied, and now her eyes widened ever so slightly. And it may have just been age, but was there a tremble to her step? A glint of disbelief shimmered through in her unwavering expression, as Grousestar touched noses with her briefly, before announcing to her and the rest of the Clan:

"Shortgrass, you are hereby the deputy of our new Clan. I entrust you with the duties that coincide with this position, as do I bestow upon you the responsibility of leadership, should I not be able to anymore."

An aura of pride and confidence replaced the prior disbelief, as the black she-cat turned around to stand tall in front of the other cats. The congratulatory exclamations of her name that she now expected took their time, Oriolespeckle and Bouncerise looked anything but happy about this decision. They both eventually averted their gaze. Fearfully? Disrespectfully? The two of them wouldn't join in either, when eventually Cranepaw shouted Shortgrass' name and the other cats followed suit. She eventually left her spot on the boulder and returned to the patch she sat in previously. Grousestar didn't seem to take notice of this, though. Her eyes lingered on the loudly cheering apprentices for a while, then she spoke to the clan once again:

"I am certain that the future ahead of us will be grand, though, we will have to build it up ourselves. Step by step, paw by paw, tirelessly. And to ensure a great future, we must look ahead, at who will live on to tell our tales. And we must provide them with the best we can offer."

She now fully looked at the apprentices, who both stared up to her with big eyes. The other cats' gazes wandered over to the two young she-cats aswell.

"Cranepaw, please step up."

Was that a hint of jealously Grousestar spotted in Tempestpaw's eyes? Cranepaw didn't seem to notice either way, virtually beaming with happiness and letting out a purr as she leapt up the boulder to touch noses with her leader. Though, overeager as she was, she seemed to have forgotten that Grousestar would speak first before that. Oops. Thankfully, the leader continued as usual after the initial incident of Cranepaw awkwardly bumping into her. In fact, did Grousestar herself purr a little?

"It is true that I haven't known you for very long, Cranepaw, but from what I have observed of you, you present a very clear picture of yourself. You are playful, cheerful, energetic, and eager to learn. You are you, and you're definitely not ashamed of that."

Grousestar scanned the group, eventually singling out who happened to be the only tom. "Oriolespeckle will be your new mentor. I could see that the two of you have a natural inclination toward each other. It's easy to see why, despite his moons as an apprentice veing long behind him, he seems as playful and humorous as a cat your age. Perhaps he can teach you all that is necessary, whilst keeping the joy of life in the back of your mind."

Finally, they touched noses, and Cranepaw jumped down from the boulder. Oriolrspeckle, equally bewildered and delighted, approached his new apprentice rapidly, touching noses with her aswell, as the cats around them shouted her name. "My first apprentice... this is gonna be so awesome!"

The two of them returned to their spot in the grass, sitting next to each other. Gazing at them, and then at Grousestar with eyes full of anticipation, Tempestpaw's tail lashed around. "Tempestpaw, please step up." Finally, she thought. She bypassed Tempesthaze who eyes her sharply, and did as the leader told. Though, before Grousestar spoke, she did, and in the mose demanding tone possible too.

"Grousestar, I want to become the fiercest, and most feared warrior of all time! I left my clan of birth because I knew I could pursue that dream here. So please, apprentice me to a cat that can make my dream come true!"

Everyone seemed shocked. Bouncerise and Oriolespeckle exchanged short, baffled glances, Sunnyfeather shook her head at the sheer audacity, even Shortgrass, who had moved on to absent-mindedly clean her fur, paused to look over to the boulder again. Tempesthaze's ears layed flat. Truly, everyone seemed shocked, except for Grousestar.

Her eyes had went dark. After a moment of letting Tempestpaw's words echo through the camp, Grousestar's pupils thinned down to slits. She slowly moved, towering over the apprentice who, even if she would never admit it, was a little intimidated at this sight. The leader let the discomfort last for another moment, before finally speaking up again.

"Very well then." she began, her voice so different from how she adressed Cranepaw before. Silky, but very strict. Dangerous. Tempestpaw laid her ears flat unwillingly, the rest of the clan staring restlessly at the events unfolding. "You are certainly confident in your potential, Tempestpaw. And while I won't tolerate anything like this in the future, I agree that you should be apprenticed to someone who can make the most of what you are capable of."

Grousestar saw none of it, only the withstanding glare of Tempestpaw, desparately hiding her rising nervosity, Shortgrass was now watching with very heightened interest. Bouncerise side-eyed her, with a very bad feeling. She then turned to the leader, praying she wouldn't say the words she though she might. And her prayers were heard, it seemed.

"Tempestpaw, you will be my apprentice. I will teach you the ways of the battlefield, and how to act fast in a crisis. I won't teach you how to be the fiercest warrior, but I will teach you what you need to know if you decide that that's what you're going to be. Are we clear?"

Tempestpaw reluctantly nodded her head,touched noses with her new mentor, and sat down next to a relieved Bouncerise. Tempestpaw was anything but relieved, however. Had she just started this journey on bad footing with the leader of all cats? At least hearing the cats cheer for her helped her feel better. Besides, she got what she wanted, right? Fully alert, she eyed the leader curiously, as she hadn't moved nor ended the gathering.

"Lastly... I want to thank all of you." Grousestar seemed to have let go of her more stern voice again, adressing the cats in a manner suitable for a leader. "I look at all of you and I am relieved for this Clan. A part of me wishes that the circumstances could have been better, that the losses suffered could have been mitigated, avoided even." She caught herself before her tone got any more somber.

"But if this is the final way to save the clans, I am glad that StarClan has chosen me. They have chosen all of us. All of you have walked or crossed the path of golden light that led us to our new home. This is no foolish luck, no chance. This is Destiny!"

"We are DestinyClan!"

One after another, the cats joined in, repeating the name of their new clan, voices booming through the treetops and carried by the wind. The whole forest was bound to know who they were.

#destinyclan #clangen #before moon 0 #prologue #bm0 part 8

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destinyclan · 3 months

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Before Moon 0 (7/8)

This was far from how Grousestar expected this night to go. And it was seriously messing with her mind.

Though a little anxious at first, at the prospect that nobody would be joining her and Tempesthaze, to which Tempesthaze kindly reassured her that she would remain by her side nonetheless, her fears were soon disproven. Sunnyfeather had decided to take Aphidkit along with her to the journey. "You found him after all, it's really only fair. And this way, you won't have to worry much about how he'll survive back in the clan." she had said. A little while later, two feisty apprentices showed up, Cranepaw and Tempestpaw respectively, begging to join the new clan. Grousestar hesitated, but felt herself obliging, since she felt she wasn't really in any position to turn any cat down, a fact that would prove itself later again, when the two warriors who arrived later, introducing themselves as Bouncerise and Oriolespeckle, seemed pretty displeased with the last cat to join thus far, a she-cat named Shortgrass.

But despite this, things went well. Grousestar caught the first piece of fresh kill in moons that had more than skin on it's ribs. Eating it felt like eating a piece of prey from StarClan. She saw the sun shine at sundown in a way that she hadn't seen in a long, long time. Truly, she felt like this was right.

Later in the night, the cats were arguing about rest. Tempestpaw wanted to continue, but Tempesthaze reminded her to mind the other members of the group, Sunnyfeather and the kit in particular. Just as Grousestar decided to call it a night and make a shelter, a faint bloody scent reached her nose, far too intense to be anything old. The others seemed to have caught it too, as Tempesthaze pretty instinctively ran towards it to investigate. Grousestar's stomach turned at the sight of another cat's leg, injured and ridden with an infection, but Tempesthaze did not hesitate for a moment, immediately crawling underneath the bush that that cat had seemingly made it's nest. Grousestar followed.

The cat's chest moved, but she was breathing shallowly. Painstakingly lifting her head at the new arrivals, she used her frail voice to plead.

"Please... save her..." Grousestar tilted her head, a little confused, before the she-cat moved her tail to reveal a tiny kitten, barely a moon old, clinging to her mother's belly. Meanwhile, Tempesthaze had already made a move to order the rest of the group. "You two, go get cobwebs! And marigold, if you know what it looks like!" She commanded Bouncerise and Oriolespeckle, who immediately got going. To the apprentices, she said "Go fetch moss and get it wet, so she has something to drink!" and lastly, once the apprentices were on their way too, she turned to Shortgrass. "I'll go look for marigold and nettles, you come with me if you know what they look like. If you don't, help guard the cat and Sunnyfeather with Grousestar." Not awaiting a response from Shortgrass, she immediately went on her way. The aching queen uttered inaudible words, not long before she would sigh, in pain but too exhausted to scream. It wouldn't be too long before everyone returned, the apprentices first who were quickly ushered under the bush by Grousestar, who was speaking reassuring words to the wimpering cat.

"Don't worry, we'll help you! Have this..." She used the wet moss to drip water into the dry mouth of the cat. She heard a very faint "Thank you" from here, before she began crying out in pain again. Tempesthaze, Bouncerise and Oriolespeckle returned aswell, and Tempesthaze began her treatment, desparately working against what she knew were impossible odds. How long had she been living like this, the medicine cat wondered, taking note of how far the infection had spread. Did she have enough time to save her? "Keep her awake! She can't fall asleep! You two, bring the kitten to Sunnyfeather!" The queen let out a heartbreaking noise as her kitten has gently taken away from her flank, but Grousestar rested her nose upon her head. "Don't worry. We will save her, like you said." It seemed to have worked, but now the queen was getting quieter again.

"What's you name?" Grousestar asked, in a bid to keep her awake. "Muddy..." the she-cat whispered, and Cranepaw parroted the bizarre name back to her. "I was a kittypet..." Her heavy gaze fixated on something hidden between the bushes' leaves: a thick, red vine, the kind that kittypets wore around ther neck. "My twolegs had a dog... usually he was harmless but then he..." She began weeping, as she assumably recalled the events of her injury. Grousestar buried her nose deeper into her fur. A clan cat like her was already well aware of the kind of things dogs were capable of. She could only imagine how a kittypet, with no fighting experience, fared in that situation. "I didn't think about it... I just... ran."

Muddy's breathing slowed down, her eyes got even wetter than before. "... I just wanted to be happy... and have my kits..." she cried, her voice getting quieter and quieter. At last, she gazed up into Grousestar's eyes, who felt extremely haunted by the gaze she met. The queen was about to die, and they were all helpless to watch.

"... Will you protect her?"

"Yes! I promise we will. She will be safe with us."

A final breath. A hint of relief and happines, before her eyes went completely blank. Empty.

Tempesthaze growled out in sadness, and frustration a moment later. She looked at the dead cat, the cast of herbs she had applied hoping it would help as a last ditch effort. He brought her nose down to her pelt for a moment, before leaving the bush to check up on Sunnyfeather. Grousestar remained for a little longer, looking at the queen, as well as the two apprentices who were still holding onto the wet moss, horrified at what they had just seen. Then she left too.

Sunnyfeather had accustomed the kitten to her in the meantime. Oriolespeckle had fetched some more moss to temporarily nest in, and for the kitten to stay warm. She was feeding well, seemingly without issue. Having left the bush a few leaps behind them, the group gathered around Sunnyfeather, looking down at this tiny being.

They were all silent, some looking away, some at each other, sadness in their eyes, uncertainty, but also hope. Some only having eyes for the kitten, who looked exactly like her now deceased mother. Mobody dared saying a thing, not about what had just happened, or this kitten. That was, until one of the apprentices leaned in closer. Cranepaw, too, seemed to have noticed the resemblance, as she carefully brought her nose closer to the kitten and cautiously spoke her mind. "Mudkit..." she whispered, before looking up at Sunnyfeather with big eyes. She closed hers, as she replied. "Yes, that sounds lovely..."

#destinyclan #clangen #before moon 0 #prologue #bm0 part 7 #infection #blood #injury #wounds #<- graphic #animal death #<- descriptive

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