Returning Home (openness!)

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Moonsight glanced over his shoulder towards the two female cats behind him. It had been a long journey, and a very difficult one, but they had more or less made it out alive. They had lost Wavestar, their beloved leader, friend, and brother, and they all held the burden of his death. It was almost certain the clan would have a new leader, and they hoped that they would be accepted into the clan.

Lillywhisker seemed to be the only one to have doubts, she had been part of the disbanded Lurkclan, and had been bloodthirsty for a while before turning and joining Windclan just before she was called. Mosspelt was unsure, she knew they would be remembered, but she wasn’t convinced they’d be accepted right away. Though she was more than willing to try, she missed her mate Jaggedpelt, and her kits she had barely gotten to know. Moonsight meanwhile, held complete faith in their acceptance, once they explained everything. While he missed the friends he had left behind, he didn’t have the ties the other two did to the land they had left so long ago. His family was walking with him now, and in Starclan.

“Are you ready for this? We can always wait…” Moonsight offered, pausing at a puddle. Leaning down he lapped at the water before turning his gaze over to the others.

Lillywhisker’s usual cold eyes took on Moonsight’s for a moment
before softening slightly. “Unless Mosspelt wants to wait…I want
to see if he’s still there.”

Mosspelt glanced up from the puddle, shooting a mock glare at
Lillywhisker. “Of course I’m ready to go home!” Sitting up she
looked towards the border. “I just wonder if they’ll remember us
at all.”

“Of course they will! And once we tell them about Lancey and the
other’s they’ll see we’re telling the truth!” Moonsight replied
nonchalantly, ignoring the grimaces he got at the mention of the
deceased cats name.

Lancey had been one of the first cats the quartet had befriended
while on their mission. When the gray tom had brought them
back to his home, they had instantly fit in with the others there.
Though trouble did arise, and in one deadly battle, Lancey and
Wavestar had been murdered. But not before the leader of the
rouge group that had threatened to take over was slain as well,
sending the other rouges running for the hills.

“I guess we should go huh?” Lillywhisker asked, trying to divert
the subject. The other two nodded and set off towards the
Windclan border, stopping when they were inside. They were
intent on waiting to be found.

[Tanglekit]

Jaggedpelt sat in the clearing with Lionkit bouncing around him. He missed Mosspelt but the thought was pushed aside when he thought of when Shadowblaze would be back. He licked his furry tail, which hadn't been washed since his mate's dissapearance but he wanted to impress Shadowblaze he would have to take care of himself.

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Mosspelt paused, scenting the air. Without waiting for the others she tore off towards the scent she knew so well. She only
stopped when Lillywhisker tackled her, Moonsight following suit.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Moonsight hissed lowly,
glaring at his sister.

Mosspelt glared up at the large tom. “It’s Jaggedpelt! Let me see
him!”

“We can’t just barge in on them Mosspelt! They’ll panic!”
Lillywhisker shot back sharply, glaring in the direction that
Jaggedpelt was.

Mosspelt’s resolve visibly melted before she nodded. “I suppose
so. But Lillywhisker? What would you do if it was Rancid?”

Lillywhisker closed her eyes before groaning and moving out of
Mosspelt’s way. “Fine.”

Leaping off the ground Mosspelt took off again, only stopping
when she was hidden in the shadows where it was too dark to
see from the clearing in front of her. She couldn’t move any
farther, and so she settled for watching the tom she had left
behind.

[shadowblaze]

It was a warm day, despite the fact that leaf-bare was almost here. The sun was hot and bright, a warm breeze filled the air. Perfect weather for ShadowBlaze. The charcoal black she-cal looked around. "JaggedPelt should be around here somewhere..." She muttered to herself, and continued surveying the area.

'Ah-HA!' She thought with triumph as she spotted the large tom, and little LionKit bouncing around. That kit was always full of energy! Trotting up, ShadowBlaze grinned. "Hello JaggedPelt! What a wonderful day, huh?" She sat down next to him, looking around. White puffy clouds were hovering in the distance, looking like the tails of hares.

[Tanglekit]

Jaggedpelt purred when he spotted Shadowblaze. "Hello", he purred. It was a good day. He smelt a scent in the air and spun around. He didn't see anything and turned around embarrassed. He licked his tail mre making it clean.

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Lionkit bounced around his father. A scent hit his nose and he teared up slightly. "Momma where did you go", he whined.

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Mosspelt stepped back slightly at the sight of Shadowblaze;
maybe Jaggedpelt had really moved on. True, it was what she
would have wanted had she never returned, but she was back,
she didn’t know if she could handle this.

Lionkit’s whine crumbled her last resolve, and she stepped
forward to go comfort the kit. Suddenly a white form tackled into
her, pushing her into the open.

“You weren’t supposed to show yourself!” Lillywhisker hissed,
rolling onto her paws and glaring at Mosspelt.

“I wasn’t going to! You should know me by now!” Mosspelt shot

back, barely glancing at the other three now that Lillywhisker
was here.

“Would both of you just shut up? You are both to blame for this
one so just drop it.” Moonsight sighed, calmly walking out of the
shadows and sitting down next to a tree, taking in the scene
before him.

[Tanglekit]

Jaggedpelt's eyes opened wide at the sight he saw. "Mosspelt?", he asked himself. He walked toward the she-cat he thought he saw. "Mosspelt is that you?", he asked timidly. "No he sighed. A tear welled up in his eyes and he began to feel the pain. Maybe she really was dead.

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Lionkit followed his father. "Mommy?", he squeaked running through the bush. "Where are you?", he asked sadly. "I miss you Mommy", he also began to cry. "Why did you have to go and die", he wailed as tears spouted over the rim. He wailed at the smel that stung and made him even sadder.

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SparklePaw had wanted to find JaggedPelt, wanting to train more. Maybe with hunting, so she can actually master the Hunter's Crouch. She followed his scent, to come across him crying, with ShadowBlaze sitting kinda afar, since he moved over to the bush.

She went up to JaggedPelt, and waved a paw infront of his face.

"JaggedPelt..? Why are you crying?"

[Tanglekit]

Jaggedpelt's face was filled with a tortured expression. "Leave me alone", he asked sincerly. All he wanted was to feel Mosspelt with him. If she was dead why hadn't she come to him a dream. And if she wasn''y dead why did she hide from him. "Mosspelt why did you leave me? why have you gone and not brought me along.", he shrieked. "What about your newborn kits!", he began getting angry. "Why did you tell me you love me and just run.", he growled at the bush. The tears soaked his face and he gave up on the bush. He turned away from it and rejoined Shadowblaze. "I would protect you from any cat.", he hissed to the bush before he left.

Lionkit still searched eagerly for his mother. Her scent was so fresh it was like she never left. He had stopped crying with the hope of finding his mother. He didn't remember all to much what he looked like but he still searched eagerly looking for her. The only thing he new was her scent. "Mommy I can smell you don't hide.", he said fully confident that it was her. "Why did you leave daddy all sad.", he shreiked.

[shadowblaze]

"No... You weren't seeing things. I saw her too!" ShadowBlaze said to JaggedPelt and she walked up to the bush, smelling the air. It was somewhat hard to pick out, but there was another cat's sent here, it seemed as there were a couple, actualy, though it was hard to pick out the exsact number.

"Hey! We saw you... come on out!" She called out into the bushes, poking her head in.

"...Please?"

[CROOKY]

Farther off in the bushes there was a massive dark figure watching the commotion. He grinned to himself. so the little skank decides to come back. He thought darkly. There was the thoughts of the love that he had once felt, knowing how devoted that he had been but he suppressed those thoughts and pushed them back to the back of his mind. All that he thought of now was the anger, and boy was her angry. She had left him, he had joined a clan to be with her and she had gone and left him alone. He shook his head and looked at the small kit standing alone in front of the bush. Way to kill two birds with one rock. If Windclan was leaving their kits around they needed a lesson, and he was itching, just itching, for a confrontation.

Seeing that Jaggedpelt had run the other way with Sparklepaw on his heels he looked back at the bush where SHE seemed to be scolding the other two cats. He pushed his legs up from under him and ran after where the kit was. He reached down to grab the scruff of the kit.
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Lionkit squeaked crying for his mother as he was grabbed by the scruff by a mysterious cat.
---

Rancid lifted off and ran away into the forest. He ran for quite a time making sure he left clear paw marks and a great scent trail to follow. He was loooking for a great spot to stop where he saw a nice sandy clearing. Perfect He thought before he ran there and sat the kit down roughly looking at it. "Don't move if you want to live." He hissed at the kit with a dangerous tone.

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Mosspelt turned, about to take after the tom. She was fast, she could catch up to him easily. But Moonsight’s strong body rammed into hers, pushing both into the view of all the other cats. With a rough shove he sent her sprawling towards Jaggedpelt before glancing at Sparklepaw. “Mosspelt, go with Jaggedpelt and… that one. I’ll head towards camp, Sparklepaw can come with me in case we get ambushed. If that’s all right of course.”

Mosspelt was about to protest but decided against it, Lillywhisker was already following, she was just as skilled in dirty fighting as Rancid would be. “Okay…”

Moonsight nodded, glancing at Sparklepaw, before taking off into the shadows.

Mosspelt gazed over towards the other two cats before looking in the direction where Rancid had taken off. “I bet we could cut him off if we take a short cut…”

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Lillywhisker barreled along Rancid’s trail. She tried to catch up, but he had gotten a head start, and while she was making ground, it wasn’t fast enough.

Finally she made it to the clearing, and without even pausing, slammed into Rancid. The force of her own attack caught her off guard, and she momentarily fought to get her bearings before diving to stand in between Lionkit and her old love.

She wasn’t winded, she had grown used to running longer distances than this. But the shove had knocked the wind out of her, and she could feel old injuries starting to protest. She never showed it, the cool mask she had learned to keep on their journey was set firmly on her face, though she knew there was at least a bit of betrayal and hurt displayed.

[CROOKY]

Rancid had been waiting for this very cat to show up, so why did it hurt to see the cool mask on her face as if she didn't know him. He was ready to him to ram into him and he just went with the flow running with the hit. He was quickly back up and walking in a semicircle around Lilywhisker and the kit. "Tell me Lilywhisker, what kind of a mother doesn't even come after her own kit." he rasped out at the cat. Hiding the hurt and pain that was swelling up in his chest. He had thought he was past this.

[Deleted]

Lillywhisker glared at Rancid, her blue eyes shimmering with disappointment. She had hoped he would’ve realized she wouldn’t have left if she had had a choice, but apparently he didn’t. Apparently Lancey and the others were wrong, some cats would never understand what had happened.

She shifted her weight off of her right front leg, letting her shoulder lean closer to the ground than the others as if she were hurt. It wasn’t hard to pretend, the shock of the shove had reawakened the pain, she was just glad she knew how to fight it to her advantage.

“The kind of mother who had to leave her mate and kits to save other cats. The kind that was prepared to die for someone she didn’t know. The kind that was betrayed by Starclan, and had to watch her leader die only a few feet away from her, and leave his body behind.” Lillywhisker spat out. “She’s the kind that returned, only to see she was replaced by another she-cat… and she’s the kind that knows, if she had come instead of me, you would’ve killed her kit without mercy.”

[Tanglekit]

Jaggedplet froze at the shreik. He shot through the forest and found Lilywhisker with Rancid and Lionkit. He hissed. If Lilywhisker had lived than where was Mosspelt. "lilywhisker where is Mosspelt?", he asked timidly. Hope sparked in his heart. "where is she is she alive?'< he asked. Suddenly he felt ad. He grabbed Lionkit and ran back to the clearing. He couldn't risk Lionkit. He was his only reminder that Mosspelt was real. He laid him down and checked him over, when a familiar scent felt like a slap in the face.