Dark Times

P.s This story is set one moon after Thunderstar's Echo ​ends. I do use fake characters as well as real ones just to let you know.

--  DARK TIMES

---



 Allegiances



 ​ThunderClan 

 ​Leader: Thunderstar - bright ginger tom with amber eyes and huge white paws

 ​Deputy: Owl Eyes - grey tom with amber eyes



 ​Medicine Cat(s): Cloud Spots - long furred black tom with white ears, white chest and two white paws

 ​Apprentice: Twig Leaf



 ​Warriors:

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Pink Eyes - white tom with pink eyes

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Clover - ginger and white she-cat with yellow eyes

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Milkweed - splotchy ginger and black she-cat with scar on muzzle, recently lost her kits to Greencough

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Thistle - ginger tom with green eyes

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Leaf - black and white tom with amber eyes

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Yew Tail - cream and brown tom

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Apple Blossam - orange and white she-cat

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Snail Shell - dappled grey tom

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Blue Whisker - white she-cat with yellow splotches

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Spider Fang - black and blue she-cat with amber eyes and a white tail-tip, faint brown freckles on her face

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Fire Blaze - ginger and black tom with green eyes and a taste for squirrel

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Vine Claw - sleek, muscular black tom with a white chest and blue eyes

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Moon Claw - dark, defensive young silver she-cat with golden eyes, sister of Vine Claw

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Jay Heart - light grey tom with amber eyes and two black paws, two brown paws

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Golden Pelt - small and quick witted golden pelted she-cat with very light blue eyes, sister of Sky Leap

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​River Frost - blue-ish grey tabby she-cat with green eyes and semi-long fur

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Apprentices:

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Morning Fire - dark brown she-cat with amber eyes, apprentice to Jay Heart

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Hazel Burrow - black and white tom, apprentice to Golden Pelt

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Leaf Pelt - light brown tabby she-cat with a white tail, apprentice to Vine Claw

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Slanted Peak - beautiful black she-cat with one torn ear and green eyes, apprentice to River Frost

<p style="text-align:center;"> Fox- dappled red and ginger tom with feirce amber eyes and white paws, apprentice to Fire Blaze

<p style="text-align:center;">

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<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Queens:

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Sea Cloud - blue-grey she-cat with silver eyes, expecting Lightning Tail's kits

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Violet Dawn - sleek dark grey she-cat with bts of black around her ears and paws, mother to Thunderstar's kits

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Shining Leaf - sleek and fairly built silver she-cat with three white paws and bright blue eyes, expecting an unknown cat's kits, (no one except her knows the father)

<p style="text-align:center;"> Sky Leap - sleek, fast ginger she-cat with black paws, amber eyes and a small frame, expecting Jay Heart's kits

<p style="text-align:center;"> Sweet Whisker - small, white and grey she-cat with soft and kind green eyes, mother to Vine Claw's kits

<p style="text-align:center;">

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Kits:

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Wolf Song - sleek golden coloured she-kit with kind but curious green eyes, daughter of Sweet Whisker

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Lake Storm - black tom, son of Sweet Whisker

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Thunder Crack - handsome golden and black dappled tom with striking blue eyes, son of Sweet Whisker

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Sleek Fur - as her name suggests, sleek black she-kit with hints of ginger riddled throughout her pelt, daughter of Violet Dawn

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Lightning Stripe - bright ginger she-kit with a lightning shaped white marking on her underbelly, daughter of Violet Dawn

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Feather Ear - dakr grey she-cat with unsual green eyes daughter of Violet Dawn

<p style="text-align:center;"> ​Shell Claw - black and white tom with ginger ear tips, son of Violet Dawn

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<p style="text-align:center;"> Elders:

<p style="text-align:center;"> Gooseberry - pale yellow tabby she-cat

<p style="text-align:center;"> Mirett - former loner, dark red tabby she-cat with long fur

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<p style="text-align:center;"> ​(Only main Clan shall be listed, in other words I'm too lazy to write the allegiances for all the Clans XD)

<p style="text-align:center;">

<h2 style="text-align:center;"> Prologue ​Thunderstar hadn't had one peaceful sleep since Lightning Tail was killed by the dogs. Most of the Clan hadn't either, but Thunderstar's dreams were haunted by images of him saving himself of Lightning Tail not dying, making him wake up and call his former deputy's name.

​

​At least the rest of the Clan was healthy and the leaf-bare greencough had passed quickly, but not without taking a few victims. Beech Tail and Patch Pelt had been lost to the deadly disease, and Shivering Rose had died in her sleep.

​Thunderstar's eyes snapped open as a warm breeze brushed by him. He was standing in a beautiful clearing dappled with golden leaves; a gorgeous rosy light was lighting the area up, and it cast an amber glow across the grasses.

​He got to his paws, wondering where in the name of StarClan he was. With a heart-sinking feeling, he remembered. This was where Lightning Tail left for StarClan.

​"Ah... You remembered too?" Thunderstar purred in delight and sadness as a familiar black tom padded over, touching his forehead with his muzzle.

​"Lightning Tail, who did you have to leave?" It sounded like a kit begging for it's mother to keep it in the nursery forever, but Thunderstar didn't care. He hadn't seen Lightning Tail for a moon, and it was heartbreaking.

​He loved Lightning Tail like a brother.

​"A friend's life for a friend's life," Lightning Tail said softly in Thunderstar's ear. "That's what StarClan told me when I was a young kit. I never told anyone, for fear of scaring you."

​"It meant you were going to die for me, it was your destiny," Thunderstar croaked, feeling his heart slow its beats. Lightning Tail nodded.

​"I was always going to die like that, I knew it when we set off a moon ago to stop the dogs. I knew that was my last mission with you."

​"Then why did you come with me?" Thunderstar demanded, anger pulsing through him. "Why did you come when you knew you would die?"

​Lightning Tail sighed. "I had seen what would have happened had I not saved you," he murmured.

​"ThunderClan was destroyed by the dogs after they took the rest of your lives. The other Clans were tracked down soon after and killed off. It was so bloody, so messy..." Lightning Tail trailed off, his eyes showing nothing but sorrow.

​"I wish I did not have to die then, trust me. I wish I could have lived, not just for the Clan, but for you. You were my brother, Thunder, and I needed you to stay sane." The two shared amused purrs before Thunderstar realised something.

​"You called me Thunder, not Thunderstar​. Why?" He asked, his mind slowly down to a stop until he was completely focused on Lightning Tail's answer.

​"You were never Thunderstar to me. You were always Thunder, my brother through honor. You were never someone else to me, never​."

​Thunderstar's heart warmed considerably. "I miss you," he blurted out before licking his chest fur, embarrassed.

​"I mean, we all do." Lightning Tail laughed. "I know what you meant," he said cheerily, his eyes having a mischevious glint in them.

​"Are you two done?" Asked a shrill voice and the toms turned their heads to face an irate red and white and brown speckled she-cat.

​"Ah! Brooke, just the cat I was hoping for," Lightning Tail huffed dryly, glowering at the she-cat, who glared at Thunderstar, ignoring Lightning Tail.

​"Thunder and lightning, united as one, will collide with the darkness, until all has been one."

​Thunderstar stared at Brooke, confused and amazed, while Lightning Tail bristled.

​"I was getting round to telling him!" He spat at Brooke, who bristled in return. "You prat, Lightning Tail! You were taking too long!" Lightning Tail clawed the golden leaf dappled ground fiercly, before snapped, "you had no reason!"

​Brooke hissed at Thunderstar this time, "your time is up with your lost one! Got it? Did you understand the prophecy? Of course not!" She shrieked shrilly as Thunderstar shook his head.

​"Go!" Lightning Tail growled at Thunderstar, who was slowly blacking out...

Chapter One
​It was a rather heated conversation.

​Spider Fang tried to ignore it, but Blue Whisker just had to be loud, didn't she?

​"Look, I didn't touch the moss!" Snail Shell was saying desperately. "One of the kits shredded it, or something!" Blue Whisker huffed and screeched at Snail Shell,

​"You might as well be a kit!"

​"Says you!"

​"Watch your mouth, kit!"

​Spider Fang wasn't enjoying her vole like she usually did. The arguement was setting her off, and that wasn't good.

​She felt the blood roaring in her ears as she stood up, readying herself to shout at them...

"Enough you two! You're  both ​bickering like kits," said an extremely dismissive voice and Spider Fang settled back down, blushing.

​Owl Eyes had stepped forward to intervene, and was settling the warriors down. Spider Fang couldn't help but have a tiny crush on the handsome deputy; his features took a hold if her and he treated her with such respect it made her feel special.

​"Are they fighting again?" Asked a weary voice and Spider Fang felt the tired Queen, Violet Dawn, settle down beside her.

​Violet Dawn had had her litter of kits a moon ago, and she was already exhausted from keeping them in line. Just last sunrise, Shell Claw had wrecked his mother's nest, and Spider Fang was the only one who knew it had been a team up by Shell Claw and his younger sister, Lightning Stripe, that had destroyed Blue Whisker's moss she was going to use for her nest.

​"Yep," said Spider Fang darkly. "What else would you expect from Blue Whisker and Snail Shell, the two most arguementative cats in the Clans?" Violet Dawn laughed weakly and rested her head on her paws.

​"It's getting very annoying waking up to find my kits wailing because the 'big scary and unpredicable warriors' fighting," she muttered and Spider Fang laughed.

​"Nice wording! Suppose the kits made those up?" Violet Dawn nodded and said, "those aren't the worst. Lightning Stripe said 'the annoying gits that Thunderstar calls warriors' are fighting. She says it all the time!"

​Spider Fang laughed even harder. "Really? 'Annoying gits the Thunderstar calls warriors'? How can she find out those words.

​Violet Dawn sighs. "I believe that Lake Storm swears so much Lightning Stripe has picked up slightly on his poor language." Spider Fang agreed, "yeah, that's probably it."

​Violet Dawn and her began a long chat about how kits could act, before Violet Dawn asked, "are you thinking of having kits?" Tension rose up into the air immediately, and Spider Fang lashed her tail.

​When she had still been an apprentice, she had fallen in love, twice​. First she had fallen for a WindClan tom named Swiftpaw, who had expressed feelings for her, but he had died from redcough the night after when he was made into a full warrior.

​The second time she had fallen in love was with a quirky and cocky RiverClan apprentice named Oakpaw, now Oakfall, who had claimed he had fallen for someone else soon after he promised he loved Spider Fang.

​After that, love and kits had become a very touchy subject with Spider Fang. She mumbled her reply to Violet Dawn, "I don't know. I'm too young for kits right now, I guess. I might later on, but probably not."

​Violet Dawn sighed. "Shame. I think you'd make a brilliant mother." Spider Fang chuckled.

​

​"I'm terrible with kits!" She exclaimed. "How could I be a good mother? Have you not seen the way I act around the kits? I'm a complete nitwit!"

​Violet Dawn sniffed. "Really? Last time I saw you with my kits you were happily playing catch the frog with them with no issues what-so-ever making you look like a nitwit."

​The Queen sounded so sure it made Spider Fang uneasy. Did Violet Dawn know about her previous relationships outside of ThunderClan?

​Violet Dawn changed the subject quite soon after, before Owl Eyes hurried over, looking harassed.

​

​"Spider Fang," he rasped and she stood up, her heart racing at 100 kilometres an hour. Violet Dawn had moved away, a gleam in her eyes.

​"I need you to take a patrol to the ShadowClan border, and then patrol the RiverClan border. Are you able to?" Owl Eyes pleaded, his eyes wide.

​

​Spider Fang nodded then queried, "do I take the same patrol to the RiverClan border?" Owl Eyes nodded. "Yes, that's what I mean. You can take anyone you like." And he trotted off, seemingly less harassed.

​Spider Fang felt her heart soar. She was going outside of camp! She hadn't gone on patrols for a while since Lightning Tail's death, (as Lightning Tail was her father). She had been too grief stricken, but now she was semi-okay.

​She darted around, collected a group of five cats including Fox, Fire Blaze, Milkweed, Clover and Thistle. A reliable group of cats at least.

​They padded out of camp and started making their way to ShadowClan first. Clover trotted along beside Spider Fang, Thistle and Fox in the middle and Milkweed and Fire Blaze at the rear.

​Clover was bouncing off her paws in excitement. "I've never been to the ShadowClan border before!" She squealed, twirling in a neat circle.

​"I never got the chance!" Spider Fang may have been younger than Clover, but Clover was always the most exciteble cat in the Clan. Her brother, Thistle on the other paw, was far more matured and was scowling and scolding at his sister for her kitlike behaviour.

​"Hark who's talking!" Clover panted, lashing her tail in Thistle's face. "You were the one who lost your mind over that squirrel that nearly ran into you!" That shut Thistle up, but he was still fuming at his sister and chiding her whenever he liked.

​Spider Fang was getting seriously annoyed and at the border she stopped and spat at the bickering littermates, "stop it! Do you want to bring the whole of ShadowClan down on us?" Clover and Thistle fell silent, but they kept on casting each other nasty glares and mouthing swears at one another.

​"I smell fresh ShadowClan!" Milkweed whispered and eveyone froze. Indeed, a ShadowClan patrol emerged from the nearby bushes, looking surprised when they saw the patrol of ThunderClan cats.

​The patrol leader, a pretty she-cat named Willow Step, said, "nice to see familiar faces once more! Remember Milkweed, Hawk Fury, Robin Wing?" The two ShadowClan toms nodded but stayed quiet as Willow Step and the other she-cat on the patrol, Misty Shade, step forward and nuzzle the ThunderClaners they remembered.

​"Hi Spider Fang! Nice to see you out and about again," Robin Wing said casually and Willow Step actually giggled.

"He looooves ​you so much, Spider Fang. You've got someone chasing after you!" Willow Step joked, her grey pelt standing out against the other ShadowClan cats, who all had darker pelts.

​Spider Fang laughed awkwardly and said hurriedly to Milkweed, "I think we're done here. We'll see you guys at the gathering tonight then?" After saying goodbye and farewell to the ShadowClaners, the ThunderClan patrol headed for the RiverClan border, reaching it sooner than they expected.

​"Okay, Milkweed, you take Fire Blaze, Fox and Clover that way, and I'll take Thistle thid way," Spider Fang ordered and the patrol split up as commanded.

​As she and Thistle padded silently through the undergrowth, keeping the river in sight, she said to Thistle, "we're on the look out for anythng out of the ordinary and we're marking border spots, got it?" Thistle nodded and slunk off ahead, his grey pelt disappearing through a line of bramble thickets.

TBC

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