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Leafstorm raises her head and calls out. "Eagleheart."

It's silent. There's an edge to her meow as Leafstorm calls again, "Eagleheart?"

"Here!" The surrounding cats breathe a collective sigh of relief as the sturdy brown tabby nudges her way through the crowd. "I'm right here," she says breathlessly.

Leafstorm's posture relaxes briefly before straightening up again. She clears her throat. "Eagleheart, it was wrong when Redstar replaced you with me as deputy. Appointing his littermate was a shameless power grab." She squints with nervous happiness as Eagleheart gives her a slow blink. Leafstorm takes a breath and squares her shoulders.

"I say these words before StarClan," she meows, projecting her voice for the cats scattered around camp to hear, "so the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. I rescind my role as ThunderClan's deputy. Eagleheart will take my place and go to the Moonstones."

Murmurs break out, but no one immediately objects. A voice rises up a few moments later. Black ears pricked and tail held high, Darkpelt crows, her voice breaking from disuse. "Eagleheart! Eagleheart!"

Inspired by Darkpelt's unexpected meow, ThunderClan begins cheering and yowling Eagleheart's name. Eagleheart looks back at her Clan with a warm smile. “Thank you, everyone.” She turns back to Leafstorm, who shrinks slightly under her gaze. “I’m glad you’re doing the right thing, stepping down. I am happy and honored to have my position back, and to lead ThunderClan from this troubled time.” Her face flattens a little. “And someday I’ll forgive you, Leafstorm. I know you regret your part in this and I respect your humility, but this will take some time to repair.”

Leafstorm dips her head, tail tucked between her legs. “I’ll- I’ll do my best to earn your trust back, Eagleheart. You’re a fair cat, and you’ll be a fair leader.”

Eagleheart nods decisively. She looks over the battered crowd of cats in front of her. Smaller groups are still broken off as healers and any cat with enough skill dart back and forth to tend to injuries. ShadowClan and ThunderClan cats are still mingled together, talking amongst each other or staring up at the reinstated deputy. Her gaze picks through pelts until it lands on the small, lanky shape of Applestrike. Huge swathes of her off-white fur are stained red and clumped with blood, but she limps between groups to check in on cats with a heavily wrapped leg held above the ground.

“I think there’s only one cat I could choose as my deputy,” Eagleheart calls. Cats who were talking look back to her, or glance over at Applestrike. The little molly’s ears pricked as Eagleheart started speaking, and she hurries to adjust the fit of a brace on Lionburr of ShadowClan’s leg. “Applestrike,” Eagleheart continues, “you worked tirelessly to save ThunderClan- and every Clan- from Redstar and Meadowmist’s terror. You’ve shown everyone over and over again what it means to be a true Clan cat, and a true warrior. You haven’t trained an apprentice, but I believe everything else you’ve done for ThunderClan can make up for that.” Eagleheart holds her head high. “Applestrike will be the next deputy of ThunderClan.”

Cats all around begin to cheer, and Applestrike shrinks under their gaze. She looks back and forth, disbelief and panic on her face. She straightens up and lashes her tail to make cats step away from her. When she looks up at Eagleheart, her expression is dark. Confused murmurs ripple out from her center.

“We all just saw what happens when one cat has this kind of power!” Applestrike snaps. She throws baleful glares at the cats surrounding her. “What I’ve been able to do, just with Redstar’s permission!” She rounds on cats scattered behind her and yowls, “Where is your leader, ShadowClan!? What made her disappear?”

Cats close to Applestrike start speaking to her sharply, gesturing between her and Eagleheart or the downtrodden warriors all around. She shakes her head vigorously. Lightningheart pushes his way through cats, snarling with far too much ferocity when they block him. He makes it to Applestrike’s side and she leans on him briefly before standing tall, injured leg pressed shakily to the ground. “I’ve seen this war from all sides and places, and none of it was unique to Redstar or Meadowmist being in power. Any cat could have wrought this. I don’t want to be the next in line.” She turns to Eagleheart, tail and head held low. “I’m sorry, Eagleheart, but I’m not a leader. I won’t be deputy.”

Cats everywhere break into conversation and argument, gossiping and gasping and throwing questions and admonishments at Applestrike.

“How could you refuse this? We need you!”

“Being deputy is an honor!”

“Have you gone mad?”

“This is why deputies need mentor experience; she’s too immature.”

“Everyone knows she hasn’t been right in the head since her family died-”

Lightningheart all but engulfs Applestrike in his fur and tail as he curls himself around her defensively. The two of them force their way past shouting cats, moving as fast as possible with Applestrike’s limp. A few cats start to follow them and Eagleheart lets out a warning shriek.

“Cats of ThunderClan and ShadowClan!” She hisses. “This is not of our concern. We move forward.” The gathered cats continue to grumble to each other, but no one tries to follow Applestrike and Lightningheart again. “There’s plenty of time ‘til moonhigh. I’d like to prioritize ShadowClan for now.”


―――――


“And they just- want to go right back to the way things were!?” Applestrike’s lips curled into a snarl and her claws scored the dirt as she paced in tight circles.

“It’s mouse-brained,” Lightningheart growled with a nod. “How could they put you in that position? After everything that’s happened?”

“Right?” Applestrike paused her stride to look at Lightningheart warmly, face tense with anger- but none of it for him. It had been so long since he’d seen her face. He wanted to smooth out the enraged creases on her muzzle and curl up with her to talk about something stupid. Not battle plans, not terrified whispers of how they’d like to be buried.

Applestrike huffed again and took a few half-hearted paces before sitting down, staring at her paws. “It’s like I’m the only one who actually knows what the problem is,” she muttered, then added, “And you. Everyone’s perfectly happy to just replace Redstar and Meadowmist with new all-powerful leaders and I don’t want that anymore! It was too easy for either of them to do as much damage as they did!” She began to tremble. “I don’t want to be a part of it. I won’t be a part of it.”

Lightningheart padded over to sit next to her, sweeping his tail behind her. “We never have to be a part of it again, Applestrike.” He took a breath, dredging up a memory from their apprenticeships. “Let’s run away, just you and me. We can’t help the Clans with this if they won’t listen. But we can leave! We can remove ourselves from this stupid situation!”

Applestrike looked up at him, face still creased. “I don’t know if I can just leave. My whole life is here.”

“But ThunderClan- all the Clans- we know how they want to run things. And we know we don’t want to be part of it. What else is there to stop us?” Applestrike had refused this offer once before, when her family was still alive. But her family and the Clan she thought she loved were gone now, weren’t they? They had every reason to disappear. They suffered their whole lives at the paws of Clan leaders with too much power. Lightningheart didn’t want himself or his best friend to bear another day of it.

“I might not... have immediate family in ThunderClan anymore, but I still care about the cats there. And I have friends in WindClan, now, too. I might not like the leadership system, but if I can still help fellow warriors, how could I refuse? How could I abandon them?”

Lightningheart fought a burst of anger through his legs. What had Applestrike’s WindClan friends done for her that he hadn’t already? Why should they influence her decision now? “But they’re- how can we help WindClan? Why do they need us? WindClan have each other. We don’t need their help, either.”

“What?” Applestrike exclaimed, making Lightningheart bristle. She leaned away from him slightly, reaching a paw to touch his. “Lightningheart, I need their help. Sagespeckle, Thrushleaf, and Hollyfang-”

“Hollyfang worked with Meadowmist!” Lightningheart spat. As if Hollyfang could actually help! Lightningheart bit his tongue on a question of his friend’s sanity.

“And I worked with Redstar! I can’t believe you’re blaming him for that!” Applestrike stood up, tail lashing. “Sagespeckle, Thrusleaf, and Hollyfang saved my life. I was dead in my heart in WindClan, and they let me into theirs. I didn’t speak for nearly a moon. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Sagespeckle.” Applestrike’s posture slumped slightly, looking profoundly tired. “Please be nicer about them. It was so hard to be apart from you.”

“It sounds like it was pretty easy to replace me, actually!” Lightningheart snapped, restraint forgotten. He stood and faced Applestrike. “I lived alone outside the Clans and all I could think about was the way Redstar looked like he wanted to kill you. I had no idea if you were even alive.” His eyes stung. “It was just like when Gingerleap almost killed you. We were separated, you were in danger, I was alone. I was alone. I was alone, Applestrike!”

Applestrike shook her head slightly. “Do you think I wasn’t worried about you, too? I had no idea if you were alive, either. When I heard you’d been fully exiled, I thought you would run away.” Her ears drooped. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“I WOULD NEVER LEAVE YOU!” Lightningheart looked right into Applestrike’s wide blue eyes. The scar that ran through one, the one he asked about the first night they met, the night that lead him through every decision he made right up to this horrible, terrible moment. He wanted to be dreaming. He wanted Applestrike to wake him up flexing her claws in her sleep against his fur and he’d laugh with her about it in the morning. But the world stayed together, and Applestrike was mad at him.

How could she?

“I would never, ever leave you!” Lightningheart repeated. “I left SkyClan to be with you! I was exiled because I cared too much about you and I wasn’t worth keeping around anymore!” He suddenly realized Applestrike had taken several steps backward as he yelled. He took a step forward. “How could you ever say that I would abandon you? How could you leave me behind for new WindClan friends? I gave up everything for you!”

“I didn’t ASK for that!” Applestrike countered, grounding her stance. “I did not ask for that, Lightningheart! I never did!”