Spiralstripe

Spiralstripe is a frail, lean, and pretty grey-and-ginger long-haired tabby she-cat with brown eyes and white toes.
== History ==
Spiralstripe was born to Specklenose and Heatfur, two relatively well-respected ShadowClan warriors and Specklenose wanted both her kits to be something great, both strong warriors and possible leaders or deputies to their clan. Spiralkit, however, longed to be a medicine cat, having been drawn toward the medicine den at the start. Specklenose, however, didn't support this dream at all and emotionally manipulated Spiralstripe to try and sway her from it. Heatfur, however, loved that his daughter had a passion for medicine, and supported her, though there wasn't much he could do other than keep Specklenose away from Spiralkit when she learned herbs in the medicine den with Willowsight.
However, Heatfur was later, when Spiralkit was three moons old, brought back to ShadowClan camp after a battle with ThunderClan, covered in fatal wounds. Spiralkit and Willowsight tried desperately to save him, though there wasn't much they could do, and Heatfur died soon after being brought back. As they were serving vigil for the warrior, Specklenose blamed Spiralkit for Heatfur dying and told her she'd never be a good medicine cat, which led to Mallownose to snarl at her and rebuke her, though the damage had already been done to Spiralkit.
When the time came, Spiralkit chose the path of a warrior instead of the path of a medicine cat and was trained under Cloudgazer, who was told of Spiralpaw's condition. Spiralpaw continued to secretly help out in the medicine den during her apprenticeship and was able to do it much easier after Specklenose died of greencough soon after she became an apprentice. 
Willowsight, after Spiralpaw became Spiralstripe, had noticed another cat, Pinekit, showing a liking for medicine, and before Spiralstripe could even try asking to possibly become a medicine cat despite her mother's voice in her head constantly berating her, Pinekit became Willowsight's new apprentice, and Spiralstripe knew she'd be forever barred from the medicine den, cursed, seemingly, in her mind.
Despite this, Willowsight always welcomed Spiralstripe in the medicine den and taught Pinepaw to do the same. Lavenderstar knew of Spiralstripe's condition as well and made sure to never throw her into battle patrols or any heavy warrior duty, and Spiralstripe would tend to stick to border patrols or hunting patrols if she wasn't looking for herbs for Willowsight.
=== The Plague Arc ===
A bit before the plague, Spiralstripe had expressed concern over the deputy, Rustedcall, coming back to the camp smelling of Twolegplace and blood, and did confront Mallownose about it, leading to an investigation. Spiralstripe worried herself over it, expressing more concern over the idea of Rustedcall not being the cat she thought he was, though she never really understood why she kept worrying more about him over the kittypets he possibly hurt.
When the plague hit, Pineheart went off with Creekwhisper to find the cure as the prophecy foretold, and Willowsight soon became sick with the plague after that, leading to Spiralstripe being the only cat able to act as a medicine cat during it. The stress almost overwhelmed her, though Mallownose soon came to aid her during it all. During a snowfall at the beginning of the plague month, Spiralstripe found herself allowing herself to set down her stress for a moment to play in the snow with Rustedcall, though also kept Lavenderstar from furthering her own illness by trying to come out in the snow either.
Soon after playing in the snow, Spiralstripe found a flower in her nest, gifted to her by Rustedcall who later on asked her to be his mate, which she eagerly accepted. Spiralstripe felt more confident around him, which made her happier as she felt her anxiety leaving a little, though it returned in waves after Cypresspatch died soon after, coming in droves once Mallownose and her had a fight over her relationship with Rustedcall. Things grew even worse when Mallownose was later found sick with the plague, and Spiralstripe, now with the help of Elmpaw, worked hard to keep Mallownose and Willowsight alive, Lavenderstar having lost a life and the sickness along with it before that. Spiralstripe nearly worked herself to death in the effort.
When Newtstorm kitted during the plague, Spiralstripe was the one who helped him through it, keeping him alive and healthy along with the kits with as much effort as she did the others.
When Pineheart and Creekwhisper finally returned with the goosegrass, Mallownose, to Spiralstripe's glee, recovers, and so does her and Mallownose's relationship after the argument.
=== The BloodClan Arc ===
Spiralstripe continues to help in the medicine den as the story progresses, much to her delight. She, along with Rustedcall and Littlerock, are three of the cats that tried to intervene when Newtstorm attacked Pineheart for the first time, leading to her being clawed across the face by Newtstorm, who later apologises for it. 
Spiralstripe, later on, has kits with Rustedcall, giving birth to Stormkit, Vixenkit, Grovekit, and Pieriskit. When Pineheart is later killed by Newtstorm and Newtstorm is exiled, Spiralstripe adopts his kits, Lavenderkit and Maplekit, and Lizardkit and Dipperkit, who Newtstorm had taken in after their mother, Honeyrose, had died. Mistlekit came along later, an abandoned kit found in ShadowClan territory.
During the ShadowClan vs. BloodClan battle, Spiralstripe fought hard when cats broke into the nursery, not allowing her kits to get injured any more than they already had. She helps Mapleleaf keep Mallownose from death when the battle ends as well.
=== The SkyClan Arc ===
When Willowsight retires a moon later, Spiralstripe takes her place as a medicine cat and serves as both a medicine cat and a queen, fixing to train Lavenderkit once he turned six moons old.
Spiralstripe is seen next when Lizardkit and Dipperkit are causing trouble in the medicine den, making a mess of the herbs or eating them, making her freak out and try to stop them to no avail until Mallownose comes over and scolds them, sending them back to the nursery. When Mallownose tells her she has to be a bit sterner and scold them, Spiralstripe says that it's hard for her out of fear of becoming her mother, but says she'll try regardless. Mallownose lets slip that she killed Specklenose in StarClan when she went with Willowsight to be told of Spiralstripe's fate, and Spiralstripe seems to be accepting of this, if not a bit surprised.
At the Gathering, Creekwhisper talks to Spiralstripe while she's sitting among the medicine cats to make her feel more welcome. She later chats with Morningfeather about the wellbeings of their clans. Spiralstripe confirms that Lavenderkit will be the next ShadowClan medicine cat. She suggests to Morningfeather to get Amberleaf to help her out in the medicine den after Brighteyes' passing.
When Spiralstripe goes to the Halfmoon meeting, she's immediately very distant from the other medicine cats, clearly very anxious. She talks to Palefur when he asks her about her kits, however, explaining her situation to the SkyClan medicine cat. When she brings up Newtstorm being the father of three of the kits under her care, both Palefur and Blazepaw express concern over this, and when she tells the two of Newtstorm's entire story, Blazepaw immediately is sent home to warn Brackenstar, however, Spiralstripe doesn't really understand why. When Spiralstripe visits StarClan in her dreams, she spots Hailsong and Havenbriar, Spiremask's parents, as well as Sirenstar. She talks to Heatfur before leaving, where she is confronted by Morningfeather on Sparkstep having killed Orangepaw, Silverdawn's son. Spiralstripe immediately runs home to tell Rustedstar this.
When Palefur later comes to talk to Spiralstripe, revealing that Newtstorm was living in SkyClan currently, Spiralstripe expresses shock and concern for both SkyClan and the tom, warning Palefur of what could happen. She makes it clear that Newtstorm would never harm kits and that he might be a better tom now and expresses grief when realising that Cherrykit had gone missing. When she spots Shadewhisper oddly close to her den, she expresses suspicion but says nothing of it. When Mallownose finds out about this later Spiralstripe tries to stop her and calm her down, but fails, and watches in horror as Mallownose leaves camp to go to SkyClan, following after her.
Spiralstripe watches the fight between Petalstrike and Mallownose in abject horror and eventually goes to defend Newtstorm herself when realising that he was expecting again. When Newtstorm starts to kit out of stress, Spiralstripe is the one to help him through it while Palefur tries to defend Petalstrike, who is also expecting. She notices that Bramblingkit is small and weak, but knows there isn't much she can do about it. She stays beside Newtstorm until Petalstrike is brought back into camp, suffering from a miscarriage. Spiralstripe and Rosalina help her through it all, sitting beside her. She instructs Palefur on what to do for Petalstrike. When Petalstrike feels better, she, Spiralstripe, Rosalina, Thornjaw, Palefur, Duskscreech, Sunswipe, and Lionleaf go to bury Squirrelkit. Lionleaf and Sunswipe can be seen huddling around Spiralstripe as they mourn.
Spiralstripe stays to say goodbye to Newtstorm, walking in on Bramblingkit dying in his paws. He snarls at her to not touch her, causing Spiralstripe to nearly back out of the nursery in fright. When she blames herself for everything that happened, Newtstorm reassures her that it isn't her fault, though she doesn't believe him. When she says she's leaving, she wishes him farewell, and Newtstorm doesn't respond with a goodbye, too overcome with grief to say much else. She tells Rosalina that Newtstorm would be unapproachable for a bit until he got over Bramblingkit's death and then leaves to go back to ShadowClan with Duskscreech.
When she arrives home and Buzzardslash informs her that Mallownose exiled herself from ShadowClan, Spiralstripe breaks apart, having lost her foster mother, one of the only sources of confidence she had along with having to go through what she had just gone through in SkyClan, and she ends up getting angry and snapping at both Buzzardslash and Elmdrop to track her down in desperation. She gets angrier than she ever had been, and ends out outing her secret to both Buzzardslash and Elmdrop as a result. She loses the fight in her soon after that and goes back to the nursery, curling up beside Rustedstar and passing out. Later, when Pieriskit comes over and tells her mother she missed her, Spiralstripe talks kindly to her daughter and even manages to joke with her as Pieriskit comforts her.
Spiralstripe is later seen helping Twilightleaf through her kitting, helping her birth three kits, one small and weak, which fills Spiralstripe with worry as she's reminded of Bramblingkit.
Spiralstripe later takes Tinykit, Rockkit, and Gorsekit to SkyClan to see their fathers for the first time in moons, via Tinykit's request. She explains why she brought them over to Jasmine before chatting with Newtstorm for a bit as they watch the kits play and catch up. She lets the family go into the nursery to introduce Tinykit, Gorsekit, and Rockkit to Pinekit. When it's about time to leave Tinykit starts to protest, not wanting to leave SkyClan and her parents despite Rockkit and Gorsekit wanting to stay with Spiralstripe. Newtstorm looks to Spiralstripe to ask for her opinion and Spiralstripe says that it's Tinykit's choice, and that if she wants to stay she can and that she won't have any hard feelings on her for it. When Tinykit comes over to tell Spiralstripe goodbye she thanks her for being a good mother to her despite everything that happened before going back to Newtstorm. She accepts the thank you from Newtstorm before leading Gorsekit and Rockkit back home.
When Buzzardslash finally comes to tell Spiralstripe of what really happened during Elmdrop's attempt to get Mallownose back to ShadowClan, Spiralstripe angrily gets up and tells Buzzardslash to have Elmdrop watch her kits while she goes out to retrieve Mallownose herself. She travels all the way to horseplace, spotting Fireeyes first and passing by him before spotting Mallownose. She reassures her that Petalstrike's miscarriage wasn't caused by Mallownose's claws, only by stress, and that she was only angry because Mallownose left ShadowClan so suddenly. She makes it clear that she had no grudge against Mallownose, also letting her know that cats do want her back home. When Mallownose says she'll go back with her, Spiralstripe seems to visibly cheer up before leading her home.
=== The Strife Arc ===
After a moon passes, Spiralstripe is seen when Lavenderkit, Maplekit, Rockkit, and Gorsekit have their apprentice ceremonies and is given Lavenderpaw as a medicine cat apprentice. She assures her foster son that she'll teach him everything she knows.
At the Gathering, Spiralstripe overhears Morningfeather and Lavenderpaw talking, and becomes immediately insecure and bothered over the fact that Morningfeather doesn't consider her a true medicine cat despite her knowing of Spiralstripe's secret. Lavenderpaw notices this and assumes that she's tense and bothered by something and Spiralstripe lies and says that she's fine, just anxious. When Morningfeather cuts in and mentions that Lavenderpaw would soon take the stress off her paws she immediately grows even more bothered. When Morningfeather introduces Palepaw to every medicine cat in the clans and neglects to mention Spiralstripe, Lavenderpaw corrects her and says not to forget his mother, making it clear that Spiralstripe belongs just as much as everyone else does.
When Tinypaw and Poppypaw are gossiping at the Gathering, Tinypaw brings up Spiralstripe when defending Mallownose, and when Poppypaw calls her weak for not wanting to fight as a warrior Tinypaw visibly gets annoyed, and when Rockpaw overhears his brother he tackles him and gets into a fight, not wanting his foster mother to be insulted. Spiralstripe is seen following Kestrelheart over in horror, as she had witnessed the fight from farther off. When Poppypaw continues to insult Spiralstripe, Lavenderpaw comes to her defence again, Mallownose soon joining in on the conversation as well. Spiralstripe is seen visibly crushed by this, having taken care of Poppypaw for a short amount of time, and is seen sadly walking back toward the spot for medicine cats.
When arriving back home from the Gathering and finding Huskpaw fatally wounded, Spiralstripe panics and tries to help him before hearing that Turtlepaw and Lizardkit are also injured from a fight that Huskpaw had caused himself. She makes sure Lavenderpaw knows what to do to try and stop the bleeding before going to make sure the other two are okay, though there isn't anything that could be done for Huskpaw and he soon dies afterwards. She's seen preparing his body for burial soon after that.
When BloodClan attacks RiverClan in a final assault, Eelrun comes to ShadowClan begging for aid, and Spiralstripe is within the patrol sent, going to help the medicine cats. She's seen helping defend herself and the medicine den, being defended by Mapleleaf at one point before she heads inside the medicine den, witnessing Grendel attacking Morningfeather. She rushes up to help Coalpelt and Silverdawn fight him to get him away from Morningfeather. When he disappears Spiralstripe tries to help Morningfeather, but when Grendel comes back into the medicine den from a different way to try and finish the job she's forced to defend her again, fighting the BloodClan second once again with the help of Earthjaw. When Earthjaw is knocked out of the medicine den Spiralstripe is forced to fight Grendel by herself, and latches onto his back and claws and bites at his face and throat in a desperate attempt to get him away from Morningfeather. She clings on no matter what Grendel does and eventually ends up killing him on accident, having only intended on injuring him badly enough for him to want to flee or to drive him out of the medicine den and into someone else that could take him on. She seems visibly shaken by this but goes off to help Morningfeather once more, trying to keep her alive desperately.
When the battle ends Spiralstripe helps the others with the wounded and is the first one to notice that Echostar had lost a life, and is there for him to make sure he's alright before rushing off to go help a critically wounded Swanstride, managing to keep her alive with the help of Miraclesky. She offers to stay behind and help anyone else, however, Morningfeather insists that she can handle it, and she goes back home when ShadowClan leaves RiverClan.
Spiralstripe is among the cats of ShadowClan who went to watch Lilith's execution and is given a turn to inflict a blow upon Lilith along with the cats who have been harmed because of her, as Spiralstripe was representing the kits Lilith had harmed in the ShadowClan vs. BloodClan attack. She doesn't know what to do before Mallownose recommends that she tries to take out the BloodClan leader's teeth, and with Mallownose's help, she manages to pull out teeth that were previously loose from when Lilith's jaw was broken earlier before that, much to Spiralstripe's displeasure. She looks visibly shaken after she does it, and is seen helping Mallownose stay upright, looking sickened for the rest of the execution.
When Mudstrike goes to bury the dead from the BloodClan battle, Spiralstripe goes to help alongside Moththorn.
== Personality ==
Spiralstripe's mother's abuse hurt her very badly in a way that had ingrained itself in her. She's horribly anxious and easily frightened, and hardly ever talks without stammering. She's nervous, constantly degrades herself, and is very shy, and usually has a hard time speaking to strangers without her sentence dying halfway. She lacks confidence in herself and finds herself shuffling her paws a lot when pressured, and if pressured too much she'll break and curl up in a ball shuddering violently. If she insults someone or says something mean she immediately begins to apologise profusely too, even if it's unneeded. However, she's very kind and affectionate and loving and has an astounding memory, too. She's intelligent, good at thinking of solutions, she just hardly shows that because of how anxious she is. 
However, thanks to help from Rustedstar along with Mallownose as well as the events that transpire in the story, Spiralstripe slowly becomes more and more confident in herself as time passes. After having kits, especially, Spiralstripe grows to become fiercely protective over her kits, including her foster children and becomes a good mother as well through it. She's known not to be angered as she loses most fear and makes incredibly risky choices at times when angered, such as her attacking Grendel to protect Morningfeather during the final BloodClan battle. She's able to talk without stammering as long as she isn't pressured, nervous, or stressed now, and tends to be calm these days, with nothing much to bother her.
== Trivia ==
=== Interesting Facts ===
* Spiralstripe's gift of being a medicine cat is that she's able to read minds or emotions of a cat as long as she's touching them and wants to see them.
* Spiralstripe is bisexual.
* Spiralstripe sounds like Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
* Spiralstripe considers the kits she's adopted as her own kits, no matter their backgrounds.
* Even if Spiralstripe had become a medicine cat from the start she likely still would have had feelings for Rustedstar.
* Willowsight, Rustedstar, Lavenderstar, Pineheart, Mapleleaf, Morningfeather, Cinderberry, Creekwhisper, Buzzardslash, Elmdrop, and Mallownose are the only cats that know about Spiralstripe's actual destiny.
* Spiralstripe has a tendency to apologise for what seems like nothing because of the abuse she suffered in the past. Her anxiety and low self-esteem also stem from it.
* Spiralstripe's favourite prey is thrush or robin.
* Spiralstripe has trouble scolding or admonishing kits due to fearing that she'll upset the kits, leading to her fear of becoming just like her mother.
* When Spiralstripe told Palefur and Blazestep what happened with Newtstorm to let them know of them she specifically said that she spotted Newtstorm saving Poppyflame and Cherry from a rogue/BloodClan cat just to make sure they knew he wasn't completely bad.
== Kin ==
=== Members ===
Mate:
* Rustedstar: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Daughters: 
* Stormcrest: Living
* Vixenshade: Living
* Pierisfang: Status unknown
* Cypresspaw: Living
* Foxpaw: Living
* Quickpaw: Living
Sons:
* Grovechime: Status unknown
* Lionpaw: Living
* Cashewpaw: Living
Foster Daughters:
* Maplethorn: Living
* Gorsethroat: Deceased, verified StarClan member
* Lizardspark: Living
* Mistlefern: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Foster Sons:
* Lavendershine: Living
* Rockheart: Living
* Dipperpelt: Living
Father: 
* Heatfur: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Mother:
* Specklenose: Deceased, no residence
Brother:
* Flamewhisker: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Grandfather:
* Cinderstrike: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Grandmother:
* Flintblaze: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Aunts:
* Willowsight: Deceased, verified StarClan member
* Valeriangaze: Deceased, verified StarClan member
Great-great uncle: 
* Fireflyglow: Living
First Cousins:
* Serana: Living
* Tortrixwing: Living
Category:ShadowClan
Category:Clan Cats