Stormclaw

### Siblings

Whitebird and Sootsnow (sisters). Reedstalk was also like a brother to him, but he’s dead now.

### Other Relatives

Fawnflower (cousin), Ivybranch and Pettalleaf (aunts, dead), Duckfeather (foster mom for like 1 moon, dead), Scorchstripe (foster brother for like 1 moon, dead)

### Friends

His family and Sorrelseed. Kinda-sorta Weepingstar and Permafrost, almost. He thinks. He hopes. Maybe also Turtleheart and some of the kits he used to play with. Formerly Reedstalk and Rosefoot (dead or irrelevant). Also formerly Tidewave, kind of.

### Enemies

Currently just Hazel, kinda. They're ever so slightly chiller now. It’s complicated. But he used to hate Scorchstripe, Ivybranch, Tidewave, and Ashface, too. He still doesn’t like Tidewave much. And Rosefoot hated him when she left. He’s got some problems, this one.

If you're here, you've probably at least seen something about this dude. Stormclaw is the current deputy of FallClan and the father of Emberglow. He was formerly mates with his Clanmate Sorrelseed and a loner named Hazel, and for the majority of his warriorhood, he had a rather poor reputation among the Clans due to his short temper and generally standoffish demeanor. In spite of this, he is recognized for his many talents and his unwavering dedication toward whatever he sets his mind to. He is a respectable and effective deputy who takes his job very seriously.

## Appearance & Personality

### Appearance

Stormclaw has dark gray tabby fur, a few lighter markings on his muzzle, chin, cheeks, chest, and paws, and sharp dark blue eyes. His stripes are jagged and branch out almost like lightning bolts, shot through with streaks of near-black. He has a sturdy, bulky build, and was a lot leaner during his younger moons. He became much stronger in stature after leaving Hazel, as he dedicated much more of his time to work and training. He has calloused paw pads and short, stiff whiskers encircling his broad muzzle, which is beginning to develop silver hairs from stress and age. He has a little bit of that traditional dad scruff on his chin. He also has a resting expression of annoyance, which tends to put off some cats. He’s usually isn’t mad, though. His face just looks like that.

There is a small notch in the side of his left ear that was given to him by Hazel during his apprenticeship, and he has a deep, crooked, and patchy set of scars on his right flank in the likeness of raking fangs. He received it from a dog as a young warrior, and it it tore out a little too much flesh to ever fully heal over. His third and only other scar is a thin and twisting claw mark stretching up the side of his left shoulder that he got during a fight with Tidewave. His fur, while short, is thick and bristly in some areas, often knotting together into a condensed, wiry mat. He liked to keep it sleek and shiny when he was younger, but has since given up on trying and accepts that he’ll just look like a grizzled old man for the remainder of his life. He has short but sharp claws that are starting to turn a little yellow, as are his teeth.

### Personality

Stormclaw is generally stubborn and headstrong. Around cats he gets along with, he's sarcastic and cheeky, but otherwise, he tries not to show much concern for anyone. He comes across as gruff and unapproachable to anybody who hasn’t known him long enough to see through his rocky exterior. He's very down-to-earth and blunt, and is easily aggravated, occasionally going out of his way to be antagonistic. He’s trying to get better about that, though. All flaws aside, he is brave and loyal to the core, and has a very strong sense of duty and responsibility. He’s a hardworking cat who hates feeling like he’s letting down his peers’ expectations, and he likes to come across as dependable. He always prefers to follow his heart over his head and regrets all of the times when he hasn’t. He also really loves kits, which surprises a lot of cats. He enjoys visiting and playing around with them as a pastime and is especially fond of the ones who have a tendency to get into trouble a lot. He’s secretly just inclined to act like a dad. He makes dad jokes and he thinks that they’re funny. He needs to be stopped.

During his youth, he was very sharp-tongued and hotheaded. He was reckless, impulsive, and kind of an idiot, although he had a much keener sense of humor as well as a greater ego and sense of pride to defend. He never passed up an opportunity to make a snarky remark or a witty quip, and loved thinking up fun pranks and elaborate ways to cause mischief. He was also very selfish at heart, as evidenced by his treatment of Sorrelseed and his entire reasoning for breaking up with Hazel. Now he's just kind of grouchy and awkward most of the time. He doesn’t know how to handle situations where he isn’t in control or where things don’t go as he expected. He tries, though. He has learned from his mistakes and wants to make up for all the pain he caused his loved ones when he was younger and dumber. He puts others before himself now and finally understands what makes a “good warrior”. On top of that, he’s a good deputy and a good mentor and he tries his best to be a good father. He regrets his decision to be with Hazel, but while he would never admit it to himself, he does sometimes miss her still. Nonetheless, he is never going to forgive her for what she put Emberglow and her siblings through, nor will he ever forgive himself.

## Biography

### Kithood

##### (CW: Death, I guess. His mom dies in front of him. Spoilers.)

Stormkit was born in MarshClan in the middle of leaf-fall to Fernfrost and Darksplash alongside his two sisters, Whitekit and Sootkit. Stormkit was named by Fernfrost for the pattern of his fur resembling… well… a storm. His parents loved each other and all three of their kits very much and nothing really went wrong for a good long while. Fernfrost had an infinite supply of great stories to tell and all sorts of new, creative manners in which to teach lessons, and Darksplash would visit the nursery frequently to give them prey and playthings and badger rides and all that fun stuff. The only other cats in the nursery were two older kits named Bromekit and Teffkit, their mother Fescueflower, and Fernfrost’s good friend Duckfeather, whose kits wouldn’t even be born for another three moons. Duckfeather liked them, too, and would often watch over Fernfrost’s kits while her friend went out just to stretch her legs or to hunt with Darksplash. Fescueflower was friendly enough and while Stormkit never really interacted much with Teffkit and Bromekit, they got along alright. Things were nice and chill.

Although he was daring and adventurous around his parents and sisters, Stormkit was actually a relatively quiet kit for the first three moons of his life. He liked to keep to himself. He only ever bothered his family and avoided the rest of his Clanmates, finding Sootkit’s love for the elders and Whitekit’s fascination with the medicine den to be boring. But his quietness should definitely *not* have been mistaken for shyness or anything like it - he didn't talk much because he was always watching and scheming things, absorbing information so that he could use it later on. Stormkit was a shifty little bugger, and his parents learned early on not to trust him whenever he had a certain smirky look on his face, no matter how well he seemed to be behaving.

At only a moon and a half old, Stormkit once managed to steal a bunch of raspberries from the medicine den and somehow stashed them under their nest in the nursery because he liked the taste. Fernfrost found out straight away, of course, but she thought his efforts were impressive, especially since he could still barely walk and wasn’t even speaking yet at the time. She was always highly amused by his antics, and while she outwardly discouraged his behavior, Stormkit could tell that his mother was having fun with them. His reserved, yet puckish personality wormed its way right into her heart, and while she would never say it out loud, he was her favorite kit by the time they’d turned two moons old. Good job, Stormkit.

Stormkit developed a little more slowly than his sisters did, not walking until long after Sootkit and not speaking until he was three moons old, a couple of weeks after Whitekit. As soon as he was physically able to leave the nursery, though, Stormkit made up for it. He’d been spirited and curious from the moment he opened his eyes, and now there was nothing to stop him from getting under every cat’s paws. He developed a very strong desire to follow Darksplash around everywhere and to try and be just like him. He would nag his dad into telling him all of the neat stories he knew- having been raised in HorizonClan, Darksplash knew some of the best ones in detail, such as the horrors of Ebonystar’s reign and the tale of Stormhowl the wolf. Stormkit especially loved that one. He was very proud to share the ancient warrior’s prefix and would often prance around the camp pretending to be Stormhowl and attempting to actually howl as per the requests of various amused warriors. He wasn’t great at it. He also thoroughly enjoyed Fernfrost’s recounts of the rogue uprising. Being Clanborn, her parents had fought in those battles and her mother had lived to tell the tale. Whenever Stormkit wasn’t pretending to be Stormhowl, he’d be instead pretending he was the wicked leader Fieldstar himself and would persistently attack Whitekit until she either tattled on him or Sootkit joined in, usually proclaiming herself Lynxstar.

Speaking of which, Lynxstar. Stormkit thought she was the coolest cat ever. He probably annoyed her and got into trouble with her a lot. StarClan knows he did that to Darksplash. If he wasn’t bothering his sisters, Stormkit spent almost every waking moment at his dad’s heels, pestering him to bring him out of camp. Darksplash only obliged a few times, and on each of those occasions, it was incredibly difficult to keep track of Stormkit. He would pretty much just go galloping off and do whatever he pleased without a shred of caution.

On one of these trips, Darksplash took him to the FallClan border. He figured that since the water was mostly frozen over anyways, there was no way Stormkit could do anything too stupid. He underestimated Stormkit. Stormkit thought he saw a fish moving under the ice and decided that the best thing to do would be to jump up and down on top of it. So he did that while calling for Darksplash to come look. It went about as well as you’d expect and the ice broke underneath him and plunged him into the freezing water. He was lucky he’d gotten his dad’s attention beforehand, because the sudden cold sent him into shock and he couldn’t find the hole again, so he was pretty much trapped under the ice. Darksplash had to dig through it and take a dip himself in order to pull him out. Stormkit was fine albeit very cold and Darksplash yelled at him the whole way back to camp. Then the medicine cat, Cherrycloud, yelled at him the whole time he was being warmed up in her den. Stormkit was surprisingly unbothered. While he’d found it rattling for sure, he thought that his near-death experience was more cool than anything else. The occasion stuck with him, and he decided that he liked the water. He would incessantly tell his parents about how much he wanted to do it again, and then get belligerent when they told him it was a bad idea. Have I mentioned yet that Stormkit was annoying?

In any case, he squabbled a lot with Whitekit. She was easy to annoy and he took advantage of that, teasing and messing with her whenever he could— but all in good fun. He was a little easier on Sootkit since she was more sensitive and a lot sweeter, but her unwillingness to participate in his antics irritated him. Stormkit loved his sisters, but truly enjoyed nothing more than bothering them half to death. Duckfeather’s son, on the other hand, really rubbed him the wrong way. Scorchkit was born when Stormkit was just a little under three moons old, and Stormkit knew he was trouble from the second he was born and Whitekit, who had been helping the medicine cat, promptly called him gross. Scorchkit proved to be even more fiery and impish than Stormkit, and the pair of them butted heads and argued over everything imaginable. Sootkit pointed out one time that if they bothered to actually spend time together, they would probably end up being the best of friends, but they both ignored her. They hated each other.

When he was three moons old, he got to see his first HorizonClan hike. Well, he got to see his parents embark on it, at least. Fernfrost and Darksplash both went together with Fernfrost’s sister Petalleaf and her mate Twistwhisker. Stormkit made his dismay at being left behind very well known- particularly since he was stuck with Duckfeather and Scorchkit now. Scorchkit couldn’t actually walk or talk or anything yet, but he kept giving Stormkit *looks.* Stormkit didn’t like him. He couldn’t really fight him since he was a baby, though, so he just fought his sisters instead. And then harassed his parents for every detail of the trip once they came back the next day.

But anyways, Stormkit gained more confidence and more of an ego as he aged, and over the span of his kithood he got himself and his sisters into a fair amount of trouble- especially after Teffpaw and Bromepaw had moved out and there were fewer cats around to keep an eye on them. One time, at three and a half moons old, Stormkit had the brilliant idea of sneaking into the tunnel system to see if they could navigate it before becoming apprentices. He pressured Sootkit into coming with him by threatening to tell Fernfrost that she’d stolen an extra shrew from the fresh-kill pile the day before, and Whitekit only agreed to go along because Sootkit was scared to go without her. Predictably, this backfired. They instead got lost, wandered around aimlessly for a whole few hours during which Sootkit started crying and Whitekit yelled at Stormkit *really loud,* and ended up being found by Darksplash and some other cats who’d been sent out to search for them. Their dad took them back to Fernfrost and they all got thoroughly scolded for the eight billionth time. Mostly Stormkit, though. Good job, Stormkit.

During the later moons of Stormkit's kithood, however - starting when he and his littermates were about four to four and a half moons old - Fernfrost fell ill with a severe case of greencough and was unable to watch over her kits as much as she had used to. She was confined to the medicine den for almost an entire moon. Stormkit never really worried much about her illness, and didn't pay much attention to it. He visited her in the medicine den with the rest of his family and continued acting the same as he always had. It was inconceivable to him that anything bad could actually come of it. He complained that his sisters - particularly Whitekit - were only overreacting. He was much more concerned with the fact that he was forced to spend more time with the now-annoying Scorchkit under Duckfeather’s care. And at first, it seemed as though he’d been right; when they were five moons old, Fernfrost got better and was allowed back into the nursery.

Only a few days later however, Stormkit was messing around and tussling with his sisters in the nursery when Fernfrost suddenly just… had an episode. She started coughing until she couldn’t breathe. Her eyes were bulging and her legs were spasming. Duckfeather and Scorchkit were out on a walk at the time, so it was only Stormkit and his sisters there to witness it, and they panicked. Sootkit ran to find Darksplash and Whitekit hurried off to get Cherrycloud, leaving Stormkit alone with Fernfrost. All he could do was stare at her, wide-eyed, as she twitched and wheezed and choked. He was too petrified to move any closer or any farther from her; he just sat still and watched as she died right in front of him. She had been dead for several minutes by the time Stormkit’s sisters came back with Cherrycloud and Darksplash. The wail that his father let out upon seeing his mate’s body would haunt him for moons afterwards, as would the look in his mother’s dying eyes. She’d been straining her jaw as though she was trying to say something to him in her final moments. He didn’t know what. He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think at all.

So that was pretty traumatic for him. Things were different after that. Duckfeather was kind as ever, and Darksplash, if anything, had only become more affectionate with his kits. Stormkit and Sootkit hardly ever left each other’s sides. Whitekit grew more distant, focused on helping Cherrycloud in the medicine den, but Stormkit and Sootkit were brought together in their grief. And for the first time since he was very small, Stormkit was quiet and obedient. He avoided talking to anyone but his remaining kin and couldn’t look other cats in the eyes without being plunged back into the moment Fernfrost’s had glazed over. Even Scorchkit’s taunts seemed to bounce right off of him with no effect. This lasted for… approximately a half-moon.

Then he got worse. Where he had previously been cheerful and rambunctious, he was now fervid and obnoxious. His temper flared and his well-meaning mischief changed into more tactless pranks performed only with the goal of garnering attention. He didn’t know why he was doing it; all he knew was that he was hurt and he was angry and he wanted to be seen. He would do things like leave thorns in the warriors’ nests and lie about having seen snakes or hawks in the territory. He would do it in ways that fooled the other cats and amused him— in ways that made him feel better, or, in truth, just feel anything at all. Because really, that was all he could focus on anymore. Nothing else mattered. He needed to channel all that pent-up emotion into *something,* and so, upon seeing how determined his sisters were to become a medicine cat and a messenger, he made a vow to himself. He would become the best and the strongest warrior he could be— someday, maybe even a Clan leader. He would do it for Fernfrost’s sake, and he would make her proud. That was the one thought that kept driving him even as the majority of his Clanmates began to like him less and less.

During his last half-moon in the nursery, his aunt Pettalleaf moved in. She tried to reach out to Stormkit and his siblings. He ignored her. He didn’t want her pity or her empty words. His fights with Scorchkit increased in severity, too. At one point, Scorchkit made an insensitive comment about Fernfrost and Stormkit straight-up attacked him, pinning him against the nursery wall with claws unsheathed. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if Sootkit hadn’t shoved herself between them, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t have been good. The only thing that saved him from having his apprenticeship delayed for misbehavior was the fact that Duckfeather put in a good word for him, persuading Lynxstar that he would calm down with time, as he was only grappling with grief. Good job, Stormkit.

### Apprenticeship

At six moons old, Stormpaw and his littermates were apprenticed. Whitepaw trained as a medicine cat under Cherrycloud, Sootpaw was assigned to a warrior named Cedarstrike, and Stormpaw’s mentor just so happened to be Ivybranch, Fernfrost's other sister. He already disliked her. He knew that she had never gotten along with Fernfrost while she was alive, and he hated the way Ivybranch acted all sad and sympathetic about it now that she was dead. It felt fake to Stormpaw, and he was resentful and determined from the second they touched noses to not make his training easy for even one day. But as it turned out, that wasn’t too difficult anyways.

Stormpaw sucked at hunting. He didn’t have the patience for it, and he didn’t *want* to succeed with Ivybranch watching him. He would instead just embarrass and frustrate her until she gave up and left him alone to do as he pleased. *Then* he would really make an effort. But without his mentor present to critique him, his progress was slow. He did considerably better in battle training, and consistently bested Sootpaw and their other denmates in practice. That was really the only redeeming factor he could find in being an apprentice, though, as not even the freedom to roam felt good to him. MarshClan’s moors and tunnels were not nearly as grand or impressive as they had seemed when he was a kit, and it was newleaf now, meaning he couldn’t even frolic around in the snow like he’d hoped. A part of him knew that he was only so upset because he was actively looking for things to complain about, but he couldn’t quite help it. It felt so wrong to move forward and find reasons be happy in the place where Fernfrost died, surrounded by cats who, for the most part, didn’t even seem to care anymore. He was irritable and discontent in MarshClan no matter what he was doing or who he was with. He was unruly and more often than not failed to show up to Ivybranch’s training sessions altogether. He was going to become a great warrior for his mother, but he was going to do it *his* way. He was *not* going to accept training from the sister who had hated her.

Stormpaw didn’t stop getting into trouble outside of training, either. He liked to amuse himself. During his first moon of apprenticeship, he stole some raspberries from the medicine den and used them as an incentive to trick the two kits in the nursery— Scorchkit and his new cousin Fawnkit— into reaching under the medicine den walls to steal herbs. He knew it would work, because after all, he'd *loved* raspberries as a kit. And he was right; it did work. He did it mostly to prank Whitepaw, who was even more fun to tease now that she was busy all the time. She and Cherrycloud were incredibly confused as to why their herbs kept disappearing. Stormpaw thought it was hilarious. But then it became a big deal and they got worried that someone was actually stealing them and doing things they weren't supposed to be doing and Skystar got involved. That was sort of awkward. Stormpaw tried to keep laying low, but Whitepaw already had a pretty good idea that he'd done it and exposed him. He tried to pin it on Scorchkit, because he didn't like Scorchkit, but no one bought it. He was punished pretty severely for the whole fiasco and missed his first gathering because of it. Good job, Stormpaw.

Oh yeah, and sometime during his sixth moon, OrchidClan hosted their once-a-year daylight gathering. Stormpaw thought it sounded boring and stupid. He did not want to go. Neither did Whitepaw, actually. But Darksplash and Sootpaw forced them to go. Whitepaw ended up enjoying herself. Stormpaw did not. Stormpaw glared at anyone who tried to approach him. Stormpaw made no friends this way. Good job, Stormpaw.

At seven moons old, Stormpaw got into the habit of leaving the apprentices’ den at night. He’d been having trouble sleeping ever since he moved out of the nursery and eventually decided to stop trying altogether. He would instead just wander the territory and try vainly to practice his hunting skills some more, exhaustion be darned. But on one of these night trips, he ventured past the FallClan border and paused. He remembered the incident he’d had as a kit where he’d fallen through the ice, and thought about how much of an impact it had left on him before being overshadowed by his mother’s death. Compelled by nothing but his own melancholic thoughts, Stormpaw stepped up to the edge of the water and sat down, watching his reflection as it rippled over the stars and the moon. And he thought for a while. He wasn’t happy; he knew that. His presence in MarshClan was only serving to make other cats unhappy; he knew that, too. And as much as he might’ve been trying to act like he didn’t care, it bothered him.

While Stormpaw was sitting by the water being sad and edgy and brooding in the moonlight, a fish happened to swim past his paws and passed through his reflection. Almost absentmindedly, he flashed a paw down and scooped it up. It flipped into the air, silver scales flashing in the dark, and he caught it. He killed it. He surprised himself. He wasn’t sure what exactly it might’ve stood for, but he saw it as a sign. It motivated him. He ate the fish and found that he liked it. And thus began his calling to FallClan.

After that night, Stormpaw began spending more and more time near the border. He would visit it during the day and at night, teaching himself to traverse the stepping stones and to catch small fish. He even tried to swim a bit in the shallows when he thought no one was watching. He didn’t care what Ivybranch had to say about it. It relaxed him. He enjoyed it. It felt nice and it felt right. It was a relief to him that he could still feel that way. For a little while, he’d been worried that he no longer could.

Stormpaw was banned from attending his second gathering as well after offending Ivybranch one too many times, but he snuck out behind the rest of the Clan anyways and got to see Silver Falls for the first time at eight moons old. While there, he met several apprentices around his age, including Whisperpaw and Geckopaw of HorizonClan among others— but the one cat who really caught his attention was Reedpaw of FallClan. He had been hoping to encounter a FallClan apprentice, and he ended up in luck. He slid in next to Reedpaw and the two of them at once got to talking, quickly establishing a friendship and finding that they had a surprising amount in common. Reedpaw was witty and jaunty and reminded Stormpaw of how he’d acted as a kit. Reedpaw made him laugh— not the forced and bitter kind that Stormpaw had grown used to over the last three moons, but the genuine kind. He’d missed that. He talked to Reedpaw about FallClan and he began having thoughts of changing Clans. He felt guilty, though, thinking of Sootpaw and Whitepaw and Darksplash. He knew how they would feel about him leaving. He kept his thoughts to himself.

Oh, and Lynxstar saw him during the gathering and he got punished with elder duty for the next two weeks. That happened. Stormpaw was not pleased about it.

But when he encountered Reedpaw again at the border only a couple of days later, Stormpaw thought that surely it just had to have been fate, telling him what he wanted to hear. Reedpaw had missed a fish he was aiming for and Stormpaw had caught it for him. Reedpaw made a joking comment about how a MarshClan cat was a better fisher than a FallClan cat, and Stormpaw made up his mind. After giving the fish to Reedpaw and bidding him farewell, Stormpaw trotted back to camp and swerved around Ivybranch as she tried to cut him off and reprimand him for one thing or another. He found Darksplash sharing prey with Sootpaw in the clearing and brought Whitepaw from the medicine den, sitting them all down and telling them that he was leaving them to join FallClan.

Needless to say, they were not happy about this. Sootpaw was completely blindsided and started begging him to stay. Darksplash only urged him to do what made him happy, but Stormpaw could see in his father’s face that he felt like he was losing him. Whitepaw said nothing either to encourage or discourage him, but there was a sort of quiet anger emanating from her that made Stormpaw wince every time he noticed it. He hated doing this to his family, but he wasn’t going to just sit around and stew in MarshClan when he could be someplace where he knew he’d be more content and at peace with himself. His family knew it, too, and in spite of their initial protests, they ultimately caved and accepted his decision, wishing him luck. He got a fierce hug from Sootpaw, a lick on the head from Darksplash, and an eye roll from Whitepaw, and that was good enough for him. He left MarshClan without saying goodbye to anyone else or even formally breaking the news, leaving it up to Darksplash to notify Lynxstar of his departure.

And so, at roughly eight and a half moons old, Stormpaw was accepted into FallClan by Mallowstar— and just in time to avoid Scorchpaw becoming an apprentice. His new mentor was a strict but skilled tom named Stonesnap, and Stormpaw actually quite liked him. Stonesnap’s brother, Aspensting, had apparently been pegged by several cats as the next in line for deputy of HorizonClan and Stormpaw thought that was pretty awesome. He boasted about it to anyone who would listen. Stonesnap had also been friends with Darksplash back when they were both apprentices in HorizonClan, and Stormpaw thought that was cool, too, even if they didn’t really keep in touch anymore. Stonesnap didn’t think Stormpaw was too great, though. He was a pawful and he had to be hard on him— but all in all, they worked well together. Much better than Stormpaw had worked with Ivybranch, at least.

Stormpaw did have a bit of trouble adjusting at first, used to tall grass and underground tunnels rather than damp sand and scattered islets, but he was helped through it all by Reedpaw. Reedpaw quickly became his best friend, and they trained well together. There were also two other apprentices at the time named Pondpaw and Fisherpaw, but they were two moons older than Stormpaw and Reedpaw and did their best to ignore them. Stormpaw didn’t mind that. He found that the longer he spent in FallClan, the more he was starting to feel like his old self again— jovial and devious, but only ever in a good-natured way. He continued to get on everyone’s nerves, but this time all of the warriors regarded him more with fond irritation than with actual hatred. So it was progress! Good job, Stormpaw.

Stormpaw had a great time learning to swim. Reedpaw and his mentor Stagheart would often tag along during Stormpaw and Stonesnap’s swimming lessons, meaning that Stormpaw and Reedpaw spent more time splashing each other and messing around than actually learning. In the end it did work, though, and Stormpaw did in fact find out that he could swim well after all when Reedpaw almost drowned him on accident one time. After realizing that he could do it, Stormpaw refused to use the stepping stones ever again and would only ever swim places when given the option. He loved the feeling of being immersed in water and letting it buoy him up, lapping under his paws and seeping into his fur. It was liberating.

Stormpaw continued to excel in battle training and was considerably more talented at fishing than he had ever been at land hunting. When he and Reedpaw had nothing better to do, they would visit the nursery and spend time with the two oldest kits, Sorrelkit and Rosekit. Normally, Stormpaw would never had paid much attention to the nursery, but one of Reedpaw’s favorite pastimes was playing with kits— and the more Stormpaw accompanied him, the more he found that he *also* quite liked it. Stormpaw would continue to visit the nursery regularly even after Sorrelkit and Rosekit moved out and after he earned his warrior name.

In any case, Rosekit and Sorrelkit were fun. They were strong and smart and always had a blast trying to replicate the fighting and fishing moves that Stormpaw and Reedpaw would demonstrate for them. Sorrelkit in particular seemed to have stars in her eyes whenever she looked at Stormpaw, and he was amused by how much she seemed to look up to him. He wasn’t complaining, though. He’d always been a big fan of having attention. And he liked Sorrelkit, too. She was spunky and silly and made him kind of miss his own kithood. He tried not to dwell on it.

Oh, and he’d also joined FallClan just in time for their annual fishing competition. Cats from all over the Clans showed up to learn how to fish and swim and to compete for rewards. Darksplash came over with Sootpaw and Whitepaw and Stormpaw got to introduce them to Reedpaw and show them what all he’d learned so far. They tried participating in the fishing contest and it really did not work. Sootpaw was okay at it, but Whitepaw and Darksplash were hopeless. Stormpaw and Whitepaw kind of just spent the whole day in a shouting match. Reedpaw, Sootpaw, and Darksplash had fun, though, so that’s what really matters!

Anyways, for the next two moons, Stormpaw trained normally. Pondstep and Fisherfrost became warriors and he and Reedpaw were thrilled to have the apprentices’ den to themselves for a bit. They did get into a fair amount of shenanigans, though, such as the time where they decided it would be funny to start leaving a bunch of dead fish poking out of random nooks and crannies all throughout the camp and on random islands just to surprise and confuse their Clanmates. And that it did. They kept it up for around half a moon and thought it was great. Until they got caught by Stagheart and punished, that is. They both had to miss their third gathering to make up for it. And they couldn’t even sneak out again, either, because Lynxstar had warned Mallowstar about Stormpaw’s track record, so he and Reedpaw been placed on elder duty on the night of the gathering. Good job, Stormpaw. Sorrelkit and Rosekit made fun of them for that.

Life carried on, though. Even while Stormpaw found his place in FallClan with new friends and a mentor that he more or less liked, he kept in touch with his kin in MarshClan. Sootpaw would help the old messenger, Moldmoss, whenever she had the chance to, and so Stormpaw saw a lot of her even when he wasn’t actively visiting. She would tell him all about how she, Darksplash, Whitepaw, Fawnkit, Duckfeather, Scorchpaw, and Ivybranch were doing, even if Stormpaw didn’t really care much for the latter two. He would travel to MarshClan once a week to meet up with the cats he’d left behind, occasionally bringing Reedpaw with him. Darksplash was always over the moon to see him, and Whitepaw, while still displeased, got over her bitterness towards him and they rekindled the friendly-but-snarky dynamic they’d had when they were younger. Duckfeather always greeted him happily and Fawnkit didn’t seem to remember him, but she was polite all the same. Even Ivybranch was nicer to him whenever he came by, and Stormpaw got the vibe that she regretted the way they’d left off. He wasn't exactly willing to forgive and forget, though, and so he just let the tension hang in the air. He did his best to avoid Scorchpaw during his visits.

When Stormpaw was ten moons old, Sorrelpaw and Rosepaw joined him and Reedpaw in the apprentices’ den with their mentors being Wingbreak and Stoatthroat respectively. Stormpaw was vaguely familiar with them since Duckfeather had been their friend, as had her brother Twistwhisker, the father of Fawnkit. But aside from that, he was pleased to have more cats to spend time with, and the four apprentices formed their own tight-knit little friend group. Together, they would cause all sorts of problems for their Clanmates, all in good fun. Such as the time they all got together on the outer border and smeared mouse blood on their fur, then pranced back into camp claiming to have fought off a group of rogues in the hopes of being made warriors early for their courage. It didn’t work. It actually just caused an unnecessary panic and concern about remnants of the rogue uprising, which Stormpaw had forgotten used to be an actual threat that a few of the elders still remembered firsthand. Good job, Stormpaw. At least it was a valiant effort.

Late into his tenth moon, Stormpaw came back to camp after a fishing trip with his friends to find Sootpaw and Whitepaw both sitting in the center of the main island waiting for him. They looked disheveled and distraught, and he knew at once that something was wrong. Telling Reedpaw, Sorrelpaw, and Rosepaw to go ahead and drop off their catches without him, Stormpaw approached his sisters with dread. They pulled him aside and informed him that the night prior, Darksplash had been killed while outside in a thunderstorm when a stray tree branch had struck him at just the wrong angle. Stormpaw was stunned by the news and learning of it secondhand stung him deeply. He regretted not having been there the way he had for Fernfrost, and he accompanied Sootpaw and Whitepaw back to MarshClan for the night to sit vigil for his father. The loss devastated him. Unlike Fernfrost’s death, it had come out of nowhere and there had been no forewarning at all. It felt as though a freshly healed scar had just been violently reopened and he wasn’t sure how to cope. He spent a few days in MarshClan with his sisters to help him come to terms with everything, but he couldn’t stay away from FallClan for that long. He left again on the third morning, promising his littermates that he would continue to visit regularly and that he would always be only a few stepping stones away if they needed him.

After returning to FallClan, the next couple of weeks were a haze for Stormpaw. He refused to take time off of training even when Stonesnap offered to let him. Stonesnap was actually very nice to him for little while because he was also grieving— he’d been close with Darksplash when they were younger, after all. But Stormpaw didn’t care about that anymore. Stormpaw’s goal of becoming a great warrior and a leader was no longer just for Fernfrost now. It was for both of his parents, and he couldn’t afford to waste any effort. He determinedly tried to stay active with his friends as well, refusing to fall down the same self-destructive rabbit hole he had found himself in when his mother died. Above all, his primary coping mechanism was to spend more time with Reedpaw specifically. Reedpaw was funny. Reedpaw was fun. Reedpaw could come up with some kind of crazy idea or prank to make Stormpaw forget the grief for a little while. Sorrelpaw and Rosepaw were secondary concerns.

As it turned out, though, Sorrelpaw wasn’t keen on that. She wanted to help and spent a solid two weeks after Darksplash’s death desperately trying to get Stormpaw alone so she could talk to him in private. Eventually, she managed to catch him leaving the apprentices’ den one morning without Reedpaw, and she steered him over to a secluded island not far from MarshClan’s border. There, she pretty much just talked him through his grief and made him agree to try and go about it healthily instead of just focusing too hard on the wrong things. He told her about his intentions to become leader one day and she told him that she thought he’d make a great leader, but to not think of it as any sort of obligation. Stormpaw was surprised and somewhat impressed by the wisdom in everything she was saying to him, and he really took notice of her for the first time. He was grateful for it, though, and they cat-hugged. It was cute.

Anyways, Stormpaw moved past his grief a little quicker and a little more easily after that. Spending time with his friends really did help, especially once he reeled back and started appreciating it for what it was— just pals hanging out— instead of only trying to use it to bolster his mood. There was one spot in particular where he, Reedpaw, Sorrelpaw, and Rosepaw would usually hang out to plot their evil plans- a little pool near the OasisClan border that Rosepaw had encountered on accident one day. The water wasn't too deep there, and it was surrounded by flat, solid rocks. It was not only a good fishing spot, but it was also a good area for them to just chill and chat without being seen or overheard by anyone. It was usually their go-to place where they would meet up and plan their worst— sorry, best— offenses. For example, they put their heads together once in an effort to come up with a plan that would frighten all of the warriors. Why? No reason. They just thought it would be funny. They ended up working together to leave scraps of moss and prey flesh lying around the territory in a broken trail and managed to convince more than half the Clan that there was some kind of swimming badger on the loose. It was working for a good half-moon or so until Stonesnap spotted them setting it up. He ratted them out to Mallowstar despite Stormpaw’s attempts to bargain with him, and Stormpaw was banned from his fourth gathering as well, as were his friends. Stormpaw was mad at Stonesnap for a while after that. At the time, he was aggravated to no end by the lengths Stonesnap went to in order to keep him disciplined, but later in life he was grateful that his mentor had been able to reign him in a bit. Stonesnap knew what he was doing.

Near the end of his apprenticeship, when Stormpaw was eleven moons old, he and Reedpaw challenged each other to split up and catch a certain number of fish in a limited amount of time. It was a game they had played together numerous times, and Stormpaw was not expecting anything to come of it. But when he pulled himself up on his usual fishing island near MarshClan’s border, he unexpectedly encountered a loner trespassing in FallClan territory. Excited by the chance to defend his borders, he confronted her, but found to his surprise that it was a very small tortoiseshell who barely looked old enough to be an apprentice. When she refused to leave, Stormpaw threatened to attack her. He was wholly confident that he could easily overpower her due to her size, and while he normally would not have hesitated to act on his threat, he would’ve felt a little guilty attacking a she-cat so runty and already so scarred. Much to his surprise, however, the loner attacked him first, and it quickly spun into a fight. She proved to be much faster and fiercer than him and he had trouble keeping up with her, which caught him completely off-guard. They taunted each other a bit during the brawl, but Stormpaw mostly had to focus on what he was doing— and in the midst of the scuffle, he got a sizable notch torn out of his left ear. He stood his ground and the loner used the opportunity to swim off, but he was more than a bit shaken at having received a permanent scar. He was not used to being bested in combat, and especially not by a cat who was clearly younger than him. While the experience was jarring, he didn't forget about the little loner, and he often wondered about the strange, strong she-cat he had tangled with.

On an unrelated note, he also got into another physical fight about half a moon later, this time with Scorchpaw on the MarshClan border. Scorchpaw called Duckfeather a better mom than Fernfrost or something and Stormpaw got angry. He probably made fun of Scorchpaw for being abandoned by his dad. They were both rude like that. Stormpaw attacked first and nicked one of Scorchpaw’s ears, unintentionally giving them matching scars, which he was very unhappy about after Reedpaw pointed it out to him. But as a result of that scuffle he got banned from going to his fifth gathering, too, because Scorchpaw had complained to Sootpaw and Sootpaw had come over to yell at Stormpaw and Mallowstar had overheard them. Good job, Stormpaw. My mans went to a total of one (1) gathering during his whole entire apprenticeship and he wasn’t even supposed to be there. That’s impressive.

### Warrior Life

###### (CW: Slight mentions of child abuse throughout. But if you're here, I'm assuming you know what happened to Emberglow and Fernsway. Also a warning just for the Brokenslip thing in general.)

Stormpaw managed to pass his assessment on his first try and received the name of Stormclaw because of his passion and physical prowess. He was given a joint ceremony with Reedstalk since the two of them were the same age, and he thought fondly that it was almost like having a brother. Speaking of which, he met up with his sisters in MarshClan as soon as he could after his warrior ceremony. Upon reuniting with them, he was not surprised to learn that Sootsnow had become MarshClan’s newest messenger. He also made fun of Whitepaw for having to keep her apprentice name longer than them since she was a medicine cat. She threw burrs at him. Fun times.

But anyways, in the moons following Darksplash’s death, Stormclaw had matured considerably. While he still had a streak for causing trouble and suspected that he likely always would, he knew when to stuff it down. He had an easier time getting along with his Clanmates, but even so, the only cats he really spent much time with were Reedstalk, Sorrelpaw, and Rosepaw. *Maybe* Stonesnap if no one else was available, but now that he was a warrior it was considered uncool to spend time with his old mentor. At least, he thought that his friends would think so. He secretly still kinda liked and looked up to Stonesnap.

Sorrelpaw started joining Reedstalk and Stormclaw on their trips to the nursery, too, because her mother was raising her little cousin Tidekit at the time. Tidekit was three moons old when Stormclaw and Reedstalk became warriors, and he was just as energetic and eager to learn from them as Sorrelpaw and Rosepaw had been at his age. Stormclaw liked Tidekit. He thought he was a cute little guy. Tidekit seemed to like Stormclaw. He thought he was a cool big guy. They messed around and entertained each other daily, and Stormclaw thought it was endearing how Tidekit would follow Sorrelpaw around everywhere she went. Everything was lovely for the next four moons.

Stormclaw also visited MarshClan less regularly after receiving his name. He didn’t feel as strong of a need to anymore, and Sootsnow was always popping up at least once or twice a day to run messages anyways. On one of these occasions, she told Stormclaw that Whitebird had gotten her full name and Ivybranch had been killed in a hunting accident. Stormclaw was happy for Whitebird, but a little saddened over the news about Ivybranch. He’d intended to formally make amends with her at some point, but he’d never really gotten around to it. It hadn’t occurred to him that he’d had a limited amount of time.

It did, however, encourage him to make an effort to fix his relationship with Scorchpaw. Sootsnow was very happy about this since Scorchpaw was her friend. Stormclaw was much less thrilled. It was incredibly hard for him, actually. He hated Scorchpaw’s guts still and being nice to him made him want to eat his own tail. Fortunately for him, Scorchpaw wasn’t a fan of it either and they ended up fighting again while trying to sort out their differences. So that was counterintuitive. They gave it up and went their separate ways. Good job, Stormclaw.

An interesting thing happened as he was on his way back to FallClan, though. He encountered the loner again— the same tiny tortoiseshell who had scarred his ear. She was hunting on the edge of MarshClan territory and they had just so happened to cross paths as he was leaving. Stormclaw wasn’t exactly pleased to see her, but they did have an actual conversation instead of beating each other up this time, and it was almost completely civil. She noticed the notch and bragged about having left her mark on him, saying that she was sure he wouldn’t forget her name if he knew it. He begrudgingly asked what it was, and she told him it was Hazel. Hazel was smug and condescending and startlingly straightforward and it kind of bewildered Stormclaw, who had not been looking for such an interaction at all, and especially not with her of all cats. In a way, though, it was almost a bit… charming. He was amused and impressed by this spirited little spitfire named Hazel, albeit in an annoyed and mildly resentful sort of way. He eventually managed to free himself from the exchange after warning her to stay away from Clan territory and they parted ways again. He found that she was lingering in his mind a little more now, though, and for some reason, he decided not to tell any of his friends that he had seen her. That would be a little secret just for him to keep.

Also, he got to experience his second leaf-bare! Stormclaw was pretty chuffed about that. Darksplash and Fernfrost hadn’t let him leave MarshClan’s camp after the ice incident, so that had been the last time he’d gotten to see snow. He found, much to his friends’ amusement, that he still liked rolling around in it and pouncing on the snowflakes just as much as he had when he was a kit. He, Reedstalk, Sorrelpaw, and Rosepaw made a daily habit of visiting their spot near OasisClan’s border, now all frozen solid, and playing games with sticks and stones on the ice. They’d basically just swat stones back and forth and try to hit them past each other with sticks. Some kind of ice-hockey-soccer sort of thing. They didn’t have a name for it. But it was fun.

When Stormclaw was fifteen moons old, however, Sorrelpaw and Rosepaw’s mom died of a stomach tumor. They mourned heavily for her, as did Tidepaw, and Stormclaw did his best to comfort them along with Reedstalk. It was still fresh in Stormclaw’s mind how helpful Sorrelpaw had been to him when Darksplash had died, and he wanted to repay the favor somehow. He didn’t know what he could do to make her feel better, though, and so he just offered to hunt for her and Rosepaw for the next moon until they became warriors. Reedstalk decided to help, and so they did that. They just brought Sorrelpaw and Rosepaw all of their food for a moon. It was a little minor thing, but it made them smile, and Stormclaw was glad to see that. He and Reedstalk would also walk the two of them to OasisClan once a week afterwards in order to visit their father, because they had never gone without their mother before and did not want to be alone. Occasionally Tidepaw would tag along. Stormclaw had never actually been to OasisClan before and he found that he didn’t really like it all that much. There were too many trees, and Sorrelpaw and Rosepaw’s dad seemed to be judging him and Reedstalk whenever they came to visit. He still put up with it for his friends, though, and pretended to be having fun. They seemed to buy it. Good job, Stormclaw.

Also, later that moon, Stormclaw got to see his second HorizonClan hike- and the first one he was actually old enough to partake in. He was *so* excited. He remembered Darksplash showing off to him and his sisters the celebratory stone he’d once gotten for winning the thing. It had been buried with him when he died, but Stormclaw wanted to carry on that tradition. He went in a group with Reedstalk, Sorrelpaw, Rosepaw, and Tidepaw. They actually had a blast. It served to cheer everybody up some. There was lots of playing around and daring each other to do stupid things. And they only nearly caused one avalanche! Only one! Isn’t that crazy? In any case, they were the second group to make it to the top in spite of all their shenanigans, and Stormclaw was satisfied with that. It was a good time for all of them.

The following moon, Sorrelseed and Rosefoot passed their assessments with no issues and became warriors. Stormclaw was happy for them and glad to be sharing a den with all of his friends again. At least, he thought he was. But it turned out that Rosefoot and Reedstalk had apparently begun courting without his knowledge, and suddenly they were always all over each other and being disgustingly cheesy and lovey-dovey all the time and never paying any attention anymore to him or to Sorrelseed. Stormclaw didn’t like that. The pair became mates two moons later, rarely separating from each other, and Stormclaw was bored and annoyed without his partner in crime to goof off with. He still had Sorrelseed, but she was much more goody-goody and rule-abiding on her own. He missed Reedstalk. Also, he found out that Lynxstar had died. That was sad. But he’d always thought that Skypelt was a good deputy and he trusted that as Skystar, she would lead MarshClan well.

At around that same time, though, a ton of kits were born and a couple of more were brought into the Clan, so Stormclaw could always spend time playing with them when he had nothing better to do. He particularly liked Weepingkit, Slatekit, Ebonykit, and Flowerkit, because they were zealous and fun and seemed just as prone to action and/or mischief as he had used to be. A part of him hoped that he could mentor one of them, but he knew Mallowstar would never trust him enough for that after everything he had pulled during his own apprenticeship. The other kits in the nursery, Milkweedkit, Silentkit, Goldenkit, Skykit, and Brokenkit, were much quieter than their denmates, and while Stormclaw always liked to see them, he didn’t interact with them nearly as much.

When Stormclaw was eighteen moons old, two moons after Sorrelseed and Rosefoot had become warriors, OrchidClan held another daylight gathering. Stormclaw was still haunted by the last one he’d gone to and had no interest in attending this one, but Rosefoot was into it and that made Reedstalk into it and Stormclaw was willing to go along with anything Reedstalk was. So they, along with Sorrelseed and Tidepaw, who were unwilling to be left behind, made the trip. Stormclaw got to see Sootsnow and Fawnpaw there and it was nice. He got to actually talk with Fawnpaw for the first time in… a while, really. They’d only exchanged awkward nods at gatherings prior to this and it was a good opportunity to reconnect with his cousin. Stormclaw still felt pretty awkward with all the grooming and flower-exchanging that was going on, but on the bright side, Reedstalk decided to be entertaining and took a turn on the Flowerstone essentially just to make an attempt at stand-up comedy. Stormclaw made fun of him for this. It was actually quite nice and he was glad he’d done it afterwards— not that he would ever admit it.

Just a few days after that, he and Sorrelseed went fishing together just for the fun of it. Reedstalk and Rosefoot were off doing their own thing, and they were bored, so why not? They went to a smaller island near MarshClan’s border and goofed off a little as they fished, teasing each other and joking around as is typical. Stormclaw caught considerably more fish than Sorrelseed did, but he still wasn’t satisfied, because he’d decided that on that particular outing his goal was to catch a pupfish. He had never caught a pupfish before. Pupfish were known for being rare. After about an hour or so of trying, Sorrelseed made fun of him for his determination and said she’d leave him to it, gathering up both of their catches and heading back to camp. Stormclaw was annoyed by this. If it was Reedstalk, he would’ve stayed and competed with him.

Luckily for him, though, he didn’t have to dwell on that for long— because only a few minutes after Sorrelseed left, a new cat drew his attention from the MarshClan border. And that cat was none other than Hazel. Stormclaw was astonished to see her there, unable to wrap his head around how she was *still* strolling right into Clan territory after, what— at least seven moons— and somehow hadn’t been caught or chased out yet. He figured that had to take skill. Reluctantly abandoning his quest for a pupfish, Stormclaw swam across to the border where he stood and talked with Hazel a bit more. Logically, he knew that he by all means ought to be evicting her from Clan land. But… well, he didn’t really… *want* to. Truthfully, he might’ve been a little bit intimidated by the way Hazel held herself with such unwavering confidence and acted as though she had every right to be wherever she was. He already had the nick in his ear as a reminder of what happened to those who tried to force their will onto this ferocious little cat. And so he humored her. They spoke of their families, and Stormclaw mentioned that his sisters lived in MarshClan. Hazel mentioned having four brothers, which Stormclaw thought sounded like a nightmare. He also learned that her favorite prey was rabbit, which he made fun of her for and began singing praises of fish and how wonderful they were. Hazel did not like this. They teased each other a lot. Stormclaw found that he was actually becoming quite fascinated by Hazel. She was like no one he’d ever met before, so wild and lively in a way that made his pelt tingle and his paws itch. She had a sharp tongue to rival Whitebird’s and bright green eyes so full of spirit they could’ve glowed. When Hazel requested that he meet her again in the same spot the next day, he agreed. She was interesting. She was… kind of pretty, actually, in a rough and windblown sense. Stormclaw tried very hard and failed to dismiss that thought.

In any case, when he returned to camp with no fish at all and looking somewhat dazed, Sorrelseed asked him what had happened. Stormclaw said nothing happened. Sorrelseed did not believe him. He made something up quickly and said that Sootsnow had passed by and he’d lost track of time while talking to her. Sorrelseed refuted this by pointing out that Sootsnow had actually briefly stopped in the camp with a message from OasisClan while he was gone, meaning he was clearly lying. Stormclaw got embarrassed and snapped at her. She snapped back at him. Then he apologized and said he’d just run into “some loner” and that it didn’t matter. Sorrelseed, hoping to lighten the mood, teasingly asked if it was the same one who nicked his ear. Stormclaw freaked out for a second before realizing she was just making fun of him, and then grumbled that it wasn’t and he’d taken care of it. Sorrelseed was confused as to why he hadn’t just said that in the first place, but she decided not to push it if he didn’t want to share. So they were just kinda awkward with each other for the rest of the day. Stormclaw didn’t actually know why he didn’t want to tell anyone about Hazel. It wasn’t because he was afraid of getting in trouble. He had no problem with that. He was used to that. He supposed he just wanted something for himself— something that he could enjoy privately, that wasn’t known or shared by his sisters or his friends or his Clanmates. It was a thrilling feeling, having something to hide. And besides, he wasn’t keen on what it would do to his reputation if word got out that he was spending his free time with a trespasser.

He did, however, meet up with Hazel the following day as he’d promised, after nagging Sorrelseed into taking his place on a sunhigh patrol. That not only freed him at the right time, but it also got Sorrelseed out of his fur, so it was like catching two fish in one scoop. Hazel met him at the MarshClan border just like she’d said she would, and the pair got to talking with considerably more ease than they had the previous three times. Hazel showed a slight interest in the warrior code, and upon being told about it, proceeded to insult every rule. Stormclaw was slightly taken aback by this, but he also found it pretty funny, so it cancelled out. He was also somewhat surprised when Hazel referred to him as her friend. Were they friends? That thought hadn’t even occurred to him. He supposed that they were. A part of him found it a little shameful to be friends with an outsider, but he wrestled that part down. He was friends with *Hazel,* a sassy she-cat who kept him on his toes and was never boring. *That* he could live with. Anyways, Hazel decided that she wanted to go hunting with him. Stormclaw was alarmed. He felt like hunting with a loner was probably something he shouldn’t do. But then he thought that things he shouldn’t do were usually his favorite things to do, so he decided to do it. Plus, he couldn’t really say no to Hazel. So he figured he would go along with whatever she dictated and just do his best to conceal the fact that he was atrocious at land hunting.

Unfortunately for him, Hazel was good at it. She was also good at running. Like, really good. She was really fast. Hazel suggested that they both go sprinting all the way to the moor past the edge of MarshClan’s territory so they could hunt there instead, and Stormclaw didn’t really have much of a choice but to go along with it. So he ran after her to the best of his ability and almost popped his lungs. He did it, though! Good job, Stormclaw. They hunted for a bit afterwards and Stormclaw got lucky and managed not to embarrass himself. When he finally figured that he should return home before Sorrelseed or his other friends started to miss him, he and Hazel agreed that they should start meeting up like that on a daily basis.

And so they did that. It gave Stormclaw something new to do with all the kits nearing their apprenticeship, with Reedstalk and Rosefoot always being preoccupied, and with Sorrelseed’s existence starting to annoy him. He would meet Hazel at sunhigh each day, swimming to that same island just beyond the border and waiting until he saw her approaching. Sometimes they ran, sometimes they hunted, and sometimes they just talked. Stormclaw learned that she was two moons younger than him and got to see her little heather patch home and found out about her harsh upbringing and the origin of her scars. Stormclaw thought that was a little horrifying and talked about how great his own parents had been in contrast. They just chilled together every day for a while, and surprisingly for Stormclaw, it was fun. He actually enjoyed their little outings very much, and over the span of the next moon or two, they sort of evolved from semi-rivals to genuine friends. They were crushing kinda hard on one another before too long. Stormclaw thought it was nice. He thought *Hazel* was nice. They were nice. HazelStorm was nice.

When Stormclaw was twenty moons old, Sootsnow came to him with more news: Fawnflower was a warrior now, Duckfeather had died in a cave-in, and Scorchstripe, who had only gotten his warrior name a few moons prior, had left the Clans to become a rogue. Stormclaw was pleased for Fawnflower and he didn’t really care about Scorchstripe, but it did pain him to hear about Duckfeather and he once again traveled to MarshClan to attend her vigil that night along with Wingbreak and Stoatthroat. He’d never really appreciated Duckfeather as much as she’d deserved and now he kinda wished he had. He probably mentioned it to Hazel the next day. She probably sympathized, or at least something vaguely like it. Stormclaw wouldn’t have noticed. He was pretty down bad by that point and thought everything Hazel did was amazing. He even dipped midway through that year’s big fishing competition so he could meet with Hazel on time. Sootsnow and his friends were somewhat bewildered by this, but he caught something on his way back and then told them that he’d just wanted to fish somewhere quieter. Good save, I guess.

Not everything was smooth, though. Sorrelseed, for instance, posed a problem. Kind of. Not through any fault of her own, but Stormclaw was still getting increasingly fed up with her because she kept unwittingly interfering with his and Hazel’s date thingies. Sorrelseed just wanted to spend time with her friend and was suspicious as to why he kept vanishing at the same time every day. She tried to follow him a few times and he yelled at her. She was kind of concerned that he might be doing something bad, but she didn’t look into it or confide in anyone else. She decided to trust him and just stopped questioning it after a while. Stormclaw didn’t pay any attention to this. He kind of drifted from Sorrelseed during this period and didn’t even really notice since his thoughts were so consumed with Hazel all the time now. He also missed several group visits to OasisClan because they overlapped with his meeting time with Hazel. His friends were a little miffed at him for not providing a good excuse as to why he wasn’t coming, but Stormclaw didn’t worry about that either. He figured that they’d get over it eventually. Probably. Good job, Stormclaw.

Also, after a bit of thought, he decided to tell his sisters about Hazel and no one else. He was a little worried about MarshClan cats picking up her scent on their territory and so he requested that they didn’t do anything about it in case they saw signs of her having been there. He also felt that it was probably fair enough to let his family know about the cat he was kind-of-sort-of unofficially courting. Sootsnow was delighted and incredibly happy for him. She wanted to meet Hazel and Stormclaw awkwardly explained that he didn’t think Hazel would be too keen on that idea. Whitebird, on the other hand, did *not* approve. She thought it was just like Stormclaw, finding some way to bend the rules even when it came to something as loose as romance. But she was also confident that it would be just like all of his other rebellious little passions: fleeting and shallow, and she anticipated that he would fall out of the fling as quickly as he had fallen in as soon as the thrill had worn off. Stormclaw was severely offended by this and yelled at her for a good long while. She was unfazed, which only upset him more, so he stomped off all angrily. He proceeded to spend the next several meetings with Hazel just complaining about how much of a sopping hairball Whitebird was. He didn’t tell Hazel what exactly she’d said, though, because a part of him knew that it had hit so close to home because it hadn’t been entirely wrong. He chose to try and forget about it, and things were fine.

Two moons after Duckfeather died, Petalleaf was also unexpectedly killed due to complications from a tick bite. Stormclaw had never been close with his aunt, so while he asked Sootsnow to send his condolences to Fawnflower, he didn’t come back for her vigil. He was a little taken aback, though, when the following moon, Sootsnow told him that Fawnflower had moved to HorizonClan. That was a far trek and he figured he would rather just see her at gatherings than regularly travel across the length of two Clans just to see a cousin he wasn’t too tight with anyways. Sootsnow was irritated by this and tried to change his mind, but he insisted that there was nothing wrong with that until she gave up and agreed to let him do what he wanted. Good job, Stormclaw.

When Stormclaw was twenty-four moons old, Rosefoot announced that she was expecting Reedstalk’s kits. He was pleased for his friends and even more pleased that Rosefoot would be moving to the nursery, thus giving him a chance to spend some time with Reedstalk again. Excited at the opportunity to go back to having adventures with him, Stormclaw proposed only a few days later that they go exploring past FallClan’s outer border together just to see what they might find. He’d heard from several cats that there was a twolegplace far beyond the territory, and while he had no intention of going that far, he thought it might be a worthwhile venture just to see what was along the way. Reedstalk was reluctant, not wanting to leave Rosefoot behind, but Stormclaw insisted until he gave in. He explicitly didn't tell Sorrelseed what they were doing because he was getting a little bit sick of her company and he wanted a refresher.

So they set off, just the two of them, just like the good old days. Stormclaw was delighted to have Reedstalk back at his side for another trip into the unknown, and they spent the better part of that day just loping around the outer territory and enjoying themselves. They made fun of ugly looking plants, raced each other into the horizon, bickered for a while over good kit names, and failed miserably at catching some rabbits. Unfortunately, those good times were not meant to last. While they were on their way back, a feral dog came across them. It was a hungry mutt that evidently had some kind of an infection that was driving it crazy, and it attacked the pair without restraint. They weren’t sure if it would be able to cross FallClan’s stepping stones, but they didn’t want to risk leading it to their camp, either, and so they veered aside and let it chase them along the outer border away from Clan territory. Reedstalk was faster than Stormclaw, though, and Stormclaw fell about a tail-length behind. The dog ended up lunging for him and seizing him by the right flank, sinking its teeth in and shaking, leaving him with a gruesome injury that would later leave a permanent scar. He kicked and clawed at the dog, but it would not let go— not until Reedstalk whirled back around and flung himself at it, forcing its muzzle off of Stormclaw to where it instead found its way around his throat. The dog broke Reedstalk’s neck in one clean snap and advanced again on Stormclaw. Good job, Stormclaw.

Left with no viable alternative options, he turned and kept running with the dog at his tail until he came across a tree nearing the edge of OasisClan territory. He had never learned to climb, but he figured it couldn’t be too difficult when your life depended on it. He managed to scramble up the trunk and onto the lowest branch and he stayed there, peering down at the barking dog until it eventually gave up by nightfall and retreated back in the direction of the distant twolegplace. He didn’t move until close to an hour had passed just to be sure. Then, slowly, he jumped down from the tree and made his way back to where Reedstalk had been killed. It didn’t really sink in until he found the body. Even then, the realization that his friend was dead was somewhat muted by the shock he was already in. He dragged him back to FallClan’s camp on his own, making it back so late that it was nearly sunrise, all the while still bleeding heavily from his bite wound. It was a bad night for him. It was also a bad night for Rosefoot, who came out of the nursery upon hearing some commotion just to find her mate dead. She was furious and screamed at Stormclaw for several minutes, demanding that he justify himself for making Reedstalk come along and for not saving him. He was a little too numb and lightheaded to think of what to say by that point though, and Rosefoot didn’t like that. She blamed Stormclaw for his death and ran out of the camp. She never came back, and her scent trail only led far past the outer border. She just straight up left the Clans. Just like that. Good job, Stormclaw.

With Reedstalk’s death and Rosefoot’s departure, Stormclaw was left with Sorrelseed as his only companion. The recently named Tidewave was also still around, but he also seemed to sort of blame Stormclaw for the incident and became a lot less friendly. Slatepaw and Ebonypaw had changed Clans, and Stormclaw didn’t interact much with Weepingpaw anymore anyways. It took a little while for Stormclaw to really get a grip on the fact that he’d caused the death of his first and best friend and driven one of his other good friends to just leave behind everything she’d ever known— everything including Sorrelseed, her sister. Sorrelseed was trying to be there for Stormclaw. She was trying to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault and that it would be okay and all that. He wasn’t buying into it. He was sad and traumatized. After coming out of his grief fog, though, he was a lot more hardened and jaded and snappish. He’d lost a considerable amount of his sense of humor in the healing process and turned to serving his Clan as his new and most important duty.

Also, while he was recovering, he missed two meetings with Hazel just because he was in a good amount of pain and couldn’t really move and was also really sad. But he felt guilty about it, and by the third sunhigh after the accident, when he could sort of decently walk again, he worked up his courage and went to their meeting spot at the usual time. Hazel was there even though he'd failed to show up the last two times, which he thought was quite kind of her. She was angry at first, but she eased up once he explained what had happened. She brought him back to her heather patch and they talked a little bit about it. Stormclaw confessed that he’d gotten the idea from their hunting trips past the outer border and she told him it had been a stupid plan. It was a blunt remark, but he knew she was right. He also learned that Hazel had some basic herbal knowledge and thus was able to continue tending to the injury on his flank almost as well as a medicine cat could. He ended up spending a couple of days just living in the heather patch with her, in part to enjoy her company as well as to recover from Reedstalk being brutally murdered in front of him. It worked, kind of. They griped at each other a lot, as was mandatory, but they were cute. Once Stormclaw had gotten his paws back under him a bit, they hunted and chatted a little and they admired the night sky. She made him forget his guilt and grief in a way that Sorrelseed couldn’t. He appreciated that. After the topic of prey came up, he also suggested to her that they try burying some rabbits to save them for the upcoming winter. They did that, marking their spot with a branch they'd broken off of a bush in OasisClan territory. They also stayed up late on the second night and renamed Venus because they thought it was just a really bright star. They named it Aurora at Hazel’s suggestion. Stormclaw thought that was an incredibly dumb name for a star, but he went along with it just for her. Anyways, they had a fun time and sort of fell in love, with sentimental confessions and everything. It was actually really sweet. When he finally decided it was time for him to return to FallClan, they both agreed that he should come over and spend the night with her every so often— and that he did. It was romantic and quite lovely and they kind of considered themselves to be mates after that without even formally having to ask.

But anyways, when Stormclaw finally came back home three days after he had left, Sorrelseed screamed at him. As it turns out, she wasn’t happy about him disappearing with no warning right after she’d lost her parents and her sister and Reedstalk (incidentally, her father had also died during the few days Stormclaw was gone). Stormclaw kind of just stood there like an idiot and blinked at her while she yelled at him on the verge of tears, because he hadn’t even considered how she would feel about it and now he felt like a jerk. Good job, Stormclaw. He got harshly berated by Stonesnap and received a flurry of frantic messages from Sootsnow and Whitebird, too, and then he felt super guilty about just ditching everybody without saying anything about it. It did give him a little bit of a wake-up call as to how many cats actually did still care about him, though, and he swore to himself not to do something like that ever again. Even so, deep down, a small part of him still thought that it had absolutely been worth it. For Hazel. Hazel was worth it. He still didn’t tell anyone about her, partially just enjoying the secret and partially afraid of getting into some kind of trouble for it. At least he had a new source of excitement and joy in his life.

When he met up with her again the day after, he decided that he wanted to repay her good deed by showing her how to fish. He was very excited about giving her lessons in his favorite pastime and completely failed to notice how weird and hesitant she was acting, because he’s just an observant bloke like that. She made very minimal progress and he tried to be encouraging, continuing to try and teach her for several more meetings until she unexpectedly blew up at him. He was totally blindsided and had no idea why she was suddenly yelling at him and claiming to hate fishing and water when she’d previously seemed to have no problems with any of it. She’d actually just been covering it up to try and avoid tainting his opinion of her, but Stormclaw would never know that. He got defensive and argued with her and they separated bitterly that day. He felt bad afterwards, though, and knew he had to make it up to her somehow. He didn’t know what to do, though, until he suddenly had an idea late that night. Invigorated and sure that it would work, he slipped out of his nest and swam over to a more distant island closer to OasisClan territory that was surrounded by deeper waters. That, at least according to the elders, was where pupfish nested. He would catch Hazel something special— something rare. That would show her that he cared.

So Stormclaw stayed up fishing for a pupfish for the entirety of that night. He even resorted to diving at one point, and he actually saw one, and even nearly had it before it darted away between his claws. He was getting worried that it wouldn’t work by the time the sun rose, but fortune was in his favor. Only about a half hour before sunhigh when he was supposed to meet Hazel, he got one. He was overwhelmingly pleased with himself. A part of him wanted to bring it back to camp just to show off to Sorrelseed and Stonesnap, but he resisted the urge; this was for Hazel. And so he brought it to the border, tired but tingling with anticipation— only for Hazel to hate it. She got even more angry. She started hissing about how she hated fish as prey, too, and how he should’ve inferred as much. This was news to Stormclaw. He was hurt and irritated and also low on sleep and he yelled back at her. This was their first major fight and they both stalked off sourly without even actually spending any time together. Stormclaw was very unhappy about this.

But hey, at least he got to bring the pupfish home after all! He shared it with Sorrelseed. Sorrelseed continuously complimented the catch and it made him feel a little better. He liked that. He also, upon some reflection, recognized that he’d been kind of being a big jerk to Sorrelseed and apologized for that. She only brushed it off as not being a big deal, and neither of them addressed the elephant in the room, which was the fact that he was clearly doing something near the border that he deemed to be more important than her. Sorrelseed suspected that he was seeing someone and Stormclaw knew that she suspected. It made him somewhat uneasy. But neither of them wanted to risk making things worse, and so it was left unspoken of.

The next day, Hazel didn’t show up to their meeting. Uh oh. Stormclaw was a little worried about that. He hadn’t meant to upset her like that and he intended to apologize. This time he went with something that he *knew* she would appreciate and decided to catch her a rabbit. It took some trial and error, but he managed to get one for her and he took it over to her heather patch. He found her there, but to his alarm she’d been pretty badly injured by some rogues attempting to steal her territory earlier in the day, and that was why she hadn’t shown up. He gave her the rabbit as a peace offering and kept her company for the rest of the day. He knew he was doing a good thing by making her feel better. But *he* didn’t feel good. The whole time he was with her, he kept worrying about what his Clanmates would be thinking. Hadn’t he sworn he wouldn’t do something like this again, vanishing for a whole day? But it wasn’t like he could voice that to Hazel. He knew she wouldn’t understand, and their relationship was already fragile enough at the moment. When Stormclaw opted to spend that night with her in the heather patch as well, it wasn’t really because he wanted to. He did it just to please Hazel more than anything. So that really wasn’t ideal.

As much as they tried to make it work, Stormclaw and Hazel’s relationship was far from easy to maintain, and they only continued to fight after that incident. Stormclaw was starting to have an increasing amount of trouble getting away from his duties to see her on time and he began to miss their meetings more and more frequently. His friends and family were another source of strain on his romance, as Whitebird urged him multiple times to end quickly it before it got too serious and Sorrelseed’s constant presence never made anything easy. She was still trying to spend all the time she could with him when he wasn’t away with Hazel, because, as it turns out, she was crushing on him and had been for a long time. She saw their situation of shared grief for Reedstalk and Rosefoot as an opportunity for them to help each other heal and she kept trying to be flirty, knowing that what Stormclaw needed now was another close friend to confide in. She also hoped that acting in such a way would make him tell her what he’d been doing at the border for the past fifteen moons or so, but unfortunately for her, he didn't notice. As previously established, Stormclaw was amazingly terrible at noticing things. He had no idea she had feelings for him, and even if he had known, he wouldn’t have returned them. He cared for her as a friend, but nothing more.

On the bright side, though, more kits were born or brought in during this time frame that he liked to spend time with. The three that he found the most entertaining were Sunkit, Redkit, and Weedkit. They were chaotic and never failed to amuse him whenever he swung by the nursery. Fireflykit and Gorsekit were less rambunctious, but that was fine. Stormclaw was fond of them anyways.

Also, on one occasion, while he was sneaking back to camp at sunrise after spending a night with Hazel, Stormclaw found Brokenpaw trying to drown himself and decided that was a bad idea. He pulled him out of the water and yelled at him for being stupid before helping him back to camp. I mean, he didn’t know it was a(n indirect) suicide attempt, because Brokenpaw broke his paw against the rocks (ba-dum tssss) and probably passed it off as having just being a bad jump, but still. Yes. Stormclaw felt good about himself and was relieved that he’d been passing by at just the right time. Good job, Stormclaw.

When he was twenty-seven moons old, he got to go on his second HorizonClan hike. It stung a little, not being able to go with Reedstalk or Rosefoot, but he went with Sorrelseed and the reluctant Tidewave and it was fun enough. He let Hazel know a couple days beforehand that he was going to be missing that day’s meeting and promised he’d tell her all about how it went. They didn’t win. They didn’t actually have that much fun, either, because Tidewave was being passive-aggressive the whole time and Stormclaw returned the hostility and Sorrelseed was fed up with both of them. They were, in fact, one of the *last* groups to make it to the top. But hey, at least there was an attempt!

Three moons after that, there was another daylight gathering in OrchidClan, too. Stormclaw didn’t go. He didn’t really deem it worth missing his date with Hazel- especially not without Reedstalk and Rosefoot. He spent that day describing the daylight gatherings to her and trying to make them sound as dumb as he could to make himself feel better about not going. Whatever floats your boat, pal.

And one moon after *that,* Mallowstar died at the ripe old age of 112 moons! She was succeeded by her deputy Ducksun. Stormclaw hated Ducksun and was one of his most outspoken critics, being severely unhappy about the fact that the tom was too sick at the time to receive his nine lives. Ducksun died before even a moon had passed and Milkweedcall became FallClan’s leader after him. Stormclaw was even more aghast by this. He was not a fan of Milkweedstar. He thought Milkweedstar was an idiot. It was made a little better after Weepingbrook became his deputy, because at least she could manage the Clan, but he still was less than pleased about it.

Very shortly after Mallowstar’s death came the annual fishing competition. Stormclaw was thirty-two and it was the third one he had ever taken part in. He was meant to be helping out Sootsnow and some of her friends, but he kinda just bailed again. He didn’t want to risk making Hazel upset if he was a little behind on time, and now that he knew she hated everything related to water, he had a feeling she’d be even less sympathetic. If Sootsnow was annoyed with him, he could deal with that— he knew she’d get over it quickly. Hazel, on the other paw, was a little harder to judge.

Anyways, that relates back to the main story. Stormclaw and Hazel kept on meeting up even as it became more and more forced and tense, and even though Stormclaw was beginning to have some serious doubts about their relationship. He felt as though he was being disloyal to his Clanmates and his obligations as a warrior, having trouble splitting his relationship and his ambitions, and was now feeling guilty about keeping their romance a secret— mostly from Sorrelseed, whom he had an odd feeling would be angry with him if she knew the truth about Hazel. Stormclaw eventually requested that they meet up less often, as it was getting to be a bit too taxing for him. Or, really, although he would never have said it out loud, he just wasn’t willing to put as much effort into finding time for Hazel as he had once been. Hazel was unhappy, and it created yet another bone of contention between the two, but she agreed with him. Stormclaw knew that he wasn’t being fair to her, but he tried not to let it bother him. He could think up infinite excuses if given the time.

As much at fault as Stormclaw was, though, Hazel herself was not easy to stay on good terms with, either. She was harsh and difficult, traits that Stormclaw had overlooked when they had first been getting to know each other, and their arguments were increasing in severity and frequency. And the biggest thing was that, as bad as it made him feel, he was beginning to lose interest— just as Whitebird had predicted. When they had been younger and more carefree, their relationship was a fun and daring sort of thing. But ever since Reedstalk had died and life had really caught up to Stormclaw, it had been getting to be too much for him. It was too demanding, too limiting. Stormclaw hadn't exactly been ready for a full relationship when he'd gotten with Hazel, and in the end, it meant far more to her than it did to him. He knew that they were starting to fall apart and he couldn’t think of a way to salvage the situation. He knew that Hazel would never join FallClan. MarshClan might not have been out of the picture, but he knew he could never leave FallClan, either— and what was the point of Hazel joining MarshClan if he wouldn’t get to be there with her? And so, with a heavy heart, Stormclaw figured that it would be the best thing for him to just nip it in the bud before it was too late.

And so, when he was thirty-six moons old, after eighteen moons of ‘dating’, Stormclaw left Hazel. He approached her at the border with the sole intention of ending it, and he barely let her get a word in. It was cold and it was quick and it was harsh and he did it all on purpose. He wanted to make it easy for Hazel to blame him and easy for himself to get it over with. But nonetheless, it was a *bad* breakup. When he turned his back on Hazel, she was begging him to stay, and it tore his heart apart. But he did it anyways. He walked back across the stepping stones and never once looked back. And that was that.

Stormclaw was pretty closed off and bitter afterwards. He was weighed down by regret and he buried it under resentment. He channeled a lot more attention on battle training, for no particular reason except to have a physical outlet for his emotions. He told Sootsnow about the breakup the next time she stopped by FallClan, and she in turn forced Whitebird to come over for a visit so they could try and make him feel better. They did not do a good job. Whitebird only talked about how she hadn’t liked Hazel from the sound of her anyways and turned it into an "I-told-you-so" sort of thing, and that only made Stormclaw feel worse. So he yelled at them until they left. Then he felt even more bad. Not even the presence of three more kits in the nursery, Eelkit, Swallowkit, and Halfkit, could improve his mood. Eelkit was missing a leg and therefore didn’t get around much, Swallowkit was taken to OrchidClan by her mother at two moons old, and Halfkit, despite being his old denmate Pondstep’s son, was very withdrawn and rarely left the nursery. Stormclaw couldn’t have been bothered to really even get to know any of them at all. Good job, Stormclaw.

To distract himself and make himself feel better, he turned to Sorrelseed. She was massively relieved that he finally seemed to be noticing her presence, and the two rarely separated for the next couple of moons. They fished and went on walks every day and occasionally dropped by MarshClan together. Stormclaw could never really find enjoyment in it, though. Ending his relationship with Hazel did a number on his heart, and he didn’t think it would open back up again anytime soon. That’s why it took him completely by surprise when Sorrelseed brought him to their island by the border one day and asked him to be her mate. She explained that she could tell he was drifting and it was scaring her and she wanted to be by his side to help him the way she had been wanting to for moons. And Stormclaw, still rebounding, said yes. Good job, Stormclaw.

He agreed to be her mate before he could give himself time to really think about the decision. He told himself that he needed this, despite the fact that he had no romantic interest in Sorrelseed at all. He told himself that it was fine because *she* initiated it— that it was a good thing, really, because he was giving her something she had been wanting for moons. But there was no real substance to their relationship at all. It was far from being healthy or stable, and just as with Hazel, they started getting into frequent fights. It wasn’t long before they were even more distanced from each other than they had been when they were just friends. Sorrelseed could tell after a little while that despite having agreed to her proposal, he had no feelings for her after all, and Stormclaw knew that she was onto him. It made their interactions very uncomfortable and tense. They both made an effort to stay friendly with each other on the outside, but Sorrelseed wanted something more while Stormclaw was hoping their relationship could stay pretty much the same as it had always been. It was different and awkward for both of them, though. Tensions were pretty high to the point where any of their Clanmates could have felt it whenever they were together.

One of these Clanmates who noticed was Tidewave. Tidewave did not approve of the dynamic. Tidewave had always been quite close with Sorrelseed, and he rightfully thought that the way Stormclaw was treating her was awful. He confronted Stormclaw about it one time and it led to a pretty bad standoff in which Tidewave struck a nerve and Stormclaw only just barely refrained from attacking the younger tom. They kind of hated each other after that. Tidewave would make edged comments and direct provoking insults at him whenever he had the opportunity, and would continuously and non-subtly try and convince Sorrelseed to leave him whenever he could. Stormclaw did not want to end this relationship the same way he had ended the one with Hazel, though, and Sorrelseed, not even knowing about Hazel, was still determined to try and make it work somehow. It was a stressful time. But Tidewave was a big problem, and on one occasion he caught Stormclaw outside of camp and kinda just went off on him. Stormclaw didn't like being called out and got all defensive. This made Tidewave angry. Tidewave attacked Stormclaw, and since it had been unexpected, he was actually able to sink his claws pretty deep into his shoulder. Stormclaw flung him off, though, and the rapid motion caused Tidewave's claws to drag through his flesh hard enough that it would end up leaving a lasting scar. Stormclaw pretty easily overpowered the younger tom and pinned him down until he yielded, but Tidewave's mark had been left on him all the same, a permanent reminder of how unfair he was being. Tidewave was very smug about it. Stormclaw was not pleased. He told everyone that the scratch was from a sharp rock and refused to give any more details, although Sorrelseed had her suspicions.

Stormclaw was *also* not pleased when Sorrelseed suddenly started hanging around a lot more with Weepingbrook and another she-cat named Permafrost. Not because he didn’t want her to have friends, but because every time he walked into camp from then on he would see the three of them sitting in a corner somewhere and judging him. He didn’t really appreciate that. He was pretty sure they were also trying to get Sorrelseed to dump him. He felt kinda bad, but he tried his best to ignore it. He didn’t want to get any further on the deputy’s bad side than he was already.

On the bright side, though, Stonesnap and his mate Brookfeather had a daughter named Oceankit at around this time. Stormclaw probably came to see her in the nursery a few times. Again on the the not-so-bright-side, though, Stonesnap proceeded to immediately leave for HorizonClan and then die in a scuffle with rogues a few moons later. So… that was unfortunate. Stormclaw mourned his passing and went with Stonesnap’s family to the vigil where he awkwardly got to sit with some random HorizonClan cats, including the newly appointed Aspenstar and the two toms’ sister, the Clan deputy Crowflight. It was weird and uncomfortable. So Stormclaw didn’t enjoy that. He wasn't enjoying much, really. It was a super long and unpleasant first four moons after he left Hazel. But hey, more tone switching- not all was bad! Four more kits were born a bit after Oceankit: Vulturekit, Dormousekit, Volekit, and Thrushkit. Stormclaw found Dormousekit amusing and liked Thrushkit’s brazenness, even if their father Goldthicket kept them busy most of the time.

Also, another HorizonClan hike happened at around this time, when he was thirty-nine. Stormclaw did not go. Sootsnow tried to convince him to come with her and a few of her friends, but he wasn’t budging. Sorrelseed (probably?) went with Weepingbrook and Permafrost and he didn’t have any other friends because he sucked like that. So he just spent that whole day fishing on various islands by himself to try and avoid running into Tidewave, who had also stayed behind. Good job, Stormclaw.

When Stormclaw was forty moons old, however, Emberkit came to FallClan. She had been found by Sorrelseed and Weepingbrook past the outer border near MarshClan with her dead brother, whom they had buried prior to bringing her back with them. Emberkit, three moons old and extremely timid, was looked after by Brookfeather and Goldthicket’s mate Russetwisp. Normally, Stormclaw didn’t pay too much attention to the shyer and quieter kits, but something about her was a little different— something just seemed a little *off.* She had strange scars marring both sides her face and she didn’t seem particularly inclined to interact with anybody, not even the queens or other kits. She seemed almost familiar in some weird way, and something in his head told him that he had to get to know her. So he did. He went out of his way to engage the young kit, learning that her mother had greatly influenced her withdrawn personality and that she had a strong distaste for rabbits. He learned about how FallClan’s waters made her feel safe and comfortable, and, on a whim, he offered to bring her out of camp for a swim. He brought Emberkit to the little pool near OasisClan’s border where he had used to have fun with his friends. There, he told her a bit about everything he had used to do in that spot, and learned a bit more insight into Emberkit’s past. They ended up getting along quite well, and she came to trust him with time. He was much more fond of the little kit than he had expected he would be.

Oh yeah, and remember Goldthicket? He got exiled two moons after Emberkit joined the Clan. Why? Because he murdered Russetwisp’s sister Whirlwing right in the middle of the camp in front of her and their kits. Yeah, not the brightest thing to do. Stormclaw was somewhat mad about that and he tried to spend more time with all the kits in the nursery to make sure they weren’t too traumatized. They still were. But at least he tried. Good job, Stormclaw. He also missed another daylight gathering in OrchidClan.

But in any case, when Stormclaw was named Emberpaw’s mentor one moon later, they were both very pleased. Stormclaw was excited to have at last received an apprentice, and even more excited that it was a kit he had liked. He and Emberpaw trained very well together. She had a unique but efficient way of catching fish and she swam better than some of the warriors Stormclaw had seen. Battle training was considerably slower, but Stormclaw was patient with her. He still didn’t know what exactly was drawing him to Emberpaw, but he was glad for it. It let him get close with a cat whom he otherwise wouldn’t have looked at twice. That realization was actually a bit eye-opening and he decided to try and spend time with all of the kits from then on, and not just the ones who amused him.

One moon after Emberpaw became an apprentice, the yearly fishing competition was back on. Stormclaw paired up with Sootsnow again and Emberpaw was probably with them, too. If she was, Stormclaw would’ve formally introduced her to Sootsnow and would’ve been amused to find out that they’d actually spoken once before, one time while Emberpaw was a kit and was venturing through the territory. They probably had fun. It would’ve been the first time Stormclaw had actually enjoyed one of these things since he was eight moons old.

Aside from that business, though, a cat named Ashface joined FallClan during this period and became the new mediator. Normally, Stormclaw wouldn’t have cared. But Ashface was weird. She moved and spoke strangely and often rambled about seeing colors and odd tastes. Stormclaw didn’t think much of it and avoided her when he could. But she seemed to have an inherent dislike towards him, or at least something like it. She approached him often with cryptic comments that he interpreted as being passive-aggressive, and he was starting to get fed up with it. During one of these altercations, Ashface went off on a tangent about how she loved dogs and how friendly and sweet they were, and that was the final straw for Stormclaw, who, for obvious reasons, was decidedly *not* a fan of dogs. He determined that Ashface was bad and annoying and wrong about everything and refused to have anything to do with the mediator. This was a bit of a problem, considering that his regular quarrels with Tidewave often demanded Ashface’s presence. Ironically, though, it ended up helping, because in order to avoid having to deal with Ashface, Stormclaw stopped reacting to Tidewave’s attempts to provoke him and their animosity sort of just dwindled off over the next few moons. Good job, Stormclaw.

Also, at some point around this time, one of his Clanmates- a younger tom named Mottledgorse- was *also* exiled after being caught clawing his daughter Fernkit. It was the second exile Stormclaw had gotten to witness, and it was less than half a year after the first. He was very angry about this one, though. As a certified lover of children, injuring kits was very high on his list of unforgivable offenses. This is a surprise tool that will help us later. But in any case, he was one of the most outspoken cats when it came to kicking Mottledgorse out of the Clans. He tried to hang around a little with Fernkit afterwards, too, but the poor kit was so hostile and bellicose that he ultimately just backed off and decided to give her space to heal on her own.

But anyways, training! Stormclaw was relieved that Emberpaw wasn't difficult and unruly like he had been, and for the first time, he started wondering how Stonesnap had ever even survived training him. He bragged about her to Sootsnow and Whitebird a few times and also used her training as an excuse to avoid Sorrelseed more than once. He was proud of the warrior she was shaping up to be, and happy that he got to play a part in leading her there. He cared a lot about her and looked after her in a vaguely paternal manner. When she was ten moons old, Weepingbrook got pregnant and moved into the nursery, leaving her apprentice Valorpaw without a mentor. He was technically reassigned to Sorrelseed, but he wanted to tag along with Emberpaw and Stormclaw more often than not. Stormclaw didn’t mind that and more or less took over Valorpaw’s training for the final moon of his apprenticeship. He liked Valorpaw well enough, but he also suspected that he had eyes for Emberpaw and he was a little suspicious of that. I digress, though. Valorpaw passed his assessment and became Valorstorm before too long and Stormclaw was happy for him. Emberpaw's apprenticeship was nice and smooth for the first... five moons, let's say.

Meaning... everything was pretty much fine and dandy until very soon before Emberpaw became a warrior, because during one of their usual fishing trips, she unexpectedly mentioned Hazel by name. What. What? Stormclaw’s brain kind of short-circuited, because how did she know who that was? Some probing led to the revelation that Hazel was in fact her mother and had been an abusive monster to Emberpaw and her two littermates, embittered by their existence after her mate left her. She had given Emberpaw the scars on her face before abandoning her with her brother Abyss, who died soon after. And suddenly everything clicked into place. The angle of Emberpaw’s ears, the curve of her tail, the way she raised her chin ever so slightly when she was making a point— those was all from Hazel. And the short thickness of her fur, the spacing between her whiskers when they twitched, her quiet but self-assured posture— those were all *his.* The moons all added up. Hazel had been pregnant when he left her. And suddenly, staring into Emberpaw’s bright green eyes, all Stormclaw could see were her mother’s glaring back at him. Accusing. Hating. And he didn’t trust himself to speak. He had unknowingly ruined this young cat’s life. He was her father. He had a son who was dead. And somewhere out there, he had another daughter.

Stormclaw didn’t say anything to her about it right then. He didn’t know what he *could* say; he didn’t know what to *think.* He just called off the session early and spent the rest of the day on an island by himself, trying his best to come to terms with everything he had just learned. It was a pretty jarring realization, to say the least. That night, he was visited in his dreams by the spirits of Fallstar and Abyss, the latter of whom confirmed that Stormclaw was indeed their father and that Hazel had mistreated them because of him. Stormclaw was pretty stunned by that. He interacted awkwardly with Void, but promised to protect Emberpaw to the best of his ability, and apologized for being a sorry excuse of a dad. That was actually pretty meaningful, because Stormclaw sucks at apologizing. He had some trouble wrapping his head around the fact that he was a father, but he undeniably felt extremely guilty about what his kits had to endure because of his idiocy. He vowed to be better from then on.

Anyways, as much as he wanted to, Stormclaw knew that he couldn't really put it off, so he pulled Emberpaw aside and told her the truth the very next morning. He apologized to her, but did not ask for forgiveness; whether or not she forgave him would be her decision alone. Emberpaw was understandably angry with him at first, and he knew he completely deserved it. But then, much to his surprise, she for some reason chose to forgive him. Right there on the spot. She didn’t hold it against him at all. He was very confused but also very relieved about that, and was grateful for her, knowing that in her place he never would’ve let it go. So he was glad for how well she had taken it and he brought her to with him to MarshClan where they visited Whitebird and Sootsnow, reconnected with their kin, and had a grand old time. They told stories about their families and kithoods and made fun of each other and bonded. It was great. It was wholesome.

After coming back, though, Stormclaw realized that he still had his relationship with his current mate to sort out. Sorrelseed. That wasn’t great. And knowing what he knew now, he felt even more sorry for having led her on and been essentially using her for the past ten moons or so. He knew she didn’t deserve that. She’d only ever loved and been supportive of him, and he realized that what he‘s been doing was unbelievably selfish and callous. He decided it was going to stop. And so the next time he caught Sorrelseed alone, he told her that they had to talk, and he took her to their island near the border. She knew as soon as they got there that he was going to be breaking off their relationship, but before she could get angry, Stormclaw told her everything. Everything about Hazel, everything about Emberpaw, the truth about where he’d disappeared to during those four days after losing Rosefoot and Reedstalk, when Sorrelseed’s father had died and she had needed him the most. He came clean. He admitted that he didn’t love her— not in the way he had loved Hazel. Not in the way she had hoped. And she admitted that she knew that already. Sorrelseed was not happy with him. But she could see how much he regretted it all and could hear the sincerity in his apology. He requested that she give him one more chance— not as his mate this time, but as his friend. She was reluctant at first, not sure if she could trust him not to ruin what they had again, but Stormclaw promised her that he had learned from the mistakes he’d made. He realized now how much he valued having her by his side and he was determinedly never going to undermine her worth again. She went along with it and they hugged again in a little parallel to the time when they were apprentices. It was cute. They were friendly and more relaxed with each other after that, and while there was still a little bit of awkwardness and tension, they were working to move past it. Good job, Stormclaw.

In any case, at the end of that moon, Emberpaw passed her assessment easily and became a warrior with the name of Emberglow. Stormclaw was extremely proud of her and he made sure she knew it. They went fishing together afterwards and talked a bit more about Hazel and Emberglow’s siblings. Hazel had left Emberglow and Abyss behind when they were three moons old, bringing their sister Moon with her, and Abyss was killed in a fire before even one more moon had gone by. Emberglow had requested the name Emberkit in his honor. Prior to that, her name had been Night. Stormclaw tried to be comforting, but he struggled with it all. It was strange to feel so much grief for a cat he’d never met, whom he hadn’t even known existed until recently. And he had trouble imagining Hazel as he knew her doing all of the awful things that Emberglow claimed she had. He knew that it was true, though, and there was nothing he could do about it now. He just had to do his best to make up for it. And that he did. He continued being as active as he could be in Clan affairs, remaining one of FallClan’s best fishers as well as one of the best fighters, and when he wasn’t honing his skills in those departments, he spent most of his time with Emberglow, Sorrelseed, or any kits in the nursery. Over the span of quite a few moons, these kits included Stepkit, Acornkit, and Bearkit. He tried not to let it bother him that most of the queens didn’t like him. He liked playing with their kits anyways and they would just have to deal with it.

When he was fifty-one moons old, HorizonClan hosted another hike. Stormclaw might’ve gone with Sootsnow and Emberglow. Whitebird, too, actually, because Sootsnow would’ve been able to convince her to go if Emberglow was there. That would’ve been fun. It’s up to Warrior, though.

So at any rate, Stormclaw just vibed for a while. He was surprised and a little displeased to find that Emberglow was becoming friends with Ashface, but he didn’t want to make it complicated. Emberglow convinced him that Ashface really wasn’t bad at all, and he begrudgingly admitted that it didn’t matter to him if she was weird and liked dogs. She could be weird and like dogs if she wanted. That was fine. As long as she was good to Emberglow and his daughter liked to spend time with her, that was all that mattered. He let go of his dislike towards Ashface and they have been on chill terms ever since. He was a little annoyed when Bearpaw was made Tidewave’s apprentice, because he had been hoping to mentor him, too, but he supposed it didn’t really bother him that much. He was mellowing out. He was starting to get his life back together. Good job, Stormclaw.

Somewhere at around this time, Sootsnow brought more news to Stormclaw that was simultaneously uplifting and unfortunate. Apparently Scorchstripe had returned to the Clans, bringing with him three four-moon-old kits: Applekit, Foxkit, and Redkit. He had taken them to OrchidClan and lived with them there for a few weeks, but had died of an unexpected heart attack soon after. Stormclaw was… actually pretty sad to hear of his death, surprising himself. After working through his issues with both Emberglow and Sorrelseed, he’d hoped that he could reconnect with Scorchstripe on better terms one day. Apparently not. But even so, he still tried to keep an eye out for his old rival’s kits whenever he was near one of their borders from then on, and made sure he could be clearly heard cheering their new names when their apprenticeship was announced a couple of gatherings later.

Whatever the case, a few more moons went by. Lavenderstar abruptly closed OrchidClan's borders with little explanation, which also called off the upcoming daylight gathering- a little disappointing, actually, since Stormclaw had been hoping to bring Emberglow to it. Lavenderstar’s excuse for shutting down the borders was that her Clan was struggling with hostile rogues, but Stormclaw still thought it was an odd thing to do. A part of him couldn’t help but think about his dad’s old stories— about how the last leader to do something like that had been the tyrranical Ebonystar herself. He tried not to overthink it or to care all that much. It didn’t affect him personally, after all. Also, Weepingbrook had Milkweedstar’s kits, Torrentkit, Frostkit, and Glorykit. He felt sorry for them when the two she-kits were stillborn, and he wondered how different their grief was from his own for Abyss. Minnowkit was also born a few moons later and Stormclaw liked her because she was a troublemaker. He was more than a little miffed when she got sent to live in OasisClan for her behavior and he was one of the only cats who advocated for her to stay. It didn’t work. Stormclaw was annoyed.

But then the plague started. Oh no. It wasn’t good. The fishing competition got called off. Very sad. Oh, and it also had, like… an 86% mortality rate. So that was frightening! Stormclaw managed to avoid catching it himself, but his Clanmates Eelstride, Pikenose, Larchflight, and Stepleap weren’t so lucky and ended up being killed. Stonesnap’s daughter Oceandusk fell victim, too, and she died within a day of contracting the illness. Stormclaw was a little sad to lose his old mentor’s closest kin, but he hadn’t really spoken to her much since she was a kit, so it was nothing too heavy. He hadn’t known any of the cats who had died very well. He was worried about Sootsnow and Whitebird, though, since MarshClan was where the plague had started— and being messenger and medicine cat, they both had much more exposure to it than the common warrior and were kind of working themselves to death trying to keep everybody alive and up to date on what was happening. He was also just stressed out for Emberglow. Something like a sickness was completely out of his control and he didn’t know what he’d do if she caught it.

After Milkweedstar lost all nine of his lives to the plague, Weepingstar succeeded him as leader and appointed Stormclaw, at fifty-six moons old, as her first deputy. He was actually pretty shocked about that, because he’d been pretty confident that she and everyone else in FallClan didn’t like him all that much, but he was all the same pleased with his new role. It proved to him that his Clanmates had noticed and appreciated his efforts to better himself, and it gave him motivation to keep trying. He vowed to continue working to improve and to not disappoint them. After everything that had happened to him, he’d kind of forgotten about his old dream to become FallClan’s leader, and while he no longer had any desire to become one, he was still quite fond of his position and hoped to serve FallClan well in the seasons to come. He also asserted to himself that it was enough to fulfill his promise to his parents that he would one day make them proud. Good job, Stormclaw.

He also awkwardly tried to comfort Emberglow after the death of Larchflight, who had been her almost sort-of boyfriend. She showed him the grave she’d made for Abyss, and he helped her collect flowers to decorate it with. They sat together in peaceful mourning for few minutes and it was kinda sad but still wholesome and lovely in a bittersweet sort of way. We love father-daughter bonding in this house. They are healing and we’re proud of them.

Another source of concern was the fact that shortly afterwards, *all* of the borders were shut down as per Aspenstar’s suggestion. Stormclaw was less than thrilled about that. It stopped him from seeing his sisters, who needed all of the support they could get right then. He disagreed with the decision and argued that he didn’t see the point in bothering to stop cats from crossing borders, as the plague was in every Clan already and anyone could just catch it from their own Clanmates anyways. He was salty about the change in the rules and was one of the senior warriors who griped about how something like that would’ve never happened when he was a young whippersnapper. Old man moment.

But in other news, now that he knew where Abyss’s grave was, he would return to the site at least once a week, even if only for a few minutes, just to sit and reflect and repent, sometimes with Emberglow and sometimes alone. Sorrelseed also kept him company on a couple of occasions and he still liked to drop by the nursery, where there was now a whole new generation of kits, and an enormous one at that. It consisted of Turtlekit, Puddlekit, Rainkit, Mallowkit, Shellkit, and Mosskit. He helped to keep them entertained sometimes in order to give the queens a break and he came to be quite fond of them all.

Several more cats were lost to the plague over the following moons, too, including Bearfrost, Deerpelt, Cinderstream, Auburnpaw, and Sunstriker, the last of whom left her two newborn kits orphaned. Stormclaw felt quite bad for Downykit and Seedkit, and he came by the nursery a lot to play games with them or tell them stories along with Sunstriker’s old friend Fireflyleap (who ended up leaving soon afterwards anyways). Everything was fine and dandy for a bit if you ignore the part about a solid quarter of the Clan dying.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Emberglow told him that she wanted to leave FallClan with Ashface for a bit in search of Moon, her sister. Stormclaw hadn’t been expecting that. He was a little worried about it and briefly considered coming with her, but he knew he couldn’t leave FallClan behind— and in truth, he didn’t want to. He supported Emberglow’s decision, though, and wished her safety and the best of luck. If nothing else, she and Ashface would at least be safe from the plague for a bit. They gave each other awkward cat-hugs and exchanged even more awkward “I love you”s, and it was super sweet. Then they left, and Stormclaw spent the next several moons worrying about the fact that his daughter was now traveling aimlessly around the moor with a crazy cat who couldn’t hunt or fight in search of her long lost sister who, by the sound of it, had hated her the last time they interacted. In hindsight, it wasn’t the greatest of plans. But hey, how else would they ever find Moon?

Once the older kits had come of age, he received Turtlepaw as his second apprentice, much to his delight. Even better was the fact that her brother Puddlepaw was apprenticed to Sorrelseed, meaning that they could hold joint training sessions and spend some extra quality time together. It was less good, however, when both of the medicine cats died to the plague. Like… almost back-to-back. Seedpaw went first and was followed by Crystalrock only about a week later. This left the six-moon-old Puddlepaw, who had initially wanted to train as a medicine cat, as the only cat in all of FallClan who had any sort of training in that field. He became the apprentice medicine cat straight away and Turtlepaw spent all the time she could helping him with his work. Stormclaw tried to be understanding. He wasn’t sure how to balance his apprentice’s training with her concern for her littermate, but he still managed for the most part. Turtlepaw was a good and dutiful apprentice, and he enjoyed working with her even if it was a little harder than it had been to train Emberglow.

In any case, Stormclaw was kind of lonely after that. He had his deputy business to keep him busy, but now didn’t have his daughter to spend time with when he was free. He continued training Turtlepaw and continued visiting Abyss’s grave, though, sometimes bringing flowers in Emberglow’s stead. It was a little strange to him. The only other grave he ever visited was Reedstalk’s, and he didn’t do that regularly. His parents’ graves were away in MarshClan and Stonesnap’s was in HorizonClan and he didn’t really care enough about anyone else’s to keep track. He found that he liked visiting Abyss’s grave, though, and got into the habit of just kinda talking to him there. Stormclaw was a sad dad doing his best.

At around the same time, Sorrelseed unexpectedly started inviting him to hang out with her, Weepingstar, and Permafrost whenever they were chilling around camp. Stormclaw went along with it somewhat awkwardly because he had nothing better to do. He was surprised to find that they did not, in fact, hate him. They were fine with him as long as Sorrelseed was, and Weepingstar trusted him as her deputy. He was grateful for that. As time went by, he got a little more comfortable wi to the group. He was still worried about his family, but he had some friends now and Turtlepaw’s training was still running smoothly.

It turns out the worries for his family were well-founded. One morning, FallClan’s messenger came back from the daily border meetup with the news that Sootsnow had contracted the plague and was not in good shape. Stormclaw was very unhappy about this. Very unhappy. He was extremely upset that his sister could be dying and he wasn’t even allowed to see her. It was an incredibly stressful final moon in which he spent more time pacing restlessly back and forth than actually doing anything productive.

But when Stormclaw was fifty-nine moons old, the plague finally ended. A strange group of cats calling themselves the Travelers procured a cure in the form of a strange herb that worked wonders. Slowly but surely, the sickness- “deathcough”, as it had been dubbed by the medicine cats- faded away. Not without claiming a few final victims, though, those (in FallClan) being Fisherfrost, Acornlight, and one of Weepingstar’s lives. Stormclaw was glad it was gone, though, and even gladder that Sootsnow had not been among those killed. For the first time in a long while, he started feeling like he was able to relax. When the borders finally opened two moons later and Sootsnow was one of the first non-FallClan cats to cross into the camp, Stormclaw was massively relieved to see her. They hadn’t been able to see each other in almost a year- and that was the longest Stormclaw had ever been away from his kin. They hugged and it was cute and Sootsnow brought him back to MarshClan where they met up with Whitebird and Fawnflower, who had already been fetched from HorizonClan. They had a nice little family reunion and Stormclaw talked about Emberglow and Turtlepaw and learned that Whitebird had a new apprentice and Fawnflower now had a mate and was hoping to have kits soon. He was happy for them. It was wholesome. He went back to FallClan thanking StarClan that his kin were all safe.

But the laws of roleplay dictate that no happiness can ever last. Shortly afterwards, when Stormclaw was sixty-three moons old, something interesting happened! He received a message from two MarshClan cats, Firsong and Rillwing, saying that some strange loner near their outer border had requested to meet him in "their usual spot". Yeah. Um. Stormclaw was not overly pleased about that and it kind of set his world a bit off kilter. For a couple of days afterwards he just tried to ignore the invitation and avoid the border, trying to convince himself it definitely wasn't his child-abusing ex-wife returning after twenty-seven moons, but he knew he would continue to feel uneasy until he buckled down and went. And so he ultimately did. He pulled up at their usual island. And voila, there was Hazel. Sitting there and waiting for him. And in that moment, it didn't matter how much he had prepared himself to meet her again; the sight of her took his breath away. She looked like he remembered, but she was so different now. She had so many new scars that he didn't think would've been there if he'd stayed. She still had that same fierce look in her eyes that made his heart flutter and his blood burn. It didn't feel real- after all these moons, here he was, with her again. And neither of them were the same.

They greeted each other cautiously and Hazel called him by his old nickname. *Fish-cat.* Stormclaw expressed his amazement that she had returned and found, much to his chagrin, that he was still somewhat captivated by the sound of her laugh. Then she congratulated him on having a daughter. Stormclaw froze for a moment at that, but from her phrasing he deduced that she had only heard that he had one from Rillwing and Firsong. She did not know who Emberglow really was. That was good. Hazel explained that she had come because she had encountered a rogue in twolegplace named Ruby who was reportedly amassing an army to take down the Clans, and she had hoped to warn him. So that was interesting news. But before Stormclaw could dwell much on it, she proceeded to tell him that she'd had his kits after he left her. This was... *not* news to Stormclaw. He had been hoping to avoid this topic, but hearing her talk about them after what he now knew she'd done ticked him off. She mentioned that they had looked like him, and Stormclaw couldn't stop himself from firing back that he knew. He kinda went off on her for ditching Night and Abyss and justified knowing about it by telling Hazel that Abyss had come to him in a dream, which technically wasn't a lie. He just completely neglected to tell her that Emberglow was living in FallClan, mostly because he didn't want to put her in danger and bring Hazel back into her life in any way, shape, or form. He really wanted to yell at Hazel for physically scarring their kids, too, but he couldn't really bring that up without revealing Emberglow's existence. So he determinedly kept his mouth shut on that subject. Good job, Stormclaw.

Anyways, it was a very tense and awkward exchange after that until they got back to talking about the rogue thing. Hazel revealed that Ruby had blinded her right eye and insisted that she posed a major threat to the Clans, and Stormclaw... despite everything, believed her. He didn't feel like she would lie about something like that, even if he had every reason to think it. And he had always been a follower of his heart, not his head. Besides, if something could beat Hazel, it had to be pretty tough. So he thanked Hazel for the information and congratulated her on her own new kits, Sorrow and Broken. He was somewhat relieved to see that they appeared to be healthy and unafraid of Hazel and he was glad to see that, but also felt ever so slightly jealous in spite of himself at the fact that she had evidently taken another mate. Before she left, though, Hazel also asked if he'd seen Night with Abyss. Stormclaw hesitantly let slip to her that he hadn't, thinking that she didn't have to know where Emberglow was, but she didn't have to think that she was dead, either. Hazel told Stormclaw that she thought Night would've liked him. It was awkward and sweet and also kinda sad. But then Hazel and her daughters took off and Stormclaw was left kinda sitting there, now on slightly less bad terms with his ex and with the knoweldge that A) She was still alive and had someone else’s kids now, B) Moon was last seen in twolegplace somewhere, and C) there was a great big army being formed to come and destroy the Clans. What. The heck.

So in any case, he returned to his camp and tried to shove all of the Hazel stuff into the back of his mind while he pulled aside Weepingstar and told her that the Clans were all in danger. She was dubious at first and Stormclaw very adamantly defended Hazel’s trustworthiness and in the process kind of confessed that the cat he got the information from was his ex, which was kind of awkward. But it worked and Weepingstar put him in charge of preparations and told him he’d get to be the one to explain everything to the other four Clans at the next gathering. Great. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to that. But he took it with grace and tried his best to be reassuring in his own sort of gruff way. Weepingstar also asked if Hazel would be a problem and Stormclaw misunderstood the question and was like “no we’re not dating anymore” and confused Weepingstar and made it kind of awkward, but that’s neither here nor there. He decided that he was gonna start prioritizing battle training for everybody and assigning extra patrols around the outer border as soon as Weepingstar announced the situation and that was that.

[insert description of announcement??? I’m assuming that happened? I wonder how that went??]

The morning after the announcement, Sorrelseed tracked him down on their usual island where he’d been fishing for a while already, waiting for her to join him. He knew that they would have to talk about what had just transpired, and when Sorrelseed asked if the loner had been Hazel, he confirmed it. He told her what had happened. He’d meant it when he had promised to be honest with her. Sorrelseed asked something to the effect of “you still love her, don’t you?” and Stormclaw really didn’t know how to respond to that. She started to say “it’s fine if you do” or something similar but he cut across her and stated that it actually wasn’t. He couldn’t just tell her what Hazel had done to Emberglow- it wasn’t his place. But he really wanted to, and he wanted Sorrelseed to recognize that he wasn’t keeping secrets from her on purpose. Not anymore. And she accepted it. They just kinda awkwardly fished in silence for a little bit before Stormclaw remembered that Sorrelseed had been the one to first find Emberglow and Abyss’s body on the border all those moons ago, and so he pointed out that she’d buried his son. She replied that she had. He stated that he wished he could’ve done it instead. And there wasn’t a lot left to be said after that, but Sorrelseed offered some quiet comfort and brought things to a more positive note by referencing a few inside jokes that they’d shared with their old friends. They wrapped up their catches a bit later and went back to camp in time for Stormclaw to stay on schedule. Friendship goals!

Soon after that and soon before the gathering, HorizonClan hosted another hike. It was the first Clanwide event to be held since the plague had started, and Stormclaw was happy to go, even with everything that was weighing on his mind. He joined Sootsnow, Fawnflower, and her mate Owlcrash for the trip. They probably had fun. Or at least something like it. Stormclaw was moderately distracted the whole time, but it went fine overall.

At the actual gathering, he gave his announcement and it went about as expected. Whitebird almost exposed his love life in front of everyone, which was slightly upsetting, but it was only to support him by revealing that she had received a sign of a hazel branch a while back. Swallowfrost also spoke of an omen. So things didn’t look too good. Stormclaw also had to resist the urge to throw hands with Palestep, but that’s beside the point.

The next morning, the authorities all met up at Silver Falls again with a few warriors to discuss plans. Stormclaw turned up with Weepingstar, Sorrelseed, and Brokenslip. He was a little put off to hear from Whitebird that Clearstar had basically decided to shut down MarshClan, but aside from that they did work out a lot of information. Stormclaw himself mostly pushed for battle training and stockpiling prey. Afterwards, he said a few encouraging words to Foxpounce, whom he recognized as Scorchstripe’s son, before leaving. Good job, Stormclaw.

So he was in charge of a good amount of the preparations after that, and he got to work to the best of his ability. He ran training classes and increased the frequency and number of cats on border patrols and once or twice a day would send hunting parties to meet with MarshClan cats on the borders to be given rabbits, which kept better than fish. Between all that, he kept on training with Turtlepaw, and at twelve moons old she passed her assessment and was named Turtleheart. He was happy with that. He was proud of her and pleased to have done his job well yet again.

Anyways, that’s where we are now. Stormclaw is currently working hard to prepare everybody for the upcoming war and feels kinda responsible for making sure all of his Clanmates are safe and well equipped to deal with whatever comes their way. He is also still working on his overall demeanor and is actually having a considerable amount of success in making everybody stop hating him. He's still sorting out his relationships with Emberglow and Sorrelseed, too, but significant progress has been made. He's also still pretty worried about Emberglow while she’s gone. He really hopes nothing dumb happens to her. He hopes nothing dumb happens to anyone he cares about, actually. He’s just generally worried.

## Other

### Trivia

* Good job, Stormclaw.
* His voiceclaim is Chief from Isle of Dogs.
* A lot of details will have to be refined here. Like... which cats actually exist, for instance. If I mentioned a character who's been retconned out of existence, then lemme know and I'll delete them. I'll work with it as it goes along.
* Even now, Stormclaw will instinctively look for his and Hazel’s star every time he sees the night sky. It’s more of a habit than anything, and as much as he wishes he could stop, he just can’t help it. Whenever he finds Venus/Aurora he gets a crushing feeling of melancholy and has to just sit and stare at it for a while.
* He’s not that big on physical affection and prefers to express himself through words. If he really cares about someone, he might show it through little gestures like tail brushes or touching his nose to an ear, but not much else— at least, not since he left Hazel. That’s why it was notably sweet when he hugged Sorrelseed, Emberglow, and Sootsnow those few times, even if they were the ones to initiate it. Ironically, he used to be very touchy-feely when he was younger, but he lost that over time. He is slowly but surely starting to open back up, though.
* As observed by Shiba, he kins Larry from Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. If he was a human his name would be Larry. He just seems like a Larry. Lawrence. Lawrence and some kind of German last name, because he just feels like he should be German. I don’t know.
* Fernfrost’s greencough never actually improved at all. She just knew she was going to die and faked recovering near the end so she’d be let back into the nursery. She wanted to spend her last few days with her kits. Darksplash was the only cat she admitted this to, and there was nothing he could do to change her mind.
* Ever since finding out how much he enjoyed playing with kits, Stormclaw had wanted to have some of his own. He sort of lost sight of that dream after leaving Hazel, though, and he had no interest in having kits with Sorrelseed. He’d pretty much given up on ever becoming a father by the time Emberkit joined FallClan. Fortunately, fate had some surprises in store for him.
* His favorite kit names have always been Thunderkit for toms and Carpkit for she-cats. He doesn’t know why. But he used to think that if he ever had kits, he would name them that.
* Originally, the dog that attacked him and killed Reedstalk had rabies. I changed that because it bit him and making it rabid would be... not good in that respect.
* He looks stormy. That’s perfect. I like his design. It was made by one of my irls, not me (Starling). She did great. Bless her heart. I just tweaked it a little for ABWRe.
* If Darksplash had named him instead of Fernfrost, his name still would’ve been Stormkit. It just fit him that well.
* When he first joined FallClan, Stonesnap failed to explain how to avoid getting earfuls of water while diving. Stormpaw had to teach himself the hard way.
* His favorite prey has always been fish - no particular kind, just all fish - and he enjoys teasing his kin in MarshClan about it. He doesn’t dislike rabbits, but they’re not his favorite. He frequently ragged on Hazel for loving them so much.
* If he was *forced* to pick a favorite fish, he’d probably say cod. But he really has very little preference. They all taste more or less the same to him. Meaning they taste generically good.
* In addition to that, his favorite color is blue. And while he doesn’t like to admit it, his favorite flower is still heather. Because it reminds him of… well……
* His love language is, perhaps surprisingly, words of affirmation.
* He hates the smell and texture of dust.
* I admit that he was absolutely inspired by Crowfeather. He's just a tad less edgy and considerably more likable.
* Personality-wise, I think he would be a Capricorn. Yes, I am a star sign nerd. Do not judge me.
* This is in large part because my dad is a Capricorn and Stormclaw vaguely reminds me of my dad. He just has those vibes.
* He used to call Hazel "Hazel-cat" sometimes as a joke, because she would often call him "fish-cat". It actually sort of makes sense in context and it's funny. You can see why in his quotes if you're curious enough.
* I accidentally called him Armclaw once.
* He never learned how to climb trees. He’d be ashamed to admit it, but it is true. He only managed it during the dog incident due to the magic of adrenaline. If you put him in front of a tree now, he would simply just look at you sadly.
* This man will never be leader. Assuming the rogue uprising doesn't end his whole career, he will peacefully retire to the elders' den once he's old enough. But if he ever did become leader, his nine lives would be from Fernfrost, Darksplash, Duckfeather, Ivybranch, Scorchstripe, Stonesnap, Reedstalk, and… two others. Probably the previous leader and possibly Abyss. Who knows. Not me and it doesn’t really matter.
* It at one point came to Warrior’s attention that most of the songs on Taylor Swift’s *Lover* album fit HazelStorm really well. I, Starling, would like to add onto this by saying that whenever I hear Anti-Hero come on the radio I can also only think of HazelStorm. Taylor Swift is just their jam, I guess.
* He may or may not have also played around a bit with Cinderstream, Deerpelt, and Larchflight when they were kits. It depends on whether or not they were born or raised in FallClan. We will simply just never know.
* Stormclaw is such a dad. He would watch football on the couch and sneeze at astronomical volumes and get really excited about buying a minifridge and shake snacks before eating them and stare at construction sites for a long time and randomly remind people to check their oil and be obsessed with the free mint bowls in restaurants and adjust all of the mirrors in a car just to pull forward 7 feet and write things on paper in all caps and have an unnecessarily thick wallet and take grilling way too seriously and ask for weird things for his birthday like gravel for the driveway.
* Also, I was very general with the time framing in his backstory. It’s, like, 90% accurate I think, but there are a few mistakes that it would be too complicated to correct concerning the specific ages of some characters. But you know what, that’s fine. We ride the lightning.
* by fallclan beauty standards he is canonically a dilf i’m sobbing

### Playlist

* Why so much Taylor Swift? Because Taylor Swift is a queen and so are HazelStorm now be quiet

### Quotes

[Original RP]

*"Yeah. You tell that fish." - (to Reedpaw during their second meeting.)*

*"Ivybranch’ll tear my ears off for doing this instead of catching rabbits, but then again, when have I ever cared what Ivybranch thinks?"*

***Stormpaw:** "You FallClan cats are cool."*

***Reedpaw:** "We are?"*

***Stormpaw:** "Never mind. I have to go. If I’m not back with a rabbit soon, I’ll be forced to take care of the elders or something.”*

*"Right. Games to the death are my favorite." - (to Hazel during their first meeting, while they're supposedly fighting to the death)*

*"Hello, Hazel. I’m sure you’re more than capable of shredding me, but I’d actually prefer if you didn’t. Thanks.”*

***Stormclaw:** "No one else has caught you yet? It's been a few days."*

***Hazel:** "I stay pretty well hidden. Except from you, of course."*

***Stormclaw:** "I'm flattered."*

*"I'm quite used to being yelled at. In case you haven't noticed, I'm very annoying."*

***Stormclaw:** "How exactly, may I ask, am I odd?"*

***Hazel:** "No, you may not ask."*

***Stormclaw:** "Oh. Well, alright, then."*

***Stormclaw:** "Hey, you haven't insulted me yet today. Are you feeling alright?"*

***Hazel:** "Of course I am. Don't be stupid."*

***Stormclaw:** "Alright, alright. I'm not being stupid. I've never been stupid. I'm the least stupid cat you'll ever meet."*

*"So what'd you think of that? It seems I can still hunt on land after all. I'm not such the average fish-face, then, am I?"*

*"I don't mind stupid. Go ahead and stupid to your heart's content."*

*. **Stormclaw:** "Myself, I don’t understand how anyone could enjoy living on the moor with this vast expanse of water right there beside them, just waiting to be swam in. But to each their own, I guess.”*

***Hazel:** "Maybe because rabbits are the best prey ever?"*

***Stormclaw:** "Maybe, if their opinions are incorrect. Joking. Don't kill me."*

***Hazel:** "Liking rabbits is the only correct opinion."*

***Stormclaw:** "Yes, ma'am."*

*"I - for some reason - I thought it'd be interesting to venture out past FallClan's borders a little bit. With my friend. I got the idea from the moors we were hunting on, you know. He wanted to stay at the camp with his mate. I convinced him to come along. As it turns out, it wasn't interesting."*

***Hazel:** "Well, it's not quite sunset. What do you want to do now?"*

***Stormclaw:** "Since you're not letting me move around much, I guess our options are somewhat limited."*

***Hazel:** "I'm trying to make sure you don't die. You can thank me when you're in a better mood."*

***Stormclaw:** "Okay."*

*"In FallClan, we sometimes bury fish and save them for the colder seasons since the water freezes over. That might work with rabbits.”*

***Stormclaw:** "A fox or a badger or something might pick up your scent there, though, and they're likely to find the prey and dig it up if it's nearby."*

***Hazel:** "So I'll fight them off."*

***Stormclaw:** "Alright, then."*

*"Sure. I always enjoy a good rock hunt."*

***Stormclaw:** "Maybe I’ll start calling you rabbit-cat. That doesn’t really have the same ring to it, though. Hare-cat? Coney-cat?”*

***Hazel:** "I think you should stick with Hazel."*

***Stormclaw:** "Hazel-cat?"*

***Hazel:** "You're an idiot."*

***Stormclaw:** "I know."*

***Hazel:** "I agree. I like hunting rabbits. Great reward afterward, too. And you stay very fit. There is no reason to not love rabbits."*

***Stormclaw:** "Remember that time you told me to stop rattling off all the reasons fish were amazing?”*

*"The sun really ought to know better than to mess with you."*

*“I love you, too.”*

***Hazel:** “You’re impossible.”*

***Stormclaw:** “No, I’m Stormclaw.”*

*"It was fun while it lasted. Bye."*

*"As a young apprentice, back in MarshClan, I was always intrigued by FallClan from the moment I was taken to the border for the first time. I thought it was fascinating how a Clan could function with so much water everywhere - and it* is *fascinating! Do you like it here?"*

*"I used to want that. It does sound appealing. But... I don't think I'm quite right for that position. I'm too impulsive. Too ambitious. It just wouldn't be a good role for me. Hunting and fighting for my Clanmates as a warrior makes me happy, so that's what I'll continue to be." - (to Emberkit when she asks if he wants to become leader. Ironically, he ends up being deputy later anyways.)*

*"It's... not your fault, either, Emberpaw. Don't hate who you are because of what [Hazel] inflicted on you. You're a lot stronger than you realize."*

*"I will. I won’t let anything happen to [Emberpaw]. I caused her great pain in the past, and it is my responsibility now to make sure that doesn’t happen again. I’ll take care of Emberpaw to the best of my ability, until I’m here in StarClan with you. I promise you that." - (to Abyss)*

*"I'm sorry Hazel was like that. You were all so young. You deserved more. A better chance at life. I'm sorry for taking that away from you."*

*"Yes. Hazel... was my mate. I was - I am your father. Everything she did to you would not have happened if I’d stayed. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry."*

*"There she is, up there. I'm going to sneak up on her. I really am a kit, aren't I?" - (to Emberpaw when he sees Sootsnow)*

*"[Whitebird]’s right. You shouldn't have to feel unwelcome anymore."*

*"Well, you can swim like a fish, and you’re better at catching them than most of the warriors in the Clan, so I’ll daresay you did." - (in response to Emberpaw asking if she passed her assessment)*

*"Okay, I would rather you didn't insult me in front of my daughter, thanks."*

*"Bye, Whitedirt. Thanks for having us."*

*"Maybe keep your voice down. Y'know, so as not to scare away every rabbit on the moor."*

*"Knew it. That's my daughter, alright. Good choice, Emberpaw." -(to Emberpaw after she chooses a fish over a rabbit)*

*"Hey, don't give me that look. Let’s... try to be graceful about this, okay? Like, don’t blow up at me. I’m about to be real upfront and honest here, and I think that’s a good thing. Please?" - (to Sorrelseed right before they have "The Talk"™)*

*"I don't know what I thought. But what I do know is that I'm a rotten fox-heart and I don't deserve you. So I'm telling you the truth now."*

*"Thank you. Thank you so much. I-I don’t know how to put what I’m thinking into words right now."*

*"Hey. I was just visiting Torrentkit. I don’t think Weepingbrook likes me very much, but, well... I can’t really blame her. It’s to be expected. I can already see a bit of Milkweedstar in Torrentkit, though. I’m not sure yet if that’s good or bad.”*

*"At least we still have time to spend with each other. I would have missed this."*

***Stormclaw:** "It can be pretty draining. For some cats, it's probably useful. Like me. I was a troublemaker. But I didn't think you needed that sort of pressure."*

***Emberglow:** "You? A troublemaker?"*

***Stormclaw:** "I know. Unbelievable, right? A straight-laced, rule-abiding cat such as myself?”*

*"As an apprentice back in MarshClan, I was seriously something— I once tried to teach all the kits in the nursery how to stick their paws through holes in den walls to grab tails or steal herbs from the medicine cat. I'd never seen so many warriors so angry."*

***Emberglow:** "You're ridiculous."*

***Stormclaw:** "Thank you. I'm well aware."*

*“That got heavy again. But I think — no. I know you haven’t done a thing wrong. Nothing that happened is your fault. You just got unjustly tangled up in your parents’ messes. But you still managed to come out of it all as a good cat. I admire that."*

*"Aren't parents supposed to be, like, helpful or something?"*

[Renaissance RP]

*"Hey. You came back."* (Stormclaw greeting his ex wife for the first time in 27 years)

"Fox-dung. *You didn't believe any of that for a* second. *[Abyss] was* three moons old, *Hazel. Three moons. They* both *were. You* couldn't *have left them alone and expected them to live. But it doesn't matter anymore, does it? It doesn't matter. It's too late now. Our kits are gone. So carry on about the rogues."*

*"Hazel, I trust your judgment. If you believe that these cats are a danger to us, then I believe you. But I want to know why it is you're warning me."*

*"I see. Er. Thank you. And congratulations on the kits."*

*“I know her. She wouldn’t do that. She lost an eye to Ruby. She knows the risk of what we’re up against. And if we don’t heed her warning, I am sure that we will pay for it.”* (To Weepingstar about trusting Hazel)

*“That’s just life, isn’t it? We all keep going anyways. The Clans have faced fires, floods, diseases, and far more together and thus far, we’re yet to lose. If the rogues are coming down on us next, then we’ll fight like we always have.”*

*“Thank you for trusting me, Weepingstar.”*

**Stormclaw:** *“I just, er… thought I’d get out early. Do some fishing to clear my head a bit.”*

**Sorrelseed:** *“Uh-huh. And how’s* that *going for you?”*

**Stormclaw:** “Swimmingly.“

*“I trust [Hazel]. It sounds fishbrained, but she wouldn’t make that up. She had scars from them. She—“*

*“At the gathering, we’ll make an announcement. Don’t say anything before then.”*

*“No one else, far as I know. Puddlepaw, well… we’re hoping he’ll come to us on his own. He talks to StarClan at night and all. If they say something to him, then we can be sure.”*

**Stormclaw:** *“She had kits with her. Hazel did. They seemed— they looked fine.”*

**Sorrelseed:** *“Kits? Is that wrong of her?”*

**Stormclaw:** *“They looked* fine. *There were two of them. Both mollies. Looked about… Turtlepaw’s age? It’s not wrong of her.”*

*“It* doesn’t *[bother me]. I mean, sure it does. Doesn’t mean she can’t move on, though.”*

**Sorrelseed:** *“It’s alright if you do [still love Hazel], you know. I understand.”*

**Stormclaw:** “No. *It* isn’t. *It’s* not *alright. I— there’s more to it than that. There are— things that you don’t know. About— about her.”*

**Sorrelseed:** *“Like what?”*

**Stormclaw:** *“I, er… well, I can’t tell you.”*

*“I know I did [promise]. I* know *I did. But it isn’t— none of this is mine to say. I wish I could, Sorrelseed. I do. But this goes beyond us. I’m— look, I’m thankful that you want to talk about it. I really am. But this isn’t something I can share with you. With* anyone *else. I’m sorry.”*

**Stormclaw:** *“You buried my son.”*

**Sorrelseed:** *“I did.”*

**Stormclaw:** *“It should’ve been me.”*

*“I’m glad you came to talk. I appreciate it.”*

*“Hey,* you *try it sometime. The carp patrol came back empty-pawed both yesterday* and *the day before, so I sent them between the coastals instead this morning to see if the schools moved closer to where all the crabs are laying eggs, and* that *means that once we get back, before getting Turtlepaw I have to find out if they saw anything and* then *figure out if I want to change the route, which—“*

**Sorrelseed:** *“Quit complaining. You love your job.”*

**Stormclaw:** *“I love my* downtime.”

*“Well,* I *suggest we get to training. Hone our battle skills. Make extra rounds at our borders. Stockpile on herbs. As Weepingstar said, it’s better safe than sorry. Being ready can’t hurt. Are there any objections to* that?”

*“I have very few details. I have shared all I know. And if all of these reports are true, then there is not much we can do but prepare ourselves. There’s no telling how much time we might have.”*

*“Stockpile. Find places to bury extra prey, like Songstar said. We do it sometimes in the winter when the water freezes over. We can do it again now.”*

*“Battle training, obviously. While I acknowledge the necessity of stocking up on prey, I do not think we should make that a priority up until we have to. Foxpounce said, what— a good rabbit will last up to two, three weeks? We ought to wait a couple before shifting our focus, then, just to be sure that we’ll have some still stashed by the moon’s end. Until then, it’s most imperative that we teach ourselves how to really fight.”*

*“Whitebird. If rabbits really are what we want, then we’ll have to assume that Clearstar won’t mind us hunting in his territory.”*

*“You did good. Keep using that head of yours.”*