Hermitclan's Stories (A Hermitcraft x Warrior Cats AU)

(Short) A Prophecy for Mapleclan

CCs used:

None! (well actually there is one but I'd rather not spoil who exactly he is)

Any other characters mentioned are OCs.

"When 3 survivors of a dead clan join forces, they must find what they value most, and make a decision to change the course of a war,"

Tallspruce gasped awake, the Starclan prophecy lingering in his mind for much longer than he'd have liked. The lack of fresh-kill in the Mapleclan borders was taking a toll on everyone, especially the kits who needed so much to eat so often. In fact, Tallspruce ended up so exhausted the day before that he fell asleep in the nursery instead of in the medicine cat den again. He visited often to check the kits and make sure they were all healthy and growing, but lately, he'd been sacrificing some of his own shares of food to help nursing queens and kits who were old enough to eat on their own. He didn't blame Applestar for not wanting to allow this, knowing they already try to give a larger chunk of the fresh-kill to said queens and kits and not wanting Tallspruce to practically starve himself, but he couldn't help but think of helping his clan before himself. He was a medicine cat, after all, they were all prone to these ways of thinking.

He felt a kit snuggle up to his belly, one who he recognized was just barely old enough to eat on his own. A little grey kitten with blue eyes and black paws, ears, and snout, pressed his head against the medicine cat. While he was a naturally skinny kit, the faint outline of his ribcage was not natural, and it made Tallspruce almost want to cry, but he didn't want to wake the little sleeper, so he just curled around him and hoped, at the very least, he could feel comforted in these trying clan times.

Of course, this wasn't made to last. When all seemed to be looking up, when Obsidianclan lended their territory to Mapleclan to help with the dwindling prey population and the clan was thriving so much that it was just about ready to be on its own again, the Dark Forest cats attacked, leaving only a few survivors in its wake. Tallspruce was now walking back from Hermitclan, having led Applestar, now Applepluck, to the Moonstone to return their remaining extra lives and denounce their leadership, as well as leading them to the Hermits where he hoped they could spend the rest of their days in peace.

As he walked onto the bloodstained soils of what used to be Mapleclan, he couldn't help but look into the dens, especially the nursery and medicine dens, to see if anything at all was left around. To his dismay, most of the herbs and berries and other medicinal goods were trampled and torn in the attack, and he would've assumed all had been gone if it weren't for a handful of dock leaves that managed to survive, albeit barely, but they were still useable nonetheless.

Tallspruce almost didn't even go near the nursery, but it was the least he could do to wish the kits and queens still in there a safe departure to Starclan. That and, despite the horrible conditions he knew he'd see them in, he wanted to see his mate, Silverheart, and his little grey and black kit one more time. It was almost funny to him, how he and Silverheart could never choose a name for their little miracle child. Born to a litter of 4, 2 dying at birth and 1 dying during the clan's starvation period, the kit was as lucky to be alive as he was unlucky to have such indecisive parents.

The yellow and brown tabby couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt hit him like a train. The idea that Starclan stopped minding medicine cats having mates was still a new concept, and most clans still saw it as being taboo, if not still outright banning it in the belief that Starclan was still stuck on the old Warrior Code. Tallspruce wondered if the ancient cats really did still mind, and this was his punishment for breaking the Warrior Code, but he pushed those thoughts aside. If Starclan wanted to punish anyone for this, it would've been Tallspruce and Silverheart, not their kit who never asked for it.

The nursery was a sight to behold, to say the absolute least. Tallspruce had to hold his breath from the stench, and he had to change the subject of his eyes quickly, lest he stare for too long at too gory a sight. But as his eyes darted around, and he sent the quick prayer he wanted to send, he realized something.

His mate and kit weren't here. Not even their lifeless bodies. There was no signs that they died, at least not here. It was time for one more quick prayer before he left for good, someplace else where hopefully, just maybe, he'd find his family again.

"Starclan, please," he said, his eyes more shut than they've ever been before, "if Silverheart and our kit are out there, watch over them to make sure they're safe. If not my mate, at least our kit. He deserves to grow and see the brighter side of the world, with or without his fathers."