Warriors: Second Strike: Banished to the Dark

Chapter 9

[Maplesnow's POV]

Everyone was just getting back from the gathering. I looked around for Tinyclaw an Witheredpaw nervously. I hated not being able to go with then but it had to happen. Not everyone was able to go at once. Tinyclaw walked in just after Midnightstar with Witheredpaw by her side. I saw Flamefur head out of the nursery quickly and ushered Midnightstar to her den. I flicked my ear at them not sure what they were doing but I never did. I headed over to my two friends with a huge smile.

"Come on! We need to go to the EverClan border and right now!" I said with a huge smile as I twisted through the other warriors to head out of the camp. Tinyclaw and Witheredpaw looked at each other and followed after me.

I was full of energy at the moment and had to hear about everything but I had a few things to tell them. It was rather important but maybe not so happy. One of the things were happy, the other one not so much. It wasn't soon before the three of us got to our spot we always had these deep chats and sat down. The other two sat down so the three of us formed a triangle kind of thing.

"Spit it out already Maplesnow. It's like ticks are in your fur." Tinyclaw laughed as she curled her tail around her paws patiently.

"Great, alright, or bad first?" I asked them earning an eye roll from them both.

"There is no good news or bad news. It is simply news." Witheredpaw said. When did he get so mystical? Who knows and I definitely wasn't going to figure it out anytime soon so I decided to have some fun.

"Fine, I heard Flamefur saying something about Tinyclaw and exile in her sleep." I said with a lash of my tail wondering if that would be considered bad news or not by the mystical Witheredpaw.

"Oh, that is bad news." Witheredpaw said looking at his paws before we both looked at Tinyclaw who was shifting back and forth on her haunches.

"Do you think they could have figured out I'm pregnant? Is that why they are exiling me? I don't want to be exiled with kits!" Tinyclaw said with her voice shaking. She was clearly nervous and I wanted to calm her down but I didn't know what to do.

"I don't know. I couldn't hear everything without getting caught for spying. I'm sorry, but I did see Flamefur and Midnightstar talking when we left. We might learn soon enough." I said looking at the ground quickly before looking back up at them. "Okay, so great or alright news next?" I asked.

"Go with alright. We should work from bad to good." Witheredpaw said with a small smile. I nodded at him and looked at Tinyclaw and saw her still shaking.

"I think I might have crush. She's really nice and shy but her brother is really protective." I told them shifting shyly as I was thinking about her.

"Oh? Who is it? You have to tell us this stuff you mousebrain!" Tinyclaw said with excitement back in her voice. That must have gotten her away from her nerves at least until we get back to the camp.

"Yeah! You have to tell us this stuff! I would tell you if I had a crush on a shecat but that would never happen." Witheredpaw laughed making Tinyclaw and I eye him.

"We will talk about that later, but her name is Shardpaw." I admitted shyly so glad I had fur since my cheeks were burning up.

"The shecat that left because she wanted to go to SmallClan? No, no, no. I will not allows this! That is against the warrior code!" Tinyclaw said with a bit of outrage. I rolled her eyes and saw Witheredpaw open his mouth to speak.

"You broke the warrior code too." The tom reminded my sister causing me to have a small laugh I covered up with a cough.

"At least mine was in my own clan! Not in the clan we are at war with!" Tinyclaw argued. I felt like I needed to step in but I didn't want to.

"It's his heart! He can't control it anymore than you can control yours. Let him have the crush. It will be over sooner or later." Witheredpaw said making me step in.

"Guys, this is getting out of hand. What if I doesn't go away? I'm scared I'm going to get caught too." I admitted curling my tail around me closer.

"I know, but we will protect you always and we will play it off as nothing. I'm sure we can get her to do the same." Tinyclaw said softly and Witheredpaw nodded.

"Now to the good news!" The tom chuckled with excitement.

"I heard from Angelwing that she is expecting kits! Also, Summerstripe is too! That means new kits to the clan that we can raise to be better than us and we might get some apprentices." I said giving my chest fur a quick lick so I could look prouder. Flamefur, Tinyclaw, Summerstripe, and Angelwing would all have their kits around the same time. That would give the clan new blood and new apprentices when they get older.

"That's awesome! I hope I can be a mentor so I can be leader one day. We still missed one thing we never talked about." Tinyclaw said giving a small glance to Witheredpaw.

"And what is that?" The white and black tom asked innocently.

"That you would never like a shecat! What is wrong with that?" I asked him with a chuckle. I had a crush. Tinyclaw had a mate. He was the only one left in our small group of friends that didn't have anyone and now he says he will never like a shecat? He needs to chill.

"Oh, about that. I wanted to say this before, but I just learned it. I'm gay." Witheredpaw said.

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There is the gay babe! He's so innocent. That is adorable. Now, I'm going to do a spacer chapter just to kill you guys and go to the main story.