Warriors: The Chosen Warrior: Final Darkness (Book 6)

Chapter 6

Before she knew it, her paws carried her to the front of the crowd, ignoring everyone she shoved past and bumped into, until she stood in front of her brother. At the sight of her he slithered between Shiningice and Whitesnake to get in full view. The whispers rose up again, most of them containing the question, "Who is that?"

Leafsong did not hide her bristling pelt. "What are you doing here?" She unsheathed her claws, getting ready for anything that could be about to happen.

Stone glanced nonchalantly at her claws; he must have expected this reaction from her. After all, she had thwarted his attack on her and driven him and his group from where they resided at the Horseplace after they were stealing prey from RiverClan and starving them. And she couldn't forget the reasons why he was exiled from ThunderClan in the first place: breaking the warrior code on multiple occasions; murdering an innocent kittypet in cold blood; betraying Clan secrets to rival Clans. He did all this alongside his and Leafsong's sister, Lichen, who was exiled as well. However, there was no sign of the white she-cat in front of the thorn tunnel.

Instead of answering Leafsong's question, Stone focused his gaze behind her at the crowd. "Do my former Clanmates not even recognize me after all these moons? Maybe it's the scar."

"Former Clanmates?" Shiningice echoed, astounded. She and Whitesnake exchanged a glance.

"You never told us you were once ThunderClan," Whitesnake stated, the surprise apparent in his voice.

Stone turned around and looked at the littermates apologetically - a look that Leafsong had never seen on his face before.

"I'm sorry," the tom meowed, uncomfortably sounding sincere. "We thought it would be better to wait until the end of our journey." He glanced at Swiftclaw, who stood to the side with bushed fur as she looked between Stone and Leafsong. Frostdrop still remained tensely beside her.

A flash of orange moved between the gathered cats as Firestar made his way forward. He stopped at the edge. His green gaze did not hold a friendly glint. "Stoneclaw. What are you doing back here? Did you forget that you were exiled?"

At the mention of the forbidden name, the Clan went up in a multitude of shocked gasps and rumbles of comments. Some cats growled and cursed at the StarClan-forsaken cat.

Stone didn't seem to notice any of it, and his voice was dry as he responded. "Nice seeing you again too, Firestar. And I actually go by just Stone now. Since, you know, I'm not a Clan cat anymore."

"You can say that again!" Dustpelt shouted from the crowd. "You're not a Clan cat anymore, so leave!"

"Yeah!" Sandstorm raised her voice. "Do you want us to exile you again, Stone?"

"I'll have you all know," Stone spoke loudly to be heard above all the malicious protests, "that I didn't come back because of you mouse-hearts - I came back to be with my family!"

A pulse of sorrow went through Leafsong. He doesn't know that Goldenfur and Whitefang are dead. He still doesn't even know who our father was. She was about to reveal this to him, but then Swiftclaw rushed up to him, purring. The ThunderClan warrior watched as they twined their tails together, and Whitesnake and Shiningice looked on with pure happiness.

Leafsong stopped stone cold, her mouth gaping.

Stone was the mate of Swiftclaw, and the father of Whitesnake, Shiningice, and Frostdrop.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Another short chapter, but again with a huge revelation, one probably even better (or worse?) than the last chapter, at the end. Oh myyyy I don't know if I can handle this lol. I've had this fact hidden since at least Whispering Leaves, and when I first came up with it I was as shocked about it as you probably are right now XDDD

This could be a good time to take a break from reading to wrap your head around this LOL

Thanks for reading, and a reminder in your shock to vote, comment, add, and share haha (Again, what's your reaction to this?? Tell me in the comments!!)

(also, that "stone cold" thing was not supposed to be a pun XD )