What if Mapleshade's kits lived

Chapter 21

"No-no-no!", was the only thing that Petal could hear her, her poor bother repeating that one single word, trying to deny the horror that had just unfolded in front of his naive eyes.

Crouching at the edge of death, gridding his claws so hard into the stone, reducing them to boney stumps. All Petal could do herself was stare blankly into the crashing waves. It was hard to believe that her once-beloved mother, were under them, buried far beneath the surface, which hopefully, one day, to become a distant bad memory.

Reality still not fully settling in yet. She could repeat all she wanted: She killed her mother, she killed her mother- Despite that, the words still hung meanless in her head for now. Not considering herself as a murderer quite yet. Undoubtedly, it would set in eventually. Dreading the overwhelming emotions to come.

Her heart pined for Larchpaw, all the way in Shadowclan. He should of been here to witness this.

From behind, she could hear her little sister crackling whales, "Mama!". Petal flinching slightly as she heard the innocent kit call that thing, 'Mama'. The lies she must of feed her. Appledusk, who carried Shykit, was crouched to the stone, violently shaking, eyes unfocused and clouded. While Myler just stood far back, head bowing, wordless.

The young cat, Nettlebreeze stood beside her, his pelt boiling hot and sticky with shame, tail lashing. Gently, Petal placed her paw on it, to keep it still. He blinked at her, clouded over with confusion, "You did what you needed to.", she muttered, "You shouldn't be ashamed of that.". Horror crept over his face as he stared down at the cream coloured loner, towering over her, "Petal- Mapleshade was your mother. How are you so calm?".

Honestly, she didn't know. Though, she just shrugged, her mind frosty and bitter, "Whoever that she-cat was, she was no mother of mine.", with mewed with a huff.

Nettlebreeze paused, before speaking again, his voice now quieter than raindrops pattering onto a leaf, "I have to apologize, how my father and the whole of Thunderclan have treated you and your littermates. You don't deserve any of i-". Though, Petal just flicked her tail into the air, signalling he didn't need to say anymore, "Save your breath, you shouldn't be responsible for apologizing for others' crimes.", Petal mewed, "What's done is done. Nothing can change that. And honestly after I've seen what the Clans capable of, I'm glad I was exiled." 

Nettlebreeze nodded, returning his gaze to waters, where his father's body drifted somewhere. A horrid realisation came over Petal. Wasn't Nettlebreeze alone now? His littermate, Flowerpaw had drowned moons ago, after Appledusk accidentally pushed Birchfall into the river. Then both his parents had died recently, to Mapleshade's and his own bloodied paws. 

"Nettlebreeze- How are you going to cope with this? You're alone now.", Petal muttered. 

"I won't. That's the answer, Petal.", the young warrior mewed emotionlessly, "So many cats have died - If I dare to think about it too much, I'll snap. So I'm only going to focus on the present and hope to never look back." 

In the background, Appledusk was frantically pacing around, getting Shykit to safety, while comforting a whaling Patchkit. He looked utterly panicked, hardly knowing what he was doing. After Shykit had been given to Myler, Appledusk froze when he locked eyes with Nettlebreeze - The brother of Flowerpaw, his accidental victim. 

With an unbearable silence, Appledusk finally uttered, "Do you want me to explain what happened with Flowerpaw?". 

Nettlebreeze turned his back on him, "No - I already know. I wasn't ready to commit to hating you, unlike Oakstar and Bloomheart. So I asked around the Gatherings and know your reputation - You're always the first to flee from battle. You hate it. So killing a cat in cold blood is the last thing on your mind."