TW: child neglect, abandonment, child abuse, child death, mental health, intrusive thoughts, vomit, blood and gore, character death, eating disorder, suicide attempt, character death, manipulation, transphobia, birth scenes//
The elder deputy Tawnyspots has one wish, and that is to raise kits. But, having no mate, he asks the younger warrior Willowpelt if she is willing to carry his kits. Willowpelt, feeling pity for the old cat, agrees without much consideration with the offer.
Tawnyspots never lives to see his kits, and Willowpelt decides she made the wrong choice. Now she is stuck with the kit.
When Darrkit is born, Willowpelt doesn't care for him. He doesn't care though, he has Redtail and Swiftbreeze. Until tragedy hits, and Redtail is left depressed and greiving, while Swiftbreezeis dead. Willowpelt has now stopped feeding him altogether.
Desperate, the young kit it taken to WindClan in hopes for a better future.
This is the story of Darklily, the cat Darkstripe might have been.
Life leads us down paths we can't anticipate, and for young Redwhisker, it seems to never stop giving him twists and turns.
He's always been maltreated, cast out, thrown aside, and willfully ignored by his own Clanmates - and he's known why for ages. After all, who could expect any different reaction to a fox living in a Clan of cats? Redwhisker finds it hard to believe he deserves any respect or equality with his Clanmates. He is sure that he will remain an outsider until he dies, and even then there's no guarantee of him making it to StarClan to reunite with the cat who mothered him.
These beliefs, though, are shattered by a chance meeting with someone who may be an even stranger anomaly than him. He's thrust into conflict, between Clans and between himself, as he questions his innermost expectations and realizes he's been playing the game wrong this whole time.
Warriors series and universe by Erin Hunter.
Characters and storyline by me.