Warrior Cat Clans 2 (WCC2 aka Classic) is a roleplay site inspired by the Warrior series by Erin Hunter. Whether you are a fan of the books or new to the Warrior cats world, WCC2 offers a diverse environment with over a decade’s worth of lore for you - and your characters - to explore. Join us today and become a part of our ongoing story!
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11.06.2022 The site has been transformed into an archive. Thank you for all the memories here!
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He was doing a pretty good job on falling asleep—well, before Doestar rudely clambered over him. “Oh, wha—“ he scooted over a bit, not wanting to crush the poor guy. “Okay, uhm, goodnight.” He didn’t turn over this time, instead choosing to press his head into Doestar and close his eyes. In that moment all he wanted to do was sleep, despite the inevitable nightmares and painful morning.
When he stirred the next morning, stiff and sore from a restless night, he didn't understand why this den didn't smell like his own, didn't understand why he was nestled amid fluff and warmth instead of by himself. Still half-asleep, he buried his nose further into the long fur – and, slowly, drowsily, eyes still closed, the memories of the previous day seeped through him like cold, quiet water. His kits were dead, and he was broken, and Shadedsun was an angry, empty shell; it was real, and it wasn’t a dream, and they weren’t coming back. It wasn’t getting better. It wasn’t fixed. They were still dead, and he felt meaningless, hopeless, hollow, like his chest was just a cavity and his heart could barely pump the blood through his veins and all the flowers in all the world had wilted and turned dark.
Blinking open his eyes, he shakily sat up from where he’d tucked his head under Shadedsun’s chin and draped himself across him, and gazed down mournfully at the other tom. He yawned, and it felt like it used up the last bit of energy left in his body. The morning was so quiet, so still, grey and crisp and lifeless as a funeral. Staring out past the entrance to the den with dull eyes, he wondered faintly if the colour would ever come back. He stepped over Shadedsun and padded out onto the frost-tipped grass, sitting down heavily and gazing ahead unseeingly.
He barely registered it was morning when he woke up, still snuggled close to Doestar. He barely felt anything except for the stinging pain of grief. It wasn’t a nightmare. It was all real. His kits were dead. It didn’t feel real, though. Everything was foggy and muddled, as if he were under water. Shadedsun didn’t move, and even opening his eyes seemed like too much work. He didn’t notice that Doestar was awake as well.
The air carried the scent of fresh rain, and a soft pitter-patter of fallen raindrops echoed in his ears. The ringing was unbearable. But he didn’t care. He cared for nothing. Even breathing seemed to take up all his energy, and for a few moments he wished he could just stop. But that wouldn’t be fair to Lilykit and Applekit. Or his sisters. Or Doestar. The former leader lay there—still except for the slow rising and falling of his chest.
The rain began to fall, light and quiet at first, no more than soft droplets sparking off the leaves and misting around his ears. Then, it steadily grew heavier, the sky grey and austere and weighed down with clouds, till all Doestar could hear was the rush of water against the trees and the earth and thunder rumbling far, far away. Any other time, it might have felt cozy, a herald of leaf-fall. Now, it was just gloomy, the rain no more than static and the chill barely registering through his damp fur.
He didn’t think anything of Shadedsun’s prolonged silence – hardly even remembered he was there at all – until he felt himself shivering, his paw pads numb with cold and prickly with shock, and glanced over his shoulder to see if the rain was leaking into the den. The sight of the other tom, usually so full of life and reduced to this, made his heart ache. Letting out a quiet sigh that misted in the air, Doestar turned, slipping on the wet grass, and limped back to settle down beside Shadedsun and rest his chin on his cheek; he looked down at him, his own body rising and falling with the other tom’s breaths, and forced a gentle purr that felt scratchy in his throat. The thought of feigning any sort of happiness at that moment made him feel sick and tired, but it was a dim sort of comfort.
“What do you want to do?” he murmured, voice soft and muffled a little by Shadedsun’s fur. “We don’t have to get Lilykit and Applekit right now if you don’t want to; we can visit the graves, say good morning to them, so they don’t feel lonely. Or we can go to SummerClan, or…” He let out a breath. “I don’t know, you just can’t stay here all day like this.”
The sounds of the rain barely hit his ears. It sounded far away, as if in a whole other world. Doestar’s words barely registered, a soft hum in his mind that was barely discernible. He let out a soft sound in response, a quiet, defeated noise. He sighed, wrapping his tail tighter around himself. It was chilly, a small wind wounding through the air. He usually wouldn’t be bothered by the cold, his thick fur made sure of that, but today was . . . he just seemed to wake up frozen.
Lifting his head up, which seemed to take all his energy and willpower, Shadedsun cast sad, tired eyes towards Doestar as he heard the tom enter once more. “I know.” He said, his voice hoarse. “We can—we can say goodbye, or goodmorning, and get out of here. He couldn’t stand it near their graves anymore. He could still smell the scent of death.
Doestar let out a low, quiet hum, relieved that Shadedsun hadn't argued. "Let's get you up, then," he replied gently, standing up and nudging his friend's shoulder with his muzzle. "I'm 'bout as strong as a particularly not-strong, very puny apprentice, c'mon," he mumbled, his smile thin and weak and at odds with the emptiness of his eyes, "or I'll just keep poking you with my nose and it's, like, super cold right now." He sat back just enough to touch his paw pad to his nose and scrunched up his face in a wince, nodding. "Super cold," he confirmed.
Letting out a breath that might have been an attempt at a laugh, his brows drawn together in a pitiful, desperate sort of defeat. "I'm sorry," he murmured, voice soft with the false cheer he was forcing to keep out the dull, miserable monotone he'd otherwise fall into. "If I don't... If I can't make myself smile, I'm gonna collapse. I'm sorry if it's insufferable. This whole situation is insufferable. I can't even cry anymore." He let out a joyless little laugh before suddenly remembering what he had been trying to accomplish in the first place. "But you," he continued, standing up again, "have still gotta get up. We'll pick some more flowers on the way."
He did eventually get up, after brushing Doestar off and giving a forced sort of half-smile. Shuffling last the SummerClan leader, he immediately shivered as the rain fell onto his frame. It dragged at his fur, soaking him within a few minutes at most. “I’m up.” Oh, how he wanted to go back and lay there until he turned to rot. How he never wanted to move again. Turning back to the entrance, Shadedsun sat down on the soaked ground. “Doestar,” he said softly, barely heard above the rain, “I don’t expect you to smile and pretend like nothing’s happened. That’d be insensitive. I mean, do you expect me to be all sunshine’s and rainbows. Out kits were just murdered, you have nothing to be sorry for.” He explained, turning back around and stopping at the uneven dirt that was their graves. He couldn’t say any more. His throat felt tight.
Doestar's smile faded to nothing. He gazed after Shadedsun as he made his way over to their kits' graves, gaze desolate and empty. Everything felt too heavy. Standing up felt like moving a mountain, the world crushing down around him. He hated himself for being so selfish, for wanting to ask Shadedsun when he'd be better, when he'd be over it, when he'd be able to go back to exactly that, sunshine and rainbows. He hated himself for still thinking of himself and his own needs in his grief. He hated himself for still putting himself before the kits lying in the earth. He hated that Shadedsun's words hurt him, that they felt like a criticism, a scolding, that his first thought was I can't do anything right, like this was just some insignificant spat and they weren't standing over the corpses of their children. He hated himself more than he ever had before, the self-loathing settling cold and heavy in his stomach and feeling more like a dull comfort, a reassurance, than a punishment - you were always going to end up back here.
He wanted to snap something back, wanted to deflect his own feelings with something flippant - oh, really, is that what those graves are? I hadn't realised they were murdered - but he stayed silent, too tired to open his mouth. Limping after Shadedsun and hating himself that little bit more for his broken paw, he sat down beside him and forced himself to look down at the graves for a moment before raising his eyes to the grey sky. A chilly wind buffeted his fur, raindrops stinging his ears. "We should collect the other two," he told him at last, voice cold and flat. He didn't want to say Lilykit and Applekit. "Don't want to be stuck here forever if the weather gets worse." He turned and began to stalk towards the edge of the garden.
Nodding numbly, he trudged off towards SummerClan, hoping to cross off to FallClan, collect Lilykit, and then grab Applekit from there. “Yeah. And they have names, you know.” He said almost as if he were angry. But he wasn’t. He was feeling nothing but a painful sadness. He tail dragged along the wet ground, collecting mud and twigs. The flower petals that always seemed to be knotted into his tail were left, path-like, behind him.
"I'll try to remember that when I see them," he snarled over his shoulder, his misery bubbling over into irritation. "Thank you so much, Shadedsta—oh, pardon me, Shadedsun. I forgot you couldn't quite handle being even that little bit important. Whatever would I do without you to make me infinitely better." Doestar snorted bitterly and quickened his pace towards FallClan, almost relishing the burn in his forepaw every time he put it down. He could feel himself going a little mad, never very good at keeping himself occupied without someone else to keep him entertained and distracted, even if that distraction was cruelty. Shadedsun's continued silence was killing him, for entirely selfish reasons. He couldn't stop himself from trying to provoke some sort of reaction, couldn't stop himself from self-destructing like he always did; he'd managed to cure himself of that habit, managed to finally begin to heal, and now all that work had unraveled. He felt worse than he ever had, worse than he had all those times he'd been covered in blood and scars.
He could feel the tension, the sadness, in every word Doestar spoke. Shadedsun knew he was right. He couldn’t handle being leader, the responsibility he had always wanted. He didn’t respond, not really having the energy to do so. He knew, later, when the last straw snapped, he would, but in that moment in time he thought it best to ignore it. “Sure.” He mumbled half-heartedly.
The smell of the lake entered his nostrils, the sweet, flowery scent of SummerClan following close behind. He passed the border, reluctantly welcoming the smell of SummerClan. All he wanted to do was collect his kits and sleep the rest of the day away.
Doestar stopped and glared at Shadedsun as he passed ahead of him, head ducked slightly against the persistent rain. He could feel it dragging at his fur, sodden and uncomfortable. The petulant part of him, only given more life by the grief and the need to fall back on something to avoid feeling his emotions, was furious at being brushed off like that. He hardly noticed as they crossed the border into his own territory, gaze still focused on the former leader. He wanted to say something else, something harsher and more cruel, but everything just sounded immature and he stayed silent instead, brushing past Shadedsun and stalking through the wildflower meadow towards the FallClan border.
"This way," he growled. "And hurry up." With his fear of hurting his forepaw gone, he was padding along almost normally, pointedly ignoring the sharp, persistent ache in his ankle. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to put any weight of it at all by nightfall. He almost wanted it, wanted that agony. Doestar led the way through the tall flowers, slipping through them dispassionately and not giving it a second thought when he trampled stems and crushed petals under his paws. He hardly registered the sweet scents at all.
He brushed past Doestar, deciding to not address his apparent problem. He didn’t want to fight anymore, they weren’t a married couple for StarClan’s sake. “Yeah, I know.” After a while of silence, they passed over to the FallClan border. He barely registered the change in smell, the change in territory. He didn’t really register anything except for his own pathetic self, Doestar, and the thought of getting Lilykit and Applekit.
“Do you know where their camp is?” He asked quietly. He had never been on FallClan territory before.
"Shouldn't be that hard to find it," he replied flatly, curling his lip in a little sneer and glaring straight ahead to avoid having to look at Shadedsun. He'd been on FallClan territory once or twice moons ago, back when he trailed after any violent tom who showed him the slightest scrap of affection, but he didn't want to mention that, and he'd never actually been as far as the camp. "Just follow the scent," he continued, stalking ahead into the golden, towering trees and the deep shadows. "Surely you can manage that."
He nodded his head rather dumbly, a small, irritated root twisting in his belly. Really, Doestar couldn’t have been like this yesterday when he actually had the energy. A headache pricked his head, causing him to feel nauseous for a few moments. “Yeah, I can.” He huffed back, sniffing the air. FallClan scent hung heavy in the air, but it was much heavier . . . this way. He turned slightly, tripping over almost everything possible, unfamiliar and quite nervous in this new terrain. He wondered if they would meet somebody—anybody—who could show them to wherever they needed to go.
“Oh great, let the blind guy lead.” He spat quietly, his tail-tip twitching in irritation. At least it gave him the thrill and energy he needed.
"It's that or the guy whose paw doesn't work," Doestar snapped back, frustration making his voice shrill and squealy while the sick, guilty satisfaction of finally getting a rise out of the other tom made his stomach churn. He let out a hiss, lashing his tail, and stalked awkwardly after Shadedsun, the fur around his neck and along his spine bristling a little. The sky was still darkening, the stormclouds heavy and grey and the forest around them gloomy and suffocatingly dense; the smell of pine and sweet smoke were overwhelming. Despite his best efforts to force otherwise, his paw was beginning to struggle to take much weight at all, making his strides clunky and loping. Growling quietly to himself as he walked, stepping neatly over tree roots and not bothering to tell Shadedsun to watch out for them, he stewed in silence for a moment before adding, "and I thought you said your eyes weren't that bad. Or is that just another th—"
"My, what a novelty," a she-cat's voice broke in, deadpan and flat. "Two interlopers for the price of one. How utterly thrilling." Doestar spun around, back paw slipping on the blanket of brown, wet leaves. A small, dark ginger she-cat stood in the gloom beneath a pine tree, bundle of herbs at her paws and her expression flinty, all hooded eyes and low ears. He wracked his muddled brain for a moment, trying to come up with the names of either of the new FallClan medicine cats, but came up empty.
"Listen," Doestar replied, taking a small step forward and tilting his head to the side with a soft little smile, trying his best to be as charming and harmless as possible. "We've had a tragedy in the family and are hoping we might be able to pick up our daughter, Lilykit, for a little while. Aren't we, Shadedsun?" He glanced at the other tom with a smile before looking back at the apprentice. "We'll bring her home as soon as she's ready, safe and sound." He held the FallClan she-cat's flat gaze, smiling sweetly all the while.
"Wait here," she answered at last, turning and disappearing into the shadows. Doestar's smile fell immediately, expression returning to a glare. He sat back, ignoring Shadedsun and absently rubbing his fractured forepaw, and gazed unseeingly into the gloom. A few minutes later, the apprentice reappeared with Lilykit in her jaws. Doestar rose to his paws, the glowing smile instantly back on his face and his tail raised cheerfully in the air, and dipped his head to the she-cat. A word of warning and an order to have her back before the new moon and she was gone.
“Hi, papas!” Lilykit beamed, fuzzy tail held straight in the air as she bounded over first to Doestar — he greeted her a little awkwardly, smile forced and embrace stiff and brief — and then to Shadedsun. Doestar averted his gaze, letting them greet each other and trying to ignore the guilt of how little he felt for his daughter in that moment. He’d always thought his heart was too big and too soft for his own good; now, it felt cold.
He scoffed quietly, continuing haphazardly through the thick scent of pine. “Well—“ he started, but couldn’t find anything to finish his sentence with. Doestar was right, and even though he never said it, Shadedsun knew he thought he was being over dramatic. The new voice startled him, an unfamiliar voice he had never heard before. Of course, everything about FallClan was unfamiliar. “Uh, hello?” He asked, not really expecting much of an answer as soon as Doestar began to talk.
Family. Our daughter.
He liked those words coming out of Doestar’s mouth. It meant they shared something, they were something. Together. And maybe he was a bit selfish and unreasonable for thinking about himself, of all else, in this time, but frankly, he didn’t care. He didn’t care much about anything except for his precious daughters and, despite himself, Doestar.
When the she-cat left to fetch Lilykit, a soft, hopeful feeling settled in his chest. She was okay. She was fine. Everything was good. And when she came, calling out to her dads, he nearly broke down sobbing right there. As soon as the little kit was close enough he brought her into the fluff of his chest, holding her close and tight, wishing he could never let go again. He held back his sobs, which were instead replaced with a few silent tears.
“Oh, papa missed you! He missed you so, so much, my precious little angel.” Shadedsun nuzzled her cheek with his nose, feeling nothing but the weakening relief of seeing his baby okay, alive, and well. He turned his eyes towards the she-cat. “Thank you so much.” He said quietly, still holding Lilykit to his chest.
After a moment, Doestar couldn’t stop himself from looking, couldn’t hold onto the dull comfort of feeling nothing anymore, and glanced over at Shadedsun and Lilykit. Despite everything, despite how much he didn’t want to, he felt himself thaw and melt, his scowl fading and his heart filling with a frail, weak little hint of sunshine. He’d thought he’d never feel that again.
He smiled faintly, letting out a soft breath of laughter through his nose, and watched for a moment longer before finally giving in and padding over slowly to join them. He sat down close beside Shadedsun, still not looking at him even as he pressed his side against his, and gently drew Lilykit towards him for a proper hug, tucking her under his chin and letting out a soft, comforting purr. With her still held against him with one paw, he glanced over her head at Shadedsun, offering him a small, apologetic smile.
Oh, papa missed you! Lilykit beamed up at her dad, letting out a purr and wiggling her haunches happily, and opened her mouth to say something— when she was pulled into his fluff. She let out a frustrated, high-pitched little growl, wriggling around in his grip. “Daaad,” she complained, smacking her lips a couple of times and pulling a face when his fur got caught in her mouth.
She twisted around and finally freed herself of the black fluff. Back down on the ground, she shook herself out and swiped her forepaw over her little ears to smooth her fur, smiling between her dads with wide, happy eyes. “Are we goin’ on an adventure? I wanna go on an adventure! Can the others come, too? I haven’t seen them for so long.” Lilykit let out an exaggerated groan and flopped down to the ground, rolling over onto her back and beaming up at them with her paws kneading at the air.
The soft, amused purr that had been rumbling in Doestar’s throat faded at the mention of her siblings. He glanced uncertainly at Shadedsun, suddenly at a loss for words as the old ache seeped back into his chest and the light once again faded from the world. “Sweetheart,” he began weakly, before trailing off. What could they say? Should they wait until they had Applekit with them as well? Just lie and say yes, they were going on an adventure?
He hated the feeling of emptiness as Lilykit left, the cold, depressing feeling in his chest. But he stood straight and gave a large grin that didn’t quite meet his eyes. He laughed softly at her words. In a way, yes, they were going on an adventure. They had been on one already, and it was only just continuing. “Kind of, dear. We’re heading over to WinterClan to get your sister. Then we have to . . . uh, we have to have a talk.” He said the last part quietly, still uncertain. He didn’t want to mention it, not to his daughters. Shadedsun really, really didn’t want to hurt them.
“Alright! Off to WinterClan!” He cried in a loud, deep voice, giving a playful grin to Lilykit before he bent over and picked her up by the scruff. He didn’t want her tripping and getting hurt, now did he?
“Off to WinterClan,” Doestar echoed faintly, flashing a warm smile at Lilykit that dropped to a worried, miserable frown when he met Shadedsun’s gaze. “Thank you,” he murmured to the former leader as he fell in step beside him; he knew how hard it was for him to smile and hide the truth like nothing was wrong, how much it must have been killing him. He smiled again at their daughter, letting out a beeath, and then began the long journey back across SummerClan.
“Yessss!” Lilykit let out an excited hiss, dropping into a playful crouch, wiggling her haunches, and leaping onto a dead leaf with her little claws outstretched; it turned to a squeal of protest when her dad picked her up by the scruff, the leaf still in her mouth. “I can waaaalk,” she grumbled, before giving up with a huff and letting him carry her. “You smell funny,” she piped up after a while, spitting out the leaf and wrinkling her nose. “Like bad, dead food.”
