The morning air was warm, a gentle breeze blowing Silverscreech's gray and white fur as she walked along the dirt path towards the shadowclan camp. Alongside her walked her friend Briarfrost. “I'm happy you're coming with me. It's gonna be uncomfortable enough for me just being in my old clan since I last left many moons ago. If only these two…” her piercing yellow gaze looked down at Zinnia and Torrent as they walked on the other side of their mother, their ears low as she gave them a scolding look. “-I wouldn't have run into my daughter Widowsting.” Silverscreech sighed, her eyes downcast for a moment as she remembered the night a few days ago. The hatred in her daughter's eyes seemed to mirror her own, piercing her more deeply than she had ever anticipated. “But then again…I did ask Starclan last night what I should do. Go back to my clan, or remain a loner…” She glanced up at Briar and smiled awkwardly. “So I guess in a sense, I got my answer. I need to go back and face my demons.” Glancing up at the sky, Silverscreech silently wondered if it was secretly FearedJackal in Starclan possibly guiding her back to their home. She wouldn't have been surprised. He was the only reason she first stayed in her birth clan to begin with after years growing up as a loner, unknown she once was born in Shadowclan and then her parents along with her were outcasts because of her fathers betrayal to the clan.
Silverscreech frowned, wondering why her old mate had not visited her once in her dreams. Was he still mad at her for not telling him right away about her family's history shortly after joining? Did he even still love her despite ditching their kits when he passed on? The normally hot tempered and guarded she-cat paced on with a rather heavy heart. Seemingly depressed and torn away from the thoughts of having another mate. There was so much to make up for, and so much to resolve. She couldn't bare the thought of dragging another innocent warrior into her family drama.
Zinnia jumped around excitedly, weaving between the two she-cats before tackling her brother Torrent and running ahead towards the clearing entrance as it came into view. Torrent squeaked in protest and quickly recovered himself before running after her.
Her gray ears perked, her mind snapping away from her thoughts as the two rambunctious kits ran into the clearing without their mother. “Zinnia!!! Torrent!!! Stay near…” They had vanished before she could finish her sentence. “-me.” Sighing once more, she quickened her pace. Without a second thought, her yellow gaze scanned the clearing as she dashed through the entrance of the camp, ignoring the odd and startled looks from the other warriors. Her gray and white striped fur was puffed out angrily. Silverscreech was getting annoyed with her kits misbehavior.
“It's so big!” Zinnia said excitedly, her ginger fur puffed up with excitement.
Torrent sat silently in awe next to his sister, his blue eyes glancing at all the cats mingling within the camp's clearing. Noticing the stare’s from the other cats, he gave his gray and brown striped fur an awkward lick before seeing their mom making a beeline for them. And she wasn't happy.
“How many times do I have to tell you to stay by me! I swear by Starclan you two never listen to a word I have to say! It's dangerous to go anywhere without me near you. Do you want to get killed by another cat or animal!? What if you fell into a ditch and got injured! Or got hit by a monster!? I'm so livid with both of you for not obeying my rules!” She hissed lowly.
Silverscreech felt like these kits could be the death of her one day. “Starclan give me strength…” she muttered as she sat, a paw on her face as she shook her head within the middle of the camp. She hadn't noticed anyone else staring, much less another cat quickly approaching at full speed ready to bowl her over...
Silverscreech yellow gaze gleamed happily at her son's response. Obviously he had realized in her absence why she had left the clan and his siblings in the first place. She had been broken to the core that felt unrepairable to the point she couldn't handle being in the clan. It was a relief on her mind and heart. "Well...im glad you at least understand why I left. Not that it was right but...we all make mistakes. Im just happy you are willing to forgive me at least." Silverscreech knew it would be a long time if at all any of her other kits forgave her. For now, she was at least settled with just Ferretfuzz in her life.
As her son started teasing Briarfrost, Silverscreech repressed a laugh. It was obvious from the dusty-brown she-cat that she was putting her guard up with sarcasm to his teasing. A rather familiar wall Silverscreech had put up herself on a regular basis with cats she didn't know. She glanced at Ferretfuzz, wanting to tease him a little on his family's roots of how he had some windclan blood in his own veins, but held back. The silver and white striped warrior did not care to let her fathers reputation be known at this time...or if ever. The last thing she needed was her kits worrying about it. Although, keeping the knowledge from FearedJackal didn't exactly help her relationship with her deceased mate. Instead it had caused a rift between the two, right down to the day of his demise.
Her ears twitched as the thought came to mind, a concerned look on her gentle features. Hiding the knowledge wasn't exactly gonna make anything better. Her tail pounded against the ground, ears lowered slightly. "Should I tell him? Will it make things worse if I do? What would happen if i don't?" She thought to herself. The expression remained as she was lost in thought, her sons voice breaking through as he scooped up his brother and sister.
"Mama! He is crushing me!!" Zinnia squeaked dramatically, her forearms flailing.
"No he isn't. Quit being a drama queen." Torrent replied as he hung limp in Ferretfuzz's forarms. Torrent winced as his older brothers tears fell atop his head. His ears lowered as his bright blue eyes glanced up at the black and white warrior. "I wasn't expecting rain today..." he teased lightly. "Still, I'm happy I have a big brother now to help me keep Zinnia in check." He added happily. Zinnia gave her brother Torrent a dirty look and stuck out her tounge back at his comment.
Silverscreech shook her head as she left her thoughts and quickly smiled at Ferretfuzz promise to protect them. "Careful. They are a pawful. I struggle alone just keeping them in check."
Silverscreech glanced at Briar and purred at her friend, unaware of her friends feelings towards her. She silently nodded in agreement, It was true being a loner wasn't easy. "I know it sucks. Take it from one who lived as a loner her whole life until FearedJackal came along." Silverscreech had missed hearing him call her his "wee she-devil" It brought a bitter sweet memory to mind, causing her to smile slightly at how snarky she had been when they met. Somehow he managed to get through to her guarded personality to where none could.
There was one thing though the she-cat never mentioned as silence briefly filled the air in thought. "I did have a group of cats to fight off vipers back in the day when I was about 12 moons old. The forest had been plagued with them at the time that i got annoyed with it. Thankfully they dwindled down not long after. So the group I fought em off with disbanded. Closest thing I had to a clan back in the day. Feels like forever ago. But even then, i couldn’t get myself to trust anyone really."
Silverscreech didn't think there was another cat out their who shared so much in common with herself. She hated the thought that her friends brother and others were lurking out there willing to kill Briarfrost. Her fluffy gray and white fur bristled slightly at the thought. "If they do try to touch you, it will be a lot harder having them go through me and the rest of the clan. That's for certain."
As they had reached near the camp, Silverscreech raised a brow in wonder.
"Bones of our enemies???” The thought sounded rather dark…even for ShadowClan. Of course before she could hear or say anything further on the matter, she had already been chasing after her kits, leaving Briarfrost behind unintentionally.
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Just mere seconds from being tackled onto the ground, Silverscreech had caught the glance of the black and white fur darting her way. “FearedJackal???” She muttered questionably. Of course she did know unless he was finally visiting her from Starclan, there was no way it could be him.
There was a loud thud as she landed on her back, eyes closed briefly from the impact. In a slight daze, she opened her piercing yellow gaze as the word “Mama” was uttered. Glancing up in surprise, Silverscreech was at a loss for words as the black and white warrior smiled happily down at her, his bright blue eyes filled with warmth that the gray and white striped warrior hadn't seen in many moons, much less expected from any of her kits. “Ferret?” Tears dripped down his face, his purring intense as he nuzzled her. She was getting rather wet from his tears, but didn't care.
The moment had been rather overwhelming. Silverscreech took in the knowledge of Harpyflight and Dewbristle's warrior names. Her heart ached with regret, sadness and happiness. There was so much she had missed. As expected, none of her kits seemed to want anything to do with her, much less forgive her for leaving. And yet here was Ferretfuzz willing to look past her mistakes and welcome her back. She didn't like crying herself…at least not in public, yet she felt the moisture build up in her yellow gaze as she pressed her head against his in return. “You're very much like your dad. And not just by appearances.” She replied gently. “I missed you too.”
She pulled away slightly, a sad expression as tears streamed down her own face. “I'm sorry I left you and your brother and sisters. If I could make up for the time lost, I would. However I have to accept the fact that what's done is done. All I can do is support you all now to the best of my ability.”
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Zinnia and Torrent watched as the black and white tom tackled their mother to the ground. They looked at each other confused. Obviously from their interaction, they now realized they had the opportunity to meet another one of their other siblings. Neither had seen their mother cry, which was a little awkward for them. Yet they both knew their mom had some emotional issues connected to the clan.
“Hi!!!” Zinnia mewed excitedly. Her yellow-green gaze looked up at Ferretfuzz innocently as she grinned ear from ear. “I'm Zinnia,” She pointed at her brother as he sat silently, letting his sister talk for him. “And this is my brother Torrent.” She cocked her head curiously. “Sooo…are you one of our brothers?”
Silverscreech gently pushed Ferretfuzz with her forepaw, signaling for him to let her up. Swiftly wiping the tears from her eyes, she rolled and pushed herself back up into a standing position, shaking the dirt from her fur. She turned and smiled awkwardly at Ferretfuzz. Was odd for her to say she had a random fling while away. “Yea…these are your half siblings.”
Remembering Briar, she glanced at her friend who seemed awkwardly out of place herself. “And this is my friend Briarfrost. She wanted to join the clan with me.” She added happily. Silverscreech beckoned silently with her fluffy gray tail for Briar to join them.
“Ah yes, well…” Briarfrost cleared her throat, feeling heat rising to the surface of her skin underneath her dusty pale brown coat, and darker swirling stripes and white speckles. Her heart skipped some beats within her chest, as she subtly averted her adoring gaze at the silver molly, before her traitorous pools of gold could give her away.
“I couldn’t very well just allow my friend to come back to their clan without back up, could I? Besides, being a loner is… stressful to say the least. I gave it some heavy thought after you asked me to come with you, and I came to the conclusion that I prefer living in a clan. Especially since I have made some enemies, and if they should catch me alone, it would not end well for me. Strength in numbers, and all that, is something you find in a group or clan in this instance.”
She didn’t have to elaborate to Silverscreech further, she had told her all about her sordid past. That the many Ex-Windclanners, that had been exiled after the inner war between two split factions of the clan had concluded, had it out for her because she returned to the side of her clan and fought underneath the command of Desertstar, whom they had been trying usurp.
Briarfrost let her golden gaze wander as she committed the sight of the camp to memory.
“So this is Shadowclan, mhn? Glad to know it isn’t a camp made of the bones of your enemies.” She joked jovially as she lightly shouldered Silverscreech as a burst of bubbly laughter erupted from her.
“Apologies, it’s an old tall tale passed between the other clans-” Her voice faded away into the background as something caught Silverscreech’s attention so fiercely that everything else seemed to fall away from her view.
A phantom image from Silverscreech’s past, with blue eyes and large black patches upon their coat, rushed through the crowd of Clan mates with reckless abandon. They were moving so swiftly that it was difficult for anyone to actually see them as they bobbed and weaved in between the crowd.
However, in spite of all of that, the phantom image was crystal clear when it caught Silverscreech’s eyes.
It could not be, the she-cat would know. It wasn’t Fearedjackal, he was long deceased, taken by the stars above. Yet this feline had his face, his coat, his eyes, though one thing set this cat apart. He was far fluffier and smaller than Fearedjackal.
This wasn’t her dearly departed mate…
This was-
“MAMA! IT’S YOU!” The flash of black and white barreled into Silverscreech and knocked her off of her paws, and down onto her back.
Those blue eyes shimmered with glistening dewy tears, as they glistened with unmatched joy and elation as he stared down at her, with a smile so bright it could rival the sun’s golden gleam.
Ferretfuzz.
It was their son, and he had inherited his father’s looks, he was nearly identical to the departed tom-cat.
“I knew you would come back, I knew it! I did! Widowsting and Harpyflight said you wouldn’t come back, so did Dewbristle before he left! But I always said you would. I said, Mama wouldn’t just leave us for the rest of our lives! And I was right! Hah!” His purring was so loud that it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Starclan themselves could hear it.
Ferretfuzz pressed his forehead to Silverscreech’s own and nuzzled her, his body so overwhelmed with waves of emotions that he was tremoring with the intensity of it all.
Briarfrost, momentarily frozen in shock, stared at the black and white tom with her fur bristling. Her claws had unsheathed and her muscles had tensed. She had been prepared to attack Ferretfuzz without hesitation the second he’d pounced upon Silverscreech.
Yet, all of that tension melted like snow on the first day of Newleaf when she realized that this cat must be one of Silverscreech’s grown kits she had mentioned a few weeks ago when they’d first met. S he stood there, feeling very much out of place within this emotionally charged reunion between mother and son. So she stepped back to give the two some much needed space.