AND I AM SORRY MY CONSCIENCE CALLED IN SICK AGAIN
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The walk back was mostly quiet. Not silent– that would have been too much to expect after everything that'd just been witnessed– but for once Wolfpack was glad for the chance to be left to his thoughts. The fact that he'd had to scruff Magpiepaw and carry them back helped, he supposed, thought he took no pleasure in having to do so. Not because he felt any kind of sympathy for the crying apprentice hanging from his jaws, but because it wasn't something he should have had to worry about to begin with, crying over a cat from a rival group.
Just one more strike against the half-clan child in his eyes.
The large mottled tomcat would have left them there for Thunderclan to reclaim if it'd been his decision. Would have put an end to the concept of split loyalties right then and there– but Cicadabuzz had put their claim on the boy, and the bug was likely the only cat aside from Marbleshine that had any real sway over him.
If you could even call it that.
The image of that glowing cat still burned behind his eyes. A ghost– no, a spirit. The kind Cicadabuzz was visited by. The kind Sablestor swore had chosen him.
Kind of.
It was closer to a confirmation than the shared dream the clan had suffered through after that storm. Closer to the kind of thing he'd witnessed when he'd pulled Dustystar into that ditch and ripped their throat open with his teeth. To what he'd seen when Sable had taken him away from the territory and asked him to rip away their first life with own claws and teeth and then watched them rise like nothing had happened once it was all over.
So many secrets. When had he started keeping those?
He picked his way down the muddy slope and down into the camp, knowing the rest were behind him. He could already sense the anticipation clinging to the air like humidity– cats that hadn't gone to Fourtrees were craning their necks from the shadows and stirring in their nests, waiting for answers. Wondering what had happened.
He sent a cursory glance toward Cicadabuzz's den, but didn't call for the cat after setting Magpiepaw down. The kid wasn't hurt– not in any way the healer could fix, at least. Oh well. He'd brought them back and that was as far as he cared to get involved.
Instead, he turned, giving a short, clipped call to no-one in particular. "We're back." he announced, "No one died. From here, anyway."
That was probably the most pressing question on everyones mind, particularly considering how… unpopular they were among the clans.
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ooc : — carrying @Magpiepaw and addressing any cats that stayed behind who might be waiting for them to return!
- shadowclan deputy - male - mentoring Cloudberrypaw - a large, monochrome chimera with mismatched eyes and several scars