[Rose]

Mapleface
She/Her | The Red Queen

Maybe the timeline was a cruel thing, giddy and gleeful and vicious enough to twist fates around and cause the most pain it could.

Innocent, oblivious steps carried the Red Queen back to her home, back to the place where she'd blindly put faith in her Clanmates to protect her last remaining family. Her Redkit, her Rosekit, and her beloved little brother, Crackles. She'd gone out today, had stepped out of camp to search for Applekit and Alderkit again, with hopes that she'd find either one of her missing daughters and be able to bring them back to ThunderClan. To what she had assumed was a safe haven, a home, where she could be at peace with her family.

Oh, how wrong she had been. The truth was a slap to the face, a mockery of her broken-heart-to-be.

The weather was pleasant, the skies clear. The sun stood a witness in the sky, blazing down almost in warning on Mapleface as she tromped back into Camp. Distantly, she made sense of Bumblestar's meeting call. It was snappish and angry as usual, so Mapleface wasn't quite surprised -- except for the part of keeping kits inside. On all other occasions, Bumblestar had allowed kits to attend, even on the more.. questionable days. So why was today different?

The first thing she heard were the whispers. The slithers of talk going around, but Mapleface was still unaware of the danger that lay at the base of Stormcrest. The danger that posed a threat to her tender heart. There were too many cats milling about, and while Mapleface was a sturdily built cat, she wasn't among the tallest. Lingering at the back of the crowd, Mapleface had to shove past a couple cats, murmuring quiet apologies as she went. What had happened, that so many cats were bunched together.

A movement at the corner of her eye caught her attention; One of the newer ThunderClanners, Violetfreckle (if she recalled correctly) carrying.. Redkit? Hey, wait, that was her kit. Bewildered, the Red Queen managed a single step in the warrior's direction, but perhaps it was that moment that someone recognized her as.. well, her, and stepped aside, allowing Mapleface's view to go further than just one or two pawsteps.

And when she saw what everyone was whispering so crudely about, her mind blanked, and all went to hell.

"What happened." Her voice was hoarse and broken, barely above a croak even though this was the first she had spoken. A strangled sound built in her throat, and then Mapleface was stumbling over in a daze, emerald-green hues glassy with disbelief. "No. No, no, no, no!" With every denial, her voice rose to a pitch, the first of tears streaking down the side of her face. "NO! CRACKLES!"

"What happened, what happened, what happened, what happened." It had become an unthinking mantra, and at this point Mapleface wasn't even aware her mouth was moving, pronouncing the words. "WHY IS HE BLEEDING!" The tortoiseshell point screeched, her body trembling with fullblown fear as she lowered herself beside the body of her little brother, pressing her muzzle into his fur.

His cold fur.

The realization was almost a physical blow to her body as she jerked upright again, eyes wild with denial. "No, no, no. Crackles, no!" The stream of tears pouring down her face only seemed to increase by the moment, head wildly snapping around, gaze fixating on the other body not far off. A kit. Vinekit, if she remembered correctly. Had something attacked camp while she was gone? Why was no one else injured?

Why, why, why, why?

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Her heart thundered in her chest, and this time the words were directed up at Bumblestar, her gaze searching the leader desperately for an answer. Why was there blood on Bumblestar's coat? Somehow, still, her pathetic mind believed that something or someone had broken into ThunderClan, and maybe Crackles had been defending Vinekit. Or had Crackles snuck out of camp with Vinekit? Had he tried to follow her, and this- this-

Her heart shattered into a million pieces on the spot, her mind cruelly playing out every scenario in which Crackles could have ended up like this, broken and bloody and lifeless. Her limbs trembled, shaking violently, seeking reprieve from the onslaught of grief. "No. No, please. Please, he's not dead. He's not dead. Tell me he's not dead!" She didn't even know who she was begging at this point as she stood over Cracklekit's corpse, her four paws splayed, her body positioned above the body of her little brother. Salty tears tracked down her cheeks and soaked the fur of her chest. Her tufted ears remained pinned against her skull, her tail fanning out behind her with distress.

"Who did this? How did this happen? How?!" And it wasn't long at all, for that bitter, crushing sadness, that endless well of grief, to turn into a boiling rage. "HOW COULD A WHOLE CLAN SIT BACK WHILE TWO KITS DIED?! HOW?! ANSWER ME!"

[ @vellichor - Violetfreckle / @poppy. - Redkit / @dino. - Bumblestar / @vampire - Singesmoke / @elaif - I love you, Crackles ]