Lakefang

Lakefang was not always the gruff tom he is today- Once he was a small kit born to Cowheart and Minktail, alongside Nightkit and Willowkit. Lakekit was the smallest of the litter, in fact, something that was quickly fixed by the time they became adults. The three of them were brought up well-mannered and loved, close as they could be. They fought and argued just lik any group of siblings would, teasing each other but making sure no one else would tease their siblings. Willowkit and Lakekit always got along slightly better than Nightkit and Lakekit. Willowkit never faulted Lakekit's harsher nature.

The three were beyond excited to become apprentices, even their their paths would separate them. What they didn't know is the wedge it would drive between them with Willowkit becoming Willowpaw as a forager apprentice. Nightkit and Lakekit became Nightpaw and Lakepaw, warrior apprentices. Their training let them spend significantly more time together and allowed for them to train together while Willowpaw grew distant as she fell out of their loop. It took a few moons for Lakepaw and Willowpaw to become closer again, drawing her back into their circle.
The three's father passed away during their late apprenticeship, this hit Lakepaw hard. Instead of focusing on recovering from this loss and his grief surrounding it, Lakepaw coped by throwing himself into his training and solely focusing on that despite both his sisters and mother warning him that what he was doing would only hurt him. While both Willowpaw and Nightpaw had their assessments postponed due to them wanting more time to process, and then focus on training, Lakepaw was made a warrior and named Lakesplash.

One moon and a half after Lakesplash became a warrior, Willowpaw and Nightpaw ranked up. They earned their names; Willowfang and Nightripple. Lakesplash remained distant from his family for a little while longer as he adjusted to being a warrior... and also tackling his grief about his father's death head-on now. He finally slowed down and let the cats closest to him back in. Him and Willowfang remained vaguely distant, however, even as their family returned to 'normal'.

It was clear from the start that the clan thought of both Nightripple and Lakesplash as deputy material. The current leader at the time, Hawkstar even cast their gaze upon the two warriors despite their younger age. The two of them spent moons pushing themselves and their learning, going further than the standard warrior of SunClan ever did. And then, suddenly, it had been moons since Lakesplash last talked to Willowfang. He shrugged it off when one of the other warriors told him there had been a predator attack when he returned after a patrol. But when he looked into Hawkstar's saddened eyes, he knew. Lakesplash had been too late when he rushed into the healer's den, Willowfang was long gone. Blood had soaked into the ground and all over the healer's fur, the blood is one thing that Lakesplash remembers vividly from that night. Blood and his sister's glassy eyes, no longer holding the bright soul that once was behind them.

Lakesplash was silent as he helped the healer prepare Willowfang's body, not leaving her side until it came time for her to be buried. Even then, he was there. Like he had regrettably not been for many moons. Lakesplash took 3 moons of grief, a heavy burden on his heart before he got up one day and started like he had before his sister's death. He requested his name be changed to honor her, Lakefang instead of Lakesplash now. Lakefang fell behind Nightripple due to his lack of drive or compulsion to do what she was doing.

When the deputy passed, Nightripple was chosen as their successor. Despite being proud of his sister, Lakefang wondered if it would have been him if he had just focused on his work after Willowfang's death. Even with his mixture of pride, jealousy, grief and bitterness, Lakefang started to push himself harder again. He did more for others, whenever they needed something from him.

Hawkstar wasn't young anymore, and his lives were slipping away one by one. The clan knew, and Lakefang knew it. He watched as his sister remained diligent and calm even when Hawkstar could no longer stand to call the clan to meeting or go through apprenticeship ceremonies. He watched her methodical approach, and when she went to fetch the healer when Hawkstar had finally lost their last life. And then... he watched as the new leader, Nightstar, named Fernstride as deputy. He wouldn't lie this time, and say that he wasn't annoyed, or bitter. It took him several moons afterward to even speak to his sister outside of his warrior duties.

Lakefang remained as a close contact for the leader- who rarely happened to be his sister these days. Always doing what was needed, training apprentices, putting the work in so that someday StarClan might recognize his efforts. Days passed, as they always did. Lakefang was Nightstar's eyes, ears, and mouth within the clan. He was always the more trustworthy of the two when it came to other cat's opinions.

Lakefang had seen Ospreyflicker at the border, before it all happened. He didn't bother to watch- as long as her loyalties laid with SunClan it wasn't his business. A moon later and the molly still went to the border to meet with a tom... and was now with kits. Lakefang debated between keeping this fact to himself or relaying it to Nightstar. Ospreyflicker did trust him, after all. In the end it wasn't his word that led to her exile. Another warrior noticed and reported this to Nightstar. Lakefang watched Ospreyflicker plead not for her own place within the clan but her kit's... it was leaf-bare after all. But Nightstar did not back down, demanding she answers for her trepasses against the code. He watched as the heavily pregnant she-cat left camp, shunned and exiled from ever returning.

Nightstar fell ill within the moon after Ospreyflicker's exile. Deathly ill, despite her younger age and how many lives she had left to give to her clan. She went quick, and Lakefang tried to swallow down his grief as the clan began to look towards both him, and Fernstride in the uncertainty. Then Fernstride and Emberwhisker fell to the illness as well. It was just him, and his niece, Blackpaw now. Snowflakewhisper stepped in to help with everything, a senior warrior who had already seen the clan fall apart in the past due to instability. With him, Lakefang made the journey with Blackpaw to the moonpool to talk to StarClan. This trip took 3 gruelling days- half of it Blackpaw spent 'asleep', talking to StarClan.

The news that Blackpaw brought back from their ancestors was not what Lakefang had expected, nor wanted, to hear. Instead of him, or any other warrior that had served their time, StarClan wanted a 36 moon old Badgermoon to lead the clan. The three remained silent on the whole journey back as they settled into this knowledge. Their high ranks were gone, the stars wanted their leader to be someone who might as well be an apprentice still... Lakefang wondered if they had gone truly mad. When they returned to the camp, the three discussed for two days straight in between trying to operate the clan without a leader, deputy, or proper healer.

The discussions of the matter inevitably came to an end and Lakefang was the one to make the announcement, calling the clan to meeting for the first time since Ospreyflicker's exile. He explained that StarClan had chosen their new leader, and that it was not in the paws of any living cat. He named Badgermoon the new leader of SunClan and they wasted no time as they immediately started for the moonpool.

Observing Badgermoon, Lakefang couldn't help but doubt StarClan's decision. The molly was odd and often spoke out of turn, he even wondered how she had come from Darkcry, and Snowflakewhisper's mentoring. Nonetheless, he obeyed StarClan's wishes and took her to the moonpool to receive her leader name and nine lives alongside Lavendersight and Blackpaw.

By the next morning, before the sun had even truly risen, Lakefang was deputy of SunClan. A position he had coveted for so long, yet he was still only second place to a cat who admittedly reminded him all too much of Willowfang.