Darkness shrouded the ThunderClan camp. Snow still clung to the earth, the top layer glazed over with an icy sheet. Dipperflight shifted, making sure that when he stood he wouldn't wake any of his denmates, cringing at the sound of his moss rustle. He glanced to Dawnwhisker, who was snuggled deep in her moss, half of which she had stolen from his own nest, her patched tabby tail draped over a snoring black and white tom on her other side. His gaze swept over to Fennelstorm, who was sleeping at his other side, a few mouse lengths separating them. Dipperflight breathed in. Now or never. You can't keep waiting for the perfect moment, now's good enough.

       Standing stiffly, he quickly checked the cats next to him. Not a single cat stirred. Quietly, with as little sound as he could, he left the den, amber eyes carefully glancing back to make sure all were still asleep. He blinked once, glancing down to his paws before looking back up with determination. Sagecloud had been anxious, he had been spooked. Something had been troubling him, so much that it had broken through the cheerful mask. He set off, paws not even breaking the surface on the thin layer of white that coated ThunderClan's camp.

What could possibly perturb him so much though? Dipperflight's thoughts were muddled, like the sloshy snow by the Thunderpath. His paws deftly led him through the dense, leafless forest toward where he knew the river was.

The scent of river hit him far before the sound of water, which he knew was mostly attributed to the iced over river. The forest line broke quickly, just like it always did, opening to the completely open and shadowless border, the moonlight free to pour out and shine down on the snow. It was perfectly bright and clear enough to make out the stark gray rocks covered in a dusting, the river glassy and still. Sitting at the edge of the water, back to him, was Sagecloud. His head was low, fur straightened and glistening. He turned though, eyes round as he scented the ThunderClan warrior, softening.

"Dipperflight-- I was worried someone else was going to arrive in your place-- I should've waited on the other side of the river until you came--"

"It's fine, it's okay." Dipperflight meowed gently, padding forward, meeting the gray tabby half-way.

"I'm sorry for all the secrecy and making you sneak out. It's just...," he looked up to the sky, the starlight reflecting in his pupils. "I'm so scared. I don't know what to do...!" It came out as a half-sob, his eyes shutting, and he hung his head in shame before picking it back up with a sudden strength.

"Can I help you at all? What can I do?" Dipperflight craned his long, thick furred neck forward earnestly. Sagecloud gave a small smile.

"My mother. Heronmist. I didn't tell you the whole story.... She was around for a moon or two before leaving. She lied. A lot. She told everyone that Daisystar was my father. Told Daisystar they were my father. They.. they loved me," he glanced away sadly. "And then right after a gathering when cats were conversing before we left, a ShadowClan tom came out and told Daisystar that Heronmist was a liar. My real dad.. it's that guy. From ShadowClan. He told everyone. And then Heronmist left the next day. She left me. Daisystar didn't want to be my dad anymore." Dipperflight lowed his head, gently pressing his muzzle to the side of Sagecloud's face.

"Sagecloud, I'm so, so sorry." Dipperflight whispered. The RiverClan tom nodded slightly, his body lightly trembling.

"I had to tell you. I need to know what I should do. My mom asked me at the gathering last night if.. if she could come back to RiverClan. She doesn't want to come back unless she has my approval." Dipperflight blinked in thought.

"I... I'm not the right cat to ask... Maybe Hazelstream--"

"No. Nobody in my clan can know, not until she's sure she can come back. You're smart." Sagecloud looked up desperately. "Please.. what do I do? I want to be angry, I want to say no-- but I shouldn't be angry, I know I should be kind and forgive her-- but I... I don't know if that's what I should do. She had other kits, a whole other family!" He had starting thinking out loud, unfiltered. A raw Sagecloud.

"I'm.. I'm not smart though. I... I've been allowing something bad to happen for moons and moons without realizing it. I let it go on, but deep down I knew it was bad. But I didn't... I don't know. Didn't want to be alone. Being in RiverClan taught me I wasn't alone, that so many cats love me. But I came back to ThunderClan I let.... I can't make this decision for you, Sagecloud. I'm sorry. Do...," he thought a moment. "Do what you think is the right thing to do. Follow your heart." The dilute tom nodded in defeat, his weight suddenly falling into Dipperflight's chest as he pressed close. He shut his eyes, welcoming the embrace of sorts, his senses filled with his scent, which was something akin to sweet frost covered sedges and old flowers from Green-Leaf.

"Thank yo--"

"Who's this." Dipperflight's eyes snapped open, and he pushed away from Sagecloud as he flipped around to see Fennelstorm. The deputy's fur was on end, eyes narrowed with a ferocity Dipperflight could remember well.

"It's not what you think." Sagecloud took a step forward, but Dipperflight was frozen.

"I think it is what I think. Dipperflight, were you... are you cheating on me?!" He blazed, and Dipperflight crouched to the snow. Sagecloud noticed this immediately, his body shifting in front of the large dark tabby.

"Get back." He meowed firmly.

      "You probably don't know this, but I don't take orders from fish-faced nobodies. Go back to where you came from, you shrimp." Fennelstorm growled, his eyes locked onto Dipperflight like a hunter seeing a mouse. "This is between Dipperflight and I." He flexed his claws, stalking forward, and Sagecloud tensed.

      "I won't let you hurt him!" The dilute tabby growled. Fennelstorm scoffed before pouncing foreword, claws unsheathed, hooking into Sagecloud and sending them tumbling away from Dipperflight, who stood frozen in shock like the iced over river fox-lengths away. His amber eyes widened. No. Sagecloud-- he said he can't fight well...! No, no no nononononono.

      Sagecloud was pinned down, belly exposed as Fennelstorm pushed his claws into him, red streaked across the pure white snow leading to the clashing toms. The ginger tabby's claw raised, Sagecloud pushed his hind legs into his stomach. the strike clipping his soft-skinned foreleg, and the grey tom let out a quiet hiss in pain as he pushed Fennelstorm off with a powerful kick, sending him skittering in the snow with a claw-hold on the smaller furrier tom. Dipperflight tensed, his eyes wide as he watched it happen. Fennelstorm got the upper paw again. He pressed Sagecloud's face into the snow, and the gray tabby weakly kicked out his hind legs to try and free himself under the much heavier weight.

"Dipperflight, run!" Sagecloud choked out, his feathery tail flicking behind him as he struggled.

"No, Dipperflight, stay!" Fennelstorm meowed, his voice slightly sing-songy. "Stay and watch what happens when you try to leave me, do something I don't tell you to do, or go against me in any way. Where should I hurt him next, Dipperflight? Nick his ears? Scar his pretty little muzzle? Blind him? What would hurt you, a useless, worthless--" Dipperflight sprung forward, barreling into the ginger tabby. Sagecloud fell to his side at the release of the weight, his breath fogging out as he panted for air. Dipperflight didn't even realize it what had happened until he released the deputy from his grip, the two tumbling separately right into the iced over river.

The brown tabby immediately tried scrambling to his paws, the surface slippery, trying to pull him back down. He looked across the glassy surface to where Fennelstorm had fallen, hard, on the ice a few fox lengths away and a mouselength from the shore.

It was quiet then, the air filled with panting. Fennelstorm looked up, dazed, before blinking strongly and opening his mouth to speak when a sharp sound snapped through the air. A splay of cracks slowly spread out around the deputy like a spider's web. It only took him a moment before scrambling back quickly to the muddy river-side a bound away from where he had fallen, but Dipperflight's eyes widened as he realized he was much further out. Sagecloud was weakly trying to stand, blood marring his shoulder and various undecipherable cuts due to his thick fur, his head swinging to look as he heard the sickening groan erupt from the ice.

"Dipperflight, RUN!" Sagecloud yelped out, pelt on end. His breath caught in his throat as he began to slide towards the ThunderClan border, which was quickly splitting open. His paws flew out under him as he tried to pushed toward it, and he quickly got to his paws as he slid across the slick ice which was braking open right out from under his paws. His eyes met Fennelstorm's, the amber gaze wide and pleading. Help me. Please. The ginger tom turned.

      And left.

      Quietly, without word, into the night, away from Sagecloud, and not in the direction of the heart of ThunderClan's territory. Dipperflight breath quickened, and as the ice shattered and split apart under him he leapt with as much force as he could summon from the slippery surface, shutting his eyes. He felt an icy cold wash over his body, but then he felt the strong clamp of jaws of his scruff, and blinked open his eyes to see Sagecloud grasping his scruff, only his back paws on the shore, his small front paws churning at the water to keep them afloat. Carefully, he pulled the dark tabby through the water's icy currant, to the snowy riverside, flopping into the snow, his entire front half soaking wet.

      Dipperflight panted for air, setting to drying both of their fur before it froze, careful around the cuts on his soft skin.

      "I'm so, so, so sorry...," he whispered as he dried Sagecloud's fur. "This is all my fault. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry...." The white-chested tom repeated, shutting his eyes and pressing his face into his long gray chest fur.

      "It's okay, Dipperflight." Sagecloud whispered, blinking those soft, warm, pale brown-amber eyes open. "I think... I think it's over. It's over now. It's alright."

***

       The sun was bright, Dipperflight hummed softly as he watched Sagecloud playfully pounce to the ground, Lavenderkit and Salmonkit laughing brightly, jumping on him to try and bring him to the ground.

       "Dipperflight, please tell me about ThunderClan again! I want to know what it's like for when I'm leader, I'll know all of their secrets!" Aspenkit purred as she sat next to Dipperflight, also watching her siblings and father play.

      "You know I can't tell secrets about it with you guys, I promised I'd keep ThunderClan's secrets secret." Aspenkit pouted.

      "C'mon, please dad? Please, anything, tell me anything!" She begged, pushing him lightly with her white forepaws green eyes eager.

      "The trees turn colors in Leaf-Fall. The whole territory is oak trees and birch trees, and it's all orange, red, and yellow in Leaf-Fall. The entire forest." Aspenkit tipped her head up, as the gray-and-white she-kit had never personally lived through a Leaf-Fall due to her birth in the middle of Leaf-Bare to Rookchaser. "The leaves turn a bright color, and then they fall off the trees for Leaf-Bare. Then in New-Leaf..." he waved his tail.

      The sky was bright, clouds lazily drifting loosely through the blueness. The sun was warm, keeping everything alive. The sedges were flowering, and the reeds weren't as dull as they were in the colder moon. Red-Winged Blackbirds swooped through the sweet aired sky, the smell of fish and river-mud faint but comfortingly there. The river was giggling just behind the reed walls of the RiverClan camp, the water still holding the lingering tepidness of Leaf-Bare, was by Sun-High it usually was nice and warm.

        "Everything can grow again, become new again." Aspenkit brushed her her head against Dipperflight's cheek, laughing brightly.

      "I'll be an apprentice when it comes time for that!" She realized out loud, an excited gleam in her eyes. Dipperflight thought carefully before nodding, making her bounce on her paws with happiness. "I'm gonna go ask Foxlight if he'll play with me!"

       "What's wrong with Sagecloud's games?" Dipperflight asked as she started off. Her small, kit fluff covered tail flicked sassily.

      "He only plays kit-games with Lavenderkit and Salmonkit. Foxlight plays Ultimate Mossball with me." Dipperflight raised a brow, but she bounded off before he could ask anymore questions on the validity and safety of the game.

       "Dipperflight!" He looked up as the gray tabby who played "kit-games" padded up, his brown eyes bright.

      "Sagecloud," he purred, sitting up and licking his ear-tip. Sagecloud huffed out a laugh, giving him a playful nudge.

      "Lavenderkit and Salmonkit went to the Elder's Den for stories. So? Ready for another swimming lesson?" He arched a brow, and Dipperflight nodded, eyes shut.

       "Yeah. I'm doing way better now that the water is warmer!"

      "Sure, sure, you still flail around like that time I saved you from the river the first time." Sagecloud led the way out of camp, the river awaiting them.

      "You and Stormcall, always bringing that up...!" Dipperflight sighed, looking out into the water.

      "If you want, I can bring up the other numerous times I've saved your tail from drowning...." Dipperflight waded in, rolling his eyes.

       "That was low..."

      "Really..? I'm sorry--"

       "Not as low as this, though!" Dipperflight swatted his paw at the water's surface, splashing water at the RiverClan tom, who let out a yelp of shock.

      "You really are getting better-- but not as good as me!" He dove in, sending up a splash from his form entering the body of water.

      "Hey, no fair, you know I can't swim under water nearly well enough!" The dark tabby laughed.

      "Let's work on that, then." Sagecloud reemerged, water streaking down his fur.

       "Or we could just..." Dipperflight started purring, "go with the flow. Get it, because it's water?" Sagecloud let out a laugh, splashing him gently.

      "Not as good as the fish joke from last night." He remarked, but Dipperflight narrowed his eyes.

       "Hm. Which fish joke? I carp seem to remember...."

       "Too far."

       "Really?"

       "No way, keep going, tell another!"

AN//

Obviously I couldn't stop writing at the end there I couldn't find a place to stop. BUT ALAS. After three months, I've finally finished. It has been a struggle. For instance, wattpad crashed as I was writing the climax in this chapter and I loST THE ENTIRE CLIMAX I'm still salty. I've still got my final authors note though so, I guess stay tuned for that but it's not that big of a deal if you peace out now. If you do, bye bud! It was nice having you, thank you so much for reading.

Also all of Dipperflight's jokes at the end I most definitely DID COME UP WITH ON THE SPOT they were all my jokes I thought of  ahaaaaaaaaa someone laugh at my jokes please i swear I'm funny.

If anyone is curious about Sagecloud and Dipperflight's children, they're actually Rookchaser and Owlheart's kits. Rookchaser didn't want to be a mom, so she and owl actually separated now because Owlheart was so upset that she didn't want to be a mother to their kits. I didn't want to put something a little upsetting in a happy ending though. I actually did think about making Dipperflight or Sagecloud die in the entire Fennel scene but I could never do that to myself or you guys lol. It wouldn't have really contributed to anything except being able to tag it with Major Character Death either.
ALSO LOOK AT THIS GIF IT'S TOTALLY A SHORT FURRED FOXPAW/LIGHT IM LAUGHING LOLLLL

I found a longer one too of this cat on ice but wattpad wouldn't let me upload it since it's "over 3mb," how lame.