Return- Hawkfrost x Ivypool

Chapter Ten

The minute Hawkfrost stepped into the hollow, he knew he was dead.

His paw touched the ground, and being the unaware Clan they were, every ThunderClan cat there immediately stopped and looked at him. Their expressions were hostile, but at least they didn't directly recognize him.

"What is he doing here?"

Oops, never mind. A muscular golden tabby pushed to the front of the ThunderClan cats. His amber eyes burned with anger. Lionblaze, Hawkfrost realized. I killed his sister.

Even though Hawkfrost was (kind of) prepared to deal with ThunderClan's anger, he wasn't quite ready to argue with cats whose family he had killed. He couldn't quite understand why, though. If someone had killed Brambleclaw, he'd probably thank them.

"That's the kind of thinking that landed you in the Dark Forest, Hawkfrost," Spottedleaf whispered in his ear as Lionblaze drew closer.

Okay, so Spottedleaf was right. But it wasn't his fault that he still thought a little like that! She probably would have been appalled if she saw him only a few moons ago.

Hawkfrost tried to keep his fur still and flat when Lionblaze thrust his head in front of Hawkfrost's. After about half of a heartbeat, Hawkfrost snorted and stepped back. He was not going to be a cowering mouse-brain in front of the whole of ThunderClan.

"How is he here?" Lionblaze growled, his amber eyes still searching Hawkfrost's face.

Ivystar sent Hawkfrost an "I-told-you-so" look before she replied, "StarClan sent him here and told me to welcome him into ThunderClan."

"Why would StarClan do anything like that?" Lionblaze asked her as his brother padded over, ears twitching.

Fox dung, Hawkfrost thought as Leafpool slid up on the other side, face full of horror. Ivystar, meanwhile, was shaking her head. "I don't know," she told Lionblaze. "Bluestar just told me that-"

Jayfeather interrupted her. "StarClan does want him here."

Lionblaze whipped his head around to stare at his brother in disbelief. "You can't possibly agree with Ivystar! Hawkfrost has no place here! Have you forgotten what he did?"

"Do you think I could forget?" Jayfeather's voice filled with pain. "I remember how Hollyleaf died."

Hawkfrost noticed that most of the cats around camp didn't recognize him because they had never seen him. That's a lot of new cats, he thought, looking over pelts that he'd never seen before.

Then he realized that Ivystar was looking at him expectantly. "I'm sorry for killing your sister," he said bluntly. Hawkfrost winced. That sounded genuine. Nice job of convincing them.

Leafpool was still staring at him, sadness bright in her eyes. It was slightly unsettling. He understood Jayfeather and Lionblaze, but how was she just standing there and not saying a word about Hollyleaf?

From the minute he learned Ivystar had betrayed him, he had been angry. So angry that after he was secretly disgusted at harming the cats (that was her fault) he had no problems about trying to kill Ivystar. And no problems when he killed Hollyleaf instead.

Lionblaze stared at him for a little more. Did he see remorse? Hawkfrost hoped so. He watched the golden tom slowly step back and nod. Still, in those eyes... he didn't like the message screaming from them. This is not over, the golden tom's eyes said.

"Any other problems with Hawkfrost joining ThunderClan?" Ivystar asked.

"Who is he?" One of the unfamiliar cats asked.

Ivystar's sister...Dovewing? turned to them. "Do you remember the stories about the Dark Forest?"

As Dovewing explained, Ivystar jumped onto the Highledge. "Welcome to ThunderClan, Hawkfrost."

It seemed that Dovewing was done explaining, as the ThunderClan cats started yowling their protests. "Isn't he evil?"

"ThunderClan, you all heard me before. He has StarClan's approval!" Ivystar called down to them. "Do any of you have a real reason why he can't join?"

Embarrassed, Hawkfrost slipped into the shadows of the Highledge as ThunderClan slowly stopped complaining. Not noticing his escape, Ivystar meowed, "Well, I'm glad that's settled. Now, I have two other things that I'd like to do...."

Her gaze fell on an apprentice- Dawnpaw. "Dawnpaw."

Hawkfrost watched as she made Dawnpaw a warrior. "Dawnwhisker! Dawnwhisker!" She then called up Rosepool's three kits, who were led by Lightningleaf and Tigersky.

He saw all this, oblivious to what was happening in the Dark Forest.

~~~~~~~~

"Where's Hawkfrost?" Tigerstar growled, glaring at trees.

Mapleshade beckoned him with her tail, contempt in her gaze. "You might want to see this," she said.

The huge tom padded over to the pool where Mapleshade sat and looked into it. He could see very clearly an image of Hawkfrost. A faint voice echoed out of the rippling water. "....sorry for killing your sister."

"Did he betray us?" Splashclaw came bounding up.

Tigerstar thought he saw a crafty gleam in Hawkfrost's eyes. "I don't think so. Look carefully at his expression. Besides, that apology didn't even seem real."

Naturally, the Dark Forest cats were wrong. There was no evil intent in Hawkfrost's eyes.

"Yeah, he totally didn't betray us," Ravenwhisper meowed, rolling her eyes and smirking off to the side. "There's absolutely no way he butted into StarClan."

"StarClan!" Tigerstar rumbled. "I'll go see if they did anything."

He turned and went running off through the trees to the border between StarClan and the Dark Forest.

His paws pounded the dirt, and he ignored the rustling bushes that were meant to taunt him with nonexistent prey. He needed to find out where Hawkfrost went.

Tigerstar skidded to a stop a tail-length from the border, knowing that he really didn't want to touch it.

"Looking for something?" Bluestar meowed from behind it. "Hawkfrost, perhaps?"

Losing his sense, Tigerstar lunged at the border, claws unsheathed. With a sharp crackling noise, it smacked him backward into the Dark Forest.

"Mouse-brain," Bluestar chided, eyes glowing with amusement as she watched the former ShadowClan leader free himself from a bush. "You can't cross the border. Haven't you learned that by now?"

He loosed a growl, his tail lashing furiously. "Why don't you come over and talk to me?"

She sighed. "We all know that if I come over there, you'll try to kill me. And then the border will hit you. Again."

"Fine," Tigerstar snarled. He drew closer until his nose was almost touching the shimmering border. "Where is Hawkfrost?"

"Don't you already know? He's in ThunderClan."

Tigerstar held himself back from jumping at the border again. "What did you goody four-paws do to him?"

Bluestar snickered. "I haven't heard that one in a while."

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?"

"We didn't do anything, Tigerstar. He earned this."

With that, Bluestar turned and padded away. Tigerstar stared triumphantly at her. Hawkfrost had fooled StarClan, surely. Now, they had an even bigger chance of succeeding. This would be great!

Ravenwhisper smirked at him in the shadows, knowing exactly how wrong he was.

I just wanted to mention that Cinder3741's Hawkpool story is awesome, and if you like smirking Hawkfrosts and cooler personalities for the cats, then you should definitely follow that one.

And thank-you to CherryfeatherWC (again, I know) for helping me with an update schedule!

That is all.