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wc-wild-rewrite · 7 months

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So, Swiftpaw won the story poll, which means i get to deep dive into my story for him. This is subject to change, as i havent finalized the plot past arc 2.

Anyway, under the cut bc it got long

Theres no change to his parentage in this rewrite, still the eldest son of Goldenflower and some loner, one difference is that he isn't a single litter. His sibling, Lynxshine, is here too.

Named after the bird and not the trait, Swiftkit was, in fact, fastest kitten in the nursery, with constantly abundant energy and a bad habit of saying unintentionally hilarious stuff and accidentally insulting other cats. He and two of his denmates, Bracken and Thorn, often played rough and competed with eachother in camp races and mossball, but their collective energy often got one of them, or someone else, hurt or disgruntled.

There were two cats he liked playing with the most that werent in the den, though. Ravenpaw and Tigerclaw. Yes, you heard me.

Ravenpaw was fantastic with kits, he and his denmates loved to sit around and listen to the tom tell wild stories of battles and historic leaders. But that stuff was of the far past, Tigerclaw offered more recent stories, ones that other cats- even his mother- could confirm and add onto. Tigerclaw had a soft spot for kits, you see, so he played with them in the times when he wasnt brooding or plotting his next move. Not wildly, not even particularly well, but the kits loved to play with him.

Anyway, swiftpaw.

As an apprentice, he learnt to manage his energy a bit better, especially under the mentorship of formerly-batshit-kitten Longtail. Unfortunately, this was still in Longtail's asshole Tiger supporter era, so Swift ended up getting kind of pushy towards the other apprentices. He and Thorn developed a rivarly that never really stopped, but as apprentices, it wasn't too friendly. At the end of the day, though, he got along well enough with his denmates. When his littermate came out as a Half-tom (demiboy), he was his number one supporter.

It was around the start of his apprenticeship that Tigerclaw and Goldenflower became mates and, unfortunately, Swiftpaw started to look up to him, as the brave, strong warrior Thunderclan thought he was. He idolized him, even, like his mentor did, and his mentor before that. He quickly started bragging that his dad was deputy, that his dad was the brave warrior that avenged the old deputy and killed the horrible Oakheart.

When Cinderpaw got hit, and Darksong moved to Thunderclan to train her, he picked fights with any cat that would so much as look at either cat wrong. Thankfully, a lot of the senior warriors seemed oddly calm about Darksong, and once Yellowfang started snapping at those who made remarks too, he calmed down mostly. He did, however, get in trouble for nearly clawing another apprentice's ear off at a gathering for such a comment, though. It was less of a "that wasn't right" punishment and more of a "your right but we cant let you get away with violence" punishment

He got increasingly snappy with other clan patrols when he came across them, a bi-product of his step-father's manipulation. After all, he was a strong warrior that protected his clan, of course he wouldn't be friends with other clans.

And then, of course, Tigerclaw was outed for his plan. And his world came crashing down. His father, the father of his soon-to-be-born siblings, was not only a fraud, but a murderer. He had not only killed the former deputy, but Swiftpaw's own uncle, Lionheart. Who was also the father of his denmates. For a while, he became very avoidant with them, too ashamed of his former praise to look them in the eyes. Eventually, Brightpaw calmed him down, and told him nobody was mad at him. He hadn't killed Lionheart, Tigerclaw had.

Unfortunately, not every cat saw it that way, and some of the other cats- the elders particularly- started whispering about him and his behaviour, about how he acted like Tigerclaw, how close he was with him, even pointing out similarities in pelt and body, despite them not being blood.

This was at the same time as his younger siblings were born- Bramble, Tawny, Snow, and Mistle. And you bet that all of them were viewed in a bad way. But this made Swiftpaw worse. Unlike his littermate, who isolated himself from the glaring cats, or his sister, who went and joined Shadowclan, Swift got angry. He got angry, and defense, and wildly protective of his siblings.

When a fire swept through the territory, Swift gathered his siblings and herded them out. But he didn't get Bramble, who had hid from the noise of the scramble to get out. When Swift discovered Yellowfang, his brother's mentor, died because Fireheart had gone back for Bramblekit, it only worsened things.

But that wasn't the last of it. Mistlekit would fall dangerously ill with Greencough in the same moon that Snowkit got snatched by the hawk. He and Bracken chased the hawk until it went past the thunderpath, and he nearly got ran over trying to go after it, only saved by a quick acting Brackenfur. He was sure his baby brother was dead, he was only a few moons old, he couldn't possibly survive a hawk like that. But, thanks to a certain Shadowclan warrior, his brother was saved, if very injured. This didn't stop him from blaming himself for it, like Brackenfur did. If he had been faster, if he had saw the hawk, if he had been watching his brother instead of his sister-

And then Bluestar refused to make him a warrior. That was, essentially, his breaking point. He was held back for moons, his mentor said he was ready, and yet the disobediant tom that was Cloudpaw was allowed to get his warrior name.

He overheard from one of the elders a way that thunderclan used to give out warrior names. Back in tigerclaw's time and before, they used to have to perform something big to prove their loyalty. Swiftpaw remembered hearing about the dog in Sunningrocks, and immediately went to tell the other apprentices. They refused to go with him, knowing it was dangerous, even when Thornpaw too was annoyed at being held back even longer. But he was deadset, he had always been stubborn, but his emotions had been pulled taught by the last few moons, and Brightpaw knew it. So they went off to Sunningrocks.

I don't think i need to describe what followed.

When he awoke, he was covered in bandages, several days later, with his brother reapplying some of them. Brightpaw laid beside him, even more injured than he was. And he realised he almost got her killed. Almost. She had woken before him, but not by long. Bluestar entered the den, giving them a dying apprentice ceremony, naming them Losthope and Dogbite respectively.

And then he discovered his leg had been broken beyond repair. Not enough for removal, but very broken. When he eventually recovered enough to stand, he found he couldn't move his foot at all. Alongside that, he had permenantly lost a few teeth, which messed with his speech, and had some nasty chronic pain. His brother called him a miracle. He had scarring all over his neck, his stomach had clearly been ripped open to some amount, and yet he was alive with far less lasting damage then he should've had.

Lynx, Cinder, Bracken, and Thorn helped him and Bright through their physical therapy. His younger siblings, all healthy by that point, and his mother supported them through it all. He was still angry at being named Dogbite, but it had been a wake up call for him. His rash, angry behaviour, trying to be 'the best', had nearly gotten him and his friend killed.

When Firestar became leader, he was almost called Swiftwing, but wanted to match with Brightheart. And so, he became Swiftheart.

He changed after that, quite significantly. He stopped being so aggressive, he started to unlearn the toxic behaviour Tigerclaw had taught him, and he started being friendlier to other clans. He fought against Tigerclan fiercly, and ended up meeting Gorseflame.

At first, they began talking at gatherings and border patrols, but then they started meeting up, staying behind after gatherings, sneaking out of camp. By the time The New Prophecy happens, he's in love with Gorseflame. They keep it secret, shockingly effectively, mostly thanks to Lynxpaw and Darksong, both of whom were aware of it.

He participated in the Great Journey, and got even closer to Gorseflame during it, becoming mates with him by the time The Power Of Six (Arc 3) came around.

This is where the plot and his involvement gets a tad blurry, but overall he survives the Great Battle, makes the second Great Journey to the new-new territories, and, once cross-clan mates became allowed, had a litter of kits with Gorseflame, with some surrogate help from a Windclan molly.

He became a respected warrior, admired for his bravery and determination.

His kits became Nighthop, Dawnsplash, and Dayshine, with Dawnsplash living in Windclan.

He witnessed the deaths of Bramble, Lynx, and Snow, but was outlived by Mistle.

At the end of Arc 4.5, he notices his vision is going, and rather quickly, one eye more than the other. He didn't know wether to blame this on his old injuries, or a family thing.

Eventually, though, he was sent out with Sandstorm and Alderpaw, and maybe some others, to bring Bloodclan to the territories, and gave his life to let them escape from a pack of dogs.

As he died, he wasn't angry at dying to a dog. He was an elder by that point, he knew Gorse and their kits would be distraught, but he knew Brightheart wasn't expecting him to come back alive. He had done everything he wanted.

He had even taken the dogs down with him, only succumbing to his injuries as he tried to walk and catch up with his clanmates.

In the end, Alderpaw and the others found his body, under a tree, surrounded by the bodies of dogs, on their way back to the clan, and carried him all the way back, alongside Sandstorm's body, and buried him on home territory, with a speech done by his siblings, kits, and mate.

Brightheart was the last to give a speech.

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