A sleek, short haired black cat.

-

Shadowgaze is as dark and quick as the shadows he was named after. Unlike most of RidgeClan, Shadowgaze has an almost frail stature, smaller and thinner than his clanmates, with sleek, short black fur to match. His features are sharp and angular, with ears a smidge too large for his head, often earning him the nickname Batpaw when he was young. Though he stands shorter than the giants in RidgeClan, he's still on the lanky side, giving him an almost-tall appearance when he stands with cats from other clans.

Over time, sunlight has gently bleached Shadowgaze's black fur, giving him a warm and ruddy color in direct light. His eyes are pale yellow and, like his ears, a bit large for his face. It makes him look younger than he is, if you can ignore the harshness behind his gaze. 

There are few cats in RidgeClan more openly devout than Ashnose, a trait she shares with her mate, Lightfur, and something they both hope to instill in the litter Ashnose carries. She sees StarClan's blessing in every place she goes, in every thing she does. It's in the drops of dew that line her morning walks; the remaining stubborn buds of late new-leaf; the fresh smell of new grass, vibrant in the changing season; and of course, in the soft fur of her kits as she welcomes them into the world.

Shadowkit is the oldest, born so still and quiet that he frightens his mother into thinking he died before she could even meet him, until the medicine cat's gentle pressure startles a soft mewl out of his small form. Juniperkit and Snowkit tumble out shortly after, much livelier than their brother. The three of them are a perfect gradient of fur, dark to light, nuzzled against Ashnose's side.

She's never been happier.

-

There's an older litter - Foxkit, Rabbitkit, and Weaselkit - that Ashnose hopes her children will learn to play with. Firepelt and Shrewnose are friends of hers. They're devout, like she is, though quieter about their faith, and she has every belief that their piety will spread to their sons.

Sometimes, she even dreams of a future where each of her kits finds love with the older litter. Perfect pairs of StarClan's blessings.

Lightfur scolds her fondly for already thinking of grandchildren.

-

Shadowkit listens to his parents recount stories of their starry ancestors with wide eyes, his tail tucked neatly around his paws in a polite posture neither of his sisters imitate. Juniperkit keeps making faces at some of the other kits. Snowkit looks lost in her own world. Lightfur keeps encouraging his daughters to listen, to be good like their brother, but the message is lost on them and he turns back to Ashnose.

"Ancestors guide me," he mumbles, resigned in a way Shadowkit doesn't understand. His sisters like StarClan. Snowkit said so herself, they just don't like sitting still like he does.

"They are," Ashnose reassures. "The girls will learn in time. For now, we have Shadowkit."

Yes. They had him. He wanted them to.

-

Except, he doesn't really understand StarClan. Shadowkit just likes the attention from his parents, and he thinks the stars are pretty, whenever he's allowed out of the nursery long enough to look up.

-

Friendship comes easy for Shadowkit in the nursery. What his parents initially took for shyness quickly proves to be politeness instead. He's quiet, especially compared to his sisters, but he's also popular. Easily the most popular in the nursery, at least according to the other queens and elders who come to visit. Shadowkit likes their attention, but he likes the friendship of other kits more.

Like his mother hoped, Shadowkit (and his sisters) grows close to Rabbitkit, Foxkit, and Weaselkit. (Particularly Weaselkit, who sometimes makes Shadowkit's pelt warm with the silly things he says.) Through them Shadowkit befriends Silverkit, and eventually the group seems inseparable, tumbling through the nursery and in the clearing outside the den with friendly ease.

-

It's short lived, of course. Silverkit is two moons older. Nearly as soon as they learn to play together, he's off, taking an apprentice name and creating distance between them. Distance appropriate for their rank. Their ages. Shadowkit is sad, but he understands sooner than the rest of his friends do. This is the tradition of warriors they are all to follow.

-

"It's not so bad," he tells Foxkit after his friend came to him moping, missing Silverkit with more melancholy than a young kit should possess. "You'll be with him next moon."

Foxkit brightens at that, then deflates immediately. "And then I won't be with you!"

Shadowkit laughs, soft and amused, carrying a wisdom his mother will later tell him is far beyond his moons. "Only for a moon after that."

-

Foxkit - Foxpaw - leaves the nursery, his two brothers following behind. Shadowkit smiles at Weaselpaw, matching his best friend's excitement, until he's left alone with his sisters.

"It's gonna be annoying," Juniperkit says. "Trying to catch up with them."

"If anyone can do it," Shadowkit reassures, draping his tail over his sister's anxious paws. "It's you."

-

The last moon in the nursery drags on without their friends to keep them company. Shadowkit befriends some of the younger kits, spends time with the elders, listens to his mother and father regale him with tales of StarClan - he does plenty of things to occupy his time.

Still, it's slow.

-

"Firepelt wishes to be your mentor," Ashnose tells him the evening before he's to be named. Shadowkit sits up straighter, feeling a thrum of pride at the statement. Firepelt - the father of his friends - was everything his parents wanted him to be. Stately. Respected. Devout. He would be the perfect mentor. "Wolfstar agrees in the match."

For reasons Shadowkit doesn't understand, he feels his skin prickle at the words.

-

Finally. Finally, he's Shadowpaw.

That evening, he settles next to Weaselpaw with a pleased purr.

-

Shadowpaw tumbles to the ground with a breathless groan of pain, knocked aside after a failed maneuver against Firepelt. His mentor is quick to join him, nose pressed into Shadowpaw's pelt as he checks for scrapes or bruises. "I'm sorry," Firepelt murmurs once it's clear Shadowpaw's just had the wind knocked out of him, nothing more. "That was unkind of me."

"I understand why," Shadowpaw huffs out. His tone has nothing to do with disrespect for Firepelt, and everything to do with how out of breath he feels. "I made it too clear which direction I was going." Firepelt doesn't have to say it, but Shadowpaw knows it's true from the look in his mentor's eyes. "I was thinking I might ask Silverpaw for advice." Two moons of being an apprentice, and Shadowpaw still struggled with any sort of combat.

"Silverpaw is a valuable source of knowledge," Firepelt agreed, his voice rumbling with adoration for the apprentice Shadowpaw knows he regards as another son. Sometimes, he wonders if Firepelt feels the same about him. He sees more care in his mentor's eyes than he does his parents. To them, it sometimes feels that he's just an accomplishment to boast about, not a son to cherish. "But he's a different sort of fighter than you. I would recommend taking advice from a cat your size." 

There weren't many of those in RidgeClan.

-

"You gotta..." Weaselpaw wiggles in his crouch, emphasizing the exact stance he's taken, before launching himself forward in a low leap. He glides over the clearing like a low flying songbird, then lands squarely on all four paws. "Hit 'em where they won't see you coming."

Like Shadowpaw, Weaselpaw is smaller than their clanmates, particularly his brothers, who caught up with the rest of their clan shortly after joining the apprentice den. "Be fast on your paws, then you get get them low."

Shadowpaw didn't really want to think about whoever them could be. "You make it seem easy," he says, unable to picture himself covering the same distance.

"What can I say?" Weaselpaw shoots him that funny grin that makes Shadowpaw's insides twist. "I'm the best."

Well, at the very least he was a good teacher.

-

It's late when Weaselpaw and Shadowpaw return to camp. After a moon of working together, Weaselpaw's brags and boasts seem normal. They're sweet, even, when Shadowpaw starts to realize they're just there to cover up a much shyer cat than Weaselpaw wants anyone to believe he is. The strange fluttering sensation in his stomach is gone, but that doesn't change the deep friendship he feels for the other tom.

"And then-" Weaselpaw doesn't get to finish, interrupted by a soft noise from Firepelt as he approaches the two of them. Shadowpaw's eyes slip from his mentor to the darker figure just a few steps away. The cat Firepelt was talking to moments before he cut Weaselpaw off.

Wolfstar.

"Weaselpaw," Firepelt says, looking at his son as if he's done something disappointing. "Go see to the elders, will you?" Shadowpaw doesn't miss how quick Weaselpaw's tail is to drop low as he slinks off. "Shadowpaw, a word?"

"Of course."

-

"You told me to seek additional help with training," Shadowpaw says with a frown, having just finished listening to Firepelt explain that Weaselpaw wasn't the right sort of cat for him to spend extra time with. He didn't understand it. Weaselpaw is Firepelt's son. "Weaselpaw and I are built the same, and he's much better at combat than I am."

"That's true," Firepelt says hedgingly. Shadowpaw fixes him with a stubborn look, waiting for an explanation. "But I think your spare time could be used for better things."

"You think, or Wolfstar thinks?" He can't help how the words slip out of him. It isn't the first time Wolfstar's influence interrupted his life.

"Mind your tone, Shadowpaw," Firepelt warns. The two stand still for a moment, before some of the bluster fades. "I'm not telling you to not be his friend. But, consider spending your spare time with the Oracle, instead."

The Oracle? Shadowpaw hasn't thought of the stars in any sort of rigorous way since leaving the nursery. The Oracle. It almost seemed absurd. Why did Firepelt want him to work with the Oracle?

Why did Wolfstar want him to work with the Oracle?

Shadowpaw could admit, he was a little curious.

-

That curiosity quickly turns morbid.

Shadowpaw can see through Wolfstar. He knows exactly what his leader wants from him. Wolfstar thinks him moldable. He thinks him every bit of the polite, reserved, even demure cat his mother boasts him to be.

Wolfstar and the Oracle see him as a tool. His popularity in the apprentice den lends to that.

Shadowpaw doesn't mind. He thinks he could get some use from his leader, too.

-

It's just a vague thought at first. A deep discomfort at how Wolfstar talks about faith and RidgeClan. Shadowpaw doesn't know what he can do about the skin-crawling feeling his leader sometimes gives him, but he knows being on Wolfstar's good side is better than the alternative. So he waits, patient and quiet, watching other cats begin to speak about RidgeClan's superiority in the same way Wolfstar does. Watches his parents come to spew the same rhetoric. Watches his mentor do the same. Firepelt is much slower, more reluctant, but in the end settles his loyalties with Wolfstar.

They think themselves so much better than the other cats of the forest.

Shadowpaw is furious. The code is clear - StarClan's will is clear. The clans are equal. Other cats, the ones outside of clans, are still deserving of respect. Of kindness. Not of the malice Wolfstar and his believers speak of them in.

But what's an apprentice to do?

He feels like no one else notices.

-

"You spend a lot of time with Wolfstar," Silverpaw says, speaking in the low, even tone Shadowpaw always thought so comforting.

"He's our leader," Shadowpaw says with a shrug. "I'm honored he's taken such an interest in me."

-

Later, Wolfstar commends him for such loyalty, and Shadowpaw watches the first stone of his plan tumble down a hill.

-

"I'm not being named with Foxpaw and Rabbitpaw," Weaselpaw says, chest puffed up in that way he does when he tries to seem full of himself. Shadowpaw tilts his head in question, waiting for his friend to finish explaining himself. "I've just got too much potential as an apprentice, I guess!"

The disappointment is clear in Weaselpaw's expression. "Then I'm lucky to have you by my side for a little longer," Shadowpaw purrs. The kindness, like it always does, settles the anxious light in Weaselpaw's eyes.

-

His last moon as an apprentice is spent glued to Firepelt, and thus Wolfstar. Shadowpaw is determined to start his warrior life as one of Wolfstar's trusted allies. He sees the look the leader gives his friends, sometimes - Weaselpaw, most noticeably, and reluctantly takes the hint. The only time spent with Weaselpaw is in the quiet privacy of the apprentice den.

Blessedly, Weaselpaw seems to get it even without them talking about it.

He wonders how long that will last.

-

He's named Shadowgaze, for his wisdom. His ability to see the larger picture. Juniperfang jokes he was named for his yellow eyes, vibrant and alarming when they look at you.

Outwardly, Shadowgaze wears the name with pride. But his insides crumble, thinking of Wolfstar's motivations as he named him.

-

"What do you think of Weaselsong?" Wolfstar asks him one day. Out of the blue, it would feel like, if Wolfstar hadn't asked him about Silverheart just a few moments prior.

"He's my best friend." Shadowgaze speaks carefully. He always watches what he says around Wolfstar, wanting his leader to only hear the best things. But he can't lie to him. Shadowgaze would be found out. So he tells the truth about Weaselsong, expecting to hear a dismissal.

"I like him," Wolfstar says, surprising Shadowgaze. "It's good for our clan to have a sense of humor."

-

He doesn't know what turned Wolfstar around on Weaselsong. He thinks, maybe, it was his friend's open extolling of RidgeClan's values. Or maybe in was the deeply pious path Rabbitfern found himself on. Maybe Wolfstar thought it was possible Weaselsong felt the same about their ancestors.

Shadowgaze doesn't know.

But it makes him nervous, seeing Weaselsong and Rabbitfern brought into the folds of Wolfstar's closest allies.

-

His sisters aren't far behind.

-

At least Foxflight has Silverheart.

-

He's 17 moon old when Wolfstar first mentions giving him an apprentice. It's another thing that makes him nervous. He feels too young for such things, no matter how much praise is heaped onto him. He worries it's a test. He worries Wolfstar is onto him, and is looking for a way to distract him from his plans.

The naming ceremony for RidgeClan's oldest kits passes without one being assigned to him, and Shadowgaze breathes a sigh of relief. His secret is safe. Wolfstar still looks at him fondly.

His friends ask why the thought of an apprentice makes him so nervous and Shadowgaze finds he can't answer.

To clear his head, he takes a walk.

-

The smell of a loner is pungent. Shadowgaze's hackles are up immediately. The border was close by, he knew, but this smell was too strong, too recent, for it to be a cat just passing through. No, someone stepped onto RidgeClan territory. Someone-

Someone who was grooming themself, uncaring that they lounged among the roots of a tree firmly within the border. "Identify yourself," Shadowgaze says sharply, knowing aggression would be met with failure. Combat is still his weakness, and this cat is larger than him.

The cat's ears perk up. "Oh, hey. You one of those clan cats?"

Shadowgaze's ears flatten in response. "I said, identify yourself."

"Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

Flabbergasted, Shadowgaze can't help but say, "What in StarClan's name does that mean?"

"StarClan! You are one of those clan cats."

"Of course I am?" Shadowgaze still feels too stunned by the exchange to do anything else but humor the relaxed loner. "You're in our territory."

The loner looks around, eyes wide. "Oh, whoops."

"Whoops?"

"Whoops!"

-

His name is Grey. He's old enough to be a warrior, by clan standards, but younger than Shadowgaze. Young enough to make a stupid mistake, like crossing the border to catch the squirrel he was chasing. Shadowgaze knows he should demand Grey leave. Bare his fangs and claws until the loner got the picture.

Instead, he shares the meal, briefly transported by the easy, comfortable way Grey interacts with him, like he's never been uncomfortable a day in his life.

Sometimes, discomfort is all Shadowgaze knows.

-

"So this is it?" Grey asks after Shadowgaze escorts him to the border, both of them fed and rested. "You gonna get in trouble for hanging out with me?"

"I'll find an excuse." He was already thinking of the closest patch of rosemary, where he might roll around until his scent was clear. Maybe he could dip into a puddle and pretend he fell in the river. A million justifications were coming to mind, all of them worth it for an almost relaxing afternoon with Grey.

"You clan cats really don't like loners, huh?"

"Wolfstar wouldn't approve."

"Oh. Is that your leader?"

"Yes."

"You don't like them, huh?" Shadowgaze's eyes go wide in surprise at how easily he was found out. Then again, he hadn't even bothered to keep the disdain from his voice. That - that was a mistake. A mistake made by thinking Grey would want nothing to do with clan life or politics.

"I trust my leader," Shadowgaze said. "Don't make assumptions."

"Sounds like you're trying to convince yourself, not me."

-

Grey isn't right, of course. Shadowgaze knows he doesn't trust Wolfstar.

He just can't bring himself to say it, even to a loner.

-

Shadowgaze returns to camp, damp from the puddle he found, and no one questions it any further.

-

"Doesn't it sound a little... aggressive?"

Foxflight is the last of his friends to join Wolfstar's closest circle, save for Silverheart. Most mornings, Shadowgaze wakes up jealous of his two friends, safe from Wolfstar's bigotry.

Bigotry that Shadowgaze has been emulating for so long, he's not sure where the act starts and ends. "Don't prove yourself weak, Foxflight," he says.

He hates himself for it.

-

The next day, he flees to the border, hoping for the easy conversation that Grey provided last time they met.

He finds Grey lounging just across the border, safe from any passing RidgeClan patrols. Grey greets him with a warm smile as Shadowgaze joins him for another meal and bemoans the pressure he finds himself under in as vague terms as he can manage.

-

With him, Shadowgaze remembers what it's like to be himself.

-

Silverheart is angry when he approaches him. Shadowgaze sees it in his friend's gait, intimidating enough to make other cats cower. Instead, Shadowgaze just regards him coolly. "Is this really the path you want, Shadowgaze?"

Of course it isn't.

But he doesn't have a choice. No one else can stop Wolfstar - this he's convinced himself of.

"If you won't stand with us," Shadowgaze says, studying the leaves on the trees that surround them. "Then you're against us. I won't inform Wolfstar of your disloyalty, Silverheart, out of respect for our old friendship."

-

Once again, he seeks out Grey.

-

The fallen tree.

The damn fallen tree. 

Wolfstar won't stop talking about the damn fallen tree.

-

He intends violence.

-

Fear grips Shadowgaze's very soul, realizing the mistake he's made.

-

Grey is waiting for him, like he always is.

Shadowgaze tells him everything.

-

"Run away with me," Grey says, more serious than Shadowgaze has ever seen him. "If Wolfstar means war, then you could get hurt."

"It's not just me," Shadowgaze says. "My whole clan. My sisters. My friends." He shakes his head. "I can't leave. I got them into this."

"You... were trying to do something noble?" But Shadowgaze can tell Grey doesn't really believe it, he's just trying to be kind. "Please. Run away with me. If you died, I'd-" An emotion Shadowgaze doesn't recognize flickers over Grey's face. "I don't know what I'd do."

Again, he shakes his head. "My clan comes first, Grey." 

-

This time, when they say goodbye, Shadowgaze knows it might be for good.

-

There's a rustle in the bushes as he approaches camp. So wrapped up in his thoughts after bidding Grey farewell, Shadowgaze doesn't notice Cougarcloud approaching until it's too late. He stumbles over his paws, startled by the sudden presence of Wolfstar's mate. "Cougarcloud, I-"

"How is your loner doing?"

In that moment, Shadowgaze wishes he had taken up Grey's offer. "I-"

"Wolfstar doesn't know," she says softly. Soothingly, almost. Motherly. "I've been watching you."

"He keeps coming back, I've tried-"

"Shadowgaze, it's all right." Her tone makes him think that's true. "I know everything."

-

Cougarcloud knows everything because she feels the same way.

It's born from different motivations, of course. Shadowgaze watched the cats he trusted most - his parents, his mentor, even some friends - turn into bigots under the guise of Wolfstar's piety. It made him ripe with hatred for the leader. Cougarcloud's drive comes from the love she'll never find in his eyes. Different sources, but they share the same desire.

Wolfstar must go.

But before they can decide how, Wolfstar calls for an attack on MistClan.

-

"This could be it," Cougarcloud says. "This could be the moment."

It's not a plan. Just a suggestion.

Shadowgaze knows what she means.

-

RidgeClan surges upon MistClan in a combat more brief and more bloody than Shadowgaze ever expected it to be.

Brief, because PrairieClan is quick to join the fray.

Brief, because his own claws strike down Wolfstar.

Shadowgaze slinks off into his namesake as Wolfstar bleeds out.

-

It is foolproof. Cougarcloud knew how many lives Wolfstar still had, and Shadowgaze knew exactly where to strike to drain the most blood. It's a wound too deep, too great, to recover from. At a distance, he watches his leader die, and die, and die, and-

-

Shadowgaze returns to camp a murderer.

There's more than just Wolfstar's blood on his paws.

-

Silverheart doesn't make it back.

-

The next morning, Cougarcloud confirms Wolfstar never woke up.

-

"Foxflight-"

He doesn't deserve the sympathy on his friend's face. "Don't. Just... sit with me."

-

He thinks, were he stronger, smarter, wiser, then maybe his plan would have worked. Maybe he could've discredited Wolfstar before the bloodshed. Maybe... maybe there were too many maybes.

-

Word of the surviving RidgeClan warriors feels like the first breath of air he manages since Wolfstar led the clan into battle.

-

No one notices him slink off to find Grey.

-

"That's it, he's dead?"

"Yes," Shadowgaze says. "I... I-" Could he say it? Could he tell the truth? He worries Grey will hate him, will think him a killer, and he doesn't know what he would do if Grey came to hate him. "I killed him," he finally whispers.

Grey presses firmly into his side and doesn't say anything for a while.

-

"Does that mean you can give it all up? He's gone. You can tell your friends the truth."

Ancestors, if only it was that easy. "His legacy remains," Shadowgaze says. "And I'm in the right position to stop it." With Wolfstar dead, Shadowgaze found many members of his clan looking to him, or to Cougarcloud, or to the Oracle for guidance. With Cougarcloud on his side, he was confident they could dismantle the Oracle's seat of power. This time, without bloodshed.

-

Mushroomstar's leadership is a breath of fresh air. He reminds Shadowgaze of Silverheart, and for that, he knows the clan is on the right path.

-

In the moons that follow Wolfstar's death, Shadowgaze buries himself in new work: weeding out the rot that lingers in RidgeClan and saving the cats who were wrapped up in Wolfstar's ideology. Cats that never meant any harm, who only saw themselves as following their leader. Cats like his friends. As subtly as he can, he pushes them back toward Silverheart, hoping his old friend will welcome them back.

His parents are a lost cause. They're just as bad as Wolfstar.

His mentor - Firepelt - always had doubts. Shadowgaze thinks he can save him and his mate.

Cougarcloud...

She knows too much, and it makes him nervous.

She disliked Wolfstar in the end, but Shadowgaze can't tell how much of his ideology she believed in. If she's still friend or foe. If, maybe, the information she has on him makes her dangerous.

Despite the danger, he still sees Grey.

-

"I think you can still run away with me," Grey says lazily. His casualness makes Shadowgaze smile - it's one of the few things that does, these days, especially as tension between the clans flare again. "Your clan will do all right."

He's thought about it.

Maybe what he did was with good intentions, but it doesn't change the fact that he was just as bad as Wolfstar. Encouraged the same things.

And it doesn't clean his blood stained paws.

"I hope to regain my lost friendships," Shadowgaze says. "Which is hard to do, if I leave. As well, my presence is still needed to rein in the troublemakers." Troublemakers, as if the remaining followers of Wolfstar aren't loud, senior and respected warriors with faith that's nearly impossible to shake.

Grey nods. He understands, he always does. "I'll join, then."

"What?"

"RidgeClan. I'll join. I can be... Greyfur?"

Despite the absurdity of the statement, Shadowgaze laughs. "You don't choose your name. Besides, RidgeClan doesn't take in outsiders. You're better off joining PrairieClan."

Grey shakes his head. "Even if I did, we still couldn't be together. Either you run away with me, or I join your clan. Simple as that."

Simple.

If only.

Pre-Plotting: On the outside, Shadowgaze's allegiances and loyalty still fall with the late Wolfstar and the former Oracle, as well as other cats who agreed with their beliefs. Internally, he falls into the Pluto role, and hopes to soon reveal his truth. Shadowgaze believes that RidgeClan's corruption ran too deep with Wolfstar at the helm, and so long as cats like the Oracle still exist within the clan, they're not yet free of that corruption.

He doesn't think RidgeClan must split. He would rather just drive out (or, if he must, kill) the handful of cats remaining with deep loyalty to Wolfstar. However, because of his role in Wolfstar's plot, he knows a lot of his friends and family are believers in RidgeClan's superiority just because of him. Desperately, he hopes to find a way to make those cats see the truth while still sticking to his lie so he can weed out the real rot in RidgeClan.

Family: Growing up, Shadowgaze had a positive view of biological family, but cared much more for "found family." He regarded his closest friends as his siblings and prayed for a long life with all of them. Over time, this connection to his friends made him realize how shallow his relationship with his parents was. He wasn't a son for them to love, rather a doll for them to play with and mold into the perfect devout RidgeClan warrior. Since realizing that, he now harbors harsh feelings toward his parents, and instead finds lingering parental affection in his old mentor.

Shadowgaze still holds deep love for his sisters, but believes he's betrayed them with his scheme, and doesn't think himself redeemable for it. 

Friends: His found family - his friends - is the most important thing to Shadowgaze, even if he's pushed them away and kept them at a distance. He's desperate to reunite with his friends and let them see the real him, but he's not quite ready to expose his scheme. He's hopeful they'll forgive him, but like with his sisters, he believes he's betrayed them too much to really deserve that forgiveness.

Romance: With great reluctance, Shadowgaze knows he's in love with the loner, Grey. He also knows this is, in part, because Grey knows the real him, and not the act he's been putting on since he was young. He doesn't think anything will come of it - it's unlikely he'll leave RidgeClan and even more unlikely Grey will join, but some nights, he dreams...

To counter these wild notions of being with Grey, he's considered taking a mate in RidgeClan. Sometimes, he thinks about asking Weaselsong, after harboring a small crush on him when they were young.

[Shadowgaze is open for a mate (to help convince him to stay in RidgeClan/not betray the code for Grey) but would prefer to be with a cat who can sire kits. Shadowgaze is a trans tom so would be carrying the kits himself. Gender of the mate doesn't matter, so long as they can sire kits.]

Rivals: Shadowgaze is too polite for rivals, friendly or otherwise. Rather, he has cats he deeply hates, like Wolfstar, or cats he fears hate him, like Silverheart. The closest source of antagonism in his life right now (besides his own self-hatred) is Cougarcloud. He doesn't know the full extent of her motives, and she knows too much about him to make him comfortable.