[faceclaim]

[ 0 MOONS - 5 MOONS ] North was born alongside his three littermates who were named West, South, and East. They were born into an empire run by their parents. Sky, their mother, and their father, Cardinal Feather - or Cardinal, for short - were the rulers of the forest. Long ago, four groups had settled down near each other and conflicts over prey were frequent. To end the bloodshed, they chose an emperor to mediate and the royal family made their home in the center of the four bases so they wouldn’t belong to any one faction. Along with the royal family, several guards resided there, too. Each member of nobility had their own guard, a skilled fighter who had vowed to give their lives to protect their assigned royal. The kits quickly learned that their guards were not their friends, nor were the cats who would briefly visit to report to Cardinal. Royals were not supposed to form strong connections with anyone from the four branches.

East didn’t survive very long after the labor, passing away that night, and there was little hope for South, who’d been born the second weakest of the bunch. North and West weren’t allowed to play with South, and were barely allowed to be around her. Sky and Cardinal worried they’d play too aggressively with South, and feared they’d accidentally be too rough with her outside of play time. South didn’t do much anyway, mostly sleeping the days away, and when she was awake, she was too tired to even leave the nest. After a couple of moons, South passed away, too. Sky remained dignified in the aftermath of her childrens’ demise, but when she thought they’d fallen asleep at night, North and West could hear her sobbing softly. Cardinal continued with his duties as emperor, but both North and West noticed the faraway look in his eyes that would appear when he thought nobody was watching. The boys missed South, too, but kits are resilient and they swiftly recovered from the loss.

North and West were best friends, having connected the moment their gazes locked onto each other. Sure, they were the only kits in camp, but their connection was stronger than just children who needed a playmate. Out of the two of them, West was the more responsible one, the one who kept North in line - or tried to. North was trouble - lots of trouble. He had too much energy that he would release in less than favorable ways. He’d annoy the camp’s guards to no end, whether they were resting or working. He’d try to sneak out of camp when he believed nobody was looking and he wouldn’t pay attention to his parents’ lessons. Sky and Cardinal were preparing them to take over the Empire once the time came. Only one of them would become emperor, but their parents wanted to treat them like equals. However, North didn’t even want to be in the running for emperor. He dreamed of becoming a great explorer.

North wasn’t very intrigued by his mother’s lessons, but he did show a bit of interest in some of Cardinal’s teachings. Sky taught them how to be regal. She warned them not to play with their food and showed them how to eat without making a fool of themselves. She improved their posture, telling them an emperor always held their head and tail high. Sky also informed them of how others would treat whichever one of them became emperor. Cats of the four factions would always dip their head in greetings and refer to them as their official titles, a two part name, which one of them would earn after completing their training. North rarely listened to Sky’s lessons and he got in trouble for it multiple times, but he couldn’t care any less about the many scoldings and punishments. Cardinal’s lessons were just more fun. He showed them how to hunt and fight. Although both West and North had guards, Cardinal believed an emperor should know how to take care of themselves.

[ 6 MOONS - 18 MOONS ] As they grew, Cardinal began to include North and West in his duties as an emperor in addition to their usual training. He’d invite them to journey with him to the four factions, which, at first, North was excited about, but upon realizing they were only visiting to work, he started to despise those trips. Cardinal seemed eager to show his boys what he did as emperor, which was mostly checking in with everyone, making sure everything was running smoothly, and if they weren’t, solving those problems. Eventually, Cardinal started testing his sons, encouraging them to touch base with as many cats as possible to come up with creative solutions to issues that were brought to their attention. West was a natural. He never failed to come up with clever ideas to sort out complications and he was charismatic, affable - everything a leader should be. Everyone adored him. North wasn’t nearly as popular as his brother and he rapidly earned a reputation as a troublemaker.

North’s popularity continued to plummet over the moons while West’s improved. West was a reliable cat and North… North wasn’t. His behavior only worsened as restlessness overcame him. He wanted to leave, to experience the worst beyond the empire, but his parents wouldn’t give him their permission. They even told North’s guard to keep a closer eye on him. Frustrated, he started skipping Sky’s lessons and arguing with his parents over anything and everything. He’d accompany Cardinal and West on their visits to the factions, but he’d drag his paws and he’d be absolutely awful at the camps. He’d pick fights, lie and steal. This went on for several moons and it reached a point where Cardinal ordered North to stay at home. He became known as the emperor’s mistake, the worthless one.

In an attempt to strengthen North’s bond with the rest of the empire, Cardinal and Sky decided to split the emperor’s duties between him and West. For the first time ever, there would be two emperors. North would focus on the northern and eastern camps while West would focus on the western and southern camps, and then they’d come home at the end of the day and work out ways to keep the peace between all four branches. North thought his parents were foolish to think that allowing him to become an emperor, too, would fix everything. He made sure they knew how silly he thought it all was, but they went through with it anyway. They even held a ceremony, or rather, four of them - one for each camp. Cardinal would go on and on about how proud he was of his sons, but all North could think was how bad of a liar his father was. Cardinal would then announce their new titles to the audience - Western Winds and Northern Skies. And then the celebration would begin, but North always found himself eating alone.

[ 19 MOONS ] One day, Cardinal gave West and North a break from emperor’s duties, so while Cardinal was visiting camps, the two boys had a day to themselves. North went for a walk while West slept and he decided to see if he was capable of losing his guard. He was much more agile than his guard and lost them in the forest. Alone with his thoughts, North considered never returning home, but he wasn’t fond of the idea of leaving West to wonder what happened to him. He took this free time to hunt and eat in peace. His mother was always harassing him about taking tiny bites and being careful not to make a mess, but this time, he could eat however he’d like. The mouth-watering scent of the mouse he’d caught must’ve drifted, because halfway through his meal, a wolf erupted from the undergrowth. He didn’t hesitate and bolted, the wolf’s hot breath warming his hindquarters. North found himself heading straight for the closest camp. It didn’t occur to him that he was leading a major threat into the heart of a camp. All he could think was that he needed to escape, so he headed for a place he was familiar with.

The wolf followed him into camp where a short line of cats were waiting, probably having heard the ruckus of North and the wolf thundering through the forest. Cardinal stood among them. North raced past his father as Cardinal led the rest of the line into battle. He didn’t stick around to see what was about to happen, diving into one of the dens to hide. He peered out of the den only once he could breathe without gasping for air. The wolf was gone, but it had done great damage. It looked like the entrance to the camp had exploded, the wall having given way when the wolf had burst through it. But what caught North’s attention the most were the multiple lifeless forms lying on the ground all across the clearing. As the wounded were tended to, a few angry cats turned on North, making sure he knew how upset they were.

He knew something was horribly wrong when Cardinal didn’t immediately march right up to him. North’s gaze scanned the clearing and his eyes widened with horror when his gaze fell on the limp body of his father. Nobody let him near Cardinal. Nobody even let him leave the corner they’d backed him into. Someone must’ve sent for a royal, because Sky and West entered camp shortly after the wolf had left. North watched as a crowd moved to surround the royal family, their loud voices blending together as he then watched his kin look at Cardinal’s form before looking at him. West’s eyes were sad, but Sky’s were cold. They both made their way through the crowd until they stood in front of North and remained silent as he tried to explain himself. Finally, Sky interrupted his rambling and revealed the faction was calling for his exile - she agreed with the faction. North was too shocked to respond and could only stare at Sky as she narrowed her eyes at him and said he’d always been a failure.

Once he’d recovered from his shock, West announced that he was leaving with North. His brother meant more to him than the empire ever would. Sky looked surprised, but then nodded before beckoning a pair of cats over to escort the two brothers to the edge of the forest. From the look on his face, West clearly hadn’t expected Sky to let him go so easily, but she turned away from them before either tom could say anything. Their escorts guided them to the border and then left them there, but not before one of them sneered at North. And then the two brothers were alone, heading into the unknown. As they walked farther and farther away from the place that used to be home, neither of them spoke a word. When night fell and they settled down into their makeshift camp, North growled at West for giving up his life as heir to the emperor. West simply listened as North berated him, only speaking once North had fallen silent. West apologized and North instantly felt guilty, but instead of issuing an apology himself, he simply huffed and chased sleep.

[ 20 MOONS - 25 MOONS ] They traveled far, encountering many dangerous hazards along the way, but North liked it that way. This was the life he’d always wanted, the life of an explorer. And then they stumbled upon a valley, heavily populated with other cats. West was deeply disappointed when an interaction with a trio of cats who called themselves a RidgeClan patrol went poorly. They were chased across a tree bridge and started walking downriver to get away from the unfriendly group, but they hadn’t gone very far when they ran into an affable stranger who invited North and West back to their barn. North wanted to keep following the river, but West convinced him they needed to rest and so they accepted the barn cat’s offer. West seemed content with his new life as a barn cat, but North rapidly became restless again. He managed to wrangle his boredom for a few moons, but he soon began to feel confined.

[ 26 MOONS ] One night as West slept, North slipped away. He desperately needed something to do and his paws led him into MistClan territory. The barn cats told him all about the clans and how territorial they were, but he didn’t think that some imaginary lines should be able to tell him where he could and couldn’t hunt. However, he wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight, so he rolled in a patch of wild garlic before venturing over the MistClan boundary. The mouth-watering scent of a mouse led him a short distance from the border and just as he delivered the killing bite to the mouse, he noticed a flash of gray out of the corner of his eye, rapidly increasing in size. Next thing he knew, he was on the ground, a MistClan warrior standing over him. North fought back before either one of them could speak, shoving her off him. The conflict was brief. The warrior soon made a dangerous mistake and lost her balance as she reared up on her hind paws, allowing North to take advantage of the error and knock her down, pinning her. The warrior screeched as North leaned down, but she quieted as he sunk his teeth into her throat.

North didn’t give himself time to feel remorseful and immediately started to clean up the scene. He swiftly buried the tufts of fur that they’d ripped off each other and then scraped some dirt over the pools of blood on the ground. He rushed, leaving behind a tuft or two, but he just knew he needed to get going before someone came along. North then picked up the MistClan warrior by the scruff and began to drag her in the direction of the closest border when yet another MistClan cat erupted from the undergrowth. The second MistClan cat lunged and North found himself locked in another fight. Already exhausted by the first battle, he only managed to land one heavy blow to the warrior’s face, but she then hooked her claws into him and drew him close, drilling her fangs into his shoulder. He scrabbled at the ground in an attempt to get away, but only once the warrior released him was he able to flee. Hopefully the barn cats wouldn’t face the consequences of North’s actions.

He ran all the way to the border and slowed as soon as he crossed over it, panting heavily. Even then, when it was just him and his thoughts, he still wasn’t able to register what he’d done. Once he’d caught his breath, he started walking back to the barn, to West. When the barn became visible, North noticed his brother’s familiar pelt in the entrance to the structure, probably waiting for him to return, and that’s when he realized his appearance would give away the fact that he’d encountered trouble. His fur was messy, stained with blood, and there were scratches and bites all over him. North made his way to the barn, stopping in front of West, his head and tail low to the ground. Neither said a word. West simply stepped aside and followed North into the barn. North didn’t tell West what happened that night and West never asked.

North couldn’t face what he’d done that night in MistClan territory and actually found a way to avoid feeling guilty. He convinced himself that if he hadn’t killed that MistClan warrior, she would’ve killed him first. So when a cat named Foxglove announced he was forming an anti-clan group in the cabin in PrairieClan territory, North was eager to join - mostly because the barn cat life was the most boring lifestyle and he was looking for something more exciting, but also because he was angry. He was furious that that MistClan warrior had put him in a position where he’d had to kill her. He needed something more exciting, though, than the barn cat life, but when he brought up the idea of joining Foxglove to West, his brother didn’t seem very excited. In the end, West stayed with the barn cats while North followed Foxglove to the cabin.

[ 27 MOONS - 36 MOONS ] North crossed into MistClan territory numerous times over the next several moons. Sometimes he’d hunt and other times he’d just wander the territory. Whether or not he masked his scent was decided by if he felt like picking a fight or not, but he never seemed to stumble upon patrolling MistClan cats, even when he wanted to. He’d visit West occasionally, too, but usually only when he needed something, like treatment for a scratch or a torn claw. West always remained someone North could rely on. He was ashamed he couldn’t return the favor, but like he always did, North buried his guilt deep within.

Pre-Plotting: North probably relates best to Lawless in the [Clanless Plot Ad]. He doesn’t want to be the reason why the world burns, but he wouldn’t exactly mind if it did. He takes a rather careless approach to life, trespassing on clan territory to see if he can successfully steal prey and picking fights with other clanless cats just because he can. North also plays the role of the murderer from [oh, the people ain’t happy].

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