i call this the "bramblestar somehow killed squirrelflight and it made her realize that maybe he shouldn't be in power so she recruits ashfur to help get rid of him" au

au where instead of willowshine dying, bristlefrost takes her place- she isn't killed off, but she's put into a similar state to dying shadowsight, where her spirit is dragged into the dark forest. rootspring is soon brought down after her, and finds her waiting.. except bristlefrost isn't being controlled by bristlefrost, and rootspring is too relieved to see her again to notice. they even have a talk about their relationship- deciding on ways to make it work despite clan law, only for bris to remember none of it when she wakes up. bristlefrost gradually comes to the realization that ashfur got ahold of her ghost, using it to do possibly unspeakable things("what did he say to root?"), while rootspring has an existential crisis as he realizes how easily he was manipulated("i didn't even recognize that she wasn't herself"). neither of them feel like they can trust themselves any longer, questioning the validity of their feelings and how much they really know about each other.

i'm not that good at backgrounds