#darkfern

I imagine this would take place when Darkkit is living by herself in the wilderness, though despite her name, she would be between 10-15 moons here. Horrified to find the familiar scene of a destroyed clan with a sole surviving kit, she immediately grows attached to Rootkit. Their sensibilities affect each other. Darkkit's hunger for vengeance for her (and eventually Rootkit's) clan makes Rootkit less trusting of StarClan while Rootkit's kind nature helps Darkkit appreciate the memories of what she had rather than anger at what she lost.

Darkkit helps train Rootkit in both hunting and fighting until she's satisfied they'll both be able to fend for themselves (taking until Rootkit is roughly an adult). The two then return to Darkkit's old camp, but are surprised to find a new clan has moved into the spot where Darkkit's clan once lived. They agree to join this new clan, HopeClan, though warily. They rely more on each other than their new clanmates, more like sisters at this point.

Darkkit and Rootkit name themselves when they join HopeClan. In this AU, they'd pick names to remind them of their loved ones, Darkkit becoming Darkrobin and Rootkit becoming Rootmoon(? -blizzard? [Insert parent prefix or suffix here?]). Because Darkrobin couldn't help her learn herbs at all, if Rootmoon wanted to become a healer, she'd have a late start to her training, but HopeClan desperately needs healers at the time of these two joining, so if she's able to put in the work, Hopestar would gratefully allow her to try and their StarClan guide, Shatterpatch, being a former medicine cat herself, would love to train a successor. Though watch out for the sort of ideals Shatterpatch would instill on a trainee...