Dark Forest resident: Fennelbur
Aliases / Nicknames: Fennel
Family: unnamed parents, Shimmerberry (mate), unnamed unborn kits
Other Relations: unnamed mentor, unnamed apprentice
Characteristics: Does not kill directly, places blame on others
Known Victims: Tansybriar
Cause of Death: Necrotizing fasciitis (flesh-eating disease), euthanization via poisoning
After seasons of thinking he would be alone forever, Fennelbur had finally found a mate he adored and who adored him. On top of that, she announced that he was expecting his kits.
He was going to have a family! After all those seasons waiting, waiting, waiting and giving up, he was going to be a father. He couldn't stop thinking about everything he would do. He would teach his sons and/or daughters how to hunt and fight, he would give them badger rides, he would play with them as much as they wanted and tell them stories. If the kits were an even number, he and Shimmerberry could play with them on two teams.
He always made sure his mate was fine, not just of worry for his unborn kits, but of worry for her. He would check on her every time he woke up, before he went to sleep, whenever he got back from patrol.
But all that fretting turned out to be fruitless. In spite of his efforts, Shimmerberry fell sick with hardly a quarter moon left of her pregnancy. The medicine cat, Tansybriar, tried with everything she had to fix Shimmerberry, to no avail.
Fennelbur, usually the most collected and calm cat of the Clan, was burning with fury. He had seen Tansybriar at work before. She was very skilled at what she did. Many close to death were now able to run the clearing because of her. And yet she wasn't able to fix Shimmerberry?
His mind flashed back to a time when he and Tansybriar were apprentices. They were not really friends, but on friendly terms. That is, until the young Tansypaw admitted her crush on the much older apprentice. He had turned her down. She was, in his eyes, still a kit, and a medicine cat at that.
That must be it! Grief choked his thoughts, blinding him to all reason. When Tansybriar heard that Shimmerberry was going to have his kits, she must have been overcome with jealousy! She had been the one to check up on Shimmerberry’s health and before and after she fell sick. Had she been poisoning her? Or after she fell sick, was it neglect? Had she let Fennbur’s mate and unborn kits die simply because he had–admittedly rudely– rejected her advances?
It didn't take that much planning.
He stuffed some holly berries into a crow he'd caught while out hunting alone. It was a small enough amount so that the medicine cat wouldn't notice it, but he was sure it was all he needed to get the job done.
He padded a few tree-lengths away from the berry patch and proceeded to half-bury the bird. A few of the apprentices were having their assessment, and he knew at least one of them would be desperate enough to quickly take his catch and claim it as their own.
He was already back at camp when they returned. He was the one to suggest giving the prey to the medicine cat, making sure it was someone else who did it.
Tansybriar was dead before the sun had moved. The warriors first accused the apprentice that had "caught" the prey, when her mentor backed her up, explaining that he would have seen her.
No one wanted to think ill of their Clanmates, so after a long time of speculating and arguing, the blame was finally put to another Clan that wanted them weak.
It had worked out for Fennelbur. He avenged his mate and kits' death and got away with it too.
If only at hadn't been the medicine cat he had to kill, for he would fall ill just a moon later. The Clan still had no medicine cat, and the leader wasn't willing to ask help from a Clan that may be the ones responsible for her death.
The disease was horrible. Fennelbur was in pain, as much as his Clanmates tried to stop it. His skin bubbled and his flesh rotted as he continued to breathe. The disease lasted for several long moons.
When the leader finally decided to ask for help, Fennelbur’s life had slipped too far away. There was no chance of healing him, only stopping the pain.
When he awoke in the Dark Forest, he regretted what he had done, because it took him from his family. He was told that (the medicine cat) was in Starclan, another reason to regret what he did. If she was in Starclan, then she must have been innocent all along.
However, he does not believe he should be in the Dark Forest. He acted in grief, he only killed one cat whom he believed to be a murderer. From that perspective, shouldn't that make him a hero?
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You’ll notice this is a little different than the other posts. I decided that since nothing in his kithood influenced Fennelbur’s actions, I would leave it out.
This was mostly written two years ago along with the art, I just quickly edited some parts.
