"Hasn't Leafpool taught you about genetics and the rules of inheritance?"
— Barkface
A Different Outcome
is a Warrior Cats fanfic by Pikapower9.
Jayfeather, still reeling from learning about his true parentage, is out gathering herbs when he encounters the WindClan medicine cat Barkface. During their ensuing conversation, Jayfeather learns that his mentor slacked on a specific part of his training to keep him from learning the truth about his family. Armed with newfound knowledge of genetics, he seeks to perform damage control when his sister Hollyleaf attempts to make their parentage public knowledge.
This fanfic contains the following tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Is Cinderheart a clone of Cinderpelt, or does she just happen to look like Cinderpelt because her biological father isn't orange? The medicine cats having knowledge of clones in the first place suggests it's possible for StarClan to create them (and this is the explanation many ThunderClan cats prefer), but the shifty behavior of her mother Sorreltail suggests she isn't above cheating on her mate.
- Beneath Suspicion: When Graystripe is trying to figure out which ginger tom fathered his daughter Blossomkit, he completely misses the possibility of it being Thornclaw because while the latter is ginger, he doesn't look like it because he expresses the color as golden brown. Graystripe instead accuses cats who are more obviously orange, such as his former apprentice Brackenfur and his best friend Firestar.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Jayfeather tells his adoptive mother Squirrelflight that "it's kind of messed up" that she led her biological son Lionblaze to believe he was also adopted for the past two moons. Squirrelflight defends herself by saying that taking the time to explain the subtleties of the situation during the initial reveal would've gotten them all killed by Ashfur.
- Family Relationship Switcheroo: Exaggerated; in order to distract the other Clans from Hollyleaf announcing she's the offspring of a WindClan warrior and the ThunderClan medicine cat, Jayfeather decides to explain in detail how all the cats in ThunderClan are actually related to each other using genetics to support his claims. Due to the Clan's Tangled Family Tree, this results in a lot of cats learning that their relatives are related to them in ways they didn't think they were.
- Jayfeather, Hollyleaf, and Lionblaze were raised thinking Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw were their parents and Leafpool their aunt, only to find out that Leafpool is their biological mother and Crowfeather of WindClan is their father. However, Lionblaze actually is the son of Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw because he has orange fur, which is only possible if his mother has orange fur as well; Leafpool is brown and white, but Squirrelflight is orange.
- Although she was raised as his daughter, Leafpool is actually Firestar's niece through his sister Princess. Leafpool figures out they aren't directly related because she has brown and white fur, while Firestar and her presumed mother Sandstorm are both orange, which means they're only capable of having orange-furred offspring. By extension, this also means Leafpool is Squirrelflight's first cousin once removed instead of her sister, Cloudtail's sister instead of his first cousin once removed, and Lionblaze's relationship to Jayfeather and Hollyleaf is second cousin instead of their brother.
- While not stated outright, it is heavily implied that Poppyfrost and Honeyfern's biological father is Thornclaw instead of Brackenfur. As Brackenfur and Thornclaw are brothers, this means Honeyfern and Poppyfrost's uncle is actually their dad.
- Fix Fic: The fic addresses Warrior Cats' genetically impossible cat designs by attributing any inconsistencies to cats either being adopted or having different biological parents who could produce kits with their coat colors and then staying silent about the matter.
- Flock of Wolves: Hollyleaf reveals that she and her siblings were sired by the ThunderClan medicine cat and a WindClan warrior at a Gathering, thereby exposing their parent's breaking of the Warrior Code. Jayfeather responds by announcing and proving that half of ThunderClan has either adopted the kits of other cats or cheated on their mates, lessening the impact of Hollyleaf's announcement on both the other Clans and Hollyleaf herself.
- Internal Reveal:
- Cinderheart being Cinderpelt's reincarnation becomes public knowledge at a Gathering.
- Ashfur threatening to kill Squirrelflight's kits is made public after the latter brings it up while defending her reasoning behind letting her biological son think he's adopted.
- Left Hanging: While the potential scandal about The Three's parentage has been avoided, Hollyleaf still murdered Ashfur for basically nothing before the fic even started. There's no indication of how the matter will be resolved, as the fic ends just before Hollyleaf confesses to her brothers about the murder.
- Not Blood Siblings: Ferncloud and Cloudtail are revealed to have had a kit together, despite the two of them being adopted littermates. While their relationship isn't genetically incestuous, it's viewed that way socially and Ferncloud wails about it being "so wrong!" when it's made public.
- Not-So-Innocent Whistle: On two separate occasions, Thornclaw starts humming when the topic of what other ginger toms could have fathered a given set of orange kits is brought up, as he's genetically ginger but barely looks like it.
- Point of Divergence: The fic diverges from Warrior Cats canon during the events of Sunrise when Jayfeather learns about genetics and uses his knowledge to distract the other Clans when Hollyleaf announces their true parentage at a Gathering by detailing how most of the cats in their Clan aren't related to who they thought they were either.
- Really Gets Around: Thornclaw has slept with at least three she-cats in ThunderClan, being responsible for several seemingly random orange and tortoiseshell she-cat kits in litters where the supposed father's genetics should have made that coat color impossible for them to have.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: Many cats in ThunderClan have different biological parents than in canon in order for their fur colors to make sense given how cat genetics work.
- Icepaw's biological father is Cloudtail instead of Dustpelt because her pure white pelt is otherwise impossible for her to have due to Dustpelt and Ferncloud lacking any white fur themselves.
- Several familial relationships are overturned due to how cats inherit orange fur.
- Leafpool isn't the biological child of Firestar and Sandstorm, as both of them having orange fur means their offspring must be orange and she's brown and white. She's actually Firestar's niece, as his sister Princess shares Leafpool's coloring and she gave her up to be raised in ThunderClan. By extension, this also makes Leafpool Squirrelflight's first cousin once removed instead of her sister and vice-versa with Cloudtail.
- Lionblaze actually is the biological son of Squirrelflight instead of her nephew, as male orange cats must have a mother that's at least partially orange and Leafpool doesn't have orange fur. As Jayfeather and Hollyleaf are still Leafpool's children and Leafpool herself is actually Firestar's niece, this means Lionblaze is their second cousin instead of their brother.
- The infidelity of Millie and Daisy is discovered because they both have daughters (Blossomkit and Rosekit) with at least some orange fur; cats can only have that color if at least one of their parents does and neither their mothers or the supposed fathers (Graystripe and Spiderleg) have orange. The actual father of both kits is heavily implied to be the orange Thornclaw.
- Daisy isn't the biological mother of her canon first litter of kits because a female orange cat's offspring are always at least partially orange, which none of those kits are. The lack of orange is also one of the reasons Daisy's son from her second litter, Toadkit, is determined to not be related to either of his canon parents, in addition to Spiderleg's implausible coat being taken as a sign he's infertile. Toadkit's biological parents are actually Dustpelt and Ferncloud, with the latter adopting him out because they already had lots of kits.
- Sorreltail's kits besides Cinderheart are implied to have Thornclaw as their biological father instead of Brackenfur, as Sorreltail and Thornclaw start acting suspicious when the topic is brought up.
- Twin Maker: Jayfeather raises the possibility that Cinderheart is a genetically identical duplicate of Cinderpelt that sprang into existence right before the former's birth to facilitate the latter's reincarnation.
