Season 12. The Cloudchasers had grown too strong. Kidnappings were routine, prisoners filled the camp across the river, and no one dared to fight back. But in the shadows, a response was forming — not an army, but a promise.
The group was formed by a cat named Clover. No one knows where he came from. He gathered others who had lost someone: siblings, parents, friends. They met under the stars, far from prying eyes, and asked each other: what can we do?
The answer was simple. They could not defeat the Cloudchasers in battle. But they could offer what the prisoners needed most: somewhere to run. Someone waiting. A chance.
HCP was born — not as an army, but as a lifeline.
Host — Any cat who escapes is given shelter. No questions, no judgment. A safe place to sleep, food to eat, time to heal. The group moves constantly, never staying in one place long enough to be found.
Care — Frost trained Honey Dew in the healing arts. Wounds are treated, infections cleaned, broken bones set. But care goes deeper — nightmares are soothed, grief is shared, and no one mourns alone. Clover taught them that.
Protect — The soldiers — Beetle, Cinder, Keen, and the others — do not hunt or raid. They watch. They wait. If HCP's location is discovered, if survivors are threatened, they act. Swiftly, quietly, and only as much as necessary. They have never started a fight. They have finished every one.
The Cloudchasers are gone, but the Roots have risen in their place — gentler words hiding the same hunger. HCP watches from the edges, uncertain. Are the Roots truly different? Or is their faith just another cage?
For now, HCP waits. They help those who find them, ask nothing in return, and remember every face they've lost. Clover died in season 24.9, covering an escape. His name is spoken at every gathering, a reminder of why they exist.
The group remains small — twelve cats bound not by blood, but by choice. They have no leader, not really; Frost guides, but every voice matters.
"✤ "