Disclaimer: I do not own warriors! It goes to Erin Hunter for the brilliant idea of warriors! However, I do own this story and these characters, so please do not copy!
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Chapter 1
Silence.
That was all to be heard now. No twittering birds or chittering squirrels, all the prey was hiding in their burrows. Ice laced the ground and water froze wherever it was touched. Cats' breath hung in the air like smoke. Only, it was so bitterly cold. Snow covered the world.
Grayfur shuffled his paws trying to get warmer. Eveyrbody was cold now, and hungry. There was barely enough food in the ThunderClan territory to get them all through the day. The elders insisted that they didn't need to be fed, but they were honoured veterans of the, clan, of course they were fed first.
The kits poked their heads outside, exploring the new, cold, wet, and white world. Grayfur spotted a bundle of black fur, stark against the white. His heart swelled and he felt much warmer.
Charcoalkit. His pride and joy.
Rockpelt slipped out of the nursery watching Charcoalkit intently, and Blackemeber scolded her kit for falling into a snowdrift. The kits were fine but what about the rest of the clan? Being the clan deputy had its downsides; the stress was too much sometimes. Grayfur gazed around camp. It was time to assign the dawn patrol. He padded delicately over the frost-woven ground towards the warriors den where the clan's early risers lay grooming.
"Sunlight," he said in a commanding tone, "You lead the dawn patrol. Take Oaksap, Shiningfrost, and Echopaw with you. Patrol the RiverClan border and hunt if you can."
Sunlight nodded, and padded out of camp with her patrol. She was a natural leader, and the ideal choice for the next deputy, Grayfur could trust her to come back with results instead of being empty-pawed.
Grayfur sighed. There were so many mouths to feed… and not enough paws to hunt for them. There were 5 elders now, Prophecysight had recently moved to the elders' den. And there were 5 growing kits in the clan too… one of them was his own.
He watched across the clearing as Puddlekit slipped on the ice and fell on her rump, and spotted the black kinked-up pelt.
He padded over to Charcoalkit. He cleared his throat nervously. Grayfur never was good at talking to kits, even his own. "Uh… Hello Charcoalkit, good morning."
Charcoalkit's wide green eyes looked up at him innocently. "Hello father!" she replied cheerfully.
Grayfur swallowed again. "Um, remember to be careful in the snow, you could catch a cold and there can be-"
Charcoalkit rolled her eyes. "I know. Love you too. You're off to go hunting alone aren't you?"
Grayfur bit back a sharp scolding about respect and nodded. "Yes I am, I'll see you soon." Very soon…
Grayfur took one last look back and padded out of the hidden camp entrance.
The cold air seemed sharper out here. Grayfur closed his eyes and let his other senses take over. The snow drowned out almost every other scent, but he could smell the barest traces of faint prey trails. He couldn't hear any sign of prey. Others often questioned why Grayfur hunted alone, but he never answered. He guessed that he just wasn't good at communicating.
Caught up in all his thoughts, Grayfur didn't notice a change in the scents and sounds in the air. A tiny crackle of dead leaves, the trace of cat scent in the air.
Grayfur was so distracted, he didn't notice until he stumbled into a bush, tripping. Embarrassed, he got up again, smoothing down his fur. This is why I don't hunt on patrols… he thought comically.
That's when his ears pricked and he noticed a small whimper coming from the flattened bush. He sniffed the air deeply, eyes closed.
Cat scent.
That small whiff told him many things. The whimpering creature wasn't ThunderClan, it was a she-cat, the cat was just a kit, and this particular kit was very, very scared.
"Who's there?" Grayfur said to open air.
A small, quivering black nose poked out of a bush timidly. "M-Me."
"And who is this 'me'?" Grayfur asked curiously.
An apprentice-sized shape emerged from the bush. She had a silver tabby fur and would've looked sleek, but the kit was covered in small scratches. She trembled under his gaze, ducking her head.
Grayfur narrowed his eyes suspiciously. A lost kit? She had no clan scent. "What are you doing here, kit?"
"I'm… abandoned."
"What's your name?"
She paused for a second. "My mother called me Wildkit."
Grayfur nodded. This poor scrap wasn't a threat, and she needed shelter and some food.
But it was leaf-bare and there was already so many mouths in the clan… Grayfur shook his head and took a closer look at the kit trying to clear his thoughts. She reminded him of his own kit, they were roughly the same age, five moons maybe. Grayfur made up his mind. "Follow me Wildkit, we're going home."
Wildkit was surprised.
The gray warrior-he obviously had authority and power too- had offered to take her back to his camp. She'd always thought ThunderClan cats were mean and always stealing food. Turns out they seemed to be honourable cats.
Her breath caught as the gray warrior led his into his camp. It was well hidden and she never would have found it on her own. He trusted her to let him into his camp. She took a deep breath trying to ignore the curious gazes that were glued onto her. She must look strong on the outside. She must not show a sliver of weakness.
Grayfur padded up to Whitestar, apprehension building. What if Whitestar disapproved? Would they drive away the kit? Surely not…
"What is it Grayfur?" Whitestar said, surprising Grayfur, "You look troubled, and you've brought back an outsider. That's not on the list of things you usually bring back from hunting."
Grayfur bowed his head. "Greetings Whitestar. I'm fine, no need to worry. I found this kit in the forest and I couldn't leave her behind. She says her name is Wildkit."
Whitestar looked concerned. 'That's a clan name."
"She was abandoned."
Whitestar nodded, understanding. "It happens, when a kit is born unwanted, perhaps she is half-clan. Kits out of the warrior code are usually abandoned sooner or later. It is a tragedy but it happens."
Grayfur swallowed. He felt a strange connection to Wildkit, and knew that they should take her in. "But Whitestar, what are we going to do with her?"
Whitestar blinked. "I thought you knew, after all you brought her here. We're going to make her one of ours of course."
Grayfur sighed in relief, then his deputy, clan-before-any-individual instincts kicked in. "Another hungry mouth to feed?"
"Another potential warrior in the future. We are not cruel cats. We will not turn away abandoned, hungry kits no matter where they come from." Whitestar replied firmly.
Grayfur nodded, relieved by this sure answer. Whitestar seemed satisfied and he got to his paws. "Now, lets officially welcome Wildkit to our clan."
Wildkit heard squirming and complaining in a den covered with brambles. Sweet milk scent drifted out of it softly.
The nursery.
Wildkit felt saddened. She didn't know if she had any littermates. From the range of voices in the nursery, Wildkit guessed there were about 5 to 7 kits in there, or perhaps a few particularly boisterous kits. She poked her head in, heart fluttering.
Almost instantly a face with a friendly smile all over it popped up.
"Hi!" it chirped, causing Wildkit to step back a pace, "I'm Charcoalkit!"
The kit who said "hi" was black-pelted, except for her paws and tail. She had bright green eyes that matched her personality.
"Who are you?" Charcoalkit asked.
Wildkit blinked. "I-I'm Wildkit."
"Cool! You're new! Come on; let's meet the other kits!" Charcoalkit raced deeper into the nursery, purring. "Where's your mother?"
A wrench of pain hit Wildkit. She didn't have a mother, not anymore anyways. She took a deep breath, her heart heavy. "I don't have a mother." She whispered.
Immediately Charcoalkit's mood changed. "I'm so sorry. You should meet Airkit, her parents are gone too. But me and Lightningkit and Branchkit and Puddlekit have our mothers and fathers still. We're lucky."
"Who have you got with you Charcoalkit?" mewed a deeper, more mature voice.
"I bet it's just a huge rabbit!" called another, slightly deeper voice. Wildkit heard a shove and a play-yelp after that.
Charcoalkit rolled her eyes, leading Wildkit in. "That's probably Lightningkit and Graypaw again. Graypaw's an apprentice, but he comes in a lot to help here, he's pretty much a kit himself."
Graypaw popped up and Wildkit felt herself feeling a little stunned. He was handsome and strong, lean muscles rippling under a smooth tabby pelt. Yellow-green eyes that seemed to know everything, eyes that were so inviting and charming...
"Hello." Graypaw said, looking similarly stunned, his eyes flickered about her and Wildkit felt her pelt grow hot. "You must be knew, welcome to ThunderClan." Graypaw mewed cheerily.
Wildkit nodded, glad she was welcomed, she felt dazed. "I'm-"
But before she could say anything else, Wildkit heard a gravelly voice call over the clearing.
"All cats old enough to hunt their own prey gather beneath High Rock for a clan meeting!"
"Whitestar!" Charcoalkit murmured. "I think you'd better go, this has something to do with you, I'd bet my first mouse on it."
Wildkit nodded. "Thanks for showing me around a bit." She said, sparing a last glance at Graypaw before padding in front of the tallest rock she'd ever seen. She cricked her neck leaning back to look up at it.
"As some of you may know," a powerful white tom with a scar on one flank (Whitestar, right?) boomed, "There has been an outsider in camp recently. And we have decided, to welcome her into the clan. Now she will be one of us. Wildkit, come forward."
Wildkit's heart raced and her head grew heavy. Was it true? Was she being accepted into ThunderClan? Could she just leave her past life behind and join a new clan just like that? Sure, the ThunderClan cats were hospitable, but who would've thought they'd be ready to allow lost kits to join their clan, in leaf bare too.
Someone gave her a nudge forward. Wildkit whipped around, her instincts taking over. She calmed down when she saw it was the gray tom that'd found her. He smiled warmly at her and mouthed, "Go on."
Wildkit stumbled forwards, as she felt every eye carefully trained on her. She scrambled up on to High Rock and stood next to the majestic leader. It was so dizzyingly high!
"This kit," Whitestar continued, "Is now a part of our clan, and she will be treated as an equal, for she is now equal to all of us."
A cheer rose up from the array of cats below. "Wildkit! Wildkit!" They chanted.
Wildkit's heart swelled. She was wanted, she belonged somewhere again.
Whitestar smiled, and leaned down to whisper something in Wildkit's ear.
"Welcome to ThunderClan."
Hehe, this sounds familiar doesn't it? Somewhat, eh? As stated in the summary, the characters and the plot are loosely based on warriors (uh, duh!) just changed. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!
