Book Two: A Chance to Live

Jadepaw, Stonepaw, Mythpaw, and Darkpaw are the kits of Ambermask and the murderous Venom. The kits were an accident; Ambermask tries to explain. Now her Clan seems ready to forgive... but other problems are rising. R&R please, rated for safety.

A Peak into the Drama...

"You are being warned. Medling with the Warrior Code will do you no good. Jadepaw, please be good, ok?" -Shrewpaw

"What happens when your best friend ignores you because of what another cat did? How do you think I feel now?" -Stonepaw

"Jadepaw, remember, StarClan will always be with you. You may have heard that before, but it's true. Trust them." -Basilfur

"If I trust what StarClan has told me... Then I'm believing that half my Clan will die in a moon. No! I will not believe StarClan when they talk insane! I will rebel against them! I will make things different! I will change the way of all the Clans!" -Jadepaw

Prolouge: A Small Problem

A small kit raised her head and her tiny wet black nose to taste the air around her. She was a beautiful kit with a short white pelt and unique black markings on her paws, ears, face, and tail. She also had the prettiest eyes; they were jade-green.

"Mother," murmured the small kit, her voice cracked with grief. "A-are you sure Father will not come back to see us? Has... has he forgotten about me, Stonekit, Dark-kit, and Mythkit? Will he come back?"

Another cat came into view, the darkness making her face seem even more illuminative. She had a black pelt and amber eyes. She also had an amber-brown mask across her face like her daughter had a black mask.

She smiled sadly at her daughter and sighed. Twisting her tail into a more confortable position by enlcosing her kit into the depths of her black tail, she breathed, "Your father was an amazing cat, just with the wrong idea of how to be a warrior." She glanced her amber eyes over to the queen beside her who was nursing three kits. Only when the queen gave a small, enoucraging nod to the black she-cat continue. "Your father was a great cat, Jadekit. He just decided to look at life differntly than most cats."

"He was evil..." finished Jadekit, her black mask almost concealing her feelings of grief and disappointment. She wanted a normal father like all the other kits. She wanted to fit in without her looks. Most of all, she didn't want to be judged. She was all against judgement. She was just that kind of cat. "Cats with stars across their pelts have come to me and told me not to go looking for my father. They tell me only to wait until the time is right to get any information about him." She swallowed, her voice especially uneven when she saw th amazment on her mother's face. "They told me that I should be my own cat. And they a-also s-said about a h-hard future... Mother, I think someone is going to die. I can feel it. The starry cats told me."

Jadekit's voice was more a wail now and her mother had to urge her to quiet down or risk waking her siblings and the other queen's kits. Her mother soothed her with rithimic strokes and told her to calm down.

"Ambermask, can I speak to you a moment?" A shaggy dark gray tom was standing in the entrance to the nursery, a dark black she-cat at him side. The she-cat had her head held high and unafraid.

"Wolfstrike..." Ambermask, the black queen, almost yowled. She looked absolutly terrified by the sight of the she-cat beside him. "W-who is she?"

The gray tom raised his head proudly and Jadekit sensed pride and jealousy and sadness and anger all in the tom's simle gesture. Was he upset at her mother? "She is my new mate," he annouced clearly. "She was formally a rogue but Rainstar has agreed to let her stay with us. Her warrior name is Battleheart but she was formally known as Battle."

"Spottedstar would have never made such an unworthy decision such as that!" snapped the queen beside Ambermask with grief and fury in her voice as she curled around her three kits. "If he was still alive, he would make sure she was approved by ThunderClan!"
Jadekit bowed her head at the mention of Spottedstar. The former ThunderClan leader had died of a sickness just after Jadekit had been born. She heard stories about him and knew that the queen that shared the nursery with her and her mother was Eaglefur, Spottedstar's former mate. Eaglefur's wounds had clearly not yet healed.

"I agree," answered Ambermask coldly, and Jadekit silently cheered her mother on. Something was a motive for her mother to act so coldly towards Wolfstrike and Jadekit thought she felt it was necessary. "Now, Wolfstrike, would you and your mate please leave? I'm trying to make sure my kits get some rest."

Wolfstrike glared at Ambermask for a split second longer until he whipped around and departed from the nursery, Battleheart on his heels looking worried. Jadekit was respectful enough not to ask her mother what was going on even though she desperatly wanted to know.

"Jadekit, you'll understand later," sighed Ambermask. She bundled up all four of her kits including Jadekit with squeals of protests. One all her kits were settled, she closed her eyes.

But Jadekit stay awake and thought. Why was her mother acting so strange lately? Jadekit shook her head. She was reluctant to wake one of her siblings; none of them understood her. Stonekit was too obessessed with her looks and reputation while Dark-kit wouldn't talk to any kit. Mythkit was the kit she could talk to most but altogether he seemed almost younger than her.

The only cat she could really confine was Adderkit or Frostkit, the two older toms in the nursery. At least they understood her more than the others. But still... not as much as she would like. Dreaming of StarClan was hard for her when she had nobody to tell. She was only a kit, so why did StarClan bother with her? She hadn't a clue.

"Jadekit, is something wrong?" A voice came from the white and black-marked she-cat's left ear. She sighed, closed her eyes, and turned towards the voice, then opening them. Frostkit was beside her, his white-and-red tortoiseshell pelt pressed against the nursery wall. Jadekit's heart fluttered with warmness at her friend. He understood.

"Yes," she murmured and she rose to her paws and let her friend lead her outside the nursery to gaze at the stars, something they did commonly. "StarClan is wrong."

Frostkit said nothing as he gazed at the stars with Jadekit. Jadekit felt her heart twist whenever she saw Frostkit look at the sky. He always had that sad look on his face from when he found out his mother had died right after he was born.

"Things happen for a reason," Frostkit breathed, his voice caught, his eyes glassy. He was the oldest kit in the nursery with no mother and a non-connective father. Jadekit's heart tore.

"Frostkit, I'm so sorry," she whispered as she pressed her pelt against his. She felt him shiver and she did so as well. His pelt was warm and welcoming and his heart was closed to most but open to her.

She wanted to give him a chance to live.

The only problem with that was that her destiny was set for the life as a medicine cat. That meant she couldn't take on and mate. She couldn't be very close with Frostkit.

She was unable to give him the undying love that he needed.

But she wanted to. And Jadekit knew she would have to find a way whether StarClan approved or not.

Frostkit needed a chance to breath again.