Chapter One
Larchkit padded through the soft grass, the fresh dew catching onto her paws. She had never been to this area – she hadn't even been out of camp other than when they had to move from the regular ThunderClan camp to the new one by Sunningrocks.
All of the sudden, a familiar smell hit her nose, and she stopped, opening her mouth like she had seen all the senior warriors do. Scents swarmed her mouth and when she recognized the scent, she couldn't help but let out a shriek of joy and race towards where it was coming from.
She broke through some tall grass to see a kit, just a little smaller than herself, with bright amber eyes and pale gray fur. "Hollykit!"
"Larchkit!" Hollykit squeaked as she bounded forward to greet her sister.
"I've missed you so much! Why did you have to go? Is Shrewpaw with you? Ferncloud misses you terribly – she was so sad she couldn't even eat and a nice cat named Cody had to take care of us!" Larchkit rambled on as Hollykit hung on to every word.
"I miss you too," her sister mewed. "But I'm happy and Shrewpaw is here to keep me company. He's been teaching me how to hunt!"
"Wow, can you teach me?" Larchkit gasped with a grin. "And then I can catch enough prey for all the Clans and Ferncloud will stop being sad and everyone will stop worrying."
Suddenly, Hollykit's smile disappeared. "I can't…"
"Why not?" Larchkit pouted. Why wouldn't her sister help her?
"Because I'm dead… You're dreaming, Larchkit," Hollykit mewed sadly and Larchkit flinched back. Wasn't this a message from StarClan? Wasn't this her sister visiting her in her dreams? "No, this isn't a message or a visit."
Hollykit started padding away as Larchkit screamed her name. "Hollykit! No, don't leave me! Not again!"
But no matter how fast Larchkit ran, she couldn't catch up to her sister. She couldn't save her!
"Larchkit!"
Larchkit jolted awake, shooting to her paws as she gasped for air. Dustpelt was standing over her, his eyes wide and alarmed. "Are you hurt? You were crying in your sleep!"
Larchkit let out a breath. 'It was only a dream…' "Y-yeah, I'm fine..."
As Larchkit sat there, the familiar feeling of hunger hit her as hard as the same monster that took her brother's life. She was always hungry; they all were. In fact, Larchkit almost died once from being so hungry. But Leafpaw brought back a mouse in time and Ferncloud had enough milk to feed her.
"I know, darling. We all are but I promise you won't feel like this forever," Dustpelt comfortingly licked his daughter over the ears. "Now, why don't you get some rest? You'll need it for the journey ahead of us."
"Journey?" Larchkit repeated, sitting up straighter. "What journey?"
Dustpelt only chuckled and winked at the small kit. "You'll find out soon enough. Now, can you at least try to sleep? If you keep staying up so late, your sleep pattern will be off and you'll drive me and your mother crazy!"
Larchkit giggled as she laid back down, curling into her father's fur. Her brown tabby pelt blended in with his almost perfectly – hers being just a shade or two lighter - and if someone were to walk in, they probably wouldn't even be able to spot the kit.
Larchkit was almost an exact replica of her father, the only difference being their eyes; his was amber like Birchkit's and Hollykit's while Larchkit was the only one of the three to take Ferncloud's leafy-green eyes.
Larchkit sighed in content, despite the cold biting at her toes and the constant feeling of hunger. She buried her face in Dustpelt's fur and let herself drift off to sleep. But this time, she didn't dream of Hollykit; she dreamt of leading her family on a journey to a place where prey rustled in every bush and the sun was always shining.
The perfect place; her safe haven.
It would be a place where no one would freeze or starve or die. Everyone would be happy all the time and not even the most fearsome of creatures could harm them.
But the dream was ripped away from her once more when she awoke to the sound of cats moving around and excitedly talking. Larchkit blinked open her eyes a few times to see that Dustpelt had left but Ferncloud had taken his place. She was talking to some ShadowClan queen; she had moved in with three kits that were only slightly older than her and Birchkit, after some monsters came in and destroyed their camp.
"I'm worried for the kits; I don't want to force them into a journey they can't survive," the ShadowClan cat, Tallpoppy, murmured. When she noticed Larchkit's eyes open, she plastered a fake smile on her face. "Good morning, Sleepyhead. Birchkit is outside playing with Toadkit, Marshkit, and Applekit."
Larchkit ignored what Tallpoppy said and instead asked, "What journey?"
Ferncloud and Tallpoppy shared a look and Larchkit narrowed her eyes. Ferncloud slightly shook her head before turning back to her kit with the same fake smile on her face. "Why don't you go play with the kits and we can talk about it later?"
"But I want to know now!" Larchkit snapped and Ferncloud's smile faltered.
"Larchkit, go play with the others. You'll know everything soon enough," Ferncloud orders and Larchkit let out a sigh. She knew she was pushing her mother but she just wanted answers!
When she padded outside, the excitement was even stronger. There was a sense of great sadness in the air but from what she could pick up, 'it was for the best,' and 'they're going to a better place.' Larchkit had heard those phrases a lot when Hollykit and Shrewpaw died so she wasn't so sure about this 'journey.'
"Larchkit!" Birchkit squeaked when he saw his sister. There were three kits behind him; Marshkit, Toadkit, and Applekit. Larchkit hadn't properly met any of them because of how hectic camp life would be but her brother looked like she got along with them.
"Have you heard? We're going on a journey!" Applekit called as they raced to meet Larchkit.
"That's all I've heard lately but no one will tell me where we're going!" Larchkit wailed loud enough for some nearby WindClan elders to hear. They shook their heads at the loud kits before standing and walking to a different area of the crowded camp.
"From what I've heard, we're going to a new place! It's going to be way better than this place and there won't be any monsters to attack us," Marshkit purred. "I'm excited! The monsters were scary…"
"Real warriors don't admit fear," Toadkit boasted. "And I wasn't scared."
"Were too!" Marshkit yelled, playfully cuffing his brother over the ear. The two started play fighting but eventually broke away in fits of giggles.
"No matter how hungry and tired they are, they always have enough energy to get in the way." Larchkit looked up to see Leafpaw and Cinderpelt padding towards them with bundles of leaves in their mouths. They set them down when they reached the kits.
Larchkit cautiously padded up to inspect the herbs. At first, she prodded them and then slowly leaned down to sniff them. "Ew!" Larchkit wrinkled her nose and pulled away. "Those smell like… badger dung."
Ferncloud shot Larchkit a look when she appeared outside the nursery. "You've never seen a badger."
Cinderpelt chuckled and nudged the herbs forward. "They may not smell the best but you have to eat them. They'll make you big and strong."
Birchkit was the first to try lapping up the leaves but the second they touched his tongue, he spat them back out. "They taste like crow-food!"
"And you've never had crow-food," Ferncloud added. "I swear, you kits are so imaginative that you probably believe half the things you say. Now do as Cinderpelt says and eat your herbs."
"Why do we have to eat these?" Applekit whined. "Can't we just eat prey instead? I'm sure that will make us more strong then a couple of nasty leaves ever will."
"Applekit, eat," Tallpoppy ordered sternly. The little she-kit sighed and started to lap up the herbs, making sure her mother knew how disgusting they were with every bite.
Larchkit didn't say anything as she began to chew on the herbs as well. They were gross and they didn't do anything to fill her empty belly but for some reason, her mother looked much more relieved when she and Birchkit finished wallowing their portions.
"Now, they're all ready for the journey," Ferncloud purred. She had traces of doubt in her voice but she was trying to stay positive for not only her kits, but also Tallpoppy.
Larchkit sighed ad stamped her paw on the ground defiantly. "Will someone please tell me what this journey is that everyone is talking about?"
Ferncloud and Tallpoppy shared another one of their 'looks' but this time, Ferncloud nodded. She turned to her kits with a kind smile on her face. "Larchkit, Birchkit… we're leaving this forest. We're going to a new home."
Okay so this is the story I wrote for NaNoWriMo. I won - meaning I wrote 50k in a month - but my wifi went out and I couldn't validate it so on the website it says that I was like 1000 away from winning -_- oh well, I know I won. Anyway, I'll be posting a chapter every other day until I run out of chapters, and then I'll start doing weekly updates.
That being said, I won't reply to any reviews unless through PM if you have a question and there won't be any Question of the Day's like I usually do. So, with all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy, please review, and I would like to thank tr1xx777 for letting me adopt this wonderful fic!