"Hey Featherfur! Wait there!" I turned around to face my friend.

"What?" I mewed moodily. Today had not been a good day. Everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong. I had been shown up in front of the patrol and the tom I liked had announced that another cat would be his mate. I was feeling disheartened and depressed.

"Want to go hunting? You're one of the best hunters in the clan," she mewed in a singsong way that was strangely tempting.

"Fine. Only if it's just us though." I stared at her, waiting for her response.

"Of course! I know how self-conscious you get if you hunt with strange cats."

"I do not!" I mewed, even though I knew it was true. I always felt a sense of foreboding and I suddenly couldn't concentrate on my prey. Just knowing that there might be cats watching every move that I make made me shudder and scare the prey away. "I won't go hunting! It would just go wrong like everything else that happened today!"

"Fine! Mope about the camp for all I care! I just thought you might want to spend some time with your only friend!" That hurt. Really hurt. I had other friends. They just never noticed me.

"I have friends!" I spat

"Really? I'm sure none of the cats even know that you exist!" She stalked over to her mate, the tom who I had liked, and I assumed she went hunting with him. I never saw either of them again when they weren't in StarClan. In fact, they're sharing tongues right now, as I'm reconciling. Once they had gone hunting, I wandered about the camp for a bit, not being invited for hunting or for patrols. I was feeling extremely guilty about my argument and I wanted her to come back so that I could make up with her. I was also too busy to be on patrol, as I would have easily got distracted by my thoughts on whether I was invisible to the other cats. I guessed I was, due to the fact that I tried to talk to the medicine cat and she had just walked past me when I stuttered out the few words of "H...H...Hey, I... I have a st...stomach ache. C...could you h...help m...me?" She suddenly started calling for an elder. I sighed deeply. I was evidently a nothing. Just a nothing. A wave of depression and sadness hit me. I always was shy, but I never knew that the clan had just forgotten about me. When I had been an apprentice, nearly all cats knew who I was, talked to me, recognised me. Then one by one, they stopped. Until only Silverheart was left. And now I had blown that too. Most of the cats were still in the den surprisingly. A jerk made me fall on my side. I panicked as I heard kits yowling in fright, and our leader jumped over the entrance of his den, it being on its side. I ran over to him, along with the other cats as to what we should do.

"Everycat, just be calm! I'm sure that nothing awful has happened. Could you make sure that everyone of us is here, and notify me if not so." Vinestar walked to his den and lept over again to let himself have some space. As the cats started murmured amongst themselves, I was torn between notifying my leader of my friend's absence or remaining, content, invisible. I stood in the middle, wanting to know what to do. I watched as some of the cats departed and headed towards the leader's den as a group, for support I guessed. At least I wouldn't be the first. I thought. Come on Featherfur! It's up to you now! I summoned up my courage and walked shakily over to the leaders den. The group of cats walked outand shoved past me.

"Vinestar?" I mewed quietly. No response. "Vinestar?" I mewed slightly louder. Still no response. "Vinestar!" I yowled as loudly as I could.

"Yes? Who mewed for me?" The tabby cat looked questionably at me with his bright green eyes. "Fe… Feather… Featherfur? But… you ran away…"

"I never ran away, Vinestar," I mewed, confused. "I've been here sinceI was born, through apprenticeship… And other events…" I stopped, memories too painful to continue flashing through my head.

"Yes. Yes, of course you were. How did we overlook you? I mean, you were always shy, but to be forgotten…" He shook his head. "No time for that now. But I must reintroduce you. Cats of ThunderClan! Our warrior Featherfur has returned." He mewed quickly, before I could protest. Gasps went around the clan as they slowly had their eyes opened to me. Whispers were mewed quietly about me. It was awful. Vinestar turned to me. "What was it you wanted?"

"Silverheart and Thornfoot are outside the camp. On their own. Hunting."

"Oh no! I'll send out a patrol right away." Before I could suggest that this wasn't the greatest idea in the world, Vinestar had gone over to a few cats and started organising a patrol. He stood by the entrance with them until he was certain there was no more cats out and the patrol left. I milled about the camp a bit, waiting for something to happen, for cats to return I guess. After what seemed like an eternity, a patrol came back, with a few cats among them. However, Silverheart and Thornfoot were not there. My heart sunk, and I collapsed on the floor, and shut my eyes. Maybe, just maybe when I opened them, the world would be normal, and there wouldn't be any stupid world disaster. As those thoughts past my mind, there was another jerk beneath my feet and the world shifted again. I heard distressed mews come from the kits and their mothers wrapped their tail around them and formed a protective circle. Everything went black.

SecretClan challenge. Been working on this for ages now, as a side thing, but it was pretty hard going.

When I woke, it was only because of a yowl coming from the entrance. "Help! Help!" I rushed there and looked over the edge to where Silverheart was standing, her leg trapped in a nook. I studied the situation. If any cat got down there and managed to free the leg, they would go toppling down, possibly bringing Silverheart with them. By now other cats were beginning to stir, or to notice that something was happening.

"I'm going down there." Leafclaw rushed forwards and bunched his muscles. I stopped him with my tail, and he glared at me.

"You can't just go there. If you did, it would overbalance and send you both toppling." He looked over the edge again.

"I guess you're right. But who's going to get her out?"

"I will." I mewed strongly, even though inside I was whimpering, not in control. I felt myself fall and land onto the tree, and watched through a mask as I released the leg.

"Can I jump up?" Silverheart mewed at me, and I nodded. "What will happen to you?"

"Don't think about that. I'll be fine. Just remember me." Silverheart smiled grimly and leapt up, scrabbling ferociously at the entrance. I knew what I had to do. I shut my eyes, and let myself fall.

Thanks for reading!

Shadow

xxx