~*~*~Author's Note~*~*~

This is for LawlClan's Monthly Writing Challenge. The prompt was "Fairytale".

A note from Reada the Cellist (her link can be found on my profile): I wrote this with my loving Ambymommy.

A note from myself: I wrote it with my adolescent Readachlid.

So yes, we co-wrote this within about four days. :D Hope you enjoy~

*Please note this has been modified so everything isn't clumped into one massive chapter

Once Upon a Forest

Each paw step was carefully and precisely placed just where she wanted. The soft green moss that blanketed the floor tickled at her paw pads, causing her tail-tip to twitch as she prowled foreword. She weaved around the strip of sunlight that flittered in through the small gap between the thorny brambles. Pausing, her bright green eyes scanned her surroundings. She lashed her tail.

"I'm going to find you, you squirrel!" she declared.

A tiny squeal of excitement gave away the creature's position, and her ears angled towards the noise. She sunk into a crouch. A small pink nose poked out from under the moss, as well as two tiny, rounded ears and a bushy tail that stood straight up in the air. Confident that her prey was within her reach, the she-cat shifted her weight onto her haunches, and then lunged. She overshot it a bit, her ears clipping the den's low ceiling as she sprang into the air and landed a mouse-length behind her prey.

"You can't catch me, Fairykit!" squealed the small bundle of fur, darting out from underneath the moss pile.

Due to her larger size, Fairykit easily caught up with a couple of steps and wapped her paw down on the small creature as if she was swatting down a fly out of the air, and she received a shriek in return. Fairykit glanced towards at the much smaller she-kit trapped underneath her paw.

"Ow! Get off!" she wailed.

The cry startled Fairykit and she stumbled backwards in alarm, accidentally toppling over another kit, who dozed in the back of the nursery under the shadow of a bracken leaf. He jumped a tail-length in the air with a hiss, fur bristling. "Sorry Nightkit!" Fairykit mewed, eyes wide as she glanced between the two upset kits, "I didn't mean to hurt you either, Graykit!"

"Just watch it next time," Nightkit growled.

Fairykit gave her den-mates a glance over. They looked like her litter-mates, but they were somewhat smaller and appearing very plump under their fluffy fur. Unlike them, her siblings, named Dragonkit and Elfkit, owned a pelt matted with ribs peeking out from underneath.

A somewhat stifled sigh came from the front of the nursery, followed by a much louder and stern meow, "Why don't you go visit Flamestep and Redfrost. I'm sure they'd love it if you'd visit."

Fairykit's green eyes trailed to her pale golden paws. "Oh, okay," she mumbled, tail drooping.

The she-cat scampered out of the nursery, exiting the sweet-smelling den and into the camp, where warriors and apprentices shuffled around the clearing, doing their daily chores and tasks. Watching them, she trotted to the elders den sheltered by a massive fallen log. She recalled a story from her mother about why the tree was like that. It was before they all got sick, when they were all allowed to curl up next to the she-cat's warm belly and snuggle into her messy, dark ginger fur. "Why is that tree sideways when all the others are standing up, Gingernose?" She had squeaked.

"It's tired and old, like Flamestep and Redfrost." she murmured, whiskers twitching as the three kits purred in amusement, "One day it got so tired, it couldn't stand up anymore. It didn't want to fall over, but it had to, for StarClan needed a place where the older cats who served their clan well could rest peacefully."

The memory perked the young she-kit up a little, and she raised her tail contently as she ducked under the tired and old log. Inside, two brightly colored ginger cats curled up next to each other snored softly.

Before she could even consider disturbing their rest, Redfrost's eyes flickered open. "Fairykit, what are you doing here?" she questioned with a flick of her ear, "Don't you have trouble to cause?"

"I already did," Fairykit ducked her head.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be forgiven. You're too sweet to stay mad at." Flamestep's gruff voice purred with his eyes still closed.

"Come on over here. Your fur needs so grooming." Redfrost commented.

"No, my fur is fine!" she protested, tumbling away from her kin's outstretched paw. "I think I'm going to go visit Gingernose and Dragonkit and Elfkit instead."

Flamestep's whiskers twitched, ignoring the names of his daughter and grandkits. "A kit isn't a kit without messy fur." he meowed.

Redfrost wrapped her ringed tail around her paws and snuggled a bit closer to Flamestep. "Ah, I suppose your right. Check with Snowfoot first, though."

Fairykit rubbed her head against Redfrost's shoulder and flicked her tail in farewell before dashing out of the den and back into camp, where she angled herself to the medicine cat's sheltered den. The bright morning sunlight quickly diminished under the thick shade of ferns, bracken and entangled branches. Slowly, she hobbled foreword untill a distinctive white pelt and a blue-gray one entered her vision. The white one, Snowfoot, was the medicine cat and she was just the cat Fairykit was looking for. The gray cat Snowfoot talked to was the deputy, Rainclaw.

"Can I see them?" She mewed, ducking her head as their conversation stopped and they gazed at her.

The medicine cat's nod was all it took for Fairykit to spring towards the section where her siblings and mother rested. "Mm, be quiet though." the medicine cat called softly after her before turning back to the cat next to her.

Instead of bounding all the way into the den, paused and listened to the soft voices. A heartbeat later, she poked her head around the corner. She could only hear a few words of the conversation, but the white medicine cat was doing a lot of head shaking.

"Is... contagious?" Rainclaw's tone shifted upwards, suggesting a question.

Snowfoot shook head as if to say no.

"... can't stop the inevitable."

Snowfoot shrugged.

"Do the kits...?"

The medicine cat nodded and meowed something that Fairykit couldn't pick up.

Fairykit's fur began to itch to see Gingernose, so she gave up listening in on the conversation and silently padded towards the three bodies curled up in a large nest made of soft feathers a moss. Long and raspy breaths broke through the silence in the den. Silently, she wandered foreword.

She sniffed Dragonkit's ruffled golden fur dappled with darker golden markings, and a musty, sickening smell caused the she-cat to recoil. Fairykit whimpered softly and took a step towards sister, who looked like a newborn kit with an unkept pelt with patches of her dark ginger fur were missing, revealing pink skin underneath. Elfkit blended in quite well with Gingernose, as they shared the same coat color.

"I wish you three were better," she murmured, curling up between her two siblings and pressing her flank against her mother's belly, "I want to play with you and not worry about hurting you like with Nightkit and Graykit. I-I want to hear more stories from you, like the tired elder tree." her shaky voice was a barely a whisper as she squeezed her eyes shut and slowly drifted to sleep.

~*~*~Life isn't a fairy tale, you don't always have happy endings, but you can make the best of what you do have and accept it for what it is, and just keep living, that's all you can do.~*~*~

Everything was a cloud; a big, menacing cloud forest. Nothing made sense, nothing had a purpose or reason, and the worst part was that Gingernose couldn't wake up. Mist lingered in from the towering treetops all the way down to where the bushes and ferns made their home nestled in the rocky earth. The endless fog left her sight limited and her lungs filled with a musty smell, preventing her from discovering any prey.

The savory scent of fresh prey mixed in with the fog from time and time, but never any to find. The endless chattering of squirrels and the blissful melodies of songbirds swirled in the air, causing Gingernose to long for even just a glimpse at these animals.

Gingernose's head spun in a violent circle. Nothing stayed in the same place for more than a heartbeat. All she could do was lie down on the hard, cold ground and fall into a restless sleep with her stomach begging for a meal.

Gingernose woke early in the morning to find a generously sized bird with brilliantly colored feathers, its body still warm at her paws. She tore into the savory meat and glanced about the misty forest, questioning just where the fresh kill came from. After just the bones and feathers remained, the she-cat got to her paws. With her strength returned to her and a stiller stomach to think on, she decided to look around. She barely noticed the tiny paw prints spotting the surface of the obscured ground.

"Is the cat that gave this bird to me still around? I would like to thank and share tongues with you." Gingernose called out.

An empty forest answered her with silence.

Her jaw tightened, and a heartbeat later she bounded deeper into the trees.

Everything seemed to move too quickly. One moment she leaped over a fallen log, and the next moment she splashed through a silvery river with stones peeking through the surface. Gingernose paused, allowing herself to comprehend her situation. "If you can hear me," she yowled at the top of her lungs, "Please come and meet me."

The ginger she-cat gasped as a giggling sound replied, like the kind two-legs made. A tiny shining- no glowing figure danced through the bog, perching on tree branches briefly before soaring back into the misty air. "Come and catch me," a voice cooed.

Without hesitating, Gingernose lunged into action. She darted up the tree where the creature purred and giggled, her claws scrambling to find proper nooks to dig into. As soon as we reached the branch, the figured gracefully hopped off and landed on one of the rocks in the river. Gingernose had got a better glimpse of it before it danced off. One moment she thought it was a two-leg, with pointed ears, and the next she was confident it was a cat. "I'm going to catch you!" the ginger she-cat declared, almost enjoying having a mysterious cat as company.

Twigs and leaves grabbed at her fur like claws and she maneuvered her way to the end of the branch to the point where it bent under her weight. She crouched down, and then sprang downwards towards the water. The glowing figure tumbled out of the way, venturing onto land and waiting for Gingernose to catch up.

Dark ginger fur soaked by the river's silver water, Gingernose clambered onto the rock and shook her pelt, briefly hesitating before jumping from the stone and across the water. She bounded forward, the creature giggling as she pursued. When Gingernose was just a tail-length away, it darted off again into the forest. Panting, she followed.

Like before, everything seemed to be going by too fast. She would be looking one way, and when she glanced to another direction she appeared to be in a seemingly in a different area. The only thing that repeated was the misty grounds with towering trees.

When Gingernose finally lost the scent and sight of the creature, she plopped down onto the hard ground, shaking and exhausted. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Aww, you're giving up already?" a voice complained, and Gingernose's eyes fluttered open.

In front of her was a healthy kitten, pelt starry and glowing. Gingernose's heart stopped as she recognized the creature's dappled, dark ginger fur and her green eyes. "Elfkit?" She gasped, springing to her paws.

"Well, I guess the fun's over." she sighed, taking a seat on the ground next to Gingernose, "I've come to tell you that it's time to leave the Misty Forest and join the ranks of StarClan. Please, come with me."

Gingernose's bright green eyes widened even further, "No, no! I can't go to StarClan, not yet. I have kits to raise, a-a mate, and I have Flamestep, Redfrost and my sister!"

Elfkit sighed, studying her paws. "You'll only have one kit to worry about soon. Either way, please come with me. It'll be so much better. There will be plentiful prey, friendly cats and you can see the sky. I'll be there too." she mewed gently. "Please, Gingernose,"

Gingernose violently shook her head. "No, you're not dead. You're not Elfkit. You're lying. I'm getting out of here. I want to go back to ThunderClan!" She wailed, whipping around and charging away from the creature.

"Wait! The only way to get out is-"

Gingernose didn't care about the speed at which she travelled, or the ominous mist masking the forest, or the bountiful amount of chirps and chattering of prey, yet a clear lack of animals. She didn't care about her trembling legs, or the rocks and pebbles digging into her paw pads. She just kept running, paw step after paw step. There had to be an exit from the 'Misty Forest'. Eventually, her legs became too shaky for her to dash through the undergrowth, causing her to collapse to the ground.

Gingernose gasped for air, staring blankly at the foggy air above. The grayness eventually faded to oblivion and the noises became muffled, the thoughts of escaping loitering in her mind.