Another Path
By: Brittglamorra
Welp! I hope you guys are going to enjoy this! This is an AU I've had stuck in my head for a long time. It was inspired by the scene in Power of Three where Hollyleaf squeezes in between Crowfeather and Breezepelt to see Greystripe as he returns. That always struck me as interesting. Imagine seeing the three dark grey-black cats beside one another, one from a different clan, with 'different parents' and yet looking so strikingly similar to the two on either side of her. I love it! ^^ So I thought, 'How would things play out differently if she grew up with them in Windclan instead?' And voila! This idea popped into my head and thus the story has begun! Hope you guys enjoy! Have fun reading!
Prologue: A Snowy Start
Snow swept through the forest, and Leafpool shivered inside the hollowed out tree trunk. She was curled around her kits. Squirelflight lay between her and the entrance, curled tightly around her sister and the three bundles between them. The wind was bitter and cold, and Leafpool regretted waiting to return to the hollow for the extra three sunrises. They could have been back before the storm hit, but Leafpool had insisted they wait...she wanted the extra time with her little ones. Now as they lay shivering in the bitter cold Leafpool regretted it. They'd lain awake through the night shivering around the kits…
Near dawn things were calmer. The snow fell lighter, but still in thick flakes. It was time to leave.
"Leafpool. Let's go before the storm starts again." Squirelflight insisted firmly. Leafpool sighed and nuzzled each kit awake.
"Come little ones. It's time to return home." She murmured.
"But we don't want to leave the hollow!" Hollykit complained. Leafpool nudged them out into the fluffy new snow.
"We must." Leafpool meowed, suddenly feeling a sense of urgency.
And so after some complaints from the kits they set out again. Slowly heavy large flakes of snow began to cascade more quickly down from the lightening grey sky. The kits quickly began stumbling, pelts tossed the wrong way, and frost clinging to their fur and whiskers.
"Momma!" Came a sudden wail. Leafpool rushed back and lifted Jaykit, who'd collapsed in a dip, out of the snow and carried him. Shortly after Squirelflight was carrying Lionkit, who'd collapsed, shivering violently, and Hollykit bravely tottered on behind, following the white tipped tails of the two she-cats.
They'd been trekking on for awhile when suddenly the wind picked up and slammed against the cats so hard that the two adults stumbled to the ground and Hollykit vanished beneath a mound of snow. They staggered up and looked around desperately. "Hollykit!" Leafpool wailed, rooting through the snow bank.
With shrieks of defiance the tiny black kit burst from a snow drift, panting. Leafpool breathed out in relief and picked up Jaykit again.
Carefully they moved on but the storm was getting worse and worse, until they couldn't see their paws in front of them. The two she-cats held their heads low, and kept their eyes narrowed to slits. Hollykit staggered forwards blindly with her eyes squeezed shut but started to veer off away from her mother…
After what seemed like moons Leafpool and Squirelflight spotted the familiar walls of camp and rushed towards the camp entrance. But before they could push in Leafpool looked back and realized Hollykit was gone…
"Hollykit!" She shrieked.
… /ᐠ-ᆽ-ᐟ \...
Meanwhile deep in the forest, Hollykit was still blindly struggling through the deep snow, but cold was slowly taking over her tiny body, making it hard for her to move. Finally, wailing weakly for her mother...she collapsed into the snow and felt numbness creep over her. Dizzying blackness clouded her mind and she gave in to the darkness.
A rough tongue briskly licking her fur the wrong way woke Hollykit. She opened her eyes and the hazy image of a dark greyish black tom with blue eyes swam before her. His mouth was moving but she could hardly hear him. His voice was broken. She made one word out clearly though.
"Name…?" She blinked blearily at him.
"H...Holly…" She broke off as everything went dark again.
The next few hours were a blur...the feeling of teeth meeting her scruff, of her body dangling over open air and bumping against his legs as he ran. The feeling of wind blast her frail body even more harshly than before and the sounds of rattling branches fading to be replaced by the unrelenting roar of the wind. And then many smells assaulted her. Many cats, the warm scent of blood, a strange sharp plant scent, heather. And the frosty scent of peat.
The wind finally stopped hitting her and she felt branches scrape against her sides. Then there was a brief silence, broken only by the sound of paws thumping against the frozen earth...then warmth. It engulfed her so suddenly, and the rich scent of milk flooded her senses. She let out a tiny weak mewl, longing to be warm and full-fed again.
She felt herself being lowered, and set between two damp paws.
"Nightcloud. I found a kit by the stream...can you nurse it? She's weak and cold. I think she might die…" he meowed. Hollykit felt a small cold nose prod her pelt.
"Where in Starclans name did she come from? What kind of mother would leave their kit out in this storm she looks like she was born less than a quarter moon ago." A soft voice meowed.
"I don't know but she needs warmth and milk soon. I'll go get the Medicine-cat. Will you care for her?" He asked.
"Of course. Set her here by my belly. I'll soon have her warm and full." The she-cat meowed.
Hollykit felt teeth clamp on her scruff again and lift her. But a moment later she felt a body radiating heat next to her, and smelled milk. Her mother? It had to be. She leaned forwards and latched onto the she-cats belly, and began suckling, feeling the warm liquid pour down her throat and warm her from the inside out. She barely noticed a rough tongue rasping over her fur and warming her up all the way again.
"She said her name was Holly." The tom meowed gruffly before his paws steps faded away.
"So...Hollykit." The she-cat murmured, a gentle fondness entering her voice.
Hollykit nuzzled close to her mother, suckling greedily. She squeaked in surprise as she felt a bump against her muzzle that seemed to be coming from inside the she-cats warm belly.
"Soon you won't be alone anymore little one." The she-cat murmured.
Hollykit pressed her muzzle back against the she-cat and began to suckle again, slowly drifting into a warm, comfortable deep sleep.
Yee! Chapter 1 done! This was a bit rushed but it will get better in quality in the next chapters. :) Hope you guys enjoy! May take me awhile to update again though, because I want to finished reading Crowfeather's Trial before I continue with this. Please review if you would like!