Welcome to my new story, Warriors: Time's Journey! This promises to be a long, long story, so look forwards to a lot of chapters. Enjoy, R&R, tell me what you think. Critique is welcomed, but don't be too harsh…this is my first fanfic after all…Also, I believe I made up this plot and all of my names – if you have used one of these names in your story then I am sorry, as I didn't know. Do not steal my names…I spent a long time making them up, please, respect that.
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors, as the name says, this is a fan-made fiction.
Allegiances
ThunderClan
LeaderTwilightstar – A silvery gray she-cat, with fur that looks like moonlight itself with piercing ice-blue eyes.
DeputyFlamepelt – A large tom with a flaming ginger coat and big green eyes.
Medicine Cat Leaftouch – White she-cat with ginger and brown splotches with amber eyes.
WarriorsSharktooth – Big gray tom with unusually sharp teeth.
Thorntalon – Black tom with white paws and tail tip.
Apprentice: Dawnpaw
Mistpelt – Blue-gray she-cat with a silver muzzle and paws.
Howlingflames – Small dusky brown she-cat.
Apprentice: Willowpaw
Hawkcry – Dark brown tabby tom with large yellow eyes.
Falconclaw - Golden brown tom.
Robincall – Bright red she-cat with flecks of ginger.
Rushingwind – Mahogany brown tom.
Whitestripe – Tortoiseshell she-cat with a white snip on the end of her nose.
Apprentices Willowpaw – Mottled brown tom.
Duskpaw – White she-cat with black patches.
QueensEveningflower – Tawny yellow she-cat.
Shiningface – Small but beautiful tabby.
KitsDarkkit – Black tom with two white hind paws and blue eyes.
Silverkit – Silvery gray she-cat with blue eyes.
Eaglekit – Tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes.
Lionkit – Tawny tom like his mother with green eyes like his sister.
Stormkit – Silver she-cat tabby with black stripes and amber eyes.
EldersSparrowfeather – Once pretty light-brown she-cat.
Cloudedeye – Black tom, oldest cat in ThunderClan, blind in one eye and nearly deaf.
ShadowClan
LeaderLongstar – Tabby tom with a very long tail
DeputyNighttail – Black tom.
Medicine CatPoppypelt – Light brown she-cat.
WarriorsScarpelt – Old tom with a battle-scarred brown coat.
Shadowfoot – Gray tom with black paws.
Twistedtail – Dark tabby tom with a twisted, useless tail.
Goldenwhisker – Light ginger she-cat.
Apprentice: Maplepaw
QueensLightstep – Tall dirty white she-cat.
RiverClan
LeaderStreamstar – White she-cat with a gray splash on her back.
DeputyLakefur – Very, very light-gray pelted she-cat.
Medicine CatBarkclaw – Brown tom with fur the color of wood.
WarriorsAshflower – Dark gray she-cat.
Moonfoot – Blue-gray she-cat.
Apprentice: Leafpaw
Blackstripe – Black and gray tabby tom.
Apprentice: Lightpaw
QueensGentleface - Pale long-haired tabby.
WindClan
LeaderDuststar – Dust-colored tom.
DeputyYarrowfoot – Brown tom.
Medicine CatFernfur – White-gray she-cat.
WarriorsQuiveringwhisker – Ginger tom.
Runningfoot – Brown and white patched she-cat.
Apprentice: Yellowpaw
Falconfeather – Big brown tom.
Apprentice: Blackpaw.
QueensGlowinglight – Yellowish-ginger she-cat.
Prologue
Twilightstar padded through the undergrowth. She had taken night patrol herself, stupid as it may seem, on her own. She had needed time to think, and the stillness of the night air seemed perfect. She believed she always thought best on the move, and so she never stopped once except to stand up and sniff the air for any unfamiliar scents every so often.
Moonlight gleamed off her similarly-colored pelt as she headed for Fourtrees, always alert. The night air was eerily still; it was as though the whole forest was sleeping except for her.
And then the silence was shattered into a thousand pieces. Twilightstar's sensitive ears picked up the pitiful and piercingly loud cry of a kit. And not just one kit, but four. It was coming from Fourtrees. Picking up her pace, Twilightstar was soon running full-speed towards the four great oaks that was the meeting point of the four Clans. Pelting down into the hollow, she saw four kits huddling close together for warmth.
Her heart pained as she saw that the kits could be no more than two weeks old. They had obviously not been weaned yet from their mother, and they were yowling pitifully. Who could leave such young kits in this place? No one that was in their right mind, that was for sure.
Bending down, Twilightstar sniffed at the kits curiously. They bore the scent of no Clan, nor a kittypet scent. They simply smelled of the forest, but it was obvious they were siblings. They resembled each other strongly and they carried the same leafy-forest scent.
She could have cried for the four misfortunate kits, stranded in the middle of a strange forest in the very beginning of leaf-bare. It wasn't as bad as it could've been; for instance, if it had been well into the season of leaf-bare, but still, the ground was already hardened by frosts and the air was chilly. One of the kits – a silver tabby she-cat – stopped mewling for a second and stared around the hollow, spotting Twilightstar. She stared at her for a minute before beginning to yowl again, even louder.
Without thinking, Twilightstar bent down and picked up the silver tabby by the scruff of its neck. It was the smallest and skinniest, and it needed to be fed soon it or would die. They would all die. But Twilightstar could only take one. One of the queen's kits had died recently of a bad case of whitecough and she had room now to suckle the kit. Twilightstar would just have to hope that maybe cats from another Clan – traitors as they were – would find the kits in the morning and adopt them into their own Clan.
So without a second thought, Twilightstar murmured, "It's OK. You're going to be fine, don't worry," to the poor scrap of beautiful tabby fur and set off to the ThunderClan camp.
"What's this?" ThunderClan's deputy, Flamepelt, asked as soon as Twilightstar emerged from the gorse entrance with the kit still dangling from her mouth. It was beginning to struggle and cry out, and Twilightstar knew it was hungry.
"A kit I found. I couldn't leave it to die. It would have been purely heartless of me. I'd have stooped down to the level of the other Clans to abandon it." Twilightstar didn't mention the four other kits. She had nearly forgotten them herself. All that mattered was the little tabby kit still dangling from her jaws. "Eveningflower's kit died a few days ago, so she has milk to spare. We can get her to suckle this kit until it's old enough to be weaned. It's around the same age as her other kits so it'll be all right."
Flamepelt nodded. "You did the right thing, Twilightstar. But where's this kit from?"
"I don't know. The only scent it bore was of the forest. We can talk later, Flamepelt. We need to get this kit into warmth and feed it before anything." Twilightstar approached the nursery and stepped through the hole in the brambles. "Eveningflower?" she called out.
The tawny queen looked up. Her two remaining kits, Lionkit and Eaglekit were sleeping soundly beside her but it was obvious the queen hadn't been sleeping. Her eyes were still clouded with grief over the loss of her son. Then her eyes fixed on the tabby she-cat Twilightstar was holding and she looked away, amber eyes filled with sadness.
"Eveningflower, I know this won't replace your kit, but she need food. I found her in the forest on patrol tonight and I couldn't leave her to die in the forest, especially since it's leaf-bare. You have the milk to suckle her, and…"
Twilightstar let the kit's mewls overpower her voice. Eveningflower looked up at the kit and uncurled a bit. Twilightstar dropped the she-cat on the nursery floor and it struggled towards Eveningflower. It began to suckle with a purr of contentment. The queen gazed at the kit with some of her old happiness and spirit in her eyes.
"Thank you, Eveningflower," Twilightstar's eyes filled with gratefulness. Next to her, Flamepelt let out the breath he had been holding. He didn't want the kit to die either.
"Shall I go out and finish the night patrol?" Flamepelt asked, looking up at the sky above. Faint signs of dawn were showing in the sky but it would still be several hours before the dawn patrol would go out. The borders had to be checked over again and again to prevent attacks from other Clans.
"Yes, Flamepelt. Thank you. No cat could ever ask for a better deputy." Twilightstar's voice was leaden with tiredness as she spoke. "But before you go, I must make sure of something: no one has seen this kit before, and I have a feeling no one knows where it came from. Tomorrow I will call a Clan meeting about this kit, and I will make sure that they vow silence to this kit's whereabouts. I want it to grow up as one of the Clan, not feeling like an outsider. I want to make sure this kit thinks it was born in ThunderClan, as one of your kits. Your kits and Shiningface's are too young to realize that there's a new kit in the nursery."
Flamepelt nodded. He knew better than to question Twilightstar's motives. Though a fairly new leader, she was very wise and knew best. So without another word, he pelted off to complete the night patrol.
However, Eveningflower spoke up. "Why the secrecy, Twilightstar?"
"To be honest, I don't really know, Eveningflower," Twilightstar said as she left the nursery. "I just feel it's right. I don't want this kit to grow up an outsider. I'd say take care of the kit, but I know you will."
"Wait!" Eveningflower called after Twilightstar. "You've forgotten something. This kit here needs a name. We're not going to call her Kitkit, are we?" She said the last words with a purr of amusement and a twinkle in her eyes.
"Oh, yes. Right…we'll hold a naming ceremony at sunhigh tomorrow. But for the record…" Twilightstar bent and touched the kit softly with her muzzle. "Her name will be Stormkit."