A Clan rarely struggles without another noticing. That's how it had always been amoung the four Clans. ThunderClan was always willing to help a Clan in need, even if they were putting their own cat's lives in danger.
RiverClan always did their best to stay strong. They had tough warriors who were willing to fight for what they believed in. They had kind souls, but they had odd ways of expressing it.
WindClan was constantly relying on ThunderClan, though the late leaders weren't thrilled to always have someone watching to make sure they were okay. They had impeccable speed and strong-willed cats who always did their best.
Then, there was ShadowClan. The cats of the shadows had been known to sneak around and cause chaos. They were strong, there wasn't a doubt there, but the Clan who always seemed to cause trouble were just trying to prove that they weren't weak. They wanted domination because they were afraid; afraid that the other Clans would look down on them and laugh, afraid of being pushed aside.
But what about the individual cats in these Clans? They all had their struggles, but it still seemed that each Clan was so obsessed with the others that they started to forget about their own cats. Eventually, this lead to a war.
It started as a mere disagreement between the leaders of ThunderClan and WindClan. The leader of ThunderClan, Kestrelstar at the time, had begun talking about sightings of dusty-colored animals that looked like a mix of a fox and a wolf roaming around near the boarders. Kestrelstar had said to keep a lookout and to be careful, while directly looking at Harestar, WildClan's leader.
Harestar, noticing Kestrelstar's actions, told Kestrelstar off, declaring that the ThunderClan leader was treating his Clan like kits who couldn't protect themselves.
After that, an arguement broke out, and soon after the gathering had passed, WindClan began asking RiverClan for help to show ThunderClan that they should leave the other Clans alone, and stop interfering with their business. Juniperstar, RiverClan's leader, agreed to help. She too was getting fed up with ThunderClan, and how they wouldn't ever keep to themselves. So, an attack was planned on the ThunderClan camp in three moons time, giving them enough time to prepare their warriors and train their apprentices.
As soon as ShadowClan found out about the plan, they decided to sit back and enjoy before jumping in to finish the fight off and show that they were the strongest Clan out of all four. But what they didn't know was that they were helping to shatter one tom-kit's life.
Quailkit was just like all of the other kits in the nursery. He was surprisingly small, with quick paws and a mind that reacted to things in the most logical way possible for a 5 moon old kit. His sharp, hateful glare and bristling pelt alone could intimidate some of the apprentices, however.
Because of this, the kit was given the chance to become the medicine cat's apprentice, while the original offer of becoming a warrior still stood strong.
Quailkit was torn. He loved the medicine cat dearly, she was like the older sister he never had. He would always go to her when he needed to get something off his chest, and because he shared so many secrets with her, they grew very close.
As much as Quailkit loved the gentle and loving medicine cat Fernlight, he also had a great desire to become a warrior and fight for his Clan. Ever since he was a tiny kit, he had dreamed of becoming a warrior, and maybe even deputy or leader. If he chose to be a medicine cat, like his mother, his mother's friends, siblings and Fernlight wished, then he wouldn't be able to fight for and protect the Clan he loved so dearly.
The kit actually wanted to be a medicine cat and heal his Clan, but somewhere, deep down, his warrior desire still raged with fiery passion.
Quailkit was torn, and it didn't help that he was growing up in a time when warriors were very needed. The young tom-kit was recieving pressure from his Clanmates to either become a medicine cat or a warrior. Of course, the warrior option was the more popular vote among the clan, and it was driving him insane. And one day, the day he had to chose, to be exact, he just snapped.
It was a generally warm day with a cool breeze blowing with a gentleness that could soothe anyone's stress. The ShadowClan camp was busy as always, preparing to jump into the fight at the last minute and hopefully make all three Clans surrender. A thick tension hung in the air, anticipacion also swarmed each warrior, apprentice, and queen's thoughts.
Quailkit was padding back and forth in the nursery, his mind buzzing with many thoughts. Today was the day he had to choose. The kit had never thought so hard in his life, and it was getting to him. He tried to look strong around his Clanmates, so as to not make them aware that he was breaking over this decision.
The young gray tabby knew that whatever he decided would change his life forever. He was crumbling under the pressure, and this had been effecting his kithood, something every kit should enjoy.
Quailkit couldn't come to a decision, and the time when he would have to choose between being a medicine cat or being a warrior was nearing quickly.
The young kit let out a frustrated huff. It had just occurred to him that no one could see his pain, because all they cared about was getting stronger, not him. And he was angry and upset.
Quailkit slunk out of the nursery just past sunhigh, the time when he would choose to either become a warrior or a medicine cat. His pelt bristled when he saw any cat, and he sent them hard, judgemental glares. Some of them looked confused and kind of scared.
Quailkit was generally very playful and perky, no one had seen him this angry or upset since his younger brother was found dead in the forest near a freshly abandoned fox den.
The kit stalked toward the group of cats that was gathering below the shade rock. He glared at all of them as they made a pathway for him to get through to the front. He sat down stiffly, his sisters joining him with concerned looks. They had noticed his pain and tried their best to help him, though he rarely payed attention to anything but his thoughts.
Quailkit sat with a sudden calmness, and it kind of scared his sisters. Soon, the ShadowClan leader jumped up onto the ShadeRock and commenced the meeting. "Today, three kits have become six moons old, and are ready to start training as apprentices. Larchkit, Featherkit, step forward." Quailkit's younger sisters stepped forward, trembling with excitement.
"Larchkit,you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Larchpaw. Your mentor will be Heatherpounce.I hope Heatherpounce will pass down all she knows on to you.
Applestar then turned toward the pale-pelted she cat standing with pleasant surprise and gave her a gentle gaze.
"Heatherpounce,you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Tigertooth, and you have shown yourself to be bold and loyal. You will be the mentor of Larchpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Larchpaw."
As soon as Larchpaw was able to, she dipped her head and scurried off to her new mentor, who waited with patient excitement. The two touched noses, and the Clan erupted into cheers. "Larchpaw! Larchpaw! Larchpaw!"
Once the Clan had calmed, Applestar looked at Featherkit.
"Featherkit,you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Featherpaw. Your mentor will be Ivythorn.I hope Ivythorn will pass down all he knows on to you."
The dark gray tom smiled at his new apprentice.
"Ivythorn, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Hollowsky, and you have shown yourself to be calm and logical. You will be the mentor of Featherpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Featherpaw."
At this, the tom stepped forward and touched noses with the overly excited apprentice. The Clan began cheering again, some purrs and excited yowls being heard. "Featherpaw! Featherpaw! Featherpaw!"
Once the Clan became quiet, all eyes were on Quailkit. He seemed calm and sure on the outside, but he was really fuming and crumbling under the gaze of the Clan.
Applestar sent the tabby tom an encouraging look before speaking. "And last but not least is Quailkit, who most might know recieved an offer from Fernlight to become a medicine cat and train under her care. Of course, we cannot force an apprentice to become something they don't want to be, so Quailkit has two options: become a warrior like his family, or become a medicine cat and train under Fernlight. So, Quailkit, have you decided on which path you want to follow?" the leader's soft green eyes landed on him with a surprisingly sharp gaze.
The young tom took a deep breath. "I have."
"And which will you chose? The life of a warrior or a medicine cat?" The leader looked at him expectantly.
"I've decided..." the kit trailed off, preparing for his next statement while looking at his paws. He looked up at the leader, who's sharp gaze was slowly turning into a glare, and he snapped.
"I've decided that you are fox-hearted pieces of fox-dung! You never cared about your Clan members, you only care about power and control! Well, while you were planning to take over the Clans, you forced some cats to go insane! Including me! While you were sitting back waiting for the battle, I was shattering like ice! I can't beleive you can call yourselves a Clan if you can't even see the pain that you put your clanmates through. I've been torn apart, and I know now that ShadowClan isn't a good Clan. You're the bad guys in all of this, not ThunderClan, RiverClan or WindClan! They actually care!" the little tom screeched, making some cats that were near him recoil in shock and disbelief.
Applestar stared at Quailkit with utter confusion and a growing anger. The kit had just insulted her Clan! And he was going to pay for it. She was about to say something when the kit suddenly darted out of the camp, whimpers and growls mixed together in his throat.
His mother and sisters called after him, but he didn't stop, he didn't even flinch. He bounded across the territory, growing tired as he bolted in between the pine trees and stones. He was about a quarter of the way through ShadowClan's territory by the time he finally had to stop from exhaustion. His limbs ached and his lungs burned. He gasped for air as he collapsed by a small stream with ferns growing at the edges.
Quailkit desperately lapped at the water, trying to soothe his dry throat. He didn't have any honey, but it would do.
The tom-kit flattened out a few ferns and lay down with a soft sigh. This was how it should be, just him, no one else pressuring him to do something he didn't want to do. He took a moment to soak in the feeling before laying his chin on his paws to watch the sun sink below the few trees that spread across ShadowClan territory. Quailkit's eyes became heavy, and he slowly fell asleep.
After that day, the kit traveled to WindClan to warn them of ShadowClan's plan, and after some convincing, they believed him. They warned RiverClan, and called off the attack on ThunderClan, instead sending a few persuasive warriors with Quailkit to warn the Clan.
The three Clans got a plan and decided to go to the ThunderClan camp and wait until ShadowClan got there to ambush them. And that's exactly what they did, Quailkit keeping a lookout, telling the other cats to start making battlecries and hisses when ShadowClan was near.
In the end, ShadowClan had to retreat, and Quailkit was considered a hero to the other three Clans. And it was all because of ShadowClan's offer to chose between the path of a medicine cat and a warrior. So, in a way, Quailkit, or Quail, as he was now called by the Clans, was thankful for ShadowClan's mistake.
If they didn't give him the choice, who knows where he would end up. But as a rogue who helped bring peace to the Clans when it was needed, he was home.