Alright… let's get this out of the way. Now, when I posted this and thought about how I was posting it under Warriors, I came to the thought… 'How could this tie to Warriors?' Not being able to actually put the warriors characters into by story, I have to decided to make one of the characters a former warrior. Why he left? It's a secret to be revealed. But, until he shows up you'll never know who he is! *giggle*

Also, anyone who reviews gets a cupcake or cookie. Whichever you want!

I want to thank bookworm2091 and RavenmoonReader486 for being my first reviewer EVER and my second reviewer EVER! You encouraged me to keep writing and start tonight (the night of prologue making) instead of in the morning! *hands Shade plushies* Enjoy!~

But the rest of you get cupcakes! *removes cookie option* Haha! =P

Chapter 1: Preparing

After telling the tom her name, she sent him off running toward the city. She tracked him for about an hour afterwards but he held true and went to find Hook. I just hope he makes it alive. She thought to herself.

A long time ago, she had once lived in the city with Hook and knew how hard it was to be with him.

Images flashed through her mind and her claws, covered in dried blood, sank deep into the earth. She closed her eyes but forced them to open to block the memories from coming back.

They hurt too much.

She snarled, swiping her claws against a tree and leaving deep scratches as wood splintered off. She forced herself to calm down and sat down, taking a deep breath. This would most likely be her last day in the woods.

You can always come back. The voice told her. It had always encouraged her to kill the cats that came through and she understood why it wanted her to stay.

Not now. I have other things to attend to, she told it. It was silent after that.

If she ever talked back to the voice, for better or for worse, it would rarely talk back. It was just one of those times again.

Pushing the memories to the back of her mind, she opened her icy blue eyes and stretched out, her claws scrapping against the earth. She looked around, hoping to find a place to settle down.

Out of the whole time she had been here, in this forest, she had never settled down in one spot. She wasn't used to it. She would always find a comfortable spot and lay down in it. Especially during these times when everyone had heard the rumors about her, no one dared come near her if they ever saw her sleeping.

Once, one cat had found her sleeping and decided to end her.

He didn't, of course.

He had made the mistake of stepping on a twig and, being the light sleeper she was, she woke up. To make him suffer, she put several deep gashes in him, mostly along his legs so he couldn't run. Then, she covered him in scratches so the pain would never end for him and he could never run from her.

After that, she stayed with him for several days, eating in front of him but never letting him take a bite. He almost starved to death but she got bored with him and ended his life, dumping him in one of the nearby rivers for someone to find.

Finding a nice, soft patch of grass to lay on, she laid down. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon. She yawned, her black paws stretched out in front of her. She rested her head on them and quickly found sleep but her dreams were nightmares.

Since she was going to head after Hook, her mind was on him almost all the time. All the memories came flooding back to her along with the pain. She even had images of her kit-hood that she had long been trying to get rid of even though that was long before she had met Hook.

If anyone had managed to find her during the night, they would have found her snarling and sometimes even growling. Luckily, no one did find her.

Once the sun began to creep up over the trees and cast some sunlight on her pelt, she woke up. Even in the morning when the sunlight was the weakest, she still felt it burning on her dark pelt.

Her fur was ruffled and as she moved under the shadows of an oak tree, she flattened it down with careful strokes. She wasn't normally one for cleaning but if she was actually going to leave the forest, her home, she wouldn't want to look crazy and insane even if the cats she met knew all the rumors.

It would just add unnecessary details that were, actually, untrue.

Once satisfied with her fur, she smelled the air for any prey. They would have left when she was attacking that tom but it had been awhile since then and they were in the area once more.

Somehow, there just so happened to be a raven in the oak tree she was sitting under. It was on a fairly low branch since there seemed to be no predators around.

How wrong that bird was.

Her black pelt seemed to blend in with the shadows so she crept up to the tree before jump up onto it. She wasn't skilled with tree climbing but she knew the basics enough to catch prey in trees.

She was silent, for the most part, climbing up. She was on the side opposite of the raven so it didn't see her when she eased her way onto the branch. It was thick so it wouldn't wobble unless she was nearing the end of it.

She was silent when she creeped into jumping range but froze when the bird flapped its wings.

Luckily, it was just stretching.

She gave a silent sigh of relief before finally pouncing on the bird. It gave a loud screech of alarm which sent all the other birds in the area flying. She bit down on the neck of the bird and silenced it, jumping down to the ground.

She was a little discouraged with all the birds flying away but it didn't matter. She needed to save as much energy and strength as she could for the trip.

As she sat there eating, she was thinking about her location and how long it would take to get to the city.

If I head out now, I should get there after the sun sets, she thought. But then, if I start out later, less cats will see me but I'll get there after dark. She pondered this, taking a last bite of the raven. She decided going later.

Most cats were night cats in the city but were more hidden and seemed to stay away from each other unless it was someone from their group. During the day-time, there seemed to be less cats but they were more social. Most of these 'daytimers' were kittypets or peaceful, non-fighting cats.

Thinking of how to spend her time, she decided on hunting. If she got hungry, she wouldn't have to stop and could just sit down and eat quickly.

She perked up her ears, trying to hear a small heartbeat of possibly a mouse or vole. If there were any nearby, they were just out of her hearing range. She opened her mouth to taste the air, ignoring the scent of raven. A mouse was hidden within strong-scented flowers; a young one, she could tell, since it had come out so soon after the call of the raven she caught earlier.

She stalked forward, peering through some bushes to faintly see the fur of the mouse. Stepping forward, just about as slow as could be, she finally got within jumping range.

Lucky seemed to be with her as she sprang and quickly caught the mouse, not even letting it squeak. She smiled at the easy catch but decided this was enough for now.

She looked up to see that the sun had barely moved. She snarled at its slowness. But, seeing as she couldn't do anything, figured a short, light nap was in order.

Quickly finding a comfortable spot, she laid down. It took a short while for her to go to sleep since she wasn't used to sleeping during the day but eventually she did. Luckily, it was a dream-less sleep.

When she woke up, she stretched and sharpened her claws on a nearby tree. She was almost destined to find someone on her short journey and she wouldn't show any mercy like she did that last cat.

The sun had fallen rather fast during her rest and she had overslept a small bit meaning she would have to run some. No worries, she told herself, A short run won't hurt.

Walk; wait till nightfall. The voice in her head told her.

She figured that it meant for her to arrive during nightfall but she couldn't be so sure. I'll run, thanks. She replied to the voice, as if she was stating a fact.

The voice was quiet, as always, but if it had been a real cat, she swore it would have shrugged.

She sighed, picking up the mouse from earlier and starting up in the direction the city was. If you had climbed a tall tree, you probably would see some of the tips of the two-leg buildings.

Even though she was traveling at a rather fast pace, it would take awhile until she hit the edge of the city, let alone the deeper parts where Hook and his group were. The city was a big place and had lots of cats, especially when others came every twelve moons or so.

But just as she expected, she came across a she-cat hunting. She didn't have the markings she, oh so hated, nor the correct gender.

She had no conflict with this cat.

In the end, she had scared off the cat with a simple, yet 'terrifying' growl.

And then, a short ways-away, she spotted a brown tabby tom sitting down. She was preparing to kill him when she noticed two little kits playing around him. One was a black, like her, and the other was a brown tabby like the tom who seemed to be her father. Her eyes widened and she stepped back. Brief flashes of her kit-hood appeared and she ended up stepping on a twig.

Instantly, the tom turned around in her direction, startled, but because of her pelt and the shadows she happened to be in, he couldn't see her clearly.

"Come out, whoever you are!" his voice was commanding but it had a definite edge of fear to it. The kits around him stopped playing and looked in the direction the tom was looking. They looked more frightened than the father and she couldn't help but wonder if something bad had happened in their lives before.

The small black kit gazed up at her father, pressing against him, "It's the shadow cat isn't it?" she mewed fearfully.

Kill them.

What? They're just kits! I can't kill kits. She exclaimed, nearly saying it aloud.

Kits grow up. The voice replied, one of the rare times it did.

She shook her head and turned around, running back the way she came. She didn't get very far, however, before she turned back to her path and went around the kits and their father.

Despite the shocking result that had come out of her during her runaway, the kits and their father were quickly put out of her mind as she began to smell the roads and the other stenches of the city. Her eyes widened, surprised to be here, and she ran until the trees were behind her.

In front of her laid the city she was born and raised in.

In front of her laid the future place for the fall of Hook.

In front of her laid her home.

Sooo, how'd you like the first official chapter? It seemed a little rushed to me but I was having a bit of writers block and needed to pull out what was important to the story and what wasn't.

I'm trying to put up one chapter a day but with my schedule, I'm not so sure I can. Expect one every 2-3 days and start worrying after about 5-7. Unless I tell you I'll be busy, of course. ^^ I have several things planned out for this story but I'm not sure if it'll go as long as I'm hoping it will go, sadly.

But to finish this off… Review and get a Cupcake! xP