AN: Archpaw belongs to CrimsonRaspberry and Eaglepaw belongs to

SerpentFeather, who submitted more ocs, who I will be mentioning as they appear in chapters.

"Is he?"

"What is he doing?"

"It's weird!"

Opening her eyes, Laurelpaw turned to glare at her denmates, letting out a small hiss.

She didn't like to be woken up early, and especially by cats she didn't even like.

Anger coursed through her veins, as she was reminded of the previous day.

Not only had her mother brought her to this strange place, with unfriendly cats, but she found out that her father had a whole other family!

Not just any other family, a family of stuck up she-cats.

She turned her attention to her brother, and let out a small hiss of annoyance, when she saw that he was talking to a mouse. Instead of catching it like a normal cat would, he was talking to it, as though it was one of them.

"Hey," she hissed, flicking him with her tail, "Show these other cats what we can do, kill that mouse, and show Hedgestar and Lavenderblaze, that they were wrong about you not being able to make it as a warrior."

Mentioning that made Laurelpaw's anger deepen, and she let out a growl, digging her claws into the ground.

When the leader and deputy found out her brother was blind, they said they'd let him stay, but he could never be a warrior, and when Daffodilpelt asked if she could mentor him as a medicine cat, alongside her own apprentice, Eaglepaw, Lavenderblaze had the nerve to say, that cats born outside of BushClan, couldn't ever be a medicine cat!

She supposed she should be glad, that they didn't kick him out, instead, they gave him a nice enough cat, a hefty, brown tabby tom named Largebelly, as his mentor, and gave him the task of helping out around the camp, building dens, bringing prey to everyone, and just anything Largebelly instructed him to do.

"I figured I might as well give him an apprentice, seeing as though he's going to retire soon," Hedgestar had said, and Lavenderblaze, Laurelpaw let out another growl, had mrrowed, like it was some big joke! Like her brother, was some big joke.

"Are you okay Laurelpaw? You seem really upset."

She turned to her brother, and let out a hiss of irritation, when she saw that he hadn't killed the mouse.

"Aren't you?" she asked, instead of reprimanding him for it, she could do that later.

He shook his head.

"What?" Laurelpaw let out a hiss of surprise, "What about everything that's been going on? Mother, Father, these new sisters, you not being able to be an apprentice."

"I am an apprentice," he meowed evenly.

She narrowed her eyes, and lashed her tail.

"No you're not, not an important one anyway, not one that will become a warrior or a medicine cat! You heard Hedgestar and Lavenderblaze, they won't even consider the thought of you going hunting, or battling, or anything!"

"Maybe I won't get to do all the glorious stuff, like catching prey for the clan, or winning fights against other clans, but helping to build the dens, and cleaning up the camp, and just doing anything I can do to help out my clan is important too."

"He's right," a brown tabby she-cat with green eyes piped up. Laurelpaw turned her attention to her, not recognizing her from yesterday.

"Who are you?" she demanded, feeling the fur on the back of her spine rise.

"Mosspaw," the she-cat meowed, flicking her tail, to another she-cat who looked just like her, but with amber eyes, "And this is my sister, Cedarpaw, I have another sister too, named Branchpaw, but she's out hunting with her mentor, Sorrelclaw."

Cedarpaw nodded.

"Mosspaw and I were out on the evening patrol last night, which is why we missed all the excitement."

"That's nice," Laurelpaw meowed, even though she didn't really care, these she-cats would probably end up being full of themselves, just like those other apprentices she had met. Her half-sisters. The thought made her bristle, she did not want them as sisters, she didn't want any sisters! She was perfectly content with it just being herself, her mother, and her brother. Thinking of her mother, made her chest ache with hurt, why did she decide to take them here? Why didn't she want them anymore?

"Do you two want to see the kits? Snowberry just had her litter a couple of nights ago, two she-kits!" Mosspaw exclaimed.

"I've never seen a kit before, I just know that they're rambunctious, and a lot smaller than me," Privetpaw meowed.

Mosspaw snorted, "Nothing's smaller than you," earning a flick on her ear, from Cedar's tail.

"Shut up," the amber-eyed she-cat hissed.

Laurelpaw blinked at her with gratitude, maybe all the cats here weren't going to be as bad as she thought.

"So, Privetpaw, how does it feel to be the only tom in a den full of she-cats? You must be real happy," Mosspaw mrrowed.

Privetpaw shuffled his paws.

"I guess, I'd like it better if there were some toms in here," he bristled slightly, "I mean uh, not that you she-cats aren't nice and all."

"Out of all the she-cats in here, who do you think is the prettiest?"

Laurelpaw narrowed her eyes at the green-eyed she-cat, why did she keep asking her brother such pointless questions? It wasn't like any of them would ever become mates with her brother, he was an outsider, a blind runt, completely useless to them. It seemed to her that Mosspaw was just making fun of him, and she didn't like it at all.

Instead of clawing her ears off though, she held herself back, knowing that Privetpaw didn't really appreciate when she fought his battles for him, besides, she didn't want to anger Cedarpaw, who seemed nice enough for now, by attacking her sister.

"Laurelpaw! Come on, it's time to go on border patrol!"

She turned her head, to see her mentor, Spindlefrost, twitching his tail with slight impatience, rolling her eyes, she padded over to him.

Clan life, she realized, wasn't suiting her, she didn't like being bossed around, she didn't like sharing a den with cats who didn't even like her, and she didn't like all the stares that everyone kept giving her and her brother.

I can't leave it though, she thought with a sigh, there were many dangers out there outside the camp walls, and she knew, that in order to stay safe, and in order to keep her brother safe, she would have to endure all the downsides that came along with it.

She suppressed a groan, when she saw that Hazelpaw was coming too, along with her mentor, Ivyshade, and she couldn't help but to notice the glares that both cats were shooting in her direction.

Suppressing a hiss, she decided to ignore them, and to just do what her mentor told her to do, so she could get this other with.

Suddenly, he stopped, causing her to nearly run into him.

"Looks like leaf-fall is coming," he noted, indicating a bright red leaf that was at his paw.

Ivyshade rolled her eyes.

"What? You couldn't tell that from the change in weather, and the lessening of prey?"

"Yeah," Hazelpaw sneered, "It'd help for you to be more observant."

Spindlefrost lashed his tail.

"And it'd help for you to not talk that way to a warrior, Apprentice."

"She's not wrong you know," Ivyshade meowed.

"Oh look, here's BushClan, being dysfunctional as always, what's the matter? Find out that Hemlockfang had another mate?"

Laurelpaw bristled, and turned to the source of the voice, a large white and dark ginger tom, with green eyes, how did he know about her and her brother?

"And here's GardenClan, sticking their noses in where they don't belong, aren't you all supposed to be underground like the little worms you are?" Spindlefrost spat.

The large tom mrrowed.

"You're his son aren't you?" he asked, shaking his head, "Of course you'd get defensive."

Laurelpaw narrowed his eyes, how could Spindlefrost be Hemlockfang's son? He didn't have any sons except Privetpaw!

"How does it feel to know that not only did he take another mate while he was with Sorrelclaw, but he also took one while he was with Blackflower, and a pathetic kittypet at that!"

Anger flared up in Laurelpaw's chest, stronger than it's been since she could remember.

How dare he talk that way about her mother! Her mother wasn't a pathetic kittypet, she was a Balinese, one who won countless cat shows. Even though Laurelpaw wasn't a pure-bred cat, and had never even entered a cat show, she couldn't help but to feel pride at the fact, that she was the daughter of a cat who had.

However, that anger soon became replaced with fear and revulsion, when a tall black she-cat, stepped out from behind the large tom.

Laurelpaw's heart pounded fearfully in her chest, and her fur bristled even more, as she took in the sight of her face. Her right eye was missing, and around the place where her eye used to be, was furless scarred flesh.

The large tom must have noticed this, because he meowed.

"Hideous isn't she? This is my apprentice, Archpaw, she doesn't even have to fight, just the sight of her can send many cats running to their dens."

That's not nice, Laurelpaw wanted to say, but she was still too shocked from the she-cat's appearance, that she couldn't get the words to come out.

Instead, she looked at Spindlefrost, was he really her half-brother? Did she have even more siblings than she thought?

"Come on, it looks like the borders are secure, as long as Shallotfur doesn't try anything," Spindlefrost growled.

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it, I actually respect the warrior code, unlike Hemlockfang."

With that, the large tom turned, and stalked off, along with his apprentice.

Even though Archpaw was extremely scary looking, Laurelpaw couldn't help but to feel sorry for her.

As they padded back to camp, Laurelpaw wondered if she should tell Privetpaw about what Shallotfur had said, would he be happy, or upset, that their father had yet another family they didn't know about?

I'll keep it to myself, she eventually decided, as they reached the entrance of the camp, all these discoveries were almost too shocking, even for her to handle, she didn't want to imagine how her brother would react.

In time, she would probably tell him, but that time was not now. Instead, she would focus on her clan duties, and appease everyone, until the time she would finally be able to leave, and to live her own life.

She couldn't wait.