FAIRIES IN THE WILD

CHAPTER TWO

"Uh," Lulu stared in shock; she defiantly hadn't expected that kind of offer.

"Yes, let's go Lu," Flamepaw cried, grabbing her scruff between his sharp teeth and giving her a yank into the tree line, she made a yowling noise in protest and dug her claws into the soft ground.

"Flamepaw," Armourheart snapped, "She hasn't even said yes yet."

Flamepaw looked expectantly at Lulu, who was looking very conflicted. After a very long and painful minute, Lulu's eyes flickered over to her fence, before returning to Flamepaw's onyx irises, "I… Can I really?"

"Of course," Smallstar purred, flicking his tail, Flamepaw bristled with excitement and pressed up against Lulu.

"Let's go!" he called.

~^x^~

It took longer than usual for the warriors to arrive back to camp, as Lulu wasn't used to the journey and had never in her life had to go so far in one time. At one point she had to stop to catch her breath, Armourheart and Smallstar had gone on ahead, only Flamepaw had noticed her pause, he too stopped, and waited patiently beside her while she recovered. He also had to help her get over a particularly big tree that had fallen, he jumped up first and when she was struggling to pull herself up, he gripped onto her scruff again and pulled her up.

But the two cats finally made it to camp; Flamepaw led the way, with the young golden cat on his heels. Thorns snagged at her fur, but nothing could stop her determination so she ignored the thorns pricking at her and at last she burst into the camp.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail," Flamepaw greeted her, brushing his shoulder against hers, she saw Smallstar slip into a cave that was carved into a rock, followed by the harsh red pelted she-cat, Armourheart.

There were so many cats milling around, talking in groups and grooming each other, she saw others entering and exciting what seemed to be dens, and to the far side of the camp near the rock Smallstar had disappeared into was a small tunnel of ferns leading into a secluded part of the camp.

"Follow me, I'll show you around," Flamepaw gestured for her to follow, to which she complied because she didn't know what else to do. He took her over to the large rock where Smallstar had entered, "This is the leaders den, in other words, Smallstar's den, and up there is where he announces meetings," he tipped his head back, nose pointing to the top of the rock.

"It's a long way up," Lulu noted, feeling slightly queasy just by looking up.

"Yeah, but it's really not, it's just because you're so small," he laughed, flicking her with his tail to show he was only joking when she scowled. "Here is the medicine cat's den, it's where the med cat sleeps, or if they're treating someone who's ill or injured they stay there too, Demonsoul is the current medicine cat, but we shouldn't be poking our noses around here otherwise we'll lose our pelts," he shuddered in thought and pushed her onward.

"This is the warrior den," he pointed towards a large den, "If you're quick, you can stick your head in for a nose about," she nodded, and gently prodded the entrance, before peeking inside, it was full of mossy piles all over the floor, "Moss and feathers makes the best kind of bedding, soft and comfortable, senior warriors sleep nearer the middle where it's warmest, next to this is the nursery, but there's only one kit sleeping in there, Purplekit, his father's Purpleflare, but no one knows who his mother is, one day he just turned up with this tiny little bundle in his mouth, saying it's his, but he never told anyone who was the mother… poor thing, I like him, he has a great attitude, you'll get to meet him later but right now he's asleep so it's best not to disturb him otherwise the she-cats will claw at us," he purred and then backed back into the clearing of the camp.

"Over there is the elders den, but there are no elders, there haven't been any for moons, the cats here just don't get old like they used to, they're really healthy cats, I once slept in the elders den, it was really warm and comfortable, and I bossed about Icepaw and Bookpaw all day," he purred a soft laugh while Lulu looked confused about the two named cats who she had no clue on who they were.

"That's the fresh kill pile, it's pretty good lately because all the mice and other prey come out because it's warm, and they're easer to hunt," he noted towards a pile of dead animals as they passed, she flicked her ear in understanding.

"And here, is where the apprentices sleep, also, where you'll be sleeping, you can have the nest next to mine as no one has taken it yet," he ducked into the den, and Lulu followed, it was similar to the warriors den but smaller, as where the piles of moss. "We can go out later and get some feathers to put in your nest to make it better, this one's mine," he padded over to a pile that was no longer a pile. The moss was spread about, and there were all sorts of things from the forest pressed into his moss.

"All Fairies old enough to fly without wings, join here beneath the high rock for a clan meeting," Lulu heard a sharp yowl come from outside, Flamepaw's ears pricked with interest.

"That's Smallstar, this must be your meeting about joining," Flamepaw brushed past her and scurried out of the den, Lulu quickly scooted out after him, she noticed that the clearing had filled with cats, ranging from different colours and sizes, pelt length and scars, she saw that most where staring at her with interest, but she ducked her head and ignored them, hurrying towards Flamepaw and sitting beside him, so close that their pelts brushed together.

Smallstar was sat on the high rock; Armourheart was beside him, along with a brownish gingery coloured tom that stood tall above Smallstar and bulker than Armourheart. He had long, thick scars across his chest and nicks in his ears, along with little scratches on his face and the fur on his right front and back leg was mangled and ripped away, looking as if it would never grow back, but he still looked fairly amused none the less.

"That's Crashtail," Flamepaw informed her, his voice low in her ear, he had seen her looking at the tom next to the clan's leader.

"As most of you will have seen, there is a new cat among us, Lulu, please step forwards," Smallstar nodded down at the small she-cat next to Flamepaw. She swallowed nervously, and with a gentle, encouraging shoulder-shove from the tom beside her, she stepped into the cleared space right in front of the high rock.

"She wishes to join Fairy Tail. Lulu, do you agree to live by the warrior code for the rest of your life, to live for your clan and never return to your life as a kitty pet," she nodded vigorously, her silver key tapping against her soft fur, "Then from here on out you shall be known as Celestialpaw, you're mentor will be chosen later tonight as he is not present right now," Smallstar jumped down, landing lightly on his front paws and padding up to the newly named Celestialpaw.

"Flamepaw, you are to stay with her until the patrol returns," he swung his head around back to Celestialpaw, and gently pressed his nose to her forehead, before flicking his tail in dismissal and padding away. The moment he was gone, she was swarmed by cats, all yowling her name and brushing up against her in welcome. She had never felt so loved.

After being greeted by everyone present, Flamepaw was at her side, a low purr rumbling through his chest and he looked very satisfied. "Happy now?" she bumped against him.

"Yes, but before we go anywhere, I want to discuss something," he led her over to a tree stump and sat down, Celestialpaw sat beside him, looking expectantly at him.

"What is it Flamepaw?" she asked, wrapping her tail over her small paws and hunching down to keep herself warm.

"Do you want to be my partner?" he asked onyx eyes boring into hers.

"What?" she looked at him in confusion.

"Partners, who you go on patrols with, and hunt with, sorry, it's a bit early after all, once you form a partnership with someone you have to stick to it, can't abandon it. You see them over there?" he nodded towards a group of three, "That's Souleyes, Evergreen and Scriptstorm; they're partners, along with another who was chosen for a patrol by Smallstar. There are Speedfur and Plantfur, also Purpleflare and Smokeheart, that's just the ones here," he explained to her.

"Sure," her eyes sparkled with excitement at the prospect of having a partner after not even five minutes within the clan.

"I understand if you don't want to but- Wait, did you say yes?" he frowned, whiskers twitching with uncertainty.

"Yep," she laughed, but it was cut short when a cold chill made her shiver and another cat sat beside her. She turned to him, he had a light blue pelt with dark blue, that was almost black, chest fur, and all four of his legs and tail where the same solid dark blue colour. He, like Flamepaw, had something around his neck; it looked to be a thin reed tied neatly and a sword like shape hung from it, although it was almost hidden by the fur on his chest.

"You really want to think before agreeing to partner up with this freak," he spoke, eyeing up the pink furred cat with distaste. "I'm pretty sure you want to wait until you've been here at least a day or even until you're a warrior, it's a big thing you know, and by the way, I'm Icepaw" he nodded shortly.

"Do you have a partnership?" Celestialpaw asked, tipping her head to the side in question, the key hanging from the chain around her neck swinging away from her chest and waving in the air.

"No, I was thinking of making one with Lionpaw, but I want to wait," he noticed the key around her neck and looked back up at her, "Come with me, I'll sort that out for you," he flicked his tail, gesturing for her to follow him towards the wall of the camp, long stalks of grass that looked like reeds where poking up and waving lazily in the breeze. "You'll want one that's not heavy, but strong enough to hold your key," he told her, and sat back on his hunches, picking through the grass with sharp claws.

"Like this," she plucked a longish piece with her claw, and dropping it in front of Icepaw, he eyed it before letting out a grunt of acceptance. "Face the other way," he told her, she didn't bother questioning it, just complied, turning and looking around the camp while she waited. She felt a claw run through her fur, before it clipped the chain, cutting right through it, she gasped as it dropped in front of her. "Pass me the key," he stated. Celestialpaw placed her paw over the small key and slid it behind her.

Somehow, Icepaw managed to thread the grass through the key, and managed to tie it around her neck, she didn't bother to question how on earth he did it, but somehow he did. The grass around her neck felt much better than the chain, it didn't rub and it wasn't cold or heavy.

"Thank you Icepaw," she bowed her head in appreciation.

"Don't mention it, everyone here has something, like Flamepaw has that white muffler thing, by the way," he leaned in closer, till his nose was just brushing her sensitive ear, "What's your magic?"

"What do you mean, 'what's my magic'?" she flicked her ear, looking at him as if he was crazy.

"Don't worry about it, you'll find out in due time," he looked pointedly at Flamepaw, "I think the fire freak is missing you," he smirked, "I'll let you get back to him, and take what I told you seriously, about the partnership, think about it before really agreeing to one, go on patrols and train together by all means, but don't feel like you have to rush into things."

"Ok, I won't do anything to irrationally, see you around…" she awkwardly shrugged and padded back to Flamepaw, who jumped up as she returned to him.

"What did he want?" he hissed, clearly angry about the fact she had been talking to the blue furred tom.

"Nothing," she sat back down, ignoring the noises he was making and scanned the clearing, her eyes landed on a white she-cat that had just emerged from the fern tunnel. "Oh… wow… she's beautiful," she murmured, finding herself staring at the she-cat, she was pure white with thick fur that feathered down the back of her legs and giving her a bushy yet sleek tail, her eyes where a bright, crystal blue colour, filled with knowing and wonder.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, that's Demonsoul, the medicine cat, she's pretty isn't she?" he calmed down from his rant and lay down beside her. "That's her brother over there," he gestured to a bulking cat, the same white pelt as his sister, but his was short and scruffy, "He's Beastsoul, the middle of the siblings, Demonsoul is the oldest," he informed her.

"So where's the youngest?" Celestialpaw finally tore her gaze away from Demonsoul and back to Flamepaw, but she was taken aback by the dark look that shadowed his face.

"She's with Mavis now, I'll speak to you later Cel," he got to his paws and disappeared into the apprentices den, his step was heavy and immediately she felt guilty. Celestialpaw got to her paws and looked around for Icepaw, it didn't take her long to spot him, he was chatting with two other cats, one was a ginger colour, with shaggy fur, and the other was a light blue, she was tiny compared to the two toms she was with, shaking herself, Celestialpaw put on a brave front and padded over to them, and plopped herself down next to Icepaw.

"Hey there," the small she-cat stated excitedly, "I'm Bookpaw."

"I'm Lion-" the ginger tom paused, his eyes wide as he caught sight of the key hanging around her neck, "Oh, hehe, look at the sun! Time to check the elder's for ticks!" he stuttered out before launching himself across the camp and scurrying into the elders den.

"Did I do something wrong? And Flamepaw said you didn't have any elders here," Celestialpaw asked, looking at the other two apprentices, who looked as confused as she felt.

"No you didn't and no we don't, that was Lionpaw by the way, he's a bit of a nutter, don't worry about it," Icepaw reassured her, "Can we help you with anything; need to find the dirt place? Hungry?" he smirked again, causing Bookpaw to sigh in exasperation.

"No… I was just wondering what Mavis was," she stated, while settling herself down between them.

"Mavis is the cat who created Fairy Tail… well all the clans, but she was our leader, she died a long time ago but she now takes all cat's that die, and they join her up in the sky to watch over us, each of the stars is a fallen warrior, a cat who died; as he should from old age, an apprentice or kit that passed too young, a fallen warrior or a cat taken by illness," Bookpaw explained to the golden cat, while gazing up at the sky.

"Oh… so Demonsoul and Beastsoul's youngest sister is dead?" Celestialpaw looked between the two cats, watching how they reacted, Bookpaw flinched and looked away, Icepaw had a similar reaction to Flamepaw, but he didn't up and leave them.

"Yeah, she died a while ago… she was out with her siblings on a patrol… they were attacked… they couldn't get to Featherpaw fast enough, she was killed," Icepaw muttered, and Celestialpaw noticed how his claws dug into the soft earth in frustration. "Flamepaw and her where really close, I think they were going to make a partnership, but… she died before he could say anything."

"Oh I'm sorry," she murmured, looking apologetically at the two she had caused pain.

"It's ok, you didn't know, and you needed to," Bookpaw told her, looking at the golden she-cat with warmth in her eyes, telling her they didn't blame her for bringing it up.

"Yeah, Bookpaw's right," Icepaw confirmed, calming the other cat's guilty mind. "Oh, hey Armourheart," he murmured, looking away, feeling afraid of the elder cat as she stood over the three apprentices.

"Icepaw," the red pelted cat nodded, and then turned to Celestialpaw, "Your apprentice training will begin tomorrow, you will be joining Icepaw, Bookpaw and Flamepaw with their mentors, your mentor will be assigned when the patrol returns later, for now, go get something from the fresh kill pile, all of you," she flicked her ear and padded away.

"Have you ever eaten a mouse before?" Icepaw turned to the golden cat that shook her head, "You'll love it, wait here and I'll grab us something," he hopped up lightly and trotted over to the pile that Flamepaw had pointed out to her earlier.

"I wonder who you'll be given," Bookpaw mused, a thoughtful expression cast over her face.

"What's a mentor?" Celestialpaw asked, shifting her position till she was laying on her side her eyes trained on Bookpaw.

"Oh, it's a warrior who trains an apprentice, they teach you to the boarders, train you to hunt and fight, the warrior code and little things like collecting moss for nests," the light blue cat explained, "My mentor's Speedfur, the ginger cat sitting over there with the black cat, Plantfur, Icepaw's mentor is Armourheart, poor thing, and Flamepaw's is Smallstar, it's an honour to be taught by the leader, but I think it's more so he can keep an eye on him."

As she finished her explanation, Icepaw plopped back down beside Celestialpaw, his jaws where clamped around three pieces of pray. He pushed a vole towards Bookpaw, a mouse to Celestialpaw and kept a squirrel for himself.

"Ah, you know me too well Icy," Bookpaw purred, and bit into the vole letting out a contented sound as she swallowed.

"Try your mouse," Icepaw commanded, watching as the golden cat leaned down and sniffed, before taking a small bite.

"It's good!" she stated, taking a bigger mouthful, a purr rumbling in her chest.

"Told you, once you've finished, take a mouse to Flamepaw, he hasn't eaten yet and he won't get one himself now his gone into sulky mode," Icepaw told her, his pink tongue flicking out to lick his lips.

Celestialpaw quickly devoured her prey and followed Icepaw's instructions, taking a mouse from the pile of dead creatures and pushing her way into the apprentices den. Flamepaw was curled up in his now flattened bed of moss, his tail covered his nose, but his eyes where open watching her movements carefully.

She dropped the mouse by his head and sat down in the nest beside his, the moss was cold and no sent lingered in the bedding, so she presumed this was meant to be hers.

"I got a mouse for you; I hope it's ok…" Celestialpaw murmured, she watched as Flamepaw rolled his shoulders, his pelt shimmering in the dim light with the movement, he yawned, black lips pulling back over needle sharp teeth and a pink tongue curling up.

"Thanks Cel, you didn't have to," he barely whispered the words, before gulping down the mouse given to him.

"Yes I did, it's all I can do, besides, Icepaw told me that you wouldn't get anything to eat yourself and that he'd have to get it for you anyway, I'm sorry for bringing up Featherpaw," Celestialpaw looked away from the pink furred tom, her whiskers twitching in embarrassment and guilt.

"Who told you about her?" he licked his lips and looked up at her, the tip of his tail flicking slightly.

"Icepaw and Bookpaw told me about her… I'm so sorry; they said you were going to ask her to be your partner," she explained carefully, keeping her head lowered but her eyes flickered up to his onyx irises.

"Oh ok then, it's ok, and yeah, she was my first real friend, but she's gone now, there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it," Flamepaw's walls shot up, his eyes hardening but when he looked back to her, they once again filled with warmth.

~^x^~

It wasn't long after that the patrol that everyone kept talking about, arrived home. A muscular dusky gold cat at the lead, he had dark jagged stripes running along his sides but what caught her attention was the thick scar over his right eye, in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Behind him, was; a smaller black tom with grey specks covering his pelt, a dark blue tom with a black band over his eyes, a dark brown pelted she-cat with striking purple eyes, a dark green she-cat with a long pelt along with several other cats.

"Lightningclaw, Bulletfire, Maskeye, Winesoul and Gunfur," Celestialpaw jumped at Flamepaw's low voice in her ear. "Something's wrong… Chainsoul isn't with them… he's the deputy, he should be at the head of the patrol…" his tone was tainted with worry.

"Bookpaw said that my mentor will be one of them, who do you think it'll be?" she whispered back, but kept her eyes on the troop of cats that trudged into the camp with heavy frowns on their expressions.

"My bet's on Lightningclaw or Maskeye, purely because Maskeye has never an apprentice and Lightningclaw hasn't had one for a little while yet and they're the next bet's for deputy as Chainsoul's getting on a bit and he hasn't come back… and you need to have had at least one apprentice before you can become deputy," he explained to her.

"Oh," Lucy looked towards the blue and golden cat's, wondering which of the two toms it would be, or if it would even be them, there were other cats on the patrol and all she had been told was that it was a cat on the patrol.

Smallstar, Armourheart and Crashtail padded up to Lightningclaw, matching expressions of worry and confusion on their faces.

"Lightningclaw, where is Chainsoul?" Smallstar demanded, looking up at the larger cat, and Celestialpaw was surprised to see similarities between them; both had the same dusky golden pelts even if Smallstar's was slowly greying, they both had jagged stripes running down their pelts and the way they stood, with hardened eyes and muscles stiff, both lent forwards slightly in their stances.

"We don't know," he replied, his voice was sharp and had a rough edge to it that made the fur along her spine bristle with unease.

"What do you mean, 'you don't know'?" Smallstar snapped, his tail lashed and Armourheart shifted in aggravation beside him, eyeing the tom with confusion.

"I simply presume that he's dead, we found traces of blood but no body, and we can only guess that the Phantom's took him…" Lightningclaw looked away from his leader; regret shone behind the walls he put up.

"Then a new deputy must be named," he stated briskly, flicking his tail and turning away, Celestialpaw frowned, for a clan leader he didn't seem that upset one of his cats may well be dead.

"He may not show it, but Smallstar is very good at hiding his pain, he's been the leader for a very long time and he's had much practice, and I noticed you staring, Smallstar is Lightningclaw's grandfather," Flamepaw explained lowly into her ear.

"Who's this then?" a gruff voice spoke up, the two apprentices looked up to see the cat of their talk looming above them, his sharp stormy grey eyes narrowed as he stared at Celestialpaw.