Leaf-fall came early, driving all the prey into their burrows and nests early. "The geese are flying south sooner than usual," Hollyberry commented. Next to her, Goldenfire mumbled her agreement through a mouthful of robin and shivered a bit. "Maybe we can get the apprentices to bring us more moss."
Goldenfire snorted, "I don't want Cloudpaw anywhere near me. You heard Thornstar; he's dangerous and he's going to kill us all." Hollyberry threw her a sideways glance. Golden fur rustled as the older she-cat stood up, "I'm going to fetch my own moss."
The ill-tempered she-cat was not the only one being defensive. A few other warriors were doing their best to turn their paws the opposite direction whenever Cloudpaw came near. The apprentice sighed unhappily, something clawing at his belly and making him uneasy with how his clanmates were treating him. Rainpaw noticed and did his best to comfort Cloudpaw, while Silentpaw stayed at his side and offered silent condolence day in and day out. The cats' mentors were rather concerned as well, even Mountainblaze (whom Amberpaw noticed started cutting the nightly meetings since the Gathering and Cloudpaw's depression). In the training hollow, Cloudpaw was putting half-hearted blows into his attack training and not bothering to dodge when on defensive.
"I'm fed up with this poor treatment," Robinwing declared in an irritated tone.
"I'm sorry, I'll try to put more pep into it tomorrow…" Cloudpaw muttered, shuffling his paws on the smooth stone.
Robinwing sighed and trotted over to his apprentice, draping a ginger tail over broad shoulders, "It isn't your fault, Cloudpaw. Your clanmates should have more faith in you. Come on; try to think of how useful you'll be as a warrior when you complete your training!"
"There doesn't seem to be much to look forward to anymore. I don't feel like I belong here…" The black and white apprentice mewed sadly, turning his gaze to the path that led out of camp. He missed Robinwing and Silverheart exchanged frightened looks.
"Oh rest assured you are StoneClan, you silly apprentice," Mountainblaze remarked coolly.
"I don't know about that. All StoneClan cats have tough pads and course fur and firm claws that won't painfully break when trying to climb cliff walls. I have none of those. My pads are soft and my fur is smooth and soft and every time I try to climb the Steep Ledge I always slip and fall," Cloudpaw sighed again.
"If it makes you feel better," Rainpaw started, "Silentpaw and I are the same way. And so are Amberpaw and Darkpaw."
"Sounds like CreekClan cats," Larkfeather grumbled in his usual grouchy manner. "Each clan has learned to live specifically in their homes."
"That's right," a blue-ish gray tom with piercing blue eyes added, joining them. "StoneClan cats are born to walk on stone and moss and withstand fierce winds that blow down from the mountains. Our territory is at the foot of a mountain and so it includes flat stone surfaces from the mountain and soft grass from where the stone turns to dirt."
"What about the rest of the clans?" Silentpaw asked, stepping up to the muscular tom.
"CloudClan is the clan that lives in the mountains. They have tougher pads than we do and their fur is thick enough block cold weather but short enough to keep dry and not clinging with snow from the blizzards they live with. They're long legged and agile – they have to when leaping across gaps constantly. SunClan is the clan that practically lives next to the darker part of the twoleg place. StarClan gave them sharp claws and long fangs to fight off the rouges and kittypets who go hunt in their territory for sport. Their territory is mostly out in the open. In greenleaf the twolegs use their farm monsters to rip up the earth and they plant twoleg food. SunClan says there are foods twolegs call pumpkins and corn. While we cats can't eat them, they attract mice and other creatures that provide food," the blue-gray tom explained.
"You may as well tell them about CreekClan, too, Grayclaw," Larkfeather prodded. The two toms shared a glare for a moment before Larkfeather grumbled and began to explain it himself, "CreekClan used to share borders with StoneClan and SunClan. They lived in the rich forest but they constantly dealt with floods and high water during new leaf when snow on the mountain melts and runs down through their territory. Their fur is soft and smooth, usually oily to help the water slide off their long fur. They have the softest pads of all the valley clans. It's rare for CreekClan cats to have short fur."
Rainpaw looked at his shorter fur, then at his brothers' long fur. The only thing he shared in common with them was a fluffy yet powerful tail. Cloudpaw sighed and Silentpaw continued to look on in comfortable peace. "After you're done here you should go hunting by the Steep Ledge. Plenty of prey running around there today; best catch as much as we can before the rain season comes," Grayclaw mewed and continued on to camp. Larkfeather dipped his head to the other cats before padding off after the strict tom.
"Hunting doesn't sound too bad right now," Mountainblaze stretched, "The fog will be setting in soon too. It's almost sun down." Silverheart agreed with a grumble and slight complaint.
"Old cat," Robinwing commented, "Why aren't you with the elders yet?"
"Ah, my time to join them is close, but not so close. I'm still quite young compared to those two, mind you. And I do plan to serve my clan until its near impossible for my bones to carry me as far as the fresh kill pile and back," the silver tom purred and swished his tail.
Robinwing rolled his eyes, "Cloudpaw and I are going to stay behind and help out around camp." Without much more being said, Silverheart lead the other three cats away towards the Steep Ledge. Cloudpaw faced his mentor. "You should try to cheer up before we do anything else. I know Russetpath would like some help taking care of the kits."
"But who's their real parents? I heard Russetpath and Dewpool saying they weren't StoneClan," Cloudpaw asked.
"Nobody knows their real parents, but they were raised by Mousestep and Sharpsight of SunClan at first. As far as those three kits are concerned, they belong to StoneClan," Robinwing replied.
"But don't they have a right to know their birth clan?" The apprentice challenged, "Isn't it wrong to lie to them their whole lives?"
"They don't have to know," Robinwing began to walk back to camp. "Honeykit is content in calling Spottedfur her big brother. And Leafkit feels comfortable with Dewpool and Russetpath. Sharpkit though…he doesn't get along with really any cat."
"Maybe he'd feel more at home in SunClan with the mother and father whom he remembers their scents as a newborn," Cloudpaw bounded after the ginger and white tom. "Maybe he remembers being so close to the twoleg place."
"He's hardly three moons old now and he can't even remember what he had to eat yesterday before sleeping. I highly doubt he remembers anything about SunClan. We're done talking about this," the mentor growled and pushed his way into the camp.
Cloudpaw stopped before going through the camp entrance, "Have you been telling me lies since I was a kit?" He clawed at the stone before sliding into the camp after Robinwing.
"It seems we've just missed a clan meeting," Robinwing stated as the black and white apprentice joined him in the camp.
Cloudpaw craned his neck to see what had happened, "What was it? Was it something important?"
"Darkpaw was made a warrior; he's Darksky now!" Rabbitleap replied as he bounced around excitedly. "And Winterstorm is the new deputy since Owlflight is retiring to the elder's den now!"
"Winterstorm is the new deputy, huh? I won't say that was a bad choice, but it certainly wasn't the best either…" Robinwing commented. He watched as Icewhisker heaved himself up from in front of the medicine cat den to go congratulate Winterstorm. Robinwing angled his folded ears to the old cat, "I hope he gets an apprentice soon."
"Every cat does. Nobody knows when he's going to choke," Rabbitleap frowned, then brightened, "But I'm sure one of the kits in the nursery will want to be his apprentice! And if not, Sparrowstripe might have a kit that will be interested."
"StarClan can be cruel sometimes," a new voice joined the conversation. The three cats turned their heads towards the voice. A brownish-red tom with ruby eyes and a single long fang extending downwards was sitting there. "Things have been too calm for too long. I sense a battle coming soon."
"Don't go around scaring every cat Bloodfang," Grayclaw glared at the ruby-eyed cat in the shadows around the edge of camp.
"You're all so blind to the ill omens," Bloodfang commented, "Haven't you noticed the owls flying around during the day? How about the ravens and vultures lurking around in greater numbers? And what do you think of the birds dying without reason and the vast number of trees starting to rot? Something big is about to happen and it isn't going to be lovely."
"Since when did you become an expert at interpreting?" Grayclaw scoffed.
"I never said I was an expert. And who says I am interpreting? I am simply being observant of my surroundings. When Icewhisker was still sane he told me bringing kittypets and rouges into the clan was bad luck too," the shadow lurking cat curled his tail over his paws.
Robinwing gave a sniff, "Icewhisker was never sane. He's been crazy since the get-go. That's why he's a medicine cat because no cat felt safe teaching him how to fight."
"Let me be the first to remind you he was the one to correctly interpret CreekClan's downfall several seasons before those signs of their falling apart even started." Bloodfang frowned, "I'm not going to defend him, but I think you should show him some more respect."
"Go hunt some bats," Grayclaw snapped. The brown-red tom looked about to protest but didn't and got up, strolling out of camp after throwing a nasty glare at Grayclaw.
Until the sun had vanished behind distant mountains, Cloudpaw spent the rest of daylight cleaning out nests and entertaining the kits. When his brothers returned, they had brought back plenty of prey for the clan and…two other cats. Cloudpaw looked at the two cats curiously from outside the apprentice den, watching Mountainblaze trot away from them to find Adderstar. Cats began to gather curiously as the two cats were nudged to the front of the Great Boulder. Adderstar appeared from his den alert, and bounded up quickly to the top of the highest point in camp, Winterstorm already on the rock lower than it.
"Silverheart, report," Adderstar demanded, struggling to keep his fur flat.
"Mountainblaze, myself, and our apprentices were hunting when we found these two snooping around our territory," the senior warrior spoke loud and clear.
Adderstar glared at the two outside cats, "What are you two called?"
"I'm called Heron," the pale grey tabby tom with green eyes replied.
A silver furred she-cat with shining eyes spoke up after him, "And I'm Jeanne."
"Where are you two from?" Adderstar growled, clawing the boulder under his paws.
"I left my house folk to explore some. I don't know about him though," Jeanne replied, looking at Heron.
Heron sighed, "I've been a loner since I was born. My mom didn't want me so I travel around a lot. I'll leave now if you want."
Adderstar growled, "No, you're both staying here until I figure out what to do with-"
"Clan life has always interested me," Jeanne cut him off, "Living together and taking care of each other is fascinating."
"Kittypets…" Adderstar muttered, "Silverheart and Bloodfang take these two to a secluded part of camp. Don't worry about guarding them; Darksky is sitting vigil tonight. Clan dismissed."
Most of the clan went to their respective dens while a few others remained in the camp to gossip quietly. Cloudpaw watched as Silentpaw walked over to Darksky, congratulating the new warrior. A small smirk graced Cloudpaw's features when Darksky gave Silentpaw's head a lick before the dark furred warrior headed over to the camp entrance to sit vigil for the whole night. As the three brothers and Amberpaw headed to the apprentice den and curl up in their nests, a nagging feeling gnawed at Cloudpaw; the same feeling as he had been experiencing since the gathering. The memory of Bloodfang and the mention of several bad omens made him feel sick. And then there was the fact that the whole clan was willing and ready to lie to the SunClan kits and Larkfeather and Grayclaw mentioning different traits of the valley clans. Something in his head made Cloudpaw realize Bloodfang was right.
AN:/ Hello again! I have decided to in fact label this story as a crossover~
CreekClan - North America
StoneClan - Europe
CloudClan - Asia
SunClan - Others (includes Africa and some Europeans because StoneClan is already freaking huge without the rest of them)
Russetpath - Lithuania
Mousestep - Finland
Sharpsight - Sweden
Leafkit - Latvia
Darkpaw/Darksky - Cuba
Heron - Bulgaria
Jeanne - Jeanne/Joan D'Arc
Fwah tell me if I missed anybody Dx I'll add them next chapter. I'll also be added cats/nations at the end of chapters as they are revealed. Sorry if I'm boring you, there going to be a change of events next chapter~!
Until next time
Love, Alex
