Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter

Thanks to my reviewers: Icethroat21, Oo-Rainpath-oO, and VioletteRose. Thanks to all their help and encouragement!

Chapter 5

The Gathering was amazing. With Nightpaw to show her things, Fallingpaw got to experience everything before the leaders started the meeting. She got to meet other Clan cats and she got to hear stories. It was exhilarating. As though she'd grown wings and got to fly with birds. And then Fallingpaw met the rogue.

Nightpaw was chatting with the apprentices. Fallingpaw didn't really pay attention. Her eyes were riveted the other Clans. She saw the sleekness of RiverClan, the long bodies and frowning faces of WindClan, and the dark pelts of ShadowClan. She narrowed her eyes as she thought she saw a familiar dark tabby pelt. It had to be that apprentice she saw at the border. She hoped he hadn't told anyone about meeting her. She really didn't want Kinkstar arguing with Firestar over it in the meeting.

Fallingpaw moved her eyes away from the tabby tom so he wouldn't catch her looking at him. Her eyes met a wall of dark tabby fur. She jumped in surprise wondering how the apprentice had moved so quickly. Then she realized this wasn't an apprentice at all. He was as large as a warrior. And he had such green eyes. Fallingpaw was captivated by their brilliance even though he wasn't even looking at her. He was sitting two fox lengths away and his head was titled up to watch the leaders. His green eyes glittered in the moonlight. No other cats sat beside him.

Nightpaw nudged her as the leaders yowled. The meeting was starting! But Fallingpaw wasn't interested in the meeting. Her eyes went back to the dark tabby tom.

"Who is he?" she whispered as Onestar introduced the birth of four new kits.

"I don't know," Nightpaw shrugged when he saw the direction of her gaze.

"That's Deepforest," whispered Duckpaw, a RiverClan apprentice.

Fallingpaw glanced over at the dark gray tom. It was his sister that continued.

"Leopardstar's letting him stay in the Clan awhile," Mudpaw meowed. "He was wondering what Clan life was like. She said she might make him a warrior."

"Why?" Nightpaw whispered back.

Mudpaw shrugged. "I don't understand Leopardstar. She's getting old. Some cats have whispered her mind isn't all there anymore."

"Mudpaw!" Duckpaw hissed. "Quiet! She's our leader! And they're ThunderClan."

Mudpaw looked ashamed. Before she could mutter either apology or cover her mistake to ThunderClan, Leopardstar started talking.

"We have a new warrior. Shimmerbreeze."

A white she cat stood while the other cats cheered for her.

"She hurt her paws a while ago," Duckpaw meowed, quickly changing the previous subject. "She had to be held back a long time."

"Poor her," Fallingpaw sympathized.

The siblings nodded solemnly. They knew they would hate it if they were. They each looked eagerly forward to their own warrior ceremony and would hate to have it postpone by an injury. Fallingpaw would hate it if she was held back because of lack of training.

"Deepforest, a rogue," Leopardstar continued, "came to us a quarter moon ago. He wishes to learn Clan life and RiverClan is willing to teach him."

"How do you know he isn't like Sol?" Kinkstar, a she-cat with fur sticking out at all angles, growled. The other ShadowClan cats grumbled around her glancing dangerously at the dark tabby tom with the deep green eyes.

He stared back at them.

Fallingpaw knew ShadowClan had killed Sol. Just before the Event, Lionblaze, Dovetooth, and Ivyflight had caught the white-and-brown tabby long-haired tom with the pale yellow eyes and had given him to ShadowClan. No one knew what they did with him, but they figured they'd killed him after what he'd done to ShadowClan while Blackstar was leader. Fallingpaw suddenly hoped this dark tabby wouldn't be so cruel. It would make all dark tabby's seem evil. First Tigerstar, then him.

Reminded of dark tabbies, Fallingpaw looked at the ShadowClan apprentice she'd met at the border. Neither ShadowClan nor WindClan's apprentices had joined them, staying with their Clans. Fallingpaw wondered what the apprentice was like. He wouldn't become a bad warrior, would he?

"Do you remember Raven?" Leopardstar meowed.

The Clan leaders nodded.

Fallingpaw looked sharply up at the RiverClan she-cat. Raven was her grandfather. Dewstep's father that she'd never seen.

"He was a rogue," Leopardstar meowed. "He wasn't like Sol. He banded cats together and tried to help our Clans."

"Then he left with Hollyleaf," someone else muttered.

Everyone knew her tale. She hadn't died in the earthquake or tunnel collapse as everyone had believed at first. Instead she'd left the lake. She'd started living like a rogue. She'd had kits, Dewstep and Darkfire, and trained them to take over the Clans to restore the warrior code. However, Dewstep and his brother Darkfire had other ideas. They hadn't taken over but had joined the Clans. But then tragedy and struck in the form of Darkfire's claws. He'd accidentally hurt his brother during a violent confrontation between ShadowClan and ThunderClan. Fearful that he'd killed his brother, Darkfire had run away. Hollyleaf had appeared shortly after. Raven, her mate, had brought her in an effort to stop their sons. That's when Hollyleaf's real intentions had come out. Truth was spilled that day. From Ashfur's death to the reason she sent her sons to the lake. Firestar exiled her and Raven took her back with him where he and his band of rogues started a new Clan. Some of the young Clan cats had gone with Raven. Since they'd left there had been no word. Many supposed the new Clan had died during leaf-bare, unable to cope with working together.

"Deepforest will not be like Sol either," Leopardstar meowed firmly.

"No, I will not," the dark tabby promised. He looked around at the gathered cats. "I do not wish to turn you against StarClan."

The cats looked far from satisfied, but Leopardstar was done talking. She sat back on her tree limb and looked toward Kinkstar. The she-cat reported the birth of Dawncloud's one kit, Dapplekit, and introduced three new warriors, "We welcome Stoneheart, Eveningbreeze, and Fernstripe into our Clan."

The three warriors stood and the Clans chanted their names. When the chanting died down, Kinkstar made way for Firestar.

"We have a new warrior," Firestar meowed. "Brindlenose."

The light tabby with the gray nose stood up and the other cats welcomed her. She was well known among them to be kind just like her name sake, Brindleface, had been.

The Gathering quickly disbanded after Firestar was done. the Clans meowed their goodbyes and separated for another moon. They were rivals once more.

Fallingpaw became lost in the crowd. She lost sight of Nightpaw and didn't know where to go. She bumped into a dark tabby. "What do you want?" she snapped.

The tom looked at her in surprise and Fallingpaw looked up to meet green eyes.

She gulped. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Who?"

Just then the apprentice on Fallingpaw's mind showed up.

"I made it to the Gathering!" he meowed, grinning at her. But when he saw Deepforest, the smile disappeared. He stared at the tom. "Oh, um, hello. I'm Brownpaw from ShadowClan."

"Its nice to meet you," Deepforest meowed. "I can see who this she-cat thought I was now."

Fallingpaw looked down. She shouldn't have yelled at him. Why had she? It wasn't like she was trying to avoid "Brownpaw".

"I should be going," Deepforest meowed. "I hope if we meet again, we can have more time to talk."

Fallingpaw muttered a goodbye as the tabby left them. She was so embarrassed. She'd treated him so rudely and now this Brownpaw was bothering her. He would have seen her snap at him for no reason. He might even guess she thought of him when she bumped into Deepforest.

"I made it," Brownpaw meowed again. He didn't sound so happy now. He looked at Fallingpaw, his eyes not able to meet hers. "You said you were going, so, so I-I came."

"Oh," Fallingpaw mumbled. "Actually I wasn't supposed to go. But my brother helped convince Firestar."

Brownpaw looked like he was about to meow something else when Nightpaw showed up.

"Fallingpaw!" he called. "Don't disappear like that! Come on. ThunderClan is already off of the island."

Nightpaw looked between Fallingpaw and Brownpaw.

"Brownpaw, right?"

Brownpaw nodded, closing his mouth.

"I've seen you around. You're a ShadowClan apprentice." Nightpaw narrowed his eyes. "Come on, Fallingpaw."

Fallingpaw quickly followed her brother as he led the way from the bush. Now Brownpaw knew her name. He could make fun of it with all his friends now too. She hated the feeling that he knew who she really was now. This night wasn't so good after all.

Fallingpaw doesn't have any luck. And why is Brownpaw following her around? Who is this mysterious rogue?

2014 Edit: for those interested in this version of Hollyleaf, this follows my idea what happened to her after the tunnel collapsed. You can find it in the story Hollyleaf's Challenge. That was my first story and got me interested in writing fan fiction.

Spoilers: Now we know that Hollyleaf did actually live (as seen in Omen of the Stars). But in the Erins' story she dies anyway. In my story she lives, has kits, has a mate, and lives in a new Clan. We will catch a glimpse of her later in this story.