AN: I'm really sorry this took so long. I'm having trouble finding time to write outside of weekends. At least this is longer than any of the other chapters.

Chapter 7: Part 1

She looked around after waking up from her nap. Her mate was lying there wrapped her in their den. The dirt walls surrounding them kept them warm on what they heard was a fairly cold day outside. She had been right about how excellent a home for all of them the tunnels would make. It had all happened so quickly that it amazed her every time she thought about it.

(Several Seasons Ago)

She just couldn't take it anymore. No one in the clans followed the Warrior Code anymore, not even herself, she knew she had to banish herself; it was the right thing to do. "Hollyleaf, no! We can work this out-!" Her brother, Jayfeather, called out to her. But before he could even finish, the river, mixed with dirt, rocks, and sticks, overtook her and slammed her against the walls and violently hauled her downstream. A huge blunt force unexpectedly struck her head from behind and her last thoughts came to her as the world faded to black, I guess it's time to go to the Dark Forest where I belong.

Hollyleaf opened her eyes. She was in a small mud puddle, her fur was wet, sticky, and covered various things. Her body was in quite a bit of pain and she could hardly move. She tried to stand up, but to no avail. As soon as she fell back to dirty water, her head exploded, causing her to her curl into a ball and flail her paws splashing the mud around and clawing some of the wet ground. Sleep was thankfully quick to overtake her.

When she next awoke, Hollyleaf was unsure of how much time had passed, but she wasn't as sore as before and was able to at least sit up, even though the headache had hardly subsided. Turning around, Hollyleaf noticed that she had been thrown into a small corridor by the river, just a tail-length in front of the her was the river, still flowing strongly, but not enough so that it was still flowing where she was now standing. "Starclan is punishing me by forcing me to live the rest of my life in shame without a clan," she stated out-loud to no one in particular. "I understand, I deserve it."

For the next few days, Hollyleaf traversed her way through the tunnels, there wasn't much drinkable water, and what drinkable water there was, was usually moving incredibly fast. When she finally got out at the edge of the forest surrounding the lake, her pelt had become even more ragged and she had developed what she assumed was whitecough. She slept again, barely taking more than a few paces outside of the dark confines.

Hollyleaf had never been to this part of the forest. Although it wasn't very big and she was out of it quickly, it was tortuous. The trees constantly tried to attack her with their branches and try to snare her legs in their roots while they glared at her and flung stinging insults. By the time she had made it away from the horrid trees, she was walking forward with her head down and eyes wide.

For a little more than a quarter moon after that she continued on into a Twolegplace with next to no food or rest. The area she was in had an uncountable number of monsters. The noise they created together was louder than any yowl or battles she had ever heard, making it impossible to hear anything else; even in the uncovered tunnels behind the huge twolegnests didn't provide much relief from the noise. Their fumes made her choke almost constantly, causing her to fear that she would develop greencough anytime soon.

While searching for prey in one of the uncovered tunnels, she heard a deep growling from behind her. Hollyleaf turned around to see a massive dog, staring at her, drooling with hunger in its eyes. Its ribs were visible as it slowly moved towards her. Her fur stood on it ends as much as it could with the shape it was in. The dog was not intimidated when she hissed and kept moving forward. She knew she had no chance if she were to try and fight it.

After a few heartbeats, Hollyleaf turned around and took off as quick as she could. She dashed around corners; right, left, right, left, and then a final left before dashing into and abandoned twolegnest. There was a hole on the other side so she ran through that as well and ran a bit more before stopping thinking she had lost the dog since she hadn't heard after a couple of turns. But before she had caught her breath, she heard more growls and the brushing of fur against the sides of the holes in the nest. The dog was voraciously staring at her again when she turned around.

Hollyleaf turned around and sprinted off again and after a few more times running around corners, she came to a large red wall. She attempted to climb up it, but it was much too hard to dig her claws into and she couldn't even make it half-way up. This is it, I'm finally going to…die. She resigned herself and put her head down waiting for the teeth to bury themselves into her neck and then be shaken until she was dead.

But what happened next shocked her. There was an angry his and a couple of growls and some sounds of fighting before she heard the dog yelping and hopping away with its tail between his legs.

"Hey, it's okay now. He's gone," Called a tom's voice. "Come on, I won't hurt you."

He sounded friendly enough to Hollyleaf, so she decided to go over to him and thank him. He was a large brown tom with gentle amber eyes who was in fairly good shape for it still being leaf-bare. "Thank you, very much, um—." she realized had no idea what his name was.

The tom grinned. "Cocoa, my name is Cocoa." He responded, seeming to understand why she had paused. "What about your name? I haven't seen you around this part of the city. You must be new around here to not know how to get away from that dog."

"Er, yes, I've only been here for a day or two…" she started to pad over to Cocoa, but began feeling faint as she did so. "My name is Holl—." Everything was black again, a common occurrence over the past half-moon.

(The Next Day)

Hollyleaf slowly blinked her eyes open. For the most part it was dark, but there were a few beams of light poking their way through some small cracks. "Where am I?" She couldn't really distinguish much other than she was beneath something with a very low roof and that it smelled like crowfood. She remembered her encounter with the dog and almost dying before being saved by that tom. "Did Cocoa bring me here?"

"Yes, I did," Came Cocoa's friendly voice as he poked his head under the roof. Hollyleaf panicked and jumped up, causing her to hit her head on the roof. "Hey, calm down, you already seem like you're in bad enough shape." He pulled his head out, bur it came back just as quickly, this time with a mouse hanging from his jaws. He tossed it, landing right by her paws.

"Is this for me?" she wasn't sure if he would actually help her this much or not, it didn't make sense.

Cocoa nodded. "Of course! It looks like you haven't eaten recently," he confirmed to her. "When was the last time you ate?" he asked, noting that her frame was becoming fairly visible coat.

Hollyleaf paused for a moment to think, but nothing came up. "I don't remember." She stared at her paws for a while.

"You don't remember?" Cocoa seemed shocked. Hollyleaf simply shook her head. "Well then, don't just lay there, eat that mouse, you can't just keep wasting away." He pushed the mouse closer to his guest with his nose.

She took a bite; it was the best mouse she had ever eaten; juicy, warm, and sweet. She savored it before swallowing it, "Thank you so much, Cocoa!" But then she realized something. "But what are you going to eat?" she started to feel guilty since she hadn't contributed anything herself.

Cocoa just shrugged his massive shoulders. "I don't know, I'll find something in a bit. Just keep eating that mouse; you need to regain your strength." She nodded and went back to eating. "Good. Now I can go get something for myself without worrying about you." The brown tom took off a few heartbeats later. However, he was back in no time at all, "Before I go, I still don't your name."

Hollyleaf swallowed one of the last bites of her prey, "It's…" she was internally debating whether or not she should keep her clan name, and decided to stick with it. "It's Hollyleaf."

"It's pretty," Cocoa replied, grinning.

Hollyleaf couldn't help but feel embarrassed, "Oh, uh, thanks!"

"Bye, again," The tom meowed before dashing off to wherever he got his prey from in this crazy place.

After a few more bites the mouse had been finished. There wasn't anywhere to bury it since the ground was made of completely solid rock, so she just moved it over to the back part of Cocoa's den where she figured neither of them would step on it. She was trying to stay awake until he got back, but it had been dark for quite a while and she decided it would be best if she just rested.

The next morning, Hollyleaf woke up feeling better than she had in a long time. Cocoa was still asleep. As she crawled out from under the den, she stretched her legs and yawned as she sat down.

"Good morning, Hollyleaf," her savior's voice mewed from behind her, almost causing her to jump in surprise. "You look a bit better today."

Hollyleaf nodded her head. "Yes, I feel better today, too," she paused. "Thank you so much for helping me these past couple of days."

"It's not a problem," the brown tom replied cheerily. "Besides, I cannot remember the last time I had a visitor."

They stood in somewhat awkward silence for a bit before either of them spoke. "Thank you again, Cocoa, but I should probably get going now." Hollyleaf started to turn around to leave but was stopped.

"You don't have to leave already, do you?" Cocoa's amber eyes stared into her green ones. "Besides, you could still put on a bit more weight, and I know this city like the back of my paw."

"But wouldn't I just be burdening you more by staying here longer?" she asked worried, but he shook his head. "Thank you, I appreciate all of this very much." Cocoa flicked his tail, indicating for her to follow him.

For the rest of the day, they explored louder part of the city. This was where there were more cars and thunderpaths, as well as huge twolegnests than in any other part. Even worse, it was also the most dangerous part of the city; it had the most dogs as well as twolegs in monsters that would take the animals it could catch and take them to the cutter or other places that they didn't know about. There weren't all that many places to hunt here, but the ones that were there were usually plentiful during the colder seasons.

It rained over night, and the next day, they went to the quiet side of the city. Hollyleaf looked in a puddle, and for the first time in a half-moon, she saw herself and couldn't hold back a gasp. "My fur looks absolutely dreadful."

"Oh, sorry for not mentioning that, Hollyleaf. A lot of cats around here don't really bother to keep their fur tidy, so I figured I wouldn't mention it," her companion mewed apologetically.

Hollyleaf was licking her fur rapidly; doing everything she could to re-tame it. "Don't worry about, I just wish I had noticed earlier," she mewed between licks. She continued to clean herself as best she could before sitting up and looking back in the puddle. There were still a few patches that were standing up because she had been unable to reach them. "That looks much better. Thank you for waiting." She blinked her gratitude to Cocoa, who flicked his tail before moving on again for their tour of the city.

They arrived back under what Cocoa had called his "dumpster" soon after night had fallen. "Thanks for showing me around again, Cocoa, I really enjoyed it," Hollyleaf mewed appreciatively.

"It was my pleasure," he replied, yawning. There were a few moments of silence before he spoke again. "Do you want me to get those spots you couldn't quite reach earlier?"

The question took Hollyleaf by surprise, but she couldn't say no. "Yes, please! I don't know how I'm possibly going to repay you for all you've done."

Cocoa didn't say anything as he licked his guest's back in the spots where the fur was sticking up. Hollyleaf couldn't help but purr and relax. She was asleep in almost no time.

When she woke up the next morning, Hollyleaf chose to just lay there with her eyes closed for a while when she realized something almost frightening. I've been living with a rogue for several days now! She was starting to panic, but calmed down a bit in sadness. But I'm just a rogue now, as well. She sighed. But this is my punishment and this is how I must live for the rest of my days.

She heard the city rogue's voice whispering behind her, "Hollyleaf, are you awake?" She lifted her head and nodded. "Do you want to go hunting?"

"I'd love to!" she responded before crawling out from beneath the dumpster with Cocoa appearing beside her a moment later. "Where should we go today?"

Cocoa thought for a second. "I think we should go to the quieter part of the city." The two of them travelled around for a while and had been able to find one piece of prey so far: a scrawny mouse, but that's really all there was in the city. Hollyleaf had been the one to catch and was carrying it in her mouth. "So, where are you from, Hollyleaf?" Cocoa asked out of nowhere.

The question totally took her by surprise. "I-I'm from a group of four clans that lived around a lake." Hollyleaf looked down at the ground in sadness.

Cocoa's eyes went wide. "They are real? I thought they were just rumors." He was starting to seem scared. "You aren't going to eat me are you?"

Hollyleaf laughed in melancholy. "No, don't worry, we don't eat other cats." But I killed one. "We only attacked to protect our borders."

Cocoa relaxed a bit. "Oh, that's good. The first I heard of the forest cats was a few months ago. The word on the street was that you ate your prey alive." He thought for a second. "And I thought you were supposed to be the size of foxes."

"Nope, we are the same size as any other cat. I'd probably be a bit bigger if I hadn't nearly starved." She laughed, amazed at the kind of a reputation that they had. She still had the mouse in her mouth, but it was small enough not disrupt her ability to speak. "You're actually bigger than all of the cats in Windclan as well as a lot of the cats in the other clans." Images of her clanmates and the other clans began flooding back to her and she couldn't help but grin a bit.

"Er, I am?" Cocoa seemed amazed at this then noticed her grin. "Then why did you leave? You seem happy talking about it." The mouse dropped from Hollyleaf's mouth and she stared straight ahead with her jaw trembling. The big brown tom realized he shouldn't have said that. "I'm sorry! You don't have to talk about it." She continued to stare before he started to shake her with his paw. "Hollyleaf, are you okay?"

The she-cat shook her head. "Yes, I'm fine," She said quickly. "Come on, let's go find some more prey!" she sounded as excited as she could to try and block out her grief. They were able to catch one more piece of prey before it started to rain heavily, forcing them back to the dumpster. It was once again caught by Hollyleaf.

"Brackenfur taught me," she sighed. "He was a great mentor." Cocoa picked up on her mood and just nodded and put his tail on her shoulder. For some reason his being there made her outcast that much more bearable.

They began to enjoy each other's company so much that Cocoa asked Hollyleaf to stay permanently. Over time, Hollyleaf explained her old life to her savior; about clans, the warrior code, and even hunting technique and battle moves. It turns out Cocoa was a quick learner and was able to get the techniques to pretty well after only a day or two. But Hollyleaf left out some things like who exactly her parents were and about how her brothers were part of a prophecy and had powers. After several moons passed they had become mates and the idea of living in a clan had become very interesting to Cocoa, and he was able to convince her to start a new clan since she was strongly against returning to her old clan with him and to even give him a clan name.

Since she was not a leader, she had no authority to change his name in a ceremony such as a leader would, but she changing it would have to happen at some point if they were to be in a clan. "From now on you will be named Barkpelt. Because I know that you will always be at my side to protect me." She leaned into his side and twined her tail around his, purring.

The newly-named Barkpelt set his head on hers. "I love you."

(Soon After)

At the beginning of her pregnancy, they started to travel around and tried to recruit clans to join their newly forming clan. Unfortunately, they had almost no luck at all. There were only two cats they had been able to convince to join at first without much effort: Dom and Abby.

They were mates who were going to be having kits soon, and when they heard that there would be others to help them protect the kits and get food for Abby when she was taking care of them, they immediately agreed. Abby was a ginger she-cat and Dom was a dark-gray tom, with the build of a Windclan cat.

Soon after Dom and Abby joined were Creep and Larry. They had met them about a half of a moon after the first two cats. Larry was blue-gray tom. He was hard to convince, taking several days of back and forth on his decision when he finally decided that he would give it a try. Creep lived on the quiet side of town in a secluded area, doing his best not only to stay away from the two-legs, but also other cats. He was a furless cat, with gray-and-white skin and large, almost bulging amber eyes. When Hollyleaf and Barkpelt had first encountered him he ran away, but they had been able to catch up to him at his den in an abandoned Twolegplace.

"Stay away from me! Just please leave me," he hissed at them anxiously as he backed himself against a corner.

"M name is Barkpelt and my mate's name is Hollyleaf," Cocoa took a step forward. "We're not here to hurt you, we just have a question."

"What is it?" The cowering tom asked, as he looked up at his pursuers.

"We want to know if you would like to join us, and several other cats in creating a clan," Hollyleaf stated calmly and simply, but the tom just tilted his head in confusion. "A clan is a group of cats that sticks together no matter what. They will always stick together, through the most lush of Greenleafs to harshest leaf-bares, hunting for each other, fighting to protect each other no matter the cost. And when you are finally too old or injured to serve your clan, you will be allowed to rest as much as you want and will be treated with the utmost respect."

He looked up, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "That sounds great, but," he looked back down. "I'm not very good at fighting or hunting and I'm always told I'm a freak because I don't have any fur."

Hollyleaf nodded. "I will make sure no one ever taunts you for your lack of fur," she paused noticing that the tom really wasn't good at hunting because he was quite skinny; it was probably a miracle that he had survived leaf-bare. "If you don't think you could hunt or fight, then maybe you could be our medicine cat." She offered.

"Er, what is a medicine cat?" The furless cat tilted his head once again, not knowing what a medicine cat was.

"A medicine cat heals the other cats that are fighting or get injured in some other way using plants and other things depending on the situation as well as interpreting dreams from Starclan. I don't remember very much from when I was a medicine cat apprentice, but I know enough to teach you to take care of some basic injuries. We'll figure out a way to teach you everything else somehow." Hollyleaf hoped she was explaining his role well enough.

"I guess that sounds good," he stepped forward as he spoke. "My name is Creep." Being a medicine cat sounded pretty easy. He wasn't really sure what Hollyleaf had meant when she was talking about this "Starclan", but figured it would be explained later on.

AN: Sorry, it ended in such a weird spot, but I wanted to get this out now because finishing it as one chapter would have taken much too long.

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