Here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!

Chapter 8: A New Home

Frost laid awake in some den. Her teal eyes scanscanneside the den. There were several best in there, all the scents seemed fresh. She wondered how she got here, she remembered, after running away from her father, she tried to search for Coal. She feared she'd find his corpse laying around somewhere, but she uncovered nothing. What was wrong with her? She can't live alone in the forest, she's too weak and has barely and expirance. She's been out alone for about a moon.

There was a plumb mouse in front of her. It was fresh, whoever caught it left it her for her, she could assume. She was starving. Famished to be exact. She scarfed down the mouse in quick, hungry, eager bites. She haven't had a good meal since. But, there was no way she wanted to go back to her father. Never!

My fur must be messy.

She got to her paws slowly. One meal wasn't going to fill her up she still felt to starved to move. But, for some reason, she wasn't dirty at all. She glanced around the empty den, she could hear distant talking outside as well as some singing birds. She strained her ears to hear.

"Flame, you mouse brain. What were you thinking?" She heard a tom chuckle.

"Flame never thinks! What did you expect, Sun?" She heard a she-cat purr in amusement.

"He's a risk taker. You two should learn from him. He might grow to be really strong, you'll never know." She heard a deep new.

"Yeah! I'll be the strongest cat in the forest! Cats will tremble at the sound of my name!" Must be this "Flame" Frost predicted.

"Oh I should go check on that she- cat!" She heard a she- cat new.

Is she talking about me?

Frost heard approaching pawsteps. A maple colored she-cat walked in. Frost stared at her as she entered the den. She approached her calmly, before purring "Your awake! You've been asleep for two days! At least you had the strength to eat while you were out, you looked like a twig!"

Frost tilted her head at her, she didn't know how to respond.

"Name's Maple! Yours?" She seemed really friendly. Most cats she meet nowadays weren't like this.

"I-It's Frost." Her voice sounded weird. She hasn't talked in a while. Maple dipped her head towards her, before glancing back outside. "They'll just crowd you if I make an announcement." Frost heard her think to herself out loud.

"Can you walk? I can take you outside. You must want to stretch your legs." Maple waited calmly for her response.

"I think so." Frost said before staggering up into her paws. They were aching from laying around. For two days was it? Wow.

"Need help?" Maple offered.

"I think I can manage." Frost replied.

"Come outside" Maple began to bound out the den excitedly.

Frost followed her but a slower, more curious pace. Once outside Frost spotted two toms. Never mind three. A chestnut brown muscular tom. Maple was leading her towards him. Frost glanced at two younger ginger toms with brown tabby stripes. They looked nearly identical with the exception of their eyes and size. The smaller one had golden eyes, and the larger one has emerald green eyes. The emerald eyed tom was the one she didn't notice when she got out, although he was right in the middle of the clearing. Whatever, she thought it wasn't much of a big deal.

"She's awake!" Maple announced once they were both out.

Frost noticed the small golden eyed tom looked as if he was going to rush towards her. Most likely to introduce himself, he wore an excited smirk. But the larger, ermald eyed tom, she assumed was most likely his brother, held him back and whispered something to him and he sat down. But he kept his golden gaze on her and tilted his head.

The older muscular tom nodded and faced Frost and Maple. Frost say next to Maple, they were in front of him. "I see you have awoken. Greetings, I am Bark." He turned at the two younger toms. The emerald eyed one day calmly the other couldn't seem to stay still. "You two. Introduce yourselves." Bark took a few paces back.

The smaller ginger brown tabby rushed towards her. She would've been if she was still alone in the forest. At least he looked friendly, he probably wouldn't be a threat, given his size, but she'll never know. The larger ginger brown tabby followed, more slowly though.

Once the smaller tom got to her, he examined her briefly and crouched playfully in front of her, wriggling his tail and back legs and bouncing around on his front paws. He finally say before her. "Hi! My name's Flame!" He gave a purr and welcoming smile. The larger tom say next to him, once he got there Flame spoke up. "That's my brother, Sun!" Sun dipped his head in greetings.

Frost relaxed a bit. She had to admit she was a bit anxious. But these felines seemed nice! Flame couldn't seem to stay still. He ran a small circle around her, and crouched playfully in front of her again. She held in a small purr. He looks cute when he does that. "Flame. You need to relax. Your too hyper." Bark whispered to him. Flame looked up at him, before sitting down next to his brother.

"What's your name?" Flame meowed. He still wore a big smile.

"Frost."

Flame nodded. Sun dipped his head.

"Maple. You can go speak with our guest. Get to know her a bit more so she feels more secure. See if she has a home to return to as well." Bark flicked his tail. Flame looked up at Bark. "Let's go finish your training session you two." Flame jumped up and followed him eagerly. Sun followed his brother more calmly.

"Come on! We can chat under the shade over there." Maple jerked her head towards a shady spot. "Wait for me there, I'll grab some fresh prey to eat. You must still be hungry." Maple races off without giving her a chance to respond. Frost sat down in the shady spot Maple wanted. Maple returned shortly with two squirrels.

"Here!" Maple dropped the meal in front of her. "You must be hungry." Maple sat beside her and began to eat.

"You all are so nice. Thank you." Frost murmmered before taking a bite out the squirrel.

Maple gave her a warm smile. "Don't mention it. So Frost, where are you from?" Maple tilted her head.

Frost paused for a while. If she told them about her father, they might want to bring her back. She decided she wouldn't bring him up.

"Umm. East of here. Uh, a bit beyond the shallow river near here." Frost hoped she made sense.

Maple nodded. "The part of the forest that caught fire?"

Frost nodded. "The news went by fast." She said quietly.

"Y'know, Flame and Sun said they lived in moorland beyond there. Many cats must've lost their home or been separated from their families. Bark wants to help them, if that happened to any cat that stumbles across here. But he needs me to help, he doesn't trust many so easily. But I'm sure most don't mean harm. Oh I'm rambling." Maple let out a mrrow of laughter.

Frost couldn't help but giggle. "So, do you have a home, Frost? Or any other family for that matter."

"M-My home? I don't... have one. And I have a brother. His name is Coal." Frost stared down at her paws. "H- He got attacked by rouges. I tried to find him, there's no trace of him."

Maple blinked sympatheticly at her. "Yeah, rouges have been a huge problem in this forest. They wiped out the Clans here and-" She paused. "If I lost Bark like that I would keep looking for him."

Frost tilted her head. She knew her mother and father came from a Clan, but she didn't know much it.

"What I mean is.." Maple spoke up. "I'm sure Coal is still alive! You didn't find his body or anything right. He'll be okay, I'm certain of that! You can stay here as long as you'd like!"

"Th- thank you!" Frost was shocked. She'd only just met these cats and all they've shown her is kindness, so far.

Maple purred. "You should get your strength back. Bark would gladly teach you some skills like fighting or hunting. I'm guessing your not so experienced." Frost nodded in response. "Anything else you wanna talk about?"

Frost thought for a while. She has no where to go, and she didn't want to go back with her father. Maybe she can live her, Maple said she can stay as long as she'd like. It'll be nice if she got to know every cat.

"What are the others like? Bark, Flame and Sun." Frost asked. She felt she had nothing better to ask.

"Hmm. Bark is my older brother. He's an experienced fighter and a great hunter. He's easy to talk to and a cat you can trust." Frost nodded.

"Flame, he's hyperactive, impulsive, cocky and you can say he's a mouse brain. But he's got a good heart." Maple chuckled. "But he wasn't like that when we found him." Frost's ears pricked with interest. "He seemed guilty about something, he refused to eat, barely talked and laid around quietly a day. He looked depressed. He opened slowly as days went by, but even so, he was crushed by something. He couldn't even recall his name. But, three days days ago. A day before we found you. Flame found his brother Sun. And after we took Sun in, he opened up quickly. My guess was something happened and well, he missed his brother. When I asked him about he responded 'Sun was all I have, he was always there for me.'"

"That's an interesting story." Frost had finished her squirrel.

"Those two have a strong brotherly bond. Brotherly love." Maple purred. "Sun is pretty calm, I noticed he's always looking out for Flame. He's very helpful and supportive as well. Flame is pretty... small. Sun said he got picked on but he seems to be over it now." Maple took her last bite. "I tease Flame for how small he is, Sun is fine with it. I think Flame was bullied physically when he was younger. Just a heads up." Frost nodded. She remembered she and Coal shared a bond similar to that. Oh, how much she missed him.

They talked for quite a while. The sun was setting now.

"The toms are back." Maple's ear flicked. Frost can hear a distant conversation. It seemed to be mostly about their training nothing important.

Frost saw Flame dash towards the prey pile, Sun followed slowly after. Bark went inside the den, probably to take a nap. "Hey, come here you two!" Maple called to him.

Flame ran over to them. He didn't seem the slightest bit tired. Sun came to them more at a relaxed pace. By the time he got over to trio, Flame was already scarfing down his meal. Frost tilted their head at them. Sun took a seat next to his brother.

"So Frost, tell us about yourself." Sun mewed and faced her. Flame pricked his ears, clearly listening. Frost told them almost everything she told Maple, but she didn't bring up Coal, she thought they wouldn't care.

Flame had a strange reaction when she brought up the fire, Sun glanced at his brother looking worried. She couldn't make out the look Flame made, but she remembered that was their home too, maybe they miss their home. Even Maple took notice of Flame's reaction to the fire. "Flame, are you okay?" Maple asked.

"I'm uh.." He was cut off by Sun when he nudged him. "Funny, your name is Flame and your scared of fire?"

"Who wouldn't" Flame retorted.

Sun chuckled. "Yeah it was scary." Flame let out a small sigh and Sun flicked his ear.

"Oh! Frost, will you be staying?" Flame gazed his golden eyes at her.

Frost dipped her head. "I hope to. I mean I got no where to go and.." Maple cut her off.

"Bark wouldn't mind." Maple said with a small wink. She then turned back to Flame and Sun they talked about the training session.

Frost let them chat. She had nothing much to say anyway, she just listened about the hunting drills they went over which reminded her of Coal. Frost glanced up at the sky, the sun had already set, the moon begginning to take it's place.

I still don't believe your dead Coal... Where are you?

Frost snapped back from her thoughts when Maple called her name.

"Frost? We're heading to our den. Come on! Your not going to sleep outside are you?" Maple gave her a kind smile.

"I'm coming!" Frost got up to her paws and hurried after them. Frost caught up with Maple and evened her pace, she needed to ask something.

"Why are you all so nice to me? I mean you just met me, you've fed me, gave me shelter.." Frost glanced up at Flame and Sun. "And you did the same to them. So why?"

Maple responded instantly "It's a dark time for the forest. Rouges appearing and growing, and leaf fall is beginning. At times like this cats should help each other! I'm certain we can pull through dark times. We can work like a family!" They were at the entrance of the den now.

"So is it safe to say... We can be like a family?" Frost sounded hopeful.

"That kind of what I meant!" Maple smiled at her at the entrance of the den.

Frost heard Flame speak up, they other two must've been listening. "If we're going to be family, if anything happens to you. You can ALWAYS count on me to help you!" Flame flashed a grin at them and was the first to enter the den.

Frost smiled at them. "Well what do you think, Sun?" Maple gave a small yawn.

Sun shrugged "It's not blood or who your born to that makes a family. It's love. And it goes without saying, we all care for each other. At least that's what I think." The tom glanced around the clearing. "It's late, let's get some sleep. I'm not tired I'll stay out here."

"Okay. Come on Frost!" Frost followed Maple as they slipped into the den. Inside, the nest Frost woke up in was fine. A fresh nest was laid out, counting the other nests laid out in the den she could guess one of them was hers.

Maple rested her tail on Frost's shoulder. The fresh best there is yours, but you probably already knew that." Maple's tail slipped off her shoulder as she headed towards her nest. Bark were already sleeping in peacefully, his flank heaved as he slept peacefully. Flame was mumbling in his sleep, probably just dreaming. His nest was to her right. Frost let her tired paws drag her to her best and she curled up into a tight ball. She didn't feel very tired, but she was able to sleep. She drifted into a relaxing slumber.

...

Frost awoke in a blazing forest fire. A dream? She was across the shallow lake from where the fire was. It was hot and scorching smoke everywhere, just like she remembered. She noticed a splash followed by some coughing. It's Flame! Frost saw him glance around wildly. He rolled around in the shallow water before charging through a blazing tree. What is he doing?

Flame emerged from the flames of the blazing tree, he was dragging something behind him. Frost eyes widened. He was carrying Sun! Flame stopped at the shore, catching his breathe for a while. He nudged Sun.

"Sun? Sun?" There was a pause. "Get up! This isn't funny!"

Frost watched the scene.

Flame pressed his head on his brother's flank. She could barely make out what he was saying.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Flame's voice was cracked with grief and... guilt? "What was I thinking? I just wanted them to like me..." Frost losing sight, she was begginning to wake up.

She woke up in her fresh, mossy nest. The other cats were still sleeping.

Hmm? Sun isn't here.

Frost scented him around, he must've woken up early.

Frost pondered what that dream what about. She glanced at Flame, the small cat was still sleeping and snoring.

He sounded guilty when he got out the fire with Sun. Did something happen between them?

Flame was beginning to stir. His eyes snapped open in an instant and he jumped to his paws. Frost glanced up at him, her teal eyes full of curiosity. Flame padded silently outside the den. Frost watched the ginger brown tabby leave.

Maybe I can ask about it later. I only just met these cats after all.

Bark was awake, he nudged Maple and Maple hurried outside. Wow, they rise early.

"So I trust you'll be staying with us?" Bark asked gruffly.

"If you all wouldn't mind."

"Stay as long as you'd like." Bark flicked his tail. "Come on, I will teach you how to hunt and fight, you can be staying in the camp doing nothing."

Frost eyes gleamed. She always wanted to learn that!

"Well are you coming?"

Frost gave a quick nod and eagerly got to her paws.

"Can we start now?"

Next time: Undercover