"A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out." ~Grace Pulpit

Blood Feeds the Roots

"Well, what are you going to do now?" asked Tigerstar in his evil voice. Bramblepaw stood with his friends, huddling in fear. Faceless strangers watched them. Firestar layed dead before him.

"S-s-s-top you o-f-f-f cours-e-e-e." stuttered Bramblepaw. Stupid me, why do I have to stutter when I get nervouse.

"Ha! You are no son of mine! You shall join me!" Tigerstar roared with an evil laugh.

Bramblepaw turned around with his eyes tinted red and leaped on his friends, Tigerstar laughing as he prepared to kill them. Firestar was mocking him from where he lay and the strangers all shouted "Like father like son!"

"No!" shouted Bramblepaw as he jolted awake, looking around. The moon was out, and stars were shining. All the apprentices were looking at him with weird looks on their faces. Even Fernpaw who was on guard looked at him from her post.

"Bad dream, or did you want to interrupt Featherpaw while she was explaining the news from the other warriors?" asked Stormpaw. He was crankier now that he wasn't able to get as much sleep as usual and usually snapped at everyone.

"Bad dream. So, Featherpaw, what's the news? Scourge on his move to kill us all......oh wait, that is Tigerstar," Bramblepaw said with a half-hearted smile. Like father like son. Was he really becoming his father?

"Well, there was a bunch of noise coming from BloodClan according to Mousefur. I overheard her talking to Mudclaw about it while we were digging up moss. It appears that something got away from them," Featherpaw reported. Everyone's attention went back to Featherpaw as they started discussing different possibilites that might have caused all the fuss.

"You sure you're okay? I mean, nobody blames you for falling asleep, but waking up shouting? That tells me that something is wrong with you," Tawnypaw said, coming closer to her brother.

"Drop it. It was nothing, just a bad dream of your breath tomorrow morning," Bramblepaw said, trying to lead the conversation away from his dream of killing his friends and becoming just like Tigerstar.

"Maybe one of the warriors went wild and ran away! Then he joined the badgers!" Ashpaw said, his tone very mocking. Stormpaw scowled and Dawnpaw rolled her eyes. Featherpaw looked like she was about to slam her head against the wall until it broke.

Stormpaw opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Fernpaw. "What are you doing here!" All the playfullness disappeared and the apprentices got into their moss nests and pretended to be asleep.

"Am I just in time for naptime?" asked a familiar voice. Everyone sprang from their nests to see Rowanpaw standing there with Fernpaw at his side. They both had wide grins on their faces and Rowanpaw looked very skinny, but very happy as well.

"Rowanpaw!" squealed Tawynpaw and she nuzzled him. Everyone else crowded around their lost member, firing questions at him and asking him how he was and saying how much they missed him.

"How was BloodClan?" asked Dawnpaw, leaning in closer, axnious to hear about the enemy Clan. Well, more of an enemy than their own Clan, that was for sure.

"Horrible. My captive mates were annoying. Always bickering, even worse then you guys. I know, that's hard to believe," Rowanpaw said, flicking his tail over to where Stormpaw and Ashpaw stood.

"What's Scourge up to?" asked Featherpaw. Seemed like only those two were asking the reasonable questions.

"He seemed to be planning something. I always saw some warriors coming out of his den whispering and some where drawing in the dirt some designs or something. Might be planning to take over TigerClan, I don't know. All I know is that he isn't up to anything good," Rowanpaw said with a shudder. Tawynpaw pressed her body closer to him as extra support and comfort.

"Maybe Tigerstar and Scourge will kill each other in battle then we will all be saved!" Ashpaw said happily.

"Be quiet you, that won't be true. We will still have the other evil warriors to deal with and I don't even know where our original leaders went off to, so how will we be saved again?" asked Stormpaw.

"Hey! It sounded like a good idea!" protested Ashpaw.

"Only in your head," mumered Bramblepaw.

"Why did I miss you guys again?" Rowanpaw asked with a laugh. Ashpaw hit him outside the head playfully and Stormpaw sighed.

"Because we are awesome and they are only jerks sometimes. Right guys? Righttttt?" asked Fernpaw, getting right in Ashpaw's and Stormpaw's faces. They mumered something that sound like a yes. "See?"

"What are you going to do now?" asked Tawynpaw. Everyone bowed their heads as they came to the question that nobody wanted to be asked. Why did you have to ask Tawynpaw, wondered Bramblepaw.

"I was thinking of joining a group of rouges that a person in BloodClan named Talon told me about. They are near here so I will be able to come back when things get better," Rowanpaw said. Bramblepaw noticed how he didn't say 'if things get better.' Maybe there was still hope.

"I'll miss you," Tawynpaw said, licking Rowanpaw's face.

"Who am I going to talk to? Stormpaw is boring and Bramblepaw has like some voodoo dreams going on over there. I can't talk to the females, they don't understand me!" Ashpaw asked.

"We don't even understand you," Bramblepaw and Stormpaw both said.

"Well, you could talk to-" Rowanpaw was cut off by something that sounded like a battle cry.

Author's Note-

Holly is so sorry! I have my reasons! Here they are:

I had to practice my instrument because I had three concerts.

Parents got divorced and I was feeling down in the dumps and I can't write like that.

Got a whole butt load of books and was reading them.

Came up with new idea for story and was writing it.

But those don't make up to a couple of weeks of waiting. Well, hopefully this chapter was better. Here are my responses!

Natz the First- Wow. You reviewed a bunch. Thanks a ton! I know, don't you hate family issues? You think I'm talented? Can you tell my teachers that...and friends....and parents....and everyone in my life. I thought that nobody would notice how I set the mood, but you did! Thanks for noticing. Kudos for me? Awesome sauce. Love your reviews, they make my day. Can't wait for your next story update.

Charmed Jeff- Want a quiz....hmmm....Okay. Which was the leader that learned hunting skills from an owl and who were all his deputies and how many leaders away was he from Bluestar? Also, I loved that you said 'hey hollyclaw.' It made me feel important!

Frosted Fate- I know, dun dun dun! Here comes the cat: Jaws! Glad you liked that line. Needed to throw some humor in here.

The Silver Kira Fox- Thanks. I know, loved that part too. Was inspired by what my friend did that day when I was playing with matches and burned some of my homework. :D.

Lunarpaw: Thanks Lunar and happy Thanksgiving to you too (although that was a month ago).

xBlaze of Dreamsx- Loved your long review. Nice little dialouge, I love it! Keep it up! Pepsi? Bleh, I prefer coke. But that's just me.

Sandtalon- I love your honesty. I learned from my acting teacher to accept all critiscm. I guess that includes reviews too. I hope this was more up to your standards. I hope to see more reviews from you!

Love you all and expect an update.......

Christmas day!

Love, Happy Holidays, Safe Travels, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year,

Holly

P.S. Tell me what you are doing this holiday season.