CHRISTMAS VACATION!
Review Answers:
Leaffrost101- Yay!
Crickett5- Okay! I'll do my best. Cloud and Boulder, correct?
RollingUpHigh- Okay, did you look to see if there were any AMVs for them on YouTube? And when you said Jake, did you mean for the Challenge or the character in my story? Cause if you mean my charrie, I just pulled that name out of nowhere—it's not Firestar's father.
Briarwind (Guest)- Merry Early Christmas to you, too! And did you look up any AMVs?
Scarpath2001 (Guest)- Yeah, it was fun making up how they live ;)
Graystorm11- Any Bumblestripe AMVs? :D?
Echoflame of FireClan- Oh, uh… what was it…? Oh yeah! Bonjour! Yeah, Once Upon a Time still really good! Huge plot twist at the season finale! NOW WE HAVE TO WAIT TILL MARCH! I'm completely sure that there are Cinderheart AMVs out there ;D
Icefeather (Guest)- Thx! And okay!
Random Advertisement: I WROTE A BOOK! It's 224 pages! It's called Destiny, Quest for the Four Elements. It's on Amazon! And if you do read it, please, still call me Rainheart or Rainy. It's more fun and I don't really want my identity all over the site.
Let us Begin!
Twist paused to set down her bundle. She had never really been taken on many border patrols, and the Clan had never had to set foot out of the territory, so she wasn't accustomed to walking this far. Licking her lips in exhaustion from having her jaws be clamped in the same position for such a long period of time, she asked Rikah a question.
"Rikah, can we rest for a while?" Twist frowned pleadingly.
Rikah turned around. "Not used to walking this far, huh?"
Twist nodded, embarrassed. "They never really made me leave camp."
Rikah bit his lip, looking questioningly at Echo. The silver she-cat nodded sympathetically. "We should rest. She's just not used to it."
The cats sat awhile, chatting and allowing the wintry breeze to ruffle their fur and cool their pelts. They soon stood and proceeded to walk.
(Time passes cause I'm lazy)
Huge buildings loomed ahead of Twist. They made her quiver, and she suddenly felt nauseous with amazement. Rikah supported her on one side, Yarrow on the other.
"Are you okay?" the black she-cat asked quietly. Her white stripes began to ripple, as though she were trembling. Twist was surprised at how easily scared she was.
"I'm fine," Twist reassured the shivering she-cat. "It's just a bit overwhelming."
Rikah frowned. "Get used to it." The huge gray tom stomped on, his long fur bouncing as he went. His darker gray tabby stripes waved among the tendrils of fluff.
Twist shrugged Yarrow off. "I'm okay," she said. "Thank you."
Yarrow blushed shyly. "You're welcome."
Twist turned to Echo. "Why's he so grumpy?"
Echo bit her lip, and glanced at Yarrow. The she-cats shared a look, and hid behind a tollbooth. Rikah was staring in all directions, trying to remember the way back to the Glass Squad Alley.
"He's been that way for a while," Echo explained. "He lost someone very dear to him once."
Twist pinned back her ears. She had never exactly been close to anyone—she didn't understand the feeling as well. She tried to imagine if Featherleaf or Snowpaw had passed, and quickly pushed the thought away as her throat clogged with a sudden burst of emotion. "Who?"
"His crush," Yarrow replied.
"Her name was Noel. She was a beautiful cat—sweet, too. She was white with gray paws and black ear tips. Her friends had a habit of sticking sprigs of holly behind her ear. It actually looked good. Anyways, she lived in the Eagle Squad. Rikah really liked her. They met a lot. At one point, he began to think about leaving our Squad to be with her. He did. He stayed there through the red-season. That's when it happened. Some sort of sickness struck that makes cats cough very badly, and they begin to get high fevers and such."
Twist blinked. She knew that sickness! "In the Clans, we call that greencough. You can cure it with catmint."
Echo and Yarrow gaped. "Really?"
Twist nodded. "Yeah. It's hard to cure, but catmint usually does the trick."
Echo and Yarrow gazed at each other in astonishment. "We'll have to tell Flamer!" Echo announced happily. Twist remembered Flamer as being the leader of the Glass Squad. "Anyways, where were we?"
Echo frowned as she remembered. "Oh, yes. Noel caught it. Rikah told us once when we met out hunting." She paused to lick a paw, obviously remembering that she had not done any of the hunting. "He was really scared. We didn't see him for a while after that. But then we saw him talking to Flamer one day. We were surprised to see him in our alley. He looked really upset. His face was wet with tears. He looked tired, too. Really tired. Some light seemed to have disappeared from his eyes." Echo started to zone out in remembrance.
She suddenly snapped out of her daze. "Sorry. Anyways, Rikah sat down by a garbage can. We went over to him and asked what was wrong. He snapped. He lashed a claw at us, and we sprinted away. A few days later, he was still exhausted and heartsick. He had begun to neglect his eating. Finally, we got the truth out of him. Noel had died."
Twist gasped. What a horrible thing to have happen to the cat you love. "Poor Rikah."
"He's been grumpy ever since. He's not as bad now, though." Echo lowered her gaze. Something gleamed in her eyes that Twist did not understand. It was the same look that Grasspaw gave her all those moons ago.
"Come on," Twist mewed, changing the subject. "Let's follow him."
(Time passes again)
Echo nodded to a space between two buildings. The alley. "This way."
Twist followed. What she saw made her gasp. To large dumpsters sat in the space. An overhang hung above a door to the building on the left, and below it were three cardboard boxes. In each one laid a queen. One of the boxes held a queen that had kits who looked three moons—they would be able to leave the alley soon. Another box held a queen with younger kits who seemed to have just opened their eyes about a quarter-moon ago. The third held a queen with a litter of newborns.
But in the alley, Twist was amazed to see dozens of cats. There were almost as many as a Clan. How did they all fit in the alley? Atop the dumpster on the right wall sat a reddish-orange tom. Twist figured this to be Flamer.
"Small quarters," Yarrow began, "but it works."
Echo stepped forward, greeting the other cats. Many of them stared at Twist in surprise.
"Who's that?" said one.
"I don't know, but look at her paw," said another.
"Who gives a rat's tail about her paw?" commented a third. "Look at the muscle she's got!"
Twist walked through the crowd. She was surprised that for once in her life, cats weren't judging her by her paw, but by her strength. She cracked a small smile.
But… why a rogue? I was born a Clan cat. I may be Twist on the outside, but deep down, I'm still Twistedpaw. Twist faltered for a moment to process this thought. But if deep down, I'm still Twistedpaw, then does that mean that it's who I really am?
Twist shook the thought away. She was a rogue now. She certainly wasn't a WindClan cat.
Rikah padded up to the flaming orange tom. He bowed his gray head. "Flamer. We have returned," he mewed through his bundle of hay. He set the bundle down.
"Hello again, Rikah," Flamer greeted. "Echo, Yarrow, and…" Flamer paused as his eyes locked on Twist. "Who's that?"
Echo stepped forward. "This is Twist," she mewed.
"She's new," Yarrow added.
"I see," Flamer replied. He narrowed his eyes. "Does she wish to join our Squad?"
"Aye, sir," Rikah answered.
Flamer leaped from his perch, sizing up to Twist. He gave her a surprised look. "How old are you?"
"Five moons," Twist said boldly.
Flamer blinked. "Five moons?" He looked her up and down. "You're fibbing."
Rikah drew in a breath. "She's not, sir. It's the truth."
Flamer turned his gaze to Rikah. "And you know this how, exactly?" Flamer brought his eyes back to Twist's face. "What's your story?"
Twist licked her lips in preparation for her speech. "Well, I used to be a wild cat, and—," she stopped as many of the cats in the crowd took a step back. Flamer's jaw dropped. Rikah, Echo, and Yarrow lowered their heads. Twist rolled her eyes. "We don't line our nests with bones or whatever other stupid fantasies you rogues come up with."
Flamer swallowed. "W-wild?"
"We're not killers," she spat, lashing her tail. "We don't kill kits who are too weak. We don't line our nests with the bones of our victims—or any type of bones for that matter. We don't eat other cats. We don't kill. We're not even allowed to. It's against our code of laws. We're only allowed to kill if it's to save our lives."
The Glass Squad cats looked at each other confusedly. They had lived their lives on these rumors that weren't true, and now they were to hear the real truth. Did they believe her?
"Where are you from?" one shouted.
Twist breathed deeply. "WindClan."
Okay! I'm too flippin' lazy to go on for now XD the chapter already takes up four pages of Microsoft Word.
OMG guys, check this out—so I've spent a lot of time listening to songs (mainly country-rock) and I've come up with some great theme songs for specific cats and specific couples!
Graystripe and Silverstream- Love is War by American Young
Leafpool and Crowfeather- Red by Taylor Swift
Firestar- Southern Comfort Zone by Brad Paisley (if you look this one up, don't look up BRADPAISLEYVEVO, that's a live performance, so it didn't sound right—look at the one by Liveasong4)
Cloudtail- Only Way I Know by Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Eric Church (look at the one by Marc Whitson)
Ashfur and Squirrelflight- What Hurts the Most by Rascall Flats (And if you see a speedpaint of Ashfur and Squirrelflight with the song playing, no, I didn't make it XD It's by Hikari2314)
Crowfeather and Feathertail- Sunny and 75 by Joe Nichols
Love is War for Graystripe and Silverstream because no matter what the odds, they loved each other.
Red for Leafpool and Crowfeather because Leafpool never wanted to love Crowfeather, but she couldn't help it.
Southern Comfort Zone for Firestar 'cause, well, a lot of the dialogue in the song would make perfect scenes for specific parts of his life if you listen.
The Only Way I Know for Cloudtail because he may have been born a kittypet, but he was raised a warrior.
What Hurts the Most for Ashfur and Squirrelflight because Ashfur loved Squirrelflight, but it hurt him when she left him for Brambleclaw (I'm for Ashfur)
Sunny and 75 for Crowfeather and Feathertail because Feathertail made Crowfeather feel at home while on the journey to sun-drown-place.
Nobody has made any Warrior AMVs to any of these songs (the speedpaint doesn't count XD that's not animated), so I hope that someone does, someday!
See ya'll next chappie!