Hi. So, no longer am I going to type review replies in my AN unless they're guest reviews, instead, I'll just PM them. Cuz, um, pretty sure most people don't wanna read through them. xD

Y'all enjoy! Just a warning, this chapter is mostly filler.

Casper groaned as he saw yet another group of cats. Honestly, how many of these clan cats were there? And why were they always walking about? Did they really get that many intruders?

He was, thankfully, close to a forest and was able to slip into it before they saw him. The moor he'd traversed had been much more difficult to hide in, so he was happy to be out of it.

As he walked through the trees, he wondered if he was close to Thunderclan. Spottedstar had told him they lived in a forest, right? A yell to his left quickly answered his question, though.

"Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?"

Casper turned to see a small light brown she-cat stalking towards him.

"You can't just cross borders, Windclan cat. Don't you know anything?"

"Uh, I-I'm not from Windclan," Casper said, trying to think of how to ask where Thunderclan was. "Hey, do-"

"You're not from Windclan? What a stupid excuse! I just saw you walk over the border!" The she-cat cried.

"No, I-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Windclan. Go back to your own territory before things get ugly," She hissed.

"I'm not from-"

"Go!" She yelled. By this point, she'd reached him but just stood in front of him, like she was unsure of what else to do. "Now!"

"No! Listen to me! I'm not from Windclan!" Casper yelled back.

The she-cat narrowed her amber eyes. "Then where are you from? Riverclan?"

"No- well technically yes, but not in the way you're thinking. I'm from Shard's Lands."

"Shard's Lands?" She asked. "I've never heard of that. Is it in Shadowclan? Is that where you're from?"

"No," Casper said, shaking his head. "It's...well, is there a river that feeds the lake?"

"Yes," The she-cat said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then I'm from upstream of that river," He said, nodding. "Pretty far upstream, too, I think."

"I've never been upstream," She said. "What's it-"

"Murkypelt! Who on earth is that?!"

Both Casper and the she-cat, Murkypelt, jumped and looked at the owner of the voice, an extremely large- bigger than even Casper- tom with a fiery red pelt.

"Blazeclaw, this is an intruder-"

"No, I'm not! I just-"

"Well, then why are you conversing with him?!" Blazeclaw boomed. "That's against the Warrior Code, and you know it!"

"Blazeclaw, I wasn't conversing with him, I swear. He just needed some help," Murkypelt announced, turning to the larger white tom. "Right?"

"Yeah," Casper agreed, nodding. "I need to know where Thunderclan is."

Blazeclaw looked at Casper.

"You're in Thunderclan, you dolt," He said. "But why does finding us matter to you?"

"I need to speak to your leader," Casper replied. Then, after a moment's thought, he added, "Please."

"Why?" Blazeclaw growled, stepping towards him. "How do we know you aren't a spy?"

"Well..." The white tom thought. He really hated that this cat was larger than him. It made him feel small. Casper hated feeling small. "You don't know that. You just have to trust me."

oOoOoOo

Casper sighed, remembering that. It had only been a little while before.

Blazeclaw had relented and taken Casper to their camp where he met the leader, a noble-looking she-cat named Snowstar for her white fur. She had been entirely different from Spottedstar and obviously felt sympathy towards Casper and his Rebellion.

"I don't know how many warriors I can spare or for how long," She'd told Casper. "But I'll see what I can do."

She had sent 2 warriors back with Casper- something that the white tom was immensely grateful for.

"So," One warrior, a blue-ish tom called Skyfur, began. "Why's your tail so short?"

"Yeah," The other, Skyfur's grey-colored brother, Ashtail, chimed in. "It's weird. No offense."

Casper smiled a bit. Snowstar had told him that these two young warriors- who were, much to his surprise, Murkypelt's brothers- often joked about and were foolish, but could be fierce if they wanted to.

"A dog bit half of it off," He responded coolly. "When I was a kit."

"Whoa," They said in unison.

"Did it hurt?" Skyfur asked.

"How'd you survive a dog attack?" Ashtail asked.

"Well," Casper began. "It all started when I was about 6 moons old..."

oOoOoOo

About a day later, the trio of toms arrived back at the place where Casper had been swept away.

"It's a lot calmer now," The white cat commented as they crossed the river. "I wish the rain could've waited."

"Ha!" Ashtail exclaimed.

"Speak for yourself," Skyfur continued. "All of us in Thunderclan were glad. It seemed to wash away the last of that greencough that'd been going around."

The two brothers were certainly interesting to Casper. They'd told him all they could about their lives in a clan, and, in exchange, Casper told them about his life in Shard's Lands.

Eventually, they reached the dense thicket that surrounded his camp.

"Alright," Casper said. "Let's go."

As soon as he stepped through, he could feel the sorrow in the air.

"Whoa," Skyfur whispered.

"It's really...sad feeling," Ashtail murmured.

"They must think I'm dead," Casper said.

Ashtail and Skyfur exchanged looks.

"Hey everybody!" They yelled. "Casper's not dead!"

All the cats stopped and looked at them.

"Casper!" A yelled broke the silence. "Casper!"

Owl, who felt as if she could take no more sudden reunions, dashed towards the white tom.

"Owl!"

"Casper, I thought you were d-dead!" She sobbed.

"Nope," Casper said, grinning cheekily. "Not just yet."

Suddenly, Owl's sadness turned into anger.

"You idiot!" She screamed. "If you ever worry me like that again, I swear I'll kill you!"

The white tom chuckled. "No promises."

"E-excuse me?"

Casper looked down to see Toffee staring up at him with wide, tearful eyes.

"Th-thank you for saving me," She whispered. "A-and not dying."

The tom let out a deep, hearty laugh. It was good to be home.

Sorry for how bad this is! But I promise, the rest of the chapters in this will either be action-packed or angsty. I love angst. You have been warned.

Have a wonderful day/night, please review, and check back in on Saturday for next update!

Iron deficiencies are not fun,

~KitKat