Okay what the heck? I post the chapter that totally makes me want to cry because they lost, and nobody comments? Seriously? What is with that?!

In other news, more people have followed/favorite Falling Twig. Kkatfoster, PsychicEevee0103, and Kittycatlover711 have followed Falling Twig! Welcome to the club! And I update really fast, so you won't be kept waiting long!

In other news, the poll number is still at eight. Two people say maybe, six say yes. Please vote if you haven't already! It will affect me since I need to get a general feel of the audience. So yes please vote even if you are antisocial and don't feel like it.

If you didn't understand the last chapter, let me explain it to you: due to bravery and love for his father, Twig changes his own punishment from apprenticeship for two moons to exile. It wasn't until afterwards when Stoneheart realized that now they were out of the way and he didn't have to remove them from the clan himself, so he's ecstatic. And now Twigpaw and Ashclaw have to try to make the best out of things.

Anyway, comment!

-Lilith

We left at nightfall.

There was a group of cats waiting for us at the entrance. Despite the fact I knew I would be comforted by them, I could feel the heron I just ate (a rare catch made by Eaglepaw today) churning in my stomach. I felt nervous, uneasy, and different. It would be my first time living really on my own.

Sure, I've lived on my own before: when I was with Grey, we only depended on Ashclaw and nobody else. If the fish that Ashclaw brought us ran out, we would learn to hunt the creatures nearby. If the pile of Twoleg junk we used for blankets to keep us warm ran out, we would use moss or rely on each other to keep us warm. If the box blew away, we would make a small shelter out of the dip in the light grey wall that lined the Twoleg place. We knew how to handle ourselves.

But this time, we were hunting for our own food, searching for our own moss, and looking for our own shelter. There was nobody else to do it for us anymore, nobody else to rely on but each other. This was different.

"Oh, Twigpaw. I'm going to miss you." Thymepaw said as I approached. She sounded sad.

"I'm going to miss you too, Thymepaw." I say, pressing my nose to her cheek. As I did, she leaned forward slightly.

"As soon as I can, I'm going to find you and make sure you keep in touch with what's going on here." She whispered, her breath tickling my ear.

I smiled at the gesture. "Thanks. I really am going to miss you." I close my eyes and take a deep breath, inhaling her sweet scent.

After Thymepaw, Violetbloom stood up to touch her nose to my forehead. She too smelled like Thymepaw, only a bit more milk than earth. I knew I would miss her as well.

"Good luck." She said and licked my head with a warm, rasping tongue. "You were always my kit, in my opinion. Even if you were born from another she-cat."

Her words sent encouragement and love through my heart like a thick, slow syrup. Like honey, slowly dripping its way into my heart, or sap.

Next was Jayflame and Ospreytalon. As Jayflame leaned forward to speak, I noticed her mate giving me an encouraging nod of the head behind me.

"I was proud to have mentored you, Twigpaw." She said, proud and fond at the same time.

The next and last few cats waiting for me surprised me: Goldenpool, Daisyleaf, Lizardtail, Viperfang, Firepaw, Mosspaw, Eaglepaw, and even Oakit and Maplekit. The all stood in a cluster, waiting for me.

"We never really did talk much, but Violetbloom and Thymepaw weren't the only ones to see you as a RiverClan member." Daisyleaf said, her cream pelt seeming to glow in the fading sunlight. "And I really did not hope for you to leave the clan this way. I could tell you were destined for greatness here."
I was shocked at her words. Daisyleaf, whom I hadn't spoken a word to the entire time I was here, knew I would be destined for greatness. I didn't know how to respond to that. "Uh, thanks?" I said in reply.

Then the other apprentices, including Viperfang, Lizardtail, and Goldenpool, seemed to crush in on me. They all pressed their noses to any spot they could find: my shoulder, my ear, my forehead. My old denmates, the cats whom I had trained with. I closed my eyes as I inhaled their scent, trying to categorize the different smells. I knew I would miss them as much as I would miss Thymepaw.

"We'll miss you." They all murmured as they seemed to memorize my scent as well.

Then Oakit and Maplekit rushed forward, placing their paws against my flank so they could bring themselves eye-to-eye with me. "We know we didn't play much with you." They said at the same time, staring up at me with innocent looking eyes, "But we wanted to tell you that we'll miss you as well." There was a lot of murmured "awws" at this.

"It's time to go, Twigpaw." Ashclaw's rough voice brought me out of the sweet goodbyes. I turned to face him to find him watching me, eyes carefully blank.

"Okay." I had to admit, my voice broke a bit, but I kept myself together as I stepped through the entrance/exit to the camp. It felt like I was leaving one life and entering another. In a way, I was, though.

Before we vanished into the woods, I turned to look at my friends, seeming slightly smaller due to the fact they were farther away. They were all watching us with saddened eyes, and I could tell they would really miss us. I opened my jaws, mouthed 'I'll miss you,' and then followed Ashclaw into the swampy forest.

"So where are we going?" I asked as we walked through the cool trees. "Grey's place?"

"No." He said, surprising me.

"Why not?"

"Stoneheart isn't an idiot. He knew about Grey. If he caught us so close to the camp, he'll probably either hurt her and your littermates and us, or drive us all out. I can't risk her getting hurt." He admitted.

"So where are we going?" I asked, feeling lost. "We can't stay here or they will drive us off the land."

"We'll move to the WindClan territory. Maybe they will take us in for a few days." He said.

"A few days? Why can't they let us stay there longer?"

"Because RiverClan will find out and demand WindClan to drive us out if we stay longer." He said.

"Oh. So then what do we do after we take shelter in RiverClan?" I asked.

"Move on to other places. Maybe a Twoleg place or two. Start living like real rogues."

Rogues. I never thought of us like that before: outcasts, not really fitting in with the four clans and not with the kittypets, some place in between. I knew we would have to fight with other cats now for food and shelter and water, for things we would need to survive. There wouldn't be somebody else to do it for you, or help you along the way: it was the two of us against the world.

Well, that's just fantastic.

I'm being sarcastic.

"Come on. This way." He said, and began heading towards the WindClan border. While he kept his eyes on the ground in front of him, I looked around, noticing things I hadn't before: vines that swung from high branches, moss growing sever tail-lengths up the trees, small pools of water from the rainstorm a couple of days ago. As I noticed things, I could practically see the memories passing by. Petalpaw and I running through the woods at night, almost about to escape. Talking to Thymepaw about my motives the dawn after we set Petalpaw free. Hunting with Jayflame, Frogleap, Owlflight, Eaglepaw, Thymepaw, Lilybloom, and Mosspaw one sunny afternoon. Pulling a thorn out of my paw by a stump, taking it out with my teeth. All these little things made my heart ache with sadness.

Soon, we reached the edge of RiverClan territory: the trees began to thin out and the now dry earth slowly turned to heather ahead. I inhaled deeply and could smell the faint scent of a WindClan patrol and could feel the cold wind ruffling my fur. I sniffed even deeper, and caught the smell of the moist swamp and the earthy forest behind us, telling myself to remember this scent.

And something else was in the mix. A scent that stood out. Smelled like…some type of grass, dust, mud, and a slight tang of sweat.

Looking around, I spotted the source of the smell: the barn nearby. Jayflame told me about it sometime ago, something about huge creatures with hooves that could crush a cat easily. They were very fast and very strong, and started with the letter h…a horse! Yes, that was what they were called. Horses.

But there weren't any horses around now, and the small fenced ring filled with river sand with a small hint of sawdust was empty. But that smell was strong, so I kept looking around until I found the real source. The barn door was creaking open, swinging in the harsh wind. Shrugging, I turned to follow Ashclaw before I saw a flash of black fur out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I saw a black she-cat slinking across the sand.

She looked familiar. I had seen her before. Jayflame never introduced me to the occupants at the barn, and I never really asked. But I was sure I had seen her before. But where? RiverClan? Yes, it was RiverClan. A familiar name was on the tip of my tongue, and no matter how much I tried I couldn't remember what it was. I strained my mind, trying to identify the pretty she-cat.

Suddenly, the name popped into my mind. The sudden jolt of shock made me gasp, causing Ashclaw to stop, turn around, and look at me.

"What's wrong?" He asked, looking around. But he didn't see the black she-cat, who was looking at me now through the plastic white fence.

I walked up to the edge of the fence to get a closer look. Sure enough, they looked exactly the same. It must be the same cat.

"Yellowfur?" I asked through the fence.

The cat took a step closer to me. "Huh?" She said.

"Yellowfur, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at camp right now?" I asked the black she-cat, and her yellow eyes clouded with confusion.

"Pardon?" She asked, her voice sounding slightly different.

"It's me. Twigpaw. We both live in River- well, you live in RiverClan. What are you doing here? Do you live here? Blazingstar is going to be so mad when he finds out-

"Oh." She suddenly caught me off, as if she understood something I didn't. "You think I'm somebody else."

"Well, you're Yellowfur, right?" I asked, confused.

"No." The she-cat said, then leaped up on the white fence to look down at us. "I'm her sister, May."

"May? Yellowfur has a sister?" I asked.

"Yep. And I take it you know her, yes?" She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly as she studied us.

"Yes. She is my- well, our- old clan mate." Ashclaw said, sitting beside me.

"Really? How about we talk inside. I bet you two need shelter tonight." She said, and I realized she was right: we were in need of shelter.

Ashclaw and I shared a look, wondering if we should trust her. Then he shrugged, leaped up the fence to perch on the top, and then hopped down onto the sand. I tried to follow his moves with as much grace and agility as he had, but I ended up flopping on the sand instead of landing on all four paws.

Taking a step up, I carefully set my paw down on the sand. It felt weird under my paws, unreliable, sinkable and gritty. Realizing I had to keep my weight even, I took a deep breath to figure out everything before hurrying to catch up with the two cats ahead of me, throwing up sand as I ran.

We stepped into the barn, and immediately the smell of horses overwhelmed me. Looking around, I spotted some type of long, dry grass, tied up into a cube-like shape, in the corner. Dirt and dust and a faint trace of sand littered the floor. Weird Twoleg objects hung on the walls and along the floor, and I didn't know what to make out of any of it.

"Up here." May said, climbing up the cube-like grass. "The people here rarely come up here, so we're safe."

"People?" I asked Ashclaw, the foreign word sounding weird on my tongue.

"I think she means Twolegs." Ashclaw whispered, then followed May. I scrambled after them, trying to not make the grass move underneath me as I teetered upon it uncertainly.

Following the two, I crawled through a hole in the roof of the room beneath me. Above it, the floor was cleaner, and there was blankets strewn about. May was curling up comfortably on top of a dark blue one, while Ashclaw looked around calmly, taking everything in. "You can hunt if you want." May said, looking at me. "Mice like to hide in the walls, and if you're lucky you can catch a couple."
"Why don't you go to sleep, Twigpaw?" Ashclaw said, and I nodded stiffly before jumping up on the blankets. They felt weird underneath me, but I settled down to sleep anyway. There was a faint rustling sound as I closed my eyes, and then I felt the familiar brush of fur as Ashclaw sat down beside me.

"So, why don't you tell me why you came here?" May's voice sounded distant.

I heard Ashclaw reply, but his voice was more of a sleepy drone than actual words. I hadn't realized just how sleepy I was: the day had taken a lot out of me.

I thought about the barn. There was food here. There was shelter here. And there was probably water here as well if May lived here. May seemed nice enough, and willing to share, so I shouldn't be worried about that. And technically, nobody except the Twolegs and May could drive us away. We could stay here as long as we like.

And you know what? I think I might like it here.

Finished.

That's the last chapter of Falling Twig right there, if you don't count the Q&A chapter I'm going to do tomorrow.

Anyway, take my poll, comment, ask some questions, and tell me who you're favorite Falling Twig character is. It can be anybody.

Comment!

-Lilith