Courage is a fanfiction that follows Ravenpaw's point of view. It starts about a moon before the events of Into The Wild.
This fanfiction does contain feelings of anxiety as Ravenpaw is an anxious character. I am trying my best to portray anxiety accurately based on how the character Ravenpaw is written and my experiences with it.
Feelings of anxiety and excitement pierced through Ravenkit as his mother, Robinwing cleaned his slick black fur. "Hold still, Ravenkit" the queen chided as she struggled to keep her wriggling son still.
"Sorry" he meowed as he looked across the den. Staring at him mutinously was his friend, Graykit who was exactly a moon younger than him. The younger tom sighed and looked at his paws, "I wish I was being made an apprentice with you. The nursery is going to be boring without you!"
"It will be your turn soon." Ravenkit meowed as he looked down at his paws. Moving on as an apprentice without Graykit was going to be hard. Ravenkit thought. He wished that Bluestar would allow him to remain a kit for just one more moon so they could be made apprentices at the same time. However, Ravenkit knew that couldn't happen. The Warrior Code dictated that a kit must become an apprentice at six moons. Plus, Robinwing was itching to get back to her Warrior duties.
"Are you almost finished?" A brown kit pushed his way into the den. "Bluestar is coming out of her den!"
"Dustkit come back here! I don't want you to get dirty before your apprentice ceremony." Robinwing shooed her kit to the back of the den and surveyed them. "I am so proud of you." She meowed as she touched noses with the both of them.
A loud yowl echoed across the ThunderClan camp. Bluestar had emerged from her den and was calling the clan together. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join me beneath the highrock for a Clan meeting!"
Meowing in delight, Dustpaw leaped to his paws "Come on!" He meowed as he padded out the den.
Ravenkit pushed himself to his paws and touched noses with Graykit "I promise to visit you!" The black tom then padded out of the den followed by Robinwing.
Cats were gathering below the highrock. A few Warriors were gathered together at the foot of the rock. Spottedleaf the ThunderClan Medicine Cat was pushing her way out of her den. A strong scent of herbs clung to her tortoiseshell pelt.
Robinwing herded her two kits to the foot of the highrock. Her amber eyes glowed with delight as Bluestar raised her tail to silence her Clan. The ThunderClan leader gazed down at the two kits and started to speak. "Today two young kits have reached the age of six moons and are ready to be apprenticed. Ravenkit, and Dustkit please step forward. The two kits padded to the foot of the highrock and looked up at their leader. "Dustkit, from this day on, until you earn your Warrior name you will be known as Dustpaw. Redtail you will mentor Dustpaw. I hope you pass down your wisdom and loyalty to this young apprentice. A dark tortoiseshell tom padded over to Dustpaw and the two cats touched noses.
"I hope Bluestar chooses a good mentor for me." Ravenkit thought as the blue-gray she-cat began to speak again.
"Ravenkit, from this day on, until you earn your Warrior name you will be known as Ravenpaw. Tigerclaw you will mentor Ravenpaw. I hope you pass down your fierce fighting skills and courage to this young apprentice."
Ravenpaw stiffened and then padded over to touch noses with the large tom. Tigerclaw was one of the fiercest Warriors in ThunderClan. He was basically the complete opposite of Ravenpaw. The young cat was always nervous and timid. He and Tigerclaw were polar opposites. Ravenpaw shoved aside his worries. Maybe Tigerclaw could teach him to be less anxious and more courageous.
"Ravenpaw! Dustpaw!" The Clan cheered for the two new apprentices and crowded around them. Finally, after a few moments, the excitement died down and the cats started to gather themselves for Warrior duties. Ravenpaw glanced up at Tigerclaw, "what are we going to do first?" He asked curiously.
"Redtail, and I have decided to take you and Dustpaw on a tour of ThunderClan territory. We figured the two of you would be itching to get out and explore."
Ravenpaw shivered at the thought of leaving the camp. He wasn't sure that he felt ready to leave the safety of the camp yet. But he decided to pretend to be enthusiastic about it anyway. "Great!" He meowed hoping he sounded more excited than he felt.
A few moments later Dustpaw, and Redtail padded over to the two cats. Redtail took the lead and the four cats padded out of the ThunderClan camp. Ravenpaw's eyes widened as he took in the massive forest that surrounded him. The forest was bigger than he had ever imagined. The first thing he noticed was how big the trees were.
"Ravenpaw!" A loud mew startled the black cat from his amazement. "Are you going to stand there all day gawking at the trees or are you coming?" Tigerclaw meowed.
"Coming!" Ravenpaw meowed as he quickly padded after his Clanmates.
Ravenpaw stumbled back into the ThunderClan camp exhausted. Tigerclaw, and Redtail had shown him and his brother the entirety of ThunderClan's territory. It was a long trek for Ravenpaw's smaller legs. The young apprentice was now ready to curl up in his nest and sleep. Ravenpaw padded over to the apprentice den and pushed his way in. Inside was a sandy-colored she-cat whose name was Sandpaw. She had been made an apprentice a moon before him. She was curled up in a ball and asleep in her nest. Relief coursed through Ravenpaw as he was too exhausted to talk. Padding to an empty nest the black tom flopped into it and fell asleep.
A loud angry screech caused Ravenpaw to jolt awake. Ravenpaw glanced around in surprise. He was not in his nest in the ThunderClan camp. He was at Sunningrocks. Ravenpaw opened his jaws and sniffed the air. The scent of blood pierced his nostrils. Ravenpaw stiffened and looked around. Ahead of him lay the body of a tortoiseshell tom with a big bushy tail. Blood surrounded the dead ThunderClan deputy and his eyes stared ahead dull and sightless. Ravenpaw recoiled back in horror and he backed away. The ThunderClan deputy was dead. Someone had murdered him in cold blood. The question was who. Ravenpaw suddenly bumped into a larger cat who had slowly crept up behind him. Ravenpaw slowly turned around and gasped with horror. The cat who had murdered Redtail was Tigerclaw.
Ravenpaw leaped out of his nest in alarm. Panting he looked around. He was no longer at Sunningrocks. The stench of blood was no longer in the air, and most importantly, Redtail's corpse did not lay lifelessly in a pool of blood. It had all been a dream. Ravenpaw glanced at the entrance of the den. Traces of sunlight were starting to make their way into the den. It was morning. Ravenpaw hurriedly cleaned the scraps of moss that still clung to his pelt and padded towards the entrance. Yet the Black tom could not shake the feeling of foreboding that encompassed him.