Chapter 21

"Homeward Bound."

8/14/16

ThunderClan was raw with grief over Stealthfire's death and disappearance.

Eaglecry doesn't even know where the current has taken the body.

Everyone was hoping she would come back, but cats like Leopardstrike are doubtful.

"Even if she did live, how do we know she didn't retreat to the Twolegs after one scare?" He asked Thornstar.

Stoatfrost snarled at the senior warrior until Squirreltail lured him away.

Tigerkit was still traumatized by the brutal attack, as he stays with Palewhisker for observation.

Brightpool suddenly runs to Thornstar with her patrol behind her.

"Thornstar! RiverClan is being attacked by LionClan!"

"How many?" He asked.

"We only scented them in the winds, I don't know how many."

"Why should we even help them?" Leopardstrike growled. "They accused us of stealing."

Thornstar glared at Leopardstrike, always the hot headed kit.

"Because it's the right thing to do. Let's go."


"Stealthfire… Stealthfire… It's not your time yet."

The golden she cat woke up, staring at the ceiling of a barn. She feels sticks of hay pricking her cheek and squirmed in the haystack.

"Don't move." She jumped and sees a flat faced, burly old she cat with black, brown and cream colored pelt with hidden tabby stripes on it. Her green eyes fixed on Stealthfire as she pads toward her.

"You're lucky I found you out there. If I hadn't taken you to the Housefolk, you would've died before morning."

Stealthfire remembers Crowstar ripping her throat open and automatically touches her neck, and feels small threads and stitches.

"I wouldn't touch those." The she cat warned her.

"I know… Thanks for helping…"

"Muppet." The she cat said.

"Right. I'm Stealthfire."

Stealthfire saw three tiny heads peeking from behind a pail, Muppet follows her gaze to the three kits.

"Oh, those are just my son's kits." Muppet told her. "Hey!" She snapped at them.

"It's rude to stare! Come over and greet our guest!"

Stealthfire saw three kits pad cautiously to her. One tom was the biggest, orange with black paws. The other two were she cats, a cow colored one and a muddy brown tabby.

"She smells weird." The orange tom wrinkled his nose.

"I'm from the forest." Stealthfire explained.

The cow colored she cat gaped.

"No wonder you stink! Why don't you live with the Housefolk?"

"Housefolk? Are talking about...creatures that stand on two legs and have no fur?"

"Yes, those creatures." Muppet replied. "They don't usually come in the barn. They leave me and my son and his mate alone."

"Mom?"

Stealthfire sees an orange tom appear with a light brown tabby she cat.

The kits immediately swarm them.

"Pa! Grandma found us a forest cat!"

"Her name is Stealthfire!"

"Can we keep her Pa? Please?"

"We can't do that," the Pa said. "She probably misses her home."

The kits whined. Stealthfire jumps from the haystack, and the kits immediately swam her. They bombarded her with questions about everything.

"What's it like living in the forest?"

"Is it true that you eat bones of other cats?"

"And why does your back legs look like flames? Are you a Firebender?!"

The orange tom swished his tail over the kits and shooed them away.

"There, there! You can't overwhelm Stealthfire too much."

The tom looks at Stealthfire and dips his head.

"I'm Carrot."

"Carrot?" Stealthfire echoed.

"Carrot." He agreed. "And this is my mate, Brownie. And our kits."

"Rust." He points to his little copy. "Patches." He points to the cow colored she cat.

"And Cookie." He nods to the brown she cat.

"Nice to meet you, but do you know where the sun is right now?"

"It's getting ready to set." Brownie replied. Stealthfire bushed her fur. "I gotta go-!"

"No you not!" Muppet blocked Stealthfire's path. "You're still in no shape to travel across the moorland."

Stealthfire shook her head.

"I'm going to the moors, even if it's the quickest way to the forest."

"Then you'd have to use Thunderpath and cross the bridge to the river," Carrot told her. "But Twolegs don't use it while it's dark outside."

That makes sense. People are sleeping so there's less cars out.

"So… I have to wait for night."

"If you wanna avoid getting killed by monsters then yes." Muppet replied.

Almost immediately, Rust jumped on her back. Stealthfire cried out at the sudden contact as Patched and Cookie dove on her too.

"Can you tell us about the forest?" Asked Rust.

"Like, are you really a Firebender or not?" Cookie asks her.

Stealthfire grew frustrated with the kits, but she couldn't let it show.


The sky became pitch black, and Stealthfire wasn't used to seeing no stars out.

There's not much lights from the houses, but even that still keeps the stars from appearing.

"Okay," Brownie told her. "Now's your chance to go."

Stealthfire nods, and feels tiny paws touch her hind leg. Rust, Patches and Cookie were staring at her sadly.

"Do you have to go?" Cookie asks sadly. Brownie presses her nose on Cookie's head.

"She has to, dear. Stealthfire misses her home."

Rust and Patches nuzzled her chest.

"Goodbye…"

"Same here." Stealthfire said quietly. The golden she cat licks each kit on their head before exiting the barn. She crosses the pathway and walks near Thunderpath's edge. Stealthfire makes it to the bridge and sees a wide pool near a small stream.

That's RiverClan!

Stealthfire realized that with a sinking heart that she'd have to sneak into their territory and get through the now barren ShadowClan border to get back to ThunderClan.

Stealthfire slides down the slope and scans the area. She suddenly smells cats coming around, and before she could turn around she felt teeth sink into her neck and pin her to the ground.

"You stinking kittypet!" A RiverClan cat spat.

"Let me go, I'm not a kittypet!" Stealthfire cried.

"Daisypelt, wait! She's not even fighting back!"

Stealthfire feels the weight pulled off from her, she sees Cloudheart's shocked eyes.

"This is Stealthfire!"

Stealthfire realized that she was surrounded by four RiverClan cats glaring at her with suspicion. "I accidentally fell in the water and the current swept me away to the Horseplace."

"Wow, what a mouse brain."

"Everyone knows ThunderClan cats sink like rocks."

Stealthfire glared at two apprentices that returned it with equal passion.

"So you thought you could trespass on our territory to get back?" Cloudheart questioned, growing increasingly suspicious.

"Why didn't you go to the moors?"

"It's hardly safe to go there!" Stealthfire snapped.

Cloudheart narrowed his eyes and looks at the light grey she cat, Daisypelt.

"Let's take her to Ivystar, she'll decide what to do with her."

Stealthfire felt her hindquarters roughly pushed to Cloudheart. She grudgingly follows Cloudheart through RiverClan territory.

Daisypelt shoved Stealthfire and smiles at her arrogantly.

"This'll teach you not to mess with us."

"Yeah! I wonder why you didn't just drown!" Said an apprentice.

Cloudheart suddenly stops and glares at the two.

"What did you just say? No one should wish death on any cat, enemy or not."

Daisypelt glared at Stealthfire.

"But she-!"

"But nothing." A sleek, black she cat retorted. "Instead of behaving like an apprentice, you should hold your tongue and reprimand Silkpaw for her behavior."

The black she cat winked at Stealthfire. The patrol stops near a stream of water.

Cloudheart looks to Stealthfire, making the gold she cat blink at him in shock.

"I have no swimming experience, and you expect me to swim across this?"

"Everyone has to learn somewhere." He replied coolly.

Stealthfire felt a shove and fell in the water! She cries for help and tries her hardest to keep her head above water when she hears laughing, and feels someone grab her scruff and position herself to float in the water.

"Now kick your hind legs and front paws forward."

Stealthfire followed instructions and felt herself move through the water, slowly but surely, she feels her paws touch pebbles and drag herself out the water.

The sleek black she cat from before was smiling at her.

"Good job, for a forest cat."

The RiverClan patrol snicker at Stealthfire, including Daisypelt and Silkpaw.

Cloudheart stalked past her without a word.

Stealthfire made it to RiverClan camp. The river cats were staring at her with suspicion and curiosity. Stealthfire notices Ashcloud staring at her in shock.

Ivystar came out from her den and narrowed her eyes when she saw her deputy with Stealthfire.

"Cloudheart," she addressed the white tom. "Why is there a ThunderClan cat with you?"

"She claims that she was swept by the current."

Ivystar glared at Stealthfire. "And do you believe her?"

"No, not at all."

Oh that's it!

Stealthfire stalked past Cloudheart only to be intercepted by Ivystar.

"You think you can trick us so your Clanmates can ambush us. Where is Thornstar?"

Stealthfire noticed that Ivystar was dreadfully skinny. All the RiverClan cats were, even the heavily pregnant queens.

They're starving… Ivystar's just mad with hunger.

"Ivystar." A mottled brown tom padded toward Stealthfire, she assumes that was Acornfur.

"She has wounds healing on her flank, and…" He paused when he saw the stitches.

"It looks like she was fixed by Twolegs."

RiverClan hissed with disdain.

"As expected for this slow cat to become a kittypet!"

"The Twolegs gave me stitches when the Horseplace cats took me in." Stealthfire explained. "After I was attacked."

Ivystar still didn't look convinced.

"Say you were attacked, who was the one that attacked you?"

Stealthfire feels her throat tighten up as her forelegs trembled violently.

"I… I can't say it…!"

"She's just telling lies!" Hissed Daisypelt.

Acornfur pressed his pelt against Stealthfire's.

"No, she's very traumatized. I don't think she's faking it."

Ivystar lashed her tail.

"... Fine. She'll stay for one day, then I want her escorted to ThunderClan. She can stay with Acornfur in his den."

The mottled brown tom dips his head and leads Stealthfire in a den where a dark grey she cat was waiting.

"Who is she?" She asked Acornfur.

"This is Stealthfire, Sootpaw." He replied. "She's going to stay here briefly until the next morning."

Sootpaw nods and smiles at Stealthfire.

"You can stay in this nest." She ushers to a nest with duck feathers. Stealthfire plops down and tries to get comfortable. Her heart was racing as she thought of her Clanmates.

Thornstar, Eaglecry, Seabreeze. And Duckheart, Sweetflower, Flameclaw, Rainstorm, Squirreltail… And Stoatfrost.

I'm not stopping until I find you guys.


Stealthfire was woken up by - ugh - Darkwater and Ashcloud.

"We're ready to escort you." He purred. Stealthfire whips her tail on Darkwater's paw as she gets up and pads out the den. Ivystar was boring her gaze on Stealthfire.

The golden she cat looked away as she left with Darkwater and Ashcloud.

They traveled past the Greenleaf Twoleg place and ShadowClan territory until she was in the forest.

"This is where we part." Darkwater told her. "Have a safe travel."

Stealthfire saw movement of a rabbit next to Ashcloud. She swiftly pounced on the rabbit and kills it.

Stealthfire places the rabbit near Darkwater's paws.

"Here. RiverClan might need it."

Darkwater blinked at her gratefully.

"Ivystar won't like it, but I will gladly accept."

Darkwater looked at Ashcloud.

"You ready to go?"

The dark grey tom shook his head.

"I wanna make absolutely sure that Stealthfire makes it home."

Darkwater gave him a knowing look and nods. The black tom takes the rabbit and leaves the forest. Ashcloud nodded to Stealthfire.

"Let's go."

Stealthfire and Ashcloud pads toward the thorn barrier, and she pushes through for an expected welcome. She saw the entire camp empty.

"What happened…?" She whispered. Stealthfire looks into the medicine cat den.

"Nobody's here." She called.

Ashcloud came out of the nursery.

"The queens are gone."

Stealthfire saw a light grey cat, limp in their own blood. She pads toward the body and gasps.

No! Mooneye!

The blind tom's lip was curled into a snarl, and his claws were still unsheathed.

Mooneye put up a fight. Ashcloud peeks inside the elder's den.

"No one is here. He must have bought them time to run." He said.

Stealthfire felt tears sting her eyes as she presses her nose into Mooneye's cold pelt.

Ashcloud presses himself against her, comforting her.

One cat she knew was dead, and the rest of ThunderClan have gone missing.

What in StarClan's name happened?


See? Now do you feel guilty for killing all my stunt doubles?

Stealthfire returns only to find ThunderClan camp as a ghost town and Mooneye dead. I really liked him.

And Ashcloud is with her. What do you suppose he's there for? Hmm?

And the farm cat Muppet, she's based off of my old cat who died years ago…

Well, actually, she was my sister's cat, but she felt like my cat.

(Kyubi wipes a tear from her eye and sighs) I still miss that old grump…

Be sure to review after you read.