Chapter One
The forest was dark. Mango had been here before, but never has she sensed something. The young she-cat stopped and looked around. A flash of grey caught her eye. It was a mouse. Mango's mouth watered and her belly rumbled. Soon. She promised.
Slowly and carefully, the dark smoky grey she-cat crouched down, her pelt blending in perfectly with the shadows. Her black tabby stripes looked like shadows and her white paw and the white splash on her shoulder completed the look by seeming to be pools of moonlight. Her ice blue eyes flashed as the mouse entered her vision. Stifling a purr, she leaped, slamming her paws down on the mouse before it could run. Mango tossed it into the air and caught it in her teeth.
Suddenly, a loud clattering, rattling roar sounded through the forest. Mango looked around in confusion, ears flattened against the blaring sound. The mouse took advantage of her loosened grip and sprang from her jaws. Mango hissed in frustration and pounced for it, but the mouse was gone. As she lashed her tail, the sound became familiar. Mango blinked her eyes open and sighed.
It was all a dream. She thought sadly.
"Sleeping Princess wakes!" teased a voice.
Mango rolled over in time to see her housefolk leave the kitchen, and then a small, jet black head popped into view.
"Very funny, little brother." Mango got to her paws and arched her back in a stretch.
Tiny purred. Mango looked around. The kitchen was stifling hot, making it hard to breath. Shadows dappled her fur, cast by the moonlight of the window. The food bowls were replenished and Tiny was already digging in. The dry, flavorless scents of the cat food over powered the warm, flavorful scents of the mouse. Her collar jingled as she jumped from her bed. Mango flopped down and scratched irritably at it. She hated the uncomfortable pink thing. She shook her head roughly and joined her brother for dinner.
Finally, when Mango couldn't take being inside, she got up and pushed through the cat flap. Tiny scurried after her, gulping his mouthful. She looked down at him and smiled. Tiny was the runt of their litter, and even though they were the same age, she towered over him. Mango loved her little brother greatly, and had also stood by him, even when their littermates picked on them both. Mango shook these thoughts from her mind and together the two dark furred cats leaped up onto the fence.
"You two are like leaves of a tree. Separate yet the same, inseparable yet different." A voice purred from behind them.
"Rusty!" Tiny let out a delighted meow and tackled his half brother.
"Hey, Rusty!" Mango purred, thumping down beside the two tussling toms. "What are you doing here so late at night?"
"I got back from sorting out that missing kit thing this morning and I forgot to come and tell you two and Princess that I'm okay." Rusty explained.
"Thanks." Tiny batted his half brother's shoulder. "But you'd best be going. Princess gets really upset when you promise you'll be back at a certain time and then don't come back and see her."
Rusty cringed. "Good point, little brother. See you guys soon!" He sprang on top of the fence and hurried down to Princess's garden.
Mango and Tiny jumped back onto their garden fence and stared out into the woods. A deep sense of longing welled in Mango's chest, and from the agitated flicking of Tiny's tail, he felt the same.
"Mango…" Tiny meowed softly. "Have you ever had dreams of about being out there, wild and free, surrounded by warm scents of familiar cats?"
"Yeah, actually. I was having one a little bit ago, in fact." She curled her long, fluffy tail over her paws.
Tiny turned and tipped his head a bit, a grin on his face. "Do you want to go out and explore?"
"If you have the same feeling as me, yes. Let's go!" Mango replied, jumping down. Her bell jangled loudly and she landed and she hissed.
Tiny jumped down next to her, his bell also jangling, and he hissed as well. Mango flicked her tail and fell into step with her brother. They hadn't taken two steps with a ginger streak stopped them, a furious yowl echoing from the cat. "You guys are nuts! Haven't you learned from last time?!" Rusty stared at them, wide eyed.
"You never know. Those cats could be dead!" Mango retorted.
Tiny nodded in agreement, then paused and added. "They might not be though."
Rusty growled in exasperation. "Then what are you doing?!"
"Sleeping." Mango responded sarcastically. "What else? Oh yeah. Adventures!" She accompanied the last word with a crooked grin.
Rusty gave her a look. Mango just widened her grin in response.
"Henry went into the woods once and came out fine. I think Tiny and Mango were just unlucky that one time." A voice meowed from behind them.
Three heads turned to see a light brown tabby she-cat with a white chest and paws standing behind them.
"Hi, Princess!" Tiny meowed cheerily, smiling up at his half sister.
"That fat old tabby never went into the woods." Mango scoffed, flicking her tail dismissively.
"No, he did. Seriously!" She added at the other three cats dubious looks. "He caught a robin."
"If he did, it was before his trip to the vet." Rusty rolled his leaf green eyes.
"He also said that the wildcats eat live rabbits for breakfast, sharpen their claws on old bones and are constantly fighting!" Princess obviously believed every word.
"You've been listening to Smudge way too much." Mango arched a brow.
"Please." Tiny scoffed. "I've never heard cats screeching in the woods."
"Just the time you were attacked." Rusty confirmed.
Tiny whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut. Mango wrapped her tail around him, rasping her tongue over his ear.
When Tiny was three moons old, he's been chased from their old garden by their two other littermates, Socks and Ruby. Their littermates then stalled Mango from finding him. While he was out, Tiny ran into three wildcats. One had his 'apprentice' attack him, said apprentice attacked him and the third stood up for him. She couldn't stop the apprentice from beating Tiny up, but she did stop him from killing the little black tom. Mango found her brother later, after he ran off. She brought him back to their old housefolk, who patched him up. When Mango and Tiny's current housefolk came to take Mango to their home, she resisted, until all the housefolk got the idea that she wasn't leaving her brother. Since that day, they've been closer than ever.
"Well… I can see we won't be able to change your minds. But don't say I didn't warn you!" Rusty warned. He and Princess leaped onto the fence and headed off to their gardens.
Tiny flicked his ear, the tear in it suddenly blatantly obvious. One look showed that he was still going into the woods, no matter what. Mango stifled a purr and side by side, the two dark furred littermates headed into the trees.
Almost instantly, they spotted a mouse. Mango breathed the plan, speaking so softly Tiny obviously missed the least important parts. The tiny tom snuck around to the backside of the mouse. Mango watched stifling a purr as excitement washed over her. Being out here and actually about to catch a mouse made the longing even deeper. Mango watched as Tiny's haunches waggled as he started to spring. Before he could move, a crackling in the bushes made the mouse race off and Mango sit bolt upright. Tiny crept back to her, eyes fixed on a bright red tail.
"Meat eater. I don't know what kind though." Tiny hissed under his breath.
Mango grunted softly and together they crept forward, following the tail. It stopped suddenly and then went on at a faster pace. Mango swiveled her ears around at the sound of… paw steps? It certainly wasn't Tiny; he was beside her.
"Mango… do you hear—MROWW!" Tiny yowled in shock as something crashed into him.
"TINY!" Mango yowled, leaping on the back of the creature.
No wait… The creature was a cat, not much older than the two littermates. Mango battered at him with her paws, claws out. A yowl came from the tom and he leaped at her, letting Tiny go. "RUN, Tiny!" Mango screeched. He didn't answer. "TINY?!" She screeched.
"RRR-ARH!" Tiny's battle cry was music to Mango's ears. The tiny tom barreled into the larger tom, the latter of which letting out a startled, "Oof!"
"Now, RUN!" Mango yowled, scrambling to her paws and shoving Tiny in front of her. She fought to not overtake him. Her long legs made her the fastest of the two, though Tiny's short legs didn't help.
Pounding paws announced that their attacker was giving chase. Mango glanced at her brother, who returned the glance with a small nod. Mango skidded to a halt and spun around, Tiny leaping over her hunched form and landing on her other side. Both littermates were on their toes, tail's fluffed and fur bristling. Mango barred her teeth in a snarl, Tiny doing the same.
But instead of attacking them, their attacker just sat there, calmly cleaning a paw. His grey fur was silver in the moonlight, the darker grey stripe running down his back and tail dark silver. Mango suppressed the urge to step in front of her brother. She knew he could handle himself.
"Hello, kittypets!" the grey tom meowed cheerily. "You two put up quite the fight for tame kitties!" he cleaned his muzzle, which bore a few scratches. Mango snorted in satisfaction.
"We'll fight you again if we have to!" Tiny hissed. Mango bared her teeth to back him up.
"Ah, relax. You two are obviously not from one of the other Clans, so I can let you go."
Tiny and Mango shared a glance and sat down. "Other clans?" Mango queered.
"Surely even you kittypets have heard of the four warrior clans that live here!" The tom hissed.
Mango thought of Princess's and Smudge's gossip. Could it hold some truth?
"We do have stories of wildcats." Tiny admitted slowly.
The tom grunted in satisfaction. "My names Greypaw." He introduced himself. "I'm a ThunderClan apprentice."
"Mango." The only she-cat present meowed gruffly.
"And I'm Tiny, her brother."
"Your name definitely suits you, Tiny! But what in StarClan's name is a mango?" Greypaw seemed really confused about that.
"I honestly have no idea." Mango shrugged.
"What's an apprentice?" Tiny asked.
"I'm training to be a warrior." Greypaw meowed proudly.
"Warrior?" Mango blinked in confusion.
Greypaw started to explain but he suddenly stiffened. "I smell cats from my clan! You have to go!" His tone was urgent.
Mango scented the air. She didn't notice anything different…
"Go!" Greypaw hissed urgently.
"What's going on here?" A deep rumble made the two kittypets freeze.