I know this is late. So sorry! Italics are flashbacks.
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The tom pushed into Hollyleaf, helping her up. Noting his limp she muttered a soft 'thank you'.
He whispered something she could not hear.
"What's your name?" asked the black she-cat.
"My name is Ravenpaw, I used to be part of ThunderClan... but then..." he looked away, looking unsure.
"You left." She finished for him. "So did I."
Hollyleaf dragged herself onwards. Skirting the WindClan territory. She had to leave. Soon.
Her small body was racked with pain.
The cold forest seemed ominous. Not anything like her home.
It used to be home...
She shuddered. In such a short amount of time her entire life has fallen around her.
She had to escape that.
"You can stay in the barn with me until your stronger," offered Ravenpaw. He seemed overly happy at that thought.
Strange, thought the she-cat.
Strange as it was, she had nothing better to do. Staying with this tom would be safer than wandering.
Ravenpaw?! suddenly the name clicked. Hadn't her grandfather told her about his friend back in the old forest? Ravenpaw.
She had to check.
"I'll come with you," she meowed, "StarClan knows you'll need help with that leg."
"I can take care of myself," he growled indignantly.
Immature! she thought. This cat had to be at least as old as Firestar, if not older, and hadn't he been described as shy?
She sighed slowly bobbed her head up and down.
"Let's go then, I'm cold, and haven't eaten in days--" Hollyleaf yelped as she slipped down a small hill, forgetting that she needed the toms help. Not only had it hurt, it was also cold.
The fluffy black cat was near the edge of the clans' territory. Her leafy eyes were red, and her fur was missing large patches. Some had caught to thorns, some had been licked away as she tried to get to her injuries. Infection was setting in, and if she had ever learned an herb to heal them she had long forgotten it.
It had taken her much longer than it should to get here, several sunrises, at least. She needed to rest frequently . It already felt as if her paws would fall of. Maybe she could stop by the barn at the horseplace.
No, what if somehow the news of her being alive got back to camp.
She fell over on the spot.
The snow had reached several inches, and it was getting colder. Bare trees loomed at the edge of the old ThunderClan's territory. If Hollyleaf had seen it before it was ripped up, this small patch of forest (nearly the only thing left from the days of the clans) would have been pathetic.
The black she-cat shook with the cold, pressing a little harder into the tom.
"Hey Hollyleaf," Ravenpaw started, "what clan were you in?"
She tensed, unsure of what to say.
"I'm sorry!" he meowed, "something bad must have happened if you left... I jumped at shadows for moons..."
"No it's okay," she loosened. Pausing for a moment she lied, "I was in ShadowClan."
Hollyleaf did not want to be connected to ThunderClan.
She didn't look WindClan, she took much more after her mother's side. Stocky and muscular compared to a WindClan cat.
She had nearly said RiverClan, until at the last moment she thought he might ask her to swim.
However, Hollyleaf could easily pass for ShadowClan. Her dark pelt would fit with the thick and dark forest.
The two black cats walked silently for a while.
"What clan where you in?" she asked, deciding to ease off her burning curiosity.
"ThunderClan," he meowed.
"Did you know Tigerstar?" she asked eagerly.
The black tom didn't reply.
She cursed herself for asking such an awkward question. It seemed lately her paw was always in her mouth.
Lights of the Twolegplace glittered and sparked, the heavy scent of monsters was everywhere. Hollyleaf sat near in a twoleg yard, which seemed to be far enough away from any large thunderpaths.
How do cats live like this?! thought Hollyleaf, as she licked one of her worse gashes (a large cut on her flank).
She looked up at a new smell- cat. A few fox-lengths away was a fluffy tortoiseshell she-cat. It's mouth opened into a hiss as she crept closer.
Startled, Hollyleaf jump back, her hackles up. "I-I don't want to fight..." she mewed. Though she figured that she could take this cat, who clearly wasn't a trained warrior, she was in no condition to fight.
"Who are you," snarled the tortoiseshell.
"Holly..." she mewed, deciding to leave out the 'leaf'... it made her think of her code-breaking mother.
"This is my territory," hissed the cat.
"I was only stopping for a rest, I can leave..." muttered Hollyleaf.
"No, Holly, I don't think you will... at least-" she didn't bother to finish as she sprang at Hollyleaf with surprising speed. The cat landed on her back, and as Hollyleaf tried to push her off the small cat wrapped her front paws around her and dug her claws in. She had never seen this move in the clans...
Hollyleaf twisted and tried to pull away to no avail as the cat rapidly clawed with her hindlegs.
Just as 'Holly' was about to try going limp, a cat crashed into them.
Her eyes darted around as she realized she was free. The tortoiseshell had run off, hiding under a monster.
"I'm sorry about Ash..." meowed the other cat, a large black tom.
"Kittypets," sneered Hollyleaf, licking the new cuts, "they are all the same! Horrible."
The tom tilted his head, "kittypet?"
"House-cat," she explained.
"Well... I'm a house-cat... and I just saved you," muttered the cat.
"He was my mentor..." meowed Ravenpaw.
Hollyleaf's mouth opened in shook. "Mentor? That must have been so awful!"
He nodded.
Hollyleaf figured they were nearly there. It was near midday.
"We're almost there," muttered the tom, his limp becoming more pronounced. "Careful though, there are some dogs around here..."
Great. Dogs. thought Hollyleaf.
Hollyleaf followed the tom, Spider, into a twoleg thing. A 'garage' he had called it. Ash, the cat who had attacked her sat starring near the cat-flap. Hollyleaf hung back, not only was Ash there, going into this garage would be against everything she had ever been raised for.
However, she wasn't a clan cat anymore. To her clan she was dead.
Gulping, she pushed through the door. Tumbling onto a cold floor.
Spider chuckled, "you shouldn't jump through."
"Yeah, I kind of got that," Hollyleaf nodded.
She studied Spider, noting that, besides the lack of a brown belly, he looked a lot like Spiderleg... she felt a pang of grief. She missed the idiotic tom. She missed her brothers...
"You don't look like a kittypet," she meowed, noting his muscular form and lack of a collar.
"I know how to take collars off," he meowed proudly, "it drives the humans crazy."
The two chattered on for awhile until they were interrupted by a tiny she-cat slipping through the cat-flap.
"Star," purred Spider, rubbing against the gray tabby.
"Who's she?" asked Star, her huge amber eyes growing even larger. She took a few pawsteps back.
"I'm Holly."
Star's little body shook. "What happened to you?" her meow was extremely high-pitched, and it was hard to tell the cat's age. Surely no more than a few moons?
"Where is Patch?" asked Spider, snuggling into Star.
Were they mates?
"Holly, you look starving," noted the tiny cat, "hasn't Spider offered food to you yet?"
She slowly swung her fluffy black head from side to side.
"Food is right over there," Spider pointed with his tail to a white bowl filled with pellets.
Holly hesitated, taking a few steps at a time. The "food" was behind a plastic bin.
I am not a clan cat anymore... she reminded herself while taking a mouthful of the dry pellets, they tasted a little like fish. Yuck! she thought. Fish wasn't her food of choice.
"Your welcome to any prey," meowed Spider, noting her expression.
Thankfully she nodded. She had missed the flavors of mice.
"The twolegs love it when you catch mice! Sometimes they even give you treats, or catmint," Star purred.
The cat seemed mature, how old was she?
"Um Star... I don't want to be rude but... how many moons old are you?" asked Hollyleaf.
"Heh, I get asked that a lot. I'm 15 moons," she meowed.
15... This apprentice sized cat was an adult! About as old as herself.
A door opened, and a twoleg kit stepped out of the house, letting her dog out with her.
She made a cooing noise that Hollyleaf couldn't make out, and before she could hide her head was being pat.
Unsure of what to do she let the twoleg pet her.
"She wants you to stay here for a moment," meowed Star, translating the cooing noises.
The dog stared at her, baring his fangs.
"Watch out," he said, in near perfect cat.
"Here's the barn!" meowed Ravenpaw.
Hollyleaf opened her mouth and scented mice. Lot's of them. If only she was strong enough to hunt.
She tested a few steps by herself, it seemed like her hindlegs were useless.
Half dragging herself she padded into the barn...
On the ground lay a black and white tom, his breathing shallow.
"He's sick..." muttered Ravenpaw.
"I can help!" blurted Hollyleaf, "I used to be a Medcine cat apprentice!"
It would be longer, but I really want to get this chapter up. I am REALLY sorry it's so late.
Don't you love Lil-- I mean Ash? 33
Yeah she's my cat...
She made me do it.
And then I had to add Spider.
And with Spider comes Star (who really is tiny).
And Pengui- Patch... well he'll come 'round next chapter.