Okay, guys, before you all yell at me, I have a very reasonable reason for not updating. I had like, five or so chapters typed up, and then I lost every single one of them. Ugh! It's very frustrating, because I was almost done with this story. I should have updated earlier, I guess. –bashes head against wall-

Anyway, here is the chapter. Thanks if you waited, sorry I didn't update. I need to double save. XPPP

Chapter 16

Faithpaw's eyes felt like he could never stop blinking. Siftpaw just stared at him seriously, while he just gazed at her silver and gray fur.

A bird called out in the distance, begging for nightfall. The tall fronds of grass and fern swayed gently in the wind, and a cold air brushed past the two apprentice's fur.

"Siftpaw?" Faithpaw finally managed, his voice cracking. He had stared at her so long he had lost his ability to create sound with his vocal cords.

"Yes, now snap to it! I need your help."

"What…do you need?" He croaked.

Siftpaw flicked her tail, glancing at the sunset-orange sky above her. "The Clans are having some trouble. MidnightClan is…uh…tearing themselves apart."

"Why?" Faithpaw asked. Let them die, he added in his head.

"When they found that you had escaped that cage I rescued you from, they went distraught. Brightstar said everything at the Gathering last night. She talked about you and Moonfeather having been caught training, and that you were put in that cage. Moonfeather was exiled, as you already know. The MidnightClan cats had planned to leave you up there until the Clan apprentices went into heat. Then they'd let you out, and force mate them with you."

Faithpaw stared at her incredulously. "I thought that…well…that they respected me for being the only male. I never thought they'd try to make me force mate."

"Well, they did," Siftpaw hissed, "And now every Clan is sending out search parties for you. AirClan, my Clan, are preparing for war with MidnightClan. They say that when you get found, they should have you in their Clan, to mate with their apprentices, and not MidnightClan."

"Oh no," Faithpaw moaned. He slumped down exhausted. He didn't want to have to deal with this. He wanted to be away from all the fighting over him, and the pressing of him to mate.

"I thought you were dead," he managed finally.

"I slipped off the edge of the path, and I landed on the one below it. I skidded down, landing it a tree that was hanging to the side. I dropped into the river from there. Luckily, I'm a good swimmer. But by the time I got back ashore, you were already gone. I stayed for a while, searching for you, but when I didn't find you, I went back to the Clans."

Faithpaw gave a forced laugh. "You don't want to know about Akando."

"What's Akando?" She asked innocently.

"They're a nomadic group of dung-brains. They're infested with a disease that is passed through mating and birth. The disease comes in when you reach two years, eating you apart from the inside. Akando was all infested with the disease, and they needed other, untainted cats to mate with. So they took cats from out of their Clan, mated with them and then killed them."

"Yuck!" Siftpaw exclaimed. Then her eyes darkened. "Did they…mate with you?"

Faithpaw shook his head slowly. "They tried. But I didn't let them. Moonfeather…" he looked down at her still body, "She mated with one of them, though. She was pregnant. But she killed herself, to stop the disease from reaching the Clans." He sighed.

Siftpaw was silent for a little while. "So, there are toms in Akando, but they're infested with that disease?"

"Yes," Faithpaw replied, "Now, what do you need help with?"

"We've got to stop AirClan from attacking MidnightClan! Faithpaw, they're going to tear each other apart! They're going to die! All the Clans are going to die! Everyone's afraid. Everyone's terrified, because the species is ending. I hear my Clanmates sobbing themselves to sleep every night! Faithpaw, you are like their hope, their only hope! A light in the dark. WaterClan and FireClan are already battling for rights, when they steal you from AirClan after they steal you from MidnightClan! Brightstar's putting up a fight, saying that only her Clan deserves you, because you were born into it! Everyone is going to die! Faithpaw, you have to just go be there, mate with cats or not, but you need to just be there, or every single cat in the whole forest is going to fight themselves to death!"

Faithpaw blinked, taking a step away. "Okay," he said, nodding, "Alright. But you don't realize how stressful it is, to be in the Clans and just have everyone pressuring you to mate all the time."

"I know," she whispered, "I can't begin to imagine how awful it must be. But please, Faithpaw, please! For the sake of the forest. You're their hope. Their only hope."

He sighed, long and low. "Alright. I'll go be in the Clans. But I won't mate with anybody."

Siftpaw gave him a sympathetic smile, but as she opened her mouth to speak, they were interrupted by another voice.

"Hey!"

Faithpaw's head jerked up, and he saw a party of three she-cats heading toward them.

"Siftpaw! What're you doing out here?" Asked a white she-cat angrily. She glared down at Faithpaw, and he felt his heart drop.

"I found Siftpaw, Whitestripe," Siftpaw replied, bowing her head.

"Why didn't you tell us? You should have come to us immediately!" Whitestripe spit, "Don't you know the plan? If you find him, you tell us as soon as you do! We can't let MidnightClan get a hold of him first."

"Sorry," Siftpaw whispered, but Faithpaw could tell she didn't mean it.

"Silvertail, grab him," Whitestripe commanded. A second later, Faithpaw was flipped over onto his back, a paw on his throat.

Whitestripe shot him an angry look. "Sandpaw, get Siftpaw. She's a traitor now."

"What?" Siftpaw yowled, "No! Whitestripe, please! I was going to go to you soon, I was! Please don't make me a traitor! I'm still loyal! Please, Whitestripe!"

Faithpaw looked over into her eyes. Siftpaw was lying. "Is this your Clan?" He breathed, because he could no longer recognize the Clan's separate scents.

"Yes," She whispered, "Now, shh!"

Sandpaw, the cat holding Siftpaw down, sneered at Faithpaw. "You poor, little excuse for a cat," She hissed, "I get to be your first mate."

"Yeah right!" Faithpaw shouted. He reared up, wanting to scratch the stupid little she-cat over the eye, but the cat holding him, Silvertail, pushed him down.

"Come on, you two," Whitestripe told her Clanmates. Silvertail started to jerk Faithpaw along, Sandpaw doing the same with Siftpaw. Faithpaw tried to wriggle away, but a sharp jab in the stomach made him stop.

They went through the forest, then turned up toward the AirClan hills. Faithpaw sighed. He was a prisoner now, of AirClan. Just like he had been a prisoner of Akando. And a prisoner of MidnightClan. Was he just going to be a prisoner all his life?
Whitestripe made the other two AirClan warrior's stop once they reached the top of a hill. She looked down into a little gully, lined with soft bushes and grass. AirClan's camp.

Then, Faithpaw and Siftpaw were dragged down, into the clearing. Silvertail gave him a sharp jab, then sat on his chest, keeping him down. Sandpaw did the same with Siftpaw, leering into her face.

Whitestripe padded over to a wiry brown she-cat with a long tail.

"Greetings, Longstar," She said in an undertone, "We have completed the mission. The tom has been found."

Faithpaw growled. He didn't want to be called 'the tom'. He had a name, didn't he?

"Oh good!" Longstar said. She glanced down at Faithpaw, her face expressionless.

"He was found with Siftpaw. She was talking to him, instead of taking him back to us. Therefore, she is a traitor, for we both now how delicate this plan is. There was also a dead body of a she-cat beside him, but I don't know who it was and what the cause of her death was."

"Okay," Longstar meowed, "You have done well, Whitestripe. Go get some prey now, but first make sure the den is prepared. For both of them. Add a separator."

Whitestripe nodded and padded off.

Longstar turned to Faithpaw, Siftpaw, Sandpaw and Silvertail. "You both have done well," she said to her Clanmates, "Take these two to the den."

Faithpaw was jerked again, as Silvertail began pulling him along, Siftpaw close behind. He tried to squirm away, but once again to no avail.

They reached the other side of camp. There was a small, dark den, deep in the wall of camp, Faithpaw saw a couple of long things that looked like bars. He groaned.

A second later, both he and Siftpaw had been forced into the den. He gave a yelp as his face slammed into the opposite wall.

Silvertail slammed a big rack of bars into the cage, separating both him and Siftpaw on each side, so they couldn't reach each other. Then she put another rack of bars in front, and walked away. They were trapped.

"Ugh," Siftpaw groaned, sticking her paw through a hole in the bars, but not getting very far with the rest of her body, "I can't believe this. I have no respect for my Clan anymore, but it does bother me that they labeled me as a traitor. I don't want to be part of their stupid plans!"

"Yeah," Faithpaw sighed, flopping onto the muddy ground, "I know. Sorry, Siftpaw. I attract this kind of stuff to myself."

"It isn't your fault," She whispered, but something in her voice was off, like she did believe he had done this to get Siftpaw in the cage.

They didn't speak for a while. Faithpaw just stared into the darkening AirClan camp. Passing she-cats stared at him. Some smiled their pleasure at knowing they'd be able to mate with him, while others leered at his captivity. He looked away and sighed.

"Siftpaw, I'm tired of fighting it all off," He whispered, "I'm tired of trying to not mate and to stay away from love. I think I'm just going to give into it and mate with anyone who wants to."

"No, Faithpaw!" She hissed, harsher then he would have guessed. He looked over at her, surprised. "You can't do that! You can't give up! We'll find a way out of here. I've already got half a plan. We might be able to be out of here by tomorrow." She smiled a tiny bit.

"Okay," Faithpaw replied, hating himself for not thinking up a plan of his own, "Alright."

"Good," She mewed, "Now, I'm going to need help from another cat."

"Who?" Faithpaw asked her openly.

Siftpaw smiled, looking ready and prepared.

"Clockpaw."

Stupid, cliffhanger, I know…but Faithpaw hates Clockpaw, so, yeah…Okay, I think I got this chapter about right. I'll try to update sooner next time.