I'm uploading chapter pretty fast, eh? Well, hope you like this chapter, and I'm always open to ideas, especially names!
"Who is that?" Mosspaw hissed. Skypaw slapped her tail across her mouth.
"Shhh. She's sleeping!" But it was too late. Cloud blinked her eyes, and woke up.
"Skypaw? Who's that?" She meowed lazily
"I should be asking you that question!" Mosspaw grunted.
Cloud sat up, licking her paws delicately. "I'm Cloud." She said simply. Mosspaw flicked her tail crossly.
"That's it? Where do you come from?" Mosspaw meowed. Skypaw nipped her tail.
"Ow!" She cried "What was that for?"
"Don't ask so many questions!" Skypaw meowed quietly "It's not polite!"
"Gee Skypaw…" Mosspaw licked her tail tenderly "Didn't have to bite me.."
"Sorry." Skypaw felt genuinely sorry. "Are you okay?"
Mosspaw pushed her sister onto the floor "Of course I am, mouse-brain."
Skypaw remembered her mouse. "Here you go!" She pushed it towards Cloud.
"What is it?" Cloud sniffed at it.
"Um.. a mouse?" Skypaw was puzzled. Didn't she eat mice?
"Oh right! Thanks, Skypaw." Cloud took a tentative bite at the mouse "It's good!" She took bigger bites and gulped it down quickly.
"Haven't you ever had mice before?"
"No…" Cloud looked uncomfortable.
"Oh, okay." Skypaw padded into the nest next to her. She quickly fell asleep.
(RippleClan couple nights later)
"Attack! Attack!" Hawkfeather yowled. A large tabby cat tackled him down, pinning him onto the ground. Hawkfeather wiggled out of his grasp, and jabbed his belly with his hindpaws. Blood gushed out of the tom and he staggered backwards. Hawkfeather rushed to help Jaygaze, who was tackling a white she cat. She tried to bite Jaygaze's neck, but Hawkfeather quickly raked her back.
"Help! Over here!" Foxface cried.
Jaygaze looked at Hawkfeather. "Stay here! I'll go help." Hawkfeather looked around the clearing. Cats were clawing eachother. He saw Graystar battling a huge dark tabby. Suddenly, he flopped over, blood pouring out of his wound. Graystar jerked once, and laid still.
"No!" Hawkfeather rushed over to him, hoping to help. But it was too late. The life was ebbing out of Graystar, but after a moment, his eyes opened again.
"Hawkfeather. Defend the clan." Hawkfeather helped him into the den.
"Stay here!" And rushed out to fight. He jumped onto the huge tabby, who rolled over and squashed Hawkfeather. Hawkfeather bit his shoulder, tasting the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. He raked at his pelt with his sharp claws. The tom didn't budge, and Hawkfeather thought he was going to die, but Mudwhisker came to his rescue. Mudwhisker hooked his claws into the tabby's throat. He rolled off of Hawkfeather.
"You okay?" He panted. Hawkfeather nodded, and then he rushed off to help his clanmates. Rosefur was battling a tom that was two times her size. Gathering all his strength, he raced towards her, bowling the tom over. Moonheart pounced on him, biting and clawing at the same time. Hawkfeather snuck to the back, then clawed at his eyes.
"Ahh!" The tom let out a strangled cry.
"Retreat! Let's go!" One of the bigger cats commanded. The rest quickly followed him out of the camp. Hawkpaw let out a sigh of relief.
"No, no, no!" A cat cried. Hawkfeather looked up. It was Moonheart. She bent down next to a small, unmoving figure. He took a few cautious steps towards her, and let out a gasp. Dustpaw was lying on the ground, not moving at all. A huge gash scarred his side, and Cloudshine pushed through.
"Back away! He's alive." The small apprentice was barely breathing, but Cloudshine got to work right away.
"Rubypaw, bring me some cobwebs, two poppy seeds, and some horsetail." He commanded. Rubypaw scurried off tail fluffed up in fear.
"Cloudshine, Graystar is injured." Flutterpelt meowed.
"Hold on." Cloudshine gave Dustpaw's wound one last sniff "Is it serious?"
"He's unconscious and bleeding badly." Cloudshine looked around for Rubypaw. "Rubypaw! Can you handle Dustpaw?" Rubypaw nodded eagerly, and Cloudshine sprinted to Graystar's den.
"Hawkfeather! Come help rebuild to reed tunnel!" Cinderclaw ordered. Hawkfeather grabbed a bunch of reeds lying on the ground next to him, and rushed to help Cinderclaw. They were reinforcing the tunnel, and some others were weaving more thorns on the nursery. Foxface was padding around the camp, shaking his head.
"Hawkfeather! Hurry up!"
(BreezeClan)
Another agonizing pain gripped Deadheart. He took a couple deep breathes, but the pain didn't go away. Meadowstream looked at him in concern.
"Deadheart, go see Windheart."
"No, I'm fine." Deadheart flicked a piece of moss off his shoulder.
"Go!"
Mapleleaf looked up at him lazily "Listen to your mother, or we won't get any sleep."
Deadheart sighed, but got out of the den. Windheart was lying in his nest, snoring loudly. But once Deadheart padded closer, he lifted his head.
"Does it hurt again?" He asked. Unwillingly, Deadheart nodded. He was such a burden to the clan, wasting herbs and waking cats up. Windheart looked at him with bright eyes.
"You're no burden, you know." He said while picking out herbs. Deadheart sighed. There were no secrets anymore. Everyone could read his mind. Windheart nudged a pile of herbs towards him.
"Poppy seeds and thyme. Eat up." Deadheart sniffed at the pile, then licked the herbs up.
"I don't know what is wrong with you, but I'll ask StarClan when I go to the Ancient Oak." Windheart promised.
"Forget it; I know there's no hope." He meowed crossly. Deadheart was truly afraid for the first time in his life. Here he was, young and had his whole life in front of him, but plagued with this strange unknown disease.
"There is always hope." Windheart argued "You were chosen to save the clans! You, Deadheart! StarClan will help you." Deadheart knew his words were true, but this was too much for him. Even the thought of StarClan choosing him to save the clan couldn't make him feel better.
"Okay, thanks Windheart."Deadheart padded out of the den, a gush of wind hitting him full force in the face. Then, it started pouring. He rushed back into the warriors den, hoping to get some peaceful sleep.
(DuskClan)
Coalfoot woke up. It was that dream again. Foxes, blood and screams. It reminded him of something, but he didn't know what. Rainpaw looked up in concern.
"Coalfoot? Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine." He reassured his apprentice "What are you doing this early?"
Rainpaw shuffled his paws uncomfortably "I found a patch of watermint yesterday, so I thought I would go get some." True enough, there was a pile of watermint next to him.
"That's great!" Coalfoot praised his apprentice, who seemed embarrassed.
"Did you have a dream?" Rainpaw asked him. Coalfoot hesitated before answering.
"Yes, I did." He admitted. Rainpaw's eyes grew wide. He had never ever gotten a dream before, and he often wonder about what it would be like.
"What was it about?"
"I don't know… I really don't." He shook his head "I will ask Star Clan when we go to the Ancient Oak."
"Okay." Rainpaw nodded. Coalfoot felt uneasy. It seemed strange to not figure this out.
(FireClan)
"Cloud, wake up!" Skypaw nudged her friend, but she wouldn't wake up. Mosspaw snorted impatiently
"Kittypets. They sure are lazy."
Skypaw sighed. Ever since Cloud came here, Mosspaw's been grouchy and mean. She nudged Cloud again, with a little more force. She finally blinked awake.
"Huh… Good morning Skypaw.." She meowed sleepily.
"Morning, Cloud." Skypaw meowed impatiently "We need to get rid of the elder's ticks."
She jumped up. Cloud was a strange cat. She liked helping the elders, and Skypaw had no idea why.
"Okay, let's go!" She trotted out of the den.
"Wait! Don't you want some…" Skypaw started, but she was out of sight "food?" She followed out of the den. She headed towards Lilyripple's den for mouse-bile.
"Hello, Skypaw." Lilyripple looked up from her herbs "How can I help you?"
"Nothing much. I just need mouse-bile." Skypaw looked around the den. It was neat, as always.
"Hold on." Lilyripple padded to the back of the den, coming back a few moments later with a bit of smelly moss on a stick. "Careful. Don't lick your paws, or you'll get a nasty taste in your mouth for days." Skypaw carefully took the stick between her mouth, wrinkling her nose at the foul smell. She padded to the elder's den, where Cloud was waiting.
"What took so long?" She meowed
Skypaw put the moss down. "I needed to get mouse-bile." Cloud wrinkled her nose.
"What's it for?" Cloud meowed
"Gets rid of stubborn ticks." Skypaw meowed in disgust. Willowfur lifted her head.
"Oh good! You've finally come! There's one on my shoulder I just can't reach." Willowfur meowed crossly. Skypaw rolled her eyes, but grabbed the moss and pressed it onto her shoulder. Rockfang stretched out on his nest.
"Once you're done with her, I have a couple of ticks near my back." He meowed. Cloud ripped a piece off, and started to work on Rockfang.
"So Cloud, how's clan life treating you?" Rockfang meowed, sounding unusually happy.
"Great!" Cloud looked up "Was it always like this?" She was obviously begging for a story. Cloud was just like every other apprentice.
"Well, there was a time when the Clans were all together. They were just one big group of cats…." Skypaw finished up checking Willowfur, and then padded out of the den to wash her paws. She padded to the small stream located on the edge of camp, and dunked her paws into the freezing cold water. She scrubbed her paws against each other, feeling numb. She looked around, catching sight of a shadowy figure. Her eyes grew wide. What was that? She looked more closely. It looked like a cat, but what was it doing? Skypaw took a few steps forward, hoping to get a better glimpse. He was fighting another cat! The other seemed small and powerless compared to the large tabby. Skypaw wanted to help the other cat, but the image disappeared.
"What was that?" She meowed to herself.
"What was what?" Thornstar padded up to her, whiskers twitching.
"Nothing." Skypaw denied quickly. Thornstar looked at her with a strange look on his face.
"Okay then," He meowed, looking away "You're going on patrol with Pinepelt." He commanded.
"Got it." She muttered. Thornstar gave her a curt nod and padded away. Skypaw followed, looking around for Pinepelt. She found him with Sweetsong at the camp exit. Sighing, she padded over.
"Hello Skypaw! You ready?" Pinepelt meowed cheerfully. Skypaw nodded, and Sweetsong flashed her a burning glare. She flinched, but followed Pinepelt out of camp.
(RippleClan)
Hawkfeather weaved the final reed into the nursery. They've been working all day long to reinforce and rebuild the camp. His stomach growled.
"You hungry?" Clawtail meowed, whiskers twitching with amusement.
"Of course," Hawkfeather grumbled "Don't tell me you aren't."
"I wonder who isn't." He replied. They both turned when Littlepaw and Cinderclaw dragged a couple fat fish back into camp. Hawkfeather's mouth watered. He sighed in relief when another patrol came back with more fish. Graystar padded up to the Highledge.
"Everyone! I'm sure…" He broke off in a bout of coughing "I'm sure you're all hungry. Thank you for your efforts, and please, eat your fill!" Most cats in the clearing let out a sigh of relief, and a mob rushed to the fresh-kill pile. It was well stocked, and all cats got a decent meal. Hawkfeather gulped down his fish quickly. Next to him, Jaygaze started on his second fish. Hawkfeather let out a loud burp.
"Aren't you full?" Mudwhisker meowed, licking his paws.
"Totally." Hawkfeather stretched out in the sun. He felt relaxed for the first time in moons.
"I'm tired." Clawtail announced "I could sleep for a moon!"
Hawkfeather couldn't help but agree. The stress of the day finally fell in, and his limbs felt like jelly. He dragged himself to his nest in the warriors den, and quickly fell asleep.