So I've been gone for AGES, but please please R & R!
Chapter 22, I Love You
The ThunderClan camp started shaking in the middle of the night, cats crying out in confusion as the very forest around them shook.
"Forestpaw!" Snowpaw hissed, her blue eyes glinting in the darkness. Her long fluffy fur was filled with tiny bits of moss as she shook her friend abruptly awake.
His eyes came open in a flash as the earth rumbled again underneath them. "What's going on?" He quickly leapt to his feet as the earth rocked.
"I don't know; but the elders!" Snowpaw said all in a rush. The elders might be trapped under their old tree branch which was the roof of their den! What if it fell on them?
Forestpaw quickly followed her thinking and they both sleepily stumbled out into the shaking night. It was hard to see and some cats were running. They bumped into Lightflash and Nightrose on the way, but didn't heed their calls as they rushed toward's Flameflow's den.
Flameflow was their only elder, and could be described as a bit of a paradox. He could be surprisingly loyal and kind, but on a usual day he ridiculed, criticized, and generally made anyone near him miserable as a form of entertainment. It was an odd thing though, some of those cats who had been expecting to have their head bitten off, had not. It was believed by some that he only snapped at the people who were 'too happy for their own good', as he had once put it. However, when he heard this theory he quickly put speaking of it out of fashion.
"Quick, Flameflow! Get out!" Forestpaw yelled with Snowpaw's white form right on his heels.
There came a grunt from the heavily shaking elders' den, and dust caught up in both of the apprentice's nostrils. Snowpaw coughed and wished desperately she could see. As she heard Flameflow shuffling out, she realized how terrified she felt. Unintentionally, she pressed closer to Forestpaw.
*.*
The morning came, light brightly shining into Snowpaw's eyes as she hesitantly blinked them open. The earth, thankfully, had stopped shaking.
Forestpaw was awake and lying next to her in the apprentices den. "Snowpaw," he began.
She looked deep into his amber eyes. They were lying close together. Her white paw was over his brown. She felt like she couldn't breathe for a minute. That look in his eyes... had she always felt like this? She didn't even know what 'this' was. She felt excited and scared and like she just wanted to stare at his face forever and ever. Her mouth opened slightly as if to say something, but she didn't.
"I love you." He said.
In a rush, she knew what that feeling was. She knew what the feeling that made her deeply inhale and hold her breath, that made her eyes light up and made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.
She loved him. She really, really, loved him.
She leaned closer and whispered in his ear.
"I love you, forever and always."
*.*
Lavenderstar jumped up onto the highrock, with Tigersplash below her. Their eyes were both proud as Lavenderstar called out to her Clan. "Cats of ThunderClan, gather beneath the Highrock.
"It is my duty, and my pleasure this day to make two apprentices who have shown their bravery warriors of this Clan." Her voice rang clearly through the morning, cutting through the birds chirping and the birches rustling in the wind.
"Snowpaw and Forestpaw, come forward. You have lost a friend, but you have remained strong through it all. I, Lavenderstar, leader of thunderClan, call my warrior ancestors to look down upon these brave apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn. "Snowpaw and Forestpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lives?"
"We do," they said together.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you both your warrior names. Snowpaw, you shall be known as Snowblossom. Forestpaw, you shall be known as Forestshadow." she announced proudly.
They shared a look and a smile no one else would ever understand.
*.*
The next gathering brought news of love; and death.
Oh no! Review or it might stop! And I'm serious!
~Iceshadow!~