Chapter 7
Well, here ya go! Happy New Year, and enjoy!
"Eh?" Dreamfur asked, dumbfounded.
"I've come for Bubblepaw. Now out of my way!" Coyotepaw meowed again.
Dreamfur recovered his composure. "I don't think so," his voice came in a low growl.
Coyotepaw unsheathed his claws. "Move, or I'll make you," he hissed, baring his sharp fangs.
Dreamfur's lips drew back in a snarl, saying nothing. Coyotepaw hissed again, and dug his claws into the earth. He didn't take his eyes off of Dreamfur, but took in his surroundings the best he could.
Suddenly, he leapt for Dreamfur, but at the last minute, pushed off from the ground to the side, past Dreamfur and into the camp. He heard a hiss of distress from Dreamfur, but kept going, to what he recognized as the apprentices' den.
"Where's Bubblepaw?" he asked one of the young cats urgently, his eyes sweeping the den.
The white she-cat was taken aback by the apprentices' suddenly barging in. "Uhm… I-in the medicine cat's den…"
Coyotepaw was gone in a flash, gliding through the camp at top speed. Some cats gasped, and one even whispered, "The Phantom Cat…?" Coyotepaw ignored them.
He was suddenly faced with another white she-cat, looking determined. "What are you doing? Go back to where you came from."
"Please let me through," Coyotepaw meowed through clenched teeth. The apprentice hissed. "It's about Bubblepaw."
The she-cat's gaze didn't soften; then it hit him. She-cat! I can do this…Coyotepaw softened his own gaze and looked pleadingly at the apprentice. His lip turned into a charming smile, and the cat in front of him was suddenly staring, wide-eyed, at the tom's beauty. He stepped forward and murmured, "Please?"
The apprentice stayed put, but when Coyotepaw slipped by, she didn't move.
The wonderful scent flooded his nose, and then he saw her. Her back was turned, her gray fur rising and falling with her breaths.
He pawed lightly over to her. "Bubblepaw?" he whispered into her ear; it twitched, and she turned her head at the familiar voice. Her eyes lit up when she saw her friend.
She attempted to speak for the first time in a moon. Her meow was cracked. "Coyotepaw…?"
Coyotepaw smiled, and rasped his tongue over her ear. "I've missed you, Bubblepaw," he murmured. She purred.
"I've missed you, too," she mewed, burying her face in his soft, sweet fur.
"Well I'll be," a female voice caught Coyotepaw's attention, and Bubblepaw tensed.
"Honeyclaw," she whispered.
While he braced himself for battle, Honeyclaw walked forward, showing no sign of hostility. Goldenclaw, Lionfoot, Nightpaw and Mistypaw quickly followed her.
Bubblepaw's gaze was icy to her foster family, and she twined her tail with Coyotepaw's just to show he was a true friend.
As Honeyclaw kept moving towards her friend, she blurted out, "Please don't hurt him or anything, I know he's trespassing, but-!"
Goldenclaw and the others watched in astonishment and happiness as their adopted child spoke again. Her voice was gravelly from lack of use, but it got smoother with every word. Tears came to Goldenclaw's eyes and her tail intertwined with Lionfoot's.
"We won't hurt him, Bubblepaw," Honeyclaw assured her, never taking her eyes off Coyotepaw. "He brought you back to us, in a way, after all."
"Bubblepaw!" Goldenclaw launched herself at the apprentice.
Bubblepaw drew her lips back into a snarl, and sidestepped her foster mother.
"Bubblepaw...?" Goldenclaw whimpered. Bubblepaw stared at her frostily.
"Bubblepaw, are you gunna come back to apprentice training?" Nightpaw asked, his head cocked and his eyes clouded with confusion.
"Please?" Mistypaw added, her lip trembling.
Bubblepaw looked away, then looked back, her face unreadable. "Yes," she mewed after a moment.
Just then, Dreamfur burst through the entrance, looking distressed. "You! Get out!" he hissed, scraping up the soil with his claws.
Coyotepaw mrrowed in amused, and pressed his face against Bubblepaw's flank.
"It's okay, Dreamfur…" Bubblepaw soothed, coughing. Her newfound voice scratched her throat.
His eyes widened. "Bubblepaw…! You've come back!" he bounded happily over to her, purring, his anger towards Coyotepaw forgotten momentarily. She quickly rasped her tongue over his ear.
Then he went back to glaring coldly at the WindClan apprentice.
"Well…that's all there is to it, I guess," Bubblepaw meowed after a moment of awkward silence. "I'll come back to apprentice training today."
Nightpaw and Mistypaw squealed like kits in happiness, though Bubblepaw didn't look at them. Lionfoot was staring oddly at Coyotepaw, but not with hate like Dreamfur, while Goldenclaw's eyes held pain that her orphaned child rejected her yet again.
Coyotepaw and Bubblepaw were sharing tongues under a shady tree.
"Are you sure you're okay if I go?" Coyotepaw meowed, uncertain if he should leave yet or not.
Bubblepaw nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Some of the cats camp will still be my friends, I hope, if I'll accept them," she meowed as she twined her tail with her friend's. She heard a deep growl from a few fox-lengths away, and saw a passing Dreamfur watching them. Bubblepaw mrrowed in amusement and told Coyotepaw, "And I think it's best if you go now, before Dreamfur can't control himself and attacks!"
Coyotepaw chuckled lightly, and stood, followed by Bubblepaw. They padded over to the camp entrance together.
"Well… goodbye," Bubblepaw mewed, embarrassed now for some reason. "And…thank you. Really, thank you very much."
Coyotepaw threw his melting smile at Bubblepaw, and pressed his face into her flank, purring. "I'll come to you whenever you need me," he murmured, almost accidentally. Bubblepaw's face heated up as she flicked her tail over his ear. He looked at Bubblepaw with intense care, and gave her one last lick in farewell.
He was about to step out of camp when Bubblepaw called him back.
"Wait! Umm… well…" she lowered her voice. "Will you come see me sometimes, and we can play?" she asked, her tail flicking in excitement. "Leaf-bare is coming, so this is a great time for the leaf-chasing game."
He smiled and nodded. "Definitely! By the way, I may see you at the Gathering. It's soon, and I'm going."
She licked his ear. "Okay, goodbye for real now."
"Yep, bye." He turned and left.
Dreamfur startled Bubblepaw; his voice was suddenly next to her. "Good, he's gone."
Bubblepaw sighed. "Why do you hate him so much?"
"Because I don't want him too close to you," Dreamfur said; his lip curled in the beginnings of a snarl.
Bubblepaw chuckled and pressed her face against him. His tail brushed against her ear. "Thank you for worrying, I suppose."
"Hey, do you want to come see Vixenfur?" he asked, his voice now filled with excitement.
"Eh?" Bubblepaw asked, confused.
Dreamfur bounded away, and Bubblepaw ran after him. "Hey, wait!"
He stopped at the door to the nursery, his eyes gleaming. "In here."
Bubblepaw gasped when she entered. Vixenfur was nursing four tiny kits.
"They're soo cute!" she whispered to Dreamfur.
Vixenfur turned her head to see the source of the new voice, and her eyes widened. "B-Bubblepaw?" she gasped.
A bittersweet smile crept to Bubblepaw's face. The cats that really cared about me…I made them worry; I made them sad. I didn't want that to happen…her 'family' flashed through her head, and she shook the image out. Liars! I don't want anything to do with them! Her claws dug into the ground at the thought, but she quickly stopped so the others wouldn't notice.
She heard Flowertail gasp as well; her kits still weren't six moons old yet, Bubblepaw calculated in her head.
"How…? Why…?" Vixenfur stammered, her big eyes still fixed on the apprentice.
Dreamfur's voice was serious now. "It was that young WindClan tom."
The mates exchanged strange glances, and Bubblepaw's eyes narrowed.
"What…?" she began.
Vixenfur's happy voice interrupted her. "Here's Eclipsekit, Deerkit, Dogkit and Moosekit!" she meowed, pointing them each out in turn.
"Uwaah, they're so cute!" Bubblepaw meowed, her suspicion forgotten.
"They were only just born yesterday," Dreamfur said, pride glimmering in his eyes. "Heh, you should have seen Vixenfur's protest at going into the nursery! As soon as her belly started to get swollen, both Honeyclaw and Sapphirestar told her she had to go into the nursery! She put up such a fight, it took three warriors to bring her into the nursery!"
Vixenfur laughed. "Yes, and they didn't leave without scars!"
Bubblepaw purred in amusement. "I feel sorry for the poor suckers that had to do it! Who were they?"
"Squirreltail, Beavertooth and Lionfoot! You should have seen the fur bristle on Lionfoot when he saw Vixenfur claw at Squirreltail…" Dreamfur trailed off, realization hitting him.
Bubblepaw stared at him, her expression blank.
Vixenfur quickly broke the discerning silence. "Dreamfur, I'm hungry, will you go bring me a piece of fresh-kill? A vole would be nice."
"Yes." He was out the door in a flash.
Bubblepaw stood slowly, smiling half-heartedly at the queen. "I should be going now. Good luck with the kits."
Vixenfur smiled until the apprentice was out the door, then her face fell. Dreamfur came back with a vole.
"Mouse-brain!" she scolded.
"I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," he meowed, dropping the fresh-kill beside her.
Vixenfur sighed. "I hope she'll get over it, and forgive them. They lived happily together for so long…the closest family in the forest, and now…because of one small quarrel at a Gathering— her first one, yet – she resents them, doesn't acknowledge them…"
Dreamfur stared at his paws sadly. "Yes… she has some reason to be mad, though; we kept it from her all these years…poor Nightpaw and Mistypaw didn't even know…"
"Well, we were trying to protect her, but…it's only hurt her." Vixenfur began nibbling half-heartedly on her vole.
"What is StarClan trying to tell us?" Dreamfur meowed, almost inaudibly.
Bubblepaw's skills were sloppy at first, but they came back fresh and sharp. Dreamfur was surprised.
"Wow, were you training in your head or something?" he asked. "I think you're better now than you were before."
"You're really good, Bubblepaw," Nightpaw mumbled, looking at his paws. Robinbelly, Nightpaw's temporary mentor, exchanged a glance with the deputy.
Bubblepaw hesitated, but flicked her eyes to Nightpaw, who was peeking at her. His eyes quickly flashed down again, then up.
"Umm…will you…talk to me again?" he dared asking.
Bubblepaw kept her eyes on the black tom.
Nightpaw almost looked annoyed now. "Mistypaw and I didn't know anything about it, you know."
Still nothing but silence from Bubblepaw.
Nightpaw tried again. "At least forgive Mistypaw," he mewed. "She's been crying herself to sleep each night, and murmurs your name in her sleep."
Bubblepaw's ears twitched, and Nightpaw's heart lifted. He decided not to push it, and said no more.
Robinbelly stepped in. "Well, that should be enough training for today, you two. Go on, go get some fresh-kill from the pile; you deserve it."
The two apprentices ran off to get their food.
Nightpaw stayed close to Bubblepaw, watching her sideways as they ate.
She was almost finished her squirrel when she looked at Nightpaw. After a moment, she meowed, "You really didn't know." The question came out like a statement, but Nightpaw caught it.
He nodded his head apprehensively. "Yes…I mean, yes we didn't know. Honest," he added. "We really thought you were our sister."
Bubblepaw hesitated, her eyes still on Nightpaw. Her vision was blurred by moisture that began to fall lightly down her cheeks.
She padded over to Nightpaw and buried her face into his fur, sobbing silently as her brother continuously rasped his tongue over her ear.
A few warriors watched on silently as Mistypaw dashed over to their little hug.
"I'm sorry," Bubblepaw mewed softly a few moments later.
"It's okay," Mistypaw whispered. "But will you forgive Lionfoot and Goldenclaw?"
Bubblepaw's jaw hardened. "No," she spat, pulling away from the other two. "They were the ones that lied to me, and you. I'm gunna go to sleep," she meowed, and padded over to the apprentices' den.
She settled into a comfortable position, and closed her eyes. She fell asleep quickly.
Her eyes flew open to whole new scenery; it looked slightly like Sapphirestar's den. A mossy curtain fell over the entrance, and the cave around her remained unscratched-except for four long horizontal claw marks across the wall near where she stood; on cat did it to claim the territory.
This couldn't be Sapphirestar's den…the walls, rocks and many other things are all really old…she thought, turning around. There was a moss bedding, where the leader would sleep.
She shook her head lightly and stepped out of the den, into what looked like a camp. Five other den-like areas stood around the camp, Bubblepaw counted.
A warriors den…apprentices…medicine cat…elders…nursery. Plus the one behind me makes up a Clan camp…
"Greetings, young one."
Bubblepaw whirled around, fur bristling, at the new voice.
She faced the tom that looked just like her, his eyes shining in warmth.
"Welcome, Bubblepaw, to the Clan," he meowed.
Well, didja like it? Oooo, will she learn who this strange tom is? Review to find out, please!