Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. I kinda couldn't think of anything to write. It's hard to not follow the book exactly anymore, but still try to sneak in little things that could still happen. So, here is the chapter. I hope you like it. :)
Fawnpaw sank to the ground, letting out a deep breath. The sun was sinking in the sky. She had faught hard today, and now she was glad to have eaten and had her wounds patched up.
Putting her head on her paws, she closed her eyes. She laied by the side of the camp for a long while, but then a voice broke into her sleepy thoughts.
"I hope your not too tired." Bluestar meowed and Fawnpaw opened her eyes to see her leader looking down at her.
Yawning, Fawnpaw sat up. "Too tired for what?" She asked.
"I've been talking to Tigerclaw, and he said that you're ready to get your warrior name."
"Really?" She looked at her, surprised. "Now?" Was she really ready? She couldn't be! She still wanted to train with Tigerclaw. She felt as if she still had more to learn.
"Yes," Bluestar meowed. "Unless your too tired."
"I'm not." Fawnpaw meowed quickly. Though she had her doubts, she wanted to show the others that they where wrong about her. She didn't like the teasing and name calling she received all the time.
"Okay then, I'll make the announcement now." Bluestar padded away and leapt up onto the Highrock. As she summond the Clan together, Fawnpaw followed and waited at the bottom.
The Clan gathered, padding from their dens and from the side of the camp. Tigerclaw came to stand by her, and Fireheart and Cloudpaw watched curiously from the crowed.
Bluestar jumped down to stand in front of Fawnpaw. "I, Bluestar, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn.
"Fawnpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your Clan, even if it costs you your life?"
"I do." Fawnpaw meowed, hoping that she sounded strong and certain.
"Then by the powers of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. From now on, you will be known as Fawnfur. Starclan honors you kindness and determination, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan."
Bluestar rested her muzzel on Fawnfur's head. In return, Fawnfur licked her shoulder.
"Fawnfur! Fawnfur! Fawnfur!" Cats called, some louder than others, some not at all.
She went to stand by her brother again, purring as Cloudpaw jumped around her excitedly. Tigerclaw came to stand on her other side and he looked at her proudly.
"Tonight, you will keep a silent vigil." Bluestar meowed, closing the meeting. "In the morning, you may rest in the warriors den."
The cats moved away from the meeting, some retreating to their dens for the night, others getting some much needed fresh-kill after the battle. But one cat came over, Darkstripe.
She narrowed her eyes as, knowing exactly what he was going to say. His eyes flickered with amusement as if he was going to tell her something he thought was funny, some insult to kittypets and cats who aren't Clanborn. But instead of speaking to Fawnfur, he saw Tigerclaw and his eyes turned to glare at him.
"Tigerclaw, you have some explaining to do." Darkstripe growled, his claws flexing. "Now."
Tigerclaw looked over at Fawnfur. He let out a frustrated growl and said, "Fine. Follow me." He walked away, out of camp, with Darkstripe at his heels. Longtail sat a ways away, staring at them in confusion.
Fawnfur wondered what they where going to talk about. Then, she remembered that she had to question her brother. "Fireheart?" She asked.
He tore his eyes away from the camp entrance where Tigerclaw had disappeared and looked at her instead. "Yes?"
"Why doesn't Tigerclaw like you? Or Darkstripe or Longtail?" She asked him, hoping to actually get an answer now.
"Because I used to be a kittypet." He answered simply and Cloudpaw looked up curiously. He caught the look and flicked his tail at the white tom. "Go to your nest, Cloudpaw, you don't want to be tired for training tomorrow, do you?"
"No, Fireheart!" Cloudpaw shook his head and ran off towards his den, where the other apprentices where waiting.
"But there has to be more than that." Fawnfur pressed. "I was a kittypet too, and Tigerclaw doesn't hate me!"
Fireheart closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You're going to keep asking, aren't you?" He murmured.
"Yes." Fawnfur answered determinedly.
Fireheart hesitated for a long moment, before finally saying, "I can't keep this from you forever. I'll tell you tomorrow." And with that, he walked away to where Graystripe and Cinderpaw stood.
Fawnfur stared after him, not sure if she should feel happy or not. Did she really want to know what was going on? Or was it better for her to know nothing? She had a bad feeling that what she was going to be told won't be good.
Fawnfur looked up as movement came from the warriors den. The light of dawn was just begining to show in the sky. She had expected her vigil to be long and boring. But it actually wasn't. She had kept herself busy listening to the night sounds and thinking about her time in the Clan so far, her training, Tigerclaw, the friends she's made, and Fireheart and Cloudpaw.
Whitestorm pushed his way out of the den and looked at her. Padding over, he told her, "You can go sleep now. The apprentices have made a nest for you."
"Thank you." Fawnfur stood moving her tired paws to the warriors den. She pushed her way inside, pausing to let Runningwind out of the den. Looking around, she saw a soft new nest beside Fireheart's and Graystripe's.
She sank gratefully into her nest and within heartbeats, she was asleep.
When she woke, she found ot around sun high. She saw Sandstorm standing over her, looking at her expectantly.
"What?" Fawnfur mumbled, sitting up tiredly.
"I thought you might want me to wake you up before you sleep in too long." Sandstorm explained. "How was the vigil?"
"Cold, but not too bad." Fawnfur yawned and thanked Sandstorm as they both made their way out of the den. She looked around the camp tiredly, unsure of what to do. This was her first day as a warrior. It felt weird not having to go looking for Tigerclaw right away or go meet him at the training hollow.
From the look of the camp, patrols were out. But the fresh kill pile was low, as cats were stilk recovering from the battle and had to take things easy. Maybe she could go hunting or-
"Fawnfur?" Fireheart interrupted her thoughts, looking a little nervous. "Want to go hunting?"
"Sure." Fawnfur nodded, remembering now that Fireheart had some explaining to do.
"Can I come too?" Sandstorm asked, still standing beside Fawnfur.
"Uh," Fireheart looked at her uncomfortably. "I need to talk to Fawnfur about something, and... We can go hunting later though."
Sandstorm's eyes grew cold. She spat out, seeming to talk to herself, "Fine. Why would I want to hunt with you anyways?" She whipped around and stalked away.
Fireheart stared at her, looking confused. He sighed and motioned for Fawnfur to follow. "Come on,"
Together, they padded out of camp and into the forest. They seemed to walk in silence for moons, until Fireheart finally stopped and sat down. "You want to know why Tigerclaw doesn't like me?" He asked, though he already knew.
Fawnfur nodded, sitting down and watching him expectantly.
"Tigerclaw isn't the great warrior you see him as," Fireheart started carefully, watching her closely. "He is evil and ambitious, ready to do anything if it means him power. As an apprentice I quickly figured this out."
He explained everything to Fawnfur, telling her about Ravenpaw and Redtail and his plans to kill Bluestar. He explained how Tigerclaw hates him because Tigerclaw saw him as a threat. He answered questions Fawnfur had.
But Fawnfur couldn't belive it. It couldn't be true. How come no other warrior knew? Why was he like this? Fireheart had no proof of all this! But, why would her brother lie to her? What if this was true? Why else would he have had Fireheart try to cross that branch? No... She didn't want to belive it, but part of her trusted what Fireheart said and took it as the truth.
"Now do you see why I didn't want to tell you earlier?" Fireheart asked. "It would have put you in danger. It was bad enough having you alone with him."
Fawnfur shook head. When she thought of Tigerclaw, she thought of the strong warrior who had trained her and shared tongues with her in the clearing and saved her in battle. She didn't think of him as some ambitious murdering cat. "That can't be right." She told Fireheart. "Tigerclaw would never do that."
"But it's true." Fireheart told her. "You have to belive me."
"But the Tigerclaw I know isn't like that!" Fawnfur meowed, standing up. She had to find Tigerclaw, she had to talk to him. "I'm going to find him."
Fireheart got a brief panicked look on his face. "No," He jumped up. "You can't tell him that you know. He may see it as a threat and-"
"Fireheart!" Fawnfur rose her voice, which she almost never does. "Tigerclaw would never hurt me. He's not like that." And with that, she turned and left.
Where was Tigerclaw now? She didn't know. Hopefully he wouldn't be on patrol. She quickened her pace until she was running for the camp. But as she neared the camp entrance, she saw a border patrol returning. In it was Mousefur, Brackenfur, Darkstripe, and Tigerclaw.
"Tigerclaw!" She called, skidding to a stop in front of him. As he turned around, she had to step back to avoid running into him.
"What is it?" He looked down at her.
"I need to talk to you." She told him, suddenly a feeling of nervousness worm her way into her belly. What if he admitted to doing all of this?
"Okay. But let's make this quick." Tigerclaw meowed, telling the patrol to go on ahead before following Fawnfur. She led him away from camp and away from where she had been speaking with Fireheart. Then, she stopped walking and turned to him.
"Fireheart told me everything." She meowed, trying to keep her voice steady.
"What exactly did he tell you?" Tigerclaw asked, his claws scoring marks on the ground.
"He told me about how you killed Redtail and how you treated Ravenpaw." Fawnfur told him. "How Cinderpaw got hurt. How you have been meeting rogues and planning to attack the camp to kill Bluestar. Fireheart told me everything." She hesitated before asking, "Is it true?"
Tigerclaw stared at her for a moment that seemed to last moons. Finally he let out a long breath and said, "It is."
"But it can't be!" Fawnfur burst out, feeling hurt and betrayed. "You're not like that! You're not a murderer. Right?"
"I am." Tigerclaw replied honestly. He watched her expressionless, but the way his tail twitched and his paws worked on the ground showed that he was uncomfortable with all this.
"But..." Fawnfur didn't know what to say. She stared at him with pain and disbelief. What happened to the Tigerclaw she knew? "You..."
"I did kill Redtail." Tigerclaw told her, voice getting slightly louder. "I did hurt Cinderpaw on the Thunderpath. I did plan to kill Bluestar by using the rogues. But when the time came, I couldn't." He got a frustrated look on his face and the words just came out.
"When I saw you, being pinned by that tom... I couldn't just walk away. I had to do something. If it had been that kittypet brother or yours, I'd be fine with turning away. If it was any Clan member, even Longtail or Darkstripe, I would have been okay with walking away. But your different. I couldn't have left you there... Fawnfur... I-I think I love you."
Fawnfur didn't know what to say. What do you say when your mentor admitts to being an evil, ambitious murderer, and then confesses that they love you? A small shiver passed through her and her mouth seemed dry.
She stared at Tigerclaw, looking over his dark tabby pelt and deep amber eyes, thinking that even though he was evil, he was one of the best cats she had met. And she found that she could only say one thing.
"I love you too." She whispered, stepping forward to press her pelt against his.
Tigerclaw stiffened as if he was going to pull away. But then he relaxed and gently leaned into her touch. A low purr rumbled in his throat and he twined his tail with hers.
Fawnfur wanted to stay like that forever. She wanted to be held like this, to feel his deep purr and the warmth of his pelt. She wanted to be with him, and only him. But she knew that they had to go back to camp. Darkstripe or Fireheart would come looking if they took too long, and then they'd have to explain.
So Fawnfur slowly pulled away and they made their way back to camp. She had a warm feeling in her and she couldn't help but purr as their pelts brushed together as they walked.
And in her head, she silently wondered to herself. What would become of a kittypet made warrior, like herself, and an evil ambitious cat, like Tigerclaw?
Sorry if it isn't the best. I've never really wrote something like this before and I know I need practice. Review!