Blossompaw's Escape

Part Two: The Mission

The pack, as they dubbed themselves, sought shelter away from the city and twoleg place. It couldn't quite be counted as a forests or moors, but something in between. There were a few trees scattered about which offered no real canopy. There was a rock structure on the meadow hills which they made their camp. The rocks provided a deep cave with many cracks for sunlight.

It was no home though, the animals still went to sleep at night with dreams of death. They still cowered in the cave instead of adventuring in their new territory after moons of capture. Blossompaw was unanimously elected their leader, a position she knew she had earned. But she didn't want it. She was captivated by fear of letting them down. She was only an apprentice after all, and her father had yet to come to her in a dream again. Perhaps he was waiting for her to do something.

"Chance, can you organize a hunting patrol today? I'm not feeling so well," Blossompaw called out to Chance, her deputy of sorts. The great dog nodded before picking an array of cats to hunt for birds, mice, and squirrels; and a selection of dogs to get bigger game like geese and ducks. Blossompaw laid in her nest with her white chin resting on her paws. She closed her eyes, hoping sleep would take her, but it would not.

"Please, don't leave me!" Sylvester's voice cried out. Like a coward Blossompaw had turned away and left him behind. Left him for dead. She didn't deserve sleep. Suddenly she felt something stirring, she ran out the cave just in time to retch.

"Well, there goes breakfast," she muttered dryly. She quickly trotted over to the creek to clean the taste of bile out of her mouth. She could barely get down a mouthful of water without coughing.

"What is going on?" she mewed to herself with an annoyed huff. Her stomach gave another lurch and she feared she was going to be sick again. "If only we had a medicine cat," she murmured. Then she frowned. We aren't a clan, I need to stop thinking we are, she thought silently. She walked slowly back to camp, but she couldn't stop seeing Ravenclan. Chance was the deputy, she was leader. The dogs and cats were warriors - fighting against all odds to survive.

Then she realized what she was seeing was not in fact Ravenclan, but another clan entirely. She sucked in a gasp as she realized it was a vision. Adderfang was suddenly standing next to her.

"Is this a dream?" she asked her father. He shook his head.

"No, but it is similar. Only you can see me. Come, let's walk," he suggested. Blossompaw was too stunned to refuse. They circled the camp, while Adderfang pointed things out - shapes moving that were not a part of the pack.

"Who are these cats?" she demanded in the unfamiliar presence of these strange cats. Suddenly the rocky pile changed into a twoleg structure. Blossompaw took an uncertain step back.

"Why are you showing me this?" she asked, alarmed. Adderfang had vanished. She blinked and the foreign cats disappeared, and the rock pile replaced the twoleg nest.

"What do you want form me?" she hissed under her breath. She knew Adderfang was trying to tell her something, albeit being more vague than Starclan themselves. The first time he spoke to her was after she had told the stories of Ashclan, he mentioned she told more truth than she realized. Blossompaw shook the thoughts from her head, she had more pressing matters on her paws.

She was sick. That much was obvious. While most of the other animals recovered form their illnesses within a few days with little to no symptoms left, Blossompaw was clearly not cured. She thought she had been getting better, and now all of a sudden the symptoms were back in full swing. Her disease had only subsided temporarily. She had a suspicion the twolegs had been working on the cure for whatever sickness they gave her, per their research, but it only held off the disease instead of ridding her of it.

The question remained, what was she going to do about it?

"Blossompaw," a voice behind her sounded. Chance, she thought as she turned to face her deputy.

"Everyone has been fed, we surprised a flock of geese," he reported dutifully.

"Good, good," she responded, although her mind was otherwise occupied. Chance is a good deputy, he know's how to handle the animals and keep their spirits high...He could lead them well enough without me.

"Are you alright, you look tired," he asked with concern. Blossompaw waved him away with a flick of her tail.

"I'm fine, but you should probably stay away from me in case this little cold is contagious," she explained. It was only partially a lie. It was definitely not a little cold, but she truthfully wanted him to give her space. The disease very well could spread, and if she infected her pack she'd never forgive herself. Chance nodded his head and walked off to chat with the others. Blossompaw was left alone to think.

"What am I going to do?" she asked herself wearily. Leave, she answered herself subconsciously. It did seem like the most logical solution. Chance could lead the pack, and she wouldn't be a danger to them. And whatever Adderfang wanted her to do, it seemed like she wouldn't be sticking around. Her heart began beating frantically in her chest.

"Am I really doing this? Am I running away?" she whispered to herself. Yes, yes you are. Tonight when they are asleep you go.


She slipped gracefully out of camp, watching with sorrow filled eyes as she left behind the only family she really remembered. The animals all slept together in a giant mound, keep each other warm and warding off the night terrors that plagued them.

"I have to go, I'm sick. I could hurt them," she breathed to herself, her voice was so soft even she couldn't hear it. She knew her words rang hollow in her head. "Adderfang told me I have an important mission I need to do, something involving the fallen Ashclan. I must leave,"

This time there was a note of confidence behind her words. She did need to leave, and she trusted her pack wold be in Chance's capable paws. She turned and slunk away, regret weighing each of her paw steps down. She didn't notice as the white dog with brown and gold splashes and one blind eye followed after her. Blossompaw walked until she reached the ravine, signifying the end of their territory. That's when the dog spoke up behind her. She had a slight suspicion he might have come after her.

"Each night you fill these tortured souls with stories of your glorious and noble clans. We lived those stories, bled for them. We embodied them in our pack because those stories are what brought us together, tighter than any clan could be," Chance growled, his fangs showing under his muzzle.

"I am aware," Blossompaw retorted. Her mind instantly pictured Silverpaw - the proud apprentice from Ravenclan. She found contempt that she sounded just like her. Chance continued talking in his deep rasp.

"Why aren't you happy here?" he demanded. Blossompaw didn't know what to say.

"I'm sick, it's for the best that I leave. And I told you about my dreams of Adderfang and what he told me,"

"Don't lie Blossompaw. Those are excuses, not reasons," Chance snorted, his eyes bored into hers. Seeking out the real reason for her running away.

"I've been telling myself each night and day that I don't miss the clans. I tell myself I am content leading this new life. But I'm not!" she wailed with anguish. She wanted to go home. She wanted to be a warrior, not a part of a pack. She wanted to see her mother and talk with the other apprentices. She wanted anything that wasn't the life she had right now.

"Why don't you go back then?" he asked. She looked at him as if he was crazy.

"I wouldn't even know where to start looking. I could be a thousand miles away!"

"So start looking," he pointed out simply. "If you aren't happy here just go, no one is forcing you to stay. But don't leave in the dead of night, don't make foolish excuses,"

"It isn't that easy!" she shouted, defending her actions. "You're just a loner, you nothing about loyalty! I love these animals like my kin. I love them like clan mates. But I still love my old clan mates! I'm torn in half!" the words ripped out of her, she needed him to understand why this was hard for her, why this was not an easy decision. She looked up and was surprised to find Chance looking at her with immeasurable sadness.

"I know nothing about loyalty, huh?" he whispered softly. She tried to back track and apologize but her cut her off.

"After everything I have done for you...I have been the most loyal deputy. I advise you, comfort you, help you with daily tasks. But even then you think you are the only animal here who feels loyalty to someone they left behind," his voice had a dangerous edge to it. An invisible wall seemed to appear, separating them. Blossompaw realized how heartless she had been to him. She knew almost nothing of his backstory. She only asked to appease her own curiosity, there had been no concern for him.

"Just go Blossompaw!" he shouted. And she did, she turned tail and fled. Her paws scampered over grass and stone until the sun began to set behind the horizon. She kept running as night fell across the sky, she crossed thunderpaths and twoleg places until the beat of her heart had settled into a steady rhythm. Eventually exhaustion claimed her and she slept where she dropped.


She opened her mouth and various scents flooded her nose, the scent of prey was carried on the breeze. She detected a mouse and lowered slowly into the hunters crouch. She padded forward cautiously and wiggled her haunches, preparing to spring. Her blue eyes located the gray creature sifting through a pile of fallen leaves, collecting seeds for its store. It's whiskers twitched, oblivious to the looking presence of danger.

Blossompaw was unsure of how to go about catching the mouse, she hadn't gotten far in her training with her mentor. They'd only just covered the basics before she was captured from camp and taken to the testing facility. She left out a huff of frustration, alerting the mouse. It skittered away, she watched it flee as her stomach rumbled.

"If you always hunt like that, you're gonna starve to death," a voice chided behind her. She spun around in shock and saw a lean tom cat behind her. His fur was a mix of swirls of gray and orange, like ash settling over a raging fire. He was a flame point tabby with hints of darker grays around his muzzle and paws. His eyes were a lucid green, as deep as the pines of Ravenclan.

"That's funny, because it doesn't look like you caught the mouse either," she sniffed haughtily. The tom's eyes narrowed and a smirk played on his muzzle.

"Well you already scared it away so the point is moot," he retorted. Blossompaw found that this tom irked her. She could tell she was growing to hate his crooked grin already.

"Who are you, anyways? One of the local fleas?" she snapped. His eyes widened at her apparent annoyance. He snorted in response to the question. Blossompaw was reminded of her old friend Chance, it caused her pain to think she had left on such band terms.

"Who are you?" she asked again, more firmly this time but without the sass.

"Flint," he said curtly. "I'm guessing your name is Clumsy,"

"My name is Blossompaw," she corrected - carrying pride for her name.

"I never understood clan names, they are weird don'tchya think?"

Blossompaw bristled at his words and was too bothered by him to care that he knew of the clans. He'd probably encountered some before, a traveling loner like himself. She was about to fire another insult at him when a fit of coughs racked her body. She hated herself for showing weakness, but the sickness was strong. It came in waves, enough to bring her kneeling to the ground.

Flint sniffed her and proclaimed "You're sick,"

"Gee I had no idea!" she wheezed in between painful breaths. She coughed for a minute more, sure Flint had left - when she opened her blue eyes her was still hovering next to her.

"Come on, get up flowerfeet or whatever your name is," he prompted and nudged her into a standing position.

"Blossompaw," she corrected again and leaned heavily on his shoulder. She could feel the muscle beneath his pelt, he was strongly built. She noted that his name suited him. The stone flint matched the gray ash colors in his pelt and the fiery undertones.

"Come on, I'll take you to my friend. He knows how to fix stuff like this," Flint explained and guided her into the open twoleg compound. She thanked him under her breath, but was still irked by him. The second she was well enough to be on her own she would be getting as far away from him as possible.


SCREEE! Flint is back, swoon ;)

Anyways what did you think of the chapter? Mad at Blossom for ditching Chance or curious to see where she'll end up?