o n c e u p o n a t i m e …

Prologue

The sound of falling rocks and gravel tumbling into heaps echoed around the pitch black tunnel. Rushing water roared at the foot of the tunnel, it's mist spraying the black she-cat with drops of icy cold water. She collapsed to the ground and covered her muzzle with her paws, and began sobbing.

"They will never understand.. They will never understand!" She muttered. After a few moments of silence, she got to her feet and looked up at the top of the tunnel. She couldn't tell where the top of it was. In fact, she couldn't tell where anything was. She was so alone in this place, her heart felt heavy but she felt empty.

Did I really do the right thing?

Fury building up inside of her, she lashed out at the top of her enclosure. She was blocked on one side by the river, and the other with rocks. After slashing at the top of the wall for a while, light began to filter through, filling the tunnels with murky sight. She could see the water, brown with dirt, rushing near her paws. She could also see the dust flickering in the moonlight, and with a sigh, looked over her shoulder at the river. She would have to cross it, one way or another.

"I can swim, or I can jump." She mewed solemnly. Padding carefully over, making sure not to slip and lose her footing, she dipped her paw lightly into the water.

Freezing. Somewhere, snow must have melted to flow into the river. She looked towards the other side where she could just make out the edge of the river, where another tunnel formed at the edge of WindClan territory. She could easily escape from there, when her clanmates would have no idea that she was actually alive.

But then again, they weren't really her clanmates anymore, where they?

She was a loner now. She. Hollyleaf. Hollyleaf, of ThunderClan. One of the three. She would have been the best deputy the clans would have seen. She would have been the best leader, the clans would have seen. How could ThunderClan not understand that Leafpool had broken the Warrior code? It was their laws, StarClan may be powerful, but they made the rules, and because Leafpool broke them, she should be punished. Not me! I did nothing wrong.

"How could I be Half-Clan?" She hissed.

She took three steps backward, and charged the river. Plunging into it, she went underneath, bubbles forming at her mouth. It was so icy cold, her paws went numb immediately. She pulled up, abruptly thrusting her head out of the water. With a few gasps of air, she paddled her paws, trying to grab hold of the edge. She was very close, but she was being swept down-river.

Maybe I was supposed to die…

She was dragged under by a swift current, and twirled underwater. Kicking out with her legs, she hit the bottom, and reaching out with her front paw, she finally grasped onto the soily end. She was almost about to slip, when she dragged her other paw up, and stopped herself from being carried away. Carefully pulling herself up, trying not to slip back in, she walked back to where the tunnel was. Two steps more, and she would be free.

This is my chance. I can go, and nobody will ever know where I am. I can do it. I'm Hollyleaf, exile of ThunderClan.

Hollyleaf, the greatest warrior the clans have seen.

And I am Hollyleaf, a free soul, starting now. Free of the prophecy, free of those clan fools, and free of the traitors in ThunderClan.

Taking those two steps, she padded into the full moonlight. A brisk wind hit her from the side, and her green gaze was eccentric as she looked around. No WindClan patrols. No ThunderClan patrols. The grass felt so nice under her paws, and the scent of the moor, and of fresh-kill was enticing. Looking over her shoulder at the tunnels, where she swore she would never tread again, she bolted, towards the foothills of the mountains.

She would be visiting the Tribe soon.