Moonfur followed through the shade of the trees as the DarkClan cats began their journey to Fourtrees. She had been told that the Gathering would have several different cats and their clans attending, she wondered what it would be like.

The Tribe had never done anything like this, there were no other cats around. Moonfur absentmindedly wondered if they knew about the clan cats. They had told her she had come from the side of the mountain, ever since the day she left all she did was search there.

There were only a few memories of her parents that had stuck with her. Her mother's death, her father taking her away, and her parents standing over her. Although she could no longer see their faces clearly, it made her happy to have the memories.

Moonfur's eyes landed on Lostheart walking beside her, she wondered if the she-cat had always been so distant. Her eyes landed on the scar over her eye and she couldn't help but wonder how Lostheart attained it.

Moonfur had been honest to Lostheart, but she hadn't told her everything. Specifically the day her father tried to send her off with an old she-cat. She didn't want to accept it, but a part of her knew that it had actually been her choice.

"Come on let's go."

From the corner of the nursery a young she-cat quietly stepped out into the light, it's shining rays reflecting off her pale coat.

She smiled up at the mottled tom standing in front of her. He stood with an old gray she-cat that the kit had come to recognize. For the past moon her father had taken her to see this she-cat, but not once had they ever gone anywhere.

The dark tom's amber eyes briefly swept over the kit before turning and walking away with the gray cat by his side.

The kit's face fell and she stumbled forward after her father. Letting out a light skip as she caught up to him, her strange eyes turned to the tom. A light shadow of worry evident in their midst.

"Where are we going?" she questioned with a small mewl.

The stripes on the tom's pelt moved along with his lithe form as he continued onward paying no attention to the kit's question.

The gray she-cat's head suddenly turned her head towards the tom, anger stretched across her face.

"You mean you haven't told her yet?!" the she-cat snapped.

"That is very upsetting to hear, Mudclaw. Tell me, did you even say goodbye to her?"

Her tail lashed viciously and she watched the dark tom with clear disappointment. Meanwhile, the pale kit's head turned back and forth between the two cats in confusion.

His amber eyes shimmered dangerously. "No." he replied.

"I thought I would do that here."

The old she-cat scoffed and flicked her bushy tail. "That's no excuse, I know you're happy to get rid of her. Dumping her on me like this..." the she-cat scowled

"It's not like that and you know it." Mudclaw growled. "I have to do this, she will be safer away from here, never knowing a warrior's life. There are too many threats, not to mention the twoleg monsters are destroying our territory. Many of our cats are getting poisoned by the rabbits, there is nothing to eat, and many have already perished. It's too dangerous. I am deputy, I don't have the time to care for her. Besides, no one can ever know...And you've already agreed, Shiver."

Shiver's eyes narrowed and she looked at the tabby before her in disgust. "What kind of a father are you? Never spending time with her, that Mudclaw, is sad in my opinion. Really, it is not the time you don't have, it is the love."

The tom watched her with a cold, impassive gaze meeting her eyes angrily.

"You agreed." he growled.

Shiver turned her nose upward and avoided looking at the filthy tom. "I'm only doing it for Song."

The kit stood between the two with wide, shining eyes feeling dumbfounded and hurt about what Shiver said about her father not loving her.

Because at one time...she had thought the same thing, and now it was coming true.

After silently glaring at each other for a few more minutes, Mudclaw snorted and continued on past Shiver. With a growl, the elderly she-cat trailed after him, while the pale kit followed slowly behind, crestfallen. Neither of the two cats noticed her as she trailed behind.

Her paws dragged across the hard earth as she followed the two cats, they had been arguing for a while now, but she hardly cared to listen.

Quietly the kit slowed to a halt and watched as the cats continued on, unaware of her stop.

'I'm not going to stay with Shiver.'

Glancing up one more time, she checked to see if they had noticed her. The two cats, however, continued on, bickering amongst themselves.

It was at that point the kit decided she would stand her ground.

'I'm six moons old.' She told herself watching the cats in front of her, their arguing was making her sick.

'I'm not going back to clan life, and I am not going with Shiver.'

The kit hated that cat and refused to put up with her for the rest of her life, and she didn't want to be a burden to her father. Her heart ached with pain at her father's dislike of her.

'I wasn't made to be a kit for the rest of my life, so I'm going away from them...forever.'

Silently the kit took a few steps back and quietly padded away, she didn't look back.

"We're here."

Moonfur blinked at the sound of Greysight's voice and looked at the large clearing in front of them. Through the trees she could see a large rock at the back, the forms of many cats already lay around the clearing.

"It looks like we're not the last ones for a change."

Moonfur paid little attention to Greysight and followed her new clan in with silent awe. As their group entered, many cats turned their attention to the newcomers. Moonfur hoped she didn't stick out, she walked in the center of the group in an effort to blend in.

She wasn't sure if it was really ok for her to be here.

Sunstar stopped their group after they were a good bit into the clearing and turned towards his own cats, giving a slight nod.

At his signal the DarkClan cats began to disperse and Sunstar padded away towards the large boulder.

Moonfur briefly panicked when everyone began to walk away, where was she supposed to go? What was she supposed to do?

The pale cat was able to relax when Lostheart came padding up to her, followed by Browneyes.

"Well, this is the Gathering." Lostheart meowed blandly. "While we wait for LightClan to arrive you can talk to cats from other clans or just wait if you like. But if you do interact with the others, remember you can't talk about anything having to do with our clan's business."

Moonfur nodded and let her eyes travel around the wide clearing. She hadn't seen so many cats in one place since she lived in the tribe. They had never done anything like this though, there were no other cats around.

The four large oaks gave the clearing it's shape while a large stone between two of them created a sort of backing for the area.

Browneyes smiled supportively at Moonfur. "If you're uncomfortable, you guys can always just stay with Darkpelt and I."

Lostheart had already begun to pad away, assuming her conversation with Moonfur had ended. The pale she-cat glanced past Browneyes to where the dark warrior was watching her with hateful eyes.

"No, that's ok. Thanks Browneyes." she replied.

"I think I'll do things on my own." with her final words she began to walk off into the crowd, taking in the different scents and figures.

Some cats looked at her oddly, having never seen this unfamiliar cat. She had DarkClan's scent, so no cat really questioned her, but she noticed the strange looks.

Moonfur suddenly stumbled backwards as she felt herself collide with another cat. "I'm so sorry!" she meowed quickly, embarrassed that she hadn't been paying attention.

The she-cat she had run into blinked and eyed Moonfur oddly, she had never seen this cat before.

Moonfur was surprised to see the cat she had run into, it was a beautiful she-cat with a strange pelt pattern she had never seen before, the cat was looking at her strangely.

"I don't think I've ever met you before." the she-cat meowed.

Moonfur shrugged, trying to come up with a quick reply in her head. Should she tell her the truth?

"Er...well, this is actually my first Gathering so..."

The she-cat appeared to accept her answer, "Well then, I hope you enjoy it. I'm sure you already know who I am, but I shall introduce myself formally."

The she-cat suddenly stood up proudly. "My name is Hawkmask," she meowed, "Deputy of OceanClan."

Moonfur, not knowing what to say, just nodded. "It's an honor?" she meowed, but it was more of a question than a statement.

Luckily Hawkmask didn't appear to pick up on it. The lithe she-cat's ear suddenly twitched and she looked over the crowd of cats.

"It appears LightClan has arrived."

Hawkmask lowered her gaze and turned to Moonfur, a suspicious look in her eyes.

"It was a pleasure to meet you Moonfur, but I must go and take my place now."

Moonfur nodded and watched as the cat turned from her and began to pad towards the rock. She noticed two other cats arrive at the bottom of the stone as well.

She assumed that was where the deputies stood, seeing as the leaders were sitting on top of the rock. However, she didn't see Lostheart there, or even Darkpelt. Moonfur looked around the clearing and caught sight of the black she-cat sitting in the very back of the clearing by one of the oak trees.

Her thoughts were broken when a yowl erupted from the Great Rock. All cats turned to face their leaders as the Gathering began.

The leaders all looked very different. The smallest of the cats was definitely the one who had announced the start of the meeting, Moonfur also noticed she was the only she-cat up there. There were two other cats she didn't recognize standing up there.

One was a brown tom with several dark, wavy markings. The pelt instantly reminded her of the cat from earlier.

'He must be the leader of OceanClan.'

That only left one more cat, and for some reason Moonfur doubted he was the leader of LightClan. She had never seen such a huge cat in her entire life, his long, wild fur made him appear even larger.

The tom looked down on the clearing with shining, yellow eyes. Filled with clear superiority and dominance.

'Is this the cat threatening DarkClan?'

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have started school, thats why I haven't updated in a while. BUT I am making a new rule where I will upload weekly. You can expect them on the weekends because that is probably when I'll have the time to actually do it. If it's a good week there mmay be two chaps. So sorry for the delay, I've just been uber busy. Any questions leave em' in reviews. :) OK I cannot get the allegiance with pics to work, so I'm just gonna go upload the boring words. I MAY actually post a separate story about Moonfur! so tell me what you think of that.

Lost Out

P.S Do you remember me saying that this actually does tie in to Warriors a little bit ;) Well I did, if you paid attention very closely you may have caught some stuff in Shadows of the Heart too.