The gray tom started to walk over to his friends, but then heard someone near him. He stood silent, hearing a sigh from the voice. He padded over to where he thought the voice was coming from to a brown she-cat, Cloverpaw.
"Cloverpaw? Whats wrong?" He asked.
The she-cat turned around, "Oh, Thunderstar, you are okay!" She walked over to the tom, purring of excitement. "I was just trying to catch some prey, but I'm bad at catching prey." She snickered.
"Nice try," Thunderstar exclaimed, trying to make her happy. He felt bad, knowing that this situation must have been hard for her. "C'mon, let's go back." He said.
The RiverClan she-cat nodded, and started to walk a little, but then stopped. "Wait, Thunderstar, we need prey." She looked up at him.
Thunderstar smiled. "You go back. I'll go get some from the pile. It might be a little old, but it is better than nothing."
The she-cat nodded and started to walk back over to the cats. She wondered what would have happened if she ended up in ThunderClan. Thunderstar was nice, but she knew that if she ever landed in ThunderClan, he wouldn't care for her as much as he did for Cherrypaw. But she didn't care, she had a nice home and a loving leader to take care of her, and that was all she needed to be happy.
She thought about Snowpaw and Sandpaw for a bit, and how rude it was for them to just turn down her for their own selfish beliefs. But, everything works out on its own, at least Cloverpaw thought.
When Cloverpaw returned back to the cat's little camp, she saw the four looking around, with a worried look on their faces.
"Good morning," The medicine apprentice purred to the others.
Cherrypaw and Shadowstar immediately turned over to Cloverpaw when she first heard her voice. "Where is Thunderstar?" Shadowstar asked, distressed.
The apprentice responded contently, "Do not worry, he is out getting prey. He is out and about, alive and well. I told you Silverpelt would take a good job taking care of him above."
Shadowstar blushed, realizing that she should have listened to Cloverpaw a little more then she did. The leader didn't realize that, at all. She felt bad for it too, but she did not know the keen works of a medicine cat. Where they always right, always wrong, or in between?
Cherrypaw yawned as she tried to sit up. Her wounds made her sore, and it was hard for her to move around. She groaned once she entirely sat up. She blinked for a moment, and looked around, realizing, she wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for Thunderstar. Why should she be upset about some sore areas?
Her eyes widened as she looked down at her paws. She took away one of Thunderstar's lives.
Was she a...murderer?
But...he was okay? What?
Cherrypaw tried to remember something about Thunderstar resurrecting. She couldn't think about it at all, until she turned over her shoulder and looked at a small tree.
"Thunderstar, this tree looks really large." The apprentice said, and turned over to the leader. "I would never be able to climb that!"
The gray tom laughed and smiled at Cherrypaw. "Cherrypaw, there is many more trees that are ten times larger than this one. I am confident in you that you can climb it. Just remember what I taught you about climbing."
Cherrypaw nodded. She thought back to their lessons on climbing. Step one, unsheath your claws for extra protection when you climb. Step two, stick your claws into the tree. Step three, put your back paws on the tree. Step four, go up, paw by paw. Step five, repeat step four until all the way up.
She started to climb, and was very happy about it. Once she reached the top branch of the tree, she saw a calm squirrel, resting with a nut.
Her tongue almost hung out of her mouth. She hadn't had something so big and juicy in forever, now that she had to share with Thunderstar!
But this squirrel, this squirrel, was so big, and it'd be all hers!
At least, she could convince Thunderstar that it was hers and he could eat the mouse that he caught earlier.
She went into a hunter's crouch, then lunged over to the squirrel. The apprentice was lucky that the branch was sturdy, or else, she would have fallen.
The squirrel awoke from its nap. It looked at Cherrypaw, then tried to jump down, but Cherrypaw wouldn't let it. She sunk her teeth into its shoulder, and then, quickly snapped its neck. "Haha!" She said proudly, as she brought her big kill down the tree with her.
"Look! My first tree food!" The new apprentice squealed.
"Great job, Cherrypaw," Thunderstar told her.
She smiled as they walked back to the clearing for a prey break.
The apprentice successfully convinced Thunderstar that she could have the squirrel for herself, and he would eat the mouse. It took a couple of times, but he then agreed, noting that the mouse would be less fresh if he didn't eat it today.
As they feasted on their meals, Cherrypaw looked up. Thunderstar looked at her, and knew it was "Stupid Question Time".
"Thunderstar, why were you chosen to be leader? I'm not saying you are a bad leader, you are a great one, but why you? Couldn't whoever chose you just choose a random cat from another forest?" She asked him.
"Silverpelt, the cat who chose me, said it was destined for the four of us, Riverstar, Shadowstar, Windstar, and I, to become leaders and be set into a peaceful areas with only the code to protect us from arguing. It is much calmer then it used to be when the four of us were a group, Silverpelt said it could have led to war with all of the cats in the area we lived in, and she wanted to prevent that, so she did. She forced us all to not start anything like that, not for a long, long time. But I do not know when a big battle will be next, it could rise at anytime, that is why I want you to be ready. That is why I want you to be prepared." Thunderstar explained.
"Oh, cool." Cherrypaw said. A shiver was sent through her body, she didn't want war, nor a battle! She wanted to live in peace, but Thunderstar was right, this was part of the deal, she had to defend ThunderClan and its honor in battle, and at all of the other times. She did not want to ruin its reputation by being a weak cat who doesn't want to battle other cats. "What's the difference between a leader and a warrior? It seems like there is none, other then the fact that the leader gets to boss the rest of the cats around."
"That is true, but unlike a warrior, a leader has a special connection to StarClan. StarClan gifts the leaders nine lives to defend and live in their Clan for a long time. I won't be going anywhere for a while, since I am a leader, and I have nine lives." Thunderstar told her.
"Really, wow! That's soooo cool! I want to be a leader one day!" She said, her smile wide.
That's right... he had nine lives! Why did Cherrypaw forget that!
Loyalty... She heard someone whisper to her. She looked around, nobody was close enough to whisper to her. That voice did sound familiar.
Loyalty was the first life we gave him. He used it to save you, Cherrypaw. The voice whispered once again.
"W-wh-wha-" Cherrypaw whispered, startled.
Do not think badly of yourself. You did not kill him. He risked his own life to save you. The life is in StarClan, by the name of T now. T was the life of loyalty, and it was very understandable why you could tell. Everyone was attached to him in StarClan, and he is attached to anyone. He is loyal, and even Thunderstar, when he was in StarClan and met up with T, his own self, he got into an argument, but wanted to say sorry, because he was loyal to T. Now, goodbye, Cherrypaw. I'll talk to you later. The whisper said again, and a breeze swept by her ear. She looked up and around her, and saw a starry cat wink at her as she ran up to the sky. Another cat was there though, he was a translucent version of Thunderstar.
Cherrypaw shrieked. He glared at her and responded with a quiet, "Shh."
Shadowstar walked over to Cherrypaw. "What's wrong?" She asked.
The apprentice blinked. What was she going to say? She took a big breath and responded with,"I need to take a walk in the morning every day for exercise. It's a big thing in ThunderClan. Bye!"
Cherrypaw ran off, and heard the starry cat run after her.
Once they got to an alone clearing, the apprentice looked at the StarClan cat. "Thunderstar, you are dead?! The cats just said you are okay! Unless, did you fall into StarClan and permanently come back like t his, and only I can see you?!" She yelled.
The cat smirked. "Didn't you remember what Silverpelt just told you? I am T, apart of Thunderstar's lives. I'm the loyal one."
The apprentice glared at the tom. "What the heck? This is so crazy! I did not sign up to be apart of all of this spiritual crazy stuff! Just get away from me before I go insane and kill you!" She felt like wanting to take back what she said after that. It must be the loyalty kicking into her.
"Look, the old Thunderstar isn't gone. He is still with you. I am just gone, a fragment of his life." T responded.
"A fragment?!" Cherrypaw roared. She gave him an evil stare as she walked over to him slowly. "You are not a fragment!" She lifted her head up and screamed. "You saved my life, you call that a FRAGMENT?!"
She felt terrible for saying all of this for some reason, she knew it was the loyalty. It was killing her on the inside for saying this. She realized, this must have been what Thunderstar felt like when he saw T and was rude to him.
T blushed. "Sure, I came in and saved your life. That was the only reason why I was even in him. I'm not really a life form, and I'm gonna disappear back into StarClan's air, or inside of him, after he is fully dead. I don't know what will happen."
"You...you, are gonna disappear? I won't let that happen!" Cherrypaw yelled. "You saved me, but this is so crazy! Why can't I just be a cat that stole prey from all the Clans like I used to!"
She looked down at her paws and looked up. She fell to the ground, these insults were killing her. "They are my family now. They saved me so much, I must be important to them, why am I saying this," She whispered, the pain releasing from her. The apprentice looked at the starry cat. "Thanks."
She then shook her head a little, and just stood, staring at him. "You can do that? Kill cats with hate for loyalty?"
He nodded.
"Could Thunderstar do that?" She asked.
He shook his head. "Only I, since I am based off of loyalty, and he is based off of me. Only my thoughts on loyalty can go into his mind, not my actions, not my powers."
Cherrypaw nodded, amazed at the fact that he could do that. It must have been really cool to have a power.
"Now that you understand, if you excuse me, I have to go back to ThunderClan. Great to see you again in real life, Cherrypaw. I shall see you again one day, and I shall watch over you from the skies." He replied, and with that, he started to sail into the skies.
Cherrypaw watched him with a smile. "Bye, T!"
Then, it sounded like there was a paw placing itself on the ground somewhere.
Cherrypaw gulped. "T, is that you?"
He walked back down. "Nope... but I think I'm gonna feel sick..." The tom said, watching all of the area.
"Hello? Anyone there?" She asked.
No response.
T sniffed around. "No loyalty. I smell it, not from you, from someone else." He whispered, then looked over at Cherrypaw. "There's another cat around. It's not a good one."
Cherrypaw shook a little, then stiffened up. Feeling sore wasn't the problem now, even if she is still sore, she was ready to fight. "I know you are out there!" She yelled.
A cat sprinted past them. Cherrypaw wasn't able to register who they were.
"Let's go," Cherrypaw whispered to T.
The two got ready to run, but a cat then was in front of them. "Yes, you know I was out there, and now, I shall take down the both of you," They grinned.
Cherrypaw and T gasped.
It was...
Author's Note: Oh! Major, major cliffhanger! Who do you think it is gonna be? One of the leaders? A cat from the clans? One of Cherrypaw's siblings? Some random rogue?
Post in the review area who you think it is!
Thanks for reading!
(If you review, you get a T plushie!)