Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors.
Chapter 2: Amberpaw
"Amberpaw, come on!" Lilypaw's high-pitched voice came from outside of the apprentice den.
"Yeah, you're going to be late!" Seedpaw called.
"Why are you waking me up now?" Amberpaw complained.
"We're going on the dawn patrol, remember?" Seedpaw said perkily.
"Ugh!" Amberpaw rolled over and sat up. Her littermates, Dewpaw and Snowpaw were sound asleep, but the she-cats were wide awake. Amberpaw stretched. "Do we have to go?"
"Spiderleg says we have to," Lilypaw told her. "It's going to be fun!"
Amberpaw sighed. Sometimes it was shocking that they were older than her, because of how immature they acted. "Fine." She followed them out of the den, wishing she was in her brothers' position.
"Are you ready?" Ivypool asked, waiting beside Bumblestripe and Spiderleg.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Amberpaw said, rolling her eyes.
"We were born ready!" Lilypaw and Seedpaw squeaked in unison.
"Good," Bumblestripe said. "I'll lead the way." He walked out of camp, Spiderleg and Ivypool trailing behind him.
"Let's go!" Lilypaw squealed, bouncing after them with Seedpaw by her side.
Amberpaw followed silently behind, like she usually did. Seedpaw and Lilypaw chattered faster than starlings up ahead, like they always did. Amberpaw never really had a friend. When she talked to Lilypaw and Seedpaw, she always felt like the third wheel and her brothers wanted nothing to do with her. The closest thing she had to a friend was Brightheart, and she was her mother, so that didn't count. Amberpaw sighed.
They had an uneventful walk to the border. They remarked the borders with no trouble and were done with much time to spare. "What should we do now?" Bumblestripe asked.
"We should hunt. It'll be a great way to start the day," Spiderleg mewed.
Amberpaw groaned inwardly. All she wanted to do was go to sleep. Her limbs felt stiff from sleeping. If she could just go back to camp now, maybe she could just be able to get a little more sleep...
"That sounds like a great idea," Ivypool purred excitedly. "Everyone split up!"
Amberpaw's face fell. "I guess I'll got to Sky Oak," she said, enthusiastically.
"Me and Lilypaw will go to the abandoned twoleg nest," Seedpaw mewed excitedly.
"Great, it'll be good for you guys to work on your hunting," Bumblestripe said. "I'll take the Greenleaf twoleg place, Spiderleg, you take the old thunderpath, Ivypool, you take the lake shore." Their mentors nodded and parted.
Amberpaw dragged herself to the Sky Oak. She picked up the scent of a squirrel soon, and followed it to a patch of brambles. Amberpaw groaned again, closed her eyes, braced herself and dashed through the brambles.
Without warning, she felt the ground give way under her. She shrieked as she felt herself falling till at last, she landed with a thump on the ground. She rolled out-of-the-way as the earth fell down, blocking out the sun. Amberpaw whimpered.
She lay there for a while, unsure of what to do, waiting for someone, anyone. She had lost track of time and begun to panic, when she heard pawsteps. Amberpaw forced herself to her paws. "Who's there?" she squeaked.
"Why do you ask?" a voice responded. Amberpaw turned around, and saw the muzzle of a black she-cat peeking out of the darkness. She could see the glint of her green eyes.
"Well, I'm stuck down here and I need help, so it would be useful to know who you are," Amberpaw shot back.
The she-cat emerged slowly from the shadows. Her pelt was dotted with ginger patches and she was a bit smaller than Amberpaw. "Leaf. That's who I am."
"I'm Amberpaw," Amberpaw said.
"What a weird name," Leaf muttered. Her eyes scanned Amberpaw. "You got some bad bruises. Are you okay?"
Amberpaw licked her pelt, now aware of the bruises that covered her. "Not really, but I can manage."
"Here, lean on me."
Amberpaw smiled and gratefully leaned against Leaf's flank. "That's better."
"I'll bet it is. Come on, let's go."
Amberpaw munched on a vole. Leaf had offered her a fish, but she had turned it down. She hated RiverClan prey.
"So," Amberpaw said, trying to start a conversation. "You live down here?" she asked.
Leaf stared at her quizzically. "What else would I be doing down here?"
"I don't know, I was just asking," Amberpaw said.
"Well, I do," Leaf told her.
"Do you live here alone?"
Leaf paused, as if she was thinking, then very carefully said: "No," without any further explanation.
They waited in silence for a few moments, until a loud scuffling noise broke it. "Hey Leaf, we're back and we have- wow, who is that?" a dark gray tabby tom had walked into camp and did a double take.
"Umm... Leaf? Where'd you find this stranger?" the golden-brown tom next to the tabby asked.
"She found me. I don't even know how she got here," Leaf told them. She turned to Amberpaw. "These are my brothers, Blaze-" she flicked her tail at the golden-brown tom "and Feather-" she gestured to the gray tabby. "Blaze, Feather, this is Amberpaw."
"What a weird name," Blaze mumbled. "Why does it have 'paw' at the end of it?"
"It's my apprentice name. Every apprentice has the suffix 'paw'. If you're a kit, you have the suffix 'kit'. If you are a warrior, you have different suffixes. It could be anything from 'tail' to 'wing'. If you're a leader, your suffix is 'star'."
"You have different ranks too?" Blaze said in awe.
"Yup. We have kits, apprentices, warriors, queens, deputies, leaders, and medicine cats." Amberpaw piped.
"It sounds complicated," Leaf said.
"I think it sounds nice," Feather said. Blaze gave him an odd look. Leaf just rolled her eyes. Amberpaw awkwardly stood there not really knowing what to say.
"Er.. Leaf? Could we have a word?" Blaze asked. "Privately?" he added hastily.
"Amberpaw, do you mind?" Leaf addressed her.
"Not at all," Amberpaw replied.
"Good," she lead her brothers away to a huddle on the other side of the room. They came back a few moments later. Blaze looked less tense and Feather had a smile on his face.
"So, do you plan on staying?" Feather asked.
"I don't know. I want to go back home though. To ThunderClan. I just don't know how." Amberpaw said. Only when she said it, was she painfully aware of the pang of loneliness in her chest. She missed ThunderClan, her mother and father, even Seedpaw and Lilypaw.
"ThunderClan? What's ThunderClan?" Blaze asked.
"It's my home," Amberpaw replied. "There are four clans in the forest. ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan. ThunderClan is where I live."
"Why do you have clans? Why can't you all just live together?" Feather wondered aloud.
"Well..." Amberpaw paused, realizing she didn't have an answer for that. "I guess I don't know. It's just the way it's always been."
"I think it's much more fun being alone. You have no one to worry about except yourself," Leaf remarked.
"But, the clans are amazing! You get to grow up, living with your friends and family, knowing that they'll be at your side always! And, and you get to train to be a warrior and have your own family and... Oh StarClan! I guess not being in a clan, you wouldn't understand." Amberpaw sighed.
"What's StarClan? I thought you said there were only four clans," Blaze asked.
"StarClan is our warrior ancestors. It's where we go when we die," Amberpaw explained.
"It still doesn't sound that appealing," Leaf said.
"Maybe not to you," Amberpaw started, "But to some cats, it is everything."
"Don't you ever get tired of living like that? Then you get stuck in the clans. What if you want to leave?" Leaf asked.
"I don't know why anyone would want to. But, you can leave if you do. There weren't many. Some of them were taken away from their clan by force. Some were banished. The only person I could think of who left by themselves was Hollyleaf. And even she eventually came back," Amberpaw said.
"Hollyleaf? Her name has 'leaf' in it. Just like mine..." Leaf trailed off. "She sounds familiar..."
"The elders tell me stories," Amberpaw's eyes lit up. "They say, that she lived in these very tunnels. She died though."
Leaf was still in a daze. "What did she look like?"
"Umm... I think she was black with green eyes," Amberpaw said. "Or maybe it was gray... I don't know. Something like that. But I know she had green eyes."
Leaf's ear pricked up. "Amberpaw, this is going to sound crazy," Leaf took a deep breath. "Will you take me to your clan?"
Long time, no write. School's been busy. But don't worry, I'll try to update this as fast as I can.