Here is the alternate PoV!

Chapter 3

Hawkkit crouched, his tail low and twitching. Sunshine rippled across his dark brown tabby pelt, his amber eyes focused. He took a single step before he leaped, pinning down his prey with a satisfied purr.

The moss ball disintegrated beneath his claws, and Hawkkit took a step back, slightly disappointed. He sat down and sighed, his tail-tip flicking back and forth. Wind rustled through the bramble barriers that surrounded the camp, carrying the scent of things that were actually worth hunting.

"Wishing for real prey?"

Hawkkit looked up to find a dark brown tabby tom with broad, powerful shoulders and a youthful energy in his amber eyes. Hawkkit smiled at him and admitted, "Yeah."

The tabby warrior sat down and wrapped his tail around Hawkkit, purring. "You'll be an apprentice soon enough," he said. "Then all the prey in ShadowClan territory is yours to hunt."

Hawkkit rolled his eyes. "Yeah," he meowed, "but I still have to wait a whole moon… the nursery is boring, Tigerheart – can't I sleep with you in the warrior's den?"

Tigerheart chuckled, "Of course not!"

Hawkkit frowned, unhappy. His littermates – or, at least the kits he had been raised with – had been made apprentices days ago. Hawkkit was all alone in the nursery, and he missed the warm bodies of his friends. Pinenose's kits weren't due for another moon and a half, and Applefur's litter was too young to play with. It was so boring!

"I'd rather sleep with you," Hawkkit grumbled. He looked at the camp, with all the warriors padding about and chatting and eating together. The apprentices were in a tight group, with tails twitching and whiskers waving. "No one in this Clan likes me but you."

Tigerheart gave him a hearty nudge. "That's not true," he meowed. "The Clan likes you, Hawkkit."

"Who knows if Rowanstar will even make me an apprentice," Hawkkit droned on, sheathing and unsheathing his claws. "I'll probably be a kit forever!"

Tigerheart licked him between the ears. Hawkkit looked up at the warrior as he meowed, "That's not true, either. You'll make an outstanding warrior, Hawkkit. Whatever you were before I found you, you're not anymore."

Hawkkit flicked an ear. Tigerheart had always been as sort of father to Hawkkit, seeing as he had none. Hawkkit didn't remember much about the time he had been brought to ShadowClan by the dark tabby warrior – his eyes and ears weren't even open at the time – but he faintly recalled his scent and the feel of his fur keeping him dry from the rain.

Still, it didn't change that he was still a stranger to ShadowClan. Even if Tigerheart had been open and honest with Hawkkit and the Clan about his origins, some ShadowClan cats looked suspiciously at the young tomkit, as if he belonged somewhere else. Those looks were lessening, of course, but Hawkkit had been keeping track of who made them. He would prove them all wrong.

ShadowClan will have to accept me one way or another…

"So, I hear Littlecloud is sick?" Hawkkit asked. He liked the elderly medicine cat – he faintly recalled the old tabby caring for him when he had a cold.

Tigerheart nodded. "The whole Clan is worried," he admitted.

"What's Mistpaw going to do?" Hawkkit wondered. "She's only been his apprentice for a little while… I mean, she can't know everything already?"

Tigerheart opened his mouth, but his answer came in the form of Mistpaw herself padding through the camp entrance. The entire Clan looked on as a strange scent drifted into camp, one that made Hawkkit's nose wrinkle – ThunderClan.

Behind Mistpaw slipped a lean-bodied light brown tabby she-cat, her chest and paws white and her eyes amber and wise. A bundle of leaves were in her jaws, and she only gave the slightest of nods to the gathering ShadowClan warriors.

"Who's that?" Hawkkit asked.

"Leafpool," Tigerheart meowed. "ThunderClan's medicine cat."

Hawkkit wrinkled his nose more. He knew ThunderClan scent well – ShadowClan's camp was so close to their border marker that on a windy day the smell would drift into camp. It was gross – how could they stand smelling like they did?

The Clan gathered around Leafpool and Mistpaw, their eyes flickering suspiciously. Yet no cat made a move.

"Leafpool!" called a commanding voice. "We're glad you could make it."

All eyes turned to the hazel tree. Its branches sheltered the ShadowClan camp from the rain and harsh weather, and Rowanstar, the leader of ShadowClan, was padding out of the hollow trunk, his mate and deputy Tawnypelt by his side.

Rowanstar glanced at Tawnypelt. "Take them to Littlecloud's den, and assign a warrior to do whatever it is that they need."

"Of course," Tawnypelt meowed. The tortoiseshell she-cat blinked at the warriors and meowed, "Olivenose – Leafpool can have you and Nightpaw."

Olivenose muttered something under her breath. Hawkkit could tell she wasn't pleased. Nightpaw, her apprentice, didn't look very pleased either, but the two of them headed for the medicine cat's den regardless.

Tawnypelt approached Leafpool and brushed muzzles with her, tail high. Hawkkit shifted on his paws, watching as most of the older ShadowClan warriors rolled their eyes and muttered under their breath. Hawkkit sighed.

Tawnypelt isn't from ShadowClan, either, Hawkkit thought, watching the tortoiseshell she-cat escort the medicine cats. She became deputy! I want to be just like her…

"I hope Littlecloud gets better," Tigerheart breathed. "Either that, or maybe Leafpool can ease his way to StarClan. He deserves that much."

Rowanstar raised his voice over the clamor. "I want no disruptions in the medicine cat's den today – let them all work in peace. Get back to your duties!" he ordered.

Hawkkit sighed. As quickly as the commotion started, it stopped. Warriors dispersed, some calling their apprentices for patrols or training. Hawkkit longed to join them more than anything.

"Can't I go hunting with you?" Hawkkit pleaded to Tigerheart. "Just once?"

Tigerheart twitched his whiskers. "Rowanstar wouldn't like that very much. Kits stay in camp, Hawkkit – be patient. You won't be a kit much longer. Why don't you take Applefur's kits to see Snaketail?"

"Snaketail is boring," Hawkkit complained.

"That's not nice," Tigerheart meowed sternly. "Your elders were brave warriors, and they know things that no other cat knows. Snaketail survived the Great Battle, after all."

"I've heard about the Great Battle," Hawkkit reminded him. He'd heard about it again and again and again and again… he was sick of it.

"Applefur's kits haven't," Tigerheart pointed out.

Hawkkit frowned. "You really think the Great Battle is a story fit for two-and-a-half-moon old kits?" he wondered skeptically. Applefur's kits barely understood a word that was spoken to them – how were they meant to understand what the Great Battle was?

Tigerheart narrowed his eyes at Hawkkit. "I think it's a story fit for any kit," he growled. "We learn from our pasts so we don't forget the mistakes we made. We don't want to repeat those mistakes in the future."

The dark tabby warrior stood up and padded away, leaving Hawkkit to sigh. He wrapped his tail around his paws and thought, What is there to repeat? The Dark Forest was defeated seasons ago… how can they still be a threat worth worrying about now?