Chapter 33-Wait For Me

A brown blur suddenly exploded in front of my face, and without thinking, I lunged at it with my jaws open wide. My teeth sank into flesh, and I felt the life quickly drain from the squirrel's twitching body.

Triumphantly, I carried the prey over to my mentor. Millie blinked at me fondly.

"You're doing well," she purred. "Just remember to keep your tail low when you hunt."

I nodded, and we headed back towards the ThunderClan camp. The snow crunched soundly underneath my paws. The evening was cold and crisp with the scent of winter, and the night was a dark navy blue. Somewhere far away among the trees, an owl let out its ghostly call. The pale white shape flitted swiftly from branch to branch.

We padded through the gorse tunnel. I set the squirrel down onto the fresh-kill pile and looked expectantly at Millie. She nodded and mewed, "The fresh-kill pile is well-stocked. You should rest before we set out for the Gathering."

I glanced up at the full moon in surprise. I had completely forgotten.

Snowstorm, Dewstep, and Seedpelt were eating fresh-kill next to the nettle patch, and I picked up a shrew before trotting over to join them.

"How did your training go today?" Seedpelt asked.

I shrugged. "It was fine. I think I'm improving, though." I sat down and bit into the flesh of the dead shrew.

It tasted almost like chicken.

Snowstorm licked my forehead fondly. "Just keep practicing, and you'll be a warrior in no time."

"I hope so." I stared down at the tattered remains of the prey. My training was getting better, but what would the leader say? Was Bramblestar still upset with me? We didn't really talk much after I came back to the Clan, so I wasn't sure.

After we had talked some more and had eaten our fill, we lined up to go to the Gathering. Bramblestar led the way, as usual.

The cold, grey light softened the rough edges of the snow as the full moon gazed at us with its round, sleepy face. The trees stood up straight in thin rows, as tall and bony as skeletal hands.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my blue shadow flicker and slink past the undergrowth, thin and distorted against the pale moonlight. It looked like a scrawny rat, or a large thin woman, instead of a cat.

Shadows, I thought. Darklings.

It was then that I grasped that Snowstorm was padding next to me. I awkwardly pulled away when I realized that his fur was brushing mine.

I looked at him, and was surprised at how much his white pelt blended in with the surrounding snow. The color matched perfectly, so that it looked like he was a moving patch of winter. His eyes glowed like ember.

"It's really cold tonight," he said, looking up at the stars.

I replied, "Yeah." I followed his gaze up at the night sky, trailing my sight over the view of the tiny pinpricks of white fire.

A bright mass of them caught my attention, and from the way that they were placed, I could tell that it was a constellation. It was Orion, if I remembered correctly; the man with the dead lion in his hand.

Snowstorm laughed, softly. I stared at him as I walked. "What?"

He was still grinning when he answered, "It's nothing, really." His warm breath stirred the cold air like a cloud of mist. "Do you remember, back in the day, when we used to hang out in the secret meadow?"

I closed my eyes and could almost see the lush, green grass, the sway of the red tulips, the gentle glow of the fire bugs.

That was a long time ago.

The white tom continued, "We used to make wishes on shooting stars. I could only wish on the stupid ones, on the ones that fell the fastest."

My ears pricked up.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He hesitated, and then shrugged it off. "It's nothing," he replied.

We neared the log that connected the marsh to the island, and the other cats swept past us as they leaped onto it. The rotting bark was much more slippery than last time. Even though I dug my claws deep into the soft wood, I began to slip.

My eyes widened, and a small mew escaped from my lips as I felt the freezing black lake water lap at my heels.

"Careful!" Snowstorm shouted. He quickly leaned forward and grasped my scruff firmly with his teeth, keeping me from slipping off completely.

I hung on tightly to the log and blinked at him gratefully.

At the end, we jumped off and continued on to the Gathering. The mass of cats in the center chattered with one another, their voices mingling and morphing together until it was just one booming loud noise.

Snowstorm blinked. "Well, see you later."

I watched him bound away to join a group of warriors.

oOoOOooOoooOOOoOoOooOoOOooooOoooOOooOOooOoOOoO

After pacing around for a moment, I yawned and stretched.

"WindClan sure is late today..." I heard one cat say. My ears pricked up with interest and I glanced over to the pine tree where the leaders gathered. Sure enough, every Clan leader was there except Onestar.

Where was he?

"Shhhhh, here they come!" a she-cat mewed. I whipped my head around and saw the WindClan cats slowly trod over to the crowd.

There was something very, very off.

A strange scent hung in the air all around them, something that smelled old and ancient and sour. Even though they were trying hard to hide it, I could tell that they were tired and weary.

"What's wrong with them?" Thornclaw whispered from next to me.

Onestar's eyes flashed and he immediately whipped around to face him. "Nothing is wrong," he growled.

Thornclaw's fur bristled. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Blackstar hissed, "Stop it. It's already late, so we don't want to waste anymore time."

I watched as Onestar limped over to the pine tree and dragged himself onto a branch. He grunted as he did so, and winced.

Thornclaw was right to ask. What was wrong with WindClan? They all looked old and tired.

Mistystar stepped forward. "I will start, then. The prey is running smoothly in our territory, and Mosspelt has delivered a healthy litter of kits: Splashkit, Frogkit, Ripplekit, and Stonekit."

She dipped her head at Bramblestar. The ThunderClan leader stood up and meowed, "The Clan is thriving well, and all of our apprentices are learning fast."

He nodded at Blackstar .

The powerful white leader announced, "Everything is also going well for ShadowClan. We did find a fox in our territory, but our warriors quickly got rid of it. It was old and didn't put up much of a fight. Your turn, Onestar."

He looked expectantly at the WindClan tom.

All of the cats in the crowd leaned slightly forward. I was interested too, to see what was bothering WindClan. The curious smell was nagging at me.

Onestar shifted and stood up straight. His amber eyes were bright and clear, although his pelt was dull. But he was old, having been the WindClan leader for all those years. Shouldn't he, after all, look a bit tired and ragged?

He rasped, "WindClan is doing well. I have nothing else to report."

The cats looked at each other, but they respected his authority enough to not say anything.

As the Gathering drew to a close, I hurried after my Clanmates as they trailed away from the island.

"The WindClan cats sure looked sick, didn't they?" I asked Snowstorm. The warrior shrugged, "It could be greencough. Kestrelflight is an experienced medicine cat, though, so they'll be fine."

Jayfeather twitched his ears and sniffed, "Not likely. Greencough smells a lot different than that."

Snowstorm and I looked at each other questioningly, and we couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with WindClan. Was the disease contagious? Or maybe it wasn't a disease at all.

OooOoooOoOooOOOOooooooooooooooOOooO

The warm afternoon sunlight filtered through the frosty branches, and I was anything but warm. My ears were flattened and my face was pulled into a tight scowl.

"I suck," I grumbled. The cardinal danced in the tree in front of me, taunting me at not being able to catch it. It had escaped from my grasp only a few moments ago. This was the fifth prey I had missed today in a single patrol.

Snowstorm meowed sympathetically, "Hey. Don't talk yourself into being negative. Just move quicker next time."

I looked away angrily and muttered something under my breath.

His eyes widened and he took a step towards me. "Pardon?" Snowstorm asked.

"It's not fair," I growled. "I didn't ask to be here, in this godforsaken forest instead of at home."

He blinked in confusion. When I looked up at him, my brown eyes were defiant.

I hissed, "I've trained for all this time, but I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I had to watch you and Dewstep and the others become warriors without me. It's as if I'm watching you guys fade right before my eyes while I'm stuck in this same fricking place all by myself." My claws dug deep into the snow.

"Sometimes I think I'll never catch up to you. While you guys move on without once looking back, I just want to call after you, "Wait for me," and hope that you'll turn your head. I need to prove myself to the Clan, too. If I never become a warrior and stay a lame and weak apprentice all my life, then how will the others see me?"

The tom nudged my shoulder gently. "What's gotten into you?" he said. "Even if you are an apprentice all your life, we won't leave you. You'll still be our friend."

I ducked my head. "That won't make me feel any less different. Do you know why I want to be a warrior so badly? I want to prove to you and Dewstep that I'm worthy of being a ThunderClan cat. If all of the other apprentices move on without me year after year, and I'm stuck in the same place with no hope of ever moving on, then how will you see me as a friend? We'll drift further and further apart. You'll keep getting older and I'll keep getting younger until you're so far away that I can't see you anymore. I don't want to lose you."

I shifted uncomfortably, too afraid to look up.

"Because you two are the only true friends that I've had in a long time. Before I came to this Clan, before I met you, I did have friends in another place. But they weren't really friends. They talked to me and laughed with me, but I never did feel comfortable with them. I learned that they were only shadows, only images, pictures with no form of their own. They weren't my real friends, and I felt so alone all the time. There were people, people everywhere and I couldn't talk to a single one."

I shifted again.

"It's funny, that I even miss them. But with you and your brother, it's different. You two actually care about me. I feel comfortable around you guys. But if I never progress any further and stay the same every day, you'll eventually leave. We stand on opposite sides of the river, with you an experienced warrior and I a puny apprentice, and there's no bridge to cross. One day, you might be deputy, maybe even a leader, and you won't need a weakling like me. So, that's why..."

I buried my face in my paws. Why was I spilling out everything to him?

I felt a familiar warmth nuzzle my head, as warm as the snow.

He murmured, "It's fine. Just take your time, and you'll catch up. I won't leave you. I'll wait for you in the horizon, right where you can see me."

I hesitated. My voice came out muffled and small. "Wait for me."

I felt him smile. "I will."

And thus, I was Ashley, the same apprentice of ThunderClan as the one that arrived all those moons ago. A mountain was raised in front of me, and I knew it was going to be a long, long uphill climb.

OoOOoOoOOoOOoooooooOOOOOoOooOOOOOoOo

Heck, did this chapter make any sense? I don't know... :I

By the way, I'm still deciding on whether or not to give Ashley a proper warrior name when the time comes. There's a poll on my profile about it, so you can vote if you want. If there's a specific warrior name that you want her to have, then you can PM me or tell me in a review.