Hey! Back again? :D thanks again! Okay, a couple things I felt I had to state:
Did ANYONE notice Leafkit's connection with earlier chapters…?
PLEASE vote in Emberpaw's poll! PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE it can be found on my profile page!
A Special Thanks To:
ALL of the guest comments and reviews; omg, ya'll made me smileeee
Bramblewhisker88; only time will tell the answers to your questions: P
Orangeflightof Shadowclan; good! That's how ur supposed to feel :P *I kinda hate her, too*
Blazing Ice Dragon; aww! I makes me just as excited when I see reviews like that!
Smokeblade27; I guess you're right! I wasn't really trying, but its true now that I think about it
I am going to try and make this the longest chapter ive made so far, and…
I check into my story info last night, in all seven chapters, I had EXACTLY 9,666 words! The devil is watching over me o.0
Okay, enjoy!
She was in a field, it was large, spanning as far as her eyes could see. Butterflies were everywhere; so she decided to chase this big, black and white one. She chased it for what seemed like forever, jumping over lush grass and patches of moss. The butterfly's wings beat erratically, and it seemed to tire as they both got closer to the edge of the field.
Now she could see the edge. It had unhealthy looking trees, hung over and drooping sadly. The air seemed colder, harsher the closer she got to the dead forest. Then, almost at once, she heard cats fight and the metallic tang of blood coated her mouth.
She felt the need to chase the sound, she was too curious to just go back to chasing the butterflies. Besides, even if she wanted to, the butterflies then fell to the ground. Dead.
Blowing that off, though, she padded slowly into the dank undergrowth, almost all of which was spattered in blood. Slowing when she came to the source of fighting, she hid and peeked through the dead ferns to the clearing ahead.
There were too many cats to count, big and small, tom and she-cat alike. Fighting with their claws unsheathed. What were they fighting over? The land? The forest, she thought, was nothing worth fighting for, here. Thinking she heard a familiar voice, she scanned the mass of yowling cats for anyone she knew. Suddenly, a familiar calico she-cat padded over. Emberpaw?!
No, it couldn't be. This cat was much bigger, a full warrior, not a still growing apprentice. But she had the exact same calico markings on her body, in all the same places… Then, she noticed other things, like how this cat's ears were ripped, and small scars ran across her body.
And how this she-cat's eyes were blood red.
The bigger cat started to speak, when a ragged purr broke her off.
A glowing, silver she-cat brushed past the calico warrior, blood exchanging from one pelt to another, and this cat's glow didn't seem so pure anymore. The aura around her got darker, becoming instead a gloomy grey. The blood on her fur began to shift; it seemed to come alive, each crimson drop migrating to her forehead, where a star soon took form.
Fear began to leak into her mind, at this huge silver she-cats evil look. What was going to happen to her?
The cat spoke:
"What is your name, little 'paw?" her voice was as sweet as honey, but her appearance seemed to cancel out how welcoming it sounded.
Not wanting to tell this scary cat her name, she tried to resist, but her mind became clouded when she met the red eyes' gaze. Why wouldn't she tell this cat her name…? It wouldn't hurt her, so why won't she tell her…
"Beetlepaw," she whispered, dazed as the bigger she-cat broke the connection. Her fangs that stuck out of her mouth, even when her jaw was closed, made her smile feral as she circled around the calico warrior. Turning her gaze back to Beetlepaw, she mewed contently,
"My name is Silverdust, the leader around here. This is Fall," she said, flicking her tail towards the calico cat, "Welcome to the Darkforest, Beetlepaw. Would you like to see what we're doing?" with all of her heart, she wanted to refuse this big she-cat what she was asking, but with another meeting with those eyes, she didn't see anything wrong with just observing…
Emberpaw woke to Troutpaw's muzzle in her neck fur.
"Thank you, for what you did last night," He said happily, helping her up and picking moss out from Emberpaw's fur.
"I also did it for Wetstone and…" she was caught by a yawn, her jaw stretching painfully from her already sore mouth from carrying all of that moss. "And Whitekit's nest. I'm sorry I wasn't there to greet you when you came in." Troutpaw looked startled. "You tried to stay up and wait for me?" a deep purr rumbled in his chest, his tail twining happily with her tired one. With a lick to Emberpaw's cheek, they both made their way to the fresh-kill pile for their morning meal.
~A Half-moon later~
Seeing a huge Rainbow fish, she bounded over and grabbed it, overbalanced by its weight. Troutpaw walked over, studying her with an amused gaze.
"Don't just stand there, help me!" she spoke around the fish, her voice coming out muffled and almost unintelligible.
Troutpaw got up and circled her, a mischievous gaze in his crystal blue eyes.
"And what do I get for helping you?" he purred.
Emberpaw rolled her eyes, "The fish is for you too, frog-brain."
He chuckled. "Good enough," and helped her carry the big fish to the outcropping of rock. The fish, looing bigger than ever, looked like too much for just the two of them. Searching for the dark brown apprentice, she called Beetlepaw over. She she-cat looked tired, almost asleep on her paws.
"Are you okay, Beetlepaw? You look sick," Emberpaw asked.
The brown apprentice looked at her, almost fearfully.
"Yeah, I'm—I'm okay" she stuttered, avoiding her eyes and padding quickly away.
"Forget her, Emberpaw! She's just being a fish-face." Troutpaw assured her, Nodding, she shook thoughts of the apprentice out of her head.
The day passed by rather quickly, she ended going on a hunting patrol with Troutpaw and their mentors, along with Maplebelly. By the time they were done, the sun was setting and Reedstar was organizing who would be going to the gathering tonight.
The gathering! Emberpaw had completely forgotten! A little selfishly, she hoped Reedstar wouldn't pick Troutpaw either so they could both stay behind.
A small group of chosen cats was slowly growing bigger as Reedstar chose the precipitants.
"Let's see… Maplebelly, Moonstream, Mosstail, Swiftcurrent, and, of course, Robinflight. You might as well bring Emberpaw along… and, oh, you too, Webwisker…" Reedstar surprised not just her with these words.
Cats began to mumble and mutter, but nothing was spoken about it louder than a whisper. Soon, they were ready to take off, Emberpaw was sure to find Thunderpelt straight away. Walking alongside him, they crossed Shadowclan sent lines, only to cross them again moments later. What seemed like moons of just walking past the same trees over and over and over, they made it to Fourtrees.
The four giant oaks stood proudly over the clearing, their leaves lush and green. There were so many cats! More cats than Emberpaw had ever seen were sharing tongues and laughing and chatting. The musty sent of Shadowclan, followed by the wild and airy smell of Windclan hit her senses.
Then, Thunderclan. To her confusion, it made her nose crinkle, the forest smell radiating off their fur was surprisingly unpleasant. Thunderpelt, mistaking my crinkled nose for something else, flicked her ear and herded her towards the other Riverclan cats.
"Emberpaw, this is my mother, Lavenderbreeze, the one who I told you switched clans so she could raise her new kits." She nodded to the Light grey she-cat, her violet eyes calming her almost instantly.
"Let's take a walk, shall we?" she murmured, her voice sweet, like a lullaby. Emberpaw shot a glance to Thunderpelt, who nodded.
They walked the perimeter of the clearing, meeting no cats on the way. Lavenderbreeze, her voice taking on a lecturing tone, was ignored by Emberpaw, not wanting to her the 'I understand how you feel' and 'it fades with time'. Warriors had told her that, also.
Done with their 'walk', Emberpaw thanked her and almost ran away, slamming straight into a Thunderclan apprentice.
"Get off, you fish-face!" the tom growled, she Emberpaw's heart stopped when she saw his face.
Her own brother, had just called her a fish-face, and the tone was not joking.
Looking into his eyes, she waited for him to apologize, for him to say that he thought she was someone else. He didn't.
He continued glaring into her eyes, irritation and hate filled his gaze.
"Stripepaw! It's me, Emberpaw, your sister," she said, hurt.
"You are no sister of mine. My sisters dead." He growled, punctuating dead, like it was an insult.
"Now, get out of my way, you Riverclan filth." With that said, he brushed roughly past.
Emberpaw was lost. Stripepaw didn't love her anymore. Why, though? She was his sister, for Starclan's sake! Searching for another familiar face, she padded over to Amberpelt, who had become a warrior two moons before in Thunderclan. She spotted Emberpaw before she could say anything to get the Dark brown warrior's attention.
"Emberpaw! How are you!?" she purred, plenty of cats glancing over at her outburst. Ducking her head in embarrassment, she dragged Amberpelt to the recesses of the trees. Amberpelt was about to start licking her ear, when she winced and backed away.
"What's wrong?" I inquired, confused.
"Well, it's just… you smell really… fishy!" with that, she held her tail over her nose.
Seeing the look on Emberpaw's face, Amberpelt began to stumble over her words, "But- at least your furs all smooth and you don't look like you're starving any! Not that you look fat or anything, I just mean…" she shut up then, stiffening as she realized something.
"Stripepaw said we couldn't talk to you." And with that, she padded almost fearfully away. Dejected and lonely, Emberpaw sat and waited for the gathering to just be over.
The Leaders announced their news, Windclan followed by Shadowclan, and then Cloudstar spoke.
"Prey is running well, and we are pleased to announce the Apprenticeship of Stripepaw, Nightpaw, and Redpaw." He waited for the congratulations to die down.
"Riverclan?" and motioned for them to go on with their report.
Reedstar, looking a bit disgruntled, announced the prey was well, blah blah blah, and then he announced the new apprentices.
"I'd like to welcome Troutpaw and Beetlepaw, along with former Thunderclan Emberpaw, though we are pleased to say she's as much Riverclan as any one of us, now."
Confusion circulated the clans. Emberpaw remembered that no one had heard of her moving clans. Cloudstar looked irritated. It was obvious he was trying not to stir up any trouble, but Emberpaw was more thankful than ever Reedstar brought it up. If he was trying not to cause trouble, she thought sourly, he shouldn't have given her up so easily. For the first time, she realized with a start, she was proud to be Riverclan. She honestly didn't want to be in a clan that didn't want to fight for her.
When everything died down, the Gathering was called to a close, and the clans began to separate, padding back to their camps with the full moon as a guide. She began walking towards the Riverclan groups when she was yanked by the tail into an outcropping of bushes. Fighting to keep her claws sheathed because of the truce, she cuffed her attacker hard on his ear.
"Ouch, Emberpaw! Kill me, why don't you!" Nightpaw growled playfully. He had grown bigger, the same size as her now. She huffed and started to pad away, not wanting to put up with anymore Thunderclan fish-brains, when he whispered in her ear,
"Look, just meet me here in a half-moon! Please, Emberpaw." She made no inclination that she noticed him, but inside her heart was thumping. He didn't treat her differently, though his asking her to meet him went against the Warrior code, so she wouldn't do it. Emberpaw began walking back with her clan, keeping her focus on her paws as she walked so she wouldn't stumble in the dark, the moon not providing enough light to puncture the thick canopy of trees.
They finally made it past the entrance, and were met with the few cats who waited for them to come back home. Without thinking, she just tiredly dragged herself into her nest, pausing to say hello to a half-asleep Troutpaw. She closed her eyes.
She was in a lake, swimming. She was happy and content, paddling happily towards this island, huge and lush. But, as she got closer, the green gave way to brown and black, the trees looking more dead than alive. She didn't want to go to this scary island, but her paws were becoming numb and it was the only land she could see.
When she made it ashore, it was completely silent. No birds calling, no whispers of wind through the trees, nothing. Looking around, she almost collided with a large, white glowing she-cat. One of her ears was torn, and her fangs were so large they stuck out of her jaw when her mouth was closed. She had fear in her eyes, blood covered her paws and her tail hung low.
"Help! You have to help, they attacked me! Please, come and help, Emberpaw!" Emberpaw didn't ask how this glowing cat knew her name, but she did rush with her into the forest, following the she-cats lead as she went deeper and deeper into the forest.
If Emberpaw had been face to face with the she-cat, she would've seen an evil smirk and those blue eyes melting to red, a star forming on her forehead…
Did you guys like that? If u did comment! Request! Let me know how this chapter made you feel!
QUESTION OF THE DAY! If you were Emberpaw, what would've you had said to Stripepaw?
I would've smacked him...
Thanks for reading! 'till next time,
ME~~~~~