Okay, Congrats to… CANDIEBUNNIES! You were correct, Leafkit first made HIS appearance in chapter 4, the kit that comes to Starclan too early and, of course, Troutpaw's little brother. If you'd like me to type a one-shot, a special request, etc. as a prize, just PM me
Okay, I'm sorry for not stating this, but Emberpaw's poll is on my Profile page! Thanks ^^''
ONTO THE STORIE!
N'joy
The day Emberpaw was going back home was as dreary as the day she traveled there from Thunderclan. The sky was overcast, dark clouds tinting the horizon and the rumbles of thunder could faintly be heard from inside the twoleg nest. Emberpaw stretched, still dazed from when Hawk had come in and woken her up, telling her that his father decided that she should just go home. Hawk offered to escort her back, along with Bright, Ace, and Toby. Emberpaw noticed that Hawk had looked disappointed at the thought of her leaving, but she paid it no mind; she was sure he just wanted a new playmate.
She heard the foreboding thunder boom closer than last time, but under that, an even more foreboding sound: the three toms all calling her name and cackling. She sighed inwardly and exited the den to face the three fish-brains, narrowly ducking Toby's small body as he jumped over her.
"Now, Toby, we don't want to accidently break the neck of the ah-maze-ing, oh-so-special Emberpaw, do we?" Ace's cold voice called from his spot next to Bright, who was looking uncomfortable at his closeness. He was trying to intertwine their tails, Bright was trying to make her tail wrap around her paws neatly, and the whole thing made Emberpaw have to hold in her laugh.
With a fake sigh of sadness, Emberpaw spoke to the annoying black and white tom. "Oh, Ace, I'm so, so sorry you were too weak to win… it was just such a shame! Even with Silverdust congratulating me on becoming an Elder in the Darkforest… it just wasn't the same!" she let the sarcasm run thick in her gushy statement, pleased when Ace flattened his ears but said nothing.
"Um, is it okay if we get going now?" Hawk probed, eying the two of them with a wary glance.
"Yeah, let's get rid of her already." Ace sniffed, and pulled Bright up to her paws with a pull on her tail. Bright glanced over to her, meeting her eyes with a request for help, but Emberpaw just shook her head and purred.
Emberpaw walked with Toby and Hawk, the trees passing with a speed that was making her sad; she wouldn't be able to see them again. Well, Ace she could live without, but Bright and Hawk… they had become friends with her, and she didn't want to leave them.
Her heart soared as she smelled the Riverclan scent line. They leapt over the big wooden sticks in the ground, and she was met with the smell of dried blood and fear scent.
"Hawk, who won the fight from a couple of day ago?"
He cocked his head.
"I honestly don't know… I guess you'll know soon enough, though."
They three stood awkwardly, Bright and Ace standing a few fox lengths away, whispering to each other angrily.
"Thanks for not killing me," Emberpaw blurted out, wincing at how stupid it sounded. Hawk and Toby looked at each other before bursting into laughter, and were about to say something when Emberpaw was tackled to the ground by an all-too-familiar grey pelt.
"EMBERPAW, ARE YOU OKAY?!" her mother, Splashfur, yowled into her ears, pushing the two toms away like they were flies and licking her face, her chest, her ears, searching for wounds.
"Gerroff! I can't… breathe!" Emberpaw choked out, taking big breaths of air when her mother let her go, only to be startled as Thunderpelt laid a tail across her shoulders.
"I'm glad you're okay! But… we better get you back to Troutpaw…" he trailed off, leaving that warm feeling at Troutpaw's name to be overtaken by cold at Thunderpelt's worried tone.
"Okay, but let me say goodbye to—"
There was no cat there. Bright, Ace, Hawk, and Toby were nowhere to be seen, and Emberpaw struggled to catch their scents.
"Goodbye to who? There's no one here, honey." Splashfur ignored her stuttering and steered Emberpaw towards the Riverclan camp. It seemed to take moons to get there, but Emberpaw was happy to be back within the familiar territory.
The scent of so many cats was almost painful on her nose, and as they pushed past the thorn tunnel, and almost every cat stopped what they were doing to come over and greet her, saying how they had been so worried, but after they had won the battle, they hadn't even noticed she was missing until they were back home. That stung a bit, but Emberpaw was more worried by the fact that Troutpaw wasn't with her, so she decided to ask Lilyflower, after the quick and uncomfortable grooming the she-cat gave her.
"He went into shock, you see, when he saw that you had been taken. He just curled up in his nest, he wouldn't eat or anything! He's just been staring at your nest… He's a mess; you better go to see him.
Lilyflower had to yowl the last part at her already bounding form ran for the outcropping of rocks.
Emberpaw pushed her way up to their small cave. "Troutpaw, I'm back!" she yowled, earning a bleary, tired look that transformed into one of an elated kit, leaping around her and laughing.
He was about to say something when his stomach growled, and Emberpaw fixed him with a stern look.
"Not another word until you have eaten the biggest fish on that pile, do you hear me?"
He purred, and nuzzled her neck. "You would make a great mother."
Surprised, she said nothing, but followed Troutpaw to the fresh-kill pile and took the largest fish, one that took both of them to carry, and went to one of the small sun spots from the cracking clouds, which looked slightly lighter.
"I hope you ruffed up some of those rouges while you were there," Troutpaw mumbled around his mouth full of fish.
Emberpaw purred, remembering Ace.
"Yeah, don't worry, I did."
Yayyy! I tried to add a little more funnie and a tidbit more romanze, hope ya'll liked it! I wonder where Robinflight is…
Till next time,
ME