Warriors: The Fate Of Two Kittpets

Silver stretched in her soft bed on her back. Then her stomach growled in hunger, making her sit up, sniffing for kitty food that her humans put out for her. She smelled the sweet scent of it put into a bowl. She got up and walked over to the bowl, peering into it. There was nothing in the large bowl except a few pieces at the bottom. Silver hissed in annoyance. It must've been Clover. Silver twitched her whiskers in anger as she went through the kitty flap that led her outside in the garden. Immediately she saw Clover, her brown pelt  just a curled up ball.
"Clover!" She called.
The brown she-cat uncurled herself and turned around to face Silver, her dark green eyes shining.
"What is it, Silver?" Clover asked, tiredly.
"Did you eat almost all of the kitty food in the bowl inside?" she asked, her fur fluffed up. 
"Yes," Clover added. "It was me ,but I didn't mean to eat it all. I was so hungry."
"Well other cats are hungry too." Then Silver changed the subject. "Has Stripe been outside? I don’t want to talk to that furball." she said, curiously.
"No," Clover meowed. "I think he is locked inside for today."
Silver then heard a noise on the other side of the fence that closed in their humans' garden in the forest trees beyond it. Silver nudged her friend with her muzzle and pointed at the forest with her tail. "What was that?"
"What do you mean?" Clover asked, peering into the forest beyond the fenced yard. "I don't see anything."Silver watched as the trees rustled again and this time she saw a flash of ginger fur. "There is a cat in that forest!" she exclaimed, her fur bristling with excitement. "Maybe we can check it out and find out what the kitty is there for."
"No," growled Clover. "We don't need to see who is in that creepy forest." The brown tabby sat back down on the grass and curled into a ball, flicking her tail for Silver to go away. Silver ignored Clover and nudged her playfully, trying to convince her to come with Silver on the trip to the woods. Clover picked her head up for a second to shake her head, putting it down again. Silver sighed and walked up to the fence post. She would have to make this journey alone. Silver jumped up on the fence post, balancing steadily on it, having a view of all the gardens and yards,even Stripes. Silver enjoyed the view for a bit before jumping down on the other side of the post, landing gracefully. The silver she-cat looked at what was ahead of her, surprised she had never noticed any of this before. "Mrr . . .owww!" Silver purred and then squealed when she treaded on a hard rock. She sat down and licked her paw a little before starting toward the trees. She paused when she heard a meow of a cat catching something, and then started faster toward the woods, knowing that it must be the ginger tabby. When Silver reached the beginning of the trees, she sniffed the air scenting a mysterious and strange scent. The scent contained cat scent and that the cat was a tom. She slowly padded into the trees when she heard a stick snap and a large cat with ginger fur jumped out of a bramble bush taking a blow at Silver's fur with his sharp claws, making her jump back, flinching. Silver tried to run back out into the open clearing where she came from ,but the cat leaped on top of her, making Silver sink to her belly. She sniffed a little at the cat's fur and she was correct, the mysterious tom scent came from this cat.
"What are you doing here in ThunderClan territory, Kittypet?" the ginger tabby hissed, his eyes hostile.
Silver winced at the pain of the cat on top of her and scrambled in the grass, trying to get up but only slipping on wet leaves.
"What are you doing here?!" the cat hissed again but more fiercely. 
"I-i saw you and I wasn't sure what you were so I went into h-h-here."
Weight lifted off of Silver and she got up, crouched in fear at what else the large cat could do. "I'm Brackenfur. Who are you, Kittypet?" the ginger cat meowed, his eyes filled now with curiosity as well as his voice.
"I'm S-silver." the silver and grey she-cat whispered, shivering.
"Okay. Follow me, I will take you to the ThunderClan camp so Firestar can figure out what to do with you." Brackenfur murmured, his whiskers twitching.
Silver studied Brackenfur. He was a cat she had never seen before. He had a couple of deep scars on his fur but they were hardly visible as they had been there a long time. Then Silver remembered  what he had just said. ThunderClan? "What is ThunderClan?" she asked, frightened at the word "thunder". Silver had hated thunder ever since she was a kit, the booming sound outside her bed and house. It scared her even now.
"There are four clans at the lake. Riverclan, Shadowclan, Windclan as well as ThunderClan. The four clans live in their own territories and feed themselves and their clans. There are some alliances but not many. WindClan used to be ThunderClan's alliance but now . . ." Brackenfur trailed off, shaking his fur as if he had ticks.
"WindClan? Who are they?" Silver asked, wondering what had disturbed him.
"WindClan are cats that live on the Moorland. They eat rabbits and sometimes birds and hunt out in the open."
Silver blinked at him. "Wow, there are a lot of clans." Brackenfur took Silver down a narrow path out and up to the beginning of a slope, filled with many strange scents like Brackenfur's. 
"This is the ThunderClan camp. Like I said I will take you to our leader Firestar, seeing what punishment you will have." Brackenfur explained and then muttered under his breath. "He probably won't give this furball a punishment for he used to be a kittypet himself. All he has been doing is bringing rogues and kittypets in the clan of clan born cats." Brackenfur flicked his tail, annoyingly, and jumped down the slope and went through a gorse tunnel into the camp. The camp was filled with many different scents as well as cats. There was a small hole in the ground filled with animal bodies. Brackenfur flicked his tail again and bounded up large rocks and into a cave. 
A flame colored tabby was curled in a nest in the cave, his eyes closed. 
"Firestar, I wish to speak to you." Brackenfur said respectfully. 
Green eyes peered back at Silver, studying her mysteriously. "Yes, Brackenfur? What is it?" Firestar asked as he sat up in his nest.
"This kittypet," Brackenfur flicked his tail at Silver. "was in ThunderClan territory. This kittypet said that she saw me and wanted to check me out." Brackenfur explained.
"Interesting. Thank you, Brackenfur. You can leave now." Firestar meowed. 
Brackenfur widened his eyes but said nothing and left.
"Please sit down and we will talk." the flame tabby said to her."What's your name? Or do you not have one yet?" Firestar asked kindly. 
Silver sat nervously, wanting to see Clover. "No. My name's Silver. Did I do something wrong? Brackenfur told me that I invaded."
"No no of course not. You just stepped into ThunderClan territory." Firestar explained, stretching his legs and sitting back down. "Is it that you want to join ThunderClan? That was how I joined."
Silver stared at the leader with surprise. "Yes. I guess. I haven’t thought about it.” Then she meowed. “I-You’re a forest cat right? I heard Brackenfur say something about you being a kittypet."
Firestar flicked his ears. "Yes. I used to be a kittypet before I became what I am now. My name was Rusty." He looked away as if it pained him to think about the past. "It was long ago."
"Oh." Silver winced. "I'm sorry."
Firestar got up again and shook his fur out. "No. It is fine." Then he changed the subject. "Do you want to join ThunderClan? You don't have to but as I had to make the same decision as you are, I thought about the life and loyalty of ThunderClan."
Silver nodded, thinking for a moment. Fresh prey all the time, no food stolen, always have company, and friends. 
Silver nodded. "Yes."
But then Silver felt guilty and upset about leaving her sister behind. "C-can my friend join, too?" she asked. 
Firestar was about to reply when a light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes came padding in, some kind of leaves in her mouth.
"Here, Firestar." said the cat. "You need to take some Burnet because of your recent injury. And don't fight me, you need to have them." The brown tabby placed the herbs in front of the leader. Firestar twitched his whiskers in amusement. "I will, Leafpool." Then he munched up the leaves quickly.
Leafpool turned to me, fear and something Silver couldn't place was in her eyes. "Who may you be?"
"I'm Silver." she said, frightened at the look that Leafpool gave her. "I think I will be joining ThunderClan."
Leafpool looked at Silver a little more before the emotions left her eyes. "Okay. Has Firestar given you a name yet?"
Silver stared at the she-cat, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Leafpool sighed, looking over at Firestar and then back at Silver. "Well . . . each cat when they reach the age of 6 moons or more gets the word "paw" at the end of their name.”
"Oh." Silver purred. "Does that mean I will be Silverpaw?" she asked, turning to Firestar.
Firestar was thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Yes. But we will have an apprenticeship first before you earn the name. For now you will be Silver." Firestar looked over at Leafpool. "And of course you shall get a mentor as well."
Leafpool went stiff. "Do you mean Jayfeather? He hasn't gotten to be a mentor yet." she meowed.
"Of course not. Depends if Silver wants to be a Medicine cat."
"What's a Medicine cat?" Silver asked, curious at what the flame colored cat and the brown tabby were talking about.
"A Medicine cat is the healer. They have herbs and heal cats who get injured. They are also the ones who birth Queens with kits.” Leafpool explained, her eyes far away and distant.
Silver nodded, understanding. "Maybe I can be a Warrior and Medicine cat?"
Leafpool and Firestar purred in amusement. 
"You can only be one or the other, young one." Leafpool said, stopping purring.
"Yes, Leafpool. Do you want to be a Warrior or Medicine cat?" Firestar agreed, turning to the silver cat.
Silver's tail drooped. "Warrior."
Suddenly cats were growling and hissing down below the high rocks. "What's that?" Leafpool exclaimed, running up to the edge. Silver flicked her ears in surprise and followed Leafpool. A brown tabby was surrounded by several cats at the entrance. A light brown and dark brown cat was snarling and hissing, looking as if he wanted to tear the brown tabby to pieces. Without any cat ordering her, Silver sprung down the rocks and into the crowd of cats. She pushed through the cats but had no problem getting through as cats flinched away from Silver. She bounded to the cat and gasped. 
It was Clover!
Clover had one scratch on her eye, which was closed, and a couple on her pelt. 
"What are you doing here?" Silver asked Clover, still puzzled and surprised at the arrival of her friend.
"I figured that I didn't want to get you killed or eaten so I followed a couple pawsteps behind and found my way to this place." Then she paused, catching her breath. "What is this place anyway, Silver?"
Cats were looking at Silver and Clover, puzzled and hostile.
Silver meowed. "This is ThunderClan. I want to join and I want you to join too, Clover. Please?" she looked at her friend with adoring eyes.
Clover looked startled for a moment before fixing herself, her moves defensive and hostile to the other cats. "But what about our owners? They will miss us. They give us food, water, shelter, and ways of not getting trapped with disgusting cats." she said, glaring at the cats with hostile eyes.
"Yes but this is where I want to be. Without you though, I won't be whole and everything won't be the same."
Clover's eyes filled with reluctance. "But it could be dangerous here. The tails Stripe had told weren't lies you know."
"I know." Silver meowed. "Please, Clover? Join ThunderClan with me."
Clover finally gave in, only for Silver's benefit. "Fine. But if these cats are rude furballs and we starve then we are leaving."
Silver jumped up with joy. "Thank you, Clover. " Then she licked Clover's ear with friendship in every lick.
Clover flicked her ears and licked Silver's ear back. "Where's the leader? Stripe said that each clan or whatever had a leader." she asked.
"That would be me." Firestar stepped through the cats, his flame colored pelt turning into flames.
"Firestar!" a cat hissed from the crowd. "Do you agree with this nonsense? Two kittypets joining the clan?"
"Yes. They will make strong warriors or whatever they may be." he dipped his head. "The apprenticeship of these two cats will be held at sunhigh tomorrow. Everycat will meet beneath Highledge." Then the leader went back to his den,indicating that Clover and Silver would follow. 
"kittypets!" snarled a brown and golden tabby. 
"Shut up, Thornclaw!" hissed white cat.
The cat named Thornclaw gave out one final hiss and disappeared in a den. All the cats then split up and went separate ways, growling and muttering under their breath. Silver sat there, unconscious of the mean words that were said about her and Clover.
"Let's go. These cats have no lives anyway to say the things they do." said Clover, walking toward Highledge as Firestar calls it.
Silver nodded, following her brown tabby friend.
When once again Silver climbed up Highledge, it was easier climbing. Clover, her first time, did more better than Silver since she was always in their humans' garde when Silver was sleeping inside.
Silver and Clover walked in, Firestar sitting on his back legs, waiting for the two cats to join him.
"This is my friend, Clover. Me and her lived together in the human house." Silver meowed, flickering her tail at Clover.
Clover dipped her head to Firestar.
"So this is your friend, you want to be a ThunderClan member too?" asked Firestar, turning from Silver to Clover.
"Yes." Clover sat down on the sandstone floor in front of the leader, Silver following her lead. "Me and my sister are joining ThunderClan." Clover turned to Silver and winked, for Clover was not Silver's sister.
"Oh. I have been misunderstood then. You are sisters?" he asked, twitching the end of his tail.
"Yes." Clover decided. "Can we both join ThunderClan or  . . ."
"Of course." Firestar propped in. "Silver though already joined. You may as well be held in an apprenticeship at sunhigh tomorrow like I said."
Both cats nodded. 
"Thank you, Firestar." Silver whispered to the leader before walking out of the den, Clover following a tail-length behind.
Outside the air was cool, meaning that leaf-fall was right around the corner.
A gray tabby with blue eyes walked right over to Clover and Silver when they got into the middle of the clearing. "Are you guys really kittypets?" The cat asked, her ears flicking with tension.
"Yes. We were. We are going to be in ThunderClan now." Silver replied.
The cat nodded and slowly padded away.
Silver's and Clover's apprenticeship was made right at sunhigh. Silver was in a small nest beside Clover's at the gorse entrance, sleeping. Leafpool, the ThunderClan medicine cat, came over and roused the both of them. "The apprenticeship is starting. Get out here."
Firestar was sitting on the ground, waiting for Clover and Silver.
"Their here, Firestar." said Leafpool, bowing her head and sitting beside a ginger tabby.
Firestar's eyes locked on Silver and Clover, his eyes filled with mixed emotions. Both Silver and Clover quietly walked over to him, not sure what to do.
Firestar stood up and gestured for Silver to step closer in front of him. “Silver, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Silverpaw. Your mentor will be Hazeltail. I hope that Hazeltail will pass down all she has to you. Hazeltail come up please.”
Hazeltail comes up slowly, pride and surprise in every step.
“Hazeltail,” Firestar continues. “you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from dustpelt, and you have shown yourself to be courageous and positive. You will be the mentor of Silverpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Silverpaw.”
Hazeltail touches her nose to Silverpaw's.
Hazeltail, surprised and excited, led Silverpaw over to the apprentices, sitting next to her when she did.
Berrynose sneered at Hazeltail. "You got a stupid kittypet apprentice. I am not surprised." said through the cats but an older warrior shushed him. Though Hazeltail heard the warrior, she did nothing.
"Clover," Firestar ignored Berrynose's comment and flicked his tail for Clover to come closer. "you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Cloverpaw. Your mentor will be Mousewhisker. I hope Mousewhisker will pass down all he/she knows on to you. Come up, Mousewhisker.
Mousewhisker looked around surprised but said nothing, and came up. “Mousewhisker, you are ready to take on an apprentice. You have received excellent training from Spiderleg, and you have shown yourself to be cunning and loyal. You will be the mentor of Cloverpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to Cloverpaw.” 
Mousewhisker followed Hazeltail's lead and walked closer to Cloverpaw, touching his nose to hers.
"Cloverpaw! Silverpaw! Cloverpaw! Silverpaw!" Some of the warriors and cats cheered, but some looked at the apprentices with hostile looks.
Firestar gave a look to everyone, and the cheering and muttering died down. "I know there haven't been a lot of apprentices lately or mentors but I ensure that young warriors will get their turn with Millie's kits when they are all six or more moons." Then he got up and walked up to an older group of warriors, talking. Silverpaw and Cloverpaw were both assigned to go on their first hunting patrol at dawn, it was already dusk creeping into dawn. Cloverpaw went over to an orange cat and began talking to him. Silverpaw wandered off into the middle of a clearing, hearing a golden tabby and a black cat talking.
"But when?" asked the black warrior. 
"Maybe soon? Firestar doesn't know yet I guess..." A golden tabby whispered to the black cat.
"Yeah." muttered a small light grey tabby that joined them. "Maybe 4 moons later."
"Well..." The golden tabby noticed Silverpaw staring and gestures for her to join them. 
Silverpaw quietly crept over to them, cautious.
"Aren't you, Silverpaw? The new...um...apprentice?" asked the golden tabby, flicking his tail.
"Yeah." Is all she said.
"Well I am Lionblaze." replied the golden cat. 
"And I am Hollyleaf and this is Jayfeather." said the black cat, pointing her nose toward the gray cat.
"Nice to meet you all..." Silverpaw trailed off when she noticed that Jayfeather wouldn't look at her. "What's wrong with...um... Jayfeather?" Silverpaw questioned Hollyleaf.
"Oh..." The black cat sat down, her tail laying on her front paws. "He is blind."
Silverpaw's eyes widened. The cat was blind. She shouldn't have said that so rudely. "Oh. I am so sorry. I have never seen a blind cat except my father."
"How do you remember your father?" Lionblaze asked. 
Silverpaw's eyes locked with Jayfeather's and some kind of connection spread through both of them. Jayfeather though was the first one to look away, his eyes tilted toward the ground.
Silverpaw looked away as well, answering Lionblaze's question. "Only little  memories. Like him licking me, treating me when I got hurt, and playing with me in the twoleg yard. It was nice but I don't miss it. It was so much of a soft life." 
"That's surprising." Jayfeather muttered as he walked back into the Medicine cat den.
An older warrior called to Hollyleaf and Lionblaze. "Sorry but we have to go on the border patrol. See you later, Silverpaw." Hollyleaf meowed to the young silverish-grey cat before leaving with Lionblaze.
When most of the warriors had either gone on patrol or hunting, a sudden wild wind swept through the camp, sending a huge chill upon the cats. Even though it was only leaf-fall it shouldn't have gotten this cold already. Silverpaw flattened her ears against the wind, shivering, and crept inside the apprentices den, sitting next to a small white cat. 
"Did the border patrol leave yet?" asked the white cat when she sat up in her nest.
"Yeah. I guess. Only three cats went though." 
The white cat flattened her ears, shivering at the cold wind that was starting to make its way into the apprentice's den. "Oh. I wanted to go but I was taking care of the ticks in Mousefur's tail."
"Mousefur?" Silverpaw stared at the cat in wonder. 
Even though the cat was an apprentice, she seemed like she would be a warrior soon.
The cat twitched her whiskers. "Mousefur is one of the  elder queens. She just retired not too long ago."
"Oh." She began licking her fur to hide her embarrassment. Then Silverpaw sat up straight in her nest again. "What's your name? Mine's Silverpaw but of course you must know that."
The small cat looked at Silverpaw, a friendly glint in her eyes. "I'm Icepaw. My brother is Foxpaw if you have seen him. He has an orange tabby pelt." 
Silverpaw did know who Icepaw was talking about. Foxpaw must've been that tom that Cloverpaw was talking to. 
Icepaw curled back up again in her nest and settled down for a rest. Silverpaw wanted to talk more to Icepaw but obviously she wouldn't have that. Silverpaw righted her ears and began to pace back and forth inside the den, restless. So when Icepaw’s snores could be heard,Silverpaw sprinted out of the den and almost ran into a dark brown tom with amber eyes. The tom was massive, and he reminded her of her father.
"What are you doing running around like this?" asked the cat. 
Silverpaw expected the cat to be nice but she was wrong. She cowered, shivering at the huge gusts of air that were flown at her fur. Even though she had a fluffy pelt with winter-proof fur, she could still feel the heavy wind.
"I want to do something. I don't want to go asleep." Silverpaw meowed.
The massive cat dipped his head to hers. "Why don't I send you out to the training hollow to test your fighting skills with another apprentice. Maybe you will enjoy that with someone your age."
Silverpaw looked at the tough warrior and realized with a jolt that this was the deputy. One of the warriors told her before the apprenticeship.
"Y-yes, deputy." Silverpaw whispered, walking slowly to the fresh-kill pile, wondering what the food tasted like.
The deputy followed her. "Call me Brambleclaw."
Silverpaw nodded and gently used her paw to try and scoop what looked like a mouse from the pile of prey. Brambleclaw saw Silverpaw's reluctance and grabbed the mouse in his teeth, dropping it in front of her paws. Silverpaw jumped back, surprised. "The prey won't bite." The brown tabby answered, dabbing the mouse over to her. Silverpaw studied the mouse and then took a small bite of it, the taste filling her whole mouth.
Brambleclaw looked at her, his head tilted to the side. "How was it?" he asked when she stopped chewing. 
Silverpaw looked over at the huge warrior and gave him a nod. "It was great. Better than my kitty food."
"I'm glad. Now though you can't train. But now you can go on your first hunting patrol."
Silverpaw quivered with excitement. She made her way over to the gorse tunnel just as the first hunting patrol came back. Silverpaw though remembered Cloverpaw and looked around for her “sister” and saw Cloverpaw  laying on the hard ground under Highledge, licking her one paw.
Silverpaw gestured for Cloverpaw to come over, the brown tabby running over to her. 
"What's goin' on?" Cloverpaw asked. 
"Don't you remember that we are going on our first hunting patrol when our new mentors come?"
Cloverpaw bristled. "No. I thought we had it at dawn. Not now."
"Nope. When our mentors pick us up, they will take us to the forest to explore!" Silverpaw murrowed in excitement.
Just then Mousewhisker came over from the dusk patrol. "We are going to gather up some more warriors and then we will go. Is that okay?"
Cloverpaw nodded but Silverpaw hesitated. "What about my mentor, Hazeltail?"
Mousewhisker flicked his tail toward the entrance to the camp. "She went into the border patrol as they were leaving. They won't be back for a short time so we will just get  the warriors to join that are here." Silverpaw nodded but she still felt disappointed. Hazeltail was so nice to her at the apprenticeship.
Mousewhisker bounded over to one cat that was coming from the gorse tunnel with prey in her jaws. "Poppyfrost!" he shouted before he settled in front of her. "Do you want to join the dawn patrol?"
"No, thanks." Poppyfrost answered. "I just hunted just now and I am exhausted."
Mousewhisker looked surprised but he nodded and walked over to an older warrior. "Dustpelt, can you join the dawn patrol?" he asked, starting to plead.
The dark warrior nodded. "I guess." he muttered and then walked over to Silverpaw and Cloverpaw.
"Shouldn't there be more cats?" Cloverpaw asked, reading Silverpaw's mind.
"No. I think this is enough." Dustpelt answered, already racing into the gorse tunnel.
Cloverpaw, Silverpaw, and Mousewhisker followed Dustpelt through the tunnel and into the forest trees of ThunderClan.
The sky was already pure blackness, sprinkled with shining stars of the silverpelt.
"It's really dark." whispered Silverpaw, shivering with sudden fear. "How are you supposed to find prey in here?"
"You have to use your nose. Kits know that already." Dustpelt growled, sniffing at some leaves on the ground.
Silverpaw flinched. Dustpelt seemed like every other cat hating on kittypets.
She then tried to ignore the older warrior and sniffed the ground, wishing to get an easy pick to make Dustpelt proud. Then Silverpaw heard loud scrabbling and followed the noise, sniffing the air to get a whiff of the prey's scent. Then she did.
It was mouse!
She heard even more scrabbling which was closer. Silverpaw bounded over to a trunk of a tree where the noise was the loudest and sniffed the trunk. The mouse's scent was definitely here. But where was the mouse?
Then in a flash a mouse dove out of a hole in the trunk of the tree, sprinting past Silverpaw and to the Twolegplace. Silverpaw didn't hesitate a second. She raced after the mouse and quickly pounced on it, it's body between her paws. The mouse squeaked in terror, trying to get away. Silverpaw bit the mouse on its neck like she saw the older warriors do and felt it move around a little before laying limp in her mouth. Silverpaw dropped it on the frost-bitten grass and bounded over to the cats. 
"Did you catch anything?" Mousewhisker meowed, looking around for Silverpaw's prey.
"Yes, It's over here." Silverpaw showed Mousewhisker and Dustpelt her prey. 
"You forgot to bury it before coming over to us but you did a pretty good job for your first catch." Dustpelt replied, nosing the prey under some leaves with his nose.
"Thanks, Dustpelt. What do you think, Mousewhisker?" Silverpaw turned to the dark warrior. Mousewhisker nodded, his eyes full of admiration. "You did a great job!” Then the admiration was replaced with seriousness.” But like Dustpelt said, you have to bury your prey after you catch it when you are going to hunt for more.”
"Yes, Mousewhisker." Silverpaw's ears drooped a little but she picked them back up. "Where's Clover-Cloverpaw?" She asked, watching as both warriors exchanged glances. 
"She went farther into the forest to catch prey. She seems like a good hunter so we thought she could do it." Dustpelt answered.
Silverpaw then felt jealousy take part in her body. "Can I follow her?" she asked, trying to prove she could do the same thing Cloverpaw is doing.
Mousewhisker looked at Silverpaw with unissurance. "No. I think there should only be one apprentice going by themselves deep in the forest."
Silverpaw found herself hissing furiously, her claws unsheathed. "I want to follow my sister."
Mousewhisker saw what was happening and stepped back a little from the young apprentice. "Okay-"
"No!" Dustpelt growled, interrupting Mousewhisker. "You are not going no matter how scary you look. We aren't going to waste cats like this." He turned away from Silverpaw and followed the scent of a vole toward the RiverClan border.
Silverpaw's claws sheathed again and her fur stopped bristling. She sat down on the grass, her tail swishing across the frosty top of it.
"Maybe you will get your turn when you're a warrior?" said Mousewhisker, trying to cheer the apprentice up. 
"I guess..."
"Don't be so down. Dustpelt just thinks Cloverpaw is a more experienced hunter than you." Then he quickly fixed what he said. "But don't take what I said in the wrong way. Dustpelt just thinks that because you used to be a kittypet. But I think you're doing really well, unlike what a true kittypet would be doing."
Silverpaw flashed a grin at Mousewhisker. He was doing a great job of cheering her up. "Thanks, Mousewhisker." Then in a split second after she spoke, Silverpaw thought of an idea of still following Cloverpaw, even without permission. Silverpaw looked around the ground for a rock and found one, a small pebble-like one by bunches of tall grass. She grabbed it in her teeth and spat it toward a tree behind Mousewhisker. The noise made Mousewhisker turn in the direction of the noise, from where he was tail-lengths away. In quick movements, Silverpaw quietly scuttled in the direction of where Dustpelt said Cloverpaw went, with Mousewhisker distracted by the rock's noise. Silverpaw sped through the forest, jumping over bushes and finding her way about the trees. Then she saw a flash of brown fur and skidded to a stop. Cloverpaw just pounced on some kind of animal, and she now has it in her mouth, placing it on the top of a large pile tucked under leaves. 
"Cloverpaw!" Silverpaw exclaimed, running over to her sister-friend.
Cloverpaw turned around, fur bristling, which laid flat when she saw Silverpaw. "What are you doing out here? Dustpelt and Mousewhisker were the only ones who told me to come out here." The brown tabby walked closer to her. 
Silverpaw nodded, her jealousy rising again. "Yeah but I found you and so now we can hunt together." 
Cloverpaw looked at Silverpaw in surprise. "No! You know you can't be out here. When I asked Dustpelt why you couldn't come with me, he said you were hunting with Mousewhisker. Also, did you sneak away? You're going to get punished."
Silverpaw crept closer to Cloverpaw, a snarl beginning to appear on her lips. "Okay? Dustpelt was lying. Mousewhisker told me that Dustpelt thought you were a better hunter than me and he thought you were also a better kittypet too."
Cloverpaw widened her eyes, shaking her head. "No that's not true. Are you sure that Mousewhisker said this?"
Silverpaw began to snarl loudly, feeling more angrier than she had ever felt in her whole life. Cloverpaw made Silverpaw frustrated because she was a better hunter, better kittypet, and also a better cat to not share her prey as she had done in the past. Cloverpaw noticed Silverpaw's change in actions and crept backwards.
"You don't deserve to have more appreciation than me! Everyone likes you better, thinks you're better, and you are better!" Silverpaw crouched,ready to spring at Cloverpaw, when Hazeltail bounded through the trees, looking at them. 
She turned to Silverpaw. "Dustpelt and Mousewhisker told me that you wandered off to find your sister." she paused. "What's going on here?"
Cloverpaw answered. "Silverpaw was mad at me because I am supposedly better than her at everything and was going to fight me." Silverpaw twitched her ears but said nothing. 
Hazeltail nodded to Cloverpaw and turned to Silverpaw again. "Is this true, Silverpaw? Getting into a fight on your first day as an apprentice?"
Silverpaw nodded reluctantly. 
Hazeltail flicked her tail. "Okay. But don't ever try to do it again.” Then she began walking back into the trees when she turned back to Silverpaw. "You coming? You still have to catch prey for camp."
Silverpaw began to protest but Hazeltail silenced her with a flick of her tail. 
"Please let's go. You don't want to be in even bigger trouble."
Silverpaw sighed, nodding, following Hazeltail back to Dustpelt and Mousewhisker, giving one quick glare to Cloverpaw before she did.
.                                                          .                                             .
After catching about five pieces of prey, including her first catch, Silverpaw and the patrol went back to camp. Cloverpaw as well as Hazeltail followed, carrying several pieces of prey. As they entered the gorse tunnel, Mousewhisker explained to the apprentices that they had to put the prey in the fresh-kill pile.
They both listened but something else was on Silverpaw's mind at the moment. She was still thinking of how she acted toward Cloverpaw. Silverpaw though now felt guilty and realized how stupid it was to act like that just because Cloverpaw was just a little better than her at hunting. Silverpaw watched as clan cats went up to the kittypets to inspect their catches. Cloverpaw seemed to have catched about four more pieces than Silverpaw got but she no longer cared. She was embarrassed and tired from all the fury that had filled her body earlier.
Silverpaw placed her pieces of prey on the pile, making her way to the apprentices den. Foxpaw this time was asleep in the den and Icepaw was nowhere to be found. Foxpaw moved around a little, making Silverpaw freeze to the spot. When Foxpaw began snoring again, Silverpaw crept over to her nest by Icepaw's and flopped in it quietly, trying to get comfortable.
Then a sweet scent filled her nose and Silverpaw looked around for the cause of the scent. Then a beautiful shimmering colored she-cat padded toward Silverpaw. She didn't recognize the cat from ThunderClan and her fur was shimmering like she was filled with the silverpelt unlike any cat she had ever seen. 
Silverpaw gingerly stepped backwards out of her nest as the cat came closer. "W-who are you?" she asked the cat. 
The cat stopped suddenly and sat down on her forelegs, staring at Silverpaw intently. "I am Spottedleaf. I used to be ThunderClan's Medicine cat." she meowed.
Silverpaw was still behind her nest but she sat down as the cat did. "Then why are you here? And what did you mean that you used to be ThunderClan's medicine cat?"
Spottedleaf purred with amusement. "I am in StarClan now. That means that I passed over to the other side.” Then she paused. “ That is why Leafpool and Jayfeather are your medicine cats’ now. They took over for Yellowfang, the medicine cat that took over for me after I died."
Silverpaw stared at Spottedleaf in amazement. "You're dead? In StarClan? Then how are you here right now?"
Some older warriors told Silverpaw about StarCan at some point.
The she-cat twitched her tail. "It is because I came here to give you a message to give to Jayfeather."
"Okay." Silverpaw replied. "What is it?" 
Spottedleaf let out a breath that seemed like she had been holding forever, and closed her eyes. "Silver will be the next medicine cat."
Silverpaw sprang to her paws. "You mean me? That's not possible. I am a warrior apprentice."
"That is not your fate. You and your sister's fate change directions and so many things happen that even us in StarClan can't predict."
"What does that mean?" she meowed loudly. "Are you saying that my path is of the medicine cat?"
Spottedleaf nodded, her eyes clouded with emotions that Silverpaw didn't understand. Fear, worry,sorrow, intentness, and self-hostility. 
"Are you sure?" sad and anguish feelings were starting to fill Silverpaw's body, making her ache.
"I'm afraid so." Then her body started to vanish. "Bye, Silverpaw. May StarClan watch from above to guide you along a path of pain, anguish, hostility and many more I can't say." Then all that was left from Spottedleaf was her sweet scent.
Silverpaw shivered and laid back down in her nest, expecting Spottedleaf to reappear and tell her what path she would go down and what would happen to her. But the she-cat didn't come back and Silverpaw let her hope float out in the strong wind. Foxpaw once again moved around and this time he sat up, his eyes gazing through the darkness. 
"Why are you awake?" he asked, suspicion glazed in his eyes. 
"I was just talking in my sleep and I woke up." Without another word, Silverpaw curled her tail over her mouth and settled down for a deep sleep.
.                                              .                                      .
Three moons had passed since Silverpaw was an apprentice and she was helping Jayfeather collect herbs in ThunderClan territory by the WindClan border. Silverpaw at some time told Jayfeather and Leafpool about her waking dream with Spottedleaf and gave Jayfeather the message. Leafpool was surprised when Silverpaw had told her and she had said, "I understand. Come with me." And Leafpool had taken her to something called a Moonpool and she had shared tongues with StarClan. When Silverpaw was their, Silverpaw was with many StarClan cats who congratulated her and wished her good luck in her mysterious path in life. Silverpaw now knows since this trip to the moonpool that this is what her life is now and she no longer has a problem. 
"What are we looking for again?" Silverpaw asked Jayfeather.
Jayfeather flicked his tail, impatiently. "Poppy seeds, water mint, juniper, and dock root."
"Okay..." Then Silverpaw spotted a green plant with purple-blueish berries on it. Silverpaw recognizes it as Juniper and leaps over to the plant, grabbing mouthfuls of it in her jaws. After she collects enough, she runs back over to Jayfeather and drops them at his paws, the berries rolling around the grass a little.
"Good job, Silverpaw." Jayfeather meowed and then said, "Water mint? Did you find any of that?"
"No." Silverpaw answered, thinking for a moment. "Maybe by the RiverClan border or by ThunderClan rivers?" 
"Good." Is all Jayfeather said and then Silverpaw and the light grey tabby started toward the ThunderClan rivers first. Silverpaw leaped over a large rock and trembled with excitement as she picked up the scent of water mint. Jayfeather noticed and sat down in the soft grass that newleaf brung. 
Silverpaw opened her mouth to taste the air when she heard a cat's squeal. Silverpaw started running toward the noise, occasionally looking behind her shoulder to make sure that Jayfeather was following. When she reached the place where the voice came from, Silverpaw saw a white head sticking out of the river. Icecloud! Silverpaw yelped and raced to the edge of the river. The water was rushing fast in a current, making Icecloud get pulled downstream toward RiverClan territory. "I'm coming, Icecloud!" Then Silverpaw jumped into the water, not entirely sure how to swim against the current and stay above water. But she kept drifting toward Icecloud, water splashing into her eyes. Silverpaw saw Icecloud's head go under and fear filled her body until Icecloud reappeared, struggling to keep her head above water. Relief this time filled Silverpaw's body and she swam even faster toward the drowning young  warrior. When she reached Icecloud, she grabbed the white she-cat by her scruff and started paddling toward the shore.
Jayfeather was on the shore with widened eyes, which were filled with fear and worry. When he saw her drawing closer to the shore, Jayfeather walked to the edge and grabbed Icecloud’s scruff from Silverpaw and placed her on the soft grass under a small oak. Silverpaw made the rest of the way to the shore and flopped on the grass, stomach rising and falling in deep breaths. Silverpaw watched as Jayfeather checked Icecloud's pulse and gave her thyme for the shock. Then Jayfeather made his way over to Silverpaw through the long wet reeds. "Are you alright? You're not really a RiverClan cat."
The grey she-cat got up and shook her fur out, spraying water droplets on Jayfeather. The water made Jayfeather hiss and jump back, shaking out his own pelt.
"No but I needed to help Icecloud." Silverpaw answered finally after hesitating.
Jayfeather nodded and laid down on the grass, licking his fur off river water. "I thought you would say that. It looked like the water was pretty rough." After over three moons, Jayfeather finally treated Silverpaw nicely.
"Yes.Yes it was." Then Silverpaw walked over to Icecloud.
Icecloud was laying in the shade under a small sized oak tree, just the perfect size for a cat. "Icecloud?" Silverpaw called out to the young white she-cat.
Icecloud moved a little, letting out a small moan, sitting up with soaked fur. "Silverpaw?"
"Yeah, It's me." Silverpaw went over to Icecloud and gently cuffed her around the ear with her paw. "What were you doing out by the river? Were you catching a flying badger?"
Icecloud purred softly. "No. I was trying to catch a fish when I went hunting. I thought the clan would be surprised if I catched one."
Silverpaw sat down in front of the young warrior. "Well you should've not done that. You could've gotten hurt and me and Jayfeather would've had to do more than just give you thyme."
Icecloud looked up, her eyes clouded with pain and compassion. "Why? Are you my medicine cat?"
Silverpaw looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up. "Yes. I will be." All the joking and kidding was out of Silverpaw's voice now.
Icecloud must've noticed because she looked away, embarrassingly. "Thanks, Silverpaw. I am glad your in ThunderClan." Ever since that one time that Icepaw and Silverpaw talked in the apprentices' den, they had gotten along well and became best friends.
Silverpaw purred and licked Icecloud's ear. "No problem. I love the clan. It will always be my home."
Icecloud nodded sleepily and laid down, sitting her head on her paws. "I'm tired. Maybe we can talk later?" she lightly closed her eyes.
"Sure." Silverpaw replied. "Sweet dreams, Icecloud." Then she ran back over to Jayfeather who was now picking stems of water mint.
"Hey, Jayfeather.”
The grey tabby turned around in surprise and dropped the wrap of herbs on the ground. "Oh. Silverpaw. How is Icecloud?" Jayfeather answered, licking his shoulder and pretending he didn't get startled by Silverpaw. 
"I asked her why she was by the river and she said that she was trying to catch a fish for the clan. She was out hunting alone at the time she did this. She also fell asleep after saying something to me." Silverpaw didn't have the words to explain what Icecloud had said to her about being a great friend.
Jayfeather's tongue stopped cleansing his fur and he looked up at Silverpaw. "She was trying to catch a fish? What was she thinking? Does she think she is a RiverClan cat too?"
Silverpaw purred in amusement, picking up the water mint stems and placing them by the juniper and dock root. 
When Silverpaw turned around,Jayfeather was standing right in front of her.
"I was wondering..." Jayfeather trailed off, looking up to meet her eyes.
"What is it?" Silverpaw asked, startled still.
But Jayfeather didn't answer since Leafpool appeared. "What are you guys doing? What's taking so long-" she saw Icecloud sleeping under the small oak and looked over at Silverpaw. "Why is Icecloud here?"
"She was trying to catch a fish and she must've fell in. I went and fetched her out of the river."
Leafpool nodded, pleased. "That was very brave of you, Silverpaw. The current is very fast. I will take this up with Firestar."
Silverpaw flicked her ears, filled with pride. "Thanks, Leafpool. But I was just doing what any other clan cat would've done for their clanmate."
Leafpool walked closer until Silverpaw's nose could almost touch the medicine cat's. "No. ThunderClan cats would have not done something like that. They would've gotten a nice RiverClan cat to help them. But I like that you didn't hesitate. Good. Really good, Silverpaw."
Silverpaw dipped her head in understanding.
The cats headed back to camp, Icecloud followed, being scolded by Leafpool.
As they all entered the gorse tunnel, a cat's wail went through the camp. It was a kit's wail. Silverpaw sped past Jayfeather and followed the small voice. A tiny gray kit, Bumblekit, had brambles stuck in his fur. "Shh!" Silverpaw soothed the kit. "I'll take you to Leafpool."
Silverpaw picked the kit by its scruff and took it to Leafpool's den. Leafpool was already in it by the time Silverpaw came in, the herbs that Jayfeather and Silverpaw collected stuffed in a ledge.
"Bumblekit has brambles in his fur." Silverpaw explained, setting the kit down in a nest. Leafpool studied the kit of injuries and shook her head. "He will be fine." Is all the medicine cat said and she got to work.
Even though Leafpool was not the former medicine cat, she still did a lot of work. "Why doesn't Jayfeather check Bumblekit out? Take a break."
Leafpool shook her head, mostly ignoring Silverpaw. "No thanks, Silverpaw. I can handle this." She continued. "Besides, Jayfeather went to tell Graystripe and Millie."
Silverpaw understood and left, going through the ferns of the medicine den and into the clearing. Icecloud she realized was not in the medicine den but was talking to Poppyfrost, who she was sharing a thrush with. When Icecloud saw Silverpaw, she flicked her tail for the medicine cat apprentice to come over. She padded over to them, sitting next to Icecloud.
"I heard you saved Icecloud." Poppyfrost said, her eyes filled with admiration. "You should totally get a new medicine cat name."
"Yes..." Silverpaw murmured, filled with new pride. "But I did what anycat would've done."
"No. Like Leafpool said. No ordinary cat would've done that." Icecloud purred, licking Silverpaw on the ear.
Silverpaw nodded. 
A yowl filtered through the clearing, making Silverpaw jump. "Let all the cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather here beneath Highledge for a clan meeting!" Silverpaw heard the voice of Firestar, the clan leader. 
All the cats in the clearing began to form a heap of cats below the rocks of Firestar's den. When Silverpaw looked up, she realized with a jolt that Leafpool and Jayfeather were next to the clan leader on Highledge.
"Leafpool told me that Silverpaw saved Icecloud in the river current in ThunderClan. Me and her agreed that Silverpaw should get a new name."
Silverpaw pricked her ears in excitement. 
"Tonight Leafpool, Jayfeather, and Silverpaw will make the trip to the moonpool and Silverpaw will earn her new medicine cat name." Firestar explained, his pelt glowing with flames.
The clan cheered, Icecloud being the loudest.
Silverpaw looked at the ground, embarrassed at the clan’s praise. Then Firestar said suddenly, "Meeting dismissed." and he went back through the ferns in front of his den and vanished. Elders, warriors, queens, apprentices all congratulated Silverpaw, making her burst with pride even more.
"I knew you would!" Poppyfrost meowed twitching her ears with certainty.
"I didn't know." Silverpaw exclaimed. "I thought it was what anycat would've done." She said, shaking her head with surprise. 
"Sorry but disagree. I think not all cats would rush into action like that." Icecloud admitted, coming over and praising Silverpaw. 
"Can we all still be friends? I will be busy because I will now be sharing the medicine cat den with Leafpool and Jayfeather." Silverpaw meowed.
"Of course, furball." Icecloud licked Silverpaw quickly on the shoulder before going into the warriors den. Poppyfrost, Silverpaw's new friend, did the same except on the ear and followed Icecloud.
Silverpaw then felt suddenly alone. It seemed as if she was the only medicine cat in the world, as her friends had both become warriors. 'Forget about it.' thought Silverpaw. 'You like being a medicine cat. Right?'
Silverpaw ran the question through her head. Did she like to be a medicine cat? Not really but did she really have any choice since Spottedleaf, the old ThunderClan medicine cat, told her that needed to be one? But Spottedleaf had also said that Silverpaw's path in life would twist in ways she couldn't understand. What did she mean by that?
Silverpaw shook her fur out and entered the medicine cat den, straightening the herbs. When Leafpool came in, she helped Silverpaw and quizzed her on different herbs, even though Jayfeather would be her mentor soon.
"What does yarrow do and what do you do with it?" 
"Yarrow when found is chewed to a poultice and is eaten or is spread on wounds. It is used for cracked pads, colds, and other uses." Silverpaw explained. Leafpool flicked her tail. "Well done." she meowed, and began quizzing Silverpaw on other herbs and plants.
A/N: I will continue this a little every week and day!
Category:Warrior Cats Fanfiction
Category:Kittypet
Category:Fate