Warriors: Sky and Darkness- Follow the Wind

Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Through Hard Pasts Comes
Loving Friendships

The sunlight filtered through the trees, casting down blotches of it onto the forest floor. The wind wafted through the dense woods, creating a gentle breeze.

I stood in the undergrowth. My black pelt turning gold in the sun's rays. The brisk morning air filled my lugs. I released it slowly, absorbing everything about my surroundings. The scent of the pine needles clinging to their branches, the moss and marigolds clustering around the roots of trees, the dew sticking to blades of grass-reluctant to give up its spot to the frostbitten soil below.

A small noise made I ears perk up and I turned my head. Quickly spotting an oblivious mouse, I got down into a hunter's crouch. The mouse sensed nothing, and continued nibbling on its seeds.

Balance. Silence. My mentor's words raced through my head. My eyes flicked with a bit of adventure. I slowly crept, paw by paw toward the mouse. My weight even across my body. Tail straight, quiet. My eyes eyes locked on to the small furry being in front of me. Muscles tense, I readied for the jump.
All of a sudden a noise sounded from behind me. The mouse scurried away, scared.

"Fox dung!" I cursed under my breath. Spinning around, I searched for the source of the noise, my tail lashing furiously.

A brown tabby tom hopped out from behind a large pine. "Hey, Skypaw!"

"Hawkpaw! What are you doing, you mouse-brain?! You scared off my mouse and probably the rest if the forest too!" I snapped.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know. I thought you had already finished your hunting and we could walk back together." he confessed, looking toward the ground. We had been on a hunting patrol that split up.

"Well, I guess we could." I could feel my pelt grow hot with embarrassment."Sorry for snapping at you."

Hawkpaw's eyes were sincere,"That's alright." He turned around and jumped behind the pine, then a heartbeat later he returned with a robin in his jaws.

"Nice catch," I complemented.

"Thanks," his voice was muffled by the prey.

Trotting over to a nearby bush, I pawed at some loose earth, uncovering a shrew. I picked it up an started back to camp with Hawkpaw. As we skipped over logs, and dodged bramble clusters, my mind began to travel.

I turned and looked at Hawkpaw, and I couldn't refuse the smile that instinctively grew on my face. Him and I had been friends ever since we were kits. He was about a moon and a half older than me, but it felt as if we were the same age.

My heart seemed to skip a beat, and a feeling that I've never felt slithered its way into by brain. No. I chastised myself, pushing the feeling away. You're just an apprentice. A new one at that.

I shook off the feeling and stared now ahead. The small shoots of green caught my eye every once in awhile. Reminding me of the new-leaf to come. Every cat was thankful for it. The last leaf-bare was the harshest ever seen by the lake cats, the snow never seeming to subside. Plus, the most deadly sickness swept throughout all the clans. It was worse then that of greencough. Way worse. It was known as Bloodcough.

Bloodcough killed many, many cats. Including my family. My mother, father, and two sisters. I wasn't the only one to loose someone though. Soilfur lost her mate, Addertail, father to Hawkpaw, Emberpaw, and Spiderpaw. Fawnpaw also lost her brother, Woodkit. All the clans suffered, hard.

Sometimes I wonder why StarClan took so many cats. Or why StarClan even let Bloodcough happen. Surely they could've done something. Honeysplash, my mentor, said that StarClan has reasons for things we would never come to understand. I find it hard to believe though. Why couldn't StarClan just take me with my family? Why did they leave me here to suffer without them, alone?

I sighed, closing my eyes. Suddenly a memory flashed through my mind.

I was in the nursery. The sweet scent of warmth and milk around me. I heard the chatting of my two sisters, Petalkit and Birchkit. I remember the sun filtering into nursery, casting its light onto my mother, Robinsong's, fur. She was a beautiful gold and white tabby. Then my father, Ravenshadow, came to the entrance, blocking the sun's rays. I looked up at him, his sleek black pelt contradicting the glow of sun around him.

Time skips.

I sit by new dug dirt, staring into the ground. Beneath it, my decaying family lay. Along with the tens of other cats murdered by the disease.

Soilfur came to my side, trying to comfort me, but I turned away and ran into the forest. Tears flooded my eyes, clouding my vision. I ran without purpose, without hope, lost.

Suddenly, as if a switch, I lost all my energy and collapsed on the leafy ground. I stuffed my face into my paws, sobbing silently.

I heard footsteps behind me, but disregarded them. Recognizing the scent of the cat as Hawkpaw's, I realized that he must followed me. Without a word, he padded over and layed down beside me. He began to groom the base of my neck, his licks warm, calming.

Wearily, I lifted my head to look at him. He was smiling, his forest green eyes dancing.

"It's alright," he started to lick my forehead now. "It's alright..."

"Watch out!" my memory faded like lightning as I came back to reality. I skidded to a halt, almost running into the tree trunk in front of me.

"You okay?" Hawkpaw questioned. "It seemed like you were in a different world just now."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I meowed back, laughing. "Just got a little too lost in my thoughts."

He laughed too, his eyes dancing like they had back then, "Glad to hear that." He smiled with the same warming, calm smile that had comforted me that one day.

Maybe I'm not so alone after all.