Warriors AU CrowXLeaf, ¬ Fernclan.

Chapter 6

Hollypaw bounded away from Jaypaw and climbed up the slope to go play with everyone else. She creeped up to Lionpaw and leaped onto his back. He fell underneath her and she hopped off. "You mouse-brain!" Lionpaw insulted her. "A true warrior wouldn't creep up on their brother, kits do that!" he yowled. Fernpaw flicked his ear with her tail and laughed. She looked at him as if she was a warrior and he was a kit. "I guess you're right, but that was a good sneak. Can you show me Hollypaw?" Hollypaw nodded, she dropped down into a crouch and lifted her tail from the ground. She began to move around without making a noise. Fernpaw tried to copy her but she left her tail on the ground, so when she moved around the ground rustled as she swept her tail over the crunchy leaves. "How did you do that?" she asked, angry.

Hollypaw got up and padded over to Fernpaw. "You have to keep your tail off the ground so it doesn't disturb the leaves as you walk." she instructed. The sun began to set and Hollypaw turned to watch as the sky filled with Reds and Pinks. The Amber blaze of the sun softened as it fell behind the mountains and the air cooled to a refreshing frosty breeze. Hollypaw gasped in awe as everyone else did. Leafpool, Crowstar and Jaypaw all walked up to the cats in a line. "Kits," Crowstar began. He looked sadly at his mate and then back at his children. "Your mother has something to tell you" He stepped back as Leafpool replaced him in front of the four young warrior apprentices. Jaypaw padded over and sat with the rest of the apprentices and looked up at his mother with regret and pain soaring through his blind eyes. Hollypaw looked back at Leafpool, scared of what had happened. "Flowerpaw has joined starclan." she explained. Everyone except Jaypaw, Leafpool and Crowstar gasped. Jaypaw looked up into the sky and sniffed. Can he feel her watching over us? She thought Would I be able to feel that if I was a medicine cat? She looked back at Leafpool who had started tearing up. "Come with me, all of you." She added as everyone looked back at her. "Let's go bury her." Leafpool led them to a cave where they had stored Flowerpaws corpse and they brought her out into the field. They laid her near a patch of lavender flowers and they buried her. Fernpaw looked sadly at the place where she had been buried and followed Lionpaw as he began walking back to camp. Crowstar muttered something and then looked at his kits. "Who wants to sit vigil for Flowerpaw tonight?" Jaypaw stepped forward and dipped his head, Crowstar nodded back to him and looked again at his kits. Lionpaw and Hollypaw gave each other anxious looks as Fernpaw offered sadly. Before Hollypaw could offer, Leafpool mewed a quick thing to Jaypaw and shooed the others away with her tail. Lionpaw, Hollypaw, Silentpaw and Crowstar all padded sadly back to camp. Hollypaw spotted Squirrelflight talking with Brakenfur and she walked up to them. "Oh, they're all back! Where did you go? I was going to take you hunting." Brakenfur asked as she approached.

"Flowerpaw has... passed on to Starclan," she mewed quietly as the others let out small whimpers. "We went to go bury her and Jaypaw, Fernpaw and Leafpool are staying vigil for her."

Squirrelflight and Brakenfur looked sadly at each other. Squirrelflight murmured something gazing at the silverpelt while Brackenfur closed his eyes for a few seconds. Hollypaw began walking to the apprentices den as she heard Squirrelflight's voice again. "I wonder why Leafpool didn't just announce it and let the whole clan grieve together?" she mewed to Brakenfur.

"Perhaps she wanted the first death of the clan to be special? For only their closest kin to bury and sit vigil for them?" Brakenfur suggested quietly.

Hollypaw turned, to once again face the two loyal warriors. "What do you mean the first death in the clan?" she asked suspiciously. Brakenfur clearly hadn't thought she was listening because he looked startled. He began stuttering before Squirrelflight spoke for him. "He meant her first kit's death," she mewed calmly. "This must be hard on her." Hollypaw, still suspicious, narrowed her gaze on the two cats for a while longer before turning for the apprentice's den again