Creamfluff's Hope

*/\* Chapter Twelve */\*

    "Creampaw!" She blinked her eyes open to see Rainspeck, Aloeheart, Silverleaf, Thrushwing, and Acornstar staring down at her. "Creampaw!" It was Rainspeck's voice that had woken Creampaw. Creampaw groaned. She felt cold and wet all over, her fur spiked up as if she was drenched in water.

Then, it all came back to her like a stinging wound. She had been in water. She'd fallen in, and struggled to get out, and ended up in StarClan...

Wait... If I'm in StarClan... then why is everyone here with me? She slowly picked her head up and looked around before Rainspeck's paws wrapped around her in relief. The place she was in smelled of herbs and she was lying in a pile of moss. Of course... the medicine den... I guess that's in StarClan?

"Am I in StarClan?" Creampaw mewed softly. Aloeheart looked at her and shook his head, a soft glint in his eyes.

"Of course not. You're right here in MistClan," he purred. Creampaw looked down at her paws in embarrassment.

Creampaw started to smooth her spiked fur, Rainspeck's paws still around her neck. She went to sweep a paw over her head to clean her ears and her eyes widened when something wasn't there.

"My sunflower!" She wailed. "My sunflower fell off when I fell into the pool!"

Aloeheart held up his tail before rushing out of the den. Creampaw stared after him until he came back into the den with her sunflower in his jaws. Creampaw smiled and shakily stood up and rushed over to her father. Aloeheart purred and positioned the wet flower behind her ear.

"I retrieved it from the pool after Thrushwing brought you to camp and told us what happened." He kept purring. "I'm so happy you're still here."

Creampaw purred too before frowning. "Does... do Softkit and Butterfly know what happened?"

Silverleaf stepped aside from where he'd been standing to show the two younger cats. Their eyes brightened at the sight of Creampaw and they ran forwards, purring.

"Creampaw!" Softkit squeaked happily. Butterflykit was purring loudly, her purr making it clear there was no need for words to say how happy she was. "Creampaw, you were so brave!" Softkit smiled. Creampaw started purring again and nuzzled the kit. She never knew how happy she'd be to see a kit.

"I'm sorry we got mad at you," Butterflykit squeaked.

"No, I'm sorry for not waiting to be apprenticed with you." Creampaw meowed. She opened her mouth to say something else before Acornstar pushed himself between the three.

"Now, Creampaw, you've had enough time to say your hellos and stuff, but that was very mouse-brained of you." Acornstar meowed. Creampaw shivered at his tone. His voice was deep, like always, but it had no sharpness or anger to it. This made Creampaw far more worried than it would've made her if his voice did have anger in it.

"No, Acornstar, it was my fault for letting her on the rock." Thrushwing hung his head as Acornstar turned to face him. "I shouldn't have let her near the rocks in the first place."

"You're correct, and you should be shameful for your choice," Acornstar meowed, no hissing or growling. He turned back to Creampaw. "But I do have an announcement to make because of Creampaw. She will not be punished, even if her choice was entirely mouse brained. She is a new apprentice," he said before turning to leave the den. Rainspeck licked Creampaw's muzzle before following Acornstar out of the den. Aloeheart started leading the two kits out with his tail, Thrushwing casting an apologetic glance at his apprentice before leaving the den. Creampaw tried walking behind them, only to be pulled back by Silverleaf.

"You aren't going anywhere just yet, Creampaw," he meowed. "Lay back down in your nest- I want to check if you're sick or not."

Creampaw groaned but did as she was told and laid down in her nest, Silverleaf walking over to her. Creampaw let him check her ears to see if water was still lodged in them and pressed an ear to her chest to listen to her breathing. Creampaw pricked her ears at the sound of Acornstar's yowling atop the Highstone as he addressed the Clan.

"All apprentices under eight moons will not be allowed on the rocks next to the pool at Mist Falls," Creampaw could hear him say. "From now on, if an apprentice even jumps onto one rock, he or she will be punished."

Creampaw frowned. A new rule had been made because of her. She'd gotten cats into fights before and now she was making Acornstar add rules to the Clan.

"Perhaps it would be better if I just stayed in camp," she thought out loud. Silverleaf smiled, overhearing this thought.

"It wouldn't be any good for the Clan if it's only apprentice stopped learning," he meowed. "Maybe your loner-blood is getting to your thoughts."

Creampaw suddenly felt like yowling at the medicine cat. How could her loner-blood affect her thinking? Maybe it could explain a few of her thoughts... no. My loner-blood doesn't have anything to do with my thoughts, she told herself.

"My loner-blood doesn't change my thinking," Creampaw quickly snapped. Silverleaf's ears flattened as if she hadn't expected her to say that.

"Right," he mewed. "Anyway, you look fine, so I guess you can go out." Creampaw let out a sigh of relief and stood up. Her fur had started to dry and wasn't soggy anymore as she exited the den and emerged into the camp. She saw Rainspeck by the fresh kill pile eating a sparrow. She quickly bounded over to her, wanting to ask her something.

"Rainspeck," she meowed, approaching her adoptive mother and sitting down next to her. Rainspeck nodded in response while chewing her prey. "Does my loner-blood have anything to do with my thinking?"

"What?" Rainspeck swallowed and pushed her sparrow towards her kit. "No. Here, take a few bites of that. You might be hungry. Hunger is one thing that affects your thoughts."

"No," Creampaw mewed. "I want to know the truth. You don't need to hide it any longer."

Rainspeck sighed and sat up. "Okay. Creampaw, your mother was a wonderful cat. I went on a walk with her a few days after she left you here after finding her outside of the camp. She told me that her name was Cloud. Her other kits were Gray, Rocky and Flake, just like I said before. Cloud told me you look just like your father."

"How come I never hear about him then?" Creampaw asked.

"It's because Cloud doesn't like to talk about him," Rainspeck laid her tail on Creampaw's shoulder. "Your father... he didn't have any love for you or your siblings. He didn't want kits in the first place. Cloud wanted to get her kits away from the cruel cat your father is and brought you here to MistClan to keep you safe from him."

"Oh." Creampaw's eyes dimmed. Her father didn't love her or her siblings. She thought all fathers were like Aloeheart. Cats who wanted to spend every moment with their kits and bring them gifts and care for them with every bit of their heart.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Rainspeck meowed gently. "Are you sure you want to know more?" Creampaw hesitated before slowly nodding. Rainspeck nodded before looking her kit straight in the eyes. "Your littermates didn't get lost, Creampaw. Your siblings... they died on the way to MistClan."

Creampaw's eyes widened. Why would Rainspeck lie to her out of all cats? "You lied?"

Rainspeck nodded, still looking at her paws. "I had to. But you're the second cat in the Clan without full Clan-blood. Aren't you proud?"

"Why would I be proud?" She spat at Rainspeck, her voice rising. "I'm teased for my loner-roots, and you think I'm proud? I just found out that my siblings died, and you think I'm proud?"

Rainspeck's jaws parted to protest but cats began to stare.

"I just found out that I have a father who hates me, and you think I'm proud?" Creampaw screeched. "I'm not Clanborn, and I'm not proud!" Creampaw's voice rose to a yowl, and she felt her ears grow hot with anger. "My mother left me here to grow up to this!" She lashed her tail a couple times and her voice quieted.

"Creampaw-" Rainspeck tried saying but Creampaw shook her head and dashed over to her den.