A Rose's Thorn - Warrior Cats Fanfic

Chapter Four

Rose broke away from Featherpaw's grip on the broken collar and stumbled forward, almost crashing into Hawktalon. The grown tom leapt away with a hiss as if he were afraid of touching her. 

Frecklestar had padded forward and scooped up the broken orange collar with a brown paw. She stared at Rose in amazement as the kittypet smoothed her neck fur. It felt strange to not have something wrapped around her neck by force. She felt strangely free, freer than when she'd leapt over the fence and left her house behind. 

"Don't ignore the rose," Frecklestar whispered, her green eyes wide. She dropped the collar to the ground and began to scrape dirt over it. Rose's eyes widened and she leapt forward and pulled her collar out of the dirt.

"No! Don't bury it!" Rose pleaded as she laid her broken collar down by her paws. 

"Why not?" Frecklestar tilted her head.

Rose looked down at her collar and thought of Ghost when looking at the silvery, jingling bell muffled by dirt. "I want to return it to where it came from."

Frecklestar let out a purr. "Does that mean you're considering staying with us?"

Rose looked up and nodded. "I'd like to if you are alright with that."

"I'm more than fine," Frecklestar nodded in response. "But, about your collar, do you plan to head back to Twolegplace and return your collar to your Twolegs?"

Rose was confused by her speech. Twolegplace? Twolegs? "Do you mean my neighborhood and housefolk?"

"No, I mean the Twolegplace and your Twolegs." Frecklestar's eyes glinted with amusement. "If you want to become a Clan cat, you'll have to use our words."

"Twolegs..." the word was weird to say, but it was a fitting name for housefolk. Rose picked up her collar in her mouth. "But, yes, I'd like to return it to a friend I have there."

Frecklestar looked at Wishspark. "Wishspark, you're the only one I can trust around this young one until she is properly introduced to the others."

"The others?" Rose's eyes widened. This already seemed like a lot of cats to be around at one time. Now she'd found out there were more of them?

"There's about twenty of us, don't worry," Jasperstone meowed sarcastically.

"Just wait until she sees her first Gathering," Hawktalon scoffed from behind Rose.

"What's a Gathering?" Rose looked at Wishspark and Frecklestar.

"We'll explain everything once you get back," Frecklestar mewed. "Now, you two had better hurry if you want to get back before the first hunting patrol does."

Wishspark nodded and headed out of the camp entrance with Rose trailing along behind her. 

"Ghost?" Rose pulled herself to the top of the fence protecting Ghost's yard. Wishspark was watching her from down below, avoiding the fence and Ghost's yard. 

But Rose didn't see the white, black, and gray tom as she slid down into his yard. The sun was high in the sky, almost centered, so Ghost was most likely taking his daily nap. Rose padded up to the door of Ghost's home and peered inside. There was soft chatter from his owners inside of the house, but there was no sign of Ghost. Rose slowly slid through the cat flap and started to pad across the house. 

Ghost's owners were always okay with Rose appearing in their yard and house. They were nice housefolk, but Rose preferred hers over Ghost's any day. A soft ache in her heart appeared when she thought of how she'd never see her housefolk again. The housefolk's kit that lived with Ghost's owners reached down to pet Rose as she passed him, but she sprinted away. She needed to find Ghost. She didn't want to keep Wishspark waiting.

"Ghost?" Rose called out again, her cry a loud yowl. "It's me, Rose. Where are you?"

She was about to sprint up the stairway when she heard paw steps brush against the ground behind her. Rose whipped around to see Ghost stumbling toward her. His blue gaze was soft and welcoming, and he hurried forward to brush his cheek against Rose's.

"Couldn't survive for a day out there, huh?" Ghost's raspy purr rung in Rose's ears as he pulled his head back. "Is that why your collar is looking shredded?"

"Well," Rose dropped her broken orange collar in front of Ghost. "I actually found these wild cats who live in something called BushClan. I figured I'd live with them, and that I'd give my collar to you as a keepsake. A memory."

Ghost's blue eyes dimmed as he stared at Rose's collar. "Rose," he whispered. "Wild cats are dangerous creatures. They attack one each other for foolish reasons and sharpen their claws on bones. They have many scars and don't care for one another one bit. You're making a mistake."

"Pfft!" Rose scoffed. "The wild cats I met aren't like that! Your stray life has gotten into your thoughts!"

Ghost let out a sigh and grabbed Rose's collar in his jaws. "Fine. If you want to risk your young, long life, go ahead. You're a bright one, Rose, so I can trust you. Just..." Ghost's hurt gaze looked into Rose's bright yellow eyes. "...don't forget me."

"I won't, Ghost, I promise." Rose reached up to touch noses with the old, ragged tom. She'd made so many memories with the elderly cat. He'd been like a father to her. She'd never forget him. "I'd better go," the young she-cat mewed. She brushed her fluffy tail along Ghost's side as she rushed out of the den. 

Leaping over Ghost's old, worn-out fence, Rose landed clumsily beside Wishspark. 

"Rose," Wishspark mewed, standing up and beginning to pad away. "This'll be the last time we'll get this close to a Twoleg fence."

"How come?" Rose mewed, confused. 

"Because of the warrior code," Wishspark said. "It shapes the way we live and makes us different from those flea-pelted rogues. So, one code is that a warrior rejects the soft life of a kittypet."

Rose's fluffy tail dropped to the floor as the two walked back to BushClan's camp. That was the last time she'd see Ghost, and she had no close friends anywhere else. She and Ghost had been like kin. They had relied on each other for a couple of things, and Rose sometimes helped Ghost groom the mats from his pelt. 

Now, following Wishspark into the BushClan camp, she knew she'd lead a different life from now until she died.