Dawnstar's Decision

Chapter 8

"The kits are coming!" Shrieked Silvermoon's voice from the nursery. Featherpool rushed past Dawnpaw with rasberry leaves in her jaws. Lakepaw followed quickly behind her, bringing in a decent sized stick for her.
Dawnpaw could see Grassblade push the other cats away as he shot out of the warrior's den. He made his way into the nursery as fast as his aching joints would allow. He too would be moving into the elders den soon.
Dawnpaw rushed out of the medicine cat den and stayed near the nursery, knowing that she shouldn't go in. She could see Speckledpaw and Nightpaw rush out together from the apprentices den. Speckledpaw could not stop talking about Nightpaw ever since they walked out together that day. She wondered if Nightpaw actually did have feelings for her sister after all, "Oh what do I know?" She muttered to herself.
Her tail lashed in annoyance, but she stopped thinking about her sister and Nightpaw after Silvermoon let out an agonized wail. She shuddered, hoping she would be alright. She wanted to check on her, but she knew that Lilysong would be very angry if she interfered in a kitting. As the queen cried once more, Danwpaw knew she couldn't stand to listen in to however many more kits she would have. She padded up to Longfang, "Could I take a walk in the woods?"
Longfang nodded, distracted by the kitting.
Dawnpaw rushed out of camp before he could think to say anything else and took in the fresh air. She loved the towering pines and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. She sniffed the air, suddenly smelling another scent. "Could it be invaders?" She wondered, taking in the scent a little more. She could make out two non clan cats in the undergrowth, and she stepped back warily.
Suddenly the leaves rattled and a large tom leaped out and tackled her. She hissed in anger and surprise, lashing out her claws. Surprisingly, the cat's claws were sheathed and he casually stepped off of her. She then recognized him: Bear!
She stepped back in surprise and relief as she looked at her friend. There was a humorous gleam in his eyes as he stepped up to her, "Hey, I've missed you!" he purred.
"Well you sure do have a funny way of showing it!" she laughed, swatting playfully at him.
"Where have you been?" he asked her in a more serious tone of voice.
"I was injured in a battle with SeaClan..." she mewed, showing him the scar on her head, "I had to stay in that miserable medicine cat den for a whole moon!"
"Well, I'm glad you're okay..." he mewed, "I almost thought that you either decided not to see me anymore or got killed! I'm glad I was wrong."
She smiled lightly, suddenly thinking of Shadowstripe, "Yeah, me too..." she said absentmindedly.
He shifted his paws a little, "Er, Dawnpaw?"
She looked up at him, "What is it?" she could feel that he was uncomfortable about something, and she wondered what it was.
"Well, I was wondering..." he trailed off, "Actually I'd like you to meet someone!" He looked off into the undergrowth and flicked his tail. A normal sized, pale tabby she cat walked out along with a muscular silver tabby tom.
Dawnpaw looked surprised, and wondered why Bear had brought these cats here, "Umm, hi I'm Dawnpaw?"
The two cats exchanged glances, "We know who you are," mewed the pale tabby with a hint of a growl, "Bear never stops talking about you.... I'm Cricket and this is Storm." Storm nodded, not saying anything.
Bear looked at the two cats and then at Dawnpaw, "I-I, well we were wondering.... are you really actually happy in your clan?"
She was surprised that Bear would ask her this, especially in front of two strangers, "I mean I guess so, why?"
"I want you to join us!" Bear blurted out. Both of the cats glared at him.
"Join you?!" she gasped, "But Bear, don't you think this is kind of a short notice? And besides, I couldn't just leave my clan!"
"Sure you could!" he pleaded, "What have they ever done for you?"

"It doesn't matter what they've done for me!" she spat, "I need to stay loyal to my clan."

"But Dawnpaw!" Bear pleaded.

"Dawnpaw said no, so let's get going!" Cricket growled, obviously not liking Dawnpaw.

Bear looked at Dawnpaw and then back at the two cats who were already padding back into the bushes, "Think about it?" his amber eyes were filled with hope.

"Fine," she sighed, flicking her tail in annoyance, "I'll see you later, I guess..."

Bear looked sad for a moment, "Yeah, sure.... goodbye Dawnpaw." he muttered as he raced into the bushes after his friends. He didn't even look back.

Dawnpaw stared after him, wondering if he really meant that they could meet up again. She hissed, wishing that Cricket and Storm hadn't been there. She could've talked to him more. She looked up at the sky; the sun was already setting, "I have to get back to see if Silvermoon is alright!" she gasped, running towards the camp.

She cautiously padded in camp, expecting Longfang to be mad at her for staying out so long, but he was nowhere in sight. She shrugged, looking for Speckledpaw. She could see Lakepaw rushing out of the nursery and heading towards the medicine cat den. She quickly walked up to her, "Is Silvermoon okay?"

"Yep," she reported happily, "three healthy kits!"

"Oh that's wonderful!" Dawnpaw purred, "can I come in and see them?"

"Sure," Lakepaw nodded, and then hastily got back to her medicine cat apprentice duties.

Dawnpaw rushed in the nursery and saw Silvermoon and Grassblade with their kits. There was a big smile on Grassblade's face, which was very rare for the usually grumpy tom.

"Hello Dawnpaw," purred Silvermoon, "would you like to see them?"

She nodded, "y-yes please." she looked at the three kits- two orange tabbies and a brown tabby- and smiled, "What are their names?"

"The orange ones are Mosskit and Firekit," mewed Grassblade in his gruff tone of voice, "and the brown kit is Dragonkit."

"They're beautiful," Dawnpaw mewed, her blue eyes gleaming with happiness for the two cats.

***

Later that night, Dawnpaw tossed and turned in her nest. She thought of Shadowstripe and shuddered, wondering what would've happened if she had agreed to join Bear. The kits might not have survived! She shook her head, trying to clear the thought from her mind.

When she finally drifted off into sleep, she woke up and saw Shadowstripe standing next to her. She stepped back, startled.

"Hello Dawnpaw." he said with a smirk on his face.

"What do you want, Shadowstripe?" Dawnpaw hissed, not wanting to deal with him.

"I just wanted to check on how you're doing with the promise."

"Don't you already know?" she spat, "I made the right decision, so stop pestering me!"

"Well, well, well," he laughed, "someone is in a mood! I was just going to warn you in the future to stay away from that tom, Bear, but I don't care. Do what you want! It's your decision after all..." he smiled.

Why was everyone warning her about Bear? she thought to herself, It's not like he's done anything bad before, but then again, he is a rogue. She looked around, suddenly realizing what she had to do, "If I am going to keep the clan safe, I have to never meet Bear again, right?" she said with a pang of regret, but the mysterious cat was already gone, and she woke again in her nest.

"Well that doesn't help anything...." she grumbled to herself. One thing did make sense, though. She knew that she couldn't see Bear again or else Shadowstripe would punish her for it. She sighed, getting up out of the apprentice's den and looked at the sky. Please help me make the right decision....