-[ Warriors: With The Fallen ]-

Prologue

A large forest on Cloud'Clan's hilly terrain enveloped the small she. Rose'paw flicked her tail to-and-fro. Her paws barely made a thud as she treads through the foliage.

  Usually, Rose'paw despised being alone. Alone made her feel detached; unwanted. Like a piece of prey found with a maggot inside.

  However, right now 'alone' didn't bother her too much. She was just herself, with her strange little thoughts. Nothing more, and nothing less.

  She parts her jaws to scent prey. Any prey, really. It's Leaf-bear, so she'll take practically anything she manages to catch.

  A sharp breeze nips at her. Even with her thick, silvery-white coat, she still suffers from Leaf-bear's constant bites. Maybe the cold hurts more, because of how much she just purely despises it.

  Growing slightly bored, she let her thoughts begin to wander, 'I wonder what would happen if the sun just suddenly became a—'

  Yanking her away from her fluff-thoughts, was a sharp, undesirable scent.

  It smelled of crow-food and illness.

  Why she decided to trek towards something like that, she wasn't sure. It just seemed kinda interesting.

  The scent grew stronger. Rose'paw darted behind a bush, and crept down low. Her pelt would practically make her invisible with the snow; only her soft brown splotches on her paw and tail, with large, crystal-like blue eyes stuck out.

  A sneeze crept up on her. She bit her tongue to keep herself from releasing it — Clumsy paw-steps lumbered about.

Closer,

Closer,

It whined a silent cry, groans of pain and vengeance to who did this to it omitted from its mouth.

  The scent of whatever prey some animal was carrying was almost enough to knock her out.

  Seriously though— who would want to eat something so rotten? Must be pretty desperate, or stupid.

  Her eyes finally caught onto whatever it was. 'Whatever it was' being a cat. She could slightly recognize the tom. The strange part was, was that the tom carried no rotting-prey.

  'Did it roll around in crow-food?' She thought; Rose'paw kept back a giggle.

  She peered more closely at the cat. His uneasy lumbering made her question whether or not the cat was healthy. A couple times, he almost rammed into a tree.

  He didn't seem to be going any place, either. Pale eyes peered out at nothing. Blank. Empty.

  The fur on the back of her neck rose slightly. What was wrong with this cat?

  A large chunk was missing from his side. Like something had just bitten into him. Remanence of some strange substance lingered around his mouth, and the wound. Some bones were visible. He looked very... soggy.

  'Maybe he needs help! I should take him back to Cloud'Clan; I'm certain Bush'bark would have some cure,' She thought hurriedly. This cat looked in dire need of medical attention.

  "Uh, hello sir?" She pushed herself away from her hiding spot. "Do you, er, need any help?"

  The tom twitched his head to her. He stared at her with thoughtless, unblinking eyes. He parted his mouth, and began to pant.

  "Uhm, you good? I'm Rose'paw, by the way," Maybe he was just shy? Awkward? "I can lead you back to—"

  Suddenly the tom lunged at her. Something leaked out of his mouth, but she didn't register it. Rose'paw immediately darted in the opposite direction. She was quite speedy; her long limbs thrusted her forward at an unusually fast pace.

  Behind her, she heard his lumbering steps grow farther away.

  "What was wrong with him?" She murmured to herself wearily.

  She twisted around, and realized with a start that she was lost.

  'I can't go back the way I came — That tom will be there,'

  She plopped down on the snow. Another strong, cold gust spat at her. Rose'paw shivered. Her stomach growled. She wasn't in a good situation.

  Eventually, she picked herself back up. 'It's getting late. I can't just sit here, like some mouse-brain kit.'

  She trotted back the way she came. She could still scent and see her paw-steps from earlier.

  Her mind kept going back to that dude. 'What a funky guy. Maybe he doesn't speak my language, and thought I was ambushing him or something.'

  Something was off, though. Sure, he was hurt, but she didn't want to run into him again.

  Weariness slowly picked at her, and brought her down. Rose'paw thought she could see Cloud'Clan's camp a little farther off in the distance. She couldn't wait to tell Night'paw, her quieter best friend, about that strange guy.

  Then there he was. This time, the tom didn't give her any time to dart away. He rushed at her with clumsy steps. Sharp fangs, dripped with yellow goo, were about to bite into her neck.

~*~

  Rose'paw let out a loud yelp. She slowly opened her eyes, to see three other very annoyed apprentices, and one confused

  "Rose'paw, is everything alright?" Came Night'paw's concerned mew.

  She blinked at Night'paw; not sure where she was. "Uhm, mhm,"

  "Well then go to bed, and shut up! You wouldn't stop squirming around, and it's irritating all of us," Snapped Dusted'paw. His darker pelt now looked pitch black.

  Her response was simply laying her head back down on her nest. Rose'paw curled up in a tighter ball than before, but found no sleep.

That dream had seemed real. Too real.