Night Alone

Chapter Two

"Oh, h-hi Bluestar!" the gray tom stammered.  He licked his chest fur, clearly embarrassed that he'd got caught failing to chase off a kittypet.  Bluestar chuckled, and turned towards Tiny.  The dark- furred kittypet's eyes widened.  Why did she want to talk to him?  He shuffled his paws nervously, and mentally chided himself for being such a wimp.

      "Greetings Graypaw, I see you were defending our territory," she flicked her tail towards Tiny, "and you are?" Tiny found the forest cats' names odd.  Why were they all composed of two words?  He felt small and different compared to them.  His name was pathetic, it was just Tiny.  He wished he'd been gifted a different, cooler sounding name.  It was then he realized.

      I don't have to tell them my real name.  It was as if he'd solved a riddle that had taken seasons to solve.  He tried to think of something that sounded threatening and impressive.

      "My name is uh..." he hesitated for a moment, and then the perfect word popped into his mind, "my name is Scourge!"

      "That sounds fake!" Graypaw exclaimed, amusement gleaming in his yellow eyes, "you totally made that up." Tiny's fur grew hot, and he lashed his tail.

      "Did not!"

"Yes you di-"

"Enough! If you refuse to tell us your real name, then I'm afraid I can't trust you to stay in my clan's territory any longer," Bluestar interrupted. The two toms shrank back, exchanging embarrassed glances. Tiny sighed, knowing that he couldn't lie to these cats. Nobody ever believed his stories anyway, even when they were true. He sat down and curled his tail around himself defensively.

"Fine, my real name is... T- Tiny," he mewed quietly, his fur ruffled. He couldn't bring himself to meet the forest cats' gazes. He just knew that they probably thought he was the most pathetic cat in the world. He wanted to run, get away from these strangers, but then they'd think he was even more of a wimp. He had to prove he was strong, even though he was small. But how?

"Tiny, I would like to offer you something. You fought remarkably for a kittypet, even though you haven't likely had a day of training. Would you like to meet the rest of my clan? In fact, you can start with Whitestorm," a large, white tom emerged from the bushes, and Bluestar acknowledged him with a flick of her tail. Tiny realized that the large tom had probably watched the whole thing. How did I not notice him? His pelt is as bright as a cloud!

"What are you doing here?" Graypaw asked, his ears perked back. The gray tom was completely ignored.

"Hello, I am Whitestorm. ThunderClan is currently in need of more warriors, as a neighboring clan has been taken over by a cruel leader," he explained.  Tiny tilted his head.  Were the forest cats in a war?  He wasn't sure if he wanted to get involved with that.  But this could also be his chance to get stronger and prove how great he was!

      "Can you take me to your camp then?" He asked.  Bluestar and Whitestorm gave each other a surprised, yet relieved glance.

"Of course, Graypaw can show you around when we get there," Bluestar responded with a twitch of her ear. The trio of clan cats began walking in presumably the direction of their camp, and Tiny followed without hesitation.

The forest was even more astounding as he went through it. There were loads of plants and flowers he'd never seen, their scents clogging his nose. His ears pricked at every little noise, and he quickly realized that the sounds were prey scuttling away from him. His collar kept making irritating jumbling noises. He worried that it could give him away to predators he'd heard about, like foxes and badgers. He'd been chased by a dog once when he was exploring the twolegplace, but quickly found out that they couldn't climb so he'd managed to escape unscathed. What if these cats teach me how to fight those things? Everyone will think I'm so cool!

Soon, the clan cats slowed to a stop. Tiny's fur rose when the scent of countless other cats flowed into his nostrils. How many were there? He was beginning to doubt that ThunderClan needed more warriors.

"Be careful, they can smell your fear," Whitestorm commented.

"I'm not scared!" Tiny retorted.

"Your scent doesn't lie," the white tom responded bluntly. The small tom took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He didn't want these cats to think he was scared of them! He knew for a fact that it should be the other way around.

The four cats entered the camp, and an overwhelming amount of eyes fell on the kittypet the moment he stepped foot in the clearing. He tried to ignore them as Graypaw suddenly ran in front of him, right in his face.

"Alright, you have to see this place! It's super cool," he mewed enthusiastically. He quickly padded towards a den, not waiting a moment for Tiny. The black tom quickly ran to follow the gray apprentice. Tiny quickly spotted a light ginger she- cat, and a smelly brown tabby tom. He did his best not to wrinkle his nose, not wanting to make a bad first impression.

"This is the apprentice's den, where I sl-"

"Why is there a kittypet with you?" the brown tabby snarled.

"Oh come on Dustpaw, this kittypet might join the clan! He's actually pretty tough," Graypaw retorted. Tiny suddenly didn't care about making a good first impression. He glared at the brown tabby, making sure that he knew that he wasn't afraid of him.

"Really? He's really small. Are you sure he'll even last long enough to learn how to hunt?" The ginger she- cat sneered. Tiny did his best to keep his jaw shut. These cats were clearly very dumb if they thought he wasn't strong. He'd just have to show them.

"Whatever, let's just go on to the next part of the camp," Graypaw mewed, turning around. Tiny quickly padded after the tom, trying his best to keep up. "Don't worry about Dustpaw and Sandpaw, they just think they're better than everybody," the gray tom explained.

"I could tell," Tiny mewed. Graypaw suddenly halted, and Tiny almost crashed right into him. Many sharp and sweet scents poured out of the den, making Tiny's nose twitch. He hoped he wouldn't have to spend much time in this den when he joined ThunderClan. It smelled awful! Graypaw padded in, and Tiny followed, sighing. The scents were almost unbearable on the inside.  There was also a tortoiseshell she- cat with yellow eyes, sorting some plants.  The plants seemed to be the cause of the smell.  How does she deal with this?  It must be terrible.

      "Graypaw, what are you doing here?  And who is this?  I don't recognize this tom," she mewed.

      "He's probably going to join the clan, so I'm showing him around," Graypaw explained.  The tortoiseshell opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by another yowl.

      "Redtail is dead!"

In all honesty I wasn't sure how to end this chapter.