Mapleshade's Second Chance

Maple

Rosemary padded through the forest near the fence that cut off the entrance to Twolegplace, sniffing curiously at a daisy. Every so often, she glanced furtively over her shoulder at the top of the fence. She wasn't supposed to be here–her mother had warned her countless times about the dangers of the forest, especially the wild cats that apparently ate kittypets and sharpened their claws on bone–but the little calico molly couldn't resist the temptation of having a little adventure. The stories always made her scoff. Why would any cat want to live in the forest, and more importantly, who would eat another cat? Besides, it wasn't as though she was planning on going too far in. She was simply going to have a quick look around, and she would go home before Night woke up from her afternoon nap.

'I can't wait to tell Apple and Reed about this,' Rosemary thought. 'I'll bet they were never brave enough to go into the forest.'

Suddenly, without warning, something crashed into Rosemary, sending the young kittypet sprawling. She didn't even have time to recover before she was flattened by a mass of striped dark brown fur. As a strange scent filled her nostrils, she realized that her attacker was a young tom, but much bigger than any of the ones in Twolegplace. His muscles were hard underneath his thick tabby fur, and his claws pierced her like thorns as he raked them down her flank.

"Kittypet!" he sneered. "Get off of ThunderClan's territory if you know what's good for you!"

Fury and defiance welled up inside Rosemary. She didn't care who or what this "ThunderClan" was, but she wasn't about to let herself be bullied by some upstart tom. Summoning up what strength she had, she raked her claws down his face and used her back legs to fling her attacker off of her, sending him flying a few tail-lengths away. He looked stunned by her sudden counterattack. Rosemary scrambled back to her paws, hissing as the dark brown tabby staggered back to his feet as well. 'Pathetic. When I was an apprentice in Thunderclan, I could take down a senior warrior.' Rosemary thought with disgust.

'Wait- When I was in Thunderclan?! I don't even know what Thunderclan is! Where did that come from?!' Rosemary blinked surprised by her own thoughts.

"Pathetic," a new voice sneered, snapping Rosemary out of her thoughts. Rosemary turned her head to the side to see a blue-furred molly approaching them, followed by a massive gray and white tom with spiky fur. He was the one who had spoken. "I thought an apprentice that I trained would put up a better fight than that against a kittypet, Tigerpaw, but clearly I was wrong."

The now-named Tigerpaw flattened his ears. "I'm sorry, Thistleclaw. I'll do better next time."

"No matter now. I'll just finish what you started," Thistleclaw meowed smoothly, turning to face Rosemary again. He unsheathed his claws. "You did well against my apprentice, kittypet, but let's see how you fight against a real warrior."

Rosemary narrowed her eyes, sizing up her new opponent. Thistleclaw was massive, even bigger than Tigerpaw, and she knew that he would probably be able to kill her in one blow if he wanted. But she wasn't about to let him intimidate her just because she happened to be smaller. She let out a snarl of defiance and arched her back, pleased to see a look of surprise flicker across the gray warrior's face. 'Please, you act all tough and when some cat defies you, your facade comes crumbling down.'

Before either of them could move, however, the blue-gray molly leaped in front of them. "That's enough, Thistleclaw!" she ordered. "Can't you see she's already hurt? You don't need to do anything else to her."

Glancing down at herself, Rosemary saw that the strange molly was right. Her flank was dripping with blood from several scratches, and she had a bite on her shoulder that stung like fury. She felt a pang of dismay. What was her mother going to say when she came back looking the way she did? Then she realized she had another problem. These wounds were almost definitely going to leave scars, and then who was going to take her? She wasn't going to be pretty enough for any housefolk to want her anymore. Rosemary was certain of this; after all, one of her old friends, a molly named Freckle, had mysteriously disappeared after getting into a fight with a fox that had strayed into Twolegplace. She had survived the fight but had been left with multiple scars, and no one had seen any trace of her since. Freckle never even appeared in her housefolk's window, and there were rumors that a few other kittypets had seen them drop her off into the forest. 'Shit.' Rosemary thought sadly.

"An intruder is an intruder, Bluefur! I'm just making sure the kittypet has learned her lesson," Thistleclaw growled.

"And you've done that. She won't dare trespass again," Bluefur meowed, sounding as though she was attempting to reason with her companion. Her blue eyes suddenly blazed with anger and she added, "And if I ever catch you doing something like that again, I'll report you to Sunstar!"

'Sunstar? Who's that? And what happened to Oakstar?' Rosemary wondered. 'There I go again. thinking about cats and stuff I don't remember.'

Thistleclaw sneered and whirled around, storming off into the forest with Tigerpaw hurrying after him. Bluefur stared after them for a few moments before turning to Rosemary, her expression much gentler than it was a few moments ago. Rosemary tensed slightly as the older molly sniffed at her wounds, ready to fight to protect herself again if necessary.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you," Bluefur murmured. "Are you alright? Those look like some nasty scratches."

"I-I'm fine," Rosemary stammered. "But if my mother sees me, she's going to know I went into the forest. I'm going to be in so much trouble...and I don't think anyone will want a kittypet covered in scars. I'm not pretty enough for a Twoleg to want to keep me anymore."

"Well, you still are very pretty, if it makes you feel any better," Bluefur replied, and Rosemary purred gratefully. "But I can see where you're coming from. Tell you what, why don't you come back to my camp? I can ask my Clan's medicine cat to look at your wounds, and then I'll ask my leader if he'll let you stay. You put up a good fight against Tigerpaw today; I have a feeling he'll see potential in you."

Rosemary thought for a moment, then nodded. "Sure," she agreed. She didn't know what she was going to be getting herself into, but it had to be better than being abandoned and forced to wander this vast, expansive forest all on her own.
--------------------------

"So she returns." A brown tom meowed to a light brown brown she-cat with tiny brown spots, "How long until she falls back to the path of evil, Daughter?"

"Father, you have no faith in her." The light brown she-cat with ting brown spots responded, "She walks a different path now."

A dark blue-grey tom padded into the cave where the  two sat. He walked up to the large shining stone that they looked into.

"You really think she can change her fate, Frecklewish?" Asked the dark blue-grey tom to the light brown she-cat with tiny brown spots.

"If you two have nothing but bad things to say, then leave!" spat Frecklewish, as she shook with rage. "Mapleshade will change her fate, no matter what you two think."

And with that Frecklewish turned and stalked out of the cave, hitting her tail against both toms.