The devastating storm [Thunderclan]

Darkstar hadn't been in the camp when the storm struck, instead she had awoken earlier in the day to explore the territory she had memorized so long ago. It was her not so guilty pleasure to sneak out of camp alone, she was a leader and she had responsibilities to her Clan and yet the draw to be alone in peace and serenity was all too addicting to her. It wasn't like the dark brown tabby had planned to be out of the camp for too long she didn't want any of her clanmates fretting but when she had woken up and realized the sky was gray she just had too walk into the cover of the trees.

She was just beginning to think she ought to head back when she noticed an odd stirring. It seem the cloudy day was turning stormy but something was off but she couldn't say what but she was shivering despite being warm. She decided it was time to head back home before she got stuck in a rainstorm. Unfortunately as she drew back to the heart of her territory she found the path of destruction left by a tornado, as she looked up above the treetops she gasped in astonishment as she saw the whirlwind ahead leading towards the camp.
Darkstar knew she would never be fast enough but she followed the debris, she was halfway to camp before she found that the tornado had long passed.

Her mind was racing, her fur fluffed up in fear. What had just hit them? Her Clan! She had to go see if her Clan was okay but as she walked her heart fell as she saw all the carnage that had taken the territory. If that storm has hit the core of the camp she worried about the survival of Thunderclan as a whole. She picked up her pace, she wanted to arrive as quickly as possible but as she ran her mind began to slowly clear and she started to look for survivors in her surroundings.

She scanned around her noticing how it was eerily quiet out here as the rain started to come down. Her heart beat faster as a thought flashed through her mind, 'It's as if everything's dead', she shook herself to disperse the notion. Sure, all the prey was hiding now but surely she would find most of her clan in camp. She didn't want to think about how a hunting patrol would of been out at this time, how the silence might mean their death. She stopped suddenly, a young oak tree had fallen into a stream that was now dirtied from the dirt and mud being disturbed. That was not what caught the leader's interest though, amongst the pile she saw a pale furred body of one of her clanmates.
"Oh Starclan. . ." she whispered in horror as she drew near. She recognized the body instantly, there laid with half her body crushed under a tree trunk the dead body of an elder, Rootheart. She sat there in shock while staring at the ground, for a moment she had forgotten that she needed to be at camp.

After an unknown span of time the leader finally made it back in camp or what was left of it. She looked sorrowfully at what remained. The usually tall and proud leader let her tail droop and even her head seemed to lowered, not exactly being an example of hope to the surviving cats. As she entered into camp she surveyed the damage only to finally find her deputy first.
"Foxclaw!" Her voice came out relieved but exhausted as she trotted up to him. "The situation is dire, did we have any patrols out when the storm hit? We need to send Warriors to find anyone. . . ." She paused, struggling to get her thoughts together there was too much to do.
"Wait, we should hold off on that, we need to find survivors in camp first. . ." She trailed off again, she didn't look the deputy in the eye but instead stared wide eyed around camp. Suddenly she lowered her head and in a slow, quiet voice she spoke once more.
"I found Rootheart's dead body just outside camp."

Foxpaw had been pacing around the camp worrying about the storm when everything went into chaos. She had been thrown around in some crazy storm. She had closed her eyes and hoped for the best. When at last the raging storm stopped Foxpaw was on the ground curled into a ball when a soft moan escaped her lips. Her eyes fluttered open and she tried to sit up. A small like of debris was on her. Pushing it off of herself using her paw Foxpaw stood and unsure legs. "Hello.." She smiled slightly at the stupid saying. Taking a few steps forward she looked around and gladly found Foxclaw, Darkstar, Ripplekit, and Dusttuft! Foxpaw held back a screech of grief, her mother was now dead. She looked around with a cocked head, why did StarClan do this? She felt her temper rising and she wanted to run away like a loner and stay a no clan cat. She huffed in anger and turned away from the body of her mother , a few tears rising in her eyes. She chocked a little and stepped towards Foxclaw, "Their gone.." She was talking about her family, and for the first time others family's.

Follow the path, follow the path, just keep following the path that she had been told. It had taken a grand total of ten times before the she-cat had memorized this path. She had been shown time and time again, and each time she would have confusion at some point. Her tiny body was making its way through the territory, in search of something one of her littermates had sent her for. They had told her to just follow the path. Now sure, there were plenty of ways to do this, but for Brindlepaw’s mind the simplest was the best. The little apprentice was grinning wide as she bounded over the terrain; of course she had fallen a few times getting there, but had that stopped her, absolutely not! Brindlepaw, even though six moons old, had trouble when it came to running. Her brain could not keep up with the command, it was too fast and too sudden. She usually ended up tripping and falling several times while running, and this became normal for her. Then again, this kit really didn’t start walking well until she was four moons old. A moon ago she couldn’t even run. But her disabilities didn’t seem to get her down, she just kept on going.

To most following a path was something simple and very easy to do, most likely something a kit could do. But what most didn’t realize is that there were actually more steps to it than you would think. First step was to make sure her paws were not too close together so she wouldn’t trip as she walked. Second step was to keep her eyes on the road ahead and not to stare at her paws. The third and final step was to follow the path she had learned. This was her eleventh try at this, and so far this had been the best try she had. She actually got out of camp and into the territory this time. Usually she ended up circling around the camp somehow. She knew her littermate really didn’t need anything (yes, she had some issues but she wasn’t that mousebrained!) but she played along anyway. She had something to prove, anyway. If she could complete this then maybe she could walk around on her own more often.

Lately Brindlepaw’s job in the camp had been to feed the elders and queens, and tasks like her current one were something that she was slowly being introduced to, to help her with learning how to adapt to changes. Bringing something to eat for the elders was a simple task, but for Brindlepaw is was very advanced. It meant going to the pile, and getting some prey (which she really couldn’t carry anything too large or it ended up dragging), and then dragging the heavy load all the way to the elder’s den. She would then come out and get some for the queens, taking it to the nursery. Brindlepaw loved this job, she loved hearing the stories and playing with her friends in the nursery (even if they were bigger than her). She couldn’t wait until they became apprentices! Her siblings were getting worried about her playing with this litter of kits, even if she had played with them since they were born. They were younger, yes, but they had outgrown her long ago. They weren’t ever too rough with Brindlepaw but everyone makes mistakes, and Bindlepaw’s siblings didn’t want her to be the mistake. They had suggested that she played with another litter of kits in the nursery. Brindlepaw may be slow, but she knew what they were doing. They wanted her to play with the two moon old kits in the nursery. They were actually very close to her size, only just a little larger. The she-cat didn’t like this idea because they didn’t play the rough games, and she felt like she could handle anything.

Most apprentices had the job of replacing the elder’s bedding. This was too difficult of a task for Brindlepaw. She could not understand the many steps and for once in her life, other cats saw what it was like for her to get frustrated. Brindlepaw got as far as getting new moss, but after that she lost it. If a task required more than three or four steps she couldn’t do it. Her brain would jumble it all up and it would result in a meltdown from the apprentice. That was one task that had to be reassigned. It was heartbreaking to see the normally cheery apprentice so broken down and out of control of her emotions. It took several hours before she was calmed down and functioning again. After this experience it was decided that this task would be retried later on, much later on. She needed to be able to do simpler tasks first, tasks most cats took for granted. It had taken her up until now to be able to deliver food. It was slow progress but at least it was progress. But here she was, doing something that was quite different than usual. It was pushing every limit she had.

One good thing (or bad depending on how it was looked at) about Brindlepaw being so young is that she had not seen any battling take place, other than the battles with her mother and father. Her mind was still so simplistic and innocent (and the way her brain worked it would be hard to not be innocent for a while). She didn’t like seeing cats even have a disagreement, and sometimes felt as if she were born into the wrong family with everything she had ever heard. But then again, this little apprentice could fight back with her feisty mouth. What was coming out of her mouth may not be understandable, but she believed in every word she said and would glare at any cat that told her otherwise. Emotions were her struggling point. She just did not understand how they worked or how to control them, and this is what causes her breakdowns.

Brindlepaw had been so adamant that she could do this, had even argued with her brother that she wasn’t too little to do this. It had been quite funny to see such a little apprentice arguing with such a bigger cat. Now that she was out here, she didn’t have someone else to help her keep her mind from wandering and keep her focused. By the time she had been halfway to her destination, the apprentice had completely forgotten what she was doing and had found a mouse. The she-cat had then proceeded to chase after the mouse and try to pounce on it. She had wandered far off of the path and she had yet to realize it. But at least she had remembered to keep one paw in front of the other and to keep her head up, that was two steps! Chasing the mouse was starting to wear out her body. She was slowly getting to where she could go further and further distances, but it took time.

Realizing that no matter what she did, she would not be able to remember what she was to do. Maybe it was better to head back to camp. That was the easy part. The problem with her brain had given her one advantage, her sense of smell. It was impeccable. She could easily identify a cat that was quite a good piece away. All she had to do now was smell for her siblings. They were still in camp, probably taking a nap in the apprentice den. That sounded like them. And so she began the trek back to camp, unaware that she had thorns in her pelt from her chasing time (or that the thorns were buried deep and some had torn open her skin).

Arriving at camp, Brindlepaw noticed it looked different. What had happened? Did someone sneeze and make the whole camp look weird? Wait, where was everyone? This was getting scary! Running toward the apprentice den, she saw nothing. It was like everything was gone, and it was just filled with branches and different items. She let out a whine, where were her siblings? Maybe it was a good thing she was so little, she was able to find a crack in the apprentice den and make her way in. In the den she found something she never wanted to see, the body of her eldest brother, Brownwind. He wasn’t moving and looked to be laying on several of her other siblings. But the one cat she couldn’t find was her sister. Where was Branchpaw? Beginning to panic (never a good thing for this cat), she was frantically trying to find her. ”Mama?” she called out, something she rarely did. For Brindlepaw to actually speak, something was deeply troubling. Not receiving an answer, she tried again, this time more frantic. ”Mama!” Why was Branchpaw not coming when she called her name? She needed her sister to comfort her and let her know everything was alright.

Foxpaw..

Foxpaw had looked around camp with the confusion of that of a simple kit. Why was everyone up and stumbling? Couldn't they see the clan needed help, there was no time to hang around, smile, and ask what was wrong. She sent a glance at the two sisters Branchpaw and Brindlepaw. What was their problem? Oh no... She felt her heart drop as she listened in on their conversation. The apprentice let her eyes fall on her paws as she turned away feeling guilty. Of course other cats couldn't come they had families to worry about. Foxpaw almost laughed as her feelings swirled around, anger,pity confusion, and of all fury that other cats could play with their parents and she had nothing. Feeling lost and helpless she directed her gaze to Foxclaw and sighed. "Why... Thanks... I.... ummm.."
The poor she cat wanted to cry as all her emotions came over in a net of fury. She dug her claws in the ground as her lip twitched and a small tear rolled down her cheek. She was confused from.. everything, why was Starclan striping her family away from her? Were they even listening to her pleas of anger? She twitched angrily, taking a deep breath she shook and trembled not knowing how to handle her emotions. She wanted, needed someone to talk to. She looked around seeking some cat that would hear her pleas.

Branchpaw-

Branchpaw looked at her sister and chocked in a way. How could she have left her all alone in the big world? Happiness covered her concerns as she licked the top of Brindlepaws head fondly. She watched Brindlepaw slowly react to what she had said. The tall she cat frowned and knelt down to look at her sister square in the eye. "Does it hurt?" as she wasn't the medicine cat Branchpaw didn't know if her sister would understand the meaning of hurt, or pain, but she needed to get the words out as a caution. With a sudden bolt ran up her spine the she cat realized all that her sister didn't know about tthe clans.  "Ohh no..." the sister looked at the tom with reculance as the chill of death crept up her back and onto her neck.  Why? The large cat leapt up from her position and crept over to her sibling and licked his cheek. She turned to Brindlepaw eyes wide with horror. "He is gone... Come here." She said the last words louder so that they got through to the small she cat.  She didn't wait long before continuing. "Brownwind... Is... In... A.,.. Deep, or Long... Sleep... He... Won't..." She stopped and kept from bursting out in tears. " Come... Back.." She spaced out her words for each of them. Shew held Brindlepaws gaze and then nuzzled Brownwind. Today was a sad day, today was devastating, today Branchpaw didn't know what to do.
 

Brindlepaw

Anything Brindlepaw had been saying or was about to say was gone the second that Branchpaw licked her head. The little kit purred. Her mama was so nice! She made her feel happy when she was sad. But then the attention turned back to her fur. Hurt…she had heard that word before. Blinking she searched in her mind (or what little of one she had) for that one word. Was it Swanheart that used the word before? It seemed like a medicine cat word, or well by the tone of voice her sister was using. Her head was tilted to the side, as if that would help her answer. When it finally hit her, she grinned wide. ”Ow!”she exclaimed, remembering that hurt meant Ow. It meant she didn’t feel good or something did not feel right. She nodded eagerly to the question. She was proud of herself for knowing what it meant, but now that she thought about it, it was an uncomfortable feeling. ”Mama, Ow!” Brindlepaw exclaimed again, this time confirming that she knew what the word meant and that yes, it did hurt. Now, there was no telling how much it hurt, the apprentice was not able to think that clearly, just that it didn’t feel right.

But wait, why was her sister sad now? Was mentioning their big brother a bad thing? Brindlepaw frowned, she didn’t think she said anything wrong, but then again she didn’t know what she was saying half the time. All she knew is that Branchpaw now looked sad. But then she said to ‘come here’ and that was something Brindlepaw knew the meaning of, her daddy had used that quite often. She trotted over to her sister and sat down beside her, looking up with curiosity. What was going on? Did she need help waking Brownwind up? But she said that he wasn’t coming back. That confused her and the confusion was clear on her face. So he wasn’t coming back, maybe he would be back tomorrow. ”Pa Owo” Brindlepaw mewed, clearly not worried and saying that they could play with him tomorrow if he wasn’t coming back today. Maybe he just was super tired. Hey! Maybe it was him that sneezed and made everything in the camp look funny! That would tire her out too.


Amberstorm

Last thing she remembered was the patrol that had occurred what seemed like just a few hours ago. (It actuality it was) She had just gone into the warrior’s den to catch up on some sleep (after all, she had been going for almost an entire day without sleep or even rest and she wanted to be away from other cats), when she felt her body move. What did she do to deserve this? She didn’t remember eating any kits lately. And she had only slightly told an apprentice off. For her, that was best behavior. But the more Amberstorm thought of it, the more she couldn’t make sense of what was happening. The she-cat had woken up to a new bed, this one not nearly as comfortable. And as she gazed to the sky, she noticed she was no longer in the same spot she had laid down in. No, she was halfway across camp.

Stretching out her limbs to make sure they still worked, she carefully got on her paws. Sure, she felt a little bruised and battered, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Amberstorm had been through worse. She looked to the nursery with the same look she normally gave it, disgust. Maybe now the queens will know what it feels like to lose a kit. They tried to understand but no one truly understood what it was like to see kits torn apart. No, she couldn’t think of the past now, she had to move on and get herself busy. She didn’t want to have her muscle be stiff and be useless to the clan. So what if she was running on very little sleep, it didn’t matter to her. This was better than thinking about dumb kits.

Shuffling out of her little caccoon of debris, she found she was somewhere in the camp. But it was hard to tell what was what anymore. She did hear other cats, so at least she wasn’t completely alone. Shaking out her fur, Amberstorm headed to the sound of the voices, more specifically the leader’s voice. Finally something to do! Padding toward Darkstar, she blinked. ”You can put me on whatever patrol you would like, just as long as some mousebrain apprentice isn’t on it. I would prefer to have either myself going or one other cat that is capable of moving paws correctly.” Amberstorm requested. This was her way of offering her services, however the leader saw fit.