No! This is an alternative! This never happened! It's just a fanfiction!
Prolouge
"Stay in camp!" Cinderpaw rolled her eyes. She didn't want to. As soon as her mentor, Fireheart, had disappeared out of camp she began to slide outside. She smelt cat, right behind her.. She looked behind her shoulder to see her brother grinning. Knowing her brother she would never be able to get out of camp. She grunted.
"Hey, wanna share a squirrel? Theres a really plump one on the pile that no-one's took." She also knew there was no point in arguing because the look in Brackenpaw's eye told her he'd caught it.
"Gee, I wonder who's caught it." Brackenpaw grinned again. They padded over to the pile, and selected the squirrel. She began chewing her side of the prey, wondering what would have happened if she'd followed her mentor.
Chapter 1
"The monster killed Tigerclaw?!" hissed Cinderpaw, her eyes wide with shock. "But I was gonna follow you! That coulda' been me!" Firestar gave her a stern face, and began a lecture on listening. But Cinderpaw wasn't listening. She just stared at his leaf-green eyes, daydreaming.....
"Cinderpaw!" She snapped out of it. "Just...go to sleep. We have battle training in the morning, then hunting, then we share tounges at sunhigh, then we have noon patrol, then we have more hunting patrol because leaf-bare is coming, and then we have evening patrol." Cinderpaw sighed, padding to the apprentices den. Fireheart may be handsome but he sure was strict. Anyway, she'd been his apprentice for moons now, she was almost 12 moons at the most, when would she get her assesment? All these thoughts spun in her head as she sank into a deep sleep.
"Cinderpaw!" she woke with a start. "Clean yourself, get a small breakfast and get to the sandy hollow." She did as she was told, cleaning the scraps of moss from her fur and picking out a small sparrow. "Hurry up!" She ate it in a few gulps and followed her mentor outside.
A couple sunrises later Fireheart was going throught the schedule for the next day, as usual. "Tomorrow, Cinderpaw, your going to have your warrior assesment." His eyes seemed kinder than usual, and his tone was kinder aswell. "I'm sorry I've been so hard on you. It's just, I haven't had an apprentice before and I really wanted you to be prepared for the assesment. Well, you better sleep then, eh?" A deep purr was inside Cinderpaw's throat. Her warrior ceremony! She dashed to the apprentice den and nodded at Cloudpaw, Dustpelt's apprentice. She curled up in her nest, and ideas of tommorrow buzzed in her head. She was going to allow her small crush on Fireheart to grow bigger. She was becoming a warrior.
Chapter 2
3 moons past since Cinderpelt's warrior ceremony, and Sandstorm and Fireheart grew apart whilst Cinderpelt grew closer to Fireheart. One day he mewed to her, "Will you go on a walk with me?"
"Sure."
"Ok...follow me."
They padded through the crisp leaves, the birds tweeting and the sun beaming. They came to a place by the river where the golden brown leaves pathed the ground and the sun shone on the river, casting reflections on the leaves. Fireheart took a deep breath.
"Cinderpelt, I love you. Will you be my mate?"
"Of course I will."
They linked tails and purred, watching the sun get to its highest point. They set off, tails linked, still carrying on their conversation. As they approached the gorse tunnel, they somehow got into a conversation about kits. Cinderpelt admitted it was a dream of hers to have kits. Fireheart licked her ear and they padded into camp, eyes gleaming.
Chapter 3
"Three kits? Are you sure, Yellowfang?" asked a stunned Cinderpelt. She'd went to Yellowfang with a stubborn bellyache. Heres what happened:
Cinderpelt padded into Yellowfang's den. "Bellyache back?" mewed Yellowfang, not looking away from her herbs. "Well, theres only one thing else if my herbs don't work." she padded up to Cinderpelt and sniffed her. "Lie down." commanded the she-cat. Cinderpelt did as she was told. She was used to that, after all. Yellowfang began to press certain parts of Cinderpelt's stomach. Every so often, Cinderpelt winced or flinched, and once she even moaned. Yellowfang nodded. "Just as I suspected. Kits." Cinderpelt's eyes widened. "H-How many?" she stammered. "Three, but one cannot be sure."
The last thing Cinderpelt saw was Yellowfang's stern eyes staring at her before she fainted.
"Cinderpelt?" mewed a voice - it wasn't Yellowfang's. Cinderpelt scrambled up to see herself on a moor - and it wasn't leaf-fall. She breathed in the an vague scent, like she knew it before. "Cinderpelt." mewed a clear, tom's voice. She looked down to see a pale ginger tom with pale gray flecks. "I'm your brother. I died at birth." Cinderpelt nodded hesitantly. "You must tell your mate. But not going outside the day Tigerclaw died was a escape from a terrible fate...."
Cinderpelt awoke. She leapt up and dashed out, mewing a rushed goodbye and thanks to Yellowfang. She stood in the clearing as Fireheart's patrol padded into the clearing. She rushed up to him. "Fireheart!" she gasped. Fireheart looked at her.
"Yes, honey?" he mewed.
Cinderpelt suddenly felt like an apprentice again. She gazed at Fireheart. She wasn't an apprentice anymore, thats for sure. She was his mate, and she needed to tell him this. Fireheart must have seen the look in her eye because he dismissed his patrol. "What is it?"
"I-I'm going to have kits. Three kits." Fireheart stared at her as if she said she was going to jump across the hill in WindClan territory. Then he began to purr. He purred louder, and licked her ear.
"Go tell Bluestar!"
And she did.
Chapter 4
Cinderpelt had on and off pains in her belly all day. Then, just as the evening patrol of Sandstorm, Graystripe and Fireheart left, and she curled up to sleep in her nest in the nursery, her eyes widened. She let out a whimper. She turned to the other queen in the nursery, Brightheart, and mewed, "Get Yellowfang. A-And...my mate." Brightheart nodded and dashed out, leaving Whitekit to stare at Cinderpelt.
"Erm, Whitekit, honey, do you, um, think you could, maybe, um, turn around?"
"Oh! Sure! Momma says I stare a lot but I know she doesn't mean it even if she's like 'OMSC Whitekit you have a problem, man!' even though I'm not a man! I'm a she-kit!"
Cinderpelt groaned as she saw Yellowfang and Brightheart's shadows appear in the doorway. Yellowfang rushed over and began to feel Cinderpelt's stomach and backed away as the first kit slid slowly into the nest. It was a pale gray with a pale orange underbelly, chest and muzzle. Cinderpelt let out a ear-splitting wail, which calmed slowly as Firestar appeared at the entrance. Yellowfang approached Cinderpelt again and felt her belly slowly, and then shook her head. Cinderpelt stared at her, worried. "They're not ready to be born. It's unusual, but possible." She nosed the small kit towards Cinderpelt and padded out. Fireheart rushed over.
"He needs a name.." whispered Cinderpelt. Fireheart licked her ear.
"Palekit.." whispered Fireheart.
Cinderpelt was 2 and a quarter moons into her pregnancy and the longest its meant to be is 2 moons. Lots of things had happened that half moon. Fireheart had become Firestar, and Cinderpelt had been told she was definitely having two more kits. One day she was settling down with a vole, with her mate beside her and Palekit suckling at her side. This is perfect, she thought, a kit is such a wonderful thing to have, and there are two more on their way. Her eyes suddenly widened. "Firestar?" she croaked, "The kits are coming."
"Now?"
"Yes! Both of them, I'm sure of it!" she hurried into the nursery, and mewed a brief warning to Brightheart, and picked up the stick she'd been saving. She gripped it between her teeth And lay on her side, like Yellowfang had told her. Now they were prepared, the birth was going to be much easier. Brightheart brought Whitekit and Palekit outside, and Firestar and Yellowfang hurried in. Yellowfang eyed her and began helping her. Firestar stood murmuring comforting words as the kits slid into the nest. But, Cinderpelt didn't stop bleeding. Yellowfang applied cobwebs and poltiuces until the bleeding eventually slowed...but Cinderpelt was infected.
Chapter 5
Cinderpelt got used to life in the medicine den. She was making steady progress, and within a half moon her kits could suckle properly. Palekit was one moon, but Cinderpelt was worried about the smallest, Ruekit. She was a small, pale orange she-kit with white stripes all over. She was tiny, and even though Cinderpelt let her suckle in the warmest curve of her belly and Yellowfang kept telling her Ruekit would make it through leaf-bare, she didn't meet Cinderpelt's eyes. As if on cue, a quarter moon after leaf-bare started, so did the snow. It fell steadily, but Ruekit, Palekit and Tumblekit stayed safely inside the nursery with their mother. She made a full recovery the day the snow began to fall. Firestar brought her prey and things, but it was scrawny. Luckily Whitekit didn't have to suckle anymore so Cinderpelt got most of the borage for her kits. The snow fell heavily, and every cat knew soon all the prey would have gone in their holes or been eaten. One day Palekit asked Cinderpelt an unusual question, "Why has Sandstorm moved into the nursery without a mate, Mummy?" Cinderpelt glanced at the swollen she-cat.
"I don't know, Palekit." replied Cinderpelt, "But we best not dwell on it, eh?" Palekit nodded and bounded off to play with Whitekit. "Sandstorm?"
"Mm?" mewed Sandstorm, looking up from her nap.
"Who's the father?"
Sandstorm's eyes widened. "Can you keep a secret?" she whispered. Cinderpelt nodded, and followed Sandstorm outside into the sandy hollow where there weren't any cats. She shivered against the harsh white pellets digging into her fur, somehow reaching her skin. "The father isn't in our Clan.." Cinderpelt's eyes widened.
"He's a tom from ShadowClan. Firestar would kill me...Anyway, I sat next to him one gathering, and we started chatting. He's really nice, and wanted to meet me by the border. I nodded, and the next day met him again. It started off as a friendly meeting, until I developed a crush on him. Next thing I knew, he was asking to be my mate, without thinking I nodded excitedly. He asked me to join his Clan...I told him I couldn't do that. I still meet him, after everyone's asleep...but when the kits are born, what will I do?" Cinderpelt's eyes showed masses of sympathy. After Sandstorm had gotten over Firestar, the two became best friends. Even before Cinderpelt was expecting kits, she noticed Sandstorm had a habit of dissapearing and then popping up from no-where. "I'm meeting him again tonight. I'll let you come along if you promise to keep it a secret." Cinderpelt promised, and couldn't wait to see who the tom was.
"Psst! Cinderpelt!" Something jabbed Cinderpelt in the side. She looked up, eyes drooping to see the blurred picture of Sandstorm's white paw. JAB! Cinderpelt got up drowsily.
"I'm coming.." she whispered, licking scraps of moss from her thick fur.
"Let's go." The two she-cats sleeked out of the gorse tunnel and into the thick snow. They padded to the ShadowClan border. A large grey tom slinked out of the bushes. He greeted Sandstorm with a lick to the cheek, and then did a double take at Cinderpelt.
"Sandstorm!" he hissed, "What is this cat doing here?"
"She's Cinderpelt," mewed Sandstorm, "She's my best friend. She promises to keep it a secret, don't worry, Boulder." The tom unstiffened, and greeted Cinderpelt with a brief mew.
"Have you found out when they'll be born yet?"
"No.."
"Why can't you join ShadowClan? I want them to know who their father is."
Sandstorm looked him in the eye. "Just join ThunderClan...please." Boulder stared at her. Then nodded.
"I'll join." he mewed, licking Sandstorm's cheek. "I'll be there in the morning." He dissapeared through the bushes and Sandstorm and Cinderpelt padded back to camp.
Chapter 6
In the morning, Boulder padded into camp with a patrol. Firestar padded over to him. Boulder mewed something, and they both went into Firestar's den, followed by Sandstorm. "Mummy?"
"Yes, Palekit?"
"Why is that strange cat here?"
"He wants to join, Palekit." Palekit looked at her, his green eyes gleaming, nodded and bounded out. A couple minutes later, Firestar leapt onto the rock. Cinderpelt sat down next to Sandstorm.
"All cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the high-rock for a Clan meeting!" Everyone got settled. "This ShadowClan warrior wishes to join. Boulder, come up here." Boulder leapt up. "He is Sandstorm's mate. He wants to join. Boulder, do you promise to protect our Clan with your life?"
"I do."
"Then you will be known as Boulderfall. Serve your Clan well." Sandstorm was the first to cheer.
Cinderpelt and Sandstorm were chatting in the sun, eating prey. Then Sandstorm's eyes widened. "Cinderpelt?"
"Yeah?"
"The kits are coming. Get Yellowfang...please." Cinderpelt nodded and bolted to Yellowfang's den. Yellowfang looked up from her herbs.
"Yes, Cinderpelt?"
"Sandstorm's kits are coming---now!" Yellowfang briefly grabbed a few herbs and rushes out of the medicine den, and into the nursery. Cinderpelt followed her and took her kits outside. She noticed Boulderfall's patrol coming in. She rushed over.
"Sandstorm is kitting!" Boulderfall took no time to take it in. He rushed over to the nursery. Cinderpelt followed him. As she padded into the nursery, she saw Sandstorm on her side with Yellowfang crouched over her. The first kit slid into the nest, a pale ginger with a gray muzzle. Then the second. A white one with gray stripes. Then two more, twins, pale ginger with white splodges. Sandstorm didn't stop bleeding.
Sandstorm gave a whimper, and whispered, 'I love you, Boulderfall. Take care of our kits.'
Epilouge
A cold wind swept over the camp. Two gray pelts ruffled in the wind. A double death. Sandstorm and Firestar. The gray pelts ruffled again. 'Come inside, you'll get a chill!' called Yellowfang from her den as the snow began to fall. But the cats didn't move. They stayed, their noses buried in their dead mates' fur.
A lil' somethin' from the author.
I know this never happened. I know the epilouge is depressing. But still...pretty much most of the books are depressing. So go on, hate. See if I care >:D