Chapter 4: Im Ready!

I sat there, I was happy to see that Mint was conscious, but I could not help but blame myself for this. Kettle tried to tell me he had a large part in it as well, but I had been pushing her too far ever since the beginning of when this had first all started.

To be honest, I actually wanted to blame the starclan cats, they had been the one pushing me and prodding me to get on with my journey as fast as possible. I could not bring myself to it though... They were probably in a rush as well... Their clans had been destroyed, from what? I do not really know.

They told me to find the cat, which I have no idea who that could be, and he would tell me all that I needed to know about what had happened to the clans. I shivered and then moved myself closer to Mint, feeling the warmth of her on me, it made me feel so much better... Just having her by my side.

To be completely honest, I don't know how far I could have kept going on this journey by myself. No matter even if I knew it was my destiny... The long walks every day, no one to talk to, nothing in sight... It would have gotten ugly for me really fast.

Mint always seemed to blame herself for it though, I felt bad, I had no idea what kind of cat could have done that too her, all she had was nothing but good things to say about her friend Parrot. And he seemed cool to me as well when I had met him.

I thought back on those days sometimes, back when everything was so much easier. I just sat down, looking through the window of my kitchen, seeing the trees in the woods. I imagined always, how nice it would be to live out there.

I had heard stories, a lot from other cats, telling me to be happy with where I was at, it was a lot safer than being out there. Tristan always managed to slip in a horror story about cats here and there. He was always trying to scare me to get me to change my mind.

To be honest, a lot of what he said out here was true. But he had highly overexagerated what it was really like out here. It was beautiful, even if I had not found a place to live yet. Being trapped in a tight area my whole life was not the way too live.

That first day had been the scariest day of my life, I did not know what to do or where to go. I was lucky to have Squirrelflight by my side that day though. I would not have made it otherwise, either that or I would be living off the scraps of other cats.

Sure, maybe I could have found a place to go be adopted, but something told me that I needed continue on with my path, so I did. I can not complain about the results, some days I just look in the sky and the sorrounding landscape, I think to myself, how I was such a lucky cat.

Those house cats, they had no idea what they were missing, they were scared, I could not blame them, they had probably heard the same stories that I had, over and over again, it was probably tormenting their brain.

I was never afraid though, no matter what Tristan might have told me, I always knew that I had a destiny out here. I would have never have thought that I would have ever found love, or friends by my side, I thought as I looked at Kettle and Oister.

I looked at the one smaller cat, no more than 6 moons old. About the age where I cat goes from kit, to a paw. What was her name again? Ah that's right, Limp... I already knew where she got that name from, her mother named her after that probably because she limped around when she walked.

I felt bad for her, even if she became a part of the clans with us, would she ever be able to hunt? Maybe she could become a medicine cat, I did not really know the path that was destined for this little kit. I looked at the sky slightly ahead of me, I saw a star, I hoped it was Squirrelflight, I really missed her.

I shivered once again, I moved closer to Mint. The warmth from her made me feel a lot better. I heard her begin purring, with the sounds of her purring, calming me and relaxing me, I finally managed to put myself to sleep.

I woke up, I was in the windclan moor, I looked around. There was nothing nearby. Something kept putting me in this exact same area for some reason. I did not know what it was quite yet, maybe it was my destiny to be a leader of Windclan. It would make sense, I loved living out in the open... But if so, why did it keep bringing me back here? I had already figured that out at this point.

Once again, just like last time, suddenly my body began moving towards a little twoleg area. Something was there, I knew it... What was starclan trying to tell me? Did they just want me to go back to being a kittypet? I thought my destiny was to rebuild the clans...

My destiny was not supposed to just live near where they used to live, surely right? Once I was done zooming in, I began walking up to the smaller fence, much unlike the one at my old owners place, I managed to hop over this one fairly easily.

I saw something that I had heard about at other cat places, the cats that used to come and hang out at our place, they used to tell me about them, a cat door, or a cat flap. Whichever you wanted to call it. Cats used to walk in and out of them. I used to get so jealous of that, I always wished to have one of them.

Then I could not only choose to live out in the wild, but late at night. Just to be safe I could come back and have a safe place to stay for the night. I stood there for a few moments, then I began walking over to it. I wanted to test it out, if this was really that path that starclan had destined out for me, then I would want to try it.

I walked through the little flap, walking into a very dark room. It was dark outside, and inside the house there were no lights on. But in the corner I could see that there was a cat. As I walked through the cat flap, it picked itself up and began stretching.

I looked at the cat for a few moments, I had seen it before. In a dream that I had been in a long time ago. Was this the cat that the starclan cats were telling me about? Was I supposed to go and find him, was a supposed to talk to him and find out what I needed to learn?

Surely not right? This cat all I could see from it was pure kittypet, it seemed like he had not been in the wild a single day in his life. But at the same time, I took a second look and I could see the scars of deep cuts all along his body, this cat had been through a lot more than I had first thought.

Suddenly the cat then looked over to me a little bit scared. He moved back a little bit, I saw him shiver up. Did this cat happen to see me? I had never had a dream like this before.

"Who's there? I'm already out of food, I cant help you if that is what you are looking for..." He said to me. I looked at him for a few moments, I then nodded and then walked closer to him so that he could see me. But when I did, he looked in a different direction, clearly the cat could not see me.

"I'm not here to hurt you, don't worry... I just need too know, are you the cat that I have been looking for? The one that they call, Youngtail?" I asked the cat. For a few seconds, I had thought that he had heard me. He nodded, but then I realized that it was just I nod to himself.

He lowered his head and then sat back down, was there any way possible I could try and get him to know I was here? I tried moving closer to him and maybe nudging him, but something was holding me back from doing that for some reason.

I looked at the cat sadly, I had a feeling this was the cat that I had been foretold to find. Why else would it keep coming up in my dreams? It was an old beaten down cat, there is no way it could be a leader. The cat then snorted to himself.

"Guess I'm going crazy... Wouldn't be the first time." The cat said to himself. I looked at him for a few moments, what did he mean by that? I then saw him head back off to sleep, I heard him begin snoring, suddenly, I then woke up.

I woke up, noticing that a cat was prodding me. I pushed the cat off of me and then I opened my eyes. It was way early in the morning, I could not tell if the sun was even in the sky yet, that is how dark it was. I looked at who was prodding me.

It was the cat that I had brought in yesterday, what did he want? There was still much I needed to find out about that cat in my dream, he had just ruined that for me. I rolled my eyes at the small little cat as he looked at me with an excited grin on his face.

"Did you want me to tell you about to clans? My mother used to tell me about them, she said her parents were a part of them when they were younger." She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, I was actually surprised how fast she had opened up to me.

Maybe that was normal for a kit though, I did not know much about kits, I barely remember even being one. I looked at the small kit for a few moments. Maybe I was wrong, maybe the cat in my dream was not the cat that needed to tell me something about the clans... Maybe I was talking to that exact cat right now.

"Yes... Go ahead and tell me all that you know... This could be very important, I will tell you all that I know and all that I have been through up to this point." I said to Limp. She looked at me for a few moments, but she did not hesitate to begin talking, this was exactly what I needed to hear.

"Alright... So it starts like this..."

I walked up to my mother, she was smiling at me and my brother and sister. I did not know how she had managed to do that. She told me when we were first born, she did not have anything nearby to help her give birth.

So she told us that we had 2 brothers that had died, I also had a sister that had died to some infection just no less than a moon ago. My mother always somehow managed to always smile though. It brought life in to all of our lives, when there was not much else to give us any.

"Are you guys ready hear a story? This end of the story... I can always tell you other stories that my parents used to tell me though." She said to us. I looked at my mother, then at my brother and sister as my sister began happily hopping around. I nodded to her.

I always happened to be the most mature out of my siblings, although I was still not as mature as I needed to be. My mother always told me brother and sister that they needed to look up to me though, I was a huge role model to them.

"Yes mother... Tell us, the end... The final battle..." I said to her. She looked at me for a few moments, then she nodded to my brother and my sister to make sure that they were paying full attention. Once my brother and sister began staying calm and stopped play fighting my mother began talking.

"Yes... The final battle, it was between Thunderclan and Windclan, they were the last 2 clans. Riverclan was the first to go as you already know... Shadowclan was not long after, and Skyclan just disappeared completely..." She said to us. Looking at us making sure that we were all paying attention.

My brother and sister were locked and loaded, fully aware of what my mother was saying. Much like me, this was their favorite thing in the world, just to hear to stories about the clans... How they used to be big, but it all went downhill.

I felt bad for the clans if I was completely honest. Maybe some day, there would be some sort of rebuild of the clans, but I seriously doubt it. Most cats around us probably had no idea that they had ever existed in the first place.

"Go on mother, keep telling us the story." My sister said to our mother. Our mothers mind was in a different place right now, I could tell based off of how her eyes were staring off at the ceiling, but once she heard my sister talk she then nodded to her and then continued where she had left off.

"The final battle, Kettlestar and Littlestar... The fought with the rest of their clanmates watching... Cheering them on, well the clan mates that they had remaining at least." My mother said to us. I nodded, looking at her all excited, I was ready for the thrilling end of the story.

My brother and sister were paying full attention now just like me. My mother looked at all of us and smiled. She loved all of us so much, I felt bad that she had already lost so many kits, but hopefully those were the last of that.

"Kettlestar and Littlestar, my mother and father were cheering on their leader Littlestar... It was a long continues fight... Many cuts were made to each other... Finally, Littlestar managed to get the killing blow." My mother said to us. My brother and my sister both ghasped in excitement.

I looked at them and shook my head for them to stay silent so that my mother could continue off with the rest of the story. Once my mother knew that we were all paying full attention to her, she continued on with the ending to the saga.

"Littlestar stood up and pushed his body off of the cliff into the Thunderclan camp. She began bragging, but then suddenly, just as soon as it had ended, Youngtail, she deputy and son of Kettlestar ran in and finished of Littlestar." My mother said to us. I looked at her excited, I had heard so much about Youngtail, he supposedly had fought and killed many Thunderclan warriors.

We waited for her to finish the story with an amazing ending and the climax drop to the story.

"No cat dared to fight Youngtail, they all knew how great of a warrior he was, after that. The final battle was over, and with no leaders... The clans simply fell apart." My mother said to us. I looked at her a bit surprised, it was a bit of a boring ending. My brother and sister sighed and then walked away.

Once they were gone and out of the room, I walked over to my mother, I could tell it was a bit of an emotional story for her to tell us, I pushed up against her, nudging myself into her to try and make her feel better. She smiled at me.

"Mother, can you tell me about Starclan? I heard they were the 6th clan, what happened to them?" I asked my mother. But as soon as I said that, she pushed herself off of me and looked at me angrily.

I looked her a bit surprised and put my head to the ground as an apology. I had just heard about them from her mother shortly before she had passed. My mother looked at me, were there a big rival clan? What was so bad about them?

"Im sorry, no... Starclan was just a figment of an imagation, if they really existed they would have come to help us." My mother said to me. I looked at her for a few seconds, I wasn't sure what she was getting at but I just nodded to her anyways.

Once my mother was done, she walked over and grabbed some dry food and began eating it. I hated dry food... My mother had done her best to try and teach us too hunt when we were outside. But my brother and sister were not paying any attention and they were just play fighting, so eventually, my mother just gave up on it.

I walked over to my mother, she had given us some real meat before, and ever since then, I never wanted to eat dryfood again. But I knew that was the only way that I was going to live, so I ate it anyways. I looked at my mother and then nodded to her once she was done eating a bit.

"Can you tell me about them anyways? Even if they are fake... I still want to know..." I said to my mother. My mother did not even look at me, she just sat there for a fee moments, and then she bit in and began eating some more dry food.

I sighed, I then walked away from her. If she did not want to tell me about them, then she did not have too. I still did not believe they were fake, why was it such a sour topic to my mother then? Surely they had to be a big rival clan... Maybe they were a clan that was still out there somewhere.

My mother walked to the end of the room where I was sitting and she sat down beside me. She then nudged against me and began licking me to start cleaning me off. I sat there and let her do it, I wish she would just tell me.

"Do you really want to know the truth about Starclan?" My mother said to me. I looked at her for a few moments, I was a bit surprised, but then I nodded to her. Starclan was something I had heard about before, but it was a topic that my mother never spoke about.

"Yes... Are the a rival clan? Is that what killed your father?" I asked my mother. She looked at me for a few seconds and then she shook her head at me. I was confused about Starclan, I just wanted answers about them.

She looked at me for a few moments, not saying a word, then she began finishing licking me and cleaning up the rest of my body. After she was done she looked at my for a few moments, then she nodded to me as she continued on with her story.

"Starclan... They are where cats go after they die... They were supposed to help us, but they didn't, whether they exist or not, I am not sure... If they do, they would have saved us and they would not have let us go down that path." My mother said to me. I looked at her and then I nodded to her.

It was all I really needed to hear, it was about what I thought they had to be... Cat's that lived in the stars, that just seemed too good to be true... How would they ever possibly be able to get back down.

My mother nodded to me, she then sighed and walked out of the room. I now knew why it was a bit of a sore topic to her. She was probably wondering, maybe there was some chance that it was where her mother and father were now.

"Youngtail you say? That is a name I have heard before." I said to Limp. She looked at me a bit surprised but then she nodded to me. She sat there for a few moments, staring at the sky, looking at the stars, maybe a small hope that starclan would go and talk to her.

"Yes... Do you know about him? I thought you said you were from a long way away from here... Is that were he's at now? Are you here to bring back the clans?" She said to me. I looked at her for a few moments.

I was not sure what to say to her, or how to really handle the topic, I just nodded to her and then laughed it off. When I opened my eyes, I saw her still staring at me waiting for a response.

"Yes... He is in my dreams, my dreams are from starclan, you may not think they are true... But they are. Why they did not help the clans... Im not sure." I said to her. She looked at me a bit surprised and then she hopped around all excited. I tried to get her to stop, but at this point it was already to late.

Kettle and Oister both woke up a bit confused, Mint woke up not too much longer after them, they all began stretching, looking at Limo a bit confused as you why she was hopping around acting all fidgety.

"Is she okay?" Oister said to me. I looked at her and then I laughed. Once Limp realized she had woken all of them, she then sat down and lowered her head as a way of saying sorry.

"My bad... I was just so excited... Starclan is real, I knew it! Moon, they came in my dreams... Right after my brother died... They told me to come here... They said I would find my end goal... You, Moon... Are my end goal." She said to me. I looked at her a bit surprised but then I nodded to her.

"I hope not... You still have plenty of life left in you, obviously..." Kettle said to her. He did not say in a mean way at all, I saw the smile on his face, as he shook his head, trying to erase the shakey feeling of just waking up.

"Yes... They are indeed real." I said. He looked at me, all the cats in the room were all smiling looking excited. I could not wait to find the cat named Youngtail. This would be my end goal... Much like Limp had said, it was just the end of the beginning of something much greater.

"Well... I'm going to go outside for a little scenic view, your welcome to come Oister. You too Limp... One of you needs to stay back for Mint. I'd say you Moon, you looked exhausted." Kettle said to all of us. I looked at him and thought about saying otherwise.

I stopped myself though, I was indeed very tired. I looked at Mint. She was actually a bit upset. I noticed that Kettle had seen it on her face as well.

"Mint... You aren't in good enough shape yet... We are still at least a day away..." Oister said to Mint. Oister was a lot better at reading she cats than I was, that was one thing I knew for sure. I was wondering what Mint was so upset about, but now I knew why.

"No... Im tired of slowing all of you down! I'm ready!"