Book 1: From The Alleys to The Forest

== Allegiances==

ThunderClan
Leader: Bluestar - blue-grey she-cat with silver muzzle

Deputy: Redtail - tortoiseshell tom with distinctive ginger tail

apprentice, Dustpaw

Medicine Cat: Spottedleaf - pretty tortoiseshell she-cat

Warriors: Lionheart - golden tabby tom with thick fur like a lion's mane

apprentice, Graypaw

Tigerclaw - big dark brown tabby tom with unusually long claws

apprentice, Ravenpaw

Whitestorm - magnificent white tom

apprentice, Sandpaw

Darkstripe - gray and white tabby tom

Longtail - pale tabby tom with dark black stripes

Runningwind - swift tabby tom

Willowpelt - very pale gray she-cat with lovely blue eyes

Mousefur - small dusky brown she-cat

Apprentices: Dustpaw - dark brown tabby tom

Graypaw - long-haired gray tom

Ravenpaw - sleek black tom with white tail-tip

Sandpaw - pale ginger she-cat

Queens: Frostfur - beautiful white she-cat with blue eyes

Brindleface - pretty tabby she-cat

Goldenflower - pale ginger she-cat

Speckletail - pale tabby she-cat, oldest nursery queen

Elders: Halftail - big dark brown tabby tom with part of his tail missing

Smallear - gray tom with very small ears, oldest tom in ThunderClan

Patchpelt - small black and white tom

One-Eye - pale gray she-cat, virtually blind and deaf, oldest cat in ThunderClan

Dappletail - tortoiseshell she-cat with lovely dappled coat

ShadowClan
Leader: Brokenstar - long-haired dark brown tabby tom

Deputy: Blackfoot - large white tom with huge jet black paws

apprentice, Whitepaw

Medicine Cat: Yellowfang - old dark gray she-cat

apprentice, Runningnose - small gray and white tom

Warriors: Stumpytail - brown tabby tom with unusually short tail

apprentice, Brownpaw

Boulder - silver tabby tom, former rogue

apprentice, Wetpaw

Russetfur - dark ginger she-cat

apprentice, Scorchpaw

Clawface - battle-scarred brown tom

apprentice, Littlepaw

Jaggedtooth - huge tabby tom

Nightpelt - old black tom

Darkflower - black she-cat

Tallpoppy - long-legged light brown tabby she-cat

Apprentices: Whitepaw - black tom with white paws and a white chest

Brownpaw - brown she-cat with darker stripes

Wetpaw - gray tabby tom

Scorchpaw - black she-cat with amber eyes, former rogue

Littlepaw - very small tabby tom

Queens: Dawncloud - small tabby she-cat

Brightflower - black and white she-cat

Fernshade - tortoiseshell she-cat

Elders: Ashfur - raggedy old gray tom

Cinderfur - thin gray tom

WindClan
Leader: Tallstar - black and white tom with a very long tail

Deputy: Deadfoot - smoky black tom with a twisted paw

Medicine Cat: Barkface - short tailed brown tom

Prologue
I do not own Warriors or any characters except for Mischief

Mischief followed the tabby tom through the alleys of Twolegplace, her whole body shaking with fright. She didn't want to leave the only place she had ever called home. She may have been only two moons old, but that didn't stop her from becoming attached to this place.

"Why do we have to leave, Boulder?" she asked, quickening her pace to stand beside the bigger cat.

"This isn't the right place for cats," he answered gruffly. "Besides," he added in a softer voice, "the forest is calling."

Mischief snorted. "Yeah, right."

Boulder came to a sudden halt. Turning around, he growled, "I'm serious. This isn't the right place to bring up a kit! The forest is where cats belong."

The black kitten flinched at his words. Boulder had been the one to rescue her from the old Twoleg nest where she and her littermates were locked up away from their mother. Two of the other kits were dead by the time Boulder found them and Mischief's sister fled as soon as the window was opened wide enough. She was so weak at the time that it was likely she starved soon after. The big tabby was a sort of guardian to Mischief, not a father but a brother. He helped his mother raise her.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes. "I just don't want to leave."

Boulder starts walking again. "Trust me, Mischief," he says. "You seemed to trust me when I first found you, so what about now?"

"Maybe."

"But you can't leave!" cried a hysterical Mint. Boulder's sister sat between Mischief and their mother, Brick, her pure white fur brushing the pelts of the other two she-cats.

"I want to experience life in the forest," Boulder said. "We only get one life, so we may as well enjoy it. And this is no place to raise kits, so I'm bringing Mischief with me."

Brick gave her daughter's ear a couple comforting licks before the younger queen pulled away. "Has Mischief even agreed to go?" she asked, her voice shrill and terrified.

Boulder turned to look expectantly at Mischief. Mint and Brick followed his gaze. She hadn't agreed or disagreed. Boulder had just assumed she would go. She backed away, scared and confused. If she agreed she wouldn't ever see Mint - no, my sister, and my mother - ever again. But if she said no, she would lose Boulder. Her brother and her hero.

"I..." she trailed off. After a long, thoughtful pause, she started again. "I want to go."

Mint gasped. "No!" she cried out vainly.

Brick's green eyes clouded up and she padded slowly over to Mischief. She opened her mouth, probably to ask why, but shut it quickly. Rubbing her head against the kit's she said softly, "We're going to miss you."

Guilt flooded Mischief. "I'm sorry!" she yelped. "I don't want to leave you! I take it back!"

Boulder stared at her, surprised.

"That's a lie as you know very well," said Brick. She crouched down, her bony shoulder blades showing through her graying pelt, so she stood nose-to-nose with Mischief. "Go. We will miss you, but we don't want to keep you here against your will."

Mischief nodded slowly. "Okay."

"You can't!" Mint's words were choked with grief as she hissed at her brother. "Boulder, you're my brother! And even if you do leave you can't take Mischief, too! She's too young to decide for herself."

Boulder pressed his pelt against his sister's side and this time she didn't flinch away. "You could come too, but that would mean leaving Silver behind." Mischief remembered the she-cat's mate, a handsome tabby tom that she often talked about having kits with.

Mint shook her head. "I'm staying. Not for Silver, but for Brick." Brick spun to face her daughter, listening closely to her words. "She's Scourge's deputy, so she can't leave, and she's getting old. She is going to want her kits at her side when she..." she trailed off, probably just remembering that the old she-cat was there with them.

"When I die." It is Brick herself who finished the sentence plainly. "Thank you, Mint. But if you want to live in the forest, I won't be angry. I want you to be happy."

"I don't need a forest life. I'm happy here."

Mischief glanced outside their burrow. "Boulder," she said, nudging his shoulder. "It's nightfall."

"We have to leave," he explained to the she-cats. "Scourge gave us until nightfall and if we aren't gone by then we won't ever leave." He rubbed his head against his mother's, then touched his nose to Mint's nose. "Goodbye."

Mischief mewed her goodbyes quietly and waited by the entrance. With a shove from Boulder, she dashed back across the burrow to Mint, then Brick, giving each an affectionate head-rub, purring and sobbing at the same time.

Then the two cats, silver and sleek black, headed out for the last time, toward the forest.