Mapleshade's Heart

Written By: Moonlight8

Allegiances
ThunderClan

Leader- Icestar- white she-cat with ice blue eyes

Deputy- Ravenwing- black she-cat with green eyes

Medicine Cat- Sagewhisker- brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Warriors( toms and she-cats without kits)

-Snowstorm- white she-cat with dark green eyes

-Lightningstreak- dark brown tom with a white streak on his chest and green eyes

-Mossfire- brown, black, and gray tom with amber eyes

-Copperfur- ginger tom with bright green eyes

-Grasspelt- long haired tortoishell tom with amber eyes

-Willowstream- beautiful light brown she-cat with dazzling blue eyes

-Nightfur- black she-cat with blue green eyes

-Yellowclaw- gray tom with bright yellow eyes

-Beepelt- golden tabby tom with sharp blue eyes

- Marshtail-tortoishell and white tom with blue eyes

-Rainfall- pretty dappled golden she-cat with amber eyes

-Silverfrost- silver she-cat with lighter markings and blue eyes

-Redpelt- red brown tom with amber eyes

-Antclaw- black and white tom with green eyes

Apprentices

-Weedpaw- pale orange tom with amber eyes(mentor- Snowstorm)

-Larkpaw- tortoishell she-cat with pale green eyes(mentor- Willowstream)

-Mumblepaw- brown tom with amber eyes(mentor- Marshtail)

Queens

-Duskheart- pale brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes(mate- Grasspelt, kits- expecting)

-Dewfrost- gray tabby she-cat with green eyes(mate- Mossfire, kits- Stonekit and Applekit)

-Hollyfur- fluffy black she-cat with green eyes(mate- Copperfur, kits- Maplekit, Lillykit, and Sootkit)

Kits

-Stonekit- gray tabby tom with amber eyes

-Applekit- dark cream she-cat with blue green eyes

-Maplekit- ginger she-cat with white patches and amber eyes

-Lillykit- silver tabby she-cat with blue eyes

-Sootkit- creamy gray she-cat with clear blue eyes

Elders

-Stormclaw- dark gray tom with amber eyes

-Seedfur- ginger tabby she-cat with blue eyes

-Rosefall- dark cream she-cat with blue eyes

WindClan

Leader- Skystar- lithe gray she-cat with green eyes

Deputy- Harepelt- gray brown tom with blue eyes

Medicine Cat- Heatherheart- brown tabby she-cat with gentle amber eyes

Apprentice- Bushpaw- red brown tom with green eyes

ShadowClan

Leader- Oakstar- huge dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Deputy- Leafstorm- silver she-cat with stormy blue eyes

Medicine Cat- Pinefur- small tortoishell tom with green eyes

Apprentice- Smallfang- small white she-cat with blue eyes

RiverClan

Leader- Streamstar- gray and brown she-cat with blue eyes

Deputy- Reedclaw- large black tom with green eyes

Medicine Cat- Berryfur- cream she-cat with darker flecks and amber eyes

Prologue
Mapleshade padded through the erie forest. As she continued to walk through the seemingly endless foilage, Mapleshade wondered where she was. Surely she must be in StarClan. After all, she hadn't done anything wrong, had she? Mapleshade knew for a fact that she was dead, but if she wasn't in StarClan, then where was she? She looked up to the sky, hoping to see Silverpelt shining above her, but the thick tree branches covered the stars.

"Welcome," said a sudden, deep voice.

Mapleshade spun around. A large white tom stood in front of her, his amber gaze burning into her pelt. "Who are you?," she demanded, frightened by the newcomer.

"I am Whitecloud.  Welcome to the Dark Forest, Mapleshade."

"Wh-What's the Dark Forest?," Mapleshade asked, dreading the answer to her question.

"The Dark Forest is the place that cats go who were not accepted into StarClan.  Cats like us, Mapleshade.," Whitecloud replied, watching her carefully as if to see how she would react to his answer.

"What," Mapleshade screeched. More calmly, she went on, "There m-must be some mistake," she stuttered. "I belong in StarClan, with my friends, my family..."

"Obviously not," Whitecloud replied, sneering.

Mapleshade watched in disbelief as Whitecloud finished speaking to her, and then padded away, slowly fading into the misty shadows.

   How could they!!!  The thought rang through Mapleshade's head again and again. For her whole life, whenever she was in pain, Mapleshade had reminded herself that she woul one day be at peace, walking the skies with her ancestors. Sometimes, she had longed for this day to come. And now... And now she was stuck in some stupid forest!! She would never again see her clanmates, her mate, or anyone from her old life. Mapleshade snarled silently to herself. StarClan were no better than crowfood eating rats! They were traitors...

As Mapleshade stalked angrily through the Dark Forest, she knew that StarClan needed to be tought a lesson. And Mapleshade would make sure to teach it to them.

Chapter 1
Maplekit's P.O.V.

Maplekit snuggled closer to her mother. Her sisters, Lillykit and Sootkit, lay on either side of her. Maplekit had just woken up from a nap, and curiousity suddenly stabbed her like a needle. ''What does the camp look like? ''she wondered. Cautiously, Maplekit opened her eyes.

''Wow! The nursery is so amazing!'' Those were Maplekit's first thoughts as her eyes opened for the first time and saw the thick bramble walls of the nursery. Looking down at her sisters, Maplekit nudged Sootkit awake. "Come on!" She said. "Wake up Sootkit.  You have to open your eyes.  The nursery is so cool, and we still have to explore the rest of camp!"

"Okay, okay," muttered Sootkit. Maplekit watched as Sootkit hesitantly opened her eyes. "Ouch!" She squeaked. "Why is so bright?"

Maplekit purred in amusement. "It's called the sun, Sootkit!  Now, get up, we just have to wake Lillykit."

At that moment, however, Lillykit stirred. "You two are so loud, that I bet the whole of Shadowclan can hear you," She complained. Her eyes then blinked open, and she was still for a moment, shocked. Finally, Lillykit asked, "Is this really the nursey? Or am I dreaming?"

Maplekit answered affectionately, "Of course this is the nursery, mousebrain!  Where else would we be?  Now let's ask Hollyfur if we can play outside."

As Hollyfur woke up, she seemed to already know what her kits wanted. "Now you three, I expect you to be very careful and do not get into any trouble."

"Of course, Hollyfur," Maplekit replied. "We won't ever get in trouble, you'll see.  Right, Sootkit, Lillykit?"

"Yeah, we will always follow the rules, Hollyfur," said Lillykit.

"And we'll help the other kits, too," added Sootkit.

Suddenly another voice snorted, "More like we'll be helping you, right Applekit?"

"Who do you think you are?" Maplekit shot back indignantly, eyeing the small gray tabby tom warily.

"I'm Stonekit, and this is my sister, Applekit."

"Who's your mother?" asked Lillykit.

Applekit answered, "Our mother is Dewfrost.  Our father is Mossfire.  He's the best warrior in the whole clan!"

"Our father is Copperfur, and we just wanted to visit him.  Do you think that you two could show us the Warriors den.  Oh, and maybe the rest of camp, too!" Sootkit squealed excitedly. Maplekit felt embarrassed. ''We can find our own way around camp! Although I suppose we know we won't get lost if Applekit and Stonekit show us around. Okay, I'll go with them.''

"Wait for me!  I'm coming, too,"  Maplekit yowled as she hurried out of the nursery.

"Wow, Maplekit, you sure are looking forward to this," Stonekit laughed.

"Of course I am!  I can hardly be a warrior if I don't even know my way around camp!"

"Are we going to go show them the camp or what?" Applekit put in irritably.

"Yeah!  In fact, we're going now," Stonekit retorted.

Maplekit looked in front of her. The camp was huge! She fought the urge to run off by herself and explore every little bit of her home. ''I don't want to get into trouble. I might have to stay in the nursery for a moon!''

"Alright, so right here is the apprentices' den.  Applekit and I are almost five moons old, we'll be there soon," Stonekit meowed proudly.

"Yeah, the apprentices are so cool.  Look, they even tought us the hunter's crouch," Applekit added, showing Maplekit and her sisters the crouch. Distracted, Maplekit jumped when she heard a noise coming from the apprentices' den. She poked her head inside, and to her relief saw that it was only an apprentice, just now waking up.

"Hello," Maplekit called softly. "I'm Maplekit, what's your name?"

As the cat rose from their nest, Maplekit realized that it was a tom. His short brown pelt was covered in moss, and he began to groom  himself. After a moment, he stopped and said, "Hello, Maplekit.  I'm Mumblepaw.  You're Hollyfur's kit, right?  Where are your sisters?"

"They're outside," Maplekit replied.

"Oh.  I suppose Applekit and Stonekit must be showing you around camp.  Have they shown you the hunters crouch yet?" For some reason, Maplekit thought that Mumblepaw looked dissapointed that it was the other kits who were showing her and her littermates around. Maplekit wondered why. Suddenly, Mumblepaw straightened up. "I'll show you the real hunters crouch if you want me to, Maplekit." He sounded so hopeful that Maplekit knew she could not refuse, even though she would soon be missed.

"That would would be great!", Maplekit squeaked in excitement.

"Alright, then." Mumblepaw crouched down, carefully placing each paw in what Maplekit assumed was the correct position. Then, he crept forward, looking like he really was hunting. Maplekit was amazed at Mumblepaw's skill. ''He's really good. When I'm an apprentice, I want to be just like him, no, I want to be even better.''

After a moment, Mumblepaw padded up to Maplekit. "What did you think?  Was it good?" he asked anxiously.

"It was great! Stonekit and Applekit don't know what they're doing, but you do, Mumblepaw,"  Maplekit replied, day dreaming about how she would show Sootkit and Lillykit the real hunters crouch.