Missing No Longer.

It was a dark day. Dark storm clouds streaked across the sky, yet no rain fell. But a cold wind foreshadowing the storm to come ruffled the leaves and the unkept fur of a lone tom who skulked across the forest floor.  His yellow eyes, which no doubt once were bright with joy, seemed cold as he slowly took pawstep after pawstep. His gray paws and tail seemed to drag along the ground, seeming unsure of the path he was taking. His white fur, once fluffy and clean was now unkept and dirty. Around his neck was a blue piece of cloth and hung from that was a strange golden object which was dirtied but once sparkled in the sun. He was wearing a ruined collar, marking him as a kittypet.

The tom himself was about the size of a warrior, but under his messy fur was muscles that seemed to tense and relax as if unsure how to feel. The tom's mind was very much the same, questioning every step forward he took with a shaky movement. Was he correct to do this? What if he was wrong, what if...So many worries swirled in his head like the storm that was to come. He didn't even know if...His mind drifted off as he came to a stop in a clearing.

A strange scent came over him, filling his mouth and nose as he froze. The scent...While it seemed strange at first, it soon started to resurface memories from what seemed like moons ago...Because they simply were. Life seemed to awake in the tom as he started to move forward at a faster pace then before. His yellow eyes glimmered as he moved deeper and deeper into the forest, but also into SkyClan's territory.

In all her life she never saw such a gloomy day. Just by looking at the sky got her full of depressed emotions, back at camp alot of people were finding love. After all it was new-leaf, but for her? Orcapaw had nobody, except for a shadowclanner who had mixed feelings for her, but Orcapaw would never ever fall in love with somebody from a different clan. Orcapaw had wanted to catch some prey today, but the sudden darkness had left the forest rather quiet and empty. As if the prey themself knew that a storm was coming, and they scurried for protection from the cold rain. Orcapaw herself however enjoyed rain, the feeling and the smell. She had such a thick coat that she spent most of all of new-leaf under the shade of one of many skyclans tall trees. So the sight of a storm had pleased the apprentice, although it was such a gloomy day. Her green eyes became alert as she saw a mouse scurry around, reacting quickly she chased it but instead she lost the darn thing to the bushes. With a frustrated huff, she attempted too look for it because she had her mind set on bringing some sort of prey back to camp tonight.

Although after awhile, the hope of finding or catching something had faded away just like the sun did every single night. But with every morning, came a new day which was a good thing for the forest cats right? Orcapaw lifted her chin forward as she felt the wind tickle her neck, the breeze was fresh and felt nice giving her the scent of new plant-life growing throughout skyclans territory. Deep in thought, the apprentice was rather surprised when she had heard rushing pawsteps that came into skyclan territory. With a blink, she followed the sound only to discover a large dirty cat. The tom was a sight too see, dull eyes filthy fur, and something strange was around his neck. She firgured he was a stupid lost kittypet, wandering around or lost from his two-leg masters or something pityful like that. With a hiss, Orcapaw stepped forwards bright green eyes glinting as she glared at the mess of a cat. "I don't think kittypets should be wandering so far from home." Orcapaw mewed sternly, although her voice was a bit playful. Although the tom was bigger and older then her, she knew that kitty-pets don't put up much of a fight. "I think your heading towards the wrong direction, pal." The fluffy apprentice stated, her voice stern as her tail flicked back. "Go back where you came from, you have no right to be here." The she-cat mewed, although something was off about him. Skyclan hardly got any kittypet come in this deep into their territory, it's as if he knew were he was going, something was wrong. "What are you doing here anyways?" Orcapaw spat, standing up tall.

When the apprentice had stepped into his path, the tom came to a sudden stop. What was she doing here? He just blinked at her, but when she spoke, he dropped into a battle-ready couch in instinct, ready to fight the apprentice if she threaten his goal. His messy fur started to rise along his spine as his grey tail lashed back and forth, a hiss rising in his throat...But when she had made no move and just teased him, he started to force himself to relax as he stared at her. His yellow eyes flickered as he stared at her, not moving from his couch. She...She reminded him of someone. He couldn't say whole off the top of his head - his mind was to foggy from time - but she did remind him of someone. But if she did...

His eyes suddenly seemed to bright up as he jumped up from his battle-couch, taking a few steps forward as he stared at her with hope. "You!" He barked, his voice deep and rough - which sounded strange even to the tom's own ears almost - crackled slightly as he went on. "You are from SkyClan, aren't you? Does this mean they still stand? Does this mean that..." he voiced drifted off, coming to a stop once more as he stared into the distance as his whiskers quivered. So many emotions started to overtake the tom as he stood there, seeming now paying no heed to the young she-cat as he started to move forward again. "I need to...I need to see him..." he whispered under his breath as he moved past her, not really caring if the apprentice was going to stop him.

Orcapaw was a bit surprised when the tom looked like he was about to fight, with a nervous gulp she wasn't sure what to exactly do. The she-cat had unseathed her claws, if he wanted a fight then he would get one! And she was not gonna go easy on him at all, so he better watch out. Her green eyes glinted, something was very strange about this tom.. Orcapaw could feel it in her gut, but what exactly was it? Something just didn't feel right about him, she couldn't explain it.. but she just knew that something was very wrong. Although it surprised her when the tom's sudden mood changed from hostility to something else.. The fluffy apprentices ears perked at the sound of his voice, so hoarse and scratch who was he?

The words that the tom spoke were confusing, how did he even know that she was in skyclan? How did he even know where there camp was located? Blinking her large green orbs, Orcapaw raced in front of the older tom again, attempting not to unseathe her claws. With him knowing so much about the clan he was obviously a potential danger, and she would have to face him all alone. "W-Waitt!" The fluffy apprentice hissed her eyes narrowing in suspicion, "Your're not going anywhere near my camp until I get some clear answers." She mewed sternly, confident on staying in his way, after all what exactly would people think of her if she let this tom into camp..? "Now tell me! Who exactly are you in the first place." Trying to avoid the toms questions, she didn't want to answer them until she knew who he was.

Coming to a suddenly halt as the apprentice stumbled in front of him to block his path once more, causing his yellow eyes to narrow. His tail lashed, a soft growl escaping him. He had spent moons waiting for this moment, and this young apprentice was going to get in his way? But...He had been like her once, young and foolish...Oh, so foolish. But yet he didn't want to answer her question, as he was sure she would not know of him. His collar jingled as he shifted from foot to foot, his eyes flicking as he stared at her as he let out a soft hiss. "That answer you can get if you let me go to the camp, apprentice." Now, he normally wasn't this cold, but so many emotions ran though him that moment and he simply wanted to get into the camp. He had to see him... "I need...I-I need to speak to your leader," he found himself saying, although his voice cracked at the word 'leader.' He was sure that he was still leader, he had to be.

Orcapaws eyes narrowed, she wasn't sure how Breezestar would feel if she let this kind of cat into camp, but then again he was a rouge wasn't he? Orcapaw herself had been lucky enough to be born into skyclan, she never had to live in two-leg streets or anything like that. So maybe there was a way that Breezestar knew this tom? She would take him under one condition, "You can't just March in there, Rockfall would probably end up questioning you. Or worse, attack you." The apprentice warned an eye slightly raising. "I guess I'll have to take you to Breezestar then." Orcapaw shrugged simply with a soft sigh, he did seem pretty confident on going to camp. Her tail flicked as her ears perked forward before studying the tom again. "First, I want your name." She clearly stated, just for some suspicions and she was very curious on who this tom was. "And then you need to take your kitty-pet collar off you." She said with a hiss, her eyes narrowing, thinking why anyone would possibly want to be a kitty-pet. Then again however she shouldn't be to rude, after-all there was a high chance that she had either kitty-pet or rouge blood in her. She wasn't a true forest cat, nobody in skyclan is.

He remained silent as the apprentice talked, although his ears perked when she mentioned Rockfall. "Rockfall? He is still the deputy?" he asked, before going completely silent when she said his name. Breezestar...Oh, StarClan, he was alive. His whole body seem to shake as emotions overran the tom at the simple mention of that name. He was unsure how to feel, but the emotion he felt the most was pure happiness. He nodded his head as she finished saying that she would have to take him to Breezestar, as that was what he wanted so much. She went on, but he was almost to overcome with emotions to even speak. He opened his mouth a few times to try to get a few words out before he just gave up and plopped down, wrapping his messy tail over his front paws as he nodded his head at the mention of getting his stupid collar off.

But his name...He would have to answer her that. He opened his mouth again, his words coming tumbling out as he did so. "My name is...Smoke..." Only he didn't add the last part of it. Truthfully, his full name was Smokepaw, and he had gone missing from SkyClan moons before the she-cat before him was even born. How would she react to know that he was only an apprentice while he was moons past being the age of a warrior? He had been foolish, oh so foolish...And it had cost him moons of his life with his family. He doubted however, with only the first part of his name, this apprentice would put it together. He was sure anyways that she didn't even know a thing about him...Did his father even think of him anymore? Part of the once-apprentice feared of that answer, while the other denied that his father would ever forget about him...

Orcapaw blinked at how the tom reacted, it was a bit surprising to know that this strange tom knew her father, Rockfall. It was also strange on how he knew that Rockfall was the deputy, which could only mean one thing.. Was he a former skyclan cat? Or was she being mousebrained, sometimes she hated her mind, it came up with the craziest ideas. Even if this tom was from skyclan, how did he end up like this. As a messy dirty kittypet? Oh well, maybe he would tell her later but for now, they needed to get back to camp. "Actually yes, he is the deputy." Orcapaw cooly stated, an ear twitching as she observed the tom. She was a bit confused on why exactly he was shaking, was he having some sort of panic attack? Her nose twitched, before she questioned him. "Err.. Are you okay?" Orcapaw blinked unaware of all the trouble he had been through just to see Breezestar and skyclan again.

An ear twitched, nodding curtly at his name. "Oook Smoke, well I'm Orcapaw." She stated with a grin, beginning to relax as she felt that it was okay to trust the tom now. Beginning to pad forward the fluffy apprentice gestured the tom with her plumpy tail. "Well come on, we need to get to camp. It's not too far away though." The she-cat spoke, pacing at a slow jog to which the kitty-pet could keep up too.

"Fine...I'm fine..." he muttered under his breath as he forced himself back to his paws, taking in a deep breath. He quickly followed her, matching her slow pace. He was thankful for it, although he really didn't need it. He wasn't as weak as she might of thought he was, he had gotten in a few fights on his time alone. "Thank you," he said, his voice a little louder this time as he glanced at the apprentice, before going silent once more. It was time to face his long lost past.

Occ: Topic over. Continuing in Returning Smoke in the SkyClan Camp.