i tried my best [closed]

Holly was ready to be home. Just… home. In Skyclan, in the forest, under actual trees. Her body stung with little cuts, ached with odd bruising (in places she couldn’t even remember hitting!), and her pelt was dusty and dirty, but there was still a skip in her step. An unusual energy. I’m pretty sure this is the right way! Yes! I… think. And… in spite of everything, her heart still lit up at the sight of green as she crested the hill. It had to be here! The Big Ridge-place.

It looked just like it. It had to be: the sharp rocks, visible even from this distance, and the growing scent of… um. Forest stuff. Like leaves! And trees, and soil, and birds. (Not like the Twoleg crazy she just left, where it burned in her nose.) That itself confirmed it for her! The only other Clan border it could’ve been was Shadowclan (see! Holly did pay attention when her Aunt Raven was telling her stuff!), and she knew it couldn’t be. “No pines,” the molly recited, if a little hesitantly. (Trees weren’t really her thing, either.) But the closer she got, the more the familiarity of it all stood starkly in her mind, as she brushed past ferns, ducked under bushes.

Thank Starclan!

Relief hit her limbs… as did the desire to flop to the dirt and never get up. But in her defense, there had been… a lot of walking. If Holly had to describe what it was like, living as a loner — er, LIKE a loner, LIKE (because of course Holly wasn’t really, not like those dirty rogues or whatever her murder cousins were) — it’d be that. You couldn’t stop anywhere you wanted to, and the ground was like burning rocks, and… and it made your paws hurt.

(And bleed. A little.)

But Holly was here. She was home!

And then she felt a tingle of anxiety, like little claws in her chest. 

It hadn’t been forever, but… it felt like it. But it wasn’t like the first time she’d come home, after being kept away. And… and it was a fool’s hope, really, but… maybe her Mom and Muddy were home. Maybe they came back, and I just missed them. And this has all just been a silly… adventure. Yeah. It buoyed her, somewhat. She could hear her Aunt Beechfang’s snort at the idea — but it was possible! It was! It had happened before! And… and Holly hadn’t had much luck in finding her family herself. And I tried… I really tried. Would her grandpa believe that? Her Aunt Beechfang? 

They would have to. 

“Of course they’d get it,” she muttered to herself. Just like they’d get that I… had to leave. The scruffy calico dug her claws into the dirt a bit, then — a nervous habit — before she pushed herself forward. It was time to be home again! She didn’t need to think about this.

Patrolling was something Wolfblossom was growing to enjoy more often as of late, with camp being rather crowded. It was a good way to spend time with her siblings and other clanmates without needing to watch her paws over some Shadowclanner, and she actually felt like she could relax more on them, even as they neared the edges of Skyclan territory.

The scent of the trees and flowers and Skyclan was broken by something else on the breeze, and Wolfblossom's blue eyes narrowed as she tried to pinpoint the scent. Cat, but unfamiliar. And on Skyclan territory. "Do you smell that? Rogue, I think." Wolfblossom hissed softly to her patrolmates, Blackbear and Birdchaser. Hackles lifting, the pale-furred warrior glanced around for the source of the scent, claws digging into the soil beneath them. There was the off chance it could be a Shadowclanner... And Wolfblossom selfishly hoped it wasn't.

Much like the rest of her Clanmates, Birdchaser had found a particular comfort in patrolling lately. It was a good excuse just to get out of camp, to finally have some stretching room for the first time in what felt like seasons. It afforded her a good chance to get closer with her Clanmates, too, even though the ones she was patrolling with today were already a degree of close to her.

As they walked, Wolfblossom stiffened, and the scent of agitation rolled suddenly off her pelt. Birdchaser's whiskers twitched, and her jaw had just parted, ready to ask her sister what was wrong, when the lingering acrid scent of Twolegplace caught up her. "I think you're right," the deputy whispered. As she spoke, her eyes slid towards Blackbear. The young molly had a violent streak the length of the forest. Pointedly, Birdchaser laid her tail out in front of the younger warrior's path. It was only for a moment, but it came with a stern look that brooked no argument. Hopefully the young warrior would understand, and listen for once.

Turning away from her former apprentice, Birdchaser padded forward, standing in front of the other two cats with her. If the intruder turned out to be vicious, she would want to get attacked first. The trees thinned, and the foliage with it, and it wasn't long before she could see a shape through the patches of green. It looked like a little tortoiseshell, looking as lost as she did scrappy. "You're on SkyClan territory," Birdchaser called out, and there was a rumbling growl at the edges of her words. "I recommend you turn around. This is not a place for lost cats like yourself."

Blackbear loped alongside the two older she-cats, relatively content in their company. Wolfblossom and Birdchaser were currently pretty much the only cats in SkyClan that didn't make her want to claw a hole through the nearest tree. Though the patrol had so far been less eventful than she would've liked and some boredom was eating away at her, she'd managed to keep herself calm. That was, until Wolfblossom smelled something. A cat! Already Blackbear's eyes lit up with excitement. She'd never battled a cat in a group before!

Lacking the seriousness of her patrolmates, she sniffed the air and found the same scent that the other two had. It definitely wasn't SkyClan. She prepared to rush forward and find the threat, claws already unsheathed, but Birdchaser's fluffy tail momentarily blocked her path. The black and grey molly looked at her former mentor, expression angry for a moment before it settled into begrudging acceptance. She'd listen for now. But if that cat so much as moved...

They found the cat and Blackbear almost laughed. She was scrawny and clearly lost. Every fiber of Blackbear's being wanted to charge her right there and then. She looked at the rogue molly, then at Birdchaser, then back at the molly. Compromising, she took a step forward and growled, showing teeth. Hopefully, she thought, the cat'll attack and I can fight back.