Welcome to my Warrior Cats fanfic. I do not claim owner ship over the Warrior Cats itself, for it belongs to Erin Hunter. I just take claim over the characters I created.

Chapter 1

It had been a moon since Emberpaw had been made an apprentice, and he still couldn't get over the fact he had become an apprentice, while his sister was postponed. He felt it every day he walked. Emberpaw's mentor, Sorreltail, didn't understand. She tried to help him, but it kills him everytime he thinks about it. Why was Firestar keeping her back this long? Emberpaw sat there, in his den, unable to sleep. His mind was fogged, and he felt dizzy. Midnightkit should have become an apprentice with him. She was told she couldn't by Firestar. He said she couldn't, not yet, anyway. Emberpaw didn't understand. Finally, Emberpaw couldn't stand sitting in that den much longer. He careful padded outside.

Emberpaw inhaled the fresh air, hoping it would clear his mind. He sighed, it didn't work the miracle he had prayed for. Emberpaw hadn't been able to sleep easily since he became an apprentice, and it was effecting his training. He went back into his den and tried to sleep again, and managed to fall into a restless sleep until morning. Emberpaw awoke to Bumblepaw prodding him in the side sharply.

"What do you want..." Emberpaw mumbled drowsily.

"Sorreltail wants you to go and hunt with her," Bumblepaw mewed.

"Ok, ok, tell her I'll be there in a minute...," Emberpaw said, forcing his tired body to stand up.

"Ok," Bumblepaw meowed and bounded off.

Emberpaw stumbled out of the den, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes. He padded over to Sorreltail and greeted her with a flick of his tail.

"Good morning, Emberpaw," Sorreltail purred, trying to keep Emberpaw happy.

"Morning, Sorreltail. You wanted me to go hunting with you?" Emberpaw asked, twitching his ears.

"Indeed. Let me know when you're ready to head out," Sorreltail mewed.

"Let me go visit my sister first...," Emberpaw said, heading towards the nursery once Sorreltail had nodded in approval.

Emberpaw walked into the nursery, only to be tackled by the one and only, Barkkit.

"Emberpaw! Hi! How are you!? What have you been up to? You look so tired," the hyper-active kit chattered cheerfully.

"Hello, Barkkit. I'm fine. I have been up to apprentice stuff, and it's tiring," he mewed back, not wanting to be asked much of it, "Have you seen Midnightkit?"

"She's in her dark corner, where she always is," Blackkit mewed from the sidelines.

"Thanks, Blackkit," Emberpaw mewed, padding off towards Midnightkit, "Midnightkit..."

"Emberpaw!" Midnightkit's deep mew came from the dark corner as she crawled out of it, "You look so exhausted!"

"I haven't really been able to sleep very well," Emberpaw mewed softly.

"Maybe you should go see Jayfeather, have you been feeling alright?" Hazeheart mewed, coming up to lick her son's fur.

"I've just been feeling depressed and guilty about moving on while Midnightkit has to remain here...," Emberpaw said sadly.

"I'm fine, Emberpaw, honestly," Midnightkit said, resting her tail on Emberpaw's shoulder, "Don't worry about me."

"I'll try...," Emberpaw said, licking Midnightkit's ear, "I've got to go. Sorreltail wants to go hunting."

Midnightkit nodded as Emberpaw walked off towards Sorreltail again, "I'm ready."

"Come on, then," Sorreltail said, standing up.

As they walked out of the hollow and into the forest, Emberpaw started feeling more exhausted. Sorretail was leading him away from most of the hunting places there were in the Thunderclan territory. What was she doing?

"You didn't really take me out here to hunt, did you?" Emberpaw stammered, his mind foggy again.

"No, you and I need to talk," Sorreltail said, suddenly serious, "You started out as a really good learner, but suddenly you started faltering. You started becoming clumsy, and honestly, you've started becoming as cranky as an elder. You've been constantly exhausted. What's going on?"

"It's nothing," Emberpaw said. His exhaustion was getting to him and he started feeling dizzy again.

"You and I both know it isn't nothing, Emberpaw," Sorretail said.

"Look, I've just been worried about why Firestar hasn't made Midnightkit an apprentice yet...I feel bad about moving on without her and it's making it hard to sleep...," Emberpaw said.

"Emberpaw, your sister will get upgraded soon enough. Your sister attacked an apprentice, and therefore got held back. She'll be ok. I promise you. Come on, let's go actually hunt," Sorreltail said.

"Okay...," Emberpaw said, standing up. Suddenly he felt extremely dizzy and fell into the deep stream trying to walk forward.

"Emberpaw!" Sorreltail cried, trying to find where he had went.

Emberpaw had never felt so terrified in his life. He tried to swim upward, but he didn't have the energy to do it. Emberpaw suddenly felt an extreme pain shoot through his head as his head slammed into a rock, and consciousness faded from him.

Sorreltail panicked and pulled him out of the water, noticing he was unconscious, she began to drag him back to camp. Emberpaw was light enough to drag on her own, but it still was challenging. Eventually she had to stop to catch her breath, but she only dared because Emberpaw was still breathing strongly. Sorreltail once again picked up his scruff and dragged him the rest of way to camp.

Sorreltail dragged him into camp and ran to Brambleclaw. "Brambleclaw, Emberpaw fell into the stream and was knocked out on a rock, inform Firestar, I have to go get Jayfeather," Sorreltail said in a panicked voice. She ran off to the medicine den, not waiting for Brambleclaw to respond.

Jayfeather heard Sorreltail run into the medicine den, and picked up the mixture of worried and panicked emotions flooding from her, "Sorreltail? What's going on?" Jayfeather turned his sightless blue eyes towards her.

"Emberpaw and I were out hunting, and I don't know why, but Emberpaw fell into the stream and got knocked out by a rock. You have to make sure he's ok!" Sorreltail demanded.

Jayfeather winced at the intense emotions flooding from Sorreltail, "Sorreltail, calm down. I'm sure Emberpaw is fine."

"I'm sorry...I'm just worried. I've only had Emberpaw as my apprentice for a moon, and knowing he's already injured worries me that I was a wrong choice to be his mentor," Sorreltail mewed, calming down.

"I'm sure he's ok," Jayfeather repeated. He padded out and scented out where Emberpaw was laying and padded over to the young apprentice. Jayfeather sniffed Emberpaw's head for any injuries, and couldn't detect any, "Emberpaw should be fine. He just needs some rest to recover."

"Thank goodness...," Sorreltail sighed in relief.

"Good, I'd hate to have such a young apprentice damaged badly already...," Firestar said.

Sorreltail got Emberpaw safely to his den. She left in silence to make sure he got his rest. Sorreltail went to the nursery, knowing his sister and mother needed to know what happened. Hazelheart had been asleep when Sorreltail walked in. She laid her tail gently over Hazelheart's shoulder, and Hazelheart woke with a start, scrambling to her paws.

"Relax, it's only me," Sorreltail mewed gently.

"Oh, Sorreltail. What's the matter?" Hazelheart said softly, then her eyes widened, "Something happened to Emberpaw, right!? What happened!?"

"W-we were out hunting, when he slipped and fell into the creek and hit his head. Jayfeather said he should be just fine, though, once he rests," Sorreltail mewed, startled by the urgency in Hazelheart's voice.

"Tragic," Midnightkit murmured from her corner.

Hazelheart and Sorreltail jumped, both startled that Midnightkit was there.

"Honey, you've got to stop doing that," Hazelheart muttered.

"Why? Firestar doesn't like me. He said he'd hold my apprenticeship back a moon for what I did, it's been a moon, I'm still stuck here. No one likes me," Midnightkit muttered, curling her tail around her paws, glaring holes in the wall.

"Midnightkit, Firestar is a very busy cat. I'm sure he probably just hasn't gotten around to it just yet. Besides, your brother likes you. I like you. You shouldn't worry so much," Hazelheart said, pulling Midnightkit into the light. The young cat looked depressed and stressed. She kept her eyes closed.

"Come on, deary, open your eyes," Her mother murmured softly.

"No, I hate my eyes," Midnightkit hissed.

"Please, Midnightkit, if you want to be an apprentice, you're going to have to grow up," Hazelheart scolded.

"Fine...," Midnightkit muttered, opening her eyes. They were an extremely unusually bright blue, with swirls of darker blues, and smaller than average pupils. Sorreltail stepped back, startled by the young cat's eyes.

Well, that was all. I hope you enjoyed. Please review, tell me what I could do to improve, and what I could do to fix anything.