Sunkit woke up to quiet purring. By the sickly-sweet smell of early green-leaf, and by the large tongue raspingober the fur behind his ear, he knew it was Brightstar. His mother, the most respected cat in the clan.
Does that mean cats will kneel before me once I make my appearance outside? Will they bring my sister and I gifts? Will they make us co-leaders immediately?
 Suntail shook his fur excitedly. He was going to see the outside today! His thoughts were merely wishful thinking.
It can't hurt to hope too much, right?

"Swankit!" Sunkit hissed through his tiny teeth. "Swankit, wake up! Let's go outside! Let's go see the clan before anyone gets the chance to!"
Swankit, a beautiful cream-colored tabby, was clearly out of place. She was beautiful like her mother, and strong-willed like her father, Emberclaw. She was bright cream with stunning blue eyes, faulted only by one eye being covered with what looked to be milk. She couldn't see out of it, though she never complained. Their father, Emberclaw, was a fierce tortoiseshell with blazing amber eyes and a thirst for success. Their mother, Brightstar, a golden she cat with dark green eyes, got plenty of strange looks for Swankit.

Sunkit couldn't figure out why cats looked at him weird when he said that Swankit was his sister. They were exactly alike. Plus, Brightstar had said they were siblings, so..

A golden tail wrapped around the both of them and a large muzzle pushed its way in between them. "Did you two plan on asking me?" Brightstar purred.

"Brightstar, can we go outside, please?" Swankit asked, dragging out the please for emphasis.

"For ten minutes, you're still only babies." Brightstar replied, repressing a smile.
"We're not babies!" Suntail yipped as he followed Swankit out of the nursery.

) () () () (

"Kits, you can go explore camp, just as long as you all go together," Mother mewed. She turned about in her nest, settling in for a nap.

Ripplekit leapt up, lunging for the nursery's exit. Just before she dashed out, she remembered to call out for Lilykit and me.

"Coming!" I squealed, taking off after her. As I neared my sister, I turned to glance at my other littermate.

Except she wasn't beside us. She hovered among the scraps of moss fallen from our nest.

"Come on, Lilykit," Ripplekit cried, "Let's go outside!"

Lilykit only shrunk farther back. "I don't think I want to. I'll just stay in here. "

I huffed. "Fine. We'll just go alone." Lilykit had been the last to open her eyes, the last to leave the nest, the last to try solid prey. I guess it made sense that she'd be the last to go outside, too.

"No, you won't," came Mother's sleepy reply, "You'll all go or you'll all stay inside. That's final." I stared beseechingly at Lilykit. She couldn't do this to us! We'd been wanting to go outside for days.

But Mother's words might as well have been huge boulders blocking us in the den. Even Ripplekit, the most rambunctious of my siblings, wouldn't disobey her. She wasn't just our mother, she was clan leader.

So we fidgeted. Ripplekit and I paced around the den, casting longing-filled glances at the opening, then flicking sad eyes at Lilykit.

Finally, after an eternity of silent begging, she conceded.

"Okay! I'll go. But only for a minute."

When she discovered the willow trees, the soft grass, and the kind cats, she was the last one to come inside.

!_!_!_!_!_!_!

I basically danced into the Stormclan with was was most likely the most obnoxious smirk on my face. I received plenty of rolling eyes glancing in my direction. Of course, who cares, great Starclan, I'm an apprentice!
Brightstar walked up to me with obvious pride gleaming in her eyes.

"I'm so proud of you," she meowed "Who would've thought a warrior would actually take you as their apprentice? I thought I would have had to kill you as a kit if you kept another kit up at night with all your gibberish." The sarcasm in her voice was too evident; I could feel her smile as she grazed the side of her muzzle against mine.
"'Sunpaw' is quite suiting, isn't it?" Now I'm smiling.

"Swanpaw sounds better," Swanpaw challenged from behind me.
Swanpaw took up the role of the medicine cat's apprentice even before she was encouraged to do so.
Encouraged? I grimmly thought. The you're-half-blind-so-you'll-make-a-terrible-warrior kind of encouragement? Or did they play the "It's Starclan's will you become a medicine cat! They told me in a dream!" card?

I tried to be happy for her, I mean, she seemed to be perfectly fine with her destiny. Brightstar seemed pleased with Swanpaw too, as she licked behind her ears, purring. I just couldn't shake this idea of this not truly being her destiny.

I heard a gasping coming from the far corner of the camp. One of the older she cats whispered something barely audible. I'm not completely sure, but I think she said
"My kits! They're coming!"

The she cat that whispered this was Morningfrost, an older, but still beautiful warrior. Our clan's medicine cat rushed nudged Morningfrost towards the privacy of the nursery.
Swanpaw's eyes lit up as she raced to our medicine cat, Poolripple's side.

"Poolripple, since I'm your apprentice now, can I please, please, please help you?" Swanpaw asked eagerly, slamming all of her words into one big, jumbled second.
Poolripple looked stressed enough with the unexpected arrival of kits, and Swankit popped her top.
"No, Swanpaw! This is your first day as an apprentice, you're basically still a kit! Get a hold of yourself and do something useful- wait, I take that back, go take a nap, since that all you know how to do! Besides annoy me in the most unnecessary times, that is!" Poolripple snorted in anger and mumbled something about the "horrible changes" to Stormclan and walked in to help Morningfrost.
Swanpaw stood in shock with clear tears forming at the bottom corners of both eyes for what seemed like an eternity before bolting into the marshy forest.

It took me a second to register what had just happened. I ran to the leaders den and quickly said something about leaving camp and then I ran as fast as I could looking for her. I felt bad about not telling Brightstar where I was going, but this was an emergency. I had to find my sister. I heard Brightstar spew some incomprehensible nonsense.
Maybe she was mad, but that doesn't matter at the moment. Swanpaw could've been crying for a savior to stop her from running away, or..
I sped away, trying to find her scent.

When I found Swanpaw, she was looking at a tree across the gorge, or should I say, into Rainclan territory. I ran to her as I yelled her name.

"Swanpaw! I was so worried! Brightstar's worried too, come home, the apprentice den will be pretty lonely without you; well, I miss you!" I meshed all of my semi-meaningless word into one big jumbled word and I bounded towards-and into- her.
WONDERFUL IDEA, YOU IDIOT! Okay let's go over your schedule. 1. Find Swanpaw. Check.

2. NEARLY KNOCK HER INTO THE GORGE. CHECK.
 I removed myself from my sister and I opened my jaws just i ncase I had to save her from the fast-moving water.
"You mousebrain!" She was upset, but safe. "You could've killed me!"

Hey, I could've killed me too! I thought angrily. I took back my thought as quickly as I could, before I made myself embarrassed.
"At least you're dry!" I said stupidly.
She snorted in anger and prowled a few tail-lengths away from me. She made a loud mrrow! in anger to prove her point. I softened up, just for her.
"Hey," I meowed softly. "are you okay?"
"Well, I became an apprentice, I try to help since, you know, I'm a medicine cat. It's what I do, or supposed to do. I get yelled at by my mentor, I'm pretty sure she hates me now. Then I made a pawful of cats worry about me. Pretty fantastic day, how about you?" She mewed in despair. "Oh, and I almost get bombarded with an apprentice full of honey-gold hair who almost pushed me into the gorge."
With a fake laugh, I try to joke with her by saying "I prefer to think of as if I nearly knocked you into the gorge."
She smiled. It's fake.
 I flashed a genuine smile at her and nudged her softly.
 "Come on, the sun is setting. Let's make it back to camp before anyone worries we fell- we ran away." I stood up. I hope that sent a message to her saying that that's not really an option, more of a command.
"Okay." she murmured. With that, she stood up.
I smiled. Things will now be looking up for us now, I thought.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" yowled an unfamiliar voice from behind Swanpaw and I.
Of course not.

I turned as slowly as I could towards the stranger. That could have been the worst or the best decision of my life. Two scenarios could have come out of it.
Scenario One: The loud stranger could be comforted by my hesitation or..

Scenario Two:The stranger could take the opportunity to attack or run while I was still turning in a one-eighty degree turn, as slow as I possibly could.
"Who are you? Do you belong to Stormclan? For Starclan's sake, turn around fully already!" yipped one of the cats, now in front of them. Not thinking quick enough, I meowed a yes back.
Then I saw them. There were three of them across the narrow gorge, all lean, well groomed, and all around beautiful cats. The oldest cat, which was the one that yowled at us first, was dark brown tabby with a few grey hairs poking out like dead nettles among blooming ones. He had a long body with stripes going down him from neck to tail. His stripes were tinted nearly the same color as the rest of him in the red sunset colors bursting from the sky and through the slowly reddening trees.
He's loud, I thought.

The next cat he saw was also male, but a sleek brown. He'd clearly been swimming. He was pacing, trying to prove that he was irritated.
"You're annoying me more tha I'm annoying you," I murmured to Swanpaw. She snickered.
I could hear him from across the gorge. "Just some young Stormclan scum, let's just go!" Elder Brownie did some inaudible chiding.
The next cat was a less liquid-infested, and more of a shiny grey-blue. She was about the same age as Swanpaw and I.
"Back away from the gorge, you might fall in! I'm pretty sure none of us want to save your tree-climbing butts!" Brownbutt gave her a disapproving look.

Swanpaw mimicked what the Blue Belle had said in a shrill voice; I smiled, it was only kind of funny.

"What are you doing so close? You could literally die," Big Brown yelled to us. I wanted to yell something like "I was coming after my sister you monstrosity. And yes, I do have a sense of my own mortality!" I kept to "Okay, we're leaving anyway!" I sped into the near darkness with Swanpaw right on my tail.

) () () () (

Some days I trained alone. Some days I trained with Lilypaw. Some days I even trained with Thornpaw, Hollypaw or Dapplepaw. My favorite days, though, were when I trained with Ripplepaw.

Lilypaw, while not as shy as she was as a kit, still shied away from nearly everything exciting. I still remember walking up to her a moon ago, after watching her beg her mentor not to make her spar with Hollypaw.

"If you hate fighting so much," I drawled, " maybe you should just hurry up and be a medicine cat. No point wasting time."

I meant it as a tease, like the barbs I threw at Ripplepaw daily, but it came out cruel-sounding.

Her eyes widened, and Mother appeared almost instantaneously, condemning me to a quarter-moon of cleaning the elder's den.

I'd since apologized, and she said she forgave me, but she never stopped being sensitive.

Hollypaw and Dapplepaw only came to train when my mentor decided I needed a challenge. Even though they were only a few moons my senior, those few moons were extra tricks they could use to outsmart me. If they bothered to stop being better than me, it only lasted until a mentor noticed and reminded them to give their all.

The only fair fights I got were against Ripplepaw. Our blows against each other stung true and sharp, but purrs chased away any pain. We watched each other's backs, and if we fought as a team we never lost, even against Hollypaw and Dapplepaw.

When it came time for the most daunting part of training- having the ancient battle moves, the most secret and dangerous ones done to us to teach restraint in using them- we did it together. The half-moon spent learning about what places to strike would cause pain or even temporary paralysis had been intriguing, but there had always been the fearful undercurrent of this will happen to me soon.

Lichenclaw, my mentor, stepped up to me, and I extended my forepaw. This was the blow used most often as a demonstration, as there was the least chance of damaging anything

I closed my eyes as he murmured an apology.

The blow sent me sprawling, clutching my leg to my chest as my eyes watered. I barely noticed Ripplepaw thudding to the ground.

"Are they okay? I don't remember it hurting quite that much," Lichenclaw muttered towards Blossomflight.

"I could hit you with a rock and you wouldn't feel it, Lichenclaw. They're strong, they'll be fine."

!_!_!_!_!_!

My training days basically flashed before my eyes. I trained with female warrior, Foxfeet. The amount of tolerance practically radiating from her was phenomenal. Swanpaw, of course, trained with Poolripple. Poolripple spent a whole moon apologizing to Swanpaw for snapping at her, but that didn't keep Swanpaw from cowering everytime Poolripple spoke to her.

I couldn't thank Starclan enough when I found out that Swanpaw and I would be awarded our warrior and medicine cat names on the same day. I basically zoomed around Stormclan yowling it, and Swanpaw sat outside the medicine cat den smiling. The annoying apprentice Pinepaw kept pushing her muzzle into my shoulder telling me how happy she was for me. Her two other sisters looked at us and rolled their eyes.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Silverrock for a Clan meeting" yowled on oh-so familiar voice.

Oh Starclan yes!
 I pushed my way to the front because I can catch my own prey and THIS IS IT!

Brightstar radiated pride and happiness. "I now ask the two apprentices as follows to join me on the Silverrock: Sunpaw and Swanpaw."

The mousebrain Pinepaw gave me an encouraging "Good luck!" as I climbed the rock. As if I needed luck. Swanpaw and I nearly made it to the top at the same time.

"These two apprentices have worked six moons in the minor famine of leaf-fall and they have shown themselves worthy. Foxfeet, Poolripple, have these two fulfilled their duties as apprentices, and are they ready to become a warrior and medicine cat?"
They nodded in unison.
This wasn't exactly traditional. Swanpaw was technically already a full-fledged medicine, and I'd heard rumors she already has her name. My theory is that Poolripple insisted she officially receive her name from her own mother. I'd shrugged the topic off many times.
"Then by the powers of Starclan," Brightstar continued "Sunpaw, you will now be know as Suntail. Starclan honors your strength and your endurance, may Starclan light your path." Brightstar put her muzzle on my head and purred. I could feel her resisting the urge to either lick behind my ears or yowl something along the lines of "SUNTAIL ONLY HAD TO RID THE ELDERS OF TICKS TWENTY-TWO TIMES! TWENTY-TWO!"
 I stepped back and made a pathway for Swanpaw to step forward.

"Swanpaw," Brightstar said, with a warm smile on her face. Swanpaw stepped forward. "By the power of Starclan, you will now be known as Swansong, a full medicine cat. Starclan honors your sacrifice and courage. May Starclan light your path."

Sacrifice?

Brightstar did the same to her only daughter and backed away. The crowd began chanting our names like they were surprised we made it this far.

Suntail! Swansong! Suntail! Swansong!

Things will be looking up for us now.

) () () () (

On our last night as apprentices, Lilypaw refused to follow us out of camp.

Honestly, it was frustrating. Mother had been pushing Ripplepaw and I to include our sister more, and now that we tried, she wouldn't come.

"We'll need sleep so we can sit vigil tomorrow!" She protested. Ripplepaw rolled her eyes, and let out an impatient snort.

"Fine," I mewed, "Come find us if you change your mind."

Rainclan's camp had no physical boundaries, just trees and boulders. I loved it. If nothing else, it made it easier to sneak out, to get to the blackberry thickets on the border. Only Branchfoot, the medicine cat, came out to them because blackberries aren't worth eating and thorns hurt.

Two things I learned from experience. The first time we came here, in the dead of summer, Ripplepaw dared me to taste one of the shining berries. The hot juice had exploded sour, making me run to gulp down water, and staining my muzzle purple. The thorns bit at us whenever we came, and there was just no way around it.

We sat between bushes,gazing at everything and nothing. I had planned to share my gossip, that one of Honeygaze's kits, Thornpaw's little brother, has a crush on one of us. But it didn't seem like the time to say it. Ripplepaw had lapsed into a tense silence, and I mimicked her without thinking.

"Pebblepaw, " She mewed suddenly, "I'm worried about tomorrow."

"I'm a bit nervous too. What if we get stupid names?"

"That's not the problem," She spat. I flinched back a bit.

"Besides," She mewed, taking a softer tone, "You know Mother picks good names. I'm worried that once we become warriors, nothing will ever change."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, more than a bit confused. I had never wondered if warrior duties were anything but another adventure, but it was something to think about. And something about seeing Ripplepaw like this, scared and wild-eyed, set me off. She was always the perfect example of fearless confidence, but not she looked paranoid. Usure.

"It is! Do you want to fall into a rut? Look at the warriors. Look at Mother. They wake up, patrol, hunt, eat, and go to sleep. The most exciting thing that happens are kits, and all they do is raise them for a life of the exact. Same. Thing. I can't do that. I won't do that."

She breathed heavily, looking around like the thorns were seconds away from tearing into her pelt.

I just wanted it to stop. This was supposed to be a night of fun, but now Ripplepaw was panicking and I was re-evaluating everything I'd looked forward to.

"Look," I mewed, and she did. "I promise we won't be like that. We'll change our own destiny, if we have to."

She seemed to calm a bit, look more like I was used to. Alert, slightly excited.

"You think we can?"

"I know. We won't be like the rest of them. We'll be the most outstanding warriors the clans have ever seen."

Mother did pick good names. Pebbleheart sounded strong, but not stubborn. One of the elders once said that enough pebbles can divert any stream. It was nice to think Mother had that in mind when she picked my name out.

Ripplebreeze liked her name. She was pretty quick, both in her actual speed and her wit, Breeze was a great name for her

Lilystorm's name confused me a bit. Storm conjured up images of a great warrior who whirled into battle, with claws of lightning and blows like thunder. Not a timid she cat who hardly ever unsheathed her claws.

By then I knew the name of the kit- apprentice now - that had a crush on one of us. Lionpaw. His name didn't suit him well at all. He was skinny and smooth-furred, too gentle and kind to be a true lion.

A few days of observation made me believe he liked me, but I wouldn't tell Ripplebreeze that for all the prey in the world. Her confidence was more easily disturbed recently, like moss just barely clinging to a stone.

Lilystorm seemed to slip by whenever I passed her, hardly stopping to speak, only talking to Ripplebreeze to deliver news from Mother. She was kind, but she seemed shy around us. Less like we were family and more like we were friendly strangers.

I wouldn't dare say it, but I think she was afraid of us. It was a sickening thought, one that filled me up with confusion and anger. Just because Ripplebreeze was a bit more wild, I was a bit less gentle, doesn't mean she had the right to think we'd hurt her. Just because we thought differently didn't mean that we weren't family.

Now that we weren't her responsibility, Mother seemed to have no more time for us than the rest of the clan. She said she wanted to spend more time with us, but it seemed like I only ever heard from her through Lilystorm.

Not that I minded. Whenever we did talk face to face she would be full of questions about when I thought I was going to settle down, didn't I think I needed to be more careful, How come she never saw me with anyone but Ripplebreeze…

I shouldn't have to answer. She shouldn't expect me to jump into the life Ripplebreeze was afraid of, that was becoming wary of.

I kept everything quiet. It was better that no one knew.

Mother perched near Brightstar as the other leader addressed the clans.

"There's been a fox traipsing through our territory, getting pretty close to the border. I'd appreciate if you'd lend me some warriors, because I don't think it cares what side of the border it dines on."

Mother nodded, and named the patrol right there.

Ripplebreeze was on the patrol. I was on the patrol. Lilystorm was not.

By sun-high the next day, we were in Stormclan territory, milling about with the other clan's warriors. The only one who was remotely close to my age was a tom that looked annoyingly like Lionpaw, but closer to Thornpelt in age.

Mother and Brightstar split us into pairs, one Stormclan warrior with one Rainclan. Ripplebreeze got herded away with the Lionpaw-lookalike, and I got pushed aside with a stuffy-looking she cat.

I compulsively looked over at Ripplebreeze every few minutes. I was worried that she would do something in the name of keeping this interesting, but so far she seemed fine. She'd been more reckless lately, pushing herself too hard on patrols, walking along the edge of the lake when it was too dark to see. Still, for now she seemed as calm as she ever did, and I allowed myself to relax, only flicking my eyes over to her every now and then.

One time, however, my eyes lingered on a patch of ginger fur and two bright eyes just behind her and the Lionpaw-lookalike.

My partner looked over, ready to call my attention back to our task, but when she saw what had captured my attention, she called out. .

"Hey! Look out!"

Ripplebreeze looked up at me , then glanced behind her. Her partner was still focused on sniffing the ground.

Within seconds, everything shattered, actions splitting into separate realities.

The fox lunged out of the shadows, straight at the golden tom.

Simultaneously, Ripplebreeze turned, and using all of her weight, she shoved him out of the way.

And I screamed as the fox turned to her and crimson stained her throat.

AN/ WE. DID. IT.

Can you believe it/ I've been saying it was coming for months, and it's finally here.

This, children, is the collab with Vivalakateska (Formerly Brightstarswag). We decided to do it as a NaNoWriMo project, so we've been forced to get some work done. We're just under 10,000 words at the time I'm writing this, and we figured we could throw this at you guys.

However, we don't had a lot of time to edit, so don't expect chapters 'till December. They may come, but it's not likely. (betas, this is where you throw yourselves at us.)

We can answer your questions, if you happen to have them and they're not too spoilery. I write Pebbleheart's POV, and Kate covers Suntail, and we cross edit.

For now, questions, comments and criticism in the reviews!