A/N: Hey, Internet, Spirit of the Brook here. I probably should've left a link to my old account so you guys could read the old story, but no, here I am, creating a remake, probably gonna take half the time of the original, just gonna say. All I'm going to do is revise, add a few extra details and that's it. Then, I will move on with Hawkstar, adding revised comments to the chapters till the chapter I stopped on. Thanks to Pebble for giving the first review! I really appreciate it.

On to the chapter!

The next morning began as any other morning, typical, melodramatic as Larkpaw broke it off with some random tom (why would I give a rat's tail, honestly?), the apprentices barely paying attention but sneering at us when they could. I wasn't hurt or offended; honestly, I didn't much care. They had pummeled against my nerves for a long while and I honestly wouldn't care if one of them had the daring to push me off a cliff which they probably didn't.

So, we got up, me slightly guiding Crowpaw with my tail out of the apprentices' den (he had never been in there before) and there were our mentors, Crystalfoot and Mapleflare who sat with their tails curled around their paws, patiently waiting for us. Well, Crystalfoot was; Mapleflare looked quite impatient, shuffling her paws and muttering something about blasted apprentices.

"Bramblepaw," Crystalfoot started when she saw Crowpaw and me walking together. "I'm going to show you the territory with Mapleflare and Crowpaw today. We're going to be walking a long distance. Are you sure you'll be okay?" Her beautiful blue eyes pooled with deep concern; that she-cat was like a mother figure to me since Whiteash didn't exactly love me, her disabled daughter. I was touched but didn't say anything as I nodded. I tended to be like that, shy and silent.

"Very well," Mapleflare meowed, eager to start. "We shall go at once." I've always gotten the feeling that the tortoiseshell she-cat thought she was superior to everyone else and scornful. I think that she might've taken the position of leader after…Well, let's not go into deep detail. Ah, but I respected her then nonetheless.

We all ran out of camp, led by Mapleflare the second Timberheart's announcements were finished, me huffing in the back and Crowpaw stumbling around the edges of the forest path. Despite my obvious disability, I loved ThunderClan territory immediately. Leaves and brambles…Oh, it just all seemed perfect, so perfect, like an unblemished dream….

But of course, you have to wake up from a dream to get back into reality. And that was exactly what happened, like a smack in the face. Crowpaw and I were having the times of our lives, jumping at dead leaves and batting them at each other, even though to be fair, I was letting Crowpaw win from some unknown sympathy in my heart. I really liked him. He was nice, fair, and kind and didn't judge me for my physical disabilities. In turn, I didn't judge him. He was also quite handsome. He had a shiny, sleek black coat but in the mornings, he always had little tufts sticking up. But his amber eyes, his amber eyes were what drew me really in. They were always attentive and alert, those eyes, clear, never clouded over like some cats say blind cats look like. He wasn't like that at all. Those eyes were the part of him that got my young heart beating fast.

I think it was safe to say I had a little crush on him. But all crushes put aside, I had just flicked a huge pawful of leaves into his face, leaving him snorting and twitching in laughter in the odd, little way he did when he was really amused when I heard a low hiss tinged with venom from the other side of the gorge. I turned my head around, shocked from my play and saw a young grey warrior with oily fur and a wicked, teasing grin on his face standing on the bank. He looked snooty and very pleased with himself and I was wondering why this was so. So, I strained my ears until I could catch what he was saying, "…ThunderClan foxhearts, probably don't even have enough courage to fight a mouse!" I was outraged. Why would this nasty cat say such a thing about my Clan? I wanted to say something insulting right back but then remembered that Crystalfoot probably wouldn't be too pleased if I got into a fight on my first day as an apprentice.

Luckily, Mapleflare took care of the insult for me. "Oh, yeah, well, I bet your most senior warriors are just fat, old kittypets lounging around in the sunlight," she spat back across the gorge, her fur bristling and her eyes alive with fire. "I think I saw one of them at Twolegplace." Then a lot of things happened very quickly and almost all at once. The RiverClan warrior took a delicate leap over the small gap spanning the gorge and got right up in Mapleflare's face, probably giving another lame comeback. Crystalfoot, very alarmed at the presence of an enemy warrior in her territory, as any respectable cat should be, calmly stepped forward and asked the warrior to get off her territory but with an edge to her voice so he would know she was being serious. I would know; I made mental notes through the entirety of this. While she did this, she shot a severe look at Mapleflare, who cowered under her glare.

The warrior ignored Crystalfoot's attempt at peace and instead shoved his nasty face into mine. I tried to take a step back, but he just moved forward every time I did so. His fish-breath rolled over me in waves and I could now see up close the water trickling into his sharp dark brown eyes and the grease specks around his mouth. "Now, who's this?" he growled in his horrible voice, like rock against rock. "Another lame apprentice to fight for ThunderClan?"

I gulped, not sure what to say and just stared at my paws, my front paws that carried me everywhere. "Hey, you get away from her!" Crowpaw hissed bravely, bumping into the young warrior as he couldn't see where he was going. "Oh, there's another one of you, too," he snickered, turning to face my ebony black friend. My heart dropped into my stomach. No way was he going to fight a couple of disabled apprentices. So, I clipped him across the ear without thinking. He turned around, rage glowing in his eyes then it faded, turning instead into mocking amusement.

"Aww, sweet," he snickered. "Maybe you two will mate and make a disgusting, crippled, blind baby!" He spat out the last three words and turned away just to crash into Crystalfoot who sat, looming above him, disdain and rage mixed with disgust burning in her gaze. "Get the hell outta our territory," she growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh, yeah, and miss the opportunity to kill these stupid apprentices?" he hissed back boldly. "Come on, Crystal, baby, I know as well as you do that Runningstar bribed you into taking this lame excuse for an apprentice." His expression was softening as he continued to talk, his glittering, cruel eyes turning into loving, warm eyes that held very convincing, but sickening compassion for Crystalfoot. "Come on, Crystal, baby, we could run away and be alone together. You don't need to stay with these freaks." For one fleeting and frightening heartbeat, I thought that Crystalfoot was going to accept this warrior's offer. But then she stiffened and her gaze turned cold once again. She took in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "You disgust me, Swiftfang," she muttered, very low but just loud enough that I could hear her. "Using your charming on another cat with obviously the same mark….you're ridiculous."

Swiftfang gave an easy, relaxed smile. "You know that's why you love me, baby," he said, his voice low. He curled his tail on her cheek. "A shame we couldn't just run away…"
"No, Swiftfang," Crystalfoot said, louder now. "I'm not going to accept your offer and I would expect you to not do this with-"Her words were interrupted by a loud yowl from the other side of the gorge. A ginger tom stood on the bank, tail stuck straight out with anger. "Swiftfang, what the heck do you think you're doing on rival territory?" he yelled. "You're breaking the warrior code, can't you tell?"

Swiftfang yowled back, "Just teaching these ThunderClan vermin a lesson!" The ginger tom rolled his eyes, obviously fed up with the grey tom's excuses. "I think the warriors have received your 'lesson' well, alright! For StarClan's sake, one of their apprentices has crippled legs! Even though ThunderClan is a bunch of foxhearts doesn't mean you can just march onto their territory and start charming the she-cats!" Swiftfang went red with embarrassment.

"Sorry, Strikeheart," he murmured under his breath. But the tom only continued ranting about the warrior code and honor and relations with cats from other Clans. Eventually, Swiftfang hopped over the gorge but he wasn't done yet. After he had left our territory, we left, too with some suspicions brewing in our heads. I discussed it with Crowpaw on the way back to the camp.

"So, do you think Crystalfoot is a part of a cult or something?" Crowpaw asked me. "Why would you think that?" I replied. He gave me a deadpan look. "You know, all that talk about marks and charming," he explained. I nodded. The exchange between Crystalfoot and Swiftfang was definitely not something I was forgetting soon, but right now, I wasn't really concerned about it. The real thing I was worried about was Swiftfang's death threat right before he started "charming" Crystalfoot.

"He tried to kill us!" I exclaimed, filled with fury at the thought of that stupid, weird, greasy tom. Crowpaw nodded grimly. Suddenly, his expression brightened. "Maybe, we can tell Runningstar about it so we can have our first battle early!" he proposed. Unfortunately, I didn't think this was such a good idea at the time. "Are you stupid?" I replied, shaking my head. "We can't just start a war! That'd kill a lot of innocent cats and besides, battle isn't that thrilling from what I've heard from Nightfur."
"Nightfur, Shmightfur," Crowpaw mocked. "You know your father just tells you all those scary stories because he didn't want to have a crippled daughter." That had struck a nerve in me. I looked off to the side and stayed quiet after that and I think Crowpaw knew and was sorry about it later because I kept on seeing him exchange nervous, guilty looks at me and then going back to staring at his paws or straight ahead.

When we finally arrived at the camp entrance, my front paws were aching and scraped up from the stones near the gorge and I longed to just go back into my nest in the nursery and cry it out, but then I remembered that I was in the apprentice's den. Just as we arrived, a loud shriek of warning cut through the air stressed and cut off. Crystalfoot and Mapleflare glanced at each other and they both hurried through the entrance. Suddenly interested, I dragged myself right after them, not bothering to wait for Crowpaw or guide him, who probably still had no idea that everyone had left him.

It was RiverClan again. Their leader, an elegant misty grey she-cat with white paws and tail-tip was talking to Runningstar in a heated discussion. Several times, I saw one or the other stand up, lash their tail in defiance, snap something then settle back down. I learned from a couple of older apprentices hanging around that apparently, the RiverClan leader was insisting that ThunderClan stole prey from their territory and she was offering a deal where if Runningstar said his Clan was never going to steal prey after that, they wouldn't attack the next morning. But if he didn't…..

"Have we predicted the future or what?" Crowpaw asked me, nearly bouncing off the walls in excitement. "I told you a battle was going to happen soon!" I didn't reply; I was still bothered by the comment he had made about me being an unwanted daughter. Crowpaw frowned when he saw my stoic expression and left shortly afterward. Later, I wished I had said something because he brooded for an entire moon after that. But this was no matter to be excited about; he should've known that.

Eventually, I figured out that Runningstar had not accepted the deal (because "we never stole the prey from RiverClan and I can't accept it if Dawnstar says we did it beforehand" which I thought was a pretty stupid reason) and when I curled up to sleep, I couldn't help but think, Did Dawnstar really say she would attack tomorrow? But when? As we sleep? At dawn? At noon? How much trouble would they go through for just 'keeping our hunting grounds'?

R&R, guys! ;D

Question of the Day: What is your favorite character from this story so far?

Love you all,

Brooke