I didn't own anything last chapter. Why should that change now? The disclaimer still stands.

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Prologue

"It's been quite a long time since I've seen you last, Rainpaw. You have grown tremendously." The large dark tabby growled as he surveyed the defiant apprentice in front of him.

The apprentice was almost an exact copy of the larger tom, with the same flashing blue eyes and long gray fur. "You betrayed the Clan," the apprentice spat. "Mother died because of you!"

"And what are you going to do now?" the tom asked confidently.

"Kill you Stormfang," the apprentice replied coolly. He might have been nervous before, but now, he felt nothing but icy calm. He bunched his muscles and leapt forwards, claws unsheathed and teeth bared.

His father leapt to meet him, easily swatting the smaller cat away. Rainpaw landed on his paws and whirled around, leaping again. This time, he was swatted downwards. He hit the ground and went rolling. When he stopped, he staggered back to his feet.

Suddenly, Stormfang, the larger cat, fell forwards, landing on his face. A slender silver she-cat was perched on his back, her teeth bared and claws digging into his shoulders.

Rainpaw leapt to his feet. "Aspenpaw!" he gasped. Fury pounded through his veins when Stormfang bucked, throwing the other apprentice into the air. She landed on her back, throwing up a cloud of dust. Rainpaw leapt forwards and landed on his father's back. Stormfang reared up into the air and fell over backwards, squishing the apprentice under his weight. Rainpaw gasped for breath but clung on as Stormfang tried to get free.

And then, Aspenpaw was there, her teeth sunk into Stormfang's ear, forcing him to yowl in pain as she tugged. His weight lifted off of Rainpaw and the young cat scrambled free. He turned around and watched as Aspenpaw nimbly dodged their father's swats. Losing patience, Stormfang snarled and leapt at the young she-cat. He landed on top of her and began to claw at her stomach while she flailed underneath him.

Rainpaw jumped, once more, onto Stormfang's back and bit into his uninjured ear. With a painful yowl, Stormfang reared once more and twisted, attempting to free himself from Rainpaw's grasping teeth. Rainpaw kept a firm grip, never letting go as he clawed his father's back. Aspenpaw was bleeding but she lashed out with her claws, catching Stormfang on the jaw, leaving long scratch marks. Blood flowed from the scratches.

Rainpaw let go of Stormfang's ear and immediately, he was flung off. He landed on his side and struggled back to his feet. Adrenaline pumped through his body as he watched his sister flung away. She was panting hard; her teeth still bared but didn't seem to be able to get up. Rainpaw leapt back to his feet and surged forward again. Stormfang whirled around and lashed out at Rainpaw's face. The apprentice tumbled backwards, blood flowing from a long scratch. He shook off the blood and watched as Stormfang advanced upon Aspenpaw, intent on finishing the young cat.

Rainpaw bounded forward, covering the distance between the two of them and him in two bounds and landed on his father's back. Again.

This time, though, he sunk his teeth into his father's neck. He felt warm blood pulse between his jaws and let go, jumping off. Stormfang staggered, blood dripping from his neck, splashing onto the forest floor.

He looked at the liquid and then fell, landing on his side. His eyes were still open as the blood flowed, his body heaving. Rainpaw nudged Aspenpaw to her feet and the two of them walked away, never looking back. That was their greatest mistake. They never saw the black shape that pulled the large gray cat away, nor did they see the trail of blood leading into the forest…

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Aspenpaw, Rainpaw!" relieved mews greeted the two cats as they approached the log leading into the camp. Aspenpaw had stopped bleeding but she could barely keep her eyes open. Rainpaw's scratch had begun to bleed again.

"Where were you?"

"Mouse-brains!"

"Quick, somebody get Bluetail!"

Rainpaw staggered and fell in the middle of the camp, Aspenpaw falling with him. Bluetail, the Clan's medicine cat, hurried over with Honeypaw in tow. They applied cobweb to the wounds and made both the apprentices eat one poppy seed each. With the help of the other warriors, the two apprentices were carried off to the medicine cat's clearing.

"Keep still Rainpaw." Bluetail commanded as the young apprentice struggled feebly to get up. "You should be grateful to StarClan that you didn't lose that eye!"

It was true. The scratch that Stormfang had left went vertical up and down Rainpaw's left eye. Rainpaw was lucky as the scratch had only cut his lids, not his actual eye. "Either way, it's going to leave a scar." Honeypaw remarked, gently nosing some herbs toward Rainpaw, who happened to be her brother. Bluetail was administering to Aspenpaw. Honeypaw looked to see if her mentor was listening and leaned in close to her brother's ear. "I still can't believe you actually did that. When you told me what you were going to do, I thought Aspenpaw would stop you!"

Rainpaw's blue eyes twinkled with their old mischievous glint. "You're welcome, Honeypaw."

The two injured apprentices stayed there for the night while the other cats in the Clan shook their heads, wondering how and why the two young cats were so badly injured. Pinestar, their leader, went to go talk to Rainpaw, who was more awake then his sister.

"Why did you disappear like that? You caused a lot of worry among the Clan." The lean brown tom mewed sternly to the exhausted apprentice.

"Had…to…kill…Stormfang…" Rainpaw murmured, his eyes slowly closing. Pinestar froze. Stormfang had been his former deputy and Aspenpaw and Rainpaw's father. He had also betrayed the Clan to a pack of rogues and nearly destroyed them. The rogues killed two warriors and one of the Clan's queens. Ironically enough, the dead queen had been Rainpaw, Aspenpaw and Honeypaw's mother, Mistflower.

"He's back?" Pinestar mewed softly, his amber eyes looking at the apprentice seriously. Just then, Rainpaw's mentor, Hawktalon, padded up to check on his apprentice. Hawktalon, a sturdy dark brown tabby tom, dipped his broad head to his leader as he waited for Pinestar to finish talking to Rainpaw.

Pinestar flicked his tail and padded away, leaving mentor and apprentice alone. After all, he had to consider who he was going to name as his next deputy.

Later that night, Pinestar called a Clan meeting. Rainpaw and Aspenpaw heard the ceremony from where they lay in their mossy nests, having woken up.

"I say this before StarClan, so that the spirits of our ancestors may hear and approve my choice. Sagestorm will be the new deputy of BlazeClan."

"Sagestorm, Sagestorm!" the rest of the Clan called out his name in congratulations. Rainpaw flicked his tail in happiness. Someday, he hoped to become deputy. And then leader after that. He could just hear it. Rainstar. It had a certain ring to it, didn't it?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

That night, Honeypaw had a dream. In that dream, a ginger tom with burning green eyes met her. She was crouched in some soft grass, Silverpelt winding its way through the sky and the moon bright, bathing her in silver light.

"W-who are you?" she mewed breathlessly.

"I am Firestar," the ginger cat meowed in reply. "Honeypaw, I have a message for you."

"But why me, Firestar?" the she-cat asked softly, her mew quivering. "Why not walk in Bluetail's dreams?"

Firestar lashed his tail and Honeypaw crouched closer to the ground, her eyes downcast. "I-I'm sorry…" she mewed softly. "I didn't mean to make you angry."

"There is a prophecy in StarClan and it disturbs all of the heavens. The one who was killed will live and the rain will decide the future."

Honeypaw nodded slowly, letting the message sink in. "Thank you for telling me this," she whispered.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Two mornings later, the two young cats were almost completely healed and were able to resume light training. Pinestar knew what the two cats had been thinking but they had defied orders that spoke of apprentices having to be accompanied by a warrior whenever they left the camp.

"Aspenpaw," Pinestar mewed from where he sat on the Highbranch, a large oak branch overlooking the camp. When the slender apprentice looked up, a mouse clutched in her jaws, the lean brown tom jumped off the branch and landed lightly in front of her. "I know what you did was brave, but you did defy orders."

Aspenpaw lowered her head and dropped the mouse. She looked up, her eyes burning. "He killed our mother." She spoke calmly. "And he betrayed the Clan. We couldn't just let him go. Punish us if you want. But if he was still alive, then this Clan would still be in terror."

"Spoken like a true warrior, Aspenpaw." Pinestar couldn't keep the amused purr out of his voice. "Speaking of which, I've spoken with Hawktalon and Shadowpool. They believe the two of you are ready for your warrior ceremony. And if you're wondering whether or not you're still getting punished, you're not being punished for doing what you had to do. I had consulted Bluetail and she thinks the same."

Pinestar flicked his tail and padded away. Aspenpaw's eyes lit up in happiness as she picked up the mouse and deposited it in the fresh-kill pile.

She felt so light, so energetic. She looked around for her brother and saw Rainpaw lounging in the sun, belly up, his eyes closed. "Rainpaw, Rainpaw!" the she-cat purred as she jumped onto her brother.

Rainpaw's eyes snapped open when he felt her weight descend on his body. "What's up?" he asked, not making any attempt to flip his sister off.

"We're going to be warriors soon!"

"Huh? You mean Pinestar isn't going to punish us for what we did?"

"Mouse-brain. If he was going to punish us, would we still be apprentices?" Aspenpaw purred. It was well-known through the Clan that even though Pinestar was a gentle leader, the punishments he gave were often harsh. However, if you could persuade Pinestar that the punishment he had given you wasn't what you deserved, he might loosen it a little, but not by much. The leaders of DarkClan, BreezeClan and LakeClan often criticized Pinestar on this behavior.

Just then, Shadowpool and Hawktalon padded up. "So, you guys heard the good news?" Hawktalon purred.

Aspenpaw jumped off of Rainpaw and the other apprentice scrambled to his paws. "You bet we did!"

"Then you'll be happy to know there's a fighting assessment today for all the apprentices." Shadowpool told the two apprentices. All of a sudden, they were surrounded by the other apprentices. Stonepaw, Whitepaw, Nightpaw, Blackpaw and Tigerpaw were all there, looking at the warriors in apprehension.

"Are you seriously saying that we have to fight with Rainpaw and Aspenpaw?" Whitepaw asked with wide eyes.

"Claws sheathed, of course." Hawktalon reassured the white she-cat. The other apprentices still looked a little worried. Rainpaw and Aspenpaw glanced at each other. Surely their fighting skills weren't so great!

Later, when all the apprentices had retreated to their den, they began to talk. "Why are you guys so afraid?" Aspenpaw asked as she groomed her fur.

Rainpaw was curled up in his nest, his head on his paws.

"You fought against Stormfang! And won!" Stonepaw mewed, his eyes wide. "And he was such a good fighter!"

"I guess the apple never really did fall far from the tree," Blackpaw muttered.

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Hi people! Hope you guys liked that chapter. Reviews will get you the next chapter faster!!

Pinefrost