Author's Note: As an official statement, allegiances have been added to the prologue, and although I won't answer reviews here, I will be sure to reply via PM. It's the least I can do for you cool cats. That said, if at any point you have a question, feel free to ask. I'd be more than happy to use this space to construct an FAQ. :3 Once again, thanks for sticking with me!


ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ | ʙᴇᴇᴛʟᴇᴘᴀᴡ


Beetlepaw had left camp that morning with her ears flat and her tail low, but now she padded behind the other apprentices with a bounce in her step.

"She was just so smart and calm! And did you see how she pinned Bearpaw? Oh, she's absolutely beautiful, Rookpaw!" She pressed against her brother's side with a purr, and as if to shoo a fly, Rookpaw flicked his ear.

"Okay, okay. I get it," he growled. "This medicine cat is your new hero. Congratulations." Like a grumpy turtle, he drew in his head and frowned.

Beetlepaw relented, "All right, I'll stop." Her mind still buzzed like a hive full of black bees, but she knew how closely Rookpaw guarded his pride. When they were kits, he'd always been the one to save her from an imaginary skulk of foxes, and he didn't seem quite ready to give up his "Official Protector of Beetlepaw" title.

The black molly shut her eyes and flicked her feathery tail. "You know, you were pretty brave too, and you must be really strong to have knocked Bearpaw down."

As the siblings passed under a dapple of sunlight, Rookpaw began to lift his head. However, toward the front of the group, Cedarpaw let out a mrrow of laughter. He grinned back at them from over his powerful shoulder, and Rookpaw's head shrank back down.

Even in the sparse light, Cedarpaw's rich auburn fur shone bright. His tabby stripes were only slightly darker than the rest of him, and around his muzzle, the deep copper color faded into a snowy white. He was a handsome tom, and Beetlepaw could admit to having had a small crush on him when they shared the nursery, though that was a "had" with good reason.

He bounced his head as he chimed, "A newborn kit could knock Bearpaw down! Sorry, Rookpaw, but that's not anything special."

Fawnpaw squinted at her brother. Her light brown fur wasn't as vibrant as his, and her dark brown tabby stripes were standard as were the white patches on her forepaws, but her eyes were blue enough to be seen all the way across camp. As far as Beetlepaw was concerned, she was as beautiful as her brother was handsome, and considering Thornwillow, their mother, that was to be expected.

The light brown tabby knocked her brother with her shoulder.

"Hey!"

"Cedarpaw," she hissed low, "Don't be a brat."

Rainpaw spoke up, "Really. At least Rookpaw did something."

Beetlepaw craned her neck to see the other molly, padding a little to the side of their group. She was dark gray with unusually thick tabby stripes on her face and legs. Her paws were white and, like Beetlepaw, she had a white patch on her chest.

For a second time, Rookpaw lifted his head, and Beetlepaw caught his blink of gratitude.

Rainpaw blinked back.

"Shut up, all of you," Pikepaw snapped. The spotted gray tabby stopped at the front of the group and cast a single look back to make sure all of their mouths were closed before crouching low and peering through the thorny brambles.

One by one, the other apprentices lined up side by side to do the same. Beetlepaw nestled in next to Rookpaw, and squinting hard, she joined the others as they all peered into DuskClan's camp.

Located in an oval-shaped clearing, the camp was one of the few places where the sun shone uninhibited. It streamed down upon the verdant grass and glittered off the nearby lake. The entire camp was at a slight incline, and at the lake-side edge, the gradual hill suddenly dropped into a steep slope that led to the rocky shore.

At the hill's crest was a large pine tree, and at that tree's base was the nursery's fern-covered entrance. On the other end of the crest, at the base of a gnarled oak was the entrance to the elders' den. Beetlepaw could see a few kits peeking from under the nursery's leafy fronds, just as she could see a black and white elder curled against one of the oak's exposed roots.

Between old and new sat a massive boulder, under which was the medicine cat's den, and Beetlepaw watched as Firefern's bright red head poked up from the earthy darkness to see what was going on.

After all, Blackbee sat at the camp's center.

The DawnClan cat had a pleasant expression on her face and nodded periodically as Rowanstar, a red and white tabby molly, talked to her. The three ambassadors stood at the DuskClan leader's back, and a few warriors mingled around the camp's peripherals, watching Rowanstar and the foreign medicine cat with as much interest as the hidden apprentices.

Beetlepaw purred.

"They seem to like each other," Rookpaw commented softly, and Beetlepaw bobbed her head in agreement.

"Of course they do," Rainpaw meowed, just quiet enough to make Beetlepaw wonder if she'd spoken at all. After a short pause, Rainpaw explained, "They were medicine cats together for seasons. They were even apprenticed at the same time."

The dark gray molly crouched on the other side of Rookpaw, and Beetlepaw rested her head on the ground to gaze at her from under her brother's chin. "I always forget that Rowanstar was a medicine cat first. I'm glad the other Clans chose her to be our leader, though. I think she's good at it."

Beetlepaw tensed as Rainpaw lowered her frosty yellow eyes to look at her. At first, she thought the older apprentice was going to tell her that she was mouse-brained, but gradually, the edge to Rainpaw's features melted away like ice in green-leaf. Her mouth opened, as though she were about to say something, but instead of the low, confident tones Beetlepaw had come to expect, she heard the high, sing-song voice of a kit.

"I found you!"

Beetlepaw whipped her head back around to look through the brambles. The fluffy gray and white form of her young cousin was waiting for her. The kit's white chest heaved with excitement. "Rookpaw! Bee'paw! Your turn to find me now!"

"Nettlekit, shush!" Rookpaw hissed. "You're giving away our position."

"We'll play with you later, okay?" Beetlepaw pleaded.

"You know, when you two became apprentices, I didn't realize you'd bring the whole nursery with you," Cedarpaw remarked, his upper lip quirked to expose a single white fang

"Why do we even bring them with us?" Pikepaw wondered aloud.

Beetlepaw felt her fur grow hot, but as she considered reminding the toms that she had invited them into the forest, another voice piped up:

"Well, well, well. You've indeed found them, Nettlekit."

At once, the six young cats snapped their heads upward to meet Thornwillow's pointed expression. With a twitch of her ear, the golden brown tabby asked, "What do you think we should do with them, Ivyheart?"

As she spoke, the head of the silver tabby deputy appeared beside hers. "We'll have to discuss their absence later. Right now—"

"Don't hurt them!" Nettlekit yowled, her tail in the air and her fur standing on end. She looked like a gray cloud that had lost its way. "No trouble, please! I—"

Beetlepaw watched as Ivyheart lightly tapped the kit's nose with her black-ringed tail. "Relax, Nettlekit. They're in trouble, yes, but StarClan won't fall from the sky. They'll simply need to do a bit of extra work to make up for lost time." She looked back over the brambles. "That said, right now I need Beetlepaw, Pikepaw, and Fawnpaw to join their mentors for the sunhigh patrol." Ivyheart paused, her blue-green eyes scanning the stone-still apprentices. "And I do mean right now."

"O-Oh!" Beetlepaw jumped up. Pikepaw and Fawnpaw followed suit, albeit with a more shame-heavy hunch to their shoulders.

"Yes, Ivyheart."

"Sorry for troubling you, Ivyheart."

"Sorry isn't enough, Fawnpaw," Thornwillow mewed to her daughter, her head high and her stare cold.

Fawnpaw's tan-colored ears folded flat. Without another word, she backed up from the brambles and ran for the camp's entrance. Pikepaw followed.

"See you later, Rookpaw... Rainpaw!" After a flip of her tail, Beetlepaw raced after the older apprentices.

...

With each heartbeat, Beetlepaw thought of Blackbee, and her paws ached to run back to camp so she could introduce herself. Even though her body padded after the patrol and stumbled through hunts, her mind drifted. Was Blackbee still talking to Rowanstar? Were they discussing their medicine cat experiences, or maybe that time before the War of the Forest? Or was Blackbee now tucked away in the medicine cat's den, sorting herbs with Firefern? Her imagination only ran wild from there, and she daydreamed about Blackbee sending the ambassadors home forever. She daydreamed about Blackbee putting a stop to the other Clans' right to DuskClan prey. She even daydreamed about the DawnClan cat redeeming DuskClan entirely.

Then, Beetlepaw thought proudly to herself, she could stand up to Bearpaw and tell him just how wrong he was. She could already envision his indignant hissing and puffed-up tabby fur.

I'm not a monster, she'd meow with a deputy's authority. I don't have bad blood. I'm not worthless. I'm not—

"You're a disappointment, Beetlepaw."

Beetlepaw snapped out of her mind's haze and turned to look up at her mentor. Ravenflight stood tall with his chin lifted, a pose not unlike the one Thornwillow had struck earlier that day. He was a large, muscular tom with short blue-black fur and a white speckle over his heart. His expression grew stormier as he waited for her to respond.

"S-Sorry?" Beetlepaw glanced nervously toward the camp's entrance, then back at Ravenflight. Under starlight, the shadowy forest filled with cricket song, and like fire, her mentor's orange eyes burned brighter in the night. "I mean..." She crouched low, and her ears sagged toward the sides of her head. "I'm sorry, Ravenflight. I've been really distracted today; there's so much going on. I'll be better tomorrow, I promise!"

The senior warrior's chest swelled with air as he took a deep breath. "I know that you're the one who told the apprentices to ignore their duties and play in the forest like ill-behaved kits. I had hoped that you would at least make up for that immaturity by working hard, but apparently not."

"Ravenflight, I know what we did was really bad, and I know it was my idea, but you have to understand. Bearpaw, he—"

"I'm tired of hearing about Bearpaw," Ravenflight growled. "Excuses mean nothing to me, you know that."

Beetlepaw looked down at her paws. She could feel her heart beating furiously in her pads.

"Fortunately for you, Ivyheart is feather-soft regarding discipline. She decided earlier today that the apprentices are going to help the new ambassadors adjust to DuskClan territory. I'm sure she'll tell you more about it tomorrow morning. However, to make sure you understand exactly how much you offended both me and our Clan, I'm also assigning you elder duty for the next moon."

"I understand."

"And I'm forbidding you from the upcoming Gathering."

Beetlepaw lifted her chin and her bright blue eyes flashed in the moonlight. A lump caught in her throat, but after feeling a breeze caress the fur around her face, she managed to mew softly, "Okay, Ravenflight."

"Good." Like a tiger, the powerful tom turned and trotted through the break in the camp's surrounding brambles.

Beetlepaw followed at a much slower pace, her tail dragging behind her. By the time she passed through the gap and into the open camp's blue-gray moonlight, Ravenflight had disappeared. Padding further into the clearing, she looked side to side only to realize that she was completely alone. With a tiny huff, the molly slipped around the medicine cat's boulder. She sat back on her haunches, looked out over the silver-topped lake, and then lifted her attention to the moon. It was about a sliver away from being full, and judging from its height in the star-dotted sky, she realized the other apprentices were probably long curled up in their nests.

She wondered if Rookpaw had been worried about her. Ravenflight never kept her out so late. Of course, she figured it was just another layer of punishment, and her brother would probably call her mentor a cranky old bat when she told him. Beetlepaw brightened at the thought.

She began to lick her paw. Still—she had to remind herself—Ravenflight wasn't a bad mentor, not really. He was just difficult to please, and even if Bearpaw had threatened to take her ears off, it was still wrong of her to encourage the other apprentices to hide with her in the forest. Ravenflight just needed an apprentice that was good at fighting and hunting and, well, anything warriors were actually supposed to be good at.

The black molly swiped her paw over her ears and murmured, "I'm probably making him look bad..." She frowned at the blades of grass between her paws, then moved to lick the white patch on her chest.

"I think I'm ready to talk... May I?"

Beetlepaw paused with her pink tongue sticking out, and her ears lifted at the sudden meow. It was soft, and surprisingly, even though she was away from the den's entrance, it sounded as if it came from beneath the boulder. At once, Beetlepaw turned to face the massive rock and crouched at its base. She sniffed once, and catching a whiff of herb-scent, she found a small gap between the dirt and the stone, a gap as slight as the moon's dark sliver.

"I was beginning to think you'd never ask. Please do, Firefern. What exactly did you dream about?"

Beetlepaw's tail tip twitched with excitement, and she rotated her ears toward Blackbee's familiar voice.

"Well, I... I'm not sure." Beetlepaw could practically hear the fluffy red tom shuffling his paws. "I may just be a little bit silly. The dream may not have been from StarClan at all, I just..."

"Stop it," Blackbee meowed, her tone unexpectedly imposing. A sigh, and her usual cheeriness returned. "Just tell me what you dreamed. Whether or not it's from StarClan, I'm curious, but to tell you the truth, if it was enough to inspire both you and Rowanstar to call me here, it must be significant. And, you must understand, I need to know what StarClan might be trying to tell me. I wouldn't have left Mintpaw alone if this wasn't as important as it is."

Beetlepaw felt her heartbeat quicken.

"I understand, Blackbee, and I'm very grateful that you've come." A pause. "When we last met under the half-moon, I dreamed I was under the Great Pine. It was night, but I didn't hear any crickets. It felt like the calm before a great storm, and so I looked up. The sky was clear, but I gave a start when I saw that our Great Pine was covered with black birds, of all different kinds. They came in so many shapes and sizes. Some tall and thin like a reed, others short and round like a river stone. Some had long feathers, others had short, but they were all a deep black in color, and they were all going about their lives in our Great Pine: eating, sleeping, preening, fighting, and chattering as birds do. I watched them, and I watched them, until they all turned to look down and watch me. At first, I thought they were going to mob me, you know, as crows will mob an owl, but they didn't."

"What did they do?"

"Well... Only a select few actually moved. I watched three of them fly out of their nests. That made the others start the make as much of a racket as possible. Then I watched two others leave their perches to fly away from the flock entirely. That made the others start to... to, well, kill one another. Dead birds started to rain down around me, and I became afraid. Then I watched one fly up to the stars. At that point, the Great Pine started to topple over."

"And then?"

"Then I woke up. What do you make of it, Blackbee?"

"Huh." The molly echoed to herself, "Three from the nest, two from the flock, and one to the stars..."

"It sounds like a prophecy, doesn't it? And you see why we thought it might involve you, right?"

Beetlepaw felt a surge of excitement. A prophecy! All of her fantasies about Blackbee saving DuskClan came back to her, and she wanted to shout for joy, to run and tell Rookpaw, but to keep quiet, she clamped down on the tip of her paw.

"It does sound like a prophecy. However, I'm not yet convinced it has anything to do with me."

"I see..."

"Look at me, Firefern. I'm not sorry that I came here. I'm honored that you would share your dream with me, and I promise you that for as long as I'm here I'll do whatever I can to help you figure it out."

"Thank you, Blackbee."

Beetlepaw tilted her head far back to look at the stars, and with delight, she rolled onto her back completely.

Thank you, Blackbee, she repeated in her head. Thank you, thank you, thank you!


WHOO. We made it to the prophecy! Admittedly, I'm not too big on prophecies, since I don't think StarClan should be able to influence the living world. As a result, I wanted to try something a little different. We'll see how it works out. ;3

Reader Question: At this point, who's your favorite character and why?

Critical Question: If there was one thing you could change about this chapter, what would it be?