Bluepaw turned to Flamepaw, having stared at the entrance of the camp for several moments after the patrol had left. "You were amazing!" He chirped with a soft smile.

Flamepaw puffed out his chest in pride. "I did do pretty good, didn't I?" The ginger tom meowed with a small gleam in his blue eyes.

"Bluepaw!" The growl cut through a small cluster of cats as Jaggedwaves padded towards his cousin, tail lashing and eyes narrowed though his pelt was flattened back to its original look and his claws were sheathed.

The apprentice jumped, a startled look in his eyes. But when he saw his mentor he smiled broadly, trotting up to the strong tom and rubbing up against him, a purr beginning to form in the cats throat. "Didn't I do good? I fought like a real warrior!"

Jaggedwaves let out a faint hiss that really startled and confused Bluepaw. "Why would you fight?! You know hardly any moves, you could have gotten yourself killed! What made you think you should fight?! You should have stayed in the nursery!"

Bluepaw flattened himself to the ground, ears flattened against his head and eyes wide with fear. "I-I'm sorry! I just wanted to be a real warrior like you!" The blue cats voice cracked as he stared up at his mentor, wishing he was as strong, brave, noble, and perfect as him.

Jaggedwaves' tail stopped lashing and he let out a small sigh, pulling Bluepaw closer with his tail though glancing around first to make sure nobody was watching. The warrior pulled his apprentice to the side, not wanting to show affection in front of his clanmates, and, once they were hidden in the shadows, licked Bluepaw caringly on the ear. "You will be." He meowed comfortingly. "You'll grow up to be the best leader imaginable. You just have to wait, don't be too reckless or an accident could happen and you might lose that chance. Understood?" The warriors tone was a lot softer now, and his tail was running down Bluepaw's spine.

The apprentice smiled and nodded. "Okay!" He meowed happily, excited to get training. When some liquid began trailing down the former kits pelt he squeaked and jumped up, looking at his side he saw blood. But it couldn't be his.

"Sorry." Jaggedwaves apologized and Bluepaw realized he was bleeding. "I'd better go to Firebramble and Softrain to get treated." The warrior said before standing up and padding off. Bluepaw watched him go, thinking about what his cousin had said. Am I really destined to be that great? Well of course he was! Jaggedwaves wouldn't lie about something like that.

Shaking himself the apprentice walked back out into the clearing, he hadn't gotten hurt luckily, he only had the tiniest scrape on his shoulder, but it wasn't even bleeding. Nonetheless the apprentice headed towards Softrain and Firebramble's den, glancing around at all of his clanmates.

"Bluepaw!" A loud mew sounded from behind the tom and he turned around to face two small bundles of fur the leaped onto him, pushing him down. "You're alright!" Hawkkit squealed joyously, licking him happily, her tail held high.

Lightkit licked Bluepaw's side. "We thought you were dead!" She mewed, her tail swishing around in the air. The kits mewled happily as the tumbled over the apprentice, licking him and batting at his tail. They were obviously overjoyed that the tom was alright and wanted to waste no time before getting back to playing and celebrating like they had been before the battle disrupted it.

"Hawkkit, Lightkit! Get off him, he has to go see the medicine cat!" Tigerpelt raced up to her kits and pulled them off one by one, setting them down next to Bluepaw and helping him up. "Sorry" She apologized. "they were cramped in the nursery and need to get their energy out." She explained while wrapping her tail around the two young she-cats.

"Its alright!" Bluepaw meowed with a soft smile, glancing down at the kits who felt like littermates to him before looking up at the queen who played the role of mom for him. "I'm not really wounded, only have a little scrape on my shoulder." The blue apprentice said while flicking to the spot on his right shoulder. "I'll be fine."

"You still should get that checked out, even the smallest scratch can destroy a life with even the tiniest chance." Tigerpelt told the tom, whisking her tail down his head, neck, and spine. "Just be sure that it won't get infected, see the medicine cats, alright?" Bluepaw nodded at this.

He turned around and began to walk away then halted and looked at the queen, walking closer, back to where he was before. "The least I can do is let the much more injured cats get healed first. I don't want them to have to wait for me."

Tigerpelt chuckled. "Alright then, little warrior, you can wait. But don't try to get out of this, alright?"

Bluepaw smiled and nodded, happy to be talking to the queen again.

"Bluepaw, come with me." A deep voice meowed roughly from behind the apprentice and he turned with a smile at recognizing the scent and voice.

"Father!" He meowed happily. Yeah, most clans said the actual name, at least that's what Shadeclan had said once, but hey, different clan different rules. If you didn't call them father, which was far more respectful than dad, then what makes them a parent? It doesn't make them sound like one.

Hollowstar nodded in greeting and turned around, flicking his tail for Bluepaw to follow, before heading towards the entrance to camp. "But he needs to be healed." Tigerpelt meowed to her leader.

Hollowstar craned his neck around and glanced at the queen. "Its just a petty scratch, he'll be fine." And with that the tom left, Bluepaw following.

"Where are we going?" Bluepaw asked, his answer was followed by a simple ear flick from Hollowstar who obviously wasn't going to say anything else. "…Oh! Did you see me during the fight?" The apprentice chirped, tail held high as the walked through the sparse forest, entering a small ditch like area. There was a tumble of rocks that lead down to a den-like area accept it was huge. "Whoa! Id this-"

"The training hollow, yes." Hollowstar cut his apprentice off and once they were fully inside and hidden he turned to the kit. "Yeah, I saw you during the fight." He said icily.

"Really? Did I do good?" The cat squeaked, obviously not catching on to his fathers tone. Suddenly, a snarl ripped through the hot Greenleaf air and Blueepaw was knocked off his paws, sent to the ground in a flurry of limbs.

"You pathetic excuse of a cat, it's a disgrace to call you a son of mine!" Bluepaw looked up at this, eyes wide.

"What?" Was all he could say.

Hollowstar swatted at him with a large paw, sending the tiny tom into a large rock. "Its your fault Glistenspark is dead! If it wasn't for you she'd be alive! And she died for this? A scrawny kit who is useless?! You want to know how you fought? Like a kit! You're useless and a disgrace to this clan! Wherever you set paw, destruction follows you! Your paws are ablaze Bluepaw, they destroy everything they touch! Glistenspark was strong, she wouldn't die over your pathetic hide, but she did! Because Starclan was leaving an omen, an omen about the destruction about to occure! Now you're going to listen to me and everyone else, you're going to obey, it's the least you can do! Truthfully I don't know why I didn't kill you! ….But I should have."

Bluepaw felt his face growing red, what did he say? What did he do? "I-I'm sorry!" He mewed pitifully, causing Hollowstar to crash into him, pick him up by the scruff and send him flying toward another sharp rock. The apprentice let out a small squeak of pain when he crashed into the sharp rock, maybe he did deserve this. No. Their was no maybe in that, he did. He was responsible for his mothers death, it was all his fault.

"Sorry isn't good enough! It doesn't bring her back!" Hollowstar growled, his tail lashing and ears back. The leader hissed and ran towards the apprentice then suddenly, jumped over him and ran off, back to camp.

Bluepaw, bruised and torn up, not just physically, rose to his shaking paws slowly, looking out to where his father had left. The apprentice scrambled up the rocks, or at least tried, so he could get out. It took him what seemed like forever to pick his way out of the hollow and stand on the grassy earth, looking around, completely lost.

"Father?" The lost cat mewed, his voice fading off quickly as he looked around the barren place, unsure of which way was back to camp. Maybe he went this way… Bluepaw thought to himself, body still shaking as he padded off in a random direction, not at all enjoying the steaming hot weather. Where was he supposed to go?

The blue tom wandered around in the direction he felt would lead him back to camp, though of course he was still completely unsure of where he was except for the fact that the training hollow was behind him. After a little bit of walking the tom wondered if it would be best if he stayed at the training hollow and waited for someone to come get him. Figuring this was the right choice Bluepaw headed back the way he had come so he could get back to the training hollow.

The little tom was losing hope as he padded faster and more frantically, he training hollow was nowhere in sight, just the barren sandy ground with sparse growing trees everywhere. The trees had no leaves as usual, even in Greenleaf they had none, though the trees had a faint sparkle from the sun that made it look as if frost dappled the trunks, even the dusty sand had that odd sparkle. That was one of the reasons believed that the in the past named it Frrezeclan, another was because it was usually cold. Even in new leaf their was a faint chill in the air, only Greenleaf managed to escape the cold weathers, but then it was replaced by hot weather that was even worse for the clan that was accustomed to so much cold.

Frantically, the apprentice searched for the training hollow and let out a whine when he couldn't find it, where was he going to go? The blue toms mind was still clouded with the reality of what had just happened and he crashed to the ground, his shaking legs unable to support his shivering body. He had killed his mom, he was a bad omen. He didn't deserve to live.

Thinking about all of this the tiny cat let his whines echo through the air, the bright sun beating down on the ground as if nothing in the world could ever be wrong. But their was a murderer in the world, what if he hurt more cats? Or worse, what if he killed more cats?

Before Bluepaw knew it, the sun was setting, casting light all over the horizon in various shades and colors. A light blue, a pinkish, yellow, even a purplish color at the top. The sunset was always beautiful and usually Bluepaw loved watching it set and rise, though today he just couldn't. Not after what he had learned.

"Bluepaw?" A voice broke out through the quickly darkening sky and the apprentice lifted his head, swinging his gaze around and searching for where the all too familiar voice had come from. "Bluepaw, what are you doing?" The blue tom jumped up and whirled around, the voice had been right behind him.

"Jaggedwaves!" The skinny tom let out a relieved sigh and rubbed up against his mentor, relief flooding through him.

"What happened to you? I was looking all over for you, the clan is worried sick!" Jaggedwaves meowed harshly, tail lashing. Yeah right. Bluepaw thought. Most all the cats in the clan hate me, and the majority after that don't care about me. Only a few cats would care, most would be happy if I never came back!

But the apprentice didn't put these thoughts into words. "I'm sorry, I was looking for camp!" He whined.

"Why did you wander off? Hollowstar was worried when you disappeared!"

"Wha-" The apprentice cut himself off, so that was what his father had told the clan. That he had wandered off? Well, it was best not to go against him. Bluepaw hung his head. "I'm sorry" He whispered. "I just wanted to explore."

"Well make sure you don't do it again." Jaggedwaves growled and wrapped his tail around the small tom, heading back to camp.

"I won't." Bluepaw promised, enjoying the feel of his cousins warmth. He felt really guilty for making his cousin worry so much and for making him trek all across the territory looking for him. But he was just happy to be near him.

Once the two cats were close to camp Jaggedwaves took on a more authorized demeanor, stepping away from his little cousin and placing his tail on top of the apprentices shoulders as if to direct him into camp. Bluepaw guessed that he just wasn't the type to show affection or any sort of love.

"Bluepaw! Bluepaw!" The two kits ran towards him and leaped at him, bowling him over. "You're okay!" They squealed happily. Well, Lightkit and Hawkkit were the same as usual.

"You're alright, I thought you were hurt." A striped pelt brushed up against Bluepaw and he quickly recognized the scent to be Tigerpelt.

Next, another pelt brushed against him, this one a bluish color, except the pelt was a much more grey shade of it than Jaggedwaves or Bluepaw. "Are you alright?" Softrain asked, eyebrows knitted with concern.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Bluepaw responded as his sister rubbed up against him.

"You're hurt, come on, let me heal you up." The medicine cat apprentice meowed softly and lead him to the medicine cat den, sitting him down in a nest before leaping over to the herb store and searching around for whatever herb she was to use.

"Hey, Softrain?" The apprentice asked as she pulled out a brown herb and began chewing it up.

"Hm?" She replied, not able to say much after sticking an herb in her mouth and eating it for whatever reason. At least it looked like she was eating it.

"Well, if I'm to be leader one day I want to know as much as possible, right?" The she-cat shrugged and tilted her head with a slight nod as if gesturing that he didn't have to but that it was the smart thing to do. So he continued. "Well, whenever I have time off from my apprentice duties, could you teach herbs? I want to be as good with herbs as you, though truthfully I don't think that's possible."

The medicine cat spat the herbs out of her mouth and onto her paw then began rubbing it onto his scraped shoulder. "If you want to, sure. Thank you, you're sweet." The she-cat licked him before heading back over to the herb store, a shy smile lighting up her face at her younger kins sweet attitude.

"Okay! When can I start?" Bluepaw said, tail beginning to swish around with excitement.

"Now." Softrain replied and turned her head to look at him. "This," She began, flicking her tail to the herb she had applied. "is burdock root, it helps stop infection and speeds up the healing process of a wound. You should apply it with cobweb, and when you apply it, it must be chewed to a pulp."

Bluepaw nodded. "Burdock root, stops infection and speeds up healing process. Apply with cobweb after chewed to a pulp, got it." He said, storing the information then looking up, ready to learn more. The medicine cat padded over to him with thin white strands of sticky stuff sticking to her paw. She bent over and began applying it to his shoulder over the burdock root. "I'm guessing this is cobweb?" He asked, staring at the sticky stuff, eyes wide with curiosity.

"You got it." She said softly. "Cobweb is a wonderful herb, I don't know what cats would do without it."

"Why is it so important? What does it do?"

"When you apply it to a wound it helps keep it concealed and stops the bleeding, if we didn't have it many cats would bleed out, its very useful."

Bluepaw smiled. "Whoa, that's so cool!" He meowed as the medicine cat finished putting the cobweb on. "But I'm not bleeding, why do I need it?" He asked.

"Because Bluepaw, it will help keep the burdock root I applied on." She said calmly, licking his forehead. "Well, you're all set. Now you should get some rest, its been a long day.

Bluepaw frowned. "Aw but Softrain!" He complained. "The suns just setting! Can't you show me some more herbs?" Softrain looked pensive for a moment. "Please!" He begged, eyes wide.

"Alright." She said hesitantly, then smiled and padded over to her herb store. "Come here." She said, beckoning the apprentice over with a flick of her tail. Bluepaw nodded with an excited smile and stood up, trotting over to her, a bounce in his step. Once he was there Softrain pointed to one section of the store, it was filled with very tiny, black seeds. "These are poppy seeds," she informed and let the apprentice gaze at them for a for moments before continuing on, her voice soft and cheerful. The sweet she-cat continued on, showing the apprentice chervil root and catmint as well as telling him all about it.

She was about to continue when a sharp voice cut her off right as she opened her mouth, halting the cheerful mood right in its tracks. "Bluepaw, come on, lets get some rest! You need to be able to get up tomorrow for training!"

Bluepaw soon placed this voice with Jaggedwaves and looked up at the big tom as his mentor padded in, his face set and the apprentice noted that he looked rather tired, though of course he didn't say. "Okay, sorry Jaggedwaves!" The thin built blue tom meowed and turned to his sister, smiling softly. "Goodnight Softrain!" He said and scampered over to her, his short legs almost tripping him.

"Goodnight little one, sleep well." The medicine cat meowed soothingly, placing her nose to his in a sweet, loving gesture. Jaggedwaves nodded at Softrain and said a small goodnight before wrapping his tail around Bluepaw and guiding him off, his tail wrapped around the apprentice firmly until they finally reached the apprentices den.

"Now, go get some rest, you have a lot of training to do in the morning." He said in a rough tone, staring down at the kitten with hard eyes.

"Okay!" The blue tom chirped, smiling and rubbing against his cousin who didn't seem to be the affectionate type. The strongly built warrior bent down and licked his little cousin on the forehead before straightening up and turning around, beginning to walk off. "Wait!" Bluepaw called and ran after the tom who halted and turned back around.

"What is it?" He asked, staring at his apprentice and wondering what could possibly be wrong now.

"Well, I was just curious as to what we were going to learn!" Bluepaw meowed, tail high in the air.

The mentor paused for a moment, glancing up as if wondering what to say before obviously figuring it out and looking back down at the skinny apprentice. "You'll just have to wait and see." He said.

"But out of all my apprenticeship! What will I learn?"

Jaggedwaves smiled a little at this and licked the tiny kit on the ear. "Everything." He whispered in it before whisking away, leaving the apprentice still with excitement, staring after him in a flood of emotions. I'm going to learn everything! He thought joyously as he trotted off to the apprentices den.

He got a rather warm welcome from Flamepaw but Fallowpaw simply gave him the cold shoulder, Shadedpaw and Tornpaw spitting at him as he padded to the edge of the den over to the one apprentice and friend of his so far that accepted him. Even through these discouragements, the tiny apprentice kept his head and tail held high, excitement and happiness practically radiating off him as he lay down and curled up in a soft, blue bundle and falling asleep surprisingly quickly.