Skinnypaw stood outside of the Medicine den as she watched the ceremony, next to Whiskerpaw. The medicine cat apprentice keeping her warm from the cold weather.
"I, Doestar, leader of Thunderclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices, Willowpaw, and Mintpaw, they both have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them both to you as a warrior in their turn," Doestar spoke proudly. Willowpaw and Mintpaw both standing beside her looking beyond excited. Doestar paused for a moment before turning to Willowpaw, ushering him to come over to her, "Willowpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"
Willowpaw puffed out his chest, "I do!"
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Willowpaw, from this moment you will be known as Willowstorm. StarClan honors your Bravery and loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan."
Doestar rested her head on Willowstorm's, and Willowstorm licked her shoulder.
Doestar then turned to Mintpaw, Willowstorm backed up and allowed his sister to step forward as Doestar took a deep breath.
"Mintpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"
"I do!" Mintpaw mewed excitedly.
"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name, Mintpaw, from the moment you will be known as Mintstare. StarClan honors your Spirit and Enthusiasm, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan."
Like before, Doestar rested her muzzled of Mintstare's head. Mintstare licked Doestar's shoulder, and everyone, including Skinnypaw, yelled out their two new names.
"Mintstare! Willowstorm! Mintstare! Willowstorm!"
The only one not shouting was Flamepaw. Her friend was sitting off in the shadows of the apprentice den, sulking horribly.
Flamepaw's punishment was harsh but just. Not only was he now going to be an apprentice for longer, but he also had to take care of the elders for a moon, and he wasn't allowed to go to the gathering tomorrow night. Needless to say, he was rather bitter about the whole thing. It was his own fault. Yeah, Skinnypaw felt bad for him, however; she couldn't help but feel it was fair, she didn't get punished as Doestar had told her, "What happened last night was punishment enough for you, I hope you've learned your lesson."
Skinnypaw watched as Willowstorm and Mintstare both walked forward, ready to do their silent vigil.
"Good job," Skinnypaw spoke to Willowstorm as she stepped forward slightly. Willowstorm looked at her slightly confused, his ears back and eyes wide. He said nothing to her as he then skirted around the she-cat, and made his way towards the camp entrance. Skinnypaw watched him leave with a bit of a frown, well, he has a vigil to do, so that's why he didn't say anything to her. Yeah. That was probably it.
"Brrr..." Whiskerpaw huffed out as he stood and moved away from her. Skinnypaw watched him go and let out a soft sigh. Shivering, Skinnypaw got up, ready to leave when Jaytail walked up to her.
"How are you feeling?" He asked her.
"Much better," She purred to her mentor.
"That's good, you need to be more careful in the future, Skinnypaw." Jaytail started to lecture her, Skinnypaw felt her ears go low as Jaytail continued to lecture her. "You could have died, even if Flamepaw told you to come along with him you have better common sense than to go with him. He's not your mentor, I am." Jaytail snorted at her.
"Yes, I know, I got the same lecture from Doestar and Bearpelt, all I can say is I'm sorry and it won't happen again. Trust me, I don't want to do that again..." She mumbled softly to Jaytail her ears low.
"Good. Now, we'll pick up training again tomorrow, keep your claws sharp," Jaytail turned and trotted off.
Skinnypaw finally walked into the apprentice den where Flamepaw was now sulking in his moss bed.
"Hey? Do you mind if I sleep next to you tonight?" Skinnypaw found herself asking him. She watched as his ears went back in a rather irate matter.
"You know what..." The black and orange tom slowly stood, his voice laced with enough bitterness that caused Skinnypaw to lower her ears and back up. "No!" Flamepaw snapped turning to her so quickly in made her jump and back away further against the wall. "I'm so sick to death of you and your neediness!"
"F-Flamepaw..." Skinnypaw found herself up against the wall of the apprentice den now, Flamepaw now in her face.
"If you hadn't of ran off away from me last night, I would be the one with my warrior name instead of being stuck in this den with you!" He snapped against.
"I'm sorry-"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," He mocked loudly, "Do you say anything else? Aside from that! For Starclan's sake, you can't do anything when it's cold out and when you do you just whine and complain about how cold you are! Why are you and your mother so... useless to Thunderclan?!" Flamepaw stopped instantly, seemingly coming back to reality when he saw the actual hurt in her yellow eyes. Breathing heavily, Flamepaw said nothing as he just turned and walked back to his bed.
"... Wow, some friend you are," Came Graypaw's voice as he came trotting into the apprentice den. "I mean, I and my siblings might poke fun at her, but we wouldn't go so far as to call her useless, that's just harsh."
Skinnypaw only shut her eyes and said nothing to anyone, she couldn't think of truthfully anything to say to Flamepaw or Graypaw.
"You know what..." Flamepaw finally broke the chilling silence between everyone finally. Without even looking at her, Skinnypaw knew that what he said next was directed directly at her as he spoke in a low serious voice, "You'd be better off as a kittypet than a warrior."
Skinnypaw felt her heart, and her friendship with Flamepaw just shatter at those cruel words that left Flamepaw's mouth. Numbly, she looked down at her paws, bringing her claws in and out, she counted her claws. She only did it to avoid crying out loud. She knew how many claws she had, but still, she counted to try and distract herself from her crying.
"Annnd there goes any remaining respect I had for you. Wow, quite an achievement actually... Skinnypaw, you can sleep next to me tonight, if you'd like. I know you wouldn't want that pile of fox-dung next to you. At least I wouldn't." Graypaw huffed out.
"No... No thank you." Was all she could get out as she just walked over to her own bed. "I'd rather be alone..." She admitted. Clawing at her moss bed a bit, Skinnypaw slowly laid down and curled up alone in her bed. Once curled up, Skinnypaw softly hid her face into her paws and tried to stifle her sobs. She really didn't want to disturb the others as she quietly huffed and sobbed.
Suddenly, she stopped sobbing, as slowly her sadness turned into something much greater. Spite. Pure unadulterated spite towards her once friend.
Useless?! Her?! If it wasn't for him waking her up the other night they wouldn't have been here! If it wasn't for him pushing her away and declaring that she go and find prey then maybe she wouldn't have fallen through the lake, and he wouldn't have gotten in so much trouble! How dare he blame her when everything leading up to this was his fault!
Seeing nothing but red, Skinnypaw had half a mind to go up to Flamepaw and claw his stupid ears off! But, she held herself back as she stared at him, her spite absolutely burning through her like fire. Useless?! She'll show him! She was anything but useless! This spite was close to how she felt when she and Willowstorm fought over the squirrel, but this was stronger, much stronger.
Skinnypaw was not a kittypet! She'll never be a kittypet! No, and she wasn't going to give a mouse-brain, fox-dung smelling, piece of... well... FOX-DUNG! Like Flamepaw the satisfaction of seeing that he had made her cry. No...
Flamepaw brought out a burning rage in Skinnypaw that she had never felt before. She was going to show him. Show him alright! Clawing at her bed, Skinnypaw lowered her ears and snorted.
To think, she actually wondered if they were going to be mates.
The next day, Skinnypaw woke up bright and early, eagerly awaiting for her training with Jaytail. She wasn't going to let the snow bother her. Not today.
Flamepaw was already up, caring for the elder's first thing. The two of them said nothing to one another as they left the apprentice den. Flamepaw looked at her once he left the elder's den to get some mouse-bile, she caught his gaze and simply turned her head away from him.
"Ah, ready to star-"
"Yes! Let's go! I'm ready. What are we doing? Hunting? Battle training?" She asked quickly, cutting Jaytail off as she got closer to him with each word.
"Uh, for now, it's just a simple patrol, but it's nice to see you're up for anything." He gave her a nervous grin, before ushering towards the group that was forming for the patrol. Standing next to Pinknose, Skinnypaw looked up at the white she-cat, and they both just silently nodded at one another. Next to Pinknose was Cloudstorm, Graypaw, and Whiskerpaw.
"I'm just joining to collect herbs for Mooseleap," Whiskerpaw told Skinnypaw when he noticed her look of confusion. Skinnypaw nodded at him understandingly.
"Is everyone here?" Bearpelt asked Skinnypaw noticed that Flamepaw was not with the patrol, turning, she saw him still taking care of the elders. So he wouldn't be joining? Good. Turning she walked out of the camp with the rest of the patrol, her head high in the air. Keeping up with the rest of the patrol, they marked the territories and made sure everything was in place in their territory. They stopped to take a hunting break if they could find anything. Skinnypaw walked through the snow and smirked when she saw a skinny rabbit shifting through the snow. Getting on her hunches, Skinnypaw was so low to the ground that she could feel the cold snow go up into her nose. Narrowing her eyes, Skinnypaw wiggled her behind and then leaped. Pinning the rabbit to the ground, Skinnypaw hissed as the rabbit managed to scratch her cheek with its sharp claws. Grabbing the rabbit by the neck, she snapped its neck quickly and walked back through the snow with her catch.
"Oh, nice catch!" Jaytail mewed to her, she smiled and placed the rabbit down. She purred at the praise and nudged the rabbit towards her mentor.
"Here, you take it, I know you must be hungry," she mewed, knowing that the shortage of prey was affecting the warriors the worst now.
"Let's share it. Alright?" Jaytail nodded towards her. Skinnypaw nodded and together she and Jaytail silently ate the rabbit until there was nothing left. Licking their jowls clean, Jaytail hummed out as he stood and stretched. "I'm going to make dirt, I'll be back." He told the others as he trotted off towards the lake. Skinnypaw watched him go with a hint of amusement. Licking her paws clean, she looked at the other cats in the patrol. Whiskerpaw was currently sifting through the snow looking for any salvageable herbs.
After a while, the patrol was ready to get moving again, but Jaytail had yet to come back. Twitching her nose, Skinnypaw looked around, but still no Jaytail.
"I'll go, and look for him," Skinnypaw told them as she trotted forward. Moving through the bushes, she carefully walked closer towards the lake and paused. She saw Jaytail on one side of the lake talking to Flatnose, who was in her territory. Skinnypaw was surprised that she-cat hadn't given birth yet she was so large.
Skinnypaw found it rather odd, looking around, Skinnypaw lowered herself to the ground and crept closer to the tom. Perking her large ears up, she listened in.
"- I wish it wasn't like this." Flatnose mewed softly towards Jaytail. Her big round eyes shining happily at him.
"I know. I wish it wasn't like this either, but, there's nothing I can do," Jaytail responded to her as he kept his ears low. "... I have to go. I've been gone for too long..." Jaytail suddenly stood up. Skinnypaw flicked her ears, slowly she started to back up, she didn't want to be caught listening in. She only stopped when she saw Jaytail and Flatnose bump heads lovingly. Skinnypaw felt her eyes go wide at the realization.
Without any more hesitation, she turned and ran away. She knew she was caught because seconds later she could hear Jaytail yelling her name,
"Skinnypaw! Wait!"
To her surprise, Jaytail managed to catch up with her and stop her, by getting in front of her cutting her off.
"Wait..." He ordered slowly. "I don't know what you saw-"
"I saw enough!-"
"Skinnypaw, please... I... I love Flatnose, okay?"
"It's against the code-"
"I know it is, but, please try and understand. I love her. Once you fall in love, you'll understand how I feel, please, Skinnypaw, don't tell anyone." Jaytail whispered to her softly.
"Jaytail! Skinnypaw!" Bearpelt started asking for them in the distance, Skinnypaw could hear him getting closer.
"Please," Jaytail begged her softly.
"There you two are, where did you guys go?" Bearpelt asked as he emerged from the bushes. Skinnypaw looked at Jaytail, who now looked nervous as he looked back at her. She could see him, silently begging her with his eyes. Skinnypaw thought about how happy Flatnose looked as she got to bump heads with him. She wondered how it'd be like to find somebody like that.
"... I saw another rabbit... I couldn't get it this time around. I'm still beating myself up about it." Skinnypaw lied to the deputy quietly.
"I just caught up with her." Jaytail mewed to Bearpelt. Bearpelt gave them both a slight look before nodding slightly at them.
"Alright then, Skinnypaw, don't go running off, we don't need a repeat of what happened a few sunrises ago," Bearpelt told her sternly before turning. "Let's go, everyone is waiting for us." He ordered.
"Thank you," Jaytail whispered to her, before walking a head of her. Skinnypaw let out a soft sigh, she wondered if she did the right thing, but, watching Jaytail's long fluffy tail hang happily in the air, Skinnypaw only shook her head. Who was she to judge what Jaytail does with his life? She only hoped he knew just what he was doing.