Stormpaw was first greeted by Frostwing.
His mentor stepped out of the warriors' den to see the sight that made here green eyes blaze with anger and her silver coat prickled at the sight of her apprentice between two SunClan cats.
Stormpaw pressed against Dragonpaw, who had his head lifted high. No fear scent clung to him. Dragonpaw was used to this kind of stuff, getting in trouble, but Stormpaw was not.
"Idiot!" Frostwing hissed, raising her paw and cuffing Stormpaw's ear roughly. "You went into SunClan territory? Stupid apprentice!"
Stormpaw drew back from Frostwing's angered face. He felt shame and embarrassment wash over him.
"It's against the Warrior Code, yet you still went over the border! Do you know how-"
"That's enough Frostwing." Hailstar stepped from behind Frostwing, his amber eyes stern with leadership as he cast them at Frostwing. "I will speak to Stormpaw from here. You may leave."
Frostwing froze and her eyes widened at the sight of Hailstar, and Stormpaw felt like laughing at his mentor's reaction if his father was not there watching him. Frostwing dipped her head, coming out of the trance. "Yes Hailstar," she murmured. She turned her frosty blue eyes to Stormpaw and they narrowed, and then she padded away.
Stormpaw felt the amusement ebb away as Hailstar turned back to him. He lowered his head and tried to make himself smaller. He was dimly aware of Dragonpaw shuddering beside him as Hailstar flicked his tail at the ginger apprentice. "I will speak with you later," he said sternly and Dragonpaw quickly scrambled away.
And now it as just Stormpaw and his father, who was probably angry at him. It was exactly what Stormpaw had feared ever since his mother died. "I'm sorry," was all he could manage when Hailstar led him into the leaders' den. He tried not to meet Hailstar's gaze and just examined his paws instead.
"For crossing SunClan's border?" Hailstar asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.
Stormpaw's pelt burned with shame and he felt his ears lower against his head. "Yeah," he replied. "I'm really sorry, Hailstar. I couldn't help it when I saw Dragonpaw. He was surrounded, and I felt that I needed to help him. I couldn't leave him with the SunClan cats! I was scared..." He was scared. That was probably some sort of joke to Hailstar's ears, being the large, battle-scarred, mighty leader he was. Then, it suddenly occurred to him that this was the first conversation he and his father ever shared and Hailstar would remember it as his son saying that he "was scared".
There was a sigh from Hailstar, and the next words surprised Stormpaw. "Are you alright?"
Stormpaw was suddenly aware of the throbbing pain in his shoulder where Ashpaw's mentor had tore open and the scratch that the loner Aurora had given him. Stormpaw simply flicked his ear, hoping he didn't show any weakness in front of Hailstar. "Yeah," he replied. "I'm alright."
Hailstar grunted. "Good."
Stormpaw curled his tail around his paws and gulped. "Will"-he cleared his throat-"will I be punished?"
Hailstar's gaze was steady as he stared at the apprentice. His eyes narrowed. "No," he said. "You were only thinking of a Clanmate."
Stormpaw let out a sigh of relief, and felt embarrassment rush over him as he heard Hailstar's purr of amusement at Stormpaw's reaction. "Thank you," Stormpaw replied, trying to keep his mind off the subject. He turned and began to pad out of the den. He suddenly thought of how kind Hailstar had treated him, how he was wrong about thinking of his father differently. Hailstar was not that kind of cat. He was different, like Stormpaw himself in a way. Echoflight's death had effected both of them, and it had changed Stormpaw. He wasn't sure if it changed Hailstar in a way, but it definitely hurt him. Stormpaw felt a sudden cold chill sweep through him as he remembered it was his fault his mother was gone, his fault he couldn't live a content life like his sister and the other apprentices did. His fault his family lost someone they loved.
Stormpaw shuddered, stopping abruptly at the entrance of the den as he waited for the horrible, sinking feeling to pass. His stomach felt cold and his head swirled. Hailstar reminded him too much of his mother, and he couldn't stop the guilt from taking over him, consuming him and dragging him down. He sunk onto the cold floor of the leaders' den.
"Stormpaw?" he heard Hailstar say uneasily from the back of the den. A cold nose touched his head and Stormpaw drew away. He blinked, and realized it was Hailstar.
"I'm sorry," Stormpaw murmured, embarrassed. "I'm so sorry. It's just..." He trailed off.
Hailstar blinked, and suddenly, his amber eyes were filled with hurt and understanding. "It's been hard for you, I understand. Echoflight hurt me too. It's hurt all of us."
Stormpaw thought of Icepaw, and how she wasn't shattered like he was. He was suddenly angry at her for not caring, angry that she didn't suffer like he and Hailstar were.
"Echoflight meant a lot to you. I'm sorry I never realized it," Hailstar was saying, "and I understand Frostwing isn't treating you well. I recently realized it as well."
Stormpaw closed his eyes and rested his head on his paws. He didn't care that he was doing this in front of the leader anymore. At the moment, Hailstar was not the leader. Hailstar was his father right now. He listened for Hailstar's voice.
"But Frostwing is a good mentor. She's rough, but diciplines well. I'm sorry. I can't possibly imagine what pain you're going through. I go through pain too, but it's different."
"I'm sorry," Stormpaw murmured. "I'm sorry to remind of all this...horror." And he truly was. He had never saw a leader break down like this, especially Hailstar. "It's just...I feel it's my fault she died." The words were spilling out now, before Stormpaw could stop it. "If only I decided to go on that patrol with her. There would have still been a chance she would survive, a chance she could be with us mortally now, and not exist as a reminder of pain. It's my fault, Hailstar, my fault." Stormpaw's voice with cracking with deep sorrow and his claws unsheath, digging into the soft-hard ground.
"No," Hailstar said softly. "It's not your fault. It's not your fault at all. You were still 6 moons then, close to 7. And even if you did go with her, what could you possibly do?" He waited, as if for Stormpaw's reply. "Nothing," he finished firmly. "Nothing."
With a pang, Stormpaw realized Hailstar was right. But the shuddering feeling still lingered inside him. He didn't say anything.
Hailstar sighed. "Why don't you go get yourself a nice big piece of fresh-kill and then some rest?"
Like rest will change me being forced to patrol before dawn. Stormpaw looked away.
Hailstar seemed to notice Stormpaw's reaction and gave a short chuckle. "I'll tell Frostwing to go easy tomorrow."
Stormpaw stood up and raised his head. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Thank you."
"And get Dragonpaw for me."
Stormpaw simply nodded and made his way to the apprentices' den. He quickly told Dragonpaw to see the leader, and settled down in his nest.
Icepaw was at the back of the den, sharing a mouse with Nightpaw. Icepaw eyes darted towards Stormpaw and they brightened. "Hey!" she called and stood up.
Stormpaw, inside, wasn't in the mood for talking with his bubbly sister, but he allowed her to come to him anyways.
"Hi!" she piped, her green eyes sparkling. "Heard you got in some trouble with SunClan."
I want to sleep. Stormpaw grunted in a reply. StarClan-he was tired. He was kept in Camp with Dragonpaw for most of the day, spoke with Hailstar, and now the sun was almost setting. Couldn't his sister give him some peace?
"Well," his sister rambled, "something like that would usually get you a pretty bad punishment." Her white head cocked to one side. "What'd he make you do?"
"Nothing," Stormpaw murmured, turning over so his back was facing Icepaw.
He could almost smell his sister's surprise at his answer. "Oh," she said, shock in her voice. "Really? I bet you Dragonpaw's got some pretty bad punishment." She gave a small giggle. "StarClan, that cat really asks for trouble."
"Ha! Yeah."
Stormpaw groaned again. Was that Nightpaw's voice? Nightpaw was basically another Icepaw-only worse. He wanted to be left alone right now.
"Like, remember that one time..."
No, and I don't think I really care. Stormpaw let his eyes shut and he tried to block out Nightpaw and Icepaw's chattering. The first thing that came to mind was Echoflight...
A/N: Gah, this chapter was really bad. It's short and just simply...bad. I was really not in a writing mood. I basically rushed through the end.
Ha, poor Stormpaw. He sounds really pissed at his sister and Nightpaw, doesn't he? Well, that's what a cat gets when he has a bubbly sister, an annoying friend, and decides to cross another Clan's border. :)