[AN] Hey guys! Sorry updating is kinda slow... been busy with a lot lately... x3 but, here it is! Chapter Seven! Yay! Enjoy! You get to learn about Dappleheart's mother in this chapter!

Chapter Seven

Dappleheart awoke to the overwhelming smell of herbs and sickness. She nearly gagged as she inhaled the scents, and tried to allow her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Where was she? What had happened? Her throat burned and her head hurt, and she felt like she was going to die.

Suddenly, bright sunlight filtered in through an opening and Cardinalpaw bounded in, and Dappleheart realized she was in the medicine den.

The enthusiastic apprentice tied the vines covering the opening to the side to allow some fresh air and light to get in, and then padded over to Dappleheart.

"Great! You're finally awake!"

Dappleheart groaned. "Ugh… how long was I out?"

Cardinalpaw paused and chewed her lip. "Hmm… the battle was…" she proceeded to mumble to herself, but Dappleheart couldn't hear her. She blinked and strained her ears, but in vain. Finally, the medicine cat apprentice spoke up. "So about a week!"

"What?" Dappleheart gasped, her voice hoarse.

"Yeah! You were hurt pretty bad!"

"What " and then she remembered.

NightClan had invaded the camp, and Smokestar had tried to kill her…

In fact, if it hadn't been for Bravepaw, he would've.

Bravepaw…

"Where is she?" Dappleheart demanded, attempting in vain to get up.

"Woah, woah! 'She' who? If you mean Willowbreeze then "

"No! Bravepaw! Your sister!"

"Ohh! Right! Uhm…" she trailed off, sounding sad, and Dappleheart's heart clenched.

"No…" she breathed, flattening her ears sadly.

"What? Oh! No no no! She's perfectly fine! Only a few minor wounds, but she healed up pretty quickly! Yep yep!" Cardinalpaw grinned and giggled.

Thank StarClan… Dappleheart thought, releaved to hear her beloved apprentice was all right, but somewhat annoyed at Cardinalpaw's scatterbrained antics.

"Cardinalpaw! Are you talking to yourself again?" yowled a voice from outside.

The reddish she-cat flattened her ears and looked toward the den entrance. "N-no Willowbreeze… I-I was just talking to Dappleheart!" she called back.

Dappleheart thought she heard Willowbreeze gasp. "You mean she's awake? I was mortified that she wouldn't awaken!"

The black and white medicine cat bolted into the den and gasped as she saw Dappleheart staring back at her. "I can't believe it! I didn't think you would make it! No one did!"

They thought I was that weak? Dappleheart wondered with a mental grin.

Willowbreeze approached her and licked between her ears. "I'm so happy!" she breathed, blinking her amber eyes. "How do you feel?"

Dappleheart yawned. "Exhausted… achy… sore neck and throat…"

"Cardinalpaw!" Willowbreeze called.

The perky apprentice was immediately at her side. "Yes, Willowbreeze?"

"Fetch me some poppy seeds please! And, ehm, do we have any marigold?"

"No m'am."

"Wild garlic?"

"No m'am." Cardinalpaw dropped a leaf full of poppy seeds in front of Dappleheart.

"Mouse dung!" Willowbreeze cursed, flicking her ear.

"Would you like me to go and find some?"

The medicine cat turned around and blinked gratefully at her apprentice. "That would be great Cardinalpaw!" she mewed. "You're quite the help!"

Dappleheart smiled and watched the red she-cat bolt out of the den as the medicine cat turned back to her. "Eat these poppy seeds. Not only will they help the pain, but they will make you tired as well," mewed Willowbreeze, smiling and perking her ears.

Dappleheart obeyed, picking the seeds up on her tongue and crunching them with her back teeth. The den was silent for a few moments, the silence broken by a dry rasp.

"Willowbreeze!"

Dappleheart perked her ears and widened her eyes. That voice…

Willowbreeze blinked at her. "Be right back," she said softly, before turning toward the voice. "Yes Bluefeather?"

Dappleheart hadn't noticed if, for her father had been all too silent… but as she allowed her sight to adjust to the darkness in the opposite corner of the den, she could make out his furry form, and see his sky blue eyes glowing dully. "Dad?" she called gently.

"Ah… Dappleheart, you're finally awake!" her father rasped, running his pink tongue over his muzzle.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

Bluefeather opened his mouth to speak, but Willowbreeze hushed him. "Shh… you mustn't talk so much!" she said sternly.

Bluefeather flattened his ears slightly and looked at the ground.

"You're father is a brave cat, despite his age," Willowbreeze began, looking back at Dappleheart. "On top of already being sick, he protected Firepelt and her kits during the attack. He noticed the nursery was being invaded while out to make dirt, but he fended off the scrawny tom. However, he returned with a huge gash in his side… lost a decent amount of blood." The medicine cat frowned.

"Ah, I'm better!" scoffed Bluefeather, opening his mouth again to say more but having it cut off by a hacking cough.

Willowbreeze narrowed her eyes. "Yes, you may be, but you're still sick!" she snapped, glaring harshly at the elder.

"I'm an old cat! I'm gonna get sick!" Bluefeather spat, laying his head on his paws.

Willowbreeze softened and looked sadly at the elder. "I know… but you've been getting sick more and more often lately…" she cooed, looking sympathetically at Dappleheart.

The dappled she-cat's breath caught in her throat. Was she insinuating that

No… she probably wasn't. She didn't even know why that thought had crossed her mind.

Bluefeather coughed again.

"Err, Bluefeather, do you need anything?" Willowbreeze asked.

Bluefeather looked solemnly at the medicine cat. "Erm, my throat is sore… and…" he trailed off, as though reluctant to admit the next thing. "My side hurts a bit…" he said quietly, chewing his lip.

"Well, you're in luck, I have a store of honey and poppy seeds. That should hold you over," Willowbreeze meowed, flicking her tail and walking over to her herb store. She grabbed a leaf with a chunk of oozing honeycomb and a bundle of poppy seeds and placed them before Bluefeather. "Eat the honey comb first, then eat the poppy seeds," she told him.

Dappleheart saw her father open his mouth, most likely to reject with some sort of smart-aleck comment, but decided it best not to, and shut up, doing as he was told.

Willowbreeze padded back over to Dappleheart and sat in front of her. The medicine cat leaned down and whispered in her ear. "Your father… my, he's a pawful!" she breathed, laughing slightly. "I see where you get it from. Your mother was nothing like him!"

Dappleheart giggled, but felt a pang of sadness as the medicine cat mentioned her mother.

Amberlight… the most beautiful she-cat Dappleheart knew. Her mother had been best friends with Willowbreeze. They knew each other since kit-hood, born only a few days apart, with Amberlight being older. Bluefeather was older than Amberlight, of course, two years maybe? She didn't know… Willowbreeze was still relatively young, younger than Bluefeather of course, but Bluefeather was nowhere near Frozenleaf's age, who was the oldest cat in StormClan.

Amberlight had been a dark golden honey colored warrior, with three thick stripes on her mid-back, the color of Dappleheart's pelt. She could see her now, pelt shimmering in the sunlight. Her fur was on the shorter side, but smooth and incredibly silky. And her eyes…. the most beautiful thing she had ever seen; a deep steely blue, swirling with silver flecks.

The she-cat was normally cool and laid-back, but she had a fiery side to her, making her someone you didn't want to tamper with. Fiercely loyal to her Clan, she was something more like a beast on the battlefield. And she died in the most noble way possible…

It had been a few years ago… when the dogs had invaded StormClan camp. The Clan had managed to chase most of them off, except for the leader of them, a fierce, thick black and brown dogs with a short, stubby tail. Amberlight sacrificed herself, brutally coming at the beast with hit after hit, but of course, she too took much damage. The dog ran off, probably close to bleeding to death, and Amberlight had saved her Clan... for a price.

As the Clan rejoiced, Amberlight suddenly fell to the ground, flanks heaving, bleeding heavily. Magmapool an old cat, medicine cat at the time, and Willowbreeze's mentor was summoned, but Amberlight knew she was going to die, and seemed almost happy about it, for she would die saving her Clan. She had stalled long enough for Magmapool's remedies to be in vain, and her spirit left for StarClan.

Dapplepaw and her siblings had searched the skies all night for another star, since they weren't allowed to sit vigil for the whole night. They had snuck out, much to their father's ignorance, and sat in the clearing in the forest used for apprentice training, staring at the sky for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep there, and scaring the Clan half to death, though they were found before the sun rose too high.

Amberlight hadn't even seen Dapplepaw and her siblings become warriors, but she was close to being able to. Only a few days after was their ceremony held, but Dapplepaw was almost too sad to come out of the den that day. She had silently wished she had died with her mother, but she tried to put on a mask of eagerness and earned her warrior name.

"Dappleheart!" snapped a cold voice, something prodding her in the side.

"Huh? Wha…" Dappleheart blinked, shaking her head and looking around to see Willowbreeze staring at her, amber eyes wide with concern.

"Er… you zoned out," the medicine cat said, raising a brow.

"Oh… ehh… right. Sorry about that… just…" she had been so lost in thought, but she didn't want to bring it up… not even to Willowbreeze.

"'Just' what?" Willowbreeze asked.

"Oh… it's nothing really," she lied, flattening her ears and looking away. She gave a fake yawn, though, considering the poppy seeds were starting to take effect, it was pretty convincing.

Willowbreeze softened her gaze and gave a smile. "I'll let you get some sleep, then. The poppy seeds must be working."

Dappleheart sniffed. "Yeah…" she mewed softly, beginning to close her eyes.

She listened to the sound of Willowbreeze padding away, and fell into the darkness as it called her name.

[AN] Hey guys, I hope you liked it. I was thinking about how this story needs a cover... but it doesn't have one and frankly I'm too busy with other things (and art-dead...) to make one! So, I've decided it would be cool to hold a contest! So, here's the thing. You guys make a cover, it can be a photo manipulation or a drawing, anything! It just has to feature a cat (preferably a main character that symbolizes the story), and a title would be nice as well! The winner will have their masterpiece featured as the cover! If you make one, PM it to me. Also, I will draw the winner a free custom request! ^^ Toodles! I'd like to have four more reviews at the least before I upload the next chapter!