CHAPTER 6:
The world was cold. The harsh winds battled the trees' branches. Frost tinged the fallen leaves on the ground. What was happening? Turning around slowly, a bright light flashed high in the sky. Redpaw wondered if it was a bird, or perhaps a shooting star, but no, she was wrong… it was a cat. A cat very much like Feathertail - but different somehow.
Redpaw gaped at the sight in the sky and didn't even notice the gentle flutter of fluff fall slowly and gracefully down from the sky. "Oh my StarClan! It's snowing!" Dovepaw squealed and tried to catch the falling snow with her paws.
Ivypaw watched outside from the safety within the medicine cat's den, her tail being treated.
Redpaw looked around the clearing, seeing mostly everybody gaze at the wondrous sight.
Redpaw didn't pay very much attention to the drifting snow, no, not at the very least. She was looking at the camp entrance. Something… or perhaps someone… was coming.
Redpaw looked around confusedly, since when had it been the end of Leaffall and the beginning of Leafbare? Then it hit her - it was not. No. Not at all. Then why was snow falling? She knew she wasn't having a dream, she knew that as she knew the pad of her paw… But why did it feel like a dream? It most likely was.
Feeling drowsy, Redpaw retreated to the Apprentices' den, and collapsed into her bed. As soon as her head landed onto the moss, her eyes snapped closed and she fell asleep faster than a blink of an eye.
The last thought she had before she entered her own little dream-world was about how she must have had seen illusions. Illusions was the answer to the images she had seen in the clearing, she knew that.
*The Next Day*
"Hey… is she STILL asleep?" asked a tom-voice in the background. Redpaw moaned as a paw prodded her side.
"It appears so," replied a she-cat's voice.
"So then she has no clue what has just happened? To Briarpaw?" asked another she-cat's voice.
"No," replied another she-cat.
Redpaw's eyes flew open, they were dull and everything she saw was all black, until she rubbed her eyes with one of her paws. The colors of the Apprentices' den all flooded into her view.
Bumblepaw, Dovepaw, and Ivypaw, and Blossompaw were all crowded around Redpaw.
Still groggy from sleep, Redpaw arose from her nest, "W-what happened?"
"Briarpaw… she… her backbone had snapped in half," Dovepaw spoke softly. Silence filled the den, a sad silence.
"What?" Redpaw finally managed to whisper.
"Didn't you just hear me?" Dovepaw asked, "I said that Briarpaw had just broke her backbone!" More silence.
Suddenly, they heard Firestar's voice calling for a clan meeting.
All of the apprentice scrambled out of the den. Redpaw, who was still in shock at hearing what had just happened to Briarpaw, couldn't concentrate on what Firestar was saying. Only a couple names had snapped her back out of shock-mode: "Briarlight! Bumblestripe! Blossomfall!" As the Clan said their names, she quickly chimed in.
"Congratulations," Redpaw meowed to Bumblestripe as he passed her, heading towards the camp entrance.
"Thanks," Bumblestripe meowed, a glint of emotion fluttered into his eyes before leaving his gaze as quickly as it appeared.
"Hey, Redpaw," Foxleap meowed, bounding up to the she-cat apprentice as soon as the three newest warriors went to go sit vigil - Briarlight had a difficult time, though.
"Oh, hi, Foxleap," Redpaw meowed.
"To tell you the truth… I thought I had loved you," Foxleap meowed, Redpaw's blue gaze had widened with surprise, and he quickly continued, "but I then realized that I didn't love you like a mate would. But more like a younger sister." Then he bounded away, and left Redpaw gaping at him.
Redpaw felt relief wash over her at Foxleap's words, and wondered why that emotion swept over her.
She didn't love anybody, she knew that, but her gut told her the opposite. Who could she have been in love with? No, not Foxleap, not any of the other toms except for - …
Redpaw's heart fluttered at the thought of her loving the tom. The tom that she knew both Ivypaw and Dovepaw loved - or had loved.
Bumblestripe.
