"Alright! Everybody at attention!" Treestar ordered. The six apprentices stood ready for assessment. Dovepaw fidgeted beside Redpaw. She learned over to whisper in Redpaw's ear.
"Ugh, I'm really nervous. How about you?" Dovepaw asked.
"I'm fine. I think I know what to do." Redpaw replied confidently. She was, in fact, worried about the possibility of failure, though.
"Your assessment will consist of two of you working together to find ten pieces of prey, five on the ground, five in the trees. Do I may myself clear?" He flashed a look towards Redpaw and Dovepaw, the former taking a bit of offense.
"Now, the pairs are Oakpaw and Graypaw, Birchpaw and Dovepaw, and Sprucepaw and Redpaw. You all will have to be back by sunhigh. Now, begin!" Treestar yelled. The apprentices gathered into their teams and scurried off for the forest, but not before Redpaw was stopped by Treestar. He leaned down into her ear and whispered.
"Do anything to my daughter, and I promise you'll be in the Dark Forest." The leader's eyes flashed with a sick gleam, and Redpaw pelted away from him to catch up. If this was the way Treestar was going to act, she was seriously worried about becoming Sprucepaw's friend.
It was halfway to sunhigh as Redpaw deposited the last piece of ground prey the team had to collect. Sprucepaw sat quietly and watched as Redpaw scraped dirt over it.
"So… should we begin looking in the trees?" Sprucepaw said. Her voice made Redpaw jump, she hadn't heard it in forever, but it sounded more mature than the kit-sounding one she had heard moons ago.
"Er, yeah. I'll just… go look for a good tree, yeah?" Redpaw stuttered. Sprucepaw's eyes flashed with concern, but she seemed to abandon it shortly after.
"Alright, I'll… climb this tree right here, I guess." She jumped for it, and started clawing her way up. Redpaw padded a little ways into the bushes before a loud yowl sounded.
"Heeeeeelp!" The cry came. Redpaw looked up and saw Sprucepaw dangling from a branch. The young cat's hind paws churned the air until with a snap, the branch broke, and Sprucepaw was plummeting to the hard ground below. Redpaw wasted no time in getting into position under Sprucepaw. Using the few moments she had, Redpaw laid down flat on the ground, bracing for Sprucepaw's impact. With a thud, she landed, driving all the breath out of Redpaw's body. After a while, Sprucepaw spoke.
"You… You… Saved me…" Sprucepaw gasped.
"It… was nothing." Redpaw winced, her body ached all over.
"But… why? Wouldn't it have been better if I… never mind." Sprucepaw said, dismissing the thought.
"If you what?" Redpaw asked. Sprucepaw's downcast look seemed odd compared to the shock from earlier.
"I-It's nothing, honest." She said.
"If you were being so honest, you wouldn't be twitching like that." Sprucepaw's tailtip had an odd twitch to it when she said "honest". "Come on now, tell me." Redpaw pressed.
"I-If I died?"
"Wh-What?!" Redpaw burst out. "What do you mean by that?!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just thought it'd be better since you don't like me!" Sprucepaw sounded scared, and Redpaw thought it'd be better if she pursed a more calm line of questioning. She took a deep breath before speaking again.
"Okay, tell me why you think that."
"B-Because I've seen the way you look at me and my brothers. I-I know you think I'm l-l-like them, but I'm n-not, really! I'm s-sorry for what happened when we went across the border, and the time-"
"Woah, woah, slow down. It's okay." Redpaw said. "Wait, are you-" Before she could finish, the dark brown she-cat burst into tears and dug her nose into Redpaw's fur. For as much as she didn't like being something Sprucepaw could cry into, she sat for as long as Sprucepaw needed.
It was almost Sunhigh by the time Sprucepaw had went into sniffing. Pulling herself away, Redpaw started to wash her fur.
"Th-Thanks." Sprucepaw sniffled. "Nobody's ever heard me out before."
"No problem. I'm your sister after all." Redpaw said.
"Hey, do you… like my dad?" Sprucepaw asked hesitantly. Redpaw's ears pricked at the question.
"He's our leader, but… honestly? He's kind of a jerk." Redpaw said bluntly. "That… wasn't too harsh, was it?" But Sprucepaw was… laughing?
"So I'm not the only one. He never listens to me, only to my idiot brothers. I've wanted to stand up for myself, but they… abuse me…" The downcast look returned, and Redpaw brushed up beside her.
"Look, I'll be right by your side. You don't need them if they're that rude to you."
"Okay. Thanks, Redpa- no, sis." She corrected herself.
"Now, we only have a little left before sunhigh, let's get hunting!"
Sprucepaw and Redpaw arrived back at camp with all the prey they had been required (and an extra thrush) to hunt. Upon the reports by all the mentors, Treestar jumped onto the stump and yowled for attention.
"Clanmates, it is time!" He announced. "Oakpaw, Birchpaw, and Sprucepaw! Step forward." The three moved forward awkwardly, the whole clan staring in confused silence.
"Do you three promise to uphold the Warrior Code, even at the cost of… your life?" Treestar seemed to choke them, causing Redpaw to think how much devotion he really had to his kits.
"I do." The three meowed in unison.
"Then by the power granted by StarClan, I now declare you all Warriors by the names of Oakpelt, Birchstripe, and Spruceclaw! May StarClan honor your names forever!" Usually a cheer went up, but astonishingly, nothing was heard.
"Well you mouse-brains, cheer!" Treestar snapped.
"Uh, you might wanna promote the other ones." Icypool mewed. A visible look of anger was on Graypaw's face, and Dovepaw's was plastered with confusion.
"Oh, right. Uh, Grayfeather, Dovetail, and Redheart. StarClan be with you. Now cheer!" An uneasy chorus went up, but Redheart didn't feel like joining in. Did Treestar really forget to give them their names, or did he actually just want to promote his kits?"
"Woohoo, congratulations Redheart!" Pigeonwing said excitedly. "I'm gonna have trouble saying that now, but hey! We're denmates!" She brushed up against Redheart.
"You were the best apprentice I could ever have, Red." Pigeonwing said gently, a hint of pride in her voice.
"T-Thanks." Redheart said.
"Indeed, you show much talent." Swiftfoot said.
"She'll be better than that father of hers hopefully." Blossomheart mewed crossly.
"She's not much, but there's a little there." Firecloud said wryly.
"I'm so proud of you, my daughter." Leafheart said, her eyes shining. Redheart returned the favor and touched noses with her.
"Thank you for letting me get this far." Redheart said, beaming at her mother's love. She expected Treestar to come over, but he was too busy celebrating with his own kits. It was no matter to her though, she had her friends and Leafheart, and that was better than him.
"H-Hey, thanks for letting me have a chance, all the while ago." Dovetail's voice sounded in Redheart's ears. She turned to see her, a mouse dangling from her jaws. "Share?"
"Certainly." Crouching down together, they began to eat when Grayfeather came over. "Oh brother." Redheart thought as Grayfeather sat in front of them.
"Would you lovely she-cats mind if I shared as well?" He asked, his tone was surprisingly gentle.
"Aww, stop it!" Dovetail said, ducking her head to hide her embarrassment. "Sure you can!" Grayfeather nodded as he too came down and began to eat.
"Who knew? Warriors, us." His eye were bright at the thought.
"Seems a little late though. You two were apprentices for two moons before I was." Redheart commented.
"Well, yeah." Dovetail said. "But we are now! This is gonna be so exciting! Think of all the patrols! We don't need permission to go out! We…" Redheart zoned out as Dovetail chattered on. She snapped back to attention as Treestar hopped onto his stump.
"Clanmates! I am sorry to end the celebrations, but I have an announcement!" Treestar yowled.
"Here we go again." Redheart heard Brackenfeather meow to her sister. Minttail only nodded in agreement.
"ThunderClan has waged an undeclared war against us by having Dustwhisker become leader. I will not stand for this, and tomorrow, we-" Treestar was cut short as the camp exploded into loud cries and yowls. Redheart saw multiple hackles raised, and plently of spitting. She saw her mother staring straight ahead, and sprang up to talk to her.
"W-What's going on?" Redheart mewed.
"Something that shouldn't." She replied quietly. Redheart's felt she was about to faint. What rock-headed decision was Treestar making now?