This is Leopardpaw's POV as usual . . . yes the update was fast for the first time ever. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the WARRIORS series, Erin Hunter does. Also, the idea of a Fearsome Foursome rightfully belongs to malicent. However, all characters and plot belong to me.

"When I die, don't come near my body, because my hand may not be able to wipe your tears anymore."

-Nishan Panwar

Chapter 10: Death's Blow

I opened my eyes to find myself on a small rock that perched a fox-length above a large ocean. The waters below churned viciously, slapping against the stone and spraying a mist into my face. I yelped and scrambled away but to my dismay there was no way off the ledge without falling into the water.

I was stuck on a rock in the middle of the ocean.

Movement caught my eye and I turned to see a black and white she-cat swimming strongly through the sea. Even though she was so far away in the water you could clearly tell she was RiverClan by the way she could cut smoothly through the waves. "Help!" I shouted. The she-cat looked in my direction and adjusted so she was swimming towards me.

A few moments later the black and white she-cat pulled herself up on the rock next to me. "Hello. I'm Skata, who are you?" she asked. Her emerald eyes watched my closely with curiosity in their depths. I could tell by the way she kept her body tensed and claws slightly out that she didn't trust me though.

It felt like my breath had been knocked out of me when I heard her name. Skata? My mother? "I'm Leopardpaw," I meowed, watching her closely. "Can you help me get off of here? I want to go home," I asked.

Skata laughed bitterly. "You can't leave. Nobody's allowed to leave," she said wistfully, looking out at the sea.

I felt like a stone had dropped into my chest and I spoke in a quiet voice but it came out as a whine, "But I don't belong here!"

"Then jump into the sea," the black and white she-cat instructed. I hesitated and looked down at the wild water below. Skata nudged me, "Go." I dug my claws into the stone, maybe this rock won't be so bad to stand on . . . then a push from behind sent me tumbling into the frigid ocean. My mouth and nose flooded with seawater as I sunk down, down, down. It felt like the river all over again, even though that was a mere half moon ago it felt like yesterday.

I felt my lungs threatening to burst if they didn't receive air soon. I tried to swim through the water but I couldn't, my paws just flailed helplessly. I opened my mouth to gasp for air and surprisingly the sweet oxygen flooded my mouth.

Jerking my head upward I blinked open my green eyes. I recognized the apprentices' den with forms of my sleeping Clanmates all curled up in their nests. What was that? Was it only a dream? Was that my mother? I wondered. Flicking my ears I strained to hear sounds of life in the clearing but nothing rewarded me. Then, the sound of a pebble skittering across the ground sounded loudly. I held my breath and tried to peer through the vine curtain of the den.

"Be quiet, Honeypelt!" a deep tom's voice hissed.

"Shut up, Cinderclaw."

I squinted but could only make out the forms of five cats slipping soundlessly through the fern tunnel. Stepping out into the pre-dawn light I watched as the last cat exited the camp and in their jaws was the familiar form of Hollykit. When she saw me the little kit squeaked loudly, "Help Leopardpaw! Save us!" she shouted.

One of the intruders turned and I recognized their faces from the Gathering the night before. RiverClan! I thought. The tom's eyes registered fear when they noticed me, "Run!" he yowled. The others turned and when they saw they'd been spotted they took off.

I started to race after them, letting out a piercing yowl but a quick command stopped me, "Stop Leopardpaw, we need a plan before we just charge off." I halted and turned to see a stormy-eyed Stormflight emerging from the warriors' den. I hesitated before turning and bounding over to my mentor with raised eyebrows.

Swiftstar appeared from her den a moment later, her eyes sharp and alert even though it was so early in the morning. A few tired cats dragged themselves from the warriors' den, their mouths half open in silent yawns as Swiftstar let out a loud yowl, "What is going on?" she asked, leaping on top of the Highrock.

I shrunk back when she looked straight at me. I gulped. "I think it was RiverClan—" I didn't get the chance to finish because Shimmermask came screeching out of the nursery.

"My kits! My kits are missing!" she yowled.

Swiftstar's eyes narrowed as she put the pieces together. "Stormflight!" she meowed sharply, looking down at the blue-gray tom at the foot of the Highrock. "Take five of the Clan's best trackers and follow them!" she ordered.

Stormflight nodded and disappeared into the warriors' den, reappearing seconds later with Thornwhisker, Brambleleg, and Brightflame. "Morningpaw, Leopardpaw!" he called, beckoning me with a wave of his tail. Me? I blinked in surprise and bounded over to my mentor. Stormflight gave me a brief smile before turning to the others, "We don't have time to waste so if you think you've found their trail then don't hesitate to alert the rest of us," he ordered, glancing at each of us in turn.

I followed the patrol as we left the camp. As soon as we were a few fox-lengths from the entrance the warriors scattered, tasting the air and examining the ground for pawprints. Not wanting to look foolish I searched around as well and found myself wandering over to Stormflight. My mentor looked up and scanned me, his gray eyes quickly taking me in. "Leopardpaw," he greeted briefly.

"Why didn't you bring Poolmist?" I asked curiously. Stormflight had said she was one of the best trackers in Clan history.

Stormflight grinned and I grow hot and looked down at my paws. "So you've been paying attention," the deputy praised. "I didn't bring her because she's getting old and a battle is no place for a cat like her," he answered truthfully. Well, I couldn't argue with that logic.

A loud growl stopped the rest of our conversation. Brightflame was crouched down over a muddy pawprint, her mouth open as she tried to scent. Her mate—Brambleleg—joined her a second later and observed the ground. "It looks like they were heading in the direction of the river," he informed.

Thornwhisker snarled angrily, "Let's go then!" The brown warrior took off through the long grass without waiting for a reply. Stormflight narrowed his eyes before giving chase with me right on his tail.

We reached the river faster than I thought but to our surprise there was no sign of the kits or the RiverClan thieves. "Where could they have gone?" Morningpaw asked, scanning the bank for any movement.

I hesitated, "They had to have headed for the gorge, swimming across the river with the squirming kits would be impossible even to a RiverClan warrior."

Stormflight nodded in agreement and took off on a run. I bounded after him, racing strongly. After jumping so much before training my legs had become much more powerful, making me much more faster. A small feeling of pride settled in my belly when I managed to keep pace with Morningpaw who looked surprise to see someone with such short legs matching her speed. As our patrol came closer to the gorge a group of five figures could be seen nearing the Twoleg bridge.

Brightflame let out a furious yowl and shot forward, passing the rest of us as she ran at the RiverClan warriors. I admired Brightflame for her bravery, after raising her own kit—Cloudypaw—and my brothers and I she knew what it was like to have a child that you wanted to protect. The ginger and white she-cat leaped at one of the cats, bowling them over.

Stormflight pulled forward as well, "Icefang!" he snarled. Racing forward he stood before the thieves with such pure rage in his eyes that even I flinched. "Stealing kits is unacceptable! It goes completely against the warrior code!" he hissed, fluffing up his fur.

A silver and white she-cat growled. In her jaws she held little Nightkit who squealed in fear. "Go back to your camp, Stormflight! Unless you want this little kit to take a trip down the gorge," she threatened. Stormflight froze as Nightkit's pitiful mews continued to be heard. By now the rest of us had caught up and were all facing the RiverClan cats with cold glares. Brightflame hissed and shoved the ash gray tom she had been fighting away before stalking over to our group.

Icefang smirked and shook her jaws, letting Nightkit flail in the air helplessly. Stormflight's face flashed with conflicting emotions: he couldn't just let the RiverClan cats walk away but he couldn't afford for harm to come to the kits.

I steeled my muscles. Sometimes you just have to trust that you'll come out of the impossible. I learned that that day. Out of nowhere I leaped forward, crashing into Icefang, knocking the she-cat to the ground. The RiverClan cat coughed, gasping for air. Nightkit squeaked as he fell to the ground but he wasted no time darting over to the ThunderClan warriors.

Claws tore into my side and I cried out from pain. Suddenly we were fighting. Not just Icefang and I but the rest of the patrols as well. Stormflight rushed to my side, "Go help Morningpaw," he ordered. I was about to protest but the deputy cut me off with a pleading look. I nodded and hurried to Morningpaw who was struggling to fight off a silver tom with black stripes and a brown she-cat.

Let out a battle cry I crashed into the silver tom's side but was surprised to see the familiar face of Bravepaw. "You," he gasped. I scrambled away from him and the silver tom stood, shaking dust from his pelt. "Leopardpaw," he said cautiously, taking a step towards me. "I don't want to hurt you."

I wanted to trust him, I really did. But Hollykit's terrified scream and Nightkit's fearful eyes made my face contort in anger. "Then you shouldn't have taken those kits," I hissed before lunging.

Bravepaw yelped in surprise as we collided. My claws sunk into his thick shoulders and I grabbed his ear with my teeth. Bravepaw growled, swatting my face with his claws, blinding me for a second. The silver tom rammed his head into my side, knocking the air from my lungs. He glared down at me and I drew my ears back so they were pinned to my skull and my deep green eyes grew wide and innocent.

Bravepaw hesitated but before I could attack again he was shoved away with a quick blow to the face. I turned to see Brambleleg frowning at the silver tom, "So young to be brought into this mess," he murmured.

I looked around for another fight but everyone seemed engaged in their own battle. "Help!" a squeak cried. My eyes narrowed in on Shadekit who was sent tumbling over the edge of the gorge when Icefang had accidently backed up too far, kicking the poor tom.

"Shadekit!" I yowled, darting for the edge. However, Morningpaw was quicker. The tortoiseshell she-cat launched herself down after them followed closely behind by the brown she-cat she had been fighting. It was Brookpaw. Peering over the drop I saw Shadekit hanging onto a tiny ledge by his claws with Morningpaw and Brookpaw slowly approaching him.

I started to make my way down after them, jumping carefully from ledge to ledge. Morningpaw leaped for a group of rocks next to Shadekit's ledge but Brookpaw screamed in fear, "No don't!" The brown she-cat jumping for Morningpaw and collided with her, pushing the ThunderClan apprentice onto a small slope. Brookpaw crashed into the rocks and yowled in fear when the loose stones when tumbling down the gorge.

"Brookpaw!" I screamed.

The brown she-cat's azure eyes met mine just before she slammed into the water. I strained to see her but the large boulders that fell in after her blocked any signs of her survival. Morningpaw clung to the slope she had been thrown on, slipping closer to the edge every second. I slid down the rock's face using my claws to hold on.

Dropping down onto Shadekit's ledge I reached down to grab the little tom's scruff before pulling him to safety. Setting him down I inspected him closely, making sure there weren't any serious injuries. Once satisfied I bounded towards Morningpaw who was holding on by just her front paws.

"Leopardpaw help me!" she wailed, scrambling to get a better hold. I leaped onto the slope and inched down towards Morningpaw. The tortoiseshell shrieked as both her paws slipped but just in time I dived forward and caught her by the scruff.

"Hold still," I mumbled through the fur, struggling to pull the heavier apprentice up.

Morningpaw whimpered, "It's useless; you're not strong enough to pull me up."

What a horrible realization, I pitied. Knowing there's no way to escape death.

"Leopardpaw I'm so sorry for the way I've treated you," Morningpaw meowed sadly. "I was so jealous of how Stormflight treated you. He would always watch you with such pride in his eyes and Stormflight would never take on an apprentice unless they were something special," she confessed. I blinked in surprise; Morningpaw jealous? Of me?

We both shrieked as my claws slid down and Morningpaw dangled even closer to the river. "Leopardpaw!" she gasped. "You have to promise me something. Promise me you'll never trust Thornwhisker; he's planning something big, I'm not sure what but don't trust him whatever you do!" she begged.

"I promise."

Morningpaw closed her eyes sadly, "Goodbye Leopardpaw. Tell Dovepaw and Hawkpaw that I love them," she meowed, a tear slipping out of her eye and down her cheek. Then she did something I never could have expected: she wiggled free of my grasp.

"No!" I screamed as the tortoiseshell fell down the rock wall. A loud crunch was audible as her body slammed into the stones at the edge of the river before it slid into the foaming water. A wave of grief swept over me as I looked away from the bloody scene. Morningpaw you could have just let me pull you up. What made you so scared that you gave up your life?

With my tail drooping in the dust I leaped back over to Shadekit's ledge and picked up the small gray tom in my jaws. Carefully, I navigated myself up the gorge wall until I got my two front paw safely grasping the top. Digging my claws into the cracks in the loose stone I gave a final push and hauled my tiny body to the top. Panting hard I set down Shadekit and nearly collapsed of exhaustion.

Sometime while I was down on the ledges the battle had stopped and now cats from both sides looked at me with anxiety. "What happened?" Stormflight demanded, hurrying over and resting his tail across my shoulders. "We all saw you disappear over the edge and waited to see what happened," he explained.

What a mess I must have looked like when I raised my eyes to speak. My fur was dusty and matted down from sweat and dirt, my eyes rimmed with red from where a few treacherous tears had escaped, and my voice was raspy from screaming too loudly. "Shadekit . . . fell over . . . the edge," I began, breathing hard between words. "Morningpaw dived down after him, followed by Brookpaw and then me."

Bravepaw's expression hardened when I looked at him. "Where's my sister?" he demanded.

I gazed sadly at my paws, "She didn't make it," I whispered. "She pushed Morningpaw out of the way of crumbling rocks and ended up falling instead."

The silver tom glared but his face was full of sadness, "No, Brookpaw wouldn't die," he growled in disbelief.

"Where's Morningpaw?" Thornwhisker asked with a fake frown of sadness on his face. I really wanted to claw his throat out. It was just a guess but I'd bet all the mice in the forest he was one of the reasons Morningpaw wanted to die.

"She couldn't hold on to the ledge and fell over before I could reach her," I lied. Telling Thornwhisker that she killed herself would set Thornwhisker on the edge. The Clan would start to dig around for the reason she wanted to die and the clues might somehow point back to him. By telling Thornwhisker she just died without the chance of being saved would give him a false sense of security and maybe he'd continue planning whatever big thing he was going to do.

Bravepaw got up abruptly and bounded across the Twoleg bridge, disappearing into the tall weeds. "He was very close to his sister," a golden RiverClan she-cat meowed. Are you Honeypelt? Did you send that pebble rolling across the ground? I wondered, trying to keep my mind away from Morningpaw and Brookpaw.

Stormflight rose and glared coldly at Icefang. "This battle is over. We will be leaving now, with the kits," he said icily.

The white she-cat didn't even protest when Brightflame, Brambleleg, and I took the kits from the jaws of the RiverClan cats. I carried Shadekit again, struggling to keep hold of the quivering tom. "It's okay," I soothed. The gray tom flicked an ear in acknowledgement and relaxed slightly. I followed Stormflight back through the woods towards camp without saying a word. No one said anything, not even the kits.

As the camp came in sight the whole patrol seemed to slow pace. Who wanted to be the first to tell the Clan that Morningpaw wasn't coming back? Finally we all stopped in front of the entrance, waiting for someone to break forward and enter. Stormflight sighed and went first.

I was the second to follow him. As soon as I entered Dovepaw, Hawkpaw, and the other apprentices rushed towards me, asking questions excitedly.

"How'd you get the kits back?" Cloudypaw questioned.

"Did you claw one of those fish-breath's tails off?" Wolfpaw grinned.

"Was it hard?" Hawkpaw teased.

Then the quietest voice of them all seemed to be louder than the others. Dovepaw looked around at the rest of the patrol and asked in a very quiet voice:

"Where's Morningpaw?"

Bravepaw

I ran through the tall grass, clawing my way around the tall weeds. Brookpaw couldn't be dead. She promised we'd become warriors together and I could be her deputy when she became leader. Leopardpaw is a liar; Brookpaw would never break a promise. Following along the gorge I constantly glanced down to try and spot my sister's brown fur.

Nothing.

Pumping my muscles faster I raced along the edge yowling loudly, "Brookpaw! Brookpaw where are you?!"

I reached the river's edge and scanned the water that was coming from the direction of the gorge. Suddenly a brown head broke the surface and I recognized Brookpaw in a heartbeat. "Brookpaw!" I called, splashing into the water. Swimming against the current is never easy but somehow I managed to reach my sister quickly.

She flopped against the surface of the water with three legs. "I'm here," I soothed. Diving under I swam up under her so that I could get her to shore by carrying her on my back. As gently as I could I swam to the bank and crawled up, pulling Brookpaw onto the sand. "Are you okay?" I asked, bending down to examine her. Her hind leg was twisted almost completely around but other than that she seemed fine.

Brookpaw opened her mouth to speak but a thin stream of blood flowed out instead of words. She coughed a few times, sending water and blood onto the ground next to her. "Bravepaw . . ." she choked out.

I bent down next to her and lay on the sand, curling my body around hers to help her stay warm. "I'll stay, Brookpaw," I whispered. "But you have to stay too."

My sister barely nodded her head but that was enough.

Brookpaw would always be enough.

This sibling moment between Bravepaw and Brookpaw seemed so sweet :D

Leave a review if you want! Oh and tell me your fav character and why if you have one!

~Stormyyyfeather