A/N: I AM SO SO SO SORRY FOR THE LONG UPDATE! ( will a cookie make it better?) (::) anyway this is THE LAST DAPPLE POV! I just really didn't have the energy or motivation to write anymore of her POV.
Mapleshade got uncomfortably close to Dapple's face. "I'm surprised you still remember me!" Mapleshade spat. Dapple had to use every once of her discipline to to flinch.
"Seems the only way you've honored me is with a pathetic, half Thunderclan kit!" Her mother kept getting in her face repeatedly, hissing and spitting, then pacing back and forth for a few heart beats.
She thought back to when her mother would teach Dapple and her brother Otto how to be "strong". Her lessons were always brutal, but in a way useful. Even when Mapleshade used to dig her claws into their fur, they weren't even allowed to whimper. Dapple knew if she even shown an ounce of weakness she would never make it out of this place. Then I wont even have a chance to find Vinekit.
She forced her back a little straighter as Mapleshade encircled her, hissing with haunches raised. "First you take a mate from, not just any clan. You get one from THUNDERCLAN! Then you have kits with it!, I can't believe my own blood would betray me this way!" Mapleshade's eyes were crazed and dark.
The way Mapleshade was talking about Dustyclaw and her kits drove Dapple half mad. She dug her claws into the sickly, moist ground to stop herself from clawing her mother. Mapleshade noticed this, stopped her rant and laughed maniacally. Her gaze grew mockingly soft and touched her tail to Dapple's face.
"Daughter, dear. Don't start a fight you cant finish." And with that Mapleshade leaped at Dapple. She was caught unawares and the two she-cats tumbled into a clump of fungus with a flurry of teeth and claws.
Mapleshade pinned her daughter down and tore out some of Dapple's glossy shoulder-fur and a dull burning sensation ran through Dapple's pelt. Dapple snapped around and bit down hard on her mother's paw, blood began to ooze from the wound. This, surprising unbalanced her mother just enough and Dapple kicked with her strong hind legs and sent Mapleshade flying into a hollow, rotting tree.
The complete rage in her face sent shivers down Dapple's back. Mapleshade struggled to get out of the crumbling tree she was crashed into. Dapple looked out frantically onto the horizon. She saw a lush, bright forest and ran towards it. That must be Starclan territory! She sprinted in it's direction hoping to put as much space between her and Mapleshade as possible.
She heard a dull crack-like thud a few fox-lengths behind her. Then the crazed voice that followed. "You think your precious Starclan will save you?!" That she-cat is not my Mother, she's a monster. Dapple pushed herself to the limit, her lungs were about to burst and her legs felt as if they would fall off soon.
"Pain is nothing but impulses! You create pain yourself, so block it out!" Dapple remembered another thing her mother taught her. She forced herself to press on. Dodging the decaying "plants" and trees along the way. Mapleshade was quite a ways behind her, but Dapple didn't dare look back.
Suddenly the brilliant light from the Starclan hunting grounds became brighter and Dapple, who was exhausted and out of breath, slowed her pace. I'm safe now. Mapleshade stood at the boarder wheezing from the long chase.
"You think just because you made it to Starclan means you're secure?" Mapleshade scoffed. "Think again." Mapleshade flicked her tail slowly and thought for a few heartbeats. "Maplekit, is it?" She said at last, extending her claws.
Being on Starclan's side of the boarder gave Dapple some extra confidence and now she was ready to fight back. "If you touch her I'll-" Dapple yowled before getting cut off. "Oh trust me, I have a better idea in mind. When i'm finished you will have wished you had respected by desires."
She smiled evilly and stalked back into the wretched forest which she now called home. Dapple suppressed a shiver and tried to clear her head. Right now I need to focus on is finding Vinekit. Dapple scanned her surroundings. The was a large oak forest to her right, that's where she began her search.
…
"Mama?!" Vinekit yelped from a clump of ferns.
Dapple rushed over to her son. "Oh thank Starclan!" she nuzzled him and showered him with comforting licks.
"Where are we?" Vinekit asked warily.
"A place where no one can hurt you anymore." Dapple purred.
"I hope Maplekit and Speckle are okay." Vinekit mewed innocently.
Dappled tried to sound more confident than she felt.
"I'm sure they're doing just fine."
Are they really? Mapleshade said she had something awful planned for Maplekit. Will me and my kits ever be safe?
A/N: I've chosen then names of the apprentices, you'll find out which ones I picked when they get their naming ceremony. And in this fic, the great battle never happened.