WolfSummoner29- Well, when you have a mentor like Nightstar who wants you to be perfect…I would be pretty freaked out.

The Moon Wolf- Hm…could be. Who knows? Oh, yeah. I know! –slaps head- Duh!

Shandril Wielder of Spellfire- Here's the update for you! Maybe you could answer your questions with this chapter!

Owlreader- Firepaw's one pretty weird cat, I know. You'll see in the upcoming chapters who he really is.

Evershine- Like I said before, I would be freaked out if one day I suddenly woke up with a black thing on my face! XD

Lonekit of Thunderclan- You'll find out those things sooner or later!

Rileigh A. Jones- Thanks! :)

Heartsong's Fanfictions- Oh, noes! BAD THINGS! I MUST UPDATE! Oh, right! I did! So I am spared…for now.

Chapter 9

The two she-cats walked through the forest in silence, listening to the sounds of the morning. Birds chirping, mice scuffling around the undergrowth and the friendly rustling of leaves in the trees. This was what Heatherpaw called home.

They arrived at the small stream trickling between two boulders and running through the forest floor. Heatherpaw believed it eventually flowed to the mighty river that separated their border between RiverClan. Her heart gave a shudder. That reminded her she had to relay the message Lostpaw had entrusted her to Rosepaw.

Heatherpaw, instead of going into the stream, sat down on the earth-worn ground, wrapping her tail around her paws.

Rosepaw followed suit, her ears perked forward to listen to what her friend had to say.

"What do you want to hear first?" Heatherpaw asked her.

The white she-cat blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I have a lot to tell you."

Rosepaw nodded and looked up at the sky for a second. It was cloudy, probably because it had rained the day before and it threatened to rain again today. "Okay." The white she-cat brought her head down to Heatherpaw again. "I want to hear abut the gathering."

The light brown tabby apprentice shrugged. "It wasn't much of a gathering actually."

Rosepaw flicked her tail. "Did you see Lostpaw? How was he?"

Heatherpaw gritted her teeth. The moment she feared had arrived. Her conscience told her to tell the truth, but her heart told her not to, for she loved her friend and did not want her get hurt.

"Uh…"

Rosepaw frowned. "You…did see him, did you?"

"Look, Rosepaw,"

The white apprentice's eyes clouded. "He was with another she-cat, wasn't he?"

And that's when Heatherpaw saw him. Swiftpaw appeared behind Rosepaw, his expression worried when he saw her.

Heatherpaw gaped. "No!"

Rosepaw let out a sigh of relief. "Thank StarClan! For a moment there, you had me worried."

Heatherpaw dug her claws into the earth in her frustration. "Rosepaw, would you excuse me for a moment? I…have to make dirt."

Rosepaw whined. "Aw, I want to hear about Lost-"

Swiftpaw suddenly turned to Rosepaw and snarled. He lunged at her, claws extended.

Heatherpaw quickly shoved her out of his way, but instead of away, she pushed her straight into the stream and her friend landed with a splash.

Swiftpaw landed where Rosepaw had just stood a moment before. He let out an enraged hiss and lashed his tail. "No!"

Heatherpaw ignored him. "I'm sorry, Rosepaw! I didn't mean to!"

The she-cat shakily stood up, her white fur soaking wet. She turned her head to Heatherpaw and let out a hiss. "If you wanted me to leave, you could've just said so!"

Heatherpaw also hissed. "I did, but you were too busy obsessing over your stupid Lostpaw!"

She realized her mistake too late. Rosepaw's lip trembled and her green eyes blazed. "And…and you call yourself my friend?" She whimpered. "Heatherpaw, why?"

"Rosepaw!" The light tabby she-cat shook her head. "It's not you, it's-"

"Leave me alone! I never want to see you again!" Rosepaw shot out of sight, her white pelt disappearing into the forest before Heatherpaw can stop her.

"I'm sorry!" Heatherpaw wailed into the air, though Rosepaw was too far away to hear her.

Swiftpaw let out a light cough. "Heatherpaw-"

The apprentice whirled on him, her pelt brisling wildly and her heather-colored eyes blazing. "You! Get out of my life before you ruin it!"

Swiftpaw opened his mouth to say something, but the she-cat interrupted him once again.

"No, wait! You already did!" Heatherpaw whipped around to leave him, but Swiftpaw appeared in front of her, stopping her in her tracks.

"You can't leave!" The dead cat told her, his amber eyes pleading.

"Try to stop me, you good for nothing excuse for a cat!"

Swiftpaw flinched and sidestepped out of her way. "Go ahead." He murmured quietly. "I can't stop you. I'm…dead after all, aren't I?"

Heatherpaw nodded angrily. "Exactly." She walked straight past him and stepped into the undergrowth to head for the camp. She was going try to make amends with Rosepaw, but Swiftpaw spoke again, stopping her.

"But…you didn't try to wash that mark away. Aren't you at least…curious about what it is?"

Heatherpaw blinked, contemplating her next move. Should I trust that piece of fox-dung? She asked herself. However…I really want to know what this thing on my face is…I've got a feeling it won't go away just with a bath.

She turned around and faced the apprentice. "Alright. You've got my attention. Make it quick, I've got Nightstar waiting for me back at camp." She sat down, narrowed her eyes at him and flicked her tail, signifying her impatience.

Swiftpaw nodded and sat down, keeping his distance from the she-cat. "That mark on your face, when you saw it in your reflection…did you see any resemblance to something at all?"

Heatherpaw thought about this, but she shook her head. "No. I just thought I looked like one, sad looking apprentice that had just taken a bad beating." Then, with a jolt, she realized something. An important clue that confused her even more.

Swiftpaw shook his head. "No, not something, but someone."

Heatherpaw jumped up just from the sheer shock of it. "It's…you." She stammered.

Swiftpaw nodded grimly.

Until now, Heatherpaw had never really noticed anything peculiar on the apprentice's semi-transparent black and white coat, but now the black smudge on his left eye stood out from all the other haphazard black smudges on his white-pelted body. There was one on his right hindquarter, making it look as if he was branded, another in the center of his back, a couple on his chest and underbelly and the last one on his right paw.

Swiftpaw blinked uncomfortably as she examined him. He flicked his tail and the she-cat jumped back.

"What's wrong with me?" Heatherpaw whimpered. "How can I get rid of this thing on my face?"

Swiftpaw gritted his teeth and his amber eyes closed. "I-"

"Do you have an answer? Can you help me?"

"Um…"

"You do? Tell me!" The she-cat was visibly distraught. It was as if the smudge was some sort of disease and she was trying to find a cure for it right away.

"Well…"

Heatherpaw was furious now. "Swiftpaw! Can. You. Help. Me?" She spat the words.

"…actually, no. But-"

"What?" The she-cat screeched so loud Swiftpaw swore StarClan must have heard.

"I don't know anything about this, Heatherpaw. I'm sorry. This is the first time I find out about this too."

Heatherpaw shook her head in disbelief. "You…you lied to me?"

"It was the only thing I could do to talk to you, Heatherpaw. I'm just as scared as you are. Another cat having the same identical mark as I do doesn't happen every day, you know."

Heatherpaw hissed at that. "And a dead cat coming to ruin your life doesn't happen every day either, you know." She finished that sentence with a mocking tone, but Swiftpaw did not seem to have minded.

He shrugged. "True."

Heatherpaw then cocked her head, much to his surprise. Her anger had suddenly evaporated, replaced by curiosity. "Where…do you come from? You never told me."

Swiftpaw's expression darkened. "I…can't tell you just yet."

Heatherpaw's eyes narrowed. "Why are you haunting me? Can you answer that?"

Swiftpaw bowed his head and sighed. "I don't know myself."

The ThunderClan she-cat lashed her tail angrily. "I don't like all these secrets, Swiftpaw. If you're really going to haunt me for the rest of my life, we might as well get to know each other. I need some basic information, you know. For example, where you came from, who you really were, how you died-"

"A pack of dogs." Swiftpaw muttered softly.

"Huh? What?"

"I said, a pack of dogs. A pack of dogs killed me when I was an apprentice." Swiftpaw's body suddenly shuddered with some unknown memory.

Heatherpaw frowned. Funny, she thought, that's what Firepaw said. She shook away the thought and sat down, intrigued. "What happened?" She asked.

"It was a stupid idea from the start, but…it was the only way I could prove myself to be a warrior."

"Prove yourself?"

"Yes. I was already due to become a warrior and my friend Brightpaw too, but our leader, Bluestar-"

Heatherpaw gasped. "Bluestar? The leader before Firestar? Isn't she the one who went insane?"

Swiftpaw nodded and forced himself to smile. "You could say she went insane. But the truth was, she didn't trust anyone ever since…ever since…" He suddenly took a deep breath. "Ever since Tigerstar tried to murder her."

"And Firestar was the only one she could trust, right?"

"Unfortunately, yes. So she didn't trust us apprentices enough to make us warriors, calling us all traitors and stupid mouse-brain things like that."

"But, Swiftpaw," Heatherpaw abruptly mewed, "how come I have never heard of you, like Firestar of even Cloudtail, his nephew?"

Swiftpaw gave her a long, sad look. "Because when I died, all the attention focused on Brightheart-"

"She was the Brightpaw you talked about? Oh, now I remember! Her face was ripped apart by a dog and she was half-blind! You were in that fight too?"

Swiftpaw nodded. "I wasn't as famous as she was. That means I was quickly forgotten."

For once, Heatherpaw felt a pang of pity for the dead cat. It must feel bad to have everyone forget about you…she thought.

Suddenly, a rustle sounded from behind Heatherpaw and Nightstar slipped out. "Heatherpaw? What's taking you so long?"

Heatherpaw's heart skipped a beat. Swiftpaw nodded to her, but she stammered, "I'm still trying to wash it off, Nightstar."

"Hurry it up, will you? I haven't got all day!" With that, she slipped into the bushes again.

Heatherpaw turned back to Swiftpaw again and the tom shook his head. "I'm afraid that's all I can tell you for now."

The ThunderClan apprentice let out a whine. "No! I want to hear more!"

"I can't, but I just want to apologize for yesterday, I got…carried away. That had been my first gathering in a long time."

"That's okay." Heatherpaw whispered. She now understood that Swiftpaw was more than just the annoying spirit that came every so often to bug her. "But, can I ask you one last question?"

Swiftpaw started to fade, but he nodded. "Sure."

Heatherpaw bit her lip, but she managed to say it. "Why did you try to attack Rosepaw earlier?"

Swiftpaw's eyes darkened and he growled softly. "Because in those she-cat's eyes I saw Tigerstar."

Whoa, BIG cliffie here! E&E!

-Evanessence