"Did you know I'm the new deputy?"

Moonpaw looked up to her mentor who was proudly munching down on a pigeon. "That's great news, Stonedust."

The gray tom looked up to the sky. "Although it's raining, I think we should do some combat training. A warrior needs to be prepared to fight in any weather condition."

Moonpaw swallowed the last bit of her stoat and stood up, fluffing her fur out. "Yeah… I suppose…"

"Then let's go." Stonedust stood up quickly and padded out through the entrance.

"Moonpaw!"

Moonpaw turned around to face Wasppaw, who had darted out of his den. "Is Stonedust really taking you out training today?"

She nodded.

"Alright… just don't get sick, okay? Seedthorn and I are already taking care of Sparrowfeather and Minnowfin, they got sick and we've almost used up all of our illness herbs."

Moonpaw nodded. "I'll try my best."

She then rushed out to catch up to her mentor and new deputy. He was walking slowly to the training clearing. Moonpaw looked at him and his firm, gray gaze. "Have you already set up patrols for today?"

He nodded.

Moonpaw stayed up with him, the rain beginning to soak through her flesh by the time they got to the training grounds. The tom stood in the center. "Attack me." He commanded.

The she-cat, without warning, jumped on to him, using her firm hind legs to aim for his back. He yelped in surprise and attempted to shake her off. She even clenched her jaws onto his scruff. Stonedust suddenly cried out and rolled over to slam her into the mud.

Moonpaw gasped, and then began to claw the air for breath. Her throat was on fire, her lungs were on fire, her eyes were on fire. She attempted to scream but no sound came out. Black dots began to scatter across her vision until all at once, the weight lifted off of her.

"You would have been killed!"

Moonpaw looked up to her mentor's eyes, furious and gray like storm clouds. This was a very sudden shift in attitude. She laid back her ears. "I… I'm sorry, Stonedust."

"I'm the deputy now, I have to be hard on you!"

Moonpaw swallowed hard, the rain beginning to patter harder. "Wh… What's wrong Stonedust? This isn't normally like you."

"Then you're blind." He growled at her, his pupils were thin lines. "I've realized I've been too nice to you."

For the briefest of heartbeats, Moonpaw thought she saw the pale silhouette outline of a cat standing behind her crazed mentor.

"Now get up." He demanded, the outline fading away. He quietly chuckled. "Oh man, this feels so good." He whispered while lashing his tail. "I can be who I really am now."

"This?"

"Yes." He purred before quickly showing his teeth again. "Now attack me! I want you to try and kill me! Do it!"

"Kill… you-"

"Do it! I won't die, I'm the strongest there is, and one day, I'm going to be leader! Attack me, you stupid runt, attack me!"

Attack me!

"That was excellent." Stonedust was dripping in blood, slowly being washed away by the rain. "Your tiny claws need work, but this is fine. You'll grow muscle in no time."

Moonpaw nodded, exasperated as they walked into the camp. It took only heartbeats for Stonedust to revert back to his isolated and introverted self. What was suddenly so wrong with him? He always seemed to nice and forgiving, so why was he suddenly like this?

Moonpaw in turn was covered in bruises and blood that weighed down her thick fur.

The sun was already gone, and dark clouds covered the sky. She dragged herself to the apprentice den, not even thinking of snagging some food to eat. Brookpaw, who was already laying next to Moonpaw, gasped at the blood and backed away. "What the heck is wrong with you!? You're covered in blood!"

Mine or Stonedust's?

"I slipped on the cliff stones." Moonpaw quickly lied. "I got beat up pretty bad, but-"

"Did Stonedust save you?" Softpaw meowed in astonishment as she walked in, quickly shaking off her rain-soaked fur. "He's an excellent choice for deputy! He's so strong and brave."

Moonpaw swallowed hard. "Y-Yeah."

Maybe he was just having a bad day? Yeah, that must be it. Even I get a little cranky sometimes when things don't go my way. Stonedust will be fine tomorrow morning, I know he will. If only I could talk to Bamboostep about this.

Acornpaw gasped at Moonpaw. "You need to get checked out by Seedthorn, those wounds look pretty bad."

"I-I'm fine, really, they're just scrat-"

Moonpaw gasped in alarm when Acornpaw quickly began to lap at her bloodied wounds. His rough tongue felt uninvited against Moonpaw's flesh, but she stood still and endured it. It felt like an eternity has passed when Acornpaw finally finished up. "There, but I still insist you see the medicine cats. Unless you'd rather stay here with me for the night?"

The option to go to Seedthorn suddenly seemed very inviting.

"Y-You're right, I'll go the medicine den." Moonpaw stuttered before slipping away from the other apprentices, almost immediately hearing whispers erupt behind her back inside of the den.

Moonpaw felt too tired to sprint, she dragged herself into the medicine den, seeing Seedthorn speaking to Wasppaw. When Seedthorn noticed Moonpaw, he quickly turned around and began to work on sorting the herbs.

Wasppaw slowly shook his head at his mentor and helped Moonpaw into a nest, almost immediately soaking it with her and Stonedust's blood. He gazed over her wounds. "What happened to you?" Wasppaw asked quietly.

Moonpaw blinked and looked away. "I slipped down the cliff."

"And survived?" Wasppaw blinked and paused for a while before licking at her wounds. His tongue felt much better than the stranger flesh of Acornpaw. She suddenly began to relax. "Seedthorn," he asked, "We need some cobweb."

"You know where it is." The pale brown tom muttered.

Wasppaw sighed and got the cobwebs himself and plastered them on her wounds. Moonpaw felt his paw run across her skin, feeling on lumps. He chewed up some pink and green ruffled plants and spat them back out on the swellings on her skin. "I'm sorry for Seedthorn. He's been acting a little strange ever since the StarClan Stones visit."

"You're the one acting strange!" His mentor spat, his hackles rising and eyes slit like blades of grass. "Assisting and healing a StarClan-forsaken murderer!"

"M-Murderer?" He couldn't possibly be talking about me…

Wasppaw hissed at his mentor. He turned back around and continued to heal Moonpaw. "I'm sorry about my mentor. He's…" he paused. "I'll… tell you later. If you have the time?"

"Oh, she has plenty of time on her bloody paws!" Seedthorn growled low, crawling close to Moonpaw until he was only a tail-length away. Wasppaw stood between his mentor and Moonpaw.

"Leave her alone!" Wasppaw said firmly.

"Fine, it's your vigil." Seedthorn crawled back to his spot and continued to sort the herbs, his hackles still risen and his tail bushed out.

Moonpaw whispered, "What's he talking about?"

"None of your concern." Wasppaw assured her. "Now stay still, this may sting a bit." Wasppaw was not incorrect, the next paste he put on her wounds stung like, well, a wasp. She grit her teeth until the pain faded altogether. "I don't want you training for the next few days, you're in pretty bad shape."

Moonpaw stood up shakily. "Thank you, Wasppaw."

"And you're not going back to the apprentice den."

"What?" Seedthorn and Moonpaw exclaimed simultaneously.

Wasppaw nodded at both of them. "Moonpaw will just end up straining herself if she goes back to her den. The easiest way to take care of her will be keeping her here in the medicine den." He wrapped a few clumps on moss around her. "You're going to be just fine, now please try to get some sleep."

"I refuse to share the same den as a bonafide killer!" Seedthorn objected.

"For the last time, Seedthorn. Moonpaw is not a killer."

"You don't know that! You didn't see into the eyes of StarClan!" Seedthorn said at the top of his voice. Moonpaw shrunk back into her nest, sure that he's waking everyone in the camp. He went on, "I was told by the wisdom of Oceanstar herself what had happened! The war, the blood, I've seen everything!"

Wasppaw rolled his eyes. "Did you eat those herbs like I asked you to?"

"Heretic! Blasphemy! You were there, you saw the leaders and the prosecution of StarClan war crimes in Youkai Forest!"

Wasppaw narrowed his eyes. "No, Seedthorn. For one, the Youkai forest is a tale made up to make kits obey their mothers. For two, I did not see the 'prosecution'. I heard Honeybee telling us that herbs will be slightly depleted for this season, and we will need EarthClan's help to get through this Leaf-bare." He sighed. "Honeybee was your mentor. And you're telling me you saw an ancient MortalClan cat leader that was, mind you, executed for his actions of killing any she-cat who refused to have his kits. Seedthorn, think of how crazy that sounds. Why would an evil and treacherous MortalClan leader tell you that a cat in HavenClan is a murderer?"

Seedthorn paused and looked at the ground, lashing his tail. "I… I'm never wrong. I'm never wrong, I'm never wrong, I'm never wrong."

"Seedthorn, go to the elder's den." Wasppaw demanded. "Don't make me drag you there."

"Fine." He said in a dark, guttural voice. "But only because you might make the slightest of sense." The tom stomped off to the elder's den, slapping his tail against his apprentice's face on the way.

Wasppaw looked back down at her. "He's been insisting that you're a murderer, and his flimsy evidence is insane to say the least."

"I've never… killed anyone. U-Unless…" she blinked. "Wasppaw!" She asked in desperation. "Please! Please check on Stonedust!"

"What for?"

"Just do it, please!"

Wasppaw hesitated but he nodded and exit the medicine den. Moonpaw sat in her nest, fearing for her mentor's life. He was begging her to attempt to him, because he was so sure he would survive. At the end of training, she had clawed and beaten him rather badly.

Wasppaw finally returned. "He's fine. He's covered in plenty of minor scratches, but that's something I can just check on tomorrow before he arranges patrols."

"Is he alive!?"

Wasppaw took a step back. "Y-Yes, Stonedust is alive and well, and actually a little grumpy I bothered his sleep."

She sighed in relief, but also a note of terror crawled up her throat. She only left scratches on him, and the blood that he was covered in was her blood, and her blood alone. A wave of shame washed over her. She was worse at fighting than she thought. Would running away with Cherrypaw to be a kittypet to be a better option than being a mediocre warrior of HavenClan?

"So you've never killed anyone?" Wasppaw affirmed.

She nodded. "No one. Not even inadvertently." Moonpaw swallowed hard. "It wasn't my fault Hazelkit died. Nor Goldenfoot or Bamboostep. I haven't even been in any real battles between the Clans yet."

The golden tabby looked away. "I don't know what to tell you, Moonpaw. Just that Seedthorn is old, and likely has dementia. I'm going to have to administer ginko leaves to him tomorrow."

Moonpaw sneezed. She internally growled. Great. And I'm sick. That's… that's fantastic. I'm injured and sick.