A/N: Welcome back, kids to LotRHS! No reviews on last chapter but dat's okay, more room for me to write!
On with le story!

Oomph! I let out a grunt of displeasure as I landed hard on my tail end. But my pained bottom was quickly soothed by lush and soft dew-covered grass under me. I was in a meadow, a misty, star-speckled meadow. Wispy spirits floated alongside me. I was shocked and in wonder. What was this place?
All of a sudden, I recognized a spirit gliding straight in my direction: Rockscar. My old mentor was smiling, though the long, white scar that ran along the front of his body looked as if it was fresh, gurgling new blood. I gasped. "What happened, Rockscar?" I asked. He smiled again. "StarClan makes you forever young so they renewed the scar." I must've looked horrified because he quickly added, "It doesn't hurt, though. It's just…there."

I was reassured by this. "Why did you come to see me?" I asked, curious as to why my mentor had appeared. "I just wanted to tell you how proud I was of your accomplishments," he said warmly, grinning when he saw my start of surprise. "You've been so….enduring of your losses and I award you for that. I just…" His voice faltered and I cocked my head to one side. "What is it, Rockscar?" I asked, concerned.

He stiffened. "Hawkpaw, wake up," he said urgently. "Wake up now." But it was too late; we were both plunged into whirling darkness. Wind roared in my ears and they had just started to ache when it died down and stopped. I looked around. I could see nothing, feel nothing, nothing but my own breath on my whiskers.

"AHH!" A blazing explosion of light and color erupted before my eyes. When the burning black spots in my vision had disappeared, I opened my eyes and saw before me my own face, but different. I was bewildered. This face looked older, like a senior warrior version of myself. And then, to top off the mystery, square in the middle of my aged forehead was an emblazoned star, black as dying ashes. A warped purr of amusement rumbled to my ears. It was Rockscar. "It seems like you're a natural born leader, Hawkpaw," he meowed happily.

A couple of seconds passed by as I basked in that praise and gratitude when suddenly, a loud sound like a cannon-shot rang through the air. I jumped, suspended in the blackness. Three foreboding claw-marks, all red as a fresh wound had slashed across my face. The attitude of the surroundings dropped from happy to a fearful, stormy boiling point filled with tension. "Hawkpaw, whatever you do, try to avoid getting an apprentice or becoming deputy or leader," Rockscar yowled as the vision began to fade around me. "Don't try anything!" His thunderous roar of a meow was the last thing I heard as I woke up.

"Wake up, damn it," a harsh, raspy voice washed over me. The overwhelming stench of a greasy, dirty cat flowed onto my face. I coughed and opened my eyes abruptly. Pineclaw stood glowering over me, his eyes burning in contempt. "Language, Pineclaw," a light voice said from nearby. It was Fallowpuddle, his mate who took nearly everything he said as merely a joke even if he was being serious. I recall one incident where Pineclaw was so mad at me for getting a fighting technique wrong that he threatened he would kill me if I did it wrong again.

When I expressed my concerns to Fallowpuddle, who was also Sleetpaw's mentor, she laughed and said, "Oh, my silly Pineclaw. What would we ever do without his humor?" then immediately dismissed me. I still feel like that she-cat should've paid under my claws with my rule, but she died from whitecough before I could kill her.

Anyways, as I got up from my nest, the dream slowly began to fade from my mind to be replaced with excitement and anxiety over my warrior assessment this morning. I had been preparing for this my entire apprenticeship but it didn't matter. I was still nervous.

Pineclaw roughly pushed me alongside Foxpaw, Sleetpaw, and Ebonypaw. We all looked up at him with expectant young faces. He chuckled roughly. "Welcome, you four 'prentices," he began, clearing his throat. "Your assignment, ahem, assessment is to catch three pieces of prey. If we catch you man-handling another apprentice in your search for prey, your warrior days are over. If we catch you handing off pre-caught prey to another, both of y'all's warrior days are over. So, essentially, no cheating or rough-housing, you hear me?" We all nodded. "Alright, now go and catch the elders some nice meat to chew on."

Almost all of us tripped over each other in our haste to get out into the territory. Foxpaw, bigger, sleeker, and more muscular than ever was the first to escape the camp, Sleetpaw and I right behind him. Ebonypaw was last, taking her sweet time. After that, we separated, all in the search for three precious pieces of prey.

It was quite easy for me, I must admit, nerve-wracking, but easy. I found a twin pair of squirrels at the foot of a big maple, chattering to each other excitedly with their paws wrapped around two huge chestnuts. They must've been boasting to each other about their catches, I thought with amusement then I got into position and took both of them out, breaking their necks cleanly as I landed on the ground. Proud of my catch, I triumphantly picked up the two squirrels by their tails and dug a hole to stash them in.

Around sunhigh, I had thought I found my last and final catch, a weak, trembling blackbird. It looked like it had just been forced into an icy stream because every time it opened its beak to let out one of its raucous calls, it choked and only let out a weak, watery squawking sound. I knew it wouldn't please the elders or Pineclaw, but it was the best I had found in . Suddenly, I noticed a short, lean shape in the shadows around the clearing. The thing looked like it was investigating the blackbird, too. It took me only a second to realize what it was because it burst out from the undergrowth and overtook the blackbird.

A ball of wet, ginger fur was rolling around furiously on the ground: a half-grown fox. In a flash of calculation, I knew exactly what I had to do to impress Pineclaw. I tensed and sprang out from the undergrowth, taking both the still alive blackbird and the fox by surprise. It took the large, fuzzy animal only a few heartbeats to know what and who I was, though. The wet fox snarled and flattened its ears, stepping away from the blackbird that was now long forgotten and waited for my next move.

I took a threatening stance and hissed wordlessly at the fox. When it didn't back off, I pounced. I felt jaws and claws tearing at my fur but I didn't care; I had to get this fox dead. After a long while of wrestling and ripping fur, I ended my rival with quick thinking. I flicked my raised paw over to the fox's head while it stood ready to attack and tore into its windpipe. I sprang on it as it fell and roughly broke its neck. I was just in time to see the last light flicker from its black eyes.

I raised my head triumphantly and turned up my nose at my dead opponent. I was the victor; I bathed in my moment of glory. Then, I realized: I had killed this fox for no good reason. I had killed this fox with no ambition except to kill it. No reason, no know-how. Just pure killing instinct. I liked this feeling of glory and this cold-blooded killing. Then I thought of how much better it would feel if I tried it out on someone of my own kind, a cat like me. So, as I dragged the fox back to the spot where I had cached the squirrels, I would have to try it out on someone, anyone.

I dug up the squirrels and dragged all three bloody animals to camp to the surprised faces of Pineclaw and Foxpaw who had already returned with his catch. Apparently, Dayspring noticed my arrival, too; she rushed toward me with concern in her gaze and meowed, "You're bleeding, Hawkpaw! What happened?" I looked at her with coldness in my eyes; I had completely forgotten that I was injured in the tussle with the fox. Then the warmth returned. "Oh, I just killed a fox," I remarked jauntily, looking straight at Foxpaw as I spoke.

Slowly, more and more cats started to gather around me as Dayspring tended to my wounds and I began to repeat the story, adding a few things, subtracting a few elements. Word spread like wildfire around camp and cats began repeating the story to other cats until everyone, everyone knew that I was the ShadowClan apprentice who had brawled with and killed a fox and two squirrels on his warrior assessment.

It was late evening when Dayspring had finally patched up every single one of the fox's wounds and it was nearly time for the ceremony. She let me out on one condition: I would not unbandage my wounds and show them to other cats as prizes of my fight with the fox. I promised I wouldn't do that (I mean, who would be so stupid as to do that?) and went outside to wait with Foxpaw, Sleetpaw, and Ebonypaw. They all smiled at me except for Foxpaw and began to question me about my one-on-one fight. All the russet tom did was roll his eyes and snort every time I did a good battle move in my story.

"All cats gather beneath High Cove for a Clan meeting!" Fernstar's voice carried out over the clearing. No cats seemed to come out of their dens except for the few queens and elders that had not come out to hear my epic brawl with the fox. "Today, we gather to celebrate an important day in every Clan cat's life. Ebonypaw, please step forward." Ebonypaw stepped forward, looking about ready to fly off the sandy camp ground into the sky with excitement. "I, Fernstar, leader of ShadowClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn."

"Ebonypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" Ebonypaw grinned as she replied, "I do." "Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Ebonypaw, from this moment on you shall be known as Ebonytip! StarClan honors your cheerfulness and gratitude, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ShadowClan." "Ebonytip! Ebonytip! Ebonytip!" The Clan went wild for the newly named Ebonytip and Hawkpaw smiled as she watched the now uncharacteristically shy she-cat blush and duck her head in embarrassment.

The same ceremony happened for Hawkpaw's friends. Foxpaw was named Foxswift and Sleetpaw was named Sleetstone. When finally, my turn arrived, Fernstar's words went by in a blur and I was barely thinking enough to reply a slightly unsteady, dazed, "Yes" when she gave him the sacred code to follow. And then, cheers came all around him. "Hawkshade! Hawkshade! Hawkshade! Hawkshade!" Yes, Hawkshade, I liked that name. I liked it very much. The crowd gathered me up and told me congratulations and told me that they couldn't believe that one of my virtues had been strength and that they had never believed that I had so much fighting skill before.

The only thing to define the evening was a sudden bellow of, "STOP, EVERYONE!" and everyone stopped rushing me and the newly named warriors alongside me. "You are crowding one of the most important warriors in history," Dayspring meowed, shoving other cats aside as she hurried up to me, breathless. "StarClan gave me a vision last night. They told me that a hawk was to be a leader in my Clan and I knew it could only be one cat. And he has already proven his virtue, anyways. I decree this tom deputy, second-command to Fernstar!" Several yowls of either outrage or joy rang out through the camp.

"He hasn't mentored anyone yet!" "Oh, I'm so happy for you, Hawkshade!" "This would've never happened in the olden days." But I was just beginning to accept my fate. Not even a trace of the dream I had had that very morning occurred to me. I was to be a deputy, a prince, the only one higher than me was the queen, Fernstar. But I..I was going to be leader. I had dreams. I had high hopes. I had high dreams. I was to be a deputy, second to Fernstar.

Nobody would overtake me, nobody. And I had a certain way I had just acquired in my fox killing incident, in which I was going to secure that fate.