Would have updated earlier but I went to lunch with my aunt then to my friends house so I spent most of the day away from my tablet where I type the story. Darkpaw POV (most of you sent in ideas for Thistlepaw but I can't skip poor Darkpaw. What kind of person would I be?"
"Darkpaw, guess what?" I turned to see Larkpaw and Honeypaw running up to me. Thistlepaw was behind them talking excitedly with Maplepaw who had left the medicine den a quarter moon ago. It had been an entire moon since she was sent to the medicine den, Bramblestar didn't bring us to the gathering after the whole 'gang up on apprentice' show last time.
"What? Did you finally convince Thistlepaw to have your kits?" I joked with my eyes directly set on Larkpaw. She blushed but Honeypaw went the more physical way and knocked me over the head with her paw.
"No mouse-brain! We're becoming warriors!" Honeypaw squealed and I cringed at the sound. Why did she-cats get so excited? I don't remember Dewpaw, Amberpaw and Snowpaw freaking out this much when they became warriors amost a moon ago. Their names had been changed to Amberflower, Snowfall, and Dewclaw. I thought that they were all pretty stupid but they seemed to like them. Actually they loved them. Whenever someone accidently called them 'paw' they would snort and say, 'it's Dewclaw now.'
"When?" I snapped back to reality once Honeypaw and Larkpaws screeching had died down. You'd think that they would act a little more mature for warriors.
"Sunhigh. I can't wait!" Larkpaw answered and began jumping up and down and screaming again. I decided to just walk away and let them screech in peace. She-cats could be so annoying some times.
I made my way over to my littermates and sat down. We had all grown so we were full grown and more. We had always been big but now we were probably the biggest cats in ThunderClan. We were made of pure muscle from fighting since we were kits. True that we had scars scattered around our pelts from playing, battle training, and border skirmishes with ShadowClan, it was worth it if it made us this large and strong.
I was broken from my thought when a mouse landed at Maplepaws feet. I looked around and saw that it was Toadstep walking by who was smiling awkwardly at my sister. "That's the last one."
Maplepaw simply nodded and took a bite out of her mouse. Since Thistlepaws little scare fest with Snowpaw, things had been rough between Maplepaw and the warrior. They barely talked like they used to and Toadstep always delivered his mice from afar, neither of them were brave enough to talk with the other and smooth things over. It was sad actually.
"You should go talk to him." Thistlepaw muttered quietly. "We can't be your only friends."
Maplepaw turned to glare at our brother and I just inched backwards. She tends to lash out when she's angry... actually she just likes lashing out at cats but she likes to kill stuff when she's angry.
"Shut up, Thistlebrain. You don't know what you're talking about." Maplepaw snapped. I purred at our old nickname. I had forgotten about them but Maplepaw had obviousely not. Neither of them had come up with a name for me yet though, what could they call me? Darkdung? Darkbrain? Both sound stupid and neither make sense, so what if my dung is dark, at least it isn't maple.
"I was just saying, Mapledung. Honeypaw and Larkpaw are going to forget about us once they become warriors and you can't stick by our sides forever." Thistlepaw defended himself. He really shouldn't be the one to talk because if they forget about Maplepaw, they're going to forget about Thistlepaw.
"Oh, get off her case. We don't need friends, they'll probably just backstab us in the end." I snapped and Thistlepaw rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something but was broken off by Bramblestar calling ThunderClan for the ceremony.
We stood and made our way to where our Clanmates were gathering and sat down at the front of the group so we had a clear line of sight towards our friends.
"I, Bramblestar, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon these two apprentices who have worked hard to become warriors. Larkpaw, do you understand the warrior code and will you fight to the death for your Clan?" Bramblestar asked the small white she-cat.
"I do." she replied gracefully.
"Then by the power of StarClan, I give you your warrior name, from this day forward, you will be known as Larkwing. May StarClan light you path."
Larkwing purred in satisfaction as the same ritual was repeated for her sister, naming her Honeyfeather.
"Larkwing! Honeyfeather! Larkwing! Honeyfeather!" ThunderClan cheered up at the two new warriors. Spiderleg and Daisy were beaming with pride at their daughters and their purrs could be heard from the front of the crowd.
"So, how does it feel to be a warrior?" I asked once Honeyfeather and Larkwing had jumped down to be congratulated by their Clanmates.
"Great! Foxleap already said he would make me a nest next to his!" Honeyfeather announced and my eyes darkened as I looked at Foxleap. He was a handsome tom but also sneaky and had a few of the she-cats wrapped around his paw. I don't think Honeyfeather is the kind to go for a warrior like Foxleap but I couldn't watch her since I was still in the apprentice den.
"I need someone to set up my nest." Larkwing pouted and I couldn't help but snicker. There was a smile threatening her lips and if someone didn't offer soon, she would burst out into laughter.
"You can have Whitewings nest after the vigil. Then we can set up a nest." Ivypool offered and I rose an eyebrow. Wouldn't Whitewing need a nest?
As if she read my mind, Dovewing explained. "She's moving to the nursery with Birchfalls kits. I'm surprised she stayed this long in the warriors den without someone noticing, she's getting pretty huge."
I looked over at the white she-cat and saw that she was in fact larger than normal but her fluffy white fur covered most of it.
"Larkwing, Honeyfeather!" I turned to see Sunkit, Fernkit, and Ashkit racing towards the two sisters. They were all talking rapidly, barely having any time to breath. I was half expecting them to pass out from suffocation.
"I can't wait until we're warriors..." Askit muttered. Out of the three, he was definately the calmest and would make a great mentor when he's old enough.
"I don't want to be a warrior. I want to be a medicine cat." Fernkit squeaked and her littermates turned to look at her, "I'd rather help warriors than attack them."
"That's enough kits. It's almost time for Honeyfeather and Larkwings vigil." Dovewing purred and nudged her kits towards the nursery while they yelled in defiance.
I looked back at Honeyfeather and couldn't help but purr. She was so beautiful and even if Foxleap is trying to steal her away, she won't forget about me. I knew that was certain.
"So what are you going to do until your vigil?" I asked the two sisters. At first I didn't think they heard me but they finally turned and answered my question.
"I'm going to bask in all the glory of bossing apprentices around." Larkwing joked and Maplepaw looked at her like she was crazy.
"You do realize that there are only three apprentices, right?" Maplepaw smirked and Honeyfeather looked at her mischeiviously.
"Yes, now go clean the elders den!" Honeyfeather snapped. "Just kidding, we're probably going to settle into our nests and catch up on sleep before we have to stay awake all night."
The sisters sauntered away and I stood next to my brother in awe. I had never seen Honeyfeather act like that, I had never seen her so confident and she had only been a warrior for a few minutes.
"I'm going hunting with Thornclaw." Thistlepaw decided and ran off to find his mentor. I looked over to my ginger and white sister and saw that she was gazing at the one and only, Toadstep.
"Go talk to him." I nudged and she simply looked away. It would take a lot more than us nudging her for her to fix her relationship with the tom.
"I'm going hunting as well. You should too, maybe Bramblestar will see how good you're getting and make us warriors early. If you don't a certain tom will steal Honeyfeather away. A certain ginger tom." Maplepaw teased and I looked over to where Foxleap was standing, talking with Honeyfeather.
"He's not really ginger, he's reddish brown." I defended him for a reason unknown to me. I shook me head and cast one last glance at Foxleap before trotting away.
I was careful to dodge Lionblaze who was coughing up a storm as I made my way over to the nursery where Brightheart was talking with Whitewing. "Brightheart, can we go hunting?" I asked and the white she-cat with ginger patches turned to look at me.
"Sure, I was just about to come find you anyway." Brightheart grinned, she was obviousely happy about her daughter having kits because usually she would scowl and nod instead of smile and reply with actual words.
Together, we trotted out of the ThunderClan entrance and towards the ShadowClan border. We were fairly sure that they had given up on blaming us for Snakekits disappearance since he would have been an apprentice by now and hunting patrols were getting closer and closer to the border.
I could smell a robin sitting on a branch and slowly began making my way up the tree and towards the bird. I had always loved the taste of robin and I knew that this would make a good snack for Whitewings new kits. I can't believe that I'm actually thinking about sharing my favorite prey with someone else.
Once I was in leaping distance, I crouched on the thin branch and eased myself closer to the bird. It was not getting away from me. My whiskers were twitching with anticipation and finally, I jumped.
I sunk my sharp claws into the robins back before it could fly away. When my hind legs hit the branch, it snapped with a sickening crack!
I flailed around to try and get upright so I would land on my feet, barely dodging the branch as it fell with me. At the very last second, I twisted around and landed safely on my four paws.
"Are you alright?" Brightheart gasped but I just stood proudly. The robin was still in my paws and I didn't have a scratch on me.
"No, I'm in aching pain. It feels like I broke every bone in my body." I replied sarcastically but Brightheart didn't even flinch.
"Jayfeather should have a look at you anyway. That was a pretty nasty fall and you're lucky that you didn't break your back."
I looked up at where I had fallen and realized that it was quite a fall. If I hadn't managed to twist around, I would be heading to Jayfeather for a much worse reason. "Fine, but let's make it quick. I want to catch more than a robin today."
We walked in silence as our mouths were full of prey, mine with the robin and Brighthearts with a shrew she had managed to catch while I was up in the tree.
Finally, we reached camp to find that Honeyfeather and Larkwing were already setting up for their vigil. There goes my hope for catching more than a robin.
I set my catch on the fresh kill pile and jogged to the medicine den. The smell of herbs and medicine was a little overwhelming but I sucked it up and called out to Jayfeather. He arrived almost immediately.
"Do you have greencough?" he asked right away and I stared at him like he was crazy. This isn't guess a disease, for all he knows, I could have swallowed death berries and every second would be killing me.
"No, I fell out of a tree and Brightheart wants me to make sure I'm okay." I replied warily.
"You seem fine, I don't have enough herbs to be wasted for every cat that falls out of a tree. Now go do something useful." Jayfeather snapped and I growled slightly. I hate it when someone talks to me like I'm some kit begging for attention.
"Whatever." I hissed and stormed out of the den. I saw Foxleap saying goodnight to Honeyfeather one last time before he went to sleep but I tried to ignore it.
It was only one day, Honeyfeather wouldn't fall for Foxleap in one day.
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