When Fallen woke up the next morning, Scourge was still next to her with his tail wrapped around her. He was awake she could tell, cleaning himself. A few specks of light came in through small holes at the corners of the den but other than that it was still dark.

"Fallen? Are you awake?" Scourge asked pausing in washing.

Fallen opened her eyes and yawned. "Yeah."

"Did you sleep well?"

She nodded and laid her head back on her paws. "A lot better than before."

"That's good," Scourge resumed cleaning his paws.

"I hope I didn't mess up you're sleep," Fallen said, suddenly feeling slightly guilty.

Scourge licked her ear. "No, I slept fine. Did you have any more nightmares?"

Fallen shivered at the memory of her dream but shook her head. "No."

"That's good." He stood up and stretched and she climbed out after him. She gave her fur a quick wash then waited patiently until Scourge finished washing himself and followed him out of his den.

The sky was clear, not a cloud in the sky and a cool breeze blew debris across the sidewalk. Fallen found herself sitting next to Scourge in front of the dumpster, watching the Bloodclan cats go about their daily chores. She looked over and saw some cats, about her age, goofing off.

Anger flashed in her mind. "Hey!" She snarled.

The three toms stopped playing with a dead mouse and looked over at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "Don't you have more important things to do other than play with your food?"

One of them, a black tom with a shredded ear went to say something, than recoiled when he saw Scourge sitting next to her watching them.

He gave a quick nod and the group slunk off.

Fallen hesitantly met Scourge's gaze, afraid for what he was going to do to her for doing that, but he was looking at her with curiosity. And pride?

Scourge nodded in approval. A scared she-cat tentatively came up with a mouse and placed it in front of Scourge.

"Hey!" Scourge snarled.

The she-cat froze and turned back. "Y-yes Scourge?"

"Bring back something for her," Scourge nodded at Fallen who was watching in interest.

The she-cat looked at her and confusion crossed her gaze for a second but she nodded hurriedly and left then came back a minute later with a rat. She placed it in front of Fallen then, with a quick glance at Scourge, scurried off.

Scourge began to eat and Fallen sank her teeth into the rat. After A few mouthfuls, Scourge spoke. "We'll have another training session today," he said. "You need to start on your attacks then we can move onto defense."

Fallen nodded. "Okay," she said finishing the rat.

Scourge got up and Fallen followed him out of the camp. They walked to the alley that they had gone to the first time she had training and the training began.

Scourge lunged suddenly and she moved to the side so that he missed. She followed it up with an upper blow but her easily ducked under it and lashed out at her.

Fallen moved again but was too slow and his claws caught her cheek. She hissed in pain and lunged again.

The surprise attack and sudden aggression should have thrown her off but it hadn't. In fact, somewhere in the back of her mind it was like she was expecting it. Like she had lived through it before.

She continued her onslaught if attacks, every once in a while Scourge would tell her to do something different or tell her where to attack.

"If you know an opponent well you'll be able to point out their weakness easier," Scourge went low and she was knocked off her paws. "But if you don't know them, you need to find their weakness and use them against them." Scourge stood over her.

She climbed back to her paws and dipped her head. "Yes Scourge."

"Good. Now attack."

And Fallen attacked.

By the end of the day she was beaten and bleeding and exhausted and her muscles screamed at every movement for her to just lie down and rest. But she knew the pain would pay off. When she returned to camp she immediately went to her den and laid down, sleep embracing her as soon as her eyes closed.

But was awaken soon after by the nightmare that had tormented her the night before, except in more detail and more happened. This time it wasn't just Slash's voice growling in her ear, it was his claws digging into her. Fallen jerked awake and sat trembling in the darkness, listening intently for any sounds that didn't belong in the camp.

Memories flashed through her mind, of all the pain and agony and grief inflicted on her and she began to violently shake in fear. Even though she had run from her tormentors it still haunted her.

'But I'm not away from Slash.' The thought only made her panic worse and she raced from her den and over to Scourge's without a second thought.

She didn't pause in the den entrance this time, she just ran in and over to Scourge. "Scourge?" She wanted to claw herself so bad when her voice came out as a whimper. "Scourge?"

Scourge opened his eyes and blinked a couple times. "Fallen?" He mumbled sleepily.

"C-can I sleep with you?"

Scourge sat up and when he saw her trembling wrapped a paw around her, pulling her close to him. "What happened?" he asked.

"It happened again," her voice was muffled by his chest fur.

"The nightmare?"

She just nodded.

Scourge continued to try to comfort her. "What happened in it Fallen?" he asked, trying not to scare her more. Blood was still caked around the wounds she got from their training session and he was careful not to reopen them.

Fallen didn't say anything, just buried her face further in his fur. Scourge lay back down and she curled against him. He wrapped his tail tightly around her and licked her fur until she had calmed down. When she had once again fallen asleep he stayed up a bit longer, wondering what was causing her so much terror and fear. He just sighed curled around her and went to sleep.

Okay, in the next chapter Jake, Scourge and Firestar's dad, comes in! REVIEW! :D