[Original A/N]: Sorry for another two-week delay! I'm trying to write more by the school has its way of taking up all my time. We're finally at the half-way mark of the story. Only 24 more chapters and an epilogue to do after this. Enjoy and please review. Also, hi Jerry.

Mossbush: I'm happy you feel that way. I don't think it'll be necessary ever again. Thanks for reviewing!

ChrisPNCrunchEXD: Oh, um . . . thanks? o.o

Chapter 24

"Oh thank StarClan I heard you two! Quickly, Whitefoot needs help! We ran into a group of ShadowClan cats in our territory, he's by himself right now! Please come help," she begged. Vinefeather looked at Gorsewing and nodded.

"Lead the way," he mewed. Muttering thanks, Leaftail quickly bounded back through the ferns. Both Vinefeather and Gorsewing quickly followed suit. The forest blurred as they ran towards where Leaftail was leading them. As they hurried towards their destination, the stench of blood quickly became overpowering. Gorsewing scrunched her nose as they continued to leap through the forest. They burst out into a clearing to see four ShadowClan cats looking down at a white body.

"No no no, Whitefoot!" shrilled Leaftail, her eyes widening. The ShadowClan cats turned and faced them, snarling.

"ShadowClan attack!" yowled the center brown tom. All four cats leaped into action immediately. Gorsewing heard a commotion behind and turned to face several more cats appearing out of the forest. They were outnumbered and trapped! Leaftail and Vinefeather both got into a defensive stance, preparing themselves to meet the four cats head on. We can't win this!

"Vinefeather! There's more behind us!" yowled Gorsewing as she also got into a defensive stance. Vinefeather looked over his shoulder.

"Keep them off us! We just need a few moments," he replied quickly before crashing into an approaching ShadowClan she-cat. Gorsewing cursed silently. How am I going to keep three cats off them all by myself? Desperately thinking, she ducked under the first attacker and slashed quickly at their underbelly. The she-cat screeched in pain and fell over. The second attacker to her left was a black tom. He snarled before leaping at her, claws outstretched and extended. She didn't have enough time to dodge the grapple. The only choice she had was to meet him head on and try to hurt him more than he hurt her. Squinting her eyes, she launched herself, shoulder first, at the attacker. She felt his razor sharp claws tear through her shoulder. Screeching in pain, she let a powerful swipe towards the tom's eyes. She praised StarClan as she felt her risky swing connect with his face. Three large streaks of pain tore through his face and his muzzle. The powerful hit didn't stop the tom at all. Blinking through the blood, the black tom continued to advance on her. She let out another warning swipe towards the tom.

Suddenly, she felt an impact to her side. I forgot about the third attacker! She felt the air in her lungs get pushed out as she crashed into the forest floor. Pain blew through her side as a quick swipe flew down her soft sides. Looking up to see the attacker, she could see it was an apprentice. The apprentice tried to snarl menacingly, but her fluffy pelt effectively nullified the effect. For once, Gorsewing was both larger and stronger than her attacker. Bunching up her muscles, she heaved herself off of the apprentice. The apprentice let out a yelp as she was pushed into her back. Gorsewing quickly leaned back to dodge a blow from the black tom.

"Get out of here, I don't want to hurt an apprentice," she muttered quickly. The apprentice stared at her. "Go, I already scratched your shoulders. There is no need to fight anymore," she muttered louder. The apprentice looked at her for a moment longer.

"I'm sorry, t-thanks," she squeaked and quickly bounded off. The black tom cursed as he saw the apprentice run off. He once again tried to swipe at her haunches and missed only by a hair. Out of the corner of her eye, Gorsewing saw the first she-cat slowly recovering. She couldn't let herself get into a battle against two cats. She could feel her strength slowly draining from her injuries. Vinefeather! She quickly turned to check on Vinefeather and Leaftail. Vinefeather was pinned under a larger yellow furred tom. Leaftail was squaring off against another she-cat with the final ShadowClan cat nowhere to be seen.

Turning back to her attacker, she could tell the tom was starting to weaken as well. Although he was stronger than her, his pelt clung tightly to his ribs, evidence of their starvation in ShadowClan. She might be able to win this fight! Thinking quickly, she jumped to the right of the tom. The tom turned quickly to face her. Feinting left, she quickly sidestepped and rammed into the side of the tom, sending him tumbling. This is my chance! I have to hurt him enough to send him running! Leaping onto his chest, she began to scrape into this belly with her hind claws extended. The tom yowled and screeched in pain as deep scores of blood emerged from his fur.

"Never come back to ThunderClan territory, or this will happen again!" hissed Gorsewing. She let off of the tom, who quickly began running away from her. The she-cat, seeing the tom run, followed him back into the forest. I did it! I managed to beat off all three cats! It probably helped that they were starving though.

Spinning around Gorsewing surveyed her surroundings. Leaftail was facing off against the yellow tom that she had seen moments ago. Vinefeather was nowhere to be seen. Hissing, Gorsewing flung herself at the last remaining ShadowClan attacker. She could see that the tom was heavily injured. It seemed that Vinefeather didn't let up on him easily. Nodding to Leaftail, Gorsewing jumped towards the tom. Her paws, claws extended, collided with the tom first. As soon as she hit him, she let out several quick slashes. To her left, Leaftail rounded up to the yellow tom and quickly began a barrage of swipes.

Screeching in pain, the yellow tom jumped up to try to avoid Gorsewing and Leaftail's attacks but was quickly thwarted by a well placed hit on his head from Leaftail. Gorsewing watched as the yellow tom crumpled to the ground, no longer moving. She breathed a quick sigh of relief as the fight was finally over.

"Where's Vinefeather? Is Whitefoot alright?" mewed Gorsewing urgently. Leaftail quivered.

"Vinefeather is somewhere in the bushes. I told him to drag himself there because he was injured so badly. Whitefoot . . . Whitefoot isn't responding."

"Do you think you can carry Whitefoot by yourself?" asked Gorsewing as she looked around for Vinefeather.

"I-I'll try," choked Leaftail as she pushed herself beneath Whitefoot, trying to get him onto her back. Gorsewing padded into the underbrush.

"Vinefeather? Where are you?" mewed Gorsewing loudly. What if he is too injured to respond? It was a few terrifying moments of searching, Gorsewing heard a weak mew sound in front of her.

"Here." Gorsewing quickly bounded through several more thick bushes only to arrive in a small clearing among the ferns. Vinefeather laid in the center of it, a small pool of blood forming around his head and neck. "Hey, how're you doing?" he mewed with a weak grin.

"Shut up idiot, you're going to die if you keep talking," grunted Gorsewing as she tried to push Vinefeather onto her back. She saw Vinefeather weakly try to assist her by pushing himself up with his hind-paws.

"I'm guessing you and Leaftail managed to beat them off?" mewed Vinefeather as Gorsewing shifted him into a more comfortable position.

"We did. It was probably because of how starved ShadowClan has been these past moons. The tom that faced me barely put up a good fight. Now seriously, stop talking before I kill you myself," mewed Gorsewing, trying to sound threatening.

"You sound more relieved than angry Gorsewing," croaked Vinefeather, at least he still had his humor. "Alright, whatever you say. You're the boss." Gorsewing hadn't realized how heavy Vinefeather really was. Each paw-step she took was as if she had a massive boulder strapped to her shoulders. Behind her, Leaftail seemingly faced the same challenge. Unfortunately, it seemed that Whitefoot was even heavier than Vinefeather, as Leaftail's paws were trembling with exertion. Luckily, they weren't far from the ThunderClan camp. Gorsewing could already make out the sloping hill that leads up to the thorn entrance.

"ThunderClan! If anyone can hear me please help us!" yowled Gorsewing loudly as she continued to move closer to the camp. After a few moments, the thorn barrier rustled before she saw Chestnutbriar stick his gray head out. His eyes widened once he saw what Gorsewing and Leaftail had on their backs.

"Pigeonpaw! Sunfur! Come quick, there are injured cats outside," yowled Chestnutbriar before quickly bounding towards them.

"Help Leaftail, I think I've got Vinefeather for now," mewed Gorsewing through gritted teeth. A couple moments later, Pigeonpaw and Sunfur rushed to them, mouth laden with cobwebs and marigold.

"Just drop him here, we can treat both of them right now," rasped Sunfur as he quickly began preparing poultices. Gorsewing gently rolled Vinefeather onto the forest ground before shaking herself off.

"Stop moving Gorsewing, you're injured too!" mewed Pigeonpaw worriedly.

"It's alright, I'm not hurt as bad as them," mewed Gorsewing. Pain immediately flared in her shoulder as if to contradict her.

"Let me at least put a little marigold onto your scratches. It'll help alleviate the pain and stave off infection," mewed Pigeonpaw, already approaching her. Nodding, Gorsewing lowered her shoulder so that Pigeonpaw could apply the chewed up marigold. As soon as the poultice's juice made contact with her wound, the pulsing pain quickly reduced to a dull ache. Gorsewing sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Pigeonpaw," purred Goreswing.

"Mwno mwroblem," mumbled Pigeonpaw, a mouth full of poultice, already hurrying to check up on Whitefoot. Gorsewing bent down to sniff Vinefeather as Sunfur adorned his fur with cobwebs and herbs.

"Are you alright?" she mewed quietly. All Vinefeather could muster in response was a snore.

"It's no use talking to him now. I gave him some poppy seeds to put him out so he didn't have to suffer through the pain. He'll be awake tomorrow," explained Sunfur. Gorsewing reluctantly nodded in acceptance, feeling the marigold seep into her fur. "Go inside and rest. You'll probably still have to do your vigil tonight," added Sunfur. Gorsewing looked at Vinefeather one last time before padding into camp. Don't die, stupid furball.

o-o-o

Gorsewing blinked as the sun finally peaked over the horizon. Her eyes burned with exhaustion and her joints ached. Worry about Vinefeather had plagued her for the majority of the night. But now that her vigil came to an end, she couldn't help but feel excited over her exhaustion. I'm finally a warrior! The worst of the warrior ceremony was over. She was finally a full member of ThunderClan. She heard pawsteps sound from behind her. Turning her head, she saw Cloudwhisper pad out of her den and stretch. Once she noticed Gorsewing looking at her, she nodded in her direction.

"Good morning Gorsewing. You're relieved from your silent vigil. Go get some rest," mewed Cloudwhisper.

"Finally," rasped Gorsewing, her throat dry.

"Go get some water too. I'm sure Sunfur still has some wet moss left," mewed Cloudwhisper with a flick of her tail. After watching Cloudwhisper walk off, Gorsewing headed towards the medicine den. Brushing aside the tendril of vines she entered into the familiar dark and cramped space. Inside, she saw Pigeonpaw organizing a meager supply of what looked to be Marigold. Sunfur was digging out old, dry herbs and Vinefeather laid near the back. Whitefoot was strangely missing. Gorsewing saw Vinefeather lift his head slightly as he heard her enter.

"Gorsewing?" he mewed tiredly.

"How are you feeling?" asked Gorsewing as she settled next to him.

"Terrible. My head hurts as if a badger sat on it," mewed Vinefeather with a slight grin.

"It hurts because you lost a lot of blood," mewed Sunfur from the side without looking up from his work. Vinefeather rolled his eyes.

"Sunfur here has been chastising me all morning about the importance knowing when to stop fighting. I think he's just a sore loser because we had to save his tail from ShadowClan," sassed Vinefeather without missing a beat.

"Do me a favor and die next time then. Fine by me," responded Sunfur grumpily. Vinefeather rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Could I have some water? I'm really thirsty after my vigil," mewed Gorsewing.

"It's over there by the corner, get some yourself," mewed Sunfur with a flick of his tail. Gorsewing padded over to where Sunfur gestured and picked out a piece of wet moss. After drinking, she began heading out of the den.

"I'm going to go get some rest. You do the same Vinefeather," mewed Gorsewing on her way out. Vinefeather nodded.

"I'll try my best," replied Vinefeather. Gorsewing waited a moment and took a deep breath. You can do it Gorsewing. Just don't think about it.

"Urm, love you," mewed Gorsewing, forcing herself to not look back. She could feel Vinefeather noticeably hesitate to respond. She steeled her nerves as she kept walking.

"Love you too," responded Vinefeather. Although Gorsewing didn't turn to look, she knew that he was definitely smiling.