The Apprentices Quest except that the leaders don't tolerate disrespect

Am I the only one who doesn't really like Needletail? Honestly all of ShadowClan was a mess at this point.

There shall be no such drama in this AU!

Please review!

Firestar was sharing tongues with Graystripe and Sandstorm, who regretfully had retired to the elder's den after the Great Storm. He couldn't join them- he just didn't have it in him to step down from being leader. Thankfully, Sandstorm still slept with him in the leader's den, not wanting to be away from her mate.

It seemed as though being a mercat slowed down his aging. He was still an older cat, but he still felt the same as he did seasons before. Sandstorm and Graystripe weren't as lucky and continued aging- Sandstorm had developed somewhat of a persistent cough during the Great Storm. It had died down once she retired but it meant that Sandstorm's health would have declined further had she continued being active. They held no ill will towards him- it wasn't his fault that he didn't seem to age.

They all looked up and snickered when Brambleclaw all but ran up to his newly apprenticed kits, asking how their first day outside camp went. "Such a devoted father, that one," Graystripe laughed.

Firestar's smile somewhat melted off at Alderpaw's downtrodden expression. Looks like wasn't able to catch any prey. It was only his first day out, but Alderpaw had already put up too high of expectations onto himself. He lacked confidence and didn't want to disappoint.

The smile returned when Brambleclaw started telling him of his own first day hunting to cheer up Alderpaw. Firestar could remember that day clearly. Brambleclaw was trying so hard to impress him that he slipped and crashed into a tree. He hadn't meant to laugh, honest!

Brambleclaw led Alderpaw and Sparkpaw over to them and Graystripe jokingly asked how their day was going. Sparkpaw brightened up and started going on about her day, and Firestar got up to sit by Alderpaw, giving his pelt a few licks. Alderpaw melted into his grandfather's touch and purred. Firestar gazed at his small family- he loved them so much. His family and bloodline were growing bigger.

But above all, he was really glad that Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight had stopped dancing around each other; it was getting annoying.

Jayfeather padded over to him silently and whispered something into his ear. His eye started twitching. Not another prophecy...

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Half a moon passed and the day of the gathering was upon Thunderclan. He and Brambleclaw had already picked out cats, including Sparkpaw and Alderpaw. Sparkpaw seemed pretty excited for her first gathering.

The full moon was rising ahead, and no matter how hard he tried, he still went into a trance at the sight of moonlight. He and the other leaders helped each other snap out of it during the gathering, but it was still annoying.

He couldn't help but stare at the moon; he could feel Mako's extremely distant call for him to return. His body lightly trembled as he tried ignoring the voice, but failed to tear his gaze away from the moon. It was so beautiful- he just wanted to jump into the lake and swim forever~

"Firestar!" He blinked and saw Brambleclaw waving a paw in front of him, the gathering patrol looking impatient, yet amused, knowing why he was so spaced out. "We'll never make it time if you keep starring off into the moon like that," Brambleclaw purred jokingly.

"I'm sure the other leaders are doing the exact same thing I am so the clans will be just as late as us, I imagine," he purred.

They finally made it to the island, Onestar and Windclan arriving the same time they did. "Moonstruck problems?" Onestar asked dryly. He gave a nod and they touched noses briefly before Firestar allowed Windclan to pass first. He was glad Onestar stopped being hostile towards him; he had missed his friend.

His clan made their way across the log and he watched his clan mingle with the other clans before scaling the Great Oak and perching himself next to Onestar. Blackstar and Mistystar situated themselves near them- they had to stay together to keep themselves awake and aware during gatherings. Even now he was beginning to look at the moon again... Onestar tapped his shoulder and he snapped out of it.

"I kind of missed gatherings when I didn't try and worship the moon every five seconds," he grumbled. The other leaders gave sounds of agreement. Blackstar gave a yowl and the clans quieted down. "Cats of all clans! Welcome to the Gathering. Mistystar, would you like to speak first?"

The gray-blue she-cat dipped her head as she rose to her paws. "RiverClan is doing well," she began. "The lake is full of fish . . ." Firestar's ears pricked up when he heard a condescending voice coming from the clearing, "RiverClan cats eat fish!" someone exclaimed. "Can you imagine? No wonder they're so smelly." He frowned, subtly scanning the area for the speaker. He could see Onestar and Blackstar do the same from the corner of his eye. Blackstar in particular didn't look too happy.

"A new litter of four kits has been born to Lakeheart," she announced, then dipped her head again to Blackstar before resuming her seat. She began to look distant and her head started turning to the moon's direction when Blackstar gave her a soft nudge, and she lightly shook her head.

"Onestar?" Blackstar gestured to the Windclan leader. Firestar noticed his eyes glazing over and tapped Blackstar's back with his tail.

"Hunting has been good on the moor," Onestar announced. Firestar frowned again when another voice spoke up, "I bet he hasn't done much hunting," the voice muttered. He could barely hear it this time- the only reason why he did was because he was searching for the rude cat who would dare disrespect a leader during a gathering of all times. "Creaky old mange-pelt!"

"Yeah, my mentor said he couldn't catch a blind hedgehog, never mind a rabbit." He saw Blackstar's fur beginning to rise in anger. His eyes were grazing over a group of apprentices, which he recognized Alderpaw and Sparkpaw were apart of, but both looked extremely uncomfortable. Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, the whole family really, raised them better than to disrespect any cat(unless they really deserved it). He knew it wasn't them.

"Some rogues passed through the edges of our territory," Onestar continued. "Crowfeather led a patrol to keep an eye on them, and the rogues left without making any trouble. They'll be a long way away by now..." Firestar gave him a tap when Onestar started trailing off at the end of his announcement.

"I'd have clawed their ears off if they'd come to ShadowClan," one of the apprentices murmured, sliding out her claws. "That'd teach them not to trespass on our territory."

"WindClan has always been weak," one of the apprentices added. "That's what I heard Tawnypelt telling Crowfrost, anyway."

Firestar leaned over to Blackstar, "Some of yours?" he whispered into his ear. Blackstar gave a soft growl, trying to make it look like he wasn't honing in on the apprentices. Firestar rose to make his report.

"The prey is running well in Thunderclan, and two new apprentices, Alderpaw and Sparkpaw, have begun training with their mentors, Molewhisker and Cherryfall." His voice was full of pride for his grandchildren and it rose when the clans yowled out their names. Some moonlight caught his eye and he turned to face the moon again when Blackstar nudged him. He gave him a grateful blink before taking his seat again. Blackstar stepped forward.

"Prey is plentiful in ShadowClan," he reported.

"Honestly!" one of the Shadowclan apprentices whispered. "Does any cat expect him to say anything else? If we were all starving, he'd say just the same. He must think we're all mouse-brained." It seemed like Blackstar couldn't get through even a bit of his announcement before one of the Shadowclan apprentices made a snide comment. Firestar wanted to claw their tails off for the sheer disrespect- it wasn't another leader they were taunting, it was all of them- including their own leader! Some glances next to him told him that the other three weren't having it either.

There was a tense silence as the medicine cats came together to give news of their shared vision. "I talked to Firestar about it first..." Jayfeather started his report, but the leader's attention were once again diverted to the rude apprentices.

"Oh, yeah, it would be Firestar!" one of the she-cats muttered. "He has his tail in every cat's business, being a mercat makes him think he's even more important!"

"Are you done?" his voice was neutral as he stood up and glowered down at the apprentices. They stiffened in shock, as well as the rest of the clans. Did they think that they couldn't hear them? He turned to Blackstar, "I think your apprentices need a lesson on respect and manners, because they've made their disdain for us well known tonight," he growled. Mistystar and Onestar gave nods of agreement while Blackstar gave a growl, looking down at the group of apprentices.

"I think you're absolutely right." The rest of the clans were looking uneasy as they glared down from the Great Oak. "I think a moon or two of doing nothing but caring for the elders is a fitting punishment, yes?" Blackstar meowed.

"Seems good to me," Mistystar said, pleased. The apprentices shrunk down under their gaze, and Firestar finally turned back to Jayfeather and the medicine cats.

"Please continue Jayfeather. The clans need to hear this."

Firestar was very distraught when Dandelionkit and Juniperkit died. He took his grandkits to the lake so they could see his tail before Dandelionkit died, just to give her a little happiness before she went.

I may have copy and pasted stuff from the actual book (please don't sue me Erins)

I'm debating whether to kill Sandstorm off during the quest but that would be so mean to poor Fires. This is the Good Ending, which might also become the ending where no one dies? HHhhhmmmm

Tell me how I did.