Well we get back to extremely bored Hazelpaw who is also in quarantine... kind of... WE CAN RELATE BRO!
Hazelpaw rested her head on her paws with a sigh.
I've never been more bored before.
Her leg had been slowly recovering, and she could now walk again, but it would be another half moon, at least, until she'd be able to return to her warrior duties. I suppose I'm lucky to be alive. Smokepaw almost killed me.
Suddenly, a cream head popped out of the apprentice's den, and Berrypaw padded over to her.
"It's sunhigh." Hazelpaw blinked at him in surprise. "What in Starclan's name are you doing awake?"
"Couldn't sleep, and I assumed you couldn't either." Berrypaw mewed, crouching beside her. "You can walk, right?"
Hazelpaw raised an eyebrow. "I mean, I can. Why?"
"Because, it's good for you to get exercise and build up your strength again, and since it's the daytime, we have a lower chance of running into things and getting in trouble."
"But we have a higher chance of running into the other Clans." Hazelpaw reminded him.
"Don't worry." Berrypaw squared his shoulders. "We'll be fine. Remember what we did last time when that Smokeclan patrol came?"
"Well, I can't move that fast, Berrypaw." Hazelpaw smirked, rolling her eyes. "And I think that Redpaw saw me regardless."
"Well, he didn't say anything." Berrypaw pointed out.
Hazelpaw sighed. As much as I want to deny it, I'd really like to go out.
"Fine." She rose to her paws, Berrypaw supporting her.
"Woah, woah." He glanced at her. "Your leg is getting better already!"
"Of course it is." Hazelpaw snapped in reply, giving a small wince of pain when her injured leg touched the ground.
"Are you ready?" Berrypaw asked her, bouncing on his paws excitedly.
"Sure." Hazelpaw glanced at him. "This is only a walk."
The two of them padded out of the hollow- well, Hazelpaw limped more, she reflected, as that was the extent of her ability currently.
"It's so weird to see the forest during the day." Hazelpaw commented, glancing around at the sunlit trees.
For some reason, her paws were pulling her towards the Smokeclan border, and she didn't have the faintest idea why.
"Y'know, Stonepaw and Flamepaw have been saying things about you." Berrypaw said softly.
"Whatever they're saying doesn't concern me." Hazelpaw replied dryly, keeping her gaze forward.
"One of them, Stonepaw I think, saw who you were fighting." Berrypaw continued. "It was Smokepaw, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, the Smokeclan apprentice from the Gathering. So what?" Hazelpaw faced him, trying to keep her cool. "I mean, they're telling the truth."
I guess they don't know that he has magic powers, though. I wonder how much he knows about how they work.
"Yeah, but he's tiny." Berrypaw snorted. "Which means that there was no way that he could've knocked you off of the floor. Stop lying, Hazelpaw. What and how in Starclan's name did it happen?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Hazelpaw replied, not looking at him.
"Well, we're all going to find out eventually." Berrypaw caught up to her, his golden eyes piercing. "I mean, do you not trust me?"
"It's not that I don't trust you, okay?" Hazelpaw turned on him, eyes blazing.
She didn't notice that they were extremely close to the Smokeclan border, and didn't notice the small gray cat that stood a few fox-lengths away, frozen in shock.
"I just don't know what happened! I'm still figuring it out! I bet that Smokepaw hasn't thought of it once since it happened!"
"You're wrong about that." A quiet voice came from across the border.
Hazelpaw spun, her eyes wide in shock when she found the source of the voice, though it quickly faded into anger.
"Well, well, well."
"What?" Smokepaw's yellow eyes blazed, and blood dripped from a scratch on his face, though she wasn't sure who had given him it. "It's my border too, if you hadn't forgotten."
Berrypaw hissed at him. "Get away from her! It's your fault she's hurt!"
"Maybe if she wasn't so clumsy she wouldn't have fallen." Smokepaw challenged, though Hazelpaw could see the truth shining in his eyes.
"Really?" Hazelpaw shot back evenly. She turned to her brother. "I have to talk to him."
Berrypaw widened his eyes in surprise. "Are you kidding? He'll kill you!"
"Why would I kill her?" Smokepaw asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because no Smokeclan cat can be trusted, especially not after the battle." Berrypaw spat back, unsheathing his claws.
"Berrypaw, please." Hazelpaw fixed him with a pleading glance, not even really sure why she was doing it.
The cream tom sighed. "Fine."
"I can take care of myself still." Hazelpaw added sharply before turning back to Smokepaw.
Once she was sure that Berrypaw had gone, she turned on him, practically spitting out the words.
"I bet it's nice to have a power, isn't it?"
"I don't even know what it is!" Smokepaw exclaimed. "I've barely used it after what happened! I don't know what came over me!"
Hazelpaw only glared at him in response. "I mean, I would expect nothing less from a Smokeclan cat. I bet you got that scratch from one of your own clanmates."
"You're right about that." Smokepaw responded, his yellow eyes blazing with the familiar anger that always lay in them, but also something else, an emotion that Hazelpaw had never seen so strongly. It was fear. Something wasn't right in Smokeclan, though Hazelpaw didn't really know what.
She changed her tone. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." It was Smokepaw's turn to be defensive. "Everything's fine. Anyways, why do you even care?"
Hazelpaw shrugged. "I want to be mad at you. But I can't."
She gritted her teeth. "And it's making me angry."
"So you're angry about not being angry at someone?" Smokepaw concluded, a small smile appearing on his face.
Hazelpaw let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes. That is exactly what I'm talking about."
She expected him to make some snide remark, but sympathy flashed in his eyes instead. "I get how that feels better than you might think."
"Really now?" Hazelpaw raised an eyebrow skeptically. "About what?"
"Nothing." Smokepaw said immediately, his defense rising again.
He had let down his guard for a second, Hazelpaw realized, but it was up now, and she shrugged. "Okay. Keep your secrets."
She turned away, beginning to limp away. Smokepaw was about to head the other way, back towards his camp, when he spun and called out.
"Wait!" Hazelpaw paused.
"What?" Smokepaw took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry. It's not a very good apology, but it's the best that I have right now."
Hazelpaw turned to look at him, some unknown emotion filling her. "I'm not going to accept that yet, but I do admit, that power of yours is pretty cool. If you keep working with it, you might be able to be safer in your own Clan."
Smokepaw snorted. "As if. No one is safe in Smokeclan."
"SMOKEPAW! Where in Starclan's name are you?" A voice rang out from the trees and fear flashed in Smokepaw's eyes again before he spun and ran towards the sound, kicking up dust as he raced away.
Berrypaw appeared again. "You're not dead."
Hazelpaw scoffed. "Of course I'm not."
She began to limp back to camp, Berrypaw beside her. Hazelpaw sighed, her tortoiseshell fur blowing slightly in the wind.
"Well, if I learned one thing in this conversation, it's that something isn't right in Smokeclan."
Heh I think that we might know what it is *starts beating Shadestar with a stick... AGE GAP BRO! THERE IS A FRICKING AGE GAP! LIKE WHAT!* Um... stay safe, everyone!
Have a good day (or night) and keep writing!
-Mintflight&PhoenixEcho2007