Vampirepaw yawned, waking up from his nap. They had just reached the peak of highstones after a long walk, and had decided to stop and rest. He leaned over where his moss nest was on the tip of highstones, spotting Sandpaw still sleeping down on a jagged stone cliff, their yellow pelt covered in bits of moss and pebbles. Vampirepaw looked around more, before seeing Honeypaw and Adderpaw huddled for warmth on the peak just below him.

Vampirepaw took a leap, hopping out of his makeshift nest and down onto the peak below, where Honeypaw and Adderpaw slept. Vampirepaw smiled. Lovebirds. He thought, but couldn't help to feel a sense of jealousy. He didn't know why. He didn't love Adderpaw, frankly he found the small tom annoying, but for some reason, something deep inside him wished it was him instead of Honeypaw.

Vampirepaw was startled by a flash of yellow hopping up from below. Vampirepaw turned quickly, only to see Sandpaw standing there, their eyes lined by tiny eyebags. Probably from sleeping to little. Sandpaw nodded politely as a way to say good morning. Vampirepaw nodded back politely, smiling.

"Man, you must've not got a lot of sleep, huh?" Vampirepaw meowed, looking at the sleepy apprentice, who looked like they could easily slip back into sleep if they wanted to. Sandpaw's only response was a yawn.

"Jeez, you must be real tired." Vampirepaw chuckled. "Do you wanna go hunt to wake up?" He asked, looking expectantly at the apprentice. Sandpaw thought for a second, before responding.

"Sure, why not." Sandpaw smiled, "Let's go, we don't have all day." They purred, tossing themself off the rock and onto the dusty ground below. Vampirepaw hesitated before leaping down after. Together, the two apprentices snuck out into the bushes, glancing side to side to see where they should head first. Sandpaw nodded to a wider open spot, which smelled like prey scent, before sneaking up to it. Vampirepaw creeped after, slipping through the branches and bushes.

By the time they were back to their makeshift stay, Adderpaw and Honeypaw were already awake, keeping guard of their nests. Adderpaw's gaze immediately snapped to Vampirepaw.

"Hey Vampirepaw!" Adderpaw purred. Vampirepaw felt hot underneath his pelt as Adderpaw's eyes locked with Vampirepaw's. Adderpaw rushed down the rocks, chasing towards Vampirepaw, purring. Honeypaw rushed after him. Together, the two cats landed infront of Vampirepaw and Sandpaw, sniffing the prey in their jaws.

"Finally!" Honeypaw mewed dramatically. "I've been sta-a-a-arving!" She squeaked, half joking. Vampirepaw smiled.

"Well, we need to find a place to make a freshkill pile that won't get easily found by rats and raccoons and rogues." Adderpaw brought up. Vampirepaw hadn't even thought of that.

"Maybe…" Honeypaw thought, before turning to a small patch of jagged rocks that only an apprentice could slip through. "There?"

Sandpaw shrugged in a that-could-work gesture. Together, the apprentices carried their catches to the area they would now make their freshkill pile. Now, they had 2 sparrows, a vole, a rabbit and a toad.

That should be enough food. Vampirepaw thought, looking down at their food. He stepped back, turning around to scan the environment. The other apprentices were conversing among each other, looking happy. Maybe this adventure will be good for us. Vampirepaw smiled. Maybe it will help us become closer… maybe our clan will appreciate us even more, too. "Hey, guys!" Vampirepaw called to the others. They turned to look at him, curiosity sparking their eyes.

"Do you guys wanna start heading out? I know which way to go from here." Vampirepaw meowed. Sandpaw shrugged, looking at the other two apprentices for their answers.

"Uhh, well, we just got some fresh prey." Adderpaw mentioned. "Shouldn't we eat it before we leave? It'd be waste to not, wouldn't it?" He brought up a good point.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Vampirepaw meowed in response. "Come on! Let's get to eating!" He purred, skipping towards the small prey pile. It seems odd. To be like this… to hunt just to eat right after. Vampirepaw thought, but pressed down his reluctant feelings to pick up the sparrow he had caught and find a spot to eat.

Vampirepaw slithered down into a small cave that was big enough to fit at least 15 cats. He blinked, realizing he had never even thought about this cave. The missing Thunderclan probably passed through here. He realized, slipping his paw into a small, paw shaped mark in the ground. The paw was just ever so bigger than his paw. Maybe this was their temporary warriors den… He wondered, looking around, realizing more things he'd never had noticed originally.

Like how intricate and beautifully dug and wellkept this cave is, he thought as he gazed around the walls of the den, the taste of sparrow slipping down his throat. No fox or badger could ever keep a den this clean… He turned back to his sparrow, ripping and eating it, as he heard the entrance of the cave shake, before Adderpaw emerged from it.

"Hey! Can I eat with you?" The small tom asked, muffled, a toad and a vole clenched in his jaws. Vampirepaw thought for a second, looking around at the inside of the cave.

"Sure." Vampirepaw smiled, shifting over so the small tom could slip in next to him. Adderpaw said nothing except smiled at Vampirepaw, before laying down next to him, ripping into the toad.

"I left Honeypaw out there to hang out with Sandpaw." Adderpaw began talking. Vampirepaw would usually find him annoying, but for some reason, he found the tom's voice comforting and warm.

"They are such good friends, aren't they? Sometimes they act like mates… they're really alike, it's crazy! They, like, walk the same way, talk the same way, have a similar type attitude, they even look alike!" Adderpaw randomly gasped. "Do you think they like each other?! Like, like like?" Vampirepaw gazed down at the brown apprentice, thinking about it for a second.

"They have been walking with each other this whole journey, and seemed kind of inseparable, unless we were hunting." Vampirepaw thought. "Maybe they do? Or, maybe this journey is giving them a new acceptance of making friends, and whatever." He considered, before mauling into his sparrow. Adderpaw looked puzzled, like he was thinking into it.

"Yeah, maybe. One thing I know this journey is doing for certain," Adderpaw began, nudging his vole closer to Vampirepaw. "is telling me that a certain, grumpy, naughty apprentice…" Adderpaw chuckled, looking up at Vampirepaw. "Secretly has a little bit of a nice side!" Adderpaw squeaked, accusingly, before giggling a bit.

Vampirepaw felt his face grow hot, and felt like a fire had just been lit inside of his belly. He smiled at Adderpaw anxiously, scrambling for a quick response.

"Well, maybe I do." Vampirepaw quickly responded, turning back to his sparrow so Adderpaw couldn't see his nervous expression. "S-so, what about it?" He stammered, before beginning to eat his sparrow again.

Adderpaw chuckled next to him. "Chill out, man!" Adderpaw playfully nudged him with his paw. "I'm just messing with you. You're a good cat, Vampirepaw. I'm glad starclan chose me to come with you." The small tom smiled a bit, looking up at Vampirepaw.

Vampirepaw wanted to cry. Not bad cry, but not essentially good, either. He just wanted to cry because he could. He was flustered by Adderpaw's words, which made him want to cry.

"Hey, Adderpaw?"

"Hmm?"

"If… lets say…" Vampirepaw thought for a moment, deciding how he wanted to word this. "One of your friends, none in specific! But, just one of your friends… lets say, a tom friend. Who liked other toms." Adderpaw was gazing at him intensely. "Would… would you…"
"No, I wouldn't care, at all!" Adderpaw guess what he was going to finish with. "I don't care what or who you love; be it rogue, she, tom, nonbinary, whatever, friends are friends, and true friends stick with you no matter who you love!"
Vampirepaw felt his jaw drop, looking down at Adderpaw. Adderpaw looked at him concerned.

"What, did I say something wrong?" Adderpaw asked.

"No, no no no!" Vampirepaw quickly snapped, shaking his head rapidly. "I was just… happy you think that."

Adderpaw examined his gaze for a second. "Wait… Vampirepaw…" Adderpaw began. "Do youuu… like a tom?" He asked. When Vampirepaw looked away, hot, Adderpaw gasped. "Oh my Cedarstar! Who is it? What's his name? Is it a rogue? Is it another clan cat? Is it someone I've never met?!" Adderpaw began flooding with questions. Vampirepaw felt really nervous.

The small brown tom cleared his throat, calmly turning his gaze to Vampirepaw. "Soo… who's the lucky tom?"

"It's nobody! It's not someone you know- ignore everything I just said!" Vampirepaw squeaked out in a harsh, garbled mess of words. Adderpaw looked curiously at him, but said nothing more.

Sandpaw stepped through the cave, their yellow fur easy to see in the cave light. "We should get going if we wanna be there by sundown, correct?" They asked, looking at Vampirepaw.

Vampirepaw nodded swiftly, licking the bird off his lips and standing up, slipping past Sandpaw and stepping into the cold sun. He stepped towards Honeypaw, who was waiting patiently for him. She nodded a greeting towards Vampirepaw, who returned the nod.

Vampirepaw scrambled ontop of a rock peak, slipping his claws into the stone to hold himself up, staring down at the world from where he stood. "If I'm right…" He muttered, turning as Sandpaw scratch their way up the cold stone. "We should start heading that way." Vampirepaw nodded towards a small path way, guarded by water and melting snow.

"Well, what are we waiting for? You go wait, I'll go gather the others." Sandpaw meowed, tossing themself back down the rock as Vampirepaw began scrambling down the mountain and sitting to wait for the others to appear before heading forward.

"Ah! Finally!" Vampirepaw meowed, smiling as the 3 other cats appeared into his view. "Come on, we should get going." He purred, turning and walking towards the path way, the sounds of the other apprentices walking around him echoing among the mountains.

"Woah… I never realized how big the world is until now." Adderpaw muttered in awe, glancing around the trees and rivers.

"Me either." Sandpaw murmured, seeming to sound shocked or exasperated. The apprentice turned around multiple times, watching the streams and bugs come and go.

Vampirepaw glanced up, "Woah! Look!" He gasped, glaring up at the flock of birds flying by. It was hard to distinguish what kinds of birds they were because of the shadows and distance, but they seemed to fly all in a line, like the apprentices.

"Woah…" He heard Adderpaw gasp.

"Wow! I've never seen so many birds before!" Sandpaw squeaked.

Honeypaw seemed to stay silent, but he presumed she was just as shocked as the rest of them.

Vampirepaw snapped his gaze back to the others when he heard something creak. "Wait. Did you guys hear that?" He muttered, flicking his ear towards the sound, trying to focus on where it came from. "Listen… something's creaking…" He murmured.

The others were looking around too, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from, when suddenly Adderpaw yelled out; "Sandpaw! Move!" The small tom stretched himself forward, slamming into the sandy apprentice, causing the two to fall into a heap of fur.

Before anyone could even breathe, the tree Sandpaw had been standing under just a second ago collapsed, just barely missing Sandpaw's tail by a whisker's length.

"Oh my god!" Honeypaw squeaked.

"What in the Starclan?!" Sandpaw meowed, confused.

Adderpaw scrambled off of Sandpaw, letting the bigger apprentice stand up. He blinked, looking at the tree confusedly. "This tree looked stable just a minute ago."

"How do you even tell if a tree is going to collapse or not?" Sandpaw murmured, but Adderpaw either ignored them or didnt hear.

"I wonder why it fell." Adderpaw muttered.

"Could it be the wind?" Honeypaw chimed in.

"No, the wind's not strong enough." Responded Sandpaw.

"Maybe it was weak from something here before us?" Vampirepaw suggested. They all looked at him, confused.

"But, who could've passed through here?" Sandpaw asked.

"Thunderclan, obviously." Vampirepaw meowed.

"Well, no cat could weaken a tree enough." Adderpaw meowed.

"Besides," Sandpaw interrupted. "Why would Thunderclan need to unroot a random tree anyways?"

"Do you think someone's following us?" Honeypaw meowed after a long moment of silence. "A random, perfectly stable tree just almost fell onto Sandpaw. Could something or someone be following us, trying to ruin our journey and make us turn back?"

"I don't know, but I don't like thinking about this." Vampirepaw muttered. "Can we continue on?"

"Oh, yes! Sorry, Vampirepaw." Adderpaw purred. "Well, let's get going, captain!" He smiled.

Vampirepaw chuckled. "Follow me!" He slipped past the tree, the dirt-dust below his feet hopping up as he took each step. He took many twists and turns without looking back, knowing his loyal friends were following him the entire time. Vampirepaw came to a stop at a river.

"How're we gonna cross that?" Sandpaw murmured.

"Yeah, we can't swim." Honeypaw meowed.

"Well, obviously, our captain will lead us across." Adderpaw smirked. "Right, captain?" He smiled expectantly at Vampirepaw. Vampirepaw gulped nervously, his fur suddenly feeling hotter than normal.

"Heh- yep! That's me… your captain…" He meowed in response, voice wavering. Vampirepaw turned, walking down the side of the river. Starclan, please give us a way to cross… He thought, the apprentices following in a line behind him. Vampirepaw was slowly losing hope, until he saw a tree - a long tree that looked loose enough for them to knock over.

"Hey, maybe we can loosen up that tree and use it to cross!" Vampirepaw meowed, looking at the others for approval.

"That could work." Sandpaw nodded.

"It looks loose enough!" Honeypaw smiled.

"And long enough for a bridge!" Adderpaw meowed.

"Let's do this then!" Vampirepaw smiled, walking up to the tree. He wrapped his claws around the front of it, pulling on it with his claws and teeth, as the other apprentices attempted to weaken it at its roots by digging and slashing.

The tree began to creak, before crashing down with a deafening thud. Vampirepaw slipped out of the way just in time. The tree was just barely long enough to reach the other end of the river.

"Woohoo! Yeah!" Adderpaw squeaked in celebration, and slowly the other apprentices started to make celebratory noises.

"So, who wants to cross first?" Honeypaw asked, looking around. All the apprentices suddenly went quiet.

"W-Well, obviously, our leader will… right?" Sandpaw chuckled, looking down at the apprentice. Vampirepaw groaned.

"Sure." Vampirepaw hissed. He stumbled forward, staring at the tree. He felt sweaty, uncomfortable. He took a step forward after a hot second, his paw touching the cool bark of the tree. Vampirepaw stared at the water below. The current was rushing fast. It could easily sweep him away if he wasn't careful.

He sighed, staring forward as he put his other paw on the tree. One by one, all of his paws slipped onto the tree. Vampirepaw stepped forward, the tree shaking beneath him. The apprentices' silence didn't help him either. It felt like the world fell silent, the only noise breaking the silence being the rushing river below him.

Vampirepaw shuddered at the thought of the tree breaking as he walked, but he doubted he was that heavy. He looked behind him. Adderpaw smiled at him encouragingly, but the others looked nervous. He sighed, turning back forwards and taking a step. The tree shook.

He took another step and the tree shook again. Going across slowly isn't going to help you, Vampirepaw. He thought to himself. Run across as fast as you can. Get it over with! Vampirepaw shook his head. The thought of running across terrified him, but the river below him terrified him more, so he knew what he was gonna do.

Vampirepaw took two steps back, leaning down slightly, before tossing himself forward, bounding across the tree. It wobbled and shook beneath him, each time he landed back down, but he kept running, until the softness of grass engulfed his paws.

Everything went silent. He slipped to the ground, falling next to a tree, the bark comforting him. He crossed the tree without falling. The world seemed to stop for just a moment.

"WOO! Yeah!" Adderpaw meowed in celebration. "You made it!"

"Nice job, Vampirepaw! Only took you 800 moons!" Sandpaw teased lightheartedly.

"I-I did take a long time, didn't I?" Vampirepaw breathed out, tired.

"Hey, at least you made it!" Honeypaw smiled.

"I can go next." Sandpaw meowed, stepping onto the tree with ease. Vampirepaw looked them in the eyes, noticing, without a doubt, how terrified the apprentice was inside. Sandpaw standing on the tree had made Vampirepaw realize how slim the tree actually was.

Sandpaw slipped across with some difficulty, but landed on the grass next to Vampirepaw, completely unharmed. Soon after, Honeypaw slipped onto the tree, hopping across with ease. She was the smallest of the group, after all, making this stuff easier.

Adderpaw stepped onto the tree, when he suddenly stopped. "Ow! I got a splinter!" He squeaked, wincing as he limped across. Vampirepaw chuckled a little bit.

"Let me see." Sandpaw meowed, holding Adderpaw's paw in theirs. "Yeah, that's a splinter alright…" Sandpaw murmured. They carefully hooked their teeth around the splinter, pulling it out of Adderpaw's paw swiftly, and began licking at the blood that gushed out.

Soon, the blood slowed, before stopping entirely. Sandpaw reached behind them, swabbing up some cobweb off the roots of the tree, and wrapping it around the paw.

"There." Sandpaw smirked.

"Wow! Thank you, Sandpaw!" Adderpaw squeaked. "How did you know to do that, though?"

"I've gotten one too many thorns and splinters in my paws, it's kind of natural for me now." Sandpaw chuckled.

Vampirepaw purred a laugh, slipping past the tree they rested beneath, walking into a large clearing with trees hung over it. Moss was growing over the dirt, but it looked like an old clan camp.

"How about we set up camp here?" Vampirepaw suggested to the other apprentices. They all looked extremely tired, especially after crossing that tree.

"Yeah! I'll go get to making moss beds!" Adderpaw exclaimed, rushing over to a pile of moss growing.

"I'll go out and hunt." Honeypaw smiled.

"I'll come with!" Sandpaw meowed quickly, bounding off after Honeypaw into the forest.

Vampirepaw looked around, smiling. I think this journey is gonna bring a lot more for us, even more than bringing home a whole new clan.