The three newborn kits were named, as Lilypaw learned from Bluefur about two days later, Mistkit, Nightkit, and Tigerkit. They were still weak and no one expected them to survive for long, but Leopardfoot had recovered enough strength to give them names. Tigerkit, the only tom and the runt of the litter, was still unable to feed. Lilypaw suspected that Leopardfoot had chosen an unusually fierce-sounding name in the hopes that he would be a fighter. Personally, she wasn't sure with what a kit's name had to do with whether he was a strong fighter or not–she could have named him Sparklekit and it wouldn't have changed anything about his health–but she figured that she shouldn't question a queen.

I just hope she's right, Lilypaw thought, glancing over toward the nursery. He'll need to be a fighter if he's going to make it to his first moon. They all will.

To make matters worse, Rosepaw and Sweetpaw were still sick. Rosepaw was looking better, but her sister's condition hadn't changed. If anything, Lilypaw thought the tortoiseshell molly looked worse than she had two days ago. The herbs had done nothing to soothe her, and she spent most of her time curled up in her nest, only strong enough to give the occasional moan of pain. Lilypaw was just grateful for the fact that Bluefur had made a full recovery. At least she wouldn't have to worry about her sister anymore–or at least not until the next battle or bout of illness.

"Lilypaw!" Sunfall called out to her, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" she called back, turning her head to look at her father.

"I want you to go on a hunting patrol. Bluefur's taking one out; you can join hers," the bright ginger tom meowed.

Lilypaw nodded and bounded over to where her sister and the rest of the patrol were waiting. Her pelt prickled with displeasure when she noticed that Thistlepaw was among them. She bit back a sigh of annoyance; dealing with the arrogant apprentice definitely wasn't how she had envisioned spending her day. Lilypaw took comfort in the fact that Bluefur would at least be there as well.

"Took you long enough," Thistlepaw sneered at her.

"Who asked you?" Lilypaw shot back.

"Enough, both of you," Smallear ordered. "Thistlepaw, it's not Lilypaw's fault that she was late. Sunfall only just told her about the patrol, you know."

Thistlepaw flicked his tail sullenly, but even he didn't quite dare argue with a senior warrior. Without so much as a backward glance at her denmate, Lilypaw marched out of the camp after Bluefur. The more distance she could put between herself and Thistlepaw, the better it would be for everyone.

"Bad luck, huh, getting stuck with him on our patrol," Bluefur murmured as if she had heard Lilypaw's thoughts.

"You can say that again," Lilypaw muttered in agreement.

"Bad luck, huh, getting stuck with him on our patrol."

"Oh, very funny, Bluefur."

As they continued on their way, Lilypaw sniffed the air for any sign of prey. It was still fairly early out, so most of the forest creatures were still asleep. The only animals that were awake were a few blackbirds, but she wasn't about to chase one up a tree. The thought of trying to stalk a bird on a thin branch high above the safety of the forest floor with the wind blowing in her fur sent an uneasy feeling down Lilypaw's spine.

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught her attention. Turning her head, she saw a mouse burrowing through some leaves next to a nearby tree. Dropping into a crouch, Lilypaw began padding forward, keeping her pawsteps light and silent so as not to disturb her prey. She tensed for a moment when the mouse paused in its burrowing, then breathed a sigh of relief as it went back to its work.

"Look out!" Thistlepaw yowled suddenly.

Fox dung!

The spiky-furred apprentice's loud call had frightened the mouse away. In a final desperate effort to catch it, Lilypaw lunged forward, but her movement was a split second too late and she watched in frustration as the mouse disappeared from view. Bristling with fury, she whirled on Thistlepaw, who merely looked back with a smug expression on his face.

"You did that on purpose!" she meowed accusingly. "I would have caught that mouse and now because of you, the Clan just lost valuable fresh-kill. Do you ever think of anyone besides yourself?"

"It was a mistake," the gray and white apprentice retorted coolly.

Lilypaw glared furiously at him. "The only mistake that's happened here is your birth," she spat. "Don't you ever interfere with my hunt again. Since you seem so convinced that you're the greatest warrior ThunderClan has ever seen, maybe you should start backing it up for a change."

Thistlepaw drew his lips back in a snarl, but Adderfang cut him off and meowed sharply, "Both of you, stop this right now. We're here to hunt for the Clan, not to start petty arguments amongst ourselves."

"That's what I was doing until someone decided to mess everything up," Lilypaw growled, whirling around and storming off to catch up with Bluefur.

"Thistlepaw causing problems again?" the blue-furred warrior asked sympathetically.

"You know it," Lilypaw snorted, her fur bristling angrily. "He's just as bad as a RiverClan cat! Always strutting around with his nose in the air, acting like he's so much better than everyone, talking constantly about what an amazing warrior he's going to be. I'm surprised he can even move with that massive head on his shoulders. And now he's trying to mess everything up for me! I don't know what Snowfur sees in someone like him. He makes me sick!"

"I know," Bluefur agreed. "He's so full of himself."

By the time they reached Snakerocks, her anger towards her denmate still hadn't died down. It was bad enough that Thistlepaw was easily the most arrogant cat in the forest, but now he was actively trying to sabotage her. She shot a nasty look at him, wishing that she could make his pelt burst into flames if she glared hard enough.

Upon their arrival, it was decided that the patrol would split up to hunt around the area while Thistlepaw sat guard. Lilypaw felt a flash of satisfaction at the bitter disappointment on the spiky-furred apprentice's face at not being allowed to hunt. He deserved it after ruining her chance at catching the mouse earlier. The more she saw of Thistlepaw, the less she understood why Snowfur liked him so much.

Another mouse scurried across her path. Quickly, Lilypaw dropped into a hunting crouch again and began padding after it. Just before she was about to leap forward to snag it, Thistlepaw let out a yowl that sent it fleeing into a nearby crevice.

"Watch it! There's a giant beetle on your back!" he shouted.

Lilypaw was fuming. "What did I just tell you?" she demanded.

"Oops, sorry," Thistlepaw meowed, looking at her innocently. "I guess I must have imagined things."

"One more word out of you," Lilypaw growled, glaring at the older cat. "And we'll be feeding you to the Clan for dinner tonight. Don't test me, Thistlepaw."

Without waiting to see if the message had gotten through, she spun around again and headed several fox-lengths away. Perhaps if she were further away from the arrogant tom, she would finally be able to catch something. Her fur bristled with anger as she thought of the two mice the Clan had lost because of Thistlepaw. He was just lucky that it wasn't leaf-bare or else those two mice could have meant the difference between life and death for someone.

He should have been born a rogue. It's not like he behaves any differently from one, Lilypaw thought as she sniffed the air.

A familiar scent washed over her as she was scanning the area for any sign of prey. Her mouth began watering as she recognized the scent of a vole. Quickly, Lilypaw glanced around, trying to pinpoint the vole's location, finally spotting it underneath an overhanging rock formation. Determined not to let Thistlepaw ruin her catch this time, she dropped into the hunting crouch and began moving toward the vole. Once she was about a tail-length away, she leaped forward, killing it with one sharp bite.

Finally, she thought to herself with a grimace. She knew she should have been proud, but after losing two pieces of prey because of Thistlepaw, it was impossible. If he hadn't come, I would have caught at least three pieces of fresh-kill by now.

"Look out!"

And there he goes again, Lilypaw thought, shaking her head. Out loud, she called back, "Nice try, Thistlepaw. Nobody is going to fall for that again."

She turned around and buried her vole before going back to her hunt. As she did so, however, a strange scent washed over her. For a moment, Lilypaw paused in confusion, wondering who the scent belonged to. It definitely wasn't a cat, that much she could tell, but she couldn't quite figure out what sort of animal it was. The smell was vaguely familiar; perhaps she had encountered it while out training with Thrushpelt.

"Lilypaw, run!" It wasn't Thistlepaw who called out this time, but Bluefur. Her sister's voice was thick with fear and Lilypaw paused for a moment, glancing back and forth in concern. Perhaps Thistlepaw's warning had been real this time.

Suddenly, a large shape came hurtling seemingly out of nowhere, paws thundering against the rocky surface. The stench threatened to overwhelm her, and Lilypaw's fur stood on end as she saw who it belonged to at last. A massive dog, even bigger than Thistlepaw, was racing towards her. It must have escaped from its Twoleg somehow, and now it was after her Clanmates and their fresh-kill.

What do I do? Lilypaw wondered, her heart pounding against her chest. She knew how to fight, of course, but even experienced warriors were reluctant to fight a dog and she was only an apprentice. How can I possibly beat it?

Lilypaw spared a moment to glance around, searching for any possible escape route. But it was no use. The dog was too fast and drawing closer to her with each passing heartbeat. If she tried to run, it would catch up to her in no time. She supposed that she could try climbing a tree, but the nearest one was still too far for her to reach in time and Lilypaw didn't like the idea of being so high above the ground. If she fell out somehow, she would hit the rocks and she could only imagine what sort of injuries would result from an accident such as that.

I have no choice. I have to try to fight it somehow.

Bracing herself, Lilypaw unsheathed her claws as the massive creature crashed into her. White-hot pain seared her body as the dog clamped its jaws on her shoulder, blood spurting out from the wound. Gritting her teeth, Lilypaw brought her forepaw crashing down over its head in a desperate attempt to free herself. Due to her smaller size, however, the dog barely seemed to feel anything. She slashed her claws across its face, but it merely snarled at her angrily before biting down on her scruff.

Oh, StarClan, help me!

Lilypaw resisted the urge to shriek in terror as the dog lifted her off the ground and began shaking her violently. Her body was jerked back and forth wildly and she felt as though she might be sick. Twisting around, she tried to slash her claws over the dog's eyes, but she only succeeded at clawing the air instead.

Then suddenly, she was free again. Panting and coughing heavily, Lilypaw spun around to see that Bluefur and Thistlepaw had attacked the dog and were slashing their claws at it mercilessly. As she watched, her sister raked her claws over the dog's eyes while Thistlepaw performed a belly rake that sent blood splattering over the rocks. Lilypaw winced as the dog let out a high-pitched wail of pain. She could almost feel sorry for it.

Well, almost but not quite.

At last, the dog managed to free itself and took off into the woods, heading in the direction of Twolegplace. Bluefur stood up and raced over to Lilypaw, her blue gaze shining with worry. Thistlepaw got up as well, but unlike Bluefur, he made no move to check on his denmate.

"Are you okay?" Bluefur asked, frantically checking her over. "Are you hurt? Can you walk?"

"I think I'm okay," Lilypaw grunted. "Thanks for helping me, by the way."

"Come on, we should head back to the camp now. I think we've had enough for today," Adderfang meowed firmly as the rest of the patrol joined them.

Bluefur nodded. "Good idea," she agreed. "Everyone, grab your fresh-kill. We're going home now."

Lilypaw walked alongside her sister as they made their way back to the ThunderClan camp. Now that the adrenaline from her fight with the dog had faded, the pain from her injuries was returning full force. Her vision was fading in and out and the sound of her Clanmate's voices seemed to come from several thousand tree-lengths away. She stumbled slightly, exhaustion threatening to knock her off balance.

Through a haze of weariness and agony, Lilypaw thought she could hear someone calling out to her. She blinked and looked around, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. Were her Clanmates trying to talk to her or was there a malevolent spirit trying to contact her from beyond the grave?

Then her head spun, her vision went black, and Lilypaw knew no more.

Poor Lilypaw. She just wanted to help. Don't worry though, I'm not going to kill her.

But hey, at least Bluefur saved her! Well, I guess Thistlepaw technically did too, but he didn't do it for her. He just wanted to be able to brag to his Clanmates that he fought a dog.

Responses to a few reviews:

CaptainShort19: I'm glad you're enjoying this! Yes, Lilypaw is amazing. As for your question, no, Firepaw/heart/star will not make an appearance in this book.

Amberflame805: The thing about Thistlepaw/claw in this universe is that he's emotionally abusive and manipulative (I guess those two go hand in hand, though). He gets jealous easily and he can't accept the fact that Lilypaw is important to Snowfur as well, especially because he hates her. So he picks fights with her over the attention she shows her sister, which is obviously his fault, but he always manipulates her to into believing that she's the one in the wrong so she always ends up apologizing. Snowfur isn't actually in love with him, but she has a pretty big crush on him so she thinks nothing less than the best of Thistleclaw, which only makes it easier for him to mess with her head.

Kuroimori: I take great pleasure in roasting Thistlepaw.

Thanks for reading!

-TheShadowedWarrior