Lost

Crescentpaw hissed. Spottedpaw brushed her pelt against his. "What's wrong?"

"How can we let ShadowClan into our territory?!" the apprentice yowled.

"Hush!" Leafpool padded over and nudged her kit. "Firestar knows what he's doing."

Crescentpaw snorted ruefully and sneered, "Yeah, sure he does. He's a kittypet, after all!"

Leafpool's amber eyes flashed angrily as she snarled at her son, "You shut your mouth, understand? Firestar, the kittypet, just also happens to be your grandfather."

Crescentpaw lifted his chin a bit. "But I'm not a kittypet."

Firepaw yowled from behind and pounced on Crescentpaw. "You take that back, you . . . you, you fox dung!"

Crescentpaw, being much larger than Firepaw, threw her off and landed on top of her, his big paws pressing into her soft chest. "Oh, yeah? And who's going to make me?"

Firepaw snarled and unsheathed her claws. "I will!" She delivered a low slash over Crescentpaw's face, and the young apprentice yowled in pain and jerked back, stumbling on his hind legs. Firepaw took this oppurinity to pounce, throwing her whole weight into the slam. The impact threw Crescentpaw clear off his paws, and he was send spiraling through the grass.

Firepaw bolted toward him, claws reaching out for an attack. Crescentpaw snarled and jerked back to his paws, and he threw himself on top of his sister. The two tangled in the grass, yowling and screeching angrily in a frenzy.

Suddenly, a yowl of rage erupted through the ferns, and an orange-pelted tom flew into the clearing and forcively separated the two apprentices. Firepaw looked up, her eyes wide in terror. Even brave, fearless Crescentpaw shivered before the mighty gaze of Firestar.

The ThunderClan leader bared his teeth in disappointment at the young apprentices. "Firepaw, Crescentpaw, I expected better of you two," he mewed hotly. "But here I see two kittens quarreling over some matter I know not of."

Firepaw opened her mouth to speak of her innocence, but no words came out. Instead, she closed her mouth, curled her tail between her paws, lowered her ears, and looked down at the ground shamefully.

Crescentpaw also remained silent, not offering any explanation of why the fight had occurred.

Firestar nodded grimly and whipped his tail back, gesturing for them to follow. "Come. We'll discuss punishments when we return to camp."

Firepaw kept her head down and trailed behind him, Crescentpaw close up. When they arrived at camp, Firestar silently leaf them to his den. He sat in front of it and looked with disappointment. Both apprentices lowered their heads farther down.

"Well," Firestar growled softly, so no one else could hear, "since this was your first Gathering, I'll go easy on you this once. You are both to clean the elders' den, do extra work on catching prey and removing the ticks off the elders' fur, and you must help your mother with collecting herbs." He gave them a once over before adding, "And no stealing!"

Both apprentices grinned sheepishly. Heh, that was still around their necks, huh?

Later;

Galepaw set a rabbit down and watched as Firepaw aided Longtail with taking fleas off his fur.

"Poor Firepaw!" Silverpaw meowed. "She's got more chores than a bird in spring."

"Crescentpaw's got to do equal work," Hollypaw stated. "They kind of deserved it, though, fighting during the Gathering like that. It's in the warrior code."

"Please don't give us that speech again," Lionpaw groaned. "I've heard it a million times. I agree with Firepaw when it comes from you and the warrior code. Give it a rest already."

Hollypaw hissed, "Well, gee, I'm just trying do what I'm taught to do! You should be following the code just as much as I am."

"Just as much?" Lionpaw repeated, eyes wide. "No way! I'd die of boredom from that!"

Hollypaw puffed out her chest, but before she could say anything, Jaypaw padded over. "Your mentors wish to see you both."

Lionpaw and Hollypaw nodded, and together the siblings padded away.

Later still;

Firepaw twitched and rolled in her sleep. She was dreaming.

In her dream, she was running, but from what or where she didn't know. Her paws weren't touching the earthy ground of a meadow, or even the hard, cold rocks of ThunderClan. Her pads were damp, rushing along a spongy dampness below.

She cried out as her paws suddenly slipped into the stuff. Her entire body became damp and heavy, as if she was floating in water.

Water!

Firepaw was floating in nothingness, a pool of water. She began to panic, finding neither light to guide her up or motion to push her up. Her paws only found water, and water still.

She opened her mouth, inhaling a mouth load of water.

Suddenly a rush of warmth overcame her, and red blinded her completely.

Red? Oh, no! It couldn't..!

It was. Fire.

Firepaw struggling against the blazing heat, the tongues of flame licking her fur. She cried out and jolted up from her sleep.

The she-cat gasped for breath desperately, her throat raspy and sore. She looked around, finding he den-mates cuddling near by. Firepaw looked around her again, trying to organize her thoughts. But nothing made sense, so with a heavy sigh, she laid her had back down and closed her eyes shut.

Off in the distance some way, a fox sat there, looking out at the ThunderClan territory. "A small leaf will be the roots of the clan. A feather will gain her spots. Water will drown the clan's beliefs. And thunder will save the clan," he chanted, not blinking once as he repeated the words.

He stopped suddenly, standing up and padding away into the deep blue night, not turning back once.