Sorry for being dead for so long.

But here it is the long awaited chapter 17!

Disclaimer: I do not own warriors.

…

"Adderstripe?" Duskfang's eyes narrowed slightly at the cat that had been Warscar's apprentice and helper. But they widened again at the state the warrior was in.

Adderstripe's green eyes looked haggard and haunted, they where darker then when Duskfang had last seen them. Surrounding them where rings of black as if Adderstripe hadn't been getting enough sleep. His pelt was messy and unkempt; it stuck to him thinly showing a few of the tom's ribs, it would be normal if it was leaf bare but it was new leaf. Across his shoulders where long jagged scars that look like they had been slow and painful, Duskfang wondered how Adderstripe would've let anyone do that to him. Then again the tom no longer held the aurora of pride that he had had as an apprentice. Adderstripe held his shoulders like there was a great weight on them. He stared at Duskfang with an ember of hope deep in there. The rogue wondered why.

"Can I talk to you?" Adderstripe asked.

Duskfang showed his fangs "Why would I talk to the likes of you?" he hissed.

"Please." Adderstripe pleaded.

Duskfang didn't know why, maybe it was the desperation in the tom's eyes, but he got up and followed the brown cat.

Duskfang looked at the bone thin cat and then to the freshly restocked fresh kill pile. "Are you going to eat?" he asked.

Adderstripe flicked his ears not even glancing at the food "No." he whispered so quietly that Duskfang had to strain his ears.

The two toms walked out of the camp, and through the bushes out of everyone's sight

They walked far off from the sounds of the camp. They were soon surrounded by nothing but the green of the new leaf bushes and the brown of the bark of the trees.

Duskfang sat down starring at Adderstripe with golden eyes. The tom sat across from him giving the other cat a tired smile that faded. There was and pressing silence that seemed to last for hours.

"I'm sorry." Adderstripe said breaking the silence. "I'm sorry Duskfang."

Duskfang looked up at him.

"I'm sorry that I had you exiled."

Duskfang snarled "If you think sorrys are going to make me forgive you then Warscar was badly mistaken when he said you where a smart cat." He hissed.

Adderstripe nodded "I know…"

Duskfang stopped himself from yelling at Adderstripe again then after a few moments asked "Why? Why'd you turn me into the traitor?"

"I was scared…" Adderstripe answered "Of leaving Nightclan."

"What? And you don't think I was?" Duskfang hissed.

"I… I couldn't imagine a life outside of the clan. I never thought of being a rogue or living out of the clan, I had always thought I'd be in the clan, even when I was helping Warscar, I couldn't think myself out of the clan. I knew no other life." He said.

"I didn't know any other way either!" Duskfang yelled.

"Yes but you knew you were born a rogue."

"What does that have to-"

"Your mother brought you here and died doing it." Adderstripe interrupted "You must've imagined what it would've been like if she hadn't done that. If she hadn't come here and had stayed wherever it was she came from. If she had still been alive…"

Duskfang clenched his teeth and looked at the ground. What made him mad was the fact that he couldn't deny Adderstripe's words. He had lost count of the nights he's stare up at the ceiling of the apprentice den and imagined what life would've been like if he had been raised outside of the clan, hunting for themselves and without the warrior code binding them. In a small way those fantasies had helped him when he'd been exiled. He glared at Adderstripe.

"It doesn't mean anything what I imagined. You still betrayed the entire clan, you broke the warrior code, and you helped Warscar with his crazy plans." He hissed. "But what I really don't understand is why you helped him? You seemed like a loyal warrior, you never seemed to have any wanting to be deputy."

"Because, it would've made Warscar proud," Adderstripe said.

Duskfang flicked his ears. "Why would you want that?"

Adderstripe looked down "He was …father to me… My real father died about a moon into my life, and after that my mother… she was so sad after he died and … wasn't always there. I'd always follow Warscar around." He chuckled pathetically "I was so happy when Warscar was chosen as my mentor. So when Warscar asked me to help him with this no matter how wrong I knew it was to kill the leader, I wanted to please him, so much that it didn't matter what I did, so long as he was pleased. So I agreed." He looked up "it wasn't until he killed Patchfur though, that I really saw his insanity."

"We were meeting up again when Patchfur came. He'd pieced together Thymestar's recently lost lives and how we were always there. I don't know how he figured out but he did. But for all those brains in his head he couldn't fight Warscar off." Adderstripe cringed "I was told to hold him down while Warscar killed him. The disappointment in Patchfur's eyes when he looked up at me…" Adderstripe looked down as he cringed again "It made me truly realize what we were doing."

"After Warscar killed Patchfur he looked up at me and I think he saw the change in me, because he said 'If you speak of this to anyone your next.' And then he took the body." Adderstripe shivered, Duskfang could feel his own fur prickling as well. "After that I began to hate him and what we were doing every part of me wanted nothing more than to drop this entire thing. But if I backed out or told I knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill me. I was planning on killing him though. But it never came to that… When you killed Warscar I felt angry but I felt free for a moment at least."

"You have an odd way of saying thank you." Duskfang growled.

"I'm sorry Duskfang I truly am. I don't know why I turned you into the traitor…

I guess when I was up there something inside of me still wanted to protect Warscar's name. No matter how much I hated him he was still the closest thing I had to a father, so I wanted to protect him." He began to laugh "I'm such an idiot it's funny."

He soon quieted. All Duskfang could do was stare at him.

"You remember what you said to me before you left? That one day the truth would find me? Well it has Duskfang. It has. And right now it's trying to kill me."

"What do you mean?"

Adderstripe starred at the exile dead in the eye "He comes to me, Warscar. Every night he comes into my dreams."

Duskfang's eyes widened

"Every night, he begins to throw plans at me so that I'll become leader. When I tell him no he ignores me. Whenever I tell him that he's dead he says that it isn't true and that he'll live through me… Then I run. But no matter how far or fast I run I still hear him." Adderstripe closed his eyes. "All of his plans his praises, his threats. Sometimes I wonder if I do what he says he'll stop." He shakes his head. "But I know better."

"I'm scared of doing well! I don't want Thymestar to give me an apprentice. Then who knows what Warscar would say? He'd just come to me more and more until one day I'd give in to him."

Duskfang looked at the warrior; he couldn't see that proud apprentice that had been his rival. They had kept each other on their toes. Always pushing each other to their limits, Duskfang didn't know if he could've been such a good fighter if it hadn't been for Adderpaw. But the cat he was looking at right now was broken.

Duskfang took a step toward Adderstripe, now he knew why Adderstripe's eyes were so haunted and this probably explained how come he wasn't eating. Duskfang was stilled confused though. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you know the truth," Adderstripe said.

"Redfern knows the truth." Duskfang contradicted.

"No she believes what you said, the rest of the clan cats believe what I said." Adderstripe contradicted "no one really knows the truth, only you and I," Adderstripe used his tail to indicate them "Know what really happened that day. I have no one else to go to. Unlike you I didn't have anyone else who I trusted."

Duskfang thought about it. Adderstripe hadn't had any real friends. He'd spent all of his time with Warscar and his warrior friends although none of them seemed to really notice Adderpaw. Adderstripe had always been a loner, and Duskfang hadn't thought much of it up until now.

"But I didn't drag you here just to tell you about my irrelevant dreams." Adderstripe tucked his tail around his paws "Do you want me to tell the truth?"

Duskfang stopped feeling shocked. "Wha… What?"

"I'm asking you, do you want me to tell Thymestar about what really happened?" Adderstripe cringed "I can't deal with it anymore! I thought that if I told the truth while you're here… Warscar he's there every fucking night! And I hate it! I want him gone! I want it to end…" Adderstripe put his head in his paws shaking uncontrollably.

Duskfang leaped over to the warrior raising his paw. He glanced at the long jagged wounds on Adderstripe's shoulders. The angle they were at and the deepness of them… the realization of what those scars were hit him like lightning.

He raised his paw then hit Adderstripe across the face with it. Hard. The brown tabby fell onto the ground with a thud. He looked up at Duskfang.

"That was for getting me exiled." He growled. He then calmed down. "Adderstripe… I'm not going to ask you to tell truth."

"Wha…What? Why not?" Adderstripe's green eyes widened, he looked at Duskfang as if he'd just grown two heads. "It's your chance to join the clans again. You won't have to live as a rogue anymore!" he stood up warily.

Duskfang looked up at the sky, starring at the white clouds. "The reason I've avoided Nightclan isn't just because of my exile… There's more to it than that." Adderstripe tilted his head. Duskfang looked back down at Adderstripe and placed a paw on his shoulder onto the claw wounds. Adderstripe flinched.
"You're a moron, you know that." Duskfang looked at the jagged wounds. "There's no need to overdo it like that. There's no need to hurt yourself."

Adderstripe looked at the scars "Not like it matters…" he muttered

"It does Adderstripe." Duskfang sighed "For now I don't think it would be a good thing for you to tell, just stay silent. I don't need the clan anymore. But you do Adderstripe. Right now I suggest you start to try and heal yourself, before you go do anything else idiotic."

Adderstripe looked at Duskfang and narrowed his eyes "So even with this chance you won't come back to the clan?"

Duskfang looked to the floor "There's one good thing that your lie has done for me Adderstripe." He put his paw down looking to the bushes. "It showed me the truth."

"What?"

Duskfang stood up and walked back toward the camp.

"What do you mean Duskfang? How did my lie show you the truth?"

"It showed me who really loved me. It showed me who the fakes were."

Duskfang became silent, he glanced back at Adderstripe his gold eyes emotionless.

"So what are you saying? That only Redfern loves you truly?"

"Yes"

"But what about Willowleaf? Eagleflight? Dawnbird? Lionfang? They cared for you."

"No, they don't."

"So you'll never join the clan again?"

Duskfang didn't answer then leaped into the bushes and ran toward the come. But Adderstripe's question followed him.

"So you'll never join the clan again?"

Duskfang slowed down when he reached the camp entrance and walked in.

He spotted Redfern helping a warrior. Willowleaf was lying side to side with Eagleflight. Lionfang was eating a thrush with some other cats. Dawnbird was nowhere to be seen. Sundapple was showing some kits battle moves.

Duskfang couldn't find a reason to stay. He wasn't wanted or needed here.

He never had been.

…

Like I said before; sorry for being dead for so long, school and some other stuff have been haunting me.

Please Review.

Any new opinions of Adderstripe?