A/N: Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been posting for this story...I've been losing interest in this story and I've also been dealing with a serious case of writers block! First of all to anyone who's read my other story "Into the Forest and Into the Wild" you'd see that I have been using some of those chapters in this story, and that was because at the time I didn't know if I was going to post it and thought those chapters would work great for this story, so please don't give me anymore flames on that! Anywho, if anyone else would like to beta for this story is happy too! Without further ado...

Enjoy,

~Silver

Chapter Seven

Firepaw reopened her eyes, confused. She was no longer in the medicine den, but in a clearing filled with starlight. No moon shone in the silver-dotted night-black sky. All around the clearing were trees. What stood out to her the most though were the four massive oaks that stood intimidatingly in each of the clearing's corners. Jutting out like a broken tooth from its center was a large chipped boulder.

With a jolt of realization, Firepaw recognized Fourtrees. She never saw it at night before as the young apprentice hadn't gone to a Gathering as of yet. The clearing definitely looked different from what it looked like in the day. Lionheart had tried to describe it to her once, but his description didn't do it any justice. No words could describe how beautiful Fourtrees looked at night.

Slowly rising to he paws, the pretty ginger she-cat realized something else. She was no longer in any pain. Actually, Firepaw felt completely at peace. Never had the ginger apprentice felt such tranquility.

The sound of approaching pawsteps snapped her out of her trance. Parting her jaws, Firepaw allowed the scents of the surrounding shadowy forest pass over the scent glands at the roof of her mouth. The scent wasn't of anyone Firepaw knew, but it held the familiar scent of ThunderClan.

Bushes on the top of the slope that led up into ThunderClan territory rustled, and a tom appeared. He was large in size with a fiery orange pelt, the color of autum leaves, and big white paws. His amber eyes burned like fire as they gleamed in the faint silvery light shining from Silverpelt.

As the intimidating-looking tom trotted down the slope, Firepaw got a closer look at him. His fiery pelt held the frosty glitter of stars and with every step the tom took, his hefty paws left a faint trail of starlight in their wake.

The starlit tom stopped a tail-length away, his eyes reflecting starlight. "Greetings, young Firepaw," he rumbled in a deep, majestic voice with a dip of his sleek, neatly-shaped head in greeting.

The flame-colored apprentice felt her heart jump in surprise, green eyes wide. "Who are you?" Firepaw breathed, head tilting.

"Before I walked among the stars, I was called Thunder," the fiery tom replied. "But you'll know me as Thunderstar."

Firepaw's eyes widened in amazement. This was ThunderClan's first leader when the Clans first formed! But, why was he here talking to her and not the medicine cats. Almost as if he were reading her mind, Thunderstar meowed, "Do not think so lowly of yourself, Firepaw. StarClan thinks highly of all the cats in the Clans. No matter if they are big or small, young or old, leader or medicine cat."

The young, former kittypet suddenly felt her curiosity get the best of her. "Why would someone of StarClan, let alone the first leader of ThunderClan, want to speak with me?" she questioned. "I'm only an apprentice, and a former kittypet."

Thunderstar gave her a sympathetic look. "In my time, it didn't matter if you were once kittypet, a rogue, or a loner," he meowed, " and StarClan is no different. It's what lies in your heart that matters, not what you had once been."

As this knowledge clicked in her brain, Firepaw felt relieved. She never realized how much she had worried about what she had once been until this moment. It meant a lot to know that StarClan saw past her former kittypet persona and to the Clan cat beyond. Suddenly a thought came to her.

"Am I dead?" Firepaw burst out, eyes wide as she recounted the last thing she remembered.

The first ThunderClan leader let out a meow of amusement. "No, young one," Thunderstar assured her. "Although you are in a in-between phase at the present moment. You ate a poisoned mouse and right now you're in the medicine den getting treated."

Firepaw's heart seemed to jump in her throat. "Will I ever wake up?"

"Of course!" Thunderstar exclaimed.

The flame-colored she-cat frowned, "But you jus-"

"You're here," the mighty tom interrupted, "to allow your body to rest. You'll wake up once the poison is out of your system. In the mean time, I believe you are ready to know this..." Firepaw pricked her ears and straightened up to attention, eyes alert and locked on the oldest ThunderClan leader. "...'With the tiniest claws, fire will save our Clan'."

Before she could question Thunderstar on what that was supposed to mean, she woke up with a start when she felt someone shift slightly before relaxing again. She felt surprisingly warm and comfortable. She forced her eyes open. They were sticky with sleep and she had to blink to clear the fuzziness from her vision. Slowly lifting her head and turning it, she saw Tigerpaw fast asleep. His breathing deep and even.

Firepaw then pushed herself to her paws. Her belly felt crushed and slightly cramped, but the jerking agony had gone thankfully and she didn't feel sick or thirsty anymore.

She unsteadily climbed out of her nest and, feeling very shaky, sat down with a soft thump. Behind her, Firepaw heard Tigerpaw shift slightly before hearing a startled, almost panicked gasp, which was then followed by a sigh of relief. A moment later, she felt fur brushing up against her own.

"I thought you'd never wake up again," Tigerpaw meowed softly.

Firepaw looked up and met his gaze with her own. "So did I," she admitted before looking down at her paws.

"How are you feeling?" he asked hesitantly.

"A little shaky and weak, but besides that I don't feel sick or thirsty anymore," she mewed looking back at him once more.

"That's good," he murmured before adding, "Goosefeather and Featherwhisker think you ate a poisoned mouse."

Firepaw frowned, remembering Thunderstar telling her the same thing, and stared at Tigerpaw, "It tasted fine," she replied, shrugging.

"Well it was either that or you secretly ate crow-food," he meowed.

"I'd never eat crow-food," she objected immediately, her stomach churning at the thought of even doing so, and leaped to her feet. She teetered slightly on her paws.

"Alright," he murmured gently, "I believe you."

Firepaw relaxed slightly before turning and started to limp across the medicine clearing towards the fern tunnel.

"Where are you going?" Tigerpaw demanded as he caught up with her.

"I'm going to the dirtplace," she mewed before brushing through the fern tunnel and into the camp with the dark tabby hard on her paws.

...

A couple of days had passed since then, and Firepaw was bored out of her mind and it was all thanks to Poppydawn and Bluefur. When she asked if she could go back to training, both of them refused and explained that she needed her strength back. When Firepaw went to the medicine cats for a second opinion, they agreed that she needed her strength back first as the poisoned mouse took a lot out of her.

So for the following days after eating that bad mouse, Firepaw had been doing small tasks all around camp. These included cleaning out the elders' den and checking the elders for ticks as well as helping the medicine cats with sorting out herbs and helping them apply the said herbs to anyone who, in general, was being idiotic and got hurt. Firepaw had to admit to herself that it wasn't all bad. The only thing she kept in mind and reminded herself on occasion was that she was helping and being useful, and it wasn't like she was doing anything either. Unfortunately after a few days, she was becoming bored with it all and became in desperate need to go back to her own training.

Firepaw was exiting the medicine den to visit the elders, and maybe get a story out of Poppydawn, when Whitepaw walked up to her.

"Hey, Firepaw!" the white apprentice meowed enthusiastically, blue eyes shining in the like stars in the faint mid-morning light.

"Hello, Whitepaw," she greeted back, stopping to allow him to catch up. The young white tom was always good at making her laugh. He was also one of the reasons Firepaw hadn't gone crazy with the lack of warrior training.

The younger apprentice almost seemed to be jumping off the walls with excitement as he hopped on over to her. "The other mentors sent me to tell you that you can come with us for a tree climbing."

Firepaw's eyes widened before she beamed with happiness. "Really? Great!" the fiery apprentice meowed brightly, "Let's go."

Purring, Whitepaw flicked his tail towards her to tell Firepaw to follow him and trotted over to the gorse tunnel.

By the time they made it to the Great Sycamore, their mentors were already there along with Smallear and Lionheart with Tinypaw and Tigerpaw. Bluefur, she noticed, wasn't looking all too happy that she was there.

"Maybe this isn't a good idea," the blue-gray she-cat mewed hesitantly. "Firepaw should get some more rest."

The ginger apprentice felt her heart drop. Didn't her mentor want her as an apprentice anymore? She couldn't figure out why Bluefur was so against the idea about her going back to training. As far as Firepaw could tell, she was perfectly ready to take on any task her mentor gave her.

Lionheart flicked his tail. "Drop it, Bluefur," the golden warrior meowed simply. "She is perfectly fine. Featherwhisker gave the go ahead earlier this morning."

"Besides," Patchpelt added. "She needs to get back to training if she wants to be a warrior, or do you want to prove Thistleclaw right that kittypets can't be warriors?"

At that, Bluefur bristled. "Of course not!" she snapped. "I just meant that a little more rest wouldn't hurt her."

Smallear now stood up from where he'd been sitting silently as the younger warriors bickered. "All right this is no time to bicker about arrogant, bloodthirsty warriors," the small-eared tom began stiffly. "Let's get back to what we were supposed to initially be teaching the apprentices."

Patchpelt flicked an ear in agreement. "Right, so we are here to assess how well you're tree climbing abilities are," he meowed to the apprentices. "So, Firepaw? Why don't you go first?"

A/N: Ooh, I wonder what's going to happen next? *smirks mysteriously/mischievously* Please review! :D And also, please vote on the poll I've set up for you people to decide who Firepaw's warrior name should be, it is on my profile.

~SilverMoon2015