Um…D:

HURT

'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.'

Wrong.

Words do hurt.

"Volepaw, you mousebrain, you're supposed to roll, and then leap at me!" Iceclaw hissed, lifting his massive paw from my throat. I scrambled to my paws and shook the sand off my pelt, feeling dread creeping up my throat like bile. Here came the lecture.

"If you want to be a good warrior," Iceclaw explained, "you have to have power and skill. You can't just lounge through training and expect to be the best warrior in the Clan, you know." He rolled his eyes. "I can't believe I got stuck training you, instead of your siblings. They're much stronger than you. You're supposed to look mighty and strong, but you look like you're flailing your paws around mindlessly. I look bad mentoring you!" He scowled.

I flinched as he rose to his paws and swung his massive head around. "Let's get to hunting now. I wasted a whole day trying to teach you this move, but all you did is laze around and ignore me."

My belly twisted as we padded across the training hollow and to the river. He always criticized me whenever I did even the tiniest thing incorrectly. I sighed and crouched on a large slab of rock right beside the river, gazing down into the water, searching for any movement.

There! A minnow darted right underneath my shadow. I swiped my paw into the water and snatched it up with my claws, quickly killing it and placing it to the side. Beside me, Iceclaw was killing off a large fish, much bigger than mine. It could feed all the queens and kits, and the elders! My eyes widened. He turned to me, and I cringed when he eyed my fish. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he hastily flicked his eyes back to the water. I sighed and followed suit.

When we returned back to camp, I carried one fish-the small minnow that could barely feed a kit. Iceclaw had 3 large fish clamped in his jaws. We placed them onto the fresh-kill pile, and Iceclaw stalked toward me. "Follow me. I need to talk to you." His voice was low. I gulped and scurried behind him, into the lush trees that surrounded the camp.

"I have never seen such a weak, brainless apprentice," Iceclaw growled. I shrank back under his hard amber gaze. "What is wrong with you? Why can't you be like your siblings? They're great hunters and fighters, and they think on their feet! Why did StarClan punish me with training you? Why can't you just do what I say?" Iceclaw tore the grass with his thorn-sharp claws.

"I…I'm trying, Iceclaw," I whimpered, and then quickly shut my mouth. What had I just said to my powerful mentor?

"You're not trying at all," Iceclaw spat. "And if you are, you're not trying hard enough. You're never going to become a warrior. You're going to train for the rest of your life, because you can't even catch more than one measly fish, or do the simplest battle move ever made."

I gaped at him in horror. I would never be a warrior? How could this be? Was I really that bad of an apprentice? Questions reeled through my head as I sulked back to camp behind Iceclaw.

StarClan, why did you make me like this?

I yawned and circled my nest. My belly rumbled; Iceclaw had been so ashamed of my hunting that day that he didn't even let me eat. I tucked my muzzle between my paws and closed my eyes, wishing that StarClan would take me in my sleep, so that I wouldn't be a nuisance to Iceclaw anymore. I wanted to be a warrior, but if all I was doing to my Clan was adding one more mouth to feed, I didn't want to be any part of it. I didn't want to make it weak.

I blinked my eyes open and felt springy, soft grass underneath me. The dark night sky, sprinkled with glittering stars, was wide open above me. I gazed around. Where was I? This wasn't the RiverClan camp, much less any part of the forest I knew of. I rose to my paws and took a pawstep into an ice-cold puddle of water. I drew my paw back and shook the water droplets off. I peered into the water and saw the reflection of…a lion!

I gasped and spun around, but there was no lion behind me. Nothing was there. I inhaled deeply and gazed into the water again. The worried face of a lion was there again. Scars were slashed across its face and ears.

"This is you, Volepaw," a voice whispered in my ear.

"This isn't me," I protested. "I'm a normal cat, not a lion."

"This is an image of you." I felt something soft gently brush my ear, but I couldn't tear my eyes from the reflection of the lion. I couldn't speak either-my whole body felt frozen. "This lion reflects your inner soul-how you really feel. The lion is your emotional strength. The scars represent all the times you've been beaten down by words but have quickly recovered, and the worried expression is your worry about your ability."

"No one knows that inside of you is a mighty lion, but you must show them how powerful you really are."

The pool began to fade, and I gasped as the ground opened up underneath me.

"Volepaw, get your lazy rear out of your nest and outside." Iceclaw's voice jolted me out of my sleep. I leapt to my paws, panting, and stumbled out of the den. Maybe I should show everyone my inner lion.

I drew in a deep breath. "Iceclaw."

The large white tom spun around and snapped, "What?"

"Stop criticizing me about everything," I began. A fire blazed in my soul and everything just spilled out of my mouth. "I'm sick and tired of how you treat me. Just because I'm not the best at fighting doesn't mean that I'm not going to be a warrior. You have no right to call me a mousebrain, or useless, or any of those things you call me!" My legs trembled, but my voice was strong and firm. "I'm going to be the best warrior I can be. That doesn't depend on how strong I am, or how much skill I have. And when I get my own apprentice, I won't pick at every tiny thing they do wrong and ignore all the good things."

The ice in my mentor's eyes melted and he exhaled loudly. "Volepaw…you're right."

My ears pricked. "I…yeah, I am."

"I'm sorry."

"I-it's okay." I never thought I'd see the day when Iceclaw stopped being so mean. Now he was actually apologizing to me! My heart floated and I felt like I could take off and fly.

"Let's go train," Iceclaw suggested, smiling for the first time since I became his apprentice. I nodded and bounded out of the camp after him.

Words don't hurt anymore.

Weird. o.o And long. Oh well!

xx-Starfall-xx