A/N: Before we get started, I just want to say thank you to everyone who's reviewed and like my story! You're all great ^_^

Alrighty! Chapter 10. Fun. Not. Okay, that's not true; just some of you might not enjoy the ending. I didn't. That's my point. Now enough of this boring rambling; read on! Oh, and someone makes an appearance in this chapter...

Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors, but you've heard it all before.

Chapter 10

A paw was poked into Mosspaw's side, waking her from pleasant dreams of Redpaw. It seemed like it had been moons ago that she had finally allowed love into her short life, but really, it had only been yesterday.

Rolling over towards the paw, she opened her eyes to see a gray face staring down at her. She blinked at it a few times, not fully comprehending what it was. She sat up, feeling Redpaw's tail brush against hers.

"Dewpaw?" she mewed sleepily. "Is something wrong?"

Dewpaw didn't answer. He just stood in front of her, staring deep into her amber eyes, making her feel very uncomfortable. It got even more awkward when he finally spoke, saying, "Mosspaw, I love you."

Mosspaw's eyes widened to the size of full moons. Redpaw, who was pressed against her back, shifted at the sound of those words. He was obviously awake and waiting for her to answer. He wasn't going to control her; whatever she wanted was fine with him. Mosspaw wondered how she knew all this. She was only feeling him move, and yet she seemed to know what he was thinking!

"Dewpaw, that's very nice of you, and you're very nice and all that stuff, but I don't feel the same about you," Mosspaw meowed, trying to come up with a way that wouldn't hurt his feelings. "I-I don't love you." There; she had said it. And it was probably painful no matter how she said it.

Dewpaw's gaze hardened. "I knew it. I knew you and Redpaw had something going on. You love him, don't you?"

Wow, you figured out all that by yourself? "No, I love Jayfeather. Yes, of course I love Redpaw, you mousebrain! Why else would I be spending more time with him than usual?" she snapped. She stopped, wondering why she was becoming so protective of her heart. A couple days ago it wouldn't have mattered that a tom loved her; she would've just nodded and thanked him, then said "I'm still an apprentice," or something along the lines of that. To be honest, she'd never been told that, but still.

"But Mosspaw, I love you. Can't you reconsider?" Dewpaw begged. Mosspaw narrowed her eyes at the older apprentice. Since when had Dewpaw loved her? And was it even possible to reconsider who you loved? When you love someone, you love someone, simple as that. You can't just go around switching from cat to cat until they drive you out of the Clans.

"You'd do good to stay away from Mosspaw, Dewpaw," a cat meowed from the entrance. Mosspaw and Dewpaw both looked over and saw Rosethorn looking in, having heard most of their conversation.

"What do you mean, Rosethorn?" Dewpaw asked. "Why should I stay away from Mosspaw? I can be with her if I like."

"I mean that toms will do anything to protect their she-cats. I should know; I've had plenty of experience with Thorntail," Rosethorn purred, shaking her head. "Look at Redpaw, Dewpaw. He's obviously Mosspaw's tom."

Mosspaw glanced down at Redpaw and saw that his fur was bristling. If she stayed quiet long enough, a very faint growl could be heard from him, most likely directed at Dewpaw.

Dewpaw heard it too, and he rolled his eyes. "I'm not afraid of that furball," he sneered, looking back over at Rosethorn. "I don't think he even had the nerve to tell Mosspaw he loved her; if he even does."

At that moment, Redpaw erupted from his nest and launched himself straight at Dewpaw, easily hitting his target. Caught by surprise, Dewpaw tumbled backwards into Amberpaw. She woke up instantly and hissed, annoyed. Seeing what was going on, she jumped into the tussle that was happening between the two toms. Mosspaw wondered who's side Amberpaw would take, seeing as how Amberpaw and Dewpaw were siblings. But Amberpaw seemed very annoyed at being rudely woken up, and she was attacking Dewpaw. She quickly bit down on Dewpaw's tail and yanked it, hard.

Dewpaw yowled and flipped around to start battling her, and while he was distracted from his other rival, Redpaw flew to Mosspaw's side, shielding her from his rival.

By now all the apprentices had woken up. The whole camp had woken up from all the noise.

Redpaw leaped back onto Dewpaw, and Dewpaw abandoned Amberpaw to fight him again. Rosethorn and a few of the other apprentices had to jump out of the way as the two toms, locked in their fight, rolled out of the apprentices' den. Amberpaw followed them shortly after, pulling Dewpaw off of Redpaw and attacking him herself once more. She probably still didn't know why Redpaw was fighting Dewpaw, but Mosspaw figured she wanted to make a point across to every cat to never wake her up like that again.

Mosspaw and the other apprentices padded out of the apprentices' den to keep watching the fight. The rest of the Clan had gathered as well, watching the three cats brawl. The cats parted, revealing Bramblestar, Lionblaze, and Cloudtail bounding over to the fight.

Cloudtail quickly pulled Amberpaw off of Dewpaw, but the gray tom quickly jumped up and flew at Redpaw yet another time. A bright flash of orange blazed by, knocking Dewpaw off Redpaw. Dewpaw yowled, startled and hurt.

The orange blaze turned out to be Flamepaw, who came to a stop beside Mosspaw. Without asking, she knew he had switched from his regular pelt into his flame pelt and back without any cat noticing anything. Except Dewpaw of course, who was tenderly licking his nose.

Bramblestar watched, his eyes narrow, as Redpaw circled around Dewpaw and made his way over to Mosspaw's side. He looked around, finally noticing that the whole Clan had gathered and the Clan leader was staring at him.

"Would any of you like to tell me what that was all about?" Bramblestar asked sternly, looking from Dewpaw to Amberpaw to Redpaw.

"Redpaw jumped on me!" Dewpaw exclaimed immediately, casting a glare at Redpaw. "And then Amberpaw joined and took his side, ganging up on me!"

Bramblestar glanced back at Redpaw. "Is this true, Redpaw?"

Redpaw nodded. "Yes, it's true. I did jump on him. And I know I shouldn't have; it's just that he—"

"See? See? Did you hear him? He admits it! Redpaw admits he jumped on me," Dewpaw interrupted, raising his chin. Redpaw glared at him, taking a step closer to Mosspaw, as if daring him to start the fight again.

"Yes, Dewpaw, I am fully aware of that," Bramblestar meowed patiently. "Keep going, Redpaw."

"I know I shouldn't have started a fight with Dewpaw, but he was trying to make Mosspaw love him when she already told him she didn't want to. She loves me, not that flea-bag," Redpaw explained. "And Amberpaw helped, but she didn't have to, so it's not her fault. I think she just wanted revenge on being awoken." All eyes turned to Amberpaw, who shrugged and nodded.

"So . . . this is Dewpaw's fault, yes?" Bramblestar asked slowly, looking from Redpaw to Mosspaw and back.

"I guess that's for you to decide, Bramblestar," Redpaw meowed. "That's what I think."

Bramblestar nodded. Turning to Dewpaw, who was frozen with disbelief at him and Redpaw, he meowed, "Because this fight wasn't really necessary, and you seem to have provoked it, I'm assigning you to elder duties for a half moon, Dewpaw. What's more, you can't leave the camp until I say so." Bramblestar turned to Redpaw. "And since you shouldn't have started the fight, you must go and hunt for the Clan until sundown. Make sure you bring plenty of prey back with you, or you'll have to hunt all day tomorrow as well." Bramblestar flicked his tail, motioning for them to get going. He whisked around and left the clearing with Squirrelflight. Mosspaw could hear them purring quietly together as they climbed up the rocks to Bramblestar's den.

Dewpaw hissed at Redpaw before running off, probably to start on the elders. "Make sure you bring back plenty of prey for the elders!" he called over his shoulder as he left. Redpaw rolled his eyes, turning to Amberpaw.

"Thanks for your help, Amberpaw," he meowed to her.

"You're welcome," Amberpaw purred, her eyes sparkling playfully. "I didn't really realize why you two were fighting, though. Sounds like it was more important than my reason."

"Redpaw," Birchfall meowed, alerting his apprentice, "you should get going on your hunting if you don't want to hunt all day tomorrow." He looked pointedly at Redpaw. "I was going to do some battle training today, but I guess that'll have to wait. I just hope you've learned enough hunting skills to last you today."

Redpaw looked away, narrowing his eyes. "Yes, Birchfall."

"Can I go hunting, too?" Mosspaw asked, looking up at Lionblaze with pleading eyes.

"I guess so," Lionblaze murmured. "Just make sure you don't do all of Redpaw's hunting for him."

"Why would I do that?" Mosspaw purred, flicking Lionblaze with her tail.

Spiderleg rolled his eyes. "Since my apprentice can't leave camp any longer, I'm going hunting. Can I lead a patrol, Lionblaze?"

Lionblaze glanced at the older tom. "So you're only going hunting because Dewpaw can't leave camp?" Spiderleg send a glare at him, and Lionblaze meowed, "Why are you asking me? Squirrelflight's the deputy, you know."

"Yeah, I know, I know," Spiderleg muttered, flicking his tail dismissively. He stalked over to the rocks and bounded up them, stopping just outside Bramblestar's den. Mosspaw watched him, wondering why he had asked Lionblaze, of all cats. Of course, Lionblaze was respected, but Spiderleg was older than him. Spiderleg was older than Squirrelflight, in fact.

"Let's go, Mosspaw!" Redpaw called, already starting to pad towards the thorn tunnel. Mosspaw bounded forward, not wanting to be left behind for a heartbeat.

Once out in the forest, Mosspaw immediately sniffed the air for any scent of prey. Before she could go track any prey, though, she felt Redpaw curl his tail around hers happily.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear, giving it a swift lick. "I'm glad I'm not Dewpaw."

Mosspaw purred back. "I love you too, Redpaw," she replied. She suddenly noticed something moving out of the corner of her eye and glanced over at it, seeing a vole. She nudged Redpaw silently, and he nodded, dropping into a crouch. Slinking forward, he pulled himself slowly forward until he was within leaping range. He gathered himself, about to leap, but a sudden growl alerted the vole, and it disappeared.

However, having the vole disappear didn't matter much to Redpaw and Mosspaw. They both fled up the same tree without thinking. Mosspaw found a hole in it, large enough for both of them to take shelter in without having to stay stuck out on a branch, yet not quite large enough that it was comfortable.

The two apprentices crouched in the hole, trying to get comfortable. It wasn't easy, as there wasn't much room inside with the both of them, plus a rough interior of the tree.

Redpaw finally gave up and slinked forward, slowly peeking out of the tree hole. Whatever he saw made him draw quickly back into the tree with a quiet gasp.

"What is it, Redpaw? What's down there?" Mosspaw mewed urgently.

Redpaw didn't respond; he was breathing too hard to utter a sound.

Mosspaw gently laid her tail on Redpaw's shoulder, snapping him out of it. "What is it, Redpaw?" she asked quietly, unsure if she wanted to know. Was it a crazy badger?

Redpaw took one last deep breath. "Mosspaw, I'm not positive, but," Redpaw paused, "I think your prophecy is going to be fulfilled a lot faster than you expected."

Mosspaw's eyes grew wide. Any thought of being cramped inside a tree hole was gone. "Do—do you mean there's a beast down there?"

Redpaw nodded slowly, shifting anxiously. Mosspaw sank down even lower than she was already, scared and confused. Whatever the beast was, she wouldn't be able to fight it alone. She needed help.

Closing her eyes tightly, Mosspaw pictured one of the most familiar cats in her lifetime; Flamepaw. She could somehow sense a connection growing between them, almost as if an ivy tendril was connecting them together, no matter how far apart they were. Through that ivy tendril, Mosspaw hoped her thoughts would flow, reaching Flamepaw.

"Flamepaw? Flamepaw! Oh, please answer me! Please! It's Mosspaw."

After a few long, agonizing moments of waiting, she got a response.

"Mosspaw? Are you speaking through telepathic communication?"

"Yes, I—"

"That's great! You're the first one to figure it out. Congratulations! Well, the first as far as I know. So what's up?"

"Flamepaw, Redpaw and I need help."

"I'm not a good hunter."

"No, not with hunting; there's something below us. We had to flee up a tree when it appeared, and now it's down there, and we're stuck. Redpaw thinks it might be one of the beasts that we have to fight."

"Do you know what it is? A fox? A badger?"

"Hold on; let me check."

Mosspaw opened her eyes and slinked forward as Redpaw had done, just enough so she was able to peek over the edge of the tree hole down below. When she saw whatever it was, she could see why Redpaw had freaked out about it.

The creature was very large, larger than Lionblaze had described a fox to her. It had gray, shaggy fur, and a long snout. Its tongue was lolling about, and she could see strands of saliva dripping from its mouth. Long legs were reinforced by claws at the paws that were unsheathed. As Mosspaw watched, the creature suddenly looked up to where she was and spotted her. Planting its front paws on the tree trunk, it let out a long hoarse call. With a shiver, Mosspaw retreated back into the hole beside Redpaw, who seemed to have recovered from his fright.

"Mosspaw! Mosspaw! Answer me! What happened?"

Mosspaw shook her head, annoyed at Flamepaw's voice inside her head. He was going nuts.

"Flamepaw! Stop!"

"Mosspaw! Where did you go?"

"I told you I was going to check what the beast was."

"But you were gone for so long."

"Well, I'm back now, and I have no idea what it is."

"Does it look like anything you recognize?"

"I told you, I don't know what it is. Based on what Lionblaze told me, though, it looks like an overgrown gray fox."

"I'll tell Bramblestar right away. Where are you?"

"In a tree, one with a tree hole."

"I mean where on our territory."

"Oh; I think we're near the WindClan border, and maybe close to the lake. I think I can see the water from here, but it's hard to tell with all these branches and leaves in the way."

"Okay. Stay where you are! We'll be there as soon as possible."

"Where else do you think we'd go?"

There was no response. The connection had vanished, as if the ivy tendril had suddenly snapped, and vanished. Mosspaw opened her eyes and looked over at Redpaw, who's eyes were full of worry and concern.

"What are we going to do?" he asked quietly, refusing to look back out the hole.

"Flamepaw said he was going to tell Bramblestar about our situation," Mosspaw replied, curling her tail anxiously. "Hopefully he'll be able to bring help without revealing our powers or the prophecy." She glanced back to the tree-filled forest, suddenly seeing a possibility of an advantage to all the branches that were in the way. She stood up as best she could in the cramped space and started to take careful pawsteps forward.

"Where are you going?" Redpaw mewed, standing up as well. "You can't go out there!"

"I'm just going to see if we can leap from branch to branch to get back to camp," Mosspaw explained calmly, carefully resting a paw on the branch just below the tree hole they were in. The creature below saw her and eagerly waved its tail from side to side, as if beckoning her to keep coming.

"No, Mosspaw, you can't do that," Redpaw insisted, barring the way from her with his tail. "Even if we did manage to go from tree to tree back to camp, the beast would just follow us. We'd be leading it straight to camp, and the Clan would be in danger. No," he meowed, shaking his head. "We have to stay here and wait for Flamepaw to bring help."

Mosspaw thought over what he had said, and realized he was right. No matter what, they would have to wait for reinforcements. And she certainly wasn't going to go down there right now, where the beast was clearly waiting for them.

She edged back into the hole with Redpaw and tried to make herself comfortable. Redpaw laid his head on his paws, letting out a sigh. "I was supposed to be hunting," he purred. "Now I'll have to go out tomorrow."

"At least I was with you," Mosspaw meowed, suddenly realizing how important the telepathic communication was. "If it had been you all alone, you wouldn't have been able to get help."

"You're right," Redpaw muttered, raising his head to stare out into the forest. After a few moments of quietness, the creature gave out another hoarse call, followed by another. Redpaw sighed again, this time annoyed. "How long does a patrol take to arrive at the WindClan border?"

Mosspaw shrugged, still hoping that Bramblestar wouldn't reveal she was born to save the Clans. "I just hope that thing doesn't eat us all. It's obviously what it wants."

Redpaw nodded slowly, distracted. Suddenly he stood up, forgetting that the top of the tree hole was quite low. As a result, his head hit the top pretty hard, and he dropped back down in a crouch before slinking forward and looking out of the hole.

With her ears pricked, Mosspaw joined him, and the beast perked up once more at the sight of them. Mosspaw strained her eyes, trying to see if there was any sign of the patrol. And there they were; but only four cats? Bramblestar, Thorntail, Dovewing, and Lionblaze were stalking forward, keeping low and quiet so the beast wouldn't notice them.

Redpaw nudged Mosspaw lightly and angled his ears in another direction. Following their pathway, Mosspaw suddenly saw four more cats; Squirrelflight, Graystripe, Leafpool, and Cinderheart. They were matching the speed of the other patrol, staying the same height and keeping quiet as well. But where was Flamepaw?

A sudden flash of bright orange alerted her, and her eyes darted over to the middle of both the groups where Flamepaw was, leading them on slightly faster. As he neared the creature, he suddenly leaped onto its back, sinking his sharp claws in, before jumping back off. He arched his back, snarling, daring the beast to come closer.

The beast whipped around and eagerly faced him, showing its white teeth. In a heartbeat, the other eight cats joined Flamepaw, and Flamepaw's pelt went up in flames.

As sparks of anger bounced out of Flamepaw's pelt, the beast stopped and stood still, wondering what to do. The fire looked so real, yet cats were never on fire. Unless, of course, they were fleeing from a forest fire yowling their heads off.

As the beast hesitated, Mosspaw finally got the courage to nod to Redpaw and step out of the tree hole. Very cautiously, and with as little noise as possible, they slid down the tree, paw by paw. Mosspaw kept getting her claws stuck in the bark, and many times she thought for sure the creature would look their way and pounce on them.

Finally, Mosspaw and Redpaw were safely on the ground and out of the way of any direct sight of the beast. Whatever it was, it seemed much more focused on the flaming cat in front of it than it was on anything else.

Flamepaw kept his eyes on the beast while meowing, "All of you, come over here behind me. Mosspaw and Redpaw, sneak around behind me as well."

Mosspaw crept beside Redpaw, keeping her eyes on Flamepaw's pelt. As long as she could see him, she felt she would be okay. But on the other paw, Flamepaw had exposed himself, and now the cats that knew nothing about the prophecy would want to know what was going on.

All ten cats crouched behind Flamepaw, their claws unsheathed. With a fluent movement, Flamepaw whisked around and rubbed himself against every cat. They all cringed, expecting to be burned, but instead, their pelts flared up as well. Mosspaw stared wide-eyed at her brother as he brushed between her and Redpaw, enflaming them both at the same time.

"Jayfeather told me I could do this," he hissed, before moving on to Graystripe. Mosspaw shook her head, narrowing her eyes. So how did Jayfeather know he could do that?

A growl from the beast snapped her back to the present. Facing the giant creature, Mosspaw hissed, suddenly feeling alive. The power she felt blazed off her flaming pelt as all the cats suddenly raced forward at the exact same time. They encircled the beast and began taunting it, clawing it in different places at different intervals. The beast growled every time a burst of intense pain shot through it whenever claws and fire met skin and fur.

Mosspaw crouched beside the beast, focused on its back. She figured she'd be able to leap up on top, then make her way to its head and claw it until it begged for mercy, however it did that. But she reckoned without the fact that the beast was quite tall and speedy. And she reckoned without thinking that it was getting very agitated now. And she reckoned without remembering that these beasts seemed to focus only on one thing at a time. Without all these points, her plan could turn out futile. But she leaped anyway.

Her tremendous leap only allowed her to get her front legs over the beast's back, while her back legs dangled and scraped against its side. She tried pulling herself up, but the beast shook itself, and she lost her tiny grip, having to fall back down. The beast turned on her, ignoring her just barely flaming pelt. One lunge, one bite, and that would be all it took.

Before it could close its jaws around her, two cats suddenly came to her rescue. Planting themselves directly in the path of the beast, they challenged it to take them instead, allowing Mosspaw some time to get back up on her paws.

And the beast took the bait. It growled, the fur on its neck bristling, and without warning it lunged, grasping both cats at once in its powerful jaws. They both screeched, and Mosspaw heard a snap from one of them.

"No!" she cried, leaping onto the beast's face and clawing it until it released the cats. The force and intensity of that attack shocked the beast, and it shook her off before racing away. Mosspaw ignored the yowls as the other cats assumed victory. Really, she didn't hear them, because in front of her were two cats who had saved her life; yet they were lying on the ground, unmoving. And one of them was Redpaw.

A/N: Hahahahahahaha... It's not funny, is it? No worries, I'm sure something's going to happen to him... if he survives. Yeah, break Mosspaw's heart by dying, Redpaw.

Tell me what you think about this chapter in a review, please! If you do, I'll give you a plushie of any cat! For free! But only if you review.

In chapter 11, Flamepaw finally gets to go to the Moonpool as a medicine cat! Okay, I know, he's already been there. Oh well. See ya!