Oh my gosh, So many reviews! Thank you all so much for reading this story! I know someone asked if this chapter is from Lionpaw's POV, but the answer is no. Though, that is an interesting idea, that I might use, thank you for that, shadeflower927. And thank the rest of you for all of your support!
Disclaimer- I do not own Warriors, but imagine how cool that would be!
Frozenpaw padded through the undergrowth, her eyes and nose alert. It had been a sunrise since the Gathering, and Hailblaze had asked her to collect a few stalks of marigold, although she doubted she would find them so early in the season. She knew the territory like her own front paws, and could make her way through it pretty well.
She veered her way around a large tree and continued on. She wish what had happened did not trouble so much. She knew that her life wouldn't be as exceptional as Lionpaw's- becuase nothing was better than him- and that she should just try to ignore it. She had no one to talk about it too anyway. She was already hiding something from her mentor, so telling him could influence her to spill, and the rest of the Clan overlooked her like she was a leaf drifting down from a tree. With those things in her life, why should she drive herself crazy over such a typical event, and a minor one as well.
It did bother her though, when it was night and there was nothing she could see but blackness. And if that didn't sting enough, cats did not even see her as the medicine cat apprentice. Even if Hailblaze wasn't around, they'd walk in, see her, look around a little longer and walk away. Like she wasn't even there in the first place, or like she knew nothing at all about what hailblaze had taught her.
Because of that, even though it had only been a day, she had spent most of her time out of camp, just in the territory, letting her thoughts slip away and only the soft newleaf breezes in her mind as they touched her fur.
Now, Frozenpaw continued her search, looking for nothing but marigold, thinking about nothing but marigold...
That was, until she heard the noises.
Frozenpaw stopped, sniffing, it wasn't long before Lionpaw's scent hit her, along with a mix of others that must've been the other apprentices. She tunred and rushed towards their voices of struggle, wondering if maybe some sort of predator had cornered them.
She broke into an unfamiliar clearing, perhaps the one place in the whole territory she had not yet seen. Frozenpaw saw Lionpaw right away, pinning down Smallpaw while Stonepaw sat off to the side beside Beetletooth. Oakshade, Mousewhisper and Icyclaws were there too, and it took several moments before she spotted Nettlepaw hiding in the shadow of a nearby tree.
The apprentices quit their practicing to look over at her. Smallpaw glared and rolled away from Lionpaw before standing and shaking sand out of her pelt. "What are you doing here, runt?" she demanded.
"I heard you guys and I thought-"
Stonepaw clearly knew what she was going to say. "Did you even scent a fox, Frostpaw?" he asked. "No wonder you aren't a warrior, you can't even track."
"My name is Frozenpaw," snarled Frozenpaw. "And excuse me for worrying."
Oakshade stepped forward. "You can go now," he told her. In the back Nettlepaw pricked his ears.
"Actually-" the words slithered out of her mouth bitterly, "-I'd like like to stay and watch. I'm not doing anything anyway, and even though I'm not in warrior training, it's still good for every cat to learn a few tactics." She lied about not being busy, but Hailblaze had not even crossed her thoughts when she said it.
Before Oakshade could argue, Icyclaws pushed in front of him. "That would be nice. And what she said was true."
Mousewhisper shrugged like she didn't mind and Beetletooth just flicked an ear. Frozenpaw smugly grinned at her father and the apprentices before hopping into the sand; a puff of sand flew up from under her paws.
Stonepaw passed her to get to Lionpaw, and as he did, his shoulder knocked her chest, and his size almost pushed her over. "Just stay out of the way."
Frozenpaw growled and watched as the three apprentices took position. Lionpaw was the first to move, striking both Smallpaw and Stonepaw with the same paw. Stonepaw ducked to late at the attack and crumpled to the ground, just as Lionpaw leapt. Smallpaw screeched and hopped out of the way as Lionpaw landed atop Stonepaw's shoulders, pinning him firmly to the sand. As Stonepaw struggled, Smallpaw took advantage of the moment and lashed a paw out towards Lionpaw, but as she moved, so did the tabby, and, still holding a foot over Stonepaw's chest, struck her in the muzzle, sending her reeling before she finally collapsed tom the ground.
Oakshade lit up with pride. Frozenpaw stared wide-eyed as Stonepaw and Smallpaw struggled to regain their footing while Lionpaw was praised. Icyclaws looked over at Nettlepaw. "Why don't you get in there?"
For a minute, the gray tom didn't seem to have heard her, then he pushed himself off the ground and joined the others in the practice area. Frozenpaw was noticing how unkempt his fur was, and the dullness of his formally bright gaze. Empathy swelled inside of her, despite the feelings she had for him in the past. Do you feel lost too?
Nettlepaw barely had time to breathe before Stonepaw lunged for him. The gray tom's teeth connected with his scruff as Nettlepaw was dragged to the ground. Smallpaw bunched her muscles and leapt into the fight, not even hesitating to claw her brother over the head. Lionpaw broke away from the words of praise he was receiving from his mentor and father and joined both of them, and Frozenpaw noticed that his claws were unsheathed.
They'll kill him if I don't do something!
Without another thought, Frozenpaw rushed forward, sinking her claws into Smallpaw's hind leg. The tawny she-cat yowled in surprise as Frozenpaw yanked her backwards and dodged a parrying blow to get to Stonepaw. He was harder to strike but she slipped under him and sent several blows to his belly, forcing him away from Nettlepaw and into a heap in the sand, Frozenpaw looked to see her brother was still pinning Nettlepaw, with his lips pulled back and his teeth showing.
I have to face him.
She shrieked and threw herself at her brother, who with a yowl of astonishment, toppled to the floor. Her tail flicked against Nettlepaw's side, telling him to get up, but her heart was focused on holding Lionpaw down until he submitted. The light brown tabby, launched a blow to her muzzle, which was powerless because of his position. Frozenpaw snapped her teeth over his paw and without thinking, raked her claws over his neck as she scrambled away. Mousewhisper made a shocked noise as Lionpaw screeched in pain, but thankfully the wounds were very shallow, and drew little blood.
Frozenpaw looked over her shoulder to see the mess she had made. Smallpaw was trying to get up, a scratch between her eyes that dripped blood over he face. Stonepaw was hunched over, groaning at the pain in his belly and Lionpaw sat half up, coughing because of the claw marks in his neck. Mousewhisper and Beetletooth looked over the apprentices, while Icyclaws and Oakshade stood motionless in utter shock to see what the tiny white cat before them had just done to trained apprentices.
Oakshade peeled his lips back. "You fool! You cannot harm your own Clanmates!"
Frozenpaw wasn't even surprised. She opened her mouth to retort, but Nettlepaw beat her to it. "What did you expect her to do? Instead of yelling at someone you haven't paid attention to unless she was doing wrong, why don't you yell at the cats who were about to kill me!"
Oakshade snapped the air right in front of Nettlepaw's nose, making him flinch. "Maybe if you had actually practiced you moves, you could have accomplished something."
"Practiced? Practiced?" Frozenpaw screeched. "That's right, pit three cats against one and expect that one cat to win!"
"You didn't seem to have any problem with it!" snapped Oakshade, flexing his claws.
Before Frozenpaw was aware, she and her father were nose to nose, claws extended, eyes flattened. Nettlepaw stood on the side, shouting in Frozenpaw's favor. Suddenly, a cat flung themself between them. Icyclaws whacked Oakshade away. "Enough!" she yowled! "Both of you should be ashamed if yourselves. And yes, both of you!"
Beetletooth padded forward. "Stonepaw, Smallpaw, Lionpaw, back to camp. The rest of us have to talk to Nettlepaw and...Frostpaw?"
Frozenpaw seethed.
The three apprentices nodded their heads and left the clearing. Icyclaws followed them to make sure the made it back to camp safely. Oakshade sat abruptly and wrapped his tabby striped tail over his paws, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Like he was a kit being punished. Frozenpaw smiled smugly at him, but it vanished when Beetletooth swiped his paw over her vision.
"All three of you are like immature ducklings," he growled.
Mousewhsiper nodded. "We all made the mistake of having one face three, so we apologize, Nettlepaw." She then turned to Frozenpaw, eyes full of ire. "But that gives you no excuse to have harmed your Clanmates like enemies. Hailblaze will be hearing about this once we gat back, but for now, you two go home. We need to discuss a few things on our own."
Nettlepaw nodded and dragged his tail across the ground like he always did as he walked off, Frozenpaw hesitantly followed, shooting a venomous look at Oakshade.
They both padded in the forest, Nettlepaw back to the way he usually was, like he had never said anything Oakshade or gotten hurt. Frozenpaw sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry for what happened-"
Nettlepaw stopped walking and faced her. "I need your help."
Frozenpaw paused, gazing blankly into his eyes. "Uh...with what?"
"You know how I feel about being here," Nettlepaw said. "You know how I said that Clan-life isn't for me. You saw what happened back there, how they all intentionally hurt me. Just because my destiny is not as a warrior doesn't mean I don't have one."
"What are you suggesting?" questioned Frozenpaw.
"My old self is who I miss being, and I want to be that cat again, but not when I am in the wrong place." He lashed his tail. "Frozenpaw, I need your help to escape."
Frozenpaw narrowed her eyes. "You need my help? Why can't you escape on your own? Now that I think about it, why do you even need to escape? You can just tell the cats you're leaving. They'll let you go if you really need to."
"If I just leave, they'll see me as weak, they'll judge me as a coward, as if they don't do it enough," Nettlepaw s growled quietly growled. "Do you even know what it's like, being either ignored or hated by the cats you need support from most?"
Frozenpaw blinked sadly, feeling tears brim at her eyes. She held them back and stared deeply into Nettlepaw's amber eyes, seeing finally how much deep longing they had, longing for a bright future.
Just like her.
"Nettlepaw," she said, "of course I'll help you, and I would come too, if I didn't have so much to do..." and a future so unclear...
"Thank you, Frozenpaw," he meowed giving her a warm smile, and with that he disappeared, heading back to the Clan he would soon leave behind.
Frozenpaw returned soon after, refusing to look at anything besides her paws. She slipped into the medicine den and saw Hailblaze out of the corner of her vision.
"Where's the marigold?" he asked.
"I couldn't find any," Frozenpaw muttered.
So you got a little snip-it of training (before Frozenpaw screwed up). Anyway, we have something with Nettlepaw coming up soon, so, yeah. Review and stuff XD
~Destiny