Okay, guys. I posted the last chapter, went to school, came back and had ten more reviews! Dang, thank you so much! We reached over 200! I feel like my writing has come so far since I first joined FanFiction. I'm sorry that I'm disappointing you with how this story is going, but it feels great to have so many people who tolerate it. :) Thanks!

Despite that, I feel that this book is making you hate me...

Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors

Chapter Twenty-three

It had been a few days since Lionfire's vigil. When dawn came that morning, the senior warriors, took his body and buried him near the sandy hollow.

"His greatest achievements were met in training," Oakshade had rasped. "It was then we all saw that he was going to be an excellent warrior."

Frozenpaw had watched as body was carried away. The faint morning light had added a golden sheen to his light tabby fur. Snowshine was so grief-stricken that for once in her life, Frozenpaw felt empathy towards her mother, and really saw her that way. Though it wasn't towards her, Snowshine had really been a loving parent to Lionfire. Why could she not admire her for that?

Though she didn't deserve it, Frozenpaw had to hold on to her medicine cat rank. She still needed to hold onto Clanlife with all the strength she could ever posses. She would never tell the Clan of her sins, because knowing it herself was already painful enough.

She ate alone, chewing the mouse's leg slowly. Most of the Clan was now enjoying their mid-day meal. The hunting patrol that morning had caught a massive lot of prey, everything meaty and juicy, but Frozenpaw's tasted foul with the bitter taste in her mouth. It was always there to remind her of the blood on her claws when her mind didn't.

She pushed away the mouse.

"Frozenpaw," the voice came, heavy with sadness. Frozenpaw could tell that whoever it was was trying to cover it up with fierce seriousness.

"Hailblaze?" she asked, seeing him walk next to her. "What's up?" She managed to sound less upset than she felt.

"This is the worst time," he said, a slight growl to his voice. "But I have bad news."

Her heart sank. Frozenpaw really wasn't in the mood for any bad news, but she pricked her ears. Fight to keep it. Fight to be proud of yourself.

"I don't know how the Clan's going to take this. You know how Mousewhisper's wounds became infected?"

Frozenpaw looked down. She knew what he was going to say.

"She died. And it's only been four sunrises since..." he trailed off.

Frozenpaw blinked slowly. "Yeah, I know. Don't remind me." The last sentence came off a lot more bitter than she had intended, and she hoped she didn't arouse any suspicion.

"I'm afraid to upset the Clan."

She swung her head up. "Hey, this is unlike you. These things happen. We will go through dark times. We are going to have to be brave."

"I know," he sighed. "You have the heart of a warrior. I know things have been hard for you, but you will be remembered for all your goodness."

As wonderful as those words were, they pained her so much, that her legs trembled and she had to sit before they buckled. She struggled to keep her expression straight.

"I will tell Flickerstar the news," Hailblaze meowed, padding away.

Frozenpaw watched him disappear into the leader's den. It was only moments later that the ginger leader slipped through the lichen and leapt onto the Highrock. Frozenpaw jumped to her paws. No way he's thought of a deputy already.

"Will all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting," Flickerstar yowled for the entire Clan to hear. Warrior after warrior gathered at the stone. Dusksky emerged from the nursery, Mumblekit and Sweetkit at her paws. None of them knew what had now befallen them. Seeing that made Frozenpaw's paws numb.

Another death...What if there's more to come? It would have all started with me...

"I have just been informed by our medicine cat some news that none of us would be happy to hear," Flickerstar began. "Lionfire's death is still placing fresh grief in our hearts, and joining StarClan with him this morning, was our deputy, Mousewhisper."

A few shocked murmurs swept through camp before Oakshade shouted aloud, "This is ShadowClan's fault! If they had not been mouse-brains and attacked, Mousewhisper's wouldn't have infected wounds!"

Frozenpaw growled. It was his fault ShadowClan attacked.

"And who's to say that it wasn't ShadowClan cat that killed Lionfire at Tallpines!" added Smallfeather with a snarl. "Just out of revenge of their defeat."

"Frozenpaw claimed it was a rogue that attacked them," Talonfoot said. He looked over his shoulder at her, staring with narrowed eyes. "Or was she mistaken?"

Suddenly the Clan broke out in a delirium of yowls and hisses as they shouted their thoughts to the forest. Flickerstar silenced them all with a sharply sonorous snarl. All eyes turned to him.

"Quiet! Whether it was a Clancat or a rogue, I don't want to stir up any more trouble with ShadowClan. Our quarrel with them is over, and that is that. It isn't worth it to begin anymore unneeded fights."

"Unneeded? Those fox-hearts killed my son!" Snowshine spat.

"Can you prove that?" Flickerstar questioned.

She didn't say anything.

"Who will be our new deputy?" asked Stormshade.

"It is part of our code that one needs to be chosen by moonhigh," Flickerstar replied. "But I have just made my decision. The deputy shall be..." he trailed off, leaving the Clan in suspense for many heartbeats. "Oakshade."

As they name slipped past his lips, Frozenpaw's insides turned to mud. She didn't know what her expression looked like, only that it was not left blank. Her father, the cruel and manipulating cat she trusted the least of everyone else, is ThunderClan's new deputy?

"I know my choice came to me quickly, but I know it is the right one. You probably lost the most of all when your son was killed," Flickerstar went on, "But we all know he was a great warrior, and his memory will live on through his father who he was so much like. You are a brave and loyal cat and I can think of know one who deserves the position more than you."

The dark brown tabby dipped his head. He didn't even look surprised.

"Oakshade! Oakshade! Oakshade!" The Clan cheered, Snowshine the loudest. Frozenpaw remained silent, and she noticed looking around that Hailblaze had too. Both of them were not happy with Flickerstar's decision.

Perhaps dark times were among them...

She was happy.

There was only one thing on her mind, and she had never been so satiated to be so focused on herb collecting. Hailblaze had sent her to fetch some cobweb and marigold. They were running extremely low because they had used much of it for Mousewhisper.

Frozenpaw took in deep breaths of crisp late greenleaf air. Being out in the forest alone, made her feel so right inside especially because lately she had been feeling so depressed. It felt nice to just walk over the rich ground and listen to the sounds of the forest, some of which she bnever would have heard if she was so overwhelmed over the past.

Cobweb...cobweb...marigold...

The sweet smell of the golden plant bloomed in her nostrils and she halted. She stood in a clearing, the trees around casting long shadows onto the long grass as the last light of day shone down. She got a clear view of the orange-red sky, beautiful sitting ovmuster forest as mysterious as this one.

"Now," she murmured aloud. "To find that herb."

She searched to ground, taking slow paw steps around the clearing, waiting for the flower to pop into view.

What she saw was not what she expected.

A root jutted from the ground, going up several mouse-lengths before diving back into the dirt. Something was caught where the surface and the underground met. Frozenpaw stared at it a little longer. A patch of fur, clutching to the root, and at the tips was blood, where it had been ripped out.

She leaned down and ever-so slightly, sniffed it.

Frozenpaw stiffened.

It was Lionfire's fur.

She backed away, scared, almost as if she had discovered a murdered body in a hole. It can't be, she thought. I'm no where near Tallpines.

Frozenpaw took in a breath that carried the scent. It was stale, very stale, it couldn't have been from when she had killed him.

But that didn't matter did it? All she knew was that wherever she went, there would always be a memory of her brother, may it be a patch of fur or the words of her Clanmates. She could try to run from her misdeeds, try and live her life, but how could she live with herself if all there was at end, a reminder that she was the opposite of who she always wanted to be?

Before Frozenpaw knew it, her paws were taking her through the territory. They sped up every tail-length, every heartbeat, they wound past very scent, if it was an herb or prey. There was one place she had her mind on.

She bounded through the sandy hollow, kicking up the dust that she and many others have fought upon. The memory of Lionfire was spread across the sand, but she was looking for no memory.

Sprouting through the ground, like a claw in the darkness, was a twig decorated with golden pine needles. Frozenpaw knew that the senior warriors had buried him that way, the needles a symbol of pride to ThunderClan and its thick-wooded forests. She remembered the words of Beetletooth when he and the other cats that buried him returned.

"May Lionfire not just be a memory of our generation's finest warriors, but of all the history of ThunderClan."

Frozenpaw ran her paws over the ground, just knowing that her brother was underneath it all.

"Why did they have to pull us apart at the mere quality of size. If only they had seen us both as the great warriors we were to be, you might still be here to today."

As the words as soft as a whisper slipped past her mouth, she realized that she no longer knew who to blame. It would only cause more pain thinking that either she or the rest of her Clan were the cats she could never trust, but she would never get it off her mind to put her at ease.

Am I am an outcast within my self and within the one thing I had cared about most. Who am I now if I've lost both of those things to my uncontrolled mistake?

I know, I suck. I couldn't exactly find a good way to end the chapter so that's what I put. I don't like it myself, but you can tell me what you want.

And I know this story is really sad now but...

Uh, that's it.

I'm sorry if this isn't going how you wanted! But I'm continuing. I have never been more excited for any other story before this one, so please stay with me!

~Destiny