Enjoy :D

At least he hadn't seen the light leave her eyes. Fogpaw could only comfort himself with this thought: he hadn't really seen that WindClan apprentice die. She had just… gone for a swim, went under the water for a bit, and he left before she could return to the surface…

He knew these were lame excuses, with weak and shaky legs that would collapse as soon as Lilyfern reported to Bramblestar what they had seen.

Each mentor had taken hold of their apprentice, and Snowtail was barely letting Fogpaw walk as he heaved the silver tabby by his scruff.

"Please— I— I think we can walk," grunted Lakepaw sarcastically, who was somehow still trapped in Amberear's grasp, despite them being nearly the same size.

"We'll get back faster… this way," panted the gray she-cat stubbornly, and Fogpaw groaned as the rest of the warriors murmured agreement. Luckily, however, Snowtail let go of what little of Fogpaw's skin he was still holding on to and only shunted his apprentice the rest of the way back to camp.

They exploded into the clearing, then came to a jarring halt in front of Bramblestar, who was standing stricken by the elders' den. The leader turned on them, looking quite irate. "What is it now?" he muttered. "FoxClan?"

"N- no," Lilyfern rasped, breathing laboriously and letting go of Beepaw finally. "It's… we saw a WindClan apprentice drown."

There were some gasps from the gathering crowd, and Fogpaw felt a prick of annoyance in his gut. It's impossible to have a private conversation here! Then again, we did bustle in as if we had just seen the mountains cave in…

Bramblestar frowned, glancing from the elders' den to them. His tail was quivering, like he was anxious. "I'm… sorry to hear that. There was no way you could help them?"

Seedspeck shook her head. "No. We offered to, but they refused and would've tried to start something if we did try to help. One of their own cats swam out to try and rescue her, but they both disappeared under the water, and he came back without her."

The ThunderClan leader sighed and shook his head slowly, lifting his somber amber gaze back upward to stare at the elders' den. "What a shame, what a shame… I'll be sure to give Ashstar ThunderClan's condolences at the next Gathering." And she'll reply by complaining about FoxClan again.

A general prickle of annoyance rippled through the windblown patrol, and Amberear piped up, "Bramblestar, is there something wrong with one of the elders—"

Before the dark tabby could answer, however, Jayfeather emerged from the den, trailed by Leafpool, both of whom looked thoroughly devastated. Fogpaw never thought he would see a look of defeat like the one currently on the blind tom's face.

Leafpool's copper orbs were watering rapidly, and she whispered, "We… couldn't save her."

"No!" Both Lilyfern and Seedspeck shouted this suddenly and forcefully at the exact same time, and as one they lurched forward and sped into the honeysuckle den. Fogpaw could pick up a foul smell, something strange to him.

Snowtail stood rigid and sullen beside him, and murmured in his apprentice's ear, "Sorreltail." And in that instant, Fogpaw recalled how much the tortoiseshell she-cat had been coughing lately, and how nearly painful it was to hear her croaky, worn voice. The smell of death.

Grief settled on Morningpaw's face, and she whispered to her sister while Fogpaw muttered to his apparently clueless brother what had happened. When he heard, Lakepaw frowned and sat down, staring at nothing in particular as the news sunk in.

A sad buzz heightened amongst the crowd as the apprentices eventually whirled around and trudged past Cinderheart and Poppyfrost, who were haring over to their mother and sobbing father.

Fogpaw thrust his way through the blabbering and moaning throng and finally burst into their den, the others on his tail. He sat down in his nest and announced unceremoniously, "Two deaths in one day."

Morningpaw was shuddering, her shoulders enveloped in Beepaw's tail. "And thank StarClan they weren't both in our Clan."

Beepaw nodded and murmured something Fogpaw didn't catch. The silver tabby looked around for his brother, and was stunned to find the black-and-white tom hunched over, body heaving as if he was about to hurl.

"L- Lakepaw? Are you… ?"

"I might," Fogpaw's brother croaked, and he stumbled out of the den. The sound of him retching could be heard moments later.

"Looks like I'm not the only squeamish one in the family, then," grunted Beepaw before allowing her legs to fold underneath her.

Lakepaw reentered, looking disgruntled and repulsed. He couldn't even collapse among his own bedding when Amberear, Snowtail, and Dewclaw exploded into the den. Behind them, Fogpaw heard Smokypaw and Larchpaw chattering like larks. Still irritated with the way they had been treated coming back to camp, Fogpaw merely glanced their way, chin on his paws, and grumbled, "Yes?"

"Just because there's been a death doesn't mean you get to miss out on training," Amberear mewed, having trouble keeping her voice level.

"What about our mentors?" Morningpaw demanded, arching her brow.

"Lilyfern and Seedspeck are grieving for their mother. However, we do not have close ties with Sorreltail, so we are going to continue on training as usual, like the scene with… WindClan… never, er, happened," explained Snowtail hastily.

"But—"

Dewclaw sighed. "And that's why myself, Smokypaw, and Larchpaw are here too. Come on, do you want FoxClan to attack and be unprepared?"

As the dark gray tom, who seemed glad to have an apprentice to boss around like his siblings, led their procession through the miserably quiet mist, Fogpaw could only hope they'd get back in time for the vigil. Three new warriors and a couple of arrogant senior apprentices in charge. Great.

The heartbeat Fogpaw emerged from the quivering thorn tunnel once again, he felt as vulnerable as ever. Luckily, they veered away from the stolen territory and headed toward the part of the forest the young cats had not seen yet.

They walked some way, and then halted in a clearing littered with mucky leaves from last leaf-fall. "The usual training hollow is currently occupied by dung-scented ne'er-do-wells," Smokypaw chirped with a bit of a whiny note in his tone.

Gruffly, Snowtail ordered the four youngest apprentices to sit, while the remaining cats stood in front of one of the six-moon-olds. Beepaw got Dewclaw, Morningpaw got Smokypaw, Lakepaw got Amberear, while Fogpaw was stuck with Snowtail and Larchpaw. What, am I the least educated? The one they automatically assume is the dumbest?

"Alright," stated Amberear. "Who here has seen the hunting crouch in action?"

Tentatively, they all raised their tails; Fogpaw prayed he wouldn't be asked to demonstrate it.

"Good, good, this'll be easier, then," Amberear said with an approving smile. She proceeded to drop down, her rump raised but tail lowered, and her chest brushing the rotting leaves. She stared straight ahead, angling her ears all around, and her jaws were parted slightly to drink in the scents surrounding him. Fogpaw mimicked her with his mouth, but all he could pick up was the others' scents and moist leaf litter.

Snowtail and Dewclaw followed her lead, and after a few heartbeats, Smokypaw and Larchpaw scraped away some leaves and copied the older cats. Fogpaw took mental notes of their stature, and how still they were being. I could never stay that frozen even three moons ago! Good thing they start training at six moons.

Abruptly Lakepaw meowed in disappointment and, clearly, a delayed reaction, "I thought we were learning moves against the foxes?"

Dewclaw frowned so deeply that creases appeared on his forehead. "It's best to learn something simple like this before we enter into battle moves. Believe it or not, knowing the ol' crouch helps out later on." Being fresh out of apprenticeship, you would know.

"If FoxClan came upon us right now, us four would be dead," Lakepaw argued, but promptly lost interest once everyone was glaring at him.

Amberear rose out of her crouch and said airily, "ThunderClan's three most common prey animals are mice, birds, and squirrels, statistically proven from observing the fresh-kill pile often enough. Voles are common as well, and there's even the occasional rabbit." She glanced around at her brothers. "I'd say mice are the easiest to hunt, so therefore we will teach you how to stalk a mouse first. They're strictly ground animals, the day I see a mouse climb a tree is the day ShadowClan stops threatening us." She muttered to Smokypaw and Larchpaw to gather some moss, and once they fulfilled her command, she took the plant and ripped it into four sizeable pieces. Snowtail and the three other "mentors" stepped to the side so she could place a chunk of moss a fox-length or two before each apprentice. Fogpaw had to distinguish his moss piece among the brown expanse of leaves, but managed to do it eventually. He and his kin then practiced their crouch and pouncing onto prey from a fox-length away. They did it over and over again until they started bumping into each other from exhaustion.

Fogpaw was mostly successful, though he kept forgetting to keep his tail down. Gradually the shadows around them shifted, and before long their light was provided by the moon rather than the sun.

"Let's call it a day," Dewclaw announced just when Fogpaw was starting to sway on his paws, eyelids drooping. "Time to pay our respects to Sorreltail." He led them on the short path back to camp. Smokypaw caught a real mouse on the way, and the heat of his littermate's jealousy warmed them all in the cool breeze.

Fogpaw's guard went down immediately once he was safely back in camp. The group hurried over to the grieving cats surrounding Sorreltail's body. Fogpaw could barely catch a glimpse of the tortoiseshell around Brackenfur's trembling form. Next to him was Cinderheart, Poppyfrost, and their families, as well as Lilyfern and Seedspeck. No one looked up as Fogpaw's group joined, which he was grateful for as he was quite embarrassed to be late.

He found his mother in the second-to-last row, and watched in mild shock as Lakepaw strode past them to curl up beside Beepaw.

All was silent and peaceful, and for a long while Fogpaw's worries about his brother's iciness towards Ivypool were extinguished. Then there was a too-sweet snicker accompanied by a throaty, distorted voice.

"Death I smell."

...and FoxClan makes their move!