A couple of moons later...
"Shadowclan, retreat!" The shadowclan cats that had remained in the Thunderclan hollow followed their leader in their hasty retreat.
"Yeah!" graypaw growled as his opponent turned tail.
"Run home, mouse hearts!" Airpaw snarled from beside the grey apprentice.
"No!"
Everyone turned at the high-pitched scream. Shadowclan had gone.
"Redtail!"
The screams had come from Spottedleaf and Sandpaw. Redtail lay on the ground, dying. Everyone rushed over, Bluestar got there first.
"Redtail, please don't die. You're my deputy."
The dappled tortoiseshell tom hacked out a laugh, "Pick another one, Bluestar. I must go now. It is my time..." he coughed, blood splashing to the ground and mixing in with the blood around his neck, "It was... an honor serving... beneath you... Moonflower would be... proud..." His eyes rolled, his fluffy red tail twitched, and he took his last breath.
"Redtail!" Willowpelt cried and buried her nose in her brother's pelt. Spottedleaf followed in suit while their brother Patchpelt laid next to his dead littermate. Brindleface, Redtail's mate, curled around his head. Sandpaw sat down, hunched, by her mom.
Bluestar, sniffing in disbelief, stood and looked at everyone else. "We will hold vigil for him tonight. And at moon-high I will select the new Deputy."
Bluestar disappeared into her den. No one celebrated their victory. They'd lost their Deputy.
The Thunderclan cats were treated by Ravenpaw the best he could and then went to bed gloomily. Only Firepaw, Dustpaw, and the family members of Redtail remained.
Firepaw walked up quietly to Sandpaw who sat the farthest away from Redtail.
"Hey, Sandpaw..."
"Go away."
"Look, I'm sorry about your dad-"
"I said, go away."
"Hey, I'm only trying to say-"
She rounded on him and hissed, "Shut-up. I don't care. Just leave me alone. Go talk to Windpaw!"
Hurt, he backed up, "Fine then. Be like that." He flicked his tail, "I won't bother you anymore."
"Good." She spat and turned back around, "Bye."
The ginger apprentice growled and turned to stalk away, but Dustpaw stopped him, "Firepaw, just wait her out. She's just upset. That was her dad who just died."
Firepaw just snorted and walked around the dark tabby, "Naw. She said to leave her alone. That's what I'm gonna do." He held his head up high and walked into the apprentices' den.
"Firepaw?"
He looked down into the blue eyes of Windpaw.
"Are you okay?"
He smirked and curled up onto his bed beside her, "Just perfect."
"Oh..." she was quiet and Firepaw started to drift off, "Well... good night Firepaw..."
"Night."
"Lionheart will be the new Deputy of Thunderclan!" Bluestar announced the very next day before the sun was up. This news was greeted with cheers and approval.
Tigerclaw growled under his breath, "I should have been Deputy..."
Firepaw looked up at his father and rolled his eyes, "Yeah, right. You're way too ambicious, and Bluestar's not so much a mousebrain to not know."
Tigerclaw growled, "Shut-up," and swatted an paw at his son, but Firepaw ducked it and moved away grumbling.
"And now for the second announcement," Bluestar continued when everyone settled down, "I would like to acknowledge our apprentices who fought very bravely last night against Shadowclan."
Wait, what? Firepaw looked up in surprise along with the other apprentices. No one had been prepared for this.
"Firepaw, Sandpaw, Windpaw, Graypaw, Dustpaw, and Airpaw, would you please come forward?" (LOL- Y R THERE SO MANY APRENTICES?)
They did, heads held high.
Bluestar started with the cat on the end.
"Graypaw, from now on you shall be known as Graystripe. Starclan honors your loyalty and strength and we hope that you will use it for your clan in the future."
"Graystripe! Graystipe! Graystripe!"
"Firepaw, from now on you shall be known as Fireheart. Starclan honors your bravery and strength and we hope that you will use it for your clan in the future."
"Fireheart! Fireheart! Fireheart!"
Graystripe leaned over to Fireheart and whispered, "You always get the cool names."
Tigerclaw growled, "Fireheart? Gag me. He should've gotten a name like Fireblaze or Firekill. Those are true Warrior names."
"Or maybe even Fireclaw?" A sleek pale ginger she-cat asked.
"Fireclaw?" The dark tabby grinned, "A very fetching name if I do say so my self. But that mouseheart doesn't deserve such a good name."
Goldenflower, Tigerclaw's mate, shook her head, why don't you guys get along...?
"Dustpaw, from now on you shall be known as Dustpelt. Starclan honors your humour and speed and we hope that you will use it for your clan in the future."
"Dustpelt! Dustpelt! Dustpelt!"
"Congratulations Dustpelt! That's a pretty good name too," Sandpaw nudged the tabby.
Dustpelt knew that she was only doing this to mess with Fireheart's emotions, "Thanks!"
"Sandpaw, from this moment forward, you'll be known as Sandstorm. Starclan honours your sense of judgement and courage and we hope that you'll use it for your clan in the future."
"Sandstorm! Sandstorm! Sandstorm!"
"Sandstorm's a nice name," Windpaw complimented.
Sandstorm rolled her eyes and Windpaw shrugged, No fur off my hind.
"Airpaw, from this day on, you shall be referred to as Airslash. Starclan honours your loyalty and determination and we expect great things from you in the future."
"Airslash! Airslash! Airslash!" everyone cheered him on except, of course, Fireheart.
"And last, but not least. Windpaw, from this day on, you shall be referred to as Windsong. Starclan honours your loyalty and cunning and we expect great things from you in the future."
"Windsong! Windsong! Windsong!"
"Hey, nice name, Sis!" Airslash meowed, nudging his sister.
She shoved him right back, "You too."
"And now, this concludes the morning announcement. We will bury Redtail's body at Sunhigh," Bluestar jumped down from the Highrock and walked to her den as the cats congratulated the newly named Warriors.
CHETAHLUV: Okay Readers, this is important. Please do not say you are my mother and tell me mean things. My mother does not even know how to do anything on a computer besides check her email and watch Youtube. So saying that is a big 'No No'. Thank you.