The Hidden Storm

You learn the rules so slowly, I'm going to start being harsher about how I teach them. Oh yes, much harsher...	
 THE HIDDEN STORM
Welcome, and thank you for deciding to read my story, The Hidden Storm, if you have any suggestions, ratings, questions, or tips please feel free to comment on them^^This is a backstory for my OC, Brokenstar and how she joined Shadowclan. Though some of the events I roleplayed on animal jam inspired some of these scenes, this did not actually happen to my character during roleplay it is completely made up by myself.This story is based on Erin Hunter's Series but I have added my own 'rules and twists' to Clans and how they work such as new ranks. Before you begin reading, you may want to be aware of some of the content in this tale
== ~Chapter One~ ==
“Pin her Sunsetpaw!” “Come on Lightpaw, throw her off!” voices cheered delightfully in the background. It was a cool Greenleaf day in the forest. Rays of sun glittered like diamonds through the dainty green leaves of the oak trees. The colorful birds were singing a delightful harmony.  Encircled by their fellow apprentices, and under the carefully watchful eyes of the mentors and the warriors, the two young apprentices were grappling on the ground with a considerable amount of skill for their age.
The one presently on the bottom with her back pressed hard against the ground was Lightpaw, the daughter of Skystar. Her companion on the top, struggling to find a way to pin her to end the match was Sunsetpaw, one of Lightpaw’s closest friends.
Today was the apprentice’s sparring day, once a week all the apprentices in LeafClan meet together and battle each other.Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw knew each others' moves too well for this to be a quick match. Since they shared a mentor, they often sparred with each other and were equally matched for strength, so theirs was a contest of skill and ingenuity; the kind they both liked best.
Lightpaw feinted that she was going to pull right and attempt a roll, a trick they both knew she often used when in danger of being pinned.
Sunsetpaw accustomed quickly, throwing her weight to that side and grabbing her friend’s shoulder firmly. Suddenly, Lightpaw reversed tactics she reached upward and grabbed onto Sunsetpaw’s left front leg and breached upward, using Sunsetpaw’s own weight and momentum against her. Flipping them both over, the she-kit quickly reversed positions so that Sunsetpaw was now on the bottom.
Sunsetpaw was surprised by the sudden turn of events for just the fraction of a second that Lightpaw needed to get inside her guard. Lightpaw rapidly pinned her friend. It was a match-ending move and they both knew it; Still, Sunsetpaw struggled, testing her opponent’s strength.
“Yield?” Lightpaw questioned softly, seeking the words that would end this match. Sunsetpaw relaxed, accepting her defeat. “I yield.” She sighed, disappointed but not seriously upset. Lightpaw quickly removed herself from her friend. “Good match, Lightpaw purred and lapped her friend's ear in a friendly approach. “I will remember that little trick of yours from now on.” Lightpaw’s blue eyes lit up. “Then I will have to try to come up with a new one” The apprentices looked up at their mentor, Falcontail who’s eyes shone with pride at his apprentices. “Good work you two.” He purred happily and looked up at the sun. “I think you both have done enough training for today you are permitted to go back to camp.” The two apprentices dipped their heads in respect and padded towards camp.
-~♦♦♦~
“Wait for me!” a familiar voice cried out from behind them. It was a small ebony she-cat with four white socks. The she-cat was running toward them as fast as her small legs allowed her to. By the time she had reached them, she was out of breathing. “Hello, Moonpaw!” Sunsetpaw and Lightpaw meowed simultaneously. Moonpaw was a very unique she-cat. She was almost half the size of Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw, unlike the other two apprentice’s Moonpaw was a medicine cat apprentice. “I saw you two battling, I think you really impressed Falcontail. Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw looked at each other and smiled. It was true, not even once did Falcontail have to interrupt the battling and correct them. “What about you Moonpaw? How are your studies in medicine?” Lightpaw asked with a mirthful smile. Sunsetpaw let out a tiny sigh and secretly gave Lightpaw an annoyed look and Lightpaw shot back a playful smile. Sunsetpaw is not very fond of listening to Moonpaw’s lengthy discussions about medicines they always were very uninteresting and boring to Sunsetpaw which is why Lightpaw asks Moonpaw about the topic as frequently as she could, just to irritate her friend.
Moonpaw’s silver tinted eyes lit up with excitement, “Well today Redpelt taught me about the uses of honey and coltsfoot honey is for strength and it also helps with sore throats are ancestors discovered the use of honey after…..” Moonpaw is usually an exceptionally quiet shy she-cat but when you get her to speak about her duties as a medical apprentice she can rant for hours. When she was finally done explaining to Lightpaw about how coltsfoot and honey, Moonpaw looked over at Sunsetpaw with an excited expression. “Are you having your first lesson with your tutor today?”
Before Sunsetpaw could answer Lightpaw halted, her blue eyes stared questionably at Sunsetpaw. “Wait, Sunsetpaw has a tutor? She did not tell me.” Sunsetpaw who had overheard hastily began to explain “I am sorry Lightpaw, it happened so fast!” The reality that Sunsetpaw was avoiding eye-contact with Lightpaw made it seem like that was not the case at all.
Lightpaw decided to ignore what she saw and smiled instead. “Congratulations Sunsetpaw, I’m very happy for you! Are you allowed to speak of it?” Lightpaw’s purred cheerfully. Sunsetpaw looked to some extent relieved and her excitement grew as she nodded yes. “My tutor is Leafspiral!” Sunsetpaw exclaimed as they continued to jog toward camp. Lightpaw’s ears pricked upward at the familiar name “Is that Ringtail’s father?” Sunsetpaw eagerly nodded her head yes. “He will be an astounding tutor, the other elders’ claim that he used to be one of LeafClan’s greatest warriors of all time.” Moonpaw meowed cheerfully.
LeafClan has a unique way of training apprentices. Similar to normal clans, when a kit becomes six moons they will become an apprentice and be given a mentor, but many moons ago LeafClan was attacked by an enemy clan and LeafClan was almost completely wiped out. Owlstar, LeafClan’s previous leader, decided that the apprentices not only needed to be taught how to hunt and how to fight but also needed to learn LeafClan’s history, some basic herbs, and good judgment. These things are taught by what LeafClan calls ‘Secondary Mentors’ or ‘tutors’ for short. The cats who become the secondary mentors are normally the clan’s wisest rank, the elders but if needed they can sometimes be a senior warrior. Unlike mentors, the Tutors are chosen by the father or mother of the apprentice and the apprentice does not get a secondary mentor right after they have reached the age of six moons, they receive a tutor whenever the parent or guardian of the apprentice believes it is the appropriate time for them, some apprentices will get a secondary mentor as early as their first moon of being an apprentice or as late as 11 moons.
The tutor also takes the mentor under their wing-like family and will see additional instruction if necessary.
It was part of the new plan for the younger cats to gain as much diverse experience in their training as possible.
One elder or senior warrior might be a tutor to several different cats at a time, but the apprentices didn’t usually know it because that part of the training was considered a private affair, something special and uniquely personalized for each apprentice. As such it was not discussed much and although Sunsetpaw’s tutor had given her permission to tell, that was not always the case.  
=='~Chapter one pictures and notes~==
if a new character appears in my story I will be featuring a basic description of them and their irl picture in this section after every chapter, so you guys can sort of understand who they are and what they look like. Not all of these OC's belong to me some of them are my aj friends who have given me permission to use their character. If one of the characters are not my oc I will place their aj username in this section^^
~ShatteredXFeather
Light.brokepaw.jpg|Lightpaw
calico.jpg|Sunsetpaw
90530_1303517382328_full.jpg|Falcontail
a620903d0a734ec33513ddf0301be207.jpg|Moonpaw
images (9).jpg|Redpelt
norwegian-forest-cat-light.jpg|Leafspiral
forest-clearing.jpg|Training arena
a444cbab716e0c712d381dfd005e622e.jpg|Owlstar(Deceased)
''
=== ~New cats and places introduced in chapter~ ===
Apprentices introduced in the chapter:
Lightpaw- a slender white she-cat with unusual black leopard spots and blue eyes
Sunsetpaw- an athletic orange and gray she-cat with strange lavender colored eyes ( hiphopbunnynewyear)
Moonpaw- a tiny black she-cat with white paws and aqua blue eyes (medical cat apprentice)( Leaderofthepack123)
Warriors introduced in Chapter:
Falcontail- a sturdy brown tom with a white undercoat and a long feather-like tail (mentor to Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw)
Ringtail- a Black and white she-cat(mentioned by Lightpaw once more info later in the story )
Leaders mentioned in the chapter:
Owlstar- Leafclan's previous leader, she was respected by pretty much everyone in the whole clan (Deceased)
Medicine cats mentioned in Chapter:
Redpelt- a stout red and white tom with yellow eyes ( he was mentioned once by Moonpaw)
Elders mentioned in the chapter:
Leafspiral- a massive golden-brown colored tom with green eyes
New places introduced in the chapter:
The training arena- the small clearing in the forest where the Leafclanners spar and train for battle
== <spanstyle="font-size:18px;">~Chapter Two~</span> ==
When the trio reached LeafClan’s camp they were greeted by Leafspiral. He was an enormous tom with a long dark brunette pelt and he had large intelligent green eyes that glinted in the daylight. “Are you ready to begin our first session today, Sunsetpaw?” The tom asked efficiently. “Yes Leafspiral, I am ready to start.” The young apprentice meowed with a hint of nervousness and a lot of passion in her voice, her grey pelt with ginger streaks was slightly messy as a reminder from her training but her eyes were filled with a sense of liveliness and endless energy. Moonpaw and Lightpaw watched their companion merrily stride away with her tutor.
Moonpaw looked at her friend and hesitated slightly before asking “Has your father said anything, Lightpaw? Have you asked...?” Lightpaw shook her head and forced a smile, cutting her friend off. “Moonpaw please, it doesn’t bother me, really. My father... is very busy. I haven’t wanted to trouble him. If he is going to choose a tutor for me he will do it when he feels the time is right.” She defended a little too hastily and it betrayed the emotions well hidden underneath. I know,” Moonpaw glanced away. “So many cats depend on your father now, Lightpaw; it’s different than when Owlstar was alive. My father says that it is not easy to lead broken souls and try to change a whole way of life overnight.” “No,” Lightpaw nodded. “It isn’t, but I know that my father can make it happen,” she purred with a hint of pride in her voice. She loved and respected her father very much. But she worried about him and wished she could somehow be of more helpful in these troubled times. “I don’t really mind, I just…. wish I could help more,” Lightpaw sighed quietly.
~♦♦♦~
A white tom paced nervously back and forth in his den he was in deep thought. He bore massive, horrifying, scars that were running down the right side of his pelt, he was blind from a cataract in his left eye. his gruesomely decorated body was a reminder of the devastating event that happened to him almost 10 moons ago.... but the tom didn't have time to worry about his appearance; his clan was in need of a leader and Owlstar had chosen him for the task, he couldn't let her down..
He sat onto his haunches and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to concentrate. Their ally, SoulClan needed aid which was something that Skystar was unable to give. Soulclan's leader and deputy are going to meet with Stormheart, his deputy, and the elders to discuss the matter. Skystar had no idea how to deny their request and remain alleys with them at the same time. Skystar was such in deep thought that he did not hear Rainysight pad into his den. Rainysight is Skystar's caring mother. When the grey she-cat saw Skystar her eyes clouded with worry, the elder did not like seeing her son worry like this. She slowly walked toward him and gently licked his white ear. Trouble?” she questioned. “Always,” Skystar sighed, “SoulClan is having a bad year: they are having a prey deprivation issue. They’re sending to us for aid and I have nothing to give them. We almost need their aid as much as they are now saying they need ours. I can’t break trust with them, but what am I supposed to do?  Our prey is scarce I don’t even know how we’re going to get our clan through leaf-bare. The leader let his head rest against the cold wall of his den. He wished he knew how Owlstar would have handled this. Skystar felt uncomfortably like he was floundering in duty he had little knowledge of. His sister's biting opinion of him and her abilities did not help much.
Ever SinceOwlstar had lost her final life, Tangledclaw had done nothing but fault-find him with the way he handled everything. Skystar supposed that his sister’s jealousy came as no great surprise; he had not been able to look to his older sibling for friendship or support since they were young and Tangledclaw had started changing. Sadly, Tangledclaw was not the only one voicing rising doubts about Skystar's capability to lead his clan.
More and more often the leader was beginning to hear whispers of it from his warriors and elders, he was hard-pressed to understand where the dissatisfaction was coming from and what exactly he was doing wrong, besides perhaps everything which at the moment seemed entirely possible.
"I had missed another sparring day." I wanted to make time watch the apprentices’ battle but I couldn't...” Skystar stared down at the ground. "I was able to watch them spar but you know Lightpaw is old enough to take care of herself,” Rainysight meowed. Skystar shook his head and snorted softly. “Of course she is, but that doesn’t make it any easier for her when all the other’s fathers are there to watch them,” he murmured with regret. The tom wondered miserably if everyone promised themselves they were going to be different with their kits than their parents were with them, only to end up passing on all the same little heartaches. Yet he knew his daughter would understand. Lightpaw always did.
Rainysight sat down beside Skystar seeking his eye “If you appointed her a tutor...” Suddenly his gaze darkened “I don’t need someone to pay attention to my kit because I cannot!” he snapped slightly before he caught himself and let his frustration slip away before speaking again. “She’s not ready yet. She’s just a kit.” Skystar couldn’t think of letting go of Lightpaw like that just yet... not when other losses were still far too near his heart. “She’s not ready, or you’re not?” Rainysight questioned softly. Her soft voice held no accusations, only gentle questioning. “Both,” Skystar turned his attention back toward the future meeting he was going to have. “Besides, who would I trust? Lately, it seems that even those I thought my friends, doubt me; how could I expect them to tutor her? A soft sigh and shake of his head signaled that their conversation was drawing to a close.
"No, Mother, I will not assign Lightpaw a tutor yet. It is a good plan, but I fear some of the others rush their kits forward too fast. Training is important, but I did not implement it to steal our kit's apprentice-hood from them. She is only six moons old.” Rainysight nodded. That she understood. Even in these difficult times kits still needed to be kits. She just wished sometimes that he would tell Lightpaw the reasons why he did things. She feared that although her grand-kit loved her father, she did not understand him or his actions. Glancing at Skystar, who was pacing in deep thought again.
Unheard and unseen outside the den, a shadowed figure slipped away. She had heard enough. Skystar was a mouse brain and was playing right into her paws.
== ~Chapter Two notes and photos~ ==
wow, that's a lot of words o.o hehe so what do you think so far?
anywho I just wanted to specify that Soulclan is another one of my made-up clans so it does not actually exist...in Erin Hunter's universe
FADSSS.png|Skystar(without scars)
139e21a8d138358619f90cd471828488.jpg|Stormcloud
Rainytalon.jpg|Rainysight
1280px-Lohani_caves_-_Mandavgarh,_(Mandu).JPG|Skystar's den
===New Cats and places Mentioned in the chapter:===
Leader: Skystar- a tall and thin tom, with broad shoulders, he has a white pelt with grey markings, has several hideous scars running down his face and pelt. has a cataract in one of his eyes( Lightpaw's father).
Deputy: Stormcloud- A black tom with a white undercoat and dark brown eyes.
Elders: Rainysight- a solid grey she-cat with deep blue eyes.( Skystar's mother and Lightpaw's adoptive mother )
       Tangledclaw-To be revealed in the next chapter
Skystar's den- the smallest den in Leafclan's camp it is where  the leader takes refuge
== ~Chapter Three~ ==
Lightpaw made her way back towards the forest to hunt.  Her brisk trot out through the woods halted slightly when she saw a familiar figure waiting beside a tree.  “Tangledclaw,” she smiled and greeted her father’s sister. “You aren't meeting with my father and the other elders?” Tangledclaw smiled somewhat ruefully and shook her head. She kept her dark grey pelt unclean and messy “No, they don’t want me around. I just get in the way. But then, perhaps that’s not so bad, more interesting things to do out here, right? Where are you off to?” Lightpaw chuckled. “Well, I guess so. I’m on my way to hunt,” she purred. “So I see,” Tangledclaw meowed. “Well do you mind if I go with you? I have heard that you’ve got some true skill in this area I would like to see that.” Lightpaw flattened her ears, somewhat pleased. “Of course you can come if you want to, but I’m not really that good, not yet anyway.” “Ah, but I’m sure you are,” Tangledclaw shook her head, as they walked off together.
Despite the sham of a title Skystar had given her, Tangledclaw was not usually welcome at important meetings. Skystar said she tended to say things she should not, but Tangledclaw knew he was just being spiteful, flaunting the fact that her younger brother had somehow weaseled Owlstar into thinking he would make the better deputy. She was going to shatter her brother for the wrongs done her and take back what was hers.But for the present, the elder put to good use the extra time she had on her paws right now to watch and observe.  The tension was high in LeafClan. Things were ill and cats wanted someone to blame. It was the perfect environment for her. It was all too easy to stir the flames of discontent. The common warriors could be so easily persuaded by the simplest of suggestions... But to truly break Skystar, Tangledclaw knew she had to get much closer to him than just the warriors and elders.  Her brother’s family was a tight little unit, but she saw where the fractures lay. It wasn’t hard to single out Lightpaw as her way inside. The apprentice was young, naïve and trusting. She was at an age where she silently craved the adult attention she was not receiving. It was perfect really.  Perfect.
.Lightpaw knew none of the malevolent thoughts going through her aunt's mind. She could only see the bright purrs she was given and the appreciative way in which Tangledclaw watched her. None of her friends were there, of course, but Lightpaw loved hunting for itself and did not miss them too much.
She perked her keen ebony-colored ears and listened to the forest. She could hear constant rustling in the branches of a grand pine tree. She inhaled deeply; Lightpaw knew that she was born with a terrible sense of smell. Everybody says that she inherited her nose from her father’s side of the family; but still, she managed to identify the aroma of a squirrel. Her piercing blue eyes swiveled toward the tree and she could easily make out the shape of the stout squirrel. The she-cat silently crept toward the tree leaning all of her weight onto her haunches, her lithe body quickly slid like a black and white ghost through the forest.
She gracefully crawled  up the base of the tree and moved her slender body through the thick branches of the tree. When Lightpaw had reached the squirrel she quickly dropped down closer to the branch she was leaning her weight on. Her eyes focused intensely on her prey her heartbeat accelerated quickly as she let her sharp claws slide out of her paws. Swiftly, Lightpaw leaped out from her perch and slammed onto her prey giving it a quick bite into its neck. The squirrel's body collapsed almost instantly after it was bitten, which was exactly what Lightpaw had wanted, the she-cat did not wish for her victim to suffer much from the attacks, if it was not necessary, no creature deserves a slow and painful death. Slowly the apprentice crawled down the majestic tree with the squirrel in between her jaws she quickly covers the prey with leaves and listens for more fateful creatures.
~♦♦♦~
.After hunting, on the way back to camp, Tangledclaw was full of praises and questions, letting the young she-cat talk on and on about the details of her favorite subject in a way that usually made cat's eyes glaze over pretty quickly. Tangledclaw never seemed to lose interest and Lightpaw ended up talking much more than she typically did until she caught herself and apologized.  “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to chatter you.” Tangledclaw purred warmly. “But I enjoy it, I am glad you feel so free with me. It is good because...” she stopped walking and turned to face Lightpaw, who cooperatively did the same. “Because I have something important to tell you.” Lightpaw tilted her head and blinked her light blue eyes lightly in question. “Oh?” Tangledclaw nodded. “Your father has asked me to be your tutor, Lightpaw.” Lightpaw's face immediately brightened. Her father hadn’t forgotten! He had chosen a tutor for her after all. The young she-cat really didn’t know her aunt very well. Until this point, the elder hadn’t had much to do with her, but she had no reason to dislike her aunt and after tonight it seemed rather a pleasant arrangement.  “Then I am much honored. I will do my best to make you both proud.” Lightpaw dipped her head.  “I know you will, Lightpaw,” Tangledclaw smiled. A flicker of something deep and dark skittered just under the surface of her friendly gaze, but if  Lightpaw even saw it she would not have understood its meaning.  “Am I allowed to speak about it?” Lightpaw wanted to know if he could tell her friends or not. Either way was all right with her; she was just glad her father really did think she was ready. 
“No, Lightpaw, I would rather not. Let’s keep this between us for the present. Skystar is going through some difficult times, and your father is not sure who to trust. He doesn’t wish there to be any ill feelings stirred up because he chose his sister for you rather than one of the other cats. We wouldn’t want to cause him any more headaches, would we?”
Tangledclaw’s captivating smile veiled her true motives far too well. Lightpaw nodded easily; she understood. She would never want to cause her father more troubles. “Very well then, it shall remain between us. But... thank you for accepting.” The apprentice purred shyly.  Tangledclaw laughed softly.
She lightly shook her head as they started walking again. “Oh, the pleasure is all mine, believe me.”
== ~Chapter Three pictures and notes~ ==
now I'm feeling very self-conscious... oh well anyways these are pretty long compared to the other stories I've seen which I'm not exactly sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing o.o
f2ff88bdd99d1198893f4c8f0ae8d2d667.jpg|Tangledclaw
20091205_1845.jpg|Leafclan's hunting territory
llllllllkjkll;.png|Lightpaw art
<h3data-rte-spaces-before="1" data-rte-spaces-after="1">Cats and new places introduced in the chapter:</h3>Tangledclaw: a lanky grey she-cat with bright yellow eyes==== ~Chapter Four~====Tangledclaw quietly insinuated herself into almost all portionsof Lightpaw’s life after that. She was careful, however, to avoid lettingher actions be noticed by the apprentice's Mentor, father or grandmother.Skystar and Falcontail were not so hard to avoid, Rainysight on the other paw could be quite a nuisance to her plans sometimes simply because the oldshe-cat spent far too much time with the apprentice for her liking. Still,Tangledclaw had the capability of being supremely patient when it assistedher purposes. Lightpaw had to trust her first. Then the true molding could begin.It was two weeks later; the young she-cat was stewing alonein the apprentice den. Today hadn’t gone too well. Her mentor informed her shewas not paying enough attention to her training and said that he was going totalk to her father. A cat entered the den and Lightpaw half-expected it to be her father, but itwas not; it was her aunt. Tangledclaw had met Falcontail in the outside of Skystar's den whenhe tried to see Skystar. Her brother was busy she said, but if it concerned Lightpaw thenshe would take the message to him later. Skystar would never get the message.  The elder walked across the den running her bony tail across the thick walls of the apprentice den.  “Your father is not pleased with Falcontail’s report of you,” Lightpaw flattened her ears and looked downward in shame. She hadn’t suspected he would be. “I’m sorry; I don’t mean to irritate him so much. It’s just all the names of the herbs... they’re so hard to remember sometimes. I know that’s no excuse though,” she added quickly.   “I told your father I would help make sure you improved and he agreed.
So...” she picked up the gigantic beech leaf that contained a horde of different herbs “are these what you needed to learn today?” she said with the leaf pouch in between her teeth. “Yes, they are I went over them several times today …. I will do better next time.” The apprentice promised and dipped her head
Tangledclaw nodded slowly, gesturing her tail for Lightpaw to follow her. The apprentice obeyed. They padded through the camp and into the wood
It was the time period of the day when only a few cats in LeafClan  were not busy, which was exactly why Tangledclaw chose to go to Lightpaw at that time, so that nobody would see the two cats exiting the campsite.
~♦♦♦~
Lightpaw was itching with curiosity but she said nothing as they walked through the woodlands. After a long hike, they came across a hill in the very corner of LeafClan’s territory. two large pine trees grew beside the steep incline. Tangledclaw and Lightpaw trotted toward the trees and mazed through the branches, avoiding thick and pointy pine needles. behind the pine trees was a hidden cave, ivy clung against the structures ,large pillers of rock surrounded the entrence. Without hesitating, Tangledclaw swiftly climbed up into the hole and flickered her long tail for Lightpaw to follow.  Lightpaw was not so sure she wanted to go inside of the cavern, something about the dark cave made a chill run up her spine, but she gathered her courage, and slowly, the apprentice climbed upward, and  into the small mouth of impenetrable blackness. as Lightpaw tiptoed inside, she watched her shadow dissolve into the surrounding darkness. It was dank and the only sound that her keen ears could hear was the dripping water.The grimy structure was not very large on the inside, only about the range of the apprentice’s den In LeafClan.
Lightpaw's eyes scanned the cave cautiously and looked for her tutor. At first the shecat could not see her aunts body but she could easily spot the elder's bright yellow eyes, they seemed to have a strange luminous glow within them but after a few heatbeats, the shecat's eyes fully accustomed to the darkness and she could identify almost all of her surroundings. "This is where we will be training for now on we will meet ever day after you are finished training with your mentor." Tangledclaw meowed promptly. Lightpaw seated herself in front of the young elder. Tangledclaw curled her charcoal colored tail neatly around herself and gazed down at the apprentice "are you ready to begin your first session of training?" Lightpaw nodded her head yes. “Well then, let's get started. I will show you the herbs, and you will name them and tell me their uses. All right, Lightpaw?” Of course Lightpaw agreed, and so Tangledclaw worked her way through the herbs, quizzing the younger cat on every detail of the herb and the information contained within it. To her credit Lightpaw really had done a competent job of memorizing the information, but predictably she eventually fumbled on a question and got the answer wrong.
Lightpaw started and yelped slightly in total surprise when her aunt swiped her firmly across the face with her huge paw. Tangledclaw liked the startled, pained look in the younger cat's eyes. She was sure Rainysight was far too lax with the kit for Lightpaw to understand physical punishment. So she reversed her swing, swiping her niece the other direction.  Lightpaw backed up a few paces, utterly shocked and confused. Both of her cheeks were hot. She stared at her aunt with wide, questioning eyes. Tangledclaw's gaunt face was impassively neutral. She acted as if nothing unusual had happened.
“That was the wrong answer. Try again.” Lightpaw wasn’t sure she wanted to, but she collected her thoughts and tried to figure out which part she had gotten wrong on. She discovered it without much difficulty and corrected herself, looking hesitantly to her aunt to see if she was right this time.  Tangledclaw smiled and nodded. “That’s correct.” she moved on again, posing another herb, and another until the apprentice missed one again. Lightpaw didn’t make a sound this time but she still started sharply when her aunt struck her. She unconsciously pulled away, although it did no good because she just followed her. She tried to correct herself again, but it was an herb she was a little unfamiliar about and it took her several tries to get it right.  Tangledclaw struck her for each wrong answer and the she- kits eyes glistened with a dangerous amount of moisture by the time she finally got the right one.
~♦♦♦~
Lightpaw’s breath came quick and fast, wobbling slightly. “All right, enough for today,” Tangledclaw abruptly ended their session, gathering up all of the herbs, placed them in the beech leaf and setting it aside. “We’ll do more later. I don’t think you’re prepared enough right now.” She brushed Lightpaw’s cheek with her tail skimming under her eye and catching the un-spilled tear. “Tears are for kits, Lightpaw, you’re an adult now. Please act like one when we’re together.” The scolding was not exactly bitter, but it was close. Lightpaw nodded, blinking her teary eyes dry  “Say ‘yes, Tangledclaw’ when I give you an order, Lightpaw.” Her bitter-sweet tone was deceptively soft.  “Yes, Tangledclaw,” the apprentice responded obediently. “But..?” her bewildered eyes were confused. “Why...?” she couldn’t figure out what exactly she was asking.
Tangledclaw purred somewhat mockingly. “Lightpaw, Lightpaw, you have so much growing up to do! Don’t take it personally. I am here for a purpose, to help you learn better. Pain is like an instructor; it molds us, shapes us, and hardens us to face the future. When you first started hunting you hurt afterward, did you not?” Lightpaw nodded slowly. Yes, that was true. She often ached after hunting. And if they weren’t careful when sparring, the apprentices could hurt each other or themselves pretty badly. She understood the concept that if it hurts, you wouldn’t make that mistake again. She's supposed she had better stop being such an infant about this.  “Never shy from pain, especially the pain I give you,” Tangledclaw twitched her whiskers approvingly when her golden tinted eyes saw the apprentice rationalizing it all in her mind. Lightpaw was so eager to please, and that made her extremely flexible. “It is for instruction and for your own good. Do you understand that?” Lightpaw nodded. “Yes, Tangledclaw, I’m sorry. I will do better.”
== ~Chapter Four: notes and photos~ ==
Okay, I just wanted to make it clear that in Leafclan, all cats are taught basic herbs even if they are not Medical cat apprentices. Mentors introduce the herbs to the apprentice once during their training and then when they get their tutors, the tutors will teach them a little more. only basic herbs though like cobwebs and marigold. Leafclan's goal is for everyone to always be prepared for any situation.
>-< that Chapter wasn't too bad I guess there will only be a few more violent instances like thIs i can give you a warning or something :/ Nobody is exactly reading this right now so i guess it doesn't matter much XD I'm typing to myself in a way
143.jpg|The Hidden Cave
dfsa.jpg|Tangledclaw
hollow log.jpg|The Apprentice den
===New Cats and Places Featured in Chapter~===
No new cats o.o
The Apprentice Den- One of the Largest dens in Leafclan, it is where all of the apprentice's rest
The Hidden Cave- a small barely noticeable cave is located on the side of a hill in the corner of Leafclan's territory the only two cats who know about this place so far is Tangledclaw and Lightpaw
== ~Chapter Five~ ==
Over the days that followed, Tangledclaw continued to ‘help’ her with lessons, relying heavily on this form of instruction. Tangledclaw quickly deemed that bruises on her face would draw far too much attention.
Therefore she took to quizzing Lightpaw with a switch instead, applying a single stroke to the kit's shoulders or back for each wrong answer.
Because of her black leopard spots on her shoulders and back, camouflaged the bruises and did not show. Lightpaw did improve since she now lived in fear of getting a wrong answer on any subject or task. Falcontail complimented her but was privately puzzled by the she-kit's sudden change of attitude. Although the mentor had sometimes complained of a lack of attention, Falcontail had always found his young apprentice curious and outgoing; a bright mind full of questions. But Lightpaw asked fewer questions now and seemed slightly withdrawn from their discussions.  Falcontail couldn’t protest because her knowledge was excellent, but still... it was strange…
Lightpaw knew she shouldn’t fear her training, but she slowly began to dread lessons with her aunt. The elder was becoming more and more demanding, which usually meant that she was left hurting.
Yet even so, nothing prepared Lightpaw for the evening when Tangled summoned her to the secret cave they trained in. She should have felt uneasy when her aunt shoved a boulder over the only exit in the cavern, but she was still far too trusting.  “You avoided me today, Lightpaw.” Tangledclaw turned to the younger she-cat and Lightpaw backed up a pace. She didn’t like what she saw in her aunt’s eyes. There was a strange light in them that wasn’t always there. It sent a shiver down her spine.  “No, Tangledclaw, at least, I did not intend to...” Lightpaw started to shake her head, but was stopped when Tangledclaw swiped her with the back of her paw onto her. The apprentice flinched but had become familiar to that kind of treatment.  “Do not contradict me,” Tangledclaw warned. “Now we always have lessons after your mentor leaves. So why didn’t we today?” Lightpaw was surprised to realize what this was about. “I-I thought you were too busy today, Tangledclaw. I waited for you, but you did not come.” The apprentice expected the blow that followed. She could tell her aunt was fuming, and it scared her.  “And am I always supposed to come running to you? If you know you are supposed to do something you do it, Lightpaw! You don’t wait for others to give it to you. If I am not there, you should come looking for me!”  “Yes Tangledclaw, I will remember that,” Lightpaw promised, trying to keep her breathing steady.
“I’ll make sure you do,” Tangledclaw seethed darkly, the younger she-cat felt the energy of fear shoot through her, turning her blood cold. “Come here!” Tangledclaw grabbed the back of she-cat's scruff with unsheathed claws when she did not obey immediately. Tangledclaw usually tries not to use her claws on the apprentice because of the markings they left but right now she was too angry to control herself. Lightpaw was only about the size of a large kit so she could be picked up, but it hurt terribly. Tangledclaw shook Lightpaw’s thick neck fur hard, small dots of blood trickled down her pelt. “You’re not making this any easier on yourself, Lightpaw; you obey me when I speak and you do it instantly, or you will suffer the consequences, do you understand?”The poor apprentice could do nothing but nod in terror. Her throat had closed off and left her no voice. 
Tangledclaw sheathed her claws making the apprentice drop onto the sandy floor of the cave. There was no warning, no foreword; she simply started lashing her with her paws.  Lightpaw jerked and started, unused to this new kind of unrestrained violence. She tried to get up from the ground, tried to get away from the sudden, terrible sting, but Tangledclaw caught her and shoved her back down again. “You do not run and you never, EVER fight me!” Tangled commanded with a harsh hiss.“I’ll pin you down if I have to, but believe me, Lightpaw, it only gets a lot worse for you after that!” she threatened darkly. Tangledclaw liked pain. She liked to see others in pain, and she liked to play twisted mind games with Lightpaw but right now she was also angry. Skystar had somehow managed to push through the limited measures he had proposed for the aid of SoulClan. Not only that, he had actually persuaded some of the elders and warriors into believing it was the best thing for them all. This did not fit well into her plans and she was angry with her brother. Yet there was no way she could vent that anger on Skystar.... so Lightpaw would pay the price instead. 
Realizing she had no choice, Lightpaw stopped struggling and stood as still as she was able, squirming only when the pain became unbearable and allowed her aunt to strike her without restraint. When she finally released her that afternoon she made Lightpaw thank her for the punishment, which the she-kit did, through hitching sobs. Then she sent the apprentice back to camp with a warning. “I trust you will remember this. And that you will not shame your training. Everything that passes between us falls under the bond of tutorship. You understand that, Lightpaw? This is just between us. I will never shame you by speaking of what you make me do to you to others, and you will not shame yourself or your family by weighing them down or breaking the trust of your training.”Lightpaw nodded shakily and promised to remember before fleeing back to camp.
Lightpaw stopped running when she was halfway towards camp. She curled against a willow tree , unsheathed her claws into the base of the tree, and let the spongy moss on the ground beside the trunk receive the torrent of her confused and hurting tears.  She hadn’t known. She hadn’t known that going forward with her training would be like this, No wonder apprentices weren’t allowed to talk to one another about their tutors! She wondered if Leafspiral was this hard on Sunsetpaw. She definately hoped not. The young she-cat felt incredibly betrayed that her father would ever submit her to this, yet at the same time she felt horrible for even feeling that way. Certainly she knew he loved her, he was wiser than she was, and if her father felt this was what she needed, and then the error must lie in her.  Slowly, Lightpaw’s breathing calmed, although the pain remained. It was a lesson, like her other lessons, she had to think of it that way; she had to be impartial and accept correction when she blundered. She sighed softly. She would simply have to try harder. If she made fewer mistakes, she would not be punished like this again…..Or so she hoped
== Chapter Five: Notes and Photos ==
sorry sorry sorry for such a harsh chapter >-< thats as bad as the violence gets....so dont worry :D things will get better. as i said before i am completing the story i have an outline for each chapter all i have to do is go over them and fix mistakes and such.. XD i just realized why nobody comments on my story; its because everyone is so amazed by my awesome writing that they cant move to type in the comment Lol 
=== New cats and places introduced in chapter ===
Nothing new o.o
== ~Chapter Six~ ==
The next morning was bad. Lightpaw hurt terribly. When she was drinking in the stream she could see that her aunt had left her a few cuts on her neck, shoulders, and back that were becoming more noticeable. Lightpaw quickly rolled in the creamy alblaster colored dust beside the shore of the creek to camouflage the marks after practically bathing herself in the dust she examined her reflection in the water and took a moment to be thankful that nobody was with her. She hated the scratchy and burning texture the dust left on her pelt but these marks she bore today would have been too humiliating to explain to anyone who might have seen them. 
~♦♦♦~
When she met with her mentor, she moaned inwardly when she realized they were going to be sparring again today. She did not feel up to it at all. To make matters worse, she was paired with Treepaw, one of the bigger tom apprentices who were often scolded for over-aggressive behavior in matches.  Lightpaw was good, but she wasn’t compensating well for her injuries and after only a few painful minutes, Treepaw pinned her down. Lightpaw’s hurting back was ground into the rough gravel below, making the young she-cat grit her teeth. 
“I yield,” the apprentice gasped out, not caring if she lost at this point, just wanting to be let up.Treepaw pretended he hadn’t heard the soft word and pressed his massive paws down harder. It was the first time he had beaten her in a match and he was enjoying it. “What?” “I yield!” Lightpaw’s voice was sharp and she struggled to be released. Pain flared, making her breathing short.  “Treepaw!” Ringtail,Treepaw's’s mentor, was beside the two apprentices now. The dark-colored she-cat's green eyes flashed in warning.  Forestpaw quickly let up when his mentor said his name. Rocking backward and giving Lightpaw one more small, dominant shove as he rose onto his paws.  “Are you all right, Lightpaw?” Falcontail was puzzled by Lightpaw’s poor showing today, but the apprentice was breathing heavily and her voice before had held a strangely desperate edge that made the mentor think Forestpaw must have been hurting her  more than they could see. 
Lightpaw was not all right, but of course she didn’t say so. Instead she nodded, giving a weak attempt at a purr. “Yes, Falcontail, I’m sorry.” “What’s the matter, Lightpaw Not used to a few bumps?” Forestpaw chuckled unpleasantly. He disliked Lightpaw simply because the she-cat was Skystar's offspring.  Ringtail and Falcontail were scowling.  They clearly were not impressed with the tom. Several of the apprentice’s behavior regularly dismayed their mentors. Forestpaw and his sister Icepaw were two of the worst offenders.  “Forestpaw, a match is not just about winning, but about how we win,” Ringtail tried for the fifty-millionth time to get that across . “I am not going to say that you are victorious unless you show you can gain it in a responsible manner.” she let that sink in for a couple of heartbeats. Ringtail flickered her tail “All right then, Next pair, Sunsetpaw and Gingerpaw, let’s go!”
~♦♦♦~
Sunsetpaw, Gingerpaw, and Moonpaw drifted over to Lightpaw almost as soon as training had ended. “You looked really good today. I'm sure the warriors were impressed, Gingerpaw, you were great!” Lightpaw meowed. Gingerpaw pretended to scowl. “ I didn’t win,” she glanced at Sunsetpaw. “But at least I know that you didn’t let me win either.” “Never worry about that,” Sunsetpaw assured with a teasing wink. “But Lightpaw is right, you did very well. It was almost a fluke that I beat you.” Gingerpaw purred and shrugged, then trotted away from Lightpaw, Sunsetpaw, and Moonpaw to her own group of friends.
Moonpaw purred softly, and then turned her attention back at the white and black she-cat. “Lightpaw….. Are you all right? Did Forestpaw hurt you?” Lightpaw flattened her ears in embarrassment. “Not much, really, he just pinned me kind of hard, I couldn’t breathe too well.” It wasn’t entirely the truth, but it was all Lightpaw could give them. “I feel like such a mousebrain over the way that ended up… Im just having a really bad day I think.” “I’m sorry Lightpaw,” Moonpaw meowed softly, wishing she could do more than that. Genuine concern showed in both her friend’s eyes. “Is there anything we can do?” Lightpaw tilted her head slightly. “ummmm well could you walk back to camp with me….?” The she-cat didn’t want to be alone just at the moment; she wanted someone to laugh with, and more importantly she wanted something to take her mind off her problems with training. “Of course!” Sunsetpaw agreed for both of them and all three cats headed back towards LeafClan’s base.
~♦♦♦~
“So do you want to tell us what’s making today so bad?” Sunsetpaw asked presently, once they were away from the training grounds. Lightpaw didn’t shrug because that would have hurt, but she imitated one pretty close. “Not really. Just…. Family matters. You know. How are things going with your tutor?” It was a question that had been burning Lightpaw’s mind for a little. It was Sunsetpaw’s turn to shrug “All right. Leafspiral is a good teacher, I like him. He’s not overly patient though.” She chuckled. “I think I drive him crazy sometimes, but so far so good.” Lightpaw nodded slowly. “Sunset, does he ever…. Is he ever… really hard on you?” Sunsetpaw tilted her head in slight confusion, not really sure what her friend had meant. “Yes I suppose so, sometimes. Why? Lightpaw do you have a secondary mentor now?” Sunsetpaw’s facial structure turned into a very excited expression.
"If I did, you know I might not be able to tell you, Sunset,” Lightpaw shook her head, glancing downward at her paws. “I know. Bother that whole thing, it’s such a weird way that all works.” Sunsetpaw sighed. “Well I don’t have one in case anyone is wondering.” Moonpaw spoke up to them with and edginess of jealously in her voice. Medicine cats are very wise and are the closest member to StarClan; therefore the medicine cat apprentices did not need a Secondary mentor, because they were already being mentored by a wise rank. Lightpaw wanted to tell her friend that she didn’t want one, that she had no idea what the future was like…. But she couldn’t. “Well you’re not missing too much right now, I can tell you,” Sunsetpaw chuckled. “I am becoming convinced that no one can give withering glares quite as well as Leafspiral.” Moonpaw giggled “Oh yeah? You have not seen how terrible Redpelt’s stares were, I felt like I was crowfood when I accidently upset him.” Sunsetpaw fell into a fit of laughter. “Well from what I heard you had that coming. Honestly Moon, you can’t tell the difference between honey and water?”
Moonpaw flattened her ears, her tail drooped in between her legs and she turned toward Lightpaw. “You know, for being such a young apprentice, she sure listens to gossip as bad as an elder. “I heard that!” Sunsetpaw protested. "And she has a big mouth too,” Moonpaw added loudly.
Lightpaw was chuckling now too. “Wait! Wait! Both of you, now I want to know what had happened!” “If it’s up to Sunsetpaw, the whole FOREST will know before moon-high” Moonpaw muttered under her breathe. “All that happened was that Redpelt wanted me to water a cat with soaked moss while he was going to get something. I was really tired that day and I wasn’t really paying attention. I accidently dipped the moss ball in honey and spread it all over the cat, who happened to be Softfur.” Lightpaw gasped, Softfur has a heart for her beautiful long pure-white pelt, Lightpaw could only begin to imagine how the Softfur would react if something sticky was poured onto her fur.
"Oh yes, Softfur was yowling so loudly that everyone in camp could hear her and started to panic around the medical den. She tripped and fell into several herbs!” Sunsetpaw broke into another fit of giggles, hardly able to continue speaking. “She looked like a fat flightless canary with that entire storage of marigold sticking to her pelt! You should have seen Redpelt’s face!”
"Ha ha ha, oh yes, its sooo funny Sunsetpaw,” Moonpaw’s humiliated face made the story even funnier. 
Lightpaw was laughing, she couldn’t help it. “I’m sorry” she apologized when Moonpaw turned her glare on her. “I hope that you didn’t get into too much trouble.” Lightpaw suddenly realized that this may not be a laughing matter at all. She shuddered to think what Tangledclaw would have done to her for something like that. Fortunately for Moonpaw, Redpelt and Softfur was nothing like Tangledclaw and would never thought of harming the she-kit. “No, it’s all right,” Moonpaw assured, rolling her eyes. “I’ll live. Living it down however…” She glared at Sunsetpaw. “-Seems to be a bit harder. Oh Sunsetpaw, you promised that today, you would teach me how to hunt snakes.” Moonpaw purred excitedly. “That’s right I remember now!” Sunsetpaw twitched her whiskers and shot Moonpaw a mischievous grin. “Oh, you’re welcome to come too, Lightpaw.” From the way her friend was grinning Lightpaw wasn’t exactly sure that teaching sweet little Moonpaw how to hunt large nasty snakes was a good thing or not, but she smiled anyway. “I doubt I will have time for it today, I wanted to speak to my father before it gets dark, but someday I will go with you.” “Good.” Sunsetpaw grinned again giving Moonpaw a glance. 
Sunsetpaw and Moonpaw parted ways when they reached camp since they had different plans for today. Lightpaw felt better after talking to her buddies, but also concerned. Interpreting Sunsetpaw’s comments from her unknowingly screwed perspective made her a little uneasy for her friend’s wellbeing. Sunsetpaw seemed alright… but then again, so did she.
Lessons with her secondary mentor afterwards did not go well. Her aunt was still in a singularly sour mood and Lightpaw could have sworn that Tangledclaw was throwing questions at her that they hadn’t covered merely as an excuse to punish her for not knowing the answers. Of course, she figured it was her imagination. Still hurting from yesterday, it was hard to hold still for the ‘lessons’ today but Lightpaw managed not to cry this time. That seemed to please her aunt. Tangledclaw did not hold Lightpaw past their allotted time at least and indeed, the older she-cat seemed to have other things on her mind. Lightpaw was only too glad to be ignored.
~♦♦♦~
Many troubling questions were weighing on the young she-cat’s mind, and although she was a little frightened, she wanted to do what she had always done and go to her father with what distressed her.  Skystar was in her den, working very hard over something, she sat on the outside of the den entrance. The tom looked up and greeted her offspring with a small purr before turning his eyes back to whatever he was doing. “Come in.” Lightpaw did, seating herself gingerly near where   where her father was working. "What are you working on?" Lightpaw asked. Skystar's burn scars and his cataract eye may seem petrifying to some apprentices, but Lightpaw became accustomed to them a long time ago and hardly notices them anymore.
Skystar winced his eyes tiredly. “I’m trying to come up with a new feeding arrangement so prey will last through Leaf-Bare without any members of the clan going hungry." “Do you think we have enough prey for Leaf-bare?” Lightpaw leaped onto her paws again and wandered closer.  “No,” Skystar shook his head and let out a weary sigh. “It does not seem like we will have enough have enough Not even half. So I have to decide how to use the scarce prey to feed us.” The strange fact is that prey this season was actually very satisfying for the year, but the prey pile is shrinking nearly twice as rapidly which means that either some of the clan cats are taking more than they are given or something is taking their prey, but that is almost impossible because the fresh-kill only smells like LeafClan cats and he suspected Tangledclaw, his sister had something to do with it.
Skystar stopped, purring slightly. He doubted Lightpaw really wanted to hear all that, or even understood most of it. Still, the concerned and interested look on the cat’s face warmed his heart. But, that wasn’t the only thing that was on Skystar’s mind. Tangledclaw has been constantly disappearing and reappearing hours later and is refusing to tell anyone where exactly she has been. Skystar was suspecting that her sister was up to something but he couldn’t exactly understand what it was.  The tom’s purr was brittle. He wouldn’t speak ill of his sister in front of his daughter, but he could think ill all he liked. Lightpaw nodded slowly, although she didn’t understand a tenth of the storm that was hidden behind the scenes. Not even Skystar knew that. Not yet anyways.
"Father...” Lightpaw studied her toes as she tried to work up the courage to speak. Skystar had gone back to work and Lightpaw hated to bother him when he was busy like this, but... “I was wondering... I mean, well, I... A-about the tutors-” Skystar flickered her tail, halting the apprentice's mid-sentence. “Lightpaw that is not something I can talk about right now, all right?”
He had to find the right words to explain to her why he wasn’t choosing a tutor for her yet, and at the moment her attention regretfully had to be elsewhere.  Lightpaw hesitated uncertainly. She knew it wasn’t supposed to be talked about, she had simply hoped... “Is there anything else?” Skystar looked up after a moment when Lightpaw said nothing, but did not leave. He didn’t mean to sound impatient, but it was the effect that came across.  “No, Father,” Lightpaw meowed quietly, shaking her head. Skystar suddenly realized that her words might have seemed like a curt dismissal “Lightpaw?” He looked around, but her daughter had already left, as silent as the wind. Skystar sighed. He would have to talk to Lightpaw later when he could more fully explain himself. Unfortunately, such resolves are easily made, and just as easily pushed aside by other pressing matters. Sometimes, ‘later’ never comes. Little did the leader realize how much this conversation would haunt him for the rest of his days.......
~♦♦♦~.
No one could really tell how Tangledclaw got all of the information, but the things she seemed to know sometimes made one ready to believe that the walls of the den themselves had eyes and ears to report to her. When Lightpaw went back to the old cavern in the forest, her aunt was there waiting for her with, a dark look in her yellow eyes. 
Lightpaw froze in the doorway, almost unable to breathe. What had she done now? “Lightpaw, Lightpaw...” Tangledclaw was pacing now; she was playing with her long and sharp claws by letting her them slide in and out, her jaws were tightly clenched together, her mouth corners were opened slightly revealing her sharp mouth full of teeth,her tail was swaying dangerously back and forth, and her fur was bristled upward, making the lanky she-cat appear more superior and menacing” You almost broke the bond today. Your father is very upset that you tried to speak to him about us. He told me to teach you a lesson worth remembering.” “Please, no...”The shekit squeaked softly. Lightpaw didn’t resist when Tangledclaw shoved her into the cave and shoved the large boulder over the exit, but her heart recoiled within her. She knew she shouldn’t have done that; now she had made her father angry with her too.  Tangledclaw's look was merciless. “You learn the rules so slowly, I’m going to have to start being harsher about how I teach them.” She smiled at the horror in the apprentice’s eyes. "Oh yes, much harsher..."
== ~Chapter Six Notes and Photos~ ==
just keep writing just keep writing... 
Just for your information: The cover photo for the story is a lineart made by Kasarawolf from Devianart. I colored it, added text, background, ect 
Forestpaw.jpg|Forestpaw
Images (10).jpg|Icepaw
Rainstar2.jpg|Ringtail
15800-Ginger-cat-running-white-background.jpg|Gingerpaw
Download (4jlj).jpg|Medicine Cat Den
tinuvielpro2.jpg|Softfur
Images (4).jpg|Eaglecreek
0065523531231232.png|Skystar model with scars and cataract
elastic heeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaart1231iu32.jpg|Lineart of Lightpaw by kasarawolf
''
=== ~New Cats and places Introduced in Chapter~ ===
Forestpaw- A large brown tom with black stripes running across his pelt with light green eyes.
Ringtail- a white she-cat with charcoal marking running down her fur, her lengthy tail has several black rings circling around it.(Forestpaw's mentor)
Icepaw- A creamy white she-cat with chestnut brown swirls splattered on her pelt and pale blue eyes(Forestpaw's sister)
Gingerpaw- A sleek ginger colored shecat with brown deer eyes(AJ user: Backpacker)
Softfur- A beautiful pure white shecat with long fur and bright blue eyes
EagleCreek- Leafclan's most resourceful and convenient area of water is what they call Eaglecreek, It is close to the camp and it is stocked with small fish too.
Medicine Cat Den- Leafclan's current medicine cat Redpelt, sleeps, performs most of his medical duties, and stores all of his herbs in this den. 
== ~Chapter Seven~ ==
(2 months later)
A couple of moons had passed and Greenleaf had faded towards the early stages of Late-Leaf with the approach of Leaf-Bare, tensions in LeafClan began winding ever tighter as it became apparent that everyone was going to have a very hard time of it this year. Tangledclaw had slowly gone from being a gentle nuisance to a full-blown problem. By now Skystar was well aware that her sister was betraying his clan by feeding several rouges their hard earned prey. Unfortunately there was little he could do about it without fanning those very flames of discontent. Open rumors were starting now that Owlstar had not even truly chosen Skystar to be leader, but that he had taken it from his older sister by treachery and then convinced his leader to take on this mad venture that had lead Owlstar to her death. Empty accusations, but they hurt. Hurt badly. Skystar as usual, lay in his den, gazing outside the entrance of his den, examining the trees that were just beginning to show their first signs of color change. He felt like he was trying to hold onto a chunk of ice in his paws… it just kept melting away from him.
“Maybe what they’re saying is right mother,” He told Rainysight in a tired empty tone. “Maybe I am simply not made for this” Rainysight didn’t speak for a few moments. Part of her heart wished that her son had never been called upon to be leader. The tensions in their lives since Owlstar had died had all but torn everyone apart. Even Lightpaw seemed to be showing some strain. She had become much more quiet and reserved over the past couple of weeks: withdrawn almost. A troubling weight seemed to have settled upon her…. Upon all of them.  “If you are not leader, Skystar then who is?” She meowed at length
“Certainly not your sister, her supporters do not know her as we do. She would lead them to ruin.” She sighed. Rainysight technically wasn’t Tangledclaw’s birth mother, but she was her queen and gave her love as if she was her own daughter. But as much as it stung, Tangledclaw was a threat to LeafClan and must be removed somehow...” Some choices are not given to us Skystar; we are merely placed on the path and have to walk it as best as we can.” Heavy silence flowed between them for a few moments. “Skystar, about Tangledclaw…”
Skystar closed his eyes. “I know about my sister, Rainysight. What I do not know is what to do about her. Restrain her? Try to keep her quiet? This clan balances on the thinnest of threads place but a little weight in the wrong direction and the whole clan will unravel. And why should the cats not doubt me? What kind of leader can’t feed his-own clan through Leaf-bare? We can only hope that StarClan will support us, but with so many of our good hunters are gone...” 
Rainysight hesitated, knowing the reaction her next suggestion would most likely upset the already very stressed out tom. “Then what about seeking assistance from another clan?” “From where?” Skystar flattened his torn ears helplessly. “SoulClan will also most likely starve from prey as we will. Falconclan is having different issues that may be as bad or worse than ours, and do we really want to beg for help like starving rouge? That would truly endear me to the others; this is just the show of weakness that Tangledclaw is waiting for.” Rainysight sighed. She knew he was right about Tangledclaw; any sign of weakness in Skystar now and there would be open revolt. They were in an almost impossible situation. “Despite what you think son, many of the cats are still entirely loyal to you. Don’t give up on them.” Rainysight said quietly.  Skystar slowly  nodded and rose onto his paws, watching the cats in his clan slowly leave their dens to gather around the high-rock.
Tonight at the high-rock he was going to give clan members a new feeding schedule for leaf-bare, and everyone in Leafclan was specifically ordered to return to camp a little early from hunting or patrolling in order to attend the gathering... Except for Tangledclaw, who is not permitted to listen to special high-rock meetings.  “Well wish me either luck or a quick death, oh and if you see Lightpaw, remind her about the gathering that will be held here at the highrock soon. That apprentice is sulking about something and has been ignoring my orders and requests all week.” Rainysight’s deep blue eyes narrowed disapprovingly at the assessment. “She is not sulking, Skystar, she is withdrawn. I believe she misses you. Think about how much time you spent with her when she was just a small kit. She had hours of your time all to herself. It’s different now.”
“I know. I know it is,” Skystar looked somewhat pained. “But what am I supposed to do? If this clan falls apart it isn’t going to do her any good either.  Don’t you think I would like to be able to spend more time with her? To make all of this chaos go away so we could go back to the days when life was good? If only it were that easy...” 
I’m not faulting you, Skystar, I’m just saying what I see,” Rainysight said gently. “Lightpaw knows the load you carry.”  Skystar looked slightly annoyed. “I used to think so. But lately… I don’t know what to do with her. I tell her I want her somewhere, and she is not there. I give her tasks to carry out, they remain undone. It’s not like her. If she thinks this is a good way to get my attention, then she is wrong and that is more than a little bit kitten-like” Rainysight looked away. It was true; Lightpaw had been acting erratic lately. But she still felt Skystar was too hard on her sometimes.
Skystar closed his eyes. When he opened them again he chuckled mirthlessly, glancing at the angle of the sun. “Well if I don’t start heading toward the highrock I will be late for my own gathering. I have to go. And Lightpaw had better be there this time”
~♦♦♦~
Tangledclaw swiped a paw across the she-cat’s shoulder harshly, snickering cruelly at the sight.Lightpaw fell into a miserable heap, but rose quickly, her paws trembling as she tried to deal with the sting that was flaming through her body. Tangledclaw laughed at her, eying the smaller she-cat. Lightpaw’s fur was disheveled and her breathing was harsh. The pain that glazed her large blue eyes made her look so much younger than her actual age.
The elder half wiped, half slapped the tears off her niece's face, lashing her tail accusingly. “What? Do I see tears, Lightpaw?  An apprentice of LeafClan still cries like a little kitten? Still, after all of this time you can never master that?  It’s no wonder your father prefers for me to deal with you; he probably couldn’t stand the shame of seeing what a sniveling weakling his daughter really is. I’ve told you before and I’ll tell you again, even though you never listen: you are an apprentice! You do not show pain, you do not reveal your fears, and you never, ever cry!” Tangledclaw struck the apprentice again.
“You shame the clan you belong to!” Lightpaw had to resist the urge for those words to wring more tears out of her, but she blinked hard and gulped in large mouthfuls of air, trying to keep her emotions in check and lead herself back to the impassive state that her aunt wanted from her. Tangledclaw twitched her long ears with a disgusted grunt. “Now make an apology for the all of the mistakes you had made, which you have been punished.” Lightpaw was familiar enough with this part of the procedure and slowly dropped down slightly into a crouch, head bowed, with her shoulders still trembling with the hitching breath that she could not control. She searched her mind desperately for the words her aunt wanted, but could not find them.
Tangledclaw wanted her to show that she understood why she had been punished and that she would not repeat the errors that had led to it… but Lightpaw didn’t know why she had been punished this time. She must have done something wrong, but she could not figure out exactly what mistake she had made, and that scared her, because she knew what that meant. “Well?” Tangledclaw’s bittersweet voice was sharp and made the younger she-cat jerk. “I’m waiting.” “I-I….” Lightpaw grit her teeth, her eyes glued to the stone cold floor of the cavern. “I don’t know what I did wrong, please tell me, Tangledclaw. I won’t do it again, I promise!”  “It doesn’t work like that,” Tangledclaw’s tone was icy. “If you can’t see your own flaws then you will never be able to fix them. I want you to think about it, and expect you to have an answer for me by this time tomorrow. If not, you can expect that I will punish you for it again.” 
A small, choked whimper escaped Lightpaw accidently.  She wished that her aunt would just tell her what she had done.  She wished she had never entered this hellish training in the first place. She wished that when her father was angry with her he would deal with her directly instead of going through Tangledclaw… but then maybe this way was better, as her aunt said it was. Lightpaw loved her father, and she didn’t think she could take this kind of handling from Skystar’s normally gentle paws.  Though she had never been punished like this when she was younger. Tangledclaw said this was part of growing up… well, Lightpaw hated growing up. Tangledclaw looked at her niece sharply. “I mean it Lightpaw; you had better come to me tomorrow, either with an answer or ready to accept the consequences of not having one.  You don’t want me to have to tell your father that you’re breaking our agreement would you?”
“N-no!”  Lightpaw shook her head quickly.  Father always seemed to be upset with her lately as it was; she feared what placing one more strain on their unraveling relationship would do.  “I hope not. He told me that you were strong enough to begin this part of your preparation for the future, I would hate to have to tell him that he was wrong and you were too weak to go through with it all.” Tangledclaw lied through her teeth, but Lightpaw did not know it. What reason did she have to think her aunt would lie to her about this? " No, I can go through with it! I-I will figure out my error, I promise!” the young she-cat assured somewhat shakily.
“All right then, show me how you acknowledge discipline and move on,” Tangled sheathed her claws into her paws, intensely watching the apprentice.  With skill that was growing quickly, Lightpaw closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, calming her body and returning her breathing to normal. Completely drying her face with her paws, she quickly groomed her pelt. She looked as if nothing unusual had happened. This was important, she knew. Tangledclaw was quick to punish her further if she was not able to make herself totally calm and impassive at a moment’s notice; completely able to conceal whatever pain she was feeling.  Showing your pain was weakness. Letting others know you were hurt and making them worry for you was not only fragility, but cruelty. And one thing Lightpaw never wanted to do was be cruel to those she loved.
“You’re improving, Lightpaw,” Tangledclaw nodded slowly as she watched the quick transformation. Lightpaw was such an apt trainee at this, so fitting that she had been able to “train” the young she-cat on a daily basis for the past couple of months and no one in the clan knew what was happening, and least of all the she-cat’s mentor, Father, and her adoptive mother.  That thought pleased Tangledclaw greatly. Any way she could hurt her brother pleased her. “As an apprentice you will often have to put your feeling aside and act only on duty, no matter how painful it may seem to you, or someone else. Now go, I believe your father told you not to be late for the meeting, and now your own misbehavior has already made you delayed. I may have to see you about that later as well. Go on, they’re waiting now, go!”  Tangledclaw dismissed her nephew.
Lightpaw nodded quickly and hurried out of the old cave, sprinting through the forest as fast as her legs would carry her.  Tangledclaw grinned as she watched the she-cat go.  Eventually she would work her way around the apprentice’s defenses, wearing her down until the she-cat no longer knew right from wrong.  She would break the apprentice using Lightpaw’s own sense of duty and love of her clan against her, until then; Tangledclaw could use her to destroy those very things. She would fill her niece’s head full of whatever ideas she wanted to plant there and if she kept Lightpaw in enough pain and threat of hurting that the she-cat jumped whenever she said jump.
Then the day would come when she had eventually had complete control over the younger she-cat. What better way to hurt her brother and possibly destroy him as well? “You are a mousebrain, Skystar…” Tangledclaw hissed under her breath. “And I will turn your own kit against you in the end.”
== Chapter Six Notes and Photos ==
just so you all know, im a little over half way through the story so it wont last forever it may not seem like it but im slowly tying the story off..or at least i hope so O-O I will probably post another chapter a little early, i need some extra time to work on the endings of my last couple of chapters
download (10).jpg|Highrock
File_000.png|Art of Rainysight (gifted to me by a friend of mine)
=== New Cats and places Introduced in Chapter ===
Highrock- A place where the clan leader holds gatherings,clan meetings, and ceramonies
== ~Chapter Seven~ ==
Lightpaw slid quietly into LeafClan’s camp. She had hoped to go to the meeting unnoticed but the moment she set foot near the Highrock everyone fell silent and all eyes in the gathered turned on her. The young she-cat felt humiliated. She was far out of breath, she was panting loudly from running and she couldn’t seem to control it.
Her father’s eyes locked onto her with disapproval and Lightpaw wished that she could sink into the ground. Based on what she saw in her father’s eyes, the she-cat had already missed a lot of the meeting.  Moonpaw, who was sitting in the back of the crowd, twitched her black with a white dipped tail and made room for Lightpaw to sit down. Lightpaw dipped her head in gratitude and quickly seated herself beside her. The young she-cat tensed slightly and held her breath when her injuries began to sting, but she gave no other outward sign, and none of the other cats were looking at her anymore, all of them having returned to the deep discussion that she had interrupted. 
The meeting seemed to crawl by. It was about doubling the hunting and patrolling schedule, seeking to find more sources of prey for Leaf-bare, calculating how much the whole clan eats a day and things that did not remotely interest the young apprentice. In her current state, Lightpaw could not keep her mind focused on the gathering very well.  She was very aware of the discontent radiating from her father who stood on the highrock above the clan and her mind was still spinning, trying to come up with an answer for Tangledclaw… by StarClan, she did not want to have to go through with the punishment she had today.. Lightpaw knew she was not supposed to let on that she was hurting, but the pain was intense that she shifted slightly while she was sitting, trying to ease the discomfort.
Skystar thought that Lightpaw was being fidgety and inattentive and he shot her a sharp look of warning. Lightpaw immediately stopped moving, shrinking back slightly, and trying to hold perfectly still. Skystar had his share of faults, but coldness toward his daughter and his offspring’s wellbeing was not one of them. He loved her very much, even if sometimes that leads him to be rather hard on Lightpaw. From those you loved most, the leader expected the most.
~♦♦♦~
When the meeting was finally over, Lightpaw remained quietly where she was, while everyone else left. She knew her father was going to want to talk to her about today. She dreaded it. After everyone had left, Skystar leaped down from the highrock and stood in front of his daughter, his icy blue gaze fixed on her. “All right, do you want to tell me what was so important that you missed half of the gathering when I told you I wanted you and everyone else present?”  The tom’s voice was disappointed, but not necessarily angry. Lightpaw flinched all the same. “I’m sorry, father, I really am, I didn’t mean to be late, I promise… I-I lost track of the time…” She couldn’t even tell her father why she was truly late…. That was against the rules. The training was supposed to be invisible to everyone but Lightpaw, and it would make her father angry and disappointed indeed if she spoke of it or tried to use it as an excuse; Tangledclaw had made that very painfully clear.
Skystar sighed. Lightpaw looked so abjectly sorry that it was hard to be stern with her. “If it were the first time, Lightpaw I would believe you, or even the second…. But Lightpaw, this is the sixth time you have neglected your responsibilities and ignored orders... The sixth time this moon. What can I think but that you are deliberately disobeying me? That you-” Lightpaw’s ears flattened, her heart twisting. “I-I’m not, Father, I promise I’m not!” she protested, accidently interrupting the older cat. “Don’t interrupt me,” Skystar said quietly, but with warning. For all that he could see Lightpaw had become increasingly rebellious over the past few weeks. He would not tolerate disobedience from any other members of the allegiance in his clan; and he most certainly was not going to tolerate it from his own daughter.
Lightpaw dropped her head in shame, fighting the tears that wanted to come out. She couldn’t cry in front of her father, she just couldn’t. But her body wanted to betray her. “Look at me, Lightpaw.” Skystar would not speak to the top of the she-cat’s head. Lightpaw’s head popped up quickly and she used her paw to wipe her eyes. Hoping her father wouldn’t notice. Skystar’s ears flattened slightly. The sight of his offspring’s glistening eyes tugged painfully at his heart, yet in his mind Lightpaw was too old to be crying over a simple scold and he did not want the she-cat to get in the habit simply because he knew it pulled at her father’s sympathies.
“Lightpaw, you are too old for tears. I expect to be able to talk to you like an adult, not a kit.” Skystar had no way of knowing how deep those words struck into the apprentice’s aching heart. Lightpaw quickly built up her barrier of impassiveness up around her once more, forcing her serenity back into place. Never show pain, never reveal fear, never, ever cry.. She couldn’t believe that she was such a kit and constantly managed to do everything wrong. It was no wonder Tangledclaw had to treat her the way she did… She simply couldn’t do anything right lately. She wondered if she was going to be punished for that later as well. She thought she probably will. Tangledclaw usually had an exhausting detailed list for things to punish her for by the end of any given day.
“Lightpaw, I don’t have meeting to make your life miserable, I do not give you chores and responsibilities to hurt you. I love you, and I want you to grow up to be a warrior worthy of your title, which I think you will be. It may be boring when you are young, but these things you learn now are essential for the future. Do you understand, Lightpaw?” The tom asked earnestly.  He didn’t want Lightpaw to think he didn’t care, he did, more than he could ever say! But the apprentice needed to start showing some responsibility. “Yes, Skystar, I do,” Lightpaw said quietly. “And I’m really sorry. I will not make you disappointed in me.” Skystar smirked slightly and licked Lightpaw’s ear softly. “I know you won’t, Lightpaw.” He sighed. “But for the next couple of days, after you are done training with Falcontail, you will report to Redpelt or Stormheart. And you will help them with whatever needs doing until it is dark, starting tomorrow. Understand?” “Yes Father,” Lightpaw nodded without reluctance. She knew that left her no time for playing with her friends, but she did not complain. This also meant she wouldn’t have time have to train with Tangledclaw for the next couple of days either, which gave Lightpaw a sense of relief. Satisfied that the situation had been dealt with, Skystar left Lightpaw, and trotted away to speak to his deputy. Lightpaw sighed and stared down at the ground. If she had ever had a worse day than this she couldn’t remember it right now.
.~♦♦♦~
“There you are, Lightpaw! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!” A tiny black she-cat, only a little over half Lightpaw’s size called out, nimbly vaulting the shrubs that surrounded the Elder’s den and landed right beside where Lightpaw was digging. Lightpaw’s paws were earthy and a pile of old den bedding was quickly growing next to her. “What are you doing?” a second she-cat asked, this one about the same size as Lightpaw, followed after, tilting her head when she saw her friend’s somewhat grubby appearance. Lightpaw looked up from her work, rocking back on her toes. “What does it look like Sunsetpaw? I’m cleaning out all of the dens.” Lightpaw looked at the other half of the den that she needed to clean. “The very large dens,” She amended slightly. “Why Sunsetpaw blinked several times. Moonpaw lightly shoved Sunsetpaw. Although the shorter she-cat’s unusually diminished stature made her look younger, she was in fact the same age as Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw and had twice as much sauce as either of them. “Because she must have got in trouble for something, you nift,” The shorter cat hissed in her friend’s ear in a not-so-quiet whisper. Lightpaw rolled her eyes. “Yes, I did, and if you’re wondering, no, I don’t want to talk about it.” “That’s fine ‘cause we don’t want to hear about it,” Moonpaw said cheerily, earning herself a scowl from both Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw.
“Hey, look who’s on cleaning duty!” another voice interrupted the cats. Lightpaw sighed as she looked up and saw three other young apprentices huddling around the Elder’s den. A ripple of laughter ran lightly through the small group of newcomers. “What’d you do this time, Lightpaw? Don’t tell me you smarted off at Falcontail again!”
None of your business, Forestpaw,” Moonpaw huffed in annoyance. “I don’t think anyone here was talking to you. Or wants to.” “Yeah, why don’t you move along?” Sunsetpaw added. “Why?” The older apprentice leaped onto the lowest branch of a small tree, smiling tauntingly. “I think we’d rather stay here and watch. It’s not everyday you get to see how a prissy she-cat clean dens. Hey I think you missed a bit over there!” “Forestpaw, umm can’t we go do something else? This is boring” Forestpaw’s younger sister, Lightpaw’s sometimes-friend Icepaw, shot her older sibling a long-suffering look before nudging her tail for him to leave. “Don’t you think you’re a little old to be playing in the dirt?” Forestpaw grinned, ignoring his sister’s glare. “No, wait, if you plant shrimpy do you think she’ll grow?” The older tom indicated that he meant Moonpaw. “I think you should leave,” Lightpaw felt anger rising again, but she spoke quietly, refusing to let the other cats get a rise out of her. “Now”
“Why you-” Moonpaw spluttered at the insult and Sunsetpaw had to quickly block the she-cat in order hold her back from charging at the bigger cats on the other half of the den.
“Aw, leave the little kitten alone,” Mothpaw, another one of Forestpaw’s friends mocked with an unkind purr. “At least her father doesn’t seem to think that she’d make a better den cleaner than an apprentice,” he purred shooting a scornful glance at Lightpaw. “Your father’s made a mess of this clan anyway, my mentor says, so you might as well learn something else while you can.”
Lightpaw leaped onto her paws. Anger sharpened her blue eyes into a icy sharp glare; they had just crossed the line. “You take that back!” “Make me!” Mothpaw scowled. “Unless you’re as much of a weakling as your father is.” Mothpaw, Shut up!” Forestpaw and Icepaw hissed at the older apprentice. He and his sister may have been bullies at times, but they were loyal to Skystar, and that was treason Mothpaw was talking.
Lightpaw was across the den faster than it took to blink an eye and tackled Mothpaw, knocking him over. The two young cats rolled over a couple of times, tussling in the dust. Sunsetpaw followed her over and the whole situation would have degraded very quickly except that Icepaw had given a quick cry of warning. Icepaw did not like conflict and had held back from the altercation. Since she was on the fringes, she had heard the approaching footsteps first.
“Somebody’s coming! Break it up, somebody’s coming!” She called quickly, tugging Forestpaw back away from the battle. Everyone else stopped too at the warning, although Mothpaw had used the opportunity of the distraction to strike Lightpaw in the muzzle with the back of his paw before pulling away and retreating out of the den, following his friends. None of them wanted to get in trouble for fighting, especially with Lightpaw. Sunsetpaw and Moonpaw helped hurry Lightpaw back to the side of the den she was supposed to be in and everything looked nearly normal when Sunfoot and Timberstorm, two of the elders entered the den to check on Lightpaw’s progress. The she-cat hastily licked her bleeding muzzle and started digging the den bedding out carefully.
Timberstorm thought the young she-cat looked a trifle too anxious and Sunsetpaw and Moonpaw were acting a little too innocent, but he just tilted his head at Lightpaw’s friends. “Don’t be bothering Lightpaw now you two, and don’t step on the daisies on the way out,” was all he said before trotting away with Sunfoot. Moonpaw and Sunsetpaw looked at each other and burst out laughing after the elder had left. “And don’t step on the daisies on the way out!” Sunsetpaw mimicked. Lightpaw didn’t laugh. She was still upset over what Mothpaw had said. “Well we better go I guess we better go.” Moonpaw said after a moment.
“But we came here to invite you to a contest that I and some other guys are having.“ Lightpaw glanced upward at her friends with interest as Sunsetpaw spoke. "It’s nothing big but I and Gingerpaw were having an argument about who is the best apprentice hunter in LeafClan." She chuckled "After a long conversation we decided to settle it over having small competition, starting tomorrow afternoon, after we are done training with Falcontail of course.  We are going to see who can hunt the most prey  before Sunset and the winner will be named the greatest prey-hunter of all of LeafClan! We both agreed to have two partners to hunt with, so obviously I picked you and Moonpaw!” Sunsetpaw purred, her long and sturdy tail danced joyfully behind her.  So what do you say Lightpaw are you interested in joining?”  Lightpaw stared downward at her messy paws.
It sounded extremely fun especially for Lightpaw who had a passion for hunting but She knew that there was no way she could attend the game, she had chores to do. “I can’t go I’m sorry,” Moonpaw and Sunsetpaw glanced over to each other in surprise “But Lightpaw we-” “I know I know, but I don’t have a choice, I need to help out around camp!”
The young she cat’s disappointment was keen but she didn’t want her friends to see her upset, she turned away quickly and continued to dig out more den beddings. Sunsetpaw and Moonpaw gazed toward each other for a heartbeat “I’m sorry, Lightpaw is there anything we can do?” Lightpaw tried to purr and she shook her head softly. “No, don’t worry, I’ll be fine. You two will just have to tell me every single thing that happens, and then it’ll be like I was there, all right?” The two were obviously not convinced, but they left the den shortly after, not wishing to get the she-cat into anymore trouble by sticking around. After they had gone, Lightpaw felt tears of disappointment welling in her eyes, but refused to let them fall. It was babyish. What did it matter anyway? She dug back into her task quickly to keep herself busy so she didn’t feel the ache of growing loneliness inside of her.
== ~ Chapter Seven Notes and Photos~ ==
I might be posting a couple of extra chapters this week, i am still planning the big finally and such
images (8).jpg|Mothpaw
old-cat-1.jpg|Sunfoot
cat-senior_185.jpg|Timberstorm
stock-photo-2198130 (1).jpg|Elder's Den
''
=== ~ New Cats and Places Introduced in Chapter~ ===
Mothpaw- A black tom with several unique white spots running along his pelt
Sunfoot- A bronze shecat with tan patches and green eyes(Elder and mates with TImberstorm)
Timberstorm- a stocky tom with a long brown pelt (Elder and is mates with Sunfoot)
Elder's Den- The Elder's den is the Largest den aside from the warriors den, the Elderly or Senior cats live in this den.
== ~Chapter Eight~ ==
Dutifully, Lightpaw made her way to the medicine den after training, Falcontail allowed them to leave a bit early and Lightpaw was half tempted to go for a quick hunt so she could help her friends with the first part of their challenge… but she ended up deciding that she did not want to get in trouble again and further disappoint anybody, or garner more of Tangledclaw’s wrath. She still did not have an answer for her aunt about the day before yesterday and the she-cat knew that sooner or later she was going to need one. It kind of made her nervous to just think about it.  Redpelt observed the disappointed young apprentice with kind-hearted pity. He knew what the apprentice was missing. The tom meowed gently as he told Lightpaw what needed doing.
Lightpaw was having difficulty with cleaning the warriors den. For starters, the den was huge compared to the other dens she had cleaned and it was uncomfortably hot, making Lightpaw pant softly as she dug out bedding.  Suddenly two more sets of paws joined her, paws that were way too small to be Redpelt’s
“Let me help you with that.”
Lightpaw started and nearly fell backwards.
“Sunsetpaw? Moonpaw?” Lightpaw looked quickly between her two friends. “What are you doing here? You said that the contest started after training, you will never be able to catch up unless you leave  now!” Moonpaw shrugged with a small grin, and began to burry her paws into the old bedding “It doesn’t matter, I have trouble hunting anyways.” “Yeah,” Sunsetpaw nodded with agreement. “We decided it wasn’t worth trying to hunt right now. Moonpaw always gets stuck in the trees and then I have to save her…” “HEY!” the smaller she-cat shoved her friend sharply. “Do not!”
“Do too!” Sunsetpaw chuckled and nudged her friend away. “But anyway, we decided to skip all that; we could have another competition later. We thought that maybe you could use some help down here.”
Lightpaw blinked, totally stunned. Y-you can’t do that, I know how much have been looking forward to this, Sunsetpaw! Go on, go, I don’t need you to feel sorry for me.”  “Lightpaw,” Moonpaw caught her friend’s eyes and purred. “Don’t you understand? We don’t feel sorry for you. We’d just rather be with you than beat Gingerpaw at dumb competition, all right?”
Lightpaw didn’t know what to say. She smiled gratefully at her friends, her eyes saying what she couldn’t put into words. “Now can we start moving before we die from the heat?” Sunsetpaw huffed impatiently. The she-cats chuckled and quickly scraped bedding out of the den.  They soon made games out of the labor and had races to see who can clean up the most bedding the fastest. Redpelt watched the bedding fly through the air. They were being a little too messy for the tom’s liking, but the three cats were enjoying themselves while they worked and they were already starting to work on cleaning the nursery. It was all right with him. He thought well of Lightpaw’s friends for the sacrifice they had made for her.
~♦♦♦~
The sun was beginning to set when the tom approached them. “Well now, with all three of you working, things have gotten finished up quicker than I had expected, so there’s nothing left for you to do here.” Redpelt purred in his deep, but cheerful voice. “However, I am feeling awfully hungry, Lightpaw could you possibly get me some a rabbit from the fresh-kill pile?” Lightpaw obeyed and trotted out of the den. She quickly reappeared with large rabbit and dropped it at the tom’s feet. The tom sniffed it and gave it a gently nudge. He shook his head and wrinkled his nose playfully. “Lightpaw, I am the medical cat of LeafClan, I expect better treatment than this sorry excuse for prey.”
Lightpaw tilted her head in confusion blinking several times.” What do you mean, Redpelt?” The tom sighed disgracefully and glanced down at the prey, trying not to grin. “This rabbit has been stewing in the prey pile for a while now, I prefer my prey fresh and this nasty rabbit will never do for a cat as high in ranking as I am….. but I’m far too busy to hunt.” He winced as if he was in deep thought and wagged his tail. “I think I have a solution to this terrible problem, how about you three go hunt some prey for ? Oh, and I guess while you are all at it, you might as well hunt some for the rest of the clan as well. So what do you think?” His eyes twinkled. “Sure!” Sunsetpaw and Moonpaw agreed quickly, but Lightpaw hesitated. “Now,” Redpelt looked at the young white and black spotted she-cat, sensing her hesitation. “Your father said you were supposed to help me, right? Well I need your help out there. You are under my charge and it’s my responsibility, Lightpaw; you won’t be doing anything wrong.” Lightpaw’s ears perked up happily. “Very well then!”
.
The Three young apprentices sprinted out of camp and into the forest. “We might just be able to catch up with Gingerpaw’s team if we hurry!” Moonpaw meowed joyfully as they ran. They soon reached Eaglecreek; the three apprentice’s personal favorite place to hunt, and they quickly began to make a small strategy. They all agreed to split up so they could be quieter, they wouldn’t scare the prey away as easily if they were by themselves.
.
The bright sun slowly faded into a colorful sunset and the time seemed to fly by quickly.
When the trio reassembled so they could return back to camp, they were quite impressed with themselves; Moonpaw had captured a vole, Sunsetpaw who always seems to have the best of luck when it comes to hunting, had put down a large squirrel, Lightpaw did quite excellent herself, she carried a stout mouse in between her jaws. Unfortunately the trio’s lucky catches for they day was not enough to win the contest, each member of Gingerpaw’s team had caught two pieces of prey each, but the other three weren’t overly upset. It was fun to at least try and luckily Gingerpaw and her group did not act very boastful about their triumph, or at least not in front of them.
.
Moonpaw and Sunsetpaw decided to go to their dens for a rest but Lightpaw chose to go back to the medicine den to see if Redpelt needed anymore help. She slowly walked alone through the somewhat empty camp that was beginning to darken as the sun was in the process of slowly falling. The young she-cat started and flinched when something shoved her off the path she was walking on. Lightpaw spun around, and found herself, staring up at her aunt’s angry face. If she had been startled before, that quickly solidified into pure terror now, but she did not fight when Tangledclaw nudged her towards the forest “I had been waiting for you all day, Lightpaw. We need to have a talk,” Tangledclaw hissed threateningly. Lightpaw felt her mouth go dry as she stumbled off after the elder. This was going to be bad.
~♦♦♦~
“Oh” Sunsetpaw sighed tiredly “I forgot, I needed to tell Lightpaw something, Falcontail wanted me to tell her about preparing for the warriors test.” “Can it wait?” Moonpaw meowed. “I’m afraid if I don’t tell her now I will forget to tell her later.” She chuckled. “I will be back in a heartbeat.” Sunsetpaw whirled around the opposite direction she was going and made her way to the medicine cat den. To her dismay, Lightpaw was not with Redpelt, and when she asked the massive cat where she was he said that he had not seen her. That worried Sunsetpaw slightly but she shook the fear off of her and searched the other dens of the camp. After checking pretty much everywhere she realized that her friend was not in camp at all. Maybe she went hunting again… but why would she not tell us where she was going? Sunsetpaw thought to herself as she headed toward the forest.
~♦♦♦~
After a few minutes of hiking, she discovered the scent of Lightpaw. Sunsetpaw felt flutterflies of anxiety tickle the inside of her, but she continued walking, following the aroma. The forest darkened, the nimbus clouds covered moon and the stars, making the forest darker than usual. Sunsetpaw had excellent eye-sight but it was still difficult to see where exactly she was going, she soon ended up blindly following her nose through the woodlands. After what had seemed like a whole season, Sunsetpaw could finally tell that her friend was close by. “Lightpaw?” Sunsetpaw called out quietly for her friend. It was very kittypet-like to be afraid of the dark but the grey she-cat was growing even more anxious every time she took a step. The forest looked….. different at nightime, the trees that towered above her, made strange, haunting, shapes. The annoying wind blew in her ears loudly, making it very hard to hear anything. The apprentice was shivering and she couldn’t help it, but since nobody answered her call, she kept walking.
She followed the scent through tall pine trees and froze in surprise; she couldn’t believe what she was staring at. It was a cave, a dark cave. She never had seen this structure before in LeafClan’s territory, nor had she ever heard anybody else speak of it. She wanted to leave this place, run back to camp, and hide in her nice and warm den. Just as she was about to turn around, a small agonizing yowl echoed out of the cave stopped Sunsetpaw. The she-cat recognized that the soft cry of pain, it had come from Lightpaw. Her friend was in trouble and needed help. Without a second thought, Sunsetpaw began to scramble upward toward the cave.
She entered the gap but a boulder blocked the rest of her path. Sunsetpaw could hear muffled sounds. She pressed her ears against the stone and silently eavesdropped. "How many, times do I have to impress this upon you, before you learn?! You avoid me and shirk your duties, and I will be more than glad to show you the consequences!”  Tangledclaw's dark, angry voice was punctuated by the sounds of paws striking something soft. But that wasn’t what made the young she-cat’s blood run cold. It was the muffled, miserable, choking cries of pain that accompanied the sound. “I-I’m s-sorry… it won’t happen again, I swear to StarClan it won’t! Stop, I’m sorry…” Lightpaw’s voice broke as the pain became too much for her again.
A muffled yowl earned her a sharp clout across the back of her skull. Her head was spinning and the blackness tinged the young she-cat’s vision as she slipped out of conscious. Sunsetpaw had never heard her friend beg before and her blood boiled. She soundlessly nudged the rock out of the exit and stepped in, trying to hide in the shadows. She peered forward, and saw a scene so unreal, that she would only have believed it possible of a nightmare. Lightpaw’s back was pressed against the side of the cave and her slim shoulders were marred darkly with bleeding welts. Tangledclaw stood over her niece, her unsheathed claws had a light splash of crimson dripping from them, she was panting slightly, and her paws trembled with uncontrollable rage. Horror rose in Sunsetpaw’s throat as Lightpaw slumped limply against the wall of the structure, unconsciousness claiming her. “Lightpaw!” she gasped her friends name.
Tangledclaw’s head jerked up and her burning gaze landed on the intruder. Sunsetpaw reeled back a pace under that menacing glare, but she was so consumed by the terror of the sight in front of her that she did not hear the pawsteps behind her until a massive paw slammed her down onto the ground. The she-cat struggled in shock and surprise, but a quick and sharp blow to the side of her head put a stop to that and Sunsetpaw fell forward, also unconscious.
== ~Chapter Eight Notes and Photos~ ==
XD A couple of chapters ago i wrote that Chapter 5 was going to be the darkest and most violent. well i guess i lied. now that i am looking at it i think this is the worst chapter O_O oops.. anywho as i said before i will be spending a little bit of extra time to plan out the final details. Thanks for reading my story this far...
warrrior.jpg|Warriors den
Apprentices_Den.jpg|Nursery
''
===~ New Places Introduced in Chapter~===
Warriors den- Leafclan's largest den, It is where the Warriors of the clan rest.
Nursery- The kits of Leafclan spend a majority of their kit-hood in these den, the Queens also live in the den.
== ~Chapter Nine~ ==
When Lightpaw woke up, she was lying on her side in the cave.
The young she-cat moaned softly in pain and rolled over onto her stomach. She had only passed out a handful of times when Tangledclaw was punishing her, but it was becoming more frequent as Tangled became more violent. Lightpaw stared down at the sandy floor of the cave and realized she was shaking, but it was not just from the pain. She was scared.
Something was wrong. Somewhere in her heart she was having trouble believing that her father wanted her hurt this way, this frequently. She still believed that some of what she endured was normal, but she was beginning to think that her aunt’s unstable nature was making it worse than it should have been. It hadn’t started like this… when she first became an apprentice she was only given hunting and fighting lessons and that was all there was, and Lightpaw was used to that from her mentor. Then the training with Tangledclaw started… it hadn’t been all at once, but introduced gradually and the young apprentice believed it was all her fault. Lately though, Tangledclaw seemed to have no restraint with her and Lightpaw was truly beginning to fear that her aunt might go too far and kill her by accident one of these days. It was a horrible feeling and a sickening fear to carry along. There was something wrong with Tangledclaw. She could see that now, some unbalanced flames in her eyes and soul that Lightpaw had learned to fear 
Besides all of that though, there were some disturbing things she’d  had heard about Tangledclaw that made her question just how much trust she should be placing into the elder. It had been for a little while now. Yet…she was afraid. She was afraid to question, afraid what Tangledclaw would do to her if she found out, afraid that her father would be angry. And she was ashamed; ashamed of the secrets, of the lies, of the hurts and humiliation, and her own reactions. 
Voices from outside of the cave caught her attention, so she simply laid still and listened, not feeling ready to do anything else yet.
“You have the little brat secured?” Tangledclaw was asking someone who responded to the affirmative and Lightpaw wondered what they meant since she was not bound. “Good. The last thing we need is more cats knowing too much. Longwhisker tells me that there are some who are beginning to question my authority and who doubt the truth of what I say.”
“It is true, there are signs that some of our followers are beginning to doubt your claim to be the rightful leader. The disorder is growing we must make our move soon or I’m afraid we will lose too much of our support. Words mean nothing without action.” Lightpaw recognized the voice of the second cat as that of Molestep, Mothpaw’s mentor. The things she heard Tangledclaw startled her. What could they possibly be talking about?  Lightpaw had heard the rumors that there were traitors operating among them, but surely it couldn’t be her aunt. Skystar’s own sister wouldn’t want to hurt him that way… could she?  
The black spotted she-cat’s head tilted at the disturbing and confusing words she was hearing. It seemed like she was coming into the middle of a conversation. Slowly she pushed herself off the ground and made her way uncertainly across the cavern and silently made her way through the narrow tunnel of the cave.  She didn’t know what time it was now but it was night time, and she needed to get back to her den in camp before she was missed, but something troubled her about whatever Molestep and Tangledclaw were talking about. The voices of the cats outside of the cave grew louder as they argued and Lightpaw barely peeked her head out from entrance of the cave as she listened. “Is that what they are saying?” Tangledclaw asked darkly as she paced back and forth. “Well I think I know just the thing to stop their doubts.” The tall she-cat stood perfectly still and towered intriguingly over the short and stubby tom.  “In fact tonight we will have ruled from within LeafClan and nobody will question me again.”
“How do suggest doing this?” Molestep asked, shifting nervously under Tangledclaw’s piercing gaze. “Skystar is leader and there are still loyal warriors…” Molestep backed up a pace quickly as Tangledclaw moved menacingly toward him. “Skystar is weak,” Tangledclaw spat with venom. “His rule is weak and he is not the true leader. He is a sniveling usurper and I will expose him for what he truly is! Tell me Molestep, have you gotten the secret weapon yet?” Molestep seemed a trifle disgusted. “I went to the old barn earlier today and it seems that the entrance had collapsed. Now the only way inside is a tiny gap in the back of the barn, only a kit could fit in it, and it is too dangerous; the whole place looks like it is about to fall apart… “I don’t care if it dangerous, we need the weapon,” Tangledclaw interrupted, lashing her tail. “Could we take a kitten from the nursery, Molestep?”
“There is no way we could borrow a kit, the queens would rather cast themselves into the fire before they allow us to take one. And besides they are too much of a mousebrain to fulfill any duties” Molestep whimpered slightly “Foxdung!” Tangledclaw growled in aggravation, she suddenly froze. Her voice had taken on a quiet, dark tone, her attention distracted by the smallest of unexpected sounds. On the other side of the entrance, Lightpaw’s heart froze. What madness of treason was this that they were speaking? With a quiet gasp the she-cat realized that her aunt was the traitor she had heard about. She almost couldn’t comprehend this sudden revelation, yet it was all there, too much to be ignored. It was true then; the ugly whispers he had been hearing were not just rumors. Tangledclaw was intending to try to take the clan from her father.
Lightpaw did not understand everything being said, but she did understand quite enough to horrify her. Motioning Molestep to silence, Tangledclaw walked soundlessly back to the far side of the incline beside the cave, and out of Lightpaw’s view where she stood in the tunnel like entrance. The silence within alerted the She-cat and she quickly turned to flee, but she was not fast enough she had just before she reached the large space in the cave, when Tangledclaw suddenly dropped down from above, landing in front of the tunnel, bright eyes locking onto the apprentice.
Lightpaw darted back to the corner she had been laying in, but she was sure her aunt had seen her. She tensed, listening- she had been discovered. She spun on her heels there was no escaping now, she would have to admit that she had been eavesdropping. Under normal circumstances that would have been frightening enough, but now… “Lightpaw, you are awake.” Tangledclaw stepped into the cave, her tone was conversational, her tail tilted in a friendly way. “Feeling better are we?” The question tossed Lightpaw off guard and she stammered slightly as she replied slowly, trying to gradually edge herself out of the cave, wondering anxiously if she should try to make a run for it. She knew she wouldn’t make it, she might as well be dead, and Tangledclaw would catch up to her within no time. “Yes, Tangledclaw, but I should be going or I will be missed. Was there anything else?” her attempt at innocence did not fool the older she-cat. With a feral smile that shot fear straight through Lightpaw’s heart Tangledclaw walked up to the young she-cat and nudged her back into the cave. She wondered how much the apprentice had heard. Probably more than that was healthy. They might just have to speed things up a little.
“Actually, it’s funny that you ask, there is more to tonight’s lesson” The fear that was revealed in Lightpaw’s eyes at this announcement delighted Tangledclaw.  “Tell me, Lightpaw, how does the leader deal with those who eavesdrop on important meetings in his den without permission?” Unwillingly, the she-cat began to shake, she could not handle another beating tonight; she was afraid she would not survive.
“Tell me, darling; don’t make me wait for an answer. You know what happens when you aren’t prompt with my questions.” Tangledclaw stopped walking and stepped in front of the apprentice her very long tail sputtered impatiently. “Now answer me.” “They are given a torn ears and a scar,” the apprentice whispered. She was trying hard to control her breathing and contain her fears, but her emotionless mask was slipping.
“Ah,” Tangledclaw turned her back on Lightpaw and walked to the far side of the grotto as though she was deep in thought. “Then that is what I shall have to do to you.” With a slight, sympathetic purr she glanced back her niece. “You were eavesdropping on my conversation, were you not?” Without waiting for Lightpaw to answer, Tangledclaw unsheathed her lethal claws. Lightpaw did not want to consider why she was revealing them. Tangledclaw’s claws made clicking sounds when they slapped against the stone floor, making a steady rhythm as she walked back toward her niece.   
“You know I hate to do this…”  
== ~Chapter Nine Notes and Photos~ ==
Sorry if this may seem a little bit too short compared to the other chapters. This actually was supposed to be a whole lot longer but then i realized that if i did that the chapter was going to be about 3,000 somehting word 'after i am done with the story i will go back through the chapters and make sure each chapter has an equal  amount of words.
Also the new character 'Molestep' I had just made, his name was inspired by a tom in another story called 'Thornstar's mistake' so any credits for his unique name goes to the founder.
>
489ced84f227f20aceed499751b30d99.jpg|molestep
longwhisker.jpg|Longwhisker
''
=== New Cats and places featured in Chapter ===
Molestep- a very very short tom with a black pelt with a white undercoat and green eyes
Longwhisker- a brown she-cat with tan tabby stripes and abnormally long whiskers.(Mentioned once by Molestep)
== ~Chapter Ten~ ==
 Try as she might Lightpaw could not stay put as she was told. Tangledclaw had never done any permanent damage to her, and she was terrified senseless by the threat. She backed away from the older cat her tail dipped in a placating gesture. “No, Tangled, please. I…I am sorry, it was not intentional, it was…” Lightpaw stopped pleading as she bumped into Molestep, who blocked her path and placed a small paw on her, holding her in place. Lightpaw squirmed lightly in his grip, petrified.
She didn’t know if her aunt knew how much she had heard or not and she did not want to let on that she knew about the treachery for fear that her aunt would never let her leave this cavern alive. . Glancing down at Tangled’s claws, the she-cats heart trembled; maybe her aunt did not intend to let her live through tonight anyway. Molestep took his paw off of her, forced Lightpaw to move towards the center of the cavern and replaced his paw on her with a tighter grip than before. He had been afraid that something like this might happen. He had told Tangledclaw many times in the past that attempting to turn the Leader’s offspring against him was reckless folly, but she would never listen to him.
“No?” Tangledclaw repeated Lightpaw’s request, twisting the word back on the apprentice, mimicking the she-cat’s voice. “Then perhaps you have a better punishment in mind?" When the young she-cat did not answer, Tangledclaw continued, “I thought not. You know I cannot let you go unpunished You must learn and you are such a slow learner." She gazed downward at her claws as if in deep thought. “There may be a way for you to redeem yourself without forcing me to tear your ears off.” Tangledclaw gazed at the tom that held the apprentice securely; a malevolent spark filled her lamp-like eyes. The grey she-cat lightly touched her claw against the apprentice; Tangledclaw tormented her with the feel of her serrated claws, forcing Lightpaw to wait on her aunt to continue.
The young cat squeezed her eyes closed tightly and evened her breathing out as she waited. Anything that Tangledclaw could come up with instead of her regular punishment would be bad indeed.  Dragging the claws gently along the ling of Lightpaw’s chin, Tangledclaw walked away and sheathed her claws, her tone of voice conversational once more. “Yes there is another way.” When her aunt turned back to her, Lightpaw shivered involuntarily at the demented light in the older She-cat’s eyes. “Have you ever seen the old barn in the fields, behind the two-leg place? Lightpaw nodded slowly, “the barn that is falling apart?” She asked quietly. She did not know much about the place. She remembered being told to never go near the barn in the fields when she was just a young little kitten.
One day when Lightkit was playing   with her friends, a immature group of apprentices dared Lightkit and a few of the she-kit's friends To go inside the barn, being the brave and immature kit she was back then, the kits foolishly went to the barn and explored everything inside it. There wasn’t much to see inside of it other than a bunch of weird two-leg stuff, and it definitely wasn’t worth upsetting her grandmother and everyone else in the clan. They literally made Lightkit and her buddies swear to never ever go in the barn again, the clan members didn’t exactly explain why she wasn’t permitted to be in the barn but they did say that they would tell her why being in a two-leg place was dangerous when she was older. 
“Yes that barn, now I remember the clan turning into chaos… because a certain kit, decided to go exploring in the barn even though she was specifically told not to.
“I was only a kitten Tangled, I didn’t know any better, you can’t possibly punish me for that event!” Lightpaw trembled as she spoke.  angled ignored the apprentice and continued speaking
“If you interrupt me i will give you two scars instead of one, You would know where the barn is if you have been there.” Tangledclaw concurred darkly. Lightpaw flattened her ears slightly as Tangledclaw continued. “Now when you went in the barn do you remember a certain Two-leg item hanging on the wall?” Lightpaw tilted her head in confusion. “It should have been shiny and round shaped, with a chain like tail which it hangs from.” Lightpaw nodded quickly, the item she was speaking of, it was a hunting trap, but why would Tangledclaw want the trap?
Tangledclaw twitched her long ears. The hunting trap is what Two-legs used to kill their prey; she had secretly watched them use the trap several times, and she had seen them kill cats with them.The older she-cat knew how to set up the trap and where to place it; and most importantly, she knew which tom she would use it on. The barn apparently collapsed recently, so the only problem for the she-cat was getting the trap, but Tangledclaw had a plan for that.
“So you’ll be able to redeem more than one wrong tonight, Lightpaw. You will go to the barn and take the hunting trap from the old place and bring it to me.
Lightpaw’s eyes widened slightly, “Why do you want it?”
“What I’m going to do with it is my own business; I will show you, once you bring it to me.”
Before she realized what she was doing, Lightpaw was shaking her head, “No, no, Tangled, I cannot. I can’t go back in that barn...” “Did you just refuse me?” Tangled’s voice was cold and the tone shot fear through Lightpaw’s heart. She knew what it meant for her. “No…. I mean yes. But no, I did not mean to refuse you.” The she-cat stumbled for the right words to ease her aunt’s ire.“I meant that the two-legs will find me, and the barn has collapsed, it would be impossible to go inside now.” Lightpaw swallowed hard. She could not take the hunting trap and give it to Tangledclaw; it was unthinkable, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what the old she-cat would do with it.
Tangled sighed as though speaking to someone who was very slow, “The shed has only collapsed in the entrance the rest of the barn is still up. You can go into the barn through the back of the building there is a hole in the walls, you could easily get in, and it is night time the two-legs are resting, they would never even know you were in the barn.” Lightpaw was not struggling anymore, so Molestep released her and moved to the front opening that leads outside of the cave. He stood guard to see that no one interrupted. The last thing they needed was to be discovered now.
The tom watched with awed surprise as Tangledclaw manipulated the young she-cat to concede her way of thinking. It was always a bit of  a shock how Tangledclaw could bend cats to her will, even cats like Lightpaw who should have had deep reason to despise or distrust her. “You are not this much of a featherbrain Lightpaw; this is your final test. Bring the hunting trap to me.”
“How can stealing two-leg stuff, be one of the tests, Tangled? I do not understand.” The request felt wrong. Lightpaw knew that she had been told to never, on any circumstances, go in that place again. Tangled, knowing the logic that Skystar used on Lightpaw, as it  was how their own mother had treated them, she turned the leader’s words against his daughter, “When it is time for you to know the ‘why’ of everything I will tell. But now is not the time and neither is it a subject for you to question me as your tutor.
All apprentices must pass a final test similar to yours. Do it and bring me the hunting thing.” She watched amused as Lightpaw warred within herself. Skystar had rules. Tangledclaw had rules. The rules themselves seemed to contradict each other and the she-cat was confused. Moreover having heard the treachery her aunt was planning made her extremely hesitant to trust anything she said.The words of her father’s caution rang more clearly in her head and with shame she dropped her gaze, her voice a mere whisper. “I cannot, Tangled. It is forbidden to me to go in there. I cannot disobey anymore orders that have been given to me. Let me tell Skystar of your request and then…”
“You will do as I tell you!” Tangled’s outburst of anger caused even Molestep to flinch and step back bumping into the wall of the caver. He winced and turned away quickly. For a few moments Tangled paced in the room. This was getting her nowhere and they were running out of time. If persuasion wouldn’t work, she would have to try something a little stronger. Stopping in front of the apprentice she reconsidered her options. “Very well, Lightpaw. I had not wanted to do this, but you give me no choice.”
Lightpaw steeled herself for the worst, but she knew she had chosen right. She needed so desperately to talk to her father about what was going on, but after refusing her secondary mentor, she wondered if she would even have the chance. “Do you remember your friend, the grey and orange she-cat that you play with in the afternoon?” Nodding slowly Lightpaw glanced from Tangledclaw to Molestep, fear knotting once more in her stomach. “Well, she interrupted your lesson this evening.” Tangledclaw purred as Lightpaw’s eyes went wide as that information sunk in.
“Very rude of her indeed, walking in without permission. She saw things she was not meant to see, and for that she should be punished. I have her hidden away and if you do not do as I say and return to me before sunrise I will give her the beating that you so richly earned. Do you understand me? Now go get the hunting trap and bring it here. And do not even think about going to find help or trying to tell your father, if anyone but you enters the cave tonight, Sunsetpaw will not just be punished, she will be dead. If you tell anyone what has passed between us, or what errand I have given you, your friend is dead… and she will not go easy, that I promise you.”  When Lightpaw hesitated, Tangledclaw continued, “Lightpaw sniff the air, you can smell her aroma it is still fresh is it not?”
Lightpaw tilted her chin back and inhaled as deeply as she could, and she could smell a hint of Sunsetpaw’s aroma in the air, Sunsetpaw had recently been in the cave. Lightpaw thought her heart had stopped beating as she realized this. Slowly Lightpaw glanced at Tangledclaw’s face. “Tangled,” her whisper was hoarse. “I will do what you want, just don’t harm her.”
“Then you better hurry, you have already wasted precious heartbeats, the sunrise is not getting any further away, Tangledclaw taunted. She looked to Molestep and motioned to the lookout to step out of the way as Lightpaw fairly flew out of the cave and headed to the two-leg fields. She had no idea how she was going to pull this off, but Sunsetpaw was counting on her.“Do you think this is wise?” Molestep asked softly after the apprentice was gone. He was not convinced that the she-cat would not simply run-off crying to her father about the whole thing. But then, he did not know the apprentice as well as Tangledclaw did.
The laughter of Tangledclaw sent chills skittering up Mole step’s spine. Tangled walked back to the tom and closed the distance between them. “You question my intentions’ and my commands constantly, Molestep; that is not wise. Lightpaw will do as she has been told. Once I have that hunting trap it won’t matter what my brother knows. I will be in control of everything and the loyal warriors will have no choice but to step down, now go, gather the crowd and be ready for my call. Tonight LeafClan will belong to its proper leader”  
==~Chapter Ten Notes and Photos~==
Before anybody starts nagging me in the comments, I completely understand that no cat could have the knowledge or is capable of setting up any traps. I am having to hurry through chapters since school has offically started for me. I am planning on going back to this chapter in the future and changing it but for now.. im just going to keep it like this^^
duke-1-5-coil-spring-foot-trap-155.gif|The Hunting Trap
images (12).jpg|The Old barn (it looks like this just a little bit bigger)
== ~Chapter Eleven~ ==
Lightpaw was sprinting towards her destination quickly; after she was out of her aunts sight,her paws slowed down into a steady jog with her eyes watered with tears that threatened to escape. She felt trapped there was no one she could talk to, no one to turn to. She  wouldn’t have time to reach Moonpaw’s den and get back before the sun is up and even if she did her friend could not help her, no one could help her now.
She wanted nothing more than to run to her father’s den and tell him everything, but she feared for Sunsetpaw’s life. Tangledclaw would carry on her threat; she had no doubt about that. She inhaled several mouthfuls of air, she tried to calm herself and formulate a plan. She needed to get the hunting tool, deliver it to her aunt and then she would go straight to her father and tell him everything. Everything! With that resolve in mind she pushed herself onward and stealthily raced through the forest
~♦♦♦~
She came across the Two-leg fields and crawled through the tall grass that towered over her head, she carefully placed her footing on the ground, afraid to make too much noise. The last thing she needed was a two-leg to come after her.
Up ahead she could see her destination: the old wooden barn. Lightpaw felt another layer of fear rush through her; she did not desire to go in that place.The barn moaned under the howl of the Leaf-fall wind, tired of defying gravity for decades. The front half of the barn had caved in, and the other half of the barn stood upward but it had also was rotting and looked as if it was going to fall any second from now. The windows were mostly broken and were covered with a light plastic that has become brittle in the sunshine. There is not a trace of varnish, stain, or paint. The rain fell from the dark clouds and, drizzled off the tarnished roof and landed in a thick mud puddle. The small barn was surrounded by a small wooden fence that was missing most of its railing.  The she-cat halted and stared up at the building for a few moments, it was so tall that she had to tilt her head all the way back in order to see the top of the structure.
Maybe there was some other way...., what if she told her aunt that she searched the whole barn and couldn’t find the hunting tool… Lightpaw sighed helplessly, that wouldn’t work; Tangledclaw is far too clever for a lie as straightforward as that one. Time was running out every second she was wasting, the more danger Sunsetpaw will be in. Lightpaw forced herself forward and circled around the messy building until she reached the backside of the shed.
~♦♦♦~
The apprentice easily found the small gap in the walls and headed toward it. She flattened herself as close to the ground as possible and squeezed her body into the opening. It was very tight, even for an apprentice as small as Lightpaw and to make matters worse, the jagged edges of the wooden walls painfully scratched against her pelt and dug into her bruises she had gotten from her recent lesson with Tangledclaw. Lightpaw stubbornly grits her teeth and ignored the horrible sting. She pushed her entire body through the tiny space. The musky air immediately filled her mouth. The apprentice wrinkled her nose is disgrace and blinked around the barn. Her paws squished into the wet and soft flooring as she traveled. The weather outside of the barn was growing harsher.
The wind was blowing more rapidly, and she could easily hear thunder rumbling from above. That did not do very well for the structure that was already in danger of falling apart completely. It squeaked and groaned along with the climate. Lightpaw was violently trembling with anxiety as she searched the remains of the barn. Two-leg stuff was scattered along the floor, for a while Lightpaw was uncertain that she would find the hunting trap but while she was coming across a small corner, something shiny caught her attention. It was the hunting trap, hanging on a nail on the wall.
Now that she had found the item, she needed to figure out how to get the trap off the wall.  Lightpaw leaped onto a wooden stool that flanked the wall and toward the hunting trap. She sat on her hind legs to inch herself higher, but it was quite a length away from her. Lightpaw stretched out farther, trying to keep her unstable body as steady as possible. The stool wobbled along with the she-cat, threatening to break under her weight.
Lighting came, a brilliant shock of white flashed in the night sky, forking silently to the unsuspected ground, then a boom followed, making the barn tremble more aggressively Lightpaw flinched in surprise and nearly lost balance. She placed her paws back down onto the stool to quickly recover for a few moments. The barn rattled louder, and it frightened the apprentice, but she was too close to give up; Sunsetpaw depended on her. Lightpaw took a deep breath and tried again, slowly extending herself upward. She lengthened her neck and barely bit onto the chain tail of the trap. She let out a sigh of relief and strengthened her grip on the shackle.. Suddenly, the stool under her snapped apart and Lightpaw came crashing down to the floor. The trap snagged on the nail it was hanging from and the whole thing yanked out from the wall.
. Lightpaw felt a trickle of blood dripping from the side of her mouth from where the trap scraped against it. But she hardly noticed, she finally had the treasure, now she just needed to get out of this place. The she-cat made her way through the barn. With a sigh of relief she rounded the corners of the barn and stepped over two-leg items, with the trap lynching from the corner of her mouth, thinking how easy it had been and grateful that she had enough time to reach Tangled before Sunsetpaw’s time ran out. Once she knew her friend was safe, and then she could expose the treachery that had been plotted. Her thoughts were so intense and so wrapped up in formulating her responses to her aunt and the explanation to her father that she was taken completely off guard when the thunder stroked the ground making an ear shattering boom, much more louder than the lightning she had heard before. The walls rattled as usual, but this time to the sound of timber cracking and snapping added to the chaos
. Chunks of ceiling fell downward, and made the wooden planks fall like deadly daggers to the flooring of the barn.  Lightpaw’s eyes widened in fear, she could feel that this place was in its death throes. She had to leave and leave swiftly. She turned her jog into sprint, with the trap still dangling under her chin.  she had just started toward the exit of the barn, when a huge segment of the ceiling directly above her fell in. Lightpaw threw herself out of the way as the sharp shower of the debris rained down upon her.  Lightpaw grit her teeth, holding the trap in her mouth, debris flew into her eyes and blinded her slightly; Lightpaw forced her eyes open and nearly tripped over a fallen board, the trap that was swinging back and forth as she scampered, caught itself against a nail attached to a wooden plank. Lightpaw whimpered and jerked the trap anxiously, when that didn’t work she willed herself to take a few paces backwards to free the hunting trap. She was greatly delayed; Lightpaw saw the hole and made a run for it, desperate to get out of this chaos. Just before the apprentice could reach the opening, the ceiling from above crashed down and blocked her pathway, burying the only exit. Lightpaw swiveled around anxiously, searching for a new way outside, but it was useless there was no escape.  The remains of the barn caved in, destroying everything inside of it. The last thing Lightpaw remembered before slipping out of conscious was dropping the hunting trap and buckling down onto the wet and cold earth.
~♦♦♦~
Rainysight shifted in a troubled dream. Darkness hedged her thoughts. Vague and illusive, the sense of evil was isolated, but distinct. It wasn’t often that she was vulnerable to disturbances in the night, but lately, in the last couple of nights she had been having terrible dreams that were too dark for the elder to handle. The images themselves were only a little troubling; the sense of feeling that accompanied them at times was very horrifying. In her dream she could see nothing but the darkness of the night, filled with the soft relentless sobs of a she-cat. A she-cat Rainysight felt like she knew very well, but could not place.
For a half a heartbeat, in her dream, Rainysight felt as if she was the strange she-cat, letting tears fall from her eyes, her body wracked by pain guilt and fear, with nowhere to run to and nobody who could fix her problems. She heard a loud booming strike of thunder smack the ground. Panic surged through her entire body.
.
Rainysight froze she caught a glimpse of the face of the tear-jerking she-cat which was illuminated slightly from the flash of lightning in her dream.  It was Lightpaw, she was dreaming of Lightpaw, alone and afraid. Afraid to face whatever was threatening her. Rainysight couldn’t watch anymore she needed to help her, she needed to tell her it was going to be alright… but she tried to budge her paws she couldn’t’, she was immovable! “No!” Rainysight gasped as she jumped awake with a start, her breathing was highly accelerated. “It was just a dream...It was just a dream...” the elder softly reminded herself, as she gazed forward, pondering on the dream she had just recently had.
Rainysight couldn’t shake the fear out of her and she did not want to go back to sleep again, she feared that if she tried to return to her slumber, that the terrible dream would only continue.She supposed that she had been so worried about Lightpaw’s wellbeing that she was now in her dreams, but it felt so realistic. The old she-cat stretched and lifted herself into a sitting position, letting out a small sigh. She gazed around; her heartbeat was still highly accelerated from her nightmare. Rainysight perked her ears up and listened carefully into the night. The only sounds she heard were the gurgling snores of the cat snoozing beside her, and the other elder’s fidgeting in their slumber. Everything seemed normal, there was nothing to be afraid of… or so she hoped.
Rainysight let out a small chuckle, she was an old elder and she still reacted to nightmares as badly as a small kit would. The elder turned her midnight blue gaze towards the stars and quietly whispered some soft words, to her loved ones who were watching her in StarClan. She lay down, entwining her long wispy tail around herself, and unhurriedly closed her eyes again, expecting to quickly fall asleep again.After what seemed like a lifetime, Rainysight was still shifting and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in but nothing was working. She sat up again, huffed in aggravation and stared at the wall of the elder’s den. Maybe if she took a little walk and exercised her legs, she would have better luck with falling asleep. Rainysight stood onto her paws and crept out of the elder’s den, avoiding the snoring elders who were in a deep sleep. A light drizzle of rain, poured onto her pelt, but the she-cat didn’t mind the weather at all, in fact the old she-cat loved to get herself wet whenever she could.  
Rainysight walked through empty, ghost-like camp, stepping into small puddles, and into the forest, thoughtful about her terrible dream, ignoring the flash lighting that strikes the ground every once in a while and the booming sound that follows it, not paying the slightest attention to which direction she was moving in.  
== ~Chapter Eleven Notes and Photos~ ==
O.O Dun-Dun-Duuunnnn this is sooo long and I am not even done T.T I am getting there though I have looked through my rough drafts I have made for the story and It should have about 3-4 more chapters but I will try to make it a little shorter....
=== ~New places introduced in chapter~ ===
Two-leg Fields: A small wheat field on the outside of Leafclan's territory.
== ~ Chapter Twelve~ ==
Rain dribbled off the thick branches of the trees, trickling onto the cold and moist floor. The wind howled angrily, hurling wildly, tossing the driblets of the cold Leaf-fall shower in every direction. Two cats from SoulClan trotted through the miserable weather, their paws squishing into the muddy ground as they maze through the thick, marsh like forest. "Heavycloud!" The small tom, Ashpaw yowled to his mentor. "Why couldn’t you have picked a different evening for us to train? This weather is hideous!" The older Tom grumbled to himself, twitching his ears is annoyance. "In order for you to become a warrior, you must learn how to hunt during the night." The wind brushed through the silver-grey Tom's damp pelt, making bits of his long fur stick out in all directions as he walked. "This rain will not bite you, now stop complaining or I will turn you into crowfood." Ashpaw shook his head grumpily, as he slowly followed the tom, He knew his mentor would never actually hurt him but it was no use to argue with him, “no prey is stupid enough to be running around in this kind of weather." The apprentice mumbled under his breath so that Heavycloud could not hear. The cats jogged deeper into the marsh-like forest patrolling their territory. Ashpaw inhaled deeply, and instantly the scent of his surrounding filled his nostrils, a new aroma slammed into him.
"Ummmm Heavycloud I..." before the apprentice could finish his sentence, his mentor cut him off.” I told you to stop whining!" Heavycloud's gruff voice had a sharp edge of warning in it.
Ashpaw hissed softly, sometimes Heavycloud doesn’t listen to him well even if something important was happening. He tried speaking to his mentor again. “No Heavycloud, it's not that, you see I can smell..." Heavycloud flickered his tail for silence, shushing the poor Tom-kit once more and halted.  Heavycloud breathed in through his light grey nose. "I smell a cat.... a she-cat." The tom paused for a heat-beat to concentrate on the strange aroma. Since it was raining, it was somewhat difficult for the large tom to sort out the odors but he managed. "The she-cat is not from our clan..." "Good job, Heavycloud." the young apprentice hissed sarcastically as he watched his mentor put his excellent  skills to good use, even though the actual goal for the evening was for the mentor to watch the apprentice do the tracking and hunting. “She is from LeafClan.” Ashpaw perked his ears upward with curiosity and confusion. “I thought LeafClan was an ally of ours.”  “They are indeed allies and they are also considered very passionate friends too. LeafClan has given us aid when we were practically starving to death. We owe them our loyalty.” Ashpaw nodded slowly, and tilted his head in confusion. “If they are truly allies with SoulClan, then why are they trespassing on our territory, Heavycloud?” 
“That I don’t know. I’m sure they are not meaning any harm to our clan though. We should follow the scent and see what the she-cat is doing on our territory.” The tom meowed with a hint of worry in his voice. With that said the two cats changed their course of direction and headed towards the scent.
~♦♦♦~
The Apprentice and mentor followed their noses to the edge of their territory. “We are almost there.” The older tom hollered to his apprentice who had raced a couple of fox lengths ahead of Heavycloud.  The young tom was so excited and energized that the rain didn’t even seem to bother him anymore. His life as an apprentice was not as dangerous and action filled as he thought it would be when he was only a kit. So instead of waiting for adventures to come to him, he had to find the adventures himself which was exactly what he was doing now. Ashpaw skidded to a stop when he reached the Thunderpath; the scent of monster fuel filled his lungs, making him gag, a few dead carcasses of road-kill laid on the side of the road, making the smell even worse. He fluttered his deep brown eyes around his surroundings, hoping to lay his eyes on the LeafClan cat. “This is very strange Heavycloud I can smell her but I can not see her.” The tom called back to the silver tom who was merely a tree-length behind him. Suddenly his eyes caught onto a figure lying in the middle of the Thunderpath. At first, Ashpaw thought it was only an unfortunate animal that had gotten rammed by one of the monsters, but now that he was looking a little closer he could see what the it truly was… The apprentice's eyes widened in horror and disbelief.
"Are you sure you don’t see anything?!” Heavycloud hollered to his apprentice, the older tom’s breathing was growing heavier from the long hike. When the apprentice didn’t answer the tom, he grew anxious. “Ashpaw are you there?” The apprentice didn’t answer again. “Ashpaw?!” He yowled at full volume, his paws quickened into a sprint. He had warned Ashpaw of stepping onto the Thunderpath but sometimes the mischievous tom’s curiosity got the best of him, making him do foolish things. When Heavycloud made it to his destination, he growled in aggravation. Ashpaw stood frozen in the tall grass, a safe distance away from the Thunderpath and simply stared forward into the road.  Heavycloud was relieved to see that his apprentice was okay but it was still not acceptable for him to ignore his mentor when he called for him. “Ashpaw, you almost gave me a heart attack! WHY didn’t you …” Heavycloud’s voice trailed off when he followed Ash’s gaze.
A gasp escaped his mouth and his eyes widened in a similar fashion as Ashpaw’s, at the sight. A small orange and grey she-cat was lying on her side in the middle of the Thunderpath. She was about the size of an apprentice, maybe just a little older than Ashpaw. The trail of crimson that oozed from her pelt onto the asphalt path gave the older tom sickening chills. After several heartbeats of staring Ashpaw broke the silence between them “Is she… dead?” The small tom asked even though he was silently afraid of what his mentor would tell him. The apprentice’s normally very clear voice was croaky and it made the older tom choke up faintly with tears. “I’m so sorry Ashpaw; there is nothing we can do for her now.” The older tom looked down at his paws, to hide his face from the apprentice, not wanting the young tom to see him look so upset. “She now hunts in the great fields of StarClan.” Ashpaw stood as still as a statue his face unreadable. Rain drizzled down onto the ground from his muzzle, with his eyes transfixed on the beautiful she-cat.
Heavycloud whispered a few words to StarClan and slowly turned away from the horrid scene. “I’m sorry Ashpaw... I shouldn’t have brought you out here.” The apprentice didn’t reply. Heavycloud sighed softly to himself and trotted away from the scene, motioning for Ashpaw to follow him.
Ashpaw stared at the grey and orange she-cat for a few extra heartbeats. His keen ears instantly picked up the loud humming sound of a monster, which was driving down the Thunderpath, heading towards the fragile body of the she-cat. Ashpaw gulped in a mouthful of air.
He couldn’t watch the dead she-cat get hit by another monster, he just couldn’t. The good-hearted tom was just about to turn away when he heard a soft meow from across the Thunderpath. “Why is your friend sleeping in the middle of the Thunderpath?” An unknown voice of a kitten questioned the tom curiously.  Ashpaw instinctively bristled his fur and twirled around in surprise. His eyes quickly caught onto the figure of a small she-kit on the other side of the path, her gaze locked onto orange and grey she-cat.
Ashpaw yelped quietly in fear and took a step back. “A monster is coming, you need to wake her up or she will be flattened. Hasn’t your mother ever taught you about playing in the Thunderpath?” The she-kit glanced up at Ashpaw with a adult-like serious expression that most kits never wore.
Ashpaw did not answer instead he gave himself a few seconds to calm down enough to move. The kit was very skinny; her golden brown pelt was laid flat against her body from the rain. She had alluring turquoise blue eyes that were locked onto the apprentice lying on the unnaturally warm asphalt of the path. The she-cat scowled at the surprised Ashpaw impatiently. “If you are not going to do anything about it, I will wake her up myself.” The she-cat was just about to step onto the Thunderpath until Ashpaw finally spoke. “No, stop! Don’t get on the Thunderpath or you will get hurt!”  The kitten froze and moved back into her old position, she opened her mouth to speak but Ashpaw interrupted her with a cluster of questions. “What is your name and what are you doing on LeafClan’s territory? You don’t smell like a Leafclanner at all.”  The kitten acted rather surprised at his questions, this was not the time to have a conversation. For StarClan’s sake there was an apprentice that was about to get killed.  “I’m Lily and I am also rouge, I can hear the monster coming you need to get your friend out of the way. She is a deep sleeper apparently.” Ashpaw flattened his wet ears against his head and gazed at his paws. “She is dead; a monster already crushed her...” “Of course she is not dead, you silly mousebrain, if she was dead she wouldn’t be making those weird sounds.”
Ashpaw blinked slowly and jerked his head towards the she-cat who he thought was dead and stared in disbelief, his eyes watching her intensely. The grey she-cat twitched and let out an unconscious groan, her chest slowly rose and fall. Ashpaw’s face lit up with joy, but only for a second.
The headlights of the monster, which was only tree length away, glimmered onto the she-cat enlightening her pelt and roared toward her at full speed. “Uh-no” Lily whimpered.
“Heavycloud help me! She is BREATHING!”  Ashpaw yowled with panic filled eyes. Heavycloud is normally a very slow tom, but Ashpaw could swear that he had never seen any cat move as fast as he did. Within a blink of an eye, the silver white tom had returned to his previous position and sprung into action.
Heavycloud sprinted onto the Thunderpath and quickly launched himself onto the grey she-cat. He grabbed her by her scruff and hastily dragged the both of them into a roll. The cats toppled over towards the side, missing the enormous, skull-crushing tires of the monster by a nose length. Heavycloud let out a large sigh of relief and carefully dragged the she-cat off of the Thunderpath and laid her gently down into the grass to examine her.  Ashpaw turned his gaze back to Lily but to his surprise, she was no longer there. They mysterious kit must have left when Ashpaw was distracted by the chaos around him.
Heavycloud grit his teeth and winced when he evaluated the injuries.  “She is in desperate need of a medicine cat.” Ashpaw abandoned his thoughts about Lily and peeked over his mentor’s shoulder, listening carefully to his teacher’s words. “Do you know where LeafClan’s camp is, Heavycloud?”  Heavycloud shook his soaked head. “No I don’t and even if I did know where it was we wouldn’t make it there in time. We need to take her to our camp and we need to move quickly, I’m afraid she running out of time.” 
.~♦♦♦~
Lightpaw grit her teeth softly as she slowly woke up, quickly noted that she was evidently not in her den at camp. Lightpaw choked on the thick dust that clogged the air, coughing as she tried to clear her lungs. When she realized she could not move her fear heightened. Extreme claustrophobia ignited in the young she-cat’s heart and she struggled desperately with the wooden boards that held her down. The surprisingly light weighted panels gradually slid off her back and Lightpaw jumped up onto her paws, her head bounced up and painfully slammed into a wooden plank that was a few inches above her. She stumbled dizzily, and forced herself to take a few deep breaths. It felt as if every fiber in her body was aching, but her upper front leg felt as if it was on fire, She doubted anything was broken but it certainly something had some injury within the limb and the darkness around her was terrifying.  
She perked her ears upward and listened carefully, the only sound she could hear was the sound of debris settling on the ground, and the loud booming of thunder. Lightpaw froze as she remembered the recent events. The barn caved in while she was inside of it. She should be dead, Lightpaw glanced around, and her eyes were finally cleared up enough to see her surroundings. Two massive, wide, wooden planks stood above her. They leaned on each others weight, keeping both of them from crashing down onto Lightpaw; it was a miracle to be alive but the she-cat was not thinking about herself at the moment. Lightpaw gazed down at her stinging shoulder and halted. Three thick slashes marked the side of her front right leg, several driblets of blood freely trickled out from the extremely deep cuts. Something must have raked against her shoulder during the structures collapse.
Other than a couple of small scratches bruises, and a headache the young she-cat was not in any worse shape than that of when she first entered the barn. Memories of Sunsetpaw and Tangledclaw slammed into Lightpaw’s senses which caused even more panic. She had to get out! Lightpaw began to anxiously circle around the small space she had been given, trying to decide which way was closest to the exit. She saw a glimmer of moonlight peaking out from the debris and instantly the she-cat limped toward it. The tiny opening was very small in length, almost half the size of the opening that she had gone through to enter the barn in the first place. But that didn’t stop the she-cat from trying to squeeze through it.   
The young she-cat felt the sickening fear rise inside of her as she was struggling to fit through the opening.
What if she was too late? What if Tangled had already killed her best friend? Lightpaw tried forced the negative thoughts out of her mind so she can work on escaping but it was difficult.. Suddenly Lightpaw heard a familiar hiss and the sound of light-weighted footsteps crept towards her, Lightpaw quickly darted backwards in fear. A pair of vivid and eerie eyes peeked through the opening and transfixed on the little she-cat. “You failed me, Lightpaw. You failed me. And tonight Sunsetpaw will pay for your failure since I cannot reach you.”  “No!” Lightpaw scrambled towards the opening. “I-I didn’t tell them! I didn’t tell them anything. Leave Sunsetpaw alone!”
The dark chuckle that answered chilled the apprentice’s heart. “It’s too late, Lightpaw. You’ve failed me for the last time I hope you told her goodbye when you parted last.” Lightpaw fairly flung herself against the gap, trying to force her way through to the old she-cat. “Don’t hurt her don’t you dare hurt her!”  The young she-cat half raged, half pleaded desperately. “You used me, Tangled! You are a traitor to LeafClan and you are plotting against my father, I heard you! If you touch Sunsetpaw I will tell them everything when I get out of here, I swear I will!” Tangledclaw simply laughed softly as she watched the apprentice struggle with the gap that was impossible for her to fit through.  
The hunting trap would have made things a whole lot easier for the grey she-cat but it certainly wasn’t a necessity.” Then you seal her doom more swiftly. I will destroy her. I will destroy your father, and Rainysight and anyone else who stands in my way. Except maybe you, Lightpaw... you I may keep to finish your training or discard you if you continue to prove yourself unworthy. Tell them what you like, Lightpaw. It doesn’t matter anymore. After tonight nothing matters.” Lightpaw peeked through the hole and her eyes widened even larger than before in horror.
Behind Tangledclaw stood several cats, there were about twenty felines, to be precise.  Some of them from LeafClan and the rest of the cats, Lightpaw couldn’t recognize, she was guessing they were rouges based off of their rough appearance and their strange aroma.
The apprentice knew in her heart that she did not wish to know what they were possibly planning.
Molestep walked up to Tangled and his unstable voice spoke to her, rain soaked his black and white pelt, making him look like he weighed a little less than he actually did. “Everyone is here, including the rouges; the army is ready to leave whenever you wish.” Tangledclaw turned her attention towards the tom and smirked. “Excellent, we will leave now; everyone in LeafClan will be caught off guard, and we will easily take control of them. The clan will belong to us by the time the sun has risen.” Tangledclaw purred to Molestep. The short tom nodded slowly. “Which should path shall we take, Tangledclaw?”
“We will take the longer route that loops around Eaglecreek, so that no one will run into us and spoil our plans.”
Lightning flashed like jagged daggers in the field, illuminating the hideous looking cats that were turning towards the direction of LeafClan’s camp.
Lightpaw backed up a pace, with trembling paws, she couldn’t just stand there and wait for her camp to be destroyed she had to do something.
““Tangled? Tangledclaw!” Lightpaw rammed into the wall, but the elder had already left. “Hello? Is anyone out there? Help me! Hello?!” She yowled desperately seeking anyone that could help. She had to tell someone the truth before it was too late, she had to try.
The rouge cats and the traitors of LeafClan ignored the she-cat’s cry as they made there way towards the forest, leaving the poor apprentice by herself.
Horribly, Lightpaw realized that no one was going to come. She was alone, despised, forgotten, and utterly helpless. Her shoulders shaking with sobs she could no longer contain. The young she-cat slid to the dusty ground of her prison which she was trapped in and burying her face under her paws to hide the shameful flow of tears, with only the sound of the rain and thunder to accompany her 
== ~Chapter Twelve Notes and Photos~ ==
Edgy... O.o Oh well. only Three more chapters (and maybe a paragraph of an epilogue) to go then i will be finished :D
01f0f024b622e3b2afa513608b5d1589.jpg|Ashpaw
Animals_Cats_Grey_cat_on_the_black_table_060281_.jpg|Heavycloud
12288d2f33d865f8908c0ab46df0ee4b.jpg|Lily
8fd44b9caba5a836c332a4765ac68eea.jpg|Thunderpath
Soul8).jpg|Soulclan's camp
54f77ee379826395fb4e17ed658db613.jpg
''
===New Cats and Places Introduced in Chapter===
Ashpaw: Long haired, Dark grey tom with green eyes
Heavycloud: Massive silver-grey tom with midnight blue eyes
Lily: A light brown 5 moon old she-cat with a white muzzle, feet, belly, and tip of tail
Lily is not my oc she is actually from a different story, if you want to know more about Lily you should totally check out her backstory Lilystorm's journy(Ashpaw and heavycloud are mentioned in this story too :0)
Souclan's Territory: Unlike Leafclan, Souclan's territory is mainly filled with birch tree and it is easier to navigate  Soulcla'ns territory than it is to navigate through Leafclan's territory
The Thunderpath: A pathway that seperates Leafclan and Soulclan's territory from each-other. Two legs and dangerous monsters are always found on the Thunder-path
Soulclan's Camp- Souclan's camp is slightly smaller than Leafclan's camp at it is made out of Rock.(More information in next chapter)
==~Chapter Thirteen~==
Sunsetpaw shivered violently, but she somewhat felt as if her body was on fire. Damp water from the rain clung to her pelt.Inside she felt as if she were burning up, yet her skin was unaccountably cold and tense shudders racked her frame. She felt miserable, inside and out.
The she-cat hissed softly and opened her eyes, attempting to work the blurry world into focus. A pair of paws was in the process of pressing a poultice against her wounds. They were not paws she was familiar with.“Redpelt, Moonpaw?” Sunsetpaw murmured blearily. Her cloudy mind didn’t register the tragic moments she had seen earlier, or how highly unlikely it was for Redpelt to be anywhere near here, wherever ‘here’ was. All she knew was that she was hurting and disoriented and usually when she was in that state, her friend or the medicine cat was close by. Odd how that worked.
“No young one just lay still. You are going to be okay,” A commanding, but soft voice spoke of a she-cat nearby, making Moonpaw start slightly. The accent of the she-cat was strange. “You may feel terrible right now but you will live.”
Sunsetpaw realized that the cat near her was a complete stranger, so were the other cats she could vaguely sense nearby. The she-cat stiffened. She didn’t feel threatened by these cats, but she felt uncomfortable.
“Where am I?” Moonpaw tried to keep her voice from shaking. She felt horrible, truly horrible. “Who are you?” The apprentice winced. Her tone had betrayed much more fear than she intended she wanted to sit up but the she-cat near bye placed a paw on her preventing her from getting onto her paws.“You are in Soulclan’s camp, I’m Lilystripe and you are in my den.  Two cats found you in the middle of the Thunderpath You were not hit by a Monster but someone or something attacked you. The two cats saved your life and brought you here. Now please hold still and finish dressing your wounds. Trust me; I am not going to harm you.”Sunsetpaw relaxed because she was aching too much to remain tense. If the cats intended to hurt her, then there was nothing she could do about it and they probably would have done it already. “Where is Lightpaw?” She meowed as she gradually remembers what had happened before she slipped out of conscious earlier.
“Who?”
“My... My friend….. Another apprentice, did you find another apprentice?” Sunsetpaw was starting to shiver again in fear as the harsh memories rammed back into her head.
“Sorry we found you alone, now be still, it’ll be a lot easier for you to save your strength if you held still.” Sunsetpaw began to pull away from the unknown medicine cat, her vision cleared slightly, and she wildly looked around the den.
“Lightpaw is still in danger! We need to help her now! Her aunt was attacking her, I saw them. It was horrible. She hurt her until she passed out. That is why she has been acting strangely lately!” Sunsetpaw’s widened lavender colored eyes locked onto the she-cat and she was able to quickly examine  Lilystripe for the first time. She was a gracefully tall she-cat with a fragile and bony face with several grey stripes decorating her pelt. Lilystripe tilted her head in confusion. thinking that the she-cat must be hallucinating from her injuries, She walked to the corner of her den and gathered poppy seeds. “Easy. Easy, young one, you are going to be okay, I need you to calm down. Eat these, they will help you sleep.” She meowed quickly. Sunsetpaw shook her head quickly. “No! I can’t eat them! You don’t understand, my friend is in trouble I need to go help her!”  Lilystripe blinked slowly, unsure of what to do with her patient. A calm voice from outside her den cut off all of her thoughts. “Wait Lilystripe, she may be trying to tell us something important.” An older she-cat walked into the medicine cat den. Her beautiful slightly wet pelt was different shades of dark brown; making Sunsetpaw stopped panicking for a moment to examine the newcomer. “I am Hollowstar, leader of SoulClan, what is your name, little one?” She spoke softly,hoping to calm the bewildered and alarmed apprentice. “I...I am Sunsetpaw. Please, will you listen to me? My friend is in big trouble.” Hollowstar nodded her head gently and smiled warmly. “I will listen to your words if you sit still for my medicine cat. Understood?” Sunsetpaw didn’t want to sit still, but if it was going to help her friend … Sunsetpaw returned to her position she was laying down in and allowed Lilystripe to tend to her wounds.
Sunsetpaw told Hollowstar of all that she had seen. She told her from about the earliest evens such as the cave she had discovered, and the things she saw take place within the walls of the structure, to the very last mere thoughts she remembered before being knocked out.
The older she-cat’s beautiful blue eyes widened in shock and for a few moments, she was speechless. Hollowstar finally spoke slowly to the apprentice.“If all you are saying is true Sunsetpaw…... then your friend, Skystar, and your whole clan are indeed in danger. We must go to their camp at once and talk to your leader, Your clan has helped us when we were in need of aid, We will be happy to return the favor to help your clan.” with that said, she poked her head out of the entrance of the den.
“Heavycloud, come here!” The tall she-cat hollered.  Within seconds the massive silver-white tom had entered the den. “Yes Hollowstar?” his eyes wandered from his leader and gazed onto the apprentice who was now awakened. Even though he had a serious expression on his face; inwardly Heavycloud's heart leaped with joy. He was almost certain that the strange she-cat was not going to live, but once again StarClan astonished him with another miracle.
“Please collect six warriors from their den. We are going to return this apprentice to LeafClan’s camp, please inform the warriors that this is very urgent and I am not expecting to be delayed by them. We are leaving tonight as soon as possible....”
.~♦♦♦~.
Rainysight trotted through the high grass of the two-leg fields. Her eyes swiveling around her surroundings, it has been a long while since she had stepped a foot in this place. Why was she was walking in the fields in the middle of the night? While the she-cat was taking her midnight stroll, she had caught the scent of different cats.The scent Tangledclaw, LeafClan cats and most importantly, Lightpaw. She quickly decided to follow her nose, to see where the fresh scents led her. Inwardly she felt fear burning inside of her. She had several questions inside of her that needed to be answered. Why were the cats that were running around during the middle of the night, not say a single word to anyone when they were leaving? That was puzzling and the fact that her grandkit was somehow with them, frightened her even more. . Her previous nightmare she had just dreamt kept repeating itself inside of her mind and it only made the situation worse. She came across the old barn that has been on this land for as long as she could remember, except the barn wasn’t standing tall like it always did, it was crumbled into pieces on the cold,hard, ground. Rainysight quickly inhaled again, quickly realizing that the scent of Lightpaw was leading her towards the barn.
She was inwardly afraid of what she might see, she was afraid that her precious kit had been crushed under the barn. She turned her jog into a run and dashed as quickly as she could towards the barn. She climbed up onto several boards. Her widened eyes desperately looking for Lightpaw, she wanted to cry out for her, but she was so shocked that she could not make a sound. Suddenly her eyes locked onto a small figure, she could hear small cries that could only come from her grandkit. Rainysight gasped at the sight in horror. 
~♦♦♦~. 
The sound of footsteps outside of the collapsed structure made Lightpaw flinch. She pulled back as far as she could into a tight corner of the fallen structure. Afraid of who might be coming towards her, the young she-cat curled into a tight ball and would not look up. Was it possible that Tangled really had killed Sunsetpaw and her aunt had come back to taunt her and gloat over her pain? It would be one more thing that would shatter her already breaking heart. She truly was not sure how much more shame and hurt she could handle and she knew she could not show emotions in front of Tangled: it would only make things worse. A shadow fell across her, blocking out the little light from the moon that was peaking through the small gap and she tensed, holding her breath. The soft gasp from a familiar she-cat caught her attention and she fearfully chanced a look at her visitor. Rainysight instanly started pulling on the small gap, making the debris pile rattle slightly. Rainysight growled with anxiety, she was hoping to make it bigger so she could help the kit but she soon realized that the structrure was very sensitive and if she toyed with it too much she might make the rest of the place collapse. Her eyes shimmering with barely restrained tears as she took in the sight of the desperate she-cat huddled in the corner. Her nightmare had come true, she could barely recognize Lightpaw, the frightened, haunted apprentice glanced tearfully up at her. What had happened? What was going on that had shaped these changes in her grand-kit? Something was greatly amiss and had been for some time, the elder felt, although she had not seen it this clearly before. “Lightpaw?” Rainysight gently reached her paw out into the small gap.  The gentleness of her grandmother’s voice and the sorrow in her gaze broke through Lightpaw’s pretend impassiveness and the she-cat pulled farther away from her, barely avoiding Rainysight’s paw; she did not deserve to be talked to gently. Everything that had come to pass was her fault and there was nothing left inside of her that would ever be worth redeeming. She had betrayed everything she had loved and nowshe hated herself for showing her weakness in front of Rainysight. The apprentice despised herself for breaking down like this and allowing her repressed emotions to surface when there was someone there to see.  
“I am sorry,” She rasped out quietly, her breathing hitching as she spoke. She was trying desperately to calm herself but it was not working. Her mask had shattered and lay scattered in too many pieces around her. She could not pull it back together again. Rainysight settled herself on a board outside of the pile of debris and stared down at the young cat.  More than anything she wanted was to hold Lightpaw but obviously she could not reach her and she was resisting her right now and she would not push her. “Sorry for what, my love?” Hoping to find out what had been going on she spoke gently, but was unprepared for the apprentice’s response.    
“For… for everything! For betraying father, for coming here even though everyone ordered me to never come here again, for not being strong enough, for showing my weaknesses in front of you and shaming everyone.” Lightpaw’s eyes were large in the darkness of the structure and only added to making her look younger. “How?” The blue-grey Elder whispered quietly. “What shame, Lightpaw?” They would come back to the issue of her father later. Rainysight doubted she could any straight answers on that yet and didn’t want to make Lightpaw close off again by pushing too fast. Wiping violently at the tears on her face she held out her paw toward the she-cat. “I am crying like small kits, these tears, are just like me weak and pathetic. I am so sorry; I know it’s wrong, I don’t want to hurt you! I shouldn’t be so weak; I should…. I don’t know…”  With a small whimper of sympathy, Rainysight leaned forward onto her paws "Oh Lightpaw no.. Tears do not show our weaknesses and they are not for shame. Tears are given to us by StarClan that we may know when another is hurting that we may help them with whatever is troubling them. You should never hide them from anyone, they are precious." She meowed softly, silently hating herself for not noticing her grand-kit earlier.  “That is not what Tangled says.” Lightpaw winced slightly inhaling sharply when she accidently moved her burning front leg and her back was still agonizingly raw from earlier. Rainysight’s eyes widened slightly. “What about Tangledclaw?”
Jerking away from her grandmother the apprentice simply shook her head, scooting away. She wanted to tell, but she was still afraid, afraid that Tangled would make good on her threats. In her heart, Lightpaw feared that her father had already abandoned her and now maybe Sunsetpaw was gone too… there was no way to reverse what she had done and Lightpaw felt miserably helpless. She didn’t even know what to say.
Something seriously wrong had happened to the apprentice and Rainysight’s mother instincts tingled with alarms.
Never in her life had Lightpaw shied away from her or refused to speak to her. The fact that Lightpaw was wincing from only moving a little, sent fear spiking through her old heart. “What has your aunt said?” She repeated.
Lightpaw shook her head slowly. She wanted to tell her, she need to! She opened her mouth to speak but the words would not form.
“What has she done to you?” Rainysight’s words, although soft, held a hard edge as she began to guess at the fullness of what was really going on just as she realized that the mystery was deepening. She slowly narrowed her gaze onto Lightpaw, examining her carefully from the small distance she was from her. She could see small little scratches on her back along with bruises. But they didn’t look like the other small markings she bore from when the barn caved in. She could recognize them as injuries that only another cat could make. 
At a small gasp that escaped her mouth, Lightpaw began to softly sob once more. She knew what her grandmother was seeing without even having to glance up at her, she could feel Rainysight’s gaze on her and she was bitterly ashamed that she had to see the results of her bad behavior. The pain-filled words she had been hiding in her heart tumbled out through hitching sobs. “I am so sorry that I am so terrible, I don’t mean to, I promise Rainy. I am sorry that I must be punished every day. Please, when father is angry with me, cant he come himself? Does he always have to send Tangled to teach me? Tangledclaw does enough on her own and.. Tangledclaw is not.. right.” She wanted to say insane but didn’t. She suspected that Tangled probably improved upon whatever commands her father gave regarding her lessons. Certainly, it would have to be at least a little better if her father handles it himself.  Tangled took too much pleasure from causing pain; even Lightpaw could see that much. Skystar could be very hard with her, but she had never seen her father enjoy someone else’s suffering. Maybe she was misguided and blind, but Lightpaw simply could not imagine Skystar holding her down and hurting her until she bled, although in the darkest corner of her heart that was Lightpaw’s deepest fear. For that reason, she had never dared to ask that Skystar to teach her lessons in person on the issues; she dreaded that she might find out she was wrong. At this point, however the young she-cat had already hit rock bottom. There was no lower she could go and desperation finally overcame fear. Lightpaw flinched again when she tried to adjust her uncomfortable position. Finally Rainysight spoke, her words soft and calming despite the horror and rage welling up inside her at what had been happening to her kit without her knowledge “We didn’t know! Please Lightpaw, you have to believe me I knew nothing about any of this! Lightpaw, neither did your father or I knew until this very moment that Tangledclaw has been hurting you. You have done nothing to deserve such treatment!” Rainysight desperately stared at the hurting apprentice, wishing she could wipe away every moment, every memory of the horrifying events. “This is madness, your father would never agree to any of this, never, and neither would I. I promise you that Lightpaw.” Rainysight’s heart shattered into a million pieces as she began to realize the horrible secret that had been hidden from them. She hurt for her inside.“I am so sorry.” The young she-cat kept repeating herself.
“Shhh… Lightpaw it wasn’t your fault. Rainysight closed her eyes, anger warring in her heart. “We were all deceived Lightpaw, your father would have never given you Tangled as a secondary mentor, she lied to you; she lied about everything. I am the one who needs to be sorry. I should have noticed. Is that why you came here tonight, Lightpaw because she threatened to hurt you again?
“Sunsetpaw” Lightpaw choked on the name of her friend, deep in fear, causing her to fumble on the right words.
“What of Sunsetpaw?” Rainysight pressed.
“She interrupted a lesson earlier this evening. Tangled has taken her away and said that she will kill her, unless I retrieved a two-leg thing that was here for her. It’s my fault and I do not know where to find her. She is in danger because of me and so is everyone else in LeafClan!" The heavy weight on the she-cats shoulders eased a little as she confessed the secret that kept her quiet this far. “Tangledclaw is a traitor! She is going to take over LeafClan, I saw everything! She has arranged an army out of some LeafClan cats and rouges! They have already left towards camp and they will attack at any minute! She said that after tonight nothing will matter anymore. She said that Sunsetpaw would be dead. She said…” Lightpaw couldn’t finish but Rainysight did not need her to. She stood frozen, her gaze transfixed on the apprentice as the information slammed into her senses. She knew Tangled was up to something, but she didn't expect this.She desperately needed to warn her son of what is going to happen, but in her heart she wanted to stay with Lightpaw and comfort her. She would rather die than leave the frightened creature but she had no choice. There was no way she could get Lightpaw out of the debris by herself and even if she could She would be far too late . She needed to alert everyone before everything is lost.“Sunsetpaw will not be allowed to be hurt, and neither, Lightpaw, will Leafclan. I must go now and tell your father everything! Please stay here and do not worry. I will be back soon with some help and you will be free from this wretched place, you will be free from everything!”
Lightpaw flattened her ears as she listened to her grandmother’s words, she was afraid to be by herself, in the dark but she nodded her head. “Y..you must hurry, Rainy, Tangledclaw is taking the longer route, you might have a chance If you go now. Don’t…. don’t be concerned about me.” Rainysight could see the fear spiking in Lightpaw’s eyes but she forced herself to turn away, hiding the flow of tears that were now freely falling from her dark blue eyes. “I will be back before you know it!” She yowled hoarsely as she reluctantly sprinted towards the tree line of the fields, running as fast as her old limbs aloud her to....
== ~Chapter Thirteen Notes and Photos~ ==
Sorry for posting this super late. it was somewhat a really hard chapter to write and i felt like i needed extra time to add some special moments in . Anywho :D only 1-4 chapters left to make then i am done with the story yay!! freedom!!
6d6f5dda2e47d25006f0f43b798070e6.jpg|Hollowstar(Soulclan)
585fabcde7093c4232b23b55c240d012.jpg|Medicine cat den (Soulclan)
4b0cf0f2a8efecfa4d53e96663d4766e.jpg|Lilystripe(Soulclan)
=== ===
=== New Cats and Places introduced in Chapter ===
Lilystripe- Skinny White she-cat with a long face and light grey stripes
Hollowstar- Beautiful Dark brown she-cat with sky-blue eyes
Medicine cat den- Just like the rest of Soulclan's camp the medical den is made out of stone.
== ~Chapter Fourteen~ ==
“Be quiet you mouse-brains, if you cant control the amount of noise you make then the clan will hear us coming. If they hear us coming…. Let’s just say that tonight will not run as easily as we had planned.” Tangledclaw hissed impatiently to the small crowd of cats who apparently couldn’t help but stomp slightly when they walked or accidently crush on a crunchy leaf. For a she-cat who normally moved without making the slightest sound, it was frustrating but she hoped that the loud gurgling of the creek will muffle their  sounds while they were making their way towards camp. Tangledclaw quickly shivered her damp, dark grey fur and grit her teeth. The elder hated being cold and having a wet pelt; in fact she hated water itself. And having a short pelt did not help the situation a bit but Tangledclaw wouldn’t let her mission fail now, no not after all this carefully designed planning that she spent several precious moons making. Suddenly the sound of feet quickly padding from behind them filled her long ears. Tangledclaw lifted her tail to halt the rouges and the LeafClan cats behind her. “What is it?” Longwhisker questioned his leader roughly. “Silence you fools, I hear something. “Tangledclaw whispered to her companion, and carefully focused on the sounds which were growing louder every heartbeat.  A flash of blue-grey fur caught the corner of Tangledclaw’s yellow eyes. The she-cat turned her gaze towards the figure and froze in surprise.  Her adoptive mother, Rainysight was on the other side of Eaglecreek, she ran in front of the shocked army of cats and out of their sights. 
~♦♦♦~
Rainysight anxiously struggled through the forest. Her large paws splashed in mud puddles and she occasionally stumbled over roots which extended slightly from the ground. Though the old she-cat was running at a fast pace, she inwardly felt as if she was going to drop onto the hard cold ground at any given heartbeat. A long time ago when she was younger, she once was one of the most fastest and agile she-cats in all of  LeafClan and that is most likely why she is able to run farther than most of the elders that are close in age as her, but time has changed and she has grown older and weaker. Her heart was pounding louder than a stampede of horses and each breathe she inhaled, felt uncomfortably like someone was shoving ice down her throat. Suddenly Rainysight’s eyes locked onto the scrawny she-cat who was a safe distance across from her. She quickly recognized the she-cat and as Tangledclaw’s eyes met hers she knew instantly that the other she-cat recognized her as well. Rainysight felt her blood run cold with fear but at the same time she felt her eyes angrily flare at Tangledclaw. Rainy sharply turned her attention back towards the path that was in front of her and darted ahead of the group.
~♦♦♦~
The moment hung suspended for a short instant….before absolute chaos erupted. Tangledclaw’s eyes narrowed dangerously. They had been recognized and she could no longer afford to travel at this slow pace. She needed to stop Rainysight and she needed it done quickly before it was too late. “Change of plan!” She spat, unsheathing her long claws and gestured towards where Rainysight had been running. “Longwhisker come here!” The brown tom perked his ears at the sound of his name and walked up to Tangledclaw. “Yes Tangledclaw?” The tom inwardly felt like shying away from the bright yellow eyes he was looking into but he managed to control himself. Without a word of warning, Tangled knocked into Longwhisker with a surprising amount of strength and pushed him into the cold stream. Longwhisker let out a small yelp as his body hit the water; he immediately swam upward, poking his head above the surface of the creek, and gaped at her with a confused face. “Hunt down the she-cat and kill her! If you fail to reach her before she makes it to LeafClan’s camp I will shred your fur off of you. Now start moving!”  Longwhisker flinched and immediately swam towards the shore on the other side of the stream with flattened ears. He shook his soaked fur in a failed attempt to dry it and raced away from them. Tangled’s eyes darkened into a worried glare. Her plans depended on Longwhisker and she immensely hated it. If it had been any other situation; the she-cat would have gone after Rainysight herself, but in this terrain, she knew she would never be able to. She couldn’t swim very well and she would have a high chance of drowning if she tried to jump into that icy creek. She flickered her tail and moved forward in a quick jog with the rest of the group following behind her. 
~♦♦♦~
Rainysight heard footsteps behind her and she knew immediately that it was someone from Tangled’s group; one of them must have swum across the creek and was chasing after her. Rainysight closed her eyes to control the wave of panic that was growing inside of her and urged herself to run faster.
Rainysight stretched her neck forward, putting all she had into her legs. She was definitely not as fast as the cat behind her was but she was willing to run until she dropped if that was what it took to get to LeafClan’s camp. In the darkness everything was confusing and for a few moments Rainysight wasn’t even sure where she was exactly. Then she saw the tips of the willow trees that surrounded LeafClan’s camp. Rainysight leaped over a fallen log in one swift move, behind her, the tom cleared the obstacle with less grace but kept on coming. Rainysight risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that a Longwhisker, a tom from LeafClan was still hot on her tail, his eyes flashed dully in the rain, almost like a wild beast would. Rainysight turned back and silently attempted to will herself faster. The old she-cat’s eyes lay onto the entrance of LeafClan’s camp and a light of hope filled her soul slightly. She knew she was close enough to the destination that she could simply make a loud noise to wake everyone else up from their slumber. Rainysight inhaled deeply and opened her mouth to let out the loudest yowl she had ever made in her life but she made no sound.
Leaping from the ground, the tom crashed onto Rainysight’s side and flung them both onto the earth. Rainysight felt the air knock out of her chest as she slammed onto the ground, leaving the poor she-cat no voice. The two cats rolled over several times, grappling as the momentum of the impact carried them farther across the path as well. Rainysight and Longwhisker found themselves tumbling sharply down a steep hill in a fierce struggle. They landed with a hard thud a few moments later, Rainysight pinned on the bottom. Rainysight’s head slammed forcefully back against the hard ground, making her vision swim nauseatingly. The tom on top of her was only in a slightly better condition, but took advantage of the situation, he placed a paw on her chest to keep her pressed down against the earth and pressed his other paw against her neck.  Rainysight tried to remove the tom from her and the paws that were pressuring her airway but she was too exhausted. She looked fearfully up at Longwhisker who was staring down at her with an unreadable expression. The tom froze, all he had to do was unsheathe his claws and it would all be over but something stopped him inside. The blue eyes that gazed up at him in fear tugged harshly at his heart. Longwhisker blinked slowly and shook his head, avoiding eye contact with her. “This will only hurt for a second… s-stop looking at me like that!”  “Longwhisker please…” Rainysight rasped softly. Longwhisker turned away slightly. “I am so sorry Rainysight, you shouldn’t have seen any of this, you could have lived if you weren’t so curious. Please forgive me.” Longwhisker slowly let his claws slide out of his paw. The elder closed her eyes and braced herself, waiting for the sharp sting of claws to puncture her soft neck. Suddenly a shrill hiss filled Rainysight’s ears. The she-cat opened her eyes again just in time to see a dark, rearing shape loom up over Longwhisker’s face, above his head. Bending over her, Longwhisker couldn’t see what was coming until the tom’s massive paws struck him directly in the head, knocking him to the ground. “Rainysight, are you okay?!” A familiar voice meowed to the she-cat and to Rainysight’s surprise, it was Leafspiral. “Leafspiral, Thank StarClan you are here!” Rainysight sighed with relief as she shoved the rest of the unconscious cat off of her and rolled onto her paws, only to fall back over onto the wet ground. Her paws shook uncontrollably from the running she had done earlier. Leafspiral, who realized that the she-cat was struggling to stand, immediately came to her side. “We need to get to LeafClan’s camp now before it is too late! The rest of the group should be here soon, every second we remain her is wasting our precious time!” the she-cat stumbled forward with Leafspiral clinging to her side so that she could stand. Leafspiral stopped moving and blinked slowly in confusion. “What are you talking about? What doing out here in the dark?  And why was Longwhisker attacking you!?” "I will explain along the way! We need to move now or we will become crowfood!"            
~♦♦♦~
The Instant she was alone in that small, dark space, Lightpaw’s somewhat calm and brave façade crumbled and she felt the familiar chill of terror sweep up inside her spine. Loathing herself for her fears, the young she-cat curled up and pressed the pads into the earth. She couldn’t think about the dark… she couldn’t. The she-cat shivered slightly. She hated being imprisoned. She hated to be in this position where she could only wait and hope that Rainysight makes it to camp in time. She closed her eyes and swayed her head slowly back and forth in the darkness.    
Lightpaw had grown good at hiding her own feelings and her own fears in front of others but she could not hide her fears from herself. The longer time she spent the pile of debris, the more she became aware that she was anxious. And she wasn’t just anxious because of her aunt and her grandmother, but also because she was in a place that resembled a cave. Since she was always getting hurt or frightened inside of the hidden cave that she was given her aunt’s “lessons” in, she now had grown a deep fear for the small, dark, underground places which unfortunately, is exactly where she is now.
After what felt like a life-time Lightpaw let out whimper and stood up onto her paws. She couldn’t stand staying here any longer she needed some fresh air and some room to move around. She needed to go back to LeafClan’s camp and make sure everyone is all right.  Lightpaw froze and wavered slightly in deep thought. Rainysight knew that trying to escape the place without more help was dangerous so she told Lightpaw to stay where she was until she returned, but young apprentice felt as if this dark place was killing her spirits slowly; it was too much for her sensitive heart to deal with. She needed to get out of this place now!
Lightpaw began to circle around slowly, looking for a new exit, her shoulder was not flaring with pain anymore, instead it strangely felt numb but the rest of her body felt sore and tired which dramatically slowed down her movements.
Suddenly an idea sparked into the black and white she-cat’s mind. If she could not go through the debris that blocked her path she would simply have to go under it. Lightpaw crouched down toward the edge of the space she was in and quickly began digging through the wet soil, quietly hoping to eventually tunnel out of this horrid place.  
~♦♦♦~
Rainysight and Leafspiral made it to camp safely and they immediately went to look for Skystar. They found him in his den, curled up in a tight ball sleeping soundly. “Skystar!” Rainysight and Leafspiral hollered to the tom at the same time. Skystar jerked awake in alarm and his face grew angry with annoyance. He hated being woken up, especially during the middle of the night. “What is this?! What is the meaning of…” Skystar stopped speaking as he looks in the sight of his mother and Leafspiral who stood at the entrance of the den. Both of their faces were filled with despair and anger, they were breathing quickly which indicated that they had been running. Rainysight had a few untended scratches running along her face and her pelt she also was shaking uncontrollably. He knew immediately that something was wrong. “Rainysight, what happened? What is going on?” Skystar whispered softly this time as he quickly stood up. He met eyes with the older she-cat as she began to explain, her voice was shaking as she spoke from running. “Your sister, Skystar, sh-she has gone mad! She had been hiding so much from us. We have been blind!  Tangledclaw is a traitor, we knew she was before, but she isn’t the only one who is fully against you! She formed an army out of LeafClan warriors and rouges. They are coming to camp to kill you and everyone else who is loyal to LeafClan!” Rainysight exhaled slowly, she purposely avoided telling Skystar about Lightpaw. She was afraid that if she revealed to Skystar where his kit was, he would not be able to fully lead his clan. She will tell him later, after they defend the camp. Now was not the time to say anything to him about the apprentice yet.
Skystar felt as if he was paralyzed, his face was now overflowing with shock, confusion, and hurt. The evidence stood before him but he found the truth hard to believe that some of his clan would even think to attack their own camp. Skystar had a deep sense of betrayal burning in his heart and it only added to the confusion.
“Skystar what are we going to do?” Leafspiral meowed anxiously. The tom did not answer; instead he gazed outside of his den. Lighting once again struck the ground and lit up the entire camp of LeafClan, illuminating the leader’s horrified expression as the realization rammed into his head.
The storm that had been so well hidden from their sight has been exposed, and now it was angrily hurling itself at them in full speed…   
To be continued.....
== ~Chapter Fourteen Notes and Gallery~ ==
,., That was even later than last time I posted a chapter DX sorry :3 nobody reads this anyways besides a few people so it doesn't matter too much. Only one more chapter to make then i am donnnnne! im so excited for myself ^^
=== Cats and places introduced in Chapter: ===
Nothing new O.O    
== ~Chapter Fifteen~ ==
“Skystar.” Rainysight meowed softly as she gazed into her son’s bewildered eyes. Leafspiral and Rainysight both understood that the white tom was upset but this was an emergency and they both needed him to take control and be their leader, they inwardly feared that their leader was going to remain in shock for too long. “Skystar what are we going to do?” Leafspiral said a little louder than before. The scarred whtie tom shook his head as he came back to reality. “We will have to fight back.” He said slowly as he exited his den, and jogged to the center of LeafClan’s camp. He then let out an ear-splitting yowl. 
Immediately after he sounded the alarm, the remaining cats of LeafClan’s crawled out of their dens and circled around Skystar with anxious faces. The group quietly amongst themselves in confusion and alarm.  Eventually a voice from the swarm spoke up and stepped out in front of the crowd. “What in StarClan is going on Skystar?”  Softfur questioned her leader; her voice was still groggy from recently waking up and her pelt was disheveled.  Skystar lashed his grey striped tail outward, making the cats silence before their leader he inhaled and slowly spoke.
“Before all of you became apprentices, I asked you to agree to a few things at the highrock. I asked you to agree to training your hardest, honoring the higher ranks, following our sacred warrior code, and other elements which keep this clan together. But the most important thing asked for you to do was to stay loyal to LeafClan, even to the point of death and everyone standing here before me, promised to do just that. Tonight, before I begin explaining anything I want to ask you a simple question. Do you still hold that promise you made to LeafClan close to you?” 
All of the remaining members of LeafClan nodded their heads yes quickly, without the slightest bit of reluctance.  Skystar dipped his head, silently feeling a small warm light of hope growing inside of him, from the sight of his loyal clan.
“Tangledclaw, my sister and a young elder in this clan betrayed us. She has been spending all of her time preparing to destroy LeafClan and she has gone farther with this treachery than what we have prepared for. Tangled has persuaded several LeafClan cats and other unknown rouges to assist her with this revolting act and Tonight, she will attempt to attack us and strip away everything that we hold dear.”
After that statement escaped Skystar’s mouth, the LeafClan cats instinctively cascaded him with an overflow of panic. “What?”  “How could this possibly be happening to us?!” The cats hidden in the crowd cried out to their leader, their fur bristled, and their eyes flashed with fear. In reality, Skystar actually felt mentally the same as the rest of the clan, but of course he didn’t let it show. LeafClan needed someone to be strong and calm and that cat had to be him, whether he liked it or not. “Silence everyone!” He spat with his dark blue eyes sharpening into a glare. The crowd gradually quieted and the cats looked up again at Skystar. “I am aware that this is shocking news but we cannot afford to panic! Our new enemies should be here in a matter of heartbeats and we need to form a defense for this clan or we shall be easily overrun. I will explain everything after everyone is safe from harm, until then I am going to need each and every one of you to trust me…. Does everyone understand?!”
The trembling cats once again nodded their heads as a reply to their leader’s question. They all had slight suspicions of Tangledclaw before and they had often felt strangely uncomfortable when they were in the grey she-cats presence.  Skystar smiled slightly in relief, stood up onto his paws, and began to formulate a plan against the rebellion. “Stormcloud, I need you to take a small group of cats and guard the backside of camp. Leafspiral, you will be going to the nursery, help the queens protect the kittens, guard them with your life.” Both of the toms dipped their heads and raced away. “The remaining cats will help me defend the entrance to our camp!”
Within minutes, Skystar had quickly formed a small strategy and arranged his clan into groups. Though they wished they had more time, Skystar knew he was as ready as he could possibly acquire for the moment. Now all they had to do was wait.
~♦♦♦~
Tangled and her army silently made their way towards the borders of LeafClan’s camp. The angry she-cat angrily grits her teeth to hold in all of her rage that was threatening to unleash. She knew that Rainysight had beaten them to camp and had most likely revealed her well-built plans to Skystar but she has worked far too hard to let this prevent, her from taking control over the clan. When the large group of cats stepped into camp, they knew they were being allowed to enter, Tangled could sense the watchful presence of Skystar’s warrior hidden around them, tracking her every move. But it was time to end this, so she accepted the bait and allowed Skystar to lure her and her group into the campgrounds. Suddenly the Leafclan cats sprang out from their hiding places and formed a silent wall of opposing warriors, apprentices, and elders.  The trees around them were also bristling with quiet lookouts that slowly disengaged from their hiding place, showing that Tangled’s group was surrounded. The numbers on Tangledclaw’s side were slightly more than that of Skystar. The nervous charge crackling between the two factions stole breath away.
It was strange: LeafClan facing off against LeafClan, those who had once been siblings now locked in a bitter struggle. Unease fell over both armies. Claws were unsheathed and fur was bristling on both sides. Skystar slowly moved out front of his troops with his sharp icy blue eyes locked onto his sister. “It doesn’t have to be like this, Tangledclaw, we do not have to spill any LeafClan blood on this night. If you call off your attack and surrender to us, we may be able to work something out.”
“I am here to take back what you stole from me, Skystar.” The lanky she-cat’s eyes narrowed and snapped darkly. “You speak of how terrible robbery is, then what do you have to say about the highrock that you sit on? You are the one that led Owlstar to her death. You are the one who tricked her into making you the deputy instead of me! You don’t even deserve to call yourself a leader!”
Skystar tensed. Tangledclaw’s words were nothing but lies, but they cut him in a way that could only be done by someone as close as family. Skystar was angry, but some part of him was hurt. He had loved his sister once. Tangled was a protective and loving sister when they were only young kits. Truthfully he didn’t know when and why things had changed, but they had, and the Tangledclaw he had known then was gone, willingly replaced by the cat who wanted to hurt others and who stood there in front of him, taunting the young leader with lies and trickery.
“Owlstar with the guidance of StarClan passed the rule of LeafClan to me because she loved the cats of LeafClan, Tangledclaw.” Skystar meowed plainly. “Owlstar did not want you in a position where you could harm yourself or others. And she was right. Look at what this has already cost us.” The leader’s words were directed at his sister’s followers as well as Tangledclaw. 
Tangledclaw felt as if she had heard enough; she did not want her brother’s statements to shatter her army. She lashed her tail outward as an attack signal and the eager rouges launched themselves toward Skystar. Luckily, the leader’s army was prepared for the surprise attack and the two toms who were standing beside Skystar leaped out after them and knocked themselves into the cats before they could lay a claw on their leader, then the whole event unfolded into a violent battle. 
~♦♦♦~
Skystar was slightly caught off guard when the rouges leaped at him, but he quickly recovered and unsheathed his long claws. “Attack!” He shouted at his rest of his clan. At Skystar’s command, all of the loyal cats went charging forward with a shrill yowl. Stormcloud, LeafClan’s deputy leapt forward and knocked into Molestep, making him fall backwards.  An unknown tom raked his serrated claws across Falcontail’s muzzle, smirking as the brown and white colored tom stepped backwards to shake the blood off of his nose before resuming his attack. With a harsh growls rising in their throat, Timberstorm and Sunfoot lashed out at a white tom’s shoulder, making him bite back a screech of pain.  Greyfeather, a cat who formally was in LeafClan, cat swiftly ran to the outnumbered white tom and barreled herself into Timberstorm, throwing him off the rouge.
Both of the armies failed to notice the large amount of blood splattering onto the wet ground. Rain soaked into their unclean pelts and the harsh wind blew into the cats’ faces, making it harder for them to see. Skystar peeked above the crowd his eyes darting from side to side. He was looking for his sister, Tangledclaw. If he could get rid of her, perhaps the rest of the enemy will surrender.  All of a sudden, his ears filled with the sound of running footsteps coming towards him. The scarred young leader’s eyes locked onto an orange she-cat who was was leaping forward at him. Skystar had to jump to the side to avoid a sweeping blow from the she-cat’s claws. In an instant, the leader had his claws unsheathed and he shifted himself into a fighting stance. “What is the matter, Skystar? Too scared to face me?” The she-cat sneered at the tom. Skystar let out a snarl as he swiped at her muzzle. The ginger cat easily dodged the attack and smirked. “Nice try, but now it is my turn!” She purred and then released a fury of swipes, which grazed into his chest. Skystar winced and stepped away from the she-cat. He shook the blood off of his fur and hissed. He quickly recovered from the blows and rolled over, dodging the rest of she-cat’s attacks. He bounded into her exposed side, knocking her over. The she-cat was stunned from the suddenness of the attack which gave Skystar a chance to get inside her guard. The tom raked his long claws into her side, making her yowl in pain. The she-cat flinched, rolled away from him, and slowly stood back onto her paws. Skystar could have easily forced her back down again but he didn’t, instead he allowed her to slothfully limp away with her tail in between her legs. The slightly weakened tom glanced around the battle scene to continue his search for his sister, but he did not have to look very long.
Suddenly the cries of Rainysight echoed into his long light grey ears. “Skystar, look out from behind you!” Rainysight yowled at him with fear sharpening her voice. Skystar twirled around just in time to see Tangledclaw hurdling at him in full speed, her eyes glimmering with dark hatred. She allowed her claws to drive into his shoulder and dragged them downwards as she landed onto the ground. Skystar instinctively reeled himself back a few steps, he did not have enough time to dodge her attack but his movements kept him from getting a serious wound. He grit his teeth, holding back a groan of pain and swiped his free paw into her face, he hooked his claws into her cheek and yanked his paws backwards, deeply tearing the sensitive skin into her face.  Tangled released her grip she had on his side and moved away from him slightly. Blood freely trickled down her cheek from where Skystar had attacked her. They both took a few moments to re-collect their energy, their eyes intensely locking onto each other. Skystar may be stronger than Tangledclaw but she was fast and very good at carefully strategizing each of her battle moves so that they would be more effective than usual. This was indeed going to be an interesting match. “Tangled, it is still not to late call off your army. We can spare so many lives if we stop this madness now.” Skystar meowed.  Tangledclaw chuckled at his words and shook her head stubbornly. “If you believe that I will give up that easily you are a mousebrain. I won’t stop fighting until you are dead!” She hissed through her teeth. She then sprinted forward at the tom, lashing out with an extraordinary amount of skill. Her claws jabbed upward with a twisting stroke which Skystar sidestepped. Unfortunately that was what the dark she-cat had expected him to do. As he moved to the side, Tangled was already there, and Skystar only just got his front leg up in time to keep her mouth from digging straight into his neck. Her teeth caught onto his limb and bit deeply into his flesh and Skystar could not help quietly yowling as he jumped back, making her fangs tear a ragged gash along his front leg as he yanked it away. Skystar recovered quickly, driving his opponent back with a quick series of slashes and forced his injured leg to move despite the blazing pain it now had. Skystar quickly raced forward and leaped out onto his sister, sending them both onto the ground. Both of the cats bitterly struggled with each other on the ground. Skystar swiped at Tangledclaw’s face but she quickly jerked her head away from his paw. She kicked her front leg outward and it rammed into Skystar’s shoulder that was still very sensitive from the previous opponent he battled. Skystar instantly was stunned from her move and he then flinched backwards, giving Tangledclaw the advantage. She released her claws from Skystar and rolled them both over swiftly so that Skystar was now underneath her. She pressed both of her paws onto him, forcing his back into the ground. Skystar struggled to loosen her grip on him but it did not affect her at all. “You are weak Skystar.” Tangledclaw taunted him and smirked malevolently as her claws painfully nailed into his chest. Skystar’s eyes flared with pain, which pleased the she-cat greatly. Suddenly the tom kicked out his ultra powerful hind legs into Tangledclaw’s underbelly, sending her flying off of him. She landed painfully on her side; her body skidded faintly onto of the slippery ground. Skystar quickly rolled back onto his paws and invaded Tangledclaw with several blows. He angrily struck her several times in the face with his claws which prevented her from getting up onto her paws again. While he was assaulting her, of his paws hooked onto her delicate ear and ripped the top part of it off completely. He gave her one harsh, final strike in the face before stepping back to gather more energy. Tangled was severely hurt from his attack, her eyes were slightly blinded with warm blood that was now oozing from her face.  She blinked quickly and slowly stood up onto her feet, her paws were trembling slightly. Skystar stood over her, cautiously watching her every move but he was much calmer than before. Tangled was far too weakened to harm him any more, or at least that is what he was thinking at the time.  “So this is the end then, Skystar?  You win again as usual,” Tangled said grudgingly, letting her claws slide back into her paw and dipping her head to her brother as if in a peace offering, she buried her paw into the soft sand they were standing on. Skystar tilted his head slightly; he had not expected her to give up this easily. Something felt wrong.  “But let me tell you a little secret, brother,” the grey she-cat said quietly. Suddenly Tangledclaw flung her paw outward, shoveling some of the sand from the ground into his eyes. Skystar was instantly blinded from this and he instinctively took a step back, giving Tangledclaw another chance. She leaped with all of her might and rammed him down into the ground. The back of Skystar’s head smashed into a boulder that was lying on the earth as he was falling down. His head spun around unconsciously. “You didn’t win,” Tangled hissed through her teeth, her face mere inches away from her brother’s. She watched the shock and pain flash across Skystar’s face with satisfaction. The tom tried to force the she-cat away from him but his vision was erupted with stars and black spots, any effort of trying to fight her was rewarded by a wave of dizzy nausea that almost makes him pass out. The leader was trapped and they both knew it. It was over for him.
Skystar mentally kicked himself; he should have never let himself get this close to her…. yet some parts of him hadn’t truly believed that his older sibling hated him enough to try to kill him in cold blood. He had been wrong. He had been so wrong. 
== ~Chapter Fifteen Notes and Gallery~ ==
Dun-dun-duunnnn Omg this is such a hard scene to write, I dont like writing battle scenes DX
6f7c46d7f099d8a798c54cf72e7565ca.jpg|Blossom (Rogue)
f2c07647ea71be43077101a1f5c0ced3.jpg|Greyfeather(LeafClan Traitor)
''
=== Cats and places introduced in Chapter: ===
Greyfeather- A slender smoke colored she-cat with alluring yellow eyes
Blossom(Rogue cat)  A large orange she-cat with green bird-like eyes
== ~Chapter Sixteen~ ==
Tangled purred darkly as she allowed her crimson splashed claws unsheathe again. “You would not believe how long I have been wanting for this moment, Skystar. How do you think I should end this? I heard from several cats that leaders get nine lives from StarClan and I’m not sure if I believe them. Maybe we should test that theory… it would be rather fun to kill you several times.” Skystar squeezed his eyes closed as Tangled gently placed one of her claws on his throat so that it press it but not fully  puncture into his neck. “Goodbye Skystar.” She smiled. Just before Tangled could finish off him, a few dark shadows fell from the tree on the two cats’ left. Without warning unknown cats charged into Tangled, one of them smashed its claw into the grey she-cat’s chin, knocking her off of Skystar and stunning her.  The miniature assemblage of felines rapidly sprung over Skystar and tackled onto Tangledclaw, pressing her onto the ground. Tangledclaw reacted rather quickly despite the quickness of their surprise attack. She instantly began to wildly shake and kick, making it harder for the cats to hold her down. The cats who were struggling to find a place to pin the restless cat were rather small, smaller than Tangled which did not help the situation at all. Skystar finally was able to clear his vision, his head hurt terribly but he ignored the sting. He was very confused, he should have been dead. The tom slowly rolled over onto his side and stared forward in shock at what he was seeing. Skystar saw a small group of cats wrestling with Tangled, but to his surprise, they were not LeafClan cats.
These cats had dark pelts and short, skinny bodies unlike the LeafClanners who had light tinted fur with tall, lithe frames.
They were from SoulClan!  Skystar could now see Hollowstar with her deputy, Mudpelt and other warriors from SoulClan he could not recognize. The leader was unsure how these cats found his well protected camp or how they even knew he needed their help but they did and he was thankful for that. Skystar soon realized that the cats were struggling they were barely holding onto Tangledclaw. He stood up and came to their assistance. All of the cat’s weight became greater than Tangledclaw’s strength, they pinned her down to the ground; making sure she could not escape from their grip.
Tangledclaw let out a shrill howl of aggravation. She turned bitter, hate hardened eyes on her brother but she said nothing more. Skystar looked up and gazed around his camp. All of the felines in Tangled’s army had now surrendered to LeafClan.
It was over. They had won the battle.     
~♦♦♦~     
Skystar stood by Hollowstar on the Highrock, Tangledclaw and her torn army that was surrounded by cautious LeafClan members stood before them.
Tangled’s face had noticeably deep scratches running down her cheek. Her left ear was permanently torn from her previous battle with Skystar. The rain had finally stopped, the sky was brightening slightly, indicating that the sun was close to rising. Skystar gazed at them, his working eye held no emotion. His wounds on his pelt were covered with cob webs and marigold.
“I have decided to allow anyone who followed Tangledclaw to make a decision. You can swear allegiance to me and rejoin LeafClan or you can keep your ties with Tangled and accept whatever sentence is dealt with her as your own as well.”
Some cats chose to join LeafClan again but the majority of them did not. Some such as Molestep and Longwhisker (who was found unconscious in LeafClan’s territory) were too prideful to admit that they had been wrong. Some were rouges who simply were never in LeafClan and did not care about being given punishments by them. Others chose out of an overwhelming sense of guilt, they felt that their families and friends would not take them back or indeed that they did not deserve to go back.  
Once everyone had chosen their fate, Skystar allowed the traitors who chose to rejoin LeafClan to go back to the medical cat den so that Redpelt could tend to their wounds.
Tangledclaw and all the other cats that had chosen to stay stood still, awaiting their sentence in front of the high rock. “Tangled,” Skystar commanded his sister’s attention. “You should be executed for your crimes, but I will not spill any more blood in this camp.  You, and all who have chosen to follow you, are hereby banished from LeafClan forever; never to return on pain of death. Do you have anything to say?”
Tangled glared at her brother, her eyes glimmered darkly. “Yes, do not think this over, you cannot get rid of me so easily. Everything you hold dear will be mine and I will see you rot like spoiled prey in your own clan. Someday, little brother, someday.” She bitterly promised. Skystar remained unmoved. “I pity those who follow you into this doom. I would spare them if I could, but I hope to never see your face again. Go now, and may StarClan have mercy on all of you.” Hollowstar then stood up. “My clan and I can escort them out the forest and we will see that they do not return.” 
Skystar nodded. “Thank you Hollowstar, if your clan is ever in need of assistance, do not hesitate to come to us. We are glad to have a noble clan such as SoulClan as allies.”  Hollowstar dipped her head as a reply, leaped down from the highrock, and gathered the members of SoulClan. They lead Tangledclaw her followers out of LeafClan’s camp and out of their sight.   
Skystar scowled slightly. “I was never able to ask her how SoulClan knew to come.” He mumbled to himself as he tiredly crawled down the highrock only to be greeted by Rainysight. “Skystar?”  she meowed softly, her eyes had not changed, they were still filled with fear. She knew that he was going to be heartbroken when she told him about Lightpaw but she had no other choice. Skystar tilted his head slightly in confusion; her horrified gaze gave him an uneasy feeling. “What is it Rainy? Are you hurt?” She shook her head. “No, I need to tell you-” her voice was cut off by Moonpaw, the medicine apprentice who had snuck up behind them.  “Hello Skystar, sorry if you are busy but do you know where Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw are? I have not seen them at all today.” The tom blinked slowly, realizing that he had not seen either of them either; in fact he did not recall seeing them in the recent battle or even before then.
Before Skystar could reply another voice filled his ear. “Where is Skystar!?” He twirled around in surprise with his fur bristled. He saw another one of Lightpaw’s friends, Sunsetpaw. Her side was tightly wrapped in cob webs, she was limping but she was still moving as fast as her legs allowed her to. A SoulClan she-cat slowly walked beside her, Lilystripe, Soulclan’s medicine cat. “Sunsetpaw?!” Moonpaw gasped and ran towards her friend. “What happened!?” Sunsetpaw’s eyes flared again with fear as she quickly attempted to explain. “ Tangledclaw is cruel! I told Hollowstar and she came over here to help and she left me at camp because she thought i was going to slow them down. I was really upset so Lilystripe walked me back to camp so I can tell you!” Moonpaw stared in confusion but Sunset did not seem to notice, her lavender eyes caught onto Skystar and she frantically hobbled towards him. “Skystar, Lightpaw is in trouble! Tangledclaw is evil, I know she is your sister but she is not who she appears to be. She will kill Lightpaw if we don’t stop her! We can hide her, or find some way to get her away from Tangled? Please? You mustn’t let Tangled touch her again, Skystar!” Now that the orange and grey she-cat was back at camp, she babbled out all her worries out in one long, anguished string of jumbled words. “Easy. Easy, Sunsetpaw, they cannot understand you unless you calm down.” Lilystripe nudged the frightened cat again.
Skystar stood frozen, his eyes narrowed. He did not fully comprehend what the she-cat was trying to say but he understood enough to begin to worry. “What happened and where is Lightpaw?” He remained calm but his stomach was beginning to flutter. Sunsetpaw started to reply but Rainysight spoke first. “There was more to Tangled’s plan than what I told you…” Her eyes dropped down to the ground. Skystar’s face crinkled in a puzzled way as he stared questionably at his mother. Rainysight let out a sigh; she needed to tell Skystar so he can help Lightpaw, even if it does mean he will be upset. She shifted awkwardly and quietly talked to Skystar about the events that effected Lightpaw and Sunsetpaw.   
~♦♦♦~.   
SoulClan escorted Tangled and her group far away from LeafClan’s territory and eventually abandoned them so that the clan could return to its camp. Once they were far out of the group’s sight, Tangled turned away and started heading towards the two-leg fields. “Where are you going Tangledclaw?” Molestep questioned his leader. “Shut up mouse-brain!” She snapped, obviously she was disappointed that her plan had failed. “Start heading towards the South, I will return soon; I have some unfinished business to attend to…”
.~♦♦♦~.
“She is still under that old barn now; you need to arrange a small patrol so we can attempt to free her from it.” Rainysight quickly finished. Skystar’s eyes filled with grief, tears were now freely spilling from his cheeks. “Why would she allow things like this to be done to her?” The leader’s voice caught on the emotions he could not keep out. “Why did she say nothing?” “Because she loves you and she wanted to please us very much. She thought you wanted it this way. She thought we wanted it this way.” Rainysight whimpered. “I don’t know why she didn’t come to us. Did she try and we missed it?” The painful question in her eyes was vivid. Skystar was now shaking; his eyes suddenly were flared with his own guilt and rage. “Why did you not say this to me earlier?” he hissed. Rainysight was somewhat prepared for this question. “I was afraid you would panic. I was afraid that you would go to Lightpaw and not lead us properly, we needed you in that battle.” “So you don’t trust me to make the right decision?!” He unsheathed his claws into the earth and glared at the blue-grey she-cat. Sunsetpaw and Moonpaw nervously turned away, unsure of what to do. “I was wrong to not tell you earlier, I’m sorry, Skystar. Fear can kill logic, you know that.”
She blinked back her own tears; the look in her son’s face was shattering her heart. “That is no excuse! You have no authority to hide things from me about my kit!” Skystar spat angrily. If he had known about this sooner, he would have not been so merciful to Tangledclaw. “I’m sorry.” Rainysight croaked. The young tom’s gaze softened slightly but he said nothing more. He turned away and began to bark orders to LeafClan. He soon chose a small amount of cats to go to the old barn in the fields with him. They quickly trotted out of camp, moving quickly for cats that had just been in battle. Even though they were going as fast as they could Skystar felt that they were running out of time. He feared that Lightpaw would be found crushed under the barn and he feared that they would not be able to get her out from under the barn, forcing her to die in that wretched place. The leader pushed the thoughts out of his mind and focused on making his legs move faster. Lightpaw’s fate was in Starclan’s paws now.   
.~♦♦♦~,
Lightpaw grunted softly as she slowly burrowed deeply into the ground. She felt as if she would never be free from this terrible place. Her paws were aching from moving all of that dirt, and her white pelt was now covered in layers of dust and mud which only made this position worse. Just like her father, Lightpaw had always kept her pelt extra clean and neat so this situation was absolutely miserable for her. Lightpaw sneezed and blinked some of the dust out of her eyes. She was just about to give up, and wait for someone to help her out when her paws broke the surface of the ground outside of the barn. The cool air fluttered onto the paw. Lightpaw immediately was sparked with energy she did know she have and quickened her pace. She finally dug a big enough opening for her body to barely fit though and the she-cat slowly crawled out from her prison. She took a few steps away from the barn and collapsed tiredly on the ground. She inhaled several mouthfuls of air to catch her breath and to gather her thoughts. She felt much better than she did before but she was still exhausted. The only thing Lightpaw could think about right now was curling up in her den back at LeafClan’s camp. LeafClan’s camp… LeafClan!
Lightpaw rolled over onto her paws again. She needed to get back to camp so she could help save her clan from Tangledclaw.
She began to turn towards her clan’s camp but a sudden chain of terrible thoughts and questions struck her mind. What if Rainysight did not make it back to LeafClan’s camp in time? Tangledclaw’s group could have killed her before she could make it. Even if Rainysight did make it to camp there would have obviously been some sort of battle between both groups. Her family and other LeafClan cats could have gotten hurt or worse.  They were put in danger because of her stupid actions.
Lightpaw swallowed hard as more shameful ideas filled her mind.
Sunsetpaw could be dead right now… how could Moonpaw live with the loss of Sunsetpaw. Moonpaw loves Sunsetpaw like a sister; it would truly break her heart to lose her. If her grandmother did make it back to camp, she would have told Skystar and the rest of LeafClan about everything that has happened to her… what would they think about her? How could she possibly walk through camp again without everyone seeing her as the mouse-brained she-cat who put LeafClan in danger because of her naïve way of thinking? It was her fault there was a battle; she could have put a stop to everything if she only used her head. If she had stood up to Tangledclaw in the beginning, so much pain might have been averted. The more Lightpaw thought about the situation, the worse she felt inside.
What if her father gets so upset that he does not even accept her back into LeafClan if she did try to come back? How could she possibly live with herself? She knew her father loved her very much but she had learned a lesson from all of the abuse that Tangledclaw had put her through…. You can love someone and still have to hurt them. 
There was absolutely no way that anyone could ever accept her for all the damage that she had done. In the she-cat’s mind there was only one option… she had to run. Run away from LeafClan and never return. It was the only way to escape the humiliation and the pain that was going to scar her for the rest of her life in LeafClan.
There was no way anyone could ever accept her for all the damage she had done. In the she-cat’s mind there was only one option, she had to run. Run away from this place and escape this never-ending madness. It took Lightpaw a few minutes, but she finally talked herself into the idea. Making her final decision and knowing that, good or ill, she was going to have to live with it; Lightpaw twirled around the opposite direction, away from LeafClan’s camp and half-jogged -half -jumped away. Even though her running pace was rather slow and awkward, in a matter of minutes the she-cat was out of the fields and was traveling into the woods. She left LeafClan and everything else behind her as fast as she was able to. She was apprehensive about what she was going to face, but the adrenaline that had carried her this far was still pumping powerfully in her veins and she pushed aside her cares. Lightpaw was in motion for a long while, pushing aside her weariness and fatigue. She did not stop when the pale dawn lightened the sky in the east, but kept going for as long as she could. She knew that her father would soon figure out what she was doing and would send out searcher, she could not allow herself to be forced back into LeafClan’s camp. She had made her choice and she was not turning back.
Lightpaw hoped that her father, grandmother, and friends could forgive her someday...
~♦♦♦~
Stalking through the darkened forest that she often haunted, Tangled re-entered the two-leg fields. She headed straight for the barn that trapped Lightpaw. She had a suspicion that Skystar had already rescued her which would mean that her well-laid plans had fully come to ruin.
She should have done away with that kit long ago, but that was her one folly, her weakness. She grimaced to herself over her self perceived flaws- she enjoyed playing with her victims, she enjoyed watching them suffer. Oh how her initial deceit had almost worked save for this error. Never mind. It mattered little that everything she had done had been discovered. Even if she couldn’t take over LeafClan, it was already too late for that.  Finding the barn empty, Tangledclaw let out a small yowl of rage. Her eyes blazed angrily, Skystar had gotten here first and must have saved Lightpaw before she could make it. Her plan had failed; she had lost the war for nothing. Suddenly Tangled’s eye caught onto something running away from her in a distance. She narrowed her bright yellow eyes in curiosity, trying to make out the running figure. It was a white she-cat with black leopard spots running down her pelt, Tangledclaw only knew one she-cat who possessed these traits. It was Lightpaw. At first the old she-cat was slightly puzzled but then it all made sense. The horrifying in Lightpaw’s face told her that she was running away and Lightpaw was not just running away from her, she was running away from everything including LeafClan. Tangled knew that Lightpaw had been injured greatly from recent events; there was a low chance she would be able to take care of herself alone. She would die slowly in the wild, filled with shame and guilt. This was a greater punishment than Tangled could ever possibly give her. The grey she-cat smirked with mirth. This game was far from over. Skystar may still be leader of LeafClan, but as far as Tangled was concerned, he had lost his daughter; he had lost his greatest treasure. Tangledclaw chuckled to herself at those thoughts. She had indeed broken Lightpaw and Skystar was going to suffer greatly from it for the rest of his life. She headed back to her group in the forest with a feral smile on her bony face. 
She was going to return one day to rise up again and when she does, she will not fail again. War was at hand and there was nothing Skystar could do to stop it…. 
== ~Chapter Sixteen notes and gallery~ ==
N/A
== ~Chapter Seventeen~ ==
The raging wind fluttered around the forest of pine trees, their branches spiked into the sky, it was daytime but it felt so dark that most creatures were barely able to see where they were going. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howling of the wind.
Lightpaw stumbled through the shady forest she could feel wet and cold moss squishing under her paws.  She had no idea how long she had been traveling, it felt like a million moons ago when she left LeafClan but her wounds that she still possessed from the barn accident still remained on her body which indicated that she had been gone for no more than a mere two weeks. She felt strange in this place; it looked so much different from LeafClan. Her blue eyes gazed forward in exhaustion, every inch of her was in agony, it seems like it had been forever since she has had food, water or rest.
She grunted softly and glanced backwards at her shoulder. It was not healing well at all she feared it was going to get infected but she did not know how to properly dress the wound. Her mouth was uncomfortably dry and her stomach was growling hungrily, her hunting skills were limited due to her front leg which meant that she normally failed when she tries to hunt. Lightpaw knew that if she did not find any food or water soon it will be all over for her. Inwardly Lightpaw somewhat wished that it would be over; she wished that the pain would end for her.
Those were very dark thoughts, especially for a young she-cat who used to treasure life dearly.
Suddenly the apprentice’s keen senses picked up the sound of a gurgling creek. Instantly she was filled a small amount of energy and she wobbled towards the water.  When she reached the creek a strange shiver ran up her spine, she felt like someone or something was watching her every move. If it had been a different day Lightpaw would have been more cautious about her surroundings, but right now the she-cat could only think about one thing; water. She bent down near the waters and took a long drink. The cold liquid felt delightful in her mouth as she drank. Suddenly she heard a twig snap, the apprentice forced her reluctant body away from the liquid and darted her eyes around the small clearing in the forest in attempt to spot the intruder. Because she has a terrible sense of smell, the only thing that Lightpaw could identify with her nose was that there was a mysterious tom cat lurking around this place. Fear was rising up insider her as she heard heavy footsteps slowly coming near her.
~♦♦♦~
The young cat flinched and glanced around for a place to escape but it was too late. A massive grey tom stepped out of his hiding spot and stared straight into her eyes, his expression was fierce and his dark green eyes seem to pierce right through her and into her soul, he had a long scar running diagonally across his left eye, yet apparently missed damaging his vision. He was obviously very strong, he had several large muscles rippling his pelt. The apprentice was petrified on the inside but she still unsheathed her claws and gave the tom a somewhat-threatening glare. She was injured and was in absolutely no condition to be able to battle so if the brute decided to attack her, she would definitely be crowfood. “Who are you and why are you following me?!” Lightpaw hissed as fiercely as she could. The tom twitched his dark grey ear in confusion but his facial structured remained impassionate. Was this she-cat crazy or was she trying to puzzle him on purpose? “I am Stonestar, leader of ShadowClan and you are in our territory.” He growled slightly. The she-cats body betrayed her and her ears flattened onto her head.  “I did not know… I am lost.” She managed to hiss at Stonestar as she forced herself to keep her eyes locked onto his. Stonestar scowled slightly, he has heard many rouges and spies use an ‘I am lost’ excuse when he confronted them. “Our scent in these woods is very strong… can you not smell us?”  Lightpaw shook her head no “I-I don’t have a good sense of smell.” Stonestar narrowed his green eyes in a lethal way. “It does not matter; you should not be running into an unknown territory. We punish trespassers by giving them a scar so that they will remember whose territory they carelessly stepped into.” Stonestar flexed his short but thick black claws out of his massive paws.
The she-cat was trying so hard to look tough and strong but she just couldn’t. her eyes widened in fear. Adrenaline, anger and fear had taken a physically exhausting toll on her. She tried not to tremble as she stared forward at the dark tom. She tried to keep her breathing and body as steady as she backed away from him, but the dread inside her was steadily growing, exacerbated by her extreme state over fatigue. Her mind was beginning to fill with so many memories similar to this that scarred her heart. Stonestar froze as he watched the she-cat internally wrestle with herself. His gaze softened when he saw her fearful blue eyes stare up into him. He noticed she was injured and very tired the young cat looked. Her pelt was very unclean and her wound she bore on her shoulder was going to become infected unless it was treated properly by a medicine cat.
She slightly older than a kitten but she was also definitely younger than an average warrior which meant that she was most likely about the age of an average ShadowClan apprentice. Stonestar suddenly had this strange want to help this poor she-cat, and make her strong again. The leader changed his fierce expression into calm and gentler face but Lightpaw did not seem to notice; she was too deep in her own thoughts. “I will not harm you young one. You will be given a warning instead." Lightpaw fluttered her eyes and looked up again.. "You can leave ShadowClan and never return again.” He meowed quietly and paused for a moment to let his words sink into her for a heartbeat before continuing. “Or you can come with me; I can get a medicine cat to clean your wounds.” The apprentice hesitated, she did not want to go with the tom neither did she trust him; she did not trust anyone. But she was running out of options. If she continued her traveling, she would surely die and her cut was going to become infected unless someone treated it soon.
“Alright… I will go with you.” The cat slowly agreed. Stonestar dipped his head . “ then we will start heading towards ShadowClan’s camp. But first tell me what your name is.” The grey tom demanded gently. Lightpaw suddenly stood still. The question was simple but to her, it really was not. After all that happened to her in her life she really was not sure who she was anymore.
She saw Stonestar and ShadowClan as a second chance to fully start over with a clean slate in her life. If she wanted to start over, she needed to be called something different than the name ‘Lightpaw’. She did not deserve that name anyway, ‘Lightpaw’ was a beautiful and happy name, she deserved a name that only terrible cats would be given. A name that was so dark and mysterious that nobody will question her or her past that had broken her wild spirit. Suddenly an idea sparked into her mind. “Well? Are you going to tell me your name or not?” Stonestar grumbled. “Broken” she whispered. “What?” The tom leaned in a little closer to the she-cat so he could hear her better. “My name is Brokenpaw.” The apprentice looked straight into Stonestar’s eyes waiting for him to reply. Stonestar smirked and walked away, swaying his tail for the she-cat to follow him. “You will fit right in with the rest of the group, Brokenpaw welcome to ShadowClan!”
THE END! (OMG i finished it!!)
==~Final notes and photos~==
So yay im finished! ^^ This has been a really fun and challenging story to write.
85b1b77066e7936ef9395e1c8ea2f34465543344353456.jpg|Stonestar ( this image was photoshopped by me)
dark-forest-wallpaper-004.jpg|Shadowclan's territory
Cats and places introduced in Chapter~
Stonestar- A dark grey long-haired maine coon tom with brilliant forest green eyes. He also has a scar running down his right eye.
Shadowclan's territory- Shadowclan's territory is in the forest, the ground is almost completely bare, thick walls of tangled brambles are scattered around. The majority of the trees are pine and Shadowclan drinks from a creek that is nearby camp. They also have a lake that is not too far away.
<h2style="text-align:center;">~Special thanks~</h2>
These are the awesome people who supported me while I was writing this really really really long story!
Please read their amazing stories!
Thornstar/ Imapogostickonwings, Book founder of Thornstar's mistake- You were one of the first few people to comment of my story and that meant so much to me! 
Loki/Kgbarnes, Book founder of The Mechasms-You motivated me to finish my story, I would have never been able to complete it without you! So thank you so much friend ^^
Shiftingstar/Ne0nCol0urz, Book founder of Shiftingstar's destiny- You also encouraged me to continue brainstorming and not stop writing til I reached the end, keep on writing buddy :P
Lilystorm/Kittykatlove, Bookfounder of Lilystorm's journey- You were the person who made me get off my lazy butt and write the last chapter DX i would still be working on The Hidden storm right now if it wasn't for you! Thank you for doing that!
 
==~Polls~==
<Poll>
Did you like this story
I LOVED IT!!
Meh..
I did not like it.
I hate this story
I did not even read this story its too long for me :(
</poll>
<poll>
If there was one thing I could change in this story what would it be?
The length of the story- this is too long for me :(
The plot- its too boring
The amount of violence- so..much...edge.
Everything! This book should be tossed into the flames
The characters- they should have been better made
Sentences-they should have been more descriptive 
Grammer- I can barely read what you are typing you need to fix your spelling errors and other mistakes
None of the above
</poll>
Hey I made a sequel check it out!! Finding hope
Category:Stories
Category:Cats
Category:Completed Stories