Chapter Text
As his nose touched Bramblepaw's, a familiar sting attacked his eyes, and as he pulled away, he blinked away the water that fought to release. Bramblepaw didn't comment on it, his amber eyes shining brightly.
It had been exactly five sunrises since Lostface and Hollowthroat had been found at Snakerocks, too long for Ravenwing's liking.
He pulled his stare away from Bramblepaw, spotting Tigerclaw and Goldenflower beaming brightly at the front of the crowd.Tawnypaw, who had been apprenticed to Brackenfur, was already chatting with her parents.
"You can go catch up with her," he meowed to the young tabby, "then we can have our first patrol." Bramblepaw dipped his head before trotting over to his sister.
Ravenwing felt as if he should've been more enthusiastic when Tigerclaw had informed him that he would have his former mentor's son as his very own apprentice, but in the back of his mind, he felt like he was betraying Lostface, as if he were replacing her.
Shaking his head of the coming migraine, he padded over to Brackenfur, who was washing his coat of dust; the golden tabby had been working on camp repairs recently.
"So," he greeted, taking the golden tabby by surprise, "how do you feel? Excited to train a new apprentice?"
Brackenfur regained his composer and nodded, a light chuckled on the edge of his tone. "Yes, I'm a bit nervous though."
"I get that, I was too with Brightpaw...er, Lostface. But what you need to do is find confidence somewhere in you, or else the lack of confidence will show to everyone, including your apprentice."
Although Ravenwing thought it was bad advice, Brackenfur's brows furrowed seriously, and he hummed in agreement, fixating his gaze on the two new apprentices. He then turned back to Ravenwing, a twinkle in his eyes.
"You want to take them out now? First impressions and all?"
He shrugged, ignoring the way his mind drifted off to training Lostface and their training sessions in the Sandy Hollow. "I don't see why not. I already promised Bramblepaw that we'd go out."
The young warrior obviously took it as a sign to alert the littermates, and he called out, "Bramblepaw! Tawnypaw!" At the mention of their names, the apprentices raced up to them, eyes shining.
"We're leaving," Ravenwing informed them, watching as they exchanged excited glances; the motion brought him back to memories of when he had been in training.
"We'll be looking at our borders, okay?" He meowed to Bramblepaw as they steadily walked to the gorse tunnel, side by side. The tabby nodded enthusiastically, not saying anything.
Taking in a silent breath, Ravenwing looked at the medicine den, before leaving camp with his patrol of three.
"So, is this the Shadowclan border?" Bramblepaw piped up, gazing curiously at the pavement. He nervously dabbed a paw at it, recouping at the odd texture.
They had split up with Tawnypaw and Brackenfur, deciding it was a good idea to do separate tours, however, Ravenwing suspected it was because that it was best for himself to get used to the change of apprentices.
I need to be a good mentor. For myself, Bramblepaw, and Lostface.
"Yes," he replied, straightening his posture. "Monsters cross it sometimes, so you gotta be careful. We won't be crossing it today."
"When will we?"
"Mmmmmmaybe when we go to Mothermouth." He put on a playful look, rejoicing in the way Bramblepaw's eyes twinkled. The young tom already reminded him of Tigerclaw, and he wondered if his former mentor was like this as an apprentice.
"What about Redstar?"
The name visibly sent a shiver down Ravenwing's spine, and Bramblepaw winced.
"Sorry...I.."
"No, no, its okay," he meowed reassuringly, a bit embarrassed. "Redstar would get in trouble of he ever dared to cross our border."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Bramblepaw looked thoughtful as his eyes drifted back to the Thunderpath. "What was Redstar like?"
He should've suspected that his new apprentice would ask, but the question still gave him a sour taste on his tongue. Redstar was bad enough, and Tigerstar was worse. Not to mention the only cats who knew about it were Fireheart, Redtail, Cinderpelt, and Yellowfang. Two of those cats were dead, and two only knew recently.
"Well...he was deputy of Thunderclan when I was an apprentice, so he was called Redtail–"
"When my dad mentored you, right?"
"Yes," he responded, a bit ruffled by the fact that he had been interrupted. "And when I became a warrior, he was still deputy. He was a good deputy, and no one ever suspected anything."
It was a lie, he had suspected everything, and even Yellowfang hadn't known the full extent to it. Guilt pooled in his belly for lying, but he continued.
"Then he exiled me and Sandstorm, because Sandstorm was caught for being in love with Silverstream."
"But wasn't Redstar her dad? And why would he exile her for being in love?"
"Well...its against the warrior code, and he decided to enforce it."
"And why did you get exiled?" Bramblepaw raised a brow, and Ravenwing had to hold back a laugh.
"I dont know, well, I do know. Its because I helped her keep it a secret. Because I couldn't stop my friend from being in love, and I would never betray my friends. Now, me and her went to Riverclan, but around maybe three moons after living there, a fire started in Thunderclan territory. I went to help, and that was when Redstar tried to leave Bluestar behind, and ran away."
"And now he's the leader of Shadowclan?" Bramblepaw exclaimed, exasperated. Ravenwing shared the sentiment.
"Unfortunately, yes."
Bramblepaw was silent for a few moments, before puffing his chest out, the fluff bushing around his neck. "Then I'll protect Thunderclan from him!" He declared.
Ravenwing purred, all his worries of not liking his new apprentice melting away. "I'm sure you can, now, we need to get back to camp so we can eat. Then, if you're up to it tomorrow, we can look at our territory landmarks!"
Bramblepaw nodded, and as they padded back to camp through the piles of leaves, he suddenly meowed, "can we visit Lostface?"
The question took him surprise. He had intended to do so already, but he was afraid to mention his new apprentice to his former. "Er, sure."
The young tabby hummed in response, occasionally stepping on a particularly crunchy looking leaf.
Ravenwing could get used to this, for the sake of Lostface.
After greeting his mate, he and Bramblepaw headed towards the medicine den, the musk of herbs already filling his senses before he even entered it. The light trace of blood also lingered, but as the days went by, it became less and less apparent.
In their nests, Lostface was tracing a claw game with Hollowthroat. She quickly crossed an 'X' mark, making Hollowthroat frown.
"I win!" She exclaimed jubilantly. Despite her injuries and the constant judging from her clanmates, she still found ways to have fun with her companion.
As he entered the den, she quickly took notice, giving a weak smile. "Hey Ravenwing," she greeted, her one good eye showing signs of tired hope. "Is that...?"
He anxiously chuckled. "Yes, this is Bramblepaw. Bramblepaw, this is Lostface, my first apprentice, and this is Hollowthroat, Longtail's former apprentice." The words stung painfully, and he cleared his throat awkwardly.
Bramblepaw gave a respectful dip of his head. "What are you guys doing?" He asked, taking notice of the game they were playing in the dirt. Hollowthroat cleared the drawings with a swipe of a paw, and then began to trace his claws in the dirt.
He drew three thin lines, and then two similar thin lines across. Ravenwing and Bramblepaw watched as he proceeded to make an 'O' shape in one of the small squares.
Lostface drew a 'X', and the two went back an forth until, finally, Hollowthroat made three 'O's in the same squares. Lostface then cursed under her breath.
"That's cool!" Bramblepaw mewed gleefully. "Did you make it yourselves?"
The two young warriors nodded simultaneously.
"What is it called?"
Lostface looked to her friend, and he shrugged. "We don't know yet," she answered, and Bramblepaw was about to say something, until Tigerclaw's voice called for him.
He glanced around apologetically, "my bad. See you guys soon! Bye Ravenwing!"
"Bye Bramblepaw."
They watched in partial amusement as the young tom hurried out of the den, and Lostface turned to him, a bittersweet tone laced in her words.
"He seemed like a good kit," she meowed, causing guilt to jump him once again.
"He is," he confirmed, his voice wavering, "but once you're better, we can all train together."
"I don't know if that'll ever happen," she whispered, "I heard Tigerclaw discussing on where to move me and Hollowthroat with Cinderpelt. Cinderpelt said maybe we could go to the elders' den, but we're not elders! We're warriors..."
Hollowthroat looked down at his paws, his yellow eyes unreadable.
All they wanted was to get their warriors names. And they did, but at what cost?
Lostface continued. "It's nice right now. Cloudtail visits us, and me and Hollowthroat have our new game, and sometimes, it feels normal. Like we're average Thunderclan warriors. But then Cinderpelt has to change our wraps, and Tigerclaw keeps asking "what happened? Do you remember?" But I don't want to remember! I just want to be normal warrior!"
Hollowthroat leaned his muzzle foward, nudging his friend. She gave him a thankful look, taking a deep breath.
"I know," Ravenwing admitted, "I wish that fate could've turned tail and left. But this is reality now, and you two need to show this clan that yes, despite your injuries, you can still pull through."
Hollowthroat tilted his head to the side, as if saying "how?"
"Well, look at Deadfoot! The Windclan deputy! He has a permanent paw injury, and I'm sure no cat in his clan thought he could even be a warrior, like you two. But, somewhere inside, he knew he could be. And when you two are clear, me and Longtail will help you find that part of you."
The promise was rooted. It had been rooted days ago when he and Longtail were shooed out of the den after the warrior ceremony. Lostface and Hollowthroat would become warriors, and Ravenwing had never felt so much determination in his lifetime.
Well, actually –
"Thank you," Lostface murmured, her remaining eye dressing in gratefullness. Hollowthroat nodded in agreement.
"There's no need to thank me," he vowed, beginning to leave, "just know that I keep my promises."
As he left, he thought back to how he had vowed to save the clan from Tigerstar, and he sighed. Saving two cats was hard enough, could he do the same for an entire crowd.
Yes, yes I can. Because that's my purpose. My purpose is to help. And that's what I'll do.
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