Flamepaw's Destination

Chapter 1

            Flamepaw slowly opened her eyes as a beam of sunlight shined down on her. By opening her eyes, she found herself embracing yet another chilly day of leaf-fall. From the entrance of the apprentice den, she noticed the scattered crisp leaves along the camp floor and the multi-colored trees.
            Beside her, Barkpaw slept soundly, unaware that the other apprentices were rising to begin their day. Smiling at him, Flamepaw shoved him lightly until the tom's eyes slowly opened.
            "Five more minutes," he muttered, waving his brown striped tail in her face.
            "If Rosepettle has your head then it's not my fault," Flamepaw warned him, rising and padding outside of the camp.
            "Wait! Wait, I'm coming!" Barkpaw called, suddenly rising to his feet.
            Flamepaw giggled as he joined her in camp.
            It had been a few moons since her return to RiverClan, and since then, she and Barkpaw had grown incredibly in their friendship. While Flamepaw still remained close friends with Rosepettle, Spotteddusk, Mothwing, and the others from the quest, it was nice to have a cat her age to hang out with. She'd never made much friends with the other cats her age.
            Flamepaw glanced up, noticing Goldstar chatting with Troutfin, a calico she-cat. Since their return, Mountainheart had fallen ill, rumored to be from the stress of running the clan durign Goldstar's absence, and he had unfortunately passed away. Troutfin was then hailed the new deputy of RiverClan, whom Flamepaw much preferred to Mountainheart.
            As Flamepaw watched them, she searched Goldstar's expression for any looks of concern. There had not been a single threat from Korosu since the kitnapping and their return to RiverClan, which Flamepaw thought greatly suspicious. Ella and Volekit had recovered and were now apprentices in RiverClan along with Flamepaw and Barkpaw. Unfortunately, none of the other captured kits had been so fortunate to return.
            "You think Troutfin will send us on patrol today?" Barkpaw wondered as they came to the fresh-kill pile.
            Flamepaw shrugged, grabbing a fresh trout from the top of the kill pile. She brought it to Barkpaw to begin to share. Though when she took a bite, she found the fish to be slimy and not as juicy as the fish in the summer had been.
            "What's the matter?" Barkpaw asked, noticing her gross expression.
            "The fish has been getting worse and worse," Flamepaw muttered.
            "Just you wait until leaf-bare," came a gentle purr behind her.
            Flamepaw turned, noticing her mother, Suntail, approaching her. She had aged with time too, as some gray had begun to appear on her muzzle.
            "How are you?" Suntail asked, sitting down next to Flamepaw. She wrapped her light ginger tail around her daughter and purred eagerly.
            "What did you mean about leaf-bare?" Barkpaw wondered. Since becoming an apprentice in RiverClan, he had learned how to fish and swim, both of which had been difficult tasks for him. Still, he soon began to get used to eating fish as his main diet, though Flamepaw noticed he still tended to prefer a mouse to a fish every now and then.
            "The river freezes over when the snow falls," Suntail explained. "RiverClan is at its hungriest at that time, for we can't fish, and forest prey is scarce."
            "Gee, you're really making me look forward to it," Barkpaw grumbled.
            Flamepaw rolled her eyes. "You'll be fine, Barkpaw. After all, you learned how to hunt forest prey. We have limited training in that."
            "I've survived many leaf-bares," Suntail explained. "You'll be fine."
            "What about greencough?" Barkpaw wondered.
            Suntail frowned. "Greencough is a problem, but let's be grateful our clan members are healthy right now."
            Flamepaw nodded, finishing the rest of the trout.
            Suntail padded off and joined Brownpelt near the center of the camp. Flamepaw waved to her father as she passed by, seeking her own mentor, Dusktail.
            Glancing up, she noticed Mothwing, and her new apprentice, Spotpaw. Mothwing had so far proved to be an excellent medicine cat, and it seemed Spotpaw was learning much from her. Unfortunately, this kept Flamepaw from seeing her friend often. Every moment with her was sacred.
            "Hey, Mothwing!" Flamepaw called, rushing over to her calico friend. Barkpaw quickly followed behind, frustrated Flamepaw had run off so quickly.
            Flamepaw came to a halt beside Mothwing and the small brown she-cat.
            "What's up?" Flamepaw asked.
            Mothwing grinned warmly. "Shouldn't you be out doing apprentice duties?"
            Flamepaw shrugged. "I wanted to see how you were doing."
            "Mothwing is teaching me so much!" Spotpaw exclaimed. "We're going to collect some parsley in the forest!"
            "Sounds fun," Flamepaw said to Spotpaw, remembering how Mothwing had taken her out with Rosepettle moons ago. She'd been through a lot since then. Flamepaw still would have nightmares at night of Korosu's flashing red eyes, Daisyflower's bloody body, Clawkit's limp body sprawled across rocks. She shuddered thinking about it.
            "Flamepaw, Dusktail's calling," Barkpaw called.
            "Have a nice day, Flamepaw," Mothwing purred, walking off with her apprentice.
            "You too," Flamepaw replied, turning around and departing. She padded with Barkpaw towards her mentor, departing at the last moment as he went off with Rosepettle. Spotteddusk stood beside Rosepettle, chatting eagerly.
            Obviously the two had become mates, which did not bother Flamepaw as much as it would have moons ago. Her crush on him had faded during the journey, and she was glad to see Rosepettle so happy.
            She turned, noticing Snowheart chatting happily with her son, Runningblaze. Since their reunitement, they had a lot to catch up on, Flamepaw guessed, and the mother and son spent much of their time together.
            "Are you ready to train?" Dusktail wondered.
            Flamepaw nodded, her thoughts breaking. She padded with Dusktail into RiverClan's woods, wondering what it was they would be doing today.
            When Flamepaw had first returned, she was afraid her warrior ceremony would be postponed due to her prolonged absence, but Dusktail had been impressed by all the skills she had learned from her quest, and she guessed it would only be a moon or so now until she became a full warrior.
            "What are we learning today?" Flamepaw wondered.
            "Battle moves," Dusktail announced as he moved past the river. Flamepaw sighed, wishing she could go for a nice swim in the river. It would calm her down. Perhaps she'd even catch some fish to bring back to the clan.
            Dusktail led her to a clearing into the woods where crisp and colored leaves coated the forest floor.
            "Guess it's not a good day to practice hunting," Flamepaw assumed, the crunching of leaves echoing throughout the forest.
            "Perhaps if you avoided them we might be able to practice some hunting," Dusktail suggested, carefully stepping over the leaves with his quiet black paws.
            Flamepaw shrugged and faced her mentor, waiting for his further instructions.
            "We're going to practice first moves," Dusktail announced. "It is your job to attack me, but keep your claws sheathed, please," he said, turning to reveal his healing clawmarks from Flamepaw's accidental attack.
            Flamepaw blushed. "Oh, sorry about that," she muttered, turning away. She hadn't been thinking at the time. Dusktail should've been proud she'd been so into fighting. Then again, she had imagined she were back on her quest, fighting evil cats, and she had accidentally let her claws unsheathe.
            "It's fine. Mothwing fixed it up," Dusktail explained.
            "Ready?" Flamepaw asked.
            "If you tell me you're attacking it won't be much of a surprise, will it?" Dusktail wondered.
            "Sorry," Flamepaw mewed.
            Taking a deep breath, she lunged at Dusktail. The tom quickly moved out of the way and pinned her, snarling. Flamepaw clawed at his belly and rolled out from underneath him. Unfortunately, Dusktail managed to catch her in time, and she was tripped, landing face-down in the dirt.
            Dusktail stood over her, snarling. For a moment, he wasn't Dusktail anymore, but Korosu grinning maliciously at Flamepaw, her red eyes flashing.
            Flamepaw, not knowing what to do, froze. Tears gathered in her eyes, and she cowered in fear.
            "No! No! Don't hurt me!" Flamepaw shrieked.
            Korosu then vanished, and Dusktail stepped off of Flamepaw, confused. "I'm not going to hurt you," he admitted.
            Flamepaw rubbed her eyes with her paws. "I-I'm sorry. I thought..." She fell quiet.
            "Maybe this isn't a good idea," Dusktail decided. "Let's try hunting."
            "A-are you sure?" Flamepaw wondered.
            Dusktail nodded.
            Flamepaw, embarassed, followed her mentor through the woods. She hadn't meant to come off as a coward. Ever since her return, it'd been harder to fight. It hadn't been the first time she'd had a vision like that, and she sensed Dusktail was aware of this too. He'd been becoming more tolerable towards her problem. Still, Flamepaw didn't want this to get in the way of her training. She felt it was holding her back and keeping her from working to her best potential.
            Flamepaw sighed and continued training, wishing she wouldn't have to live in suspense or fear over something she couldn't control.