The Dawn of Night | A Warriors Fanfiction ✔

Chapter 7

Moonpaw's ear twitched crossly as Maplestar organized the patrol that would be going to the Gathering. She listed her littermates - except for Bluepaw, who had to stay in the medicine cat den in case anything happened - and Falconpaw, Redpaw, Sunpaw, Fogpaw, and Forestpaw, but not Moonpaw, Beepaw or Tinypaw. Her tailed lashed the ground in annoyance.

"Why do we have to stay?" she muttered angrily, sitting down in her nest as she watched the patrol leave.

Beepaw and Tinypaw shrugged. "Dunno," they replied, almost bored.

"Don't you guys even care?" Moonpaw glared at them.

They shook their heads.

"We've already been to a Gathering," Beepaw pointed out.

"Right," Moonpaw sighed, curling up in the moss. She rested her head on her forepaws. Beepaw touched his nose to the tip of her ear.

"You'll get to go next Gathering, I bet," he murmured in her ear.

Moonpaw nodded. Then a thought crossed her mind, and she bolted up into a sitting position.

"Hey, guys," she began, "we should go hunting!" Her eyes gleamed as the other apprentices nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good," they meowed, their eyes bright.

"Then let's go!" Moonpaw lead the way out of the den, rushing to the back entrance. Her mind flashed as she remembered that day as a kit, sneaking out of the nursery with Fogpaw. Her heart ached as she bitterly remembered him being chosen to go to the Gathering without her. She shook her head, pushing out of camp.

"Where are you guys going to go?" she asked as they padded into the trees. Tinypaw nodded towards the opposite direction.

"I'll go that way. You and Beepaw can go the other," she replied, her eyes glowing mischievously.

"Why-" Moonpaw began to protest.

Tinypaw shrugged innocently. "Bye, guys!" She bounded off into the forest.

Moonpaw faced Beepaw, her cheeks growing hot in embarrassment.

"I-I..." She was at a loss of words. The orange tabby tom blinked warmly at her.

"Why are you acting so weird?" he laughed.

"Nothing," she responded awkwardly. "I guess I'll go that way." She pointed her tail into the trees, racing off. She paused, breathing in the scents that steadily drifted towards her.

She jumped as she felt fur brushing her flank. She turned her head to the side, seeing Beepaw beside her. She sighed, trying to ignore him, afraid of making a fool of herself.

"I smell shrew," she finally reported. Beepaw nodded.

"Then go after it, mouse-brain!" he teased. Moonpaw briefly gazed into his dark, yellow eyes and saw genuine warmth. She nodded. Dropping into a crouch, she crept toward a bush, sliding her paws softly in front of her. Her ear flicked forward as she heard the shrew scuttling under the bush. She paused and pounced. But in the split second she paused, her prey had detected her. It fled out of the bush, streaming quickly over the leafy ground. Moonpaw bounded after it, but its speed surprised her. It quickly bounded over the open ground, and Moonpaw picked up her pace. It kept running, but her paws dragged beneath her as she dropped to the ground, heaving in ragged breaths.

Suddenly Moonpaw felt as if she couldn't breathe. She breathed in and out, but her breaths were forced and uneven. She whimpered softly, coughing madly.

"Beepaw!" she managed to screech. She heard paws race through the forest, and weakly lifted her head to see Beepaw rush towards her.

"What happened!" he breathed.

Moonpaw shook her head weakly as, slowly, her breath seemed to come back.

"I-I..." she coughed. "I was chasing the shrew," she whispered. "It was fast!" Her eyes widened as she remembered the thrill of the hunt. "But as I ran faster it got harder to breathe, until I felt like I couldn't." She stared at Beepaw, whose eyes were wide. His jaws moved, but no words came.

"Sp-Sparrowkit," he finally whispered, staring in horror into Moonpaw's icy blue eyes.

"What?" Moonpaw was confused. He shook his head and rushed to her side, pressing his cheek against hers.

"You'll be fine," he choked. 

"What?" But as Moonpaw asked, realization flooded her mind. She had overheard Bluepaw talking with Emberfur and how Sparrowkit had died because his lungs were too small to allow him to properly breathe. Moonpaw's eyes stretched wide in fear.

"Me, too?" she whispered. "I have it, too?" She blinked her eyes sadly as Beepaw helped her to her paws. He paused, then nodded.

"I don't know," he murmured as Tinypaw wildy burst through the trees.

"What happened?" she demanded, her gaze resting on Moonpaw.

"Moonpaw!" She rushed over to prop her up, as she was beginning to sink lower on her paws.

Moonpaw glanced at them. She was breathing steadily now, and strength gradually flooded back into her paws. "I'm fine now, guys," she smiled weakly.

Beepaw looked her over. "I know. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Moonpaw flashed a grateful look at him as he reassured Tinypaw.

"She's fine now, really," he was meowing. "I can tell the hard breathing was only temporary. But you should run back to camp and tell Bluepaw what's happened."

Tinypaw eyed him suspiciously, but nodded, racing toward camp.

As soon as she was gone Moonpaw turned to the tom. "Er... thank you," she murmured. "I'm fine now." She paused, gazing into Beepaw's eyes, feeling more confident. "But what's you send Tinypaw off for?" she teased.

Beepaw stifled a mu-row of laughter. Then his eyes grew serious. "We have to do something about this disorder," he told Moonpaw. She nodded hesitantly.

"Yea... Look what it did to me back there..." Her eyes suddenly grew wide. "Bluepaw mustn't tell anyone about this. What if it keeps me from becoming a warrior? I don't know what else I could do!"

Beepaw nodded. "We'll make sure no one finds out other than Tinypaw and Bluepaw."

"Thanks, Beepaw."

"Sure. And," he added, "I'm glad we went hunting together. It was fun! Well... up until when you sort of ran out of breath..." Beepaw hesitated, then gave her ear a friendly lick.

Moonpaw gazed at him, confident she had made a new friend. "Thanks for being so kind to me," she mewed happily.

Beepaw gave his chest a quick embarrassed lick. "Sure. And thanks for hunting with me again, even if it didn't quite turn out well." He looked back up and purred warmly.

"Yea," she murmured. "It was fun up until then. But we should get home. I'll bet Bluepaw's waiting for me."

Beepaw nodded, guiding her up to camp, his fur lightly brushing hers a few times.

"Go see Bluepaw," he advised, briefly pressing his cheek against hers. With that he trotted off to the apprentices' den, his tail flicking happily behind him. When he disappeared from sight, Moonpaw made her way to the medicine den. She cast a quick longing glance at the apprentice den, but pushed into the den without a word.