Something prodded him sharply and he lashed out, letting instinct take over. A loud yowl had his disgruntled denmates on their paws, ready for attack.

"By the stars, Squirrelpaw, don't you know better than to creep up on a-!" Firepaw was snarling, eyes wild as he relived something far away.

The ginger tom found himself staring into the shocked gaze of-.

"Forestheart?! Great StarClan, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you at all-!" Firepaw yelped as he scrambled to release his father.

"Clearly." Darkpaw chuckled, flicking a tired paw.

"Shut up, T- Darkpaw!" The ginger tom hissed to his former half-brother.

"Who-." The confused tom was cut off by Sandpaw's disapproving mew.

"Please tell me you didn't-."
"Of course not!" Firepaw groused. Sandpaw glared at her friend, and the fiery tom deflated. "Maybe once or twice…" More glaring and Firepaw sank into his nest. "I had nightmares, okay?! How am I supposed to tell-."
"Um, Firepaw?" Bluepaw approached her former apprentice warily. "We should probably see what Forestheart wants."

"Who? Bluestar, what are you talking about?" Bluepaw gulped and cast a wary glance at the warrior among them.

"Come with me, Firepaw. You need to see Yellowfang."

"I'm fine!" Firepaw snapped, shaking himself out. "It was nothing, just a dream. I take it we have dawn patrol? It feels too early to be awake."

"Yes," Whitepaw meowed. "Some of us do."
"Alright, who's going? I assume that's what you're here to tell us." He grumbled, turning to the older warrior.

"Y- yes, I was going to wake you, Cinderpaw and Darkpaw." The grey tom meowed. "You, your mentors and Lakestar, make up the patrol."

So Birchheart, Forestheart, and Nightstep would be joining them… great. And he'd basically given himself away to his father, of all cats!

"Great StarClan, how mouse-brained am I?!" He scowled as he stalked out of the den.

"Fireh-."

"Cinderpaw, I'm not in the mood. Go with Ti- Darkpaw, catch up with the rest of the patrol. I bet they're waiting for us at the entrance."

The grey she-cat dipped her head and her mumbled reply of "Yes, Fireheart." Made Forestheart's eyes widen in surprise.

"What-?"

"We'll talk later, dad, I swear, but I can't right now. I need to clear my head before anything else happens." Firepaw meowed. He turned to the others.

"I probably ruined everything." He warned in a self-deprecating growl.

"All we can do is pick up from here and hope for the best." Bluepaw sighed. "StarClan watches us still, Firepaw. Remember that."

"Always." He dipped his head before following his father to the the others.

"What took you so long?" Nightstep wondered.

"Firepaw had a nightmare, was all. He should be fine now." The grey tom assured the others.

"Let's go." Firepaw growled to the apprentices and stalked into the forest.

The lake hadn't changed much since he'd been around, and he was glad to say that he knew almost every pawstep of the land they patrolled.

By the time the others caught up with him, he had caught a squirrel and was well on his way to stalking a bird that pecked a branch halfway up a tree. He flicked his tail for silence. The others fell quiet, once they realized what he was so focused on.

The woodpecker, sensing that something was wrong, began to flap its tiny wings at lightning speed, a buzzing noise emanating from it. Firepaw sprang, knocking it out of the air and sending the dazed bird tumbling toward the ground, where Cinderpaw killed it with a quick bite to its throat.

Firepaw righted himself and landed on solid paws, giving a small bounce from the force and crouching to lessen the impact.

"Well done, Cinderpaw. First catch was very impressive. The orange tom chuckled. "And on the first try, as well."

"Couldn't have climbed the tree, that's for sure." The grey apprentice snorted.

"You'll get used to it." Darkpaw assured her. "That was a fine kill, nonetheless."

Cinderpaw grinned at her older brother and her former mentor. The adults watched, slightly amused, as they tried to make sense of what had just occurred.

"You shouldn't have gone off without us, Firepaw. This is only your third or fourth time out. You don't know what could be lurking in the bushes, and you have no right to ignore us and try to order us around. If we hadn't seen what you were doing, I'm sure Birchheart would have clawed your ears off for such a move." Lakestar scolded.

"He-!" Firepaw cut Darkpaw off with a look.

"You're right, I was out of line. I have a squirrel buried back there and Cinderpaw caught her first piece of prey. I knew what I was doing, to some extent, but since you are the leader, I do trust your judgement and I will follow your orders."

"Sandpaw's going to laugh when she finds out why you're in trouble." Cinderpaw snickered. "Just think, getting chewed out by the leader."

"No doubt she will." The former leader snorted.

"Shall we continue?" Birchheart growled impatiently. The light grey, spotted she-cat didn't have much time for games, and Cinderpaw often figured she was so snooty because she was mates with Lakestar. How conceited would she be if she were a crippled warrior with no one to care for her, the former medicine cat often wondered.

"Of course." Cinderpaw purred sweetly. Darkpaw's face mirrored Cinderpaw's thoughts and the grey she-cat brushed past the black tom on her way to bury the freshly-killed bird. With that, Firepaw turned to pad deeper into the forest. If only they knew…

Firestar was sick of all of this. The warriors treated him like he was a joke and it was hard enough, waking up to realize that his entire life was gone while he was in StarClan.. Now he had to act normal around a bunch of strange cats while the friends and family he once had were so close yet so painfully far away…

He raced through the forest, not caring as the branches whipped his pelt and the undergrowth tore at his fur. The only good thing about being back in ThunderClan was that he was used to the territory… which was why he stopped when he did.

More that a few fox-lengths away, were a group of ShadowClan warriors, presumably checking their borders as well. Among them were two brown tabbies who were eerily familiar. One had darker stripes and more scars and the other's tail hung limply against one of his back legs. They were the first to notice him.

He froze. Tigerclaw… and Brokenstar? They had identical smirks on their faces, and Tigerclaw winked at him! The two brown toms were clearly apprentices, though more around Bluestar-paw's age than his own.

"We meet again, kittypet." Brokenstar sneered.

"Watch your back, Firepaw." Tigerclaw growled. "I will find you, and I'll enjoy every second watching the life leave your eyes."

"Tigerpaw! Stripepaw! We're leaving!" Firepaw backed away slowly, not taking his eyes off of the ShadowClan apprentices until they started to pad after their mentors.

That was when Cinderpaw appeared, with Darkpaw not far behind.

"Firepaw! There you are! Why'd you run off like that…? Are you alright?"

Darkpaw had his eyes trained on the two tabbies as they padded away.

"One of them looks… familiar, almost." He commented. "Is that-?"

"Tigerclaw!" Cinderpaw whimpered, shrinking into Firepaw's side.

"That's the arrogant furball who thought he could use my cats and get away with it!" Scourge sneered. "Could use me and get away with it!" The dark tom made to race after them. "I'm going to prove him wrong!"

Firepaw snapped out of his daze and knocked the black tom away from the border.

"Why did you do that?!" Darkpaw snapped.

"It's not ShadowClan we fight, Darkpaw! Yes, Tigerclaw wronged you, he wronged the entire forest, but so did you, and you don't see me about to rip your fur off!" The ginger tom snarled. "There's a time and a place for everything, Darkpaw. Now is not the time, and this is definitely not the place. We're at peace with the Clans, and things need to stay that way for a while."

"Wise words, for one so young." The adults had caught up with them, and witnessed part of the argument. It was Forestheart who spoke aloud, but Firepaw blocked him out, focusing on the two apprentices.

"What do we tell the others?" Cinderpaw asked meekly.
"The truth, of course." Darkpaw offered. "It's likely that they already know. Some of them, anyway."

Firepaw turned to the adults.

"Can we go back to camp, please?" He growled out. Lakestar nodded, stunned, and the ginger tom tore off, with Cinderpaw and Darkpaw on his heels.

"Firepaw found Brokenstar and Tigerclaw!" Cinderpaw wailed when the three apprentices reached the den. Whitepaw was in his nest, although he looked far more alert, so he likely went out. Ravenpaw shot up and his head hit the roof.

"Ow!" He yelped.

Silverpaw whimpered and curled into Greypaw, who stood taller with unsheathed claws.

"We cannot let those fox-dung excuse for traitors wreck the forest again!" He growled.

"Hold on, Greypaw!" Whitepaw snapped. "Did they say anything?"
"I'm sorry, Whitestorm… it's them. Brokenstar called me a kittypet and Tigerclaw told me the same thing he did in the old forest."

"What are we going to do?" Silverpaw wondered.

"We're all apprentices. What can we do?" Greypaw scoffed.

"Lakestar wants to talk to you, Firepaw. He seemed pretty upset. You too Cinderpaw, Darkpaw." Nightstep poked his head into the den to relay the news and the three named cats nodded and followed him to the leader's den. Forestheart, Gingerpelt, Birchheart, and Lakestar, were all waiting for them in the den. Nightstep joined the adults and Lakestar spoke once everyone was settled.

"Our apprentices have been acting strange lately." He began. "Firepaw, in particular, caused a fair amount of trouble today."
The ginger tom let out something of a low growl and flexed his claws. "He seems to think we've switched places."
Cinderpaw cut everyone off with a soft snicker, hunching over with effort.

"I'm sorry, it's something I remembered from a dream. Please, continue."
"See?!" Birchheart snapped. "This good-for-nothing apprentice dares to challenge my mate-."
Cinderpaw leapt to her paws and opened her mouth to speak, but Firepaw cut her off with a flick of his tail. She deflated, with a furious gleam in her eyes.

"That!" Nightstep exclaimed. "Why are you doing that? Better yet, why are they listening?! Even the best of leaders aren't able to be so commanding with one move!"

"Then clearly you know nothing of leadership." Darkpaw sneered. Firepaw rolled his eyes and got to his paws.

"Throw it all away, why don't you?!" He snapped.

"Don't be so foolish, Ginger. They were going to find out anyway."

"Don't call me that. That's my mother's name."

"It's also the color of your fur." Darkpaw deadpanned.

"If you insist, Blackfur." He scowled.

"Just call me Blackie. You'll get the hang of it."

"Sure thing, Blackie, now what do we tell them?"

"The truth, of course. There's no way around it."

"Then we need to consult the others first. This involves them just as much as it does me."

"It disturbs me, how eager you are to bring your friends down with you." Darkpaw offered.

"That's not it at all." Cinderpaw objected. "He's thinking more about how they would react to being left out. Especially Sandst-paw. StarClan knows she'd claw your ears off."

"Got that right... and use my fur to line her nest."

"What are you calling each other outside of being apprentices?" Forestheart wondered.

"It's a game!" Cinderpaw blurted out. "We formed our own Clan, decided our names and everything. It's awesome, just ask any of the other apprentices!"

"And how do you play this so-called game?" Lakestar wondered. Firepaw brightened significantly. Clever one, Cinderpaw!

"Well, for starters, it's supposed to stop once we become warriors because you might think we're strange, otherwise. We're imitating a Clan, you see? We choose our leader and deputy, which, at the moment are Bluestar and Fireheart. I'm Cinderpelt, and this is Darkflight. The others are Greystripe, Ravenwing, Whitestorm, Sandstorm, Dustpelt, Yellowfang, and Silverstream. Fireheart wasn't deputy for long because Bluestar got severely injured in a badger attack. She was forced to step down because she couldn't be a warrior anymore, so Fireheart had to do a lot on his own as he transitioned."

"And what are you, in this game?" Nightstep wondered.

"I was going to be a warrior, but my leg got twisted in a fox trap so I might be a medicine cat. I've been following Shallowfern and Yellowfang long enough to get some skill out of it."

"Not if I can help it." Firepaw groused. Cinderpaw rolled her eyes and turned a serious look on the bright orange tom. "My leader you may have been, but you do not control the stars. Remember that, Firestar, before your arrogance becomes your downfall."

"Of course, oh wise medicine cat." The ginger tom dipped his head. "Anyway, Yellowfang has retained her status as medicine cat while the rest of us are warriors. So we do have a reason for acting how we do, but apparently Firepaw doesn't know when to stop being such a mouse-brain!"

"Yes, well being leader is not something you forget overnight. Your talent for herbs will serve you well, even as a warrior. I think we can forgive some of your rash behavior, but keep this game in the apprentice den."

"Yes, Lakestar." The three cats chorused.

"Clever, kit." Darkpaw snickered.

"Clever indeed. Well done, Cinderpaw. You've got them off our backs for now."

"It was the most I could think of at the time." The grey female admitted. "There are probably some holes..."

"Don't fret, Cinderpaw. You did well enough, for being put on the spot like that. It's better than anything we could have come up with, that's for sure." Firepaw offered.

"What did Lakestar want?"

Firepaw didn't get to know Silverpaw as well as he wanted to back in the old forest, but as the silver she-cat raced toward her new siblings, he couldn't help but admire her. She was able to fit in so easily with cats she hardly knew before they all ended up here. Scourge wasn't around when she was and she'd only met Cinderpelt twice, once on her deathbed, and that was a brief, sad meeting for everyone. The fact that she reacted so genuinely for cats she barely knew gave Firepaw hope that he would be able to do the same.

"We kind of messed up on the patrol because I'm still adjusting to being an apprentice. It was hard enough in the old forest, when I didn't know anything. This, after being leader for seasons, is infuriating!" Firepaw wailed. "I just have to get used to it, is all."

"You did have an unusual time of things, I'll give you that." Whitestorm -paw, Whitepaw! meowed honestly. "But nothing is considered normal when you're a warrior. We have to be prepared as best we can, and that means fitting in and figuring out who else was reborn alongside us."