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"Lynxpaw!"

The medicine cat apprentice's paws were sore, exhaustion pulling desperately at her muscles and pleading for her to pause. As she recalled the vision from earlier that morning and her words shared with Galeflower, Lynxpaw was ignited with adrenaline and forced herself to push forward. Concern lifted her paws forward every foxlength and even when a loose pebble stubbed her paw, the she-cat bounded forward with a hastened, rushed pace.

Nightfrost lagged behind his apprentice, the tom grunting in frustration and calling out for Lynxpaw. The tom was oblivious to why Lynxpaw was desperately bolting for camp ever since she awakened from her visit to the Star Realm. The she-cat left Robinwing in a daze and Nightfrost leaping after her, the mentor clearly concerned on the sudden apprehension that wavered over Lynxpaw.

She remembered the mouse, its mouth leaking with a bubbly substance and its eyes blank. Galeflower's words echoed about in Lynxpaw's mind with every hitched breath that escaped her sore, agonized form. All of it was a hint from the Star Realm, a call for help she had failed to pinpoint and analyze until the moment she was far from the place she needed to be. Far from the cat she needed to protect.

As she scaled across the final ledge leading to RidgeClan's camp, she nearly slipped but managed to regain her balance. Her muscles ached and her breaths escaped her in ragged, swift exhales. Nightfrost finally reached her side, the tom's jaws parted with his tongue lolling at the edge of his lips. They were both struggling to keep to their paws, their chests rising and falling faster than a bolt of lightning striking the earth's surface.

Before the tom could spit out a concerned question, Lynxpaw stumbled toward the cave's immense mouth. She winced as she dragged herself forward, her ears folding back against her head. Stress overwhelmed her and anxiety fluttered about in the abyss of her stomach as she padded closer, acknowledging the commotion that buzzed inside of RidgeClan's camp.

Lynxpaw peered inside and her heart instantly dropped to her paws and dissipated. Her recent breath left her in a long, soft exhale that sunk into the atmosphere around her and bristled her tattered pelt. All that she had fought for and worked for crumbled before her and disappeared in the chilling breeze as a few specks of dust. Her hope faltered and melancholy clawed brutally at her heart. She could not help but believe this was all her fault.

RidgeClan cats gathered around the matted black and white corpse of Marshleap. Friends and kin of the benevolent, knowledgeable tom grieved their loss and others stirred about with words and questions of utter confusion. Some turned their gazes to acknowledge the presence of Lynxpaw and Nightfrost, including the amber gaze of the deputy herself.

Heroncall approached Lynxpaw and Nightfrost with worry and sorrow shadowed over her expression. The deputy examined them for a moment before she glanced over her shoulder back at Marshleap's limp body. "No one knows what happened," Heroncall muttered in explanation. "The other warriors woke to him thrashing and struggling to cry for help. We... We didn't even think of what to do before he was already gone."

Lynxpaw swallowed a barricade of anxiety forming in her throat. She found herself fighting to reconcile with her thoughts, the blame for Marshleap's death imprinted on her paws. Lynxpaw could have prevented his death if she only understood what her vision had mean't earlier. If she wasn't so petrified and cowardly.

"Let us examine him," Nightfrost spoke up to Heroncall, interrupting Lynxpaw's troublesome thoughts. Her mentor stretched forward and pressed his muzzle to the deputies ear, showing utter respect and comfort. She only nodded as she leaned into his touch. "We'll determine what happened to him, I promise."

Heroncall pulled away and whirled around to face the crowd of cats gathered around Marshleap. "Mottledpaw! Echobird! Help bring Marshleap's body to the medicine cat den," the deputy commanded, the crowd dispersing at her words.

The she-cat flashed a final glance back at Nightfrost and Lynxpaw before she padded away. Lynxpaw sighed and watched as Mottledpaw and Echobird hesitantly uplifted Marshleap's body, the two clearly at a state of shock from all the events. Her ears fell when she spotted Mossflower stumbling after them, pestering the two to ensure they were careful with her mate's body. Guilt clawed at Lynxpaw's chest when she met Mossflower's foggy, sorrowful gaze for a mere second.

"How did you know he was going to die?"

Lynxpaw's fur along her spine bristled at the chilling question Nightfrost murmured from beside her. She knew the question had been burdening his mind since the moment she warned him of danger, the she-cat fleeing to RidgeClan camp before the tom could spit back a reply. Gritting her teeth and shuffling her paws, the medicine cat apprentice took a moment to pick through her thoughts and concerns before she returned a reply.

"I dreamt of the mouse he ate before we traveled to the Moon Realm," Lynxpaw muttered in response. "Its mouth was dripping with foam and I remembered waking to see Hawkpaw carrying a mouse almost identical, saying it was a gift to Marshleap. Then at the Moon Realm, a queen named Galeflower warned me of danger amongst our clan. I... I pieced it all together. I foresaw his death and I was unable to prevent it."

Nightfrost's gaze softened at her words, Lynxpaw noticing the waver of sympathy for his apprentice visible across his expression. He inhaled a sharp breath and shuffled closer to Lynxpaw, dragging his tail across her shoulder as if attempting to comfort her. "It's not your fault at all, Lynxpaw," Nightfrost responded in a low yet audible voice. "You had no idea what it truly meant at the time, plus we have no idea whether it was a poisonous mouse that killed him or not. How about we just get in there and examine him before we blame any cat, okay?"

Lynxpaw nodded at his words, silencing herself as regret fueled through her. If the mouse was what had killed Marshleap, she had mentioned to Nightfrost that Hawkpaw had brought it to him which would make her brother a definite suspect. She knew that the tom would not harm a soul though, in fact he would even flinch if a fly passed through his line of sight. Hawkpaw would never have the intention to hurt his own mentor, who he adored and looked up to, but all the recent events still left a sliver of doubt meandering through Lynxpaw's thoughts.

The two medicine cats ventured over to the medicine cat den, where Mottledpaw and Echobird were carefully setting down Marshleap's body. Lynxpaw winced when Mottledpaw stumbled and the limp body fell, and despite it being from a shorter height, his body collapsed to the earthy floor with a thump. The calico apprentice flinched and stepped back, her panic visible from the fur bristled along her spine.

"It's okay, Mottledpaw," Nightfrost spoke up to reassure the anxious apprentice. "You're only an apprentice and... no cat around here has actually had to heave a deceased body of a fellow clanmate into our den for... a while."

Mottledpaw exhaled and nodded to the tom, but apprehension and worry still crossed the calico's visage. Nightfrost dismissed them and Lynxpaw observed as they left, their heads hung with their tails sweeping across the rocky surface below. Every cat was grieving the sudden loss of Marshleap, for he was heavily respected and a benevolent presence amongst RidgeClan. It was even worse when the possibility of murder crossed their minds.

Nightfrost then pressed closer towards Marshleap's body, his gaze flickering over the corpse. Lynxpaw dug up the courage to step over to his side, fear pricking at her pelt as the body entered her line of sight. Never had she examined a body before with an unknown cause of death, and just the mere thought of it sent a shiver down her spine.

His eyes were wide open, yet dull and empty with every ounce of life drained from them. Marshleap's fur was matted and spiked, showing an obvious sign of his thrashing even with flecks of moss and dirt caught in his pelt. The tom's claws were unsheathed and everything about his disheveled appearance could easily conclude that he was petrified of the sudden death that wavered over him. But out of all the clues and odd observations, the foam that dampened the fur around his jaw was the told an entirely different story.

"Deathberry," Nightfrost suddenly muttered under his breath, his eyes wide with panic.

Lynxpaw shuddered at his realization. Deathberries, the tiny, crimson berries that kits were kept away from at all costs. The berry was cursed with the foul threat of death, it's taste tangy and an utter sign of devastation. Why would Marshleap, a sagacious warrior, feast upon a deathberry?

"Nightfrost!"

The two medicine cats whirled around to spot Mossflower and Cottonstar enter the den. The leader and the mourning queen shared a serious, dull expression except Mossflower's was hinted with melancholy. From Cottonstar's jaw swung the exact carcass of the mouse that haunted Lynxpaw's thoughts, the apprentice holding her breath at the sight. This time though, half of it's body was ripped open.

The white furred tom dropped the carcass to the rocky surface below, the opened part of its body facing Lynxpaw and Nightfrost. Visible through the torn flesh and disrupted organs was a sliver of a red berry remaining, a terrifying image Nightfrost had predicted. The air around the cats grew still, the medicine cats shocked at the revelation while Cottonstar and Mossflower stared ahead, their gazes practically demanding answers.

"Mossflower figured this would come in use for determining his cause of death," Cottonstar stated, his eyes foggy and his movements different and eerie. It was almost as if the situation had completely erased his normal benevolent nature. "In fact, Mossflower and I believe his cause of death is now exact when this is glanced at."

Nightfrost gulped from beside Lynxpaw, the apprentice peering at her mentor from the corner of her gaze. There was no way that the mouse had swallowed that deathberry in its lifetime, otherwise it would've died and never have been brought back to camp during a hunt. The deathberry was obviously heaved through its mouth and throat into the upper, front most part of it's stomach. Lynxpaw understood this, bathed in the negative thought and her mind cursed with questions she never found herself pondering about before. Why would a cat of RidgeClan ever want to harm Marshleap, or was the prey just meant for any cat to feast upon and face a sudden fate?

"Some fleabag murdered my mate!" Mossflower spat, her tone icy causing Lynxpaw to flinch at her words. "You have to find out who did this and they must pay the price."

Nightfrost hesitated and slurred his words for a moment before he finally managed to find a response to Mossflower. "We can try-"

"You will try," Mossflower ordered, Cottonstar only nodding his head to agree with her demanding words. "My mate had a sprained paw and was resting peacefully in his den. Some cat must have brought him that mouse and I need to know who did so."

Lynxpaw froze at her words. Just a few moments ago, she had spoken to Nightfrost about how Hawkpaw had delivered the mouse to Marshleap. The molly understood from her mentor's words that he had a placid outlook upon the situation, therefore she expected him to not directly accuse her brother with no further evidence or suspicions. But then again, Lynxpaw's own mind swirled about with tiny, maniacal thoughts that doubted her brother's innocence. It was no surprise if Nightfrost's thoughts held the same doubts and accusations.

The panicked medicine cat, his expression holding a clear sign of exhaustion and mortification, breathed in and steadied himself. He dipped his head to Cottonstar and Mossflower, Lynxpaw watching with eyes wide in trepidation as she awaited his response. After a few tail flicks of silence, his jaws parted and what Lynxpaw feared the most slipped off the edge of his tongue like icy water off of a leaf.

"Lynxpaw did inform me that Hawkpaw was bringing a mouse to Marshleap as a gift, since his mentor had sprained a paw and he wished to be sincere I suppose," Nightfrost spoke up. Before the other two could respond, anger twisting their expressions, he added on swiftly to his statement. "I am not at all saying Hawkpaw would be fleabagged enough to do such a thing. I doubt-"

"You are doubting the truth!" Mossflower growled to interrupt Nightfrost, her tail lashing vigorously behind her. "He has small enough paws to stuff that deathberry down the throat of a mouse. He-"

"It's only located in the uppermost part of the stomach, closer to the entrance, any cat could've fit it in there with a few prods of a claw," Lynxpaw suddenly spat back at the she-cat, her irritation visible in her gaze and cold tone. "It's jaw is obviously broken, the way it's loose at the bottom and stretched oddly at the sides. Don't accuse my brother with such a bee-brained statement!"

Mossflower was vexed and infuriated by Lynxpaw's correction, obvious through her scrunched up muzzle and slitted eyes. Lynxpaw didn't dare flinch under her challenging gaze though, holding a still and steady posture. She could feel Nightfrost brush his tail across her's, most likely ensuring she did not fuel an argument bound to go further than it already had. Who knew a medicine cat apprentice and an expecting queen could be so argumentative with one another, but when the blood of their own kin was the problem rotting in their paws, it wasn't necessarily an unexpected situation.

The queen curled up her lip and released a snarl. "Don't correct me as if I am a kit!" Mossflower hissed at Lynxpaw, the apprentice's fur bristling. "I'll have you know I have roamed this earth and been apart of this Clan for far longer than you, apprentice. I've seen the worst and I've heard devastating tales that compare so much to this brutal murder of my mate!" Mossflower's gaze softened as it wandered and captured the agonizing sight of Marshleap's deceased body. "That mangy tom killed my love and all of the evidence leads precisely to him. You're just protecting your brother."

At her words, Lynxpaw felt an overwhelming urge to score her claws through the mourning feline's face. The molly knew that a part of her felt obligated to protect Hawkpaw because he was her brother, but none of it made sense when traced through her thoughts. Why would Hawkpaw openly present the mouse to her if he knew it held the key to Marshleap's fate?

She parted her jaws to spit back a counterargument but was hushed by the low growl rumbling in Cottonstar's throat. All of their gazes were instantly directed towards their leader, his abnormal behavior that did not at all mirror his average quirky and sincere nature posing as a strange and uneasy observation to them. His eyes were cloudy and reflected their inner doubts and sorrow encircling the situation, appearing like dew-soaked spider webs across his gaze. He practically grasped their words from their throats with his own claws, holding it in the pads of his paws and juggling his power of the situation with utter seriousness and anger.

"I demand you all to be silent at once," Cottonstar growled, holding his head up high as if he was inserting a triumphant stance over them. "There will be no more arguing. There will be no more defensive statements. There will be no more of this mouse-brained behavior."

Lynxpaw's head fell and her tail swept the earth below her at Cottonstar's demanding words. She was exhausted and irritated by the current events but the behavior of her leader shocked her and sent an eerie feeling down her spine. The molly instantly felt the urge to keep her jaws plastered shut and follow her leader's commands.

The leader scanned his gaze over the three cats before he spoke up once again. "But that does not mean this will not be explored thoroughly and properly. It is obvious to us all that his death was a murder, but in the end there is only one cat who can be blamed for it all," Cottonstar stated, his gaze casting spiders to flit across Lynxpaw's skin. "Hawkpaw will be exiled unless our medicine cats here can discover another suspect and bring forth more evidence. You two have two sunsets to make a decision and if a new suspect along with evidence is discovered by the time the second sunset ends, Hawkpaw will not be exiled the following morning."

Lynxpaw felt a growl building up within her but she managed to hold it back. Frustration pricked at her heart like a woodpecker tearing through the bark of a tree in search of a meal. There was no other valuable evidence the medicine cats had left to work with aside from information on who brought the mouse back from a hunting patrol, which was already impossible enough to figure out. Lynxpaw shifted her paws as she stared down at them, attempting to hide her irritation and pulling urge to argue with Cottonstar.

"I will hold a meeting as soon as the sun reaches its peak, but until then the night is almost over and we all deserve to catch up on the rest we've missed," Cottonstar added.

The air fell silent and still around them as Cottonstar turned and exited the den without another word. Lynxpaw expected Mossflower to flash Nightfrost and her a menacing glare before she made her departure, but instead the she-cat turned away with her head hung and exited the den.

Now the two medicine cats were left with an eerie shadow faltering over their forms as they stood between Marshleap's body and the half-eaten mouse. Lynxpaw peered out of the corner of her gaze at her mentor, who's gaze seemed to mirror his perplexed and rushed thoughts. She wanted to speak up and comfort him, perhaps even offer him an apology for her rash behavior, but he managed to speak up before she could spit up her words.

"Don't worry, Lynxpaw, I promise that we will try our hardest to prove your brother's... innocence," Nightfrost murmured, hesitating at the mention of Hawkpaw's innocence. It was clear as day that the tom doubted her brother's innocence, but she could not blame him in a time of dire needs and uncertainties. "For now, it's best that we rest so we can think clearly on this all later."

Lynxpaw only sighed, nodding in response to his statement. The tom flicked a tail over her shoulder to dismiss her from the den, the molly flashing him a weak smile before she departed the den. She couldn't help but exit with an overwhelming sensation pulling her back towards the evidence inside the medicine cat den. An immense and devastating urge to prove her brother's innocence.

She padded towards the apprentice den with her head low and tail slithering after her weary form. The exhausted molly slid into the den, her gaze scanning over the sleeping forms of her clanmates inside. Lynxpaw clenched her teeth when she spotted Hawkpaw near the back of the den, his sides rising and falling with every breath. Little did the grieving tom know that he was being accused of murdering his own mentor and inspiration.

Lynxpaw dragged herself to her nest that was diagonally set between Mottledpaw and Hawkpaw's. She nearly jumped out of her pelt when Mottledpaw churned in her nest, her green gaze peering up at Lynxpaw as if she was RidgeClan's last, designated hope. The calico blinked and their gazes met as Lynxpaw settled slowly into her nest and curled her tail comfortably around her paws.

"Is everything okay?" Mottledpaw questioning in a soft, soothing murmur.

The desperation to say everything was magnificent, honey-coated, and perfect lingered within Lynxpaw but she knew it would only be an unfortunate lie.

"It will be... eventually."