Lionpaw awoke in the forest, his eyes squinting in the dark, dim lighting. He felt mud squish under his paws.

"Good, you're here. We have much to discuss." Tigerstar moved to the apprentice's side, brushing him as if in comfort. "Walk with me."

Lionpaw followed closely, watching Tigerstar. The leader was more of a father to him than anyone else had ever been, and he trusted him.

"Do you know what we do with cats who steal the ones we love from us?" Tigerstar said softly, looking at Lionpaw.

"No...." he whispered back, his ears flattened slightly.

"We take our love back. We kill the one who stole them." Tigerstar replied softly, licking Lionpaw's ears back up until they stood tall. "Don't let that stupid fool keep your she cat from you. She doesn't really love him, you know."

Lionpaw sighed, looking away. "I can't do anything about it. I'm too weak to fight them both...." he mumbled.

"You are NOT weak." The leader cuffed Lionpaw hard over the head. "Unless of course, you DON'T want to take your Swiftflame back. Then you are weak and stupid."

"Of course I want to take her back, I love her!" Lionpaw snapped, finally losing his temper.

"Then listen to me, and do exactly as I say." Tigerstar said, watching Lionpaw. "You wait. Wait for them to have kits. No doubt they will." he said, making sure he kept Lionpaw's attention. "When the kits are born, you will get close to them. Show them you're better than Venomstar. He will grow jealous of how close you are, and Swiftflame will see just what she missed out on. Then you'll kill Venomstar, and she will be with you. The kits, however, have to die too. Toss them in a river." Lionpaw nodded.

"How long will this take...?" he asked quietly.

"Two or three moons. Enough time for you to mature enough to become leader." Tigerstar smirked.

"L-leader?" Lionpaw's pelt prickled with unease.

"Leader." Tigerstar chuckled, swatting his ears. "You'll make a great leader." He purred.

"You really think so?" Lionpaw blinked. "I don't. Leaders suck." Tigerstar hissed at this remark and clawed his ears harshly.

"Watch your words." the leader snarled. "The leaders you've met are weak. I am not." Lionpaw's bleeding ears flattened in shame. "And if you are weak, I will not make you leader, nor will you get Swiftflame back."

"I'm not weak...." Lionpaw muttered, almost as if to convince himself. Tigerstar watched him and snorted.

"You had better not be. You know what we do with weak links around here." He bared his fangs a moment. "Speaking of weak links, I've got a job for you- practice, if you will." He chuckled.

Lionpaw sighed. He'd probably be made to fight someone or something. He didn't care what, he was probably going to have to do it, even if it was Tigerstar telling him to smear dung all over his face.

"You're going to kill a weak link. Applepaw. She isn't doing well, and she snitched to her clan's leader about our operations here." Tigerstar's lip curled back.

"Why me?" Lionpaw blinked. He'd trained with Applepaw, she was fierce. She certainly wouldn't go down without a fight, but he'd beaten her before. He'd just have to be careful.

"She doesn't deserve the mercy of my claws. She is and was a waste of my time, plus you need the practice. Go on, she's with Darkstripe." Tigerstar shoved Lionpaw in that direction.

Lionpaw gave a quiet but harsh hiss, and slowly stalked off towards Applepaw, his tail lashing in irritation. Sometimes Lionpaw felt as if Tigerstar just didn't want to do the dirty work himself, which made Lionpaw, in essence, a fetcher. A servant. A slave.

Yet- Tigerstar was always kind to him. He had always been a father figure for the young tom, and he did respect the leader.

"What're you here for?" Applepaw muttered as Lionpaw approached.

"You." Lionpaw snarled, sending a powerful blow to Applepaw's head. She shrieked and lashed out at his chest, clawing him.

Lionpaw ignored the blood dripping down his chest and lunged sharply at her, his larger body easily moving her smaller one. As he bowled her over, his back paws scraped on her belly, tearing the soft flesh of her belly. Applepaw retaliated by clawing Lionpaw's muzzle and biting one of his front paws. Lionpaw recoiled in shock, hissing at her before snapping his jaws around her leg and dragging her around.

"Let me GO!" Applepaw shrieked, flailing desperately. Lionpaw just kept clamping his jaws down. Soon there was a loud snap, and Applepaw screamed bloody murder.

Lionpaw used all the remaining force in his jaws to fling her like a ragdoll at a tree. Once her head hit the tree she fell completely unconscious. After approaching her, Lionpaw slit her throat with his claw, her blood spilling onto his paws and pooling warm and sticky below his paw pads.

"Well done." Tigerstar praised. "You must get your paws dirty sometimes, if a convenient way to kill your target does not present itself. I figured you already understood this lesson from the way you killed your parents."

"Yes. I'll do what I need to do." Lionpaw replied with a slight smile, lapping the blood from his paws.

"Good, good. You may return home, you've done well. Rest up, Lionpaw. Your future races towards you like the wind." Tigerstar chuckled, and Lionpaw's vision slowly went black.