A voice reached his ears and Darkblood slowly opened his eyes, the feeling of sleep leaving his body.

"Darkblood? Good morning!"

The warrior glanced up from where he lay in his nest, and Darkblood saw Wolfblaze sitting a little beside him.

"How long have you been up?" Darkblood replied, a little groggy still. His mouth stretched in a yawn as Wolfblaze answered him.

"I woke up a little before you. It's dawn, but I thought you could use some sleep after yesterday."

Darkblood shook his head slightly, pulling himself up into a sitting position. He tried to not think of yesterday very much but his mind brought up a little, despite himself.

"I'm doing better." He answered.

"That's good." A smile appeared on Wolfblaze's face and Darkblood stretched out his muscles from where he sat.

Darkblood stayed silent for a moment before Wolfblaze spoke up again.

"I was thinking we could train the apprentices in beginner hunting tactics today."

"Together?" Darkblood asked, sending his friend a look.

"That's what we have been doing." Wolfblaze reminded him.

Darkblood nodded after a moment, his mind going back to his own apprenticeship. Then his mind shifted to when he was a mentor to two such apprentices, when he trained them both.

Stop. He told himself. Not now.

"That's a good idea." He forced himself to say, meeting Wolfblaze's gaze.

"We should go tell them then." Wolfblaze got to his paws and Darkblood followed after a few moments.

As the two warriors padded upwards out of the burrow, the dawn light spilled out onto the clearing, making the camp look bright.

Darkblood padded alongside Wolfblaze as they both walked in silence toward the Apprentice's Burrow.

They ducked inside and Darkblood caught sight of the two siblings. Being the only two apprentices in FoxClan at the moment, the two of them were curled up near each other in their own separate nests.

Surprising himself, Darkblood felt his heart warm at the moment he was watching. He froze as Wolfblaze stepped forward to wake his apprentice.

What am I doing...? Why...?

His thought was cut off as Wolfblaze spoke.

 "Stonepaw?"

The gray furred apprentice stirred in his nest. He blinked open his eyes a few times as he awoke. Glancing up at his mentor and then to his sister, Stonepaw opened his mouth.

"Sunpaw? Hey, wake up."

"Huh, what?" Sunpaw raised her head and looked at Stonepaw, before her gaze traveled to the two warriors in the den, which caused her to sit upright, followed by her brother after a moment.

"Good morning, you two." Wolfblaze said. "Darkblood and I were thinking we could teach you hunting tactics to get you started this morning. Are you two ready or do you need some time to wake up first?"

"No, I'm ready!" Sunpaw meowed, stealing a glance in Darkblood's direction. He closed his eyes for a moment, as her blue eyes met his.

She's not Silverpaw...

"Stonepaw?" Wolfblaze turned to his apprentice.

"I am ready, but I could maybe use some breakfast first." The apprentice admitted.

"That's fine. We can go find some prey to eat before we leave." Wolfblaze nodded. He looked over his shoulder at Darkblood.

"Sounds good." He replied before Wolfblaze had to speak.

Darkblood turned and led the way out of the den.

Darkblood came to the top of the small slope, with the apprentices following behind him, due to Wolfblaze having moved them up ahead of him.

The group padded over to the prey pile and Stonepaw and Sunpaw each grabbed a small bite to eat.

Wolfblaze glanced up from where he was looking for something to have.

"Are you having anything, Darkblood?"

Darkblood shook his head, turning to watch the few cats in the clearing.

Stormhawk was seated nearby, addressing the gathered clanmates for the dawn patrol. Crimsonclaw was among them, and as the patrol turned to leave the camp, the red fox padded over to where they were gathered.

"Hello everyone." He greeted them, his voice deep.

Wolfblaze ducked his head in greeting and the apprentices both looked up at the senior warrior.

Darkblood caught his old mentor's eye and he nodded his head to Crimsonclaw.

"Darkblood!" Crimsonclaw said, his eyes bright. "How have you been?"

"I've been okay." Darkblood replied to the best of his ability.

"You're a mentor now! You and Wolfblaze!" The fox exclaimed.

"I-I am.." Darkblood's voice caught and he stopped talking.

"I can't quite believe it still!"

"You have a lot of faith in us, don't you Crimsonclaw?" Wolfblaze smiled.

Crimsonclaw sent Wolfblaze a pointed look and then glanced in Darkblood's direction.

"Of course I do." He said after a moment. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Crimsonclaw!" A member of the dawn patrol called to Crimsonclaw from where they were waiting by the camp entrance.

Crimsonclaw raised his tail, signaling he was coming. He turned back to Darkblood and Wolfblaze.

"Well, good luck today!" Their clanmate told them. Wolfblaze nodded while Darkblood simply looked at his old mentor.

Crimsonclaw then turned and headed in the direction of his patrol.

"We should get going if we're all ready." Wolfblaze said, stealing a glance at Darkblood's still form.

Darkblood watched Wolfblaze rouse the apprentices, and when he turned back to Darkblood, Darkblood finally spoke up.

"Wolfblaze? Could you take Stonepaw and Sunpaw out without me to start with? I-I just remembered something I needed to do first." Darkblood met Wolfblaze's gaze, not saying more.

Wolfblaze pondered for a moment before nodding. "I can do that, Darkblood."

After a moment, Wolfblaze looked away and turned to the apprentices next to him.

"Stonepaw, Sunpaw, we can head out."

With that, he padded past Darkblood with the apprentices following after him. Out of the corner of his eye, Darkblood watched Sunpaw glance over her shoulder at him before she turned her head back around and followed Wolfblaze out of camp.

Looking away from the camp entrance, Darkblood caught sight of Stormhawk beside the Leader's Den.

The dark blue-gray deputy was staring him down, his amber eyes narrowed. Then Stormhawk turned around and padded into Adderstar's den.

Darkblood watched for a moment longer before taking a deep breath and getting to his paws. He headed for the camp entrance as thoughts began pushing at the edges of his mind.

FoxClan's territory was sprawled out in front of him and there was a slight breeze in the air, as Darkblood was sitting on a small hill, watching and thinking.

He tried to not let the thoughts in but he couldn't stop all of them. He closed his eyes.

"Darkblood?"

The warrior's eyes blinked open with a start and he whipped his head around. 

Adderstar was standing there, watching him.

"Adderstar-" He tried to say, but the leader cut him off.

"Stormhawk tells me that your apprentice is out training with Wolfblaze right now." Adderstar came and sat down beside Darkblood. "Is he correct?" Adderstar's kept his gaze focused on the territory in front of him.

He was silent for a moment.

"I'll take your silence as a yes."

Darkblood looked away from his leader and out at the fields.

"I know you've been different lately, Darkblood. I'm not going to ask why because I don't need to know, but I know this isn't how you usually are. I chose you to mentor Sunpaw because I believe you were one of the best suited warriors to train her. Was I wrong?"

"You might be..." Darkblood murmured. "I'm not..." He trailed off, beginning to hear the screams of Pinepaw echo in his head. "I'm not a good mentor..." He finished, the truth sinking its claws into him. "I'm not a good mentor to her..."

"And why do you think that, Darkblood? Have you tried?"

Darkblood opened his mouth to reply but Adderstar continued.

"I chose you to mentor Sunpaw, Darkblood, because I thought you would do the best for the clan. Your clan."

Darkblood shut his eyes, his heart beating at those words.

"Sunpaw needs a mentor. Wolfblaze can't do it all." Adderstar told him. "We're a clan, we rely on each other. Darkblood, you're a FoxClan cat. You are, I don't doubt it. And FoxClan needs you."

Darkblood could feel Adderstar's gaze drift to him and he kept his eyes closed.

"I'm a FoxClan cat...?" He asked quietly, thinking of everything against FoxClan that he had done. Scarfur and Thornscar, the Dark Forest, dividing his loyalties, not being present, being selfish.

"Yes, you are, Darkblood."

The dark warrior slowly opened his eyes.

"You just have to show it."

Darkblood finally met his leader's gaze.

"I am your leader, Darkblood, but I won't tell you what to do. I've learned that no cat really can."

Darkblood looked away from him as Adderstar chuckled, much to his surprise.

"It's your decision, Darkblood. But Sunpaw is a part of FoxClan. You just need to dedicate yourself, like I know you can do."

Darkblood looked out over the territory in front of him.

After a moment, Adderstar got to his paws and began to pad away, leaving Darkblood sitting alone.

His chest rose and fell as thoughts began to spring up. Darkblood sat in silence, the breeze ruffling his scarred fur.

When he closed his eyes, he could almost see the Dark Forest behind his eyelids. All the moments he left his clan behind, left himself behind, and all the moments the pain became too strong for him to handle.

Darkblood opened his amber eyes, pushing the thoughts away, and bringing his gaze skyward.

Taking a deep breath, Darkblood rose slowly to his paws. He then turned and walked away.

Darkblood came to a stop once Wolfblaze, Stonepaw, and Sunpaw came into his view.

He stood and watched them for a moment. Wolfblaze was crouched next to Stonepaw, looking to be saying something to him.

Darkblood's paws carried him toward them, and that's when Sunpaw looked over her shoulder, from where she had been watching Wolfblaze and Stonepaw.

"Darkblood!" Sunpaw meowed in surprise, her blue eyes widening.

"You're here!" Wolfblaze stood up, meeting Darkblood's gaze over Sunpaw's head.

Darkblood gave Wolfblaze a small nod of his head. He turned his gaze to Sunpaw.

"Has Wolfblaze taught you much so far?"

"Just the basics." Sunpaw replied, her voice smaller than before.

Darkblood thought for a moment.

"Care to show me?"