Aquapaw stumbled through the undergrowth, not even glancing back to check if Death was following her. "Aquapaw, wait up!" Death yowled, speeding after the she-cat. "I'm in no mood to talk, especially not to you," she growled, her legs only pumping faster. "Look, I just wanted to apologize-" he began, but she interrupted him. "Saying a puny sorry won't bring Skykit back!" She spun around, a sudden fierceness in her eyes. She bared her teeth and unsheathed her claws.

Death slowed carefully, flicking his tail uncertainly as he approached the grief-driven apprentice. "I trusted you with my sister... I trusted you with her life! You scoundrel!" Aquapaw screeched, tears making her vision blurry. "I gave you one job, one responsibility, and you FAILED!" she hissed in absolute rage. "I'm so sorry, I'm very sorry," Death meowed meekly. "Sorry isn't enough, you fox-heart!" she exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief.

He was silent, and when she stalked off, he eventually spoke. "You can't find your friends without me. What about the deal?" She perked up, thought of a response, and slowly turned around, her eyes blazing. "My sister is dead, my brother is dead, my father is insane, so I only have my mother," she snarled.

"The deal is over."

Death stared at Aquapaw in total shock. "Her death wasn't my fault! Wasn't that oh-so-not brilliant idea yours?" he shot at her. She sighed. "That pesky fox did it," she mewed in a choked, forced tone. "Instead of saving Skykit, you saved me. Mouse-brain!" she cursed.

Silence.

"Well?" she demanded. Death spoke slowly, carefully, as if they were the last words of his life. They might be, because she highly considered making him pay his life for killing her innocent sister. "Skykit was just an average kit. You are a prophesied apprentice." "I'm tired of all this prophecy dung!" she whispered, exhaustion crashing down on her at once. Death gazed at her solemnly. "I want the deal back on," he suddenly declared with a cool expression and calmness in his tone.

"I would never accept the deal. i would never consider it, not even if StarClan tore down this world and every single one of them die! Perhaps even longer," Aquapaw vowed. They stared at each other, unflinching. "Then I'll have to tear the life out of you for it.'

Death offered Aquapaw a cruel, crooked smile.