Hollystar limped back to camp, with Nightfall letting her lean on his shoulder as they walked. When they got there, she saw Badgerpaw lying by the fresh-kill pile with his head down. Firepaw raced over to him and started licking his ruffled pelt, he didn't budge.
"It's not your fault," Firepaw murmured, "it was the fox's fault."
"But I could've stopped it!" he protested.
"You didn't know it was there."
"And I'm still here," Hollystar pointed out.
"But it's my fault you lost a life!"
"No it isn't," Blackpelt growled, "she saved you and you don't even thank her? You just sit there, growling to yourself!"
"Calm down, Blackp-"
"No!" Blackpelt interrupted, "I'm tired of having an apprentice that just sits and whines when he thinks that something's his fault!"
"Fine!" Bagderpaw snarled, "If you don't like it, then I'll leave!"
"No you won't!" Nightfall stepped in, "Stop arguing, all of you! Badgerpaw, it's not your fault, stop blaming yourself," he added.
I've made up my mind," Badgerpaw declared.
Before anyone could even question him, he raced out of the camp and ran away. When Nightfall tried to chase him, Hollystar heard hissing and growling and a shriek. Nightfall came back into camp with a deep scratch on his cheek, then she saw Dawnpaw race to his with a wad of moss.
Nightfall sat beside Hollystar, "I could've easily scratched him for this but I just couldn't"
She licked the blood from his cheek, "He's your kit, you wouldn't be able to hurt him for anything."
"We can't just let him go!" Oakpaw hissed.
"It's hard," she meowed, "but we have to let him if this is what he really wants."
"Aren't you worried?" Firepaw asked.
"More than anything, but I'm not going to force him to stay if he doesn't want to."
She padded to her den and Snowstorm followed, "Why are you letting him go?"
Hollystar sighed, "Before I even heard of the clan-when I was a kittypet-I had a dream. A cat said 'A cat you love will run away, thinking that he doesn't belong with you'"
"What if the cat meant Nightfall?"
"She didn't. After she left, there was a tuft of black and white fur sitting right beside my paw-and it wasn't hers, she had light grey fur."
"But now the question is, will he ever come back?"
Hollystar stiffened. Will he ever come back?
