Tales From The Broken {COMPLETE}

Poppyfur's Betrayal -Chapter 5-

Poppypaw walked with pride and excitement towards the gathering hollow. This was her first gathering as a medicine cat apprentice, she was so excited to share the news with Branchpaw. Surely he would proud of her, his brother was a medicine cat too! Her paws itched to see the LichenClan apprentice, she wondered how his training was going. This time during the gathering, Poppypaw would have a proper place to sit. She would sit at the base of the great trees along with the other medicine cats, where she belonged.

"There's the others." Honeywing mewed upon seeing the other medicine cats. They approached them and exchanged kind greetings before the gathering started. Poppyfur didn't listen much of what the leaders had to say, instead her green eyes scanned the crowd for Branchpaw. Usually he was with his mentor, but since Elmheart had become deputy he sat near the tree with Jumpstar.

She couldn't find any sign of the LichenClan apprentice and her heart started to ache slightly. I wanted to share the news with him. She thought sadly. Still, maybe I can find him once the announcements are done. Poppypaw waited rather impatiently for the leaders to finish and once they did she began to bound off.

"Where are you going?" Honeywing questioned, her green eyes curious.

"I wanted to find my friend," Poppypaw explained. "I want to tell him that I'm a medicine cat apprentice now."

Something was off about Honeywing's gaze, but she nodded. "Alright, just listen for the call to go home." Poppypaw promised she would before rushing into the crowd of Clan cats. She kept her eyes peeled for Branchpaw's dark pelt. Her heart skipped slightly when she finally spotted him talking to Crowpaw of AshClan.

Poppypaw padded up to him. "Hi there." She purred kindly. Branchpaw turned to look at her, happiness flashing in his dark eyes.

"Hey there." Branchpaw mewed, then looked at Crowpaw. "You'll have to let me know how your assessment goes." With that, the AshClan apprentice vanished into the crowd. "I was looking for you, where have you been?"

"I was with the other medicine cats." Poppypaw explained, her paws twitching with excitement.

"The other medicine cats? Are you--"

"Yep!" Poppypaw couldn't even wait for him to finish the question. "I'm Honeywing's apprentice now. I couldn't be happier." For a moment something sad flashed in Branchpaw's dark gaze, but it quickly lightened.

"Well I'm happy for you. You certainly seem a lot happier." He looked her over. "How's the training?"

"I love it, I know most cats would think herbs are boring but I couldn't think of anything I'd rather be doing."

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine being stuck sorting leaves." Branchpaw chuckled. "You know," He swayed his tail. "My offer still stands."

"Your offer?" Poppypaw tilted her head, wondering what Branchpaw meant. Did I miss something?

"To help you with fighting." Branchpaw mewed. "I know you're a medicine cat, but that doesn't mean you're invincible. You could find yourself in a bad situation and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Poppypaw's heart fluttered and her pelt warmed up. "Oh," She stammered. "Well, I guess I could use some training like that." She hated battle training as a warrior apprentice, but surely it wouldn't be as bad if she was still a medicine cat apprentice.

"How about..." Branchpaw thought for a moment. "Two nights from now, we can meet here and I can show you some awesome moves."

"At...night?" Poppypaw mewed, her heart aching slightly. "You mean," She lowered her voice. "We would sneak out?"