Dewpaw sighed, looking away as he sat down. "Sometimes I just get so frustrated with myself I want to scream. I come here to do that, because I feel like that's not the best thing to do in the middle of camp. Can I keep doing that?" Duckwing glanced over at Coppershine. "Um… well, Dewpaw, hopefully we can help you to not want to scream."
Coppershine glanced back at Duckwing, and her demeanor softened. “Yeah, you can come talk to us! You’re under a lot of stress ‘cause of your position in clan, with all the prophecies and stuff. You can totally be angry or upset, but you have to learn to be healthy about it.” She paused. “Sorry if I sound pushy. I just don’t wanna see you hurting yourself,” she said quietly.
"It's probably a bit late for that…" Duckwing lifted up one of Dewpaw's small paws with his own larger ones. Dewpaw's paw pads were scraped up and bleeding from destroying the bark on the trees. Dewpaw pulled his paw away, huffing.
“Come on, bud! You can’t do that! You’re supposed to stop us from hurting ourselves, mousebrain!” Coppershine scolded good-naturedly. She padded over to Dewpaw, and tugged his paw closer to examine it herself. “Yeesh. That’s not fun. You want a cobweb for it or something?”
Dewpaw didn't respond, just silently pulling his paw away again and hanging his head. "Hey, kid, we're not angry with you." Duckwing said softly. "C'mon, we'll take you back to camp." Dewpaw shook his head and Duckwing looked over at Coppershine helplessly.
Coppershine nodded at him in what she hoped was a reassuring way. “O-okay, then what do you want to do, Dewpaw? You can’t keep going like this.”
Dewpaw stepped backwards a few steps, not speaking. "Dewpaw?" Duckwing watched him curiously. Dewpaw suddenly started running. "Dewpaw!" Duckwing ran after him.
Coppershine ran to catch up with Duckwing. “What does he think he’s doing?” she huffed.
"I don't know! He's gonna get himself hurt! Dewpaw!" Duckwing kept chasing the scared apprentice. Dewpaw was hyperventilating by now, his heart racing. He wasn't thinking clearly; he just needed to get away.
“Dewpaw! Slow down!“ Coppershine called as she ran. Suddenly, the scent of the forest shifted to something darker and stranger. “Duckwing! We just crossed the BoneClan border!” she yelled, panicked.
Duckwing's heart jumped into his throat. "Dewpaw, stop!" Dewpaw didn't listen, only darting between trees faster than Duckwing could. He put some distance between them and soon got tackled by a Boneclan warrior.
((hey guys I'm back))
((I'mma be the Boneclan warrior))
The huge brown Tom pinned Dewpaw, digging his claws into the apprentices shoulders. "Why are you on Boneclan territory?" He hissed
"Let go of him! He doesn't know what he's doing!" Duckwing cried out desperately, trying to get through the bushes. Dewpaw didn't struggle. He just froze, quietly panicking.
"Timberfrost!" A voice sounded from behind them. "That's the medicine cat apprentice! Let him go!" It was the Boneclan medicine cat! Reluctantly, the Tom let Dewpaw free
Coppershine skidded to a stop beside Duckwing. “It was an accident, I swear. We are all very sorry,” she panted.
"And why should I believe you?" He snarled, baring his teeth.
Dewpaw didn't stand up, still frozen in place. "Dewpaw?" Duckwing managed to get over to him. "Sorry… he's very scared right now and I'm not sure what's going through his mind."
"Fine." He meowed. "But if you step foot in our hunting grounds again, you'll all be crowfood." He turned and padded off.
"That was a very risky stunt you just pulled, Dewpaw." Duckwing picked Dewpaw up by the scruff and started walking back.
“You coulda gotten really badly hurt- but I know that’s not what you want to hear right now. So, whatta ya wanna do that’s within Clan territory?” she asked. Coppershine looked at Duckwing. “Maybe you could put him down? He’s been through enough today.”
Duckwing shook his head slightly. "I'm taking him back to camp. He's too terrified to move anyways. Look at him." Dewpaw was indeed still frozen, his tail curled up between his legs.
She ducked down to look Dewpaw in the eyes. “Hey there, I’m sorry you’re scared right now. Nod to me if you wanna head back to camp, shake your head if you wanna just chill here and calm down. Either way is okay with us.” She looked up at Duckwing. “Right?”
Duckwing nodded and Dewpaw hesitated before shaking his head. Duckwing set him down gently. "I… I-I can't go to camp all worked up like this…"
“That’s fine! Let’s just stay here for a minute,” Coppershine said with a smile. “Say, what did you see in the Moonpool last night? I was meaning to ask you.”
"That's… one of the things I'm troubled about. I saw a vision with swarms of bats and hornets destroying everything…" Duckwing looked over at Coppershine nervously, remembering the names of the new kits.
Coppershine returned the nervous look. “Uh, bats and hornets? By chance, have you met your new siblings? And learned their names? Cause I don’t like where this is going..”
Dewpaw nodded. "I know about Batkit, and with our luck, I'm guessing there's a Hornetkit too…" Dewpaw kneaded the ground anxiously with his claws.
“You guessed it, kid,” Coppershine said gloomily. “I don’t know much about this prophecy stuff, but I think that growing up with everyone expecting them to be evil won’t be too good for those kits. What are you and Tawnyleaf going to do about it?”