Beware the dark pool at the bottom of our hearts. In its icy, black depths dwell strange and twisted creatures it is best not to disturb.

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NO!!!! Maplepaw screamed internally. It couldn't be! If Blackcloud left, the only warrior she would be able to spar with was...Waspsting. She wanted to drag Blackcloud back with her very own claws. Based on the devious look on both Blackcloud and her father's face, she was certain the three of them devised this together.

Biting on her tongue, she steeled her nerves and looked squarely into her father's eyes. She had repeatedly told herself that her emotions would not mix with her performance again and she would not let this trivial incident be the key to losing her battles. She definitely must've picked up the trait of complete scrutiny from both her parents because Waspsting must definitely have seen her training and how often her emotions got a hold of her. But today was not the day and she was determined to prove them all wrong.

"Coming back from that incident, Maplepaw will be combatting Waspsting. I wish you the best of luck and you may begin," Cinderstar meowed, voice dripping with false sincerity. Cinderstar must still be holding a grudge against her after she'd accidentally killed her daughter.

Maplepaw hesitantly placed a paw forward, but with so many pairs of eyes on her, she could allow any points of weakness to be shown.

"Well, my daughter," Waspsting spoke, breaking the silence as none of them moved from their positions. "I'm glad you've turned out to become such a great apprentice. You're doing well and I hope you will pass your assessments this time around."

Maplepaw's jaw tightened, seeing red and from the smug expression on her father's face, she knew he thought he succeeded and that he would expect her launch towards him in a split second. However, Maplepaw kept her ground, unsheathing her claws and burying them into the ground as she responded with her own insults, her voice calm and steady,

"Well, dear father. Thank you so very much for the compliments, however, this is indeed getting quite boring with the two of us standing here. Why aren't you attacking? Perhaps you've forgotten how to fight and need to return back to your days of apprenticehood?"

Waspsting's muzzle curled and Maplepaw stood, now alert, knowing that he should strike soon, but to her surprise, he merely replied, with a cool mask of serenity,

"Well, since you're the apprentice here who's about to become a warrior, perhaps you could demonstrate?"

Maplepaw fought back, not willing to back down,

"Well, clearly I wouldn't be as skilled as the powerful, great deputy of MistClan, so I believe, out of respect and humbleness, you should strike the first blow."

Waspsting shot forward, a blur of gold and black as Maplepaw stumbled over herself to get out of the way.

Move, you idiot! She cursed herself.

She was fast enough to escape, but tripped over her own paws and a smack by Waspsting's paw sent her entire vision spinning. As he caught her with his paws whilst she was still trying to regain her vision, he screeched in her face,

"How dare you insult your father like this! I have been so kind to you throughout your life! Granting you apprenticehood on time-"

Maplepaw bit down on the joints of his paws, not hard enough to draw blood or cause pain, but enough to let an opponent let go of her, exactly as she'd been told by her mother, for it was a reflexive move almost no one could control.

Sure enough, Waspsting let go of her and Maplepaw twisted around, facing her father, his golden eyes blazing with pure hatred and malice.

"Where did you learn that?" he snarled.

"Learn what?" Maplepaw feigned innocently, checking her own claws for signs of blood or damage.

"Never mind," Waspsting vehemently growled, shaking his head as he slid within a blink of an eye behind Maplepaw.

She instantly turned around, paw outstretched, surprising herself as she actually struck her father. She backed up slightly before leaping atop of him, making sure that she stood precisely on his hips and shoulders in such a way so that he would not be able to bring them up and fling her off. She could feel him struggling underneath his paws, but was reassured that a certain victory would be within her grasp.

"I announce Maplepaw victorious," Waspsting spat after a few seconds, Maplethorn feeling him struggle underneath her. "And she will be made a full warrior of MistClan."

Even Cinderstar couldn't prevent the shock at the turn of events, clearly not something that had gone to her plan. Regardless, she was pleased that she had passed the test and gracefully stepped down from Waspsting's body.

"Very well," Cinderstar meowed. "Congratulations to all three of you for passing this half of the assessment. Meet me before sundown and I will give you further instructions then. You are permitted to return to camp and do as you please until then."

All the cats present dipped their heads in respect and when Cinderstar left promptly afterwards, Waspsting spun to Maplepaw,

"You, come with me. Now."

Maplepaw rolled her eyes as she followed him back to camp and leaped into the deputy's den.

"Don't play dumb or innocent here. Who taught you those moves?" Waspsting snapped, getting directly to the point the second her paws touched the ground of his den.

"What moves?" Maplepaw queried, tipping her head to the side.

"The one where you bit down precisely on the joints of my paw knowing that it would let me release my grasp and where you stood on my hips and shoulders in such a manner where I would never be able to bring them up, unless my strength and brute force was over thrice your strength. Tell me, Maplepaw, how do you know these moves? Don't tell me that weakling mentor taught you them. He barely passed his own assessments, let alone learning something as highly skilled as this," Waspsting explained, hiding his emotions under that mask of indifference.

Daughter, Scorchflame meowed. It's imperative that you listen to what I have to say now. You may not know this, but those moves I taught you...well...I created them and taught Waspsting exclusively since we were pretty close at the time. Only Waspsting, or so he believes, knows, and possibly his spoiled brat of a son.

What?! Maplepaw exclaimed. You didn't tell me this earlier? I wouldn't have used such moves if I knew only my father understood them.

Well, moves aren't to be used exclusively, depending on the situation. You are to use all your knowledge at your disposal, Scorchflame replied.

"Well, father," Maplepaw spoke after the brief conversation with her mother. "I didn't know they were combat moves. I only responded based on my instinct. It must've been pure luck for those to happen, since I never intended for that to be the case."

Waspsting's brow furrowed as he slowly replied,

"Well then, we must thank StarClan for their gratitude and benevolence for you to pass your exam then, right?"

Maplepaw meowed back, surprised by how much she'd grown. The first time she was here, she was quickly struck down by her father's words, but now, she could skillfully deflect them.

"Obviously I have thanked them. Otherwise, I would be disgracing myself and only be setting myself up to the path of a Starless Forest warrior, correct?"

Waspsting dipped his head and purred,

"It is not wise to talk back to your father, Maplepaw. Regardless, you may leave. Rest while you can before your next assessment."

Maplepaw turned without another glance and left Waspsting's den. The second half of the assessment made the combatting look like a weak mewling kit. There was such a high chance of death that surviving completely unscathed was as miraculous as reincarnating the cats of StarClan back to life. Thus, it would only be proper to talk to the ones closest to her before her likely death. Her only two regrets were not being able to converse with Speckledpatch or Silentpaw.

"Ghostwhisper," Maplepaw called into the medicine cats' den.

"Hello Maplepaw," he meowed, turning away from his work. " I heard you passed your assessment. Good job."

"Thank you," Maplepaw grinned. "But I still have another half left to go."

"And I wish you good luck with that," Ghostwhisper purred.

"How's Tinycloud?" Maplepaw asked, looking at the skinny bag of skin and bones in the corner of the medicine cats' den.

"Well, his condition has remained the same, which isn't anything odd, given the short period of time he has had to recover. However, due to his weak physical health, I will need to keep a constant eye over him," Ghostwhisper explained.

"Ah, alrighty," Maplepaw meowed. "May I speak to him?"

"I'm afraid not," Ghostwhisper sighed apologetically. "I don't want him to exert himself even more in his current condition."

"I understand," she replied and began exiting the den. "Thank you, again, Ghostwhisper, for everything."

"You're welcome, Maplepaw. I hope you succeed in your second assessment," Ghostwhisper's meow sounded from the den as he returned back to his work.

Maplepaw then crossed the camp to the warriors' den and squeezed her way through the warriors resting in their nests to Heatherstalk's.

"Mother!" Maplepaw meowed, licking Heatherstalk's head.

"Maple," Heatherstalk yawned, stretching. "Good to see you. I hope you'll pass your second assessment when the time comes. I believe in you, my daughter. As I always had in the beginning."

Maplepaw thanked her foster mother before leaving and resting on her own nest. She felt her eyelids droop, even with the constant bickering between the new apprentices in the background and fell into a dreamless sleep.

When she awoke, she could see fragments of the sky blooming into several different colours as she made her way to the border of StormClan and MistClan. When the sun's final rays vanished, she would make her way down to the bottom of the abyss and fetch a piece of bone and make her way back up again, all before the sun's rays emerged the next day.

"Apprentices," Cinderstar announced from the ledge, "You will partake in the second half of the assessment, the true thing that will determine your worth in our clan. You will be split up across the length of the abyss and you will need to find a piece of bone at the bottom, scaling back up, and come back to camp all that before the sun's first rays tomorrow. I bid you good luck and you may begin shortly. For now, each of us will escort you to a section of the abyss."

Wait...this isn't part of the assessment rules, Maplepaw protested internally. She'd bet her life that Shadepaw would be given a much, much easier stretch of the abyss to cover.

Keeping her head down to prevent anyone from seeing the rage boiling within her eyes, she followed Cinderstar somewhere left of the abyss, whilst her brother was escorted to the opposite direction by Blackcloud.

"Well," Cinderstar meowed, breaking the silence that formed eerily between them, "I didn't expect for you to complete your assessment successfully. You certainly have learned a lot from that mentor of yours."

"Thank you," Maplepaw meowed curtly.

"Well," Cinderstar replied, "here we are. The sun is about to set, so you may take this short moment of time to mentally prepare for the assessment ahead."

Daughter, Scorchflame's voice meowed inside her head. I believe in you. Just do your best, but if you ever need help, remember, I'm always here for you.

Thank you mother, Maplepaw responded.

As she twisted her head behind her, watching the sun's golden rays slipping away, casting the sky in a beautiful masterpiece of purples and oranges. Maplepaw breathed, spring-green eyes focused on the sun alone. She wondered if today's sundown was so exquisite so that it would be the last thing she'd remember if she did not make it out of this assessment alive and give her a good impression of the world she lived in.

Finally, when the entire world plunged into darkness after the final rays disappeared, she leaped into the canyon without a second thought, as though a trigger had been pulled within her. The deadliest part of the assessment had begun.