Lionpaw leapt out of his nest excitedly.

Today's the day! he thought.

He nudged Silverpaw, who was in the nest next to his.

"Silverpaw wake up! It's our assessments today!"

Silverpaw blinked her teal eyes open wearily and stood up.

"Yeah..." she said looking melancholy.

"Hey, don't let anything get you down. You can only become a warrior once y'know," the golden tom gave her a kind smile.

They were the only ones in the apprentice den and Lionpaw nudged her out into camp.

The sun was rising bit by bit into the cloudy sky.

Spruceclaw rushed up to Silverpaw.

"Silverpaw, before you say anything, I just want to let you know how proud I am of you and Hawkpaw," the white and brown senior warrior gazed at his daughter.

"Aw Dad, I love you so much," Silverpaw whispered, burying her head into Spruceclaw's chest fur.

Spruceclaw purred and rested his head on top of hers.

Lionpaw smiled and walked away, not wanting to interfere with a family moment.

He then walked straight into his sister...the last cat he wanted to see.

Lionpaw shoved past her, not saying a word.

Silverpaw had told him the fight that had happened between her and Fawnpaw.

Then Lionpaw went over and yelled at his sister about it.

Now both siblings were not on speaking terms and that was just fine for Lionpaw.

All the apprentices are going to take their assessments today but Lionpaw and Silverpaw would be hunting in the same area.

He meowed a greeting to Velvetcloud, who just received her full medicine cat name.

Lionpaw caught sight of his mentor and paying over to him.

"Hey Stormleap. When are we starting the assessment?" he asked the dark gray tom.

"Right now actually! I was just looking for you, Lionpaw and Swiftstripe went to find Silverpaw," he replied to the golden apprentice.

Together, they walked out of camp and waited by the fern tunnel.

Lionpaw scented Hawkpaw and Fawnpaw and realized they must've already started their assessments.

When Swiftstripe and Silverpaw finally emerged from the fern tunnel, they began padding deeper into ThunderClan territory. 

"Ok. You two are going to split up but still stay fairly close to one another when the assessment starts. All you need to do to pass the assessment is to catch three pieces of prey. And remember, Swiftstripe and I will be watching you and your technique," Stormleap explained.

"Good luck you two," mewed Swiftstripe as she leapt into the bushes, out of sight.

Silverpaw gave Lionpaw an encouraging smile and they set off.

Lionpaw crouched low, his tail waving in the air. 

He watched every paw step and the golden tom pounced on a plump vole under a tree root.

He bit down on its neck and he buried the prey excitedly.

One down, two more to go, he thought, filled with confidence.

I hope Silverpaw's doing well, his mind wandered as he sniffed the air in search of more juicy prey to feed the Clan.

He smelled a familiar scent and realized, with relief, that it was just his mentor in the bracken.

Lionpaw shook his head, trying to clear out all distractions as he scented a crow.

After he successfully killed a crow and a mouse, Lionpaw grinned in victory knowing he passed his assessment.

Ooh I smell a squirrel, he lifted his pink nose into the air, It can't hurt to catch one more piece of prey as extra credit.

The brown striped tom spotted it a couple tail-lengths away and he stalked it quietly.

And the moment he pounced he saw another figure leap at the same time for the squirrel.

They banged into each other and the squirrel scampered away.

"Fox dung!" the figure cursed and Lionpaw soon realized it was Silverpaw.

"How's your assessment going, Silverpaw?" Lionpaw mewed as the white and silver tabby shook her pelt.

"Its good. I already caught enough prey. I just thought the squirrel would be a nice addition," she grinned.

"Same!"

His amber gaze looked around the clearing.

A fox length away was the drop-off of Bramble Valley.

"Whoa..." said Silverpaw, noticing the same thing.

Movement caught Lionpaw's eye and he turned towards a leafy bush.

For a split second he thought he saw a flash of tan fur, too dark to be Swiftstripe's.

Huh...he blinked and the fur was gone, I had to have imagined it.

Suddenly, Lionpaw heard a strange noise coming from the same bush and Silverpaw pricked her ears towards it as well.

It was a dry, raspy sound.

Hissssssssssssss.

A black snake slithered out and hissed loudly, baring its deadly fangs.

Swiftstripe and Stormleap sprinted out from the patch of bracken over by Silverpaw.

The snake made its way quickly over to Silverpaw and she let out a cry and backed up, extremely close to the drop-off.

Lionpaw, at the moment, had his gaze locked on the ugly creature as Stormleap scratched it.

Swiftstripe bit it hard and flung off the edge of the clearing.

She then turned to Stormleap, panting, and they were focused on each other.

Lionpaw looked back to see if Silverpaw was alright but what he saw made his heart stop beating in his chest.

Silverpaw slipped and was hanging from one paw. 

Below her were deadly thorn bushes and sharp rocks... a long way down.

"L-Lionpaw help me!" she cried out desperately.

The golden tom didn't know what to do.

The mentors just realized what was going on but he was the closest cat to Silverpaw.

It was like his paws were frozen to the ground.

And when he snapped back into reality and leapt forward to save her, it was already too late.

Her single black paw lost whatever grip it had and slipped.

"NO!" Lionpaw screamed at the top of his lungs.

Silverpaw's shriek of terror faded into nothing but an echo as the tabby plummeted down to her death.

"NO! SILVERPAW!" the golden tom howled.

"N-NO!" Swiftstripe cried.

Stormleap's face was filled with pain and despair.

"She's gone. Silverpaw's gone." Lionpaw whispered disbelievingly, tears streaming down his face.

Instantly, the realization hit him. 

Hard.

The pain in his chest shattered his heart into a million pieces.

The golden tom wailed loudly.

The wail was filled with so much agony that it could shake StarClan.

Silverpaw is dead.

The thought rang in his ears and it broke him even further.

Silverpaw is dead. 

Silverpaw is dead and its all my fault!