The beautiful dragoness slid elegantly into the dim hatchery, a silver fish hanging from her perfect jaws. She scanned the little piles of leaves and moss that were scattered about.

He grinned then hurled himself at her, bumping into her leg with his best roar.

She chuckled through the fish as she picked him up in her talons. She laid the fish on the stone floor, excited to share it with him for the first time. She gazed at him with pride. "You're almost grown." She whispered lovingly. "You'll be a warrior before you know it!"

He squirmed with delight, beaming up at her with large, innocent eyes. He would know how cruel clan life is soon, too soon.

She placed him back down on the stone. "I brought you something, your first taste of fish." She slid the fish in between her paws, and with the expert talons only WaterClan possessed, she sliced open the scales and dug out small strips of meat, the perfect size for a chick.

"Fish? Does it taste like the sparrow you brought me yesterday?" He hopped around as she continued cleaning the fish for him.

"Not really...be patient, and you'll see." She chided gently.

"I can't wait to be an apprentice, will you be there for the ceremony?"

"Yes, of course." His mother chuckled. "I promise."

The fish had tasted amazing, tender and slightly sweet. As he gobbled down the last morsels, he curled himself against his mother, enjoying the warmth and love that radiated from her. All was silent except for their breaths. Besides him, there was only an egg. A very large, odd shaped egg, that no mother ever attended to.

"Do you think I'm really ready to be a warrior?" He asked sleepily, yawning heavily.

"Of course, my little minnow. You'll be the strongest and bravest in all the clans."

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He stretched wearily, grunting as he flexed his talons. His stomach was no longer full of the fish, it growled in complaint as he rolled to his feet.

His mother was no longer in the hatchery, the warmth in her nest stale and faded.

He crept along the stone tunnel. He knew he wasn't allowed outside yet, but if he crouched down and stretched his fins, he could make out the mutterings from outside the hatchery.

"The EarthClan dragons may still be plotting to take back the Southern Marshes." A loud voice growled, a voice that sounded very important and dignified.

"Will they attack?!" Another voice called, high pitched and developing. It must have been a young apprentice's.

"We must prepare our defenses!" An older voice yowled.

"Call an attack on them first!" A young warrior's arrogant voice rang out.

"We must defend the hatchery and the Pearl!" It was definitely his mother's voice, crystal clear and beautiful.

"We must be prepared for anything!" The first dragon's voice boomed, commanding respect.

A new voice joined the scores, shrill not from young age, but intense fear. "They're here! They're here! They're coming!"

Roaring of dragons scalded the early morning air, hitting his ears so violently he thought he would go deaf.

His mother dashed into the hatchery, not wasting a second to grab him by the scruff of his neck and dart out of the darkness.

The bright world flashed before his eyes that were only used to shadow. He squinted against the harsh new light, than colors began to appear. It was beautiful, but it was soon filled with screeching, writhing dragons.

One screamed an ear piercing roar of pain, and he learned a new color. Red.

There were dragons that looked like him, shades of blue and green with webbed talons and fins. Then there were the other ones, brown, dark, and attacking fiercely with broad talons and teeth.

His mother gripped his scruff harder, and a new sensation washed over him, churning water closing over his head. For a moment, he struggled and thrashed, terrified of drowning. For whatever reason, possibly instinct, his gills opened, and water rushed in. He felt oxygen be granted to him, and he became accustomed to the strange underwater world before him.

Dragons sped past them, toward the ghastly battle that waged above. The water was darker the further down they went, and colder too. He began to make out what seemed to be underwater dens. A larger structure loomed ahead, a castle of sorts that almost scraped the surface of the river.

His mother swam with ease towards the dens that dotted the river bottom. She drifted into one of them and released her hold on him. He flailed his inexperienced webbed talons around, trying to paddle as fluently as his mother had.

"Stay." She commanded, and the noise of it sounded strange, like she was speaking to him through a cave. She turned and swam purposefully up through the river water towards the battle above.

He settled himself as best as he could, but quickly grew inpatient. His mother's words cycled through his head over and over again. You'll be the strongest and bravest in all the clans.
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Something was wrong, his mother should have returned by now.

Brave warriors have to make tough decisions.

He kicked his tiny limbs furiously, thrashing his tail to propel his body to the surface.

The noise of the battle hit his ears suddenly when his head broke the water's surface. It was almost painful, the levels of noise and screeching where much louder than the constant hum of currents underwater.

He dragged his sodden scales onto the riverside, panting from all of his efforts. The clashing of talons and the shrieks of startled dragons reminded him of the danger his mother was surely in.

He scampered through the tall weeds, unaccustomed to the grass tangling around his talons. His tail made strange sounds as it dragged over the swamp plants, a dry, crackling sound that was much different than the clatter of his scales over the stone in the hatchery.

He wove his way mostly around the screaming, enraged dragons, but once a brown dragon was flipped onto her back in front of him, scattering dust and seed pods from the ground as she struggled against the weight of one of his clanmates. Neither of them noticed him, however, and he slipped quickly past them.

The hatchery lay nestled in a wall of cattails ahead of him, and he knew his mother must be inside. He darted back into the shadows, the warmth and happiness were faded, and fear scent saturated the air.

"Mom?" He called out quietly.The air was still and the battle outside had hushed. Only the loudest roars were able to be heard.

He crept forward, suddenly very afraid. His fins pricked forward, and his chick markings turned a sickly yellow color.

His ears began picking up heavy breathing, like something was about to pounce.

That's when he heard the shrill scream of pure agony. The scream of his mother.

He jumped forward into the main room of the cave, his eyes wide with horror.

There was one of the dark dragons, her eyes glowing orange in the light of a quickly spreading fire, standing over his mother. The blue dragoness was wrapped around a strange shape he couldn't make out because of the light cast by the fire, but he knew instantly what it was. The egg.

His mother had the same look of terror he had as she looked into the furious eyes of the brown dragon. Blood was pooling onto the floor around her, spilling from a deep gash on her shoulder. The fire slowly fizzled out, smoldering and bubbling in the blood.

"Take it! Take it!" His mother yowled, in extreme agony. Her eyes were clouded from fear and pain. Her markings flashed yellow and red, fear and anger.

"What makes you think I'll just leave?! What makes you think that I can just forgive your clan?!" The brown she dragon bellowed. She glared into the water dragon's eyes, her judgement blurred with fierce anger. "Finally, you get what you deserve, you all will!"

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She gently brought the egg to her chest, her claws spattered in red. She spread her wings and dove back into the outside world, roaring triumphantly. She never noticed the little blue chick, who sat huddled in the darkness.

He shivered violently as he flinched away from the retreating shadow. Tears leaked from his eyes as the still beautiful dragoness lay dying in front of him.

"Ma?"  He whispered his voice cracking slightly as he stepped out of the shadows. "Ma, it's over. They left. You can get up now." His voice quivered as he padded over to the she dragon's head.

The mother wheezed. "I-It's not..." Blood seeped out of her neck, a deep cut that must have broken the bone. The red liquid bubbled out of her nose when she gasped for air.

"Ma, the fighting has ended. It's safe." He whispered. He laid down by his mother's head. "Everything's fine, it's going to go back to normal."

She shook her head. "No...no my-my minnow." She convulsed in a fit of coughing that ended in a rattling sigh and blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth. "You have to...keep...keep moving forward. Don't live in the past..."

"What- what are you talking about?" He nudged his mother's snout.

"You're ment to be a warrior...I-I know it. You'll be the bravest." She sighed, the rattle in her chest now replaced with a calm sound, like the breath of the wind.

"Ma, you got to...you got to get up. Please, you have to. I'll be an apprentice soon, and... and you have to be there when I do. You promised. You promised you'll be there with me!"

She smiled softly. "Oh my minnow, I'll always be with you."

Her last breath, he would never forget how it was filled with happiness and pride.

He lay by his mother's side until the medicine dragon found them in the morning.

"Ma, you, you promised me." He sobbed quietly. "Please get up. You have to get up. You can't leave me, I need you! I need you with me. You promised."