Skyfall stood there as still as a deer in headlights as her Clan cheered her new name. "Skyfall! Skyfall! Skyfall!"

She cringed as she reached her head forward. Sunstar's heavy muzzle rested on her, and Skyfall noticed that he was purring. A sinister feeling washed over her.

He really does know.

Fighting her hesitancy, she rasped her tongue over his shoulder. His fur was rough and was far from the silky smooth fur that she and her sisters had. Hawkspirit's soft fur was like a dream compared to Sunstar's. She couldn't help but notice the faint stench of blood coming from her leader. It was so faint that she worried she was imagining it.

She shook her head ever so slightly to clear it. She couldn't let on that she was surprised that Sunstar knew of her role in the prophecy - or that he knew that there was a prophecy at all! She swung around with as much confidence as she could muster. She met the excited and delighted gazes of her Clan - of the new apprentices, of Appleleaf, of Featherfur and Bumblefoot, of her sisters, of Hazelflower, of the new mentors - everyone, except for three cats. Naturally, those three cats were Willowleaf, Russetsky, and Bramblefrost.

Willowleaf chanted her new name with ferocity, but Skyfall could not miss the shock in her amber eyes. Skyfall realized that the intensity in Willowleaf's cheers was the medicine cat's way of letting the smug ThunderClan leader know that she was not afraid.

Cheers were uttered from Russetsky and Bramblefrost's mouths too, but they were faint, as they too were taken aback by Sunstar's choice. Skyfall knew that her parents were aware of the prophecy, but she wasn't sure how much they actually knew about it. She recalled the day she overheard Willowleaf discussing it with her parents over Sandstar as she was dying. She supposed that they were just piecing it together that Sunstar had made her name a mockery of that very prophecy.

With her tail held high, she proceeded down the path. Sunstar hollered that the Clan was dismissed as she was making her way back to her littermates.

"Hi, Skyfall!" Rainpetal greeted. There was a glimmer in her eye as she said Skyfall's warrior name for the first time. Shadepool meowed a greeting, but then dismissed herself to get some prey to eat. Rainpetal followed shortly after.

Skyfall was on her way to the medicine den to consult with Willowleaf over the events that just shocked them both until multiple voices reached her ears.

"Skyfall! Skyfall!" Excited meows called her name. Skyfall turned around to see three excited apprentices bouncing over to her.

"We're going outside of camp for the first time!" Brackenpaw chirped, his paws leaping slightly off the ground in what was undoubtably excitement.

"Yeah, we're going to see the territory for the first time!" Brightpaw continued. Her green eyes glimmered with anticipation.

"That's wonderful!" Skyfall tried to muster as much excitement for the new apprentices as she could. Despite her genuine happiness for her young friends, her paws were itching towards the medicine den. She knew that Willowleaf was still very unhappy with her for her meeting with Darkface, and the two she-cats hadn't spoken since she had been dismissed from her den earlier that day. Willowleaf hadn't even given her a glance since her conversation with Darkface. Despite this, Skyfall knew that Willowleaf would be dying to talk to her as well. Sunstar's knowledge of the prophecy posed a problem for them all.

"Isn't it?" Brightpaw meowed. Skypaw noticed that while Brackenpaw and Brightpaw were over the moon with exhilaration at their new apprenticeship, Spottedpaw was waiting behind them, her speckled head angled toward something in the distance.

"Spottedpaw, aren't you excited?" Skyfall questioned, her gaze narrowing in on the smallest apprentice.

"Yes," She quietly answered, clearly absentmindedly. Skyfall followed the she-cat's gaze and noticed that it landed on Sunstar.

Skyfall's heart sank when she realized that Spottedpaw must be afraid of the ThunderClan leader. Obviously, every cat should be afraid of the cat that that Sunstar was - he was diabolical, traitorous, and everything that the Warrior Code stood against. But Spottedpaw didn't know that. To her, Sunstar was just her leader. He was the cat she was supposed to look up to and embody herself to be. And she was afraid of him.

Her heart broke for Spottedpaw. When she should be excited about stepping outside of camp for the first time and learning her first battle moves, she was being outwardly confused as to why she was afraid of her leader. She doesn't deserve this!

"Brackenpaw!" "Brightpaw!" "Spottedpaw!"

Three different voices tore the new apprentices away from their conversation with Skyfall. The three new mentors were waiting expectantly by the gorse tunnel. Skyfall noticed that they looked almost as giddy as their apprentices. Brackenpaw and Brightpaw chirped their goodbyes. Mousetail's call tore Spottedpaw's eyes away from the ThunderClan leader and the three littermates bounced away towards their mentors, ready to take on the forest.

Relieved to be free from their conversation, Skyfall turned to head towards the medicine den. Emotions swarmed through her. Anger, frustration, and fear took their turns coursing through her veins. She couldn't help feeling as if multiple cats had been gipped from personal, important things today. She, for one, had her long awaited warrior name tainted by the prophecy that haunted her life. Not only was it tainted, it was also a mockery - Sunstar wanted Skyfall to know that he was aware of StarClan's 'scheme' to take him down.

Beyond her, Rainpetal and Shadepool had their warrior names become a product of Sunstar's laziness. The fiery tom hadn't even bothered to come up with names with meaning that reflected her sisters' unique and individual traits and abilities. While neither of her sisters seemed to notice or care - Rainpetal seemed quite fond of her name honoring Petalheart - Skyfall's heart still ached for them. What was supposed to be an emotionally intimate ceremony was Sunstar pulling names out from under his tail at the very last second.

Finally, Featherfur's kits were also scammed out of their apprentice ceremony. All four of them were beyond excited for this next chapter in their lives, and Sunstar had blandly spoken the words of their ceremonies, with annoyance and irritation creeping into his tone. He had even played around with a leaf with his paw in the midst of it in boredom. Featherfur's bright and lively kits deserved better. Spottedpaw was even unfortunate enough to have been spooked by Sunstar's sinister demeanor, without knowing why.

Skyfall padded into Willowleaf's den to find Amberpaw excitedly sorting a pile of herbs that Willowleaf had left her. Willowleaf watched silently over her shoulder, and Skyfall could see how impressed she was at Amberpaw's agility with her sorting. Skyfall was reminded of a time where she was able to watch Amberpaw sort prey with Spottedpaw when they were kits. Just as she was doing now, Willowleaf watched from a distance, interest shining in her eyes.

Hazelflower was next to her nest, stretching her sprained shoulder. Skyfall noticed that the black warrior seemed almost completely healed, as her eyes no longer narrowed in pain from the use of her shoulder. She had also handled herself very well during her warrior assessment earlier that day, hardly relying on Petalheart for support. Skyfall purred to herself when she realized her friend would be returning to her warrior duties any day now.

When Willowleaf saw Skyfall's silver pelt duck into the den, she quickly padded over to Amberpaw, escaping from her place behind her.

"Amberpaw, I'm going to visit with Skyfall for a few moments," She meowed to her new apprentice. "In the meantime, you can keep sorting. You're doing a great job!"

Skyfall knew that Willowleaf truly meant her words by the way purrs escaped her mouth as she spoke them. Hazelflower, now realizing that Skyfall was in the den, rushed over to greet her.

"Skyfall!" She greeted, "I'm so proud of you! You looked great up there!"

Relief flooded over Skyfall when she realized that her shock and horror was not apparent to her Clan. She knew that her friend would be honest with her if it had been, as she would have wanted to know what was wrong.

"Thank you, Hazelflower," Skyfall replied with purrs. "I owe it all to you."

Hazelflower's eyes lit up and the black she-cat erupted into purrs. Before she could manage to respond, Willowleaf had made her way over to the two she-cats.

"Hazelflower, keep doing your exercises," She instructed. "I need to talk to Skyfall for a few moments."

Hazelflower nodded and told Skyfall she'd meet up with her as soon as she was released from Willowleaf's care. Upon realizing that there were too many cats in her den for a private conversation, Skyfall followed the tortoiseshell medicine cat out into the clearing and through the gorse tunnel.

Willowleaf had decided that the safest place for them to discuss what had happened during Skyfall's warrior ceremony was out in the territory. Skyfall wanted to point out to her that there were apprentices touring the forest with their mentors and most likely a patrol out, but Skyfall didn't want to risk pushing Willowleaf's buttons. Willowleaf still had a lot of anger towards her, and she was painfully aware of that. Besides, she thought, the sun is going down. They'll be going back to camp soon anyway.

The chirping of crickets began to sound and Skyfall could hear a few critters scurrying into their shelters for the night. Somewhere off into the distance, an owl could be heard hooting as the two she-cats strolled side by side into the darkening forest.

Hi!

I want to apologize for not updating last week. The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday, and I got caught up in the patriotic weekend and forgot to post. So sorry!

With that being said, I hope you all had a great holiday! Do you guys spend your Fourth out on the lake where you live? I'm from Michigan, so every holiday here we spend on the lake (in the summertime, of course - Michiganders know how to do summer best, fight me). I thought that was what everyone did until I was enlightened that many states don't (don't ask why I thought this, as I knew Michigan has a ton of lakes and other states don't but I guess I didn't connect the dots lol)! Going to fairs/carnivals seems like a popular Fourth of July activity in some places. That's so odd to me - I've never had a Fourth of July (or Labor Day, or Memorial Day) that didn't consist of barbecues, tubing, swimming, and boating. 

Anyway, I'm so glad I'm finally posting this chapter. There were a few parts of this chapter that I really liked when I was writing it, so I'm happy you guys get to read it finally (this was written a few weeks ago). Reading it back, it's a little choppy in some places, but it's late and I'm too tired to do major editing lol. Maybe I'll go back and fix it later.

One more thing - THANK YOU SO MUCH for 101K reads and 5K votes!!!! These are Skylight's first milestones since I've returned! Eeeek! Thank you guys for all your support. I did the math, and Skylight is getting more votes per chapter than Skyfall did. That's so whack to me, since sequels usually don't do as well as the first book in the series. Thanks so much!!

Till next time!

Kaylin