The light gray tom paced around the grassy floor. He had been waiting, for what seemed like moons, for the cats who had wanted to talk to him. Where were they? Suddenly, he heard pawsteps approaching him. He looked up and saw Cloudstar and Fawnstep running towards him.

"Well, it's about time!" Clear Sky—no, Sky—hissed.

"Sorry," Cloudstar apologized.

Sky only flicked his tail in annoyance before sighing. "Why did you want to speak with me?"

It was Fawnstep who stepped forward. The former medicine cat cleared her throat. "Fire alone can save our Clan," she mewed. "It was a prophecy I received from St—The Tribe of Endless Hunting."

Sky only nodded, though he knew she was lying. He also knew she wanted to say StarClan. She still felt loyal to them, but he couldn't understand why, though. Sky had held a great grudge against them for a long time now. When Twolegs tore down SkyClan territory, StarClan had done nothing to stop the other Clans from driving his Clan out. They could have sent clouds to cover the moon, lightning, anything. Instead, the other four first leaders only stood, and watched. Sky begged and pleaded with them to let him stop what was taking place, but they declined. The prophecy that was sent to the medicine cats of SkyClan was complete. SkyClan... was no more. Since then, the SkyClan ancestors have been walking different skies as the StarClan cats.

Bright Stream and Storm had warned him of what would happen to the future of the forest cats, but he wouldn't listen. He didn't know why, though. They would never lie to him.

The former Tribe cat still had nightmares of that awful, awful night. It seemed to haunt him even more than losing Bright Stream and Storm. Oh, how he regretted those days. The day he lost Bright Stream to an eagle, and the day he drove Storm away. He could have done something to save Storm, at least. Instead, he let her go. He killed her... and his kits. Luckily, one survived; a little tom named Thunder, who grew up to become the first leader of ThunderClan, which was the Clan responsible for driving SkyClan away.

However, even though he wouldn't even admit it to himself, he was grateful for ThunderClan, or at least Kestrelwing, the medicine cat who had somehow managed to convince Redstar to let Cloustar's mate, Birdflight, and her kits, join his Clan. The kits grew up to be Gorseclaw and Spottedpelt. Their descendants still lived in ThunderClan to this very day, the most recent being Sandpaw and Graypaw.

After a long pause, Sky locked his gaze with Fawnstep. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked.

The light brown she-cat soon walked towards a pool. This pool allowed the ancestors of SkyClan to keep an eye on their descendants, even if they had no idea of their ancient bloodline. The only one who had some knowledge of them was a rogue, who was, coincidentally, also named Sky. He had preserved their memory by going to the gorge every full moon to share tongues with them. All of the SkyClan ancestors, if not most of them, still believed that SkyClan would return one day.

The crystal clear water of the pool began to whirl, soon showing an image of a small ginger tomcat. He seemed to be an apprentice. Sky recognized the location as ThunderClan's camp.

"Fawnstep...?" he mewed, slightly annoyed.

"His name is Firepaw," she mewed, knowing what the light gray tom was going to ask. "He... he used to be a kittypet. Bluestar let him join."

"A kittypet?!" Sky exclaimed in disbelief. "What next? Dogs? Foxes?"

"The Warrior Code—"

"I know what the Warrior Code says about kittypets!" He sighed. "I just find it a bit hard to believe. Anyway, you said that his name was Firepaw?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. Very... interesting." Suddenly, the pool began to whirl again. In it, came the image of Tigerclaw, who as scolding Graypaw, Ravenpaw, and Firepaw.

Sky sighed. He knew what path laid for Tigerclaw, he just didn't want to believe it. His path was laid out the moment he was kitted.

He was disappointed, but not as disappointed as Cloudstar. He was Tigerclaw's ancestor, after all.

"Sky," Fawnstep began, "maybe he—"

"Perhaps," he interrupted her, knowing what she was going to say. "And like you said, he does seem to show potential, if Bluestar was willing to let him join. Very well, we shall see how far he'll go."

He turned to the two cats and dipped his head before padding away from them. His thoughts then came back to Firepaw. If he really was destined to save the Clans, then perhaps someday, someday soon, he could save SkyClan. Sky purred. This could be the beginning of a new hope.