(Author Note #1- I will add allegiances for the other clans later on and I will try to update them regularly should people submit forms for their own characters in the story-see below-)

(Auther Note #2- It has been mentioned that Moonkit is mentioned in the summary but not in the prologue butthat's because she hasn't been born yet. She comes in in about chapter 1, which I will post ASAP)

Please read and review!

ShadowClan

Leader: Nightstar- Dark gray-black she-cat

Deputy: Lightwillow- Pale gray tabby she-cat APP- Palepaw

Medicine Cat: Tanglethorn- Long furred gray tabby tom with sharp amber eyes APP- Frostcloud

Warriors:

Darkfur- Badly scarred dark brown tabby tom

Lynxheart- Gray Bengal she-cat with blue eyes

Racingwind- Black and white tom APP- Wildpaw

Twistfoot- Dark brown tom with a twisted paw

Mousetrickle- Pale brown she-cat

Shadeclaw- Dark gray tom

Snowfall- Brown and white she-cat

Tornscar- Scarred gray tom APP- Mintypaw

Shortfur- Short-furred brown tom

Mudtail- Gray-brown tom with green eye APP- Thistlepaw

Queens:

Brightsky- Beautiful gray she-cat with blue eyes, mother of Mudtail's kits, Timberkit and Brokenkit.

Sunlight- Pretty golden-ginger she-cat, mother of Darkfur'skits, Hazekit and Stingkit.

Apprentices:

Frostcloud- Small silver tabby she-cat with green eyes (Medicine Cat Apprentice)

Palepaw- Pale sandy-brown tom with bright amber eyes

Mintypaw- Dark brown tabby she-cat

Wildpaw- Large pale brown tabby tom with green eyes

Thistlepaw- Strong gray and white tom with hard green eyes

Kits:

Timberkit- Large gray tom with darker and lighter patches and one amber and one blue eye

Brokenkit- Small gray she-cat missing her tail, one forepaw and blind in one eye

Hazekit- Pale gray tabby she-cat with bright blue eyes

Stingkit- Broad-shouldered dark brown tom with black tabby stripes

Elders:

Cougarfur- Ginger-brown she-cat

Rustlewind- Ginger she-cat

Pinebranch- Pale brown tom

Feel free to submit a form for a cat(preferably by PM) and I'll do my best to add them in! A few submission rules are on my profile so check them out if you feel like submitting!

Prologue

Tanglethorn, the ShadowClan medicine cat, ran frantically back and forth between the moaning cats. So many injuries... StarClan he wished he had an apprentice sometimes just to lighten the workload after battles. This was too much work for one cat. At least half the clan seemed to be injured and any others were sick with whitecough or greencough.

The long-furred tom was pressing cobwebs to Darkfur's face. The poor tom's face had been badly shredded in the fight with ThunderClan. Barbarians. Tanglethorn thought, lashing his tail angrily. How can Jackalstar allow this carnage to go on?

ThunderClan's leader had become a monster, starting fights with the other clans, attacking without reason, taking as many she-cats as he could get as his mate. It was barbaric. He had even brought rogues to his clan to support him, mockingly giving them warrior names. There was Luckywind and Tashastripe and many others Tanglethorn didn't know about.

A yowl split the air and Tanglethorn snapped to attention, bounding to the nursery and to the side of Brightsky, a beautiful but conceited and vain queen. Her flanks were heaving and her eyes glazed with pain.

"I think she's kitting!" Sunlight meowed urgently, her tail curled tightly around her recently born kits, Hazekit and Stingkit.

"I can see that!" Tanglethorn snapped, placing a paw on Brightsky's heaving belly, feeling for the heartbeat of her kits. He closed his eyes, listening intently. Two kits.

Brightsky's belly gave a mighty heave and the medicine cat ordered swiftly, "Push!"

The queen let out a wail of pain, her face contorting with effort as she obeyed. Tanglethorn moved over to her rear as a large kit slithered out to the moss. The medicine cat expertly nipped the kitting sack and ordered Sunlight to begin licking it's fur the wrong way until it start breathing.

"You have a son Brightsky." he reported, placing his paw back on her flank. A few moments later another mighty contraction made her wail with pain and he ordered calmly, "Brightsky, push!"

The medicine cat swiftly repeated the process of nipping the kitting sack of the tiny kit, a she-cat this time, before placing her alongside her brother at the queen's flank.

Tanglethorn gazed at the kits, his eyes widening as he looked at the she-cat. The kit was extremely malformed. Her tail was non-existent and her right forepaw wasn't there. Other than that she seemed fine though her left eye looked as though it was crumpled slightly. Probably blind. the medicine cat noted sadly. She was a pretty she-cat though, her fur fluffy and gray with slightly darker patches.

The tom was almost abnormally large with broad shoulders and strong-looking legs. His fur was gray like his sister with darker and lighter patches. He will make a good warrior someday. Tanglethorn decided, almost smiling to himself.

Evidently Brightsky didn't think the same way as Tanglethorn did. She gazed at both of the kits contemptuously, her pretty face almost ugly with hate.

"The she-kit will need much care." Tanglethorn meowed, confused at the she-cat's hatred. "With determination and practice she could become a strong warrior if she wished to and as for the tom, I can already see he will be a great warrior someday."

Brightsky acted as if she hadn't even heard Tanglethorn as she hissed at the kits, pushing them away from her belly despite their pitiful mewls of protest. "They're horrible." she snapped, her eyes burning, "I refuse to take care of them."

Tanglethorn felt his hackles raising with anger, "They are your kits!" he spat angrily, "You cannot just abandon them!"

"Watch me!" Brightsky hissed, stalking out the nursery, her legs still trembling with exhaustion from her recent kitting.

Tanglethorn gazed after the queen incredulously. She was more conceited than he thought possible. They were her kits!

Sunlight seemed more concerned about the kits welfare than reprimanding the queen who had abandoned them as she pulled the pitiful scraps of fur to the warm curve of her belly alongside Hazekit and Stingkit. "What should they be named?" she asked in a gentle voice, hoping to sooth the enraged medicine cat.

Tanglethorn sighed, forcing his hackles to lie flat as he turned and gazed sadly at the kits. It was not fair that they had been abandoned but they deserved to be treated as normal cats. He paused. They were Mudtail's kits as well as Brightsky's were they not? "I'll be right back." he meowed, slipping out of the nursery over to the warriors' den.

"Mudtail?" he called softly, searching for the warrior's gray-brown fur and padding over. He prodded the tom's shoulder with a gentle paw, earning an irritable grunt from the warrior.

"Whasit?" Mudtail asked, blinking at the medicine cat blearily, attempting to blink the sleep from his eyes.

"Brightsky kitted." Tanglethorn reported. "She... abandoned the kits. A tom and a she-kit. Do you want to help name them?"

Mudtail sighed and hauled himself to his paws, "Whatever, as long as I can go back to sleep." he muttered, padding towards the nursery with Tanglethorn in tow.

"Um, Mudtail you should be careful, the she-cat-"

Tanglethorn's warning was cut off as he walked right into the back of Mudtail. The tom was frozen, gazing at his daughter in horror and anger.

"What's wrong with her?" he growled, his voice tight.

Tanglethorn got back to his paws, licking the dust from his fur irritably, "She was born that way." he meowed matter-of-factly. "Now will you name her or not?"

Mudtail glared at his daughter before muttering contemptuously, "Name her Brokenkit. She isn't a whole kit. She's nothing."

Tanglethorn bristled, "She's your daughter!" he hissed.

"I don't care if she's my daughter!" Mudtail snarled, his eyes blazing, spitting the word like poison. "You asked for me to name her and that's what I want to name her!"

Tanglethorn took a step back, surprised by the tom's anger before his belly began to burn with rage, "She's just a kit! She can't help being born that way she is!"

"I don't care Tanglethorn." Mudtail growled threateningly. "Name her Brokenkit. It is not your choice. If Brightsky has abandoned them, it is my choice and mine alone."

Tanglethorn growled but did not protest. "What about the tom?" he meowed, his voice tight with anger.

Mudtail regarded his son, his eyes uncaring as he snapped, "I don't care! Name him... Timberkit! Perhaps he will make up for his sister's shortcomings!"

Tanglethorn's eyes were burning with anger but he did not protest as Mudtail stalked out. He couldn't change it and it was not his place to do so. Instead the tom dragged his paws back to his own den and he lay down in his nest, resting his muzzle on his paws. He was getting too old for this sort of thing.

As Tanglethorn drifted to sleep his blinked open his eyes to find himself in a bright moon-lit area, a shimmering pool in front of him. He gazed around. It seemed to be the Moonpool. Instead of the usual leagues of cats around the pool now there was only one.

"Creamywhisker." Tanglethorn meowed with a smile, dipping his head respectfully to his former mentor.

The long-furred she-cat dipped her head in return to her apprentice, touching her nose to his in greeting. "Hello Tanglethorn."

"Do you have a message for Nightstar?" the medicine cat asked the StarClan warrior hopefully, his heart leaping when she nodded.

"Yes Tanglethorn. A time of great evil is coming. Endurance for the clans, especially ShadowClan, will be difficult but two are coming who will raise the clan back to it's former glory."

"Who?" Tanglethorn asked, becoming irritated, "Please Creamwhisker, tell me without your infernal riddles!"

Creamwhisker sighed, a sad look on her face, "You will know Tanglethorn, when the time comes. Simply wait and listen and watch and you will understand."

"But Creamwhisker-"

Creamwhisker let out a growl of irritation, "No 'buts' Tanglethorn! Have I not taught you better than this? You know that the word of StarClan is final! Even we do not know everything and if we did, we cannot always tell the clans!"

"This is so frustrating Creamwhisker! I can neither help my clan nor can I do anything to stop Jackalstar!"

"And two are coming who can!" Creamwhisker spat, "They will be strengthened by their past or weakened by it! It is their own choice! It is not your place to interfere!"
"Just like it wasn't my place to interfere when Brightsky abandoned her own kits!" Tanglethorn snarled in exasperation. "They do not deserve to be so hated! They are only kits!"

"Kits are the future of the clans! They must learn to be independent!" Creamwhisker meowed.

"Not at such a young age!" Tanglethorn yowled, his voice tight with anger. "At their age they should be protected and sheltered by their mother! Not shunned and hated!"

"It will make them stronger!"

"They don't need to be strong that way!"

"You don't know that!"

"And neither do you!" Tanglethorn snapped.

"I do know! StarClan may not be able to do everything but they can see the fates of certain cats!" Creamwhisker spat angrily, her fur bushed out with irritation.

"What could they possibly go through that this would aid them?!" Tanglethorn screeched, his tail lashing with frustration.

Creamwhisker shut her mouth, taking a deep breath before replying tightly, "It is not my place to tell you of the fates of others."

Tanglethorn rolled his eyes angrily. "If you cannot help us then let me wake up so I can help my clanmates!"

"So be it then!"

Tanglethorn blinked awake, his fur bushed out with frustration. He hauled himself to his paws and padded into the nursery, watching Sunlight sleep with the two newborn kits tucked alongside Stingkit and Hazekit. Why did they have to go through so much? He sighed heavily. He was too old for this.