The wind rushed through Snowclaw's white fur as she dashed through the moors. She had never felt more alive. Her prey was a plump rabbit, heavy yet quick. It would make for a delicious meal, enough to serve every kit in WindClan. Her claws pinned down the rabbit as it resigned to its fate with one last squeal.

"Great catch, Snowclaw!" Tigerwhisker, a brown-furred tom with gentle green eyes, congratulated her. Snowclaw looked away, not wanting Tigershisker's close friend and Snowclaw's rival, Emberfang, to notice them. That wasn't too much of a problem. After all, who needed toms when you were the best hunter and fighter in all of WindClan?

The patrol headed back to camp, Snowclaw's rabbit swinging from her jaws. Rabbits were Snowclaw's specialty. Her apprentice, a cheerful she-cat named Marshpaw, bounded up to her, eyeing the rabbit.

"Wow, Snowclaw!" she meowed in amazement. "You caught that whole thing?" Snowclaw nodded.

"It wasn't too hard. The thing didn't even see me coming!"

"Snowclaw, you're incredible!" Marshpaw meowed. "I'm gonna be just like you when I get bigger!" Marshpaw happily bounded away to the apprentice's den.

"Your ego's getting too big for your own good, you know," Emberfang growled, padding over to where Snowclaw was sitting. "One of these days, something's going to happen to you, and it'll all fall apart. Mark my words."

"Psh, you just think Tigerwhisker favors me, don't you?" Snowclaw taunted.

"I do not!" Emberfang snapped, although her unsteady stance indicated that she was lying.

"You ought to lighten up some. Tigerwhisker's a happy cat. He won't go for a gloomy old furball like you," Snowclaw continued. Emberfang bristled, irritated at the other she-cat's behavior. Emberfang walked away.

"Mousebrain. Why does Tigerwhisker even think about her?" she muttered. Snowclaw simply smirked.

. . .

Another rabbit was on the moor, looking like an easy kill. Tigerwhisker, Emberfang, Marshpaw, and a tom named Badgernose watched as Snowclaw bolted after it. Closing in for the kill, Snowclaw could practically taste the rabbit's soft flesh in her teeth. But just as she was about to deliver the final blow, she felt a painful numbness spread across her body, limiting her ability to move. Her legs gave out from underneath, and the powerful warrior collapsed.

. . .

". . ."

". . . "

". . ."

"Is she alive?"

"Snowclaw! Snowclaw! Just stay strong! You're always strong!"

"Mousebrain, she shouldn't have pushed herself."

"No, I don't think it's that."

"Huh?"

"I've never seen this before, but I've heard stories of it."

"What is it?"

"It's very rare, but in some cats . . ."

Snowclaw heard voices, identifying Tigerwhisker, Emberfang, Marshpaw, and the medicine cat, a tom named Mothstep.

"Hey, she's coming to!" Studying her surroundings more closely, Snowclaw noticed that she was in the medicine den.

"W-what happened?" she meowed in confusion.

"You stopped moving and passed out," Tigerwhisker explained.

"Did I eat something bad, or what?" Snowclaw asked. She still didn't know why her body felt so weak.

"As I was going to say," Mothstep interjected. "You have, unfortunately, contracted a very rare disease that partially immobilizes the cat it affects." "Is Snowclaw gonna die?" Marshpaw mewed, hanging on to Emberfang's tail for comfort.

"We don't know much about the disease, but I can assure you that it's not fatal," Mothstep calmly added. Snowclaw smirked.

"So, basically it doesn't do anything, huh? Then why am I here?" the white-furred she-cat mewed confidently.

"You clearly failed to hear the first part of my explanation," Mothstep growled coldly. "I said that the disease partially immobilizes whoever it affects. You'll still be able to walk, but just barely, I'm afraid. Hunting and fighting aren't even an option at this point."

"Hmph," Snowclaw grunted. "Listen, buddy, I don't what your little medicine cat foxdung says about this, but I can walk as surely as the sun rises in the sky!" The cocky she-cat rose to her paws to prove her point, but was quickly overwhelmed by a painful sensation coursing through her body. She quickly sat down. "W-what happened?!" Snowclaw meowed in disbelief. "Why aren't my legs working?"

"Don't worry, you'll be able to walk further distances in time," Mothstep mewed.

"So I'll be able to hunt and fight again, right?" Snowclaw grasped for an answer she'd be comfortable with. Mothstep sighed with irritation.

"Have you been listening to a word I'm saying? You can't run, can't hunt, can't fight. You're useless as a warrior. If you get a better attitude on, perhaps I'll take you on as an apprentice."

"You're a mousebrain!" Snowclaw snarled, curling back her lips to reveal long, curved fangs. "I'm not useless!" she hissed. "Right, Tigerwhisker?" The tabby tom shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Snowclaw, but Mothstep's right. You'll be a great medicine cat, I'm sure."

"Marshpaw, you'll vouch for me. I'm strong, I caught that whole rabbit yesterday. Tell him!" Snowclaw watched in disbelief as her own apprentice turned away from her. "Emberfang?" Snowclaw's bitter rival was her last hope. Even a weaker warrior such as she had seen Snowclaw's strength and wouldn't be able to deny it.

"Perhaps this is for the best," Emberfang murmured. "Now these cats can see what a mousebrained foxheart you truly are."

"What the Dark Forest is wrong with you?!" Snowclaw shrieked at Tigerwhisker and Marshpaw. "I thought you were my friends! Why are you all turning away from me now?!" Snowclaw struggled to get up on her paws, the searing pain hitting her again.

"It's because you're weak," Emberfang stated coldly.

"Take that back!" Snowclaw spat. "You think some sickness is going to stop me from tearing your throat out? You're wrong!"

"They're abandoning you because you're weak in mind and in spirit," Emberfang coldly explained. "By some turn of events dictated by StarClan, you, an agile, powerful cat, were reduced to hardly being able to move. Your physical strength was all you had, so you utilized that to make friends. But you neglected to gain power anywhere else. You may have had a rock-solid defense on the battlefield, but your mind was but a wisp of grass, ready to be blown away by the wind. Had you built a fortress in your mind, perhaps your 'friends' would have stuck by you."

"Who says you're any different?" Snowclaw hissed, slobber falling from her lips like a dog. "Where's your fortress, huh?"

"My fortress is made of the toughest thorns," Emberfang retorted. "If I am crippled tomorrow, if I am rendered a useless elder, I will still have my mind and spirit. Nothing can take that away, for nobody can touch the fortress in your mind but you."

"What is this incomprehensible foxdung?" Snowclaw snarled scrambling to claw at the other she-cat.

"Something you're far too mousebrained and conceited to understand," Emberfang dismissed, stalking out of the medicine den. Tigerwhisker and Marshpaw followed suit, and Snowclaw was left alone with Mothstep.

. . .

A few moons later

Life in WindClan was happy for most. Tigerwhisker and Emberfang were expecting their first kits, and Marshpaw had been apprenticed to a new mentor, a senior warrior named Oakleaf. Oakleaf was slowing down a bit and didn't always have the best sense of direction, but he was a kind cat with a good heart and Marshpaw followed him everywhere.

Snowclaw, though, was about as content as a dead rabbit. She was able to walk short distances, but couldn't put any strain on herself. It was a useless, painful existence.

One night, when feeling particularly restless, Snowclaw attempted to sneak out of the den. But her clumsy pawsteps woke Mothstep, and he calmly stepped in front of her.

"You really think you can get out without my noticing? You're as loud as a badger," he meowed. Snowclaw bristled, her eyes glowing with moons of anger showing through. Her long white fur was dirty and matted, and several wounds from attempting more difficult tasks than she could handle showed through clear as day. Suddenly, she pressed her claws to the medicine cat's throat.

"I may not be the strongest cat in WindClan anymore, but I can kill you right now if need be. Don't underestimate me," she hissed. The medicine cat nodded in fear. "Good." Snowclaw took her paw away from Mothstep's neck and stumbled out of camp.

"You're insane!" he called as she walked away.

. . .

"A rabbit," Snowclaw muttered to herself, standing alone in the moor. "Perfect. This'll prove I'm not useless. I'll show them. I'll show them all!" She raced after the rabbit, the now-familiar burning pain coursing through her legs. She was just about to close in on it, just about to prove how useful she was, when a dark blue-gray shape leapt onto the rabbit, killing it with one blow. Snowclaw jumped back in surprise.

"Sorry," a dark blue-gray she-cat said. "I suppose this might've been your rabbit." A closer inspection revealed a red tuft of fur covering part of the she-cat's left eye and three red stripes crossing her back. It could be only one cat: the eccentric rogue Redclaw, known to talk to her collar and hang around the outskirts of Clan territory. But the cat standing before Snowclaw had no collar as the other cats at Gatherings had said.

"Are you Redclaw?" Snowclaw asked to confirm.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Redclaw answered.

"Well, from what I've heard from the other cats, you have some kind of collar that you talk to or something." Redclaw tensed, staring at her neck and then at the stars. "Anyway, I want my rabbit back. I need to prove to those foxhearted traitors that I'm not useless and that I don't need to build a fortress in my mind or whatever that is," Snowclaw growled.

"Clearly you've been hanging around with Emberfang," Redclaw chuckled.

"You know her?" Snowclaw asked in confusion.

"Of course. She's my littermate." The two she-cats were a bit alike, with their dark blue-gray fur, piercing blue eyes, and nonsensical logic. "Take the rabbit. You need it more than I do."

"As if I'd accept something from the likes of you!" Snowclaw snapped. "You, a mousebrained loner who talks to her collar! I'd rather DIE than see you take pity on me. I'll bet you lost that dumb collar in some accident, and went crazy because of it! I'll bet you lost all you have, haven't you? Because you didn't have anything else! Huh? Am I right? AM I?" Redclaw bristled.

"I'm not one to turn down a fight," she meowed confidently, unsheathing the long, shiny red claws for which she was named. "But I can tell you're at a disadvantage. And I may be . . ." Redclaw paused and looked up at the stars once more ". . . weaker than I was before, but I can still take you easily."

"You think I'm weak, huh? That it? How? Why?" Snowclaw refused to let this loner gain the upper paw in this strange battle of wits.

"I can sense your uneasiness. Your legs are unsteady, much like your mind." Redclaw laughed at her own last remark. "I suppose Emberfang's rubbing off on me." Snowclaw leapt at the other she-cat, although Redclaw dodged easily. Snowclaw kept throwing wild blows at the blue-gray loner, although she blocked and dodged every one. She didn't make a move to attack Snowclaw, simply evading.

"Attack me, curse it!" Snowclaw hissed. "Or are you too much of a coward?" But Snowclaw was slowing down, and Redclaw could sense it.

"It hurts, doesn't it?" she meowed softly.

"What hurts?!" Snowclaw snapped. "Losing everything that's important to you? Becoming a useless elder? Never being able to feel the wind in your fur so freely?"

"When you lose something, whether it be a friend, power source, or both."

"You're just as incomprehensible as your littermate!" Snowclaw snarled.

"Tell me, Snowclaw," Redclaw meowed. "When you ran, when you fought, when you hunted, did you feel . . . synchronized? With your own spirit?"

"What the Dark Forest does that even mean?" the warrior spat. "Stop spitting nonsense, you mousebrain!" Redclaw simply shrugged. Kicking the rabbit in Snowclaw's direction, the odd loner ran off into the night, and Snowclaw was left utterly alone, a broken soul. And that was how she would remain. She could never trust anyone, for nobody made sense. Nothing made sense. Not even her own body.