Hey all! Welcome to my first fanfic on this site! My name's Missy. :) Thanks in advance to anyone for reading this. I really appreciate it, and I hope you enjoy~

Oh! And, if you would, I would absolutely positively love to hear your reviews. I will swamp you with hugs if you post them! 3

Okay. Onto the story now. Hehe.

Allegiances: RiverClan

Leader: Tadpolestar- dark-furred tom with icy blue eyes

Deputy: Floodwater- white tom with gray paws and an unusually long tail

Apprentice, Honeypaw

Medicine Cat(s): Minnowleap- shaggy blue-grey female, tinged with silver hairs on her muzzle

Stormfoot- long-furred gray tom with a distinctive white ear

Warriors: Duskfall- tall, stony-faced black male

Apprentice, Skypaw

Shallowpool- gorgeous she-cat with a tuxedo pelt

Yewberry- small, ginger she-cat with musky brown eyes

Apprentice, Heronpaw

Hollowshade- muscular, mottled tabby tom with broad shoulders

Apprentice, Lostpaw

Gorsetail- strikingly slim blue point tom

Acornleaf- light brown abyssinian male with a distinctive ginger tail

Apprentice, Brindlepaw

Poppyspot- delicate cream ticked tabby female with short legs

Littlestorm- red-furred she-cat with two different colored eyes

Apprentice, Storkpaw

Oaktuft- stocky calico tom

Ashcloud- tall, silver tabby she-cat with long legs

Blueleg- blue-grey lynx point tom with piercing green eyes

Apprentice, Kestrelpaw

Thornstem- sleek, solid black tom with a kinked tail

Rainfur- lithe grey calico tom

Apprentices: Honeypaw- lilac tabby she-cat with unusually large ears

Heronpaw- white-furred female with gray paws

Storkpaw- white-furred male with gray paws

Lostpaw- tall, brown tabby she-cat with wide shoulders

Brindlepaw- short tobie tom with stubby legs

Kestrelpaw- speckled cinnamon tom with hazel eyes

Skypaw- long-furred ginger she-cat with a distinctive white tail

Queens: Amberbrook- ginger-and-white she-cat

Halfnight- matted tuxedo female (mother of Beaverkit, large brown tom with bold green eyes, and Otterkit, black tom with short legs and a long tail)

Elders: Icywind- stingy, blind silver tom with matted fur

Prologue

It was a fine night. The sky was slightly tinted with a light gray, and the sun was hidden; a good thing when the weather was excrutiatingly hot most other days. A light drizzle of rain was spotting the land, and a small haze of fog covered the land. What a beautiful night to flee.

A she-cat was tearing through the land, uprooting grass that caught in her claws and caused her to stumble every few steps. She couldn't afford to lose even those few steps. Her vision was blurred by the onset of rain, her breathing muffled by the kit covering her mouth. Her eyes were squinted, but the wildfire spreading in them through her heart was no less put-out by the slowly steadying onpour.

Blossomdawn could feel the kit on her back slipping off, his little claws piercing her shoulder blades like pins. She shrugged, trying to get him comfotably on her back again, but she didn't stop running. She couldn't.

So focused on making sure her kits were all right, the queen didn't notice the root beneath her feet until she'd tripped on it. Her son was sent flying, her daughter loose from her grasp. She hissed in frustrated pain, scrambling to her children, shooting frantic looks behind her. Reaching for the tom, she snagged his tail by a paw and pulled him close to her, scooting him on her back once more, and grabbed the scruff of her daughter tightly in her jaws. Pushing herself to her paws, she took a step forward, but her leg refused to hold her weight and buckled when she applied pressure to it.

Blossomdawn shut her eyes and bit her tongue so she wouldn't cry out in pain. Had she twisted her ankle when she fell? It was throbbing. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and began to hobble forward on three legs. Stopping wasn't an option. But . . .

Her pursuer's thundering steps were growing louder. He would catch up to her soon. And then . . .? She didn't know what. The adrenaline from her run was starting to wear off, and fear slammed her heart like a truck. She shuddered, her legs trembling. If she could just make it to that tree, to the one she knew was hollow, she could hide. She could save her kits. She could save herself. So she limped as hurridly as she could toward it, visible in the distance, so within her reach. It was almost as if she could reach out and hook it with a claw.

"Stop."

Blossomdawn's blood froze, her pattering heart plummeting to her stomach. Her claws dug into the ground. It was too late. Her breathing labored, she turned around slowly, trying to cling to whatever time she had left. Setting her daughter on the ground lightly, she gritted her teeth, lips peeling back.

"You honestly think I would let you sneak away? What-do you think I'm that incapable?" He drew himself to his full height, taking a step toward her. The mere intensity of the bitterness in his eyes was enough to make her knees weak.

"Tadpolefin, I-"

"Silence." The black cat's tail lashed as he unsheathed his claws. He took a step. Blossomdawn sucked in a breath. "There's nothing you can say now." Another step. She placed a paw in front of her daughter. Instinctively. Defensively. The rain was pounding on her back now. "You know what's coming."

"I won't be quiet," she spat, a snarl appearing on her maw. "If you kill me, right here and right now, you'll be nothing better than a murderer; a murderer of a queen and her innocent kits!" She could hardly choke out the last word.

Tadpolefin's eyes narrowed. "I won't be killing your children." That struck Blossomdawn hard. Her heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to speak. "But I will be killing you. And you will die a coward."

"I thought we were friends," she murmured, shaking her head. Water dripped down her forehead, and she flattened her ears against the rain. Her son whimpered, pawing her leg, his tiny body bogged down by the weight of his wet fur. She pulled him close to his sister, wrapping her tail around the two.

Tadpolefin's jaw worked. "I thought we were too." His eyes were throwing knives, and his gaze was the firing arm.

"No." Her voice came out in a croak. "No." She didn't want to just die here. Not like this. "I'm not going down without a fight.

Tadpolefin's expression wavered. And she thought, for a moment, that she could see regret in a look. But it was gone in an instant. "I didn't think you would." He closed the distance between them with a mighty leap, bowling into the she-cat and knocking her to the ground.

Blossomdawn's shoulder caught the brunt of the fall, and she let out a breath, her eyes watering. Tadpolefin slashed across her face, nicking her ear in the process. Wiggling under his grasp, she wrangled an arm free and used it to dig her claws into his chest, using her hind paws to knock him off of her with as much force as she could muster. She heard an "oof" as the breath was knocked out of him, and she used whatever little time she had to roll to her feet. Her head was spinning with the pain in her shoulder and her twisted ankle, but she pushed the feelings away and launched at Tadpolefine while he was still down.

Landing on his back, she tried to keep him pinned by digging her claws into his shoulders and lower back and keeping her weight as concentrated as possible. But he swung his head up, slamming into her mouth and causing her to veer back. She could taste the blood pooling from where a tooth had been ripped from its socket.

Tadpolefin wasted no time. Before Blossomdawn could blink, he had quickly righted himself and slashed at her face. Pain exploded from her eyes as the world was turned from light to dark. Like flipping a switch. She wasn't sure if she was blind, or if there was just too much blood clotting her vision to see. She shook her head, trying to clear her eyes. But nothing worked. Backing up, the she-cat pricked her ears and violently lashed out, trying to hit any part of him.

"Where are you? You coward! I'm going to-"

A set of claws met her neck, and her sentence turned to gurgled words as she collapsed on the ground, her sides heaving and blood forming a pool around her. She could feel it slicking the fur underneath her, running across her pelt, heavier than the rain. And everything . . . everything was leaving. Sounds were fading. Time was slowing. She couldn't even really feel the agony she'd felt before, just that dull throb in her shoulder. Her heart was beating now. Not pounding. Not pattering. Just beating.

Once.

Twice.

Her eyelids were heavy.

Three times.

Four times.

Her breathing slowed.

And then . . .

Nothing.