The roar sounded throughout the forest, ringing in the ears of every cat. They all knew what had happened, and few chose to accept it. Their hopes for the future had been smashed like the grass below the feet of the monstrous Twolegs; they had taken everything from the cats and, with their giant monster, smashed every hope that once dared to linger in their hearts. Everything for them was taken in one screech of black rubber turning the corner and disappearing from sight.

Firestar was gone.

XXXXXX

"You okay?" A soft paw wormed its way into Firestar's ear, gently tickling him. The flame-colored tom groaned, rolled over, and attempted to go back into the land of his dreams. There, he had no worries. He didn't have the panic rising within him like a startled bird.

He didn't have to dwell on the thought that he had no idea where he was; wherever this place was at, it defidently was not in ThunderClan.

"Shh, Snow. Leave him alone." A gentle voice next to the kit softly called out; her voice echoed in the place they were in. From the sounds around the half-awake Firestar, he could guess that she padded up to her kit and pushed her away from the clan leader.

"But he smells weird!" The she-kit called Snow began to protest.

"Yeah!" A second voice, a tom, broke in and agreed with his sister. "He's different! Really, how often do we get Darkness Dwellers in the Peltless Cave?"

Firestar cracked open one exhausted green eye and gazed upon the scene in front of him. The cage surrounding him was as he had pictured it behind shut eyes-dark as his vision had been when his eyes were still closed. The only thing he could spot was a white-and-brown she-cat seated in the gray corner opposite of him; three kits sat in front of her, all appearing to be about five moons old. There was one she-cat other than Snow; she was red with a white chest, and her brother was dark brown.

Snow, white as her name suggested, reminded Firestar of his nephew, Cloudtail. Sadness pressed down on the flame-colored tom as he thought of ThunderClan. What would they be doing now without him? Nightpelt of ShadowClan couldn't become clan leader because Brokenstar was still alive, so ThunderClan would be left without a clan leader until Firestar died or returned.

I've got to get out of here and return to my clan! I-

His thoughts were shattered as Firestar's eyes locked with two green pools staring right at him. As Firestar sat up and watched the orange tom in the cage next to him, the mysterious cat blinked and turned away.

"Wait…" Firestar whispered; the tom vanished.

"He's up!" The red kit looked at Firestar in awe.

"A Darkness Dweller! A Darkness Dweller!" Snow chanted to her siblings while circling around the clan cat.

"Tackle him!" The brown tom threw back his head and called out to his sisters. On signal from him, the threesome leapt at the flame colored cat. Firestar, under a pile of kits, gently swatted at them with his paws. He was once again hit with a wave of sadness when his eyes looked at the red she-kit. He was remembering Squirrelpaw when she was a kit.

At least Leafpaw is safe now, thought Firestar. She was trapped in a place like this before me.

"Kits!" The she-cat lashed her tail. "Get off of him now! Snow, Pine, climb down from his back! Cherry, his tail is not your play-thing!" As the three retreated to their mother, ears back and tails drooping, the white-and-brown she-cat shook her head and sighed. "I'm quite sorry about all this. They're such a pawfull, especially considering that they are under the insane idea of you being a Darkness Dweller in a Peltless Cave!" She shook her head, then paused when she spotted the lost look on Firestar's face. "You're not… Are you?"

"That depends," replied Firestar, sitting up and gazing at her. "What in StarClan's name is a Darkness Dweller and Peltless Cave?"

"This," she mewed, flicking her tail at their surroundings, "is a Peltless Cave. Remember? They're the ones who took you here."

She must mean the Twolegs. "Ahh, I understand now."

She nodded. "Well, the Peltless are the ones tearing down the big forest, and the cats that live there are the Darkness Dwellers."

"You mean clans?" Firestar was growing more excited by the second. Could this she-cat help him get back to ThunderClan?! "Yes, I'm from the forest. My name is Firestar."

"Darkness Dweller!" The three kits howled in unison.

"Y-you are from there?" Her eyes widened while she pulled her kits closer to her body with her tail.

"I promise I won't harm your kits," promised Firestar. He received only a mutter in response that he couldn't understand.

Silence hung over them like a cloud over the moon. The she-cat seemed intent on not letting her kits even steal a look at Firestar anymore; Cherry, Pine, and Snow seemed to want to do the opposite. Firestar, meanwhile, was searching the cages on the opposite wall from him, all the while wondering if there was a clan cat still there.

"You." Firestar jumped in surprise. The green eyed tom was back, staring at him again. His orange pelt glowed softly under the dim Twoleg light.

"Y-yes?"

"Firestar, right? Leader of ThunderClan? Formerly Fireheart, Firepaw, and Rusty?"

Firestar frowned. "How do you know so much about me? Who are you?"

The tom ignored his questions. "I'll take that as a yes." Then, he padded softly away from Firestar and settled down in the corner of his cage. Peering into the darkness, the ThunderClan leader spotted a small gray she-cat and two golden colored toms, one of which was slightly more of a red than his companion. All three were looking from the orange tom to Firestar and back again.

Firestar turned back to the white-and-brown she-cat. "What is it with the cats here? Why am I so…" He searched for the right word. "…outcasted?"

"Darkness Dweller," she murmured in reply, not daring to return his eye contact.

"Yer a clanner! Darkness Dweller!" Snow chanted with her siblings, reminding Firestar of his first encounter with Graystripe. Clan life had surprised him then, so he could understand the mixed feelings of the kits and their mother. That didn't explain the orange tom, though, and a part of him didn't want to know what his deal was.

"Will you at least tell me your name?" Firestar looked at the she-cat in his cage. "I'd like to know."

"Lily," she replied. "My name is Lily."

Before my readers murder me for starting a new story when I haven't finished my other stories yet, allow me to explain. This is for Pink Kitty Cat's forum challenge. I have every chapter (twenty, if you want to know) planned out in my brain and on a word document; this should be done fast. The end of November is the deadline.

I hope you enjoyed it! :)