Brokenstar licked his eternally blood soaked paws for, maybe, the thousandth time. He was here! He just died! He was poisoned by his own mother! Brokenstar closed his dull amber eyes.

"Pretty pathetic for ShadowClan's great leader," a tom's voice sneered.

Brokenstar opened his eyes to turn and snarl at….. Thistleclaw? He rumbled a growl and turned away from the dead ThunderClan scum.

Thistleclaw shrugged. "Have it your way!" Thistleclaw turned away from Brokenstar, but he kept his gaze the former ShadowClan leader for a few more heartbeats. "Anyways," he growled. "Welcome to the Dark Forest!" With that, Thistleclaw padded into the blood-red fog.

Brokenstar briefly wondered why a cat like Clawface couldn't greet him. Surely, Clawface would know how to respect me! Then, Brokenstar licked his bloodstained paws again.

Brokenstar grumbled to himself as Thistleclaw proudly introduced Tigerstar into the Dark Forest like he was some prophet. Brokenstar pricked his tiny, ripped ears, listening to Tigerstar's complaints.

"There is no real point, Thistleclaw!" Tigerstar hissed. "It's just a Dark Forest and I'm dead! You are dead!"

Thistleclaw shrugged. "Yeah, and we can manipulate the living!"

Tigerstar frowned. "Really," he asked doubtfully.

Thistleclaw nodded. "Silverhawk showed me what it meant to be a true warrior!"

Tigerstar flicked his tail. "How?"

Thistleclaw snarled to himself. "He whispers to me!"

Tigerstar gasped. "Mapleshade did that to me!"

Thistleclaw grinned. "She really did try you out!" He twitched his tail. "I thought she gave up after Crookedstar!"

Tigerstar rolled his eyes. "Look," he growled. "I have better things to do!"

"So true!" Brokenstar rumbled.

Tigerstar sighed. "Alone."

Brokenstar growled under his breath. "I'm not stupid!" Then, he tucked his striped, bushy tail over his snubby nose.

Brokenstar was clearly annoyed when Tigerstar dragged his sons up for their 'night training'. He was even more annoyed when Hawkfrost died because he was impaled by his half-brother, Brambleclaw.

"Tigerstar," Brokenstar reasonably snarled. "Can we just leave it be!?"

Tigerstar shook his head, snarling. "No! The Clans deserve our revenge!"

"Look," Brokenstar snarled. "It always ends in death with that pesky StarClan hovering!"

Tigerstar rolled his eyes. "Then we get rid of them!"

Brokenstar scoffed. "You can't just simply get rid of StarClan. Did you not see them help Firestar kill Scourge?"

Tigerstar snarled, his long claws scraping the dry, dirty ground. "I saw Firestar kill that tiny kittypet!"

Brokenstar's fur spiked up in outrage. "That's not the point! StarClan helped him kill Scourge! What if they help the next hero kill you?! What if StarClan, themselves, kill you!?"

Tigerstar laughed to himself. "Since when did you care so much?"

Brokenstar growled. "You'll make StarClan kill us all!"

Tigerstar laughed. "So be it! Let them come to us, so we can strike them down!"

Brokenstar sighed. "That's not how it works." Then, Brokenstar padded away from Hawkfrost and Tigerstar.

From that night onwards, Brokenstar spied on Tigerstar from in the background. He laughed at Tigerstar's failing attempt at recruiting Jaypaw. StarClan did it again! Brokenstar remembered grinning as Spottedleaf led Jaypaw back into StarClan.

Brokenstar remembered laughing and placing a bet with Tigerstar after Lionblaze left them.

"I bet that you can't keep an apprentice loyal enough to attack the living Clans!" Brokenstar challenged Tigerstar.

Tigerstar smiled. "It's on!" Tigerstar's eyes gleamed with excitement.

Brokenstar took a couple moons to find a suitable apprentice and Tigerstar took even longer.

Brokenstar knew Breezepelt was the perfect cat from the very moment his father's secret was revealed. He thirsted for blood and vengeance! He was focused and strong! He was just what the Dark Forest needed!

Brokenstar laughed as Tigerstar chose Ivypaw as his apprentice. It was even funnier when he sent Hawkfrost to lure her in!

"She's way too soft," Brokenstar told Tigerstar.

"No," Tigerstar growled. "She's jealous!"

Even Breezepelt was agreeing with Brokenstar!

"I could kill her any day!" Breezepelt snarled.

Brokenstar could see the fear in Ivypaw! It became worse after her warrior ceremony. Ivypool was increasingly either jumpy or quick to prove herself. Brokenstar knew he couldn't trust her.

Eventually, things got extremely chaotic! Tigerstar somehow began to rally up chunks of the living Clans and start a war.

At one point, StarClan would have given up if it wasn't for Jayfeather's powers!

Brokenstar liked how this was going! He was finally seeing StarClan's weakness!

What Brokenstar wasn't expecting was the betrayal of almost all of the trained cats! Only Breezepelt and Redwillow stayed loyal. Brokenstar won the bet, but almost immediately after he killed Ferncloud, he found himself nose-to-nose with Yellowfang!

Before he could react, Yellowfang bit his neck and snapped his spinal cord. If only he realized that the bet would end fatally!