Right off the bat, know that this is extreme AU regarding everything from the very beginning of The Sight and beyond. That mean's Hollypaw is the third subject of the prophecy. Events beyond this, even the births of 'important' characters such as Dovepaw and Ivypaw, may not come true. Hell, Tigerstar and the whole Dark Forest thing may not even come into play. Don't like me messing with canon? Then don't read. In my opinion, the best Warriors arc was the first ones, with Firestar's journey from hapless kittypet to legendary leader. Long Shadows is the most recent book I've read, though I've been following the series online. Frankly, I'm not sure if I can pick up Sunrise or one of the fourth arc books. From what I've seen of Dovepaw and the most recent plots... Yeah, I'm sticking to my highly implausible AUs.

Disclaimer: Do I look like four different authors writing the same series under the same pen-name to you? There's only one of me, thank you very much, and she certainly doesn't own the Warriors franchise. However, I do own all the original material.

"Your faith alone will guide you
Feel the turn in time"

His current home was what many cats would consider genuine paradise. Why not? Above, the stars sparkled so close to earth it appeared you merely had to climb to the top a tall tree to brush up against them. The forest below had never been affected by the Twolegs' corrupted influence and was a never-ending expanse of pure wilderness. Every single piece of potential prey, ranging from the fish that swam in the rivers to the rabbits that bounded through the open moorlands, was delicious and abundant. There was no Clan rivalries or borders to constantly protect. In the heavenly territory of StarClan, there was only peace and contentment for the Clancats fortunate enough to join the ranks of their warrior ancestors.

Odd as it seemed, he was glad to be leaving StarClan's territory. For countless generations, going back to the very beginnings of the Clans, he had been stranded here. After existing amidst such dull peace for so long, the temptation of the pleasures and sorrows of a true life was too great to resist. Finally, he was getting ready to depart.

Still, StarClan had been his home for most of his existence. The forest below was not the one he had first hunted in. Even the four Clans had drastically changed from the ones in his living memory. Could he survive in a strange world where even the timeless warrior code had been altered from its original form?

Though tired of the starry forest, the tomcat still drank in the familiar sights for what may be the final time. Should things go according to plan, he would not return to StarClan for many moons. He wouldn't even remember he had been here before in the first place. Should things not turn out alright? Then chances were he'd be trapped in the empty abyss between one realm and the next. If he were to be consigned to oblivion for all of eternity, then he at least wanted as many pleasant memories as possible to keep him company.

No! he snapped to himself, barely able to restrain his hiss of frustration. This isn't working!

Even after all of this time, his vision was not as it should be. Though he had perfect eyes, his mind seemed to have trouble recalling previous sights. It was like holding snow; he could only retain the memories for so long before they melted into water and slipped away from him. Not even the beautiful landscapes of StarClan's territory would remain with him for long.

Abandoning the futile notion, he merely sat firmly on his haunches and summoned the old methods back to the front of his mind. Closing his eyes tightly and inhaling with his mouth wide open, information that had been formerly inaccessible came flooding in like a river filled to its banks after a heavy rainstorm. Darkness had been his native element since kithood. Without the distracting presence of sight, his remaining senses had sharpened back to their prior strength.

Normal cats couldn't hear the nearly inaudible footsteps of the mouse that scavenged about dozens of fox-lengths away. Nor were their noses sharp enough to detect the multitude of other scents that lingered just beneath the first overpowering wave of starlight. Under that first smell were the scents of countless other cats. All StarClan warriors, ranging from the youngest of kits to the greatest leaders of their age, that had all passed through this area.

Sitting in that clearing, eyes shut and drinking in his surroundings like a parched flower that had not seen rain all greanleaf, the lone tomcat didn't look particularly outstanding from his fellow warrior ancestors. His plain dark gray pelt, flecked with the telltale shining stars, lacked any unique markings. The tom was a little bit on the small side, but any experienced gaze could detect the lean muscles concealed just beneath that coat.

At first glance, not even the most skilled of medicine cats could guess that such an unremarkable was one of StarClan's oldest members. That his name was still uttered reverently by elders that told eager young ones about his life story. That he was one of the few individuals forever immortalized in Clan legend.

"Owlstar?" a deep masculine voice inquired worriedly. "Are you all right?"

The dark gray tom's eyes snapped open, fixing on the newcomer that stood a few pawsteps from him. Those eyes belonged on no ordinary cat. Amber and larger than normal, an unblinking gaze of Owlstar fell upon his companion. Long used to those unnerving eyes, even the newcomer felt the customary shiver run down his spine. Owlstar's eyes seemed to peer through the very center of his soul, to the innermost areas of his mind. Never in a thousand moons could those eyes ever lose their entrancing power.

Owlstar nodded, turning his head away and freeing his captive from his unnerving gaze. "I'm fine, Thun. Doesn't the forest's best hunter and leader of all time deserve a little bit of solitude to say farewell to his beloved territory in peace?"

'Thun' sniffed, butting the other time affectionately in the shoulder. "Excuse me, Ow, but we all know who the first and greatest ThunderClan leader was. They named the Clan after me, you know. Besides, you're the one who suggested this foolish mission in the first place. Don't tell me you're getting cold paws just when we're getting ready to begin?"

Owlstar's amber eyes, which had slanted ever so slightly at the mention of his humiliating kit nickname, just narrowed into indignant slits at the other tom's last statement. "You of all cats should know my primary concern is for the continued well-being of the Clans, Thunder. We're returning to the forest for far more significant a reason than to re-experience life." Mood lightening, he added jokingly, "Or giving you the opportunity to temporarily escape your fans."

Being of one of the Clans' four (fifth, if you counted the long-forgotten Sky) founders, younger warriors often tried to hunt Thunder down in pursuit of answers to their difficult questions or to receive some of his supposed wisdom. In Owlstar's humble opinion, those hopeful seekers would be thoroughly disappointed by their discovery. Not even death and seasons in StarClan had changed Thunder much from his original stubborn and arrogant self.

Thunder winced at the painful recollection his darling little brother had purposefully drudged back up. "It's not my fault I take after our mother. How am I supposed to change the fact that I'm inconspicuous and the most accurately described in the surviving stories? Being a large ginger tom with four white paws makes you instantly recognizable by any bonehead that ever listened to the elders!"

"Oh, will you two just put a mouse in it!"

Startled out of their wits, the two brothers simultaneously whirled around with hisses of shock. Emerging from the darkness was a small she-cat with a pelt the exact same color as the shadows. She had features similar to Owlstar, though her furiously burning green eyes were a unique characteristic. Demanding as Thunder, or as grumpy as Owlstar, could possibly be, it had been Shadow that had inherited all of their mother's frightening ability to quail even the most vicious of foxes into submission.

With all three cats together, it was impossible to imagine all three cats as siblings that shared the same parents. Sure, Shadow and Owlstar could be considered kin, if from different litters. But Thunder? Save for Owlstar's amber eyes, at superficial glance the eldest tom seemed to have nothing else of his family's features. But closer examination would reveal that all siblings shared the same noses and other little features. Thankfully, the other Clancats failed to draw this stunning conclusion and the fact that the founders of ThunderClan and ShadowClan were brother and sister had soon became lost to history.

"Must you always sneak up on us like that?" Thunder growled, rasping his tongue testily over his ginger chest fur. "You always abused the power StarClan gave you."

"Every time I used my abilities was for the benefit of my Clan," Shadow retorted, tail lashing. "More than what can be said for you, you reckless mouse-brain."

Owlstar's head snapped up suddenly, his eyes bulging alarmingly as his nostrils flared. His older siblings shot him shocked looks, but neither lifted a paw to help him. Their brother had often suffered such fitful episodes since early in his life. Terrifying as it appeared, Owlstar was not harmed by such violent outbursts.

After what seemed like an eternity to his anxious siblings, the gray cat's spasmodic trance ceased. Panting heavily from the experience, he struggled to swiftly regain composure. "She has gone into labor," he rasped. "Hurry up and make a decision. If we are to carry through with the plan, we must depart soon."

"You know I've protested vehemently against this since you first it up but..." Thunder shook his head helplessly. "I don't we ever had a choice in this. He mastered the art of rebirth seasons ago. Who knows how many times he wormed his way out of the Dark Forest and into the body of some innocent Clan kit. We're the only ones that can put a stop to his meddling once and for all before he devastates the Clans permanently."

"The warrior code, Thun," Shadow murmured pointedly. "So much has been altered or completely forgotten over the generations I fear our original message close to being lost forever. We helped create it, and it is our sacred duty to restore it. Without the warrior code, there can be no Clans." She snarled in disgust. "Ancestors! During the period of our absence we lost SkyClan. How can we tolerate any more desecration of our vision? Does the responsibility not fall to us to return the forest to its former glory?"

"Both stopping that rogue and restoring the warrior code are our sacred duties," Owlstar snapped urgently. "But if we intend to do anything about it we have to act this instant. From what we determined of rebirth, it is best if the soul reincarnates into the body of close kin. Remember how Cinderpelt was sent into the body of her brother's kit? Familial relationships like that work best, and since Leafpool's litter will be the last one born in moons that carry our blood, this is our final chance to help the Clans in time."

Shadow and Thunder glared heatedly at each other, each silently sending the blame for such delayed reincarnation at the other. Their younger brother sighed, just hearing the accusations whirling about their minds: Stupid fur-ball! If your blasted mate had agreed to send those kits to ThunderClan than we wouldn't have had to wait for Firestar to abandon his kittypet lifestyle for the forest! Or in Thunder's case, Don't you blame this on me. Maybe if you hadn't scared every potential mate away with your bad attitude than maybe you could have solved that problem!

"The others aren't going to be pleased when they discovered we allowed ourselves to be reborn," Owlstar meowed with fake nonchalance. "Wind was livid enough when she found out about Cinderkit. Do you want to be found out before you turn into an innocent little newborn that our fellow founders can't harm?"

Unsurprisingly, all siblings unanimously agreed that it was indeed time to leave. Departing from StarClan's territory for what may have been the final time, the three legendary leaders began their journey to their destination. After all they were partly responsible for the probably irreversible damage done to both the warrior code and their beloved Clans. Did they not deserve a shot of redeeming the forest?

Glancing skeptically up at the stars that rose ever higher and higher into the sky, Owlstar found himself unable to quell the all-too familiar tide of pessimism that surged up. Ancestors, we were the ones that loosed a monster upon the forest in the first place. We indirectly lead to all future leaders being stripped of their full power. Maybe whatever force that has previously taken mercy on us has had it. Will Thun, Shad, and I just float in a void for the rest of our existence?

If that worst case and highly scenario did indeed come to pass, than Owlstar was glad at he'd taken the effort to take in StarClan's territory properly. He had been born in darkness and had died in darkness. Surviving in a black void wouldn't be all that bad compared to his blindness during life.


In a terrible blizzard, while the furious snows had raged outside and the shrieking wind had howled through the branches, Leafpool had given birth to her first and last litter. The result of the forbidden romance between a ThunderClanner and a WindClanner, the kits had been born HalfClan and thus already subject to the scornful predjudices of their comrades. Not to mention they were also the offspring of a medicine cat. Those three blasphemous kits were the very embodiments of all that the warrior code was against, three little pests that should have been a personal offense to Owlstar and his siblings, the creators of such rules in the first place.

Looking down at three very innocent newborn kittens nestled into their mother's fur and suckling contentedly, Owlstar saw only that. Whatever unthinkable sins their parents had committed, these children were not tainted by matters beyond their control. Mere victims of cruel fate, the gray StarClan warrior that silently watched could only feel pity for them. Should the ruse of these two sisters fall apart and it was discovered Squirrelflight wasn't the mother of this litter... Then only misfortune could await them. Firestar was merciful. The other Clan leaders were not.

Normally so sensitive to the presence of her warrior ancestors, the gifted medicine cat should have immediately noticed the three transparent figures that huddled around her and Squirrelflight. So immersed with her newborn kits and her conversation with her sister, Leafpool remained oblivious. Even though she glimpsed their starry forms out of the corners of her eyes, she dismissed the glimpses as mere tricks of the light.

"She should have run away with the WindClan tom as they had first planned," Thunder murmured softly. His amber eyes were distant, reliving a far distant past. "They could have been happy together."

Shadow's stern face showed no pity for the mother that had never been allowed to become one, but her own green gaze was soft as she observed the three newborns. "Leafpool never should have disobeyed the warrior code in the first place. But it seems as if we were destined to be reborn as her offspring."

Unblinking amber eyes widening in surprise, Owlstar couldn't contain the obscenity that slipped from his mouth. True, he had been expecting two toms and a she-cat to be born today, but this- this had not been intended, to put it mildly. Burrowed into Leafpool's tabby fur was a she-cat with a pitch-black pelt. The brother to her right was noticeably larger than his littermates, a handsome golden tabby. And the runt of the litter? A dark gray tabby tom.

"Right," Owlstar meowed hastily. "We should get this over with before the souls that inhabit these bodies become too rooted to them. Shad, do you want to go first?"

The black she-cat nodded, looking uncharacteristically nervous as her impending rebirth loomed so close. In a rare show of tenderness, Shadow entwined her tail with each of her brothers and rubbed against them in personal farewells. "Be good, you two. If we should never remember our prior lives, know that I loved you both. Even you, Thunder, for all the bees in your brain. Let's drag that fox-hearted piece of dung down with us before we die this time, all right?"

Hiding his concern behind humor, the massive ginger tom raised his tail in a jaunty salute. With a final nod, Shadow turned to the black she-cat and tentatively lowered her snout to the small creature's head. Hesitating for the briefest moments, the black she-cat than made contact with the kit, disintegrating into a shower of stars as she did so.

"SHADOW!" Thunder yowled in alarm, bounding forward to desperately grasp at the falling stars. Owlstar held his panicking sibling back, and the two watched with bated breath as the silver lights that had once been their sister landed on the black kit and slowly sank in. For a heart-wrenching moment of silence, nothing happened. Then the little ball of fluff weakly raised her head, opening her jaws in a silent mewl.

Legs turning wobbly, Owlstar released Thunder with a sigh. Quivering from both relief and triumph, he purred weakly. "She's okay," he reported. Looking at that scrap of black fur, he recognized his fearsome sister concealed somewhere behind that adorable face. "Shadow's okay."

"Oh, thank the ancestors," the massive ginger tom breathed. Glancing at the newly dubbed Lionkit, he shrugged. "I guess it's my time to go." His ears perked up hopefully as something dawned on him. "Maybe this time around Shad won't be such a little tyrant while growing up. We can actually get along like true littermates!"

Owlstar thought it best if he gently crushed his older brother's foolish dreams right then and there. "Don't count on it. Not even reincarnation can change Shadow's grouchy exterior," he meowed gravely. For what seemed like an eternity, there was just silence. Then something slipped unbidden past Owlstar's fangs, right into the air. "My new body is to be blind as well. Just like last time." He had hid that horrible truth for moons, deciding it to be information not important to their mission. Now, it seemed as if he could restrain it for no longer.

Thunder's amber eyes widened in shock at this unexpected revelation. When Owlstar sensed that familiar and sickening pity entering his brother, the gray tom turned away with an irritated hiss. He had longed since proved his blindness to be an advantage instead of a hindrance. It had been because of his lack of eyesight that he'd become so attuned to his surroundings and had become such a gifted hunter. Had he still not proved himself capable of fending for himself in Thunder's critical eyes?

Thunder sighed. "I suppose it was my fault I didn't realize it sooner. Shad and I were so concentrated on organizing Cinderpelt's reincarnation we didn't peer far enough into the future to see if the kits themselves were unaffected by their parents' breaking of the code."

"Blindness is what lead to my success in the first place," Owlstar gently reminded his overprotective brother. "Were it not for my power we never would have discovered his treachery in the first place. Had I been born normal, your food would have been poisoned with deathberries and that monster would have taken over the entire forest. I can handle being the darkness again."

Thunder nodded in resignation. His dark gray companion still sensed the doubt that lurked beneath his calm composure, but Owlstar was grateful his brother had let the matter rest. "Maybe you won't be as klutzy as a kit this time and get into so many accidents," he meowed in hopeful consideration. "Your knowledge from this life could bleed over enough so you are already used to navigating without sight."

Hopefully, Owlstar silently answered. Aloud, he merely purred. "We'll see. Either way, you and Shad won't give me such a demeaning title like 'Ow' ever again. Out of the three of us, you can already foresee who'll be the best warrior."

"Warrior?" Thunder echoed in disbelief. "You're gonna go for it again?" He bopped himself with a paw. "Of course you are. My Clan's faith in the capability of their cats may have fallen considerably since my time in the old forest, but you'll show them either way that being blind has its strengths. Besides, with your grumpy attitude Leafpool wouldn't want you as her apprentice. You'd scar the kits for life."

"Got that right." The two brothers brushed muzzles in farewell, just in case one of their respective rebirths didn't go as smoothly as Shadow's had. "Now what are you procrastinating for, you lazy lump of fur? Lionkit's soul will soon become too attached to his body for you to enter."

Following Shadow's lead, Thunder touched his chosen and vanished in a shower of starlight. Only Owlstar remained, uncomfortably out of place among the planning two sisters and the kits they wanted to pass off as Brambleclaw's offspring.

Swallowing the lump of trepidation that had rose unwillingly risen in his throat, Owlstar ordered his rebellious paws forward to little Jaykit. Aside from the dark tabby stripes and the closed eyes he knew would be turn out to be blue, this tomcat must have been virtually identical to him as a newborn- blindness included.

You were born in the dark and died in the dark once, he scolded himself. Ancestors! You can do it a second time.

As he had so urgently reminded Thunder, his time spent lingering between one world and the next was severely limited. His fellow founders, the same ones that had vehemently protested any of StarClan's warriors being reborn as living kits, would soon discover his family's treachery. They had been absolutely livid when Cinderpelt had slipped past them. How would they react when they realized that their missing companions had indeed followed through with their earlier threats of reincarnation?

"Too late now," Owlstar grumbled audibly. "You've already made a prophecy concerning your own return to the forest and Firestar has already heard a portion of it. Might as well reward his patience for waiting that grave prediction to come to pass."

Pressing his nose gently into Jaykit's fur, the same tomcat that had been hailed as one of the greatest warriors of all time felt himself slipping into a foreign body that would soon become his new home.

Slowly but steadily, the long seasons of memories scattered away from him like rain water shaken from his drenched pelt. Away from him flew all of the sorrows and joys that defined him as Owlstar. Blackness rose to engulf him like a sinister tide. He did not struggle vainly against it, though he knew this to be the last time he would truly be seeing for a very long time...

Who am I? Owlstar or is it Owleyes... Owlpaw?... No, just... plain old Owl... plain old... Ow...

"Jaykit."


"Jaykit. Yes, a fine name indeed," Squirrelflight purred in approval. "Those all are beautiful names, Leafpool."

The brown tabby's ears twitched, the look of happiness she sent at her younger sister tainted by the sad truth she would soon be force to relinquish all claim to her offspring. To hand them over to Squirrelflight and casually pretend that they had been sired by Brambleclaw. Soon her kits wouldn't be her kits. Or Crowfeather's. Just some litter she shared a distant relationship with through her younger sister.

"Make sure Brambleclaw doesn't persuade you otherwise," she meowed in fake lightheartedness. "I had two moons to mull over those names and they can't be perfected any further."

"Don't worry, that stubborn tom will soon come to see it our way. Besides, his choices for names are horrible." Squirrelflight huffed in exasperation. "Can you seriously believe he wanted to name his firstborn son Bramblekit? He said he wanted to start a whole new tradition of cats with the name. Toms." Green eyes turning serious, she gazed cautiously down at the three precious kits all of ThunderClan would soon believe to be hers. "Leafpool... Are you sure StarClan will spare them? They are the result of a forbidden romance, willingly or not. Will this event not have some hidden consequence?"

Leafpool bristled. "Of course StarClan will take mercy on innocent kits. Regardless of their unfortunate heritage, they'll grow up to be normal warriors of the Clan. Just you wait."

Though her voice rang with resolute conviction, her heart fluttered inside her chest like a bird with a broken wing.

Was her faith in StarClan's compassion really that infallible? She was one of the few (if there were any others that had defiled the warrior code so much) medicine cats that had dared to ventured down the path of having these forbidden kits. What was stopping her warrior ancestors from inflicting their wrath upon her children? Hurting them was far more of an effective punishment they could ever devise for Leafpool alone.

Her fierce new maternal instincts could have been drowning out her logical reasoning, but Leafpool was now unable to shake off the unnerving feeling someonefar more dangerous than a spying ThunderClan cat was silently observing her. Eyes flickering about suspiciously, the medicine cat protectively wrapped her tail around her mewling kits and surveyed her surroundings.

Glimpsing a foreign long-furred white cat staring thoughtfully at her with unreadable green eyes at the corner of her gaze, Leafpool's head snapped to fix her snarl upon the intruder. Her burning eyes fell only upon a small hole in the bush that allowed her a view of the raging blizzard outside her shelter. Just above the gap were two green leaves that had somehow miraculously survived leaf-fall, tugged at weakly by the the howling winds.

Squirrelflight noticed her sister's distress, and also glanced alarmingly about her. "What is it?" she demanded uneasily.

Embarrassed at her mistake and feeling her fur grow hot, Leafpool she her head. "Nothing," she responded weakly. "Just a trick of the light."

Yes. That had to be it. Her own paranoia had invented the ghostly white cat that had been spying upon this private time. StarClan warriors weren't silently glaring down at her in angry disappointment. She and Squirrelflight and her three kits were completely alone.

Still, her nerves had not been entirely settled. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, a part of Leafpool was certain the wind outside was indeed raging with increased fury. Not for her, though, the traitorous medicine cat. But for Jaykit, Hollykit, and Lionkit. The three innocent victims of circumstances far beyond their feeble control.

Leafpool was only partially correct. The greatest cats in all of StarClan were indeed wrathful, but their anger was not directed at the kits themselves. Rather, at the three treacherous souls hiding inside them that had dared to change the entire destiny of the four Clans by allowing themselves to be reborn in a world no longer meant for them.

For, despite their best efforts to prevent Owlstar's prophecy from ever coming to pass, three cats with the power of the stars in their paws had finally come.

1. The original Clan leaders went by their own names, as the tradition of giving leaders the suffix '-star' had not yet been established. Owlstar is a real character. He's listed in SotC as Thunder's successor and a legendary hunter. In this story, they and Shadow are siblings. Thunder and Shadow are littermates, with Owlstar being their parents' much later oopsie XD.

2. Code of the Clans said the warrior code was not founded until several generations after the founding of the Clans. Considering how likely it is the whole system would have crumbled before then without any official rules... (they didn't even have the rule about Clan loyalty at first!) Yeah, I'm sticking with SotC's theory that the founders created both the Clans and the warrior code. But this is an original code that has been long forgotten in present day. Since all the rules are oral, it can't be too hard for rules to be severely modified, discarded, or added over a span of many generations.

3. Owlstar is blind. He has been since birth. I don't know if he is in canon. I have already stated this as an AU, so I'm covered there. Yes, he has Jaypaw's gift (or does Jaypaw have his?) Both he, and his reincarnation Jaypaw, will NEVER be medicine cats in this fic. Why? Because when your already sharp senses are magnified by lack of focusing on development of sight and you have a perception like Jaypaw has, you don't need to see.

4. Rebirth, for StarClan cats at least, can only happen with kittens somehow related to you. Like how Cinderpaw is Cinderpelt's niece and the Three Thunder's distant descendants (thus also connecting them to Thunder's siblings.) There are ways around the blood limits but I'd be spoiling it now if I told you, wouldn't I? ;)