Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors or the characters in warriors. I do own the OCs featured in story.

Warning there will be: OCs, breaks in reality, huge mistakes and/or disregard for real scienific research, some explicit things, and grammatical, spelling, or puncuation mistakes that I have have missed after editing

I also posted this story on another site as well under the same name, it already has six chapters up on that sight. This one on is a edited and improved version of my story and will have wider and infrequent updates due to editing and extras included.

Prologue

"Hey Jayfeather!" a paw prodded the tom's side, though rather an unnecessary annoyance as the voice had already dragged him out of his slumber. Jayfeather groaned as he lazily swatted the paw away before curling back up into a ball.

"What is it Brairlight?" he asked with a sleepy, irritated voice. He heard Brairlight let out an irritated huff in return though he sensed by her cheerful attitude she did not hold any genuine annoyance with him.

"Sandstorm wants to see you about her stiff joints, lazy furball," Briarlight informed, "She claims it to be nothing much but I talked her into seeing you. You know, just to make sure that it isn't anything too bad."

So I'm not the only one suffering from stiffness lately, Jayfeather thought as he lifted himself from his nest. Just as he thought about it, both his hind legs clenched uncomfortably when he stood upright followed a painful, burning sensation crawling around his joints as he shifted around too much. This odd stiffness started in late new leaf, starting at the joint in his back paw. At the time it wasn't anything too bad. Nowadays, it just felt agonizing and when the herbs failed to bring any ailment, it only alarmed Jayfeather further.

I hope this isn't a sign of something worse, that concerning thought came to mind again. Despite his own fears and pain, Jayfeather spoke with impassively to Brairlight, "I'll see to it, thank you Brairlight." There was no reason for the warrior to be concerned about his own legs with all the problems and training she had to deal with over her own legs. No, he will deal with the issue on his own. Jayfeather picked his way to the store, though it took twice the normal effort just to force his legs to co-operate, and sniffed around for any fresh comfrey root.

"Hey, Jayfeather, are you alright?" Brairlight asked, dragging herself over to Jayfeather's side. "You've been walking really oddly lately."

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied bitterly, though thinking it over replying like that would tip Brairlight off about his problem.

And obviously, it did. "Maybe you should stretch out your legs a bit or if you're having the same joint problems as Sandstorm or you could use the comfrey or ragwort leaves if it really hurts," Briarlight suggested. Jayfeather couldn't help but groan. He already tried that, everything he could think of from stretching to herbs nothing worked.

"Look, I appreciate your suggestions, I really do," Jayfeather said, rushing about the den as a distraction from wanting to snap at Brairlight, "but I got to treat Sandstorm. If anything arises, I can care for myself. You know that already." Deciding to leave the conversation at that, he grabbed the comfrey and stormed out of the den. As he moved sluggishly out into the clearing, he felt his front paws lock up. It was not painful, but it was like when he first started getting the pains.

Ach, this isn't good, Jayfeather thought, scowling as he tried working with now four locked up joints. Why is the pain spreading like green cough during leaf-bare?

The green-leaf sunlight warmed up his pelt as he entered the busy clearing. Since he was walking slower than a slug, he decided to listen to around and listen to the placid chatter around him.

"Hey, guys! Guess what Bramblestar took me out and caught a squirrel!" Lilypaw bragged to the other apprentices. "It's great having the leader as a mentor."

Jayfeather let out a silent groan of annoyance, chorusing with the other apprentice's groans. Was she going to keep bragging about being the leader's apprentice well up until she's a warrior?

"Yeah, it's certainly great to have a mentor as old as the moon," Amberpaw snickered. It was disrespectful in its own right, but it did cue a humorous yowl of annoyance from Lilypaw.

It is true though, Bramblestar is pretty old, Jayfeather thought, though he still has plenty life left in him.

It was interesting after the battle of the Dark Forest the warriors den loss most of its warriors not by battle, but by age. The elders den swarmed with new elders, largest gathering ThunderClan has had in some time. Though the amount of elders might be rivaled by the amount of kits pretty soon, judging by the conversation Jayfeather heard from the nursery not too far off.

"Don't you think Frostkit would be a cute name for a tom?" Dovewing asked.

"You should go for it then if you find it so cute, Dovewing," replied Cinderheart, though her voice was drowned out by her own kits' pestering squeals swarming around her.

Blossomfall, who was the newest edition to the nursery, let out a marrow of amusement. "Um, need so helps with your kits, Cinderheart?"

It was just another peaceful day all around. The threat of the Dark Forest was gone, leaf-bare came and went, and life was flourishing in ThunderClan's camp. Even the Clans were still at peace with one another after the battle, something that Jayfeather didn't expect would last so long.

And yet the feeling of dread still continued to swell inside Jayfeather as now every step he took was just agonizing to bear. The burning feeling crawled up his front legs, spreading the pain rapidly across his body. Not to mention the calm chatter of the camp slowly turned to a high-trilled buzz, as if wasps took residence in his head. Once he was in the cool shade of the elder's den did he feel much more relieved.

"I'm here," Jayfeather spoke, navigating around the nests without stepping on any tails over to Sandstorm.

"Ah, thank you Jayfeather," she said in a quiet voice, "sorry for any hassle, Brairlight talked me into seeing you. My leg is just locking up on the shoulder, nothing too bad."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Jayfeather said, chewing the comfrey up into a paste to smear onto her shoulder.

He heard a soft chuckle from Graystripe, "You're a bit young to start having aching joints already."

I think this is worse than that, Jayfeather thought, noting that the pain was still there even when he stood absolutely still. He worked quickly, licking away the residue left on his paws after application on Sandstorm's shoulder. "There, you're finished," he said briskly. He then turned to Graystripe and Millie, "Hey if Briarlight comes around, tell her I'm out. I need some fresh air."

"Alright Jayfeather, we'll tell her," Millie replied just as Jayfeather stepped back outside. He found himself starting to limp, the pain slowly spreading up to his shoulders and wrapping around his belly. That never happened before; this is getting worse every heartbeat, Jayfeather thought. Jayfeather moved as fast as his legs would allow him to avoid grabbing unwanted attention from his Clan mates from his limps. He just needed to get out, take in some fresh air, and be alone for a while. Hopefully by then he'll feel better.

"Hey Jayfeather!" Lionblaze's call startled Jayfeather, taking all his will power not to flinch. By the smell of prey on Lionblaze, along with Foxleap and Toadstep, his brother had just returned from a hunting patrol.

I almost ran into him, Jayfeather thought, dipping his head in a not-so-cheerful greeting.

"Are you heading out?" Lionblaze asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to get some fresh air, may be awhile," Jayfeather said, walking around his brother. "I might not even be back until dusk."

He could feel worry and curiosity ebb from Lionblaze. "Is it urgent?" he asked, his tone low. Jayfeather nodded, although even just nodding began to hurt. He was glad that his brother let him go when he heard him say, "Alright, but if you're not back by dusk I'm coming after you."

Jayfeather nodded again and walked into the forest, away from his brother and the camp. He just walked aimlessly ahead, with no real direction decided in his mind. The sound of waves lapping on the shore reached his ears when he neared the lake.

With every step he took, the pain worsened and worsen to the point that his entire body felt like it was being strengthen and pulled. Eventually his limbs just stopped moving altogether and he fell down on the forest floor, letting out a high-pitched wail. He felt as if the whole world was rocking back and forth, like a leaf falling to the ground but being cradled by a wind, making him nauseous on top of being in pain. The noises of the forest and the lake soon began to fade, along with all feeling in his body.

That was when Jayfeather blacked out.