Lark walks alone, his brown pelt glistening in the moonlight. He was formerly a mighty cat, feared by several others, for her was in a large band of rouges, terrorizing the forest. But, all of that was about to end when his former best friend, Ice betrayed him using a secrets and false accusations. And now, Lark is forced to run from his life as several pursuers chase him off into the dense forest.

"This was stupid, I was a fool to befriend Ice. When I get my claws on him, he will pay!" Lark screeched at the top of his lungs, his dark, menacing, crimson eyes sharp and in slits.

"Ugh, why did I do this?" Lark asked himself as he padded though furiously, his paws aching terribly

Later, the moon was high above the trees and Lark was getting extremely tired, and soon enough collapsed into a heap, his flanks heaving as he fell into a long slumber.

In the morning, Lark woke up, shook himself and padded along. Even he did sleep through the night, he was still very, very tired. He stalked over, and listened to the slight rustling of leaves across the grassy plain, dotted with pine, oak, and ebony trees.

He ventured along, and as the hours passed by and it was already sunset, his stomach grumbled like crazy, as he kept the thought of not eating since the morning yesterday, and a little while later, Lark stepped on something wet, and cold.

"Water!" Lark exclaimed, lapping up as much as he can, as soon as he was done with his drink, he turned his head and noticed a long and shallow brook, its water glistening in the fading sunlight around it. Lark gasped, and bounded over, following the brook as his energy was replenished.

A small while later, the brook slowly ended, and Lark found himself lost, in a misty part of the forest, dried leaves crunching under his paws, he stalked over and hear the faint fluttering of a pigeon, perking his ears up, he went down into a crouch and stalked the sound slowly, and spotted the bird. Lark jumped, his short, brown fur rustling through the howling wind as he was... knocked down?

"ARGH!" Lark grunted, slowly getting up and shaking his head. His eyes turned to slits and he eerily listened to his cloudy surroundings and hear something, a heavy crunching of leaves as a large shadowy figure of a cat began to take form in the mist. Lark frantically looked about and noticed it was night, again. The figure turned to be a large, sturdy Himalayan tom, his patched, long brown, fur blown slightly by the soft winds. The brown tom glared at Lark, his ghost-like amber eyes seemingly glowing as he snarled.

"What are you doing in HazeClan territory?" The tom questioned Lark, who just panicked slightly as he reviewed the choices he had.

"Erm... uh..." Lark said, and with that dashed out into the fog, only to be cornered by another tom, a dark, mackerel tabby, his sharp yellow eyes sending chills into Lark's spine.

Another tom went and cornered Lark, who tried to back up until he was already against a large boulder, as Lark gulped, he decided to stop trying to escape, and instead reason with these cats.

"My name is Lark, I was betrayed by my band, and left for both exile and death itself." Lark murmured, as he hung his head. The three toms looked at Lark, and the dark tom whispered into the brown tom's ear, before the two nodded. The other tom, a gray one, left into the bushes, leaving only the sounds of his footsteps against leaves, and the other toms sat down, prepared for any attack.

"If I just had my band, we would have ripped these cats to shreds." Lark muttered, but he was silenced by the dark tom.

A rustling in the bushes is hear, followed by a beautiful, ebony she-cat with brown markings, she padded over to Lark with a patient smile on her face, and nodded toward the tom cats, making them back up slightly.

"Greetings, my name is Duskstar. What is yours?" the she-cat said, as Lark slowly got lost in her golden eyes which resembled the sun, before snapping back to reality.

"My name is Lark. I was from a band of rouges that betrayed me, and I was forced to run." Lark said, immediately bowing down.

"This is Mudsplash, Fog, who is my deputy, and Greyfeather." Duskstar mentioned, gesturing to the brown, dark, and grey toms, respectively.

"Now, I have an offer for you now, Lark. You can come with us, you will live safely with us, but, you have to follow a strict set of rules, a punishment shall be given if one is not obeyed." Duskstar said

"Wait what? Why? How?" Lark said, both confused and surprised by this.

Duskstar looked at the twinkling of the stars and nodded her head. "I understand you are confused now, this is due to StarClan telling me that in a few moons, a mighty warrior shall come from betrayal and hurt, and shall bring us joy."

Lark immediately nodded his head, and asked "Alright. I accept this offer."

All the cats arose, and stalked off through several boulders, Lark following them.

Soon enough, they approached a large cave, guarded by two strong toms. Lark entered, a darkness surrounding him, then disappearing as his eyes shone in amazement after they adjusted. The sight was beautiful, cats in all shapes, colors, and sizes; talking, giving prey to each other, it was like a scale perfectly balanced.

Duskstar went up to Lark and mentioned him to a large rock and told him to climb to the lowest level, as the cats gathered around, Duskstar jumped to the tip of the rock and yowled happily.

"Cats of HazeClan, I present the newest cat who will be joining us. May I present to you, Larkwing!" After Duskstar gave her announcement, all the cats happily yowled and slowly went back to their business.

When Duskstar and Larkwing went back down the highrock, a pretty dark-gray shecat padded over to the two, Larkwing noticed that she almost looked like Fog, and easily concluded that they were siblings.

"Duskstar." the she-cat formally greeted, bowing her hear slightly in respect

"Greeting now, Blackfire." Duskstar responded, then padded off

Larkwing looked at Blackfire and admired her. But he also remembered that even though he was free from the rouges physically, he may never leave mentally, especially on rules, and the feared leader.

"Greetings to you now, Larkwing." Blackfire mentioned, a lively spark in her blue eyes, as she went off to a part of the cave Larkwing can assumes in the warriors den

Larkwing yawned, and slowly padded over to the den, smiling with good thoughts as he picked a nest and curled up in it.

Thank you, for giving me a new home, one that I can love... Those were his final thoughts as he fell into a slumber and plunged into clan life.