Disclaimer: I'm only posting this once, so read now or forever hold your accusations! XD I do not own Warriors or any of the characters in this story except possible original characters created by myself. All other characters belong to the Erin Hunters. (For those who don't know, there are three Erins who all co-write the Warriors books.) Happy reading!

Hello all! My name is stealthclaw343, obviously. I'll update my profile with bits of info along the way but for now lets all enjoy the following story. Its set just after Omen of the Stars: The Forgotten Warrior. Sol has once again disappeared and left the clans confused. The battle with Windclan was won but tensions are mounting further and with the battle to end all coming closer still, three must become four, and the final battle must be won. No one knows who to trust, can they even trust themselves? Lets get started!

Jayfeather sighed, standing over his herbs. His supplies were fairly meager, and with leaf-bare right around the corner he knew it would be a rough one if he didn't stock up soon. On the plus side, he seemed to have an abundance of catmint. However, he had almost no Horsetail left. Stowing his herbs back in their correct places, he left his den to go into the forest in search of the one he needed.

Soon after leaving the entrance of camp though, he was met by Cinderheart, who was returning briskly from the direction he was heading, prey in her jaws. She brushed past him and he still sensed confusion and weariness coming off of her. Slight, but definitely there. She hid her emotions well when she wanted to, he noted. Her choice to remain a warrior had been the correct one, but she was still unsure of herself after learning the truth of her past.

After she was gone he shook his head and continued on in search of the Horsetail. Padding through the forest, he let his mind wander, listening to the sounds of birds and the lap of the waves against the shore of the lake. Passing the ancient trees, he thought of a time where everything was so simple. When he was a kit it was just him, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf. He sighed, 'Everything was so easy,' he thought, 'play with moss balls and get caught sneaking out of camp. Nothing else mattered as long as the three of us were together. Now nothing is easy…' Things were slightly better though, now that Hollyleaf had returned, and the void where she had been, filled. But there was another void still in his heart, one that he feared would never fill. Not a day went by when he didn't think of Half-moon. He would never forget the last time he saw her, all those moons ago… Once again he sighed. For a while, he continued to think, but all to soon he found himself back in the present. His paws had led him to the lake shore, where he decided to sit down and listen, letting the soothing sound of water calm his mind. Soon enough however, he noticed the presence of another cat.

Hollyleaf.

Even though the She-cat was a ways down the shore, and hadn't noticed Jayfeather, her emotions seemed broadcasted over such a wide range that he could literally almost feel them firsthand. She, like Cinderheart, was struggling still with her place in the clan, though his sister would never show it around other cats.

Quietly, he got to his paws and began retreating back into the forest, a slight pang in his heart. Sometimes his only wish was that everyone could just be at peace, without all this turmoil. Then maybe he could be happy too.

Shaking off his dark thoughts, he continued on in search of the herb he needed. Scenting the air, he soon caught a whiff of it, in the direction of the Windclan border. He shuddered a little. Tensions had been so high with the rival clan recently, that it made him very uneasy to go anywhere near them. But, he would do what must be done. And besides, he was a medicine cat. Windclan held no grudge against him like Shadowclan seemed to, thus far anyways, and they shouldn't challenge him.

He padded swiftly towards the border, and the scent of Horsetail grew stronger. Soon he found it, just within the bounds of Thunderclan territory. As he padded over and bent to begin picking the stems, a yowl of protest rang out from the Windclan side. "Get away from there!" Someone called. With an exasperated sigh, Jayfeather scented the air to find out who would be harassing him today. A patrol of Windclan cats, consisting of none other than Breezepelt, his apprentice Boulderpaw, Crowfeather, and Nightcloud came running up. 'Oh joy…' He thought

"What, may I ask, are you doing?" Crowfeather, who was leading the patrol, asked coldly.

"Digging for hedgehogs," Jayfeather replied flatly, "what does it look like I'm doing?"

At this, Crowfeather bristled and replied angrily, "It looks like your stealing Windclan's herbs!"

Jayfeather snorted, "Right… Have you stolen Thunderclan's territory? Or cant you smell your own scent markers. This is on our side of the border, and unless I misunderstand the code, if its on our side, its ours. Or am I wrong?"

Crowfeather gazed at him in disgust, and Breezepelt spat, "Cant you smell, half-clan scum? Your borders are off, mousebrain! That's within our territory!"

Jayfeather's hackles raised from the barb but the moment Breezepelt said it, the Thunderclan sun-high patrol burst into the clearing with Graystripe at its front. "Is there a problem here?" He asked.

"Your blind medicine cat cant seem to smell either, because he's trying to steal herbs from our side of the border!" Nightcloud hissed, and Jayfeather looked more offended still.

Thornclaw, who was also part of the patrol, padded forward, and inspected the herb patch, then the scent markers, "Seems fine to me." He muttered, glaring at the Windclan cats. Then the other three Thunderclan cats, Brightheart, Whitewing, and Hazeltail, also inspected the border, reporting no problem in the placement of the scent marks.

"You all would say that, wouldn't you!" Boulderpaw growled, though he was soon silenced by Crowfeather with a cuff to the head. Breezepelt looked resentfully at his father. The Windclan cats seemed to realize that they were outnumbered and outsmarted. Both sides knew it, and both knew another fight after the one in the tunnels would be pointless with leaf-bare so close. The clans would need all of their warriors healthy, and that meant staying out of fights unless absolutely necessary, even if they were itching to get their claws at one another. "Don't think this is over." Crowfeather spat, before rallying his patrol and padding off in the direction they had come from, obviously going to cry to Onestar.

Graystripe was still for a moment, watching them go, then he turned to Jayfeather, "Take the Horsetail and lets get back to report this to Firestar, he'll want to know. We don't want to provoke another attack from Windclan, whether we think they will or not."

"Its almost as if Onestar didn't even punish some of those cats, Breezepelt at least was in the tunnels!" Whitewing muttered under her breath.

Thornclaw growled his agreement but said, "Onestar may be crazy but he's not stupid, he cant have that many warriors off doing apprentice duties, especially now… I'm sure there was some punishment, but it wasn't as severe as it may have been if times were different. Besides, as much as I'm not fond of Windclan, to a certain extent, they cant be blamed entirely, it was Sol we were dealing with…"

That was something all of them could agree with, but as they set of back towards camp, Jayfeather wondered once again when all of this trouble would cease.

*Lionblaze*

A cold leaf-fall breeze blew through the forest, creating a slight howling sound. Lionblaze crept forward, all his senses intent on the squirrel only tail lengths away. It sat on the root of a tree, nibbling on a nut, completely unaware of the danger that was lurking so near.

Just as he was about to pounce, the breeze blew again, bringing with it a bit of dust. It was just enough to tickle Lionblaze's nose.

A great sneeze came over the young tom, immediately scaring away the squirrel and leaving Lionblaze as prey less as he had begun.

"Mousedung!" He swore, padding through the ferns to where his quarry had been. It had not been a good hunting day, the cold had chased all the prey back into their holes, and it was difficult to find any that were out looking for food or otherwise! He growled in frustration before turning back the way he had come in search of other prey. It seemed to him that he had been to the other side of the forest and back. He had been hunting all morning and it was sun-high now. His belly growled hollowly, though he knew that he couldn't acknowledge it until he had fed his clan.

So he padded on, quietly through the trees until he heard voices ringing nearby. Carefully picking his way past a bramble patch towards the sound, he emerged out of the trees to find the sun-high patrol and Jayfeather returning in the direction of camp.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" He asked, tilting his head a little as he noticed how restless they all seemed.

"Dispute over on the Windclan border." Thornclaw growled quietly, "Trying to accuse Jayfeather of stealing their herbs. What next?"

"I don't see why they keep stirring up trouble," Hazeltail added, "it almost seems as though their looking for a fight."

Lionblaze nodded grimly, "Probably are-"

"It cant be helped." Graystripe cut him off, "If they are looking for a fight, there's not much we can do but try not to start one. Now come on, we have Firestar to report to."

As the patrol padded past, Lionblaze noticed Jayfeather looked particularly ruffled, "Are you okay?" He asked the small tom quietly.

"Fine." He gruffly replied around his mouthful of herbs.

"Okay!" Lionblaze said a little heatedly, "Sorry for caring." At this though, Jayfeather sighed.

"Its Breezepelt, he's becoming increasingly hostile," he muttered quietly to Lionblaze as they padded along, trailing the patrol. "I think that might be a sign that the dark forest cats are getting ready. We'll need to tell Ivypool to stop going soon. I don't want her caught up with them when whatever they have planned happens. It's going to be soon Lionblaze, I don't know how soon, but we need to be ready."

The other tom just nodded, lost in thought. "We'll talk about it later, don't worry to much, I think we've got a little time left." He reassured his brother.

"We're going to need all the time we can get." The grey medicine cat said, gazing sightlessly back at Lionblaze.

Though the two were brothers, Lionblaze was still unnerved every now and again by the fact that while Jayfeather was blind, he still seemed to be able to look straight at whoever he was speaking to, and meet their eyes.

Nodding in agreement, he meowed his goodbye and rushed off in search of more prey. Scenting the air, he detected a mouse not far off. He slunk through the trees until it was in sight, rummaging around in a pile of leaves, probably looking for food. It was a skinny thing, but it would have to do. Bunching his muscles, he waited for the right moment to strike.

From the pile of leaves the mouse withdrew a small red berry, clutching it in it's tiny paws, the small creature examined it for a moment, seeming perplexed. It was then that Lionblaze pounced.

Surging forward, faster than the mouse could react, he scooped the creature up in his paws and delivered it a swift, killing bite.

He looked down at it and decided that for now, he wasn't likely to find any other prey, so he picked it up in his jaws and, like the patrol, he began heading back in the direction of camp.

The small red berry that the mouse had been holding lay smashed on the ground.

*Jayfeather*

Padding into camp, Jayfeather made straight for the Medicine den, eager to keep the herbs fresh. Dipping them briefly in water to keep them moist, he stowed them in the hollow where he kept the rest of his herbs. Walking out of the crack, he heard Briarlight's soft breathing as she slept peacefully in her bed on the opposite side of the den.

He smiled. She had certainly been doing better as of late. Lionblaze had been right, all she needed was something to keep her busy. She could never be Jayfeather's proper apprentice, but she was good to have around.

Quietly slipping over, he put his ear near her chest and listened carefully to her breathing. 'No signs of weakness, not shallow. She's still doing very well!' He thought to himself.

Leaving her in peace, he padded outside, where he was greeted by Brambleclaw.

"Firestar would like to see you in his den." He said simply, then shrugged. "It's about the border dispute."

Jayfeather could have guessed without being told. Tensions had been so high that every problem, no matter how minor, would be discussed in great detail with the cats directly involved. It was painstaking, but necessary. Firestar was taking no chances.

After climbing up to his leader's den, he waited at the entrance and called inside. "Come in." Came the reply, and Jayfeather padded inside.

"Sit." Firestar commanded softly. "I'm sure you know why you're here?" He asked, and Jayfeather nodded. "Good," Firestar continued, "we're fortunate that that didn't lead to a fight." He muttered, gazing at the wall. "Did you get the herbs you needed?" Another nod.

"It was bad timing, they came right as I got there." Jayfeather growled.

"I understand," Firestar said, warmth in his voice. "we must be careful though, another dispute and we might not be so lucky… But what of the prophecy. I already talked to the patrol but I wanted to speak with you alone. I know that the darkness is coming, do these heightened tensions have anything to do with it?" The golden tom asked Jayfeather.

"Yes, I think they do. I cant be certain, but as time goes on, specific cats seem to have become increasingly hostile." He said, making his suspicion known to his leader.

Firestar growled, "What is there that we can do?"

"Not much," Jayfeather muttered, shaking his head. "hope, and keep the clan strong."

Firestar nodded sadly, "Right then, your free to go. Remember, I am always prepared to help the three in any way I can." He finished the last sentence in a whisper, and Jayfeather flicked his tail in thanks before leaving the den and returning to his own.

The moment he set a paw inside though, he felt a presence push roughly past him, sending a shiver down his spine. His ears perked up, scanning carefully for what he had felt. Listening in the direction of the clearing, he found that it was relatively empty, with only a few cats sharing tongues around the edges. "I'm going mad…" He muttered.

Jayfeather suddenly felt very tired. He padded over to and collapsed in his nest, paws no longer seeming to support him. It was only as he was drifting off to sleep that he noticed an odd tang in the den, 'One of the herbs must have gone bad.' He thought blearily, 'Oh well, it can wait.'

Sleep claimed him quickly.

He was running through a forest, panic racing through his veins, something was after him, what, he didn't know. He was vaguely aware of another cat beside him, who seemed familiar, but at the time he couldn't place who.

Scathing calls came from all sides, rasping his name from the dark. Running as fast as he could, the shadows seemed to come alive before his eyes and converge menacingly on him, long talons reaching out to tear away at his flesh.

He felt them pierce him, and he fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. Looking up, he found red eyes glared back down at him. He opened his mouth and began to scream,-

"HELP!"

The loud cry shook Jayfeather from his nightmare and, instantly alert, he raced out into the clearing to find Sandstorm standing over her mate, who lay on the ground in spasms.

Rushing over and pushing the she-cat out of the way, he examined Firestar, his heart racing faster than it had been already. He swung his head to face sandstorm and asked urgently, "What happened?"

She was frantic, "I don't know, we were eating together, and I looked away for a moment, and suddenly, this!"

"What was he eating?" Jayfeather snapped,

"That mouse." Sandstorm said softly, gazing at the small creature on the ground before the tom. Jayfeather stooped down to sniff it and recoiled slightly. "Deathberries." He growled. Pawing gently at the mouse, relief flashed briefly across his face.

Sadly, he turned to Sandstorm. "Most of the berry is still intact, he only got some of the juice, there isn't much I can do. He'll lose a life, but after that he should be fine, relatively. He must have been eating it, realized that something was wrong, and stopped. It was soon enough, but not for one of his lives. He'll be weak, and will probably have to stay in the medicine den, but he'll live. His body will phase out the poison quick enough, it wont kill him twice."

Firestar lay still now, but soon a sharp intake of breath issued from the tom. He remained unconscious for the moment, but was beginning to breath more steadily already.

"That mouse didn't eat the berry, it was put there. Someone attempted to kill Firestar." Jayfeather whispered.

By this time, all of the cats in the camp had gathered around the scene, worry radiating off of them.

"Whose mouse was that?" Sandstorm asked softly, eyes flashing from face to face.

Soon a cat pushed his way to the front and hung his head low.

"Mine." Muttered Lionblaze quietly.

Alright, there's a cliffhanger of sorts to start us off! Please review, all input is appreciated, except flames… Hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be posted soon! I'll try to keep update times constant! (P.S. The herb at the beginning of the chapter that Jayfeather was searching for was originally going to be Marigold. I picked up The Forgotten Warrior the day after it came out (and read through it in literally about ten hours) and Jayfeather starts by searching for Marigold in that too! :D In the end I did change it to Horsetail, just to be different, but I just thought that it was really ironic! (Cause I had the beginning of this chapter typed up before the book came out. I wanted to wait until after it did to post anything…) Just an interesting piece of trivia there. Sorry for the long PS. XD) Anyways, reviews please and thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! : )