Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors and never will.

Rated: T

Author's Note: I can't say how sorry I am for not continuing "The Flames of Desire". Now that I'm back (hopefully for good), I'm still not going to continue the story. Sorry, I'm just not into it anymore. I'll be writing a lot of short stories, though, and maybe a larger story sometime in the future.

Again, I'm really sorry.

DUSK

It was a silent, chilly morning as a young ThunderClan apprentice left the camp to go hunting. The sky was dark with the threat of rain, and not many cats were out. Most were huddling together in their dens, keeping warm. There was plenty of fresh-kill from the day before, so no cat really had to go out hunting. Still, Duskpaw felt that he had to get away from the camp for a bit, and no cat would be mad at him for wandering off if he brought back some extra fresh-kill for the kits and elders.

As he padded through the early leaf-fall woods, heading away from the lake, Duskpaw felt as if he were on the edge of a cliff; if he made one mistake, he would fall and be lost forever. Stopping for a moment beneath a bunch of ferns, he closed his eyes and waited for the feeling to pass. Yet it would not go away, and his heart began to thump wildly. Something's nearby. he thought fearfully. Something's following me...I can feel it.

Raising his head, he sniffed the cold air. He could smell nothing but the usual smells of the forest. Feeling slightly more at ease, he continued on his way, putting each paw down carefully, as if he were stalking a mouse.

Suddenly, from behind, he heard the sounds of cats meowing to each other. Swiftly, Duskpaw hid behind a small pine tree, trying to remain silent and still.

As the cats drew closer, he recognized their scent: it was Yarrowpaw and Redpaw of his own Clan. The two apprentices were younger than him, and fond of gossip. They had never really liked him, and Duskpaw made no attempts to change their minds about him. He didn't care much for interaction with his fellow apprentices; he much preferred to either be by himself, or talk to the older cats. Young cats were a waste of time.

"Did you see Duskpaw this morning?" Yarrowpaw meowed. "He wasn't in his nest when I woke up."

"Yes, I saw him leave not long before you got up. I think he went out hunting," Redpaw answered.

Duskpaw heard Yarrowpaw sigh. "That cat is so weird! I mean, he's always by himself, or with the warriors and elders, and he's always got this distant look in his eyes."

"Maybe he's crazy," Redpaw growled.

"Maybe," Yarrowpaw replied. "I just hope we don't meet him out here. StarClan knows what he might do."

"So keep your voice down," Redpaw hissed as the two walked past Duskpaw's hiding spot. "He might hear you and get mad."

"No way! He never gets mad. Didn't you notice that?"

"Now that you mention it, I have. Or happy, either. He never shows any emotion at all..."

The two apprentices' voices faded away into the distance and Duskpaw sighed with relief. He gazed up at the churning sky, his heart feeling heavy in his chest. Am I really weird, StarClan? he asked silently. Maybe Yarrowpaw and Redpaw are right. I'm not like the rest of the Clan.

The only answer he received was a drop of rain in his eye that caused a momentary burning pain. Shaking his head, he began to pad up the hill again, away from the camp and his Clan, making sure to avoid Yarrowpaw and Redpaw's scent trail. Soon, he came upon a small clearing, one that he had never seen before. There was a small stump in the middle of the clearing, and Duskpaw's neck fur rose. Twolegs, he thought.

But as he stared at the clearing, his fur lay flat again. There was something compelling about that stump, something mysterious contained within the broken base of a slain tree. Duskpaw felt as if he had been here before, and that StarClan were telling him to move toward it. Come, Duskpaw... a voice seemed to tell him, whispering in his ear like a gentle breeze. Meet your destiny...

Of their own will, his paws began to move him closer to the stump. Duskpaw thought that, even if he had wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to walk away. However, he felt no such compulsion; instead, he felt a searing curiosity: he had to know what the voice wanted to tell him.

He went up to the stump and, in a motion as fluid as a stream, his muscles bunched and he sprang up to stand upon the base. Folding his hind legs underneath him, he stared across the clearing and waited.

In a time that seemed an eternity, or perhaps it was just a moment, the voice arrived. It circled his head, breathing quietly in his ear. Like a wind, it caressed his fur and flowed over his body. Duskpaw greeted it like an old friend, his orange eyes lighting up with happiness. "I've waited for you," he meowed. "How long I've waited..."

"I know," the voice answered. "I've been watching you, all this time. Are you ready for me to join with you?"

"Yes." Duskpaw's voice almost cracked with mingled pain and need.

The voice sighed with pleasure and seemed to sink through his fur and flesh, into his veins, and flowed up to his brain. Duskpaw stepped forward into the sudden darkness to join the voice, and together they padded through the corridors that opened up before them...

"No! No! Oh, StarClan, no!"

Duskpaw drew back from the darkness and returned to a nightmare.

A cat lay before him, its sightless eyes staring into his with a look of terror still fixed upon its face. The look seared into Duskpaw's mind and he forced his gaze away. It fell to his claws, which were still buried in the cat's throat.

His mouth fell open in horror and he disentangled himself from the carcass, backing away slowly, his limbs moving as if in slow motion. Blood stained the freezing ground, and around him were cats from his Clan, staring at him with such looks of pain and incomprehension that he could not meet their eyes. The cat who had cried out was Redpaw, who rushed forward suddenly to stand over the body of her friend, the apprentice Yarrowpaw. She nuzzled her friend's body silently, then raised her eyes to Duskpaw's, and the memory of her gaze, blank with pain, would stay with him forever. "Why?" she whispered. "Why did you do this, Duskpaw?"

There was nothing he could say, could do. He looked around at his Clan, and his leader came forward. She stopped a few tail-lengths away from him and bowed her head. When she looked up, a bolt of fear pierced Duskpaw's heart. "Get out of here," the ThunderClan leader growled, her shoulders shaking with fury. "If you ever come back here, Duskpaw, I'll kill you."

Duskpaw turned and ran.

What's happening to me? he cried silently. StarClan, what is wrong with me?!

Then his fur tingled with horror as the voice whispered in his mind, StarClan won't help you, murderer.

"You," Duskpaw whispered. "You did this."

Yes, and I'll keep doing this, the voice answered in a purr. Until the day we die.

Duskpaw stopped on the edge of ThunderClan territory, his flanks heaving. He looked out over the forest, and his eyes went blank with pain. "I can't ever go back."

No.

"I'll have to find my own territory," he meowed. "And live alone."

You'll never have to be alone anymore, the voice meowed.

The former ThunderClan apprentice turned and padded into the darkness once more, and the voice led his body away over the hills.

If you want me to continue the story, please say so in a review. :)