Hey, friends! I told you that I would get this out sometime during the summer, and while I wasn't planning it this soon, I thought, screw it, so here it is! This is the prequel to my infamous story, Trapped in Ice, telling the story of Hailblaze. Both he and Oakshade definitely were my favorite characters in that story, so I decided to really flesh 'em out and give them some hard core back story. This one is going to be more emotional than action-packed so it may be a little harder to write, but I tried to get a few chapters done before its release, so here we are with the prologue.

As for CiF, I really don't know what to tell you. I'm really struggling with that one, but I still want to work with it, but let's just say it won't be my main focus. I hope you enjoy.

Warriors belong to Erin Hunter, who I am not.

Prologue

It was a gust of brumal wind that provoked her thoughts.

I do not remember newleaf being so cold.

She tucked her paws under her chest.

Leafbare still feels in tight grasp of the forest.

She was a silver she-cat with amber eyes, gazing out from her den into the bitter night that held nothing but darkness and cold it seemed. Leaves were yet to grow from the bare trees. The grass was frosted from base to tip, brittle and uncomfortable under any elder that wished to lay there.

It was so, so cold.

She looked up to the night sky. A large, white moon penetrated through the darkness, casting a haunting gray aura that provided the only other light in the sky. Tonight, the stars did not accompany the full moon, and it why the Gathering that night had ended so quickly. It wasn't even midnight, the time that the assemblies usually ended at Fourtrees, and it felt like an eternity had gone by since they had returned. And it felt as though there was nothing to share. All of the Clans were oddly silent; it was uncomfortable for every cat, especially herself, as she did not yet feel it was her place on the Great Rock, representing her Clan. The idea of it was ill-fitting in her mind, in her being. It was who she was, but not who she should be.

The silver she-cat was still youthful and nimble, but her bones ached as she stretched. Her heart felt hollow, and every beat seemed to echo through the veins in her body, bouncing off the ice in her blood, without making a dent. As they returned that evening from the Gathering, her deputy had told her to rest, noticing her fatigue that only seemed to grow with each passing hour.

She was exhausted, but she could not sleep. Not tonight.

Another breeze passed by, this one colder than all the previous. She winced and stretched her gaze wide as she looked out. Something was wrong, and she knew exactly what, but at this moment, she could only wait.

She held her breath, wishing that the silence would continue forever.

"Graystar?"

The voice was a claw that poked a wound into her heart. A tawny cat stuck her head into Graystar's den, blocking out the spectral light of the moon. Worried blue eyes stared into Graystar's own. Everything down to the very posture of the cat before her felt off, and it was alarming.

"It's time."

The words struck her harder than any blow could. Her face twitched. She struggled to keep it straight and unreadable. "Are you sure?"

"He wants you," meowed the small tawny cat grimly, ignoring Graystar's question.

Graystar stood. Her paws felt numb, but she walked as steady as she could out of her den. A blast of cold air hit her, but she didn't notice it. She turned to the tawny she-cat. "Smallfeather…"

The warrior looked at her expectantly, but Graystar said nothing.

"He's waiting," whispered Smallfeather.

Those words struck her as something sad. Graystar stared downward at her paws as saturnine thoughts rolled heavily through her mind. He isn't just waiting for me. He's waiting to get it all over with, so he can... She couldn't finish. It was too somber for her to take.

Smallfeather walked at a slow pace, and Graystar was thankful for it. The last thing she needed was for the night to move any quicker. The camp was lightly blanketed by a thin layer of pale fog that seemed to glow as the moon's haunting light touched it. There was silence among the dens, which was much more sufficiently wrapped around the camp than the fog was. The entirety of ThunderClan seemed to emanate how Graystar felt inside, knowing the truth what what really went on within it. They of course, had no clue. They of course wouldn't know until the morning came.

At last, the two of them stood at the entrance of the medicine cat den. Graystar hesitated, looking at Smallfeather, and wanting her to say something. The tawny she-cat stared into the darkness of the den for a few moments, before she finally spoke.

"He wants only you, Graystar," she said. "I shall not go in."

"Please do. I do not think I'll be able to face this alone," begged Graystar.

"You aren't alone. He's there. StarClan's there. They'll watch over you, and it'll be fine." Smallfeather's voice was tight as she gazed up at the sky. She sees that the stars are not there, Graystar thought. She's just trying to make it easier. Well, she isn't doing a very good job at that.

"Graystar, he is waiting."

"I know," Graystar whispered sadly.

Smallfeather said nothing more. With one final empathetic look, she turned tail and vanished behind Graystar, slipping into the warrior den soundlessly.

Graystar faced the medicine cat den, and the gaping, black hole that led to the inside. She felt like her heart had been caught in her throat. She was finding difficulty breathing, and couldn't force herself to move her paws forward into the den. There was an aching feeling in her chest, and as she stood there, it struck her: Why was she feeling this way?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a faint groan from within the den. It echoed softly off the stone walls, reaching her ears with a soft touch. Even so, it sent a sharp chill shooting down her spine, causing her to grow stiff. With a final deep breath, she descended into the medicine cat den.

A silence greeted her arrival. The floor was hard and cold beneath her paws as she padded a few steps in, before stopping. She saw, in the light of the moon that filtered through, a figure was lying motionless in a nest, the only sign of movement, the slight twitching of a tufted tail-tip. Graystar sucked in a gulp of air, just barely breaking the chilling quiet.

A voice, raspy and weak sounded. "Is that you?" The figure raised its head.

Graystar gazed down and walked forward. "Yes, it's me. I'm here."

A pair of dull green eyes opened, gleaming weakly in the colorless light of the full moon outside. "Come here. Please."

She obeyed, standing before his nest. She was unsure of what to say, what to do. So she simply stared down at him, as he gazed blankly up at her.

Suddenly, something sparked in his eyes. "Do not be sad, Graystar. This has been coming for moons. Both you and I know that it was only a matter of time."

"But why must that be now?" she asked pleadingly. "Can't a matter of time be seasons from this moment? Can't it be long past now? It feels too soon, Hailblaze. You are still young. This shouldn't have to happen." She closed her eyes. "Why must StarClan need you tonight?"

"StarClan..." he said. "StarClan is not here tonight. They have not been there for me for a long time. In fact, I do not think they have been there for me since my youth."

Graystar cast him a sideways glance. "Then can you not stay? If they do not need you, then why must you go?"

"I have learned things you don't realize," rasped Hailblaze. "And I have overseen the parts of this Clan that many were not known to sense. Parts of this Clan that long have been its weakness, but have not been recognized by the cats that it has deeply affected." He closed his eyes. "We have not been changed, Graystar, because these cats have failed to realize the truth it represents. We have, however, been warned, and whether or not they have seen the warning is based upon them and them alone."

She knew what he was speaking of. In leaffall there had been a catastrophe which took the lives of four cats. Hailblaze had interpreted it as a warning. What she didn't understand is why he was bringing it up now. "But...what does that have to do with-"

"It was my duty to watch and protect those unseen elements, in order to prevent the destruction of this Clan from within," explained Hailblaze. "That event two seasons ago was a sign that I have failed."

Graystar shuddered as a thread of inclement wind blew in from outside and nipped at her flesh, closing in on her with icy claws. "It's cold.." she murmured.

Hailblaze smiled at her. "You must understand that it is now too late to turn back. Not only does the Clan see me as one thing, but the cat I was meant to be had been sacrificed in more ways than one, for the sake of this task. It was an undertaking that changed me from the ThunderClan warrior I had always dreamt of being. I have since then had to live with the idea that after going through so much, it was all for nothing."

She was speechless. He spoke as if he had been through a forest fire, or had done something of equal intensity, and here she was, thinking that she had perhaps been one of his closest friends, and had no clue what he was talking about. "Hailblaze," she said, "I don't understand."

"You wouldn't," he meowed, and his voice was surprisingly gentle. "Unless you had seen it through my eyes."

"I don't want you to die, knowing that you seemed to have gone through so much, and yet you remain so misunderstood." Her breath caught in her throat for a moment. "Well, I don't want you to die at all, now that I've said it, but how can you stand to leave like this?"

Hailblaze's green eyes started fluttering. "It's...a long story."

"I've got the time," she breathed, voice breaking. "Tell me, please. What was your story?"

He smiled at her faintly. His voice was nearly just as frail. "You're in it."

She looked down, and couldn't help but smile herself. "Well then you'll have to start from the beginning."

And so he did, and Graystar held on to every word until there was no more.

Allegiances

ThunderClan

Leader: Hazelstar- dappled tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

Deputy: Rainstone- long-furred silvery-gray tom with broad shoulders

Medicine Cat: Shadewhisker- small black tom with amber eyes

Warriors:

Dawntail- pale gray she-cat

Whitepelt- large white tom with a black dash on his chest

Hollowbird- light golden tabby tom (Apprentice: Oakpaw)

Timberclaw- dark brown tom with blue eyes

Milktail- cream and white she-cat (Apprentice: Foxpaw)

Thornfeather- dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Beetletooth- dark gray tom with blue eyes (Apprentice: Leafpaw)

Poppyfall- dappled golden she-cat

Talonfoot- pale tabby tom

Flickerstorm- bright ginger tom with amber eyes (Apprentice: Graypaw)

Wolfleap- gray tom with amber eyes

Dusksky- grayish-brown tabby she-cat

Ravenfur- large black tom with yellow eyes

Mousewhisper- small light brown tabby she-cat

Apprentices:

Oakpaw- dark brown tabby tom with white paws and green eyes

Foxpaw- large ginger tom with amber eyes and big paws

Graypaw- silver she-cat with amber eyes

Leafpaw- ginger and tawny she-cat with white paws

Queens:

Cloverstripe- ginger tabby she-cat with green eyes (mother to Rainstone's kits: Hailkit, Mothkit, and Featherkit)

Lightshine- fluffy white she-cat (mother to Thornfeather's kit: Snowkit)

Darkfern- black she-cat (expecting Beetletooth's kits)

Kits:

Hailkit- gray and white tom with green eyes

Mothkit- ginger and white she-cat

Featherkit- long-furred dark gray she-cat with a pale underbelly and blue eyes

Snowkit- white she-cat with yellow eyes

Elders:

Swallowfur- brown tabby she-cat

Antclaw- black tom with amber eyes

Patchfur- brown and white tabby tom

RiverClan

Leader: Icestar- pale gray tom with cold blue eyes

Deputy: Beechclaw- dark gray tabby tom

Medicine Cat: Splashtail- light silver tom with amber eyes

Warriors:

Minnowleap- dark gray she-cat

Reedbreeze- dark brown tabby tom

Tanglepelt- golden-brown tabby tom with amber eyes (Apprentice: Cricketpaw)

Sedgefur- light gray tom with a white underbelly

Yellowfern- golden she-cat (Apprentice: Sagepaw)

Breezestep- gray tabby tom

Longclaw- white and brown spotted tom with hooked claws

Vixenfoot- light brown tabby she-cat

Queens:

Otterwhisker- brown she-cat with blue eyes

Elders:

Silverfish- light gray tabby tom

Crowfoot- black she-cat

ShadowClan

Leader: Boulderstar- dark brown tabby tom with yellow eyes

Deputy: Siltpelt- golden-brown she-cat

Medicine Cat: Smokeheart- dark gray tom (Apprentice: Spiralpaw)

WindClan

Leader: Yarrowstar- black and white she-cat with amber eyes

Deputy: Runningcloud- pale-furred tabby tom

Medicine: Goldenwillow- golden-brown she-cat

Tell me what you all think! I truly think that the prologue captures the fashion in which the story will be written in. Emotional, but not dramatic, you know? Well, I'll get chapter one out soon, all you have to do is...

Review!

~Destiny