Hawkfrost was getting rather annoyed at their slow progress towards the shining monolith on the mountain. If he had been going by himself, the journey to the mountain would have only taken a quarter of a moon, but because of the extra cat and her wound, the journey would take roughly half a moon, a third if her wound healed quickly. He had to constantly remind himself that she was the only way they had gotten past the wall in the first place.

"If you ask me, she should've expected a battle," he thought irritatedly. "Even if she hadn't known how to fight, she could've dodged that swipe and avoided getting pinned the first time."

Meanwhile, all sorts of thoughts were racing through Snow's head, including the legend surrounding their destination.

"Strange," Hawkfrost said with a look of disinterest as he licked a paw. "How the wall opened to you and ignored my presence."

Snow simply looked at him wearily, still cautious about the odd tom.

"Do you know why this is?"

Snow shook her head slowly.

"Mouse-brain. The reason is that you are in the world of the dead and the Dark Forest knew that you were not supposed to be there."

"What is the Dark Forest anyway? I've never heard of it before."

"You don't know what the Dark Forest is?"

Snow shook her head once more, a slightly confused look present on her face.

"You must be a loner then. I don't see a collar on you. Why are you here, then? The Dark Forest is only for those that have committed crimes against the Clans or came from them and you don't exactly look like the villainous type."

"I don't know," she said. "The last thing I can remember before waking up was getting attacked by a badger and falling into a hole. Everything's fuzzy after that."

"Her story doesn't make any sense," Hawkfrost thought. "It's not possible for someone to just fall into the spirit world. But that mountain does remind me of something. . ."

The first thing Hawkfrost noticed when they had bypassed the wall was that there was a foreboding mountain off in the distance, a titan beam of light reaching from the peak and into the heavens.

"Could it be. . ."

Hawkfrost had heard it was possible to find a way back to the living world if one could find a way past the thorns on the other side of the Dark Forest. But the thorns wouldn't open unless you were someone worthy of redemption. He simply had a lucky break. It was only chance that Snow had fallen into the Dark Forest and that she had fallen into his realm. Under different circumstances, she could've fallen into some other cat's realm or she might not have fallen into the Dark Forest at all.

"There is something good that can from this, however."

Snow stopped licking her wound to look up at him and say, "What are you suggesting?"

"There is a legend surrounding the mountain in the distance. The legend says that the shining beam of light at the top is a way back to the living world. The journey there is very perilous and no cat has ever returned from it, though."

"I don't really see where you're going with this."

Hawkfrost flicked his tail in annoyance, and said, "The journey to get there would be easier if there where two cats to get through it."

Snow got what he was trying to say, so it was no surprise about what she said next. "What's in it for me? I mean, you kind of already showed me that you're not interested in going anywhere with me."

"You're trapped in the world of the dead with nothing to go on other than a legend we're not even sure is true. You don't have any other options besides wait here until you fade away."

"He is right," Snow thought begrudgingly, "but I fear that I may be walking into a trap. Either way, my only chance is to trust him and hope I can survive the journey and him to get back home."

And with that, Snow reluctantly agreed to the deal. She had no idea what she getting herself into, though.

"Excellent job, Hawkfrost," whispered a voice in his head. "Just stick to the plan and her place in the living world is as good as ours."

"Which brings me once step closer to revenge." Hawkfrost thought in reply.

Snow had stayed at the back of the group ever since the agreement, and didn't plan on being less than a tail's length closer to him.

The walk was silent and both cats were fine with that. They walked for what seemed like hours but the scarlet moon remained in the same place. Soon they came upon a wide rapid, about ten cat-lengths long. Hawkfrost couldn't tell how deep the river was, or how fast it was moving. He just knew that you could swept away in it.

"Do you know how to swim?" he asked, pulling the she-cat out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, but it's not something to be proud of." She replied.

"Good. I don't want to have to fish you out of the river."

Hawkfrost searched the area for a easy way to get across and finally settled upon a log. It was rotting but looked like it would hold their weight. He padded up to it and cautiously placed a paw on it. The wood ever so slightly creaked under the new weight, but did not budge or give any indication that the log would break. Confident that the log wouldn't snap, he climbed onto the log and beckoned Snow to follow him.

It didn't quite reach the other side of the river, but the distance from the log to the bank was an easy jumping distance.

"Here's your chance to lose the she-cat." The voice whispered in his head.

"No," Hawkfrost replied quickly. "She might prove to be useful later on. There will be plenty of other chances to get rid of her."

Why had he said that? Hawkfrost didn't care for her at all and now would've been the perfect chance to rid himself of her company. "Whatever. There will be other chances." He thought, pushing the notion to the back of his mind.

Suddenly, the log threateningly creaked under their weight as they moved further down the log. Hawkfrost froze in place but the log snapped in half. Acting quickly, he jumped off the log as it fell. To his horror, the river widened.

He slammed into the surface of the water and found himself barraged by rushing water. He struggled to right himself, finally managing to do so after three minutes. He peered through the blur of moving liquid for Snow. He found her flipping head over heels, probably unable to tell up from down. He kicked through the water and grabbed her by the scruff. He managed heave them both above the water. Alas, the journey to the other side of the water was no harder than it was to defeat a badger by yourself, despite the fact Snow was trying to swim herself.

Hawkfrost was determined not to let the thing that represented his Clan be his downfall, so he continued to struggle against the current. It took every bit of his being to continue fighting the rapids. The river continued to stretch as it did before, and eventually, his legs gave out, the victor of the battle the river.

Hawkfrost collapsed on the gravel, panting heavily. He had been awake the entire trip down the river and had noticed when it had deepened and turned into a pond. He just about managed to drag them ashore with what little energy he had left. He looked over at Snow and was rather shocked at what he found. Underneath her fur, her ribs were showing slightly, which every decent cat knew meant that she was actually starving. He felt a small twinge of pity for her, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts when he heard her murmur about wanting to go sleep. He jabbed her in the side with a paw and hissed, "You can't fall asleep here!"

She groaned in response and rolled onto her side. She pulled herself to her paws and began to check for any other injuries that might slow them down. Satisfied, she turned her attention to Hawkfrost. He was struggling to get up himself. At first, she considered leaving him alone for the time being, but of course she didn't listen to her head, like she always did.

She padded over to him and mewed, "Do you need help?"

"I'm fine." He huffed, a slightly annoyed tone in his voice.

"But-"

"I said I'm fine." He hissed through his teeth.

She flattened her ears to her head and displayed a slightly hurt look on her face. Hawkfrost turned away quickly and walked off, not stopping to apologize or beckon her to follow. Snow simply looked at him before breaking into a trot catch up with him. She avoided him for the rest of the day.

Well, you wouldn't be able to say it was day. The moon never moved from its spot in the sky. There was a reason it was called the Dark Forest. You could just tell if it was daytime or nighttime.

Later on, they found a place to settle down for the night in an abandoned hollow, presumably made by a cat who had been the way they had. The air was stale and it was slightly uncomfortable, but it was good enough. As soon as Snow stepped in, she paced around a spot and lied down, facing away from the tom. Hawkfrost, however, wasn't so quick to fall asleep. Instead, he waited for a few hours so he could do one thing.

"Snow, are you asleep?"

No answer.

"Snow?"

Actually, Snow was awake. She was just too tired to answer. Or rather, too lazy.

"Good."

"What makes you so different from the others? You're just a normal she-cat. And a loner at that. I've never really cared for loners. My mother was one herself, and she left the Clans after few days. Said Clan life wasn't for her. I never believed her."

Snow would've gasped if she didn't have to remind herself that she was pretending to be asleep.

"But somehow I found you. It was probably just luck, but something keeps telling me it wasn't. You were interesting. You had a normal life, but your parents cared for you more than mine ever did. But I know what it feels like to lose someone close to you."

"How did he find out. . . ?"

He paused for a moment, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

"Could it be possible that I actually love this cat?"

Snow tensed up for a moment, but Hawkfrost didn't notice.

"It can't be. Even if I did, it wouldn't work out. My parents are a sign of that. So, why do I feel so horrible about saying that to you?"

Snow wanted so much to tell him that she wasn't asleep and to say that she shared the same feelings. But she couldn't. There was no way of telling how he would react. Most of them were telling her that she would get her ears clawed off. So she kept quiet, for now. If she were lucky, she might be able to catch him doing it again. And next time, she would confess as well.

A/N: First off, disclaimer; this story is not meant to be a copy of Tigerstar's Journey to Redemption(which is an excellent story, by the way) or the indie video game Journey. Those are just my basis points for this story. Second, I don't exactly have a name for the second consciousness inside Hawkfrost yet. I'm thinking his name should be Shade or something. Third, I will probably make an origin story for Snow. I don't really have the inspiration to do so right now.