Thanks to all who have reviewed! I really appreciate it! Sorry I didn't post in a while, I was so busy with school work. Ugh. But I do promise I will update more often, so without further a due, here's the next chapter!

Chapter One

Sapphirekit tossed and twisted in her sleep as she scrambled in her soft mossy nest. Dark visions played in her mind, keeping her quite restless. They seemed very realistic, frightening her heart with shadows of the unknown. Her little heart pounded as she twisted about, until at last she woke up, gasping for breath. She looked around frantically until her surroundings became familiar, calmly realizing she was nestled in the RiverClan nursery.

Pale luminous streams of morning sunlight peeked through the gaps of the reed woven roof as Sapphirekit came to her senses. The glittering rocks and shells that lined the edges of the nursery seemed to help calm her nerves as they made the walls shimmer in dawn's light.

"What is it little one?" asked Meadowsong with concern as she peered down on the kit from beside her. The pretty calico queen's amber eyes looked quite sleepy, as if Sapphirekit had awoken her with her continuous sudden movements.

"Um, I had a nightmare..." Replied Sapphirekit dazedly. She found that she often had nightmares. They were strangely usually the same. She would be isolated in the thick of a blizzard as it whipped it's fury at her, while darkness engulfed her as she mewled for help, just before she would wake up to find herself safe and sound. Although she knew it wasn't real, it still frightened her.

"Oh my darling, there's nothing to be scared of. It was only a dream." soothed Meadowsong, gently stroking Sapphirekit's bluish grey pelt. Sapphirekit let out a slight purr. She knew Meadowsong wasn't her real mother, but she often liked to think she was. About four moons ago, Desertstar, the RiverClan leader, had told her about how he had found Sapphirekit on that icy morning, all alone. He knew that she was abandoned there on purpose, but he didn't know why. No one did. And everyone questioned by who.

Knowing she wouldn't last any longer in the bleak cold, he had taken her into the camp and had asked Meadowsong if she could care for Sapphirekit as her own. Meadowsong was at the time caring for her own kits too, who were just a moon older than Sapphirekit. At first Meadowsong despised the she-kit, relentlessly commenting, "She's not clan born. She won't fit in" but after some time she quickly warmed up to her and graciously took her in, as she knew the kit needed her. And although Sapphirekit wondered who her real parents were, the thought never really sank deep into her mind. She didn't know who they were, and that's all she knew. How much can a kit think of her own hard misfortune anyways?

After her mother was finished grooming her, Sapphirekit sat up in the mossy and feathery nest to stretch out. She glanced over to the other side of their nest to find it was empty.

"Where's Owlkit and Cherrykit?" she asked about her two foster siblings. They were Meadowsong's kits, but they were very close to Sapphirekit and basically treated her like a sister.

"They are both playing out in the clearing. Those two always get up so early!" stated Meadowsong with a little chuckle.

"Of course! Kits are always full of energy!" exclaimed a pure white she-cat as she waltzed through the nursery entrance. It was Pristinepelt, one of the youngest nursery queens. "Shadekit is also with them." she told Sapphirekit, tilting her head towards the main clearing. Shadekit was Pristinepelt's kit, who was the same age as Sapphirekit. As the two queens started chatting with eachother, Sapphirekit slowly snuck out of the nursery through the reed woven entrance.

Out in the RiverClan central clearing, cats were starting to come out from their dens. The sky was a pale grey, with small patches of blue scattered here and there. Sapphirekit noticed there must have been another snowfall during the night, as the clearing was completely blanketed in sheets of white. In the camp clearing stood two willow trees, one on both opposite sides of the island. Their long branches were covered in frost.

Wow, thought Sapphirekit as she gazed at the willows. They are so pretty, they sparkle like great frozen raindrops! In fact, everything, even the tops of the dens, were dusted in shimmering frost. Sapphirekit thought no other place could look as beautiful. She quickly scanned the clearing until she found Owlkit and Cherrykit playing on a snowdrift near the edge of the camp by a clump of frozen ferns. She tried her best to run as fast as she could across the clearing, which was quite hard to do in deep snow.

Cherrykit was on top of the snow pile along with Owlkit. When they saw her scampering over, the two kits leaped and tumbled down the pile of snow, laughing with excitement until they reached the bottom.

"We were waiting for you sis!" exclaimed Cherrykit when Sapphirekit came.

"Yeah I kinda slept in." She admitted, smiling at her two older foster siblings. The two kits were covered in powdery snow, and Sapphirekit thought they looked a little silly. Noticing, Cherrykit dusted off her deep red tabby pelt with a white paw, while Owlkit stood and shook his brown fur.

"Look out below!" someone shouted. All three cats looked up at the top of the snowdrift to see Shadekit plunging down the side, spraying a cloud of snow over all three cats. All of them laughed hysterically.

"Nice one!" commented Owlkit. Shadekit's pitch black pelt was now flecked with white snowflakes as he fluffed out his chest at his achievement.

"I didn't even know you were here!" said Sapphirekit to the tom.

"That's because I was hiding in that clump of ferns. You guys didn't even know-" explained Shadekit, but he was cut off from a rustling noise coming from the reeds just a fox-length away. Then unexpectedly, a group of four cats came bounding through the entrance of the camp.

It was the dawn patrol, but something wasn't right. Sapphirekit then noticed what. All four cats were soaked in blood and were covered in scratches. Two of the cats were supporting the third, who Sapphirekit recognized as Mintfur. His front grey paw was now bloody, twisted, and mangled causing him to limp as the two other cats, Ivorypaw and Stormstreak, set him down onto the ground.

Sapphirekit's deep blue eyes grew wide with shock at the sight of the cat's wounds. Ivorypaw and Stormstreak both had many cuts seeping with blood, staining the once white snow scarlet beneath them. The head of the patrol, Timberfur, had a huge gash on his shoulder that looked very painful. Cats had started to crowd around the wounded warriors and apprentice as Desertstar came bounding out from his den to Timberfur.

"What happened?" he demanded. Timberfur gathered his voice as he blinked blood away from his eyes.

"Rouges. They attacked us!"

Cliffhanger! What do you think so far? Make sure to stay alert for the next chapter!

-Glimmershine