Hopekit's small mouth opened as she tried to draw in a breath of air. She was being was rolled head over heels, crashing into debris floating dangerously in the thickened black waters. She thrashed violently past potato chip bags, water bottles, and plywood from a construction site near the river. Her mossy log flipped and she was thrown out…straight into an open can of Forever Black paint. In less than a minute, her thin silver body was newly painted jet black.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A young ginger she-cat from RiverClan was sitting by the river, cursing the debris polluting it under her breath. How her Clan had starved all for the sake of the two-legs and their debris, killing all the fish and poisoning the water. The thing she feared most about the two-legs was their monsters. Roaring, stinking metal things with two-legs in their belly that rode the Thunderpath so quickly, they could kill a cat who wasn't careful enough when crossing. Her ears lay flat, and she hissed to show her distaste for the two-legs.

Suddenly her ears perked up as she heard the undeniable cries of a kit in distress, one that couldn't be more than a moon old. She wondered if its eyes were even open yet. She pinpointed the sound coming from a two-leg…she searched for the word…can. She fished it out of the river and pulled out the now midnight black she-kit. The poor kit was sopping wet and mewing desperately. Hollypelt unconsciously began to purr as she pulled the kit to her and began to lick her dry.

"Hello, little one," she whispered. "I have wanted a kit for a long time, and you look as if you could use a mother. What should I call such a pretty black kit as yourself? Hmmm." She pondered this for a moment, and then proclaimed, "Shadekit!" And so it was that Hopekit, the daughter of Firestar and Sandstorm of ThunderClan, became Shadekit, the daughter of Hollypelt, a RiverClan queen.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hollypelt, what do you have there? RiverClan is desperate, but not enough to eat crowfood!" exclaimed one of Hollypelt's friends, a blue-grey queen named Mistyfoot. She wrinkled her nose at the stench coming from Hollypelt and the bundle she carried.

Hollypelt's face glowed with happiness as she showed her friend the kit she found.

"I found her in a two-leg can in the river. Her name is Shadekit!"

Mistyfoot sighed. She knew how much Hollypelt wanted a kit. RiverClan could use more paws to help hunt and feed the clan…maybe this kit wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Where do you plan to tell Leopardstar you got her?" she asked critically. If Hollypelt could think up a story that would pass by the sharp-witted RiverClan leader, then no cat would question this new addition to the clan.

Hollypelt's eyes grew wide in fear, and she pulled the kit closer to her. "I-I hadn't thought of that!"

Seeing the panic that spread across her friends face, Mistyfoot said comfortingly, "Don't worry, you can tell her she is yours and you simply let no one know you were to have kits. You have spent a lot of time outside of camp lately."

Hollypelt sighed in relief and nodded. "I was out, praying to StarClan to give me a kit. Others had told me to give up hope, but I still prayed." She looked down at the black bundle at her paws. "And it looks as though my prayers have been answered. StarClan heard and answered my prayer."

Mistyfoot purred in agreement and helped to settle her friend in the nursery with the other queens and kits.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandstorm was able to slip back into camp unnoticed. At least, she hoped no one saw her. She wasn't trying very hard not to be seen. She just didn't care anymore. As she went into the nursery, one of the three other queens, Rosefoot stopped her.

"Sandstorm? Where were you? Burningkit wanted yo-" She trailed off when she saw the look on Sandstorm's face. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly. Sandstorm glanced at Rosefoot. The younger queen had also just had a kit taken too. Maybe she would understand. 'And maybe she wouldn't.' The voice in her head said. 'You shouldn't tell her. It's a secret. Hopekit is safe now. Don't tell. Don't-' Sandstorm started to talk, ignoring reason. "Promise you won't tell," she demanded.

Rosefoot nodded in confusion. What was Sandstorm going on about?

"I was hiding my kit," Sandstorm whispered. Rosefoot stared at Sandstorm in trepidation. Sandstorm couldn't possibly mean…or could she? Sandstorm sniffed. "Fatekit and Spiritkit weren't the only two 'chosen ones' born to this litter. Hopekit was one too. I know it was wrong, but I couldn't give her up! My baby…" she whispered, trailing off. Rosefoot looked at her in horror.

An angry hiss startled Sandstorm and Rosefoot. Another queen in the nursery known for her total support and dedication to TrueClan had woken. Sleetpelt glared at the two of them. "Sandstorm!" she hissed angrily. "What have you done?! You've hidden a chosen one?! How dare you! You should be honored to have kits able to be given up to TrueClan!"

All the noise had woken the last queen. Ivypelt's eyes grew wide as she realized what had happened. "No! Now ThunderClan is cursed because of you! The other two, Fatekit and Spiritkit, TrueClan will see them almost equally guilty! If TrueClan ever finds out, you'll be killed and they will be dishonored!"

Sleetpelt spoke up again. "Not to mention that TrueClan will see all of us as equally guilty," she shook her head. "I didn't think it was possible Sandstorm, but you may have doomed the entire clan in one mouse-brained move." Sandstorm lowered her head. What had she done?

Rosefoot stepped up. "You're right," she said. "All of you. TrueClan must never know. No one must ever know." Her eyes bore into each one of them in turn. "The only way to protect Sandstorm, let alone ThunderClan, is to never let word of this out to anyone. The four of us are the only ones who know."

Here Sleetpelt cut in angrily. "Five of us. You're forgetting Firestar. Do you think he lost track of how many kits he had and how many went to TrueClan? He will know!"

Sandstorm shook her head. "No, he doesn't know. They had only just been born before they were taken. He never saw them."

Rosefoot spoke again. "So then no one will know-"

Ivypelt interrupted this time. "What about the kit? Where is she? Where did you hide her?"

Sandstorm felt her heart freeze in her chest. "I-I killed her." It was almost true. Sandstorm thought. Or at least close enough. "I put her in the river and she died." Silence rang through the nursery, broken only by the quiet mewing of the remaining kits.

Sleetpelt spoke up briskly. "Well, maybe that's for the best." Then, without another word, she stalked back to the nest where her kits were and settled down for the night, carefully avoiding Sandstorm's gaze. One by one, the other queens followed her example. As Sandstorm curled up with Burningkit, her thoughts turned to her daughters, where ever they were now. She knew Fatekit and Spiritkit were safe, and she could only trust StarClan for Hopekit. She promised herself she would never give up hoping that she would see all of them again.

The next morning, it became obvious that one of the queens had told some, if not all, of the story of what really happened last night. Either way, Sandstorm noticed a marked difference in the way the rest of the clan treated her. She had been well-liked before, but now she was treated distantly at best, and with down right distain at worst. Any mention at all of her twins, or of 'the other' as Hopekit was dubbed, would send a ThunderClan cat into a panic. Sandstorm didn't really mind. She had only done what she had to. Even after her last son was apprenticed, she never stopped hoping and watching for her kits.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Hello again! I am so pleased at my reviews! –heart- My writer's ego no longer fits through doors, but no problem there, right? I would like to apologize for how messy the page breaks, etc. are. I haven't quite gotten the hang of how works. I'll keep trying!

I'm not going to re-post until I have…15 reviews? Yes. I'll try to hold out.

I'm also not posting all of the story at once, because then you'll have to wait FOREVER for a new update. Ok! Read and enjoy!