Okay, before I start Chapter 2…I'm going to answer some questions.

Fawntail, thanks for your review! (No, really, thanks) Since you had some questions, here are my answers—

1) Yes, Gorseclaw and Spottedpelt are related to Tigerstar, but aren't his parents. The Erins haven't told us who his parents are.

2) Honestly, I didn't know the Erins changed Moonflower's name to Duskflower (oops… )

3) Will Thistleclaw bear a grudge against Featherwhisker? O.o I don't know! You'll have to read!

Thanks to Fawntail, Boltstar, Firestorm75, GiggleluvsFang, and StarNight888 for your reviews. I am forever in your debt.

Oh, and I forgot to put some cats in the allegiances. So there will be some new cats.

ThunderClan

Leader---Sunstar—a ginger tom with yellow stripes and green eyes (apprentice, Lionpaw)

Deputy---Tawnyspots—a brown tabby tom

Medicine Cat---Featherwhisker—a silvery-gray tom with amber eyes and long, feathery whiskers

Warriors---

Thistleclaw—a gray tom with one white leg and three darker gray legs

Bluefur—a blue-gray she-cat with blue eyes

Patchpelt—a black and white tom

Dappletail—a dappled tortoiseshell she-cat

Halftail—a dark brown tabby tom with half a tail

Moonflower—a long-haired white she-cat with amber eyes

Stonepelt—a gray tabby tom

Speckletail—a pale tabby she-cat

Queens---

Snowfur—a white she-cat with blue eyes (mother of Whitekit, foster mother to Tigerkit)

Dappletail—a dappled tortoiseshell she-cat (mother of Frostkit, Goldenkit, and Sparrowkit)

Apprentices---

Lionpaw—a golden tabby tom with thick fur around his muzzle

Redpaw—a tortoiseshell tom with a ginger tail

Runningpaw—a swift tabby tom

Elders---

One-eye—a pale gray she-cat missing one eye; virtually blind and deaf

Smallear—a pale gray tom with very small ears

Rosetail—a ginger she-cat with black patches

Crowflight—a dark gray, almost black, tom; the oldest cat in ThunderClan

Chapter 2! Hooray! By the way, this picks up right where Chapter 1 left off.

*~Shadestorm's POV

I felt like I was being tortured by a thousand angry badgers. All I knew was that one minute I'd been talking with Thistleclaw, and then something in my belly seemed to explode. Then I was laying in a pool of my own blood, and there were blurs all around me that were talking and sounded very worried.

"Featherwhisker!" some cat yowled. "What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong," another cat meowed. "There's too much blood coming and I can't stop it." I felt cobwebs being wrapped around me.

"Mommy?" I heard a squeaking voice say. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

Suddenly, there was a burst of pain in my lower body, pain worse than anything I'd ever imagined. There was something ripping, tearing, and my heart seemed to beat abnormally fast. Then I couldn't stop myself. I screamed louder than I had ever screamed as something seemed to explode in me. I almost fell into unconsciousness then, but then I saw the only thing that could have kept me alive for a few more seconds.

Thistleclaw, my beloved mate, was licking a bundle of fur that kept squeaking pitifully. My heart leaped. Tigerkit. The tom I'd hoped for so much, the strong, wonderful kit. I tried to speak. "Thistle…claw…" The words wouldn't come out right. "Take…care…of…Tiger…kit…for…me…" My throat was so filled with blood that I almost couldn't speak at all. "Raise…him…to…be…a…good…warrior…" And then I used up every last drop of strength I had and drew my kit towards me. He opened his tiny pink mouth and wailed. My heart screamed with love for my son. "I…love…you…Tiger…kit…" I meant to turn to my mate and tell him the same, but my heart seemed to stop suddenly, and I fell into blackness…

And then I felt soft grass under my paws. Feeling new strength flow through my body, I sprang up, expecting to see Tigerkit at my belly and Thistleclaw by my side as well.

I was wrong.

Firstly, I saw that my paws seemed to be made of stars. Secondly, I was at Fourtrees, and thirdly, I was surrounded by starry cats. I was frozen in fear until another cat came forward and touched noses with me. It was my mother, Nightwhisker, who was killed by ShadowClan invaders when I was a kit.

"Mother! Where am I? I need to get back to Tigerkit! He's probably hungry…" I trailed off as I saw many off the cats exchange sad glances and sympathetic looks, and one cat in the back wailed. My mother herself seemed to look moons older as her head hung down and she shook it from side to side. "Shadestorm," she mewed. "Look." She and a few other cats stepped back to reveal the blood-stained body of a dark tabby she-cat. I stared at it for what seemed like days, and then I whispered, "That's me, isn't it?"

Nightwhisker nodded. "I'm afraid so."

For a minute I didn't understand what this meant. Then it hit me like a boulder.

"I…died?" I started shaking. "But…Tigerkit needs me! I can't leave him like this! He's only a kit! And I love him so much…and what about Thistleclaw? We were all going to be a family…one happy family…" I collapsed on the ground.

"Peace, daughter," Nightwhisker meowed. "All is not lost. Follow me." She padded over to a pool in the ground that shone like stars.

My paws feeling heavy as rocks, I padded after her and stared into the pool. "What?" I asked dully.

"This is the pool where prophecies are made, and also where we see what happens in the future of some certain kits. Whenever a kit is born, we watch the pool. Would you like to watch?" Nightwhisker beckoned me closer, and as I gazed at the shimmering waters, they shifted to reveal images.

Tigerkit, suckling beside Snowfur…Tigerkit, play-fighting with Whitekit…Tigerkit, growing big and strong…I purred, then my purrs suddenly stopped. Tigerkit, being scratched and beaten by Thistleclaw…Tigerkit, cowering in his father's shadow…Tigerkit, at his apprentice ceremony, shrinking in fear as Thistleclaw is appointed his mentor…Tigerkit, being beaten for catching only a mouse on a hunting assessment…Tigerkit, his heart growing dark with hatred…Tigerkit, being made a warrior…Tigerkit, killing his father on a patrol…Tigerkit…Tigerkit…Tigerkit.

My eyes were wide with shock and fear. "What is this?" I asked my mother, who was looking at the still-moving images with sorrow.

Nightwhisker sighed. "Thistleclaw loved you more than you will ever know. He loved you more than life itself, and only we know how excited he was to be a father, and have a family. But then when you died in your kitting, his heart was broken. He blames Tigerkit for your death, and—well, you see what will happen." She gestured to the pool.

"Cannot we protect him?" I pleaded.

Nightwhisker glanced at another StarClan warrior, a pure white tom, and they talked lowly for a bit. Then she turned back to me with a grim smile. "You can protect him," she meowed, "but at a price. You ca give all your strength, your courage, your skills, all of it, and your protection, to Tigerkit."

"Of course I will!" I yowled. "I love my son."

"There is a price, as I said. You will not be able to join StarClan until he does, or until his heart has grown too dark to let your love in. Should you do this, you will walk outside of StarClan's hunting grounds, and instead you shall walk as a ghost in the forest. Do you agree?"

"Yes, Mother. I would do anything to save my son."

Nightwhisker's amber eyes narrowed. "Are you absolutely sure?"

I nodded.

"Very well. Now, touch Star's nose," she flicked her tail on the white tom's shoulder, and her voice softened. "Good luck, my daughter, and I will be waiting for you when you finally join us."

I felt my heart swell with emotion, and I touched noses with the tom.

Immediately, I was falling…falling…until my paws lightly touched ground. I was in the ThunderClan nursery. I smiled widely, and padded over to Featherwhisker, who was applying medicine to a small dark tabby kit. Tigerkit. I rested my paw on his head for a minute. He couldn't feel it, but I could feel his warm fur that was ruffled and messy. I purred and sat down beside him. He mewed pitifully, and I licked his ears tenderly. Even though he had no idea I was here, he seemed to settle into a deeper sleep than before, and I curled up and watched his tiny flanks rising and falling as he breathed.

I love you, my son. And I will protect you always, as best as I can.

*

Thistleclaw's POV

I returned to the nursery when dawn came, as Featherwhisker had requested. I didn't want to. I didn't care about my kit. The kit was a killer.

As I pushed through the curtain of lichen that hung in the entrance of the nursery, Snowfur pressed her flank against mine, and the other queen, Dappletail, blinked at me sadly.

"Featherwhisker has asked me to tell you that Tigerkit is fine and healthy. And that Shadestorm's—" her voice faltered— "And that Shadestorm's kitting went wrong because Tigerkit had been moving inside of her and broken some bones."

I just stood there, not speaking, and Snowfur continued. "I still have some milk left, so I'll go ahead and take care of him." She looked at me, hoping for an answer, and I had a good excuse not to give one when Sunstar's voice rang out.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!"

I slowly padded out and sat down apart from my other Clanmates, who were giving me sympathetic glances.

As soon as the whole Clan was listening, Sunstar went on. "Many of you know by now that Shadestorm died in her kitting last night." He turned his head to me. "She had one kit, Tigerkit, who, thank StarClan, is healthy and strong. The Clan grieves for Shadestorm, and we will hold her vigil tonight." He bowed his head for a minute, and the rest of the Clan followed suit. Then he spoke again, and I was barely listening.

"I can now turn to a happier duty. My apprentice, Lionpaw, fought against an invading RiverClan patrol at Sunningrocks, and I think he is ready to become a warrior. Lionpaw, come up here." Sunstar beckoned with his tail. Lionpaw proudly padded up to his mentor, his golden fur gleaming from his mother, Speckletail, having groomed him. As Lionpaw approached the leader, Sunstar called out: "I, Sunstar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He had trained hard to understand the way of your noble code, and I commend him to you as warrior in his turn. Lionpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

Lionpaw's eyes gleamed as he replied, "I do."

"Then, by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Lionpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Lionheart. StarClan honors your courage and intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Sunstar rested his muzzle on the newly named Lionheart's head, and Lionheart licked his former mentor's shoulder in return.

"Lionheart! Lionheart!" the Clan chanted.

Thistleclaw watched the whole ceremony in disgust. What was the point of making new warriors with an extravagant ceremony? They should only do that with wonderful cats, like Shadestorm. At the thought of her, Thistleclaw's heart wailed and he silently padded to the warriors' den, not even pausing to congratulate Lionheart on his way.

*

As night fell, Shadestorm's body was moved into the clearing for the vigil. Thistleclaw didn't think he could bear to see his mate's body, but he trudged out anyway and pushed his nose into the cold dark tabby fur.

"Thistleclaw?" Snowfur's voice made him jump, and then he growled as he saw Tigerkit hanging from the white queen's jaws. She laid him down beside his mother's body, and he buried himself in her fur.

"What is Tigerkit doing here?" Thistleclaw snarled.

"I thought he should help see his mother off to StarClan. I know it's what Shadestorm would want."

Shadestorm's POV

My heart swelled with gratitude as I saw Snowfur lay Tigerkit down beside my body. Ghost though I was, I nuzzled my kit on his tabby head, and he let out a squeak. Thistleclaw growled at him, and I felt anger at the cat who I once loved so much. If what I had seen in the pool was true, then I would never love Thistleclaw again.

I did not know what to do if Tigerkit became the traitor and killer that the pool had prophesied.

Okay, that's the end of Chapter 2! What will happen to poor Tigerkit? (Omg, I said POOR Tigerkit… this story is making me feel sorry for him!)

Please Read and Review! And I know Runningwind is younger than Tigerstar, but in this fic I made him older. Deal with it.

~LenzieKat~

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