Thick clumps of white snow rushed away from the swollen grey clouds hanging in the sky, obscuring the view across a wide lake, which was slowly freezing as the ground became covered with the white particles. It was deathly quiet; not even the trees whispered, as there was no wind this night. Just the impenetrable white wall that fell from the sky. The pine trees surrounding one side of the lake seemed to shrink away from the cold and the snow, drawing their boughs closer together, keeping their needles pressed tight to their limbs as snow gathered on them.
Below, a black tom cat marched through the gathering snow, his white paws seemingly swallowed up by the icy dust that covered the ground. A growl rose in his throat as he lashed his tail. "Mouse dung," the tom muttered, flicking his paws as he wandered into a deeper drift, "this is ridiculous . Absolutely terrible Gathering weather. Must we go now, Snakestar?" For a moment, the black tom's words hang in the air, their only answer silence. Then, another cat padded from the shelter of the pines, shaking out his brown pelt as snow fell on his striped back.
"Ridiculous indeed, Crowfoot," the newcomer answered, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with the black tom, his gaze narrowing as he looked out across the lake. Hazy forms could be seen making their way towards an island located near the middle of the lake. "But it seems our mouse-brained neighbors are still determined to have this moon's Gathering."

Crowfoot snorted. "They're crazy," he meowed out loud, wrinkling his nose as his eyes followed the movement of a small group of cats as they crossed from the shore to the island across a fallen tree. "Surely you do not expect ShadowClan to attend tonight?" The tabby sighed at his clan mate's words.
"Yes, Crowfoot, I do expect Shadowclan to attend." As soon as the words left Snakestar's mouth, Crowfoot rounded on him with harsh eyes and an ignorant question on his tongue. But Snakestar lashed out in turn, his eyes like shards of amber as he held back his barely contained temper. "Let me finish," he growled, lashing his tail back and forth, "ShadowClan will be attending, yes. But only you, my brother and I will be attending. Brownfeather is back at camp, distributing traveling herbs to our Clanmates."
"So...you are set on leaving, Snakestar?" Crowfoot asked, all traces of anger vanishing, replaced quickly by suprise. Snakestar lowered his head slightly, letting out a loud sigh. When he looked back up, his young face seemed to have aged.
"Yes. Dead set, Crowfoot. I'm sorry I did not tell you earlier; I didn't mean to keep such controversial news from you, my deputy. But I was visiting with Brownfeather early this morning, and he had a vision. This was even worse than the first one he had. This one promised so much more Shadowclan blood be spilt...So yes. It is time for ShadowClan to leave the lake, before the other 3 Clans finally kill the rest of us."

The scent of many cats mingled in the air as their voices did the same under the cover of trees on the island. A clearing located in the middle of the island was nearly empty; only the warriors with the fluffiest coats and the bravest apprentices were sitting or frolicking on the frozen ground, the younger cats flinging clumps of snow at each other. Three cats were perched up in the lowest branches of a large oak tree situated at the front of the clearing.
"Where in the name of StarClan is ShadowClan?" muttered one of the cats, a brown tom. His skinny frame was trembling in the cold, but he held his head up defiantly, drawing his tail around his paws.
"Probably sleeping back in their camp, the mangy crow-food eaters," growled another tom cat, this one a big mottled brown. His tail was held awkwardly over the edge of the branch he sat in with the other brown tom, it's length not straight like normal, but kinked in the middle.
"What if something has happened to them?" Asked a pretty blue she-cat, glancing up at the two toms perched in the branch above her. The one with the kinked tail snorted, and said,
"Who cares, Splashstar? The less ShadowClan cats there are, the more territory for our clans." Here, the tom dropped his voice to a whisper, "And besides. Isn't that what we were hoping for? That was the point of our attack a couple sunrises ago. There is no room for a weak clan like ShadowClan. We will eliminate them."
"Hush, Twiststar," the dusty brown tom growled, flicking his tail angrily. "Do you want every cat in the clearing to hear you? The coup against ShadowClan was ordered to be swift and efficient. We don't want a war on our paws." Again, Twiststar snorted.
"Whatever you say, Rabbitstar. ThunderClan will not starve, though. We have more mouths to feed than them."
Perhaps because your clan slaughtered over half of their warriors, Rabbitstar thought, shaking his head and turning his gaze from the ThunderClan leader. ThunderClan had been dignified and honorable in the past; all of that seemed to have changed completely under Twiststar's leadership. And yet StarClan had not intervened...
"Well, we aren't getting anything accomplished by sitting here and letting our fur freeze," Splashstar muttered, before standing up on her branch, puffing out her chest in preparation for a loud yowl that would draw everyone's attention. But before she could call out, a different voice let out a yowl, this one deep and commanding, a growl fiercly erupting at the end. All chatter ceased, and cats poked their heads out from the shelter of the trees. The apprentices who were playing in the middle of the clearing froze at the sound of the angry yowl, then bolted into the shelter of the trees, seeking out their clanmates. From a gap in the trees came three cats, a dark brown tabby flanked by a black tom at his right, and a skinny brown tom on his left. The tabby in the middle narrowed his eyes as he stalked into the middle of the clearing; the black cat at his side whipped his head from side to side, glaring at any cat who looked their way. The skinny brown tom padded along silently, his head slightly lowered.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Snakestar," sneered Twiststar as he stood up on his branch. "Where is the rest of your mangy clan?"
The brown tabby tom stopped in the middle of the clearing, flattening his ears and letting out a loud and angry hiss. "Half of them are in StarClan. And you pathetic excuses for leaders should know- they died at the paws of your fox-hearted warriors." Angry exclamations broke out all around the clearing as warriors of RiverClan, WindClan, and ThunderClan hissed and yowled at the ShadowClan leader. But Snakestar did not rise to their accusations and jibes; he stared defiantly ahead, hatred glowing brightly in his amber eyes. "The rest of our clan," the tabby tom snarled as he stalked closer to the giant tree and the leaders of the other clans, "are back at camp, preparing. ShadowClan is leaving the lake."

Finally, silence gripped the clearing. Twiststar, Rabbitstar, and Splashstar stared down at the ShadowClan leader, dumbfounded. Snakestar snorted at their surprised reactions; he knew this is what they had wanted. His amber gaze traveled from them to the sky above- clear, as the snow clouds had vanished. The moon and stars glinted coldly above him, with no sign of dulling.

Then ShadowClan's destiny was set.

With a furious growl, Snakestar turned his gaze back to the leaders in the tree. "For moons, the four Clans lived in the forest. For moons, the four Clans have lived by the lake. And now your greed has changed everything. Four will become three; ShadowClan walks alone now."

Up in the tree, Twiststar laughed. "Snakestar, you fool. Four Clans will remain at the lake. StarClan is with us. You think they would follow traitors such as yourselves?"
Snakestar heard paws scrabbling behind him; Brownfeather had padded forward, his pelt bristling and tail lashing back and forth wildly. "Traitors?" he growled, stamping a paw into the ground, "You dare call us traitors, you fox-hearted piece of filth?" Before his brother could let out another raging insult, Snakestar comfortingly placed his tail around the medicine cat's shoulders. He was surprised to find his brother trembling; Brownfeather had never been this angry.
"It's alright, Brownfeather," he mewed softly, gently pushing his brother back towards Crowfoot, who still stood glaring around the clearing behind Snakestar. "I'll handle this." With a shamed look, Brownfeather turned away, looking defeated. But Snakestar whipped back towards the other leaders; he refused to give them the satisfaction of letting Brownfeather losed his temper in front of them. "No, Twiststar," he finally growled, "you are the traitors. Destroying moons of peace to satisfy your blood lust. StarClan will never forgive you."

Splashstar and Rabbitstar shook their heads, but said nothing. Snakestar glanced back up at them, waiting to see if they would change their minds, if they would beg for his forgiveness. But Snakestar received nothing but stony silence. "Curse you, cats of ThunderClan, RiverClan, and WindClan." he growled. "The ShadowClan blood will never be cleaned from your paws. And you will never have my forgiveness." With a flick of his tail, Snakestar gathered his deputy and medicine cat and stormed out of the clearing, never looking back, even as commotion exploded behind him.

He never looked back, even as his paws left the bark of the tree bridge. He never looked back, even as the pine needles tickled his pads as he entered ShadowClan's territory- ShadowClan's old territory. He never looked back, even as he gathered the ragged members of ShadowClan around him, and began the trek out of the forest.

Soon, the lake faded from view completely.

He never looked back.