I think I'm going to use the author notes at the start of each chapter to reveal additional information and facts about this story/the alternate continuity in which it takes place. If you guys have any topics in particular you are interested in, feel free to ask them in the reviews or send me a PM!

TRIVIA: One of the changes made between the original version of Broken Diamond and this version was the change of several of the character's names. Echo used to go by the name Diamond (hence the legacy title of 'Broken Diamond') while her sister Smoke used to go by the name Riot (As Tatiana would say; "we all make choices but that was a choice"). These changes were entirely for the best, as let's be real, they were pretty terrible names. Now Typhoon is a pretty strange name for a warrior cat too, I'll admit, except the difference is that that's not actually his name (his real name is revealed a bit later on, but he's rather detached to it). The other cats have learned to just go ahead with calling him that even though no one knows what it's supposed to mean.


Chapter Two: An Uneasy Truce

More than a full moon passed since the incident had occurred, and life around camp seemed to return to normal. Too normal really, for how strongly Echokit still felt about it. She was upset, more than a little angry, and she didn't know what to do with herself. She mostly sat around listlessly, yearning for her mother's comforting presence. Echokit hated to say it aloud, but Oakleaf just wasn't her mom, and it hurt that she was trying to fill that role.

Every time she saw Oakleaf's bright orange fur, the white accent marks, her stomach twisted. Mentally, Echokit tried to think of Daysong, her cream pelt, but every day the memories seemed to become more and more fuzzy. She didn't want to forget, not now, not ever. The memories were all Echokit had now.

Spottedfire blocked the light from filtering into the den, "Smokekit, Echokit, Hailkit? You three ready for your ceremony to begin?"

Smokekit did a better job of pretending to be excited, Echokit merely hung her head as she exited the den. She had asked to become the medicine cat apprentice, but Kestrelflight said he wasn't looking for an apprentice just yet. The tom had been friendly, but it was still a clear rejection.

Echokit looked to Spottedfire. She was a lovely she-cat; orange and cream colored, with amber eyes that sparkled with life. She was also Oakleaf's kit, and Echokit silently hoped for her as a mentor. She was sweet, not big on battle, and rarely participated in patrol duties. Out of all the choices, she was the least to lead her into dangerous situations.

As Darkstar took his place on the Tallrock and called WindClan to meeting, Echokit realized she overlooked one major detail as another apprentice sat beside Spottedfire. Pinepaw was already her apprentice, so that hope vanished as soon as it had arisen. Who else then?

"By naming apprentices, we show that WindClan will survive and remain strong."

Echokit didn't know who would be a good match for her. She didn't really know any of the other warriors, and couldn't recall who already had apprentices and who didn't.

"And finally, from this moment on, until she has earned her warrior name, this apprentice will be known as Echopaw." She didn't realize the ceremony was almost finished! Darkstar looked her dead in the eye. "I am ready to take a new apprentice; I will be the one to mentor Echopaw. Dismissed."

No. The ground felt like it fell away, and she was falling. Of all the cats in the Clan, why did it have to be him! Smokepaw and Hailpaw touched noses to their respective mentors and cheers of their new names filled the air. It didn't seem right, it had to be one of her nightmares.

Darkstar stepped in front of her, towering over her, it felt. "What's wrong Echopaw? You seem upset?"

"It's nothing," She lied. She swore she hated Darkstar with every inch of her being. He was the one who caused her parent's deaths.

"Then let's begin your training. First, the borders."

She allowed herself to zone out as she followed him around the territory. Echopaw waited to wake up, but she begrudgingly accepted that that was not to be. She wondered how her brother and sister were doing, and if they were at least a little happier than she was currently. They were.

Hailpaw laughed as he and Pebblepaw tumbled to the ground, limbs becoming an entangled mess of gray and white fur. They had been trying to learn a battle move, but it obviously had not worked as intended. Lightclaw sighed and looked at Typhoon in disbelief, she couldn't believe he was laughing as well. Well… She did have to admit it was a little funny.

"Come on you two, let's get it together and try again." She nudged Hailpaw's head. "You have to get up first. Pebblepaw may be bigger, but you're still extra weight."

"Okay." He nodded at his mentor, and carefully extracted himself from the mess. "You okay, Pebble?"

"A little dazed but okay otherwise!" She smiled, "You ready to try again?"

Smokepaw followed Sedgewhisker out onto the moor. She just wanted to show her apprentice how a hunter did their job before trying to explain the details. She was correct in guessing a visual demonstration would be more beneficial than just words, as far as Smokepaw was concerned.

The warrior soon had a rabbit hanging from her jaws, and had Smokepaw begging to learn how to do what she had just done. "Now don't be too impatient, you might not catch anything just yet," She warned.

Her siblings had to be doing better than this, Echopaw decided, as Darkstar began talking about the ThunderClan border and some she-cat that went by the name Storm-something-or-whatever. Talking was too pleasant a term, it was more a full-fledged rant about disloyalty and betrayal. Suddenly Darkstar came to complete halt, and Echopaw barely managed to avoid running into him.

"It's a full moon tonight." It sounded a lot more mechanical and emotionless than she had ever heard him talk. It was a bit frightening. "I'm deciding on who to bring. What do you think?"

"Um…" She wasn't ready to answer this sort of question and struggled to come up with a list of cats. "Let's see. You and Typhoon and Kestrelflight have to go,"

"Naturally."

"Then uh… how about Fallensparrow, Sedgewhisker, Spottedfire, Oakleaf, Lightclaw, Heathertail, Rainstep, Smokepaw, Hailpaw and me?"

"You and your siblings, huh?"

"I… I mean…"

"No, it's unsurprising. It's a good list. I'll consider it." Darkstar's ears flicked. "Anyways, let's get back to your lesson, shall we?"

Echopaw told her siblings about the strange exchange as soon as she got back to camp. Smokepaw was ambivalent about the whole thing.

"I don't know what to tell you, maybe it was a test?"

"What kind of test would it be?"

"Hey, how would I know? I don't know how Darkstar thinks."

"Maybe he wants to see if you'd be a good leader?" Hailpaw offered.

"Aren't I a bit young to be even considering that? Besides, Hailpaw's more the leader type. I don't think I'd like that kind of pressure."

"Well, StarClan has been known to make really strange decisions. Nothing's really impossible. I mean, just think of Firestar! He used to be a kittypet and look where he got."

"So, you better start watching to see if any hedgehogs start flying." Smokepaw mumbled under her breath.

Not long after, the moon began to rise, and the cats slated to go to the Gathering left. To Echopaw's shock, it was every cat that she had named earlier, with just a few additions. Darkstar naturally led the way, his mate close behind, while Typhoon and Kestrelflight made up the tail end of the group. They were discussing something that Echopaw couldn't quite catch, and though she knew eavesdropping was rude, she was curious as to hear what two high-ranking cats could discuss. She made the mistake of looking behind her to look.

"Echopaw," Kestrelflight warned, his voice gaining an edge. "Do you need something?"

'Mousedung' she thought to herself. She was in trouble if she couldn't come with a good lie as to why she was listening in. She stopped walking, as did the two toms. The rest of their group went on ahead, oblivious as to what was occurring.

"Something the matter?" Typhoon asked, tilting his head. Funny, to Echopaw it seemed like the two had switched the stereotypical roles of their positions. "Do you not feel well?"

"Uh… Yeah. I feel a little sick." It was a terrible lie, and from Kestrelflight's unamused expression, she knew that he had seen right through it.

"It's alright, it's probably just nerves. I remember my first Gathering-"

"You threw up," Kestrelflight scowled at the smaller tom "Twice."

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone about that… Anyways, do you need to head back to camp, Echopaw? I can bring you back?"

"I'll be fine. Hey can I talk to Kestrelflight? Alone, please?"

"Alright, I see that I'm not wanted here." Typhoon was good at faking a sad look: his true emotion betrayed by a goofy grin just moments after. "We'll finish our conversation later, Kest."

Typhoon bounded ahead, a black and white streak against the dark green of the grass. She and Kestrelflight began walking again, knowing that they were going to miss the Gathering if they didn't.

"Echopaw, what could possibly so important that you had to interrupt us like that?"

When he said it like that, she felt guilty. Her question suddenly occurred to her as selfish and could have easily waited for any other time. "Why did Darkstar choose me as an apprentice? Smokepaw would have been a much better choice."

"I've been friends with Darkstar for several seasons now, longer than you've been alive mind you, and I still don't always understand his choices. He has his reasons, I'm sure, but I don't know them. Maybe he thinks there's something special about you, maybe he didn't know who else to pair you with. That's all I can tell you."

Kestrelflight sighed, seemingly a lot sadder now that his earlier fire was gone. Echopaw looked at the ground, both happy to have an answer, and upset that it wasn't some major prophecy or anything. Every cat wanted to be special, and she was no exception.

"So… Did Typhoon really…?"

"Yes. It was awful, trust me."

She giggled a little and decided to voice her thoughts. "Sooo~ What were you two lovebirds talking about?"

"Echopaw, I'm only going to say this once-"

Kestrelflight then launched in a rant about a myriad of reasons why not to listen in on other's cats' conversations, and something about respecting higher ranked cats that only ended when they arrived at the island. Echopaw wasn't even sure some of them were even real. Would eavesdropping really 'lead to the collapse of the clans as we know them'? Probably not. She had never been so happy to see Darkstar in her life because it meant that Kestrelflight would have to leave her alone. He went to join the other medicine cats, and she tried to find her siblings to no avail. There were just too many cats!

She found an open spot by the tree-line, and sat there awkwardly for a moment before there was a loud commotion from where the medicine cats had been seated. Soon after, a pretty she-cat around Echopaw's age plopped down beside her.

"Can you believe them? Banishing me from their little circle all because I asked an 'inappropriate question'."

"Uhm…" Echopaw couldn't find the words to speak, unsure whether this she-cat was trying to start up a conversation with her, "Who are you?"

"Hawkpaw." She flashed a smile. "ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice. You're WindClan, right? What's your name?"

"It's Echopaw."

"Echopaw, hmm? Pretty name."

"Um, t-thanks?"

"My… You're certainly eloquent, aren't you?" She chuckled, and Echopaw felt the tips of her ears begin to heat up. "So, rumor has it that you're Darkstar's apprentice?"

"I just became… How did you…?"

"News travels fast at a Gathering, especially something big like a leader gaining an apprentice. You're a lot different from what I expected, though that's not a bad thing, don't worry." Her ears swiveled, "Ah- looks like SkyClan's here. Talk to me later?"

"Of course."

Hawkpaw stole quick glances at Echopaw while the leaders spoke, even as Featherstar had to switch spots with Owlstar for fear of Darkstar attacking him. She had a contemplative look on her features, as if she was struggling through a particularly perplexing problem. Echopaw worried for a minute that Hawkpaw was unimpressed with her, until she spoke up.

"If you ever want to talk outside of a Gathering," Hawkpaw whispered, "I tend to walk the lakeside after sundown. I want to get to know you, you seem interesting."

"Yeah! Of course, I'll probably have to get Darkstar to leave me alone for a bit, but I'll definitely try to meet you."

The Gathering ended a lot earlier than Echopaw thought it would, and WindClan were the first to leave. Hawkpaw said goodbye and went back to her clanmates as Echopaw rejoined her own. Spottedfire looked a bit shocked.

"You're certainly in a good mood! I haven't seen you so happy in a long time."

"Mhmm! I met someone tonight."

Oakleaf fell in beside her kit, having heard everything. "Oh? What were they like?"

"Well her name is Hawkpaw and-"

Echopaw recounted everything she had learned about the she-cat in their brief meeting, though in truth it wasn't all that much. Oakleaf was just happy that Echopaw seemed to be doing better than she had been for a long while, while Spottedfire was ecstatic that she was making friends outside of WindClan. She had always been a romantic and thought that interclan friendships meant for a better chance of peace.

Spottedfire yawned, "Let's hurry back to camp, I'm exhausted."