The night was quiet, still. The ShadowClan camp was quiet, the cats in their dens but for a lone figure who stood by the entrance, tall and alert. The sky was empty, stars shining coldly as clouds drifted over the moon. The figure shifted, his gaze flicking up to the sky, watching for airborne enemies as well as those on the ground. The figure looked back into the pine forest, his yellow gaze searching.

He moved again, turning in towards the camp and pacing forwards, his strong legs eating up the ground. He turned back, head twisting over his shoulder, yellow eyes gleaming in a pale face. His jaws stretched wide in a yawn, and he sat, tail curled around him, cream wings resting by his sides. His gaze passed over the sky, watching as clouds crossed the moon. He shivered. It seemed a bad omen.

The tom's gaze turned away from it again, his eyes closing as a cold wind ruffled his long fur. He remained like this, still, eyes closed, in the centre of camp. An owl hooted softly. The figure stirred, yawning again as he got to his paws and paced towards the camp entrance, his cream and grey fur fluffed out against the cold. The tom made it to the entrance and stood there, yellow eyes staring into the forest. His nose twitched, the scent of fresh prey tempting him. He resisted, remaining still.

A shadow passed across him, cutting off the moon's glow, and the tom looked up, his yellow eyes widening in surprise and terror. Gleaming silver claws dove into his skin, curling around his neck and tearing at his throat. The warrior screamed, and the night awoke with noise.

Blizzardpaw woke slowly. First, his ears started working again, and he could hear a quiet humming, and hushed voices, though he couldn't make out the words. His sense of smell turned on, and he was assaulted by sickly sweet scents. Blood, infection, weird-smelling herbs, and the rest an unfamiliar chaotic mess. Sensation came back to his body, first just a tingling, and tightness around his chest, then actual movement as he blinked open his eyes. White. White everywhere. Barriers of white to his front, crossed over with strips of grey. His eyes flicked upward, seeing another barrier of white above him, with a harsh glow that made his eyes water. Twoleg den. He was inside a twoleg den.

Blizzardpaw jerked upward in a sharp motion, gasping as the pain returned at full strength, burning streaks along his wings and stomach, his paws aching dully. He lowered his head, swallowing back a whimper, and looked at his paws. It took him a moment to notice it, with the way they burned and how white fur blended into something else, but Blizzardpaw stared in confusion when he did. His paws were wrapped in strips of white, covering them whole and extending partway up his legs. What in StarClan's name?

"Bliz! Hey!"

Blizzardpaw whipped around at the sudden noise, and he hissed as pain flared up along his wings. A ginger tabby she-cat sat behind him, resting on a smooth white surface, separated by the grey tendrils. She was small, smaller than him, and looked about his age. Her fur was bright, the tabby stripes standing out a dark ginger. Her wings folded across her back, the dark teal at the top fading down the wings into white. Blizzardpaw frowned, unsure for a moment of where he recognised her from. The memories of how he'd gotten here, to this twoleg den, were blurry. Running, then the pain, struggling, dying, fear. And... and then her. And the twoleg.

"I..." he stammered out, unsure of what to say. "I... my name's Blizzardpaw."

The she-cat wrinkled her nose. "What a mouthful. I'll stick with Bliz."

Blizzardpaw gave her a frustrated look.

"Anyway," she went on. "My housefolk fixed you up. You'll be fine now, except he says you suffered extreme blood loss, shattered wing bones, and other stuff. I can't remember everything, but he says you would have died if I hadn't found you."

"I did not need to know that," Blizzardpaw growled.

The she-cat rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you did. I saved your life, so you owe me."

"Owe you?" Blizzardpaw questioned, lowering himself into a crouch.

"Yeah," the she-cat agreed. "You never finished telling me what happened to you."

"I never started telling you," Blizzardpaw returned.

"Same difference."

Blizzardpaw frowned at her. "What?"

"Same difference. Y'know, same thing."

He shook his head, wincing as the movement set off a throbbing along his spine.

The she-cat sighed loudly. "It's a housefolk saying."

"Right."

"Well then," the she-cat continued. "You gonna tell me what happened or what?"

Blizzardpaw sighed. May as well. "Alright. But first... um... what's your name?"

The she-cat gave him a disapproving look. "I told you this, Bliz."

"What, when I was half-dead?" he snapped.

"Mmm, yeah. Might have been then," she replied, a smirk appearing on her face. "Name's Lilac."

"Nice name."

Lilac flicked an ear. "You have to tell me your story now."

"Tell me where I am first," Blizzardpaw growled.

"Nope," Lilac replied. "I'm waiting here and not talking until you tell me what happened to you."

It's none of your business, kittypet. Blizzardpaw rose to his feet, frustrated, and turned a tight circle. Grey tendrils surrounded him on all sides and crossed over above him, offering no escape.

"Yeah, you can't get out, Bliz. It's called a cage."

Blizzardpaw swung around, letting out a yell as pain rose up again in his wings. He twisted his head around, fighting through the increasing pain to see the state of them. His wings were bound to his sides with more of the white strips, held tightly in place. An eye-watering scent rose from them, similar to herbs, but with an overlying twoleg stench mingled with sour blood.

"My twoleg did that," Lilac said, and he thought he detected a hint of pride in her voice.

"Your twoleg tried to... heal me?"

"That's what he does," Lilac mewed, flicking her tail. "We went through this when you were half-dead. Along with my name."

He decided to ignore her last statement.

"But-"

Blizzardpaw cocked his head, brow furrowing in confusion.

"He's a twoleg," he said finally. "It-it doesn't make sense."

The she-cat's amber eyes narrowed, her small form stiffening.

"Unlike what you think," she growled, her voice lower and harder than it had been a moment before. "My twoleg cares about cats and willingly helped you. Now, stop avoiding my question and tell me what happened to you."

"It's none of your business," Blizzardpaw responded. "You wouldn't understand anyway, kittypet."

Lilac growled, the sound a low rumble in her throat.

"I'm not stupid, Bliz. I know what kittypet means and being one doesn't instantly make me an idiot."

More unfamiliar words. Hooray.

Lilac hissed, the sound drawing his attention back to her. "Tell me," was all she said, her voice level again.

Blizzardpaw sighed, sitting down and curling his tail around his paws. He met Lilac's eyes, blue against amber. Her gaze was firm, brows raised slightly.

"Okay."

Lilac's eyes brightened, a grin appearing on her face.

"Get started then, Bliz."

Blizzardpaw bit his lip, annoyance bubbling up at Lilac's name for him.

"Alright, well, I'm part of ShadowClan-"

"ShadowClan?" Lilac asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah, it's, um, one of five Clans in the forest... somewhere. I-I don't think we're close by."

He lowered his head, feeling a pang of homesickness for his home... and his Clanmates. Their faces flashed through his mind, moving too quickly for him to distinguish one from another. He shook his thoughts off, lifting his head again to see Lilac watching him closely, her expression softer than before. Not entirely soft though - he wasn't sure her face could form that expression. Blizzardpaw swallowed down the lump in his throat, pulling himself back into reality.

"Well... we were attacked. In the middle of the night. By ThunderClan, I think."

He paused, scenes from that night playing through his mind. The darkness, quiet, then screaming. A rumble, a loud, all-consuming thunder. Then the shower of dirt, of branches, ivy as the den collapsed. The desperate dive out of the way, into the claws of-

"Bliz?"

Blizzardpaw snapped out of the nightmarish visions, staring directly into Lilac's eyes.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm good."

Lilac nodded slowly. "'Kay, then."

"I-it was chaos. The ThunderClan cats were just so... brutal. It was all blood and darkness."

He let out a shaky breath.

"I don't know who's alive. Stonepaw... my brother... he could be dead. They all could be dead."

Blizzardpaw lowered his head, tears leaking out of his eyes. His mouth opened, but he was unsure of what to say.

"It's- I... I just don't know. I..."

He sunk to the ground, head lowered and tucked into his white-wrapped paws. Tears gathered in his eyes, leaking out as he thought of Stonepaw's form, grey fur torn and stained. Brackenfoot appeared in his mind's eye as well, his lifeless body lying across Deerleap's. More Clanmates piled up in his head, their bodies filling an empty camp. Smokefoot, Cedarstar, Cinderpaw, Redthistle... an endless number.

"I just... I don't know who's still alive. I don't know who's dead- and I..."

He squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to bury his thoughts.

"What if I'm the only one left?"

Well, the next chapter is finally here! Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I had exams recently (my first ones) and that has not been fun. I also only have two weeks of school left this year, so not really in the mood for doing anything right now.

Question of the chapter: (The all-important) Who is your favourite character?

Mine's Blizzard. Sneeze is a bit passive for my liking (which makes him really hard to write), and Lilac isn't quite as interesting, nor has she had a chapter from her point of view. Which brings me to another question - Do you guys want a chapter in Lilac's perspective?

Please review, and hopefully I'll have another chapter out soon.

~Ekidna