The twittering of the birds ahead never sounded sweeter to Moonsong, nor had the air ever been so clean or the sky so blue. She felt like she was floating with each step she took, and she gushed cheery good mornings to any cat she passed on her way to the fresh-kill. She stopped when she realized the patrol hadn't returned yet with the morning's food. Disappointed, but far from having her mood dampened, Moonsong trotted up to an area of soft, spongy ground and curled up in it. The sunlight warmed her pelt slightly, but she hardly felt the world around her.

She closed her eyes and recalled as much of last night as she could, purring softly to herself as she remembered Graystorm's voice when he said he loved her too. Then she stopped purring and her whiskers drooped slightly when she remember Graystorm saying that they couldn't be together. Moonsong wasn't sure if she could take it. Her heart ached at the thought of spending a lifetime away from him, and waiting until she joined StarClan to be near him again.

And what about the prophecy? She would need his help more than ever once it came true, and to regain his trust she'd have to get on his good side, which meant pretending not to love him. Then, when her time came, she would join StarClan and they would live happily forever.

"Love can make a morbid thing such as death sounds so blissful," Moonsong purred to herself in amusement. She wondered if that was how Dovepaw felt for Fadedpaw. Then she jumped up. It was the two apprentices that the evil cat would be using for his plans next. Moonsong growled to herself as she remembered the cat's previous plans. Using love for evil. How cruel could one cat get?

"Good morning, Moonsong!" Rushingriver nearly sang, hopping over to her friend. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

Moonsong purred as she recognized the airy happiness in her friend that she was feeling. "Amazing," she agreed.

Rushingriver gave Moonsong a suspicious look. "Well," she mewed humorously, "you seem really happy."

Moonsong realized how her happiness must've been showing, and tried her best to regain a serious composure. "It's just a nice day," she hastily mewed.

Nodding, but not thoroughly convinced, Rushingriver bade farewell to Moonsong and joined Badgerpelt as they shared tongues in a particularly sunny part of the camp. Moonsong exhaled with relief, licking her paw and drawing it over her ear.

Trailing back to her thoughts, Moonsong did a quick sweep of the camp to see where Dovepaw was. The little white and gray she-cat was not out and about, but Moonsong suspected this was because she, like all the other apprentices, was asleep. But just to calm her fried nerves, Moonsong peered into the den. Sure enough, Dovepaw was cuddled amongst her siblings. Moonsong smiled, reminiscing about times when she and Steelclaw used to be that close.

Moonsong remembered that Dovepaw might have already been assessed. Cloudrunner had mentioned that they might make more apprentices warriors. After all, Flamefang's newest litter was already seven moons old. Moonsong decided to go see her father, then stopped when she realized her father was on the patrol catching the morning prey. Moonsong sulked in her place. She had nothing to do. Then an idea popped into her head, and she almost was able to shove it from her mind. She was too eager to see Graystorm again and set her plan into action, so she began to slink towards the medicine cat's den. She froze in thought. How would she get Skyberry out of the den? She had to get some poppy seeds.

Then a memory flickered through Moonsong's mind of a poppy stalk somewhere nearby. With a quick glance around at the empty camp, Moonsong stalked out of the camp and in the direction of the poppy stalk. She found it a good distance away from the camp, and luckily there were a few small black seeds left. Moonsong felt a pang of guilt at taking herbs that could've been used for medicine, but talking to Graystorm sooner would benefit the Clan's futures, so she licked up the tiny seeds and waited patiently for sleep to overcome her.

She felt herself drifting into an uneasy sleep, in blackness. Moonsong was startled. She wasn't in StarClan's territory! She was sleeping without any dreams. "Graystorm!" she called into the darkness. There was no reply except for her echo, but Moonsong persisted. "I've thought about what you said," she announced, and suddenly she felt herself falling, pulled by some unseen current, until she was back in the familiar territory with Graystorm standing, fuming, in front of her.



"Don't ever do that again!" he hissed, more angry than Moonsong had ever seen him. "If StarClan had heard you back there… we'd be in a lot of trouble."

"I'm sorry," Moonsong mumbled pitifully, and she noticed with some satisfaction that Graystorm's muscles relaxed slightly.

"Now, what were you so eager to tell me?" he demanded, his tone still as harsh and piercing through Moonsong's heart like an ice shard.

"I thought about what you said," Moonsong repeated painfully, "and you were right. It would be better if we weren't together." Each word stung her to say, even though she didn't mean them.

There was some sadness in those stunning golden eyes, but Graystorm. "I'm glad you see things my way," he said simply. He took a deep breath. "But… no matter what, I'll still love you. Never forget that." Moonsong felt herself began to float as the blackness returned and she went into a dreamless fit of sleep. She woke suddenly to find herself in the same place she had been, in front of the poppy stalk. But something was different, in the air… a fox! She leapt to her paws, trying to determine where the fox was. Moonsong found the place where the scent was strongest, in the direction of the camp.

With all the speed the weary Moonsong could muster, she ran towards camp and the sounds of hissing, spitting and growling met her ears. She launched herself into the camp, seeing the bright red fox with three or so cats on its back. It was snapping angrily at the waving tails, and spinning around dizzily. Phantomstar dug his claws into its muzzle, tearing it with a great spurt of blood. The fox howled in pain and lunged its head to bite down on Phantomstar. Moonsong noticed with fear that the fox could have easily fit her leader into its mouth.

"Look out!" she cried, dashing towards the fox as it continued snapping at Phantomstar. Her leader was badly battered, and another bite from the fox could've ended one of his lives. When Phantomstar collapsed, the fox lunged again, despite the cats raking its body with their claws. "No!" Moonsong yelled, and pushed Phantomstar out of the fox's way. Then she felt the razor sharp stabs of pain in her sides as the fox's jaws clamped around her instead. She yowled in pain as the fox thrashed its head from side to side, its fangs ripping the flesh in her back and stomach. She could feel the blood she coughed up, and the fox tossed her aside. Everything was growing black…

Moonsong felt the pain ebbing away. Thank StarClan for that, she thought gratefully. She opened her eyes to find herself in a strange place she hadn't seen before. It was definitely StarClan's territory, but it was like the night sky, Silverpelt stretching before her like a pathway. When Moonsong looked up and into the eyes of a familiar white she-cat, Moonsong understood what had happened.

"Mistcloud," Moonsong managed to gasp through her choked throat. "Mother." Her mother nodded grimly. "I really am dead."

"Not quite," came an all-too familiar voice. Moonsong looked past her mother into Graystorm's yellow eyes. He padded past Mistcloud, who backed away respectfully. "StarClan is sending you back."

"Really?" Moonsong felt dazed.

"They'll heal your fatal wounds, but the rest of it is up to you. You may be… out of commission for a while." He looked somewhat concerned. "We're seeing far more of each other than I'd have hoped," he muttered out of earshot of Mistcloud. Moonsong knew it wasn't helping his attempts to forget about his feelings for her.

But Moonsong persisted under her breath. "Can't StarClan find another cat and let me enter their territory? They shouldn't interfere with death."

"You want to die?" Graystorm nearly yelled, but he carefully suppressed his volume so that Mistcloud couldn't hear. Mistcloud was looking very puzzled at their quiet exchanges. "Just go back, Moonsong," Graystorm pleaded, looking her in the eye. "Please."

"Okay," Moonsong breathed, unable to do anything else under his gaze. She turned around and found herself back in the real world, laying on her side in the medicine cat's den. The wave of pain hit her full force, and she yowled out.



"She's alive!" came several shouts. Moonsong, unable to lift her head, looked through the corner of her eye to see her father, brother, friend, leader and medicine cat assembled in the small den.

"She was dead!" Cloudrunner choked. "How…"

"She might have been in some kind of state of…" Skyberry trailed off, at a loss for words.

"How are you feeling?" Phantomstar asked.

"I've been better," Moonsong was able to mumble.

"Let her get some rest," Skyberry ordered, herding the cats out of her den. Moonsong wished she could tell her father about seeing Mistcloud, but right now her pain got the best of her. "Take these," Moonsong heard, and some poppy seeds where shoved by her muzzle. Moonsong wearily licked them up and fell into a dreamless sleep.

AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but I must go and read Twilight :D