I'm not dead lol. Kind of short, but please read and enjoy! Hopefully I can start to pick this story back up a little bit ;w;/

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Over the next few rises, I trained with Talon, Pepper, and Star. Star taught me some moves, while Talon and Pepper taught me others. We would train together, and sometimes the others got involved. I became a part of their group, but I knew this couldn't be a permanent place for me.

I learned how to work with a team when we played challenges as to who could bring back the most prey as a tag team. It was fun, but Star reminded me I had a mission to finish.

In the end, only Talon and Pepper remained convinced, and wanted to leave to become a clan. Everyone else was more interested in staying where they thought they belonged, at the barn. I didn't mind, if they knew their path, I wasn't going to force them to change.

As the next dawn came, joined by my two new friends and Star, we said goodbye to Spot and everyone else as we headed onward, looking for more members.

I had two now, and hopefully more to come. Soon, we would enter the forest with my clan- no, my friends, and we would take back land.

Now, we were wandering past the land I had first encountered Pepper. There had to be some cats past here.

The sun was not kind to us. This morning it had gotten particularly hot, and Pepper was feeling more than the rest of us due to her long coat. Her head was drooping farther than her shoulders, and her tongue was hanging out, trying to gasp as much air as she could.

"Do we need to rest? You don't look like you can go much further."

She looked to me, closing her mouth and picking herself to look like she was fine.

"I'm fine, let's go."

"If you are tired, we can stop. We don't want you to suffer a heat stroke."

"I said don't worry about me." Pepper growled, pushing past the rest of us.

We travelled for a bit longer, until I could see a small, old Twoleg den hidden behind some trees.

But something was off. I could see smoke escaping from the top of the trees. I couldn't see any trees on fire from the distance, but it made me wonder…

Then I heard it. It was the crackling of wood when fire came into contact with it. It wasn't the trees, it was the den! The den was on fire!

Under all of the noise and stress, I heard a yowl, a cat yowl coming from the direction of the trees.

Someone was in there!

"Someone is inside the burning den, we have to help!"

And without waiting for a responce, I lept into action. Ignoring the fatigue and hot weather, I pulled together my strength and ran as fast as my own body would let me.

The blazing sun continued to beat down my back every inch I took closer to the tree covered den. I could feel my body trying to cool down as the cool washes of my sweat rejuvenated me, and my paws gathered the strength to go forward.

Wait for me! I'm almost there!

As I closed in, the heat from the fire rushed into my face. I was profoundly tired with each step, but as the air became thinner, I tried to conserve as much as as my body could hold.

After pushing past the trees, the burning den was towering over me.

It was old, abandoned, as if no one had lived here for many seasons. The glass was missing, and many holes big enough for rats to get through were punched up and down the den. Smoke covered the sky above, and stung my nose a whiff went up it, causing my eyes to tear up naturally. Orange and red flames aggressively swallowed the den, covering more than half of it.

"Please help me! One of kits is trapped and I can't get to them!"

I whipped my head over to a frantic she cat who protectively stood over a young kit and a somewhat older cat behind her, peeking their head out to see me.

"Where?"

She was panicked. She was moving her head side to side, up and down, until it came back to me.

"I don't know...I'm to weak as a mother to get to him…"

"What is his name?"

A single tear left her eye and dropped to the seared ground below her.

"...Hawk…" She whispered, her voice sounding hollow, as though she had no soul.

And I bolted in head first, trying to avoid the flames that surrounded the entrance.

Only Starclan could guide me now.

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The flames were beginning to catch on my pelt. I could feel the ends getting shorter the deeper I went to the source. My eyes burned from the smoke was sucked into them,and my paws seemed to be melted to the floor.

On top of that, my vision was hazy. The more smoke I consumed, the less I could keep my straight vision. I had to find this kit soon, or I would be killed in the flames to.

I looked from right to left, and called his name to the top of my lungs, but no response was heard. All I knew was I had to travel farther until I heard something.

Suddenly, a burning pain landed on my back. A piece of the top had fallen and landed on my back, causing me to spasm, and absorb the flames on the piece.

"Ngh…"

I rolled over, and managed to get up, but not without a limp in my front paw. I pushed past this, and used the rest of my three paws to continue walking.

My heart was slowing, and my vision was pulsing. I had little time left.

With a few coughs, I called out the child's name one last time, this time with a response.

A small "here" was heard just ahead of me.

I bolted, putting some pressure on my injured paw to gather speed. With each step, my body learned to ignore the pain, until saved the cat.

In moments I was in a large area, flames still covering the walls. In the corner, a matted kit sat, his eyes closed and huddled in a ball. I moved quickly, and noticed he didn't react to my approach.

He didn't move. I panicked. Was he dead?

But with a sigh of relief, the child's chest rose up shakily, and came back down. He was unconscious.

I picked him up with what little strength I had left, and headed out, avoiding the new flames that covered the ground.

I came out, and within moments, the den closed in on itself, and everything was crushed. I carried the kit over to his mother, who was outside the trees, gathered with my friends.

When I reached her, she grabbed the kit from my jaw and furiously licked him.

I began to gasp in the fresh air. Oddly enough, my body wasn't in pain. I found it funny, so I laughed a little. Had my body forgotten what pain was?

I took my next step closer to the gang, and I couldn't. I hit face first in the dirt, but I couldn't feel it.

I was paralyzed. My body wouldn't obey my mind, and my eyes forced themselves closed. I was panicking deep inside, but yet, I was the most relaxed I had ever been.

Everyone rushed over to me. There mouths were moving, but nothing came out. The world was silent around me.

With my eyes closed, I left out one final heave, and I floated off, heading somewhere else besides the living land.