~Summary~

Skyheart used to be a normal ShadowClan warrior. That was before she woke up on the other side of the lake on WindClan's territory, with no memory of the past six moons. Now she struggles to live a normal life, haunted by that black void that looms in her mind whenever she tries to think back, along with a best friend who is acting strange and unusually protective of her. And then there is that RiverClan warrior, the one who stares openly and acts much too friendly with her. Life has never been so complicated.


Previously...

Another strange sensation struck her like lightning as she thought about his words. I'm in love with you, Skyheart!

Her heart thumped irregularly in her chest, and she hissed in irritation. Just when she thought having one cat like her was difficult enough! Now she had two! And she still wasn't sure about how she felt for either of them!

Her claws scored deep grooves into the earth. What was this all coming to? She had two furballs pining after her and causing seemingly endless drama, her best friend's fate was still undecided, and her memories were still as dark and fuzzy as ever.

Everything just kept spinning further and further out of her control, it seemed...

StarClan, please help me! I don't know what to do anymore! I'm going to go mad if this carries on!


The trudge back to camp was slow and uneventful. Skyheart's gaze remained glued to the ground, only glancing up occasionally to make sure that she wasn't about to trip over a root or walk head first into a bush.

She watched her paws. One step forward. And another. Place one in front of the other, continuously, and keep walking. Don't stop. Don't look away. This is what mattered right now. Redstreak didn't exist. Neither did Stormfall. Focus only on the right now.

It's no use, Skyheart thought forlornly, this isn't working. I can't get any of this nonsense out of my head! It just keeps coming back!

No matter how hard she tried to push away all thought about Redstreak, Stormfall, and what had happened today, it just kept creeping back to the forefront of her mind. It was like a sudden bolt of lightning; bold, bright, and even after it had faded, it still left a terrifying imprint in her mind.

That comparison just about summed up the impact that Redstreak's words had left.

Growling out loud to express her annoyance, Skyheart trudged into the ShadowClan camp with a heavy heart, only to be nearly toppled over by a blur of gray. Letting out a yowl of indignation, she glared after the culprit. "Watch where you're going, stupid furball!"

Vinetail paused mid-step, finally seeming to realize that the cat he had nearly run down was Skyheart. Ignoring her insult, the blue-eyed tom waved his tail frantically, meowing, "Sunblossom woke up!" With those words, he was once again dashing off in the direction of the medicine den.

A bolt of energy swept over Skyheart.

Sunblossom was awake? Before she could even comprehend what she was doing, her paws were already carrying her toward the medicine den. Sunblossom is awake!

The gray-and-white she-cat burst into the den. Fernblaze's stare met hers'. Then Skyheart glanced away into the deeper part of the den, where her best friend was. "Sunblossom," she murmured out loud. She padded forward on shaky paws.

Suddenly, all she could think about was her last conversation with the ginger she-cat. How tense it had been. Sunblossom never had the chance to answer her question, being called away by Rowanstar to chase the dogs from the territory.

"Did you lie to me when you said you didn't know anything else about those six moons?" That was what she had asked. Skyheart still wanted an answer, but she would wait. She didn't even know what kind of state her friend was currently in.

When she finally laid eyes on the ginger warrior, all thought flew from her mind.

Sunblossom's pelt was hardly in better shape than it had been when she had first been brought in. Torn, with several chunks of fur still missing, and plastered in various poultices and herbs. But...at least it wasn't soaked in blood anymore. Skyheart was thankful for that. Though, one of her icy blue eyes was swollen shut. Skyheart suppressed a wince at the sight. It looked painful.

Vinetail was crouched next to the she-cat, his face buried into her shoulder. Sunblossom looked down at him with the most gentle, tender expression Skyheart had ever seen on her best friend. For once, Skyheart was unable to find the sight repulsive. She just felt relieved.

That was when the ginger warrior's head finally turned, sensing Skyheart's presence. Amber locked with icy blue. Skyheart froze. So did Sunblossom. Vinetail looked up, confused as to why his love was so tense suddenly. His blue eyes ventured over to Skyheart, and narrowed.

"Sunblossom." It was the only thing the gray-and-white warrior could think to say in that moment. Just her name. Swallowing thickly, she forced herself to ask, "How are you feeling?"

Sunblossom relaxed somewhat. When she finally spoke, her voice came out raspy from disuse, "Like I've been hit by a Thunderpath monster." She still managed to retain some humour, even in her poor state. Vinetail gave her a concerned glance, before fixing his usual scorn-filled look back onto the other she-cat.

Skyheart felt a purr rumble in her chest. "I'm glad you're okay, though. I was worried."

"You, worried? That surprises me," Sunblossom made an effort to purr back, teasing.

Skyheart unsheathed her claws for a moment, before pulling them back. "You nearly died. Of course I was worried. We all were."

Sunblossom had the decency to look sheepish. "You're right. I shouldn't be joking around about that. I'm sorry."

Skyheart waved her tail, finding it difficult to be annoyed at her friend while she was in her current state. "It's fine."

"Are you warriors crowding in here again?" The voice of an annoyed medicine cat barked. "I swear, the moment Sunblossom so much as twitches, you're all in here." Frostwing pushed past Skyheart none too gently as she forced her way toward Sunblossom.

Vinetail lashed his tail crossly. "She's awake for the first time since the attack!" He defended, "Of course I'd be here!"

"Don't get snippy with me, little warrior," Frostwing leveled an intimidating glare at the gray tom, "I could have you out of here in a moment's notice, and there would be nothing you could do about it."

Vinetail opened his jaws to retort, but Sunblossom slapped her tail across his mouth before he could utter a single word. Vinetail grudgingly fell silent.

"That's better," Frostwing meowed appreciatively to the silence, "Now, both of you clear out so I can check Sunblossom over."

"But I just got here-" Vinetail started to protest, but was cut short when Skyheart decided to shove the younger cat away toward the exit, much to both Sunblossom and Fernblaze's amusement. He glared hotly at her, curling his lip. "Lay off, you stupid-"

Skyheart shoved at him again, cutting off his words for a second time. "Go. Frostwing needs to do her job. She can't if you're crowding around Sunblossom like that."

Vinetail flattened his ears to his head in offense, and seemed to grow even more agitated when Frostwing herself snickered in the background. "She was talking to you too, you know!" He snarled.

"I know," Skyheart meowed flatly, pushing at the tom for a third time when he stopped moving, "But at least I'm doing as she says and actually trying to leave, unlike you."

"Stop pushing!" Vinetail took a swipe at her ears. Thankfully his claws were sheathed, so it didn't hurt.

That didn't mean Skyheart wasn't annoyed by it, though. In fact, the moment the two were clear out of the den, Skyheart launched herself at the gray tom, bowling him over and pinning him to the ground.

She glared down at him triumphantly. "You call yourself a warrior, yet you weren't even prepared for that!" She taunted.

Something gleamed in Vinetail's eyes. Anger? Annoyance? Mischief? All Skyheart knew was that one moment she was gloating over her supposed victory, and the next she was being rolled over. Before either of them knew it, they were scuffling around in the dirt, rolling about and kicking up clouds of dust in their wake.

Their Clanmates gathered around them, unsure of the fight was serious or not. After a moment of speculation, when it was clear that there were no telltale flashes of unsheathed claws or bared teeth, they assumed it was safe to say that the fight was just a mock-battle.

To call it a play-fight would suggest that it was a friendly occurrence between two close cats.

Both would obviously vehemently deny there being any form of friendship between the two of them. They were rivals(frienemies?), nothing more, nothing less.

The end result had a few cats jeering Skyheart and Vinetail on. Some cats padded away with looks of distaste. Others appeared downright annoyed by the ruckus.

"I win!" Vinetail's yowl pierced the air. Indeed, it looked as if he had won. He had Skyheart pinned down by her shoulders, glaring victoriously down at her. "What have you got to say to that, furball?"

Skyheart let out a grunt, and, refusing to admit defeat to her slightly younger Clanmate, thrust her hind legs upward, directly into the gray tom's belly.

All of the breath left Vinetail in that single blow, and he stumbled back off of his Clanmate, wheezing and glaring heatedly at her.

"I say that you don't win!" Skyheart crowed, scrambling to her feet. She panted, their little battle leaving her somewhat tired. She had to admit - Vinetail was skilled. It was no wonder why he was a respected fighter in the Clan.

But Skyheart was no fresh apprentice, either, and had been a warrior longer. It was an even match, and surprisingly, it had the gray-and-white she-cat feeling pumped, lively, despite the energy she had used up. She felt as if she could go at it again.

Vinetail snorted, slowly recovering from the sudden kick to his stomach. "You would say that," he growled, crouching and preparing to leap.

"Enough," a commanding voice interrupted before Skyheart could even begin to prepare herself. Both her and Vinetail looked over at the cat who spoke.

Rowanstar was staring them down with a certain look in his eyes. Skyheart dared to think he looked almost...amused by them, but his voice had been stern. "As much as I encourage practice battles," he meowed, "you're making a mess of the camp."

Skyheart looked around and realized he was right. There were grooves in the ground underpaw, dirt coating the greenery of the outer walls of the camp, and more than a few cats looked less than happy at the fact that their pelts were covered in earth.

"Whoops," Skyheart muttered, bowing her head.

Vinetail lowered his head as well, though Skyheart still had a view of his eyes, which were blazing at her with determination, triumph and slight annoyance. Skyheart resisted the urge to spring at him again.

Rowanstar shook his head in exasperation. "At least the fresh-kill pile made it through fine." Fixing his two warriors with a stern look, he said, "Both of you are responsible for cleaning up this mess, since you are the ones who caused it."

Skyheart and Vinetail nodded their heads, looking less than enthusiastic about the task.

At least the 'damage' wasn't extensive, nor serious. It wouldn't take too long. And so, the two warriors, with another challenging glare passing between them, got to work.

Skyheart couldn't smother the feeling of slight aggressive fondness toward Vinetail.

Maybe he wouldn't be such a bad mate for her best friend after all.

She would still be watching him, though.

Because she knew, deep in her heart, he would always be that arrogant furball who enjoyed tormenting her.

She did wonder when she really stopped disliking him, though.


It seemed her good mood wasn't meant to last. The day was getting late, and she had managed to stay relatively positive through most of it. But not anymore.

Because after she had finished with her little clean-up with Vinetail, all she was aware of was their stares on her back.

She tried to ignore them. She tried to pretend like they were looking at someone else. None of it worked.

Her joy at seeing Sunblossom awake and recovering was now evaporating faster than mist in the morning sunlight. She was becoming annoyed again. And once again, it was because of those two cats.

As she padded across camp, she felt Redstreak's unhappy stare burn into her flank. Fur prickling at the feeling, she looked up and met his stare head on, glaring into his eyes. He held her gaze for a few moments, before looking away pointedly.

Skyheart forced her fur to lie flat, and moved on.

Only to encounter the stare of another tom as she passed by where he was being held. She couldn't trust herself enough to look up and meet this gaze. The last time she'd done that she had been both astounded and disgusted by how easily she had gotten lost in those green eyes.

But the way he kept looking at her. It was as if he was daring her to look at him, too. It was as if he knew of the effect he had on her. And she hated him for it.

When she slipped into the warriors' den, she was at last free of those imposing stares. Now she could relax.

That was when another cat slid into the den.

Oh, StarClan. This can't be happening. Why me? She thought in sheer exasperation, and curled up as tight as she could around herself, trying to block out the outside world.

She felt Redstreak's stare on her back. And then it was gone. Curious, she dared to look over and saw that the tom was curled up as well, facing away from her.

She didn't dare move. She hardly even breathed. This was the closest he'd been to her since his confession earlier. She felt her pelt buzz with energy, and her heart picked up in speed, much to her dismay.

She was nervous. Nervous of her Clanmate. He was ignoring her now, but she felt wide awake.

Had he followed her in here intentionally? Or was it just a coincidence? He had to sleep, too.

Forcing herself to turn away before he realized she was looking at him(maybe he already knew...if she was as aware of his stares as she seemed to be, who's to say he wasn't aware of her own too?), Skyheart curled up into her nest again, forcing her heart rate to calm.

Just a coincidence. This is where he sleeps, too. Calm down and go to sleep. And so that's what she did.

Or tried to, at least.

She couldn't stop replaying what had happened earlier that day in her mind, now that she had nothing to keep her occupied.

Redstreak was in love with her. He suspected of an affair between her and that RiverClan warrior.

I don't love Stormfall. I don't love anycat. I'm just a ShadowClan warrior trying to piece her life back together. I don't want any romance, I don't need it! Why can't Redstreak see that? Her thoughts spun, and she grew confused.

At least Sunblossom is going to be fine. She's awake now, and we can figure all of this out together. She'll help me. She has to. She's my best friend. Diverting her thoughts, she forced herself to not think about Redstreak or Stormfall.

We can go hunting again. Patrolling. We can eat together and have play fights again. It'll be back to the way it used to be, before she got hurt.

Those thoughts calmed Skyheart. Everything would be fine. Sunblossom would help her. Stormfall and Redstreak don't matter.

Sleep finally started to claim the ShadowClan she-cat, and she willingly let it.

Everything would be fine.

...

Little did she know, that when the sun rose tomorrow, everything would change again.

And her life would be thrown back into utter chaos.


And that's a wrap! I know, that after waiting so long for this chapter, that the ending...well, let's just say I'm expecting to have various projectiles hurled at me through my computer.

But the cliffhanger was so tempting, I couldn't help it! I'm sorry! D:

Anyway...this chapter was longer than what I normally produce. Almost 3,000 words! That's not that impressive for some people, but for me...typing chapters this long, well, I'll just say I'm a bit proud of myself.

That's pretty much it for this AN. See you all next time!

~TheAzuraStar