"What!" Mousefur hissed. "But that's impossible!"

"No," Darkstripe murmured gravely. "Fireheart knew all this time. No one believed him. We ought to give him more credit the Clan has ever granted him. All those times we thought he betrayed the Clan, he was looking for answers."

Mousefur shivered. "We can't let Tigerstar remain as leader! Not if he murdered Bluestar! Someone else will die, or he'll come after you! Or the kits, if he ever finds out."

"He won't," Darkstripe vowed. "I will protect you, Mousefur, you and our children. Tigerstar won't lay one claw on you."

Mousefur sighed, closing her eyes, but some of her old pride shone through her mew. "I'm a warrior too, Darkstripe. I'll fight."

Darkstripe bowed his head, and he murmured, "I never believed it would come to this. Warriors rebelling against a leader that gained power by killing and killing. He'll destroy ThunderClan."

"It won't be our Clan for long," Mousefur reminded him.

"No," Darkstripe agreed. "Not unless we're rid of him before our kits come."

Mousefur nodded. "Then we have work to do."

Darkstripe pressed his muzzle against hers. "Yes. ThunderClan won't be under Tigerstar's rule for much longer. And I'll die before I let any cat, Tigerstar or anyone else, hurt you."

Darkstripe padded calmly through the shadowy forest, feeling strangely at ease. He had walked this dim path twice before over the last seasons, and Thistleclaw's presence had haunted him for those moons. But Darkstripe wouldn't let the dead tom come-he would not give himself completely to the former ThunderClan warrior. He knew the cat had done wrong in his life…he wouldn't allow himself to become like that.

When he reached the circle of trees that he had met Thistleclaw those two times before, after the tom had first discovered the old ThunderClan cat, Darkstripe sat in waiting, allowing himself to fall totally still. He fell at a dark, spiky-furred tom's paws, his blue eyes staring up at a pair of fox-like eyes looking down. They were blazing wildfires, furious for Darkstripe's wayward behavior towards these meetings.

"You need to show more commitment to this training," Thistleclaw ordered.

"I know, my lord," Darkstripe meowed respectfully. "Forgive me for not coming sooner. The waking world has kept me away from this place."

"I am proud of the way you handled Tigerstar today," Thistleclaw praised. "You must expose his treachery before he takes ThunderClan down. You must take control of it after that. You can lead ThunderClan to take revenge on ShadowClan."

"Yes, Thistleclaw," Darkstripe meowed, dipping his head. "I shall do as you say. But I will not do it your way."

Thistleclaw ignored that. "You have not followed the Plan, Darkstripe. When will you take Mousefur's life? You must do so to become deputy."

Darkstripe's claws unsheathed and he burst into snarls. "I'll never do such a thing! I love Mousefur!"

"When will you realize love is worth nothing? It will only destroy you!"

"I don't need your teaching if you want me to murder the mother of my kits," Darkstripe hissed, turning away from the dark-hearted spirit.

"Wait, Darkstripe." Darkstripe obeyed, stopping to face Thistleclaw. The spiky tom was only a mouse-length away from him. "You came up with an idea today, to take over deputyship when Mousefur was too weak to remain in that position."

"Yes, I did."

"Good," Thistleclaw murmured. "Good. You will become deputy, and then you shall kill Tigerstar. It will not take long. That despicable tom will be too crazed by the time the day of your triumph comes."

"I understand what I must do, my lord," Darkstripe told him solemnly.

"Good, good," he droned. "Then your time shall come indeed. Patience. Unlike my old apprentice, you will not fail."

"Your old apprentice?" Darkstripe repeated. "I never knew you had one, Master."

"With time, you will." Thistleclaw nodded, and dipped his head once. "Farewell, Darkstripe. You will be Darkstar before long."

The snow melted in the camp in one moon. Darkstripe avoided talking to Tigerstar directly during that time, biding his time before he would save ThunderClan. He would not let this cat take anything away from him.

Most cats didn't speak to Darkstripe for that moon. Longtail never uttered more than a few words anymore. Only Fireheart and Mousefur talked to him, and Mousefur had to do it in secret. It wasn't until the next Gathering, that things changed for the worse.

"Cats of ThunderClan, we will be leaving for the Gathering soon," Tigerstar announced. "And accompanying my deputy and I will be Dustpelt, Longtail, Cloudheart, Fernleaf, Fireheart, Yellowfang, Cinderpaw, Snowpaw, Bramblepaw, Tawnypaw, and Darkstripe." Darkstripe blinked in surprise. Tigerstar was taking him to the Gathering? He met Mousefur's eyes. He knew then it wasn't the tyrant's idea, but his mate's.

Darkstripe padded with Fireheart for a little while, following Tigerstar's patrol out of the camp. But the ginger warrior wanted to speak with his nephew, Cloudheart, so Darkstripe watched the flame-colored warrior pad over to his snowy former apprentice. Cloudheart's eyes flashed with happiness when he saw his old mentor, and the two cats fell into conversation. Darkstripe caught a dusky brown shape out of the corner of his eye, and he knew Mousefur was trying to make it seem as if she wasn't intentionally trying to move towards him. Darkstripe felt pride at how well his love disguised their forbidden romance.

Mousefur padded beside the black tabby and kept a level stare when she spoke to him. "Hello, Darkstripe."

"Hi, Mousefur." Darkstripe was angry with himself. Why could he sound as indifferent as her? "What do you think Tigerstar will say to WindClan?"

The WindClan warriors had begun to hunt on ThunderClan territory again, once the weather had turned cold. Darkstripe shivered and felt fire towards the prey-stealing Clan. Without prey, Mousefur and the kits would starve. Himself, he didn't care either way.

"I don't know." The band of ThunderClan warriors and apprentices padded to Fourtrees and Tigerstar did not even wait before he entered the Gathering. The other ThunderClan cats followed behind, and instead of sounds of welcoming from the other Clans, the other cats were whispering about them and shooting hard glances at the ThunderClan warriors. A ShadowClan queen even hissed furiously at the warriors.

"What's with them?" Darkstripe heard Fireheart ask his old friend, Graystripe. The tom had fled to RiverClan with his forbidden kits. The silver warrior had not seen the former ThunderClan warrior since Greenleaf.

"There was a murder," Graystripe whispered. "On the ShadowClan border. Originally, WindClan thought it was ShadowClan that murdered Onewhisker, but they found fur in his claws smelling of ThunderClan."

"Not Onewhisker," Fireheart gasped sorrowfully, and Darkstripe's heart wrenched for his friend. Darkstripe approached the two warriors, and when Graystripe saw his enemy, he raised his spine in an threatening arch. His pulled his lips back in a snarl. "What do you want, Darkstripe?" he spat.

Darkstripe remained silent, and his vivid blue eyes glared harshly. Fireheart stood between the two warriors, and murmured to Graystripe, "Don't, Graystripe. Darkstripe's a friend."

"Friend!" Graystripe echoed incredulously. "We hate him, Fireheart! How could you even say that!"

"Darkstripe defended me against Tigerstar before the entire Clan," Fireheart meowed softly. "He's Tigerstar's enemy too."

"His enemy?" Graystripe repeated, amber eyes open wide.

"And he's your half-brother."

Graystripe narrowed his eyes, and meowed, "Well fine. Any cat against Tigerstar is with me." Darkstripe dipped his head to his half-brother, Willowpelt's son as well, but Patchpelt's son instead of Adderfang.

"I'm sorry for any hostile actions I had before, Graystripe," Darkstripe apologized. Graystripe seemed too astonished for Darkstripe's change in heart to say anything for a while.

The Gathering began at Leopardstar's yowl. He remembered hearing Crookedstar died the moon before, but it was strange seeing the golden she-cat on the Great Rock instead of the huge tabby with the twisted jaw. And there was another cat upon the Great Rock too that Darkstripe didn't expect. Nightstar was gone. An undersize tabby warrior sat upon the rock, amber eyes flashing in the darkness.

"We welcome the new leader of ShadowClan," Leopardstar began, her coppery gaze turning to the small tom respectfully. "Would you like to speak first, Littlestar?"

Littlestar had been Littlecloud, a warrior who had nearly died of the deadly ShadowClan disease the Greenleaf before. He had remembered hearing that Nightstar died, but he didn't remember hearing anything about the sickness again. How had Cinderstar died so quickly?

Or was Cinderstar another murder, another cat lost in the ambition of one dark cat?