Happy New Year, all! Let's make this the writingest year yet, shall we? XD

Sky Fireheart - Kaaay~! XD

A fallen tree - This wasn't very fast... Sorry. :P

LegendaryHero - Wait, what's APUSH? Is that like Health? -doesn't know- And I looooove false impressions~!

Amazingly awesome person - Well, you do sound very excited. XD

The Last Sketch - Hee~ Shipping, shipping~

Kitro Kat - I'm glad you think so~! ^.^

Crowstorm - Whoa. You have a really cool penname. -stands in awe-

Onto the story~!

"This has gone too far, Lucky," River growled, pacing back and forth in the small, circular leader's den. "We can't allow him to get away with this again."

"Your anger is blinding you, River." Lucky was sitting calmly in the center of the light that had been thrown on the ground. He put his head to one side, dark eyes speculative. "We cannot go rushing after this one. He is too clever for that."

"You're plenty clever too," River spat. "And yet here we sit, doing nothing. What are you going to say to Max when he wakes up and is missing a chunk of his ear? You're going to tell him that you were too weak and cowardly to fight the Rogue?"

"The Rogue?" Twist, who had been flattened into the corner of the den by the sheer number of cats, whispered to Audrey beside her.

But it was Snit on her other side who answered. "We don't know his name. The Rogue's the one who took Max, and all the others who've gotten kidnapped." He curled his lips back from his teeth. "Max was lucky to come back alive."

"I have already explained my position on the Rogue," Lucky said patiently.

"To save your own skin!" River accused. He unsheathed his claws and sank them into the hard ground. "Any other cat would already have a hunting party up and ready to go! But you're just sitting here, waiting for what? For nothing. Another excuse for us to hide in this trash-heap like frightened kits."

"River has a point, Lucky." Now Gravel spoke up, in his deep rusty voice. "We can't allow this to continue. Max is the third this moon, and Ruby and Kaltag never came back."

"I understand that. But there is no reason to attack now. He will be expecting it."

River scoffed, rolling his bright yellow eyes. "Expecting it! He would just as soon expect stones to fall from the sky and hedgehogs to grow wings! Not once in all the seasons of his antagonizing us have you ever so much as twitched your whiskers at him!"

"Watch it, River," Viktor growled from the corner.

"I will not watch it. If he doesn't act quickly, I will." River narrowed his eyes, a low growl in his throat. "And you won't be able to stop me."

Lucky remained poised, even though Twist saw a flash of white-hot anger in his eyes.

"Enough." Wisp uncurled herself from Lucky's side, limping over to River. She watched him with impassive eyes for a moment, then said, "You may go, River."

River's eyes widened. "You're giving me permission?"

"Permission to leave. Please excuse yourself from this den before I find a cat who will make you." She turned from him, ignoring his look of incredulity, to Lucky. "But he is right, Lucky. We can't allow this to stand. We have to fight back."

Lucky turned his eyes to the light streaming in from the hole above. "Wisp—"

"Don't. We have no choice now. They think us weak."

"We're showing weakness," River hissed furiously. "If we were half the pack we could be, this would have never happened."

"If you are questioning my leadership, friend, I would kindly advise you to find another group to fall in with. Anyway," he said silkily, ignoring River and Gravel's shared look of annoyance, "how is young Max?"

"One of his ears had to be partially removed." Surprisingly, Snit spoke up now. "He has minor bruising along both flanks and a long slash down his side, but he is stable. It'll take him a few moons to be fully recovered."

Audrey looked at Snit curiously, then added, "He's in capable paws. Snit and the others will watch over him."

"And you as well, Audrey. You are his witness, after all."

Audrey nodded, her dark amber eyes soft.

Twist blinked. This discussion had taken such an abrupt turn, and by some kind of unconscious marker, the cats simply parted, though not without a few glares. River in particular shot a nasty one to Wisp, who calmly licked her paw and began to wash her ears.

"Come on now, Twist," Audrey whispered. "We have to leave now."

"Wait," Wisp said, freezing in mid-lick. "I'd like to speak with her."

"Later," Lucky said.

Wisp blinked at him in surprise. "But—"

"Later, Wisp," he said rather roughly. "You three are excused. I will see you in the morning."

Twist looked at him in shock but he didn't seem to notice. He had turned to Wisp again and was saying some in an agitated voice, to which she replied in a low murmur, her yellow eyes darting between Twist and the other two cats.

"Wisp is a very strange cat," Twist said cautiously as they walked out of Lucky's den and to the box-place. Her paws felt heavy as stones, and her throat ached from screeching defiance at the rogues.

Audrey just shrugged. "She always has been. I remember when I was a kit, she acted sweet as mint leaves to me. As soon as I grew up, she grew colder and more distant until finally we never spoke at all."

"She's cruel," Snit put in.

"She's not," Audrey argued gently. "She's just…odd. Wisp will be Wisp."

"No other cat plays with others like that. She's mean-spirited."

Twist couldn't help but agree with him. "But she always changes like that?"

"Something's wrong in her brain," Snit said gruffly, weaving under a particularly low spot of the metal pipe. "She's messed up. I can't imagine what kind of kithood she had—you know, a few dozen seasons ago."

Audrey frowned. "Stop it, Snit."

He shrugged, looking faintly amused, but silenced himself. "I have to get back to Max anyway." He looked over at Audrey. "You're coming with me?"

"Yes. Twist, you'll be okay to walk home?"

"It's not that far. And I'm sure Declan will be waiting for me."

Audrey tipped her head back to examine the night sky. "It's a little late for him to be awake, isn't it?"

Twist nodded, twisting her mouth. "But that doesn't mean he won't be. I know it."

"He's a sweet tom," Audrey said, flicking her tail. "Very cheerful. And very handsome, too, don't you think, Twist?"

Twist chuckled a little. "Declan?"

"Oh yeah. That lovely fur of his. I'd love to feel how soft it is." She let out a dreamy sigh. "I wish all toms were like him, all thoughtful and caring."

"Plenty of toms are like that," Snit said, his voice sounding offended.

"Not many. And not any I know."

"Well, not all of us like to be sickeningly sweet and mushy all the time," he spat.

Audrey laughed. "You should be. It would be easier to find a mate if you were nicer, Snit."

That stopped him. Flattening his ears, he growled low in his throat and took off ahead.

"Hey!" she called after him. "Pfft! What's gotten into him? Anyway, I have to go. See you tomorrow, Twist!"

"Bye!" Twist called after her but Audrey was already far ahead. Shaking her head, she dipped her way through the tunnels and found her way back to the box-nest.

Predictably, Declan was already there, but he wasn't awake. His tail was draped all across the floor of the den, ragged and red as fire in the half-light, and his eyes were closed. Snores softly rose out of his throat as Twist stepped over him to her corner of the den and curled into a ball. She didn't want to wake him when he seemed to be sleeping so peacefully, but his eyes blinked open as she settled herself.

"What took you so long?" he demanded, seeming wide awake and alert now. He leapt to his paws and dashed over to her, falling onto his belly and licking the wounds that laced her shoulder. "You shouldn't have gone with them," he scolded between licks. "I was worried sick about you."

"About me?" she asked, surprised.

"Of course about you! I don't know what kind of fighter you are. What if you'd been killed? Or worse, had your ears bit off or your fur shredded?"

"Uh, how exactly is that worse?" she asked dryly, but he ignored her.

"What were you thinking? You thought you could just go along and fight with them? You could have died! You don't know these cats! They could have turned on you in a blink of an eye and then I'd—" He cut off, said something quickly under his breath, and continued: "The point is, you need to be a little more careful. Okay?"

"O-okay." She was startled by his sudden outburst. "Okay. I'm…sorry. To have upset you. I didn't mean to."

"Why did you go with them?" he wheedled. "Why couldn't you have just come back and left well enough alone?"

"Because!" she hissed. "Because it was what was right! I was given the choice to help someone out and I took it. Because of our quick actions, Max's life was saved."

"Poor little thing. I saw his ear."

Twist flinched at the very thought of it. "Lucky has refused to take action against the rogues who attacked us. Apparently, this has happened before."

"I heard." His voice was grim. "I went to visit Kite and the other queen, Karina or something, and they told me all about it. This has been happening since the beginning of the Sliders. The rogues come randomly to take young cats who've strayed too far from the Warren." He frowned. "Max is apparently lucky to have gotten away so easily."

"Easily. Poor kit will be scarred for life. Not to mention terrified to leave the Warren. Once something like this happens, it's hard to undo."

"Like what happened to you?" he asked innocently.

"Right, that kind of thing—" She stopped immediately, aware of what she'd just said. "This has nothing to do with me," she said quickly.

"Twist, when are you going to tell me what happened to you?" he sighed. "You know we're friends now. We've been friends for a long time. You can trust me."

"We are friends," she acquiesced, surprised to realize that the words were true. "But there are some secrets that I can't ever tell anyone. Not because I don't trust you or like you, but because I can't. Do you understand, Declan?"

He blinked. "Wow."

Feeling self-conscious, she demanded, "What?"

"I dunno. It's just…I've never heard you be so honest before. It's nice."

"I'm always honest!" she spat.

"But not like that. Not kindly honest. More like brutally honest."

She scoffed and turned her face away. "Whatever." Her fur was bristling with discomfort. "I just want to be as honest as you, I suppose."

He laughed. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No." Her pelt flushed. "You're always so honest. It makes cats like you." It made Audrey like you, she thought, growling inwardly for some reason.

He put his head to one side. "Cats like me? Here?"

She backtracked quickly. "I didn't say that. I'm just saying…in general…"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "You're far too interesting, Twist. Just when I think I've got you all figured out, you've got to go change on me." He said his goodnights and curled into a ball, whisking his tail over his nose.

Twist stared down at him wordlessly for a moment, then laid down and tucked her paws beneath her chest, scooting up so that her back was pressed against his; she could already feel the warmth of his pelt against hers. Really, Declan, she thought, squeezing her eyes closed tightly. You don't have me figured out at all.

Her dreams that night were a turbulent rush of color and sound. She dreamed she was back up in the mountains with the gang, but all the color was leached away, leaving the pelts of her former gangmates as gray as the mountains behind them. Only their eyes shone, like lights in the darkness, turning on her and making her pelt glow with their sickly harsh color. Stripes's yellow eyes gleamed through the rolling fog like twin flames, malicious with ill-intent, and when he opened his mouth, instead of words, flowed a stream of high-pitched shrieking that jolted her out of her sleep like a shock of lightning.

Twist flung herself awake, gasping.

Declan, who'd been lying on his back with his fluffy belly exposed to the cool morning air, shot into a sitting position. "What? What? What's wrong?" The long fur of his face was squished on one side, flattening his whiskers.

Heaving in great gulps of air, Twist threw out a paw to hoist herself onto her side. Her pelt felt hot and flushed all over, and there was a curious sensation of someone watching her. Someone besides the one in front of her with wide, concerned green eyes.

"Are you okay?" Declan asked worriedly.

She stared up at him, trying to catch her breath, then laughed.

He frowned, making his whiskers look even more ridiculous. "What's so funny?"

Reaching up with one paw, she brushed his face fur flat. "You look stupid," she pointed out, unable to keep from laughing.

He scoffed. "I do not. And my whiskers are perfectly fine, thank you. Yours, on the other paw, are looking a little stupid."

"Are not!"

"Not now," he admitted, lowering his eyes deviously. Suddenly, he struck out with both paws and brushed her fur forward, against the grain. He continued his ruffling while Twist squirmed away, laughing so hard she could barely breathe.

"Stop! Stop!"

"Not until I fix your fur," he said cheerfully. "Come back here and let me fix your stupid face!"

"Not as stupid as your face." She rolled over onto her back as he lunged forward, battering at his belly with her hindpaws. He grunted as she got him right in the gut, but continued his pestering, poking at her face with the tips of his paws.

She reached up and grabbed him by the loose fur of his shoulder, throwing him down on the ground and pouncing on top of him. "Ha!" she mewed triumphantly. "Gotcha."

Declan, who had collapsed on the ground in an overly morose way, looked up at her. "So you have," he admitted with a lofty sniff. "But you should see your fur now. You look like you went three rounds with a briar patch!"

She growled. "Not true!"

"Totally true. You should see." He motioned to the side with one paw, curling the other against his chest.

She narrowed her eyes down at him. "Nice try. There's nothing over there but the box. You're trying to trick me."

"I wouldn't trick you. You're the tricker. I mean, look at you now. Playing. Bet you've never done that before."

"Playing?" she echoed. So it was, she realized. She hadn't played since she was a kit. No wonder she felt so light and—she almost was surprised to think it—happy. It had been a long time since she'd been so happy, so excited to wake up every morning with things to do. Without her even knowing it, she'd been enjoying living with the Sliders, despite their many mysterious habits and their strange leader. It was…fun.

Declan took advantage of her distraction and lashed out his tail, knocking her to her side. Putting one paw on her back and the other pinning her forepaws, he leaned down and mewed cheerfully, "Gotcha."

She squirmed, but couldn't free herself. "Let me go!"

"Not until you say that I win!"

"You didn't! I…it was a tie, okay?"

"A tie!" he repeated, scoffing. "Yeah right. I won this one and you know it."

"I only know that if you don't let me up in the next heartbeat—"

"You'll what?" Declan laughed, prodding her in the side. "You'll what?"

"Uh, excuse me."

Twist glanced up at the new voice, looking through Declan's front legs. It was a young black-and-white tom, watching them nervously.

"I didn't mean to…interrupt," he said, wincing slightly.

Suddenly, Twist felt embarrassed. Who knew what the little cat was thinking, seeing her and Declan in such a strange position. She pushed Declan off of her, and walked over to him, acting as if nothing had happened. "What's going on?"

"I was sent…with a message." The cat's eyes kept wandering to Declan standing behind Twist.

"Hey, hey. Right here, little guy." Twist stamped her paw to get his attention. "What's the message?"

"Um…River wanted to speak to you. He told me that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone else…" He gulped. "Am I going to be punished by Lucky?"

Twist sighed heavily. "What's your name?"

"Marco."

"Well, Marco, don't worry. I won't tell Lucky on you."

He dipped his head, letting out a shaky breath of relief. "Thank you."

"But you have to tell me what River wants." Twist didn't want to go running blindly into a situation that could prove disastrous for hers and Declan's standing in the Sliders—they had trust now, and she didn't want to lose that.

Marco's eyes darted to the corner of the box-nest. "They want to…do something. About Max. How he was attacked, you know? He wants to go after the Rogue." He raised pleading blue eyes to her. "Please change his mind. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Especially not by the Rogue. He's bad, Twist! Bad!"

"Calm down." Declan swooped forward now, curling his tail around the young tom's shoulders. "There's nothing to be worried about. We aren't going to let another cat get hurt if we can help it. Okay?"

Marco nodded. "Okay."

"Good. Now go on back to your duties." Declan kept his voice light but Twist could tell he was thinking hard about something. As soon as Marco was out of earshot, he turned to her and said, "River's about to do something very stupid."

"Stupid!" she echoed. "Like getting revenge on the cat that nearly killed his gangmate?"

"He's going against Lucky. That's not good. And he's trying to drag us into it, which is also not good."

"He isn't trying to drag you into it," she mewed. "Just me."

"If he's trying to drag you into it, he's dragging me into it." Before Twist could respond to that, Declan added thoughtfully, "We need to do something."

"Like what?" she asked, disgruntled. "We can't go after the Rogue. We don't know what he looks like."

"We have to tell Lucky what River is planning."

"No," she said immediately. "We can't do that."

"He's going to get himself killed," Declan said, sounding almost angry about it.

"Whatever River decides to do is his own fault. We can't be poking our noses into it." She turned away. "Just forget about it. I won't go to River, alright?"

"You promise?" he asked. "I don't want you to be in danger."

She scoffed. "As if I would willingly put myself in danger."

"Just don't do it. Please, Twist. For me." His eyes were wide and pleading. "You're all I've got left. I don't want anything to happen to you. So please, think this through. And don't go with River."

Narrowing her eyes, she glared at the ground.

"Promise!" he said urgently.

"Alright," she snapped. "Alright, I promise."

"Swear it."

"What's the difference?" she asked petulantly.

"Swear it!"

"Fine. Look here." She stepped into the middle of the den, lifting her head and looking him right in the eyes. "I swear that I won't go with River to kill the Rogue. No matter what happens, you will not find me outside the walls of the Warren. Okay? Good enough?"

River's eyes widened as she approached, walking quickly out the gates of the Warren and into the forest. "You actually came." He sounded stunned. Behind him, Gravel, Flint, and several other cats she couldn't identify through the gloom paced restlessly.

Twist glowered back at the walls of the trash-place. "As much as I hate it, I can't walk away and let the Rogue get away with what he did to Max." She took a deep breath, nodding to him. "Lead the way. Let's do this."

Ba baaaaaa!

I've been listening to Death Cab for Cutie's "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" on repeat for pretty much the past three days. Is that not the most amazingly, beautiful, depressing song in the entire world? No wonder I love it. XD

Aaaaanyway, hope you enjoooyed~

R&R~

Shadow