I left you last chapter with a Cliffie, so here goes.

Dapplepaw couldn't believe her eyes. The sickness had clawed its way through Cloudtail into his heart, and now, he was killed by green-cough.

When will the death end? she thought to herself, her eyes grave.

"He... He can't be dead." Brightheart murmured in disbelief. "He'll never know his kits..."

Dapplepaw looked at the she-cat in surprise. The white and ginger queen did look plump again. Dapplepaw couldn't imagine the pain of Brighthearts heart-break. In an attempt to comfort the senior warrior, Dapplepaw murmured. "I'm sure they'll hear stories of how great a warrior he was."

Brightheart seemed too consumed in her thoughts to reply, but her good ear flicked to show she had heard Dapplepaws attempted words of comfort.

Dapplepaw shook her head sadly and padded over to find Firepaw and Honeypaw. She found the siblings staring at Cloudtail. "What if more cats die from green-cough?" Honeypaw mewed, looking from her brother to Dapplepaw.

"I don't know, but I certainly don't want to catch it." Dapplepaw gazed up at the sky. The sun had set behind the mountains, leaving the sky red and the clearing washed with scarlet, as if StarClan was bleeding with sadness.

"Cloudtail didn't believe in StarClan." Whitewing, who Dapplepaw remembered was Cloudtails daughter, murmured from beside Brightheart and Cloudtails grand-daughter, Ivyleaf. Dapplepaw guessed Dovewing was in the medicine cat den.

"So he must be going to the Dark Forest?" Ivyleaf murmured, looking at Brightheart and Whitewing.

"He was too good of a cat." Brightheart murmured as she watched Sandstorm and Graystripe, two who had known Cloudtail well, bury their muzzles in the white fur. "StarClan wouldn't banish a kind and noble warrior to the Dark Forest."

"So maybe they'll let him join them?" Ivyleaf meowed. Dapplepaw always knew Ivyleaf as the logical cat, the one who always clung to hope.

"Maybe..." Brightheart murmured, and Dapplepaw left the family to sit vigil for the tom.

"Come on. Lets get some sleep." Dapplepaw got up and trotted toward the apprentice den, Honeypaw and Firepaw following. As Dapplepaw passed a crowd of cats, she noticed Cinderheart had gotten plump. She must be pregnant too. Dapplepaw thought. She caught Cinderheart murmur to her sister, Poppyfrost, "They're Foxwhiskers."

Even in this dark time, theres still hope for ThunderClan.

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Dapplepaw awoke just before sun-high. She had been training hard the past few days, and the warriors must have noticed, for they were letting her sleep longer.

The apprentices den was empty, and Dapplepaw stretched her limbs before pushing her way through the entrance. Then she remembered she was supposed to go on the sun-high patrol.

Yawning, she gazed around as Mousewhisker was just leaving with Honeypaw close behind. Whitewing was beside Mousewhisker and she beckoned Dapplepaw over with her tail.

I get to go on patrol with Honeypaw! she thought as she made her way over.

"The dawn patrol made it to RiverClan and WindClan, so all we need to do is ShadowClan." Mousewhisker meowed as they trotted out of the entrance.

Again, near the heart of the territory, carrion scent was in her nose. "Again?" she meowed agitated. "Smell that?" she murmured to Honeypaw as Mousewhisker and Whitewing begin to smell it too.

"Yeah." Honeypaw's pink nose wrinkled. "Thats gross."

"More scents." Whitewing meowed gravely.

Dapplepaw gazed around for any carcasses of bones, but found none. But on most trees and plants, the scent was strong.

"They did it purposefully." Mousewhisker snarled, fur bristling.

"They want us to know they've been here." Whitewing added, eyes narrowing as the patrol vowed to tell Bramblestar later. But once again, they needed to finish the patrol. As long as no rogues were seen, they didn't need to raise an alarm. Yet...

As the patrol reached the border, there sat Russetstar, Rowanclaw, Snowbird, and Ravenpaw.

Dapplepaw was beginning to get even more annoyed. On the last patrol, they had found carrion with Rogue scent covering it then came across a ShadowClan patrol. This time they scented Rogues and came across another patrol. Another reason she was agitated was because Ravenpaw was turning up everywhere she went.

Who said thats a bad thing? Came a voice inside of her head.

Shut up, Tigerstar. He's ShadowClan. Dapplepaw shot back as her patrol approached the border cautiously.

What's wrong with ShadowClan?

Dapplepaw didn't reply as Mousewhisker spoke. "What are you doing?"

Russetstar stood and dipped her head to the ThunderClan patrol. Russetstar was never polite, so it was obvious she wanted something. "I would like to speak to Bramblestar."

"About?" Pressed Whitewing, who had obviously put aside her fathers death for the moment.

"Something that should be spoken with Bramblestar, not you." Rowanclaw retorted, but Russetstar flicked her tail for silence.

"Well if we can't hear it, then maybe Bramblestar doesn't need to." Mousewhisker meowed, obviously trying to stay calm but alert.

"Oh, you can hear it, but not until Bramblestar can hear it as well." Russetstar meowed.

Mousewhisker and Whitewing shared a glance, then Mousewhisker nodded. "Okay, follow us." Mousewhisker meowed finally and the patrol turned to lead the ShadowClan cats back to camp.

Once near the camp, the elders had just finished burying Cloudtails body, and the ShadowClan cats looked on in curiousity while Whitewing stopped and murmured a short prayer before continuing on, glancing to the grave every now and then before it disappeared out of sight. The elders begin to follow the patrol, eyes narrowed.

A hunting patrol was just leaving. Leading it was Brackenfur, behind him was Lionblaze, Poppyfrost, Briarfur, and Firepaw. Firepaw stopped by Dapplepaw and Honeypaw. "Tell me the second I get back." before reluctantly bounding off after the hunting patrol, who all looked suspicious.

When in camp, Dapplepaw noticed Bramblestar beside the fresh-kill pile with Dustpelt and Ferncloud, while other warriors sat around the camp. All looked up when the patrol entered, and Bramblestar got to his paws and trotted over.

"Whats going on here?" Bramblestar meowed, Dustpelt behind him.

Russetstar then spoke. "ShadowClan would like to propose an alliance."

Sorry to end it with a half-way cliffie, but this chapter is getting long, so I'm leaving it at this. I'll start the next one right now though. I have nothing else to do.

REVIEW! Haha.