AN: Sorry for taking so long to update this! I swear, I would have posted this chapter ages ago if not for a one really big problem I had. You see, my flash drive- which contained almost all of my information when it comes to writing- broke. You heard me. I don't even know what happened, but I went onto my computer, put in my flash drive, and then… it didn't work. It said something about needing to be formatted, then something about not working, and then something about deleting data, and then still refused to format like it was saying it had to. I still don't know why it's acting up or how to fix it, but everything on it is basically gone.

I still feel like crying… T-T

I'm just lucky that I had saved most of my stuff onto my computer before the incident happened, but regrettably not the newest things I had just added. Which means that this chapter- which was almost completed with only a few paragraphs left to write before editing- was completely lost. And so, after roughly a week's worth of moping in depression, I finally got around to starting to write again.

Besides that I was also unable to get on the internet for a long time, but on the bright side my inability to go online made me start writing for the next chapter, so there's at least one plus to all this! ^_^

Well, now you know why it took me so long to update this. Sorry again for the delay (And sorry for any and all future battle scenes in this story- I'm not very good at them and will have to practice for a while yet).

Please review! It'll make me feel better…

Old Haunts

Inspired By Erin Hunter's Warriors

A moon had passed since Scourge and Mousefur had recovered from their illness. All should be well in ThunderClan and my medicine den should have been peaceful… but it wasn't. Both Ferncloud and my sister, Brightheart, were lying on their sides in my den. I was just finishing checking on the two expecting Queens and their unborn kits, but that still wasn't the reason for the lack of tranquility.

What was so disturbing was the incessant pacing of a certain small black tom near the medicine den entrance.

"Cinderpelt?"

I blinked and glanced away from the slightly rounded white and ginger belly of Brightheart to meet her eyes, "Hm?"

The she-cat shifted nervously, "Is… is everything alright?"

"Yes," I mewed, shaking away my distractions, "Everything's fine. Both of you are doing exactly as you should at this stage and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the kits."

The two first-time expecting mothers shared a look of relief, "That's good! With the look on your face we were worried that something was wrong."

"Sorry," I blinked apologetically before adding in a slightly raised voice, "I'm just a bit distracted by the furball guarding the entrance."

"I'm not guarding the entrance," came the instant- albeit vague- reply, "I just happen to be walking nearby."

I snorted and nodded farewell to the Queens, who gave Scourge a wide berth as they exited the den, "Yeah, sure." I frowned at him, "Care to tell me why you're acting like a tom whose mate is in the middle of kitting?"

He snapped his head up from its previous lowered position, ice blue eyes flashing indignantly at the comparison, "I am not acting like that."

"Yes, you are. I've seen enough of them to know. Now talk- what's wrong?"

He lowered his head and paced some more before stopping in his movements and looking up once again, "Look outside. At the sky."

Cocking my head quizzically I did as I was told, moving towards the den opening and glancing up. The sky was overcast, but it was too late in the season to rain. It wasn't overly windy out and the sun wasn't blinding. The most exciting thing was the sight of a few birds flying too high to catch.

Finally I mewed, "It's… cloudy?"

"Exactly," he nodded and resumed his pacing, tail twitching fretfully.

My brow furrowed, "What's so bad about that? It might snow later, but I can't think of anything else that could have you concerned."

He sighed and sat down, shifting for a while as if he couldn't get comfortable, "This is the perfect day for an attack."

My eyes widened, "Are you implying something, Scourge?"

"Let me explain," he sighed, shuffling his paws slightly, "When I was the leader of BloodClan and had my choice of when a battle was fought I would always choose a cloudy day- like this. This is when I'd have enough light to navigate unfamiliar territory and enough cloud coverage to avoid the sun getting in my eyes and blinding me during a fight."

"Yeah…?"

I wasn't following.

The tom huffed, "I have a bad feeling, alright? I think something is going to go… wrong."

My blue eyes softened and I spoke gently, "Scourge… you don't think we're going to get attacked, do you?" He nodded once, firmly, and I continued, "We're going to be fine, Scourge. You're probably just unused to going as long as you have without having to fight and feel like it's about time for your luck to change."

"No, that's not it." He lashed his tail and stood, "Every rogue out there knows what I just said, and I know many of those rogues don't like the Clans."

I meowed skeptically, "So you think they're going to attack us, after all this time? They know what happened to BloodClan when they attacked; why risk a repeat?"

"Because they undoubtedly figure you've all grown complacent in the time you've had without worries. And they're right. Now's the time that they'd want to attack, especially with the weather as it is."

"Scourge," I sighed, "Nothing's going to happen."

He opened his mouth to reply only to get interrupted by a sudden snarl that ripped through the air. I snapped my head towards the den exit, Scourge doing the same, in time to see a large, unfamiliar gray tabby tom standing proudly in the camp entrance with many other mangy cats surrounding him.

He raised his muzzle to the overcast sky and yowled, "We attack… for Tigerstar!"

For a moment, before the fight started, the only thing that could be heard was the small muttered sentence that came from the black tom next to me, "I told you so."

~oOo~

The sounds of battle were deafening and it was all I could do to keep from flattening my ears to block it out. It had been a long time since I had last seen a fight, and in that time I had become unaccustomed to it. Barely a moment passed before I found myself impatient to reacquaint myself with it.

Just as I began to slip eagerly forth Cinderpelt stopped me, "Scourge!"

"Hm," my gaze slipped coolly towards her, waiting for her to continue.

Though she was obviously concerned she meowed firmly, "Go to the Nursery, Scourge. If there isn't any other warrior there but Brightheart and Ferncloud are inside I need you to guard them."

I nodded and was about to leap into the fray when something made me pause and turn to the gray she-cat, "What about you? Can you look after yourself?"

"Of course." she replied, looking past me to her battling Clan mates anxiously, "I trained as a warrior first, remember? Now go, quickly."

Taking her word for it I launched myself into the battle, slipping between various pairs of cats writhing together in fury. I ignored them easily enough, unconcerned as I knew that ThunderClan cats were able to take care of themselves. When I finally reached the Nursery I noticed instantly that it was unguarded and being attacked. After all, it was rather hard to miss the large rear end of a brown tabby tom poking out of the entrance, swaying back and forth as he did things on the inside.

With a small sigh I skulked closer until I was right behind him and- seeing his madly waving tail- bit down hard on it. He shrieked and jumped, pain and surprise making him leap back from the Nursery and tear out of camp. Mildly disappointed by the easy win I peered into the dim Nursery to see the pale gray form of a she-cat standing inside, breathing heavily with a small claw mark on her nose.

"Where's Brightheart?" I meowed, remembering the other expecting she-cat Cinderpelt had told me to look after.

Ferncloud replied shortly, "She made it out."

I nodded and withdrew a little from the Nursery, instead turning to guard the entrance. I remained there for what seemed like hours, though I knew barely any time had passed. I watched as almost all the cats of ThunderClan fought around me in a blur, lashing out at invaders and driving them off.

In an instant my silent vigil was over and a vaguely familiar gray tabby tom appeared before me. He had been the one declare the attack against ThunderClan. He had been the one to claim it was for Tigerstar. I narrowed my eyes coldly at him, only to see that he was staring at my collar with wide gold eyes.

"You," he growled, "It's you!"

"Yes," I frowned, "it's me. And… you are?"

He sneered, "You wouldn't remember me. I was just one of Tigerstar's many followers, but I was there when you killed him!"

"Indeed," my lip curled, "One of my fondest memories. Your point?"

He bristled at how easily I brushed off his words, "I led this attack on ThunderClan to avenge Tigerstar because I had heard you had already died and I couldn't kill you, but now I come here only to find that you're alive and with them! It disgusts me that you've joined them, but at the same time I'm grateful because it gives me a chance to truly kill his murderer. Tigerstar may be dead because of you, but we are still here to carry on his ways!" The tom's crazed gold gaze momentarily flicked past me to Ferncloud before he continued manically, "And we can start it all with that she-cat you're protecting! What do you think of that, Scourge?"

"I think," I scoffed, "you're madder than a hare that's decided it can fly if it jumps off a cliff."

He hissed and leapt at me but I easily dodged and raked my claws down his side. When he landed he staggered a little from pain and I dove towards him, prepared to bite his foreleg and cripple him. Just as I was about to do just that he suddenly twisted around and lunged at me, his teeth firmly meeting my scruff before he thrust his head to the side and managed to send me rolling a few tail-lengths.

I lay there for a moment with the breath knocked out of me, annoyed that I had gotten out of practice enough to allow such a thing to happen. With an angry hiss I managed to stand back onto wobbly paws, pupils thinning into furious slits at the sight of the wretched tom slinking into the Nursery to get at Ferncloud.

"No you don't, flea-bag! Your fight is with me!"

With a snarl I tackled the gray tabby and flipped him onto his back, pinning him. He instantly began to rake his unsheathed claws down my soft belly, but I ignored the pain and wrapped my forelegs around him and bit into his fleshy throat. I instantly tasted the familiar tang of blood.

He gave a shriek and struggled violently, kicking his clawed back paws at my underbelly even harder, but I kept my jaw locked in its position. Slowly his struggles got weaker and his shrieks got softer. And then they stopped. I held for a moment longer before carefully unhinging my jaws and removing my mouth from his neck. I stumbled off of him and shook my pelt once before licking my muzzle several times in an attempt to remove the taste of blood. Not succeeding in that endeavor I looked up, prepared to fight again.

Only there were no more enemies to fight.

The other rogues had all fled once they were defeated or run away upon realizing that their leader had been killed. All that was left were the tired and hurt cats of ThunderClan. There wasn't a single casualty on their side, but they had just seen me kill the attackers' leader. None of them reprimanded me or growled or spoke. They simply stared. But the way they did…

The way they looked at me, with distrust and fear in their eyes, made all the fury inside of me dissipate into exhaustion. I knew why they looked at me that way, though. My muzzle and claws were caked in blood after a battle. After a kill. It undoubtedly brought back painful memories for them from the night of the battle against BloodClan. Never mind that this time I was fighting for them, that I was trying to protect a Queen. To them, I realized dully, this is just a reminder of what they've been through and lost in the past.

I swept my gaze over them, stopping upon finding Bramblepaw. His pelt was ruffled from the fight and he had flecks of blood on him as well as a newly torn ear. For a moment he looked exactly like his father. But, I thought coldly, they aren't the only ones with unwanted reminders.

"Cinderpelt," I abruptly meowed, my voice unexpectedly hoarse, "My injuries aren't serious so I'll be waiting for you in the medicine den after you're done with everyone else."

She barely managed to spare me a look, already busy rushing from cat to cat as she checked their injuries. I swallowed and began my slow, weary walk from the somewhat tattered remains of camp towards the medicine den. I haven't felt this drained in moons, my thoughts slurred tiredly, but then I haven't been in an actual fight in moons.

Just as I was about to slip into the shadows of the medicine den Ferncloud trotted over to me only to a stop in my path, effectively blocking my way in. She stood there panting, her little puffs of breath hanging briefly in the air before disappearing. Even as she stared at me with determined green eyes I found myself distracted with the realization that it had gotten colder since the battle had first started.

"Scourge," she finally mewed, "thank you. If you hadn't guarded the Nursery I don't even want to think about what would have happened. I owe you my life as well as the life of my kits. I'm grateful beyond words." She paused, "If there's ever something I can do for you, just ask."

She dipped her head before turning and bounding to her mate, Dustpelt, who had been injured in the attack. I simply stood there, speechless. I hadn't expected her to thank me, let alone offer me a favor. I gave a short huff of a laugh and shook my head. There really was a first for everything.

With a final glance behind me I walked into the medicine den and curled up in my temporary nest. I waited patiently for Cinderpelt to finish up with the others and come inside, and by the time she did it had started to snow.

AN: As much as I hate to admit it I must say that the second try at this chapter turned out better than the first one did…

And to clear up any confusion, the gray tabby tom in this chapter was completely bonkers, as were most of his followers. They were all once a part of Tigerstar's little troupe of evildoers (Some had followed him from the Clans, others had joined him from off the streets, and others still had just preferred his plans to Scourge's so they traded allegiances) but after he died they all had to go rogue and- due to all of the hopes they had riding on Tigerstar's win suddenly being crushed- went a little batty. Too bad for them it only got worse over time, leading them to this point.

Anyway, I give thanks to sunnypelt for the idea of rogues attacking the camp. I know you originally suggested Scourge rescuing Firestar from being killed but due to the fact that he wasn't around and I didn't have any way for Ferncloud to stop hating Scourge I had to tweak your idea a little. But thank you, because if it wasn't for your suggestion I'd still be wondering how the heck to make him and Ferncloud get along. Your idea was a big help and made this chapter possible, so thank you again! ^_^

Review!