A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short! The beginning of this chapter is also a little dark, but after this the story won't be so dark anymore.

Also, to answer a question from the reviews, yes, we are in school. We aren't sure if our writing will slow down at that point, but probably. The reason we're updating so fast on this one is because we already have it all written out, so if we make a sequel it might be updated a bit more slowly.

Anyways, enjoy!

Chapter 19 | Dead

For a long time after that, all Hollypaw could remember were Swiftbreeze's cold, glassy eyes. It didn't matter that Honeypaw and Falconpaw were trapped in a cave, horribly injured. It didn't matter that their camp was taken over by their greatest enemies. It didn't even matter that every one of her Clanmates was injured to the point of permanent lameness or scarring.

What mattered was Swiftbreeze.

Hollypaw had been closer to Swiftbreeze than any other wolf or lion, even her own mother. The world became blurry after that. She knew important things were happening. But Hollypaw refused to let go of Swiftbreeze's dull, lifeless body.

Light faded into night, and still Hollypaw sobbed over Swiftbreeze. She could still remember Swiftbreeze's last words to her: Don't surrender. Have faith in MoonClan. She remembered how Swiftbreeze had given her life for her Clan, how she'd defied Snowstar's words even in the face of death. Eventually Hollypaw ran out of tears to give and she retreated into her now-empty den and came out with rosemary and watermint. She sniffed and sobbed over Swiftbreeze's body as she spread the herbs over the body and said the ritual, now empty and with no meaning. The eldest lions and wolves buried Swiftbreeze; that was the custom. But Hollypaw refused to let anyone else dig the grave.

She worked all day until the hole was deep enough to save Swiftbreeze from the elements, or any hungry predator or fox. She was so overcome, she didn't know if she dug by the friendly gaze of WaterClan or the cruel stares of IceClan. It didn't matter. If anyone got in her way, she would fight until they were gone. But Hollypaw couldn't bear to see the body tumble into the grave. She retreated to the den, finding out that there were more tears.

Eventually her body ran dry of tears and she ventured into the clearing. She went to get a mouse, but found herself blocked by two IceClan warriors. So there were IceClan wolves in the camp.

"Let me through," Hollypaw demanded, shocked by the coldness in her voice.

"Orders are any WaterClan wolf left goes out of the territory," the warrior on the left snapped.

"Let. Me. Through," Hollypaw snarled at the guards, three days' worth of grief and anger coming through, giving her hollow strength she never knew she had.

"Make me," hissed the guard.

Without warning, Hollypaw was on top of the guard, churning her legs. She'd never gotten battle training, but somehow she knew what to do. The guard crumpled in pain and she moved on to the next guard, sweeping his legs and slicing his stomach until he crumpled as well.

Hollypaw selected a mouse to eat and settled down, glaring at the guards blackly, taking small bites despite her roaring hunger. Once she was done she stood over the felled guards. "Where is WaterClan?"

"I dunno. Somewhere in the woods." But at the sight of Hollypaw rearing, her claws thorn-sharp, her eyes flaming, he grumbled, "We left them at the Twolegplace border."

"Did they fight back?"

"Of course. But in the end there's not a lot of them and so many more of us."

Hollypaw's rage burned. "Let me see Snowstar."

"Of course," a silky-smooth voice purred behind her. Hollypaw whirled. Darkfire stood there. Hollypaw longed to fight her, to get revenge on her and Snowstar for killing her mentor, but she had to have self-control or she would never live another heartbeat. Although Hollypaw had defeated the two guards easily, she was no match for Darkfire. If she ever fought Darkfire, she would need help from another wolf to even have a chance of defeating her.

"Take me to Snowstar," Hollypaw growled through gritted teeth.

"Right this way," Darkfire purred. Hollypaw followed her into the leader's den. Out of all the audacious things to do, of course Snowstar had taken the leader's den. Hollypaw's pelt burned with anger. The den was Lightningclaw's and Lightningclaw's alone.

As they entered, Snowstar rose from a sitting position, every strand of fur in place as if she'd been grooming herself for moons. "Hello, Hollypaw."

"Get out of my territory and let my Clanmates back in!" Hollypaw snapped.

"That's no way to talk," Snowstar said with a honey-smooth voice. "I'm the powerful leader of three Clans, and I've got a proposal for you."

"What proposal?" Gritting her teeth, inwardly Hollypaw thought, You're not the leader of WaterClan. Lightningclaw is.

"Would you like to join IceClan?" Snowstar asked as if asking Hollypaw to join her bitterest enemies was completely normal.

Hollypaw let out a barking, jagged laugh. "Me? Join you? The Clan that killed my mentor?"

"You've got the same cold ruthlessness that IceClan prizes. Like it or not, you were meant to join IceClan."

That's only because of my grief! Hollypaw wanted to yell. But instead she remembered Swiftbreeze's words: Don't surrender. Have faith in MoonClan.

"So? Will you join?" Snowstar asked.

Hollypaw took a deep breath and remembered Swiftbreeze and her sacrifice do what was right in the face of death. She would do the same. "Never."

Snowstar's eyes burned with rage. "Kill her!"

()()()()

Lightningclaw paced the border between WaterClan and Twolegplace. He didn't know what to do. His thoughts churned. Oh, MoonClan, he thought, how could I… do this? Lead my Clan into an impossible battle with the cruelest wolves on Earth? Force them to fight a battle that would lead to them getting exiled and injured terribly and the evilest wolves to ever live to take over the camp? Lightningclaw sighed. He couldn't dwell on the past. Instead, he must continue to care for his Clan, even if it was in a strange territory. He couldn't let his guilt rule him either. He would make up for his mistakes, but he must still lead WaterClan.

Hollypaw came charging out of the bushes, pursued by three IceClan warriors. Her eyes were wild. Lightningclaw bunched his muscles and lunged at Hollypaw's pursuers. He tackled one, and leapt at another, knocking her over. The third, (who was Sharpclaw, Lightningclaw noticed) he circled, snarling. Sharpclaw sneered, "Oh, look. It's Lightningpaw, the little apprentice who can't even defend his territory. This'll be an easy fight."

Lightningclaw bristled, and let out a screech of rage. "I'm more able than you are at fighting!" he roared. As he lunged at Sharpclaw, he thought, This is for you, Leopardclaw. He slammed his shoulder into Sharpclaw's muzzle, surprising the dark-hearted warrior. Taking advantage of his opponent's shock, Lightningclaw leapt onto Sharpclaw's back, churning with his hind paws and tearing out pawfulls of mottled gray fur. Then, he slithered off his back and twisted under Sharpclaw's belly. Using the strength in his hind legs, Lightningclaw pushed Sharpclaw off of him, sending him flying and howling pathetically into a thornbush. Sharpclaw twisted and turned, struggling to get out of the bush but only succeeding in getting himself filled with thorns, and Lightningclaw, remembering the time when he battled the warrior as an apprentice, twisted Sharpclaw's head to re-fracture his collarbone. Sharpclaw yelped in pain, and, finally escaping the thornbush, retreated into the forest and ran back to IceClan, howling his head off (like a cub, Lightningclaw thought).

Lightningclaw turned to the other two warriors. He snarled, and fluffed up his fur. The two warriors backed away in fright, then broke out into a full-out run, away from WaterClan, following Sharpclaw. One of the warriors got a thorn driven deep into her paw and she stopped to get it out; but as she saw Lightningclaw she limped away as fast as she could.

Lightningclaw breathed a sigh of relief; Thunderpaw came bounding up and exclaimed, "That was great, Lightningclaw! How did you make Sharpclaw land in the thornbush?" Lightningclaw smiled down at his son.

"I actually didn't mean to throw him in the thornbush, it just happened."

"Well, it was really cool."

Dustpaw padded up. "Yeah, that was great fighting, Lightningclaw!" Although he was congratulating his leader, Lightningclaw could tell what was really on his mind: his sister Hollypaw's welfare.

Lightningclaw just smiled at them, then leaped onto a rock to address his Clan. "WaterClan!" All of WaterClan gathered around the rock and looked up at him expectantly. "I know that we have just suffered a terrible battle with IceClan," Lightningclaw began, "but don't lose hope. WaterClan may be beaten, but we aren't broken. I promise you, we will get our territory back, or I will die trying. For now, although we are in a strange, unknown place, we must gain our strength back, and Hollypaw will be our…" his voice broke a little, remembering Swiftbreeze,"our unofficial medicine wolf. Don't lose hope, WaterClan." With that last statement, Lightningclaw jumped down from the rock and organized two hunting patrols.

()()()()

Hollypaw settled down into her "nest". The scavenged moss-and-dust nest was too hard, too flat. The sharp angles of Twolegplace looming above her did nothing for her feelings, either. Her thoughts kept flicking to Swiftbreeze, whispering that it was her fault Swiftbreeze was dead. That she should've been faster.

The only reason Hollypaw finally fell asleep was because Windrunner spotted her uneasy cub and licked her soothingly until Hollypaw finally slept.

She found herself in MoonClan. Hollypaw had been to MoonClan the couple of times that Swiftbreeze had taken her to the Starpool, but never alone. And there was always a wolf waiting to greet her. This time, the trees sparkled with moonlight as usual, but Hollypaw couldn't appreciate it. "Swiftbreeze!" she called into the empty woods. "Are you here?" She paused. "I need you!"

Finally Swiftbreeze's soul padded out of the trees, just as kind and clever as Hollypaw had always known her to be. "Swiftbreeze!" Hollypaw sobbed, and rubbed her head on Swiftbreeze's chest. "I'm sorry you died. I'm a terrible apprentice! I should've been faster."

"No, little one," Swiftbreeze whispered. "Dying for WaterClan was my destiny. I was glad to do it, to shake Snowstar's confidence."

At the mention of Snowstar, Hollypaw's guilt peaked. "Snowstar said I was meant to join IceClan, that I'm ruthless just like them. Is… is that true?"

"No," Swiftbreeze whispered. "You were always meant to be WaterClan. Snowstar just saw the guilt and anger at IceClan in you and mistook it for something else."

Hollypaw felt relief. Ever since she'd made it to Twolegplace, the fact that she might be meant to be IceClan had been eating away at her. Even though that relief was tiny, for a second all her worries left her.

Then they came back.

Swiftbreeze started padding away. "Wait! Come back!" screamed Hollypaw.

"I have faith in you, Hollypaw," Swiftbreeze said. "Now, your Clanmates need you. Ask Lightningclaw about his dream." Hollypaw woke feeling satisfied that she'd seen Swiftbreeze, but also a little sad that she'd never come back. Hollypaw had lost a lion who seemed part of Hollypaw herself.

()()()()

Lightningclaw was sleeping soundly in his nest that night when Leopardclaw entered his dream of chasing down a deer. Just as he was about to spring in and make the killing bite, Leopardclaw appeared and yelled, "Lightningclaw!"

Lightningclaw spat in annoyance as the deer sped away, but when he saw it was his old mentor, he immediately straightened up and squared his shoulders. "Hi, Leopardclaw," he greeted him.

Leopardclaw dipped his head in greeting, and said, "I have brought a message to you." Lightningclaw leaned his head toward Leopardclaw as he went on, "Tomorrow, you alone will drive out IceClan."

Lightningclaw's eyes widened, and he gasped, "How am I supposed to drive out a whole Clan, and IceClan at that?"

Leopardclaw started to fade away. He responded, "You will know. You will know."

Lightningclaw cried, "Wait, come back! What does it mean?" But all he heard was Leopardclaw's voice echoing in his ears, "You will know. You will know."

A/N: Again, sorry this is so short! We had to end it here, however, because we wanted the big battle action to be contained in the next chapter (so this one's sort of a transition).

Please review and thanks for reading!