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Here's another chapter, enjoy!

Dustpelt and Sandstorm

Dustpelt sat alone by himself, finishing off a mouse he'd collected from the fresh-kill pile. He glared across the clearing at Fireheart and Sandstorm who were sitting together sharing tongues. That should be me over there, sharing tongues with her. Dustpelt was bitter with jealousy, but he had every right to be jealous! Back in his apprentice days, Dustpelt had been extremely close with Sandstorm. They used to do everything together; training, hunting, patrolling and sharing tongues. Until the day that Fireheart had joined the Clan. At first he and Sandstorm were united against Fireheart, neither of them liked him and they avoided him mostly. Dustpelt still wasn't sure how it had happened, but Fireheart began to gradually win Sandstorm over. Just like that Dustpelt's closest friend was gone, stolen away by a kittypet. Fireheart would eventually grow quite popular among the forest cats, but Dustpelt continued to harbor his hatred for him.

Nowadays Sandstorm was always at Fireheart's side, and it made Dustpelt sick. He acted nonchalant about it, but on the inside it tore him apart. At night he dreamt that Sandstorm had chosen him over Fireheart, the way that things should be. But ever morning he woke up to the nightmare that was reality. It was difficult for him to wrap his mind around, and he had to constantly remind himself: Sandstorm loves him, not you. You will never mean anything to her again. You'll never feel her warmth or breathe in her sweet scent, you'll never get to tell her how much she means to you or comfort her when she's upset. Instead, Fireheart will get to do all of those things.

How could StarClan do this to him? Dustpelt felt like crying out against this injustice, but that would be pointless. His questions would go unanswered. Sandstorm deserved so much better than Fireheart, she deserved a true warrior, like himself!

Dustpelt couldn't understand how Fireheart could trick Sandstorm into thinking that Fireheart was a suitable mate for her. Didn't she have more self-respect than that? He used to be a kittypet for StarClan's sake! If she had kits with him they would be half kittypet, and wouldn't make suitable warriors anymore than Fireheart himself!

Imagining Sandstorm having kits with Fireheart was a sickening thought, and Dustpelt couldn't stomach it. He grunted as he got to his paws, and stalked off towards the camp entrance. He needed to go sink his claws into something to get his mind off of all this.

"Hey Dustpelt," Fireheart greeted him as he approached. His eyes were friendly, but Dustpelt knew that they were deceptive. Fireheart was trying; and succeeding, to rub Sandstorm in his face. He certainly wasn't trying to actually be friendly, Dustpelt had made it painfully obvious numerous times that he wanted nothing to do with Fireheart.

Dustpelt resisted the urge to hiss something back at Fireheart and instead said nothing as he passed the two of them. He wished that he could talk with Sandstorm, but certainly not with Fireheart around.

Sandstorm murmured something to Fireheart as he passed, but he didn't catch it. He continued forward, eyes ahead, trying desperately to shut down his emotions. Just a bit longer and he'd be out in the forest, then things would be better.

"Dustpelt!" Fireheart called out, but Dustpelt ignored him. He pushed through the camp entrance and sighed happily, relieved to have gotten away. He listened for the sound of prey, but heard nothing nearby so he headed out in the direction of Fourtrees. He relaxed a little, more comfortable to be surrounded by trees than his Clanmates. At least trees don't steal your best friend. Not too far way, Dustpelt spotted a squirrel rummaging around at the base of a tree. He dropped into the hunter's crouch and made his way forward slowly. When he was finally only a few fox-lengths away he pounced. The squirrel noticed him, but far too late. Dustpelt scooped the squirrel up swiftly and finished it off with a quick bite to the neck. Warm red blood oozed out of the squirrel's neck.

"Nice catch!" Fireheart called out.

Dustpelt turned on him, eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried about you, so I decided to follow you out here to make sure everything was alright," Fireheart appeared to be genuinely concerned, but Dustpelt was no fool. He knew for a fact that Fireheart was a master of deception.

"I'm fine," he answered quickly. "I don't see why you'd think otherwise."

Fireheart's eyes were filled with pity, and it infuriated Dustpelt. How dare this kittypet feel bad for him! Was he really that full of himself? "There's no sense pretending, Dustpelt. I know what this is about. Sandstorm."

Dustpelt was shocked that Fireheart brought her up. "Why do you care?" He growled. "You already took her away from me, isn't that enough for you?"

"I didn't mean to take her away from you," Fireheart argued, but then his tone softened. "But I'm sorry that I did. I know that meant a lot to you. It may not be any consolation, but I know for a fact that had you ended up with her that you would've treated her well. You're a good cat, certainly worthy of a she-cat like Sandstorm."

Dustpelt battled with conflicting emotions, why was Fireheart saying these things to him? They made no sense at all! What kind of trickery was he up to? Dustpelt glared at him.

"But," Fireheart continued. "You didn't end up with Sandstorm. I know that's hard for you to accept, but you have to put he behind you Dustpelt! There's other cats out there, and one day you'll find that you care about one special cat just as much as you cared about Sandstorm."

Lies! Dustpelt wanted to spit at him, but he couldn't. There was a hint of truth in his words. But he cared for her so badly, they were made for each other! And now Fireheart was trying to drive a wedge between the two of them. Dustpelt couldn't allow that to happen! He dug his claws into the earth. "No," he growled.

"Please Dustpelt," Fireheart begged. "The past is the past, and there's nothing we can do to change it. When Spottedleaf died I would've given anything to go back to save her. Losing her was like losing a part of myself, at the time she felt like my entire world," he paused for a moment, clearly choked up. "I moved on though. Just like you should now, because we can't undo what has been done."

Dustpelt closed his eyes, "You are right about that. We cannot undo what has been done, so perhaps I should look ahead, not behind me."

Fireheart nodded, "Yes, exactly!"

Dustpelt opened his eyes slowly, "I think I know what I have to do now."

Fireheart titled his head to the side, "What's that?"

"Kill you!" Dustpelt snarled and threw himself into the Fireheart, catching him off guard. Both cats crashed into the ground but Dustpelt was stronger than Fireheart, and he used his strength to pin him down. Dustpelt raised a single paw, "I've been waiting for a long time to do this," unsheathed his claws.

"Firestar, no!" A voice wailed. Dustpelt glanced over his side to see Sandstorm standing there, her eyes wide with dismay. The sight froze him, and Fireheart took advantage of his momentary lapse of focus to throw Dustpelt off of him. Now Fireheart had Dustpelt pinned down. Dustpelt struggled fiercely, kicking out with his hind legs and trying to grasp Fireheart's mane with his teeth, but before he could connect with anything Fireheart's claws had slashed open his neck. The weight was lifted off his chest as Fireheart got to his paws.

Surprisingly, Dustpelt's felt no pain. Though he could feel the life seeping out of him. All around him the forest was a blur. He could barely make out the two cats in front of him, he knew they were Sandstorm and Fireheart but he couldn't tell which was which until the one on his left spoke, "I can't believe that you would stoop to this level," the voice belonged to Sandstorm. "I knew that you were jealous of Fireheart, but you tried to kill him! I thought I knew you, but I was wrong."

"Sandstorm..." Blood pooled in Dustpelt's neck, and it began gurgling when he tried to speak. The world was starting to darken, and Dustpelt wanted so badly for this to all end, but it couldn't! He was here with Sandstorm, he needed to talk with her!

"StarClan will be your judge now," Sandstorm's voice shook, "But as for me, I hate you. I hate you!"

Dustpelt wanted so desperately to apologize to her, for everything. He wanted to tell her that he would never again act this way, that he'd do anything to gain her trust back, no matter how long it took! He simply didn't have the strength though, the blood pooled out of his mouth. The world faded to black.

I haven't written one this dark in a while, it's a strange feeling... Leave a review and tell me your opinion of it!