Hello people! Surprised I was able to update? I am!

REVIEWS

"Nightbird1648"- Sorry, I had to, no choice of mine! And thank you!

"Indigostartherandomkitty"- Yes!

Jordan- It really does, and I already have three younger siblings, so I'm a pro at this younger siblings stuff. Good thing we didn't have to wait two months! Also, thanks for your support ;)

Dawnfeather- Aww, thank you! I hope it'll settle down quickly, I miss writing as much as I used to!

"Drawpaw"- Oh yes, my favorite chapter is coming up soon ^_^ Scorch is not yet six moons, so she couldn't have kits yet anyways! And I'm saving that for something else anyways.

"Willowpool"- Thank you! and that's just how it played out. I'd actually wanted to get this chapter in as well, but that didn't happen. Till now.

"Leviathan48"- Yep! But Scorch is just a kit, so ignorance on the different ways to use her ability is to be expected.

Shadowhawk540- I agree with you, but I had no say in this! my parents just decided they wanted to move again before the baby was born, so whatever.

Meepypolo- I agree, Painted is not an idiot. Sorry if that impression was given. But, it'd be difficult for any cat (or person) to admit they are more ignorant then a kit, Jump could do it because his mate was concerned. Painted had a rough past so she has some rough moments.

Chapter 20: No Sunshine

Sunstar... The name shivered through her like a stream rounding its way through a forest and flowing through patches of shade and sunlight, cold and warm. The large, dark orange tom sat placidly in front of her, seemingly amused by this rare disruption of usual routine.

"Y-you mentioned the Clans," Scorch stuttered, finding it rare for her to become tongue-tied and was slightly frightened by the new experience. Snap out of it! Get it together! She berated herself mentally and tore herself out of the dark labyrinth of confusion that led to nowhere.

"Yes, I did," Sunstar affirmed with a nod of his head.

" Are you-"

"No, I simply know of them; nothing else. And you? I assume that you have a knowledge of the Clans to ask such a question," Sunstar inquired.

Scorch observed him for a moment, contemplating the best way to ease the story out of him that he was hiding, for his lie showed he was obviously hiding something. "Yes, I have had some contact with them," she mewed slowly, even though the darkness that was growing spurred her with a sense of urgency.

"Hmm, with who?" Sunstar spoke casually, but Scorch immediately spotted the error in his question and the hunger in his eyes.

"Why would that matter if you only know of them?" Scorch attempted but failed, probably miserably, to keep the triumph out of her tone.

Sunstar noticed, for his eyes narrowed and he looked at her more sharply. "I am not sure why that would matter to a non-Clan cat, or why you would seek that knowledge out, but there is another matter I've been pondering. And I wish to ask, if it would be alright," Sunstar mewed, and his politeness confirmed to Scorch his Clan-cat background.

"Fine, but to continue the spirit of fairness, I can then ask my own question about you," Scorch agreed.

Sunstar nodded his agreement, looking slightly less amused then before and not as happy, as if the disruption in life had turned from amusing to tedious. "I would like to ask if you ever met a cat named Rainstone before, your accent and scent reminds me of this particular cat," Sunstar's words froze Scorch and that strange sensation of fear and anger swarmed like cold fire through her veins.

Glaring at Sunstar, she regarded him coldly before answering. "Yes," it was the crisp answer and the message was clear; ask no further.

Sunstar now looked intrigued, and slightly unnerved as if he didn't understand her tone. Which made sense since Scorch didn't understand why she felt like that when some cat asked after her mother. But he now invited her to ask her question without fear.

So she sucked up a breath and asked, "Why did you leave the Clans?"

Sunstar froze, looked at her for a long silent moment, bent down his head to licked his chest fur, got up, and left without another word. Scorch huffed and stamped her front, black paw in frustration. He said he'd answer any question! Liar!

She considered going after him, but the sky was almost completely black now, just the faintest rim still showed a glowing blue sky. So she decided she'd come back at a different time, since it'd been such a long day.

Picking up her moss, she went back the way she'd come, pondering this new cat in her mind, this new face in the gallery of memories. This memory was bright to her, gilded iridescently as if her mind already recognized it as important. The only other cat that had made such an impression on her had been Boulderpaw. So, what do the two share in common?

It didn't seem like there could be much in common; Boulderpaw was young, Sunstar was obviously on the older side of life. Boulderpaw had dramatic mood swings between depressed and jubilant, while Sunstar seemed to command a fairly solid temperament. Boulderpaw was loud and forward in a problem, Sunstar had just displayed that he chose to walk away from a problem.

Not very alike at all, almost exact opposites, but something stuck in my mind about both of them, I sense that special spark in them. But where? And what is it? She proceeded to wonder if things didn't make sense because she was so young, or because they just didn't make sense in general.

By now the sky was fully cloaked in thick blackness and clouds must have rolled in so only a few patches of clustered stars peeped through the darkness and the moon was hallowed by a thick wreath of clouds that rolled over it continuously, forcing the moon into a game of hide-and-seek.

Scorch shivered as the cold air washed over her, though she was grateful that it helped clear her head and she took a few moments to enjoy the clear air. She sighed though, as she started seeing some of her mirages appearing around her. She honestly didn't care much for her, 'special,' ability, but now that she knew what it was, it seemed considerably less frightening.

She stopped to watch a particular mirage that had caught her eye, it was a familiar looking gray she-cat. Hmm? That face reminds me of Boulderpaw, and the eye color is exactly the same! She wondered if this cat was possibly an ancestor of Boulderpaw, as these mirages were past cats. But, how is this helpful? How does the past effect the present? And its not like I'm seeing anything really important... just cats going about their daily lives, just like cats of the here and now!

Feeling increasingly frustrated, Scorch hurried home and came upon the den as midnight began. She pulled the moss to the den and peeked her head in. Mira was still sleeping soundly, the sickness nothing but a bad memory to fade into the depths of memory.

Jump, surprisingly, was not sleeping at Mira's side, but instead slept closer to the entrance, a good tail-length away from Mira. He probably didn't want to disrupt her accidentally. Scorch scanned the den again and frowned; Painted wasn't there.

She turned her head around and looked around the small clearing. She didn't see anything and Painted's scent was growing stale, as if she hadn't returned since Scorch had last talked to her and she'd stormed off. I hope she isn't in any trouble, Scorch chewed her lip, undecided.

Painted wasn't usually stubborn or stupid enough to hold a tantrum for this long. But Scorch could understand if Painted was feeling so flustered that she just needed to spend the night alone. Finally Scorch decided she was just too tired to do anything of consequence that night and she quickly formed a crude shaped nest and slipped into it, not to wake again until almost sun-high the next day.

...

Scorch yawned as she stretched in the pale sunlight. She blinked and looked around, drawing in on the yellow grass and the accumulating pine needles on the ground. Mira was still in her nest sleeping and Jump had roused her around dawn to say he was going hunting. He had not yet returned even though it was nearing sun-high.

What should I do? The rumble in her belly answered for her and she left to hunt, telling Mira what she was doing. She paced through the tall pine trees, she knew some cats felt depressed by the hushed silence and deep shadows. But she felt it was relaxing; a sleepy quiet and a blanketed shadow.

Is it because of my ShadowClan roots? Or because I've been living here for over a moon now? She wasn't sure, but the pine smell in the air she felt would always be her home. She sniffed the air, making sure she wasn't too close to the Clans border, since she had headed in that direction, and set down to hunt.

It didn't take long to track a vole scent trail to a stream and find it scuttling along the bank. With a quick, precise movement she had it and she gulped it down appreciatively, since she couldn't even recall the last she'd eaten.

Feeling much better now that she was all refreshed, she had time to think about Sunstar, and the meaning of the meeting. She wandered through the forest for a while, straightening out her thoughts about what she did and did not know about Sunstar.

She paused when she came upon a glade that she hadn't seen before. It was half encircled by tall bushes that looked like they bore berries in the right season and a stream ran alongside the other half, leaving just a narrow trail open. Scorch entered, tilted her head and listened, surprised when she couldn't hear anything, not even little creatures in the bushes.

Strange, but I like how the air feels here... it feels heavy and warm... As if things just dwell here without ever moving. She moved into it and sat down in the middle, the wind rushing above her head, thanks to her windbreak of bushes and the faint sunlight pooled on her and the sandy-grassy floor she sat upon.

So... back to what I know about Sunstar. She did know that he was a Clan cat, probably a leader due to his name; She did not know which Clan he had been in or why he'd left. She knew that he was uncomfortable when confronted about the Clans, but he did still care about what happened to them.

Strange cat, for sure, full of contradictions.. Then she paused, feeling like she was forgetting something. Its almost sun-high, wasn't there supposed to be something going on at sun-high...? Was it... She racked her brain and couldn't come up with an answer.

Sighing, she walked over to the stream. Now that she was closer, it was less like a stream, and more like a trickle of water that was flowing away from a spring somewhere. Regardless of where it came from, she bent down and lapped a few mouthfuls to wet her mouth. She paused and looked at a glitter that had caught her eye.

It was a stone, shimmering with minerals as the water washed over it and the sun hit it in just the right way. What a pretty little stone, and its the same color as Boulderpaw's eyes! She scooped it out of the water with a paw and held it close. As she held it, the content smile melted away.

I was supposed to meet Boulderpaw at sun-high! Oh no! She looked up frantically, it was definitely sun-high right now and it would take awhile to get to the meeting pace. Blaming her stupidity she let out over the forest floor, heading as quickly as she could toward the meeting place.

Had she been full grown, she would have made it in only a few minutes, but for her and her short little legs, it took four steps to make one stride of a full-grown cats. Evidently, this made it take four times longer and sun-high was wearing thin when she finally reached the beach tree, gasping for breath.

Boulderpaw was standing there, looking at her in annoyance, and she just collapsed down in front of him, on her stomach, gulping in air.

"Yeesh, calm down, the air isn't going anywhere," Boulderpaw grumbled, sitting down and poking her heaving side.

Scorch tried to speak, but was so out of breath that she just managed an inaudible sentence that broke into a cough at the end.

"Well, get your breath back before you try to talk again. Geez, killing yourself because you were late; how much of a ditz are you?" grumbled Boulderpaw.

It itched her so much that she couldn't respond with a rebuttal, so she just gave the best glare she could. The effect was greatly weakened with the fact that she was collapsed on the ground with Boulderpaw looking away.

Sighing, she rolled on her back, squinting her eyes against the sunlight as her heaving breaths slowly lessened and her heartbeat returned to normal. "Well, I'm better now. So, what do you think we should do?" Scorch asked, offering him first chance at presenting an idea for their course of action.

Boulderpaw kept his eyes on the horizon and let out a long breath. "I don't know, its such a big task and we're so small... can we even make a difference?" the melancholy words weren't completely surprising to Scorch, but it stirred a deep feeling in her and she jumped from her back to her paws and stood in front of Boulderpaw, staring him straight in the eyes. She wanted him to hear what she said.

"Well I believe that we can make a difference, can't you see? Even a small splash has its ripples, we will change something, even if its just the thoughts of a few cats. But there's one thing I can assure you, nothing will happen if we do nothing, and I'm sick of doing nothing! This is a risk I'm willing to take, whether you are or not," Scorch's voice rose with each word and she felt emotion rushing to her throat.

It wasn't that the words themselves were stirring, but it was what they represented. For Scorch, those words told what she had dedicated her life to for at least the next few moons. Those next few moons would mean something; to her, to Boulderpaw, to the Clans, to Sunstar... She believed that, and she needed Boulderpaw to believe it too.

But his eyes stayed blank, there was no spark, no glow of hope. The gray-blue eyes stayed quiet, no thoughts or life behind them. There was no sunshine reflecting off of them. And then Scorch backed up a pace, a strange feeling in her belly.

It wasn't coming from her, she was sensing something from Boulderpaw, a deep sadness that was so sharp it was painful. She swallowed hard and looked at him, "wha-did something happen?" she asked hesitantly, searching his face earnestly.

Boulderpaw looked away, then at his paws, and finally back at her, his mouth open and eyes longing. He wanted to tell her, she could sense that, but something held him back.

This hurt even more, that he didn't feel like he could trust her. It sent a pang right through her chest, she wanted him to trust her, they were friends, and she knew he was special. She wanted him to feel the connection, why couldn't he?

"Please," she begged in a whisper, looking up pleadingly into his eyes, "Just trust me."

Boulerpaw gave a slight nod, and if on signal, a cold breeze rushed over them, sending the stuffy, hot air that had built up between them away and Boulderpaw began to speak. "Yesterday, Pinefur came to the Clan again. He was very angry, said something about cats breaking the rules..." Boulderpaw looked at his paws and guilt flashed across his eyes, causing Scorch to wonder.

"Anyways, he said-he- he said," Boulderpaw started to stutter. "He said that because we were breaking the rules, he would teach us a lesson. So, at dusk, he took the all the apprentices to the WindClan border where all the WindClan apprentices were already waiting, and several of Pinefur's most loyal bodyguards..."

Now Boulderpaw shivered. "He turned to us and asked which one of us had been wandering off and breaking the rules. Of course, no cat answered. So Pinefur, he," now Boulderpaw stopped and sniffed, emotion caused by memory overwhelmed him and Scorch could feel it sharply as well. She pressed against him and encouraged him on.

But Boulderpaw just cried. Scorch was shocked, surprised, and a little frightened. She had thought that even if Boulderpaw was difficult, he was strong. But right now, sobbing and shaking with tears streaming down, he looked completely broken.

"He took two ThunderClan apprentices and two WindClan apprentices and he told them to fight one-on-one to the death," Boulderpaw sobbed. "But not ThunderClan against WindClan, he had ThunderClan against ThunderClan, Firepaw killed Leafpaw!"

Scorch froze, her mind froze, she felt like ice was slowly covering her, hardening into stone. She couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't blink, could hardly breath. Then the cold sheet over her shattered and she was standing there, crying with Boulderpaw as hard as she could.

She couldn't believe it, Leafpaw, the warm red she-cat that had taught her all about the Clans and many of her skills. How could she be dead? How could she have been killed for something she didn't do? Killed by her own friend, nonetheless! How could such a monster force two young cats, two young friends, to kill the other?

It was heart-sickening! But the beach tree had a tender heart and sheltered the two heart-broken cats and allowed them to cry themselves dry in peace. And exhausted from the long crying-session, Boulderpaw fell asleep, and Scorch fell asleep crying, feeling sorrow heavier on her now that the shock was fading and the harsh force known as reality was sinking in.

…

Scorch moaned softly, wondering why she felt so horrible. And, she also wondered what the heavy weight on her back was. Opening her eyes, she quickly closed them as the glare of the sun hit her sensitive eyes. She slowly opened them again, keeping them cast downwards until she'd grown used to the brightness again.

Now she looked up to the weight on her back. The pressure was caused by a certain sleeping Boulderpaw. "Gosh, you're heavy," she grunted then looked at her paws, wondering why they were wet. Oh yeah...

Her mood was strangled and oppressed by the memory that Leafpaw was no longer in this world. She felt a hot chill over her heart and a few more forgotten tears trickle out and she sniffed, rubbing her wet eyes unhelpfully with her wet paws.

She looked up at the beach tree she lay beneath, her soul steeping in sorrow as she remembered Leafpaw sitting up in the tree looking down at her with a playful smirk as she teased her about her poor tree-climbing. She could almost see the outline of the young red she-cat...

Wait. She looked up again. She wasn't imagining it. She could really see Leafpaw. The memory of Leafpaw at least. It brought sorrow to her, but she felt a bubble of laughter anyways as Leafpaw, showing off, hopped around daintily and then slipped, catching herself just in time but was left hanging by her forepaws in a most undignified position.

I remember that, it was one of the first times I trained with her, she was so bright and carefree. She changed during the training sessions, she grew more depressed, and I told her to do something! But she didn't, and I didn't, and now she's gone...

Scorch looked at her paws determinedly. She would do something, she wouldn't let more cats like Leafpaw vanish without putting up a fight. She looked up at Bouldepaw, he was sleeping peacefully, but with a troubled frown.

"Come on, Boulderpaw, time to get to work," she grunted, forcing her shoulders up and rolling him off her back.

"Hmm..." he groaned softly, mumbling a few inaudible words and batted a paw at her lazily.

"Come on," she grunted, nudging him roughly. "Time to get up, you lump." Boulderpaw yawned and rolled over on his side. Muttering under her breath, Scorch tried to roll him onto his paws, but he was surprisingly heavy and she gave up, draping herself over his side and panting.

"You're so weak," Bouldepaw mewed, opening one eye at her.

"Jerk!" Scorch kicked at him gently. "You were awake the whole time, weren't you?" she accused him, trying to glare, but glad that he looked less depressed again, a glimmer once again shining in the very depths of his eyes.

"Yes, I was," Boulderpaw yawned again in an unapologetic manner.

"And not even an apology," Scorch waved her tail in the air, exasperated.

"Well, sorry, but if you hadn't noticed, I'm not a very apologetic cat," Boulderpaw excused himself and got to his paws, shaking out his fur vigorously.

"I had, actually noticed, hence the fact that I was not surprised," Scorch mewed, closing her eyes and falling on the ground on her back.

"What's with you? You tell me to get up, and then you fall down," Boulderpaw shook his head and looked at her.

"But the sky is so pretty," Scorch murmured, getting distracted with her kit-like tendencies.

"It is," Boulderpaw agreed. "But you need to open your eyes to look at it," he pointed out.

"True enough," Scorch giggled lightly and looked up at the sky. It was a very pale blue, a faint veiling of clouds encircled the horizons and the sun appeared to be misty and far-away. "Does the sun look... distant today?" Scorch asked. She couldn't feel the warmth of the sun and the light looked so pale and white, it wasn't the usual yellow sunshine.

"I guess even the sun is sad and is recovering," Boulderpaw murmured, flicking a fallen leaf along the ground wearily.

"Its like the sun is out, but there's no sunshine," Scorch whispered.

"Sometimes, that's how life feels for me. There's pleasure, but no happiness," Boulderpaw added his observation quietly, in a thoughtful tone that spoke of countless hours of wandering thoughts.

Scorch looked at him, his fallen gaze, his defeated look. It didn't belong to him, he belonged to something greater then despair, and she would help him find it. Definitely. She wanted nothing more than to bring the sunshine back to his life, and the lives of all the Clans.

"I've got a plan for how to defeat both Pinefur and Nightwing," she mewed.

Boulderpaw looked at her, his ears pricking up a little. "I'm listening."

Scorch quickly relayed her plan. It wasn't solid, as it depended on a few things, and Boulderpaw wasn't happy that she insisted on starting with defeating Nightwing, but as she gave her reasons, he grew more understanding.

"Nightwing is the most ambitious of the two, from what I've learned. Should he here that ThunderClan and WindClan are now separate Clans again, I'm confident that he'd act on that immediately," Scorch reasoned.

"I suppose so... But Pinefur is pretty ambitious as well, what do you think he'll do when he learns of ShadowClan and RiverClan's new freedom?" Boulderpaw challenged.

Scorch smirked, pleased with herself for thinking of this. "With any luck, he won't know. Remember? No cat in ThunderClan knew anything about Nightwing's acts really, and with ShadowClan and RiverClan free, the Clans can overturn Pinefur," Scorch mewed.

"And what if ShadowClan and RiverClan don't help?" Boulderpaw asked in a growl that spoke his suspicions.

"Then they will have to deal with being defeated by Pinefur, I can't make them see sense, I can only show it to them," Scorch mewed hotly. "But this is where another character comes in..." she told Boulderpaw about the added ally she had in mind.

"Having a Clan leader on our side would be good... even if it was a former Clan leader," Boulderpaw mused quietly.

"Exactly, I'm sure that we can't get ShadowClan and RiverClan on board with our plans without him," Scorch mewed. He was there ticket to freeing ShadowClan and RiverClan.

"But are you sure they'd listen to him? I don't know what happened, but I do know that he is the only surviving Clan leader, add the fact that he isn't suffering with his Clan, he may be received with hostility and a sense of betrayal," Boulderpaw worried.

"Well, its a chance we'll have to take. I'm quite sure those two Clans won't listen to a ThunderClan apprentice and a, 'rogue,' kit, even if my father used to be ShadowClan."

"When you say it like that, I doubt we really can do anything. I mean a kit and apprentice changing history? Its surely unheard of!" Boulderpaw exclaimed.

"Hey! There's a first time for everything, right? And if we try and fail, at least we can say that we did something to change things. No cat can blame us for sitting around and watching, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather try and fail then not do anything to help," Scorch mewed.

Boulderpaw snorted, "You say, 'try and fail,' but its more like try and die. We won't survive if we fail."

"Thanks," Scorch mewed dryly as shivers went through her. "I feel more confident now," she added more sarcastically.

"Sorry," Boulderpaw laughed, "But its true."

Scorch shook her head at him, jumping from her back to her paws. "I don't understand you. But we're in this together? Till the end?" she asked, holding her paw and turning the paw upwards toward him.

"What are you doing?" Boulderpaw eyes her strangely.

"Its a gesture that shows agreement," Scorch explained, frowning as she tried to recall where she'd seen it. Oh! One of my mirages did it, and I thought it was appropriate, she reminded herself. "Just put your paw on mine," she ordered.

Boulderpaw sighed but did it so that there paws were touching. "We're in this together as long as the sun shines."

...

Well, I'm glad I was able to get this chapter done. Actually, I think I'll be able to start updating again in just over three weeks, since the move-in date wasn't pushed back like I thought it would be. (I thought it would because the house tested positive for radon, a poisonous gas that causes lung cancer) So then the sellers had to take care of fixing that, but we'll still on schedule! apparently.

Well, that's what's going on in my crazy life, I still need to study for the PSAT and the end of the quarter is coming up... Argh! School has never been difficult until now. But, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you all again in less than a month! probably.

Please Review! (P.S if the chapter contradicts itself or former chapters, please forgive it! I wrote this over a long period of time and I had no internet access to check if it was in accordance with previous chapters)