Nikonkey- Brokenthicket became Eclipse, who is an older Elite. Because she's old, Darkshard usually puts her in charge of watching the kits, but she can still fight.

As for Barkkit, I threw in a key word, one time in her description paragraph and one in her death paragraph. Refer to Chapter13. It's at the end of that chapter as well.

Foxbracken- I know! Don't worry. Silver's-… OMG I almost spoiled it! *zips lips and throws away key*

And no problem! I might quote some more Shakespeare (Because he's just amazing enough to quote multiple times!), so be on the lookout for that!

Starshine- Well, that's kind of hard to do at the moment, because they are separated, but the star-crossed (Tee-hee, Starclan reference) will be united in later chapies! But I'll try my best this chapter.

WARNING: BLOODY 'FLASHBACKS' TAKE PLACE IN THE CHAPTER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Chapter 24: The Aftermath

Shatterbreeze sat quietly in the clearing, sharing a scrawny crow with Lynxbreeze. The brown she took a tiny bite, before glancing over her shoulder to the medicine cat den. After realizing the two Bloodclan apprentices could hunt, Duskstar decided to make them hunt for the clan, then giving them the worst of the prey.

Shatterbreeze sighed, taking another bite, spitting out the charcoal-colored feathers. One fluttered in the breeze, landing near the nursery. The kits playing near it pounced on it, batting and chasing the feather. Shatterbreeze watched with a small smile on her face. She thought about what Stoneclaw told her one time.

"Shatterbreeze…" he whispered into her fur. They were out alone again, supposedly on a hunting patrol. They separated from the group, going off to spend an afternoon together.

"Yes, Stoneclaw?" She purred, licking his ear.

"One day, when we can actually be mates, do you ever wonder what our kits would look like?"

"Hmm…" She scooted closer to him, snuggling into his shoulder. "Well, we'd have two toms and a she. The first tom would have long, light silver tabby fur and my green eyes. The second would have black fur and your beautiful ice eyes. The she would be a dark grey with eyes as blue as the sky."

"And we'd run off, to raise them in a clan without violence. I can see them now, by our den, in a peaceful, quiet wood. They'd be playing with a feather in the breeze. Our kits. Our beautiful kits."

A sharp cuff to the ear brought her back to attention. She glared at Lynxbreeze.

"Pay attention." The brown she hissed quietly. "They almost caught you."

Shatterbreeze blinked, her eyes focusing on a white-tailed she watching her with narrowed eyes. She had forgotten how easy it was to receive a punishment: If you don't answer properly, you get cuffed; if you disobey orders, a bite to the flank; if you don't eat fast enough, you prey is taken; if you don't keep eye contact, claws raked down your sides. She quickly took another bite of the stringy meat.

Suddenly, two cats with soft silver fur flew into camp, their pelts scattered with scarlet. Immediately, cats leapt to their paws with snarls on their lips.

"Shadowclan." Ivorytail hissed.

"Winternose. Hazelwing. Why are you here, traitors?" growled Darkfoot.

"I say we finish them off!" snarled Adderclaw, as he crouched, preparing to pounce.

"No! Can't you see something already tried?! Leave them alone." Heads turned to see Lilysong glaring angrily. "Now." She added at Adderclaw, who was flexing his claws, tearing up the soil.

She swiftly trotted between the warriors and Adderfang, fangs bared. "I said. Enough." She let out a small hiss, and Adderfang responded with a yowl.

Duskstar appeared from his den, followed by Silentstar, who was there for a meeting. Duskstar was looking around the camp until his eyes passed over the Shadowclan cats, Adderfang, and a ruffled Lilysong. His calm, yet firm voice had a powerful effect.

"Listen to your medicine cat, Adderfang." His friendly voice hid the malice and threat that lay underneath. The warrior dipped his head meekly, throwing an icy glare at the white she.

The two leaders gracefully leapt down from Highrock. Silentstar's eyes swept over the cats before she spoke. "Speak of what has occurred, and then your wounds will receive attention."

The silver tabby she, named Winternose, spoke quietly while she trembled. "B-b-Bloodclan…E-echo-Echostar…"

Her brother, Hazelwing, rested his tail on his sister, and she was silenced. He took a limping step toward the leaders, and as he spoke, his words were laced with venom. "Bloodclan turned on Shadowclan, and killed Echostar and most of our clan."

Shatterbreeze, along with every cat in camp, gasped. She saw Chill from the corner of her eye peel his lips up in disgust. Lynxbreeze scoffed at him, and he let out a warning growl, with a glare so cold that it could freeze your muscles and send shivers down your spine, before slipping back into the stump.

Hazelwing looked over at Shatterbreeze and the other Bloodclan cats, and in his eyes, rage swam. "And yet you shelter those backstabbing ferals!"

"Calm yourself. They are captives, and too weak to do much." Silentstar spoke softly. Shatterbreeze could see Hazelwing retrain himself from, probably, tearing her and every captive to pieces.

Duskstar frowned. "Why didn't you go to Windclan?"

"They were there as well." Winternose mumbled.

A shocked silence filled the clearing. "Well," said Silentstar after some time, "Duskstar, can you send a cat to fetch Brokenwhisker and a few more of my warriors to meet us there, and we'll go see what remains of Shadowclan."

He nodded, speaking to Darkfoot in a hushed whisper, before the deputy rushed out of camp.

"Let us come with you. We need to bury our dead, as well as give our respect and say goodbye." Hazelwing spoke, almost as if demanding it.

"If you wounds allow you, you may." Silentstar nodded at the warriors before looking at the two Bloodclan apprentices thoughtfully. Curiosity was woven into her voice. "You think your clan is so amazing, no? Best of the best? Violence is the way to be noble?" The confused apprentices nodded. "Well, come with us and see your clan for what it really is." She waved her tail to silence a protesting Duskstar, turned, and started to pad off through the tunnel.

…

Shatter looked horrified as she saw the bloody remains of the camp. Blood was everywhere: on the walls of the dens, pooled in the clearing, splattered on Nightrock. Dead cats littered the ground: Elders, warriors, kits. The few that remained and that had managed to escape the claws of her clan were Winternose, Hazelwing, Tawnydrop, Rainwhisper, Blazecloud, Brindlepelt, Sharppaw, Cherrypaw, and Goldkit.

She could tell the cats were killed with no mercy. Screams of agony were plastered on their faces. One, a short grey furred tom, was curled up around his split stomach. Brindlepelt pressed her nose to his fur as a silent tear streamed down her face. "Shortheart." Brindlepelt whispered, closing her eyes.

Shatterbreeze suddenly felt lightheaded. Reality around her seemed to slip away as a new scene overtook her vision.

The grey tom was now back on his paws, a ghostly figure that was fighting a Windclan warrior she recognized to be Sagebreeze. Sagebreeze was slashing at Shortheart. Shortheart was dodging the attacks, and Shatterbreeze knew the reason he was not on the offensive was his leg size. Something moved in the shadows. Steathstep caught her eye as he slowly crept around toward the back of the tom. Her eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. Steathstep lunged, grabbing the grey tom's scuff and pulling him backwards. Steathstep grinned, placing his paws on Shortheart's neck. Shortheart tried to claw his paws to get free, but Sagebreeze ran her claws slowly over his belly. The grey tom's eyes widened as she did it again, putting a lot more pressure. Skin broke and blood bubbled up. Shatterbreeze screamed, turning away.

The scene ended. What just happened? Shatterbreeze blinked, looking around. No one heard the scream?

Rainwhisper padded to a brown tom, and another scene started.

Cinder battered the tom while Bracken had attached himself to the tom's back. The tom whirled, trying to break free. Just as Bracken leapt from his back, Cinder timed her kick perfectly, connecting to the tom's jaw. His head snapped back. Bracken landed, rushing forward to bite his neck. Shatterbreeze watched, petrified as the tom fell on his back, gurgling, while Cinder and Bracken continued to claw and bite the dying tom. She heard Rainwhisper's scream above the tom's yowl of pain. "Hawkeye, no!" Shatterbreeze turned, to see her struggling under Russet. She wiggled enough to turn and kick his head, before slipping out of his claws. The ghostly Rainwhisper bounded out of camp. The scene faded, back to Rainwhisper standing over Hawkeye's body. She barley heard her whisper. "I will avenge your death, my love. I promise."

Her eyes briefly glanced over a few smaller bodies that were across camp in front of the nursery. The scene that killed Shatterbreeze inside was the next one.

Two Windclan and two Bloodclan cats faced seven bristling apprentices; a grey tom with blue eyes and long claws, a white tom with brown eyes, a rusty-brown tom with green 'pine-needle-colored' eyes, a tiny white she-cat with blue eyes, a brown tabby striped tom with amber eyes, Cherrypaw, and Sharppaw.

The Windclan warriors were Blackear and Rabbitfoot. She didn't recognize the two Bloodclan cats. She only knew they were toms by their voice. Blackear had the white she pinned down, and Rabbitfoot fought off the grey tom and brown tom who were trying to get to her. One of the Bloodclan cats, the larger one, was fighting a white tom and Cherrypaw; the other, smaller one battling against the brown tabby and Sharppaw.

The larger warrior swiped his claws over the white tom's neck. Cherrypaw yowled. "Pouncepaw!" He collapsed, and Cherrypaw ran to his side while the Bloodclan tom chuckled.

"Oh, Pouncepaw! No, you can't die! We have to win! You have to get your warrior name still!" She shrieked, pressing her paws on his neck, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

"Keep…fight…" Pouncepaw coughed. "Save…kits." His brown eyes rolled back into his head.

Cherrypaw cried out. "No!" She removed her bloody paws, whimpering quietly. She glared at the Bloodclan tom, letting out a screech of rage and flinging herself at him.

Shatterbreeze looked at Blackear, who had just sank her claws into the white she's neck, but not without a few scratches of her own as her face was badly torn up. Rabbitfoot was trying to pin the grey tom, with the brown tom latched to his back. Blackear swatted the brown tom off his back, and then leapt over Rabbitfoot to follow the apprentice's path to the ground. Rabbitfoot wrestled the brown tom down, clawing him deeply. He let go, smirking as the apprentice struggled to stand. His wounds were too great, and he collapsed again. Rabbitfoot smirked. "Guess I don't have to finish you. You're good as dead with those wounds. Remember me by them." He ran off, back toward a battle with some other Shadowclan warrior. The tom gave a final shutter before lying still.

The brown tom had escaped Blackear's clutches and ran, whispering something quickly in Cherrypaw's ears before slipping into the chaos. Blackear snarled, chainsing after him, getting lost in the battle. Soon, the brown tom came back, and having lost the she-cat, slipped into the nursery.

Cherrypaw had fled the scene. Shatterbreeze looked around, hearing some whispers from the nursery. Cherrypaw emerged with Goldkit before sprinting toward the entrance of camp. She looked over her shoulder at the nursery. The smaller Bloodclan had just finished off his attackers, and slipped inside the nursery. A hiss of a she for the Bloodclan cat to get away, and then a scream sounded out. The brown apprentice ran out with a orange tom-kit. The little kit's green eyes were filled with fear.

Suddenly, Blackear appeared again. She rammed into the brown tom, and the kit went flying. The kit let out a sqeak as Blackear had the brown appertince pinned on his stomach. She ran her claws over his back, tearing it to shreds. His screams were silenced when she sank her fangs into the back of his neck.

The Bloodclan tom appeared from the den. Growing, he saw the kit and pounced on it, as if it was a mouse. The kit's screams crushed Shatterbreeze's heart as his claws sunk into its tiny body. Shatterbreeze felt herself run toward the cat, claws unsheathing. She leapt, snarling. She passed through the cat, landing on her paws. Lashing her tail, irritated, she turned to face the tom standing over the dead kit's body. The larger Bloodclan tom came over and congratulated the tom. As they slowly came into detail, what she saw shook her core more than seeing the kit die.

It was Coldbreeze and Stoneclaw.