A bit of a foreshadow in this chapter.

Deadeye's pov

I sigh, laying in our makeshift camp as another herb-hunting patrol comes back, no herbs being carried with sadness on their face. Darkpelt coughs again, and I stand up and looks at Molefur.

"I'm gonna go hunting. Maybe some fresh-kill will help him a bit," I say.

"Just don't go too far," he says. I nod and pad into the woods.

I find myself just walking for a bit, and then I see a mouse crawling over a large tree root. Dropping into a crouch, I stalk over, pouncing on it and killing it quickly.

I place it on the root and look up at the stars starting to appear. "Thank you Starclan for this food. May it bring strength back to Darkpelt and save his life," I say, then hide it in the knot of the tree before going to go more prey. It was a lucky hunt. I find two more mice and even a decent-sized rabbit, and go back to grab the first mouse before padding back.

On the way back I hear small rustles and stop, turning to a clump of ferns. It was shaking slightly, and I put the pray down before scenting the air and sighing. "Spotkit. What are you doing out here?"

The creamy tom crawls out, looking up at me with guilt. "I just wanted to watch you hunt. I haven't gotten hurt."

I sigh, thinking back to when Whitepelt, Fluffheart, Puffpaw and I snuck out and ended up attacking a Fox to save Badgerstripe and Skyfur. "You could've, though. Me and a few of my friends nearly did when we were kits. We're glad we made it out alive."

"What happened to you?"

"A fox attacked us. I'm glad that there were six of us there. I nearly got crushed to death. If they didn't make the fox roll off of me, I would've suffocated."

Spotkit shivers, and I start to feel the chill of the wind as well. "Lets get you back to camp."

"But Hazelstream will be mad at me!"

"Go ahead and carry a mouse then. I'll let you say you caught it not far from camp, and that I found you on my way back."

"Could I maybe try to catch my own?," he asks. I think about it before nodding.

"First, scent the air," I say. He does, and I can already smell a mouse close by. "What do you smell?"

"Other than you and the fresh-kill, I... I think there is something."

"There is. It's a mouse, and it's on the clump of snow right over there," I say, bending down to his level and pointing to our left with my tail. The mouse was sniffing around and looking at the roots of trees probably looking for a snack.

Spotkit drops into a crouch and starts stalking forward, and I grab his tail, stopping him. "What am I doing wrong?," he asks, looking at me.

"You always want to stand downwind from your prey. That way, you can smell them, but they can't smell you," I say.

He feels where the wind is coming from before stalking downwind of the mouse, me following closely. Once we are at the right spot, I stop. "Okay. Now, be as quiet as you can while stalking forward. Once you're about half of a fox-length away, pounce forward and bite it's neck," I whisper.

He slowly crawls forward, but the mouse senses him and tries to scurry away. Spotkit jumps and knocks it down, then scrambles over and kills it with a bite to the neck.

He looks at me holding the mouse and drops it before bouncing back over. "How was that? Was that good?"

"That was a great recover. Now grab the mouse and we can head back, okay?"

"Got it," he says, jumping over and grabbing the mouse before following me back to camp.

Spotkit and I pad through the bushes, and I see the group crowding in the center of the small clearing. Hazelstream sees Spotkit and I and runs over. "Are you crazy?! Don't ever take Spotkit away from camp again!"

"I didn't. I found his just a few moments ago through those bushes. He just caught a mouse," I say. Hazelstream sighs and looks at Spotkit.

"You can't leave like that, okay? I was so worried," she says, then looks at me. "Thank you for bringing him back."

"No problem. What's going on?," I ask, waving my tail to where the group was.

"Oh. Moongaze and Puffpaw found catmint! However, Puffpaw-"

I just see Jayfeather looking at a wound on Puffpaw's head and gasp, running over.

"Puffpaw! Are you okay?," I ask. She looks at me and nods slowly, Pebblefall looking up from behind her.

"I'll be fine."

"She just needs to rest for a bit. She hit her head and knocked herself out," Jayfeather rasps. "I gave Darkpelt the catmint earlier. They brought a few whole plants, so if we stay here I should be able to grow some more."

"You know how to grow herbs?," Needleclaw asks, Nightflame twitching her ear, agreeing with him.

"When I was the medicine cat I grew farming at the abandoned twoleg den. It's why we managed to keep most of the clan during the greencough epidemic before you all were kitted," he says, taking the herb roots from next to him and padding into the woods.

"What happened?," I ask Pebblefall.

"Moongaze knows. Go ask him," she says, nodding to where Moongaze was sitting with Redwing, Fluffheart, and Badgerstripe.

I pad over and look at Moongaze. "Hey. What happened?"

He sighs. "I went to look for catmint, and I guess Puffpaw followed me. She demanded to help me get the catmint from a twoleg garden, and there was a dog. It kicked her into the side of the twoleg den, making her hit her head."

"That's not all, though," Fluffheart sighs, looking at me. "A cat helped them."

"Where are they then? I would like to meet them."

"You have before," Badgerstripe sighs.

"Deadeye," Fluffheart starts. "They found Frostpelt."

"Deadeye," I hear but ignore it and continue looking down into the frozen puddle. "Deadeye. Aren't you happy to see me?"

"No. I'm not," I growl, not turning around. "You expect me to be joyful after you left me alone most of my life?"

"I had no choice," Frostpelt sighs, sitting beside me. "Oakstar and Blueleaf... They blamed me. They only wanted perfect cats, and when you were born with a blind eye and never learned to swim, they cast me out. I couldn't stand to tell you. You were such a young kit."

"But you still think that I can just forget about how you couldn't even come back and tell me after I was cast out? And don't even pretend you weren't watching me. Moongaze told me."

"I wanted to watch you grow up in the clan," she sighs. "You were so protective of Puffpaw, just because you didn't want her to grow up feeling like you did with one parent. I couldn't take that feeling away. Who knows where she would be now if I had."

"I would've still grown up without you though..."

"Yes, but then you would've known that both of them loved you. Puffpaw didn't even know Mousebelly was her father until you were all cast out."

"Then why didn't you join us?!," I hiss, jumping up and turning to her. "We've been cast out for moons! You only just thought to show yourself?!"

"How do you think it felt for me? I had to watch you live through your apprenticeship. I watched you nearly die multiple times. I didn't want to tell you I was here. I couldn't stand the thought of you dying and being sorry for me," she sighs.

I sigh. "I just... I've grown up thinking that I wasn't good enough for you. That I was a disappointment."

She turns to me, disbelief in her face. "No. That's not true."

I swallow, sitting down again. "When you left, I shoved my feelings back. I thought that if I showed how strong I could be then you would come back. But when I had to help Rippledstar when Oakstar died..."

"I've always loved you, Deadeye," Frostpelt says, getting up and licking my head. "I'm so sorry that I haven't been here for you. But you've made me proud every single day. Believe me."

"Lets just start new," I say, looking at her. "Lets forget you left. Er... was cast out. That you haven't been here the entire time."

"Deadeye, we can't manage that," she purrs.

"Lets act like it then?"

"That we can do."

So... I've got a bit of a headache so this AN isn't gonna be very long, but I will say to remember to tell me what you thought of this chapter.

Btw, if any of you read my stories We Are The Last, Similarly Different, or my Oneshot Series, I'm trying to update them asap. If you haven't already, be sure to check them out! And review what you think the foreshadow was, and what I was foreshadowing if you have an idea and want to.

Have a great week everybody! Bye!

Ttyl

-TheRealDigiGal

P.S. Don't worry about this story ending soon. There are still a lot of chapters before the one I'm currently writing.