Here's Chapter Twenty Five everyone! This is the second to last chapter, + and epilogue, + a synopsis for the next story. This chapter kind of goes all over the place, because there are a lot of gaps to get to the main conclusion. So thank-you to those that reviewed, and I hope you enjoy~!

Chapter Twenty Five

A few days passed, and Hawkflight's limbs were painstakingly tired. If there was a patrol that was supposed to go to the camp to see if it was inhabitable, he would have to be on it.

Ashstar approached him the next day, and opened her mouth to ask a question, but Hawkflight cut her off, "If you want me to lead another 'let's see how bad the water damage is,' patrols, I won't."

Taken a bit aback, Ashstar sighed, "I was going to say thank-you for all the work that you've put into this. I've probably been driving you a bit crazy with all these patrols?"

"A bit crazy?" Hawkflight butted in.

"Yes, a bit crazy, but it's been incredibly useful, and I'd like to say that when we move back into camp, you don't have to do any work when the camp is being repaired," Ashstar explained.

Letting off a sigh of relief, Hawkflight curled back up in his nest. Ashstar padded away. For the next few nights, he kept having the same reoccurring dream where he was just about to see his father, but then he woke up.

"What's the matter?" Cindershadow asked him one time when he had shot his head up angrily, in distress.

"Nothing," he muttered, and curled back up.

The next morning, all of the work with the reconstruction of the camp had been finished, so they moved back in. Owlwhisker was calling together small groups of patrols to check the borders, and restock the fresh kill pile.

"Hawkflight!" came the snap of Owlwhisker. Hawkflight bounded over to him, and Owlwhisker continued, "Take out a hunting patrol, go hunt down by the RiverClan border. Three cats maximum!"

Hawkflight dipped his head, and knew exactly whom he'd take. "Cindershadow, Sunbeam, hunting patrol!" he called into the warrior's den.

Cindershadow surfaced quickly, while Sunbeam was groaning and muttering as to why she needed to get up so early. The patrol set off towards the WindClan border, and Sunbeam veered off of their path as a rabbit shot by.

She came back a minute or so later with a slightly bloody rabbit dangling from her jaws. Hawkflight called, "Great catch!" to her.

He flicked his ears forward at a bunch of foraging pigeons. Slipping forward, he broke out into a full out dash, and shot up a nearby boulder. As the pigeons took off into the air, Hawkflight launched himself off of the boulder, and caught one in mid-air.

"Wow!" Cindershadow breathed, and padded over to him, nuzzling his muzzle.

"Very touching moment," Sunbeam growled, "But shouldn't we get on with this?"

Hawkflight nodded, "Of course," and rested his tail on Cindershadow's shoulder. His mate was visibly bristling.

Cindershadow shook it off, and moved in the opposite direction, into the heather and gorse. Hawkflight padded down to the border between RiverClan and WindClan, and drew in the beautiful scent of the river.

It had always captivated him, and the shimmering surface couldn't have been more welcoming. Making sure his shadow didn't touch the water; Hawkflight shot a paw into the water, a large fish landing on the bank next to him.

He bit into its head, and it fell still. "Prey thief!" came a snarl from across the river.

Hawkflight perked his ears, "What do you mean?" he challenged. "The river is the border, it doesn't belong to just one clan. WindClan takes water from this stream all the time, because we share it."

The cat was Rippletail, and he was bristling very heavily. "You're a prey thief, and I'm going to tell Mistystar."

Rolling his eyes, Hawkflight picked up the fish, and returned to the central meeting place the hunting patrol had picked. Sunbeam joined him soon after, with a rabbit and a wren.

Cindershadow came after, having caught a mouse and a pine marten. The three returned to camp, their jaws full of their catch. A light breeze parted Hawkflight's fur, and he drew in the fresh scents around him.

After spending nearly a half moon shut up in their makeshift camp, it was reassuring to have their old one back. He set his catch on the fresh kill pile, and Tawnypaw came out of the apprentice's den.

She shot him a glare of pure malice, and grabbed the rabbits, entering the nursery with them. Hawkflight sighed, "What did I do to deserve this?" he asked himself, before retiring to the warrior's den for the night.

It had been sunhigh when the patrol, and vibrant shades of orange and red streaked the sky, foreshadowing a bloody occasion.

As the sky turned black, and the stars dappled it, Cindershadow settled in next to him. "What's on your mind?" she asked him.

Drinking in her sweet scent, Hawkflight sighed, "It's Tawnypaw. She's angry that I became a warrior before she did. She wanted us to all become warriors at the same time."

"Oh," Cindershadow murmured, and gazed down at her paws. She pressed up against him, and whispered, "You should get some sleep, knowing Owlwhisker, he'll put you on another hundred patrols."

Hawkflight let out a grunt of agreement, and he closed his eyes. Sleep came easily to him. It was no longer a foreign subject; it was now his close friend. He saw the face of his sister just before everything faded into blackness.

Instead of dreaming of his father, a different thought plagued his sleep. Red blood stained the ground all around him, and he was in the haze of a deep battle. A deep mahogany fog swirled around him.

He could only just hear the screeches of battle surrounding him. Trying to shut it out, Hawkflight pushed his paws to his ears. The sound wouldn't go away, though, and then a distinct screech was sounded.

Tawnypaw! He panicked, and shot through the battling cats. So many were lying still in pools of blood. "Help me!" Tawnypaw wailed again, and the gurgling sound of blood welling from a throat overwhelmed him.

"Tawnypaw!" Hawkflight yowled, and pushed through the cats until he came upon her. Instead of Tawnypaw being lifeless on the ground, she was standing over a cat, her eyes hardened and narrowed.

"You're next," Tawnypaw snickered, and leaped at him.

"NO!" Hawkflight roared, and he felt her jaws clamped down on his throat. Everything was fading away.

Hawkflight's eyes snapped open, and he was panting. Cindershadow raised her head from next to him, "You have to tell me what happened in your dream this time," she told him.

Letting off a sigh, Hawkflight explained what had happened in his dream, the battle, the RiverClan cats, and last, Tawnypaw.

Cindershadow's brow furrowed, "That doesn't sound pleasant," she mewed, and curled up closer to him. "The camp is safe for now, I doubt that a patrol of RiverClan warriors will come and attack the camp."

However Cindershadow didn't realize how horribly wrong she was.

A quarter moon passed, and so did a gathering. RiverClan seemed remotely hostile towards WindClan, Mistystar even said that she caught a foreign cat hunting in the stream, but she didn't name names.

The camp was all the way rebuilt, and the strange dreams that Hawkflight had been having simply seemed to stop. One night, after a long day of patrols and work for Ashstar, Hawkflight fell into a light sleep.

Across the sky were streaks of red, even though it was close to moonhigh. The stars seemed to glow even brighter, as if they were preparing for more cats to join them. A loud screech was sounded, and every cat rose from his or her nests to see the commotion.

Waves of RiverClan cats were pouring into camp, their eyes narrowed, claws unsheathed, purposefully ready to draw blood.

A mottled blue-gray tom confronted Hawkflight, and he immediately tackled Hawkflight. Using his agility and lithe frame to his advantage, Hawkflight slipped out from under the tom, and scored his claws over the tom's side.

"This will teach you cowards to steal RiverClan prey!" the tom snarled, and lunged at Hawkflight once more.

"The river forms the border, it belongs to both clans!" Hawkflight shot back, and dodged the blow. He pulled the tom's legs out from underneath of him, and pinned him down on the ground.

Not for the first time, Hawkflight recognized the pure fear in his eyes. Hawkflight stepped off of him, and hissed, "Go back to your camp, and never come back here!"

With his tail in between his legs, the tom shot out of camp. Letting off a purr of content, Hawkflight neglected to notice a cat shooting towards him. The cat knocked into him, and sent him flying.

Hawkflight's head smashed into a nearby rock, sending him unconscious upon impact.

Raising his head up, Hawkflight looked around, to see a starry cat standing before him. "Am I dead?" he managed to choke out, his blue eyes wild with fear.

"No," purred a calico she-cat. "You're not dead, but we have a mission for you."

Hawkflight dipped his head, and looked into the pool that was set before him. His eyes stretched wide at what he had seen, and now he knew what his destiny was. Gulping back the fear, Hawkflight felt the nose of the she-cat on his forehead, sending him right back to the battlefield, where his true destiny would become clear.

Yes, I will tell you what he saw in the pool in the next (and final) chapter. So please drop a review, tell me what you think, and what you think his destiny is supposed to be ^^ Again, please review, and I'll update ASAP!