Icy: Hello, world. Long time no see.

Wingpaw: What...?

Flarepaw: What kind of greeting is that?

Icy: I wondered for a way to start this off and had no ideas...

Flarepaw: Clearly.

Mistypaw: Hey! Can we please go ahead and get on with the chapter? Please?

Wingpaw: You know, this chapter is supposed to be really good, and so is next chapter, so let's go ahead and get on with it.

Icy: I couldn't agree anymore. Without further ado, here's chapter thirty five!

Chapter Thirty-Five

Only Chance

"Stonepaw."

Stonepaw groaned. "I don't want to get up yet," he muttered as he rolled over.

"Stonepaw."

"Go away," Stonepaw muttered.

"Stonepaw!"

Stonepaw jumped to his paws. He suddenly recognized the voice as one he had not heard in a moon. He spun around to see that his ears weren't deceiving him.

"Mistypaw?" Stonepaw exclaimed.

His blue-gray sister took a couple steps towards him but stopped. Her fur was filled with stars. Mistypaw started to take a few more steps forward but hesitated and decided not to.

"Mistypaw, what's wrong?" Stonepaw asked.

Mistypaw just stared at him. She didn't move a muscle. She didn't step forwards, or backwards, nor did she speak. It was almost as if she refused to move.

"Mistypaw? Mistypaw, please speak to me!" Stonepaw begged. "Mistypaw, what have I done wrong?"

Mistypaw finally moved, but barely. Her head dropped and she stared at the ground in shame.

"Mistypaw, what's wrong?" Stonepaw repeated his question. "Mistypaw, why won't you talk to me? Something is wrong, but you won't tell me what it is! Mistypaw, that's not a stare of sadness, that's a stare of shame."

"You think I don't know that?"

Stonepaw jumped. He barely kept himself from turning tail and running as far away as he could. For most of her life, with the exception of when she was sick and dying, Mistypaw had been a lighthearted carefree cat. It sounded as if such was no longer the case.

Stonepaw suddenly realized he had started shaking.

"Misty...paw? What do you have to-to be ashamed of?" Stonepaw stammered.

Mistypaw lifted her head back up and glared at him. "My family," she replied coldly.

Stonepaw stopped shaking. Now there was nothing but confusion nagging at his tail.

"Your family? What's wrong with our family?" Stonepaw asked.

"You're a part of it!" Mistypaw snapped in reply.

"Excuse me?" Stonepaw exclaimed. "Mistypaw, I know we've always had our differences, but..."

"Stonepaw, you're a coldhearted killer! Did you think that I would argue with you less if you started murdering cats? Did you really think that StarClan would approve of your little tirades?" Mistypaw hissed.

Stonepaw froze. "You know that I killed Brindleface and Stormtail?"

"Of course I know about them! I can see you here from StarClan! All of StarClan knows about them!" Mistypaw growled in reply.

"Mistypaw, I..."

"Stonepaw, you need to change," Mistypaw meowed suddenly.

"What?" Stonepaw asked in surprise.

"You need to change everything about you," Mistypaw growled. "I won't be able to help you if you don't."

"I don't need to change! I am who I am, and you know what? I like who I am!"

"StarClan doesn't," Mistypaw meowed shortly.

"So?" Stonepaw retorted. "It's not my business if they like me or not! What is my business is..."

"Being accepted into StarClan when you die," Mistypaw replied coldly.

"Excuse me?"

"This is your only chance, Stonepaw. This is the only they'll let anyone come visit you. This is the only chance I get to save you, Stonepaw, so let me save you. Please," Mistypaw added. "You're my brother. You're not a murderer."

Stonepaw remained silent. When he killed Brindleface he had thought he was killing her for the good of the Clan. With Stormtail...

Stonepaw froze.

Does Mistypaw have a point? I thought that Frostfur was distracting me from saving ThunderClan, but was it Thistleclaw instead? I thought I was saving ThunderClan, but was I really destroying it?

"How would you feel if it were Brindleface or Stormtail who came to talk to you?" Mistypaw asked. "The cats who you killed," she added coldly.

"They deserved it," Stonepaw meowed desperately, not even sure if he believed in what he was saying anymore. His words no longer came from his heart. They were coming from his mind, which Thistleclaw had been shaping for the past two to three moons. Stonepaw had agreed to join Thistleclaw because Thistleclaw valued him when no one else had, but Stonepaw had already told himself to let go of him soon... hadn't he?

But it was Thistleclaw who first told me that ThunderClan was weak under Sunstar's leadership, Stonepaw reminded himself. Could it be...?

"Did they deserve it?" Mistypaw asked. "Or did you just think they did because you found them to be annoying?"

Have the past two moons of my life all been based off of an illusion that Thistleclaw planted into my head?

"How about killing the cats who actually deserve it?" Mistypaw suggested to him.

Stonepaw was immediately shocked out of his thoughts. "What? You mean you want me to kill someone?"

"Someone who deserves it," Mistypaw replied. "Someone who is actually a danger to the Clan."

"StarClan is asking me to kill someone?" Stonepaw exclaimed.

"You'll have an opportunity soon," Mistypaw replied, "to take a stand for what you believe in. StarClan is always watching you, Stonepaw. They want to see whether you belong with them or not. This is your only chance to make up for killing Brindleface and Stormtail. Will you make up for it? Or will you be condemned from StarClan because of what you've done alongside Thistleclaw?"

"Mistypaw, I... I don't know what to say..." Stonepaw stammered, unable to find an appropriate response.

"Then don't say anything," Mistypaw instructed him. "Don't tell us whether you belong with us; show us."

Stonepaw suddenly realized his legs were trembling as he closed his eyes.

"Mistypaw, I'll make up for it, I promise. I'll start today. Mistypaw, I won't let you down."

Stonepaw took a breath. He had calmed down.

"But Mistypaw, who do you want me to kill?"

Stonepaw opened his eyes. He was back in the ThunderClan apprentices' den.

Stonepaw sighed.

I guess I'll figure that out for myself...

"So what do you have in store for me next, Thistleclaw?" Stonepaw asked. He knew he needed to stop working with Thistleclaw, but he didn't want to do it suddenly. He figured it was better to play the part than make Thistleclaw angry and end up getting himself injured, or worse, killed. Sunstar had yet to assign Stonepaw a new mentor, so for now Thistleclaw was training both Stonepaw and Mosspaw. Well, Mosspaw seemed to never be around. Stonepaw wondered what she did. He usually saw her with Spottedpaw. Stonepaw didn't understand how Mosspaw seemed to keep up with her duties as a warrior apprentice when she never trained with Thistleclaw, but there never seemed to be a problem with that, so Stonepaw shrugged it off and continued to ignore it.

"I have determined who our next target will be," Thistleclaw replied.

"You have? Really?" Stonepaw asked. "Already?"

"Of course," Thistleclaw replied.

"That was fast," Stonepaw commented.

"I'm the deputy. I always have my eyes and ears out. There is nothing that gets by me," Thistleclaw added.

Is that so...? Stonepaw wondered if Thistleclaw knew how much Mosspaw hated him. Stonepaw wasn't sure why, but after thinking about it for a bit, Stonepaw realized that Mosspaw didn't just dislike her mentor; she loathed him.

StarClan clearly thought the same way.

Stonepaw realized that he himself had mixed feelings.

Stonepaw blinked, suddenly remembering that he hadn't responded to Thistleclaw's comment yet.

"So who is our next target?" Stonepaw asked. "Who do we get to rightfully punish next?"

"Bluefur," Thistleclaw replied.

"What?" Stonepaw exclaimed. "You want me to kill my own mother?" Mistypaw wanted me to kill someone, but surely she didn't mean Bluefur!

"Your mother has been disloyal," Thistleclaw replied.

"How so?" Stonepaw asked disbelievingly.

"Thrushpelt is not her mate. Thrushpelt is not your father," Thistleclaw explained.

But he promised us... that it wasn't just a game...

"Then who is?" Stonepaw snapped. His anger came through more than he meant for it to.

"Oakheart of RiverClan," Thistleclaw replied.

"Oakheart? Of RiverClan? Why?" Stonepaw asked. "And how do you know this?"

"I'm not blind," Thistleclaw replied, "and neither are Amberstripe or Ottersplash."

"The cats from RiverClan," Stonepaw reminded himself aloud.

"The cats from the Alliance," Thistleclaw reminded him.

"Yes, of course," Stonepaw meowed. "It's just that I met them once and then haven't seen them again. If there have been more meetings, I haven't known about them."

"Of course you haven't," Thistleclaw replied. "It's usually just the warriors that go to the meetings. We only agreed to take the apprentices to that one meeting to see if they were up for it or not."

"What would have happened if we weren't?" Stonepaw asked curiously.

"You don't have to worry about it," Thistleclaw replied kindly. "Don't concern yourself with it."

You would kill us. Stonepaw could easily read between the lines. We would do nothing wrong and you would kill us?

Stonepaw closed his eyes.

Mistypaw, you're talking about Thistleclaw, aren't you? The one you want me to kill?

"So my father... is a RiverClan cat?" Stonepaw asked, changing the subject.

"Yes," Thistleclaw replied.

"And you still recruited me?" Stonepaw asked cautiously.

"It made your potential even greater. Sunstar should have stopped it from happening," Thistleclaw added.

"So what happens to Oakheart? We punish my mother but not my father? Oakheart should be punished before Bluefur should!" Stonepaw exclaimed.

"I know," Thistleclaw replied. "They both will be punished."

"How?" Stonepaw asked.

"Tomorrow," Thistleclaw replied.

"Tomorrow?" Stonepaw exclaimed.

"The Alliance has a plan. Tomorrow they will launch an attack on the ThunderClan camp. We have gotten Oakheart to join us just for tomorrow, promising that we all believe Sunningrocks should belong to RiverClan instead of ThunderClan. The plan will work, Stonepaw. There is no question about it. You can kill Oakheart in front of everyone and say that you fought like a true warrior because he threatened to take your life first," Thistleclaw added. "Isn't that great?"

"Count me in," Stonepaw replied.

"Good, because I already had," Thistleclaw meowed. "Come on; let's catch something and then head back to camp."

"Of course," Stonepaw replied. Thistleclaw turned and suddenly chased after a squirrel, which threatened to get up into the trees. Stonepaw turned around and started stalking a water vole.

He wants me to kill my own mother, Stonepaw thought. Thistleclaw is even more insane than I thought. I can't believe I ever agreed to work for him. Sunstar isn't the one who is weak, Thistleclaw is.

Stonepaw leaped and killed the water vole with one swoop of an unsheathed paw. He picked it up and prepared to take it back to camp. He turned around to see Thistleclaw jumping down from a low branch of a tree with the squirrel in his jaws.

Tomorrow I'll do it, Stonepaw promised Mistypaw in his mind. Tomorrow I will break away from Thistleclaw. You want me to kill him? Fine, I'll do it. Tomorrow at the battle is the perfect opportunity. Tomorrow I will kill Thistleclaw and make up for killing Brindleface and Stormtail.

Stonepaw nodded to Thistleclaw, signaling that he was ready to go back to camp.

Tomorrow will be the last day Thistleclaw ever sees the sun.

Icy: Yay! The next chapter is going to be awesome!

Wingpaw: Well obviously! There's going to be a major battle! Stuff is gonna go down!

Flarepaw: But what about Mosspaw's POV?

Icy: We're getting two Stonepaw chapters in a row. But come on, why would I want to interrupt this awesomeness? Besides, Mosspaw will still play an important role in the next chapter.

Icy: I'd be very wrong, I know.

Wingpaw: Next chapter soon?

Icy: Hopefully. I do want to update ZT, though. There's only five or so chapters left. I'm not going to start a new story when I finish ZT, so all of my fanfic attention will be put into this once I finish ZT. I'm waiting to finish this before I start a new story.

Wingpaw: Yay!

Flarepaw: You still need to update soon, though.

Icy: I know, I know. I make no promises for tomorrow, but I will do my best to update within a week.

Mistypaw: Considering the two year gap we've had in the past, that's the best we can ask for.

Icy: Look forward to the next chapter! I know I'm excited for it! I've been waiting to write it for a long time! See you next time on ABBD!

~Icy and the crew