Darkblaze limped past the waterfall and followed the large group of toms to the low fresh-kill pile that was growing larger with every heart-beat. He staggered to the pile, dropped the mice he was carrying, and strode away.

The dark warrior sat down a few fox-lengths away. He sighed and closed his eyes. The pain didn't bother him, and his paws weren't aching horribly.

"You survived," came a familiar voice. "That's surprising. A quarter moon out there and I would have thought you would be eagle food by now."

Darkblaze raised his gaze to Color, who stood just a few mouse-tails away from him. He shrugged.

"Lucky, I guess?" he said.

"Or just too frightening to be challenged," Color said. "Either one."

"I can barely move on this leg," he pointed out.

"But you challenged Fish and dealt some damage," Color spoke. "That's saying something. No one's been able to do that for some moons. Probably back when I was a kit."

"Yeah, well, I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon," the dark warrior spoke. "It cost me a big deal of agony over the past quarter moon."

"So what? You've rallied some followers. I'd say you're doing pretty good."

Darkblaze's small smile disappeared.

"You think I want to challenge the Master now, don't you?" Darkblaze asked.

"Why not?" Color asked. "You're strong enough. Defeating the head-guard would be the hardest part, and then the Master would be as easy as catching dead prey."

"I've fought that war before, and I lost," Darkblaze said quietly. "I would rather not put anyone else I value through that again."

Color stared at him.

"Whatever," she growled, lashing her tail. "Cloud wants you."

She stomped off.

Darkblaze sighed, stood up, and limped back to Cloud's den. Once he was inside and his eyes had adjusted, he saw the white she-cat sitting next to the calico tom. He seemed very sick.

"You must eat," Cloud was saying. "It will help you become stronger so you can beat your brothers at that test three moons from now."

"No," the kit said. Darkblaze could barely hear it.

Cloud sighed.

"Fine, but get some sleep," she ordered. "It will help you get over this sickness."

The kit curled up as Cloud turned around. She jumped as she saw him.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I have a bad habit of being quiet," Darkblaze responded. "You wanted to see me?"

"Oh, yes, Fish told me to look after you for the next few days," Cloud explained. "I would have ordered you in here anyways. You need time to recover."

"Any chance I can convince you otherwise?" the dark warrior asked.

"Nope," Cloud said.

Darkblaze walked over the nest he used when he first came to the cave, and laid down. Cloud inspected him for a few heart-beats.

"Your shoulder probably couldn't get any worse without breaking it," Cloud sighed as she turned toward her herb store. "The other wounds have already healed. Quite nicely, too, thank the Tribe Of Endless Hunting. An infection would have been a disaster."

Darkblaze stared at the kit as she began setting out the herbs in front of him. He noticed the kit was very skinny, and there was no muscle on his bones. Just skin.

"Stay still," she said.

"Why?" he asked.

Just as he felt her paws on his shoulder, she pushed it and all of the agony he had felt all moon came to him all at once. He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw, unsheathed his claws, and tensed his body. The pain still throbbed and jerked and clawed at him.

"What in StarClan's name did you do?!" Darkblaze hissed through gritted teeth.

"It's what we call 'out of place,'" Cloud explained. "Once a shoulder gets like that, the only thing a healer can do is set it back into place and pray it stays that way. Setting it back usually doesn't work, so be glad it did."

"You could have warned me about the pain a little sooner!" the dark warrior said, still through gritted teeth.

"You wouldn't have stayed still if I had," the she-cat told him. "Get your mind off of it. Talk about something else."

"What's wrong with the kit?" he asked, trying hard to breathe. Every time he let air out, the pain would spike.

"He's a calico tom, what else can I say?" Cloud asked. "Every calico tom has issues, but most of them render the tom practically useless and therefore he gets killed before even a few days old. This tom, however, is lucky. He can't see, but he can hear rather well, and he can scent cats before they even get past the waterfall."

"But. . .?" Darkblaze asked.

Cloud sighed. "But he doesn't want it. He doesn't think he will be strong enough to defeat his siblings and earn his spot as a guard. So he's given up."

Darkblaze nodded absently.

"Still hurts?" she asked. He nodded again. She turned around, grabbed some herbs, and set it in front of him. "They should help with the pain, but you still shouldn't walk in it. Not until tomorrow."

The dark warrior licked them up. For several heart-beats, he lay there and breathed short breathes while keeping his body frozen. Moment after moment passed, and eventually, the pain became bearable.

"You good now?" Cloud asked.

"Good enough," he said, relaxing slightly. "Thank you."

"Well, I've got to make sure you survive as long as you can," Cloud told him. "Although, I also think I like you. Most toms that come in here have already given up."

"Someone told me I have," Darkblaze spoke.

"Well, then that cat doesn't really know other cats very well," she responded. "So I'll go tell Fish you need to stay here for the night. If anything feels wrong, don't move. I'll be—"

"Commander!"

Darkblaze's head shot straight up.

Brown.

The dark warrior pushed himself onto his paws and dashed out of the cave without even thinking. The first few steps were torture, but he modified his run to make it less painful.

Darkblaze made it to the scene. He found himself beside Ginger, Silver, Blue, and all of the other cats he had been hunting with. All aside from Brown, who was pinned and bleeding under an unfamiliar tom that was surrounded by six others.

"So this is the famous new 'Commander,'" hissed the tom pinning Brown down. "I thought he would be a little bigger than a six moon old kit."

"Get off of him," Darkblaze growled.

"Why? It's not like you can do anything. Not on that leg."

The cats behind the tom laughed as Darkblaze glanced at his leg, which was raised from the ground, for a few moments.

"Get off of him," the dark warrior repeated. "He's done nothing to you."

"Nothing? He nearly threw me off a cliff when we were younger, he's beaten me up more than once, and just today he came here boasting about how brilliant you were at saving his life and fighting Fish. You know what that does to a tom's reputation in this place?"

Brilliant, Darkblaze thought bitterly. There's a system here.

"Hurting or killing him wouldn't change a thing," Darkblaze said. "He gets threats like those too often for it to affect him."

"Oh, so you're an expert on torture now?" the tom asked.

"No, but I know a few things about revenge," the dark warrior replied.

"And I suppose that's how you ended up with half an ear torn off and a scar-ridden pelt?" the tom scoffed. "I'm guessing that's why he called you 'Commander.' The pathetic mouse-brain believed you."

"I saw it!" Brown hissed. "I saw him take on Fish and Rain, and he hurt them! I believe if he wasn't so wounded, he would have won!"

"Shut up, mouse-heart!" growled the tom. "You're just a liar!"

"I could prove you wrong," Darkblaze spoke.

"As if! You couldn't do anything to me, especially with the state your shoulder is in!"

The dark warrior tensed his muscles.

"I've learned how to live mostly blind," Darkblaze told him. "How hard could it be to fight with only three legs?"

"If this is supposed to intimidate me, it is not—"

Darkblaze went forward without stepping on his injured leg, and reared into the air. The tom jumped backwards with wide eyes and bristled fur. The dark warrior came down on his good leg and lunged toward the tom.

The tom attempted to crash into him with the same force, but Darkblaze was too quick. The tom clawed at air as he went down, and grunted when his back hit the rock beneath. For a few heart-beats, they just breathed.

"H-how. . .?"

"I told you," Darkblaze said, "I know a few things about revenge."

The dark warrior stepped off of the tom and hopped on three legs over to Brown, who was sitting up with a smile on his face.

"Thank you. . .Again." Brown spoke.

Darkblaze saw the Master watching with a scowl on his face. He saw Fish and many of the other guards with their stern gazes upon him. He saw Color a few fox-lengths away with her head held high. He saw Cloud with wide, teary eyes.

The dark warrior turned to face the two groups of the enslaved toms that had gathered by their separate and obvious leaders.

"I don't care if you hate me or fear me or admire me," he said. His voice echoed against the rock walls and floor. "At least follow my advice and stop fighting against yourselves. Trust me when I say your energy should be focused elsewhere."

Darkblaze stood up, walked toward the den he could smell Brown's scent in, and whispered, "Follow me," when he passed the brown tom.

He strode with his head high in the air. However, he was biting his tongue to avert the pain from his leg.

He finally made it inside of the den. He made sure there was no one in it before he sat down and breathed out a long sigh of relief.

"That was awesome!"

Blue.

"And mouse-brained."

Cloud.

The white she-cat came into his vision.

"I told you not to move, and what do you do? Get into a fight with one of the strongest enslaved cats in this cave!" Cloud exclaimed.

"So what, it will take him a few more moons to heal? No one's going to mess with him now!"

"StarClan, what have I done?" Darkblaze asked quietly.

"Um, you just saved my tail, and gained the respect of all of the enslaved toms and possibly some of the guards in the process," Brown told him.

"That's not a good thing," the dark warrior said.

"How?" Brown asked.

"There's a reason there's chaos here," Darkblaze exclaimed, glaring at him. "If there is chaos within the enslaved, they can't rebel. But just a few heart-beats ago, I basically challenged the Master directly."

"He can't do anything to you," Cloud told him as she stared at his bad shoulder. "Not physically anyway. Otherwise everyone would know his angle."

"Why did I even get up?!" Darkblaze shouted, unsheathing his claws.

"It's like you said," Brown said. "You still have your selflessness."

"It's going to kill me," the dark warrior growled.

"From where I'm standing, it looks like it's tried a few times and failed miserably."

Darkblaze sighed and looked up to meet Color's yellow eyes.

"That mistake back there must have just proven all of your beliefs," he growled.

"Pretty much," she said.

"I didn't want that to happen," he hissed. "I just wanted Brown to be safe."

"Exactly," Color told him. "You do realize freeing a bunch of slaves only works if you don't want them to get hurt, right?"

"Color!" Cloud gasped. Darkblaze glanced at the white she-cat and saw that her blue eyes were wide.

"What?" Color asked, her tail lashing.

Cloud clenched her jaw.

"We've talked about this," the white she-cat said lowly.

"Well I don't care that you've given up," Color snapped. "I've got hope in him, and that's all that matters."

"Color—"

"Whatever," Color hissed. She turned around and padded out.

"So I'm special, then?" Darkblaze asked.

"W-what?" Cloud asked. Her eyes were still wide, and they sparkled with fresh tears. "No, she does this to all of the toms that come here."

"Really?" Brown asked.

Cloud took a deep breath. "She didn't have a right. I-I'm sorry, I need to go. . .go tend to the herbs."

The white she-cat left with a quicker pace than Color.

"She was lying," the dark warrior spoke, slowly shifting his position as he laid down.

"How do you know?" Brown asked.

"I've been lied to enough times to recognize the expression," Darkblaze answered.

"So you are special?" Blue inquired.

"If you count being an expert at killing and attempting to overthrow evil toms with no respect for life special, then yes," the dark warrior responded. "I think she saw someone with strength and decided she needed to use it."

"Why won't you?"

Darkblaze sighed and closed his eyes.

"Because I know I can't win."

Darkblaze stayed in the den for the rest of the day. The next morning, he was left alone until he woke and padded out of the den on his own. After a long yawn, he waited for Fish or an enslaved tom to come up to him and tell him what to do.

After a few heart-beats, the dark warrior noticed that most of his new acquaintances were near the fresh-kill pile. With slow, hesitant steps, Darkblaze began walking toward them.

When he was about three mouse-tails away, the crowd turned to face him all at once.

"Commander!" several shouted at once.

"We saved you an eagle!" announced an unfamiliar tom. "You know, since you've never eaten one before!" They pulled off a bird twice the six of anything the dark warrior had seen.

"That has to be the biggest piece of fresh-kill in the pile," Darkblaze said breathlessly.

"You deserve it!" another unfamiliar tom told him. "You've saved Brown's life more than once, and you stood up to Fish."

Darkblaze glanced at the other toms, including Brown and Blue, who both looked at him with wide, bright eyes. The dark warrior gazed back at the enormous bird, bent down, and took out the biggest bite he could.

Once he swallowed, he said, "That tastes better than anything I've ever tasted."

The toms around him laughed.

"I told you he'd like it!"

"Who wouldn't?"

The dark warrior raised his gaze to meet the eyes of the tom he had fought the day before.

"The name's Green," the tom told Darkblaze.

The dark tom swallowed.

"Mine is—"

"Commander, I know," Green said.

Darkblaze flinched.

"What? I thought you liked being called by that name."

Darkblaze clenched his jaw.

"Let's just say they don't bring back happy memories," the dark warrior responded.

"Mind sharing them?"

The dark warrior narrowed his eyes.

"No."

Green tilted his head.

"That mark below your eye, I know it from somewhere," Green spoke. His eyes brightened a bit. "That's right, the kits' stories!"

"I heard plenty of stories in my time," came Silver's voice. "One about a cat with a symbol like that is not one of them."

"That's because you weren't born here, mouse-brain. The stories I know are about cats with the powers of the elements ready to be a guardian. But of course," Green said, shifting his gaze back to Darkblaze, "they are just stories."

"Guardians?" the dark warrior asked.

"Of course," the green-eyed tom answered. "There were six of them. Mountain That Divides the Sky, Rain That Cuts Through Rocks, Snow That Brings New Prey, Flame That Travels Through Time, Air That Keeps Life Going, and—the most important—Lightning That Strikes To Kill."

Darkblaze tensed his muscles and shifted in his spot.

"Kind of an intimidating name, if you think about it," Green went on. "From all the stories about him, you couldn't really think of a better name for him. Even his description—a tall black cat with eyes like lightning and a heart of death—could scare a kit into doing the right thing. But the one aspect of Lighting that always stuck out to me was the mark below his eye."

"And why is that?" Darkblaze asked.

"Most of the Elementals have large symbols, excluding Mountain who was always obsessed with solitude. They also have their mark in as plain a spot as it could be," Green replied. "Lightning was the exception. After all, with it being so small and simple, who would take notice of it? And while they looked at his powerful, manipulating eyes, how could they even see the tiny black mark just below them?"

"So he can blend in."

"So he's smart," the tom corrected. "Intelligent, stone-hearted, lethal, and fast."

"A very deadly combination," the dark warrior commented.

"One you seem to have," Green responded. "Care to explain?"

Darkblaze stared at him. He knows something is up, but he's also doing this for a reason, the former Commander thought. What's his reasoning?

He sighed.

"No," Darkblaze spoke finally. "I'd rather not."

Green relaxed completely.

"Alright, suit yourself," he said with a smirk returning to his face. "So, are you going to finish the eagle, or should I?"

Darkblaze blinked.

He just wanted to know if I could lead efficiently, he thought. He was testing me.

He almost smiled.

He was just testing me.

He was. . .playing with me.

He wasn't trying to kill me.

"Sir?"

The Master paced within the large den. His eyes were glued to the ground passing underneath him, his body was tensed, and his eyes were narrowed.

"Sir, what are our orders?" asked Fish again.

The Master sighed. He stopped pacing and faced the silver tom.

"Can't you see I'm trying to figure that out?" the Master hissed.

"It should be easy," growled a black tom. "We need to kill him."

"Kill him? You must be mouse-brained!" the Master shouted. "If we kill him, that just gives every tom out there one more very large reason to rebel, and then where would we be?"

"They're going to rebel anyway, aren't they?" asked a brown tabby tom. "The previous leaders have all tested them—I've seen it. Who knows how long it will be before this 'Commander' figures out the system?"

"Not very long, hence the meeting," growled the Master.

Fish sighed.

"We need to break him in other ways," the silver tom said lowly. "We need to find his weak points."

"Well that one's simple," hissed the black tom. "He cares more about those around him than himself."

"Yes, but how do you suggest we use that? Threaten Brown? You do realize just how immune he has to be to that, don't you?" Fish growled.

Branch stood forward.

"Hey, what if we take away everything he has again?" the brown tom asked. "I mean, did you see how he looked when we first woke him up? Hopeless. And that's only after he was drug here away from everything he knew."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Fish asked. "We can't exactly isolate him without it looking obvious."

"Threaten someone, and then make the enslaved toms turn on him," Branch replied.

"What? How are we going to convince Almighty knows how many cats out there that they need to turn against their leader?" Fish snapped.

"I don't know," Branch said. "Isn't that your job?"

"No, my job is to keep them all from killing each other, which seems to be an unneeded position, which is why this needs to be fixed, you mouse-brain!"

"Watch it!" Branch shouted, bristling. "I'm supposed to be succeeding you, not bowing down to you like a coward!"

"But that's what you are until you learn the basics of enslaving!" Fish hissed.

"I defeated all four of my siblings!" Branch bellowed. "I am not a coward!"

"Oh yes, you—"

"Silence!" the Master yelled.

Fish and Branch turned their gazes to the Master.

"I have discovered a plan," the Master spoke quieter. "Would you like to hear it, or would you rather sit here and rip each other to pieces?"

The two toms glanced at each other, but then gazed back at the Master.

"What's the plan?" Fish asked.

A/n :: I do not own Warriors.

Wow. This took way to long to come out. _._

Long story short, with the combination of a very stressful litter of puppies, summerschool (I needed an elective credit to graduate early), my first horse show, horrible writers block, a very boring spot in the book, and a bit of complications, I couldn't write. =) So there. I explained it to you.

I'm cruel. I know, I know. I should have realized that sooner. Darkblaze was just getting happy again! Well, everything considering. And now he's going to go back to square one. Or negative squares. Possibly negative squares.

I'm rambling.

Enjoy! =)

{o} The Assassins Anthem, may darkness be with you.