You guys are truly all amazing. You don't hate me, and with an ending like this one, that's a great accomplishment. Thank you all so much for all your support for the story, and I'm glad you're looking forward to the sequel. I have a couple things planned before it, so for the summer, I'm booked on other fanfctions, but as soon as I am done with The War Within, I'm jumping right into the sequel.

Nightstorm: We'll try not to tempt you until then.

Me: That's right. Now for the final disclaimer of Trapped in Ice

Nightstorm: Born of True Destiny, and Nightstorm the Moon Warrior, do not own Warriors

Epilogue

Graydawn sat with him as he processed fully what he had done, but it was much harder than he expected. To understand all that at truly happened that night would take seasons to grasp. He didn't know who he would become from this experience, nor if it would be anything at all. Would he change? Stay the same? Be trapped in the past? He was sure, though, that we would never forgive himself, and it wasn't just because he had ended it.

The blood on his paw that had begun to stain the frosted ground beneath him, would be the blood of one so misunderstood; one whose life itself was a sin, just because of what StarClan made of her destiny, her destiny to be the cat she had tried so hard to avoid and defeat, but she had not.

He did, and oh, how it hurt to know that he had to end it before she had the chance.

As if reading his thoughts, Graydawn turned to him. "Hailblaze, do not regret what you have done tonight. Many more would have been lost without you. Do you think her life was more valuable than the lives she had taken here?"

Hailblaze let out a sigh, shaken with despair. "It was for the good of the Clans," he rasped. "But not for the good of myself." He looked off into the forest. "I had always told myself that the meaning of being a Clancat was to be there for my Clanmates and help them when they needed. Perhaps what I had done was the right thing, but it certainly was not for my own good."

"I wish I understood your pain," Graydawn meowed, "But even if I don't, arguing will not undo what has been done tonight. I'll leave you in peace for now, Hailblaze, but one day, cats will come to ask you of this again. They will expect an answer." She stood, and turned towards the Gathering place.

"I will come with you," Hailblaze decided, rising to his paws.

"I don't know if that's best," said Graydawn, and she was about to say more, but she then saw the look on his face. "As you wish."

Together, they walked, reaching the middle of the Gathering place. There, five bodies lay, four of which were surrounded by grieving cats. One was left ignored.

Hailblaze tore his gaze from the single body and looked at the other four dead cats. Their previous leader, Flickerstar, was the first cat to have been killed. His ginger fur was matted with blood at the back of his neck, where he had been attacked. Graydawn was to take his place as leader.

I wonder, if her father had not been killed, would he had been the successor, or would he had died as well?

One of the other cats was Snowshine, her mother. Hailblaze closed his eyes upon seeing her. He couldn't handle looking at the white-furred cat who had made one of the greatest impacts. He turned his head to the side and opened his eyes once more to see Stoneclaw, one of ThunderClan's warriors. It was a shame he had been one of the victims. He spoke a few disrespectful words, and look where it had gotten him. The last cat was Squirrelfur, WindClan's old medicine cat. He knew why she had been one of the killed cats.

He looked around. He knew it all now.

And then there was the final body, the one that everyone else shunned. Hailblaze padded towards it, his heart sinking. He stood directly before the cat now, staring.

It was the body of Frozenleaf. The cat that he grieved, and the cat that he killed.

He held up his bloody paw, placing it over the tear in her neck that he had made with his claws. She was hardly recognizable from the last time he had seen her. She used to be so fair, so tiny, so misunderstood, and now she was covered with scars, an ear was shredded, and her eyes were cold. They held a type of horror that Hailblaze had never seen before. It wasn't horror at the pain of being killed, it was the horror at what she had become.

It hurt now, seeing that it was in her last breath, she had it all coming back to her. She had changed the moment his claws slit her throat, and now it was too late.

A dark time is coming, with fire and ice. A lion will rise, but even with it's heart ablaze, it will not be enough to free the frozen one, who will chill the souls of the innocent.

The words came to him as he gazed into her eyes. The words that he had been told so long ago, the ones that had faded from memory, as she did. He did not know who whispered them to him, but he knew one thing.

His anger.

No, they were wrong. They were all wrong. She would not chill the souls of the innocent. She was the innocent. It was not her fault she had fallen into this cage that trapped her so tightly. Words had captured her, and his words freed her. It was not her, it never was, she was just the one chosen so cruelly to suffer the pain fate held for her.

Hailblaze felt eyes on him, and he looked up. If he were to be challenged for grieving this poor cat, it would be the worst of times. It wasn't fair anymore.

A cat, a tom, sat in the shadows, not even flinching at the sudden warning glare of Hailblaze. He looked thoughtfully back at him through amber eyes. Hailblaze thought that he should have known who the cat was, for something in his posture or unwavering gaze sparked a certain familiarity that he couldn't place. The cat stepped out from where he sat, in the shade of one of the four great oaks, and approached Hailblaze.

The tom, dark gray, and long-furred, sat across from Hailblaze in front of Frozenleaf's body. A paw was placed firmly over her eyes and with a single quick movement, he closed them shut.

Hailblaze glanced at the tom, still hypnotized by that one part of him that screamed a name within his mind, but sounded so muffled and unclear. He willed to speak, but no words would emit from his mouth, hanging slightly ajar.

The dark gray tom whispered, with a voice rough like a jagged stone. "I refused to leave, but I had not followed, not until I heard her scream." He glanced up. "She is terrible at keeping her promises."

They both were silent for a long time, both with a paw over the body.

The mysterious cat spoke again. "I had left her when she was the cat I loved, returned when she was the cat I despised, and now, here she is, as the cat I love again...dead."

"It is a sadness to be as well."

"I'd expect." He looked up again, not moving his head. "What do you feel? A certain emptiness that clings to your soul? A sadness, yes, but a numb feeling?"

"Shock," replied Hailblaze, and the cat nodded.

"Perhaps, but shock isn't numb. It stuns you, freezes you into place. This is much deeper than shock."

They again sat in silence. This time, Hailblaze was the first to break it.

"I'd ask who you are, but I fear that it would be pointless."

"I'd tell you, but it would matter none to you or to anyone here." He let out a soft chuckle. "It doesn't surprise me that you have no memory of who I am. I am sure that by now, my own mother would have to take hints." He paused, gaze flickering to Stoneclaw's motionless body, and then back to Frozenleaf's. "It is shame, what had happened. I do not know the whole story, but I am certain that this was unfair twist in fate."

"It was always meant to happen," corrected Hailblaze, with a slight sliver of hostility to his voice. "And in this way, but we had so deeply underestimated the impact." He stared blankly at the wound. "Where do you think she is now?"

"She cannot see us," rasped the dark gray tom almost immediately. "That much I know. I wonder, why did this have to happen, to a cat who had so much ahead of her?" He began trembling. "There was so much...why?" The last word came out a yowl, startling nearby cats.

A senior warrior, Wolfleap past by the two cats. He let out a snort. "Why do you mourn her? She was a disgrace and a curse from StarClan."

The words were barely out of his mouth by the time the dark gray tom's paw was whipping across his face. Wolfleap stumbled before finally hitting the ground and looking up, his eyes full of surprise.

"You daren't say that again!" the time spat. Hailblaze was astonished at his aggression after seeing him before, so calm and thoughtful.

Wolfleap bared his teeth, but said nothing. The dark gray cat looked back at Hailblaze and then at Frozenleaf, before dropping to the ground, shaking violently.

Hailblaze watched him, wary of the crowd that began to gather around them. He looked up to gaze at them all, as they all threw disgusted glares at Frozenleaf's scarred and bloody body.

"What is it still doing here?" someone asked. "Some cat needs to get it out of here. There's no way it should stay in StarClan's place of honor."

Upon hearing the words, Hailblaze growled. He looked down at the dark gray tom who still laid on the grass.

You're right stranger, it's not fair.

He yowled for the entire crowd to hear, capturing all of their attention. "How can you all say such a thing? Do you even know what she's been through to bring her her hatred at us all?" He snarled at a cat that tried to argue. "Silence! It didn't start with her! It started with us, neglecting her for her size, when all she wanted was to be one of us." The dark gray tom raised his head. Hailblaze nodded respectively at him. "She made a bad decision coming here and hurting many of us tonight, but she wasn't the only one who scarred and hated and shattered."

"Hailblaze..." Graydawn meowed softly.

"I mean every word."

"She killed our Clanmates! And broke the hearts of many others!" Breezestar hissed.

Hailblaze shot a malacious glare at the ShadowClan leader. "We did that to her, on the inside. I know one life doesn't equal many others, but she could have been some ing special, and we could've all seen it, if we weren't so blind." Hailblaze gazed down at the blood staining his paw and left a tear slip from his eye. "We were the ones that trapped her in ice. She was just trying to break free."

Silence engulfed the clearing. Hailblaze closed his eyes.

StarClan, I don't know if I have done what I was supposed to all along, and I don't know if I made them see. But so help me, I will make things right again. It may not be today, and it may not be tomorrow, but I'll do it, so they all can open there eyes. I will help her find the truth in herself.

I will give her a second chance.

Hailblaze opened his eyes. He still faced his crimson paw, the paw that was numb with the blood of the one he killed, and the one he grieved. Looking up, he thought he saw the sun rising above the horizon. It may have been just the dawn of a new day, but he saw it as much more than that, the dawn of a new era, that one day he would deliver.

~THE END~

Oh my gosh. I am just so grateful that almost exactly five months has past since a began to when I end. It took me five months to write a 51 chapter story, I'd say that's pretty good!

Don't take the message the wrong way. Ice was evil. Evil is bad, but always be wary and careful of how you treat others. You never know what impact it could have on them, and on those around you in the future. Something so small can one day change your life, and sometimes it's for the worse. Be careful me, lovelies out in this dangerous world.

But, really, thank you. Like, I love you! This story has really made an impact on my writing skills, and it's all thanks to you. You are the whole reason I post stories, and it looks like you got me writing a pretty good work of art. :)

Thanks. For everything.

See you at the sequel, but hopefully you will check out my other stories too!

~Love always, Destiny and Nightstorm