Chapter 28, whippee! I hope you guys are all enjoying this story so far. Unfortunately I've slowly started losing motivation again but I've been doing everything I can to keep it up, though you can expect chapters to start slowing down. I will keep updating this story though, you can count on that (well, it might slowly stop but I will do everything in my power to keep going).

Anyway-

Kuroimori- 'temporary'. But you might be surprised, because one or both of them will be temporary, it's just a matter of when they will leave…

Brambleflower- yes, these cats are only a few generations away from Firestar (Cloud's mother's friend's mother knew, Millie, but Cloud and Dapple are slightly older- maybe the generation before Willowfeather and her 'team'. They're about the age of Shadestar and Dawnflower, past their prime but not dead yet). Yes, the plan is to get Spottedbird an apprentice and I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't trust Dapple...

WildKat12- I considered making Sweetbreeze die, but she is too important in the story. She's one of the most important supporting characters, after all! Speaking of supporting characters, recently, Wildwind has had more lines than Sunheart, so I'll be fixing that… and thank you for such kind words! Your words have given me more motivation to update this story quickly, so that you have something interesting to read during these long, empty days.

Finchpetal Girl- Thank you so much! You said you couldn't wait to read more? Well, then here's some more for you. This is at the lake because yes the forest was destroyed, sorry if I haven't described it well. But SkyClan never came. It's just the four clans, living not-so-peacefully next to each other.

Anyway, onto the story…

"Hello," Cloud said warmly, spread out on the ground and tucking into one of the few pieces of fresh-kill. "Thank you so much for letting us stay, at least for a little while. I thought this clan would be bigger, though. Forgive me for being nosy, but are there any other cats here?"

"We just had a battle," Willowfeather said apologetically, swiping a paw over the cut near her eyes. She looked back and saw Dapple- who for some reason, had begun to look somewhat familiar. "Sunheart, Sweetbreeze and myself were the least injured, along with Lilypaw and Flamepaw. The apprentices are asleep at the moment, while the other cats in our clan are being cared for by Spottedbird. She's our medicine cat."

"The healer, isn't she?" Cloud nodded vigorously. "The doctor, as twolegs call them."

"Yes, the healer. We call them medicine cats. Do you want me to show you the nursery?" Willowfeather's voice was light and inviting, yet Cloud's eyes darkened.

"Kits," She hissed. "I suppose the queen- did you say her name was Sweetbreeze- is happy to have kits?"

"I suppose so," Willowfeather said, surprised. She wasn't really sure. On one claw, Sweetbreeze hated Finchcry, didn't like being cooped up all day, already had Waterwish's kits to care for-

"Waterwish! How is she doing?" Willowfeather said suddenly, sprinting to the medicine den. However, though she was quick, she noticed darkness and anger smouldering in Cloud's eyes. She's bitter about something, she thought quickly, and it was because we started talking about kits.

As she ran swiftly to the nursery to visit Waterwish for possibly the last time, her thoughts buzzed with things that were too nosy to say out loud.

A little bit of nothingness and then…

Waterwish was slowly growing weaker and weaker, and there was nothing Willowfeather could do about it, besides watch and comfort Waterwish.

"H-how are F-frost kit and Dapplekit?" The young queen mumbled, as Willowfeather thought about all the non-ThunderClan cats they had brought in. Waterwish and her kits. Dapple and Cloud. Cloud's kits.

"They're doing great, but they need milk," Willowfeather soothed. "How are you doing?"

"Spottedbird makes me eat a lot of herbs everyday- borage to help my milk come, juniper berry for strength, tansy to fight off fever that sometimes hits me…" Waterwish trailed off. "It's none of your business, anyway. You forgot about me when you brought me here, so why don't you just forget about useless old me again?"

"What do you mean?" Willowfeather asked, puzzled. "I never forgot about you. I've just been… busy."

"With a ShadowClan attack, two rogues joining ThunderClan, a few grumpy apprentices and a couple of injuries," Waterwish recited. "Isn't that normal for ThunderClan? And I am useless. I couldn't even help at all in the ShadowClan attack. All I could do was keep Sweetbreeze in the nursery."

"Ah, I was wondering how in StarClan she wasn't injured badly in such an attack in her… delicate condition," Willowfeather mewed. "That isn't useless at all! You saved our clan deputy!"

"But I'm dying, literally dying, and my own condition isn't getting any better. It'll be a miracle if I see the next sunrise, to be honest," Waterwish sighed. "I'm in a lot of pain, and most medicine cats would have given deathberries with permission, of course, to someone like me. But the thing is, I have to stay alive for as long as possible until Sweetbreeze's kits are born-"

"Of course!" Willowfeather jumped up. "Cloud can nurse your kits!"

"I- I don't really like her mate," Waterwish stammered. "I thought of that, too. And what's kept me alive all this time is the fact I desperately want to keep Frostkit and Dapplekit away from Cloud. You don't know about the duties of a mother. And as their mother, no matter how much pain I am in, I owe Frostkit and Dapplekit to give them the best possible home besides myself, and that is Sweetbreeze."

"Why?" Willowfeather blurted out. "Cloud is only a young she-cat expecting kits and Dapple might seem… stiff, but he's just lacking in social skills, that's all."

Waterwish looked at Cloud darkly from the safety of the nursery.

"I saw Dapple and Cloud talking with this scrawny brown tom a while ago, and the tom was accompanied by who I think used to be your medicine cat, and a rusty brown she-cat."

A scrawny brown tom, a cat who used to be our medicine cat and a rusty brown she-cat, Willowfeather thought. Scrawny brown tom, and a rusty-brown she-cat? Those were two very vague descriptions. But a cat who used to be our medicine cat.

Kestrelwing.

Kestrelwing.

Cloud and Dapple are in league with Kestrelwing, Mousetail and Breezefur, of course.

And an old memory dawned in Willowfeather's brain. The way Shadestar lost her second last life. A rogue nobody listened had tried to kill Cinderpaw and Redpaw. She hadn't seen him or her, but he had grey dappled fur and…

He looked just like Dapple.

Who are they? And what do they want?

How do you think I did? I started a new story (Can You Hear the Dawn?) that occurs a lot later than this story but is the same clan just later on.

Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to come back on the day it says I will update next in the description, also…

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