oh man... one last chapter after this

Nightstorm's paws were chilled by a tiny puddle of water that had formed just recently and occasional raindrops coming down from the ceiling, leaking through the ceiling above. He shivered when one ice cold droplet fell onto his back.

As time went on, the meeting dragged along with Nightstorm still wary of the rain. Snakefang whispered something in Addertail's ear. Addertail sighed, then nodded. "The meeting is over, every cat go back to your Clan," announced Addertail, before turning to Snakefang, "I trust you can lead FireClan from this day forward?"

Snakefang smiled. "I will lead it as best as possible. Will you remain a medicine cat?"

"Indeed," replied Addertail.

A small pool of water poured out of a hole in the cave and splashed onto the ground, soaking him further. "We should return to our camps quickly, this place may flood," warned Snakefang to Addertail.

"Nonsense, we are in no rush. We have StarClan," reassured Addertail.

The medicine cat pushed through the crowd towards Nightstorm. "Come along now, we have to bring you back to camp."

Nightstorm dug his claws into the ground in frustration. Come on, just flood already, it's my only chance!

The black tom grudgingly followed Addertail and the wounded FireClan warriors up the slope to their territory while the other Clans dispersed. As soon as they were out of eyesight with the other Star members a rumbling sound erupted from the tunnel in front of them. "What is that?" wondered Snakefang.

"Probably nothing, we're fine," ensured Addertail.

The group of FireClan warriors froze when it started again, this time closer. "I really think we should get out of here," suggested Snakefang.

Nightstorm saw a tiny splash of water hit up against the side of the rock, coming from the darkness in front of them. He slowly backed away, hoping the others wouldn't notice. At the right moment, he sprang around and ran towards the clearing where the meeting took place, while the others yowled in alarm and chased him, but were silenced by the sound of water.

Nightstorm only heard the crashing of water as he ran through and jumped out into the clearing. He peered behind him and viewed a wave of water that crashed into the clearing, filling it up with a shallow layer of water that went past his paws.

The FireClan cats crashed out of the water eventually and struggled to find their paws, the water now rising to Nightstorm's belly fur. He saw some other CaveClan and LightClan cats come back out of their tunnels, clearly driven by the water. Once they saw Nightstorm was free, they lunged at him, still quick despite the water that had flooded the area. The water continued to rise quickly, and Nightstorm gave up running away from the Star's and instead tried to see a way out.

He was swimming due to the deepness of the water and saw a tiny tunnel in the distance. The water neared the ceiling, and it was clear all of the Star's were now panicking and also looking for a way out. It was nearly impossible to see, with the pitch darkness and water everywhere, so it wasn't a surprise none of them went after Nightstorm any longer. Nightstorm swam and climbed into the small opening, cutting himself on the sharp rocks but getting in successfully.

Luckily, the opening went further up so he wouldn't drown, at least not yet. The water spilled into the edge of the opening, but not high enough where Nightstorm was. The sounds of the struggling Star cats slowly faded away, and all he could see out into the clearing was pitch black water.

Nightstorm sighed in relief. Out of nowhere Snakefang grasped the stones at the opening and pulled himself up into it, gasping at the presence of air. Nightstorm instinctively jumped down and held Snakefang under the water while the warrior was still recovering. Snakefang made slight jerks to try and get up but was clearly exhausted and was no match for Nightstorm's advantages in the situation. Eventually, Snakefang stopped struggling and Nightstorm relieved the pressure off of him. The body of the former deputy sank into the water, unable to be seen by Nightstorm.

Sure that no other Star could've made it up, he continued his way through the tunnel. Where was Mintbreeze? Nightstorm froze at the thought. He hadn't seen her down at the meeting, and she wasn't anywhere over here. With a new motivation, Nightstorm carried his way through the unknown tunnel, trying to find his way back to the rest of the Clans.

After a long while of traveling, the rain stopped, for it had been going on for many hours. Nightstorm finally found a familiar tunnel and popped out of the entrance into the cool night air. He was on FireClan territory, so there were no unfamiliar scents to him. He trekked back to FireClan camp, hopeful to find the other Clanmates alive and ready to kill off any remaining Star's.

"Nightstorm, you're alive?"
Nightstorm smiled when he saw a group of IceClan and FireClan warriors sitting in the camp clearing, with Stonepelt in the middle. "Yes," responded Nightstorm, "I think they're all dead… How did you get out?"

"We retreated after the Star's defeated us in battle," explained Whiteheart, "we're the only ones that are left."

Nightstorm nodded. "Right, have any of you seen Mintbreeze?"
Whiteheart tilted her head. "Who?"

"Mintbreeze, white furred, blue eyes, gray spots," said Nightstorm, understanding an IceClan warrior might not know every FireClan warrior.

Graycloud also seemed confused. "Who in the name of StarClan is Mintbreeze?"

Nightstorm took a step back, then froze in place. "Stop messing with me," he spat.

Graycloud seemed to realize what he had said. "Mintbreeze, right, isn't that your friend?"

Nightstorm instantly turned and ran out the entrance to the forest. He had no thoughts except confusion, which clouded his head. Nightstorm got to where he knew no cat would find him in the forest, ready for a break. Is that why no other cat knows who in the hell Mintbreeze is? Surely not, they must be part of the Star's too.

Nightstorm heard a noise from behind him. He spun around to see the white she-cat, with spotted gray fur and her icy blue eyes, now piercing into him like fangs. She seemed as happy as ever, no water on her pelt. "Finally I found you!" she meowed, "You have to have some sense at least, I thought we agreed joining the Star's was for the best."

Nightstorm stumbled backwards, now terrified of what Mintbreeze actually was. "You're not part of FireClan, you're the imposter!"

Mintbreeze looked as if she knew Nightstorm figured it out. Her expression changed from forgiving to irritated. "I'm no imposter," she spoke, intimidating Nightstorm, "no cat is… I think you know that for a fact, Nightstorm."

Nightstorm could only muster one question. "If you're not an imposter, what are you?"

Mintbreeze opened her jaw to speak. "I'm your friend, your only friend."

Nightstorm turned angry now. "You were that until you sided with the Star's."
"I still am your friend… You need me, no matter what happens you have always needed me."

Nightstorm pressed himself against the ground while Mintbreeze stood her ground confidently. "You aren't real!" he hissed while shutting his eyes.

Mintbreeze smirked. "I don't think you know what's real. You're not special, you just see things no other cat does. They aren't StarClan, they're your own head."

The trees around Nightstorm instantly disappeared, leaving him in an empty space with Mintbreeze still sitting in the exact same spot. Nightstorm tried to feel around the space but got nowhere. "Think about it… ever since Snowkit, you have wanted something else, something to not make you so alone."

"No! You have nothing over me! At least Snowkit was my friend!"

Mintbreeze smirked. "I thought you hated her, ever since you killed her!"

"Shut up, I never did anything!"

"You act as if you don't remember, but you clearly do… you can't stop thinking about what you did, can you?"

The surroundings around Nightstorm changed until they were back in the woods, but at a different spot. Every cat knows what you did. Nightstorm's thoughts swirled uncontrollably. He watched Nightkit and Snowkit wander through the woods, the sounds of a battle off in the distance. The bears attacked, me and Snowkit left with the weak, but were separated from the rest.

Nightkit and Snowkit jumped in fear at a rustling sound near them, and Nightkit instantly hopped onto a low branch hoping whatever was in the woods wouldn't reach him. A huge, brown bear lunged out, Snowkit shaking in fear. Nightstorm couldn't not see what was happening, he couldn't look away and kept watching.

The bear grabbed Snowkit, shook her around and threw her against the tree. She wasn't unconscious, and very weakly, tried to climb the tree to where Nightkit was. When she reached the branch she only hung on by her claws, and the bear was already trying to reach her.
Nightstorm knew what happened. He knew why he did it… he was selfish, and only cared about himself rather than try to save both of them. The bear reached up to grab Snowkit, and Nightkit didn't help her up, instead watching as his sister got dragged down and mauled in front of his eyes. Once finished with Snowkit, who lay mangled beneath the tree, the bear left after seeing Nightkit was too high for it to bother.

"Nightkit, over here," said a voice from behind the small kit.

Bramblescar popped out from a bush to swiftly jump onto the tree and grab Nightkit by the scruff, leaving the body of Snowkit and returning him to safety.

The following days, Bramblescar told the Clan what happened. Nightstorm's mother left in shock with Bramblescar from what Nightkit did, leaving Nightkit alone with nobody else. It was lucky for him that he was nearly six moons.

Nightstorm couldn't accept what he did, he always blamed himself and knew it was entirely his fault that he lost Snowkit. What if he had helped her up? She would've survived, the bear couldn't reach that high. Now the Clan thought he was some kind of freak… another Lonelymist. But Lonelymist wasn't his father, so maybe the Clan could forgive him.

"Are you happy that you showed me that?" questioned Nightstorm to Mintbreeze, after the memory disappeared and they were left in the same black void.

"Of course I'm happy, and I'm aware you know no other cat can ever trust you, when you did that, you could never be forgiven."
"No, get out of my head!"

Nightstorm reopened his eyes to find himself back in the same stretch of wood, nothing about the area had changed from when he had left it. He felt everything around him to make sure it was real, and started to run back to camp. He collapsed right after he started running from both exhaustion and doubt. Mintbreeze wasn't real? She was my friend… I can't believe it.

Nightstorm was ready to drift to sleep, ready to forget about everything when he heard a yowl from the direction of camp. It's not over…

hey... want to re-read it? You might see some rather... interesting details