Another chapter unfolds, another leader's story is told. I find this one rather dramatic, I like writing about Raggedstar.

Contains Spoilers...

Betrayed

A large dark brown tom was sitting beside a dark gray she-cat. The she-cat whispered something into his ear, suddenly the tom took a few steps back.

"You're having kits?" he said with disbelief. "It's forbidden, I love you but I never wanted to come this far."

"I'm sorry Raggedstar. But it just happened." The she-cat meowed.

"It's not your fault. I should've been more careful." Raggedstar looked up at the hight sky for a few moments then sighed. "What will Starclan do now? We have broken the warrior code. Oh Yellowfang, I'm so sorry."

The two cats sat next to each other under the moonlight. They feared for the worst. What will their clan think of them? This had to be kept a secret.

"We must kill the kits." Raggedstar muttered.

Yellowfang gasped. "No!" the young she-cat mewed.

"I don't want my clan to turn on me." He snapped.

"Give them to a queen. Say that you found them. Please, do anything but kill them." She begged.

Raggedstar stared into the medicine cat's eyes. She looked so innocent and sweet, he couldn't bear to see her sad. How could he have been so dim-witted? He was a newly made leader and he had already made a mistake. Raggedstar stayed silent for a very long time.

"The only way of fixing this mistake is by killing." He scowled. At least, that's what he thought. Apparently, Yellowfang thought differently.

"No!" she growled.

Raggedstar kept his silence for a long time. Finally he nodded his head. "Fine. We'll let them live. But we can't let the clan know that you're the mother."

"We won't. This is our secret." Yellowfang licked her mate's ear and the two head back to camp.

It had been awhile since Raggedstar and Yellowfang first discovered that Yellowfang would have kits.

The moon was being blocked by the clouds, everything was dark. Raggedstar slept soundly in his den. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming near him. He saw a dark figure at the entrance of his den.

"Raggedstar, it's time." The voice whispered.

Raggedstar sprang up. He knew exactly what that meant. Yellowfang was having her kits. He ran out the den and right up to Yellowfang. Her belly was still small, they were probably small kits.

"We have to find somewhere to hide, we can't have them here." Yellowfang mewed quietly into his ear. The tom nodded. Raggedstar sprinted forward, but Yellowfang had a hard time keeping up.

"This is a good spot." He mewed. They were a near the carrion place. That was far enough.

Raggedstar stayed with Yellowfang all night long. She gave birth to three kits, but only one survived. Raggedstar sniffed the dark brown kit and purred.

"I'm so happy." He whispered. Yellowfang weakly mewed in agreement. "I'll take this one to the nursery, rest and get your energy back, but be at Shadowclan camp before dawn." He meowed. He picked up the small kit and dashed off to camp.

Fortunately, a queen agreed to take the kit without asking many questions. "Thank you." He mumbled to the queen. He licked his kit and walked out of the nursery. Dawn was approaching and he was getting worried. To his relief, he saw Yellowfang sneaking back to her den.

Things were going well…but not for long.

"Brokentail! Brokentail!" the cats chanted. The young warrior held his head up proudly. Raggedstar couldn't be prouder. He wished to tell Brokentail how proud he was of being his father, but he knew that he had to keep that a secret.

"Congratulations Brokentail." Yellowfang mewed proudly.

"Yeah, thanks." He muttered. Brokentail never really seemed to like Yellowfang, he just thought of her as an inferior cat. Raggedstar watched as Brokentail joined up with his friends, Clawface and Boulder.

Raggedstar couldn't be prouder of his son. He was now a strong warrior.

"Are you proud?" Yellowfang beside the leader.

He looked up. "Yes." He meowed.

A few seasons later, Brokentail was turning into an ambitious warrior. A bit too ambitious…

"Raggedstar!" Nightpelt yelled from the entrance of the leader's den. Raggedstar quickly got up.

"Yes?"

"Brokentail is attacking my apprentice! I tried to stop him but he tried to kill me." the tom shrieked. Suddenly he gasped as he heard the apprentice yowl.

Raggedstar quickly rushed out. He saw a small apprentice curled into a small ball and Brokentail lashing his claw at her.

"You're worthless! You'll never be a warrior if you're that weak!" Brokentail yelled at the young apprentice. "You're a waist of time. Leave the clan now you worthless piece of fox-dung!"

The young apprentice began to whimper in fear. "Help!" she cried.

No cat was brave enough to stop the vicious young warrior. Yellowfang finally lunged at Brokentail, pummeling him to the ground.

"Get off of me you mouse-brain." He yelled. He used his back legs to throw Yellowfang off of him. Raggedstar lunged at his son and pinned him down to the gorund.

"Stop this!" he yowled.

Brokentail spat at his father's face. "You're a weak leader." He muttered. "I'm glad you're not my father!"

Raggedstar got off him. He stared at Brokentail with wide eyes. If only Brokentail knew the truth. He was his father…he was.

"Get away from my sight!" Raggedstar hissed. Brokentail snorted and walked away. Clawface, Blackfoot and Boulder followed him. The young tom walked into the warriors den and didn't come out.

"She's dead." Yellowfang mumbled. "She lost a lot of blood."

"My poor kit!" a queen wailed.

Raggedstar knew there had to be something done about Brokentail.

It had been a quarter-moon since Brokentail killed the apprentice. Nobody spoke to him accept for Clawface, Blackfoot and Boulder. Raggedstar kept a close eye on him.

One night Raggedstar heard a yowl outside of his den. Then he heard hissing. Something was wrong. He dashed out of his den to see his deputy getting attacked by Clawface and Boulder. Blackfoot was at the warriors' den slashing his claws at random warriors. Yellowfang ran out of her den, she looked at Raggedstar with worried eyes.

"Watch out!" she yelled at the leader.

Raggedstar turned around. Suddenly he saw Brockentail right behind him. "Hello, Raggedstar." He meowed.

"What're you doing?" Raggedstar growled.

"Taking over this clan to make it better." Brokentail hissed and lunged at the leader. The two cats wrestled each other. Yellowfang watched from a distance. She was frozen in fear, she was too shocked to move.

Raggedstar could feel the young warrior's teeth digging into his neck. Suddenly it turned dark. Darkness surrounded him. "I lost another life." He mewed.

A few moments later he woke up. He tried to get up but Brokentail was right next to him, prepared to attack again.

"I'm not mouse-brained. I know leaders have nine lives. You only have two left!" Brokentail grunted. This time he lashed his claws out at Raggedstar. The leader was down again. He was losing another life.

Suddenly he woke up again. This was his last and final life. Brokentail was, again, waiting for him.

"Good-bye Raggedstar!" he meowed happily. Just as he was about to attack Raggedstar for the third time, Yellowfang lunged at Brokentail.

"Get away from me!" Brokentail hissed as he struggled to get away from Yellowfang.

"Not so strong now, eh?" she growled. Brokentail threw the she-cat off and pounced onto her. He dug his claw right into her chest and neck. She was gasping for air, she thought that she was going to die. Suddenly the weight lifted from her. Raggedstar pushed the young warrior off of her.

"Thank you." She whispered as she regained her breath.

Raggedstar stared into her loving eyes and purred for a moment. "This is my last life." He mumbled to her. Raggedstar was breathing heavily and blood dripped from his pelt. "I know that I don't have much longer to live." He rasped. "I love you."

Before Yellowfang could say a word, Raggedstar had already padded off. He didn't turn back to look at her. He focused on killing his son.

At first I was proud. You're my son, Brokentail. I though you would be a great warrior, a honest, caring warrior. How did you turn out to be this way?

With his last ounce of strength the lunged at Brokentail who was fighting another Shadowclan warrior.

"Why did you have to betray us, Brokentail?" Raggedstar asked as he had pinned the young tom onto the ground.

"Shadowclan is weak! I can make it stronger. I have betrayed no one! I am only trying to make it better!" he replied.

"You betrayed me." Raggedstar mewed a bit more quietly. "You betrayed me, your father."

Brokentail's eyes widened. "No!" he flipped Raggedstar over and pinned him to the ground. "I hate you! You're not my father! You deserve to die for lying to me!" he yelled.

"I am your father, and I always will be." Raggedstar meowed.

Brokentail's pupils were now small and furious. He dreaded the fact that Raggedstar was his father. "I hate you." He muttered. Brokentail lifted his claw and gave the final blow.

The last thing he heard was Yellowfang's voice yelling out. "No! Raggedstar!"

Then darkness. Everything blacked out.

I know I am dead now. My own son has betrayed me. I probably won't be joining Starclan, but running with some other clan. I've done many bad things in my life and I just realized how harsh I was on my warriors and to other clans. I wanted power and I wanted to get stronger just like my son.

My love, Yellowfang. We may never see each other again. I just wished I could see you for one last time. But I know that won't happen. You'll probably be in Starclan, at least I hope you will be. Our love may have been forbidden, but Starclan would still accept you. You have a good heart that shines like the sun.

Unlike mine.

My heart is just darkness. Emptiness.

Nothing.

I feel sorry for Raggedstar. He may have been nice to his clan and to his loved ones but towards otehrs he could get a bit violent. At the last few moments of his life he realized that he wasn't one of the good guys and he knew he wouldn't join Starclan, with that he apologized and went to the clan up in the sky where the black-hearted cats go.