Wow last week was hectic. Hope everyone had a better Valentine's Day Week(end) than I did. Not like this week is any better though. It would be better if I didn't have freaking coding to do.

So here we are. The chapter I've been waiting to write for months! I actually debated with myself if I should have split this into two chapters, but I made you all wait for two weeks and I really wanted to write this down. So one chapter it is!

And hey, if I really don't like how I wrote it, I'll just rewrite the chapter :P

You're all going to hate me after this.

Reviews are appreciated!

No seriously please review. This is the one chapter I really want to hear people's thoughts on.

Brambleclaw cursed himself as he stumbled, allowing a Dark Forest cat to leave another scratch to decorate his pelt. Then he had to duck down and allow another cat to sail over his head, before rushing forward to deliver a heavy blow to another cat's head. He heard the distinct snapping of the cat's spine as the cat fell down to the ground with a dull thud and evaporated into shadows.

They just kept coming.

Another duck. Another swipe. Another killing bite and another cat that burst into wisps of darkness upon death.

But for every Dark Forest cat he killed, another took its place. For every cat he fought, the more blood that stained his pelt.

It was clear to see that he was slowing down. Fighting cat after cat was taking its tole on him. So when another Dark Forest cat leaped at him, claws outstretched and fangs gleaming, ready to send him to Starclan, and with him surrounded at all sides, he shut his eyes closed and prepared for the worst.

He wouldn't even get to see Firestar again. Or Squirrelflight. He wouldn't be able to apologize to her.

But the killing blow never came, as a screech sounded above him. He cracked his eyes open, ginger fur obscuring his vision as she fought off multiple cats at once, protecting him.

"Brambleclaw you mouse-brain! Get up! I'm not good a fighter as you are!" she screeched at him. He snapped out of his shock and scrambled up to his paws, preventing another cat from giving Squirrelflight a possible serious wound and killing him with a swift bite to the neck. The two stood back to back as they fought off waves of Dark Forest warriors. A nostalgic feeling washed over him, and Brambleclaw couldn't remember the last time he had fought with Squirrelflight in such a manner.

As the last cat was driven off(finally!) he turned to the ginger she-cat with dull shock in his eyes.

"Squirrelflight, you're back," he said.

"Obviously," she snorted. She gestured with her tail and his eyes followed it. There was Hollyleaf, fighting side by side with Lionblaze, who looked both happy and relieved by her presence.

"Cherrypaw!" he heard Poppyfrost cry out joyfully. She rushed over to her daughter, covering her in concerned licks. Berrynose raced after his mate, nuzzling his daughter and whispering something to the two she-cats that Brambleclaw couldn't make out. Molepaw followed more slowly, but was clearly happy over his sister's return.

He gazed around camp, but couldn't see a ginger and black pelt with wings that belonged to Firestar anywhere in the crowd.

He couldn't see Foxleap either for that matter.

"Where's Firestar and Foxleap?" he asked, a pit of fear forming in his stomach. Did they fail to find Firestar- did Foxleap die somewhere along the journey?

Squirrelflight only gave him an exasperated look, guessing what he was thinking by the apparent look on his face. "We split up. Foxleap is out there taking care of any stragglers. Cherrypaw, Hollyleaf, and I came here to help because we knew they would try to hit us where it hurt the most," she explained.

"But did you find Firestar?" His tail lashed behind him, agitated.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I was getting to that. Yes, we found him-" He stopped paying attention after that relief and happiness and surprise and they found him, he's okay-

"Brambleclaw are you even listening?!" Squirrelflight's outraged meow brought him back to reality. She was glaring at him, but he was too relieved at the thought of everyone being safe(well as safe as they could be in the midst of a huge battle) to care about her faux anger.

'I'm glad you're all back," he choked out, laying his head over her neck. Her eyes softened, and she leaned into him, both of them tired but happy.

"I'm sorry for being such a mouse-brain and a fox-heart to you," he mumbled out.

"We're in the middle of a battle, this isn't the right time for that kind of stuff," she said tiredly.

"I know. But, just in case neither of us make it..." he trailed off, and Squirrelflight, though incensed at the idea of dying so easily, understood what he was trying to say.

"We can talk about that later," she muttered, withdrawing from him, giving one of his wounds a few licks. It sting a bit, and he hissed in pain. "You really need to see Jayfeather," she said, worry evident in her voice.

"I don't have time; I have to keep fighting," he said determined. "We could really use Firestar right about now though. Where is he?"

She gave him yet another unimpressed look. "I literally just said that we split up and that he's fighting somewhere else. Or were you not listening?" Well to be honest, he hadn't been.

"Uh, my injuries were acting up?"

"Yeah, all that blood rushing into your head must be doing a lot more than we think," she said jokingly. "Or maybe it's the lack of blood that's causing you to space out. Maybe you needed that stuff more than we thought."

"Haha, very funny," he said dryly.

"But seriously, you should see Jayfeather," she returned to being serious, tail flicking around in an agitated manner.

He supposed it wouldn't do him any good to continue fighting while this injured. So he nodded, and began to make his way over to the medicine den, when his body realized how injured it was and his legs buckled down from under him. Squirrelflight steadied him on her shoulder and the two began to make their way over to Jayfeather, thankful that the current wave of attack had subsided for now.

"How long were you fighting with these injuries?!" Jayfeather hissed in shock. Brambleclaw bowed his head down sheepishly.

"You need all the herbs you can spare for cats that need it more than I do," he argued. Jayfeather only shook his head at him.

"For the love of- well guess who needs those herbs now?" Jayfeather growled at him, though there wasn't any anger towards him in his voice, only concern and fear.

A yowl interrupted them. "What now?" Brambleclaw sighed, lashing his tail and mentally preparing himself for yet another wave of attack. He scrunched up his nose at the scent of fresh blood wafting strongly into camp. Foxleap staggered through the entrance, an extremely beaten up Ivypool balanced on his back. A star-pelted tortoiseshell limped up slowly behind them, also looking worse for wear.

"Ivypool!" Dovewing screeched, running up to meet with Foxleap and her sister. Jayfeather muttered a curse behind him.

'We don't have enough herbs for this!" he hissed in worry, before rushing back into the medicine den.

"Spottedleaf! What happened?" Bluestar called to the tortoiseshell. She and some other Starclan cats raced up to her, guiding her into the middle of camp, where she collapsed in a heap of fur. She looked up at them all, panic and fear and sadness and regret in her eyes.

"I'm sorry- I couldn't do anything- Ivypool was injured- I was weak," she mumbled out, her voice coarse from shock.

"Calm down. Just tell us what happened," Yellowfang asked sharply. Bluestar shot her a look.

"Ivypool was injured. We were helping her but- Mapleshade- she came- wanted Leafpool alive- took her-" the medicine cat babbled on.

"They took Leafpool?!" Bluestar uttered in shock. A yowl sounded from Sandstorm, worried for her daughter. Squirrelflight stiffened up next to him, and he looked over to see shock and worry etched into her face. He was faintly aware of Jayfeather moving around them with some herbs in his jaws, the tom's blind eyes widened in shock, but continued forth in his task to heal Ivypool.

The Starclan cats grew restless, and Brambleclaw knew that something was up. Why were they so worried over Leafpool for? He was worried too, but Starclan was acting as if the battle had already been lost.

"We need to find her and get her back," Bluestar declared. They all nodded to themselves, and Brambleclaw truly wondered what they knew that no one else didn't.

"Oh you won't need to go far; we have her right here!" A deep, very familiar voice echoed throughout the camp. Brambleclaw's fur involuntarily stood on end, his breathing turning heavy and his eyes dilated in terror.

Tigerstar sauntered into camp, many Dark Forest warriors marching behind him. A crazed looking tortoiseshell dragged a dazed looking tabby with her, and Brambleclaw realized with shock that it was Leafpool.

"Leafpool!" Squirrelflight shouted. She gave Tigerstar a fierce glare. "Let my sister go!" she cried, racing up to him, claws unsheathed and ready to fight him. Tigerstar only gestured with his tail and a few of his cats raced up to meet her, easily outnumbering her and pinning her to the ground. She spat and hissed at them, but was unable to free herself.

Brambleclaw broke out of his shock and fear and scrambled up to his paws. He couldn't let Squirrelflight get hurt! He tried his best to ignore his father and leaped up to help Squirrelflight.

He was shoved down onto the ground faster than he could say 'mouse', yowling out in pain as his injuries stung and throbbed worse than before. He wasn't strong enough to throw anyone off him, and he could only watch as the Dark Forest overran the camp.

Not even Starclan was spared as they were quickly outnumbered.

"Don't worry, I don't have any intentions of killing anyone... yet," Tigerstar purred.

He glared up at his father. "Why are you doing this?"

Tigerstar only grinned at him. "I'm going to give the kittypet a show he'll never forget."

The only thing Brambleclaw could hear at that point was his own heartbeat drumming in his ears, scared of what was coming next.

.

.

.

.

Firestar's hearing was muddled by too many screeches rising into the air. Tigerstar had really been busy gathering up all these evil cats to wage with them all. Or rather, to wage war specifically with him. But the screeches didn't stop him from running after a few Dark Forest cats, who were running as fast as their paws would allow. They dove into some overgrowth, and he was able to dive in after them when-

"Over here, kittypet!" His head snapped over and he saw Hawkfrost give him a taunting smirk, before turning around and running off. He didn't hesitate in rushing after him.

Heat prickled at his chest, the stone glowing faintly. It almost felt like it was building up power for something. He would dwell over the stone's strange activity after everything was done and over with, after asking Thunderclan their thoughts if they truly wanted him back or not, and especially after figuring out why Hawkfrost seemed very confident all of a sudden.

He was running because he knew he couldn't take on Firestar, not with his current strength. So why was-?

He was running into a trap-!

He realized it too late as Hawkfrost lead him to the top of the hollow overlooking the Thunderclan camp, and suddenly whipped around to lunge at him, shouting out "Now!" and then there were an unholy amount of cats leaping at him from all sides.

The stone burned brightly upon the realization that he had been overpowered again the same way Razor had done it! He growled and tried bucking up, hoping to skewer some of the cats on the spikes on his back. But there were too many holding him down. He couldn't even move his wings to use the claw attached to each one to pierce any cats, and there were too many holding down his tail.

He was better than this! Why weren't these cats burned into nothing yet?

He lifted his head, ready to release his fire on the ones keeping him down. His fangs bit his tongue as Hawkfrost smashed his head back onto the ground, preventing him from opening his mouth.

"You don't think we didn't prepare for you, kittypet? We've spent all this time coming up with plans and ideas on how to take you down," Hawkfrost hissed, lifting Firestar's head to place his claws by his neck. Now he was in trouble, since his neck was remarkably scale-free. If Hawkfrost was to slit his throat now, it would be all over for him.

He felt the stone burn angrily, in tune with his own thoughts of anger at being taken down so easily.

"Now look down," Hawkfrost growled at him. His eyes trailed downward into camp, and there was Tigerstar, smirking up at him. Too many Dark Forest cats were strewn across camp, making sure that none of his clanmates fought back or even moved. His heart skipped a few beats upon seeing his mate and hatchlings held down, defeated. He struggled against the cats holding him; he needed to help his hoard-!

"Welcome back, kittypet. You're just in time to see your precious clans fall!" Tigerstar crowed, his cats jeering around him. "And to commemorate your return, I've planned something especially special for you." He flicked his tail, and two cats dragged Leafpool over to him, throwing her down at Tigerstar's paws roughly. He hissed angrily at the action.

Then his eyes widened in panic as Tigerstar placed his claws over Leafpool's neck. He was still smirking at him.

"I've waited seasons to get my revenge on you. And what better way to do that than to destroy everything you've built up here and watch you break?" He struggled wildly, knowing what Tigerstar was about to do.

"Don't you hurt her!" Squirrelflight yowled.

"Leave her alone!" Lionblaze screeched. All of Thunderclan voiced their opposition, from begging to threats- anything to let Leafpool go. But Tigerstar paid them all no mind, continuing to look up at Firestar, his claws tightening over Leafpool's throat.

His heart broke at Leafpool's resigned look. She was staring up at him too, happy that he was here, but sorry that she was making him watch this.

'I'm sorry Father,' she mouthed.

No, please no-

Blood splattered to the ground, and Leafpool's body fell forward. Screams emerged from the Thunderclan cats her body collapsed lifelessly onto the ground.

"This is what happens when anyone, dead or alive, oppose the Dark Forest!" Tigerstar roared, his cats cheering with him.

But Firestar didn't hear them. He stared uncomprehensively at Leafpool's body.

"Lea-Leafpool...no..."

His hatchling... his hatchling was gone-

Are you going to let them get away with killing her? He took her away from you!

If only he hadn't shirked away at his new powers, he could have stopped this...

It is time for the final step. Make him pay. Make them all pay! The stone blazed wildly, its power coursing through him.

He didn't want this...

Take what was always yours. Take this power and become the Dragon you were always meant to be!

Dragon?

Tigerstar glared up at him, realizing that Firestar wasn't struggling because of anger or fear, but because he seemed to be having a fight within himself. The tom was shaking his head, muttering to himself.

"No- stop! I don't want this..." he gasped out, an intense red light coming from his chest. The light burned hot, until his body was engulfed in fire, driving all the Dark Forest cats off of his body. Through his anger, and regret, and sadness, and fury, he could feel himself getting bigger, his claws, spikes, and the tip of his tail getting sharper, deadlier. More horns burst from his head, more scales enveloping his body.

But he paid the feeling of his body changing no mind. He just wanted his hatchling back. It was because of them that he would never get to hold her again, hear her voice or smell her scent. There was only cold fur, silence, and death now.

Which is what he'll give to them all.

When the fire obscuring his vision died down, his vantage point higher than what he was used to, he looked down and locked eyes with the cat that took away his hatchling. His claws griped at the walls of the camp, creating deep holes into the stone.

The tabby that killed his hatchling was frozen in abject terror. He felt his fire rising up into his throat, ready to burn this cat into nothing. But he stopped, forcing it back down.

No, this cat didn't deserve the honor of falling to his flames.

This cat was a bug to him. So he would give this cat the indignity of dying like one.

He reached down with a claw, and swiftly brought it down onto the tabby, wisps of shadow rising from his claws as he brought them back up. The tabby was gone, but killing him wasn't going to bring his hatchling back. He was angry- angry at the world for taking away one of the few things he had left.

He wasn't satisfied. He let out an angry, mournful roar and was prepared to burn everything in his path.

"Father! Please stop!" He felt something scramble at his claws, and he looked down. There was his hatchling, looking up at him with fear and terror and sadness in her eyes. He felt his fire die down at the realization that he was making his hatchling scared.

He was angry at his hatchling's death... but of course the rest of his hoard must be sad and angry too...Squirrelflight just lost her sister.

Sandstorm and Brambleclaw joined with Squirrelflight, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

He didn't mean to make his family scared. So he turned and reached down into the camp, picking up Leafpool's body with surprising gentleness and laid her body in front of him. He curled around them all, his heartbroken sobs echoing through the air.

Put your pitchforks and torches down please!

Yes, I killed Leafpool off. I debated whether to keep her alive or not, but I guess I felt somewhere that this story needs more conflict.

Also because Hollyleaf lived, I guess someone else had to die to balance it out?

So Leafpool's dead, which triggered the stone to act and transform Firestar into a full-fledged dragon. Dang, even I don't know what's going to happen next.

But hey, Dark Forest defeated? That's good right? :V

Tell me how I did.