She dropped her squirrel in the elders' den, allowing Frostfur's purr to bring a small smile to her face. The days had flown by as the warmth of newleaf had given way to the searing heat of greenleaf and finally to the chill air of leaf-fall.
Squirrelpaw had started, finally, to adjust to Clan life.
She'd started to form bonds within the Clan, sometimes taking her sister out on herb missions, other times hunting with Firestar and Sandstorm. She'd also (re)discovered that Whitewing had a sharp wit about her. The kinship within the Clan was the polar opposite of the cut-throat ways of Bloodclan. She loved it.
Saying goodbye to the elders, she ambled out of camp. Life wasn't too bad – the nightmares came less frequently with every passing moon, and she'd grown to expect moss under her fur rather than brick. As she was going to the fresh-kill pile to choose something for herself, she smelt a familiar scent.
Images of the alleys and carrion came to her mind immediately, causing every tuft of her fur to stand on edge. She unconsciously slid her claws out.
"What are you doing, Squirrelpaw?" Dustpelt asked. She was grounded in reality now, but she didn't have time to explain before the camp was filled with BloodClan cats.
"BloodClan, attack!" Ice stood at the head of the battle regally as he surveyed the masses of cats that poured into the heart of ThunderClan.
She could see younger elders hissing as they moved to guard the older, frailer elders, queens shepherding wayward kits into the nursery, dawn-patrol warriors jerking awake and joining the fray. Dustpelt was entangled with a tortoiseshell she-cat, and she threw herself into the mass of writhing cats. After a well-aimed claw swipe sent a black cat reeling, she found herself face-to-face with the same blue-grey she-cat that she'd helped in the alleys.
"What are you doing?" she hissed as she clawed at the queen's ears.
"What I have to!" Squirrelpaw felt unease running through her pelt, but raked the she-cat's stomach anyway, causing her to screech.
"This is not your battle. Go."
"I will not see my kits motherless!"
"Leave and see your kits. Ice has his paws full here."
The blue-gray cat nodded imperceptibly, and Squirrelpaw batted her around the ears with her claws sheathed, giving her an excuse to flee.
She whirled around, spying Blade, the cat who had taken her and had as such risen to Ice's unofficial second-in-command. She crept around, waiting until he was nearby to pounce. She did, landing squarely on his back.
"Get off me, vermin!"
"Didn't seem to think I was vermin when you took me. Or when I found you overeating."
"You disrespectful little piece of fo-" She was shaken off, landing hard against the ground. Just as she was about to get up and defend, Blade was knocked away by a pair of ginger shapes.
"Don't worry, Squirrelpaw. He's ours." Her parents leapt at the cowering tom, the light of fury shining in their eyes. Despite Blade's defiant struggles, Squirrelpaw knew that he was not long for this world. She flung herself into battle and came whisker-length to Ice, who grinned at her.
"So, our lost kitty was found. I might be able to forgive you… but I'll have my eyes on you."
"I never wanted to stay, you fox-heart!" She swiped at his muzzle, which he ducked.
"Selfish kit. You never did wish to look after the alley cats, did you? No, it was all about your stupid needs." He pounced on her, affixing her to the camp's floor.
"You never looked after them. You and Snake both. There's a reason you were driven away. How many of your 'looked-after' cats have starved under your watch?" She leapt back from a belly rake, turning the surely fatal move into a merely painful one, and spat at him, before trying to worm her way out.
"Oh, but times are hard in the alley."
"Hard times, my tail. You scoffed the food of two cats daily and forced your cats to scrape and fight for your admiration." She finally managed to get free, flexing her claws for the next move. "But no more." She raked his belly as hard as she could, digging in her claws. He gave her a look of pure hatred before he started to collapse. Squirrelpaw shimmied out of the way, leaving the tyrant to die.
He affixed his cats with a loathing gaze – perhaps unwilling to believe that no cat had rushed in to help. He attempted to yowl something but could only gurgle as he finally gave in and his eyes went dull.
Ice was dead.
Beside her, her parents had looked up from Blade's corpse, vindicated expressions flitting across their faces as they surveyed the battle. The BloodClan cats ran, screeching in fear and hissing in defiance.
"And that's the third time we've kicked your sorry tails!" Brambleclaw yelled, releasing a white cat with scratches littered over its body.
Sandstorm growled at the retreating enemy. "If you come back a fourth time, we may not be as lenient." She turned to Firestar, licking him on the cheek. Beside her, Leafpaw was ushering the wounded into her den. Squirrelpaw winced as a stab of pain went through my stomach, heading over.
The battle was over.