Jayfeather groaned and blinked his sightless blue eyes open as he awoke. Around him, he felt the moss of a nest. What happened? Was I dreaming? Jayfeather then noticed the familiar pelt of his brother beside him and he realized something was wrong. Lionblaze never slept with him in the medicine den.

It suddenly all came back to him. The moonpool, the tunnels, the flood. Jayfeather tried to get up but a paw on his shoulder stopped him.

"Rest," a voice said. "You need to rest, Jayfeather."

Kestrelflight? Jayfeather was confused but his body was exhausted and he felt his head lower back into the nest. His eyes closed and he fell asleep immediately.

Jayfeather awoke again to the sound of hushed voices speaking nearby. Disoriented, he couldn't tell what was going on but he could tell Lionblaze and Dovewing were beside him, also asleep.

Jayfeather sat up and prodded both of them. "Hey. Wake up."

"Wha?" Dovewing mumbled. Her eyes blinked in tiredness and confusion. "Jayfeather?"

"Where are we?" Lionblaze moaned as he sat up.

"We're on the moon," Jayfeather said sarcastically. "Do I look like I can tell where we are? Use your eyes and tell me!"

"Geez, who put fleas in your pelt?" Lionblaze mumbled. He looked around and gave a sound of surprise.

"What?" Jayfeather asked. Sometimes I really hate being blind. "Where are we?"

"We're in the WindClan camp," Lionblaze whispered. Jayfeather was surprised and took a sniff. WindClan scent filled his nose as well as the familiar scent of herbs. We're in the medicine den.

Jayfeather continued sniffing, trying to get a sense of the place. His chest suddenly felt tight and he broke into a coughing fit.

"Jayfeather!" Dovewing exclaimed in alarm. Jayfeather kept coughing.

A cat suddenly rushed into the medicine den and pressed their head against his chest.

"I'm fine," Jayfeather rasped but speaking only made it worse. He felt his bones shake as his body was seized by more coughing.

"Doesn't sound like it."

"Kestrelflight," Jayfeather stated. The WindClan medicine cat was listening to his breathing. "What happened?"

The molted tom backed up. "I was hoping you could tell me. Breezepelt's patrol found the three of you soaked and unconscious deep in WindClan territory."

I can't believe it was Breezepelt of all cats who found us…

"What happened? Are you three okay?" Kestrelflight asked and began looking over them.

"I'm fine," Lionblaze said.

"Just tired," Dovewing nodded then slapped Jayfeather in the shoulder good naturedly. "I'm never listening to you ever again. You're crazy."

"Next time I'll be sure to nicely ask dead cats to not try to kill us," Jayfeather snapped irritably. He suddenly felt lightheaded, like he was somewhere else and he'd returned. I feel so much like Jay's Wing in the tunnels. Maybe I become Jayfeather again up here? He coughed again and felt vomit rise but his throat was dry. He swallowed, trying to get rid of the feeling. He coughed a few more times.

"Wait, StarClan tried to kill you?" Kestrelflight asked.

"No," Jayfeather stated simply. "I wasn't being serious."

"But what happened to you?"

"Stupid dead cats tried to kill us," Lionblaze grumbled.

"Tell me about it when I prepare your herbs," Kestrelflight said. Jayfeather sensed Dovewing and Lionblaze look to him.

"Tell him, he's trustworthy. He won't tell-" Jayfeather broke into another coughing fit.

"Here." Kestrelflight held something up to his mouth and shoved it down his throat. Swallowing, Jayfeather recognized it as a mixture of honey and coltsfoot. "I already rubbed dock on all of your pads, they were pretty worn. Dovewing, I put some cobwebs on that scratch of yours."

"Thanks."

"Thanks." Dovewing glared at Lionblaze.

Jayfeather nodded due to his inability to speak for the moment.

"You three are exhausted," Kestrelflight said and passed herbs to the three of them. "I've got some traveling herbs. I know you're supposed to eat them to prevent tiredness but they're the best I've got."

"Thank you," Jayfeather was finally able to rasp. His chest and throat began to feel much better.

"I gave you some yarrow while you were unconscious," Kestrelflight told him. "There was a lot of water in you. You should eat something other than herbs soon."

Jayfeather couldn't respond as he forced himself to swallow the bitter herbs.

"Jayfeather? Lionblaze? Dovewing?" a voice questioned as another cat entered the den. Jayfeather recognized it was Onestar. "Are you alright?"

The three cats nodded.

"Thank you for finding us," Jayfeather dipped his head. He then clamped his jaw shut, not wanting to show weakness in front of a cat from a rival clan, let alone a clan leader.

"Of course," Onestar said. "The clans owe you three a great debt. And I couldn't just let you die on my territory."

Jayfeather suddenly remembered that Onestar knew of the three.

"Jayfeather?" a voice in the distance called. Oh no. "Jayfeather!"

Leafpool rushed into the den and began looking over her two kits. Ivypool, Bramblestar, Squirrelflight, Whitewing, and Birchfall padded up behind her.

"Where were you?" Ivypool demanded. "One second everyone was looking for you and the next Leaftail's coming into camp saying you're on WindClan territory!"

Dovewing didn't respond. She was overwhelmed by her parents fussing over her.

"Everyone out!" Kestrelflight snapped. He looked to the leaders and dipped his head resfectfully. "Except you, Onestar, Bramblestar. They need some space. They may be having some trouble breathing."

"I'm a medicine cat too, I can help," Leafpool protsted.

"Leave!" Jayfeather hissed and stamped a paw in her direction. She reeled back in shock but left without saying anything. Jayfeather calmed down and tried to get his breathing under control.

Bramblestar padded over to Jayfeather and leaned over. "Did you three try drowning yourselves in the lake?" he hissed in his ear.

"No!" Jayfeather protested loudly. "Why would we do that?"

"You haven't been doing so well lately," Bramblestar said softly. "I was worried."

"So where were you?" Onestar asked. "What were you doing on WindClan territory? I suspect this has something to do with the three?"

The three hesitated and exchanged a few looks. It was and wasn't at the same time. None of them knew what to say but they were standing before two clan leaders. They couldn't exactly lie.

"You can tell me," Onestar said. "You said this isn't clan business at the Gathering, it shouldn't matter that I'm the leader of WindClan. But you did trespass on my territory. I deserve an explanation."

Jayfeather continued to hesitate. The only two cats in the den who didn't know about the spirits were a medicine cat and a leader, cats who were strong in their faith in StarClan, cats who trusted StarClan with everything they had. Telling them StarClan wasn't all they thought would crush them. He didn't know what to say but he knew Lionblaze and Dovewing were relying on him to say something.

"We were in the tunnels," Jayfeather said finally.

Onestar, Kestrelflight, and Bramblestar gave looks of surprise. "Why?"

"There's a… place in there that is very close to our ancestors," Jayfeather said, choosing his words carefully.

"You needed to talk with StarClan?" Kestrelflight questioned. "Why didn't you just go to the Moonpool?"

"We did," Jayfeather answered.

"And?"

"They didn't know anything," Jayfeather told him. "They told us to come back later."

"StarClan didn't know something?"

"StarClan only knows about the clans, this doesn't have to do with the clans," Jayfeather shrugged. "It has to do with the Three. The prophecy didn't come from StarClan, they don't know a whole lot about it."

"What?" Bramblestar looked surprised. That confused Jayfeather. He already told him about the reincarnations.

"StarClan got the prophecy from the Tribe who got it from the Ancients who got it from other cats," Jayfeather explained. "We needed to talk to them. The only place I could think of that's nearby where we could do that was a cave in the tunnels."

Onestar fell silent. This was a lot to process.

"And the tunnels flooded, I presume?" Kestrelflight asked. Jayfeather nodded. "Why?"

"Long explanation short, they flood when cats go in them so don't go down there," Jayfeather replied.

"Is the Dark Forest coming back?" Onestar asked. "Are the powers of the Three needed again?"

Jayfeather shook his head. "No. We just need to figure some stuff out. About where the prophecy came from."

"Are you certain there is no oncoming danger to the clans?" Onestar asked.

"Yes."

Onestar nodded, accepting this. He looked to Kestrelflight. "When will they be able to return home?"

Kestrelflight looked them over. "When they showed up, they were exhausted and half drowned but they've rested and recovered. They should be more than ready to go home."

"Great," Jayfeather said and got to his paws. His pads were sore and his muscles still ached from all that running and swimming and his joints were stiff after lying still for so long. He nearly fell over but he straigtened himself and widened his stance to keep himself from collapsing back on the nest that some cat had built around him. "Thanks for everything."

"Anytime," Kestrelflight nodded then paused. "Not actually anytime, don't do that again."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Jayfeather grumbled.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Bramblestar asked in concern. "You were missing for a day then unconscious for three-"

"Wait what?" Lionblaze asked.

"We were gone for four days?" Dovewing looked surprised.

"That's not unheard of," Jayfeather said. "We all pretty tired, our bodies needed it."

"I know, but four days?" Lionblaze said.

"Let's head back to camp," Bramblestar said. "You three have some explaining to do."

Author's Note: Ooh, they're in trouble...

Reviews-

Darth Jay- That's what I was aiming for. Thanks for the feedback, I kinda had a hard time with that chapter.

Wolfjem- Jayfeather survived (clearly) but he'll be recovering for awhile. He really pushed himself too hard.