The next time I woke up, it was dark outside. I could see moonlight streaming through the entrance to the bush, and guessed that it had to be moonhigh.

Rosetail was gently snoring next to me.

I stood, keeping the weight off of my left leg. It might have felt better, but I knew that it would need time to heal.

I limped out into the bright moonlight. It was pretty close to another full moon. The gathering would be soon. I would have to be as far away as possible by then just in case Blackfur or Foxstar wanted to look for me.

I looked around the peaceful camp. Everyone was sleeping either in their dens or in the moonlight.

Wolfpaw was sleeping in front of the apprentices den, the moonlight turning his brown fur to nearly silver.

Sighing, I padded away and was about to go through the tunnel and leave Rubyclan when I heard a meow behind me.

I turned to see Wolfpaw slinking towards me.

"Where ya going?" He meowed quietly, looking at me with amber eyes.

I looked at him, then turned away silently, ignoring him completely. I had to leave as soon as possible.

"H-hey, wait! You need to heal!" He put a paw on my flank.

I stopped and turned to look at him. An irrational anger suddenly boiling up inside of me.

I crouched, fluffing my fur up threateningly.

"And what do you care? I'm not from your clan! I'm a loner. It's every cat for himself. Now leave me alone!" I lied, hissing slightly under my breath.

"He sighed. I know that you're from onyxclan. It's faint, but I can smell it. I know Onyxclan is our enemy, but, a cat in need is a cat in need. It's all the same to a medicine cat." He sighed. ,"But I can't make you stay. If you do leave, Take some broom with you. It will help your leg."

I slowly stood, my fur laying down slowly.

"Why does it matter to you? Don't you want me dead? As you said, i'm Onyxclan." I mewed cautiously.

He nodded ,"And as I also said, it's all the same to a medicine cat. I want to help you, I really do, but if you want your own cats to help yo-"

"No!" I Meowed loudly, the sound echoing throughout the forest.

Wolfpaw immediately leaned closer and put a paw over my mouth.

"Shhh!" He hissed. ,"You'll wake all the cats from here to starclan!"

We waited tensely to see if anyone did awaken from my outburst, but no one did. We both sighed in relief.

Wolfpaw put his paw down and flicked his tail as a signal to follow him.

When I didn't, he looked around. ,"I just want to talk. I know a place where we won't be overheard." He meowed simply before entering the tunnel.

After a moment's hesitation, I followed him.

We trekked around the base of the mountain for a few foxlengths, until we came to a large pile of boulders next to the side of the mountain.

"This is near where the Moontree grows. You know about it?"

I did know about it. This was the place where clan leaders and medicine cats came to seek guidance and to speak to starclan. At moonhigh, the moonlight would shine into the giant trunk of the tree. Cats went in and starclan sent them sleep.

I nodded to the Grey-blue tom in front of me.

He leapt up the rocks, helping me on my own way, and slipped into a small space between the large boulders.

Side by side, we walked along a dark tunnel for what felt like a moon before we finally came into a cave with a sparkling river lit by a crack in the ceiling that moonlight filtered in through.

I walked through, looking around in awe,"This place is huge!"

Wolfpaw chuckled, padding up to Night's side

"I know. Now." He walked around me and laid down on the floor. ,"What's your name?"

"Nights." I meowed quietly. I gingerly laid down in front of him.

I was getting kinda used to this kind apprentice.

"Well, why did you come here to Rubyclan? Isn't your mom looking for you? Don't you think your clan would be worried?" He asked with a gentle mew.

My heart beat faster at the thought of what happened earlier yesterday. I swallowed sharply.

I shuffled my paws in front of me.

"W-well, I was chased off."

"Chased!" He echoed.

"Yes." I don't know why I was telling this cat. Something just told me that he was ok. Something told me that he was trustworthy.

"My mother, she was a traitor. Well, in the eyes of Foxstar. She had told him to stop treating the clan so badly. Because she defied him, he called her a traitor and ordered for both her and I to be chased out. He also told all of Onyxclan to kill us on sight if they found us. It just so happened that they did find us. We were laying in the grass between Onyxclan and Quartzclan territory When blackfur found us."

Wolfpaw gave a small gasp of fear and alarm.

"He attacked us. We knew some cat was coming, but not him. My mom told me to hide, and I did, but I saw the whole thing. In the end, My mother was killed by Foxstar, who was called there by Blackfur. I will never forgive Onyxclan for what they've done to me. And I will especially never forgive Blackfur."

Wolfpaw tilted his head to the side in confusion. ,"Why Blackfur specifically? Didn't Foxstar kill your mom?"

I nodded, but looked away and didn't explain further.

"Ya know, I was going to become an apprentice soon. Next moon in fact." I meowed quickly, changing the subject.

"I just became an apprentice. A few days ago actually. I have to learn all this stuff from greenmane. He takes this stuff super seriously. I mean, It's so much! What if I can't learn it all and I'm useless to the clan when they need me most?" His voice was getting higher and higher as he spoke. ,"What if they exile me? What if they hate me?"

"Your a really good medicine cat in my eyes. You helped me even though I'm from a rival clan. That's one of the best things a medicine cat can do. Well, unless you're my sister." I finished bitterly.

"Your sister? What did she do?" he asked.

"Well, to prove her loyalty to Foxstar and to avoid being cast out with me and my mom, she helped Foxstar exile us, then was honored by the clan for it."

"Harsh. Must be sad. Losing your own sister. I lost my brother. An Onyxclan warrior named Grassfur took him."

I looked up at him, startled. Grassfur was a long-haired tom who did all of Foxstar's dirty work. I remember my mother telling me that during the time when Onyxclan had barely any kits, Grassfur had come to camp with a crying kit in his teeth. He gave the kit to my mother to raise, and that cat had ended up being my best friend. Freezekit.

"How's your leg?" Wolfpaw asked suddenly, Moving to lay beside me, and look at it.

"Better." I meowed.

I laid my head down and yawned.

Wolfpaw looked at me and gave a gentle purr, laying down next to me, his warm fur pressed against mine.

"You need sleep. That leg won't heal if you're too tired to do anything." He said as he looked up towards the cave ceiling.

,"Thanks Wolfpaw." I mewed gratefully.

"You know, if you leave, you should know that you'll have a friend here in Rubyclan. If you need it."

I nodded. It was nice to have a friend again after all this time. I'd had only my mother since I was only two moons.

"Hey!" Wolfpaw suddenly said, jumping up excitedly. ,"What if we convinced Wickerstar to let you stay here in Rubyclan? We could be friends! You could meet all of my other friends too!"

I looked up at him.

"I don't think that anyone would like that. You saw how Rosetail reacted to me." I meowed sadly.

He scoffed. ,"Rosetail? Oh, what does she know? She's just angry. That's all. Come on! Please?" He held out a paw for me.

"Uhhh...sure...I guess, but maybe I should get some sleep." I meowed pointedly, reminding wolfpaw of what he said earlier.

He lowered his paw and smiled nervously ,"Oh, right. Ok. Get some sleep. Then we'll go and see."

He laid down next to me once more as I put my head down on my paws.

I suddenly awoke in a large, grassy field unlike anything i'd seen before. The seemingly endless grass around me seemed to glow from the light of silverpelt, which was brighter than ever. The grass around me gently swayed even though the air around me was completely still.

Standing up and raising my head above the tall grasses, I saw a cat sitting on a rock that, after a moment, I recognized.

It was my mom. Her fur was dotted with stars, and her body was slightly transparent, but I could see her tiger striped pelt, her colors of black on light brown inverted from my own dark brown on black. She faced away from me, towards the setting sun, which, in the back of my mind was odd because it was supposed to be nighttime, but I didn't care because I was seeing my mother again.

"Mommy!" I yowled, bounding through the emerald green grass towards the She-cat.

As I got closer, She turned her head to look at me out of the corner of her eye, her gentle amber gaze resting on me.

I bounded up onto the rock next to her, immediately beginning to purr loudly and rub against her.

She chuckled and nudged me with her tail, causing me to look at her.

"My sweet kit. Nights." She purred gently. ,"I've missed you. But I don't have much time to stay. I want to show you something. Look over there."

She flicked her tail towards the sunset.

I looked over and saw another cat, prowling through trees what were not there before.

Her tail flicked gently as she crept through the bushes, her mouth open to catch any scents and her ears alert for any sound. She paused, her black and brown fur gently rippling in nonexistent wind, and her red eyes trained intently on something unseen ahead of her.

In the moment that the cat leapt out of sight and the scene vanished, I realized that it was a much older version of me.

I looked at my mother, confused. ,"Wha-" I began before she interrupted me.

"There are great things in your future nights. You will become a very strong and loyal warrior one day. I know it." She leaned down and rasped her starry tongue over my ear.

I stayed silent for a minute before asking ,"Strong enough to kill Blackfur?"

My mother froze, flinching slightly at the mention of her killer's name.

"Maybe." She whispered, raising her head up again to wash her chest awkwardly.

"I will avenge you mom. I promise." I meowed stubbornly.

She nodded.

"I'm sure you will, but for now I think that it is time for you to wake up."

The second she said that, things immediately began fading away quickly.

I could feel the darkness slipping over me like a cold wind.

"Mom...You won't leave me will you?" I said as my vision finally faded.

The last thing I heard from my mom was the gentle mew of,"Never my kit. I would never leave you."