Pebblefoot's POV

Pebblefoot looked at the sodden ground where Mapleshade had died. Her body remained no more, faded just as killing a StarClan or dead Dark Forest warrior. Where had Mapleshade gone? Was she out of existence? She was in StarClan, perhaps. It was unlikely that she would be in the Dark Forest again.. but could she really be pardoned for her crimes? Pebblefoot's pondering was interrupted suddenly by Stoatfur.

"Pebblefoot, did you just witness what I saw too?" Stoatfur asked.

"What are you referring to?" Pebblefoot meowed, his eyes still spaced out on where Mapleshade had laid.

"Mapleshade. Does she just cease to exist now, or has she gone somewhere?" Stoatfur meowed.

"You're asking me like I know. I have no idea." Pebblefoot meowed, surprised at his words. He didn't mean to be so snappy with Stoatfur.

"Oh." Stoatfur meowed, turning to leave.

"Sorry, I'm just feeling a bit pressured right now, I didn't mean to offend anyone." Pebblefoot meowed.

"None taken, I feel the pressure too. It's okay." Stoatfur meowed.

"There's not really much we can do, is there?" Pebblefoot meowed. Stoatfur didn't respond, likely not knowing the answer himself.

There was a long silence, as if both cats were thinking thoroughly about the future for them, and the clans.

Stoatfur broke the silence. "I don't know, I really don't. I wish I did, but we aren't prepared. We don't have a plan. All I know, is that cats are going to die. They're going to die by the claws of another cat that doesn't want to kill them, but you have to do what you have to do to survive, don't you? It's not easy, and you know it as well as me. We won without having to lay a paw on anyone, but we were ready to."

Pebblefoot remained silent, knowing that what Stoatfur was saying was all too true.

"We're in a tough situation, Pebblefoot. As we were just before the Dark Forest took over.. StarClan is powerless, as they've shown by their lack of actions against the Dark Forest. The three, Jayfeather, Lionblaze, and Dovewing, they failed. The destiny for the clans? It's looking dark." Stoatfur meowed somberly.

"Stoatfur, don't think so negatively. There's still hope. We're not all dead yet, we'll be -"

"Don't say that we'll be okay, Pebblefoot. You know much better than that. We won't be okay. You know just as well as me. As of now, we're screwed. Unless we come up with something that'll work, we're far from okay." Stoatfur meowed.

In his mind, he knew Stoatfur was right. But it's never easy to admit that doom seems inevitable.

"What's worse, is that everyone is depending on us, in a way. We hold the most powerful positions outside of the Dark Forest cats. All the clans, every cat, they expect us to be able to do something. But what can we do? All we have is some idiotic flying powers, as well as favoritism over other cats. Favoritism isn't going to bring us far, neither is the ability to fly." Stoatfur shook his head.

Pebblefoot made his meow as gentle as possible. "Stoatfur. You're only seeing the worst possible outcomes for the situation we're in. We have a chance, we just need to figure out how. I know there's pressure, but at the end of the day, everyone knows that we're as powerless as all of them. It just makes them feel better if they offload the pressure to someone or something else."

"You're right, but wrong, too. If StarClan can't do anything, what can we? Thanks, though, Pebblefoot." Stoatfur meowed, walking away in a sulking manner.

Mapleshade's POV

Mapleshade looked around her. Was this real, was she really in StarClan, of all places? She heard footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw a blue-gray she-cat and Spottedleaf.

"Mapleshade, could you give us a little help? We lack a bit of understanding regarding extinguishing the lives of your previous Dark Forest friends." Bluestar meowed.

"What a wordy way to put it." Mapleshade grumbled.

Bluestar looked at her, as if waiting for Mapleshade to talk.

"Basically, the reason everyone is evil is because of negative life experiences that turn them bitter. I'm sure you're all too familiar with my reasons, so there's no need to explain those." Mapleshade started.

"But who should we start with, and how?" Bluestar meowed.

"I thought you were StarClan, all knowing. Anyways, I advise you start with Tigerstar, he's essentially the leader of the Dark Forest at this point." Mapleshade meowed.

"Tigerstar." Bluestar mumbled.

"You should be pretty familiar with his story." Mapleshade meowed.

"Aren't we all..?" Bluestar seemed to be talking to herself.

"Feel free to enlighten me, then." Spottedleaf meowed.

"Tigerstar. His parents were Pinestar and Leopardfoot. Pinestar and Leopardfoot had three kits, Tigerkit, Mistkit, and Nightkit. Mistkit and Nightkit died, leaving just Tigerkit. StarClan, they told Pinestar. They showed him, he knew. He knew that Tigerstar had the potential to be a great warrior, or a dark warrior. Pinestar was scared. Scared of his own son, scared of what he could be. So scared, that he abandoned him. He didn't want to be the parent of an abomination, so he left and became a kittypet." Mapleshade growled.

Both cats were watching Mapleshade intently, as if she was an elder telling small kits a story.

"Tigerkit always felt that he needed to prove something, because his father left to become a kittypet. He always felt that people were judging him for his father's actions, and he wanted to prove them wrong. This is where Tigerkit's ambition comes from. But he was also bitter towards his father for leaving him. It was selfish and cowardly. And there was Thistleclaw. When Tigerkit became an apprentice, Thistleclaw was his mentor. Thistleclaw was a bad influence, but he was like a father figure to Tigerpaw. Tigerpaw wanted to make him proud, and adopted all of the features Thistleclaw liked. But Thistleclaw didn't like what you'd consider "good features". Thistleclaw liked ruthlessness, and didn't value respect. In the end, Tigerclaw ended up just like Thistleclaw. Ambitious, and willing to do anything to reach his goal. But the anything, was literally anything." Mapleshade continued.

"So you're telling this story, because?" Bluestar asked.

"It'll make sense in the end, I guess." Spottedleaf meowed.

"I assume you know everything else from there?" Mapleshade meowed

"Yep, Tigerclaw attempted to murder me, I ended up being saved by Fireheart, Tigerheart was exiled, and teamed up with rouges and Brokentail. He eventually received nine lives from StarClan, got murdered by Scourge, and joined the Dark Forest upon death. He then began to help the recruiting and training of living warriors in the Dark Forest." Bluestar said.

"Yeah, but this is relevant exactly because?" Spottedleaf prodded.

Mapleshade rolled her eyes. "Come on, I practically laid it out for you. We convince Tigerstar out of his evil."

"And that will work?" Bluestar meowed, looking confused as ever.

"Tigerstar has no morals, nor does he respect the warrior code or anything. How can we trust that he cares enough to change himself for the better, instead of focusing on his own selfish, angry, actions? The Dark Forest is a place for those who have intentionally and knowingly broke the warrior code. Since Tigerstar was sent there, he did not change at all. We cannot be sure that he will change now." There was an edge to Spottedleaf's voice.

She has no faith in the potential of goodness in Tigerstar.

"Well, take me for example. I killed. I didn't care. I didn't care for other cats' lives. I didn't care if they died, because I was so hurt about the death of my kits and the fact that I couldn't see them ever though I died." Mapleshade meowed.

"We've heard the same example of your story about forty times, but how will Tigerstar change?" Spottedleaf asked.

"I feel like I'm explaining how to do a complex move to a new apprentice. I'm repeating the same stuff over again. Whatever. When you want to attack someone, where do you go for?" Mapleshade asked.

"The most vulnerable point." Bluestar meowed.

"Precisely, however, we're not attempting to attack Tigerstar. But as I stated, he has many insecurities that cause him to act the way he is. Firstly, his father left him. He felt unloved, and possibly even that he had to prove himself because of how his father left the clan to become a kittypet. He was ashamed of his father's actions." Mapleshade said.

"We've already heart Tigerstar's story, this is getting a bit repetitive. So, quicken it up a bit and get to the point?" Bluestar seemed impatient.

"Okay. Tigerstar was infuriated that his father was allowed to give him one of his nine lives because of how he had no respect toward Pinestar anymore as a result of his actions. So, we can see that Tigerstar was affected by this throughout his whole life, and we can make a pretty safe assumption that Tigerstar still harbors negative feelings toward Pinestar. I'm saying, that we should begin by having a reconciliation time between Tigerstar and Pinestar." Mapleshade meowed.

"Tigerstar will slaughter Pinestar upon seeing him. This won't work." Spottedleaf meowed in a snappy tone.

"Believe it or not, Dark Forest cats are not heartless. Evil cats are not heartless, either. Rather than giving you the same old example as you dislike, I'll tell you another timeless tale. This also relates back to Tigerstar, but in a different way. Scourge. His original name was Tiny. His littermates, Ruby and Socks, bullied him. He absolutely hated it and them. Scourge would leave his twoleg den to explore the forest sometimes. That's when he met Tigerstar, then Tigerpaw, Thistleclaw, and you, Bluestar."

"That was Scourge?" Bluestar exclaimed, shocked.

"Yep, and you know what happened next. Tigerpaw beat him up. Scourge never forgot. That's why he did what he did to Tigerstar. He never had an intent to help Tigerstar. I'm telling you this story because it shows how vengeful Scourge was. But I'll tell you the second half. When he was successful as leader of BloodClan, Ruby and Socks ran to him. They were saying that their Twolegs had kicked them out and asked him for help since he was their brother. You would imagine that Scourge would turn them away because of all of his resentment towards his siblings, but that's not what happened. Scourge let them eat, and commanded them to leave. He didn't kill them, or anything. For all the reputation Scourge had, he wasn't a worse cat than Tigerstar in regards to crimes. But if Scourge still had a heart through what he did, I can bet you that Tigerstar does as well. All of these mental scars are what has caused cats like this, with an evil that seems to stem from nowhere. But it did start somewhere, so it must end somewhere too."

Hey! Thanks for still keeping up with the story, although I haven't updated it in five months. I assure you that I will definitely be finishing this story. As for Swanstep's Destiny (My other unfinished story), I've hit writers block with that one. However, I will finish it eventually.

Reviews and PMs are always welcome!

~Waterfall