Flower updated!! And she's still working on the chapters to Everlasting Darkness. In fact, she's re-writing the entire third chapter. Lucky her :P Anyways, longer chapter, different POV, this one is going to be used through the whole story. So, enjoy! And review!

Title: Shadow Dance

Author: If Love Were Flowers

Genre: Romance/Angst

Summary: Snowfall of RiverClan only wishes to end the war between RiverClan and ShadowClan, a war which had begun long before she was born. She is willing to give everything for peace. Willing to do anything. When a message from StarClan comes to both Clan Medicine Cats, a terrifying plan to end the fighting is revealed. She must tie herself and have the the kits of a cat she does not love, the dark deputy of ShadowClan, Ebonyclaw.

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POV - Snowfall

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I took a deep breath and stepped out of the reeds, into the now-silent battlefield. The pebbles between my paws slipped, and I stumble in blood. But it wasn't only under my paws – it was everywhere, staining every rock, every reed, the stream still clogged and dyed red with blood and bodies. The acidic whisper wafted into my mouth, I freeze and my legs start to tremble, I do not want to take another step forward.

"Snowfall," a voice says softly to my right, I turn, looking into the dark green eyes of Foxclaw.

"You don't have to be here," he said, quickly pulling away, turning his eyes to look over the other warriors pulling bodies that belong to us out of the river, "You don't have to see this."

Foxclaw had been assigned by my father to be my personal guard when he was an apprentice and I was a kit. I never recalled a time I was injured with him nearby, and hardly remembered a time when he wasn't by my side. He was strong and good-looking, with mahogany-colored fur and white paws. But now his handsome features were ruined now with a look of concern, concern for me.

I prepare to answer when a hiss comes from nearby. At once Foxclaw is between the conflict and I, prepared to take any blow to save my life. I look around him in time to see a young warrior jumping away from a mangled body, a mangled body that was still alive.

Without thinking I step around Foxclaw, towards the wounded warrior, and my guard comes in step with me, a stern look overtaking the concern that was on his face before.

"Not this on, Snowfall," he meows, stepping in my path, "He's one of the Heirs."

One of the ShadowClan Heirs, one of Drystar's children.

"He's still alive," I say softly to Foxclaw, stepping around him again, "He can still feel." Foxclaw steps in front of me again, however. I can feel annoyance prickle at my spine and quickly shove it away, I was going to do this whether Foxclaw liked it or not.

"He's an heir," Foxclaw said again, as if he thought it didn't sink in the first time, "The brother of one who killed your brother and your mother. The very one that struck down Robinheart in the last battle as she begged for her life, Heir Crowflight."

"He has a life," I snapped finally, startling Foxclaw, then returned to my distant reserve, turning my focus back to the Heir, "He deserves comfort."

Heir Crowflight was lying half in the river, his black pelt sticky and spiked with blood. He was young, younger then I was, only slightly older then Robinheart when she had died and she had been made a warrior two moons early because all of ours were dying.

He was lying so till I wondered if he was already dead, until I saw the faintest rise and fall in his flank, and his eyes flickered open when I neared. The golden eyes that all ShadowClan cats had fixed on me, and for a moment I was captured, caught in golden eyes that glowed like small suns. But Heir Crowflight quickly looked away, his eyes gazing across the stream, to his territory.

This warrior was still the age of an apprentice, and he was dying.

I hesitated, but took another step forward, until I was standing directly next to him. I sat down, but Crowflight still refused to look at me, a shiver running through him instead. Slowly, very slowly, I reached out a paw to touch his flank, but quickly withdrew. He was burning, as hot as sun-warmed stones. Crowflight flinched as well, pulling away from me.

"You're sick," I said quietly, "What were you doing in battle if you were sick?"

"I don't deserve to live," he whispered softly, "I can't help but relive that moment. I see her in everything I do. I hate it. I hate myself. I hate war."

"What moment are you reliving?" I ask , lying down next to him. Crowflight flinches as my fur brushes his again, and pulls away. His movements startle me.

RiverClan and ShadowClan differ greatly in beliefs. We know that emotions are weakness, and that they can easily be used against us by an enemy. But ShadowClan thought that emotions were a sign of strength, a sign of confidence. They believe that little signs of affection were weakness, and that to be stronger, you must show every emotion that you are feeling. Being a ShadowClan cat, I did not expect Heir Crowflight to draw away from touch, one of the most important factors of emotion for a ShadowClan cat.

"The moment I killed her," he said, "The moment I first killed."

"What was her name?" I said, drawing closer to him, despite the protest in myself and in him. I slowly ease my paws under his head, and behind me I feel Foxclaw stiffen. He knows who Heir Crowflight is talking about. Robinheart. He had been there when she died.

"I don't know," Heir Crowflight confessed, "But she was younger then me. And she was so scared. And…" he let out a small mewl, "And I can't close my eyes without being back at that moment! I haven't slept. I've can't eat. With every moment I see and feel and she doesn't I hate myself. And I..." his voice trails off.

"Don't hate yourself," I said, licking his ear, Crowflight flinches again, "Never hate yourself, you'll just bring more hate into this world. And we all know that there's enough of that."

"But why don't you hate me, Heir Snowfall?" Heir Crowflight whispered, "I took the life of one of your comrades. I killed one of your friends."

"I don't hate you," I say, and in truth, I don't, "I didn't like what you did when I first heard it, but now I have to forgive you. You've suffered too much, Heir Crowflight. You feel the pain of killing someone with every breath you take. You regret and you believe you should never be given peace."

"I shouldn't," Crowflight says stubbornly, and I let out a small purr of amusement.

"Her name was Robinheart," I said, licking his ear again. He does not flinch as much this time, "She was one of my best friends. She hated fighting. She believed that this war would someday come to an end; she believed that everyone deserved peace when they died. She would believe you deserve peace as well."

"Are… are you sure?" the black tom whispers weakly, and I nod; he closes his eyes again and lets out a long sigh.

"Do you still see her?" I whisper back to him. I feel his breath coming slower and slower, I can hear the heart in his chest slowing.

"Yes," he breathes, "But now… she's telling me 'I forgive you'." Tears stream out of his closed eyes then, "She forgives me." He opens his eyes again, this time looking strait into my own dark blue eyes. The glow in them is beginning to fade, but he is smiling.

"Thank you, Heir Snowfall," he whispered, "Thank you." He closes his eyes again, going limp in my paws. Foxclaw draws near, I know he had not heard a word of our conversation, and quickly sniffs up and down his body.

"He's dying," he says, "It will take him a long time to pass. Perhaps by sundown."

"Let the time pass," I say, not turning away from his limp form, "He needs to be comforted in his final hours."

So he does. It takes Heir Crowflight longer then expected to die. He rests in my paws, hardly breathing, hardly alive. The sun sets and he still hasn't died. Foxclaw tries to get me to leave him but I refused to, I want to be with him when he dies. By moonhigh he is beginning to shake, and I hesitantly press my nose into his neck. With a final rattling breath Heir Crowflight passes away from this life, leaving to hunt in the stars.

Foxclaw manages to get me to my paws, and as we turn to leave we hear a crackle on the opposite side of the back. Foxclaw tenses, stepping stiffly between the other territory and I, and we both watch as two dark shapes slip out of the shadows, golden eyes fixed on us. Foxclaw lets out a hiss and they back away, though do not leave.

I turn my eyes to Crowflights body; I know that they are here for it, and turn, heading back to the camp. Foxclaw glances, deciding between fighting the invaders and following me, and chooses the later. As we slip into the reeds I hear paws splash in the stream followed by an 'oh no' and a sob.

Foxclaw takes the lead now, leading me back to the camp. We pass through the center of camp, where my father, Eaglestar, gives a gentle 'hello' and goes back to organizing the patrol for the night. Foxclaw leaves me there, and I drag myself back to my den, which is separate from the other warrior dens.

I used to share the den in the tangle of willow roots with another, my brother Streamheart, but he had died two moons ago, hunting down the ShadowClan Heir who had the worst reputation – Ebonyclaw.

I collapse into my nest, and before I know it, I am asleep, and I dream.

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"Why have you come here?" a voice in the darkness says. I feel my heart flutter, I recognize it at once. But I know she is not talking to me. The darkness thins, and I can make out the shape of two cats, one sitting on a rock, the other looked as if he had just walked into the clearing.

"Why have you come here?" the she-cat on the rock asks again, she is licking her one white paw, contrasting her darker ginger-brown fur.

"I'm dead," meowed the other cat, whose bright golden eyes and black fur I remembered from the day – Heir Crowflight had passed into StarClan peacefully, "I thought it would be right to find you."

"It would not have been wrong if you did not find me," Robinheart meowed, putting her paw down, "In death, there is no right and wrong."

"But there is regret," Crowflight said smoothly, "Regret of things you did in your life. Things you wish you had done. Things you wish you hadn't done."

"You would know all about those, now wouldn't you?" Robinheart giggled. Crowflight took a step towards her.

"I had to say it again," he said, "I had to make sure. I'm sorry for what I've done to you. What I did to you. I wish with all my heart that I hadn't. But I did."

"It is alright," Robinheart meowed, jumping down from the rock and standing before Crowflight, to Crowflight and my own surprise, she leaned forward and gave a gentle lick to the black toms face. She spun around, "I forgive you."

"Thank you," whispered Crowflight, lowering his head and closing his eyes, "Thank you so much."

"Hush," Robinheart hissed softly, and both cats froze. A smile played over my dead friends face, "Do you smell that?"

Crowflight sniffed the air and smiled as well, "Rabbit," he whispered. And both cats took off into the forest, vanishing from my sight.

"It is time for you to go now, Snowfall," a voice whispered behind me. Again I felt my heart leap, but I was already pulling away from the dream, I whirled around, desperate to find the owner of the voice, but he was gone, and I was left in the darkness.

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I knew something was going on the next morning as soon as I had woken up. The clan was buzzing. I slipped outside and they were in tight little groups, whispering hushed words to each other. Foxclaw was pacing outside of my fathers den, and as soon as he spotted me he bounded over.

"Come, quickly," he breathed, giving me a sharp nudge to the leaders den. Glancing at him once in confusion I did as I was told, hurrying to the fallen log and the badger set beneath. It was cool and dark underground, dried leaves piled up to make a comfy next. I saw the remnants of a rabbit my father had probably eaten the night before, and the pale golden leader himself sitting upright and tall in his nest, green eyes fixed on the shadows in one of the corners.

"Heir Snowfall," Foxclaw flicked his tail to a lean figure in the shadows, "This is Heir Nightwind, youngest daughter of Drystar."

And from the shadows, four golden eyes opened. Golden eyes that glowed like small suns.

Unlike me, Heir Nightwind had probably been taught to fight. Father forbade me, believing that he was protecting his daughter, especially after Streamheart had died. She was black-pelted like Crowflight, and looked quick and dangerous. Her body was long and elegant, with a small scar on one of her legs. Beside her I guessed was her guard, a big, broad-shouldered black-and-white tabby tom, his eyes were narrowed, as if he didn't like the idea of Nightwind being in our presence.

"Greetings, Heir Snowfall," Heir Nightwind meowed slowly, dropping a small white flower from her mouth, "I am here to talk of peace."

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Flower poured half of her soul into this chapter (the other half, of course, was poured into the third chapter of Everlasting Darkness) so review! Or, unlike Crowflight, I won't pass on peacefully!!

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