"Lilly!" Amberstorm finally found her voice as she pushed passed Kamikaze and ran over to friend. A slight twitch of the she-cat's tail told that tabby that she was alive. Amberstorm crouched down next to her, oblivious to the movement of cats and they left the two she-cats alone. Kamikaze snarled and kicked dust over them, but still, Amberstorm did not move.

"A-Amberstorm…" Lilly rasped. "Do you think that StarClan will take in a cat like me?"

"No," she whimpered. "They won't because you're not going to die."

Lilly did not reply.

"Oh dear!" Amberstorm looked up to see a light brown tom with a white underbelly dashing towards them, his red collar obvious on his neck. "What happened?"

"She was attacked," Amberstorm murmured, not bothering to scorn the kittypet.

"Poor thing," he whispered. There was a short silence before he looked back at Amberstorm, an idea forming in his eyes. "Here, we can take her to my housefolk."

"What?"

"They're vets. They can heal her."

"So they're like medicine cats?" she asked hurriedly.

He shrugged. "I have no idea what those are, but you said 'medicine', so yeah."

The tabby sighed and prayed that this would work. "Fine. Let's carefully bring her to your den. Is it very far?"

He shook his head. "No, it shouldn't take too long."

Amberstorm gently grabbed the scruff of her friend's neck, who had passed out, but was still alive. Meanwhile, the tom gently grabbed her fur and focused his yellow eyes on Amberstorm.

"I'm Jasper, by the way."

-

A dark brown tabby and a ginger she-cat bounded side by side towards the setting sun, the she-cat's outline made up of stars while the tom's of shadows.

Bramblestar sighed, clearly confused. Beside him was his former mate, a cat he had loved for his whole life and yet, he couldn't talk to her. How was it possible to be close to someone, and yet so far away at the same time?

"We should be close," he mewed awkwardly. The leader felt even stranger when Squirrelflight just replied with a curt nod.

Sighing, he once again tried to strike up a conversation. "How is your family?"

"Why would you care?" she snarled.

He tried his best not to flinch, but a wince did come out as he looked at her scathing glare. Wrong question, he told himself.

"We're here," Squirrelflight growled after a few moments. Sure enough, a rustic Twolegplace came into view.

Bramblestar sped up as they entered the dusty path. Finding Amberstorm was his top priority, especially after he discovered what Tigerstar had planned for her.

"Wait," Squirrelflight skidded to a halt. "Do you smell that?"

The tabby stopped as well and drank in the air. His hackles rose at the all too familiar scent that hit his glands. Blood. Following the scent, he let out a small gasp when he saw the blood stained ground. "What happened here?"

"A battle, obviously," Squirrelflight mewed dryly. "Come on, I've picked up Amberstorm's scent." With that, she padded after the scent's path.

Before they got very far, the she-cat had nearly ran into the two. "Bramblestar!" she breathed. "And…Who are you?"

Squirrelflight dipped her head. "My name is Squirrelflight. I am of StarClan."

Amberstorm nodded. "I see. What are you two doing here?"

"Looking for you," Bramblestar replied. "We're going to…accompany you." Seeing the question look in her eyes, he added, "It's a long story."

"Alright…But, just so you know, I'm not staying here. I only came to check up on a friend."

He cocked his head. "Who?"

Without answering, Amberstorm took off towards on of the dens. Jumping up onto the edge of an elevated entrance, she called out, "Kenobi? Are you there?"

"I'm right here, kitten," Bramblestar put his ears back when he saw the old ginger rogue step out. A rouge as a friend?

She nodded. "I'm going to go to Jasper's den and see if Lilly is alright. Will you be alright?"

"I should be. I have some friends around here that would take me in."

"Good. Until we meet again." Once Kenobi dipped his head in agreement, Amberstorm ran back up to Bramblestar. "I'm ready."

"Kenobi? Jasper? Lilly?" he hissed. "You're associating yourself with rouges?"

Amber met amber. "No, as a matter of fact. One is a kittypet. Besides, I'm not going to make it very far on my own, now am I?"

"She has a point," Squirrelflight muttered.

Bramblestar snorted. "I thought you didn't allow yourself to be around their kind."

"I do now. When you've been away from your Clan as long as I have, your views change quite a bit. Now come on, we have to find Jasper's Twolegs' den."

"Jasper!" Amberstorm hissed as she balanced ungracefully on the wooden post. "Jasper, are you there?"

Sure enough, the tom came out of the den, followed by a fat gray tabby. The newcomer looked up at Amberstorm and her companions with wide eyes. "Jasper!" he rasped. "You know all of these cats?"

He shook his head. "No, just the tabby she-cat."

"Aye, she's a pretty one."

Amberstorm scowled. "You know I can hear you, right?" When she didn't receive an answer, she continued. "How is Lilly?"

Jasper sighed. "She's not doing well. My Twolegs took them to another den so they can give her better medicine. If they don't, then…"

"Then what?" Her voice was barely a whisper.

"Then my Twolegs will put her down."

"What does that mean?"

Jasper closed his eyes. "They'll give her a medicine that'll kill her."

Fear gripped her like an icy claw. "No!" she cried. "They can't!"

"They might have to, sweetheart." The fat tom murmured.

Amberstorm couldn't help but look at Squirrelflight. "You're a StarClan cat. Can't you do anything?"

Squirrelflight looked at her paws. "StarClan is helpless."

"What do you mean?"

Bramblestar flicked his tail. "Look at the sky, Amberstorm. Tell me what is missing."

Amberstorm did as she was told and the moment she did, her hackles rose. "There still aren't any stars," she said. "Why not?"

Silence engulfed the cats, even the kittypets. Finally, Jasper spoke up. "Well, Amberstorm, you and your ghost friends can stay with me and Borace here if you want."

Bramblestar sniffed disdainfully. "Not on your life, kittypet. I'll sleep out here."

"I hate to agree with him," Squirrelflight looked away. "But I will as well."

Amberstorm sighed. "Suit yourselves. I'm going inside to greet Lilly when she comes back." She noticed Jasper's eyes brighten, but shrugged it off and followed them into the den.

Once she pushed through the weird entrance, she blinked in surprise. Unlike the outside, the inside was warm and cozy, with soft, strange, colored grass that felt good under her paws. Around them were what she assumed to be stones of all shapes and sizes. Borace jumped on one and it sank in slightly under his weight.

"This is our home," Jasper mewed. "Right now we're in the best room. The thing that Borace is on is called a couch. They're really comfy. If you go onto the hard floor, you're in the kitchen. That's where all of us, including our housefolk, eat."

"Interesting," she replied. "It's as if you're a small Clan."

"What exactly is a Clan?" Borace called out.

Amberstorm sat down. "Clans are big groups of cats, consisting of kits, their mothers, a leader, a deputy, warriors in training called apprentices, and warriors who train them, like me. A leader used to be a deputy and before that, a warrior. A deputy has to have at least one apprentice to be named a deputy. When a leader dies, the deputy becomes leader, and a new deputy is named. Oh, we also have a medicine cat, who takes care of the sick and injured."

Jasper purred. "That sounds awesome! I want to be in a Clan. Can I?"

The tabby shrugged. "Usually we don't let in outsiders, but my Clan, WillowClan, made an exception for a loner named Cassie, now named Shadowclaw. All of the other cats are of pure Clan blood."

"Why are you away from your Clan?" Borace asked.

Amberstorm suddenly looked down, confusing the two. "You don't want to know," she whispered.

The questions clearly were written all over the two toms, but nobody said anything. "So…" Borace finally said. "Would you like to stay the night? The cold is setting in, so I'd imagine that you wouldn't want to be out there."

She nodded. "Alright."

"What about your two friends?"

"You won't get them in here."

-

"Echostar!" A frightened yowl filled the night sky, rousing the leader from his sleep. "Echostar, wake up!"

Blinking his blue eyes, Echostar peered out of his den to see Forestgaze on the Skybranch, her eyes wild with fear. "Finally!" she hissed. "We have an emergency!"

Becoming fully awake, he replied, "What's wrong?"

"I just got back from the Starlake," she explained hurriedly. "Blackspots, Dusktail, and I all received the same dreams. They weren't from StarClan, either."

"Well then, who were they from?" Echostar couldn't help but feel a prickle of alarm.

"Tigerstar," she whispered.

Immediately, Echostar bared his teeth. He knew all too well who the dark tabby was. "What? What did he want?"

A distant look appeared in the medicine cat's eye as she repeated the message:

"We have won."