"I think she's awake. Hello? Are you awake?" Icepaw stirred feebly, then freaked out. Where was she? This was some deja vu moment...

A face, a fluffy white one, came to view. "Sparkfoot! She awake."

Icepaw looked around. It seemed to resemble her camp. She was surrounded by 3 cats. The white tom, an elderly reddish tom, and a pretty, longhaired tabby.

The tabby frowned. "Where did you find her again, Coolpaw?"

"In Burntstar's den. I was changing his moss. Do you think that she's going to be alright?" he asked the reddish tom. He nodded. "I'm guessing, however she got in, yours is as good as mine. But I have to say- she was deeply unconscious. It seems like she fell out of the sky or something. Icepaw's bright blue eyes flew open. Yes- she remembered now, then groaned. What had those two cats gotten her into?

Coolpaw's head snapped back to hers. "Sparkfoot! Look!" Sparkfoot turned to her.

"Ahh, hello, dear. You've come from quite a fall there, you've nearly broken your leg. But what were you doing in Burntstar's den? How did you even get there?" Sparkfoot's eyes were yellow and guarded. Icepaw's head spun around and around. Coolpaw? Sparkfoot? Burntstar? Where was she? Where was Moltenstar?

"Deerpaw, can you tell Ospreyglint that I can't go to the training session he planned for us," Coolpaw asked sheepishly. Deerpaw's ears flicked. "Why, might I ask?"

Coolpaw's paws shifted but her answered, "I guess I want to look after this cat. Can I, Sparkfoot?" he asked egearly. Sparkfoot shrugged. "I guess, if you can start her talking."

'Heya, foreign cat! I'm Coolpaw. What's you name?"

"..." Icepaw didn't know what to she just sighed resignedly. Whatever Cherrymoon and Patchfur wanted her to do, they didn't explain. But she guessed that she had to do something. "I'm Icepaw. Where am I?" Icepaw noticed that Sparkfoot froze for a moment when she said something. She frowned. He couldn't possibly know the prophecy, too, could he?

But Sparkfoot then relaxed all over again and poked a bundle of silvery-blue fur. With twitch of surprise, Icepaw realized that it was a cat.

"Wake up, Aurorashine, can you get me some fresh tansy, please?" Aurorashine woke up. WIth a pang of shock, this time, Icepaw recognised HAZELPAW'S face in there. What was going on? Coolpaw spoke again.

"Hi, Icepaw. What clan are you in? What are you doing in Swayclan territory?" Coolpaw's voice was guarded now, with only a shred of friendliness. Icepaw gaped.

"Wait, hang on for a moment... SWAYCLAN? Seriously?" Icepaw freaked out for the first time of her life. She felt let go, and she was drifting around by herself. As free as she was, she didn't know where do go. Icepaw calmed down. Coolpaw watched her, confused and suspiscious.

"Yes, Swayclan. What were you expecting? I thought that it was decided, in the last gathering, that Moistclan and Barranclan's territory was split for Swayclan- the WELCOMED clan." Icepaw blinked. She had heard this story before... Talongsong! The elderly she-cat had told her of the story of how Swayclan first came to the clan!

Was the possible that she had traveled back in time?

Coolpaw watched her. Icepaw stared into space. Then she snapped out of it. "Uh, yess, of course... I... uh..."

"What clan were you in before, Icepaw?" Sparkfoot asked, eyes not meeting hers." Icepaw didn't know how to answer that.

"Um... I... I was a loner! And..." Icepaw wasn't very good in stressed times. "My... mom was a clan cat, of, uh, somewhere, and... she teached me of the warrior code. We were running from a monster that had gone out of its tracks", Icepaw continued. The story was flowing better now. "when she got run over. I kept on running away from the thought, then I fell off of a cliff (well that part was close enough) then I dragged myself here, when no one was looking..." that part was cheesy.

"Then I blacked out," Icepaw hastily finished. Coolpaw blinked at her, then narrowed his eyes. Icepaw gulped. He was so nice before. But what did he expect? That she was a clanmate, one he never knew about? Coolpaw blinked at here again, and this time his eyes were back to normal. Icepaw gazed bailfully back. Deerpaw sighed. "OK, Coolpaw, I'll see you later." The tan-brown tabby walked out, her tail swinging from side to side, trying to balance her on the ledge. Icepaw stretched her head to see a huge crevice, with tiny shrubs dotting the land. She gulped, curled into a ball, and wondered how Deerpaw had managed to walk through that.

Aurorashine came back, and Icepaw couldn't help but to feel biased- this cat reminded her of Hazelpaw just a tad too much.

"Thanks," Icepaw said, trying to sound polite. But Aurorashine just fixed her icy gaze to her and hissed "You're lucky Sparkfoot's still here. The moment he's gone and I'm in charge, I'm going to poison that for you." she turned and bounded away, leaving Icepaw gaping at her hissyness. Coolpaw had heard everything and yawned.

"Ignore here. Aurorashine's just tired of pretending to be awesome and then being proved that she isn't," Coolpaw mewed. His eyes flicked up, then back to Icepaw. "It's getting late. I might as well get you to the apprentices' den," he said, not knowing what to do next. Icepaw didn't blame him. It wasn't everyday that a weird cat that claims that she's a loner appears magically in the leader's den.

Icepaw got up, winced at her leg, and followed Coolpaw out of the den. Icepaw shivered (global warming in the future :0) and looked around. Plants were everywhere- this was definately one un-inhabited place. Coolpaw noticed her.

"We just moved in, so we're still getting used to it. Burntstar wants the ledge to be worn down, so he wants some plants to be planted there. Of course, Aurorashine despises that idea, as she's too lazy as to move a muscle. It's really hard to get used to this place, as we used to live in a marsh..." of course, Icepaw already knew this- it was the history of her own clan. But Coolpaw realized that he had told her too much and was quiet.

"Well, here we are," he said cautiously, beckoning to a small ledge, covered with brambles and moss. Icepaw blinked. This was where the current nursery was, because a maple tree would grow beside it, making it covered. Icepaw nodded. It looked inviting.

"Well... yeah," Coolpaw said. It was pretty awkward, and Icepaw was grateful when two more cats came over. They were arguing about something.

"Larkpaw, if we damanate the river, it'll flood the best hunting grounds," a sleek, pale golden tabby said.

"But Mothpaw, we'd be able to catch fish. The trees would be excellent cover for us- our shadows wouldn't stir the fish."

Mothpaw wouldn't give up. "Not all of us are like Risingpelt, Larkpaw, we can't catch fish as well as he can. Besides, the river runs through Barranclan. It's their only source of water. We don't want them to suffer, nor do we want a war to start."

Larkpaw frowned. "Yeah, but..."

"You lose," purred Coolpaw. Larkpaw and Mothpaw's heads snapped to his direction, and they said "Hi," but trailed off when they saw Icepaw.

"Who's that?" they said at the same time. Mothpaw's eyes were wide and she was too shocked to react, while Larkpaw's fur was bristling.

"She's Icepaw. She's crashing here for now," Coolpaw explained, puffing his fur out himself, as if he'd fight Larkpaw if he attacked, "I guess Sparkfoot wants her to stay or something." Icepaw's head stirred again. Sparkfoot was the medicine cat- if he wanted her here... he must know about the prophecy.

Larkpaw snarled, "I bet it's because he doesn't want her to spill our secrets now, Coolpaw, as she's already been here, to the rival clans."

"But he said that when she was unconscious," Coolpaw snapped. "Besides, use your brains, Larkpaw, this WAS their territory. They gave it to us. They already know more than we do about it."

"Yeah," Larkpaw retorted, "But she knows about US now."

"Didn't you even listen? I said that he said it when she was unconscious."

"Why don't you argue for yourself, Icepaw?" Larkpaw sneered.

"This has nothing to do with the conversation!" Coolpaw exclaimed.

"Well I want to know if she's a use to Swayclan!" Larkpaw snapped back.

Icepaw couldn't take this any more. "Cut it OUT!" she growled. Both toms stopped and swerved their heads to her. Larkpaw sniffed, "too demanding. She'd probably boss us around to do the wrong things." Before anyone could say anything, he stalked off. Mothpaw frowned after him.

Coolpaw bristled, and, not meeting anyone's eyes, he leaped into the den, said a hasty good night, and curled up. Icepaw's ears twitched.

Mothpaw's gentle voice surprised her. "Ignore Larkpaw, Icepaw, he's just really stressed today. He's been losing all sorts of arguments, and had to take it out on someone. And yes, I'm standing up for him. He is my brother, after all."

Icepaw yawned. "He's your brother? That's great."

Mothpaw smiled. "Coolpaw and Deerpaw are my other siblings, too." Icepaw was shocked.

"Wow! I don't even have a brother or a sister."

"Where's your family?" Mothpaw asked, curious.

"Gone," Icepaw answered, and she somehow felt that it was the truth. Sunnymask and Stormfrost weren't here right now, and they were gone from her. Mothpaw took it the other way.

"Sorry, Icepaw," she sighed.

Icepaw nodded. "Hey, it IS getting dark." she turned to the den. "Are you coming, Mothpaw?"

Mothpaw shook her head. "No, I'm on guarding duty today. But I can't wait until morning, when I'll just sleep till the next dawn."

Icepaw was shocked. "An apprentice, do the whole night? That's not-" Icepaw stopped herself from saying "what we did" just in time, "very relevant. Don't young cats need sleep?"

Mothpaw puffed her chest out proudly. "I guess, but Burntstar trusts us to. He's really easygoing when it comes to rewards. He can make you a warrior if you just keep guarding the camp," Mothpaw said. Icepaw frowned inwardly. Being a warrior because you're derived from sleep and turned, out of force, nocturnal?

"Well, night, Mothpaw!" Icepaw scrambled into the den. Mothpaw's fading reply was lost in the air. Icepaw squeezed through the brambles to a hole, where Coolpaw's cloud-like fur was rising and falling in one corner. Icepaw curled up beside him and went to sleep.

Icepaw gulped. "Uh..."

The golden tom nodded. "We get that a lot."

"But Icepaw," the blue-gray she-cat said, in a very serious tone, "Don't listen to t-"

She broke off. Then both of them disappeared, fading into the distance, eyes wide with fright. Icepaw shuttered continuiously. She was very scared. Then another figure appeared. She was a dark red tabby. The other, a tom, was a long-limbed black and white.

"Greetings, Icepaw," the reddish one said, manner calm and flowing. "I am Cherrymoon. This is Patchfur. We are here... to give you of a prophecy."

Icepaw's ears twitched frightfully.

"When the earth will crumble, ice will put the pieces together... we think that it's you, Icepaw." Icepaw was stung. It was true that Snowberry was acting very differently around her, but Icepaw thought that all of them had the wrong idea. Her? Be the "ice"?

"A-a-are you sure it's me? Havensong has the ice pelt. Racefire has the ice eyes. Hazelpaw has the icy manner," Icepaw said with a bitter tone. Cherrymoon smiled. "Yes, we have heard of the Hazelpaw incident. How dare SHE, to make up of those things. We will have to punish her sooner or later." Icepaw winced. As much as she hated Hazelpaw, she didn't feel it right to get revenge. Patchfur read her mind.

"You are so admirable, Icepaw, being noble and all," he said. Icepaw had the faint feeling that they were trying to hoax her into something, but she couldn't help to trust them. When she thought that, both cats rediated this kind of cold feeling. Icepaw shivered. She didn't like it.

"But back to the prophecy," Cherrymoon interupted. 'We think that you have to be the cat. You are named Icepaw, after all."

Icepaw still wasn't giving up. "But my mother, Sunnymask, said that she was either going to name me Icekit or Flowerkit!" she objected.

"But you are named Icepaw."

Icepaw then gave up. They were going in circles. "Well, what am I going to do, then, if I actually AM this "ice"?"

Patchfur smiled. "I thought that you'd never ask."

Then Icepaw fell, fell straight through solid forest floor. As she passed the ground level, eyes wide, she saw Cherrymoon and Patchfur's outlines, dancing in the light, fading.

...

Somewhere, in the camp of Swayclan, a dark ginger tom walked into his den. It was empty.