Icepaw woke to a dying wind, and shivered. Here she was- back in Starclan grounds. She gazed at the dark sky, with the large, nearly-full moon flickering. Icepaw frowned. There was something wrong about this place... but she couldn't put her paw on it.
"There you are, Icepaw!" explaimed a voice from behind. Icepaw turned, fur puffing. It was the silver-blue cat from her last dream. Icepaw relaxed and blinked.
The golden tabby followed from behind. Icepaw shivered. Both cats were outraged about something. She just hope that they weren't angry at her- they looked extremely though. But the moment they arrived, the atmosphere changed positively, and Icepaw relaxed.
"We... didn't get to introduce ourselves," the she-cat told the tom. He nodded.
"You must be very confused," he said, his voice soft. Icepaw nodded.
"Where are Cherrymoon and Patchfur?" she challenged. The tom narrowed his eyes.
"They're somewhere- where they are supposed to be. But all in all... I'm Lemonclaw, and this is Puddlefoot." Puddlefoot's ears flicked.
"I'm sure that you want to know what's going on."
"What IS going on?" Icepaw probed. Lemonclaw and Puddlefoot exchanged glances.
"Well... Cherrymoon and Patchfur. They are cats of the Forest of No Stars," Lemonclaw growled. Icepaw gaped. The Forest of No Stars? But... that means... what did they want her here for? Surely Starclan could-and would- bring her back, right?
"What am I going to do?" Icepaw whispered.
Puddlefoot licked her ear comfortingly. "Don't worry. They only want you here... because the Forest of No Stars isn't the most pleasant place. They want to be in Starclan grounds. But of course, we don't allow them to. So they came up with the plan to use the prophecy- yes, Icepaw, the prophecy is real- to try and be "good"... but we know what they are going to do."
"What are they going to do?" Icepaw's voice came out in a little voice. She didn't even get what was going on. It was like she was missing something from the conversation.
"I need to fill you out on the whole story," Lemonclaw began. "Well... what they prophecy began, Cherrymoon and Patchfur heard of it. They are very... evil cats," he said lamely. "but they thought that, if they could make the prohecy true, then they would be able to go to Starclan grounds because we owed them for doing that- or something."
"The prophecy, When the ground crumbles, ice would bring it together, is thought to be this. There is a boulder by your present clan. Underneath that boulder is a rotting corpse," Puddlefoot said. Icepaw shivered. Disgusting...
"And Cherrymoon and Patchfur reackon that if the cat that was under that boulder was never alive, the corpse wouldn't be there..." Lemonclaw finished.
Icepaw was confused. "But why don't they want the corpse to be there?"
"As we said, it is rotting. It is the foundation of the boulder. As all living things rot, the foundation of the boulder would break apart, and-"
"The boulder would start rolling," Icepaw predicted grimly. Puddlefoot nodded.
"And guess what the boulder's path ends."
Icepaw gave a shaky breath. "Swayclan camp."
Lemonclaw nodded. "Right on."
Then the dream started to shake violently. Puddlefoot rested her head on Icepaw's shoulder. "Be strong. If you complete this mission, Cherrymoon and Patchfur would bring you back. We have to admit that they are right- you have to not let the cat be born to secure Swayclan's safety. There is no other way."
"You can do it, Icepaw," came Lemonclaw's voice.
"But who's the cat?" Icepaw called into the emptyness; they were fading quickly. As the two opened their mouths, only the rumbling of her dream continued, drowning out their words, until nothing became of the dark scene.
Then she woke up.