Lonefly sighed as he left Quickstar, Foxbrush and Shadedmoon to their thoughts. The siblings had always been close, and the medicine cat thought it best that they dealt with this crisis together. In any case, it was late and Lonefly was dead on his paws.

The red tabby padded back to his den, nodding at the various Rainclan cats that were still up and about at the time. He ducked under the branches of the pine tree that guarded his den, and collapsed once he was in his nest. His eyes drifted closed, and Lonefly let the sleep take him.

When the medicine cats eyes opened, he was standing on a hilltop. His first clue that this was a dream, besides the absence of his nest, was that there was snow everywhere. That was wrong, it was Greenleaf! Most Rainclan cats were constantly at his den because they were overheated.

He looked around himself, taking in his surroundings. It was fairly dark out, though it wasn't night just yet. He guessed the darkness was from the heavy gray storm clouds above. The hill didn't appear to be anywhere in the forest, at least nowhere that he'd ever been. More snow started to fall around him, making Lonefly feel chilled. He watched as the snow turned into a storm, shortening his range of vision to only about a tail-length in front of him.

He almost jumped as a cat emerged in front of him. He recognized the tom immediately, as he'd visited him many times since his passing. "Briskwind!" Lonefly shouted above the storm. In his time as the Rainclan medicine cat, he'd been horribly disfigured. His front left leg had been broken, and healed at a wrong angle, and most of the left side of his face was missing, along with about three fourths of his tail. As a starclan cat, Briskwind was restored to the way he was before he took a ride down the river.

The silver tom smiled at his old apprentice, greeting him with only a nod. As his head bobbed, the snowstorm quelled almost instantly. Lonefly was surprised as he looked around and saw that the entire hill was covered in an eerie blue snow. He looked back up to where Briskwind had been standing, only to see that he was gone. In his place, a bloody rosette had formed in the snow, spreading outward and engulfing the hillside in a slow but effective process. Lonefly backed away from the blood red snow as it crept toward him, his heart racing.

"Pray for their return, Lonefly. For their coming will mark the end of the bloodshed that has plagued the forest for too long." Briskwinds voice seemed to come from everywhere, as Lonefly stood paralyzed as the blood red snow reached him. A wet stickiness crept up from his paws, as the turned the exact color and shade of the snow around him. Lonefly yowled out in terror, as he woke in his den. His breathing was fast and hard, and he quickly looked down at his paws. He sighed in relief; they were the same orange-yellow color they had always been.

He rose quickly and raced to Quickstars den to tell him of the dream.

--

Spadeheart appeared back in the main clearing, a tired and disheveled-looking Ashscatter in tow behind him. "Spadeheart tells me you plan to take Articpaw back to Rainclan?" His voice was wary and tired, he didn't seem like he trusted Cobalt at all.

"Yeah, and he says that the two of you are gonna' run afterwards." Cobalt was impatient with all this, he would have already had Articpaw and be halfway gone by now if he hadn't woken Spadeheart. "Now just tell me where she is, and I'll be on my way." They couldn't go straight to Rainclan, that would most likely cause a war to break loose, and Quickstar wasn't prepared for that. He'd take Articpaw to his den and wait for a day or two before taking as indirect a route as possible back to her camp.

Spadeheart bit his lip for a second before turning to Ashscatter. "I'll take him to Articpaw, you go on ahead and I'll meet you on the other side of the stream." Ashscatter looked at his little brother, surprise clear on his face. He'd expected the stream, it was a ways off there territory, and the scent would be washed away the second they crossed. But for Spadeheart to suggest that he go ahead and wait for him? They'd always done things together!

"I'll be right behind you," Spadeheart assured his brother, "But there's no way Articpaw would trust some random cat that shows up in the middle of the night to supposedly take her home." Ashscatter had to admit he had a point there. Cobalt lashed his tail impatiently.

"Fine." Ashscatter conceded, turning to the camp exit, "But hurry!" He left as quickly and quietly as he could, careful not to wake any sleeping cats. Cobalt turned to look at Spadeheart.

"Lead the way," His voice was laced with sarcasm, and Spadeheart narrowed his eyes at the diluted tortoiseshell. He lashed his tail and silently padded toward Bleachstars den.

Cobalt and Spadeheart had to pause as they reached the main chamber of Bleachstars den to let there eyes adjust to the darkness. Cobalt could make out the large white figure that had to be the sleeping Bleachstar. Just behind him, he could see another white figure, much smaller and more like cream then white. That had to be Articpaw.

Spadeheart glanced at Cobalt before walking very slowly in as broad an arch as he could around the Hailclan leaders sleeping form. He was terrified that any moment now, the beating of his frantic heart would wake the fearsome leader, and his life would end. Cobalt followed his example and gave Bleachstar a wide berth. They both stopped in front of Articpaw, Spadeheart glancing over his shoulder at Bleachstar before carefully nudging Articpaw.

The creamy white she-cat fluttered her eyes a little, before opening them fully, and staring up at Spadeheart. She turned her attention to Cobalt, her dainty frame quivering as she breathed fast. Clearly the shock of having a strange tom and Spadeheart intruding on her sleep in the middle of the night was a bit much for her.

As her blue gray eyes fastened on Cobalt, he felt that kick in the tail he'd foretold earlier. Fate had reared it's ugly head right at the wrong time. Icy talons gripped Cobalts stomach as he stared right back into Articpaws gaze. He winced as he felt his heart snap in two. He turned away from Articpaw and focused on Bleachstar so that her eyes couldn't play with his insides anymore.

He felt Spadeheart move beside him, motioning for Articpaw to follow them. Cobalt started toward the den mouth again, inwardly promising not to look at her again until he was safely away from all this, and she was back with her daddy at Rainclan territory. Cobalt wasn't weak, but this small she-cat made him feel… strange. He couldn't explain the feeling, since it was something he'd never felt before.

He could just barely hear Spadeheart and Articpaw behind him, and swore to himself he wouldn't look back. They emerged into the dimly lit main clearing, Cobalt glanced back briefly to see that Articpaw had stopped and was inhaling the night air as though it was the only thing she'd ever want to be doing. Cobalt felt another stab in his gut as he watched her. "Lets go." He said acidly, moving toward the exit and freedom as fast as he could on silent paws. He only glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were following, before turning his attention back to the task at hand.

As they ran through the forest to meet Ashscatter, Cobalts mind was working furiously. He hated what this she-cat did to him, his heart still felt like extremely sharp claws were embedding themselves in his heart. He wouldn't let some pathetic creature with beautiful creamy fur and big, bright amber eyes make a fool of him. No she-cat ever had, and he had sworn that no she-cat ever would. He hated her for everything! He wouldn't allow her to sink her claws into his heart ever again!

A few minutes ago, Cobalt was eager to be rid of Spadeheart and Ashscatter, convinced that they were only there to get in the way. But now, he considered inviting them back to his cave so that he wouldn't have to be alone with that witch-cat. It was after a few minutes of running that Cobalt scented the Hailclan border, and knew they were in neutral territory. Cobalt shivered as the icy stream soaked through his fur and drenched the skin beneath. On the other side, a bush shivered and Ashscatter stepped out, rushing forward to touch his nose to Spadehearts fur.

"Thank you Spadeheart, Ashscatter." Cobalt could hear the smile in her voice, even though he refused to look at her. Oh, Starclan, even her voice was beautiful. It wasn't hard for Cobalt to imagine why Bleachstar had kidnapped her.

The brothers grinned at her. "It was all because of Cobalt, anyway." Spadeheart was saying, his harsh feelings towards the rouge apparently gone. "Quickstar sent him to bring you back."

Cobalt felt her gaze of his multi-hued fur, and couldn't stop the shiver. "Then thank you, Cobalt." She meowed. Cobalt looked at her as acidly as he could manage, and registered her face change from gratitude to surprise.

"Don't' thank me yet, we're still in danger. And it wasn't my choice anyway." He looked back at Spadeheart and Ashscatter, registering their shocked expressions. "If you two have nowhere else to go, your welcome back at my den." He stood there and waited for their tongues to loosen enough to respond.

"Like we'd leave her alone with you anyway." Spadeheart replied just as acidly as Cobalt had, all feelings of good humor apparently gone.

"Follow me then." Cobalt refused to look at Articpaw as he turned and stalked off in the direction of his den. He heard Articpaw ask why they weren't going back to Rainclan territory, and Ashscatter explained why. Cobalt considered just dropping her back at her camp and letting her and her clan deal with whatever Bleachstar threw there way, but the idea of leaving Articpaw to deal with that was unbearable, even though he had decided to hate her.

He sighed to himself; this was going to be a hard couple of days for the rouge.