The sun was now high in the sky as Rainbowheart continued on her trek up north. She had hoped to find a place to rest soon, deciding a long time ago to travel more by starlight, letting the stars guide her and enjoying their company. Though she had seen a few twoleg houses, there were no cats in sight, so she hadn't had any "real" company since leaving ThunderClan. She had longed for conversation, anything that would keep her spirits and sanity intact since she hadn't heard from StarClan in a while.

The black-and-white she-cat sighed, bored, as she quietly walked on through the tranquil forest. That's when she heard it, a painful screech echoing through the trees. Rainbowheart stopped, listened, and opened her mouth. Then the screech sounded again, and the smell of blood wafted over her. Without hesitating she quickly ran in the direction of the screech. It was definitely a cat in trouble that much she could tell.

"Help!" a voice yelled out. Rainbowheart ran faster getting closer to the sound. As she got closer another sound could be heard. It was a growling noise accompanied by snapping jaws. The sound was familiar, and as she broke out of the brush into a small clearing she knew why. A fight was ensuing in front of her. On one side was a large fox, and on the other were two she-cats, desperately trying to defend two young kits.

One of the cats, a pure white with green eyes, looked pretty beat up. She had a big gash across her shoulder and blood was dripping down from her chest. Rainbowheart didn't think she could last much longer. The other cat, a black cat with a large white streak down her left side and green eyes, kept looking from the fox to the bleeding cat beside her. She had a freshly torn ear and some scratches on her flanks.

They looked like they needed help, and in the warrior's mind, she had to actually think about it all. There were times when it was good of someone to help, and with this situation involving young kits, there was no other option but to help. Without thinking it over a second time, Rainbowheart ran out to stand beside the two cats.

The red-eyed warrior looked straight at the fox, fur on end and hissed furiously at it. Then without looking at the confused cats beside her she addressed them, "Hurry, get those kits out of here. I'll hold this fleabag off." She continued to hiss at the red beast, getting angry growls in return.

The two cats looked at each other, not sure what to do. That's when the fox made a dash at them, the red beast growling loudly. As fast as she could, Rainbowheart jumped on the fox's back, claws unsheathed, and clamped on, trying to get the fox to move away from the other cats.

The fox shook furiously trying to shake Rainbowheart off, and tried to stretch its head back to grab her. Rainbowheart kept her grip on the angry creature never letting go, though her body was indeed ready to give out.

Rainbowheart looked up for a quick second to see that the cats had begun to leave. The white she-cat was quickly herding the two kits into the bushes and she too soon disappeared. The only cat left was the black one who was looking from the bushes to the two battling animals. "Just go, hurry!" Rainbowheart yelled at the unsure cat furiously.

There was a look of uncertainty come over the black she-cat's features, until she soon went to disappearing after the others.

Now that they were out of danger, Rainbowheart could knock the fox's head around a bit. Maybe take off for a tree to hide up in. That's when pain shot through her foreleg and she was dragged down from her perch on top of the fox's back. It seemed that while she was making sure the cats left safely, the fox had been able to stretch back far enough to grab her. It threw her down on the ground with a harsh thump.

Rainbowheart looked up at the fox which was rearing up on its hind legs. Desperately, she tried to stand up, but was only able to stumble a little bit away before the fox brought itself down to try and crush its opponent. Luckily she had moved just enough that the fox missed, but she wasn't so sure it would miss next time, especially with her small body having been worn out.

This time the fox stepped down on Rainbowheart's side, making it hard for her to move. She urgently thrashed about, lashing her claws out, sadly missing their target. The fox seemed to laugh as it opened its jaws, which carried a rank smell that made Rainbowheart's nose curl. The young cat closed her eyes, waiting for her end to come, hoping it to be swift. She was going to die before she could complete her mission.

Just then a screech sounded, and Rainbowheart felt the weight of the huge fox lift off of her. She waited a moment to catch her breath, huffing several times, her chest expanding and falling, before opening her eyes. Certainly a surprise awaited her unusual red gaze as there in front of her, fighting and dodging the fox, was the black she-cat. It appeared that the young warrior on the ground, had a savior.

Rainbowheart was frozen with surprise, until the cat turned to look at her with a burning green gaze. "Well, are you going to just lie there all day, or are you going to help me fight this flea-bitten mange-pelt?" the cat called gruffly, taking a few swipes at the fox, which had run forward at her. The cat nimbly leaped to the side, letting the fox run past her, and this time raking her claws on its back leg.

Rainbowheart nodded, and stood up shaking around her foreleg to get it working. Once she was sure it worked, she ran toward the fox with her claws unsheathed. As soon as she got close enough she rolled underneath and took a swipe at the fox's underbelly, receiving a sharp howl. The blow had to have been a direct hit. She could see blood dripping from the wound.

The fox staggered a bit, but wasn't given time to recover before the black she-cat swiped at its muzzle, drawing more blood. With that, the fox had had enough, and slowly backed up before turning tail and running off into the forest. After the fox had disappeared the two exhausted cats that had fought bravely looked at each other and nodded. Only the black she-cat gave a look of gleeful content, with Rainbowheart giving her one of neutrality.

Still, Rainbowheart was the first to speak. "Thanks for coming back to help me before I got turned into crow-food." She then sat down and was about to bow her head, though seeing as she wasn't in the presence of a Clan cat, it wasn't worth her time doing. "My name's Rainbowheart," she stated, swiping her tongue over her paw and running it across her right ear.

The black she-cat also sat down before she spoke. "My name's Streak, and it's me that should be thanking you. If you hadn't come along, my sister, her kits, and I would have been done for."

"It was my pleasure. Helping others is… something of a hobby for me," Rainbowheart exclaimed, though there was a slight irritation in her tone when she stated the last part. As if getting her mind off of the irritation though, she then remembered something. "Hey, your sister is badly injured isn't she?" This was only a guess, as she remembered the white cat's wounds before she had vanished.

Streak's eyes had widened when the strange she-cat had brought attention to this, and the black cat shot up on her paws to run off in the direction that she had come from. Quickly Rainbowheart dashed off to follow the cat, keeping up with her, though with slight difficulty. Trees zoomed by them, and the occasional squirrel or bird scurried out of their way.

It wasn't too long until the young warrior came to a stop right behind Streak, and once again she was panting from exhaustion. Red eyes glancing about, Rainbowheart noticed that they had stopped at the edge of a much larger clearing, and stood in front of a burrow that had a smell that reminded Rainbowheart of the ThunderClan nursery. Just at the thought of ThunderClan sent the bitter taste of longing through her, though she quickly shook it off, paying attention now to the noises coming from inside.

"Mommy, please get up."

Frantic squealing could be heard coming from within the burrow. Streak ran in, Rainbowheart close behind, until they reached a roomy opening inside the burrow. The burrow itself seemed abnormally spacey. It could easily fit at least five more cats. In front of the two cats the beautiful white queen lay before them breathing heavily, with the two kits trying to get her up.

Seeing the fallen cat, Streak ran up to her sister and bent close to her, licking her wounds, willing the bleeding to stop. She was frantic, hoping that this was all merely a terrible nightmare and that it wasn't really happening.

Rainbowheart could tell the queen was in serious trouble and nothing that the black she-cat was doing could possibly help. If nothing better was done, she would die. Pity for the white cat easily spread throughout her, noticing the confused kits in the burrow with them.

"Please Jade, you have to be strong," Streak was pleading to her sister, willing her to get better, "What will your kits do without you?" Rainbowheart could hear the tears that were on the verge of streaming down the devastated cat's face. It was a long-shot, but without anymore thought she knew exactly what needed to be done right now.

Rainbowheart walked up to the injured cat and looked her over, noting all of the cuts and gashes, then turned to Streak, who had looked up with tears coming down from her eyes. "Are there any cobwebs around here, we're going to need to stop the bleeding," her voice was calm, and her eyes held a deep worry that could be conveyed to Streak, in the hope that the other cat would calm.

It took Streak a few seconds to register the question, the she-cat taking a few deep breaths before stuttering out her answer. "Um, I-I think there's some near the front of the burrow. Can you help her? Please you just have to save her!" Never would this she-cat have asked anyone for help so urgently, though right now, she was asking this stranger that had saved them, exactly for that.

"Yes, I think I can, but you need to do as I say. And you must remain calm." Rainbowheart turned her attention to the kits, who were too busy trying to comfort their bleeding mother. "Those kits need reassuring, and the best way to do that is to stay strong, and show them that their mother will be alright. Now, go fetch those cobwebs, as much as you can." She was now facing Streak, a hard gaze directed at the black cat. "And hurry."

Throughout this whole thing, Rainbowheart was calm. It was in these cats' best interest she be calm, and because she had interfered in that fight, they were her responsibility for now.

Without hesitation Streak took off for the burrow entrance, and Rainbowheart's attention was once more placed on her new patient and the mewling kits.

"Alright now, can you both tell me your names, while we wait on Streak? I have to know your names if you're going to help." She looked at the kits, which had stopped fussing over their mother, and were now looking at her.

"My name is Topaz," squeaked the fluffy little golden tom with blue eyes.

"And I'm Sparrow," exclaimed the short-furred black she-kit with white spotted fur, and yellow eyes. Then she piped in, "Is mommy going to be ok?"

"We don't want her to die," cried her brother, and soon both were whining. It was only after Rainbowheart sighed deeply, and began to shush them, that they finally quieted down.

The next thing she said, was either going to be a lie, or the truth, but there was no telling which it would be, until fate could determine it. "Your mother will be fine, but you both need to calm down. Now I need you to help me so that she can get better, ok?" It pricked her mind that if the cat died, she would be at fault for leading the kits to believe a false-hope, but they both nodded to her words and perked up at the thought of helping with their bleeding mother. It would be hard to work with kits crying, so this was good.

By this time Streak was bounding back with a paw completely covered in cobwebs. "W-will this be enough?" she asked, short of breath. It shouldn't have been that hard to find the webs, but along the way back she had accidentally destroyed some of the catch, and had to hurry back and get more.

Nodding in approval of the thing of web, Rainbowheart looked back to the kits. "I want you two to help her clean up your mother's wounds," she addressed them before giving attention to Streak.

"Place some cobweb on her wounds to soak up the blood, then replace them when they get dirty and leave those ones on. By the time I get back, the bleeding should have stopped by a lot." She turned to walk back out of the burrow, but was stopped by Streak who had a bit of panic in her fleeting green eyes.

"Wait, where are you going? I need your help. What if she dies, what if-"

Rainbowheart touched her tail to Streak's shoulder to get her to quiet down. "Don't worry, I'll be right back. I promise." This was a truth that the she-cat spoke, and this was all that was needed for Streak to nod and pad back over to her sister's side to dress her wounds. With one more cat discouraged from their former panicky state, Rainbowheart walked off to find some herbs, hoping she could find some.