A/N: And this is the last chapter (NOT LAST INSTALLMENT!) of Together We Stand. The SEQUEL will be coming out in a couple days, the same day that the sort of 'epilogue' for this book comes out. On the epilogue I will have an AUTHORS NOTE telling where to go to GET to BOOK 2. Please, I beg you, READ that authors note!

I would like to thanks my reviewers Wishheart01, Clearfeather (Guest), Skourby77, Stormfeather of LakeClan, and Silver wolf rain!

Also, I would like to say I'm sorry to Stormfeather since Rainkit was her character... (you did get my pm with the choice to make another character, correct?)

Enjoy!

Ch.17

The sky seemed unusually gray in her eyes. She had gotten used to it. She knew it was unusual to have this much rain in leaf-fall. But it did fall- just like her heart. And then there was him, a dark brown tabby. She had first fell for a ginger tabby. Tabby. He had hazel eyes, big, beautiful, unblinking. And they looked at her with such love, such devotion, such sorrow. Maybe she should just follow her heart? But life had taken so much from her- her clan, her family, her mate… her kits. Would it be safe to love him?

"Blizzardstar?" a meow sounded from the den entrance.

It was him… she knew his meow from anywhere, "Yes Forestpath?"

"Bonekit was asking for you again…" the dark tabby tom hesitated.

"Oh," she made no move.

His eyes met hers, "You haven't visited them, well, since Crystalkit and Rainkit died."

Blizzardstar looked down at her paws, "I can't bring myself to."

Forestpath moved towards her, pressing his pelt against her own, "We have to trust our ancestors. Rainkit and Crystalkit are in a different place now, but that place has no more hurt, no more suffering, no more pain. They're with their father in a place of sunshine and boundless prey, a place of love and strength. And you know what? They would want their siblings and you to be happy."

A tear slide down Blizzardstar's cheek, "Your right, but it's just so hard… give me some time."

Forestpath nodded and hesitantly licked her cheek before leaving her to her thoughts.

The sun peeked out and almost as if a sign burned away the clouds. The sky became a
gorgeous blue, as brilliant as Blizzardstar's own eyes. And Forestpath waited. He noticed his apprentice had become slightly distant, as if unsure how he fit into clan life.

"Wolfpaw, would you like to work on your fishing?" Forestpath asked.

The dark gray and white tom slowly nodded and without a word followed Forestpath out of camp and on the rather long jog to the pond. Once at the water's edge Wolfpaw fell into a crouch, waiting for the ripple of scales under the water. Forestpath sat down.

"What's been bothering you, Wolfpaw?" he asked.

Wolfpaw didn't respond.

"You know, when I first arrived here I was uncertain how to act with such a big group of cats. I was born to a loner and most of the time I would stay by myself, occasionally checking back on my sister. Then one moon when I came back she told me she was expecting kits, but not any kits- his kits. She had fallen in love with the 'king' of the twolegplace. I almost immediately became one of his right-hand cats. At first he didn't do anything wrong and the twolegplace cats seemed to prosper. But when the kits where nearing their fourth moon our brother spoke out against him over a policy about taking strangers to the 'palace'- an old twoleg den- and questioning them for hours about what they knew and why they came. He killed our brother before we could react. That was the night Ash and I left with the kits. He chased us for a couple sunrises after with his two cronies. Finally he caught up and killed her and the two youngest kits. Without Feathersky and Stormpaw we would've all died. And that's why I tried out the clan- it gave us our lives," Forestpath finished his story.

Wolfpaw sat down, "Forestpath, I was born a kittypet. I knew nothing about the 'wild' or living in a group of cats. It was just my mother and my siblings- our father was another housecat my mother never knew. We were met to go to other housefolk and start lives as kittypet's there. But when Breezeheart came Cindy- sorry, Emberpaw and Bouncepaw wanted to be part of the clan so badly. I sort of did- the concept was confusing but interesting to me. So I went with them out of curiosity. But I'm beginning to think I'm just not cut out for this kind of thing. I want to be a warrior and I know I can hunt and fight, but I just don't fit in here. I don't have many friends and my siblings are always busy. And sir, I think I'm… I'm in love with your niece but she barely notices me!" Wolfpaw practically wailed the last line.

Forestpath's eyes widened, "Well… I can say that she does notice you."

"Really?" Wolfpaw's eyes widened.

The dark tabby's tail twitched, "You ought to ask her to do something with you…"

"Are you serious, I can?!" Wolfpaw practically squealed.

Forestpath nodded, "Go ahead, the fish can wait. And Wolfpaw- be yourself."

Wolfpaw grinned and took off.

I hope Hazelpaw isn't busy right now… or else Wolfpaw might explode. Talking about crushes… had Blizzardstar come out of her den yet? One way to find out…

She remembered the day Squirrelfang had told her that he loved her. The sky was just as blue today.

My dear, never forget the past but struggle for the future. Your paws are already set on the chosen path. Don't forget you family, but always allow it to grow.

Her head jerked up, "Squirrelfang?"

The ginger tabby that she had lost so many moons ago was not there, but lingering traces of his scent remained. He has visited her to give her strength and he had succeeded. She stood up, her legs trembling, and exited the den.

"Mommy!" a squeal sounded from the clearing as Sunkit raced forward, "Bonekit was teasing me over my paws again!"

A smile formed on the white leader's face… her kits hadn't changed since she had been gone, lost inside of herself and her memories. The clearing seemed to hush as the cats realized their leader had finally made an appearance.

"Hey Sunkit, Bonekit," Blizzardstar said weakly, "Where is Mosskit?"

"In the medicine den, he was helping Feathersky clean up," Bonekit replied, his gaze shadowed as if he was imaging his mother disappearing at any moment.

Blizzardstar leaned forwards and licked her son's head, "Don't worry. I'm back."

"Really?!" Sunkit squealed, overhearing.

"Yes really," she suddenly looked up, her eyes meeting Forestpath's.

"That's good, we thought we had all lost you," apparent joy was in his gaze.

"And what would we do without you?" a voice sounded from behind her, "Breezeheart was about to order us to do a jokes-and-fun night every fourth sunrise!"

"Cloudwhisker!" Blizzardstar twirled around to see her twin brother, a lopsided grin plastered onto his face.

"Now we all know that you want to spend some time with your kits…" the white tom paused, allowing Blizzardstar to make wild guesses of what he might say next, "But I think your boyfriend wants to do some hunting or something with you."

"CLOUDWHISKER!" Blizzardstar groaned.

Forestpath shrugged, "Well?"

She rolled her eyes, "Fine. Sunkit, Bonekit, both of you be good and tell your brother that I'll see him before nightfall."

The two kits nodded before getting back to their arguing. Blizzardstar shot Cloudwhisker a dirty look before following Forestpath into the forest. The trees had turned colors while she had been away in her den, red, orange, and yellow leaves made a colorful carpet on the forest floor. Forestpath rested his tail on her back; their paws rhythmically stirred the leaves.

"So, I found this place…" Forestpath paused as the border came into view.

Blizzardstar managed a small grin, "Well?"

"It's just off the territory… in the birch area."

"You went off the territory?" Blizzardstar glared at him.

He shrugged, "Oh come on; I'm not a kit anymore!"

"Fine…" she put a paw testily on the other side, her tail lashing from side to side.

Forestpath bounded ahead, almost as if baiting her to cross quicker. They continued on through the birches, the sounds of water slowly soothing the white leader's broken heart. Finally the stopped and Forestpath brushed the ferns out of the way, revealing a small trickling waterfall that opened up into a large, shallow pool. The leaves seemed even more vibrant in the area, and small late blooming flowers decorated the shoreline. The pool glittered with silver and gold scales clashing with the dark bluish river stone background. The water ran so pure, so clear as if it was glass.

"Wow," the sight took Blizzardstar's breath away as she reached forward and dipped a paw into the warm water.

Forestpath didn't say anything, instead sitting beside her at shoreline. The water lapped at their paws and Blizzardstar found herself starring into those hazel eyes… the same hazel eyes that had brought her out of her grief.

"Forestpath-" her voice was barely more than a whisper.

The dark brown tabby took a deep breath, whisking his tail across her mouth to keep her from talking, "Wait, Blizzardstar, there is something I wanted to tell you… that I have been wanting to tell you for ages."

She nodded slightly for him to continue.

"I… I love you."

Her breath caught and he drew back, afraid he had said the wrong thing, but instead she drew closer to him, "I love you, too."

A/N: So I figure you guys aren't used to such chapters like that coming out from me... actually I think I'm best at writing romantic scenes, they seem to come naturally. The next book will have a couple of these, with all the main characters having some sort of crush around the time of the plot.

You'll see.

VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ BELOW!

While this is the last chapter there will be an EPILOGUE sort of poem. In that I will leave an authors note with directions and the link to get to book 2, if you have ANY QUESTIONS PM ME OR LEAVE A REVEIW! The name of Book 2 is Together We Fight.

This is your final chapter question for this book!

Q)Who is the all time cutest pairing (or pairing you would have liked to see in the book)?

A) BlizzardXSquirrel

B) BlizzardXForest

C) CloudxBreeze

D) BandanaxSong (who you will all here more about in book 2)

E) GrayxEmber

F) WolfxHazel

See you in 1-3 days!

~Willow

My Answer:

B) Blizzardstar X Forestpath, he was met to be with her since the beginning of the book, I knew that even before I thought of Squirrelfang X Blizzardstar. In fact, I invented him for her! XP