I'M BACK!!!!!! I know I've been gone for a while, but, you know, school... and I had an author's block too, so please don't hurt me. Anyways.... REVIEW ANSWER TIME!!!!!!

The Underwater Seahorse - lolz. Nice guess. That's not really what's gonna happen, but good try anyway. :)

Lilyheart Medicine Cat - I dunno. (shrugs) And even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you.

Allan Pike - No, I will not tone things down a bit. If I tone things down a bit, it will be borishly boring. XD

Cinnamonpool - Hmm.... that's a lot of questions... well, the only one I can answer is that no, Pinestar is deinitely not the cat from the prologue.

Mudheart - (looks mysterious) Maybe... maybe not...

*~Amberleaf~* - :3 You're close...... kind of.

Pottercat - Oh... about Tale of the Sand Storm... I'm gonna delete it soon. I got bored with it and just stopped writing. :( But it's good to hear from you!

- Thank you, thank you. (bows)

WarriorsRockMyWorld - (continues to look mysterious)

Angelfang - Thanks. :)

Streamshower - You want a snowyfeather voodoo doll? Ok. (hands over a Snowyfeather voodoo doll) Enjoy.

Silverstorm - Thankees!

Waterdragon - Thank you!

Feralkit - XD

Tear of Mist - So do I.

Well, that's all of them. Hope you like the chapter!

-Squirrelflightlover

Sandycloud padded out of the warriors den in early morning. Something white fell on her nose. She shook it off, then looked up, joy sparkling in her green eyes. It was snowing! She walked over to the freshkill pile, where Streampaw was sitting.

"Hi!" she meowed.

"Hi, Sandycloud!" Streampaw replied back excitedly. "Guess what? It's snowing!"

Sandycloud laughed. "I don't really need to guess."

Streampaw ran around in circles. "But this is so COOL! I've never seen snow before! Dad told me and Pigeonpaw and Crystalpaw what it was awhile ago!"

"Your father?" Sandycloud pricked her ears. "Where is he now?"

"Somewhere with Mom, I guess," Streampaw shrugged. "I haven't seen her lately. Have you?"

"Not really." Sandycloud shook her head.

Streampaw looked worried. "Well, that's bad. She's always around you because of you-know-what." Her brow furrowed. "But she was gone all day yesterday."

Sandycloud had to hold her breath so that she wouldn't laugh. "It might be a bad thing for you, but for me it's a good thing."

Streampaw shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Oh, I forgot to tell you! Shrubfoot's gonna take me out to see the stream today! He said it got covered with ice overnight!"

Sandycloud smiled at the young apprentice's enthusiasm. "Ah, I see."

At that moment exactly, Snowyfeather padded into the camp. Sandycloud raised her eyebrows in surprise. The she-cat's fur was all wet, as if she had been in water recently, and her eyes danced with something... triumph? Happiness? Sandycloud didn't know.

"Hi, Mom!" Streampaw meowed, waving at her mother. Snowyfeather's head turned, and she fixed her daughter with an icy glare. "Hello."

Streampaw flinched and looked down at the vole she had been eating.

Snowyfeather padded up to them and looked at Sandycloud coldly. "Hi, Half-Clan."

"Don't call me that," Sandycloud hissed.

"What'cha gonna do about it?" Snowyfeather replied smugly. "Run off to your CloudClan mummy and cry?"

Sandycloud growled, then forced herself to remain calm. "I didn't see you yesterday? Where were you?"

"None of your business," retorted Snowyfeather. "Why? What's it to you?"

"No reason. Just that Flamestar might've been worried about you," Sandycloud replied innocently.

Snowyfeather snorted. "Flamestar? Well, he might've been, but he knows that I like to go off on my own sometimes. I don't need some idiot Half-Clan to point that out to me." She whipped around and padded into the warriors den. Wet droplets of water flew into Sandycloud's face. She growled and shook it off.

Streampaw stood up, her unfinished vole still on the ground. "I'm gonna go see Srubfoot now. Bye." She walked slowly away. Sandycloud watched her go, then picked out a mouse from the pile and tucked in. Stupid Snowyfeather... she thought as she took a bite.

As soon as she had finished eating, Sandycloud looked around for Flamestar to see if he had seen Snowyfeather yet. She saw him padding out of his den, freeze, then race over to Snowyfeather and lick her ear happily. She sighed. For the billionth and one time, she wished it was herself in Snowyfeather's place.

She looked around for Duskwing or Bloodfeather. They weren't there. Probably off somewhere hunting. After a last look around, she padded out into the forest.

The ice cold snow prickled at her nose, making her sneeze, but she pressed on. She wanted to get as far away from the camp as possible so that she could think. Then she brightened. She should visit Rose and Night! She hadn't seen them in forever. With that though in mind, she hurried along. The snow on the ground became deeper every second, so she went on as fast as she could.

And then it stopped snowing. Sandycloud looked down. Her paws had just begun to disappear in the deep white stuff. Thank StarClan it stopped, she thought. If it had gone on much longer I'd be buried in this.

She looked around for the familiar barn. Unfortunately, she realized, she'd come to a not-so-familiar place.

"Oh great," she moaned. She looked around just in case she might recall her surroundings. She couldn't. Sighing, she decided she might as well try to find out where she was heading to. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would find some fresh-kill. So she continued to walk. Tall oak trees brushed up against her on all sides. Sandycloud stuggled through the snow, feeling relieved that she had thick fur.

After what seemed likes decades, Sandycloud saw a light up ahead. She poked her head curiously above a large rock.

In front of her was what looked like a gigantic box of wood. On the top of the box, a pointy thing stood straight up, smoke billowing out of it. It took Sandycloud a few minutes to realize that she was staring at a Twoleg nest.

She would've gone forward to check the next out if the door to the nest hadn't opened. She froze. A Twoleg emerged from the nest, carrying two cats. Sandycloud blinked, her heart pounding. She hoped the Twoleg wouldn't see her.

The Twoleg paused, muttered something, then flung the two cats it was holding into the snow. The cats lay sprawled across the ground, the white stuff muffling their landing. One of them, a black and white tom, stood up and yowled at the Twoleg, "You can't do this to us! You're our housefolk!! Let us in!!!" He rushed at the open door, but the Twoleg got in before him and slammed it in his face. The tom fell over, clutching his nose with a paw. "Ow," he hissed, then rushed over to the other cat, a golden tabby she-cat. "Nellie! Are you ok?"

The she-cat stood up. "I'm fine, Oreo," she meowed, although she didn't sound fine. Her voice was weak, and she was coughing and shaking badly. The tom pressed against her, and Sandycloud noted with wide eyes that the she-cat was pregnant. Her heart went out to the pair. I can't believe their Twoleg would do that!! she thought angrily.

But before Sandycloud could make a move to help them, two cats burst out of the bushes and surrounded the kittypets. They weren't Twoleg pets; they were rogue cats, willing to kill anything that tresspassed in what they thought was their territory.

The first one, a brown tom, grabbed Oreo and flung him away from Nellie. The other one, a large, scarred white tom grabbed Nellie and held her by the scruff of her neck. Nellie struggled weakly. "Let go!"

Oreo gasped and stood up. "Nellie! Don't you dare hurt her, you brute!"

"Brute?" the white tom asked, grinning between Nellie's scruff. "How'd you know my name? Nice to meet you. But this isn't time for introductions." He glared at Oreo. "What are you doing on our territory?"

"Your territory!?!?" Oreo hissed. "We live here!"

Brute nodded to the brown cat, who promptly jumped and raked his claws across Oreo's chest. Oreo yowled in pain and fell down to the ground, panting. Sandycloud winced from her hiding spot. These kittypets weren't used to fighting. They didn't stand a chance.

Brute chuckled. "You live inside, not outside. Inside is your territory, outside is ours."

Oreo stood up, his blood stained chest heaving. "I'm warning you! If you don't let go of her, I'll - "

"You'll what? Hit yourself?" Brute smiled, pressing his claws against Nellie's face. "If you make a move or don't give me a proper explanation as to why you tresspassed, your pretty little friend here will never live to see a sunny day again." He glanced downwards. "Neither will her kits."

Oreo growled, but could do nothing, just stand there and watch helplessly as Nellie squirmed in the white cat's grip.

"Now tell me," Brute meowed slowly. "Why have you tresspassed?" He poked a claw against Nellie's throat. "You'd better give the right answer. Or else."

"We weren't tresspassing!" Oreo hissed.

"Wrong answer," the tom grinned. "Say bye-bye to your friend."

"NO!!" Oreo began to rush at Brute, but was pushed aside by the brown tom. Brute grinned and brought his claws down.

Sandycloud couldn't take it anymore. She sprang from the cover of the rock and onto the white tom. "Let go of her, you piece of foxdung!"

"Foxdung!?!" Brute dropped Nellie, who immediately scampered up a tree. The tom whirled on Sandycloud, growling. "Nobody calls me foxdung!" He attacked Sandycloud, biting down on her ear. Sandycloud's ear began to throb viciously. The tom again thrust out an unsheathed paw, but Sandycloud dodged just in time. With a snarl she leapt forward and raked her claws down Brute's eyes. The tom yelled in pain, staggering off to the side. Blood dripped down his face. Sandycloud smiled in satisfaction. He had been blinded. "That's what you get." Leaving the tom to moan, she whipped around to face the other brown rogue. "I'm game for another fight," she snarled, sinking her claws into the snow. The cat stared at her, then zipped away faster than Sandycloud could have imagined.

"Coward!" Sandycloud yowled after him, then rushed over to Oreo. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Oreo struggled to his paws. "Where's Nellie? Is she all right?"

"She went up a tree." Sandycloud looked around, then saw the plump golden tabby slide down to the ground.

"Nellie!" Oreo rushed over and began to lick Nellie's ears. "Did that cat hurt you?"

"N - No," Nellie stuttered, unable to say anything else. She stared at Sandycloud in awe.

Oreo turned around and dipped his head to Sandycloud, gratitude etched all over his face. "Thank you. If you hadn't gotten here in time my mate would be dead." He pressed closer to Nellie, trying to warm her. "What's your name?"

"Sandycloud."

"Odd name." Oreo cocked his head. "Are you one of those forest cats?"

Sandycloud nodded. "I live with a Clan called FireClan. But you wouldn't know about that." She looked at Oreo's chest. "You're hurt badly. I can take you to my Clan. We have medicine cats that can heal you."

"No, that won't be necessary," Oreo meowed quickly, but Nellie stammered, "Oreo, we have to go, or we'll freeze to death out here."

Oreo glanced at his mate, then nodded. "Very well. Where is this Clan of yours?"

Sandycloud turned back to the forest, hearing the blind rogue stand up, run off, then bang into a tree. She smiled. "Just follow me."

...Sand...Fire...

Webclaw shook his head and looked down at Oreo and Nellie, muttering, "If I could lay my paws on those Twolegs..."

"You'll be able to cure him, won't you?" Sandycloud promptly asked, looking at Oreo, who had become unconscious. Nellie stood to one side, still shivering and staring at her mate with wide, scared eyes.

Webclaw scoffed and answered her question with another question. "Can birds fly?" He bent his head down and pressed another wad of cobwebs against Oreo's chest. "He'll be perfectly fine by the time I'm through with him."

Sandycloud heard a rustle behind her, but didn't turn around as Grayflower's voice panted, "I got here as fast as I could. I was out looking for some good herbs when Bloodfeather came running to tell me." The she-cat raced over to Oreo's side. "How is he?"

"He'll be fine," Webclaw grunted.

"H - How can we ever repay you?" Nellie mewed, speaking for the first time.

Webclaw waved a paw at her. "You don't have to repay us. The only thing I want is to know that you'll both be all right."

Nellie's eyes flooded with grateful tears. Hastily Sandycloud asked, "So why did your Twoleg throw you out?"

Nellie stiffened. "It wasn't Oreo's fault," she hissed. "That Twoleg kit was trying to drown me in a bucket of water - "

"Drown you??" Sandycloud, Webclaw, and Grayflower said at the same time.

Nellie nodded miserably. "And Oreo scratched him. Badly. I was glad he did that for me, but the grown Twoleg saw what happened and threw us out in the snow." Her lip trembled. "They haven't been treating us that well ever since they found out I was going to have kits." She lowered her head and went silent.

Sandycloud pressed comfortingly against the she-cat. "Well, at least you're alive. Come on, I'll show you to the nursery." She steered Nellie out of the medicine den and to the nursery. Sandycloud felt many pairs of eyes looking at them curiously. Then they stopped as a white cat blocked their way.

"Who's that?" Snowyfeather meowed abruptly.

Sandycloud glared at her. "Move."

"Not gonna move until you answer. Who is she?"

"She's a cat from Twolegplace," Sandycloud muttered as softly as she could, but Snowyfeather heard it and looked scornfully at Nellie. "A kittypet? First Half-Clans, now kittypets. What is the forest coming to?"

"It'll come to an end if you keep jabbering away like that," Sandycloud spat.

Snowyfeather eyed them coolly. "Are we taking her in?"

"That depends," Sandycloud mumbled.

Snowyfeather wasn't giving up yet. "And she's having kits?"

Sandycloud's temper snapped. "What does it look like?" she snarled. "Now move! She's freezing!"

Snowyfeather glared at them both for a few more seconds before moving aside to let them pass. Sandycloud rushed Nellie into the nursery and sat her down on some fresh moss. The other queens raised their heads and looked over curiously.

"Who's that?" Frailwing asked. Beside her, three kits popped up and blinked wide eyes at Sandycloud.

Sandycloud was taken aback and momentarily forgot what she was doing. "You gave birth?"

Frailwing beamed. "Yes!" She pushed her kits forward with her tail. "The black one's Shadowkit, the brown tabby is Rushkit, and the black and gray one is Glarekit."

Sandycloud looked down at the kits. Shadowkit was staring at his paws with a very moody expression, Rushkit was beaming up at Sandycloud, looking innocent, and Glarekit met her gaze quite calmly. Sandycloud blinked. Glarekit's eyes were narrowed downwards, frozen in a permanent glare. "What happened to him?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound offensive.

"He was born that way," Frailwing meowed.

"I'll have to congratulate their father," Sandycloud said, thinking of Ravenwhisker and wondering if he knew already.

"So who's she?" Swirlstream piped up.

"This is Nellie," Sandycloud meowed, looking over at Nellie, who had been watching them intently. The golden tabby stood up hastily and mewed, "Um... well, hi."

The two queens returned the greeting. Sandycloud then told them about what had happened earlier. Swirlstream eyed the kittypet. "You're having kits? Really? Are you going to stay here? Are you going to let your kits stay here? Will you go back to Twolegplace? Will you live with that horrible Twoleg again? Will you - ?" Her voice became muffled by Frailwing's tail.

Nellie blinked slowly. "We - as in to say, Oreo and I - haven't decided yet." She became silent.

"So - ?" Swirlstream began again, but Frailwing hissed quietly to her, "Not now! Can't you see she's tired?"

Sandycloud stood up. "Well, I'll just be going then." She exited the nursery before the queens could say anything else.

As she pushed through the snow, she walked straight into Flamestar and sent him sprawling to the ground. Sandycloud's eyes widened. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, Flamestar, I didn't mean to hit you, I was, I mean, I was just - "

Flamestar stood up and chuckled. "You should see your face, Sandycloud."

"My face?" Sandycloud froze. She hoped her face wasn't betraying her feelings to him. "Wha - What's wrong with my face?"

"Nothing, really, except you look like panicked squirrel," he laughed.

Sandycloud relaxed a bit. "Oh, well, that's good, I mean, that's, um... funny," she finished feebly.

If Flamestar noticed the tone of her voice, he showed no sign of it. "So what's all this about kittypets in the Clan? Snowyfeather told me," he added after she looked blank.

Sandycloud forced herself not to roll her eyes and recounted the story again. When she was done, Flamestar nodded. "I see. Well, they can stay as long as they want. I'll tell the Clan later." He padded off.

Cursing herself, Sandycloud walked over to the fresh kill pile and sat down, staring at the prey but not eating.

A few seconds later, Ravenwhisker walked through the camp entrance with Bearfoot and Whisperwing and sat down beside Sandycloud. "Hi," he meowed.

Sandycloud nodded curtly to him, remembering briefly about the times that he used to taunt her. "Congratulations, by the way."

Ravenwhisker looked confused. "What'd I do?" he asked uncertainly.

"You didn't do anything. Wait, you mean you don't know?" Sandycloud stared at him.

"Know what?" he asked, looking suspicious.

"About Frailwing giving birth."

Ravenwhisker jumped up, forgetting all about the thrush he had been about to eat. "What!?!?" Without another word he raced into the nursery.

Repressing the urge to laugh, Sandycloud stood, stretched, and padded into the warriors den, where she met Bloodfeather and Duskwing, both who were looking excited.

"What's up?" Sandycloud asked.

Duskwing opened her mouth, but Bloodfeather had already said, "The sky's what's up!"

The silver she-cat smacked him on the head.

Bloodfeather rubbed his ear. "What was that for?"

"For being idiotic," Duskwing snapped, although she looked more amused then angry. She turned to Sandycloud. "I'm having kits!"

It took Sandycloud a moment to register this, then her face blanked again. "You're kidding. Who's the father?"

"Mr. Idiot here," Duskwing mewed, glancing at Bloodfeather, who didn't seem to have heard her last comment and was strutting over to Thrushpelt, meowing, "Yeah, did you hear that? I'm gonna be a father!"

Sandycloud laughed as she heard Thrushpelt yell, "YEAH, AND YOU'VE BEEN TELLING ME THAT ABOUT FIFTY TIMES!!!"

"Sorry that we kept forgetting to tell you. It's been so busy these days. But you probably knew anyway. And with that said... Why didn't you come earlier to congratulate us?" Duskwing demanded. "Seriously, I would've thought that you of all cats - "

"I've sorta been busy," Sandycloud meowed apologetically before telling the story about Nellie and Oreo once again. Duskwing and Bloodfeather, who had come back over at the mention of Twolegs, gasped.

"Those poor cats," Duskwing murmured.

Bloodfeather shook his head. "Jeez. Twolegs have problems."

Duskwing stood up. "I think I'll go see Nellie." She walked off briskly to the nursery. Bloodfeather looked up, looking surprised at being alone with Sandycloud. For a moment he looked awkward, then he meowed, "Erm, Sandycloud?"

"Yeah?" Sandycloud turned to look at him.

"Do you think we could just... forget about what happened a few moons ago?" he mumbled.

Sandycloud blinked, remembering when they had been apprentices, and Bloodfeather had told her that he was in love with her. "Yes, I think we ought to forget about that." She patted his shoulder. "Good to see you went on with life, though. Duskwing's happier then ever."

"Yeah." Bloodfeather's eyes sparkled. "Duskwing's a wonderful she-cat. I love her more than I could ever say. And probably more than I'd ever love you. No offense," he added quickly.

Sandycloud smiled. "No offense at all. I mean, I'm sure you do love me, but only as friends. Right?"

Bloodfeather nodded hastily. "Uhhuh, only as friends, nothin' else, whatever ya say, miss." He stood up. "I think I'm gonna go to the nursery too. Bye bye, Sandycloud." He turned and left quickly. Sandycloud was left sitting there, lost in thought. Then she shrugged, curled up, and fell asleep.

Sandycloud was dreaming. She was standing in an unfamiliar area. Blood soaked the ground at her paws. She stiffened as she heard a noise near her. "Who's there?" she asked. No answer.

Feeling increasingly worried, Sandycloud leapt onto a tree branch and gazed at her surroundings. All was quiet. And then suddenly claws came slashing out of the air towards her. Sandycloud yowled and fell down as the claws tore at her face and neck. She stared up, horrified, as a strange cat moved into view. He seemed vaguely familiar, but who was he? He glared down at her with hard, cold black eyes and meowed in a deep voice, "Your end is near. We are coming."

"Wha - What do you mean?" Sandycloud stammered.

She received no reply. The cat looked down at her with those hard eyes, then his claws came down for the last time.

Sandycloud woke abruptly, panting. She stared wildly around. The moon had come up, and some other cats had already crowded inside the warriors den. Blinking and trying to clear her mind, Sandycloud wrinkled her nose at the smell of blood. She continued to look around, but saw nothing. Sandycloud slumped back down on her nest and closed her eyes again, soon breathing slowly and peacefully. She dreamt of nothing else the rest of the night.

I probably rushed a bit with this chapter, but who cares? Anyways, if you're wondering why I introduced Nellie and Oreo in the story, then I'll just say that they both have important roles in the story later on.

WOOT!!!! DUSKWING'S HAVING BLOODFEATHER'S KITS!!! YAY!!!!!!!! XD

So, if you review, you get.... NELLIE AND OREO PLUSHIES!!!!! And also GLAREKIT PLUSHIES!!!! Cuz he's important too. Oh, yes, he's verrrrrrrrrry important.