Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors.

Review Response: Painted Inkblot [& everyone else] -- Yeah, I know that they wouldn't use 'damned'/'damn'. I'll try to refrain from using it in the future, but...there are only so many times you can say foxdung before you either lose your appetite or get bonked on the head by annoyed reviewers. xD

As for why Spottedleaf didn't get the prophecy...good question. ^^ I think the main reason is that Rusty wasn't really born in this story. So no fire to do anything to anyone.

Âme Empoisonnée

"Oh, no."

Runningwind had stopped dead, and was staring at something in the middle of a small, dark clearing. Ravenpaw tried to peer over Longtail's shoulder, who was smaller and had stopped right behind the oldest of the three.

"Oh, no," Runningwind echoed, his tabby fur rising gradually. "This can't be. It can't. Can you believe it, Longtail? Ravenpaw? It's impossible. StarClan would never let anyone do this."

"I might believe it," Ravenpaw retorted, "if I could see it."

Longtail laid his striped tail on the black cat's shoulder in a futile effort to comfort him. Ravenpaw shook the tail off. "It's Whitestorm's body, Ravenpaw," Longtail whispered solemnly. "It's torn to shreds. See for yourself if you dare."

As Longtail retreated to where Ravenpaw had stood, the apprentice stepped up to Longtail's former position. His green eyes widened, half in surprise and half in horror. The scene before him was a gruesome one.

A white-furred cat head and neck lay in the farthest part of the clearing from them. Next to it was a paw, and half of a tail. Two legs and another paw lay more toward the center of the area. Closest to them was a leg, two paws, three thirds of a leg, and the other part of the tail.

Longtail had told Ravenpaw who it was, but Ravenpaw couldn't stop himself from focusing his gaze on the head. The features were, to his horror, recognizable. The cat was indeed Whitestorm. And Whitestorm was indeed dead. In pieces. Strewn across the forest floor.

"What'll we tell Bluestar?" Longtail asked Runningwind, his voice shaking. Whitestorm was the son of Snowfur, Bluestar's sister, so the two cats were rather close.

"I bet we won't have to tell her anything," the brown tabby murmured. "I bet she has suffered the same fate. I bet she's in just as many pieces as Whitestorm."

Ravenpaw inched toward the two warriors. "I bet," he offered, "that Brokenstar's behind all this." When it was clear that he had their attention, he went on. "A fox would've eaten him, and a badger wouldn't have killed him this way. Brokenstar is the only cat capable of this."

Longtail dug his claws into the ground. "If I ever get my paws on that heap of fox-dung…"

Runningwind's eyes were narrowed, half-angrily and half-thoughtfully. "You're right, Ravenpaw. Brokenstar must be the murderer." He paused, his head tilted to one side. "Why is he trying to kill us off? I know he doesn't like us, but ShadowClan never did this before."

"ShadowClan didn't have Brokenstar before," Longtail growled. "What will that cursed rat do next? Take Redtail and Lionheart and Tigerclaw away from us? Take Spottedleaf away from us, StarClan forbid? And if Bluestar's alive, will he kill her, too?"

"Yes." Runningwind looked sadly at Longtail. "Brokenstar is a tyrant. He will kill every last ThunderClan cat just to prove his point."

Ravenpaw's eyes narrowed to slits, and he nudged Runningwind. "He has a point? Doesn't he just have a severe case of insanity?"

The black apprentice heard a faint mrrow of laughter coming from the warrior's throat, but the seriousness of the situation forced it to die rapidly. Runningwind sighed, and then meowed, "He has both. His point is…I'm not sure, but I know he has one."

Longtail snorted; Ravenpaw had almost forgotten how skeptical the pale tabby could be. "He's just doing it for fun. Or maybe because he can. Not because he's trying to prove a point." Ravenpaw nodded enthusiastically. This made more sense.

Runningwind shrugged. "You don't have to believe me. Come on, let's bury him." He started kicking dirt over Whitestorm's remains. Longtail joined in, but Ravenpaw stayed back, a question forming on the tip of his tongue.

"I'll tell Redtail, shall I?" he asked softly. He didn't want to be the one to do it, but one more second spent looking at Whitestorm and he feared he'd go as insane as Brokenstar.

Runningwind looked up. "You do that. Don't get yourself killed. This won't take very long—we'll catch up with you in a minute."

"Right." Ravenpaw dashed away, his white-tipped dark tail waving like a banner behind him. Thank goodness I'm out of there. Whitestorm was beginning to scare me.

He ducked underneath brambles and thorns, and pushed his way through crumbling bracken and sprouting ferns. At one point his right front paw hit an unseen tree root, and he went flying over it, eyes wide and mouth almost screeching in surprise.

He spent a few minutes catching a squirrel and a thrush, and by the time he got back to camp Runningwind and Longtail had caught up with him. All three cats' whiskers were drooping.

Redtail was approaching them, shaking his head sadly. "Why did I let him go off alone? Why?" He looked up suddenly, golden eyes misty but focused on them. "I have bad news. We searched for Bluestar, and Lionheart went off to look by himself. Dustpaw and I found her—in pieces. Then we found Lionheart, in the same condition as her."

The two warriors closed their eyes, and Ravenpaw emitted a strangled sound. "Three cats dead!" Then, realizing what he had said, he opened his mouth to add something about Whitestorm's unfortunate fate.

Longtail beat him to it, partially because his catch fell out of his open mouth. "I'm sorry, Redtail, but Whitestorm's dead, too. His remains were scattered all over a small clearing. Runningwind and I buried him. On a side note, Ravenpaw caught some fresh-kill for the Clan. It could be put to very good use."

"True." Redtail's eyes were dark and hollow now. He motioned with his muzzle for the three cats to leave him. Ravenpaw snatched up his squirrel and nodded at Runningwind, who gingerly picked up the sparrow. They padded to the fresh-kill pile together as Longtail slipped into the warriors' den.

Laying the red-furred creature on the heap, Ravenpaw turned around and saw Redtail walking dejectedly toward the leaders' den, bright ginger tail dragging on the ground.