Every time I deeply struggle to figure out Doveheart's role in all of this. I always realize the thing I love about Doveheart: her powers are all about alerting the Clans and keeping an eye on things, to make sure things are peaceful and okay. Lionblaze's powers are really destructive, but Doveheart and Jayfeather have these very peaceful powers. I interpret Doveheart's powers in Elemental as being more powerful than they are in the actual series, but hers by far are just so much fun because she has the capability of knowing the Clans and of touching and protecting so many cats. So that's my Doveheart rant.

If this chapter is a little anticlimactic, that's what I would like everybody to think about. I wanted to make this chapter more final, since it's Doveheart's last chapter ever, but at the same time, it didn't work as some big hero thing. Doveheart's not that type.

(But don't worry, I might give her POV to the Epilogue...)

Chapter 30: The Cry of Peace

Tigerheart was dead. Doveheart didn't know how to think about anything else other than that one thought. She knew it had to happen, but as she pounded through the forest, the harsh moonlight against her pelt, her senses taking in all the turmoil at once, she could not clear the image of his frozen snarl perfectly put into ice. She had heard his heartbeat stop. She had seen the lights crystalize in his eyes forever. She had felt the vibration as his body hit the ground once and for all.

He had saved her life and then taken it. She could not forget him. She could still hear his words, all of them, raging in between her ears and seeking the innermost confines of her mind. He was still in love with her, until the very end.

"Doveheart!" Doveheart looked up, blinking, to see Ivypool rush at her. "What are you doing? What's happening? Why are you just standing there?"

Doveheart realized that she was standing beneath tree roots on uneasy paws, watching the battle play out before her. She shook her head.

"You were right all along," she said suddenly. "Tigerheart was Tigerstar's apprentice. They knew everything. They wanted us to win the War of Shadows. They were waiting for this."

"For this?" Ivypool's eyes darkened. "Does that mean they need the Five?"

"I don't know." Doveheart shook her head. "He's dead. Tigerheart. Willowleaf killed him."

"Doveheart…" Ivypool shook her head.

"Where's Lionstar?" asked Doveheart. "Tell me what's happening." She shook out her paws one at a time, seeking through the darkness and the trees at the battles taking place beyond. She could feel everything happen and hear every cry, smell every release of blood like it was her own blood falling out before her.

"Lionstar was rounding up the final patrol to leave camp," said Ivypool. She frowned. "The plan is as it was before."

"But we don't have ShadowClan's help, like we thought we would." Doveheart twitched her ears and heard turmoil within ShadowClan, cats rushing every which way as Rowanclaw sought to bring peace to his Clan and as Flametail and Bearclaw desperately tried to do some good with Oakstar. She could hear the great absence of Tigerheart. Her body still smelled like him, from where he had spilt her blood, from where he had killed her. A shiver ran up her spine.

"You have to focus," said Ivypool. Suddenly Doveheart found that she was staring straight into her sister's eyes, which were frantic. It reminded her so much of the War of Shadows, except here they were allies. Her stomach tightened like she had put her claws around it. She was fighting for her sister. And for ThunderClan. "You're deputy of ThunderClan. They need you."

"Right." Doveheart nodded. She shook her head and focused on canceling out her thoughts the way she could restrict her own senses sometimes. She wished her powers worked in her head, too, so she could surround the memory of Tigerheart in a net and cast it away. She'd forget about him forever, if she could only have that chance.

That thought steeled her heart. Tigerheart may have been horrific and capable of only destruction and evil, but he had looked at her with so much love once. He had always stood by her. He was dead now, and he was the greatest mistake she had ever made, but he was still the only cat she had ever loved. And she could admit that.

"I love ThunderClan more." That had always been true. Doveheart gritted her teeth and whipped her tail in the air. Ivypool's eyes lit up. "Let's go."

"Right!" Ivypool waved her tail and took off into the brush behind them, and Doveheart followed, knowing that Squirrelflight's patrol was still somewhat concentrated here. Plus, they had Mountainstone. She cast her hearing out ahead of them and let the scent of Lionstar guide her pawsteps. Then she and Ivypool approached ThunderClan camp to find Lionstar and his backup patrol – Cinderheart, Sorreltail, Toadstep, Whitewing, and Mouseclaw - spilling out of the entrance.

"Doveheart! Ivypool!" Lionstar nodded his patrol forward as they fell into step with him. "Who needs help?"

She thought hard and saw all of ThunderClan's territory in the back of her mind, mapping out the sounds and scents to find her Clan-mates and their enemies.

"Let's head towards WindClan's land," she said. "We should support Thornclaw's Party. Let them move inwards so they aren't as cut off from the others."

"They're trying to separate us, aren't they?" said Whitewing, her ears twitching. "We should have suspected that."

"We'll take care of it," said Lionstar. Doveheart could hear her Clan-mates fighting in the trees nearby.

"There are cats approaching Foxleap's patrol," she added. Lionstar nodded.

"Sorreltail, Toadstep, Mouseclaw, head to Foxleap's patrol. They've been out here the longest and will need backup."

"Got it," said Sorreltail, and those warriors sped off beyond them. Mouseclaw shot a look over his shoulder, a question in his eyes. Doveheart nodded. The last time she'd seen Willowleaf had been back in the trees with the others, who had taken off towards the camp, leaving her to try to find Bluemoon and Mountainstone again. That was when Ivypool had found her. But Willowleaf would be fine. Her expression alone had been enough to indicate that much.

They spun into a clearing that was crawling with enemy warriors, warriors that swarmed the few ThunderClan warriors commanded to this type of land. Doveheart fell into pace with Leafpool as she ducked out of the way of an enemy blow. The former medicine cat turned warrior was bleeding from a gash on her side, gritting her teeth.

"Fall back," said Doveheart, pushing Leafpool backwards to take on her attacker. "We're trying to get everyone back together instead of stranding you guys."

"Okay," said Leafpool. "Is there anyone that needs my help?"

As Doveheart slammed her paws against the head of the WindClan cat spitting at them, she quickly cast her senses out, seeking the taste of blood and fear coupled.

"Mousewhisker is injured the worst, but he's near ShadowClan," she said. "Fall back, and see if you can find anything you need on our way to meet up with Cloudtail's party."

"I'll go with you." Greyheart appeared seemingly out of nowhere, nodding at Doveheart as he passed. Doveheart nodded her approval, and off they went into the trees. She spun back to face her opponent and pushed back, sinking her teeth into his throat as she got just the right angle. A flash entered her mind: of that horrific, shivering impulse that accompanied Tigerheart's claws across her throat. She had felt her own death, and it felt colder than Willowleaf's ice ever could. Doveheart recoiled from her enemy, dropping him into a gasping, bleeding heap. He looked up at her. Doveheart realized that she knew him as Volepelt, the newest WindClan warrior they had.

"Surrender," said Doveheart quietly. "No one needs to be killed tonight."

Volepelt had felt his death at the ends of her teeth. Doveheart could see his terror in his eyes. He put his head down and let out a shuddering sigh, and she nodded, hesitantly reaching a paw over to touch the side of his head. The touch made the young warrior flinch. Doveheart glanced up again and once again let her senses inform her of all the pain and the blood and the torn flesh. She could taste the fear of the forest, like every tree had been marked as strongly as the border, but the marker was simply terror. This was not a war that needed to be fought, but here they were, needlessly ripping one another apart. She felt inside her a great pain that had been growing for quite some time, perhaps since she had been a kit. This was what it was to hear and feel everything across all the territories: she was a prisoner to pain.

"We must stop this," she said. Only Volepelt heard her, shivering at her mercy, and Doveheart bent down near the young warrior.

"Go to Kestrelfligtht and tell him that this is enough," she said, gritting her teeth. "Old StarClan can have no more hold on him."

Then she focused very hard on her powers and cast them out like a wide net across everything she could touch, everything she could possibly reach. She encompassed every cat in a wide arc. And in that wide arc, Doveheart broadcast two memories: the scent of fear that had taken the forest paired with the sun shining on a peaceful camp filled with laughter.

She heard Volepelt's breath hitch at her paws, and then the warriors she saw in the clearing felt the blast as Doveheart senses broadcast in a way they had only done once before. They all could sense what she did in that sharp, fleeting moment. They all felt the futility of this fight, the needless fear that had gripped each heart. This was not a war of hatred. It was a war of loyalties and fears that had been misdirected.

There were ten seconds where everything was still. Doveheart opened her eyes as the wind blew through the trees, as the cats in the clearing paused, varying degrees of pain and realization on their faces. Then Littlefalcon moved towards her, stopping on the other side of Volepelt's body. Ivypool and Lionstar looked up.

"It's time, Doveheart," said Littlefalcon. "Ivypool. I need you to take us to the border. Doveheart. I need you to bring us all together to do it."

There was no real explanation on how that could be done, but Doveheart's powers knew what to do even if she didn't. Thinking of peace, and the love she held for her dear friends, the Light Prophet caught each of them in her mind. She identified them across the territory: Mountainstone caught in a nest of shadow, Skysong and Willowleaf fighting together, Birdfeather and Jayfeather in camp preparing, and Littlefalcon, Lionstar, and Ivypool standing before her.

"You're the biggest peace-keeper I've ever known," said Lionstar, smiling somberly at her. "This battle may not end, but at least…"

Doveheart nodded. At least they knew, every cat out here, what they were fighting for. And at least they could know what the other side was fighting for, too.

"I'm glad you're my deputy," said Lionstar.

"I'm glad you're my sister," added Ivypool. Their eyes locked. And Doveheart focused hard as she felt Ivypool's powers radiating towards her. She thought about all the cats she loved and fell with all of them as Ivypool sucked them inwards, towards the other side, where their real trials awaited.

Hahaha, yeah. A battle like this doesn't take place in the real world, don't be ridiculous! We're going to go SO MANY PLACES in the next few chapters, all of which are going to be in the dreaming world. Get ready, get set, here we go.

Mountainstone's final chapter approaches. Stay tuned for Chapter 31: The Cat who Devoured Shadows.