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I do NOT own Warriors, only a few characters of my own.

Lionblaze-ThunderClan

Quietpaw slithered out of the ShadowClan camp beside me. The other cats waited near the shore of the lake. It unnerved me to have cats like Emberfoot and Nightcloud with us, though the RiverClan cats were nice enough. Mintfur was a quiet cat, and Pebblefoot was older, with more experience. I'd traveled with Petalfur, the RiverClan she-cat who was with us before, so she was eager to come. Troutstream was arrogant, but a good warrior. We had Ferretclaw, Toadfoot, Olivenose, and Applefur with us now. I led the way to the ThunderClan camp as the other cats trailed behind.

Bramblestar's eyes were cold as he and several warriors met us at the thorn barrier. "Lionblaze, Leafpool, Mousewhisker, and Heronfrost will accompany you." Nightcloud let out a hiss at the name "Leafpool" and Emberfoot looked like he wanted to tear my throat out. I couldn't blame him.

Heronfrost narrowed her eyes. "What exactly is this about?"

"StarClan warned me," Quietpaw answered, stepping out of the line of cats. "There are cats outside of the Clans, cats who want to kill us. StarClan cannot defeat it, for they do not want to interfere."

"Why?" Heronfrost snarled, making my fur prickle. "Are they cowards?"

Troutstream let out a hiss, and Petalfur looked shocked, as did most of the cats. Toadfoot shifted his paws uncomfortably, like he agreed, while several of the WindClan cats-Weaselfur and Nightcloud-stayed expressionless. The cats who were shocked were good, loyal warriors, like Petalfur, Whitetail and Troutstream. The other cats were mainly senior warriors who had experienced the battle with the Dark Forest, realizing that StarClan cats died, too, and that they could be afraid of losing cats. Applefur had been a Dark Forest cat. Nightcloud's son had been driven away by his own father during the battle. I figured those cats were now uncertain. Whitetail was almost elderly; the most senior cat going on this quest. I remembered how Mousefur stood up for StarClan, and felt a pang.

Bramblestar turned to my daughter, his eyes smoldering with rage. "Heronfrost," he mewed in an icily calm voice, "Do not ever say that again or I swear by StarClan that I will exile you as a traitor."

Her eyes widened, and Mousewhisker's fur started to rise. I felt a glimmer of pride that my daughter had loyal friends.

"You won't," Heronfrost retorted, her voice steady, though there was a trace of uncertainty there. I admired her courage.

"Oh? You don't think I will?" Bramblestar growled softly. Raising his voice, he snarled, "You don't know anything, Heronpaw." He glared at her. "StarClan is the foundation of every Clan!"

"Even when the Clan doesn't follow the warrior code?" a cat challenged. I craned my neck to see Dustpelt approaching his leader. I wanted to yowl that we were making ourselves look weak in front of our rivals, but Dustpelt looked calm. He whispered to Bramblestar for a heartbeat, and then the leader stood shakily before heading to camp.

Toadfoot met Dustpelt's level gaze. "Is he okay?"

Dustpelt didn't answer. "Warriors, we are all counting on you. If StarClan wants this many cats to save us, then I fear that some of you will never come back."His voice shook. "I am too old to go on such a quest, but if I were younger, I would not have any questions on going." Was it my imagination, or did his eyes flash to Heronfrost? He went on quickly. "StarClan grant you courage, and the will of survival!"

"How can they grant us courage," a RiverClan cat muttered, "if they don't have courage themselves?"

By scent I could tell it was Pebblefoot. The warrior was older than me, and he'd probably seen things during the Dark Forest battle that would make my skin crawl. Moleclaw, who had been a messenger between the Clans, had told me that Pebblefoot had killed his own mate when she stayed loyal to the Dark Forest.

I held my breath as I stared at the gray tom. StarClan hadn't saved her, or him.

I lifted my chin. "We need to go," I mewed, forcing by voice to sound strong. "If not for the sake of StarClan, then for our cats; our kits."

Whitetail nodded and followed me as I began walking. Slowly, the rest of the cats walked behind us as we went to the edge of the territories.

We reached the edge of the territories. Whitetail's fur brushed my side reassuringly. "That was your daughter, wasn't it?" she whispered, a trace of sympathy in her eyes.

I nodded, remembering that she had kits in WindClan, some of whom were with us now, like Emberfoot.

"Is she okay?" Whitetail asked quietly. Whatever the differences between our Clans, for some reason I trusted Whitetail. She had always helped cats, and she was a lot like a medicine cat.

"I don't know," I answered gruffly. "She's a warrior now-she can take care of herself."

Whitetail dipped her head, though I couldn't tell if she agreed. Her eyes strayed to the cats behind us. "Do you think we should have one cat from each Clan…lead us?"

I stopped and glanced at her. "Sure. Are you representing WindClan, you mean?"

She shook her head. "No, Emberfoot probably will. But remember last time, how Toadfoot and you fought over who would lead? We can't have that happen again. I have a feeling that if it did, it would be between ThunderClan and WindClan, and ShadowClan would back us up, but RiverClan would side with you. If that happened, the quest would be for nothing, and we really needed that sign…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked at her paws guiltily. I knew she had just revealed that her Clan was weak. I pretended to ignore it as she added quickly, "We need to pick four cats to lead us. Four cats to take charge."

"You know, Whitetail, you would be a good WindClan leader."

Her eyes darted to me for a heartbeat. "Yeah, well, a son is better than a mate." Her voice held an edge to it that made me feel confused. It took me moments to realize that her mate was Onestar, and her son was Emberfoot. I felt a pang of sympathy. Whitetail would have made a better leader than most cats in WindClan. She would have been a better leader than even Onestar or maybe Firestar. She was peaceful and didn't approve of war-that much I knew. She had never been in the fighting during recent battles-at least, none that had been reported.

I hesitated. "Fine, we'll tell them." Raising my voice to the other cats, I yowled, "We're going to have one cat from each Clan be the 'leader' of that Clan. They will represent the other cats from their Clan."

Olivenose called, "Why would we do that?"

"To make it fair," Whitetail answered, "so that no Clan has more power than the other."

The ShadowClan cats looked uneasy. They had changed from the Clan of troublemakers and traitors to a group that strictly followed the warrior code. WindClan looked irritated, apart from Whitetail. I waved my tail to Heronfrost, Mousewhisker, and Leafpool.

"So, who will represent ThunderClan?" Leafpool asked quietly.

"I don't know," Mousewhisker responded. "Maybe you, because you're the most senior cat."

"Or Lionblaze," Heronfrost suggested. "He's a great fighter, and he is a senior warrior."

"I choose Lionblaze," Leafpool put in. I blinked at her support and headed over to the center of cats. We were just on the border between WindClan and ThunderClan.

Applefur stood up. "I will represent my Clan."

"I am RiverClan's leader," Mintfur put in.

I glanced at WindClan. Nightcloud looked furious as Emberfoot stood up. "WindClan has chosen me." His jaws were parted in a yawn, and I saw Weaselfur give the tom a respectful glance. For some reason Whitetail looked slightly worried.

"Okay," I mewed stiffly. "Let's go." I waved my tail at Applefur, Mintfur, and Emberfoot to join us. Applefur shifted her paws uncomfortably, and Emberfoot looked like he wanted to bite my throat out. Mintfur, however, seemed to understand and joined me. After a brief hesitation, Applefur and Emberfoot followed.

"You aren't in charge here, you know," Emberfoot blustered.

"Then who is?" I asked without turning around. "You?"

"I do have the highest rank," Emberfoot pointed out in an arrogant tone. I was beginning to wonder why Heathertail would have been stupid enough to fall in love with this cat, of all cats.

"Yeah? Well, Applefur, Mintfur, Whitetail, Toadfoot, Leafpool, Weaselfur, Nightcloud, and Pebblefoot are all older than you." I walked past the tom.

"Yeah, well Onestar appointed me as a deputy because I deserved it. So, I'm the one leading?"

"That's not what I heard," Applefur growled, her fur rising. "I thought that this was a united quest. I also heard that Onestar only appointed a pile of fox-dung as his deputy because that pile of fox-dung happened to be his son." Her amber eyes flashed to Emberfoot, and then to me. I thought I saw a mischief glint in them. Once a ShadowClan, always a ShadowClan.

I stared out at the forest and blinked. Chances were I would come back, but when I saw the other cats, I knew that some of us would never see our Clans again.