Gah! I couldn't get this chapter done soon enough, I swear. My hands were flying over the keys and then I had so many typos it's not even funny. :\ Well, here are the comments:

Iceflower of ThunderClan: Awww, thank you so much! And I highly doubt there's going to be a sequel but I hve most of the layout for my next story planned out…in my head. So, that one will be up soon after this one is finished. I haven't decided on a name yet but I'll be sure to think of one before the final chapter and let you all know. :D

Whisperbreeze: Even though you only reviewed the first chapter, I'm thankful that you took the time to look at this story. ^0^

CheyRaye: Do they even know about zebras? Lol no, I have the name(s) picked out…still not sure how many she's going to have though.

Butterfly that flies at dawn: Yeah, I only like reading sequels, not writing them Lol. And they meet again, I think. (:

Now, without any more delay, here it is!

There were so many cats-too many. The cries and yowls of battle were deafening to her ears and the many mingled scents in such a small area were making her nauseous. She struggled to control her rolling stomach as she lashed out at one of the skinny cats that had no Clan scent, taking out a chunk of the she-cat's dirty brown fur. The loner, rogue, whatever she was, spat and started to back away with flattened ears.

Echowing advanced and crouched down to prepare to spring right before the she-cat turned and ran out of the camp. The creamy warrior stood, slowly because of her throbbing paw, and shook her head wearily. That had been the third cat she'd chased off and the wounds they had left her with stung sharply. But there was no way she could stop, even though she wanted nothing more than to just curl up and let her exhaustion take over.

The return of the ThunderClan cats had shifted the score a bit but the RiverClan, ShadowClan and whatever else was fighting with them still greatly outnumbered her and her Clanmates. There were so many different cats that she was getting confused and had a harder trouble interpreting who was who.

What had Hailsplash told her? Iceheart sent Raindusk to get help from Swallowstar. Echowing had no idea who Raindusk was; she just hoped that he was on their side. And shouldn't he be returning with WindClan soon? What if-the thought stole her breath for a moment.

What if Swallowstar refused them his help?

As soon as it had come, Echowing violently shoved it away. No, he had to come with help. There was no other option.

Suddenly, a pain filled wail pierced the air and she heard it clearly over the sounds of the battle that raged around her. She desperately tried to find the direction of the voice but couldn't. The cat cried out again and Echowing turned sharply to the left, realizing it was coming from somewhere nearby the Elders'.

Racing forward, she swerved around writhing groups of cats and her only thought was focused on the sound of the cat's voice. No, oh StarClan please no!

Finally, she burst out of the fighting cats and halted when she saw the dark pelt of Shadestar as he stood over a still golden lump of fur. Without even thinking of how, Echowing knew with absolute certainty who it was.

"Goldenmist!"

The agonized cry was shouted from Mouseclaw who was loyally protecting Ivypetal from the ShadowClan apprentice that Echowing recognized as Talonpaw. With a ferocious hind kick, the old tom flicked the apprentice away and Talonpaw was thrown hard against the side of the den.

Echowing launched herself forward, anticipating what Mouseclaw was going to do, but she wasn't quick enough. The elder threw himself at Shadestar with a grief filled howl and he effectively knocked the leader off of his paws. They tumbled down onto the ground, screeching and slashing at one another. When they came to a stop, Shadestar was on top with both forepaws plunged deep into Mouseclaw's throat.

With a harsh cry, Echowing leapt onto the leader's back and instantly started clawing at him with her hind legs. Shadestar unlatched his claws from Mouseclaw and stumbled away with the small warrior still clinging to him and creating deep scratches for all she was worth.

Shadestar suddenly dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back, almost crushing her with his weight, and she gasped and her claws slipped out of his fur. His momentum allowed him to finish rolling and amble to his paws, towering over her. She inhaled sharply and her ribs ached but there was no pain so she knew nothing was broken.

"How did you realize we were here?" Shadestar growled.

Echowing didn't answer.

He placed a paw on her throat and scourged his claws down her soft stomach that she had left vulnerable. Burning pain made her cry out even though she tried to keep silent. He leaned down and repeated, "I'll ask you again, stupid cat. How did you know we were here?"

"What does it matter to you?" she spat, wincing when the very tips of his belly fur touched the open wounds he had just made. "We're here now and that's all you should be worried about!"

Shadestar pointedly raised his head and lazily scanned the clearing where every ThunderClan cat was fighting for their life. They were greatly outnumbered and Echowing knew there was no hope for them unless Swallowstar arrived very soon. "Oh," he drawled tauntingly. "I don't think I need to be worried. This is all going as planned. Just like your poor little elder over there, every one of you fox-dung ThunderClan cats will be dead and the forest will be all mine!"

"Yours?" a deep voice snarled from behind Shadestar. "I don't think so."

The heavy weight of the ShadowClan leader was suddenly lifted and Echowing drew in a shuddering breath. Her limbs felt leaden and she could barely make herself move as she rejoiced. Swallowstar had come after all!

Except…he hadn't.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Crowstar growled, stalking to where he had furiously thrown Shadestar to the ground. "Did you say the forest would be all yours?"

Shadestar scrambled to his paws and faced the RiverClan leader. "O-of course not Crowstar!" he squeaked. "You m-must've misheard-"

"Do not lie to me!" the brown and white tom shouted, raising a huge paw and bringing it down on Shadestar's head. The dark tom cried out in pain and sagged against the ground. "Nobody lies to me!"

"Please, Crowstar," Shadestar gasped, struggling to his paw unsteadily. "I meant you no disrespect-"

"Did you honestly think you could rule all the territory without me?" Crowstar sneered, circling the dazed leader. His stripped tail lashed back and forth. "You can barely rule over your own pathetic Clan, much less the whole forest. You are weak, Shadestar, a coward. If you truly wanted power you would not have hesitated to kill that ThunderClan warrior over there!" He savagely jerked his head towards where Echowing still lay, unable to move as she watched with wide fearful eyes.

"I am not a coward!" Shadestar spat, unsheathing his claws. "My life is worth far more than yours, Crowstar, believe that. StarClan is watching over me, not you!"

"StarClan" Crowstar hissed menacingly. "StarClan is just full of dead cats who think they know everything. StarClan takes innocent cats just for the fun of it! They took my mate, the only cat I'd ever loved, and I swore I'd get revenge on them somehow. And I will not let anything or anyone stand in my way!"

With a loud shriek, the stocky tom threw himself at Shadestar who let out a shocked yowl. Already still dazed from the previous blow, the ShadowClan leader easily went down and Crowstar wasted no time in attacking him with all for paws.

Shadestar let out a raw scream and flailed vainly to try and escape the powerful tom's murderous onslaught. Crowstar brutally latched his jaws around Shadestar's throat and sank his fangs deep into his neck while still slashing with his claws. Shadestar opened his mouth in a silent scream but all that came out was a gurgling noise as his flailing limbs grew weaker.

Echowing could only watch, frozen in a fear she'd never felt before, as Crowstar took one of the lives of the ShadowClan leader. Finally, Shadestar grew still and Crowstar spat fur out of his mouth as he clambered off of the still tom. She stared at the ShadowClan leader, waiting for StarClan to fix his wound, to heal him and bring him back to life.

Nothing happened.

"And another thing, Shadestar," Crowstar hissed, leaning down. "Never tell anyone how many lives you have left."

That had been his last life…Echowing realized, numb. Never, not even in her nightmares, had she seen a leader who was blessed with nine lives of StarClan just…die.

Crowstar slowly turned to face her and a maniac gleam blazed in his amber eyes. He started to advance towards her and she knew she had to get up, to move, to do something other than just lay there! "Now it's time to finish what that coward couldn't do," he snarled, baring his teeth in pleasure.

Echowing scrabbled to her paws, trying to find her footing on the soft snow that was tinged pink from all he blood. Just as she finally got onto steady legs, Crowstar barged into her and pushed her back down. Her wounded stomach screamed with pain and she let out a low grown as her vision danced.

She felt a paw push her face into the snow and she spat out the bit that got into her mouth. "You'll never get away with this," she growled, her voice muffled from the ground.

Crowstar let out a rumbling purr and he leaned down so that his muzzle was right next to her ear. "Oh, but I think I will," he whispered gleefully. "Because even you don't believe that anything can stop me."

"Then kill me," Echowing spat, realizing that she had failed. She would never fulfill the prophecy, never see Tinyfeather's kits be born, never go on a hunting patrol with her father…and she would never be able to have a future with Rowanstrike, the cat she loved. Defeat crushed down onto her heart, tearing it again and again when she thought it had finally healed. She had failed everything, completely and utterly failed.

She closed her eyes just as Crowstar's jaws clamped around her throat and she prayed that death would find her quickly. Please protect them, StarClan, she pleaded, meaning her friends and her Clanmates and her father. Every single one of them.
"LET GO OF MY DAUGHTER!"

Echowing's eyes snapped open at Hawkstar's voice right before he dragged Crowstar off of her. His teeth tore a little at her neck, as he had not loosened his jaws before her father had come to her rescue, and she whimpered. A dizzy feeling overcame her as she stood and she fell back down on the ground, her head spinning.

Hawkstar had Crowstar in a death grip by the throat but the RiverClan leader was not going down without a fight. Twisting nimbly out of the tabby's jaws, Crowstar slashed at him with both forepaws. Through her semi hazy vision, she could tell that her father was already beyond exhaustion and she knew she had to help him.

Echowing struggled to her paws and ignored her legs when they tried to buckle under her weight. Hawkstar was parrying Crowstar's viscous blows but only barely and she knew she didn't have much time. She forced her legs to move and she rushed at the stocky RiverClan leader, slicing her sharp claws down his haunches.

Crowstar growled deep in his throat and whipped around to face her. She slashed at his eyes but he dodged her feeble attack and lashed out a paw lightning quick, catching her off guard. She felt claws slice her ear and blood started to drip into her eyes. Temporarily blinded in one eye, she grew disoriented.

"Don't touch her!" Hawkstar shouted, leaping at Crowstar. His claws missed their mark but he didn't let that stop him as he immediately turned and launched himself again at the RiverClan leader. This time, they collided and writhed together, both aiming to kill and trying not to be killed. But soon-far too soon-Hawkstar's age and wounds caught up to him and his swipes started getting farther from their target. Crowstar wasted no time in dodging one weak paw and dipping his head to go in for the kill.

Echowing stumbled blindly forward, trying to reach them in time to save her father but it was no use. It was as if time had slowed to a halt and with her one good eye she saw the glistening fangs, she heard the gurgling blood, and she felt the ground drop away from underneath her when everything else faded away.

No.

All the grief that had been locked away deep inside of her, all the agony she had felt over the past moons, all the loss she had suffered, it all came rushing back to her in one tall, black wave. Her mangled heart shattered into dozens of pieces as Crowstar slowly got off of her father's still body.

Echowing stared at Hawkstar, willing for him to open his eyes, for StarClan to heal the wounds he had. He couldn't have been o his last life, he couldn't be. She waited what were surely seasons but still, his eyes never blinked and his chest never heaved with breath. And that's when she knew.

Her father was dead.

"NO! HAWKSTAR!" the scream was torn from her chest and her shoulders heaved with gulping sobs as she stumbled towards him. "No, please, please, please…" She forced herself to look into his eyes, his blank amber eyes. The eyes that had held such emotion, such love and pride and pain, were now dull and distant with no burning spark in them.

"Poor little warrior," Crowstar cooed from behind her. "Life isn't so kind now is it?"

The same red hue that she had seen right after Pinepaw's death now completely took hold of her vision. With an agonized howl, Echowing whipped around and threw herself hard at the murderer before her. She wanted-no, needed- to make him suffer, to make him wish he had never been born.

She fought as she had never fought before; with neither tactics nor any of the training moves she had spent moons practicing. She only fought with the pure, raw hurt of her heart and the black need for vengeance of everyone he had taken from her.

Crowstar violently defended himself with his claws but she didn't even feel the physical pain he inflicted on her. She knew he was no match for the hatred and revenge burning through her veins. Suddenly, they stopped rolling and Echowing for once found herself overpowering him, but she didn't stop to bask in it.

She brought her teeth down to his throat and tore, all the while thinking of the cats that had died by his claws.

Thornstrike. Tear.

Lionflame. Shred.

Pinepaw. Claw.

Featherpool. Rip.

Hawkstar.

Die.

"Echowing."

She didn't stop, she couldn't stop. This cat had caused her too much grief for her to ever stop.

"Echowing, stop."

She froze, finally recognizing the voice. She raised her head from Crowstar's mangled throat and saw the shimmering form of Silverfrost in front of her. Surrounding her were Snowstar, Pinepaw, Brightfeather, Featherpool, and…

"Father," she croaked, stumbling off of the still breathing Crowstar and crumpled to the ground before she could reach them. "Father…"

Hawkstar looked young and healthy again, his tabby pelt shiny and sleek and his amber eyes blazing with fire. She tried to crawl toward him, to tell him-tell him what exactly? She didn't know.

Silverfrost stepped forward and stopped in front of Crowstar who was bleeding heavily from his throat. I did that, she thought dimly. She knew she should feel something, horror, pleasure, pride. But instead…she felt nothing.

"Silver…frost…" Crowstar rasped, struggling to speak as he stared up at his former mate.

The pretty silver tabby blinked slowly down at him from sorrowful green eyes. "Why Crowstar?" she murmured, her voice quivering. "Why did you do this?"

"They st…ole you from…me," he wheezed. His amber eyes were dull and pained. "I did this…for u…s."

Silverfrost shook her head slowly. "No, Crowstar. They did not take me from you, it was my destiny to go into that river and I understand that now. I was waiting for you, watching over you, and it broke my heart what you let yourself become."

Crowstar's face was contorted with agony. "For…give m…e, my…love."

Silverfrost closed her eyes for a brief moment and when she opened them, her expression was blank. "I'm sorry it had to be this way Crowstar, but it's your own fault. You brought this on yourself and now it's time to pray the price."

"But," Crowstar gagged and struggled to breathe. "Seven more…lives left…"

Snowstar padded forward to stand next to the dead RiverClan she-cat and gazed down at Crowstar with narrowed eyes full of deadly fire. "You no longer have seven more lives left Crowstar. StarClan gave you nine lives because we thought you would realize that you were on the wrong path and try to change. But since you haven't, and since you have caused all of this," She waved her tail around the now still clearing as every cat was staring at the StarClan warriors. "StarClan will not heal your wounds. You have betrayed every one of your ancestors and now you will pay the price of what you have done."

Crowstar's eyes widened in panic and he tried to sit up but that just made the blood flow even more heavily and he soon realized the inevitable. He turned his gaze to Silverfrost and rasped quietly, "I'm…sorry."

She just looked at him for a long moment. "I know you are," she whispered. "But it's too late."

With a soft groan, Crowstar's eyes rolled back in his head and, after a few feeble twitches, lay completely still.

Echowing watched it all with unfocused eyes, vaguely registering that they had won, that she had fulfilled the prophecy. But the trade was far, far too high. Goldenmist, Hawkstar, and Shadestar were all dead and she didn't even want to know how many countless others had suffered the same fate all because of one power hungry cat.

Featherpool padded silently up to her but she didn't look up from where she was staring at Crowstar's body. She didn't want to feel anything, to hear or speak or do anything, except sleep. So she was incredibly grateful when the Medicine Cat spoke and what she told her.

"Sleep now, Echowing," Featherpool murmured gently. "You have experienced enough for one day and we will talk more later, I promise."

Later. Yeah, that sounded good as long as it wasn't just right then.

With a flutter of her closing eyes, Echowing let herself be lost in the black abyss of sleep and she eagerly gave in to the peace and calm that it promised.

She was completely gone within moments.

Oh. Mi. god. I cannot believe I just wrote that. Holy cow man, I made myself cry writing this chapter! God…well, tell me what you think and, for those who actually liked Crowstar, please don't kill me. (: