Drip.

Greysight's eyes snapped open, revealing a harsh new light that made her recoil. Slowly, the white fuzziness in her vision began to clear and the starry forest surrounding her was revealed.

'I'm here again.'

However, it was different this time because unlike before, she stood alone. There was no sign of Mosspelt or any other starry cat. She padded forward hesitantly, it always took her a little while to get used to the idea of seeing again.

"Mosspelt?" she questioned, but no reply sounded to her voice and the forest was swallowed by silence.

Drip.

Greysight's ear twitched at the familiar sound, and she began to pad deeper into the trees, heading in the same direction that she had last time she was here. Just like before, she found herself in front of what appeared to be Blue Hole. The surface of the water here was not like the one she heard of in DarkClan, known for it's vivid blue color. Instead, the pool perfectly reflected the sky above, making it appear that a piece of the night had fallen.

Sighing lightly, she sat down by the water's side.

"Peaceful isn't it? It's hard to believe DarkClan was ever like this in the past."

"Mosspelt!" Greysight's head whipped to the side to see that Mosspelt had appeared beside her. The gray she-cat's eye rolled over to Greysight with a half smile on her face.

"Hello, Greysight."

Greysight blinked at Mosspelt's ever calm demeanor. "You haven't been listening to me, I worry about your safety."

Greysight scowled a bit, but her face fell as she remembered the more recent events. Mosspelt seemed to notice her change in expression.

"It is not good for a cat to be able to kill so easily."

Greysight flinched at her words, and her ears fell back slightly as she shifted her paws, looking away into the pool. "Fallenstep...is he-"

"Fallenstep does not walk the realm of StarClan." Mosspelt cut in smoothly, returning her gaze to the pool in front of them. A brief silence settled between the two before Mosspelt spoke up again.

"Much has happened since we last spoke. I understand that DarkClan has taken in an outsider."

Thoughts of Moonfur immediately flashed in Greysight's mind, and she nodded briskly. "Yes. The code doesn't say anything about it." she defended.

Mosspelt gave a conceding nod, "True, but you need to be careful where you place your trust. Cats outside of the clans are very different from the cats you know."

Greysight opened her mouth to retort, but was cut off by Mosspelt once more. "I had the pleasure of meeting Mintpaw, she is a fine young apprentice." Mosspelt purred.

Greysight returned her gaze to the pool and a fond smile broke out across her face. "I know."

Mintpaw had been doing very well in her training, and Greysight couldn't be more proud of her. Slowly, the smile dropped from her face as memories of Mintpaw's horror filled her mind. The slight touch of a tail on her shoulder made her look back up.

Mosspelt watched her with a soft expression, "Do not worry, Mintpaw loves you very much, she told me so herself. Greysight, I need you to watch over the clan and protect them. Both from the dangers outside, and those within."

Greysight hummed lightly as she stretched her legs, and ruffled her fur after having been asleep for so long. A dull light had already begun to shine into the warriors den from the outside, and she could feel it's rays warming her pelt.

She had to go on the dawn patrol today, but first she wanted to see her sister. Greysight padded across the clearing, not bothering to grab any breakfast because she knew there was no fresh kill in the camp. If there was, she would have scented it.

She poked her head into the medicine cat den, pleased when she scented Mintpaw inside. The young she-cat was sitting in her nest while Roseclaw was explaining something to her and gesturing towards a pile of grasses and leaves.

The white she-cat stopped when she noticed Greysight in the entrance of the den, Mintpaw followed her gaze. "Hey Greysight." Roseclaw greeted warmly, "I'm assuming you're here to see Mintpaw. It's not like you ever come to see me anymore." she meowed with fake hurt.

Greysight laughed and padded up to the pair of cats, twitching her whiskers in amusement. "Why would I want to see you?"

Roseclaw gave Greysight a deadpan look, and although she couldn't see her face, Greysight laughed at the picture in her mind. "Alright, but make it quick. We're in the middle of a lesson, and we have a lot to do today. Speaking of which, aren't you supposed to be on dawn patrol?"

Greysight nodded briefly, "Yeah, I just wanted to stop by first. Which reminds me, have you seen Lostheart? She's supposed to come with us."

Roseclaw shrugged, "I haven't seen her, but you two better get on it before Darkpelt becomes impatient."

The blind she-cat snorted and rolled her eyes, "Oh, let him. It's not like we're hurting anybody."

She turned toward Mintpaw, who was now smiling happily up at her sister's dark form. "Mintpaw, are you okay? Yesterday, you seemed really afraid..."

Mintpaw blinked her large viridian eyes, "I'm okay now." she meowed in a half smile. "It just scared me a little, the blood."

Greysight realized that Mintpaw hadn't been afraid of her at all, but at Fallenstep's body. However, she still felt responsible. After all, she had been the one to do it. Mintpaw seemed to notice the concerned expression on Greysight's faced and reached forward to rub her face against Greysight's side.

"I'm fine, see." she mewed, smiling happily.

Greysight sighed, but allowed a small smile to cross her features before gently pressing the tip of her muzzle to the top of Mintpaw's head.

"Alright." she conceded, "I'll come see you again later, okay? Make sure you pay attention in your lessons."

Mintpaw nodded adamantly as Greysight rose to her paws again, "I will!" she promised.

Greysight laughed lightly at her sister's enthusiasm. 'I wonder if I was ever like that as an apprentice. Probably not.' Greysight thought bitterly. As an apprentice she had never been truly happy, always too caught up in trying to prove herself and training to be the best warrior she could be. She had been angry with the world.

Greysight padded out of the den feeling more serious than she had before. She immediately felt around the camp for Lostheart, but couldn't find the strange black she-cat anywhere in camp. Her scent was faint as well.

However, as she stepped forward, she detected the sound of a cat padding through the tree tunnel, and wasn't surprised when Lostheart's scent reached her nose. Greysight padded up to the camp entrance and stopped as Lostheart stepped through, pausing when she noticed Greysight in her path.

"Greysight." she meowed dully, "What is it?"

Greysight shifted her weight to one side, "You and I are supposed to go on dawn patrol with Darkpelt today, but-"

"There you are!" The sound of Darkpelt's deep growl caught the two black she-cats' attention and they turned to see Darkpelt stalking towards them with an irritated expression. "I've been trying to find you two for over fifteen minutes!"

Greysight let out an annoyed breath, "Yeah well we're here now, so let's just go already." she growled, padding into the tunnel. Darkpelt's eyes narrowed, but he didn't bother to reply and followed her into the forest with Lostheart hanging back silently by his side.

The three warrior padded silently through the dark forest, fully attentive for any signs of intruders. The silence was eventually broken when Greysight decided to speak up.

"What did you do with Fallenstep?" she asked Darkpelt quietly and without emotion. The flecked tom glanced at her briefly, but continued walking.

"In the fields, with the rest of them."

Lostheart could tell that Greysight was feeling bothered by Fallentstep's attack. Despite how the she-cat was trying to hide it, Lostheart was good at reading cats.

She remained silent as they continued their patrol, stepping around a large bunch of brambles and heading toward the OceanClan border. Lostheart kept a close eye on both Darkpelt and Greysight, observing their every movement.

She watched curiously as Greysight's ear twitched and her face contorted into rage.

"What is it Greysight?"

Darkpelt turned at the sound of Lostheart's voice and began looking at Greysight with curiosity as well. "Its OceanClan!" she hissed. "They're in our territory!"

"What!?" Darkpelt growled, stepping closer, "Where are they!?" he demanded.

Greysight's eyes slid closed for a second, but quickly snapped back open. "Follow me!" The blind she-cat bolted forward, quickly followed by both Lostheart and Darkpelt. The three cats stopped abruptly behind a large bush that lay at the edge of their beach territory.

Lostheart's strange eyes peered through the cluster of leaves, and sure enough there was a large group of OceanClan warriors hanging around on their territory. A low growl emitted from her side where Greysight was flexing her claws in the earth, "I'll make them pay."

As she began to rise to her paws, Lostheart raised her tail to stop her. "Wait."

Greysight blinked, but stepped back.

"I don't think we should attack, it almost seems like they're waiting for us."

Darkpelt considered the black she-cat's words and turned back to the five OceanClan warriors lying in the sand.

"You may be right." he growled.

"So what do we do?" Greysight asked impatiently.

Lostheart thought about it for a moment, her calculating red gaze locked onto the group. "We simply walk up to them, it is our territory after all."

She stood up and waited as the other two warriors did the same, both Darkpelt and Greysight didn't seem too thrilled with the idea, but neither cats argued with her. Darkpelt because of her rank and Greysight because of the respect she had for the strange-eyed she-cat.

"Let's go."

Lostheart padded around the bush and led the cats down the small sandy slope that led into their beach territory. The OceanClan warriors immediately perked up at the sight of the DarkClan warriors, making Lostheart realize that Hawkmask, the OceanClan deputy, was amongst them.

The OceanClan cats glanced at each other with wary expressions at the sight of the three DarkClan cats who decided to show up. Darkpelt was well known throughout the clans for his incredible strength, and Greysight for ferocity and evasiveness.

What really concerned them was the cat at the head of the group, the demon cat of DarkClan, Lostheart. Despite the fact that she was the only one not glaring hatefully at the cats, it was her gaze that bothered them the most. They had heard about what she could do, and the tales that followed her.

Hawkmask stepped to the front of the group as the DarkClan cats grew closer, stopping a few feet away from them.

"Why are you on our territory?" Lostheart's questioned. Her cold, emotionless voice chilling the air.

Hawkmask cleared her throat and stood up straighter, "OceanClan has decided to reclaim what is rightfully ours and take back the piece of territory you stole from us."

Lostheart had been expecting something like this to happen, from beside her she could feel Darkpelt and Greysight tense up, both preparing for battle.

"We ask that you will hand over the territory, Brisingstar does not wish to fight you."

'We can't fight OceanClan right now, hostilities with TreeClan are bad enough. If a fight did break out we might be able to hold them off, but the odds are not in our favor.' Lostheart was sure that, despite OceanClan's advantage in numbers, she, Darkpelt, and Greysight could easily manage to hold off the patrol. If reinforcements were sent, then she wasn't so sure, even with the rest of their clanmates. 'It's a only a small bit of beach territory, and has no use in hunting. It wouldn't be that much of a loss, and we'd be avoiding harming ourselves any further...'

Greysight and Darkpelt were both looking to Lostheart, waiting for the she-cat's response. After a few seconds of silence Lostheart finally spoke up again.

"You may have your territory."

The shock on both the Oceanclan and the Darkclan cats' faces was evident. Hawkmask herself seemed surprised, but the she-cat quickly blinked ad dipped her head. "I'm glad you understand." she meowed, still put off by how simple the exchange had gone.

"You can set up your new scent markers, make sure they're up by tomorrow so there isn't any confusion." Lostheart replied impassively before turning and heading back up the slope. Darkpelt and Greysight both appeared to be dumbfounded, but quickly followed after her.

As they reached the shade of the trees, Darkpelt finally rounded on her. "What did you just do!?" he growled. "You can't just go giving off bits of our territory!"

"It's for the best." Lostheart replied, stepping past him. She knew Sunstar would not be pleased with her, he seldom was anyway.

Darkpelt chose to stay in the back, glaring at the pair of she-cats and brooding silently. Greysight walked beside Lostheart, staring blankly ahead.

"I think we could have taken them." she stated simply.

"Probably." Lostheart agreed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

GAHHH, I'm sorry it's taken so long. I hate updating late. The longer you go without writing, the harder it is to get back into it. XL ADkfbskafbs. And I know because I keep getting out of it. FFFFF

Lost Out.