"You did what?"

Sunstar stood in front of Lostheart, Greysight, and Darkpelt and looked down on them with dark eyes.

"Yes. I think it's our best option right now, and I doubt you'd want to get into a quarrel with Brisingstar. The land they took is just a sandy patch of beach, and it has no use for us when it comes to finding prey or herbs." Replied Lostheart, meeting Sunstar's gaze evenly without blinking.

Greysight and Darkpelt stood to either side of her, but both remained silent. Not wanting to interfere in the conversation between the deputy and leader.

Sunstar's eyes narrowed slightly and his gaze shifted so that he was focusing on Lostheart in particular. "What makes you think that you have the authority to make such a decision without my consent?" he growled.

"I only did what I thought would be best, you're the one who made me deputy." The end of her statement came out colder than she had intended, but she refused to back down from Sunstar's hard gaze.

The leader watched her silently for a moment with dark eyes, almost as if he was examining her, or trying to figure out what she was planning.

"Fine." he growled, "I would have done that anyway." Sunstar's tail twitched in irritation as he turned and retreated back into the shade of his den. As soon as Sunstar had left, Lostheart stalked away leaving Greysight and Darkpelt in front of the leader's den.

The blind warrior turned and listened as Lostheart padded away, and her face fell into a light frown. Beside her, Darkpelt had already left, walking over to meet his brother on the other side of the clearing where Browneyes had been waiting for him with two fresh mice.

Moonfur sat with Roseclaw and Mintpaw, and Greysight could vaguely hear the pale she-cat arguing with Roseclaw over something, but she tuned them out. Instead, she quickly padded forward to catch up with Lostheart.

The black she-cat had only gotten a little ways past the tree tunnel when she detected someone following her. She caught wind of Greysight's scent and wasn't surprised to see the blind she-cat come jogging up to her from behind.

"Hey," she meowed, "Are you alright?"

Lostheart looked at her almost quizzically, "I'm fine." she meowed blandly.

Greysight smiled outwardly, "Good. Where are you going?" she meowed curiously. "It seems like you're always going off somewhere."

Lostheart turned away from Greysight and was silent for a moment. "I like to be alone."

Greysight conceded with a slight nod, "Yeah, me too." Her response caused Lostheart to look back over her shoulder, her odd blue eye watching Greysight with a mixed expression.

"I've actually been meaning to talk to you, you know, just hang out."

Greysight smiled despite her cloudy blank gaze, "Browneyes and Moonfur went hunting and they managed to catch a rabbit, I don't know about you, but I didn't eat this morning and I'm starving. You wanna share it?"

Lostheart was hesitant for a moment, but eventually let out a small breath. "Sure."

"Great! Come on, we can sit with Roseclaw and Moonfur."

"Yo fluffy! Got room for two more?"

Roseclaw's looked up in surprise at the sound of Greysight's loud voice and saw the she-cat padding across the clearing with Lostheart close by. Moonfur had looked up as well, watching as the pair approached.

Greysight flopped down as she reached the other she-cats, while Lostheart sat down quietly beside her. Greysight's head turned back and forth, as if she was searching for something.

"Where'd Mintpaw go?" she meowed curiously

"She went to see Longtail and give her some herbs. The cough seems to be getting worse." Roseclaw replied tentatively, knowing that Greysight could get touchy about the subject, but the black she-cat only nodded quietly without a word.

"Here's your rabbit." Roseclaw meowed, pushing over the furry, brown creature.

"Thanks." Greysight replied, pulling it between her and Lostheart so they could split it.

"I heard about the OceanClan thing," Moonfur began, "I don't see how it's a big deal, it's not like you guys had the territory to begin with." she meowed, shrugging.

Roseclaw flicked her with the tip of her fluffy, white tail. "Hey, you weren't even here then."

Moonfur scoffed and rolled her separately colored eyes, "I listen." she meowed.

"Sometimes." Greysight cut in, smirking to herself. Moonfur snorted and ignored her, instead choosing to lick at one of her outstretched paws.

Lostheart and Greysight took turns taking bites out of the rabbit, while Roseclaw hummed to herself.

"That was good." Greysight meowed contentedly, "Not as good as a blackbird, but good."

"I don't see how you like those, the meat is too stringy for me." Roseclaw sniffed. "Mice are the best, nice and juicy."

Greysight smiled at the memory of when she and Roseclaw first met, when the white she-cat had attempted to steal her mouse from her as a kit.

"I prefer rabbit personally." Moonfur cut in.

Lostheart had been sitting in silence, listening to the other cats' conversation, but was surprised when Greysight turned to her.

"What about you Lostheart?"

Lostheart blinked, 'What kind of prey do I like?'

"I don't mind." she meowed sincerely. In all honesty, she had no idea which she preferred. In fact, she had never really thought about it before.

Moonfur sat up and stretched her long, pale legs in front of her, yawning loudly. "Darkpelt says we have dawn patrol tomorrow." she meowed to Greysight and Lostheart, but more to Lostheart in particular.

Lostheart nodded, "Okay."

Moonfur ruffled her pelt and made her way across the clearing to the warriors den, where Browneyes and Darkpelt had already turned in for the night. She sat down in her grassy nest and looked outside the den at the moon in the sky.

'It's not so bad here.' she thought inwardly, yet she still felt a small tearing feeling deep within her heart. Roseclaw could be a bit air-headed, but she liked the she-cat well enough and despite her rocky start with Greysight, she was okay, even with her arrogant attitude. Out of all the cats, she got along with Lostheart best.

She felt like they had a lot in common, and she had a feeling that Lostheart had changed her life.

"Where are we going first?" Moonfur asked.

"We'll start with the swamp and work our way down to the OceanClan border, I want to make sure they set up the new scent markers correctly." Lostheart replied.

She, Greysight, and Moonfur had just exited the tree tunnel and were now making their way through the woods and into the marshier parts of their territory.

Not far from where they stood, Greysight felt a slight vibration in the earth, but it felt too small to be any prey. Narrowing her eyes slightly Greysight sniffed the air, but couldn't scent anything above the smell of the marsh.

"Something's up ahead, I can feel it." she meowed.

Lostheart turned to look at her from the front of the group, "Is it a cat?"

"I think so, it's definitely not any prey that's for sure. It's just up ahead." she meowed nodding in the direction of the motion.

Moonfur looked between the two black she-cats, "Should we split up?"

"I don't think so. For now, Greysight, lead us closer to what you feel." Lostheart meowed.

The blind she-cat nodded and stepped forward through a small patch of ferns towards the direction of the movement. As they became closer, Greysight's could feel the vibrations getting stronger. It was definitely not a mouse or rabbit, but the steps were very light.

"I think there's a cat hunting on our territory." she meowed. "I can feel them moving around."

Greysight let out a soft growl and crept forward in her hunters crouch while Lostheart and Moonfur did the same and followed behind. Now that they were close enough, Greysight could pick up information from her senses.

There were at least two cats up ahead, and they both had strange, unfamiliar scents. 'Rogues?' Her ear twitched, and she could hear the sound of voices up ahead, but she couldn't tell exactly what they were saying.

From the way Moonfur and Lostheart had frozen, she assumed the other two she-cats could hear it as well. "They're right up ahead, in that clearing." Greysight meowed in confirmation.

Lostheart nodded, "Okay, let's go. We'll leap in and try to take them by surprise."

Moonfur nodded as well, and together the three cats crept forward until they were crouched behind a large bush. Lostheart lowered her body and shuffled her haunches as she prepared to spring.

"Now!"

Greysight and Moonfur let out ferocious yowls as they leapt through the bush and into the clearing. A cry of surprise sounded in the clearing as they landed, and the she-cat's looked up to see two toms leap onto their paws.

"Whoa! Hey-!" One of the toms cried, stumbling backwards in surprise. Now that they were in the clearing, Lostheart was able to get a good look at the cats.

'Rogues.'

The first cat shakily re-caught their balance, while the one standing further back only straightened in surprise.

"Who are you!? Why are you on our territory!? This is DarkClan territory and you're trespassing preystealers!" Greysight yowled.

It made sense, their pawsteps felt light because they were hunting. Trying to steal their prey! Moonfur let out a hiss of her own and let her gray fluff up in intimidation.

The tom closest to them blinked his now large, violet eyes. Both the toms had colorful, tortoiseshell pelts. However, the tom in the back's pelt only consisted of black and orange.

"Answer me!" Greysight hissed.

The cat blinked again, but instead of replying, his face slowly grew into a large smirk. The tom padded forward, despite the she-cats' threatening forms and let out a low whistle.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? It must be my lucky day." he meowed with an amused tone.

Lostheart was undeterred by the tom's unexpected reaction, what's more, neither of the toms had tried to run away. The tom standing in the back padded forward with an annoyed look on his face.

"Thistle." he warned. Moonfur's eyes danced between the two toms, wondering why they hadn't run away. Her eyes narrowed as she examined the second tom.

Both were skinny, but the black one appeared even more so, and his mottled pelt looked extremely uncared for. One of the ears at the top of his head was almost torn to pieces. Not only was it missing it's tip but it had several holes and gashes. The white tortoiseshell called Thistle only laughed, ignoring the black cat's annoyed yellow gaze.

"You're no fun." he whined.

From beside her, Greysight grew angrier by the second. "Hey!" she yelled, re-catching their attention. "If you don't get off our territory right now, I'll make you!"

This seemed to catch both cats' attention, and they turned to look at the she-cats with mild curiosity. "A fight they say!" the white one laughed.

'That's it!'

With an angry yowl, Greysight leapt forward, with sharp white claws outstretched. The white tom's eyes widened at the sudden movement and he leapt back just in time to avoid her claws, landing beside the black cat behind him.

He hadn't expected the blind cat to attack. "Look ladies, my brother and I go where we please, alright? There's plenty of prey to go around, and we're not going to leave until it pleases us." he meowed with an affirming nod.

"Then we'll make you!" Greysight hissed, rushing towards the pair of toms. Behind her, Moonfur also leapt into action, prepared to back her up. Before she could reach them, the two toms split, each veering off into the opposite direction.

Greysight skidded to a halt, and turned abruptly to try and catch the white one. Lostheart also stepped forward, there was something strange about these cats. They seemed very sure of themselves, despite being outnumbered.

Both toms were able to avoid their attackers and meet up again at the other side of the clearing. The white tom had a confident smirk across his face, and with a nod from his brother, he grabbed the black tom's pelt between his claws and flung the other cat towards them.

Moonfur and Greysight were both at opposite ends of the clearing when they saw the attack going straight at Lostheart. Moonfur's eyes widened in shock as the black tom threw himself through the air, spinning forward rapidly.

Lostheart had only seconds to react to the tom's incredible speed, and the cats could only watch as he prepared to strike her.

Lostheart's red eye narrowed in concentration, and in the final second, she threw her paw forward, gripping with her claws. The white tortoiseshell's eyes widened in shock, as Lostheart blocked the blow and the black tom landed awkwardly in front of her.

Lostheart growled and shot forward, ramming the black tom backwards and causing him to skid across the ground to his brother's paws. Moonfur and Greysight ran to her sides, and the three she-cats once again took their formation, watching the two rogues with newfound confidence.

The white tom still appeared shocked and quickly helped pull his brother up. "You okay, bro?" he asked tentatively. The mottled black and orange tom staggered to his paws and gave a weak nod.

The white tortoiseshell looked from his brother to the three she-cats, "Look, we didn't mean any harm. We were just trying to find some food and shelter for the night, we didn't know this area was already claimed."

Greysight snorted and scraped her claws against the earth, while Moonfur only watched in curiosity.

"You can stay in our camp for the night if you like."

Greysight's head snapped to Lostheart, "What?" she growled.

The rogue blinked, "What? Really?" he meowed in surprise.

Lostheart nodded, "Yes, if you follow us we can take you there. We have plenty of prey and warms nests for the night. You should have just said so earlier."

Moonfur stayed quiet from Lostheart's side and watched the she-cat from the corner of her eyes, knowing that the she must have a plan.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Progress! This scene might have come in to early but I felt like everything was going to slow, screw fillers! Ecen though they help character development, we shall go to storyline stuff.

Lost Out