A.N. Here's an extra long chapter to celebrate the holiday that I don't really give a crap about! Lol. But just an excuse to treat you guys! Happy 4th of July! Hope you enjoy! ~12HockeyChick21


P.O.V. Of Moonshadow

Moonshadow had just been heading to sleep when the dusk patrol returned in a hurry.

"Hollyleaf!" Tawnymoon meowed from the lead.

"Fuzzytail!" Called Cloversong.

"Wake Hollyleaf and Fuzzytail!" Added Strikefang. Sunfire skidded to a stop beside her, breathing heavily.

"What's going on?!" Moonshadow asked worriedly. Fuzzytail and Hollyleaf both emerged groggily from the warriors' den.

"What's going in?" Fuzzytail asked.

"Emberheart is missing!" Cloversong exclaimed to her mate.

"Blackstream as well. We found their scent mingled with a badger's!"

"What were they doing out of camp this late?" Hollyleaf asked, shaking.

"Where are they?" Fuzzytail asked.

"Come quick! Splotchface and Dewclaw are with them but we're worried the badger is going to come back!" Strikefang exclaimed.

"Let's go now!" Fuzzytail, running out of camp.

"Moonshadow, get Silverberry and come with us!" Hollyleaf added, following after the senior warrior. Moonshadow nodded obediently and took off towards the medicine cat den.

"Silverberry!" He let himself in and saw her asleep in her nest. Moonshadow pawed her softly.

"Silverberry please wake up, it's important!"

"Hmm? Moonshadow? What's wrong?"

"Badger! There's been an attack. It's Blackstream and Emberheart. Please, we have to go fast."

"Oh StarClan!" Silverberry stood fast and gathered a few things.

"Let's go." She meowed sternly.


When the two of them finally found the rest of the group it was anything but calm. Moonshadow gasped as he saw Hollyleaf, Fuzzytail, and Tawnymoon standing protectively over the body of Blackstream while Strikefang, Sunfire, Cloversong, Splotchface, and Dewclaw were fighting a badger. Moonshadow immediately jumped into the fray.

"Go to Blackstream!" He called back to Silverberry. But of course, there was no need for him to do so. Cloversong and Dewclaw were making circles around the badger as it lumbered from side to side. Strikefang and Splotchface were taking turn nipping at it's hind paws, the siblings moving in sync with one another.

"Moonshadow! I have an idea!" Sunfire mewed when he saw Moonshadow coming their way. Moonshadow nodded, following the golden tom to a nearby tree.

"Great job guys! Keep it up and keep it busy!" Sunfire yowled to the others before turning back to Moonshadow.

"Help me up this tree!" He told Moonshadow. He nodded, lowering down and shoving his head against Sunfire's tail end. He heard Sunfire's paws scrabbling on the tree bark as he climbed up the tree. Moonshadow sat back, watching what Sunfire was doing. He had always looked up to the older warrior, having been one of the first apprentices of LightClan along with Mouseleap and Pebblestep. Leafpool had been the one to teach him everything and he was a proud and strong warrior.

"Moonshadow!" He took his eyes off of Sunfire for a second when his old mentor's voice snatched his attention. Fuzzytail was booking it right past the badger and skidded to a stop at the badger's den, a big, deep hole in the ground. Moonshadow looked back at the tree when he heard Sunfire's yowl. The golden tomcat was on a branch overhanging the badger and he leapt off, landing onto the badger's head with claws outstretched. Moonshadow's eyes went wide in surprise. What a brilliant maneuver!

"MOONSHADOW HERE!" Fuzzytail's yowl made Moonshadow's paws thunder towards him before Moonshadow even knew what he wanted. The ginger tabby was trying to reach down into the den for something Moonshadow couldn't see. But as he got closer he saw exactly what it was.

"Emberheart..." Moonshadow gasped.

"My kit! Help me get my kit!" Fuzzytail's claws were scrabbling on the grass and the dirt. Moonshadow's heart broke as he watched the older warrior.

"Let me." Moonshadow slid down into the hole, claws out to slow himself down. Emberheart's ginger tabby fur matched her father's, yet it was covered in so much blood and so it was so bent and broken looking that Moonshadow almost didn't recognize her.

"Is she alive?! Please!" Fuzzytail called down.

"I... I don't know..." Moonshadow mewed.

"Lift her up to me!" Fuzzytail's voice cracked. Moonshadow swallowed nervously, getting emotional as he stuck his muzzle beneath her to lift her unconscious body up higher so Fuzzytail could grab her scruff. Moonshadow felt the dead weight of his clan mate leave his shoulders, so then he scrambled up out of the hole, suddenly becoming aware of the battle still raging. Moonshadow watched as Fuzzytail dragged Emberheart's body over to where Silverberry was tending to Blackstream.

"Sunfire! They eyes, go for it's eyes!" Strikefang paused to yowl up to the tom still on top of the badger's head. Suddenly there was a horrendous cry from the badger as Sunfire's claws stuck into it's beady black eyes.

"YES!" Dewclaw exclaimed. But the badger began to swing around blindly and one of it's paws connected with Strikefang, sending the calico flying into a tree.

"STRIKEFANG!" Splotchface yowled. Sunfire began to slide down the badger's front, his claws raking it's throat as he scrambled to keep his hold. The badger gave one final cry before collapsing.

"RUN!" cried Dewclaw. The cats all fled as the badger landed with a ground shaking slam, Sunfire tumbling off of it into the dust. For a moment, no one dared to move as they all stared at the body of the badger.

"Strikefang, oh StarClan!" Splotchface barreled over to his sister.

"Oh no, oh no... this is all my fault. Strikefang!" Sunfire rushed over as fast as he could, limping slightly from where he'd landed funny on one of his back legs. Moonshadow felt frozen to the ground as he watched Cloversong go over to the body of Emberheart and Silverberry shook her head. Both Fuzzytail and Cloversong yowled mournfully.

"Strikefang! Strikefang!" Splotchface was pawing at the unmoving cat. Finally, she stirred, lifting her head only slightly.

"Oh thank StarClan, let's get you up!" Sunfire meowed, nosing her to her paws. Strikefang struggled, but couldn't seem to stand completely. Moonshadow's heart just about stopped when he heard her murmur.

"I can't feel my legs."


A.N. AAAAAND I just realized an issue with the Gatherings and the whole "Fivetrees" thing. They're at the Lake territory! NO FOURTREES. WHOOPS! Discard aaaaalll of that. They're just on an island I guess. Silly me... moving on...


P.O.V. Of Otterstrike

It was nearing the end of the Gathering Otterstrike felt something brush against him. He turned to see Russetshade staring at him.

"Halfbridge. Break off from your group and meet me there." she murmured in his ear. Otterstrike was surprised by this, but just nodded in agreement.

"Cool, see you soon." She whispered and one of her clan mates called her name. She showed him no more attention, hustling after her clan.

"Otterstrike come on dear!" Leafpool called. Otterstrike followed his clan mates, ready for another dip in the quickly cooling lake water to get back to his territory.

"Did you have fun?" Leafpool asked him. Otterstrike nodded.

"Yes."

"Good, well I'm going to go talk to your father." Leafpool smiled, and went to catch up with Spiderstar in the lead. Otterstrike hung back, purposely falling to the back of the group. He watched as ShadowClan was also heading back to their territory. He saw Russetshade's familiar shape doing the same as him, carefully moving slower as to be forgotten.

Finally, after hiding in some bushes while waiting for his clan to return to camp without him, Otterstrike emerged and crept out onto the half bridge under the light of the full moon.

"Hey Lighty." Russetshade's voice made him jump.

"StarClan, don't do that." he spat, forcing his fur to lie flat.

"Hey, what else am I supposed to do? Jump you? I think that would have been even more of a surprise." Russetshade joked.

"Why did you want to meet me here?" Otterstrike asked. Russetshade shrugged and padded over to sit beside him. They were so close that their pelts brushed and Otterstrike felt heat rising off his pelt despite the nearing cold.

"Uh... you know this is technically LightClan territory." Was all he managed to say.

"Yeah, but I've realized that the night after a Gathering none of the clan's patrols really pay attention to other clan's scent so much."

"Oh." Was all Otterstrike could think to say. The two sat in silence for a while, just letting the wind buffet their fur under the stars.

"I guess I just... I really enjoy talking to you." Russetshade said finally, making Otterstrike look down into her dark amber eyes.

"Well... I like talking to you too," he admitted, "but isn't this against the code?"

"We're just two cats talking and being friendly. What is that going to hurt?" Russetshade asked. It was Otterstrike's turn to shrug and they fell into silence once again.

"Can you believe Onestar is gone? I mean... Harestar doesn't really have the same ring to it, huh?" Otterstrike meowed.

"I guess it's just something we'll have to get used to. I mean, we got used to saying Thornstar right? And I just thought it was crazy that he made it to being leader because wasn't Brackenstar his brother? Thornstar is so old. Same with Mistystar... She's the one who's been leader the longest so... RiverClan's probably next in line for a new leader."

"Probably..." Otterstrike agreed.

"So... is Adderstrike alright? I haven't seen him at any Gatherings in moons. What made him step down?" Russetshade asked. Otterstrike realized that she must have missed the Gathering where Spiderstar had made that announcement and publicly chosen Fallen Leaves as his next deputy.

"Oh... we aren't really sure, he's just sick and has some immune system thing where everything hurts him a lot more than it would a normal cat so he moved in with my mother and the rest of the elders." Otterstrike explained.

"So Fallen Leaves is deputy now... he's got such an interesting name. I heard that he used to be an Ancients cat that had fallen into all those tunnels that run underground and died. Then he was resurrected along with Adderstrike when your mother was going to reform LightClan."

"That's right... Adderstrike and Fallen Leaves are actually really good friends and I think the only reason Adderstrike agreed to resign as deputy was because Spiderstar agreed to make Fallen Leaves deputy."

"Fallen Leaves. What does he plan to do when he becomes leader? Fallenstar?"

"I... I don't know." Otterstrike looked away from her and out across the shimmering lake, the moon and the stars reflecting beautifully off the rippling surface.

"Oh, I'm sorry... you probably don't want to think about that..." Russetshade murmured softly.

"It's alright..." Otterstrike mewed quietly.

"Your mother and father are both very brave, strong cats. And I think they rose a wonderful warrior." Russetshade whispered, nuzzling into his chest so her head was under his chin. Otterstrike said nothing, just let out a surprised purr and closed his eyes.

"We shouldn't be staying out much longer, as much as I wish we could... our clan's will start to wonder where we are." Russetshade sighed, looking up into Otterstrike's eyes. He frowned, but he knew the ShadowClan she-cat was right. Russetshade gaze one last sigh and Otterstrike breathed in her scent before she pulled away from him.

"Wh-when can I see you again?" he asked as she started back down the halfbridge. She didn't turn back to answer until she was back on her side of the border. Before she crossed the twoleg path, she looked at Otterstrike.

"I'm not sure..." She thought for a moment. "How about in a quarter moon? Same place."

A quarter moon...? Otterstrike thought sadly. But he sighed and nodded.

"Yes, okay." He agreed. Russetshade perked up a bit and smiled at him.

"Great... can't wait. Try not to get into anymore fights before than Lighty. You're too pretty for battle scars." She flicked her tail goodbye and catapulted across the path and into the shadow of the night.

"Thanks..." Otterstrike murmured into the silence as he watched her go. Finally... a cat who saw him for him and not his brother Moonshadow or any more of his family... Otterstrike took in the air around him, catching her scent one final time before returning back to camp.