A.N.: Hey, sorry for not posting for a week or whatever. Work had me swamped, so here's an extra long chapter to make up for it! Please leave me some feedback! :) ~12HockeyChick21


P.O.V. Of Moonshadow

Moonshadow padded out of the warriors' den the next morning to an empty clearing. As he padded to the small fresh kill pile he saw Fawnheart emerge from the elders' den that had been converted to a den for the cats sick with a cough. Fawnheart's eyes scanned the clearing and when she saw Moonshadow, she padded over to him, eyes tired.

"Good morning Fawnheart... how are you?" Moonshadow asked.

"Not too good, but thank you for asking. A few more cats have joined the sick den..." She frowned, pawing the fresh kill pile. She picked up a tough looking sparrow and padded back to the den without another word. Moonshadow frowned as he watched her go, then laid down with a very small mouse.

"Moonshadow." He looked up from his meal to see his apprentice and Flypaw padding over to him.

"Hello Softpaw, Flypaw."

"What are we going to do today?" Softpaw asked.

"Well it looks like we need to go hunting." Moonshadow meowed, motioning to the fresh kill pile.

"Branchpaw and Sootpaw went out on patrol with their mentors... can Redsplash and I come with you guys?" Flypaw asked. Moonshadow paused for a moment, remembering that he'd heard his brother and Redsplash had gotten into a fight a few days prior. He sighed, not wanting to really deal with Redsplash, but he also didn't want to make Flypaw feel bad.

"Sure, just go find Redsplash. Softpaw, while we wait come with me. We can bring some fresh kill to Robinheart and the elders." Moonshadow finished his mouse and stood up. Softpaw nodded and picked up a few things of prey. Moonshadow grabbed some himself. The pair padded off to the nursery where the elders were staying. Moonshadow gave a muffled meow to let them know they were there before padding inside.

"Good morning." Moonshadow greeted. Minnowstream and Rockfoot were still asleep while Leafpool laid sharing tongues with Adderstrike and Oakfur. Robinheart was grooming Briarkit, making Moonshadow remember that Acornkit was with her father in the sick den.

"Oh hello Moonshadow. Hello Softpaw." Leafpool looked up with a smile.

"Hi Leafpool! Hi Adderstrike, Oakfur! Robinheart! We brought you some food before we go hunting." Softpaw mewed proudly.

"Well thank you so much young one." Oakfur smiled as well as Softpaw placed prey down for him. Moonshadow put his two pieces down for his Robinheart and his mother. He gave Leafpool a lick between the ears.

"How are you mother?" he asked.

"I'm doing alright. I get some time with Robinheart and Briarkit. It's nice to see you too." She replied, then bent her head down to bite into her prey.

"How are you Adderstrike?" Softpaw asked. Adderstrike lifted his head when she put prey down in front of him.

"I'm alright, thank you Softpaw. Silverberry came to check on me earlier. It was nice seeing her." He mewed quietly, voice rough. Softpaw nodded, then looked towards her mentor. Moonshadow placed down the rest of the prey.

"This is for the others when they wake up. We should go now though, we need more fresh kill." he meowed. Leafpool nodded.

"Thanks, I'll let them know. Good luck on your hunt."

Moonshadow and Softpaw back outside and saw Redsplash and Flypaw waiting for them by the camp entrance, but also Graybird nosing through the fresh kill pile with a frown. She looked up and noticed Moonshadow and Softpaw and padded over.

"Hey, did you just bring fresh kill to my father and the others?" She asked. Moonshadow nodded.

"Yes, now we're going hunting, would you like to come?" Softpaw asked. Graybird's tail twitched excitedly and she nodded.

"Sure. If that's okay with Moonshadow."

"Of course, come on. Redsplash and Flypaw are waiting." Moonshadow smiled and the three went to join them.

The group of five ended up separating, Redsplash and Flypaw going off by themselves. Moonshadow wasn't too upset about that, happy he didn't have to be making awkward small talk with Redsplash.

"This is gonna be really hard to find prey... the ground is starting to freeze." Graybird mewed. Moonshadow raised his muzzle to sniff around. The leaves were dark orange and looked almost ready to fall.

"Yeah... I think I smell a sparrow somewhere though. You think you can find it, Softpaw?" Moonshadow asked his apprentice. Softpaw paused and scented the air as Moonshadow had shown her earlier.

"It's just past that tree." Softpaw mewed proudly.

"Show me the hunting crouch." Moonshadow meowed. Softpaw nodded and lowered herself to the forest floor, her belly fur barely brushing it.

"Good... give it a shot." Moonshadow told her. Softpaw crept forward slowly towards the sparrow, digging at the frozen ground for grubs. Moonshadow and Graybird both watched in silence as the small gray and white she-cat leapt for the sparrow, coming up a bit short and the bird fluttered off in shock.

"Aww no..." Softpaw frowned, not even moving from her splayed out position. She sighed, burying her face in her paws.

"Do you know what you did wrong?" Moonshadow asked, padding over to his apprentice and nosing her to her paws.

"No..." Softpaw frowned. Graybird padded up.

"Can I tell her, Moonshadow?" She asked. The gray tom nodded.

"Sure, go ahead."

"Your paws were too far apart when you leapt. Try to straighten your tail a bit more as well." Graybird smiled.

"Oh thank you." Softpaw nodded.

"Yes, and don't bend you knees quite as much." Moonshadow put in.

"Thank guys! I'm gonna go try again!" Softpaw nodded excitedly and raced off.

"It's good to see her coming out of her shell a bit more." Moonshadow laughed, shaking her head as he watched her go.

"It's all thanks to you." Graybird told him.

"What?" Moonshadow looked at her, confused.

"You're doing a really good job mentoring her." Graybird meowed.

"Wow... thanks. It's actually really nice to hear that because I've been really self-conscious about this whole thing." Moonshadow paused and looked at the ground. " You really think I'm actually teaching her properly?"

"I really do." Graybird head-butted him with a short purr.

"Well let's go try to catch some stuff. We got a lot of mouths to feed." Moonshadow meowed. Graybird nodded and motioned for Moonshadow to follow before she padded through the bushes.

"OH STARCLAN!" Moonshadow heard Graybird exclaim. He ran after her, shocked as he discovered the body of a familiar tabby.


P.O.V. Of Otterstrike

Otterstrike had just returned from a patrol on the LightClan/ThunderClan border with Brownbelly, Lilaccloud, Duskshade, and Sunfire, having been pretty distracted by memories of the previous night with Russetshade.

Otterstrike had padded out of camp after most of the other cats had gone to sleep, dipping his head towards Cloudheart, who was on guard duty that night. Cloudheart nodded in return, not even bothering to ask what he was doing.

Otterstrike was sitting on the halfbridge overlooking the lake when he was frightened by a tapping on his shoulder. His fur puffed up as he spun around, claws sliding out.

"Oh StarClan! What have I told you about doing that!" He exclaimed as he came face to face with a mud covered Russetshade. He covered his nose with his tail. "Oh great StarClan you stink!"

"Well thank you! You're a not really bed of roses yourself, Lighty."

"What, really?" She sniffed himself. He smelled the way he usually did. "I smell the same!"

"I'm just messing with you. I had to roll around in this so I could mask my scent." She explained, bending her neck to lick some of the mud off her chest, then spat it out.

"Blak, gross. Yeah, you're right... I'll wash it off in the lake." She mewed, looking out at the sparkling waters. Otterstrike was reminded of Sorrelbriar's brother Firepaw's accident.

"You sure that's such a g-" But before he could finish, Russetshade had leapt off the halfbridge.

"Russetshade please be careful!" Otterstrike called as he watched the brown she-cat's small head bobbed around in the dark water. For a moment, her head disappeared and Otterstrike jumped up and looked around.

"Russetshade? Russetshade!?" She popped back up.

"I'm fine Lighty, chill out- whoa!" She disappeared back under the water and Otterstrike's heart started pounding.

"RUSSETSHADE! Oh StarClan..." He danced on his paws nervously, ready to jump in when her head reappeared, the she-cat laughing.

"Russetshade? What is wrong with you!" Otterstrike spat, sitting back.

"I'm sorry, you're just too easy!" She cackled, but then coughed as water entered her mouth.

"Be careful!"

"I'm fi-" she coughed, swallowing more water. "I'm- hac, Otterst- Otterstrike help!" She cried out as she drifted under the surface again.

"Oh come on Russetshade. I know you're messing with me... Russetshade?" Otterstrike leapt to his paws again, eyes searching the dark gray waters, splashes no longer disturbing the surface. His heart began pounding yet again. He growled, knowing what he had to do.

"Oh foxdung." He hissed, jumping from the halfbridge. His almost gasped as thin fur was hit by the icy water, his leafbare coat having not grown in yet. He forced his eyes open and looked around for the ShadowClan she-cat. He saw her, unconsciously drifting deeper down into the depths. Otterstrike panicked and swam down, grabbing her scruff. He forced his paws to keep kicking, despite the extra weight. Oh why couldn't he have been born in RiverClan? He couldn't even tell where the surface was, everything around him just darkness. He felt absolutely desperate, his chest beginning to burn.

StarClan please, give me strength...

Otterstrike gripped even tighter onto Russetshade as he flailed his legs. Somehow, miraculously, he broke the surface and blinked lake water from his eyes. Then he choked slightly, heading towards the coast. He dragged Russetshade's body onto shore and nosed her.

"Come on Russetshade... please. Oh StarClan please..." He pressed his paws onto her belly repeatedly, firmly but carefully to try and get her to wake up. Russetshade sat up suddenly and coughed up lake water.

"Russetshade! Oh thank StarClan." Otterstrike nuzzled her and started licking her to help her dry off, ignoring the cold wind that buffeted his wet fur.

"Oh StarClan, you must be freezing." He mewed between licks. Russetshade looked up at him, shivering.

"Wh-what about y-you Lighty? You're all wet t-too."

"I'm fine as long as you are. Let's get you over to that bush to shield you from these winds." Otterstrike nosed her to her paws and helped her over to the holly bush nearby. Once they got under it, they huddled together and Otterstrike continued to groom her wet fur.

"I'll keep you warm, I promise."

The two had fallen asleep and he had woken up a little before dawn to Russetshade missing and he couldn't help but think about what he had done wrong.

"Hey Otterstrike? You okay?" Brownbelly's voice brought him back from the memories.

"Hm?"

"You've been out of it all morning. What is going on with you?" Sunfire put in.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just haven't been sleeping well is all..."

"Well you can go ask Silverberry for some poppy seeds or some other herbs to help you sleep I'm sure." Lilaccloud meowed.

"Yeah, she and Fawnheart have helped me when I had problems sleeping." Duskshade put in.

"I was meaning to go see Strikefang, you can come with me if you'd like. We can check on Blackstream too. I believe she's finally woken up." Sunfire meowed.

"Alright, sure." Otterstrike mewed.

"I was going to go hunting with my mother. We'll see you two later?" Duskshade asked Lilaccloud and Brownbelly.

"Okay." Brownbelly nodded and Duskshade padded off with Sunfire and Otterstrike.

"I didn't know you were going hunting." Sunfire meowed.

"I'm not..." Duskshade grinned and winked, then padded off to the warriors' den.

"Nice." Sunfire nodded in understanding. Brownbelly needed all the help he could get in being left alone with Lilaccloud. Sunfire and Otterstrike padded into the medicine cat den.

"Hello Silverberry." Otterstrike greeted.

"How are Strikefang and Blackstream?" Sunfire asked.

"Oh Sunfire, there's something you should know..." Before Silverberry could respond, Strikefang emerged from the back, her back legs dragging behind her, unusable. Otterstrike almost gasped aloud. He had no idea Strikefang was this injured.

"Sunfire..." Strikefang nuzzled him.

"Strikefang... how are you?" Sunfire nuzzled her back.

"I'm doing well..."

"Then why do you sound so worried?" Sunfire asked, a look of concern on his face.

"I'm not worried. Silverberry says Jayfeather told her everything worked out just fine with Briarlight... even when she had kits." Strikefang meowed.

"Kits...?" Sunfire's face lit up.

"Yes... I'm expecting your kits Sunfire!" Strikefang purred. Otterstrike held back a sigh and padded to the back part of the medicine cat den to see Blackstream sitting up in her nest. Otterstrike once again almost gasped. This was the first time he'd seen Blackstream since her attack and his niece was a complete mess. Both her ears were shredded an her body was littered with many still fresh looking scars. Her tail tip had also been torn off and one of her eyes was squinted shut, some herb juice was trickling out of it.

"Otterstrike?" Blackstream turned her head to look out of her uninjured amber eye at him. "Oh hi! How are you?"

"I'm alright. How are you doing? It's good to see you awake." Otterstrike gave her a lick between the ears.

"I'm alright, I can't really see out of this eye... but Silverberry said with a little extra training, it shouldn't be much of a problem. I'm sure Clearwhisker can help me." Blackstream meowed, surprisingly upbeat. Otterstrike nodded.

"Of course. And I can always help you in any way that I can."

"Thanks Otterstrike."

"I gotta go now, let me know when Silverberry let's you out of here." Otterstrike told her.

"Will do. I've been getting totally stir crazy. I can't wait to get my claws into a juicy squirrel."

"I'll bring you one later if a hunting patrol brings one. See you later!"


A.N.: Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think. Who do you think "familiar tabby" that Moonshadow and Graybird is? If anyone guesses correctly, they'll get a prize of some sort. I just haven't exactly figured out what yet lol. ~12HockeyChick21