Hey, everybody! Welcome back to another update of A New Destiny, hope you enjoy :D

Happy end-of-January!

"Death I smell."

Beepaw crammed her paws into her ears so she wouldn't be subjected to the awful cackling and mutters in choppy Catspeak.

The gray tabby partially stood up, feeling like sun-drown-place waves were crashing right in her ears. She was nearly bowled over by Lakepaw, who sprung to his full height and started toward the foxes with a ferocious snarl; however, Amberear stood in his way, and the gray she-cat didn't even flinch as he careened into her.

Beepaw felt movement on her left side, and gasped as she watched her sister shoot across the clearing like a jackrabbit. Morningpaw disappeared into the medicine den before the foxes could even notice—

She's protecting Bumblestripe! Beepaw realized this in a flash, and for a moment so much overwhelmed her: It's just the eve of our first full day as apprentices… this morning, I watched a WindClan apprentice drown… then Sorreltail died… then we had to train again… and now FoxClan makes their move! A rush of adrenaline powered her, and she sprung in front of Sorreltail's body, baring her teeth at the advancing foxes. She was clueless in the battle moves department, but surely someone would help her?

She swung her head around, and in heartbeats she was flanked by a shuddering Brackenfur and a defiant Foxleap. The reddish warrior then looked down and noticed his fellow Clanmates, and a look of fear crossed over his face.

"You two cannot be fighting! Beepaw, you're too young to participate in something like this…! Brackenfur, you must be kidding me. You are retired—"

"I insist," Brackenfur growled with a somewhat dazed expression in his milky old amber eyes. "I must protect her—"

"She is protected," a new voice whispered. Beepaw recognized the tortoiseshell-and-white pelt of Poppyfrost that looked so similar to her mother's. "She's already been with Cherrystem for a while now. I'm begging you, father, please. This is just a shell of her old self. Her spirit is somewhere safe now. Even if the foxes go in vulture mode and—"

"Don't even say it," Brackenfur croaked. With one last scowl at the sneering foxes, he picked up his mate's body by the scruff and proceeded to drag Sorreltail over to the elders' den.

A trace of concern graced Poppyfrost's features, and Foxleap mimicked it. Beepaw glanced back forward, and her breath caught as the foxes stared after the grieving elder for a moment. Then, fortunately, they became disinterested and continued to prowl forward.

It took a moment for Beepaw to register that Foxleap was pushing her away. "Please," he hissed quietly to her. "Go find your sister, your mother, someone."

The young she-cat stared up into his pine-forest-green eyes, and gulped. "I will, Foxleap," she grunted as he gave her another nudge. Stumbling a little, she raced between the lines of battle-ready warriors, and FoxClan didn't even notice her. She burst out between Lionblaze and Molefoot, murmured quick apologies to the tensed toms, and exploded into the medicine den.

She was greeted by Jayfeather standing over, Leafpool physically restraining, and Morningpaw lying on top of… Bumblestripe.

The black-striped cat was wriggling madly. When his other daughter entered the scene, he excluded a greeting and merely shouted, "Dovewing! Dove— where is your mother?"

Morningpaw squeaked indignantly as she was thrown off, leaving the two medicine cats to hold back Bumblestripe. Still he struggled while Briarlight helped up the silver apprentice.

"Well?" he demanded.

Beepaw made a wide arc around her father's splayed and flailing limbs to arrive at her littermate's side. Then she unhurriedly answered, as Jayfeather stared at her, exasperated. "Oh, I don't know," she mewed shortly.

Morningpaw snorted from next to her, and Bumblestripe growled, "I swear, she's always up to something, that she-cat. She wasn't even at the vigil, was she?"

Despite her indifferent demeanor, Beepaw couldn't be more surprised by her father's robust mood that was sharper than a rose thorn. "I dunno," the gray cat answered again. "I was just next to Morningpaw and Lakepaw was on my right—"

In the next instant, there was a howl of pain from outside, and the entire den shook. Dust and a few twigs from the woven ceiling fell on the cats' heads. Immediately Jayfeather ushered Briarlight into the rear of the den, where the herb store was. The blind tom was then shoved aside by his mother, and when he protested, Leafpool snapped in a manner Beepaw had never seen her in. "They'll gobble you up ruthlessly, Jayfeather! You can't see, it would be just like when you were nearly eaten as a kit."

Jayfeather grumbled, but followed Briarlight into the herb store. Leafpool remained at the entrance to the den, so Morningpaw and Beepaw took up their posts in front of their father. Bumblestripe mumbled, "I can fight just fine now" but he didn't get up from his warm mossy nest.

As it turned out, the yell of pain had come from Whitewing, who had already been guarding the medicine den from the outside. In the gap between Leafpool's head and shoulder, Beepaw caught a glimpse of white fur and scarlet. After that, Mousewhisker appeared in a flurry of ruffled gray-and-white, and once again everyone inside the den was safe.

"Oh, I hope Whitewing's okay," Morningpaw whispered, and Beepaw remembered that the pale-furred warrior was their kin. Dovewing's mother…

The battle raged on outside, and several times Leafpool winced. Just when Beepaw's head was starting to grow numb from all the yowls outside, there was a distinct scratchy voice that made her pay attention again.

"Who else want feel claws?" It was shrill, and female; Morningpaw had already rose from her frozen curled position to look over Leafpool's shoulder, and Beepaw joined her.

A skinny fox with an orange, sunrise-colored pelt was smirking around at the cats, licking the blood off her claws. "Easier than thought," she laughed, and with a wave of her bushy tail, a large number of foxes gathered around her, all pointing at and taunting the battered warriors.

A male fox with a dark russet coat and black points loped over to the apparent leader. "Aaka," he murmured. "Continue battle or no?"

"Patience, Zing," she drawled in return, "is key. For now, we wait. Wait kitties to attack. Very impatient creatures, see, Zing."

And again the foxes released an unbearably high-pitched cackle. Beepaw cringed and turned away for a moment. Once she was looking at the action again, Bramblestar was nose-to-nose with the fox apparently named Aaka, though Zing looked prepared to barge in if he had to.

"Why did you invade our territory in the first place?" demanded the dark brown tabby.

"'Cause we can."

"I haven't dealt with foxes much in my life— but you're setting a pretty bad example for your species." With that, the ThunderClan leader aimed a blow at the FoxClan leader's throat, and she collapsed, blood spilling out of the fresh wound.

It seemed in that moment that all worries about Bramblestar being cowardly toward the foxes were extinguished. The tabby was only able to say, "Bet you don't have a medicine fox, do you?" before he was engulfed in a storm of screeching and livid red and gray.

As cats piled themselves onto the chaotic mass of foxes, claws astray, Aaka was knocked to the side. Her eyes looked ominously glassy as blood continued to gush from her neck, but her chest was still rising up and down faintly.

However many warriors there were, still more foxes seemed to multiply within the mountain that had formed over Bramblestar. It was clear they were losing, but they were ThunderClan, they had allies!

There was a groan of dismay from Beepaw's flank, and the gray tabby meowed, "What?"

Morningpaw nodded over toward the thorny camp entrance, and the two sisters gasped and then groaned as, one by one, Dovewing, Tigerheart, and Icecloud stumbled in. The trio took one look at the foxes, then the latter two glared at the first. Tigerheart and Icecloud tore across the clearing, him to join the fight, and her to lick away a smear of blood from under her daughter's eye.

Dovewing hesitated, one paw in the air and facing the direction of the battling foxes and cats. But then, slowly, she made her way over to the medicine den, nodded to Mousewhisker, and slipped in past Leafpool and Morningpaw.

Nary a hello to her daughters or the tabby, the pale gray warrior stepped over to stand before Bumblestripe. Relief swept through his gaze, and for a couple heartbeats his eyes were brilliant blue waves of joy.

Then Dovewing said plainly, "We can't be mates anymore."

Behind her, Leafpool drew a sharp breath and returned to watching the battle and guarding the den, though Beepaw knew one of her ears was angled in their direction. Beepaw was sure her mother must be joking, and started to smile nervously just a few moments after Morningpaw did.

Bumblestripe didn't appear to recognize any joke, or maybe it was Dovewing's tone, for he rasped, "What?"

"We can't," Dovewing whispered. "I—"

She was cut off by the roar of a new crowd. Friends or foes, Beepaw did not know, so, heart racing, she scrambled away from her parents and back to Leafpool's shoulder.

WindClan was here, Ashstar, Crowfeather, and Whiskernose at the lead, two pairs of cobalt and one set of amber eyes gleaming with malice as they launched themselves at the stunned foxes.

Gahh