Cherry was in pain. It wasn't painfully painful, but still pain nonetheless. She could feel the dull throb all over her body, especially on her left side. 'Well if I can feel then I'm not dead, which means I've survived the attack. And they did too, right?' Fear gripped her. Had her kits and Ravenpaw survived? They had to right? Images of the ambush flooded her mind. They were almost to the clans, almost there for help, to the point where she could smell the other cats, and then something hit her and made her fall. She remembered the claws in her side, the yowls of her kits. 'My kits!' She wailed desperately in her mind. 'I have to get my kits! My kits!'

She groaned and whimpered in pain as she forced her limbs to move. She felt paws holding her down, and it made her panic. Large honey eyes glared evilly down at her and a sneering face appeared before her eyes. "You will pay with your life for killing my mate, small cousin. But first, your little family."

Green eyes widened in horror as she saw her group being attacked. Two of the big cats were attacking Ocean, another two on Luna and on Ravenpaw. The leader himself was attacking Sakura, and it reminded Cherry of the time a large cat was on Sakura, only instead of Cherry coming to her rescue she could do nothing but watch as the paw came in contact with her throat. Blood sprayed everywhere, and her wails were drowned out by the big cats' evil laughter. The paws were on her again, she could feel the blood seeping out of her sides. She was going to die, she was going to die.

~ooo~

"Help! Cherry's having nightmares!"

Dustpelt and Brackenfur rushed into the medicine cat's den, eyes widening at the sight. Cherry was twitching and groaning, and all if a sudden she was flailing. "Hold her down while I give her some medicine." Jayfeather ordered, already crushing juniper berries with his paws. The two toms nodded and did as they were told, though Brackenfur was sent reeling as claws came in contact with his face and knocked him away. Cherry was flailing harder now, attacking imaginary enemies. 'Probably the big cats,' Jayfeather wondered.

Dustpelt jumped back just in time to avoid being hit like Brackenfur, and at that time Sakura and Luna ran into the den. "Get out!" Sakura growled at them as her hackles rose. Both toms nodded sharply and ran out of the den, not wanting to face the already angry she cats wrath. Both she and Ocean approached Cherry with caution. "Mother?" She called out softly, eyes gleaming hopefully when the she cat's paws paused slightly. They both crept closer, Oceans voice being the only sound in the room aside from the light snores from the other injured cats in the den.

"Mom, Cherry, it's me, Ocean. Can you hear me?" Cherry's Bose twitched, and the red cat relaxed slightly. Luna poked her head in the den, creeping in slowly while Sakura settled herself beside her mother.

"We are here mom, and we are OK. Nothing is going to hurt us anymore. The big cats are dead." Cherry relaxed even more and curled up with a sigh.

Luna narrowed her eyes as she stared at the Rīdākirā's glistening side. "Her wound has opened."

She looked at Jayfeather, who was already padding over to them. "Her, make her eat this while I work on the wound." He dropped the berries somewhere beside Ocean and moved over to her side. He pressed the cobwebs gently to her side, listening as Ocean cleaned the blood from around her wound. When that was done Jayfeather applied some ointment on it and stepped away, letting Sakura, Luna and Ocean curl around Cherry and purr softly. The she cat seemed boneless as she finally relaxed fully, growing as limp as dead snake as she let out an even more content sigh.

With a shake of his head Jayfeather walked to the back of his den with exhaustion dripping from him. It had been three days since the attack, and the she cat had yet to wake up to the real world except from the times she had nightmares. 'And this time was more violent,' Jayfeather growled in his mind. He briefly wondered about Brackenfur's new wound, but brushed it away when she heard Leafpool snarl at him to be still. 'She's taking care of it,' he thought with a grudging smirk. 'And Brackenfur doesn't like it.' He cleared his mind and made it commit to sorting out the herbs, deciding what he needed and what he didn't need. With the list in mind he padded out of the den.

Even though it was cleared, the camp still smelled of blood. After the battle the clan buried three cats, Hazeltail, Whitewing and Graystripe. 'Firestar must be sad and happy to see his friend,' Jayfeather mused, stopping in front of Bramblestar's den. "Bramblestar?" He called out.

Sandstorm mewed at him from the elders den. "He's in the nursery with Squirrelflight," he heard the she cat say. She and Dustpelt had been permanently moved to the elders den, Sandstorm because she had a twist in her paw in an unimaginable way and Dustpelt because of his eyesight. One of the big cats swiped him across the face, their claws catching his eyes and making them useless. 'There was another blind elder in our clan too I believe. Longtail? That was it.' He turned and walked to the nursery, lead there by the mews of the kits.

"That's a long scar!" He heard Gingerkit mew.

"Yes it is Gingerkit, and someday when you become a warrior you will get one too."

"I want tons of scars!" Sunkit crowed, and Squirrelflight gave an amused purr.

"Do you Sunkit? We will have to call you Mangledkit then."

"Whaaat! No! I don't want any scars!"

Jayfeather walked into the den, frowning when he felt a piercing gaze on his face. 'Who is doing that?'

"Ah Jayfeather, how are you feeling?" Bramblestar greeted.

"Fine, a bit shocked. I can't believe that Graystripe is gone."

"Yea," the tom murmured his eyes casted to the ground. "But at least now Firestar has one of his friends with him. We just have to promise Graystripe that we will watch over his mate now."

"Yea," came Jayfeather's distracted mew as he twisted his head around. 'Who is staring at me?!' He growled in annoyance, shocked when he finally saw Flamekit. And behind Flamekit were Flameblood and Killerfang, both of them piercing him with their eyes. With Flamekit's green eyes joining, it felt like his fur was on fire. He was frozen in place, eyes wide in terror as he watched the two older cat's face break out in snarling grins. And then they vanished, leaving only Flamekit staring. A prod on his side brought him back, and he was blessed with darkness again. 'What was that?' He wondered, ears twitching as he picked up Sorreltail's voice.

"-always blanking out. Are you sure you are OK Jayfeather?"

"Yea I'm fine," he muttered. "It's just that Flamekit was staring at me. It felt weird."

"Flamekit? Flamekit! Stop staring!" Bramblestar scolded, and he heard the small ginger she cat whine and run to Squirrelflight.

"But papa! Jayfeather won't do it!"

"Won't do what?" The leader mewed, and Jayfeather could already tell that amber eyes were on his face.

"He won't forgive Leafpool!"

Puzzled silence filled the air before Poppyfrost chuckled. "People have their own way for forgiving Flamekit, and their own time. He will someday."

"But he has to now!"

"Flamekit!" Squirrelflight hissed, staring down at her kit with slight anger. "Jayfeather will forgive Leafpool on his own time. Don't go meddling in other cats affairs. Besides, where did you hear this?"

"From Flameblood and Killerfang," the small she kit said innocently. "They said that if Jayfeather didn't forgive her then they were going to kill her."

The innocents in her voice didn't stop the shock that struck all the surrounding cats. Jayfeather could hear Bramblestar's neck snap as he quickly turned to with alarmed eyes. "Jayfeather?"

"They already are killing her," Jayfeather growled, eyes narrowed. "In my dreams. The message just means that if I don't forgive her right now they will come and visit me again."

"Jayfeather," Bramblestar's voice sounded urgent, horrified and just a tad bit angry. "When were you going to tell me this?"

"It's personal Bramblestar. I didn't have to tell you and didn't want to!" He snapped back, then turned and stalked out of the den. Squirrelflight gave a worried sigh and flattened her ears.

"So that's why he looked so beat up a moon ago. Skyclan's cats were torturing him in his sleep."

"And they have no right!" Bramblestar growled angrily. Skyclan were supposed to help his cats, not torture them.

"It is best to leave it alone Bramblestar."

"No, I'm going to the Moonpool when the time comes and force them to stop. We can't keep switching medicine cats because one of them is being deprived of sleep." Bramblestar's angry voice made his kits whimper and move closer to Squirrelflight, and the queen gave her mate a disapproving glare. With an apologetic glance he walked out of the den, contemplating on whether he should tell Leafpool or not. 'No, Jayfeather wouldn't want that.' But he could tell Lionblaze. With a determined nod he sought out Jayfeather's brother.

~ooo~

"And you are telling me this why?" Lionblaze mewed in boredom as he looked at the brambles a few fox lengths away from him, the entrance to their camp. Bramblestar stared in shock.

"But he is your brother Lionblaze!"

"Yes, my idiotic brother, and he deserves it. If that doesn't convince him then I could care less!"

Bramblestar couldn't believe what he was hearing. This surely wasn't Lionblaze was it? "You are OK with these cats torturing your brother and depriving him from his sleep, OK with them making Jayfeather watch as they kill Leafpool in front of him over and over?" Lionblaze fidgeted and looked down at the ground. Bramblestar let a victorious smile cross his face. 'And all that I need to do was mention what was happening.'

"I'm not OK with it."

Bramblestar almost jumped with joy.

"Not OK with them killing Leafpool over and over again that is."

And the joy was gone. Yes it was bad that they did that, terrible even, but seriously?!

"But if that is what it takes to convince him to forgive Leafpool then by all means go ahead."

"Why?"

"Why? Why?! Did you know that Jayfeather believes the mouse dung that Thornclaw and Toadstep are spreading around the clan? The lie that Leafpool is together with Crowfeather again? And not only does Jayfeather believe it, but so does Blossomfall, Icecloud and Brackenfur as well! And now I think that Foxleap and Berrynose are starting to believe it too! Surely you don't believe that, do you Bramblestar?" Hopeful and accusing eyes gazed into the leader's, and Bramblestar had to look away.

"No I don't believe it, but their actions are suspicious. I'm sure that as soon as everything is completely cleared out and the tension lessens that the accusations will go away."

Lionblaze growled as his hackles rose. "So in other words you doubt her too right?"

"No that's no-"

"Well you know what? I don't care. If you guys don't believe her then it's your loss, and if it gets to a point to where she isn't welcome anymore then me and her are leaving the clans. You all can fend for yourselves! And I'm pretty sure that Squirrelflight will leave too, and take her kits along with her." The angry ginger turned and stalked away and inside the camp, the clan giving him curious looks.

Bramblestar sighed and dropped his head wearily. "Surly Firestar didn't have to deal with this," Bramblestar muttered. He composed himself, and then walked back into the camp, brushing off his worry by sending able cats to hunt and patrol the border. Windclan had left after the battle, carrying the body of Leaftail with them. 'And whereas we lose three warriors, they lose one.' Molepelt padded over and asked if he could be on the hunting patrol, and Bramblestar nodded his head in approval. Right now he didn't care about anything else, other than going to his den and sleeping like a badger. With a look up at the bright sky he wished the day would pass quickly.