I finished this part and realized it was already almost 2,000 words long, so I figured I'd save the story for Part 2.

The Age of Awesomeness: Thanks for submitting three names I liked! :) This chapter's uploaded four days after the last one - is that soon enough? ;)

Anova00: Yeah, me too. XD I'm sarcastic almost all the time.

QLKwriter: I can't imagine trying to be sarcastic when there's nothing sarcastic to say... It'd probably come out weird. So yeah, I completely understand/agree with you.

walkswithwheels: Not if there's a cure discovered or if all the sick cats just die and the healthy ones travel back to the lake. Or, of course, RiverClan could just all die out or something or refuse to return to the lake. No, don't worry, the sickness won't go back to the lake.

ShadowHawk540: I stayed up so late last night, so I'm probably sleep-deprived like you. Good thing it's the weekend! ;) Naps for the win!

Nightfeather: XD That *sarcasm* was great. Yeah, Rushstar's pretty sadistic. She basically said, "Why couldn't you have killed your kit?" O.o What if she killed the kit herself? And don't worry, Sootpaw won't be Sootash. I wasn't too fond of that name myself. XD If that happened, Dawnpaw would probably dump him on the spot. I think Leopard x Pine was strange because Pinestar was so old and Leopardfoot was so young and he quite obviously preferred the Twolegplace to her, so maybe she was just infatuated by him or something and somehow got around to having his kits. So I feel bad for Leopardfoot. :D Thanks for wishing me happy birthday! :D

Willowdream of ForestClan: Finchwing does seem to be a great artist! :) I also look up to her now; thanks for introducing me to her! (figuratively speaking, not literally XD)

Rainpaw's POV

It took us two days to cross the remaining fields and forests. On the third sunrise, I finally smelled a familiar scent.

"Lightwing!" I gasped, leaping forward so quickly I nearly knocked Aspenpaw to the ground. He stumbled, paws catching on tufts of grass, but I didn't pause to make sure he was all right. I'd already spotted a light brown tabby tail poking out of a thicket of leaves.

A pair of bright amber eyes blinked out at me as I sprinted for where I knew my mother to be. Pushing off from the hard ground, I crashed through the undergrowth head-first, my paws connecting with a soft-furred flank. Holding on to Lightwing, I rolled out of the bush with her, coming to rest with me on top.

"Rainpaw!" Lightwing's voice was choked with something I thought must be emotion, or at least until I realized my paw was pressing down on her neck. Quickly, I stood up, making absolute sure all four paws were planted firmly on the ground.

Lightwing pushed herself into a half-crouching, half-sitting position. We stared at each other for a moment, all four eyes swimming in pools of salty tears. Finally, Lightwing smiled. "You've grown so much," she whispered. "I barely recognize you."

Lightwing herself hadn't changed much. I even checked for gray hairs along her chin, like the oldest cats here had, but couldn't find any. Then again, she had been young when Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and I had been born. She looked as though it had only been yesterday that we'd left.

But it hadn't been only yesterday. It had been moons.

Suddenly, I found I couldn't stand being apart from her for one more second. Pressing forward, I nuzzled her along the side of her neck, lifting one paw to hug her shoulders. I'd missed my mother.

Apparently, so had she. She returned the gesture enthusiastically, reaching up on her hind legs to lick the top of my head. I was shocked – she didn't used to have to do that. She used to have to bend down to lick my head. Maybe I had grown, just as she'd said.

Aspenpaw and Alderpaw bounded into the small clearing, coming to a halt when they saw me embracing Lightwing. They stared at her, then at each other. I got the funny feeling they knew who she was. Well, that made sense, didn't it? They had said they used to live here. But what Lightwing said next disintegrated that realization into confusion once again.

"Emberpaw! Sandpaw!" Her eyes were wide with shock. "I thought you'd left for good!" She pulled away from me and bounded over to sniff the two apprentices.

"We don't go by those names anymore," Aspenpaw muttered, shying away from Lightwing's nose.

"Yeah," Alderpaw agreed. "Now we're Alderpaw and Aspenpaw."

Aspenpaw nodded.

Lightwing looked just about as confused as I felt. "But why?" she asked.

"Well…" Alderpaw looked at his sister.

"We'd rather tell that story to our parents," Aspenpaw meowed. "If they're fine with you staying, then that's their decision."

Lightwing nodded, taking a step back. "Very well," she meowed. "I'm sure Dewcloud and Frozenwhisker will be eager to see you two. They missed you terribly when you left."

I felt a slight pang of guilt. Had Lightwing missed Sootpaw, Cinderpaw, and I when we'd left?

"Follow me," Lightwing continued, turning and beckoning to the brother and sister. "Your parents should be by the stream. That's where they spend most of their days." She beckoned to me, smiling, and we set off.

"So how are Sootpaw and Cinderpaw?" Lightwing asked.

I grinned to myself; of course Lightwing would want to hear about her other kits as soon as possible. Then my smile faded as I remembered where my littermates were. "They're fine, or at least I think they're fine," I meowed uncertainly.

Lightwing's eyes narrowed in concern. "What do you mean?" Her tail twitched nervously back and forth.

I took a deep breath. "Well, I guess you don't know about this," he began, his heart heavy as he looked back to his past at the lake. "But…"

Lightwing sighed. "Just get it out, Rainpaw," she said, sounding once more like the mother she'd once been. "Sit up straight, Cinderpaw! Sootpaw, wash your fur! Rainpaw, put that beetle down and get over here!"

"The fight for peace isn't going well," I blurted out. Lightwing's eyes betrayed her sudden fear as I continued. "Ashthorn was the leader of LeopardClan, the Clan of peaceful cats, fighting against NightClan for the lake."

"Was?" From Lightwing's tone, I realized she knew what was coming.

"Was," I agreed. "A quarter moon ago, NightClan attacked our camp. They… they killed Ashthorn."

Lightwing exhaled, her head dropping as she stared at her paws, the glassy look in her eyes telling me she wasn't really seeing them. "I knew this might happen," she murmured softly. "Ever since he said goodbye when I left. We both knew we might never see each other again." She closed her eyes. "I guess that notion has become truth." She remained that way, padding blindly along the forest path, for several heartbeats before she finally looked up. "Did you get to meet him before he… joined StarClan?"

I nodded, thinking back to the time when Ashthorn lay on his deathbed and confessed his secrets to my littermates and I. "It was good to spend some time with him, even if it was short." Too short.

Lightwing smiled. "I'm glad. Sootpaw was always so determined to meet his father." She paused for a moment, then looked back up at me. "How is he? How is Cinderpaw?"

"They…" I hesitated again, but after one glance at Lightwing's expression, I plunged onward. "I'm not sure. I think they're fine. Well, more like hope they're fine. See, when Ashthorn… joined StarClan, he left the three of us in charge. But we quickly realized we couldn't defeat NightClan without help, so that's what we're doing now. Sootpaw's back at the lake, in charge of LeopardClan. Cinderpaw journeyed downriver to find RiverClan and convince them to fight."

"And what are you doing?" Lightwing asked, though from the softer tone of her voice, I realized she already knew the answer.

"I've come to ask you to come fight with us once more."

Lightwing exhaled. "Rainpaw, you do realize most cats won't want to?" she asked, her voice defeated-sounding. "They came for peace, they won't want to go back for war."

"Yeah, but I had to try, didn't I?" I asked, my voice rising. "Listen," I checked the volume of my meow, "these cats left the lake to raise their kits in peace, right?"

Lightwing nodded warily.

"By now their kits have got to be about the same age as me. I've fought in a battle and chased off the NightClan warriors. What's to say they can't also? Maybe their parents will be missing the lake and how it used to be. I know that if LeopardClan gets the reinforcements it needs, we can win this battle."

Lightwing hesitated. "I still don't think they'll want to come."

Suddenly, I realized there might be a double meaning in her words. "You're coming back with me… aren't you?" I meowed slowly.

"Of course I am," Lightwing said, sounding slightly shocked. "I want to see my kits again. I want to fight beside them, not leave them to their deaths. Not if I can help it."

I grinned. "Thanks."

"It's nothing I wouldn't do for my sons and my daughter," Lightwing murmured, pressing her nose to my cheek. I licked her ear in return.

I realized suddenly that I could hear other voices. Lifting my head, I stared forward, my eyes trying to probe through the foliage ahead. Purring slightly, Lightwing darted forward and pressed the leaves aside, allowing me to see forward. "Welcome again to your home," she meowed.

This isn't my home, I thought. The lake is. But I padded forward with a smile anyways. I didn't want to upset Lightwing further after telling her of her mate's death and the fragile condition two of her kits currently lived in.

I had barely enough time to glance around at the sunny clearing filled with cats lying on flat stones along the banks of a stream before a positive scream of joy erupted from a certain dark gray and white she-cat. "My kits!" I stepped aside as the queen hurtled up the bank, abandoning her sunny rock, and flung herself upon Aspenpaw and Alderpaw. "You came back!" She turned and yowled back at the crowd of cats, "Frozenwhisker!"

But the light gray tom was already racing over to press his nose against his kits' fur. "Sandpaw!" he joyfully called, nuzzling Aspenpaw. "Emberpaw!" He bowled over Alderpaw and covered his forehead with licks. "I can't believe it! You're home!"

Aspenpaw backed slowly away from the mess of her mother's tears and her father's loud voice. "Hello, Dewcloud, Frozenwhisker," she muttered, her hazel eyes fixed on her paws. "I missed you."

Alderpaw had roughly the same reaction. Pushing his overjoyed father off, he scrambled to his paws. "Hi," he meowed in a voice barely audible over his parents' cries.

"Sandpaw, how are you?" Dewcloud asked, nuzzling Aspenpaw.

"I'm not Sandpaw," Aspenpaw meowed defiantly. "I'm Aspenpaw."

"W-What?" Dewcloud backed away, looking slightly hurt. "What are you talking about? You're my Sandpaw!"

"No." Aspenpaw shook her head firmly. "I'm not. My name is Aspenpaw and I refuse to respond to Sandpaw anymore. That's not who I am."

Dewcloud turned her eyes onto her son. "Emberpaw," she said in a soft, almost begging voice that was hard for me to listen to. It conveyed so much heartbreak where before there had been joy.

Alderpaw shook his head. "I'm Alderpaw now." He went to stand beside his sister. "I'm sorry, but those aren't our names anymore."

"But why?" Now Frozenwhisker had joined the argument. He looked beseechingly from Aspenpaw to Alderpaw and back again, as though he half-expected one of them to suddenly yowl, "Just kidding!"

The littermates looked at each other briefly. Then Alderpaw spoke. "Those names don't mean anything to us."

Dewcloud and Frozenwhisker looked at each other as well, confused. Finally, Aspenpaw broke in.

"Do you remember those stories you used to tell us of the ancient Clan cats?" she asked. After her parents nodded, she continued. "You always mentioned in those stories that the names of those cats reflected a part of who they were. Lionblaze, for instance, was like a lion in that he could never be beaten in a fight. He blazed through the forest of ThunderClan territory, protecting his homeland.

"But Sand and Ember didn't mean anything to us," she explained. "You picked those names for us even before we were born. They don't show anything about us, not even our pelt colors like the names of the legendary Bluestar and Whitestorm."

Dewcloud buried her muzzle in Frozenwhisker's shoulder. He rasped his tongue over her ears before speaking up. "Those names we'd picked almost before we were mates. You, Sand… erm, Aspenpaw, were named after the legendary Sandstorm. Alderpaw, your name was meant to show how you smolder and glow just like an ember."

"But that name would be better for a fighter," Aspenpaw countered, pressing closer to her brother. "Alderpaw is such a small cat. If you'd waited until he was born, you might realize he'd never be the strongest warrior on the battlefield." She paused, looking from her mother to her father and back again. "If you want, we can tell you the story of how we got our real names."

AOTD: Yep, I'm pretty sarcastic. It's how I try to make people laugh, but I'm only sarcastic when people know I'm joking and when I know they won't take it as me being mean. Which basically means my friends and that's it.

QOTD: Why do you think Aspenpaw and Alderpaw changed their names?

I recently finished this amazing book and I'm going to recommend it to all of you. It's called Mystic City and it's by Theo Lawrence. I loved it and hope to get the second book soon! :D