I don't see many warrior cats fanfictions, and even less of DOTC and tbh DOTC is the BEST series Warriors has ever made. It was just wow, if you haven't read it you should.

Because if you haven't read it you won't understand a lick of what I'm spouting about today lol!

"Unite or die," said the spirit cats as one entity in front of the living cats, the stars seemed to shine brighter as they said it.

The cats remaining at the battle site glanced at each other then back at their departed kin.

"What is that supposed to even mean?" asked Tall Shadow glancing at Shaded Moss specifically, she was still a little downput by the scolding she got, though she didn't entirely agree with Shaded Moss, she did what she had too.

"The fighting must end at the very least," said River Ripple pitching in his suggestion, this much was obvious if you took one look at the bodies that lay in the wet grass.

Clear Sky couldn't help but growl, he opened his mouth to say something when Wind Runner shot a glare at him.

"Unite!?" spat Windrunner, lashing her tail furiously back and forth, "I'm not uniting with that Foxheart!"

Gorse Fur padded up to stand beside Windrunner, flicking an ear towards Clearsky, "I agree, how can we trust him?"

River Ripple stepped a little closer, "Uniting doesn't have to mean-"

Clearsky glared at River Ripple now, what did a random rogue care about what happened, he wasn't one of them, it was done of his business!

"How dare you come in, acting like your one of us! This has nothing to do with you. You don't belong!"

Windrunner bristled snidely asking, "Isn't half of your group cats not born in the mountains? You seem to take in every cat willing to fight us. That's the point though isn't it?"

"I know I can trust them, they have proved themselves for many moons over. How can I trust him?" spat the light gray patched tom unsheathing his claws and digging them into the bloodsoaked earth.

"Stop arguing!" yowled Storm angrily, "For once in your life stop telling every cat who belongs and who doesn't. You don't get to decide."

Storm then turned to Graywing, "Why do you think I left the forest? You came here from the mountains and brought everyone nothing but endless fighting! This is your chance to make things right. All of you!"

The clearing fell silent.

All of a sudden a bright flash of light bolted across the sky off into the horizon above their heads.

"Its a sign," said Cloud Spots watching it go by.

"You all live under the same stars," meowed Storm at the same time looking at each of the cats in turn.

Clear Sky stared at her, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Tall Shadow's eyes sparked with understanding, "A a single moon shines into both of our camps,"

"We came to tell you only one thing," said Shaded Moss approvingly, before all of the Starclan cats voices rang at once, "Unite or Die"

"Don't let these deaths be wasted, this must never happen again," added Turtle Tail.

Clear Sky at the message looked at the Starclan cats strangely, "Why couldn't you tell us before we fought? This could've stopped all of these deaths! And now your telling us-"

Storm's gaze was cold as she looked at him this time, "Would you have learned the lesson properly? Would you have even listened?"

Clear Sky opened his jaws to respond but nothing came out...

He felt guilt wash over him and he turned away from her gaze. Perhaps if he hadn't made decisions so hastily this could have been avoided in the first place...

"We can't," protested Tall Shadow, "Clear Sky could never live in the moor and Wind Runner could never live in the trees. Same with many other cats."

Wind Runner nodded, the moor was her home, it always would be, and she was not giving it up to live with Clear Sky of all cats.

Graywing nodded. "I'm sorry, but I don't think any of us can see how this would work."

Storm gave a small huff of exasperation, "What unites everything in the woods?" Then the spirit cats slowly began to fade, their light vanishing.

"Goodbye, Graywing," said Turtle Tail as Gray Wing stared at her fading form sadly.

"Wait, don't go…" protested Clear Sky weakly. He could see the ferns through Storm's pelt already.

"We will meet again," she said reassuringly.

A breeze swept through the hollow and like mist all of the spirit cats were gone.

"We need to figure out their riddle," said River Ripple contemplating after the cats had completely faded.

"Prey?" offered Wind Runner, still staring at where Emberkit had vanished, "We all share the same prey, or we should." Windrunner sent a hostile glance towards Clear Sky.

"I was only doing what I thought was best for my cats!" Clearsky snarled back.

"You're just greedy! This would never happen if you hadn't-"

"I'm not greedy! I was clearly doing the right thing! After the forest burned, prey has been less plentiful, if you owned a group would you let them starve?" said Clear Sky fluffing up his fur defensively, would nobody defend him? Guess he had to do it himself...

Thunder looked up, "What?! There was piles of hunted, rotting, food back at your camp!"

"And how would you know that, you TRAITOR, it's thanks to you this all happened! You told Gray Wing everything, you BETRAYED me." said Clear Sky stiffly, his old resentment remerging, plus it helped the guilt that was gnawing away at his stomach. He had done the right thing, hadn't he? He made sure everyone was well fed and nothing like what happened in the mountains would happen, what was so wrong with that?

Thunder glared back at him looking ready to tear Clear Sky's face off but he managed to control himself instead growling, "You were leaving cats to die!"

There was the voice again in Clear Sky's head, monster monster monster monster. He hated that voice worse than the one that felt guilty for not doing bad things…

Clear Sky crouched getting ready to spring when Gray Wing stepped in between them flattening his ears, "STOP! We were told to unite, not fight once again!"

Tall Shadow looked at them curling her lip in disdain, "Would you start another battle so quickly after what has just happened?"

Thunder turned away from Clear Sky masking his hurt expression… why did he care so much about what Clear Sky thought.

Clear Sky stared at his paws not meeting the two cats gazes, was he doomed to keep repeating his past mistakes... at the time it seemed like a good idea to defend himself… now he wasn't so sure…

"We have to work through this, peacefully, there is no point in fighting again," continued Gray Wing.

Clear Sky decided to settle this peacefully as the spirit cats suggested turned to Wind Runner hoping to make her understand, if they were to not kill each other they needed to know why he did what he did right?

"I wanted to make a difference," he said trying to sound calm, "I wanted there to be prey for every cat, and to protect my group,"

"Well you certainly did that!" said Wind Runner scornfully looking around the clearing, Clear Sky wasn't the best actor and irritation had leaked through his voice.

Clear Sky flinched back slightly at her words but nodded deciding he had pushed it far enough.

River Ripple, who had been quietly contemplating the question as the cats around him argued, spoke up, "The Four Trees!"

"The Four Trees?" repeated Wind Runner confused looking around the place they were standing.

"Its what unites all the territories, the river, moor, and forest touch it," he explained with a purr, "We could live here, it's perfect!"

The rest of the cats looked at the surrounding area. River Ripple was right. The Fourtrees were well sheltered and was the perfect solution to their problem.

"It is big enough…" said Clear Sky begrudgingly.

"Mhm," agreed Gray Wing.

"The rock would be a good place for calling clan meetings," praised Wind Runner.

"And we could easily access whatever area we wanted," said Tall Shadow

Clear Sky scrutinized the clearing hoping to find something wrong with it, he couldn't believe that the gray tom had done better than him.

"You guys would have to cross the Thunderpath to get to your territory," pointed out Clear Sky and noticed Gray Wing flinch slightly beside Thunder. What was that about?

"We could go in groups to make sure there aren't any monsters… like when we first came here, remember?" said Tall Shadow, waiting for his explosion.

Clear Sky scoffed, "My memory is fine."

"Then I think it is decided, if we band together we can live at Fourtrees," said Tall Shadow, "If."

"You know where I stand," said Wind Runner.

Gray Wing blinked slowly at Clear Sky, "I think we should give it a chance… uniting was what the spirit cats wanted."

"There will be no more murders if we were to unite," said Gorse Fur quietly looking away from Wind Runner's glare.

"We don't have to decide today," said Tall Shadow, "We should meet back up tomorrow with clearer heads… and after we finish burying the dead."

Thank you for reading! What's your favorite DOTC character? Mine are Gray Wing, Petal, and Turtle Tail