I hoped you liked the last chapter!! It's really beginning to pick up with our Villain and plot!

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Morningpaw wasn't expecting such a tremendous reaction from Crookedstar by name dropping the ghostly spirit that she had encountered during her short time spent in StarClan.

The huge, light brown tabby RiverClan leader stood ridgedly, swaying slightly as though Morningpaw had struck him instead of just relaying some information she had experienced, but that did not alarm Morningpaw as much as the look in his eyes. They were dimmed, shaded over, and he stared off in a direction that indicated that he wasn't all there but somewhere else.

"Crookedstar?" Morningpaw hesitantly called out to her leader, wondering whether or not mentioning the cat that she had seen in her dreams was a good idea. But it was enough to prompt Crookedstar to speak.

"How do you know about Ma-that cat?" The RiverClan leader softly demanded, still having that far away look in his eyes.

"Back when I was caught I had a dream that involved Brambleberry who told me help was arriving and suddenly this cat who called herself Mapleshade appeared out of nowhere and said some strange things and picked a fight with Brambleberry but I woke up before I could do anything to help."

Morningpaw watched anxiously as Crookedstar slowly seemed to absorb all the information that Morningpaw had told him.

"Of course, I should have expected that she was behind this!" Crookedstar suddenly exclaimed, startling Morningpaw so bad by his sudden fierce exclamation that she fell over backwards from the force behind it. The flame-pelted she-cat apprentice scrambled out of the way as Crookedstar then began blindly pacing around the den. "She's always behind everything."

Morningpaw watched helplessly as her leader stomped around his den, his head shaking with fury.

"But Mapleshade is just one cat." Morningpaw tried to object, trying to calm the infuriated RiverClan leader.

"She's not just any cat." Crookedstar growled, still pacing. "She's the bane of all who exist. She thrives off the pain and misery of those she targets. She's manipulative and will twist your mind and force you into situations where you can do nothing and are just helpless and lost and scared and will keep taking everything you've ever loved and--"

Morningpaw interrupted his spiraling rant by stepping in front of the huge, light brown tabby tom, nearly getting trampled by him in the process, and firmly looked him in the eye. "Mapleshade is just one cat. We, as a team, can face her and win."

Crookedstar's whole countenances fell, shockingly appearing frail and scared compared to how fierce he had just appeared during his rant. "And how do we do that?"

"First, you're going to tell me everything that you know about Mapleshade, leaving nothing out and I think I can recall something that might help us take her down." Morningpaw's ability to recall her past life was beginning to become a struggle but something niggled in the back of her mind that somehow was linked to this exact situation.

"It's going to be a long story." Crookedstar sighed, finally falling hard on his back hunches.

Morningpaw's only response was to take a seat right in front of him and give him an expected look.

A hint of amusement flashed through the toms green eyes but it was quickly gone as a film covered them as he began speaking. "When I was a young kit I got seriously hurt, that resulted in me getting my twisted jaw and I began being treated differently from those around me. I ran away, trying to find my purpose and in the process I found Mapleshade in my dreams. She promised me that she would help me become the greatest warrior-- even leader -- but she made me promise to put my Clan before everything else. And she meant it quite literally. Each night she would train me, alongside others, in what I believed to be StarClan in my dreams. I was doing amazing and I eventually did become a deputy after my father retired. But then I discovered a shocking truth--"

Morningpaw leaned forward, enraptured by Crookedstar's tale. The niggling in the back of her mind was getting bigger, and brief flashes of what she could only assume were past memories began teasing themselves just a little bit out of the flame-pelted she-cat apprentice reach but we're getting closer as Crookedstar spoke.

"I wasn't training in StarClan at all. Mapleshade revealed to me that I was the great-grandson of her former mate, Appledusk, who left her for a RiverClan she-cat and let her kits drown. In revenge, she had vowed to make my lineage suffer. And she did, she made me suffer. I left my mother to die on Mapleshade's orders, my leader Hailstar was tricked into giving me the position as deputy, my mate and two of my kits died because I took a mate in the first place, I've lost Brambleberry when I needed her most, I lost and lost and lost…"

Morningpaw watched as her leader took a moment to compose himself. The flame-pelted she-cat could only sympathize with him, he was so brave to have gone through such hardships and still be the proud leader that RiverClan needed.

"But then you showed up." Crookedstar continued as he raised his head to truly look at Morningpaw with something that resembled something like hope. "My brother was meant to die, you told me that, Mapleshade has confirmed it. You changed fate, my brother's destiny. It gives me hope, you give me hope, something that I haven't felt in a long time…"

Sympathy alongside pity twisted together inside Morningpaw's chest, the weight of everything going on concerning the secrets of StarClan and beyond it was there on Crookedstar's shoulders, only a select few, hardly any to fill up even half a paw, was able to see that burden. And the sheer desperation, the want for an outlet and deliverance, on his face was one that Morningpaw had seen many times in her past life on the faces of those she cared very much for.

"The place that I Mapleshade had been taking me to train all throughout the time I was blinded by her true character was called--"

"The Dark Forest." Morningpaw whispered, memories pouring from a mental block that was finally crumbling down. "She was training you in the Dark Forest, the Place of No Stars, where all evil goes and those who are banned from entering StarClan."

Crookedstar took in a sharp breath, his ears pricked in surprise. "How do you know of the Dark Forest?"

"I've fought against them in my past life." Morningpaw recalled, trying to hold onto those memories as hard as she could as she recalled all the things she remembered from long ago. "They tricked a bunch of cats from all the Clans to fight for them by training them to be great warriors in their dreams. Turning most against their own Clan. There was a great battle between the Dark Forest and their followers against StarClan and those who followed the warrior code. The Clan's joined together and we all fought a long and hard battle, it was during that fight when I lost my final life."

Crookedstar looked beyond speechless as Morningpaw got done speaking. His crooked jaw was unhinged and appearing to be letting out an inaudible gasp. It was making Morningpaw worried that the shocking revelations were going to kill the much older tom but thankfully he shook his head and calmed back down.

"Yes, well," Crookedstar cleared his throat, but questions were filling his eyes and Morningpaw was sure she was going to be asked many over the coming moons, "I wasn't the only one that was training in the Dark Forest, there were others as well. I'm truly disheartened to know that this will continue and progress into a much, much more dangerous problem."

"It was…" Morningpaw's jade green eyes were narrowed as she recalled Tigerstar and how her past life and he had fought to their dying breaths. "But in the end we still won."

Crookedstar hummed before meowing, "but what did it cost you in the end?"

Morningpaw thought it over, and all those things that piled up, the pain and suffering and so much hardship, it was a high cost. "It gave me reason enough to redo my life and give everyone a better future." was Morningpaw's response.

Both Crookedstar and Morningpaw sat staring at each other, both weighed down by the knowledge of true evil that lurked in both the Clans and the great beyond but they also felt a lot lighter having shared these burdens with each other.

"And I'll help you achieve that." Crookedstar suddenly sworn, his lidded with heavy resolve.

Morningpaw softly purred. "Together."

"Together."

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Fun Facts:

Morningpaw remembers more about her past life because she has encountered more elements from her past life that triggers those types of memories. (a.k.a such as Mapleshade and referring to the Dark Forest)

Yeah. In this AU Morningpaw is able to remember a lot more about her past life compared to my other fics!

In Heart of Shadows Marigoldpaw can't remember crap until much, much, much later! Doesn't help that she was sent back to her kit body and that she ended up in the wrong Clan with nothing familiar to trigger any past memories! Well except for Yellowfang but unfortunately those memories only cause Marigoldpaw to get the wrong idea that ShadowClan was originally her past lives Clan and that she needs to protect ShadowClan. And also she believes that Brokenkit/paw is her best friend despite harboring some bad feelings towards him.

Crookedstar and Morningpaw have teamed up!! What an odd power team!! Of course it's not going to remain just the two of them forever!!!

Basically both Crookedstar and Morningpaw look at each other, then back at Mapleshade and the Dark Forest and both think "it's so hideous, let's set it on fire!"

Next chapter, it will be in a different character's pov!!! Who shall it be, you may wonder? Will it be Oakheart? Whiteclaw? Silverstream? Graypool? Mudfur? Shadepelt? Who knows besides me? I'll let you all guess and wait and see!!