Flickerstorm blinked at the morning rays of sun filtering through the warriors' den. Crescentfur was curled up in the nest closest to him, her chest gently rising and falling as she slept. Stormwhisker poked his head in.
"Glad to see you're awake, Flickerstorm!" he said. "Dawn patrol?"
Flickerstorm nodded, stifling a groan, and pushed his way out into the sunlight. Sharpeye, Sprinkledawn and Breezewhisper were waiting for him, with Sprinkledawn in the lead twitching her tail impatiently. She nodded to him as he joined them, then sped off quickly through the undergrowth. He wasn't surprised in the slightest when they stopped at the WindClan border first, and waited patiently as Sharpeye sniffed around and renewed their scent.
"Smell anything?" he asked.
The older tom tilted his head up.
"Nothing out of the ordinary," he murmured. "And yet, I still don't feel safe. The scents here are still fresh - WindClan must still be renewing their borders. In fact, we probably just missed their dawn patrol."
"It feels weird that they're following warrior traditions," Breezewhisper said in her soft voice. "After the other four Clans banished them, to me, they felt like nothing more than rogues living in a group."
"Is that so?" purred a white tom as he stalked over the small hill in front of them, flanked by four other warriors. His eyes glinted maliciously. "I would hate to think that the legacy of WindClan means so little to the other Clans."
"Rabbitear," Sprinkledawn said, her haunches rising. "The legacy of WindClan is over and it cannot be continued until Talonstar renounces his ways."
"Wow, no need to be so hostile," Rabbitear smirked. He beckoned to the other warriors. "We're just here to renew borders."
"You've already done that," Sharpeye retorted. "We have noses, we smelt fresh scent before we got here."
"So we came back," Rabbitear shrugged. "So what? Don't tell me you're scared."
To Flickerstorm's surprise, Breezewhisper pushed her way into the conversation, her usually gentle tone now hard and cold.
"Cut to the chase, Rabbitear. I know you. What do you want?"
For a moment, the white tom looked incredibly sad, before his features smoothed over again. Flickerstorm wondered about this for a moment - but then remembered hearing his mother say once that Breezewhisper and Rabbitear had been in love a long time ago. They had planned to join WindClan - until a fight drove them apart. Now, noticing the longing look in Breezewhisper's eye, Flickerstorm thought about how seriously they must have adored each other. Both of them had mates in their own Clan, but you never really forget the cat you thought you loved most in the world.
"Fine," Rabbitear said shortly. "Tell Nettlestar that she has three moons to give Frostclaw back - or we'll invade her camp."
"Three moons? Why so long?" Flickerstorm blurted, before he had time to think.
"That's WindClan's business," Rabbitear snapped.
Breezewhisper laughed harshly. "If you think that's going to succeed, you are a fool. All three other Clans will support us - but you? What are you? Just a bunch of rogues."
The force of her words took Rabbitear a step back. He blinked at her, hurt filling his gaze.
"Breezewhisper..." he said.
"Go," she said. "ThunderClan doesn't like rogues close to its territory."
Rabbitear looked at her with both an anguished gaze and a piercing glare, then led his patrol away.
Sharpeye turned to Breezewhisper, his eyes gentle.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "That must have been hard."
Breezewhisper offered a weak smile. "It's fine."
Sprinkledawn licked her friend between the ears. "I'm proud of you."
"It was pretty awesome," Flickerstorm agreed.
Breezewhisper purred.
"Come on," she said. "We should be patrolling faster."
The rest of the patrol passed without incident, and Flickerstorm collapsed back into camp.
Crescentfur brought him a squirrel, and settled down beside him.
"Sunkit and Beamkit are receiving their apprentice names very soon," she told him, her eyes glinting with excitement. "The perfect opportunity for two new warriors in particular to gain apprentices of their own..."
Flickerstorm nudged her playfully.
"Don't be silly," he teased. "We've hardly been warriors for a moon!"
"A cat can hope," she grumbled.
She began licking the top of his head, grooming his ginger fur. Flickerstorm felt himself relax under his friend's touch, while his eyes wandered. He saw Frostclaw walk out with Eveningpaw, talking animatedly with the young she-cat while her mentor trailed behind them. He strained his ears; apparently, Frostclaw was giving the apprentice some tips for battle. Eveningpaw disappeared into the apprentices' den, then Frostclaw and Crowmist walked towards the fresh-kill pile together, bodies pressed against each other. Flickerstorm frowned. Since when have those two become inseparable? The black pelt against the glittering white - it looked so wrong, but there was also an element of belonging, as if their bodies were made to fit around each other.
Flickerstorm shook his head. Why was he so mushy?
"Want to go hunting?" Crescentfur whispered in his ear, her breath tickling his fur.
"Sure," Flickerstorm agreed. At the very least, it would help keep his mind sharp.
That night, when he closed his eyes, he found himself alone in the Grey World.
"Crystalpaw?" he called, hoping she wasn't too far away. Normally he appeared beside, or close to the pool, and could spot the white cat just a few tail lengths away. Now, however, he was clueless - the colourless trees which had seemed so magical and full of promise just a couple nights ago, was muffling his senses and inching ever closer.
"Crystalpaw?" he called again, voice ringing through the empty forest.
A loud crackle made him leap to his feet, and whirl frantically around. A Broken fox, eyes gleaming red, was stalking towards him through the undergrowth. Flickerstorm backed up, then turned around and ran.
Crystalpaw told him once that he didn't yet have all the skills necessary to deal with the Broken. While he could probably fight off very small specimens, he was powerless against one as large as this fox. So he only had two options - run, or hide. And since hiding was very much out of the question, Flickerstorm ran.
He stumbled into twigs, crashed into bushes, scared Zephyrs away. He almost threw up when a dislocated tail weaved beside him, flicking fur into his face. However, Flickerstorm flung himself onto it, ripping it to shreds within seconds. Somewhere in the distance, the fox howled in pain and rage.
Crystalpaw, Flickerstorm thought desperately as he pounded through the forest, chest aching with exhaustion. Now would be an excellent time to show up.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, Flickerstorm stumbled out of the forest... right into the Grey World equivalent of WindClan territory. There was absolutely no cover, and nowhere to hide. Flickerstorm trembled like a leaf in a hurricane as the fox approached. It readied its legs to spring, and Flickerstorm said a silent goodbye to his mother and father.
Then, just as it sprung, a ball of white fur barreled into it, tearing into the fox's throat with surprising ferocity. Before long, it was just a mangled ball of fur, collapsing and convulsing before it became still.
Flickerstorm dared to open his eyes.
"Oh my gosh, Crystalpaw, you saved me!"
The white she-cat turned around, confusion written in her face.
"I'm not Crystalpaw," she said slowly.
Flickerstorm looked horrified, but now he could see the pure white of her pelt as compared to the silver sheen on Crystalpaw's. Her eyes were bright green, instead of blue and gold. She looked taller and stronger, muscles rippling in her shoulders. It wasn't Crystalpaw, but he had definitely seen her before... in fact, he had seen her just this morning, her tail twined around with Crowmist's!
"Frostclaw?" Flickerstorm asked, taking a step back, birds of shock swooping through his brain.
The she-cat narrowed her eyes at him.
"Flickerstorm," Frostclaw stated, raising a delicate eyebrow. "Warrior of ThunderClan, descendant of Firestar. Fancy seeing you here."
Before Flickerstorm could find his tongue, a golden warrior with stars in his paws bounded over the hill.
"Excellent job, Frostclaw!" he praised.
Then, he noticed Flickerstorm.
"Flickerstorm!" he exclaimed, looking slightly abashed.
"Lionblaze!" Flickerstorm said, recognising the warrior as he turned around.
He stared accusingly at Frostclaw. "What is she doing here?"
Lionblaze licked his chest in embarrassment.
"She's one of Crystalpaw's mentors, teaching her battle skills alongside me. I took her to the Grey World tonight to test her skills on a real-life Broken animal."
"You never told me this!" Flickerstorm cried.
"I thought it would make things... complicated if you knew," Lionblaze admitted.
Flickerstorm had to concede to that, at least. Lionblaze was probably right.
"Okay, well where's Crystalpaw?"
"It's her night off today," Frostclaw said. "She's resting, having perfectly normal cat dreams."
"I thought she would come and spend it with me..." Flickerstorm said quietly, without really meaning to.
Lionblaze nudged him gently. "She's not even a full warrior yet - your expeditions still take energy out of her."
Flickerstorm stared at his paws, feeling slightly guilty.
"Yes, of course," he mumbled.
"Wanna train with us?" Frostclaw said. "I bet I could teach you many things."
Flickerstorm looked up again. Here was a warrior known to be the best out of all the Clans, offering to teach him!
"Oh please!" he said eagerly, bounding to join them.