After silence had settled upon the group, they continued to walk along in even, steady motions. Slatepaw let his tail brush against the ground, glancing back toward the group. He could sense they were growing closer and as they did so, his wiry gray fur lifted anxiously.

Despite the fact that he had planned it all to the last detail, he still needed to ensure that it followed through. All the planning would be useless if it lead to a stupid and dumb ending.

Approaching the clearing, Duskscar's tail whipped swiftly through the air. The warrior hurried sprinted forward, followed by Shortberry. A gasp rose from the former.

Lionpool took a more strategic approach. He carefully put his muzzle to the ground, sniffing as he traced the clearing. Sticks and branches were snapped all around the area, and various splinters seemed to litter the area. Scent drenched the ground, the trees, the sticks, and the splintered twigs.

It was everywhere. Slatepaw watched as Firejaw raced forward, headed for the border as the dark ginger cat investigated further. The wiry-furred apprentice watched, shifting on his paws. Everyone was meant to start remembering soon. Very soon. Maybe a little push would help-

"It looks like a bunch of apprentices caused this," mumbled a cat. Slatepaw wasn't able to identify who had spoken. The apprentice carefully stepped forward, looking around the clearing. It definitely looked plenty suspicious. What were they talking about?

He nearly jumped out of his fur as Finchpaw trotted up beside him. The light and fragile apprentice padded up beside him.

"What's going on? Is everything going to plan?"

Slatepaw shifted. "I guess."

It wasn't going precisely to plan. Cats were meant to be remembering now, however, it didn't mess up the plan too much. With every good plan there had to be critical backups that supported the original plan, and of course, Slatepaw had formulated those, too.

So he just paced the clearing, remembering all of the previous meetings that Sunbelly had held here. They were crystal clear within his memories, a blazing beacon of truth within a web of lies spun by the terrible leadership of his Clan. He waited for someone to break free.

Nobody did.

Firejaw was still sniffing around rather curiously, tail flicking and lashing every few moments as if to steady herself. She didn't seem to be remembering anytime soon, for her ears were pinned to her head as she attempted to identify where the scent was from - or maybe, who it was from. Her dark ginger pelt was bristling slightly, likely at the prospect of an intruder.

Shortberry was acting similarly to Firejaw, however, instead the tortoiseshell was stopping at some of the twigs. Her green gaze was inquisitive as she scented some of the items and objects. The she-cat would hurriedly padded back to Firejaw to confirm or deny some things. At least, it appeared that way.

Duskscar was irritated. Her ears were pitched backward, falling and pulling tightly to her skull every few moments as she skittered around. She wasn't more or less collected than the other two she-cats, though. Her green gaze was sharp and, although not curious, it was determined to complete the task that was assigned to them.

Lionpool was stalking the clearing and Sunbelly was, too. Nobody said a word. A simple breeze drifted by, whispering and softly speaking to the cats around. Nobody listened and nobody answered as it swirled through the clearing and away from the gathered cats.

Anytime now!

He thought, watching as Sunbelly continued to pace.

Nobody said a word, and so he supposed it was time to continue on, for just not speaking wasted time.

"Finchpaw is on our side."

His voice was simple and plain as he tried to control his tone. It was working fairly well. Despite his mounting anxieties, the rest of the group could recover from their mistakes in remembering. Finchpaw looked around at the gathered cats, Slatepaw doing the same.

Sunbelly shot him a confused look, soon followed by a few sharp murmurs.

"What?" That was Firejaw, her green gaze switching back to focus on him. Sunbelly looked at Slatepaw, and soon enough Shortberry and Duskscar were staring.

And then everyone was.

Nobody knew. Nobody remembered.

Slatepaw hurriedly approached Lionpool. "Does this seem familiar?" His tail lashed as he waited for an answer.

"What seems familiar?"

He stormed off toward Firejaw. "How about you? Do you remember? Does this look familiar? These trees, this ground?"

She looked at him and snapped, "Just explain already."

Slatepaw's heart sprung into his throat. No. No. He dashed to Duskscar, looking at the she-cat with a frazzled expression. His eyes were sharp and almost wild. This couldn't fail. It wouldn't, it couldn't.

"What about you?" he asked as he turned to Shortberry, "you? Anyone? Does anyone remember?"

"Sunbelly!" He whipped to face the tom. The warrior was standing in a position so similar to ones that the rebellion leader would stand in if there would ever be a meeting. Memories glittered brightly within Slatepaw's mind as the golden tom studied the apprentice.

"What?"

Slatepaw pointed with his tail where the golden warrior stood. "You're standing right there! Don't you remember? How can you-"

"What's this?" Duskscar's voice was commanding and loud among the increasingly noisy tone of Slatepaw. The she-cat pointed sharply with her tail at a small sign engraved on a nearby tree.

Excitement clambered up within Slatepaw's body. Did she remember? Was she remembering? A glimmer of hope opened up the darkened skies that had crowded him a moment before. His yellow eyes shimmered.

"Yes? Yes?" The apprentice rushed forward, skidding to a lazy and messy stop beside the she-cat.

"It looks like the ones on patrol..." she speculated softly, lifting a paw to trace it. "It's probably a warning of sorts from the other Clan."

No! Slatepaw's mind was once more a roaring storm of fury and terror. Everything was crashing down. He stumbled backward, anxiety and stress beginning to cloud his senses.

They weren't going to remember. They never would. Why not? He'd set everything up. This forsaken plan should have worked! Why weren't they remembering?!

A comforting tail brushed against his flank and he whipped to face who it was from. Finchpaw. His mind whipped through possibilities, slipping from idea to idea, never staying with one for too long. His gray fur bushed out as he pointed at Sunbelly, opening his mouth to speak, to try and explain what was going on, but nothing happened.

"Remember! Why don't you remember? You were right there! You're... you're...!" He shouted, tail whipping a storm behind him. Slatepaw scrambled over to Sunbelly, talking and shaking but somewhat confident pose. It was one he knew that the golden tom took. He'd seen it! He'd seen it!

Why can't they remember?!

Duskscar was watching with confusion scrawled on features, Firejaw and Shortberry suffering similar fates. Slatepaw looked desperately to each cat as if to watch them suddenly realize what had occurred. Nobody remembered.

Nothing is happening!

As Slatepaw frantically motioned to each of the cats, nervousness settled another cold stone within his churning belly. His yellow eyes darted to each cat.

Please remember. Please. Please. The plan... all of my planning, all of my work. Please don't forget... Please remember, just for this moment...!

They tipped their heads, blinking a little bit as they each studied him individually.

Everyone forgot!

That was the only coherent thought that made it through before his mind became a whirlwind of hundreds of spiraling thoughts and ideas, all bouncing and pinging around within his mind.

So, he roared, "Don't you remember?!"

Written by Lamb <33

Edited by Solstice