Goldenperch felt her sister's hate sting her like a million bees. Without her sister, what was her Clan worth? Sure, she had her father and mother, but they weren't the same. Curling up, she touched her nose with her tail and drifted into dreams.

"Hello, Tigerstar," Goldenperch nodded to her mentor. She couldn't deny the fact that she felt some...feelings for the handsome tabby. He was her type. He was also smart, cunning and strong.

"Goldenperch, you came." Tigerstar replied smoothly.

"I would never miss a night with you if I couldn't help it," Goldenperch twined her tail with Tigerstar.

"Me too," Tigerstar murmured. "You came into your warrior name in ThunderClan, didn't you?"

"I did." Goldenperch looked up at Tigerstar.

"Hey! Goldenperch!" It was Duskpelt. "We're warriors now, so we don't have to do training. Why don't we find Moonshadow and Pinepaw?"

"Sure!" Goldenperch agreed enthusiastically.

"Hey, Pinepaw!" Duskpelt called out to the ginger tom.

"Hey, Duskpelt," Pinepaw looked at the lean she-cat with love in his eyes.

Goldenperch rolled her eyes. Anyone could see that Pinepaw fancied Duskpelt, and she would guess that Duskpelt loved him too. Fear pierced through her. Did she look the same way when she thought about Tigerstar? It was true that he was rather handsome and strong.

"Where's Moonshadow?" she tried to distract herself.

"I'm here," Moonshadow jumped out of a tree beside them. "I mean, slinking around is normal for ShadowClan but hey I can learn that too."

All of a sudden, a dark shadow covered the moon. The cats were plunged into darkness.

"What's happening?" Duskpelt yowled. Goldenperch would've purred at her friend's fear if she wasn't so scared herself.

"DarkClan is rising." Moonshadow and Pinepaw said in a monotone voice together. Goldenperch was weirdly comforted. DarkClan rising was good.

"Stop corrupting my Clan!" A new voice snarled.

"Spiderleg?" Goldenperch gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"To save you!" he spat. "Now help me fight these mange-pelts."

"No one calls me mange-pelt!" Moonshadow growled and flung herself at Spiderleg. Pinepaw appeared at the back and raked his claws down his flank.

Goldenperch stood there, frozen. She couldn't fight Spiderleg... Duskpelt was frozen too.

"Help me!" Spiderleg yowled, but he was no match for the DarkClan trained apprentices. "Goldenperch...tell my Clan..." then he slumped and stopped moving.

"And for that, both of you will become warriors." Tigerstar appeared, glaring at Moonshadow and Pinepaw softly.

"Moonshadow. You have trained well under Breezepelt's guidance. I came to you in a dream five moons ago, while you were feeling conflicted about retiring to the elders' den, and you have proved yourself worthy to become a Dark Forest warrior. Come beneath the Tigereye and look up to the Silverpelt. I ask my Dark Forest ancestors to look down at this warrior. She has trained hard to understand our Dark Code and is ready to serve you. This cat has finally killed her first Clan cat and is a ferocious killing machine. We honor your sharp tongue, learnt from your mentor, Breezepelt. May you honor your clan forever."

"Pinepaw. You have trained well under Hawkfrost's guidance. I came to you in a dream two moons ago, and you have proved yourself worthy to become a warrior. Come beneath the Tigereye and look up to the Silverpelt. I ask my Dark Forest ancestors to look down at this warrior. She has trained hard to understand our Dark Code and is ready to serve you. This apprentice has finally killed her first Clan cat and is a ferocious killing machine. We honor your cruelty and coldness, which you learnt from your mentor, Hawkfrost. Pinepaw, from this moment on you shall be known as Pineleaf."

"Really?" Moonshadow gasped. Goldenperch remembered that the silver tabby had joined DarkClan so she wouldn't have to stay in an elders' den all day.

"Of course. I don't talk for the sake of hearing myself speak." Tigerstar snapped. Then his gaze softened as he met Goldenperch's eyes.

"Goldenperch, walk with me." He said, but it wasn't really an order.

"Fine." Was her curt reply.

"Well? We've spent enough time together to think about our feelings. D-do...y-you..." Tigerstar broke off.

Goldenperch gasped. She had never thought about love. And she had never thought that Tigerstar would stammer to her, of all cats.

"Do you love me?" Tigerstar murmured.

"Always. I will always love you, Tigerstar. Forever and ever." Goldenperch replied calmly although her mind was a feeding frenzy.

Tigerstar leaned into Goldenperch and licked her ear. "When can we have kits?" he asked quietly.

"Whenever you want."

"Our kits will grow up to be the rulers of the forest! Our kits will be POWERFUL! Our kits will be better than StarClan!" Tigerstar yowled loudly.

Luckypaw, after fleeing from her sister, ran back to where Peacefern was lounging on a bedding of moss.

"Peacefern...come with me to ThunderClan. Please. We need you." Luckypaw begged her new friend.

"Alright, anything for you." Peacefern replied lazily. "Is the tunnel open?"

"It is now," Luckypaw growled.

"Then let's go."

Side by side, the two cats walked, for the first time in a moon, out of the dark tunnel and into the sunlight.

"The sun..." Peacefern glanced at it with wide eyes. "I feel like a kit again!"

"Me too." Luckypaw murmured. The two cats suddenly halted.

"A body." Peacefern trembled. Luckypaw dashed forward, inspecting it. Peacefern was much more calmer and dignified. "I don't recognize him."

"Oh no! It's Spiderleg!" Luckypaw wailed. "He's dead!"

"I'll help you bring him back to the Clan," Peacefern said seriously.

"Thank you." Luckypaw had sadness in her eyes and her whole body was shaking. What had happened to her Clan in the moon she had been away? What had Goldenpaw done?

"Stop right there!" Luckypaw recognized Brambleclaw's voice.

"Brambleclaw! It's me!" Luckypaw sighed. It was like she wasn't part of the Clan anymore. It hurt.

"Luckypaw?" Brambleclaw's eyes were wide with shock. "Lovepaw, go back and warn the Clan. Firestar'll want to know about this."

"And who's this?" Dustpelt thrust his way forward.

"My companion is Peacefern. We have brought Spiderleg back. We found his body outside my jail." Luckypaw explained.

"Spiderleg!" Dustpelt gasped.

Luckypaw remembered that Dustpelt was Spiderleg's father.

"I'm sorry," she pressed against him to comfort him.

"My life has been ruined!" he yowled in pain. Dustpelt turned tail and fled back to the camp.

"Brambleclaw...I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I've brought the death of a warrior to the Clan." Luckypaw apologized.

"No. It's not your fault. It's Goldenperch's." Brambleclaw's gaze hardened. "Firestar will tell you back at camp." He flexed his claws and invited them into the camp.

Firestar was waiting for them with Cinderheart and Lionblaze. When Cinderheart saw Peacefern, her eyes betrayed a look of horror.

"My kits have returned. One of which should not have left and the other of which I never hoped to return." Lionblaze said quietly.

"Luckypaw, Peacefern. You don't know this, but you are sisters. Peacefern was our first kit but we found her breaking the warrior code. She killed the other kit in her litter. Her name was Warkit." Cinderheart explained.

"Tell me everything that happened." Firestar ordered coldly.

Luckypaw gulped. She recounted what she had seen in the battle with WindClan, what she and Ivypool had done and what Goldenpaw had done to her. She told him about Peacefern and told him about the tunnels and what had happened after she left the tunnels. It was only when she finished was when she realized the whole Clan had gathered around her.

"Such a brave cat!" Ferncloud called out. Leafpool nodded in agreement.

"No other warrior could have done better!" Dovewing yowled.

"Silence!" Firestar commanded. "I have something to say. Luckypaw – your time for a warrior is long overdue as you were missing. Goldenpaw and Bushpaw have become a warrior in the time you were gone, Goldenpaw is now Goldenperch, Bushpaw is now Bushfur. But Goldenperch betrayed our trust and joined the enemy.

I, Firestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in their turn.

Luckypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend the Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do," Luckypaw yowled. But deep in her heart, she knew she was only doing this to spite Goldenperch. The Goldenperch who had gotten her warrior name before her.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Luckypaw, from this moment on you will be known as Luckyheart. StarClan honors your loyalty and strength and we welcome you as a full warrior of the Clan!" Firestar finished.

"Luckyheart! Luckyheart!" the whole Clan raised their voices; Luckyheart had been very popular before she disappeared and a moon away from the Clan didn't change that fact. It was just that the cats would need to get used to her again.

"Thank you, Firestar," Luckyheart was filled with emotion.

"You deserved it." He answered solemnly.

"Congratulations, Luckyheart!" Dovewing was the first one to rush over to her.

"Luckyheart! Luckyheart! Luckyheart!" The Clan resumed the call.

Luckyheart had never felt so happy in her whole life.

Goldenperch sat beside Tigerstar viewing the sunset. Moonshadow, Pineleaf and Duskpelt sat next to them.

"Today is the dawn of a new era!" Tigerstar announced to them. "The Golden Era!" he gave a sly wink to Goldenperch.

"Golden Era huh? Mouse-brain." She muttered affectionately.

"Mouse-brain yourself," Tigerstar replied happily.

"Oi! Don't flirt while the rest of us are here," Duskpelt poked Goldenperch.

"Fine, fine," Goldenperch grumbled. "We'll go somewhere more private next time. What about behind the abandoned waterfall?"

"Manageable." Tigerstar purred.

"Indeed," Goldenperch smirked.

"I'm proud of you." He licked her fur.

"For what? For dooming my sister and my birth Clan?" Goldenperch was lost in unhappy thoughts as she shot back.

"Well?" Moonshadow hopped from one paw to the other impatiently. "Are we going to explore the territory of the Dark Forest during day like we promised we would?"

"Fine," Pineleaf roused from the sitting position where he had been gazing at Duskpelt.

"Stop looking at me like that, it's clear I love you back," Duskpelt retorted when he looked a little too long.

"Really?" Pineleaf froze and his jaw dropped open.

"Really. I don't say things for the pleasure of hearing myself say them, you know," Duskpelt rolled her eyes.

"How touching." Tigerstar was back to his cold, sneering, calculating self now he wasn't talking to Goldenperch.

"Very." Moonshadow snorted. The pale white apprentice with black paws had learnt quite a few snide remarks from her mentor, Breezepelt.

"Too bad," Tigerstar remarked, "Pineleaf could've been one of the most powerful warriors if he wasn't obsessed with another cat,"

"Mange-pelt!" Duskpelt spat. "Stop trying to control our lives!"

"Stop, stop!" Goldenperch thrust herself between them. Duskpelt moved back, still breathing heavily and Tigerstar idly licked a forepaw, but his amber eyes showed his fury.

Goldenperch let out a breath of relief. She had prevented a fight between her best friend and her mate. For now.

Luckyheart padded to the warriors' den. Her mind was in turmoil.

"Here," Heartpaw dropped a mouse at her feet. "You should eat,"

"Thanks, Heartpaw. Since when did you become so wise?" Luckyheart sighed. "I still remember when you were a little kit."

"Since I was apprenticed." Heartpaw replied clearly.

"Larkpaw! Fetch some fresh bedding for Luckyheart, she's exhausted," Sandstorm, Larkpaw's mentor called.

"Heartpaw, are you okay?" Luckyheart murmured to the young apprentice. "It must be hard losing your mentor," she remarked.

"I miss Spiderleg every day, and I hope I get a new mentor soon." She replied wistfully. Suddenly, she broke into a cough.

"Heartpaw!" Snowpaw, Heartpaw's brother growled. "Let's get you to the medicine den, you're ill," he added worriedly.

"No need," Jayfeather staggered over. "I'll check her from here. Thunderkit is helping me treat other patients in the medicine den, besides, there's no room."

Jayfeather checked Heartpaw's breathing and gazed at her with his blind eyes. "She has greencough," he announced. "She'll have to move into the medicine den."

"You'll make her better, won't you?" Lovepaw appeared. She too, was coughing.

"I'll try my best," Jayfeather grumbled.

"Let all cats old enough to hunt their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!" Firestar yowled, bounding up to the ledge.

Luckyheart tossed her mouse aside and joined the others.

"A bout of greencough is breaking in our camp," Firestar declared wearily. Luckyheart spied grey hairs on his muzzle. Any normal leader would have retired by now. What was Firestar's age? No one knew.

"Flowerkit, Heartpaw, Lovepaw, Ferncloud and Cinderheart are already very ill. Flowerkit most of all." Firestar continued. "I myself, have lost a life due to greencough. I now only have two lives left."

Two lives left? Luckyheart gulped. What type of leader would admit their weakness to their Clan? And her mother...Cinderheart was sick. Anger flowed through her as she realized Goldenperch wouldn't be there to help her comfort their mother.

"Jayfeather, how much catmint do we have left," Firestar turned to the blind medicine cat.

"Only two stalks. Enough to feed 5 cats for one day." Jayfeather said somberly.

"I want all apprentices gathering catmint tomorrow. Also, Leafpool will become a medicine cat again. We need her." Firestar mewed seriously.

Leafpool gave a slight nod.

"Now, for the good news. Three kits have reached the age of 6 moons. Flowerkit, Thunderkit, Swiftkit. You are ready to take on apprentice names. Flowerkit, from this point on-" Firestar got cut off mid-sentence.

"Flowerkit! Flowerkit!" Dovewing yowled in grief. "She's dead! The greencough took her life so young..."

"Dovewing, we will protect your other kits with our lives!" Firestar snarled. "Flowerkit should not have died."

Luckyheart watched the two new apprentices sit vigil for Flowerkit in the night. Swiftpaw and Thunderpaw would grow to be strong warriors, but they would never have the gentle touch of a sister with them. She thought about her own sister, Goldenperch. Was she okay? Dovewing had broken the news that Goldenperch had left the Clan a couple days before she had escaped.

She was glad that she had been given the chance to mentor Swiftpaw. This would be her first apprentice. Thunderpaw's mentor would be Brackenfur. The senior warrior had mentored several apprentices successfully. He too, was becoming old. Brackenfur would need to retire to the elders' den soon.

"Swiftpaw! I'll teach you the boundaries today and hunting tomorrow," she called to her apprentice.

"Okay!" he bounced around happily.

"Let's go," she sighed before padding out of the thorn barrier with Swiftpaw in tow.

"This is the WindClan border," she nodded at a trail of scent marks. She deposited her scent marker and watched Swiftpaw copy her with precision.

They walked around the boundary of their territory. It was past sun-high when they arrived at the Thunderpath next to the Twoleg farm on the edge of their territory.

"This is the Thunderpath-" she started then saw Swiftpaw running onto the Thunderpath. "No! Wait!"

It was too late. Her heart broke as she saw a limp body lie on the Thunderpath. "Swiftpaw..." she yowled sadly. Carefully, she dragged her apprentice's body onto the grass. She sat there sitting silently until the dusk patrol found her lying next to a limp bundle of fur. To her horror, Thunderpaw was with them.

"Thunderpaw...I'm so sorry. I tried to stop him." Luckyheart apologized feebly.

Thunderpaw stood in shock. "I HATE YOU!" he shrieked before dashing back to camp. His mentor, Brackenfur, gave an apologetic shrug filled with grief before following him.

Dovewing and Ivypool, who were also on the patrol dipped their heads sadly and together dragged Swiftpaw's body to camp.

"Dovewing, can we talk?" Luckyheart nudged her former mentor.

"I suppose so." Dovewing breathed sadly.

"I'm a horrible mentor. I'm so sorry. I've cost you a son and you lost Flowerkit too." Luckyheart cringed on the ground.

The bushes suddenly rustled. Peacefern stepped out.

"I'm sorry for intruding," she acknowledged Dovewing's grief with a nod. "I'll sit vigil with you tonight. Let's go back to camp."