Moons passed. Goldenperch thought about Luckypaw all the time. They had not talked for so long. But then again, why did she expect to speak to her sister? She was the one who had almost killed Luckypaw. But she had something else to worry about. Her kits!

"The kits! They've opened their eyes!" Tigerstar yowled for the whole of DarkClan to hear.

"What are their names?" Ashfur called out eagerly.

"I bet they'll be so strong!" Pineleaf joined in.

"I wonder if they'll be like their mother or their father," Duskpelt wondered.

"They'll be both!" Moonshadow stated confidently. "They will have their mother's courage and their father's ambition."

Goldenperch emerged from the den of brambles where she had slept for the past three moons. She hadn't left the Dark Forest in a whole three moons; she had been taking care of herself and her kits.

"A tom and a she-cat!" she announced happily. "The she-cat is a cute little thing; she has black fur and amber eyes. She's called Echokit. The tom is beautiful too. He has black fur and bright blue eyes. He's called Demonkit."

"Purr-fect names!" Tigerstar purred in delight. "I'll mentor Demonkit and you can mentor Echokit when they turn 6 moons old," he decided.

"I'm going to be the best warrior ever!" Echokit squeaked.

"No, I will!" Demonkit retorted.

"Hush, kits, both of you are too young to be a warrior," Goldenperch tucked her kits into her body tight with all a mother's protective love surrounding her.

Tigerstar purred. "No, Goldenperch, they can be apprenticed at the age of two moons. We aren't in the Clans anymore. This is DarkClan."

Goldenperch wanted to voice her disapproval but she didn't dare. Instead she gave a small nod of agreement.

Echokit escaped her mother's clutches gingerly then pounced on Tigerstar's tail. He whipped around, sending her flying.

"Who dares-!" Tigerstar roared.

"Shh. You'll scare the kits," Goldenperch mewed fondly.

Tigerstar glared at her with fury in his eyes. "Then teach them how to not pounce on their father's tail!" He stalked away, fuming.

"Kits will be kits." She replied firmly.

"Goldenperch are we in trouble?" Echokit asked with wide pleading eyes.

"Of course not! We're too special!" Demonkit flashed back. "You're a coward for asking! We're going to train as the greatest warriors ever!"

Goldenperch smoothed down Demonkit's bristling gold fur. "Hush! Now go have a nice nap." She chided. "You too, Echokit," she added.

"I hate Demonkit!" Echokit wailed. "He's so mean!"

"Echokit!" Goldenperch reprimanded. "Don't say hurtful things about your brother."

"Yeah, Echokit!" Demonkit turned back sneering, his bright blue eyes hostile and his fur bristling.

Duskpelt looked on with amusement in her eyes. "How about I look after Echokit for a bit?" she suggested.

"Yes, please. Thanks, Duskpelt." Goldenperch sighed. "They seem to hate each other."

"We don't hate each other!" Demonkit protested.

"Yes, we do!" Echokit snarled. "We never agree!"

"How could my kits be like this," Goldenperch mourned. "They were perfect in the first couple weeks, but now..."

Duskpelt met her eyes levelly. "Because of Luckypaw. They have your blood, and you betrayed your littermate. They'll betray each other, mark my words."

"This is my fault," Goldenperch wailed.

"You can make it better. Make sure your kits don't grow up to be like you. There's only one way to do that." Duskpelt lowered her voice.

"I understand. They'll grow up loyal and loved. I can't join ThunderClan, so I will form a new Clan." Goldenperch acknowledged the truth. "But I must go with them."

"No! You must not. You can't leave DarkClan!" Duskpelt looked horrified. "I will be torn. You can't let me make a choice like this."

"I won't let my kits be corrupted like this. They are too precious." Goldenperch was firm. Her mind was made up. "I owe the world that much. Duskpelt, will you go with me?"

Duskpelt gave a slight nod. "Always."

Echokit's POV

"I'm tired," Echokit grumbled as they hiked to a rocky mountain. They had snuck out. Goldenperch was terrified of what Tigerstar would've said if she confronted him.

"We will rest soon," Duskpelt promised. "We just need to find a camp."

"Why did we have to leave?" Demonkit moaned.

Echokit detested Demonkit. She sometimes wished he'd never been born.

"DarkClan was no longer safe for us." Pineleaf replied solemnly. He and Moonshadow had decided to go with them. "We have to stick together," he had said.

"But GoldClan will be safe." Moonshadow added. They had decided on GoldClan in honor of Goldenperch. She had trekked a different route to visit the Moonpool to receive her nine lives and her leader name.

"Can we rest now?" Demonkit's eyes were closing.

"Pleaase." Echokit added. It was the first time they'd ever agreed. She didn't want to be the one to break the tradition, but she really wanted to rest. Half the time, she only argued with Demonkit just to make him mad.

"We can make our camp beyond the Moonpool." Duskpelt answered briskly. "Not too long to go."

"There it is!" Moonshadow yowled in joy.

"Our new home." Pineleaf purred wistfully.

Echokit looked over the new home. "It's purr-fect!" she meowed. "I love it!"

They were looking into a sheltered dip in the valley with small stone over hangings jutting out of the walls. They'd be perfect for dens. "When will Goldenperch be back?" she asked quietly.

"Soon." Moonshadow replied vaguely.

"This shall be Goldenperch's den." Duskpelt pointed with her muzzle to a hole high up.

"This shall be the warriors and apprentices' den." Pineleaf dipped his head to a large stone ledge. "We will shelter beneath it."

"And this shall be the nursery." Moonshadow was sitting in the middle of two large oak trees. "We can add thorns or brambles on the sides and top to make a den. Although Echokit and Demonkit should sleep with us in the warriors' den for now."

Echokit wasn't listening. She was scenting the air carefully. "Duskpelt! Duskpelt!" she stood up suddenly. "Goldenperch is back!"

Goldenperch's POV

Goldenperch treaded the worn path to the Moonpool. She dipped her head and drank the icy cold water. When she rose, she was deep in dreams.

"Greetings, Goldenperch. We have waited you awhile." Bluestar, a former leader of ThunderClan mewed. "Your destiny lies here."

"Greetings." The word was echoed around the waiting cats. Goldenperch noticed they were mostly ThunderClan, but there were some WindClan, RiverClan and ShadowClan.

"Greetings," Goldenperch echoed back. "I have come for my nine lives and my leader's name."

"We know." Bluestar replied simply. "We have waited you awhile." She repeated.

"We've watched your path." Goldenperch spun around. To her surprise, Brambleclaw was sitting among the ranks of StarClan. "I died soon after Luckyheart came back. From Twolegs." He snarled.

"I'm sorry." Goldenperch murmured, though inside she was shocked. Brambleclaw had been a noble deputy. But his words sparked something inside her. Luckyheart had come back...

"Your destiny lies here." Bluestar repeated again. "You will not lead GoldClan. You must return to ThunderClan. Your friends in GoldClan must return back to their Clans."

"What about my kits?" Goldenperch licked her paws idly.

"They must go with you," Bluestar rasped.

"That is enough information!" a she-cat with a flat muzzle growled. "She must find her destiny by herself."

"But there is something we must tell you," Bluestar mewed softly. "We have a prophecy. The locked up raven will spread its wings and bring a brighter light to the Clans."

All the cats suddenly started to shimmer. "No! Don't go!" Goldenperch yowled at them, her ears flat.

Waking up, she shook herself. Goldenperch remembered Bluestar's words. You must return to ThunderClan. Heart pounding, she paced back and forth. Her jaws gaped as she tasted the air. Goldenperch found her friends' scent trail and as swift as wind, followed it.

"Goldenperch!" Duskpelt spied her first. "Welcome back! Or are you Goldenstar now?" she added mischievously.

"No. I'm Goldenperch. There's no time to lose." Quickly, she explained the message StarClan had gave her.

"What?!" Moonshadow exclaimed. "I don't think StarClan has ever turned down a request for a leader's nine lives and name!"

"Me neither," Goldenperch admitted.

"And to think we'll have to leave this camp. It's perfect!" Pineleaf's eyes were wide.

"Well, I, for one, want to repay the Clans by the lake. I betrayed them all when I went to join DarkClan." Duskpelt's green eyes were filled with sorrow and a little regret. She gave her coat a quick lick. "I'm going back." She announced. Then, she seemed to stumble.

"Then I'm going back too." Pineleaf stepped beside his mate, supporting her. "Moonshadow?"

"I cannot go back with you. I am old now." She rasped. "I became a warrior in RiverClan moons ago, and I am a weary elder now. Pineleaf, Duskpelt, Goldenperch, I'm sorry. I beg you to forgive me." With that, she retreated back into the warriors' den.

"The four has become three." Pineleaf murmured solemnly.

"I'm afraid it will become two." Duskpelt butted in. "My kits are due soon I can feel it. I cannot travel any longer."

"Then I must stay with Duskpelt!" Pineleaf growled. "I'm sorry, Goldenperch. But the four will become one."

Goldenperch was taken aback by her friends. "You can't just abandon your Clans, and me! We've been through too much together."

"Go find Luckyheart. She deserves an apology." Duskpelt mewed softly. "And a congratulations for becoming a warrior." She smiled wryly.

"I suppose so." Goldenperch grunted. "Will my kits be safe here with you?"

"Of course. I will suckle them alongside my own." Duskpelt seemed more like her former, fiery self. "Do you dare suggest otherwise?"

"I'll come back. I promise. As soon as I fulfill my destiny, nothing could keep me away." Goldenperch promised.

"Are you leaving us, Goldenperch?" Demonkit popped his head out of the den.

"I'm sorry, Demonkit, Echokit," Goldenperch felt her heart breaking in two pieces. "But Duskpelt will look after you." With one last quick lick to the heads of her kits, she tucked them inside the den. Goldenperch wasn't sure if she'd ever see them again.

"Goodbye, Duskpelt." Outside, she touched noses with her best friend and nodded to her other friends. She then turned and fled. Goldenperch didn't look back, not even once. It was time to become a proper Clan cat again. Not an exile or a rogue. A Clan cat.

Goldenperch took her first proper breath of relief when she realized she was back among ThunderClan's forest. Then, her relief gave way to worry. Would she be branded as a traitor? Would she be exiled? Or would she be killed? She stumbled blindly past trees and clumps of bracken. She only stopped once to look wistfully at a fleeing rabbit. However, Goldenperch knew she couldn't hunt on a territory that wasn't her own. She didn't know whether it was hers. She didn't know if she was ThunderClan.

Goldenperch sniffed the air carefully. A scent hit her so fast she didn't have time to prepare herself for the ambush.

"Stop right there!" Bumblestripe screeched. The rest of his patrol, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf and Ivypool, formed a tight circle around here. Then, Ivypool let out a yowl.

"It's Goldenperch!"

"Let's get you to the camp." Lionblaze cut in with a cold look at her. The patrol didn't exchange words as they trekked back to the camp. As she walked through the entrances, she caught everyone's attention.

"Look! It's Goldenperch!"

"I wonder what she's doing here."

"I thought she left the Clan..."

"Didn't she join the Dark Forest?

"She looks mean!"

"Hush, we don't know what she's here for yet."

"Why's she back again?"

"Wait...what?"

"Goldenperch?" That last one was Cinderheart.

"Cinderheart!" Goldenperch's spirits raised. She hadn't seen her mother in forever. "I'm so sorry." She murmured, abashed. Still, she couldn't stop herself letting out a loud purr.

"Well, look what leaf-bare dragged in." a cold voice sneered. Goldenperch braced herself as she turned around and gazed into Luckyheart's eyes. The dark blue eyes which had comforted her in the past had darkened severely, from her time in the tunnels, Goldenperch guessed guiltily.

Firestar bounded up to the Highledge. He shot Luckyheart a warning look before yowling for the Clan to gather. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own-" Mousefur cut him off. "We know, we know!" she snapped. "Old enough to catch their own prey. Just get on with it will you? You already have everyone's attention."

Goldenperch caught a couple smirks and giggles but the Clan quietened down very fast.

"Tell the Clan everything." Firestar hissed.

Goldenperch swallowed before telling her old Clanmates, her leader and her sister everything that had happened since she'd had the dream about mushrooms.

"Eaglesight?"

"Who's Eaglesight?"

"Shush! I can't hear her with all this muttering." Jayfeather retorted.

She then proceeded to tell the Clan about meeting Tigerstar. She deliberately left out the part where she'd thought Tigerstar was charming and handsome and ended up having kits with him. She did tell them that she had kits with a rogue though, leaving out his name.

She told them about meeting Duskpelt and Pineleaf. She told them about Moonshadow. Goldenperch told them about returning to the Clan. She told them about trapping Luckyheart in the tunnels. There were many gasps of shock at this point.

"I think we've heard enough." Firestar commanded. "Now the Clan will speak. What shall we do with Goldenperch?"

"Kill her!" Dustpelt growled. "She's certainly caused enough trouble."

"Exile her!" Blossomfall and Ferncloud raised their voices. "Goldenperch doesn't deserve death, but she does deserve exile."

"Keep her! She can do all the apprentice duties." An apprentice that Goldenperch didn't know of called out.

"Blind her!" Birchfall suggested. "Then we could chase her out of our territory."

"No!" Jayfeather snapped. "It's bad enough being born blind but to be blinded purposefully..."

"I've heard enough." Firestar silenced the Clan. "I shall keep her prisoner. Yes, she will do apprentice duties. She will hunt for the Clan. After three moons of service, I shall let her rejoin the Clan as an apprentice. Goldenperch will have a mentor to look after her. When she is ready to become a warrior again, I will announce it to the Clan."

"But-!" Hollyleaf protested, then at a glance from Lionblaze drew silent.

"Welcome back to the Clan, Goldenperch." Firestar formally welcomed her back.

"Goldenpaw." Goldenperch heard the comment but not who it was from. Her fur bristled. How dare they make fun of her?