Hey, everyone!

I'm back with another chapter!

I hope you like it!
—~~-~~—~~-~~—

Several sunrises pass since both Mosstalon and Lightcloud had woke up and Smallflame had allowed them to leave the medicine den.

Unfortunately, they both have to remain confined to the camp so both Smallflame and Pinetooth can check on their progress.

Progress has been steadily improving for Lightcloud. He's been hopping around, trying to get his strength back.

At sunhigh, he hops out of the medicine den and slowly makes his way over to the prey pile. He starts to lean down to grab a mouse when a dark gray she-cat pads up to him.

"Hey, Lightcloud. How are you feeling?"

He looks up. "Oh! Hi, Emberdust. I'm fine. A little sore still, but I'm getting better every day."

The she-cat nods. "Thank Starclan!" She touches his side with her tail. "May I eat with you?"

Lightcloud dips his head. "Of course. I'd be happy to share a meal with my mother."

Emberdust dips her head and grabs a vole and pads towards a sunny patch of clearing in the camp.

The young tom hops over to her, a couple of mice in his jaws, and settles down, stretching his injured leg out.

His mother settles down on his good side, but waits to eat. "How's your leg?"

Lightcloud turns to her. "It's still very sore. Smallflame thinks that I will never be able to use it fully again."

Emberdust sighs. "I... I'm so sorry that this had to happen to you. I-"

Her son shakes his head. "It wasn't your fault. You were keeping the rogues away from the nursery. You couldn't have known that I would be injured."

The she-cat sighs. "I know. But Starclan knows that I would protect you, even if my own life were lost and I went to Starclan."

Lightcloud dips his head. "I know you would. But you still are very brave for protecting the queens and their kits, Mother. I would've done the same thing."

"I know you would." Emberdust touches his ear with her nose. "I'm grateful to Starclan that you didn't join their ranks."

The young tom says nothing in reply and begins to eat, prompting the she-cat to follow suit.

"Hey, Emberdust! Hey, Lightcloud!"

Both cats look up to see a white tom with blue-gray patches padding up to them.

"Hi, Splashleap."

The white tom sits down. "May I join you both before I go on a border patrol?"

Lightcloud nods. "Of course."

Splashleap dips his head and pads away, returning only a moment later with a rather small blackbird and settling down across from the other cats.

"Where are you patrolling today?" Emberdust glances at the tom as he crunches on his meal.

Splashleap swallows his mouthful. "Along the border of Thunderclan and Skyclan."

Lightcloud nods. "I wish I could go on patrols." His voice is thoughtful, but still a bit sad when he sighs. "But I have to get better before I can be doing that."

His mother nudges his shoulder. "You'll be back doing what you want most with the help of Starclan."

He nods and gets to his paws, grabbing his half-eaten mouse to bury it in the dirtplace, and hops away, his fluffy white tail tapping the ground with each hop.

Splashleap turns to Emberdust. "What's got his fur in a knot?"

The she-cat sighs. "He wants to resume his warrior duties, but Smallflame wants him to heal."

The white tom shrugs. "I get it. He probably feels like he's now a burden to the Clan since he can't do what he does best."

Emberdust looks at him. "You had a hard time, didn't you?"

Splashleap nods. "Ever since my first day as an apprentice. Everyone who saw me either felt pity for me or told me that I should just give up my dreams of being a warrior and train as a medicine cat instead."

The she-cat nods, but remains quiet as she listens.

"I didn't listen to anything they said because none of it mattered to me. I had dreamt of becoming a warrior ever since I was a young kit."

"And you overcame the pressure everyone put on you. Now you're a respected warrior in the Clan, regardless of your differences."

Splashleap dips his head. "Exactly. I had to prove to myself that I can become a warrior. I never let my blindness stop me from becoming the best version of myself." He sighs. "The point is this: Whether he knows it or not, Lightcloud has a warrior's spirit. And he will become a warrior because of his determination."

~~=—+O+—=~~

"S-Snowpaw, you better not let me fall!" Mosstalon is standing, frozen, with his legs splayed out and shaking. His tail is pointing straight up, the long fur fluffed out in pure fear.

The white apprentice scoffs. "You've barely set a paw outside the medicine den, mouse brain." She pads next to him and stops, placing her small paw atop his. "Just follow the sound of my voice. Okay?"

The tom nods nervously. "O-Okay." He takes a shaky breath. "I can do this." 'Starclan, help me.'

"Come on, Mosstalon!"

Snowpaw's mew sounds a little further away and Mosstalon takes slow, careful steps towards her.

"You're doing great! Just keep coming towards me."

The tom takes a few more steps, a little more confident despite his lack of sight.

"Great job, Mosstalon!"

The tom turns towards the sound of, evidently, Lightcloud. "Did I do good?"

He feels a tail lay along his back.

"You did amazing! You made it all the way across the clearing from the medicine den to the warriors' den."

Mosstalon feels Snowpaw's nose as she touches his ear with it. He sighs and sits down, resisting the urge to curl himself into a ball in the clearing of the camp.

"Mosstalon? Are you alright?"

The depressed tom turns in the direction of his friend. "Am I just a burden to the Clan?"

A gasp is heard. "What nonsense am I hearing? My son, a burden?"

Mosstalon hisses in irritation as a paw swipes at his ears. "You can't deny it, Mother! I am a burden to this Clan and you should just leave me be!" He turns away, his ears flat against his head.

Roseshadow sighs and sits down. "If that's what you believe, then I can't change your mind. You know what I see, my son?"

The young, blind tom glances in her direction.

"I see a warrior, not a burden."

Mosstalon lifts his head. "But I am. I'm useless."

Roseshadow chuckles. "Perhaps you are right now. But maybe your destiny isn't as a warrior who sees with only his eyes? Perhaps Starclan meant for you to rely on your mind."

"What do you mean, Mother? Is Mosstalon destined to be a medicine cat?"

The russet-colored she-cat turns to see her daughter padding forward. "I can't be certain of that, Robintail." She turns to her son. "You can still be a warrior, Mosstalon. You can still live your dream."

Snowpaw sits down next to her friend. "You can't give up, Mosstalon. Thunderclan needs you."

The gray-and-white tom turns his blind gaze to her. "You mean that?"

She nods. "Yeah."

He turns to his Clanmates. "Okay, then." He gets to his paws, a determined look on his face. "I won't give up. I'll get better and I'll be the best warrior I can be." 'Thank you, Starclan, for sending cats to lift me up.'

~~=—+O+—=~~

"Lightcloud, how's your leg?"

The white tom turns to see Redpaw padding up to him, Patchpaw trailing behind his brother.

"It's fine, I guess." He sits down, his leg stretched out. "I'm not a medicine cat, so I can't say how much it's healed."

Redpaw sits down next to him. "I really hope that we'll be able to go hunting together at some point. I've heard from Emberdust that you're a great hunter."

Patchpaw nods in agreement. "We'd love to help you get back into hunting and fighting when you can."

Lightcloud chuckles and dips his head. "I appreciate it, young apprentices. By Starclan, I know you both will help me out." He gets to his paws. "Would you both like to share a meal with me?"

Redpaw nods. "I don't have any patrols or training."

The white tom flits his gaze towards Patchpaw, but the black-and-white apprentice shakes his head. "I have battle training with Emberdust. Maybe another time I can." He pads away and Redpaw sighs.

Lightcloud turns to him. "You coming, Redpaw?"

The ginger apprentice dips his head and slowly follows the warrior.

Lightcloud grabs a thrush from the prey pile, while Redpaw grabs a small wood mouse.

"Can you tell me what happened the night of the Gathering when you..." the apprentice trails off, nervousness preventing him from speaking further.

"When my leg got injured?" the white tom finished.

Redpaw nods.

Lightcloud sighs. "Rogues. That's what happened. They invaded and I was nearly crow-food."

"Who saved your tail?"

The warrior chuckles. "You'd be surprised."

The apprentice scowls. "Just tell me, Lightcloud."

"Your sister, Snowpaw. She jumped in amongst the group and sent all of them with their tails between their legs."

Redpaw's eyes widen in wonder. "Really?"

Lightcloud nods. "If you want to know more than what I do, you should ask her yourself."

The apprentice nods and attempts to search for his sister in the camp clearing — with little success. "Where is Snowpaw, anyways?"

"Probably with Mosstalon. Again."

The warrior and apprentice turn to see Patchpaw padding up to both of them, having just returned from battle training.

"Great Starclan, she's spending a lot of time with him, isn't she?" Lightcloud shakes his head. "But it would make sense. She is friends with Mosstalon, after all."

Redpaw nods. "I get that. She's helping him adjust to his blindness."

Patchpaw sighs. "At least she's not falling behind in her training." He shakes his head and pads away to the apprentice' den.

Lightcloud and Redpaw dig into their meals in comfortable silence.

Smallflame suddenly emerges from the medicine den and quickly pads over to Featherstar's den, Pinetooth on his tail.

"What's gotten their pelts in a tangle?" Redpaw watches as Pinetooth's tail disappears into the leaders' den.

"I don't know. But I'm sure that Featherstar will tell us."

It seemed like moons to the apprentice before his Clan leader emerges from her den, Smallflame and Pinetooth trailing behind her.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting."

The Clan quickly gathers in the clearing, each of them noticing the grim face that their leader has.

"I have been informed by both Smallflame and Pinetooth that they've received another prophecy." Featherstar turns to the lead medicine cat and he steps forward to sit next to her.

"I have received a vision that I believe to be a prophecy. 'Night will fall and the half moon will catch fire. But light will shine through with the claws of moss.' I'm ... unsure what it means, but I do know that the half moon has a large part in it."

The Clan murmurs in concern.

"Please don't let your pelts get all knotted up. Myself, Cinderfrost, and the medicine cats are figuring it out. The Clan meeting is dismissed." Featherstar disappears into her den, the medicine cats following her. Cinderfrost finishes assigning cats to patrols and leaps up to the Highledge, disappearing into the leaders' den.

Redpaw stares towards the leaders' den, wishing to know what in Starclan's name is worrying his leader and deputy.

"Redpaw!" A tail flicks him in his face and, startled, he turns to see both Lightcloud and Tigerpaw sitting next to him, concern flickering in their eyes.

"Are you okay? You were gazing up at Featherstar's den like you were speaking to Starclan in your dreams."

Redpaw shakes his fur out and begins grooming himself, licking his paw to clean his ear. "I'm fine." He gets to his paws and pads away, exiting the camp to sit outside. 'What in Starclan's name just happened?'

"Rise up, descendant of Firestar... Your path has only just begun..."

The apprentice's eyes widen. 'Is this... from Starclan?'

—~~-~~—~~-~~—

What a cliffhanger, wouldn't you say?

See you in the next chapter!