A quick shoutout to the following people...
1. Cinnabun_Sayori
2. GanLeiz

I felt so free, so fast.  I kept reliving everything in my life; my birth, meeting Gold, getting captured, and my death with someone I loved.  I kept running to my memories every second.

  When my eyes opened, I was with a cat that had long white fur and blue eyes.  Every part of my body hurt, including my eyes.  I tried to get up, but my legs stopped me.

  "Look who decide to wake up after two weeks."  The mysterious cat said.  "We thought you were going to die.  You had been stabbed in the stomach quite deeply, had a nasty wound on your throat, broke most of your claws, had a broken leg, and lost a ton of blood."

  Gold and Cream entered the room with a nice sized bird.  Beth and Tom followed with two mice each.  I didn't think they would've entered because of Needle, who I thought most definitely took charge after Jagged's death.  Needle couldn't have ordered this.  We were all going to be killed.

  "Gwen wanted us to bring you some food."  Gold said.  "Sword, Jeanette, and Thorn are still hunting."

  "Isn't Needle in charge?"  I asked.  "I thought deputies can become leader after the leader dies."

  "We fought off Needle."  Gold explained.  "He won't be coming back.  He was exiled for taking part in Jagged's crime spree."

  "Then who is leader?"  I asked.

  "Thorn is leader, Gwen is deputy."  Gold explained.

  I was so happy to hear Thorn was the one who took over leadership of the dump.  After all, he deserved it for all the torture Jagged had put him through.  Plus, Thorn had the experience necessary to really make a positive impact on such a rundown place.

  Had Thorn indeed then heard my plea to not blame himself for killing Jagged?  It would make sense, considering if he did feel guilt over the whole thing, he would have not taken such a huge leap in becoming leader.  Knowing him, Thorn would have put himself into self exile, believing it was the only way to atone for what he had did.  Considering the horrible way he took Rosie's death, without my intervention, this would most definitely had been what happened.

  However, I did not ask if this was the case.  Thorn did not need a reminder of what had just happened.  It may have been self defense, but it was still his brother.  He would need a long time to mentally heal from what had happened.  Reminding him at all now would be a terrible thing for his mental health.  I would ask him someday in the future, but now was not the time. 

  "We were so worried about you."  Tom said.  "I thought you were going to die because of Jagged, but Nancy worked day and nigh to make sure you pulled through."

  Lightning entered the den with some leaves in his jaws.  I noticed the wounds I had were covered with leaves smothered in honey.  He must have been out to gather more leaves for my wounds.  Nancy, the cat who was healing me, started removing some of the leaves.

  "Your leg with the deep wound is fully healed,"  Nancy said, "But your neck wounds and stomach wounds need some more time."

  "How long until she can go on the journey again?"  Cream asked.

  "I would say about a month."  Nancy said.  "However, the wound in her leg will scar over."

  "I've already got a scar on my head."  Thorn said when he entered the den.  "I am not ashamed of it.  It is a marker of bravery for what happened to me in the past.  The same can be said for Maxine.  She shouldn't be ashamed of it."

  I only heard half of what Thorn said as I glared at Lightning.  Why did I fear him so much in my dreams?  If I knew the answer then, I would've never trusted him."
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  It had been a month since I awoke in Nancy's den.  Now that I was fully healed, we could continue on our journey.  Today we had to say goodbye to Gwen who was taking over for Thorn while he continued with us to save the world.

  "I promise I'll come back."  Thorn said.  "I will come back in a year or so, I swear.  I'll miss you honey."

  "I'll miss you too, Dad."  Gwen said.

  Sword was taking Gwen's place in Gold Whisker while she temporarily led operations in the dump.  The remaining members of the dump promised Thorn and Sword that the dump would look completely different when they returned.  Jeanette decided to join Gold Whisker so we would never be afraid of losing her again and to have an extra pair of eyes.  Lightning also joined Gold Whisker as repayment for saving us from Jagged's attack a long time ago.

  The journey continued without interruption for many weeks.  My dreams stopped, but sometimes I couldn't help looking at Lightning weird.  I hoped he would never pull a trap on us someday in the future with the gray cat.  For now, my fear of that day was hidden.  At least we hadn't meet the same gray cat yet from the dream.  If that had happened, I would have known for sure my vision was real.  For now at least, I had some reasonable doubt.

  It was on the fourth week of our travels that everything changed.  It all started when Thorn and Sword came back from hunting, panting heavily.  Thorn's ears went down as we noticed scratches all over his body.

  "What happened?"  Cream asked.  "Who attacked you?"

  "Some gray cat took our prey and attacked us."  Thorn explained.  "Man, he was tough!  He had the darkest blue eyes I had ever seen!"

  My stomach dropped as Thorn's description of the cat came out of his mouth.  My worst fears were coming true! 

  "That sounds a lot like Speedy."  Lightning said.  "That cat works for the Guardian."

  "That sounds familiar."  Gold said.  "When I woke up from my transformation, I knew I was after somebody.  I must have been after the Guardian."

  Once Gold had finished talking, I mentally put two and two together.  My dreams were real.  I don't know where this mysterious power came from, but I knew I had to listen to what I was being warned about.  Lightning was going to betray us, unless something was done to change this path.  I didn't know how, considering everyone but me and Gold were on to him.  Our allies would never agree to kick Lightning out of the group without proof besides a recurring dream and deep rooted doubt. 

  I saw what looked like a gray cat, probably Speedy, walking by in the distance, looking curious.  That cat didn't look evil, but had a bit of anger in its eyes.  He walked away, with no one but me noticing him.  Was this cat really evil? 

  As Lightning resumed the conversation about this Speedy character, I continued thinking about my dream.  Was this the fate of Gold Whisker?  Were we going to be destroyed by Lightning?  Will we even get a chance at saving the world with an enemy who barely knew anything about?

  These answers would one day be addressed but now was not the time.  I sat half listening to the conversation, dreading what I would someday find out.

  (Note:  I hope you enjoyed what I think was quite the cocktail of a story to say the least.  I don't know if it was a good cocktail per say, but I cannot change what I already wrote all those years ago.  Or can I...)