Flashes blurred around me.

Nothing was clear and my head hurt. When I crouched down and closed my eyes though, I opened them to recognize a familiar forest. I could sense his presence.

"What do you want now?" I asked before turning to face him.

The scarred orange tom didn't smile this time like he usually did, or make a joke. His face was grim with focus and seriousness.

"Lavenderbreeze, you have to listen to me and actually take it serious for once." He said.

I sighed. "You know, I'm tired of your mood changes. First you mess with me, give me nightmares, then you act like you're helping me, then you mess with me and give me vague answers, now you expect me to take you seriously?"

The scarred tabby stepped closer. "I know I don't deserve this, but please trust me on this. It's a matter of a life or death, maybe both."

I looked him in the eye and saw no trace of the joking orange tom I had known before. "Okay, I'm listening."

"You have to leave Mistclan."

I rolled my eyes. "Not you too! Look, Flick has already tried that, there's nothing wrong in Mistclan. Did he ask you to persuade me?"

The scarred tom shook his head. "Actually, I'm the one who told him to convince you. It's not my fault you won't listen to reason. I figured I had to talk to you myself if you wouldn't listen to your friend."

"What reason am I not seeing? If you can explain, I might listen."

The orange tabby tilted his head. "Did your friend not warn you?"

My fur started to bristle as I got more frustrated. "Of course he did, but didn't convince me and didn't go into much detail!"

The scarred tabby sighed. "I can't really reveal much, but I will what I can."

He paused, and I sat down, showing that I was willing to hear him out.

"Secrets lie in Mistclan, shrouded by the fog. You must uncover them before it's too late. Remember this, your enemy is always closer than you think." The tom said.

I tilted my head. "How in the name of Starclan does that help me? If I have to hurry, shouldn't you be a bit less cryptic?"

The scarred tabby tom shook his head. "I have told you all that I can. You must seek further help elsewhere . . ."

His voice faded out and the sharp pain in my head returned I groaned and closed my eyes, crouching on the ground again.

Before even trying to open my eyes, I knew I was back in the Mistclan warriors den. What did he mean, secrets lie in Mistclan? Shrouded by the fog? Was I going to find something hiding in the forest? Which enemy was he talking about who was closer than I thought, Fogstar?

I opened my eyes and sighed. Why were Flick and the scarred cat so consistent on making Fogstar a bad cat? He was the one who offered to continue my training, the one to take me, Flick, and Bella into his clan as if we always belonged there. When has he ever done anything wrong?

I stood up and shook out my pelt. Maybe I would go talk to the elders - well, elder. I thought it was strange to have only elder in the clan, but maybe the others just died already from old age?

Making my way out of the den, I stopped beside Flick's nest. We both decided it would be best to keep some distance for now, after our fight a half moon ago. It had only been a few days, and it was cold without him beside me. I paused, thinking over my dream, then shook my head and continued out of the den.

The frosty air chilled me and I bushed out my fur. Snow was still on the ground, but Newleaf would arrive soon, maybe even in another half moon. The sick cats might even all healed by then, too. One other cat had died soon after Lightstar, but at least two were fully healed and are back on patrols.

It was just past dawn, and Amberblaze was sending out patrols for the day. I tried to sneak past and make my way quickly to the elder's den, but the deputy spotted me and called me over.

"Lavenderbreeze!"

I sighed and padded over to her. "Yes, Amberblaze?"

"You barely caught anything yesterday, I want you to come on my hunting patrol." The fiery she-cat said.

"It's leaf-bare, what do you expect? I am hunting the best that I can for Mistclan and the rest of the patrol I was on did no better than I did. Besides, I was asked to check the elders for ticks." It wasn't completely true, but I needed to talk to Blizzardrain.

Amberblaze narrowed her eyes. "Fine, but you'll have to make up for it by joining a hunting patrol and the dusk patrol." The deputy said before stalking away; she clearly enjoyed the idea of me doing apprentice duties more than criticizing my hunting skills.

I shook my head, this was more important than patrols. I finally entered the elder's den. Sticking my head in, I called out to Mistclan's elder.

"Blizzardrain?"

I heard shuffling around before the elder came into the light. He was mostly white with faintly gray patches and blind blue eyes.

"Who's that? One of the newbies?" The blind elder asked, sniffing the air.

I nodded. "Yes, it's me, Lavenderbreeze."

Blizzardrain tilted his head. "Lavenderbreeze, huh? So I finally meet Fogstar's . . . former apprentice." He seemed to search for the right words to describe me.

"Yes, I've come to talk to you."

"Have you now?" The blind tom sat down in his best. "Orders from our new powerful leader?"

I shook my head, slightly confused about what he meant. "No, I actually came to ask you a few questions."

"Ah." Blizzardrain said, as if this cleared everything up. "Trouble in paradise?"

I looked down. "Not exactly." I had to tell myself I could trust this cat, he was the only one who could help answer all her questions. Looking outside to make sure no one was eavesdropping, I padded further inside and sat down. "I was wondering . . . if you could tell me a bit about Mistclan's past. You know, from what you remember."

The white and gray elder nodded. "I was beginning to wonder when the truth would work it's way to the surface."

I tilted my head, confused. "What do you mean?"

Blizzardrain smiled. "Well, I guess I should tell you my story, first. I'll warn you though, it's not the happiest story."

"That doesn't matter, I want to hear it." I insisted. If I was going to work out the scarred orange cat's riddle, I had to be ready to learn even the bad things that happened - especially those.

"Well for starters, I wasn't born in Mistclan. Instead, I was born and raised a Leafclan cat." Blizzardrain began.

My eyes widened but I didn't interrupt the elder.

"I had one sibling, his name was Frostwhisker. He was an all white tom with green eyes; and unlike me, his hearing and eyesight was completely fine."

I gave the blind elder a questioning look. "You were born blind? Were you born partly deaf, as well?"

"I wasn't born completely blind, but I could never see as far as the other cats my age and I was born deaf in my left ear, though I learned to listen more intently with my right ear."

I couldn't think of what to say. Being born partly blind and deaf? What could I say?

When I said nothing, Blizzardrain continued. "As I was saying, I grew up with Frostwhisker as my only littermate. Even though my senses weren't as sharp as the other cats in Leafclan, he made sure no one said anything about it. We weren't very close, but he made sure I wasn't bullied."

"Even though Frostwhisker did this for me, he had a darkness that grew within him. From the moment he became an apprentice, I watched the darkness within him grow. Even as a kit, he was eager to be a warrior. I tried telling him this wasn't the way to be the best warrior for Leafclan, but he didn't listen to me. He called me useless, actually; but that wasn't the worst he hurt me."

"Frostwhisker took a mate, Mapleflight. She was a beautiful she-cat who wanted to be a part of her mate's ambitions. They were madly in love, and even had kits together. Their names were Hawkkit, Rainkit, and Lightkit."

I gasped and Blizzardrain nodded. "Yes, Lightkit later became Lightstar."

"Frostwhisker worked hard every day so the Leafclan leader, Ashstar, would see him as deputy material. He killed Ashstar's sister who was the previous deputy by drowning her in the river. Of course, that's not what he told Ashstar, and became the next deputy."

"I think you can guess what happened next. Frostwhisker waited until Ashstar was on her last life before killing her to become leader. He had such plans, but Mapleflight wanted nothing to do with them when she found out he had killed to become leader. She left him, and he killed her and Rainpaw, saying there was no room in his life for worthless cats."

"I was the one to tell Mapleflight, and Frostwhisker was furious when he found out. I was also the one to protect his other two kits, Hawkpaw and Lightpaw. He clawed my eyes and blinded me for everything I did, and almost killed me. At least I was able to protect his other two kits."

"Hawkpaw became Hawkfang, but died at the paws of a monster. Lightpaw became Lightfall, and took after her mother. She came to me, asking for advice about her father and I told her everything. She hated him ever since, and left to join her love in Mistclan. They had two kits, Hollykit and Fogkit. Yes, Fogkit as in Fogbreeze."

I closed my mouth. I had been about to ask, but Blizzardrain had answered my question before I could.

"Hollykit was scared of Frostwhisker, but Fogkit loved the stories I told of him. He became just like my littermate. When Fogpaw was an apprentice, Lightfall was deputy. She convinced her leader to lead an attack on Leafclan to get rid of Frostwhisker. In that battle, the Leafclan leader died. From then on, Fogpaw was determined to follow in his pawsteps, but as he grew older he learned how to hide his ambitions."

"Why do you refer to the previous Leafclan leader as Frostwhisker, instead of Froststar?" I asked the blind elder.

Blizzardrain's blind gaze was faraway when he answered. "That cat was never a leader to me."

I nodded. "What happened next?"

Blizzardrain turned his head toward me. "You'll enter the story soon." He paused before continuing.

"Fogbreeze continued on the path my brother took, but was more discreet. He was very good at hiding what he was thinking and what he truly wanted, he always has been. This is why Lightstar made him deputy, she didn't see that he had the same darkness in him as Frostwhisker did. He knew how to get on Lightstar's good side, and slowly began manipulating her without her noticing. He convinced her it would be a good idea to merge Leafclan and Mistclan. Well, that battle didn't go very well. I was one of the few surviving Leafclan cats who didn't flee. I knew it wasn't Lightstar's fault, even though she blamed herself."

"I tried to free Lightstar from Fogbreeze's grasp, but it was no use. All I could do was sit by and watch. Well, you know what I mean. Fogbreeze dug his claws in deeper each day, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. You know the rest."

I blinked. "I do?" I asked.

Blizzardrain nodded. "Haven't you been paying attention? How did Frostwhisker become leader?"

I gasped as the pieces clicked together. "How could he do that to his own mother?"

"Like I said, he is following in Frostwhisker's pawsteps. Do you know where you fit in the story?"

I went back over the story the blind tom just told me in my head. "Am I . . . the Mapleflight in this story?"

Blizzardrain nodded. "I'm afraid so. History is bound to repeat itself until I'm afraid nothing will remain of even Mistclan."

"So they were right . . ." I whispered. The secrets had finally been revealed. They were hidden within Mistclan. If Fogbreeze was my enemy, then the scarred orange tabby was right. I just hoped it wasn't too late.

We are reaching the last few chapters of Hope! Don't forget to Like/Comment!

//Word count: 2122//