(Yes, a new banner! Done by: -peachyymilk , thank you! Hahahaaa it matches the chapter, you see? :3)
(And yeah, this isn't the most....peaceful chapter yet, this is a warning for....gore? I honestly don't know XD)

Echoclaw shut her eyes, trying not to think about Whitefeather. She needed to talk to Reedstar, that's all that mattered at the moment. "I don't know!" Stemthorn wailed, no doubt having another mood swing, though no cat could blame her.

Echoclaw knew where Whitefeather was.

"We have to find him!" Petalbreeze rasped.

But no cat would be able to find him.

"Where did you last see Whitefeather?" Curltail asked.

Good. Echoclaw didn't have to answer that, she's never seen Whitefeather.

"At camp, in the medicine den!" Poppypaw wailed.

"He burned!" A RiverClan warrior gasped. "Shut up, Mosswhisker!" Maplefur, the RiverClan deputy hissed angrily. It was hard for Echoclaw to breathe, the humidity of the tunnels mixed with the smoke seeping underground. The tunnels continued to grow hotter. And hotter. And harder to breathe. Echoclaw was shuddering, knowing that she should tell these cats where Whitefeather was.

But he had begged.

He didn't want them to find him.

"Echoclaw, I'm a burden." Whitefeather whispered, his white pelt matted with dirt and singed by the hungry flames. He backed farther into the bushes. The fire licked at Echoclaw's back, and she felt like she was melting at her spot. It hurt. "Whitefeather, please get out of there!" Echoclaw pleaded, snapping wildly in the air to grab her mentor's scruff. "Go!" Whitefeather yowled as the flames roared.

Echoclaw desperately tried to grab the white tom by his scruff, make him leave. "Echoclaw, I'll slow every cat down. One of us needs to make it out alive, and that cat is going to be you. Keep our Clan safe, I'll watch you from StarClan." Echoclaw felt the breath being pushed out of her as she was knocked away by Whitefeather's last ounce of strength. There was no way back to her mentor. "Whitefeather!" Echoclaw cried, running as the flames swallowed up the area.

And that sickening cry, that pained screech. It chased Echoclaw back to her Clanmates. She couldn't tell them.
She really was a murderer, just like she had feared. "No!" She exclaimed, her fur burning, Whitefeather's screeches so real they sounded like he was dying all over again. "What, dear?" Petalbreeze meowed. "Whitefeather's dead! I killed him!" Echoclaw cried, feeling like going into the flames and melting, just like Whitefeather had.

"What?" Shardstorm snarled. "Traitor! I always knew she was insane!" He hissed.

Insane? Am I insane or leaving him?

"Echoclaw, why?" Mistnose whispered. Reedstar sounded horrified as he spoke. "...what do you mean, by you killed him? You have no blood on your paws." Marshstar snorted. "If Clanmates murder each other in ShadowClan, I want no part of it." He growled. "Let her speak." Reedstar meowed, regaining composure. "H-He didn't want to b-be found, he had barely left c-camp when he stopped and begged me to l-leave him. H-He pushed me away from him, a-and I couldn't save h-" Echoclaw's choking explanation was cut off by a soft meow.

"I guess I left Velvetkit...too. But I didn't murder her. I tried to kill Reedstar, but I was welcomed back." Sorreltail meowed shyly, moving to stand beside the scared medicine cat. "Whitefeather will be missed...but it was his time." Embernose rasped sadly. "We can't even sit vigil for him..." Robinflight whimpered. "I'm really sorry...." Echoclaw whispered, letting her tail droop.

"As you should be, murderer!" Shardstorm snarled, stomping towards her. "You just have to find a cat to be mad at, don't you?" Stemthorn laughed. "St-" "No way, Frogstorm, you need to calm your tail." The gray queen carried on, seemingly enjoying herself. "Stemthorn, please, just....give me a moment." The black tom growled under his breath, clearly trying to hold off his temper.

"Frogstorm, you listen to me for a moment!" Stemthorn scolded Shardstorm. Echoclaw almost snorted at what she called her mate. "You have such a short temper, and you just need to take a breath and-" "Since when do you take a breath?" Robinflight snorted, nudging her best friend. "Let Shardstorm be himself." Shardstorm cleared his throat awkwardly. "I-I don't know anymore, Echoclaw." He muttered scornfully, padding away to join some other warriors. Where? Echoclaw didn't know.

Suddenly, a loud sizzle seemed to sound through the whole forest. It seeme to continue for several heartbeats before dying down to a faint buzz. "What in StarClan was that?" Marshstar wondered aloud, tromping out of the den before stumbling back inside. "Don't go out! Don't breathe it in!" He choked, pushing every cat back into the cave. "Smoke! It's toxic!" Orbeye gasped, obviously terrified that the thing that ruined his eye had returned for more.

Echoclaw didn't care if her eyes were ruined. She'd be the last to leave. She numbly let cats push past her farther away from the choking smoke and ashes, a faint feeling of needing air the only thing that made Echoclaw feel her way farther down the cave. Honestly, at this point.......why even? I mean, I used to think that maybe, just maybe, one day I'd be happy. I don't know what I thought, I'd be a warrior? I'd have kits? That I'd fall in love?

No. Echoclaw now knew that wouldn't happen. She had been a mouse-brain to even think any of that.
. . .
"It's okay, Robinflight. It'll be alright." After every cat had made it outside of the tunnel, it had been a mess of smoke, bare trees, grounds of ash, and broken tree limbs. Robinflight had had a breakdown, crying about her home being ruined. Then, Reedstar, Copperheart, Marshstar, Robinflight, Curltail, and Stripeheart were assigned for a patrol to scout over the camp and see if they could find anything.

Copperheart braced himself for the worst, the moss ashes, dens reduced to smoking embers, everything toppled over, and gone.

There it was.

It wasn't what Copperheart had expected. It was worse. "Oh, StarClan!" Robinflight cried, rushing forward to a small, brown bundle hanging from a tree. As Copperheart padded closer, he saw tiny, bent claws dug into the bark of a pine tree close to the edge of camp, the figure twisted in pain, all claws outstretched in a desperate attempt to climb away from the fire. Velvetkit's brown eyes were wide open, everything in them showing frozen panic. Her fur was wet with tears trailing down the fur on her face onto her burnt away pelt.

Marshstar stopped in his tracks, his green eyes filling with sadness. Copperheart felt everything inside of him clench, and hurt with grief for Velvetkit. Robinflight parted her jaws and let out a strangled cry of grief, turning around so her back was to the kit. "I...I killed her." Reedstar murmured, his face giving away raw horror. No cat answered to the leader's claim. Suddenly, Robinflight leaned forward and gently grabbed the small brown kit by her scruff, unhooked her claws from the tree, and laid her down on the ground.

Copperheart hesitantly took Velvetkit's legs, one by one, and lay them at her side so they weren't frozen in that horrible position. Robinflight licked the ashes and debris out of Velvetkit's remaining fur, wrinkling her nose at the taste, but continuing grooming the kit until her pelt was glossy and smooth. Stripeheart swallowed and stroked her head with a gentle paw, and Reedstar leaned forward and closed each eyelid, his touch as soft as the clouds that used to be spotted before the storm clouds moved in.

Curltail took Velvetkit softly by her scruff and they padded silently back to the tunnels. The rain started pouring, harder and harder, fat drops soaking all seven cats. Copperheart knew what they were all thinking: why had the rain not been pouring when the fire started, just like it had been raining for a moon?

The walk back to the tunnels was filled with apprehension, wondering where ShadowClan and RiverClan would live now. Jaggedjaw was the first to burst through the tunnel entrance, Sorreltail at his heels. "Did you find Vel-" The brown tom was cut off as Curltail stepped out from behind the rest of the patrol, carrying Velvetkit in his jaws. "Oh my StarClan-" Sorreltail whimpered, rain trailing down her flattened ears. "S-she looks horrible...I'm so sorry Velvetkit!" She should've seen her clinging to that tree, Copperheart thought grimly, grief still making his heart hurt.

"Echoclaw," Reedstar called, watching his daughter duck out of the medicine cat den, her cream fur almost immediately soaked. "Yes?" She meowed. "We need you to prepare Velvetkit for her vigil." For a moment, Echoclaw appeared to be stricken by her new duty. "Where is Velvetkit?" "Here," Jaggedjaw whispered. "I can't smell her-" The blind cat ducked her head as Sorreltail let out a sad whimper. "I'm sorry," She meowed, skimming a paw over the ground until it hit Velvetkit's soggy body.

"And where's Splotchkit?" Echoclaw asked. "I-I let him rest..." Sorreltail mustered. Stripeheart shot Echoclaw a questioning glance, probably wondering why she was questioning the grieving queen. "No! He must not sleep the night of his sister's burial!" Echoclaw exclaimed, her fur rising. "It's been a long day, Echoclaw, let him rest." Robinflight hissed, narrowing her amber eyes. "No way I'm letting him rest! He could die in his sleep!" The medicine cat argued. "Any of us could die in our sleep." Robinflight growled.

"He needs to keep vigil for his sister!"

"He needs to rest!"

"He needs to keep vigil for his family!"

Robinflight seemed to see this as an opportunity, narrowing her eyes, her voice quiet enough that Copperheart had to strain his ears to hear it. "Like you kept vigil for Birchwing?"

For a moment, Echoclaw was taken aback before replying, spitting out every word. "I watched her die, and she was under my care. I tried everything I could to keep her alive." She choked out the end, and Copperheart's heart twisted in pain for her, remembering the night of Birchwing's vigil.

"Then it's your fault she's dead." Robinflight hissed, suddenly angered.

Echoclaw let out a screech and knocked the tabby cat over. Robinflight gasped as the cream she-cat rolled her onto her back, pinning her down. "It wasn't my fault!" She spat, her blue eyes wide with fury and pain. Marshstar backed away into the cave, back to where his warriors were peeking out of the cave. "She's blind?" A small kit asked disbelievingly. Stripeheart seemed to remember all of the other times Echoclaw had gotten angry and backed a mouse-length away.

"Then who's fault was it?" Robinflight rasped as the medicine cat kept a firm paw hold on her chest. "It was Whitefeather's! I was barely seven moons old!" Echoclaw whispered desperately, seeming to be trying to assure herself more than Robinflight. "And who's fault is it that Whitefeather's dead?" Copperheart felt his heart skip a beat in alarm. Did Robinflight want to be killed? "It-It's my fault." Echoclaw whispered, stepping off of the tabby she-cat. "I killed Birchwing and Whitefeather." She cast a glance at her Clanmates. "I'm sorry." She whispered, dashing off into the forest, tripping on a few roots as she ran.

"Wait!" Reedstar yowled. "Foamsky, Copperheart, go and find her!" He ordered, beckoning the black and white warrior out of the tunnels. "Echoclaw ran off?" Foamsky asked, fully alert. "Again." Robinflight sighed, letting her tail droop. Just when I may have been beginning to like her. Copperheart rolled his eyes and splashed after Echoclaw's trail, which was already fading with all of this rain.

"She couldn't have gotten that far..." Foamsky meowed through chattering teeth. "No, I guess not." Copperheart replied, scanning the forest of ash with a grumbling belly. There was no sound except for the rain pattering to the ground. He stepped over a fallen branch. This would be a very long night if he wanted to find Echoclaw.
. . .
Echoclaw walked farther, her legs beginning to ache. She would find Whitefeather, and bring him home in time for his vigil. Yes, she knew that her mentor was dead, though it sent jolts of guilt and pain through her. It brought back memories.

Echopaw sat down on the stone floor with a sad sigh. "I can't tell them apart!" She cried, curling her tail around her small cream paws. Whitefeather padded up to her, smelling of pine and dirt. "It's alright, just remember what I taught you. You still have paws, you can feel them, taste them, and smell them." He meowed calmly. "I don't want to be a medicine cat!" Echopaw whimpered. She smelled like plants. She wanted to smell like a warrior did.

"I know."

"I smell stinky!"

"Once you're done studying, I can show you a spot where you can wash your paws."

"What if I get sick from sick cats?"

"Then you would die serving your Clan."

"I want to die fighting!"

"Most cats don't get that wish."

"I'm not most cats." Echopaw grumbled, pawing her blind eyes.

"No, you're special.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Echoclaw sighed. Whitefeather hadn't got to die like a warrior. She wished she could've helped him die like a true warrior. She let her paws sink slowly into each mud puddle, letting the memories flood through her. And one very painful memory decided to play itself out.

"Goodbye, my shining star." She black and white she-cat whispered.

"No! Birchwing!" Echopaw cried, burying her muzzle into her mother's matted chest fur. "Whitefeather, help! Grab...grab....cobwebs!" She yowled, slathering a green paste across Birchwing's jaws. "Echopaw." Whitefeather meowed. "Get me the cobwebs!" Echoclaw screeched, pressing her ear to her mother's chest. She had imagined a faint heartbeat.

"We can still save her!" "No, Echopaw. It's too late. I'm so sorry."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Echoclaw swallowed a cry of sadness and continued through the soggy debris, hoping she could reach Whitefeather in time to bring him back. Then she could say goodbye to at least one cat she loved.

Echopaw felt the wind streaming through her fur as she ran towards Moonstone. Whitefeather ran beside her. It was absolutely wonderful to run through a field, not worrying about any obstacles, feeling the sun on her pelt. Echopaw felt like a normal cat, one that had a bright future ahead of her. She never wanted to stop running, she could feel her muscles contracting in each long bound, hearing the wind roaring in her ear fur.

"Woah woah, Echopaw, watch out!" The white tom yowled suddenly. Echopaw skidded to a stop only to bump her nose against a jagged stone. "That would've hurt," Whitefeather laughed, brushing his pelt against her pelt and guiding her around the rock. "Has that always been there?" Echopaw asked indignantly, rubbing her nose with a forepaw.

Whitefeather chuckled light-heartedly. "Yes, dear, it's always been there." He paused for a moment before sighing with content. "Yes, a clear path, Echopaw, go on."
~~~~~~~~~~

Echoclaw smiled sadly and dragged her paws, knowing she was getting closer. She didn't want to feel Whitefeather's sopping wet, scorched fur. She didn't want to.

"Echoclaw, you need to stop dreaming of the future and moping over the past!" Whitefeather hissed, swiping angrily at some leaves his apprentice had shredded. "The present is what will kill you." He grumbled, his voice deadly quiet. "You don't know what I feel!" Echoclaw yowled, taking a swipe at the tom but missing by a mouse-length. Mouse-dung. "Echoclaw, you need to take a moment and breathe."

"You need to take a moment and REMEMBER what's happened to me before you tell me what to do!" The cream she-cat growled, turning her back on Whitefeather and storming out of the den, the gazes of her Clanmates all boring into her pelt.

That was only five sunrises ago, before everyone's lives had completely changed....some lives ended. Echoclaw closed her eyes, willing tears away. How right Whitefeather was. The present is what kills you. Little attention did she pay attention to those words until now. Before she knew it, another memory swept her off her feet.

Whitefeather walked past Echoclaw, his eyes shining, his sleek white pelt glimmering. "It's okay." He whispered.

Echoclaw expected memory-her to reply with her usual sharp tongue but heard nothing.

Whitefeather grinned at her, his sky blue eyes twinkling like....like his pelt.

This wasn't a memory.

"Whitefeather!" Echoclaw cried, burying her muzzle into his shoulder fur. "I'm so sorry!" She whimpered, trying to read his expression for any signs of anger. But the medicine cat's face only showed pure sympathy, his eyes clouding. "It's not your fault." He whispered. "But-but it is! I should've asked Reedstar to leave again, then we would've been-" "Echoclaw, I'm happier here." Whitefeather meowed, taking a paw and stroking Echoclaw's head.

If this had been almost any other cat, Echoclaw would've gave this cat a lesson they'd remember, but now she just closed her eyes and tried to forget what she was doing out there. "Don't let Robinflight get to you." Whitefeather meowed. Echoclaw had to keep herself from rolling her eyes, but the moment she blinked she was plunged back into darkness, her colorless universe.

She felt her whole body ripple in a panic as she touched something soft and soaking with rainwater. "I miss you..." She whispered. The shape moved, and Echoclaw leaped back, fur bristling. "You miss me? Do you know me?" A defensive voice of a she-cat came from the figure. "Y-You're not Whitefeather....." "And you don't appear to be Murtle-" The she-cat murmured. "No, I'm not a turtle!" Echoclaw hissed, letting her fur lay flat.

"What's wrong with your eyes?" The she-cat meowed, her voice genuinely curious. "I'm blind." Echoclaw relied bluntly, tracing a claw in the dirt. "Oh my ancestors, oh my, my, my!" The cat cooed. "What's your name? I'm Melody!" The she-cat chirped. "I'm-" "It's cold, come inside!" Melody cut Echoclaw off, standing beside her like she was clinging for dear life. "What are you doing?" Echoclaw hissed, drawing away.

"I'm trying to get you to my den safely." Melody meowed softly. "No, I'm okay." She growled, pushing her way into the den, which was surprisingly big. "Floods are coming this way, or at least that's what Murtle said, we're going to leave in a few days, and then that fire was really scary, but Murtle got us away, and then there was this tree in front of us, it lit up like a campfire, and-" "Okay, I have to go, this was great." Echoclaw mumbled sarcastically, sitting up.

"But it's dark!"

"I have to get to a vigil!"

"Who died?"

"Whitefeather and Velvetkit." Echoclaw replied, walking quickly away.

"And what do you think you're doing?" A voice boomed.