"I want to show you something, hurry!" A cream she-cat cheered, dashing toward a hidden part of the misty forest. Behind the small she-cat's trail, a larger cat came barreling through, shaking the leaves, spraying an aroma of mist and flies into the air. Another set of paws followed, leaping off the ground with the strength of a warrior, dashing after the two white she-cats ahead. Her black pelt stuck out too much in the white forest, but her sharp eyes caught each little movement from the rustling of the two ahead.

     "Wait up! You're going way too fast!" One of them called, leaping off a branch. The cat in the lead glanced over her shoulder, claws gripping the branch tightly, tail whisked around the bumpy surface.

     Then she lunged into the air, flying above the she-cat on the ground. Her body was lean and swift in the air, paws nimble and tough at the same time. Reaching for the branch above, her front paws hooked around it, causing the tiny she-cat sitting on the branch to let out a yelp. Hanging with her front paws, the black she-cat tightened her muscles and swung her back legs up, locking all four paws on the branch, hoisting herself up.

     "Hey! You could've warned me that you were going to jump over my head!" roared the white she-cat below, stomping her feet on the ground angrily. "You could've hurt Cardinal, too!"

     Hearing her mate's protests, Cardinal smiled and leaned forward, trying to reach Icicle. "Don't worry about me, honest. Here, nothing can harm us and even if I lost my balance, I'd only get back up." The white she-cat on the ground didn't look happy but accepted the fact and the other cat on the branch rolled her eyes, licking her paw.

     "What did you want to show us so badly, Cherry?" she taunted, ignoring Icicle's next protest. Smirking, she turned to the little she-cat who smiled, brushing her old name off her shoulders. That name did stab the feisty cat below even more, and a series of hisses and snarls erupted from her.

     "I heard rumors that there's supposedly a pool around here that can show us the past or there's a cat waiting there to share some kind of information," Cardinal explained, whiskers twitching. "It sounded really cool and I couldn't help but want to find it myself! Granted, I'm not very strong and I wouldn't be prepared if something were to attack me from behind."

     "You really are dense, aren't you?" muttered the black she-cat.

     "Hey! This may be the Tribe of Endless Stars, but that doesn't mean cats from the other tribe will come over and attack! Shouldn't you know this by now, Imperfect?" Icicle growled, managing to crawl on the tree. Cardinal let out a little peep of shock when her mate forcefully grabbed her scruff and pulled her close. The black she-cat stayed there, a glimmer of amusement flashing through her blue eyes.

     "And aren't I enough proof that not all Imperfects go to that place? Look at Cinder and your supposed Alpha," she spat, a particular event coming into her mind of the two she-cats playing a prank on a group of cats and then running away as fast as their little legs could take them. The next day, the two returned for more mischief and ran away without getting caught.

     Nearby, there was a shuffle of leaves, and when all three of them turned their attention toward the noise, an orange tail disappeared in a bundle of leaves before they could get a full look at the cat. However, they didn't need a face to identify them, and they waited until the sounds of whispers faded away, leaving all of them in silence. Icicle slammed her mouth shut and Cardinal weakly beamed, smoothing her mate's fur with her pink tongue.

     "She's right, Icicle," she murmured. "No matter how you look at it, Tsunami's been very good to us despite our past lives. She doesn't mind that you love me and I love you, and she doesn't hold very many grudges against us. We should be grateful someone like her welcomed both of us so warmly."

     "If I remember correctly, I was the first person who welcomed you here, Cardinal," Icicle pointed out. "This cat just stayed away and watched from the sidelines, not saying a single word. And it wasn't her that approached us, it was Cinder who brought you to her. It was rather dumb, believing that the little black and white calico she-kit she knew before she died could become friends with someone as special and rare as you."

     "What do you want, Icicle?" Cardinal said, seeing through the compliment. "You don't do these kinds of things in front of strangers." Tsunami rolled her eyes and gracefully leapt off the branch, landing on her four paws. Both she-cats stayed on the branch and peered at her departure.

     Turning around, Tsunami faced them. "If you're just going to spend the rest of the day fawning over one another, then I'm going to leave. I have better things to do here."

     "Like what? Watch your siblings again?" Icicle fired and Tsunami went still. She felt an increasing smirk inch up the white she-cat's face. Before she or Cardinal could stop it, the blunt voice rang in her ears, even after she pressed her ears flat against her skull.

     And here I thought Icicle was a normal mate, she growled, refusing to meet Cardinal's gaze. How the two fell in love was a question she wanted to know the answer to. With a soft-spoken she-cat who could never speak up in front of a crowd of cats and a loud-mouthed she-cat who would speak her mind whenever and wherever she felt like it, she found it hard to believe they loved each other. But, the moment she entered the starry forest, she had snuck over to the living world and sought out the siblings and a certain annoying she-cat called family. The two she-cats were the first ones she found, and she had caught them during a small love session, causing her to gag and retreat.

     Nevertheless, she didn't barge in and separate the two. Tsunami thought she had better things to do after she died, but watching her siblings and family without being able to speak to them got annoying and unbearably painful. Next thing she remembered, there was a battle and no matter how hard she unleashed her claws or wanted to jump on her father for being a complete feather-brained tom, she couldn't stop the war.

     Then the two she-cats arrived, joining the ranks of the Tribe of Endless Stars. Of course, the two were stuck together like glue, and the moment they both learned there were Imperfects living in the misty forest, it had taken Cardinal only a few moments to accept the fact, where Icicle wrinkled her nose and shielded her little mate.

     Even if Tsunami didn't want to admit it, it was nice that she finally got to reunite with Drizzle, and the two could finally stop fighting and rid themselves of Python's control. Some parts of the starry tribe that once made her gag were nice, where other parts, such as seeing Cardinal and Icicle spend every second of their days together, weren't so nice.

     "Watching them is nice of you to do, you know," Icicle started, rolling her head back. "But knowing you're helpless and can't do a single thing is what makes me angry the most. I mean, we were taught that we can help them, but we can't even touch them! Not to mention walking in their dreams is an utter nightmare. Although, that's something you might enjoy, Tsunami."

     "No way," she snapped, flicking her ear. "My family knows that help isn't always going to reach a paw out. Face it, we don't know what's going to happen right now. The Tribe of Endless Stars is taking an old system of training; six moons to learn everything and then take this thing you guys call the Test. The Tribe of Roaming Spirits is starting to get darker each day. It's like walking through dense fog. I can barely see or hear anything over there."

     "I feel bad for my sisters," Cardinal whispered. "I stopped visiting them because I can't stand to watch them suffer. It's a horrible thing to do, but I only watched them once, and I could never go back. I... I just have to wait until the day comes where they join me and I can apologize."

     "They'll understand, promise," Icicle remarked, shoving her nose into the conversation, to which Tsunami growled. "They should understand your motives for not visiting them. Plus, if I were in your paws, I'd probably do the same thing."

     Stop trying to reason with her. You may be mates, but that doesn't mean you can always agree. Learn to be your own self, Tsunami snarled, forcing her fur to lie flat. "If you're going to stay like that, there's somewhere I need to be." Without waiting, she slipped through the bushes and left the two mates to themselves.

     The Storm Sibling marched through the forest, a map painting in her head of the path she needed to take. Tsunami wove her way through branches, passing by familiar and unfamiliar cats. Most of all, she tried to avoid the lingering pelt of her mother. Despite the older she-cat giving her love once when she was young, she felt no connection toward the white-spotted cat. Rage boiled in the pits of her stomach hearing her apologize for ever falling in love with a dangerous cat like Python.

     Seeing her siblings' mothers would only make her feel worse. Firestorm, Blizzard, Lightning, or Wildfire's. Tsunami never wanted to see them ever again, knowing that they were the she-cats who never shared any love toward their one and only kit. Perhaps it was a good thing that they neglected them when they were younger. Since they ignored them, the siblings had gotten closer, becoming the legs and backbones of one another.

     And now she was out of the picture.

     Tsunami stopped, sinking her claws into the ground.

     I swear to the night sky! She growled, gritting her teeth together. Old wounds began to rise and sting her pelt, especially the ugly wound scoring across her neck. The puddle at her feet shimmered, and the calico leaned over the reflecting surface, afraid to look at herself. Calming blue eyes met her, but then they trailed down, the killing wound on her neck reopening. It tore away at her fur, spilling no blood, but hanging open like an open mouth. Tsunami stared at the massive wound, the one that sucked away her life. Tiny scars and scratches dotted her fur, but there wasn't a single drop of blood that came out.

     With a shaking paw, she reached up and touched her neck, her paw meeting her sturdy chest, heart beating with a strong and bold thud, but her reflection showed a paw hovering over the lethal wound. Tsunami swallowed the lump in her throat and lowered her paw, shutting her eyes, wishing the wound would sew itself back, hiding the inevitable fact she had died, spirit rising out of the heavy lump of flesh and fur the moment claws struck her.

     When she reopened her eyes, the wound was gone along with all the scars and scratches. She was healed and destroyed, and she sank to the ground, nose touching the pool of water. Tsunami dipped a paw in the pool, swishing it back and forth, creating what she wanted to see. She gathered enough strength and threw as much of the water as she could to the side, watching it fly into the air, shining in the sun's rays. The calico she-cat watched it, unable to say a word when it came crashing back to the ground, pulling specks of dust and pebbles with it.

     Like an actual tsunami. The thing I decided to be. I wanted to come up, everyone would be able to see me rise into the sky and then come crashing down. I wanted to be that storm. I'm still a Storm Sibling, she declared, putting both of her paws in the small puddle. Tsunami curled her lips back into a snarl. Mind swirling and whirling, she imagined a time where she was with them one more time. An alternate time where she hadn't saved Hurricane back then.

     But then she would've died.

     And if she hadn't died back then, then she'd never get to see a future where the war was over. Tsunami sighed, reopening her eyes to a distant memory.

     There was Firestorm, teaching Lightning how to stand his ground in a fight if he ever needed to fight. Blizzard watched her family with loving eyes, ones of a mother. Something that even she didn't know how to portray. On the far corner, Wildfire sat there, unmoving, but watching with wide eyes as a smile was splitting her eyes. And from a few inches off was Tsunami, creeping up on her older brother. With a weak leap into the air, the tiny kit came crashing down on her brother, earning an amused laugh from the tom.

     She watched the memory with a mixture of hate and love, unable to crack a smile even when Blizzard came over and told her to fix her posture. The tiny calico she-cat nodded and pranced off, readying herself again. This time, Tsunami sped over, approaching her younger self carefully. She leaned closer, touching her nose to air. The two she-cats stayed like that, the younger one ready to launch herself at her brother once again, and the older one surrounding the tiny kit, mourning the innocence of the she-cat, knowing her life would end early and remain uncompleted.

     The fact that they were nothing more than a pawn.

     A pawn to my father and his games of dominance, she growled, detest spreading through her. The little kit sprang through her like she was a ghost, landing a few inches away from Lightning. He let out a snarl and she mocked him back, refusing to back down. The memory faded away and after she blinked, she was back in the misty forest, paws still in the small puddle, legs starting to shiver.

     And toward the end of my life, I was killed because if Hurricane hadn't died, then there wouldn't be any kind of peaceful future. Why was it me? Why couldn't I have a life where I got to live it how I wanted? Tsunami tossed her head aside, a frown increasing. And Icicle and Cardinal, two cats who I hated, had a better life than I did.

     "Take me to Wildfire," she demanded, waiting for the world to shift under her paws. Bitterness filled her mouth, and the forest around her began to shrink, walls made of twigs and leaves rising around her like a cage. Tsunami didn't flinch when the ground disappeared and she fell, knowing she'd land safely in her old nest. Her paws gave under, unprepared for the sudden barrier.

     One of the good things about being dead, she cursed. A fall like that would've killed her when she was alive, but here, it only shocked her and did nothing more than that. Tsunami shook away the thought, eyes landing on the still figure of her little sister. She crept closer, meeting a bored, green gaze. Wildfire blinked again, a sigh escaping her nose.

     "Just wait a bit longer, Sister," she whispered, curling around Wildfire. Tsunami nuzzled her sister on the head, a gesture that remained one-sided. The golden she-cat in her embrace didn't know she was with her. She didn't know that her dead sister was with her, wrapped around her, protecting her from afar. All that she could do was stare at the camp while pretending to be dead.

     Tsunami reached her tongue out and licked Wildfire's forehead, a soft purr escaping her. Her little sister didn't do much, and even if the calico screamed in her ear, the tiny she-cat would hardly notice and continue staring. She curled her tail around her sister's and tightened the grip, hoping something would happen. Like every single attempt, the warmth was never returned, and it was only her. The Storm Sibling dropped her head and touched her nose with her sister.

     "Just wait a little bit longer, Wildfire. Something's going to change."

     I hope.