The forest was as silent as any other night, but this time it was different.

No breeze was shaking any leaves, no sounds of crickets chirping, no soft snoring of sleeping cats, only silence and darkness.

Then a few seconds later a bright light shined through the forest and a silver tabby formed from the light, she waded silently through the forest, her eyes scanning the forest for any life.

She paused when she spotted a dark toned tom, his yellow eyes gleamed as he stared at her, as his tail thumped on the ground seemingly annoyed at her presence.

"Dewstripe...how unexpected" he mewed gruffly.

Dewstripe flicked her ear calmly "hello Ratfur, long time no see" she hummed taking a few cautious steps closer to him.

Ratfur's eyes narrowed at her "what are you doing here?" He mewed "you know you StarClan cats are not welcome here."

Dewstripe huffed at his gruff tone but proceeded "i was sent to get you." Ratfur's eyes widened a bit but narrowed immediately "wha- why me?" he mewed suspiciously.

the silver she-cat sighed "i just need you to follow me, i promise it'll be worth your while" Ratfur gazed over her face for any signs of deceit or lie, "and what if i deny?" he lifted his muzzle squinting at her warily.

Dewstripe sighed again rubbing her paw over her head looking more and more exasperated "please Ratfur, i'm trying to help you here" she grunted. Ratfur huffed "help," he repeated scrunching up his muzzle "and what is so dang important that you won't leave me alone?"

Dewstripe shook her head and turned away "just follow me" she mewed, and without another word she started padding away. Ratfur glanced after her and grunted "damn StarClan cats..." but he relented and followed her to the border.

When they stopped at the white strip of land that separated StarClan and the Dark Forest, Dewstripe tore into the barrier with her paws, cleanly slicing the barrier in half.

As she stepped through the barrier Ratfur hesitated, he looked back at the dark forest but proceeded anyway into StarClan's territory.

As he stepped onto the oddly green colored grass, an immediate warmth washed over him.

Ratfur paused and scowled at the quick temperature change but he shook out his pelt and padded briskly after Dewstripe.

While they walked they passed by a couple of other StarClan cats who gave the she-cat a nod and ogled at the red tom behind her.

Ratfur felt a twinge of annoyance and irritability at the amount of stares he got, and he bit his tongue as to not snap at a gray and black apprentice who scrunched their muzzle in distaste at the sight of him.

When they finally reached the place Dewstripe wanted to take him she paused "we're here," she then gave a hardened glance at him "and please don't mess this up, I had to pull a lot of whiskers to get the others to agree with this."

Ratfur scoffed "right right" he muttered before following the silver she-cat in the den in front of them.

As they stepped inside a voice broke out "ah Dewstripe you actually managed to bring him here" a shiny white cat mewed.

Dewstripe tilted her head to look at the cat "yes  I have Startail." Ratfur squinted at the cat as he realized that they were in fact the leader here.

"So why am I here exactly?" Ratfur huffed as he looked at either cats.

Startail perked up "oh right!," they then turned and started to pad away "follow me."

Ratfur huffed but relented and followed the two StarClan cats to a shimmering pool. He gazed into the pool and realized how dark it is.

"Right, now we can get started" Ratfur turned back to Startail and Dewstripe "start what?" He mewed, feeling pretty unnerved.

Dewstripe tilted her head in thought "well...we brought you here because..." She turned to the glowing tom as he nodded for her to continue.

"You're being reincarnated" Ratfur blinked at those words surprised.

"Wait...what?" Ratfur mewed looking at Dewstripe and back to Startail with wide eyes.

Startail shook his head amused with the tom's reaction "yes reincarnated, you" he mewed calmly and waited for the tom's reaction.

Ratfur shook his head "wait I thought...but i-" he paused shaking his head again "why me?" He mewed narrowing his eyes at the StarClan cats.

Startail blinking at the tom mewed calmly "because, we decided you needed a second chance at life" he mewed as Dewstripe nodded to his words.

The dark tom blinked again at the two cats "are...are you serious?" He mewed both surprised and secretly thrilled at the chance of a new life.

The cats nodded as they stepped aside for him to walk the path towards the dark pool, hesitantly he stepped forward and gazed into the pool.

"Just step in and you'll be fine" Startail mewed his tail swaying gently across Ratfur's spiked pelt.

Ratfur took a deep breath as he stepped onto the pool, immediately he sank deep under the pool's cool waters.

His eyes widened as he sunk deeper into the dark depths, he gazed upwards at the two StarClan cats staring down at him as they both started to fade into the darkness.

Ratfur froze as he let the waters current take him to where he needed to go, he blinked his eyes closed when he saw a bright light shined harshly down on him.

'is this it...'

Ratfur thought as his own life flashed before his eyes, all the pain and suffering he seemed to have caused slipped through his mind like water.

He gazed down at a scrawny little red kit.

'is that me?'

He thought to himself as his own body started to fade away as he drifted closer to what he assumed to be his own self.

With one final deep breath he closed his eyes for the final time.