Light woke from where he was curled up right on the floor, his pelt warm from the sun that shone through the glass. Three days had passed since he and Hoarfrost had met Sheer, the tom seemed to just invite himself to live with him. Light had grown pretty used to the talkative tom, who he was quick to learn his attitude was accompanied by determination and a good nose, the black and brown cat could hunt. It had surprised Light, who had remained skeptical until Sheer held his word and brought a plump pigeon to pay back for the rats. He had lined Hoarfrost's nest with the feathers, hoping to make it the nest of rags a little more comfortable. To his surprise Hoarfrost wasn't asleep, his nest was bare. Light stretched his paws out, yawning widely, a second glance, and some silence said Sheer wasn't here either. Perhaps the tom had finally left? Without saying goodbye, such didn't seem like him, he was probably just out exploring.

Light emerged outside to see the frost coloured tabby sitting on a fence, staring out to the tall hills on the edges that could be seen on the horizon. He looked like a cat made of ice on the fence, but the small twitch of an ear seemed to thaw the cold light cast upon him and return Light's thinking away from the vision.

"It's a fine day," Light spoke as he pulled his wiry body up the fence to sit next to the other tom. A moment of silent passed, before Hoarfrost turned.

"Light, do you believe that maybe your dreams mean more than just being dreams?"

Light's whiskers gave a small twitch at the question, and he thought for a moment, trying to recall any dreams he'd had in the past few days. His memory called up the normal hunting unrealistically plump mice and the hint of traveling the wild with Hoarfrost, but nothing he would say to be unusual or more then what they were.

"My dreams are simple, and usually of things that have happened before.. memories, mostly. Maybe mine don't mean much, but.. what about yours, what makes you think they're special?" Light meowed in question, only glancing away for a moment when he saw a black bird fly overhead. Perhaps a raven, but his green gaze was back at Hoarfrost before he could really think twice.

"... I've had the same dream for the past three nights, since Sheer showed up, this she-cat is in trouble, and she's wailing for help, but it's always too dark to find her." Hoarfrost's pelt slightly bristled, Light heard his claws prick the wooden fence. "I think it's trying to tell me I need to go save her," he had an almost urgency to his mew.

"The same dream, that is a bit odd," Light admitted, lightly touching Hoarfrost's tail with his own. "Well, It can't hurt to go have a look around, maybe a good walk will clear your head." Light didn't mean to sound superstitious, but he had a hard time imagining that dreams were anything more then dreams. He knew Hoarfrost was a troubled sleeper, he had been that way since they had first met, back when they were still kits. He supposed he would be too, if he watched his brother get killed by a roaring.

Hoarfrost nodded, and followed Light as the two headed up an alley, opposite of the direction they had used to get to the dump. Steady paw steps padded over the stone that made up the path, emerging into tangles of paths behind houses, the scent of kittypets and droolers reached his nose. Hoarfrost and Light had learned long ago how to creep past unnoticed, nether were fond of conflict, Light personally wanted to die peacefully with an unscarred pelt.

The two toms scaled around the edge of the upwalker place, on the edge of a field that this year was blue and smelled kind of like a squirrels' breath. They went as far as they could go before the roaring path echoed in their ears, and they turned back into the maze of upwalker dens and sheds, past the one that was often busy and smelled heavily of upwalker food.

"Have you noticed that there's a lot of ravens around today?" Light finally broke the silence they had hung over them. Hoarfrost's head tilt back to see the sky, yet another black bird (that Light was definitely certain was a raven now) soared lazily overhead. Hoarfrost turned his paws, heading astray from the path he and Light had been taking. Light blinked in slight surprise, before he bound to catch up.

"Hey wait, where are you going?" Light managed to get into pace with him.

"I want to see where they're going, maybe there's a nest," Hoarfrost explained, Light's mouth watered at the idea of fresh bird meat, perhaps more feathers to build better nests. The tom recognized they were in the area that usually had more upwalkers, with them upwalker kits and droolers. It was best to stay low, which was what they did. Instead of walking on top the thin fences, they stayed low. He followed Hoarfrost through a gap in the fence, squeezing under a tangle of bushes that were on the other side. The squirmed slowly through the low hanging branches, Light's muzzle crinkled at the scent of some kind of berry, a second step put his paw in some kind of mush he assumed used to be a raspberry.

"Ew..." he uttered, shaking it off, but he fell back silent when they reached another rotting hole in the fence, Hoarfrost perked his head through slightly, ears stuck up. The scent of droolers hit him hard in the back of the throat, making him gag slightly.

".. the coast is clear," he uttered. Even if it was, Light knew to stay quite. He followed the silver tabby through the gap, under some bushes that had large, pink flowers. Both toms caught sight of a large, white drooler, it laid on a deck, sprawled out lazily in the sun. He could hear loud, gnarly snoring that made his spine tingle oddly. But both cats passed undetected, making their way past the rest of the dens to where he saw a particularly run down den. Most of the buildings here were, spare small areas like the spot behind them. He knew sometimes the upwalkers would tear them down and build newer, better ones in their place, but they rarely did, and Light simply learned not to question the weirdness of upwalkers.

Most of the birds were gathered on the rooftop, but some were flicking down to a spot on the ground.

"How do we ge-" the question didn't get to fully leave Light's mouth, before an ear splitting screech that made the brindle coloured tom's blood instantly freeze to ice erupted, the air filled with crowing. He had turned to run, but his eyes widened in horror when Hoarfrost bolting towards them. "Hoarfrost no! There's too many!"

"There's a cat there!" He yowled back,somehow his voice heard over the near deafening crowing.

Light's legs felt stiff but he forced himself to bolt after, unwilling to let Hoarfrost fight alone. He ducked as ravens tried to peck at his pelt and ears, wings so thick he couldn't see the sky. It almost made it dark, and he caught sight of a she-cat. She was clawing hysterically at the birds around her, blood stained the beams of her attacks and the dirt under her paws. Hoarfrost leapt at an unexpecting bird, tackling the feathered creature to the ground. A few left flapping with startled caws when the two toms leapt in, Light's claws unsheathed and he waved his paws around wildly, snagging flesh and black coal coloured feathers. He felt beaks and talons nick his pelt, and his own blood began to flow. They were outnumbered, and through the flurry he could see Hoarfrost trying to keep the ferocious birds away from the cowering she-cat, who seemed to have no fight left in her.

We need to run, thought the tom, another peck ripping out a small clump of fur on his shoulder. We can't win, there's way too many! He cringed at the pain. The birds seemed confident, in their cruel eyes they seemed to know that the cats were going to be their next meals. But it was once again, the cruel noises turned to that of surprise as a familiar black and brown cat landed heavily on a bird, knocking it away from Light. A second cat, a grey she-cat with dark black feet and a plump black tail wasn't far behind, she leapt on a bird and bit down hard on its neck, a tingling crack came as the bird went limp. There was two other cats with Sheer, a white tom with black spots on his face and rump, and a dark ginger she-cat. The birds cleared at the sudden appearance, Sheer chased after them, his cats not far behind.

"Take no prisoners! Make them all suffer!" He grabbed one by wing, wrestling the madly squawking bird to the ground.

"Rot eaters! Dust snorters!" The reddish she-cat hollered, chasing the black birds away from Hoarfrost and the trembling she-cat, when the danger had passed, he bent to utter soft words to her.

Light had his eyes fixed on the fleeing birds, only when he couldn't hear their cawing anymore did he feel safe, stumbled over. "Are you two alright?" He panted, taking a moment to sit.

"I-I'm.. I'm fine, just a little frightened," the she-cat whispered. Now Light could get a better look at her.

She was a slim silver tabby, with odd rather pretty splatter like black markings. He had to look twice, first confused, before realizing one of her eyes were blue, the other a dark shade of green. "Thank you.. I thought I was bird food for sure," she brought herself to sit up, glancing to Hoarfrost. "I think I've seen you two before, I live behind the building over there, with the cross on the roof."

Light blinked slightly, she had seen them before? He didn't recall ever seeing her, perhaps it was because they never went to that side of town, due to Stark's cats often patrolling the area, and the roaring path that separated it from the familiar turf they often wondered.

"I'm Light, and he's Hoarfrost," Light introduced, only to be practically barreled aside by Sheer.

"And my name is Sheer, and you, you are beautiful," he purred, before barking a laugh. "Just kidding I'm already mates with the death stick, but you can always be our plus one."

The grey she-cat cleared her throat. "And us? We helped too," she reminded, Sheer blinked before flicking his tail, seeming to forget all about his bold introduction that was met by confused looks from the wounded she-cat and Light.

"That's Coal, Fern, and Soot. My followers, they were just going to stay for a few days, you know." He gestured to each cat as he said their name. They seemed to be indifferent to their so-called leader's words, as if they heard it daily.

"And.. you just decided this? Without asking?" Light's tone held slight disbelief. Hoarfrost hushed him with a gentle nudge to the shoulder.

"It's fine, we should be graceful that we still have most of our fur. Let's really be worried about getting back, and getting this bleeding stopped." Hoarfrost rose to his feet. Light noticed a few wounds on both their pelts still trickled blood, and he nodded, helping the tom support silver she-cat.

"Jay," she said softly. "My name is Jay."

He gave a soft meow of acknowledgement, heading back. Sheer and his cats followed, he could hear Sheer's nonsense from behind him. But the brindle coloured tom had sank somewhere in his mind to ignore the pain and think. Only when he had time to think, it made him cold once more when he realized what had just happened was exactly what Hoarfrost had explained to him. The sky had been made dark and it had been next to impossible to see, and through the wailing, they had found a she-cat.