The kit wriggled and whined as they crawled through a small opening in a door, the bitter cold from outside the walls of the stone building not able to penetrate the warmer interior.

"Just go down that hall and pick a den" one of the two guards dipped their head and they both padded back outside. Spark's eyes were huge as she tried to suck up as much information as she could, practically tripping over her paws as she made her way down the short stretch of path. Guards were everywhere, three in that one hall alone. Twoleg soft moss-like material lined the floor, and it smelled something awful.

She poked her head into the closest room, darkness was what met her eyes. Her eyes met a guard's and they nodded slightly as they noticed she was carrying a kit. The dark chocolate tom that she held by the scruff made kept crying and she glared down in its general direction with annoyance. He's going to wake them up! She quickly made her way over to a spot that was seemingly warm. She knew nothing about taking care of kits: that didn't interest her in the slightest. But she was surrounded by queens, someone just had to know.

The guard wasn't watching, and a pale gray dappled she-cat lay next to her with four young kits. She gently nosed her own unnamed kit in the other sleeping queens direction where it crawled over and nestled it's way in. Spark flicked her tail and sighed, curling up.

"I have to do it though." Spark finally sighed. "It's the only way to get there quick enough." Rust breathed slowly, thinking.

"Fine. But not until you finish recruitment training, give me time to see if I can get into the other camp." She dipped her head in agreement

Spark closed her eyes with a wince. Rust is going to kill me when he finds out I came here before completing my recruit training.

Sparkfur was never a very heavy sleeper, she was always over-sensitive which proved to be a nuisance when it came to getting a good nights rest. It was still dark outside, dawn just touching the chilled air, when she woke up drowsily to the sounds of kits mewling.

Her eyes blinked open quickly as she heard a queen growling fairly loudly, "Whose kit is in my bed!" Spark knew: it was the one she was suppose to look after. She looked up.

The night before, the gray dappled she-cat had looked sweet and peaceful when she was asleep with four kits, but now as the dappled cat stood up she was muscular with scars lining her thick fur.

The warrior ducked her head, trying to look smaller with her long legs poking out. There was no way she could win in a fight with this cat. Olice was one thing: a newbie with something to prove. This queen was something else, something Spark wasn't sure of. No characterization she had seen before. An angry, possibly bitter, queen.

"Huh?! Hey you, Merry, is this little scrappy thing yours?!" The dappled she cat growled, grabbing the scruff of a mostly white calico she-cat, waking her and her two dark colored kits. She mumbled incoherent, still half-asleep words. The dappled she-cat let go of her scruff.

"Elise, calm down! I'm sure it just escaped from someone's nest!" Spark shrunk back into her nest, her ears pinned back and her eyes taking in the scene. She could probably outrun the queen... But what about the kit? It can't just be my ticket in here, I've got to get it out as well....

"Can it, Butterscotch, unless it's yours? I'm only taking care of the four I'm already cursed with, I shouldn't even have to! It should just be passed off onto one of you runts just like this one was passed off on me! So, whose is it?!"

"Elise, are you going off on another tantrum? You know the senior rebels can hear you in the next floor up!" A she-cat growled. Spark followed her voice up to the top of a tall tree-like object. Shelves poked out of it, each with a she-cat and kits in one, but at the top lay in a mass of two-leg moth bitten blanket, lay a magnificent she-cat. Spark blinked. She had long feathery light gray tabby fur and narrow, piercing blue eyes.

Elise flinched but didn't back down.

"Yeah, Arden! I woke up with someone's puny little kit--" a few she-cats who unfortunately had emotional attachment to their kits growled lowly. "--in my nest. I already have that mangy fleabag Kole's, kits to take care of!"

"I swear on the Clouds, Elise, if you wake up all the kits I'll have your tail! Look what you did: the guards are going to go get Kole. Congrats." The silky furred gray tabby set her head down, here eyes sweeping across the room and locking with Spark's. The golden warrior held her gaze, forcing herself not to shrink back. Not now. The icy stair glanced away as pawsteps sounded. Spark followed her gaze.

Her fur stood on end slowly

Her eyes dilated.

Was she feeling fear? She wasn't sure.

StarClan wasn't really practiced much in the clan, it wasn't even required to believe in it. But now... She was praying to her ancestors, and for what? She wasn't sure.

But as the dark charcoal tabby padded into the room, green eyes glistening just like that night, just under half a moon ago. A pink fresh scar stretched down his cheek, and she mindlessly remembered a scar to her forepaw from the same night. Did he remember?

Did he remember killing Ryeheart?

--
AN

Sorry for a while since last update, I've been reeeeallly busy. I don't really like school? Idk, whatever.

Also, I just found out the new arc is supposed to be centered around Alderpaw. Not that big of a deal, but his sister is named SPARKPAW. I swear I didn't know when I picked Sparkfur's name. And to top it off, Alderpaw's description almost matches Berryfoot's: a dark ginger tabby. Moral of the story: I didn't copy the Erin's, I didn't know at the time, etc, etc, and I'm not going to change Sparkfur's name because of this because it's not that big of a deal. It just feels less... Unique, you know?